- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
CHAPTER 4: DIVINE GIFTS
After everyone woke up, they made breakfast and sat in the living room, sharing stories they remembered from growing up. There was much laughter and tears all the way around the living room.
Serena needed to get Darien alone so she could tell him about the last dream she had. It was different from the others. She could actually smell *him*, her lover from the past. He said yes to her invitation for a drive through her beloved city and off they went.
Most of the car ride was quiet, excpet for the stereo quietly playing int he background. With a gleam in her eye, Serena said, "Darien. I've figured it out!"
"Figured out what?" He was confused. She could be so random sometimes.
In a quieter tone than she had just used, she said, "I've figured out why it didn't seem to work between us. I realized it when I woke up this morning." Serena went on to tell him about her dream, leaving out the unnecessary details (like when she was passionately kissing the Chancellor). "I figured out the reason why we thought we were supposed to be together this whole time."
"Tell me already!" Darien was getting impatient. Serena really knew how to push his buttons sometimes.
"Do you remember how whenever Luna or Artemis would remember something from the past, we'd remember after them, seeing the same exact things?" She watched as he nodded his head. "Well, the reason we didn't feel like we were really destined to be together is because we really weren't."
He rolled his eyes at her, "Please tell me you came up with more than that." She hit him in the shoulder.
"Of course I did! You see, the crystal reacts to its master, if you like, to its master's will and knowledge. My mother's dying wish was made for my friends, my lover and I to be sent to the future."
"I already knew that part."
"Be quiet, I'm not done yet." She chided. "Anyway, she only allowed herself to feel what I was feeling and to know if I was in danger. She didn't want to abuse the powers she had by peeking into my mind, so she had no idea that we had secret lovers. Are you following? From what she knew, WE-as in you and I, were lovers and so you and the girls were sent to the future with me."
Darien rubbed his chin, "I get it."
"But there's something else too. I'm guessing that my REAL lover was sent to the future as well and since the only other friends I had had were him and Prince Vegeta, I'm sure they're roaming around somewhere."
Darien sunk the new information into his overloaded brain. "They're probably going to be in that new dimension that you'll be training in," he weakly suggested. Her mind reeled as it tried to remember the dream she had with her mother.
* FLASHBACK *
"There is somewhere you can go for training if you wish. You will live with some friends of mine in another dimension and there you will train with a group of men who are the most powerful beings, second only to us. They can teach you how to fight and use the new powers that you have. This will be a life-changing event."
* END FLASHBACK *
"I think you're right! I love you! You're the best!" She squeezed Darien from the passenger seat. "I've learned that the crystal holds the knowledge of all its possessors before me and so I just have to slowly go through it and learn everything. After my birthday, I'd decided to train with Pluto every night to learn how to make use of my new abilities. Since I'm its new possessor now and its fused with my body, the more and more I use it, the more and more it's revealed things to me, like these dreams. It reveals things to me in my dreams!" The joy she felt from her miniature epiphany was shown to him by her squeezing him harder.
He pulled at her arms to tell her that he couldn't breathe and hen she finally let him breathe, she asked him about how he felt about liking Mina, after apologizing.
"I actually didn't want to say anything to you at first because I didn't know how you'd take it and it probably would have gotten awkward, but do you remember when we started drifting apart? I started having feelings towards her but I didn't want everyone to think that's why we broke up. They're still pretty cautious from the first time."
"I'm sorry Darien. But it will be better now. Do you still love her?"
"I must if I started feeling this way before you told me!" Their dinner came and they ate silently and contentedly.
In the middle of Serena's dinner her head shot up. That got Darien's attention quickly. "Darien!" she semi-yelled.
"Yes?" he asked with one eyebrow raised.
"If you and Mina are soul mates, don't you think she'd be having these feelings too?" Serena told him that she would talk to her as soon as they got home so that they wouldn't have any more confusion.
After lunch, they headed back to the temple and met up with the girls again, who had been working on a surprise for her. Serena called Mina to her and took her into another room. She asked Mina to tell her how she was really feeling about Darien, to make sure that Mina was on the same level as him so she wouldn't be afraid if he tried to make advances with her.
Mina told Serena how she was worried and felt so guilty and Serena blew all that away by telling her about the dreams she had been having. Mina felt so relieved at hearing about Serena's dreams that she started crying. She had really been stressing over it for quite sometime now and Serena had felt bad that Mina felt she couldn't be there to listen to her. They hugged and cried and laughed because they were crying and went out to meet everyone else.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was now 6:30 and it was nearing time for Serena to leave. Trista had shown up at the temple to make sure that everything was set the way it should be before she left this time.
