Nope…I still owe nothing, not making money, not getting any fame or glory. Just a girl, a laptop, and an imagination.

The Crystal Wars

30th Century Crystal Tokyo-

Neo-Queen Serenity had a pensive look on her face as she stared out into the distance, "You are troubled."

She did not need to look to see who spoke to her, but instead chose to keep looking out into her peaceful kingdom; a slight breeze welcoming her as she stood on the balcony, "What gave it away?"

The figure came over to her, "There is a disturbance in the Time Gate. It has something to do with the past." She waited for a response from her queen, but got nothing. Waiting for a moment or two longer, she continued, "Judging by your expression, it seems as if you already know this, or something about this."

"Being the keeper of the Time Gate and all knowing, I would think you would have already knew Pluto." Neo-Queen Serenity said smiling sadly as she looked at the Outer Guardian and her friend.

Sailor Pluto watched as the queen stepped inside her office, heels clicking on the crystal floor, "Your Majesty?"

Neo-Queen Serenity had her hands clasped in front of her, her back towards the Guardian of Time, "This is not like the other time Pluto. This is not like Darien breaking up with me, it did not change destiny as you already know." She now chose to face Pluto, who wore a pensive look, "This is something much larger at play, something that neither the other Scouts nor Darien has yet to face."

"Serenity-"

There was a knock on the queen's door and without so much as waiting for a response, it flew open, "Mama!" Their heads turned to see the young princess bursting through, "Daddy says dinner is-Puu!" The young girl deviated away from the queen and was caught in the arms of Sailor Pluto.

"Small Lady, good to see you." Pluto responded in kind, and looked towards the queen who strangely wore a frown on her face.

"Small Lady." Serenity's tone turned into one of warning, which caused the pink haired girl to wince and look at her mother.

She pulled away from the Sailor Guardian and swallowed a lump in her throat, "I am sorry Mama."

Serenity tried to remain stern, but flashes of her pervious life with the young girl came to the forefront of her mind, and she ended up sighing. She honestly found it hard to sometimes to remain stern after everything they had been through, and soon would go through again, "Honey you cannot just burst in here like that. How do you know I wasn't with a dignitary or doing something very important?"

Rini looked at her mother and saw how tired she was and almost exhausted. So unlike her past self. Often times she yearned to go to the past, to experience her younger more cheerful mother. It hurt so much to see the transition sometimes that Rini wished she could make it all disappear, if that would get her mother to smile like she used to, "I know I shouldn't have, it's just that you've been in here all day. I was just excited to get the opportunity to come and get you for dinner." She responded after seeing that her mother was waiting for a response.

Serenity looked at the young girl, and gave her daughter a small smile, one that had Sailor Pluto on a bit of an alert. Kneeling down, she opened her arms and Rini ran into them welcoming the hug, "I am sorry darling, but I've been busy. How about this, after dinner we will do something as a family? Anything you want."

Rini pulled away and looked at her mother, "Really? Anything I want?"

Serenity nodded, "Anything."

"Cool!" Rini exclaimed pulling away from the queen to do a classic and familiar V salute that brought back memories, "I am going to tell Daddy! Don't forget, dinner! Bye Puu!" She was then out of the office.

Sailor Pluto had been watching the exchange and was (for the first time) disappointed in the queen and her friend, "You lied to her."

"Unintentional." Serenity said solemnly, "Something is going to happen Sailor Pluto. Something that is out of our hands."

"Have you told any of the other Scouts this?" Pluto asked as her grip on her garnet rod tightend.

"No…at least not at this time." Serenity emphasized. She made her way over to the balcony once more and said, "I summoned you here to tell you to not go into the past just yet, at least until you are summoned by my younger self."

Pluto's garnet colored eyes followed the queen like a cat hunting her prey, "What about Luna and Artemis? Have you told them of this?"

Serenity looked at Pluto, "No one, in fact by default, you are the only one who has an idea as to what will happen here."

"How is that possible?" Serenity summoned her crystal and brought it forth into being. Pluto's eyes widen in sudden understanding, "You are keeping their memories of the past at bay?"

