Serena stood on the balcony gazing out at the city.

Tears started to fall down her face as she took in the lights, the starry night sky, below her a group of youngsters walked past, giggling at jokes and playfully nudging one another probably on their way home from a night out.

She felt arms wrap themselves around her waist and a kiss on her crown.

"What are you doing out here? It's three thirty in the morning" the angel's voice asked

She sniffed away the silent tears and shook her head.

Darien came around to her front, not letting her go "what's wrong?" he asked, concern filling his eyes.

She smiled up at him and said "nothing"

"There's clearly something bothering you" he prodded.

"It's just, I can't believe this is real! It's too perfect"

Question burned in his eyes and then was replaced by understanding.

Reaching up to brush away the tears he said "you really thought you'd lost everyone didn't you?"

She turned her face away, a small smile playing on her mouth but not touching her eyes, she shook her head gently.

"Of all the battles I've been in, the times I'd lost you guys, somehow in my heart, I always knew it would be alright in the end, but this time..

She trailed off, fresh tears forming in her eyes, he pulled her close but she needed to get it out.

"I watched them die, one by one" she said into his chest, he froze and pulled away to look at her face, full of pain and fear.

He put his hand to her cheek and she leaned into it gratefully, then her sea blue eyes looked into his "I watched you die" confusion crossed his face, how could she have seen him die?

He died on the plane months before the battle.

"She showed me, Galaxia showed me" she said answering his question before he could ask.

"What?!" she turned to the balcony again and finished.

"After she took the girls, she showed me all the star seeds she had collected from the universe, honestly I didn't even know that that many souls existed in the universe, there were hundreds, and through the mass of colored lights I saw yours"

Darien's hands dropped to his sides in shock as he listened to how Galaxia had mentally tortured the woman he loved, his reason for existence, during their fight.

"She was impressed that I knew who it belonged to, she was proud to have it really, so she showed me how she got it" Serena turned to face the man she loved so dearly and smiled.

"even though I knew what it meant, and it made my blood run cold, and I knew that I would never see you again, that she was probably going to do to me what she had done to everyone else, I was just happy to see your face again, when you were on the plane smiling to yourself, I hadn't seen you in months, the loneliness was unbearable, but when I saw your face again, somehow through it all, it gave me more strength"

she kept her gaze on his, and took his hands in her own "that's how I remembered you, through the fight, with that careless grin on your face, it was the last thing in my mind before I made the final move, your smile kept me going, I never thought I'd see it again, but it kept me going" she said leaning her head into his chest again.

"When she was defeated, and before you all came back, I had never felt more alone in my life, I didn't know how I was going to live the rest of my life, I'm ashamed to say, part of me wished that the power of the crystal would have over loaded me again, like it did with Beryl"

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that all alone, but I swear to you, I will never leave you alone again" he felt her nod into his chest and pulled her tighter in his arms, they stayed like that until Darien felt her shiver from the cold night air.

"Let's get you back to bed" she looked up and smiled at him as he led her through the doors,

"I'll be right back" she gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked to the en-suite.

He was unsure how long it would take for her to get back to herself again, he knew she had been pretty traumatized by the battle and he hated seeing her so quiet.

His usual bubbly, cheery, carefree Serena was behaving very out of character, it made him wonder if she really was ok.

What if she was unsure of her success? That this new behavior was because she thought one day Galaxia might return and then she would have to re-live that hell? "Serena?" he called as she walked from the bathroom, he was sitting up in bed watching her carefully.

"hm?"

"Are you really ok? I'm scared you're not going to get past this, you've been so quiet lately, are you worried she might come back?" her eyes widened at the pain in his voice, she closed the space between them and climbed into the bed they now shared and wrapped her arms around him and looked him in the eye.

"She's not coming back to hurt us" she said with conviction and a smile.

"So then what has you so down?" he asked brushing her hair behind her ear.

"I've been having dreams" she said trying to shrug it off like nothing. He remembered, she was thrashing and moaning in her sleep quite a bit. It also explained why he woke up to her side of the bed being so cold and empty just a few minutes ago.

"I guess it's just going to take some time to get passed" she said burying herself into him deeper.

"How can I make it better" he asked painfully, he couldn't bear the thought of her being in pain.

she looked up at him "you already are, just by being back Darien, these past few days, us being together again after all of that, just waking up to you makes it all ok again"

He supposed it had only been a few days since it all ended, maybe it really was just a case of letting her have some time and space. And he would let her have all the time she needed, because now they had the time to spare.

He leant down to kiss her and hugged her tighter to him and they stayed that way for the rest of the night.