Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or her characters, and have no right to it except as a long time fan.

Another Chance

Darien's eyes snapped open.

He turned over onto his back as he looked around his dark bedroom then glanced over at his clock and saw that it was just after three in the morning.

He frowned slightly and scanned his room again. He could have sworn he heard a sound. It must have been loud in order to wake him from his sleep, but he didn't see anything different in his room.

It couldn't have come from outside. My apartment is too high up to hear anything but an explosion, and if that had happened I'm sure it would've rocked the building as well. He thought as he slowly sat up. But I did hear something or I wouldn't be awake.

His eyes landed on his closed door and considered that it might have come from outside his bedroom. Some might think it strange to close your bedroom door when you lived alone, but it was a habit he had and he had no reason to change it.

Just as he was pulling his covers back to climb out of his bed he heard a loud crash that nearly made him jump.

What the hell?! He thought as he jumped out of his bed and moved toward the door.

He wondered if he was being robbed and they just didn't care if anyone was home. Somehow he couldn't see that happening. If it actually was then he knew it would have to be a neighbor since the building had a security guard in the lobby, and anyone suspicious would need to get pass the man going in and out.

Darien shook the thought away and opened his door and slowly made his way down his dark hallway toward his kitchen and living room.

Could I have left something sitting on the edge of the table or something, and it's only just now slipping off? He wondered as he reached his kitchen.

It was dark in his apartment but the moonlight coming in through the balcony windows lit up the place well enough and he could see everything was still perfectly in place. He continued on and glanced toward the door to his apartment and saw that it was still in place, so he turned and looked further into his living room since it was all nearly connected.

He paused in surprise as he saw a person lying face down on his floor in the space between his desk near the balcony and the back of his couch in the center of the living room.

He looked over and saw the chair to his desk lying on the floor and realized that the person must have tripped on it, and the loud sound he heard was the chair hitting the desk before falling on the floor.

Darien looked back to the motionless figure and looking closer he saw long light colored hair in twin streams and a sailor outfit.

Sailor Moon!? He thought in shock. How does she know where I live? How did she even get in here? He thought as he looked to his balcony.

It was unlocked since he didn't think he needed to lock it with how high up his apartment was, and he was always using it to get in and out when he needed to go to Sailor Moon in a hurry. Still, despite it being unlocked it didn't look like it had been opened. Beyond that, he couldn't see her quietly opening and closing the glass door and making it inside only to trip on his chair.

She suddenly groaned and he hurried over and knelt at her side as he turned her over. Now that he was close to her he could see that she was in terrible condition. She was much thinner then he remembered her being. She had a gash on one of her cheeks, scrapes on her legs, and her sailor outfit was far worse for wear.

In fact, the area around her stomach looked like it had been cut away to patch up a wound, and looking closer he could see that the once white bandage was nearly soaked in blood.

How could this happen?! He thought in stunned shock. The fact that she was in his apartment being pushed to the side as he discovered her wounded condition. How...I always know when she needs me. This shouldn't have happened.

"Darien." She said in a soft tone as she opened her eyes, and his own eyes widened.

"How do you know my name?" He asked, half alarmed and half curious, and listened as she huffed a slight laugh that stopped as soon as it started.

"It's me Darien." She said with a grimace of pain as she moved a hand to her stomach. "Meatball head. Serena."

"Serena?!" Darien said in shock. He had never imagined she of all people was Sailor Moon, but he pushed his shock aside to deal with later. "Never mind. We need to deal with your wound. What happened?" He asked as he moved to get his first aid kit, but stopped as she grabbed his arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

"I was stabbed with a sword." Serena answered before she stopped and took a few steadying breaths. "It's too late for first aid kits." She added quietly as she released his arm and closed her eyes.

"Too late?" He questioned, not wanting to believe her words and tone.

"I'm dying. It's too late to do anything." She replied as she slowly opened her eyes.

Darien released a disbelieving huff of breath as he looked from her eyes to her wounded stomach and back. How could this happen? He thought again. How did this happen?

"How did this happen? Who did this to you?" He demanded to know and watched her smile sadly.

"You did." Serena answered, and watched his eyes widen and his jaw drop.

"That's impossible!" He finally said, and watched her slowly shake her head.

"You don't understand." She said but stopped as a spasm of pain lanced out from her wound. "I'm not your Serena."

"What?" He said in confusion.