"Indeed I am." Serenity willed the crystal away and faced away from her guest once more, "Some things are better not knowing. The girls are on a training expedition together, Darien is here with me, and Luna and Artemis are taking their time off. It was the least I can do for them right now."

"May I just-?" Pluto cut herself off and outright said, "This is despicable, your majesty this is absolutely-"

"Despicable?" Serenity asked and then snorted, "You are right, but what I am doing to them right now in the past is so much worse. It wasn't even of my own choice…once more I do not have a bloody damn choice." The last part was muttered, so Pluto didn't know if she was supposed to hear it or not. Either way, before she could get another chance to speak, Serenity looked at her, this time blue eyes pleading, "I also asked you here for a something else."

"If it is to be a part of this atrocious plan of yours-" Pluto started in a warning tone.

"First thing, you do not have a choice." Serenity said firmly, "You are bound to the royal family of the moon. Once you get the full story then you will want to help me…or rather her." Then more softly, the queen said, "Second thing, right now though I am not asking for you to help me directly; it is about Small Lady. Please Setsuna," Pluto's eyes widened, not having heard her alias's name in so long that she was surprised Serenity seemed to recall it, "if you have seen the timeline, you know what is to come this day."

Pluto sighed and closed her eyes. Reaching down, her hand gripped a key that hung on a chain around her waist. Giving a small twist, the key came loose and she held it out to the queen, "For the record;" The queen took the key and looked at the Time Guardian expectantly, "I really hate this plan of yours."

Serenity smirked, "For the record? So do I. Now remember what I said, do not go to the past until you are summoned by me." Pluto nodded once, "Thank you my friend, hope to see you soon."

"Best of luck your majesty. Hope to see you again soon as well; under better circumstances of course." Pluto tapped her garnet rod on the ground and a door appeared. Giving the majestic queen one more forlorn look, she stepped through. Neo-Queen Serenity smiled sadly and sighed. Taking in her office once more, wishing for just one moment, things could have just stayed peaceful.

There was another knock on the door, making the queen jump, "Love?"

Serenity quickly pocketed the time key and answered back, "Come in dear."

Endymion entered the room slowly and said, "I sent Small Lady to come get you for dinner. She said that you were coming, but that was almost fifteen minutes ago." Taking in his wife's appearance, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Of course. Lost track of time…" She internally snorted at this.

"Ah, Small Lady mentioned Sailor Pluto was here." Endymion responded as he reached for his wife's hand and kissed the top of it, then pulled her close to him, "Is everything alright? It is not like her to just show up you know."

Serenity nodded and breathed in his scent deeply, almost trying to commit it to memory, "Yes everything is fine. Now I believe you mentioned dinner." She said trying to change the subject.

Endymion chuckled, "Yes dinner." He looked at her and bowed deeply, "May I have the pleasure of your company for a delightful meal?"

Serenity chuckled back and curtsied, "You may good sir. That is if there is any of the presumably delightful meal left."

"Why whatever do you mean?" Endymion asked as he grabbed her arm and hooked it through his own as he led her into the hallway.

"I think you know what I mean. The bottomless pit known as Small Lady. Did you leave her unaccompanied in the dining room?"

Endymion laughed, "The bottomless pit takes after you in that department, so you only have yourself to blame for that trait my love." This earned him a whack in the shoulder, which only made him laugh harder, "To answer your question, yes she is alone, however under strict instructions to not touch a pea until I came back with you. Under penalty of intense Sailor Scout training that you can think of."

Serenity now laughed at this, "Then I suppose I will have to pull out Venus's training manual and find something…or better yet Mars had some pretty good workouts too."

As they continued to laugh back and forth they soon made it to the dining room and was greeted by a cheerful pink haired girl, who grabbed both their hands and led them over to the table muttering a happy, "Finally."

'Yes,' Serenity thought forlornly once more as she observed the happiness of her husband, and daughter, 'how I so deeply wish this could have been our happily ever after.' Even as she thought this, hoping that the crystal would respond to the wish, even if a larger part of her knew that the crystal wouldn't. Endymion looked at her lovingly, and Rini gave her a smile that was much like how her very own used to be, but instead of feeling joyful, she felt sorrow as the key weighed over a tone in her pocket, 'I am so sorry my loves'.