Somehow within the space of one afternoon her friends had managed to get her presents. Trista presented hers first.
"Serena, this is a sub-dimensional pocket. You can use it anywhere, anytime and for anything you want."
"Cool!" was everyone's reactions, especially the blue-haired genius'.
"How do you work it?" Serena asked. Trista showed her that all she had to do was snap her fingers and a hole in the air popped open. It was about the size of a sewer manhole cover. She stuck her hand in it and watched it disappear and reappear many times.
"Alright," Trista said. "Next present." A knock was heard at the door as Serena continued to open her presents. Darien went to open it and found the 3 other Outers standing at the screen.
"Come in, come in," he said as he pointed towards the room that everyone was in. "We're all in here. Serena's just opening presents now. So far, she had a music book from Raye of songs she had written, from Lita she received a calendar which had 12 different pictures of the large group doing fun things as well as 12 recipes, one for each month, Mina gave Serena another photo album full of pictures from the last 4 years of their lives which also included pictures of the outers as well and more pictures from London, where she used to live.
She finished opening her presents around 7:10 and got a book of Roman Mythology from Ami, and Serena thanked her for getting her a book that she would actually read. Ami blushed. Hotaru gave her jewelry and a tiara that had stones that were swirls of white and purple. She showed Serena that if she blew on them, she could make them swirl. They were special rare stones that were given to her by a friend a long time ago. Michelle and Amara gave her a set of CD's from recorded concerts that they had performed together. Serena's eyes welled with tears as she looked around the room at all her friends.
Darien was the last one to give his gift. She opened it carefully, knowing that a lot of time and consideration went into this present, not that the other ones didn't. She pulled out a beautiful golden music box and when she lifted the lid, it played their song. Whatever strength was holding back her tears, it left and she cried openly as she listened to the melody.
Trista showed her how to use her space pocket and they placed all of her new things in it, along with a user's manual for Serena.
"I'm so sorry, I don't have any presents for any of you!" she cried a little harder when Darien pulled her close to help calm her down. She had given him back the star locket because it was meant for Darien's soul mate.
"Koneko, we don't need presents from you, YOU were our present." Amara was doing her best to keep her tears in check as well.
"Princess Serenity, we have one last gift for you but first we must all transform." Everyone in the room transformed into their Scout form and Darien miraculously transformed into Prince Endymion. Serena was instructed to kneel on the floor as her friends circled around her.
Ami placed her right hand on Serena's head.
"I, Princess of Mercury, grant unto thee gifts of Ice and Knowledge." Ami's arm glowed blue as some of her powers were transferred to Sailor Moon.
"I, Princess of Venus, grant unto thee gifts of Love and Beauty."
"I, Prince Endymion, grant unto thee gifts of Soul and Healing."
"I, Princess of Mars, grant unto thee gifts of Fire and Spirit."
"I, Princess of Jupiter, grant unto thee gifts of Lightning and Strength."
"I, Princess of Uranus, grant unto thee gifts of Wind and Speed."
"I, Princess of Neptune, grant unto the gifts of Music and Oceans."
Serena could feel their powers becoming a part of her with the help of the crystal. It was pulling their powers into her body and bonding them with itself to make her more powerful. Everyone listened carefully while Saturn and Pluto bestowed their gifts on her.
"I, Princess of Saturn, Daughter of Hades, restore unto thee the power of Life and Death."
"I, Princess of Pluto, Daughter of Chronos, Keeper of the Gates of Time and Space, bestow the gift of Foresight and the Power of Travel."
As soon as Pluto stepped away from Sailor Moon, she began to glow as the crystal began to translate the powers of the other Scouts into white light. After the light show was over, there in the midst of them stood Sailor Cosmos.
She smiled at all of them as she quietly inspected her new clothes and outfit altogether. After staying in her transformation, Sailor Cosmos thought it wise to power down, but once in civilian form she nearly tripped and fell into the expecting arms of Darien.
Serena wobbled out of his arms and looked at her friends, who silently noticed that she now had silver streaks in her hair. THEY were her family. She cried on each one of them as she squeezed them goodbye as hard as she possibly could before Pluto escorted her through the portal and into the Time Gates.