"I'm from the future. Just a few months from now." She replied through careful breaths and closed her eyes. "Months. Feels like years." She added slowly before she opened her eyes.

"It wasn't your fault." She assured him. "You were brainwashed by the Dark Kingdom to think I was the enemy. You had managed to slowly fight through it, but just as you were managing to finally break free they realized what was happening and took you away again. The next time I saw you I knew they had done it again, only that time it was stronger."

"How did they get me in the first place?" He asked with a frown.

Serena closed her eyes in pain, both from her wound and from the memory of how her nightmare had started.

She slowly took a deep breath and let it out just as slowly before she opened her eyes. She explained briefly about the rainbow crystals, the event that brought them to the Starlight Tower, having to reveal their secret to each other, and how he had been injured protecting her which ultimately revealed that she was the Moon Princess and he was the Earth Prince.

She had passed out from the influx of memories and when she had awakened he was gone and the other sailor scouts were with her. She had been told he was captured and they hadn't been able to do anything to stop it.

"As time passed I thought about what they said. It was true. You were captured, but I began to suspect that they hadn't even lifted a finger to try and stop it from happening." She said with a frown as she remembered.

"After that everything began to go downhill. They began to verbally abuse me and get aggressive with me, trying to get me off the team despite being the leader and the princess they had been looking for."

"I almost gave in. I didn't deserve that treatment and I didn't have to put up with it. I was about to start handing over all the scout items I had, but then I thought of you." Serena said as she looked to him. "You had been injured protecting me. It wouldn't have been right to just walk away after what you did, and if I gave up who would get you back from our enemy?"

"Beyond that one of the girls said to make sure I handed over my wand, and I suddenly understood that they thought I would just hand over my silver crystal as well. My silver crystal had nothing to do with me being a sailor scout, it was mine, and I realized then that they were after my crystal just as the Dark Kingdom was." She continued with a pained sigh.

Darien listened in stunned surprise as she related that she was the princess from his dreams and the one the Sailor Scouts had been looking for. He hadn't even known they were looking for a princess. Then to hear her teammates had betrayed her. He couldn't understand why they would do that.

Well, she said they were after her silver crystal, so that was obviously why. What I can't understand is why they were after it. He thought with a slight frown. He needed more information but he didn't want to interrupt since she was having a hard enough time explaining the basics in her condition.

"I never found out why they wanted it but after that I found myself fighting against the Scouts and the Dark Kingdom, which included you." She said with a frown. "I even had to leave home and go on the run since the girls attacked me at school when no one was around, and tried to attack me going to and from home, to the point I was afraid they would attack me when I was at home."

"Even with the attacks coming my way I wasn't able to just abandon the people in the city to their fate, so I always showed up when I learned of an attack and fought whatever monster was there." She said and stopped with a grimace as she weakly shifted to try and ease her pain.

"Please. You have to unlock your Serena's memories and help her." Serena pleaded urgently as she grasped at his arm. "You're all she has. You're the only one she can trust."

"What about her friends? Those girls you...she's always hanging out with?" Darien asked and watched her slowly shake her head.

"They're the Sailor Scouts!" She replied. "Amy is Mercury, Raye is Mars, Lita is Jupiter, and..." She paused with a frown. "Venus isn't here yet is she?" She asked but quickly answered her own question. "No. She's not here yet, but she will be soon."

"How am I supposed to unlock her memories?" He asked helplessly. "You say I'm this prince of the Earth, but I don't have any memories of that as far as I can tell."

Serena released a shuttered sigh and placed a hand lightly on her chest, just above her broach, and closed her eyes.

Is she having chest pain? Darien wondered as he watched her put her hand on her chest. Maybe it's getting harder for her to breath.

His eyes widened as a light began to glow from beneath her hand. He watched as she pulled her hand away and a glowing golden crystal came with it to hover just above her palm.

"This is my Darien's golden crystal." Serena said as she opened her eyes and held out the crystal to him. "It will unlock your memories, and let you know where your golden crystal currently is."

"How did you get that?" He asked quietly.

"You gave it to me." She replied softly.

"I thought I was the one that injured you." He said in confusion.

"You were, but the action seemed to help you break free of the dark energy that held your mind." She explained as she remembered her Darien's horror as he realized what he had done.