Present Day-

Serena sat in class only vaguely listening to the lecture that Ms. Haruna was giving. She had already read ahead in her book so she knew what she was discussing. Besides she did not care anyway. She had more pressing decisions to worry about than some lecture about Literature. It was during her evening stroll that she had the epiphany about what was coming and what she needed to do. All she had to really do now was waiting until the opportunity arose. So she had started drawing in her notebook, hoping time would fly by faster.

Ami, Lita, and Mina looked over at their princess. It was so depressing to see their friend like this. The last time they saw Serena this depressed was when she had out right confessed about Darien not responding to any of her messages when he was supposed to be away at Harvard to Seiya on the roof. They couldn't ignore it any longer; Luna was right, something needed to be done. Mina took out a piece of paper and scribbled a message on it and passed it to Lita.

M- This is not right. I cannot ignore this anymore. Her heart is like clouded with guilt. WTH?!

Lita read the message and sighed looking at Mina. How was she supposed to know what was wrong when Serena would not even talk with them…much less be seen with them.

L- Why are u asking me for? She has not come clean with me. I guess we'll find out at the meeting when it's full on interrogation.

Lita looked satisfied with the message and was about to send it back when Ami caught her eye. Ami motioned to pass the note to her so Lita did.

Ami read the note and recalled the conversation they had had earlier that morning with Rei. It was rather disturbing to her that someone was blocking the fire from Rei. But surely this would disturb Serena as well. Ami knew Serena hated fighting but how are they going to break the news to her?

A – I agree with Lita. She has not talked to us in over a week. How are we going to tell her about the new possible enemy?

Ami folded the note and handed it back to Lita who handed it back to Mina. Mina read the messages and pondered how to respond. How where they going to tell Serena? Mina shot a glance at Serena who was idly doodling in her notebook with a look of worry on her face. With a sigh Mina wrote:

M- We break it to her nice and easily.

She passed it to Lita. Lita read it and shook her head:

L- If she says, 'screw it I'm not going' then what?

She passed it Ami and Ami shook her head:

A – She has to come. She is the leader after all. Besides if she does not come Rei will blow a gasket and there will be hell to pay.

She passed the note back and before Mina could read it Miss Haruna announced the lunch break.

"Ok let's go do it now." Mina said and they walked over to Serena.

Serena sighed. She decided that because she was not paying much attention anyway she would bail for the rest of the day. Besides she had some extra steam she needed to vent out on some innocent tree. As she was about to get up she saw Mina, Lita, and Ami standing beside her.

"Hey long time and no see," Mina smiled at her, but was internally cringing from the aura that had surrounded her princess's heart.

"Yea I kind of decided to buckle down and get busy with school work no one wants a stupid Queen right?" Serena tried to do her best in being cheerful but was failing miserably.

"Listen Sere Rei is having a meeting about-" Lita was interrupted when Serena put her hand up.

"Go wait for me outside." Serena said seriously looking across the room at her classmates. She had a feeling that she knew why Rei was calling a meeting. When they refused to budge, she gave them a look and started to move towards the door.

Before Serena could walk out Miss Haruna stopped her, "Serena can I talk to you for a minute?"

Serena looked at her friends and they gave her a look but signaled they would wait, "Sure."

"I just wanted to say how proud I am at how much effort you're putting into your school work." Miss Haruna smiled as the last of the students left the room, "Your parents must be proud also. That last test was amazing. Even Ami did not get a perfect score on it like you did."

Serena sighed and said, "You should not be proud of me."

Miss Haruna looked at her in surprise and asked, "You did not cheat did you?"

"No of course not! But how can you be proud of something when I should've been doing the work in the first place?" Serena asked as she crossed her arms not meeting her teacher's gaze.

"I've known that you could've done the work, but your improvement is remarkable. You should be proud."

"That's just it. I'm not." Serena sighed as she handed in the homework assignments.