CHAPTER 4: DIVINE GIFTS
After everyone woke up, they made breakfast and sat in the living room, sharing stories they remembered from growing up. There was much laughter and tears all the way around the living room.
Serena needed to get Darien alone so she could tell him about the last dream she had. It was different from the others. She could actually smell *him*, her lover from the past. He said yes to her invitation for a drive through her beloved city and off they went.
Most of the car ride was quiet, excpet for the stereo quietly playing int he background. With a gleam in her eye, Serena said, "Darien. I've figured it out!"
"Figured out what?" He was confused. She could be so random sometimes.
In a quieter tone than she had just used, she said, "I've figured out why it didn't seem to work between us. I realized it when I woke up this morning." Serena went on to tell him about her dream, leaving out the unnecessary details (like when she was passionately kissing the Chancellor). "I figured out the reason why we thought we were supposed to be together this whole time."
"Tell me already!" Darien was getting impatient. Serena really knew how to push his buttons sometimes.
"Do you remember how whenever Luna or Artemis would remember something from the past, we'd remember after them, seeing the same exact things?" She watched as he nodded his head. "Well, the reason we didn't feel like we were really destined to be together is because we really weren't."
He rolled his eyes at her, "Please tell me you came up with more than that." She hit him in the shoulder.
"Of course I did! You see, the crystal reacts to its master, if you like, to its master's will and knowledge. My mother's dying wish was made for my friends, my lover and I to be sent to the future."
"I already knew that part."
"Be quiet, I'm not done yet." She chided. "Anyway, she only allowed herself to feel what I was feeling and to know if I was in danger. She didn't want to abuse the powers she had by peeking into my mind, so she had no idea that we had secret lovers. Are you following? From what she knew, WE-as in you and I, were lovers and so you and the girls were sent to the future with me."
Darien rubbed his chin, "I get it."
"But there's something else too. I'm guessing that my REAL lover was sent to the future as well and since the only other friends I had had were him and Prince Vegeta, I'm sure they're roaming around somewhere."
Darien sunk the new information into his overloaded brain. "They're probably going to be in that new dimension that you'll be training in," he weakly suggested. Her mind reeled as it tried to remember the dream she had with her mother.
* FLASHBACK *
"There is somewhere you can go for training if you wish. You will live with some friends of mine in another dimension and there you will train with a group of men who are the most powerful beings, second only to us. They can teach you how to fight and use the new powers that you have. This will be a life-changing event."
* END FLASHBACK *
"I think you're right! I love you! You're the best!" She squeezed Darien from the passenger seat. "I've learned that the crystal holds the knowledge of all its possessors before me and so I just have to slowly go through it and learn everything. After my birthday, I'd decided to train with Pluto every night to learn how to make use of my new abilities. Since I'm its new possessor now and its fused with my body, the more and more I use it, the more and more it's revealed things to me, like these dreams. It reveals things to me in my dreams!" The joy she felt from her miniature epiphany was shown to him by her squeezing him harder.
He pulled at her arms to tell her that he couldn't breathe and hen she finally let him breathe, she asked him about how he felt about liking Mina, after apologizing.
"I actually didn't want to say anything to you at first because I didn't know how you'd take it and it probably would have gotten awkward, but do you remember when we started drifting apart? I started having feelings towards her but I didn't want everyone to think that's why we broke up. They're still pretty cautious from the first time."
"I'm sorry Darien. But it will be better now. Do you still love her?"
"I must if I started feeling this way before you told me!" Their dinner came and they ate silently and contentedly.
In the middle of Serena's dinner her head shot up. That got Darien's attention quickly. "Darien!" she semi-yelled.
"Yes?" he asked with one eyebrow raised.
"If you and Mina are soul mates, don't you think she'd be having these feelings too?" Serena told him that she would talk to her as soon as they got home so that they wouldn't have any more confusion.
After lunch, they headed back to the temple and met up with the girls again, who had been working on a surprise for her. Serena called Mina to her and took her into another room. She asked Mina to tell her how she was really feeling about Darien, to make sure that Mina was on the same level as him so she wouldn't be afraid if he tried to make advances with her.
Mina told Serena how she was worried and felt so guilty and Serena blew all that away by telling her about the dreams she had been having. Mina felt so relieved at hearing about Serena's dreams that she started crying. She had really been stressing over it for quite sometime now and Serena had felt bad that Mina felt she couldn't be there to listen to her. They hugged and cried and laughed because they were crying and went out to meet everyone else.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was now 6:30 and it was nearing time for Serena to leave. Trista had shown up at the temple to make sure that everything was set the way it should be before she left this time.