"You tried to get me to safety so you could heal me, but you was injured in the process and only managed to get us to safety. As we patched up each other's wounds we talked about what we had been through and knew we couldn't keep it up. The constant fighting and running. Things would get worse." She continued.

"So we came up with the plan for me to come back here, to speak to you so that what we had been through wouldn't happen again. It was too late for the both of us, and we had nothing to lose, so you stayed and fought as much as you could to buy me as much time as possible to prepare to come here. I used nearly all the energy I had left to come to you at this point in time." She explained softly, feeling tired and cold.

Darien took a deep breath and slowly let it out as he gazed at the glowing crystal. He knew instinctively that everything would change the moment he touched the crystal. Well, he knew learning that Serena was Sailor Moon and the princess from his dreams had already had an effect on him. Not to mention the terrible understanding that the Serena in front of him was dying, and that the other him was most likely dead.

He cupped his hands around the crystal, surprised at how warm it felt, and pulled it toward himself. The glow around the crystal suddenly brightened and he closed his eyes to keep from being blinded then gasped as he was suddenly flooded with the same warmth he felt coming from the crystal.

It felt so nice. Warm and comforting.

Then information, feelings, emotions, memories began to flood his mind like a highly organized tidal wave.

For so long he had been unsure of who he was. Unsure if he had been remembering correctly all these years. Then the princess that had been visiting his dreams begging for his help gave him the idea that she knew who he was and could help him remember.

Now...now he understood.

He understood that he actually had been remembering correctly. He was Darien Shields, but he was more, so much more. He was also Endymion. Prince Endymion of the Golden Kingdom, heir to the throne of the Earth.

And Serena. He thought quietly. She's not just Sailor Moon or the mysterious princess in my dreams. She's princess of the Moon. Princess Serenity. My Serenity.

Darien slowly opened his eyes. The glowing crystal was gone. He knew it no longer existed, but he was now aware of where his was so it was okay. He looked to Serena and went still as he saw her eyes closed. It was too dark to tell if she was breathing or not, but he was afraid he had been lost in the comforting warmth and his memories too long.

"Serena?" He said as gently laid a hand on the top of her head. He watched her eyes open slowly and he breathed a sigh of relief. She was still alive but he knew she didn't have long. She was dying right before his eyes and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He hated it.

"You remember?" Serena asked softly.

"Yes." He replied with a nod.

"Good." She said before she once again rested her hand on her chest.

He watched as she seemed to gaze up at the ceiling then a light began to seep from beneath her hand. She pulled her hand away and hovering above her chest was a softly glowing silver crystal.

He watched Serena stare at the crystal a long moment before she closed her hand around it and closed her eyes. The glow grew brighter and brighter, and just when he thought he would have to close his eyes the glow died down before it faded entirely.

"Give this to her." Serena said as she held out the crystal with a shaking hand.

He took it and looked at it resting in his palm like a large uniquely shaped diamond.

"It will unlock her memories just as yours did. I've used the last of my energy to ensure it stays in this time until she touches it." She added softly as her eyes closed.

"Serena?" Darien said in alarm and watched as her eyes struggled back open.

"You'll help her...won't you?" She asked, her tired and pained eyes pleading up at him.

"I will. Don't worry." He replied as he nodded firmly.

"Don't...don't wait until you see her again as Sailor Moon. Find her as soon as you can. Don't let her stay around them longer than necessary." She urged him weakly.

"I will. I will. Don't worry anymore. She'll be safe." He reassured her. "I'll help her anyway I can. She won't be alone in this. She'll never be alone. She'll always have me."

"I'm on your side. I always have been."

"Don't worry. I'll always be with you even when I'm not physically there."

"I love you Serenity."

Serena smiled at the memories.

"He said something similar." She breathed out as she closed her eyes.

She pulled them back open again as she felt something on her hand, and realized that he was holding her hand. She looked up to him, her eyes slowly trailing over his face as exhaustion began to pull her under. She knew what was happening; remembered it from past memories.

"Bye Darien." She whispered slowly as her eyes began to lose focus.

"Bye Serena." Darien whispered as he watched her eyes close and felt her hand go limp in his.

He frowned, tears trickling from his eyes, as he placed his free hand on her head. Just as he was moving to brush her bangs with his fingers she began to glow a soft white, and before he could form a thought she slowly faded from his sight; leaving him kneeling on the floor alone in his apartment with only a knocked over chair and a silver crystal as evidence that she had been there at all.