Miss Haruna looked at the papers that Serena had just turned in, "These are not due for another two weeks Serena. Why are-"

"I'm going away for a while so I read ahead and looked at the syllabus as to what is going to be due. These are the papers that were assigned." Serena took another look at her teacher and proceeded to the door, "Saying to be proud of something that should've been done in the first place is a waste." With that she walked out the door leaving a confused teacher in her wake.

Serena walked out of the school to find the girls hanging out under their tree, "So what were you saying?" Serena asked Lita, getting right to business.

"Rei is calling a scout meeting after school." Lita responded quickly.

"For what?" Serena responded wanting to get the answers and bail.

"Something about a new enemy but she is not sure. The fire is blocking her from seeing the future." Mina answered just as quickly.

Serena sighed, "Ok after school in the shrine I take it right?"

"Yes she said to be there or else there will be problems." Ami said adding Rei's threat/message.

Serena nodded and proceeded to the front gate, "Hey where are you going? School isn't over yet!" Mina called out as they all got to their feet as Serena walked away from the building.

"Just tell Rei that I'll be there!" Serena called back and ran from the school, not looking behind her. It would seem that this was her window of opportunity and she was taking it.

Making it back home in record time, Serena carefully snuck into her bedroom. She listened closely to any sound of her mother puttering about. Hearing nothing, she dropped her bag on her bed and carefully snuck downstairs. With caution and stealth from years of being a Sailor Scout, she moved down the stairs and waited. Still hearing nothing, she looked around the corner and into the kitchen, it was empty. Taking this as a sign that no one was home, she made her way to the kitchen and saw a note on the table.

Picking the paper up that had her mother's handwriting on it, she read that they had left for her dad's business trip and that Sammy was going to be staying at a friend's house for the weekend. Nodding her approval she went into the garage and saw that her car was in there. It was a sliver Audi A9. She had gotten it for all the hard work she was putting in at school; while she was overjoyed for the car she did not share this with her friends.

Sighing she went upstairs to pack and change into more comfortable clothes. She was never coming back, if she could help it. Not at least until she defeated whatever evil force was coming. All that was on her mind was keeping them safe. When she was done packing she changed out of her school uniform and into jeans, a white tank top, and a black leather jacket. Looking in the mirror she nodded her head and took her wallet, sun glasses, and her keys off her dresser. She took the broach off her uniform and stuffed it in her purse with her wallet. One last look she took out her Luna pen from one of her drawers and changed her hair color to silver.

She then went into her parents' room and found the safe that kept all of her parents' important paperwork and money. She saw her birth certificate which she took, her checkbook and bank stuff that she took out too, her passport, and lastly she took a few bills. She did not want to do this, but it was for everyone's own good.

Bonding down the stairs she stopped in the thrush hold between the garage and the hallway. She took out the silver crystal and made her wish on it, "Make this family believe they only had one child, Samuel Tsukino. Serena Tsukino is no longer part of this family." There was a brilliant flash of light, and everything that had a picture of Serena in it vanished, along with any sign that the Tuskinos' had a daughter. It was like she never existed.

Serena backed out of the garage and sat for five minutes in the driveway. She refused to cry…she could not cry. Shaking her head she took a quick look at the clock. It was time to change destiny. With that thought in mind she took off toward the shrine.

For most of the day, Darien was at the park reflecting on the meeting they had in the morning before the girls had gone to school. Luna had met up with them once Serena had left her house, and told them what happened that morning. He could not believe that she had been out in the storm. In fact he could not believe any of the things that was going on with his girlfriend as of late. It worried him, but the worst part was that it reminded him of the break up: how he had done everything he could to avoid her, just before he had ended things. 'Oh Serena, what is going on?' He thought to himself as he stared at a picture of him, Serena, and Rini in the middle of them.

So happy they once were, why can't they just have that happiness again? He shook his head, trying to summon hope. If Serena somehow lost her own hopeful nature, he would have to remind her of it himself. Placing the picture back into his wallet, he sighed as he looked at his watch and started to walk toward the shrine.