Somehow within the space of one afternoon her friends had managed to get her presents. Trista presented hers first.
"Serena, this is a sub-dimensional pocket. You can use it anywhere, anytime and for anything you want."
"Cool!" was everyone's reactions, especially the blue-haired genius'.
"How do you work it?" Serena asked. Trista showed her that all she had to do was snap her fingers and a hole in the air popped open. It was about the size of a sewer manhole cover. She stuck her hand in it and watched it disappear and reappear many times.
"Alright," Trista said. "Next present." A knock was heard at the door as Serena continued to open her presents. Darien went to open it and found the 3 other Outers standing at the screen.
"Come in, come in," he said as he pointed towards the room that everyone was in. "We're all in here. Serena's just opening presents now. So far, she had a music book from Raye of songs she had written, from Lita she received a calendar which had 12 different pictures of the large group doing fun things as well as 12 recipes, one for each month, Mina gave Serena another photo album full of pictures from the last 4 years of their lives which also included pictures of the outers as well and more pictures from London, where she used to live.
She finished opening her presents around 7:10 and got a book of Roman Mythology from Ami, and Serena thanked her for getting her a book that she would actually read. Ami blushed. Hotaru gave her jewelry and a tiara that had stones that were swirls of white and purple. She showed Serena that if she blew on them, she could make them swirl. They were special rare stones that were given to her by a friend a long time ago. Michelle and Amara gave her a set of CD's from recorded concerts that they had performed together. Serena's eyes welled with tears as she looked around the room at all her friends.
Darien was the last one to give his gift. She opened it carefully, knowing that a lot of time and consideration went into this present, not that the other ones didn't. She pulled out a beautiful golden music box and when she lifted the lid, it played their song. Whatever strength was holding back her tears, it left and she cried openly as she listened to the melody.
Trista showed her how to use her space pocket and they placed all of her new things in it, along with a user's manual for Serena.
"I'm so sorry, I don't have any presents for any of you!" she cried a little harder when Darien pulled her close to help calm her down. She had given him back the star locket because it was meant for Darien's soul mate.
"Koneko, we don't need presents from you, YOU were our present." Amara was doing her best to keep her tears in check as well.
"Princess Serenity, we have one last gift for you but first we must all transform." Everyone in the room transformed into their Scout form and Darien miraculously transformed into Prince Endymion. Serena was instructed to kneel on the floor as her friends circled around her.
Ami placed her right hand on Serena's head.
"I, Princess of Mercury, grant unto thee gifts of Ice and Knowledge." Ami's arm glowed blue as some of her powers were transferred to Sailor Moon.
"I, Princess of Venus, grant unto thee gifts of Love and Beauty."
"I, Prince Endymion, grant unto thee gifts of Soul and Healing."
"I, Princess of Mars, grant unto thee gifts of Fire and Spirit."
"I, Princess of Jupiter, grant unto thee gifts of Lightning and Strength."
"I, Princess of Uranus, grant unto thee gifts of Wind and Speed."
"I, Princess of Neptune, grant unto the gifts of Music and Oceans."
Serena could feel their powers becoming a part of her with the help of the crystal. It was pulling their powers into her body and bonding them with itself to make her more powerful. Everyone listened carefully while Saturn and Pluto bestowed their gifts on her.
"I, Princess of Saturn, Daughter of Hades, restore unto thee the power of Life and Death."
"I, Princess of Pluto, Daughter of Chronos, Keeper of the Gates of Time and Space, bestow the gift of Foresight and the Power of Travel."
As soon as Pluto stepped away from Sailor Moon, she began to glow as the crystal began to translate the powers of the other Scouts into white light. After the light show was over, there in the midst of them stood Sailor Cosmos.
She smiled at all of them as she quietly inspected her new clothes and outfit altogether. After staying in her transformation, Sailor Cosmos thought it wise to power down, but once in civilian form she nearly tripped and fell into the expecting arms of Darien.
Serena wobbled out of his arms and looked at her friends, who silently noticed that she now had silver streaks in her hair. THEY were her family. She cried on each one of them as she squeezed them goodbye as hard as she possibly could before Pluto escorted her through the portal and into the Time Gates.