"Where is she?! Did you not give her my message?" Rei rounded on Mina, Lita, and Ami. Darien had wanted to say something to help calm Rei down, but Luna and Artemis each had placed a paw on his knee, shaking their heads.

Mina sighed in exasperation, "Of course we did, and I believe we just told not even two minutes ago that she ditched school during lunch! She said she'd be here." It was no use in yelling, she knew that Rei exploding on them was a knee jerk reaction to not knowing what was going on.

Ami was about to try and be the voice of reason, when they heard, "And so I am." The gasped when they saw Serena. Seeing them stare she said, "Look I don't have much time for this so let's get this rolling please."

Darien looked at Serena up and down and asked, "Serena what did you do?"

"Yeah what is going on?" Mina asked softly.

"I used the Luna pen to change my looks a bit." A bit seemed like an understatement to them, but allowed her to continue, "Right now I want to discuss know why there is this meeting." Serena said sitting down and everyone followed suite still not quiet over the shock.

Rei hesitated a bit longer, not liking the aura that Serena was giving off. It was eerie in nature, and somehow it had felt like there was a bomb in the room, and she was under pressure to diffuse it with only a minute left on the clock, "The reason I called this meeting is because of the fire," Rei started off, "I cannot get a reading from it, and haven't been able to all week. I fear that it might be an enemy."

She waited for Serena to say something. The blonde had her hands clasped in front of her, Darien reached to grab one of them, but everyone was surprised when she pulled away from him, "I see." She eventually said with hesitance but then Serena put her hand up.

They waited for her to say more, but instead Serena gazed up at the ceiling, as if willing it to suck her up, "Well?" Lita asked after another moment or two.

"Well what?" Serena responded looking at the brunette.

"Is that all you can say? 'I see'? What the hell is that supposed to imply?"

Serena looked at each of her friends, and sighed, "It is supposed to imply what it sounds like it implies."

"Serena enough of this." Luna demanded as she jumped up on the table followed by Artemis, not able to keep silent any longer, "Now what is going on with you?"

Serena was trying hard to not break, in fact she was fighting every instinct in her telling her to tell her friends what exactly was happening and why she was doing what she was about to do, "I am the one blocking the fire. I have been for quite some time. It is not an enemy." 'At least not yet,' she added more so to herself than out loud.

There was silence as she waited for the massive explosion. She looked at them, and they were looking at her: jaws dropped, eyes wide, and slowly veins were starting to pop from their heads. Her eyes were especially on Rei as she saw her friend's face start to turn funny shades of reds and purples. 'One, two, three, fou-' Serena's mental count was cut off by, "WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" Rei was standing and shouting. In fact all of them were now standing and looking down at their princess.

"Rei I had too." Serena stated calmly not even looking them in the eye. Recently, she had learned that in the Silver Millennium her mother Queen Selenity had partial control of the fire, so it was natural that the power would pass down to the next heir.

"Bull shit!" Rei had yelled even madder that Serena was staying calm about all of this, "You had no right to do this! None!"

"I beg to differ." Serena stated back, not rising to the shouting match that Rei seemed to want to challenge her to.

"Serena, Rei is right. She uses the fire to see enemies approaching; so that we can prepare." Ami tried to explain and be the voice of reason as Rei moved away from the table to try and calm herself down so that she didn't end up setting Serena on fire (despite how tempted she was now).

Darien was beside himself; they were supposed to have this meeting as an intervention to Serena hiding something from them. Never in a million years did he think that this would be something she would do, "Do you realize how reckless this was?"

"Look I have my reasons that I do not need to justify to you. Any of you." She held up her hand to stop the onslaught of protests, "There is a new enemy approaching. I used the fire to show me that. It is coming soon, however I do not know why or when."

"You idiot!" Rei shouted again. She was about to shout more, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to sit down.

"Serena, just please get on with the explanation." Mina stated firmly as she kept her hand firmly on Rei's shoulder, ignoring the heat that was coming off the priestess.

Serena leaned back and said, "I did, in fact I am done with explanations."

"How the hell do you figure that?" Lita cut in again, "Sounds like we deserve more than that vague answer."

Serena sighed, boy it was like she was doing this a lot lately, well it's now or never, "I would think it would have been obvious. I blocked the fire from Rei so I can see what was happening. I saw a new enemy, and it gave me time to think." She paused and waited for someone's lightbulb to go off, seeing that there was no 'ah ha' moment, she continued with, "I am done. I decided that I am done and I'm going away."

Once more she started the countdown in her mind. With each passing number, faces were getting redder and jaws just continued to drop. 'One, two, thre-'

"WHAT?!" They all screamed.

"Why?!" Mina yelped.

"You can't!" Lita shouted.

"You cannot just quit!" Artemis yelled, speaking up for the first time this evening as Luna was in too much shock to say anything.

"How stupid can you be?" Rei asked betrayed, "You confirm that there is a new enemy and now you're bailing on us?"

"Where are you going?" Ami asked softly not willing to believe what she was saying.

"For how long?" Darien was the softness he thought this was a joke.

Serena got up and approached him choosing to ignore the other girls. She wanted to tell him the truth and hope he could change her mind, to tell her that everything was going to turn out ok. But she had to tell him the one thing that would ultimately break both their hearts, "I just cannot take this anymore. I'm not fit to do any of this." She waved her hands around the area.

Darien sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders and said, "Serena this is like another trial. We have overcome worse than this. Please do not say things like this."

'Damn it.' Serena thought, and suddenly she felt the pull in her mind that she needed to be strong, but the pain in his eyes was starting to give her second thoughts. She was about to give in when flashes of death and pain came to her mind. No, she will not let him break her, "Darien I am leaving."

"I'll come with you. You did not say that the enemy was coming soon. We'll come with you. To protect you." Darien said. He lost her many times, but not anymore. He would do whatever it took just for her to be with him.

The girls did not say anything, but watched. They did not like this one bit.

"You can't Darien. You guys can't. I realize now that I am not right for this type of thing. Where I am going is not right for you…any of you." Serena pushed his hands off her shoulders. She turned her back on them.

Darien ran in front of her and said, "Where is this coming from? If this was about Galaxia then we can talk it out. You don't have to put of this façade of fine and dandiness. We will not think any less of you if you tell us what is wrong."

It took all of her strength to not break down, but she couldn't…not yet, "Darien there is nothing wrong," to prove it she looked him in the eye and said the next sentence with as much venom as she could to make it believable, "I do not want you anymore."

There was stone cold silence as her words rang throughout the temple; the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the fire that had roared to life in the midst of the pleading that was happening.

Darien was searching her eyes to see any sort of lie in them, but all he could see was the darkening of bluish black abyss of distain, "You…don't want…me?" he asked hoping someone would jump out and say 'April Fool'.

Serena looked at him as his face turned pale. She lowered her head and looked at the promise ring on her finger. She had not taken it off since Dairen had given it to her at the airport. Closing her eyes she slid the ring off. She took his hand and opened it to place the ring in his palm, "No Dairen…I don't."

Darien dropped his hand to his side. He did not even process what was going on…it was like everything in his body was numb.

The girls were watching the scene unfold. Was this really happening? Was destiny allowing this to actually happen?

It was at this moment that Luna looked outside when a gleam of silver caught her eye. She let out a small gasp and Artemis pried his eyes away from the devastating scene that was occurring, "What is it?"

"She is really telling the truth. That is her car out there." Luna whispered back devastated.

The girls ignored this exchange. Each one in turn not wanting to believe that this was happening to them. That somehow this was a sick joke created from the fates to test them, much like how King Endymion was testing Darien by sending him these dreams. Perhaps Neo-Queen Serenity was doing them same? If so, why?

"Well this is unbelievable." Darien whispered more to himself than to Serena, "Is there nothing I can say to change your mind?"

Serena shook her head, "No Darien. You and I know that once I make up my mind it's made up. Besides I'm tired of being something I'm not," Serena hated to see him like this, but this was for his own good…all of theirs, "I do not want to do this anymore so I am cutting ties with all of you. It will be better this way."

"No…Serena please…" Dairen croaked out.

"Time will heal itself. These wounds will heal. Besides you deserve someone better than me. I guess that is it," Serena turned and said, "Goodbye Darien. Take care of yourself." And she walked out. They heard the sound of an engine roaring down the street.

30th Century Crystal Tokyo-

Did she say it? Those three important words? She looked at her daughter and husband. Did she say those three very important words to them enough times, 'I love you'? She discretely looked at Endymion as he laughed at something Rini had said to him. 'I don't ever want to live without you,' she thought as she looked at him, attempting to memorize his features, 'you changed my life.' She wanted to cry, they had set a damn goal. They had worked so bloody damn hard towards it. Looking back, did she take enough time to look around and drink it in? To appreciate them in ways that they have deserved?

"Love?" Endymion called over to her as he and Rini stopped what they were doing when he noticed that Serenity had unshed tears pooling in her eyes.

"Mama?" Rini asked as she reached for her mother's hand offering her comfort.

Neo-Queen Serenity was silently crying now because she felt it before it even happened. They heard the screaming first. The whole palace was crumbling around them. In a swift move Endymion pushed Serenity and Rini aside as a pillar was coming down. The future was being destroyed.

Endymion griped his family tightly but he noticed that he was disappearing, "Daddy!" Rini cried out trying to grip on to him.

Serenity couldn't say anything, she felt her crystal's magic releasing the mental blockage as she too tried to tighten her grip on him. Looking into his eyes, she hopes that he is able to see the devastation in them.

It is like he is waking up from a dream into a nightmare. He could see in her eyes that she is sorry, and in the wake of this nightmare, he sees a flood of memories, but there was no time to convey any of this as the palace was shattering before them, "Serenity get out of here now!" As he yells this, he hopes that she could see the forgiveness and love that he has and always will feel for her, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Serenity grabbed Rini and led her out of the crumbling palace dodging the falling pillars. She did not want this to happen. All of a sudden Rini felt her hand let go of her mother's hand and looked. Her mother was fading, "Mommy!"

In the middle of the destruction, Serenity turned and saw why Rini had screamed and what she was pointing at. Looking down, she sees that she too is fading from existence. She runs quickly back over to her daughter, wishing she could have a bit more time. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out the Time Key, "I am sorry honey. I cannot explain, but the past is in terrible danger, I need you to go." Rini was shaking her head, and Serenity could see that Rini was starting to fade as well, "Please Rini you must go now!" There was an explosion and they turned to see that Crystal Palace was nowhere to be seen. Everything was fading out of sight, falling into darkness, "Rini you must go now!"

"I won't leave you!" Rini cried trying to hold her mother tight and never let go.

In one final effort to save her daughter the Queen activated the Time Key. A portal opened up, "Rini I love you." She whispered. Wiggling out of her daughter's grip she shoved Rini into the portal. The last thing Rini saw was the looming darkness.

Neo-Queen Serenity stood tall as the last remnants of the future was being swallowed up by darkness, she ran through every moment in her head that led up to this. In the event that her past self should fail, she hoped she cherished every moment that had been given to her, because clearly one never thinks that the last time is the last time, you think there will be more, and you think you eventually reached forever, but unfortunately you don't. Serenity tilts her head back and welcomes the darkness that swallows her whole, all the while praying for forgiveness.

Present day-

Dairen just stood there. He had not moved since Serena walked out. He was numb, just plain numb…no other way to describe it. All of a sudden a portal opened and out popped an eleven year old girl with pink hair.

"Rini?!" the girls yelled in shock as they took in her seemingly battle worn appearance.

"Honey what happened?" Mina asked as the young girl appeared dazed.

Rini looked at them then to her future father. Darien did not say anything…he was still processing the conversation that happened, "Where is mom?" She asked in a stern voice ignoring Mina's inquiry.

Dairen did not answer. Rini took his silence as if this was his fault; she couldn't help, but say, "What the hell did you do to destroy the future?" It was then that everything registered that he opened his palm and revealed the promise ring.