Author's note: Thank you so much for leaving your reviews and your support for my Sailor Moon stories. It's been a long while since I've updated but while I find the energy to continue the final chapters of Kintsugi, I bring you this short one shot which I hope you will enjoy.

This one shot takes place after Darien and Serena gets back together after he broke up with her following the nightmares that King Endymion of the 30th Century sent him in order to test his love for her. This story explores their relationship following this trial and how they can move on stronger than ever.

Waiting in the Wings

Serena let go of her transformation and Sailor Moon no longer stood before him. He watched, perplexed, as she grumbled under her breath, her brows pushed together in a frown. She shook her hand vigorously, as if she were trying to make something work after a lot of frustration. He let go of his own transformation and he felt his alter ego fade away to leave Darien Chiba where Tuxedo Mask once stood.

"Thanks, Darien!" Mina grinned, slapping his arm as she strolled past him. "That would have really sucked if that attack had got me."

"It's no problem, Mina," he replied.

"Yeah, thanks, Darien," Lita echoed her fellow sailor soldier. "I swear sometimes these monsters get weirder."

"Well, we can't always rely on Moon power to get the job done," Raye shrugged.

Serena narrowed her eyes at the priestess in irritation but no one but Darien noticed that.

"Be reasonable, Raye," Amy said kindly. "We've never faced an enemy that used mirrors in an offensive way like that. Light rays bounce off the surface of smooth, shiny surfaces so powers that channel light wouldn't have an effect on it. This is why Mina couldn't attack either."

"Oh, please," Raye waved away her explanation. "Our powers may come from the elements, but we do have other attacks in our arsenal."

"Anyway," Darien interrupted sharply, "thanks, girls. More innocents saved, a job well done. I suppose we've learned a hard lesson in physics today. It pays to do your homework."

"Eugh, you can keep it," Mina grimaced.

"Next time, we know to take the defensive approach," Lita grinned, picking up a rose at her feet where just one of the many had fallen to grace the area following Tuxedo Mask's attack to defeat their latest monster.

"We're going to go and get some cake at the arcade," Mina announced. "Serena, coming?"

Serena glanced at her lookalike and shook her head. Mina pursed her lips before nodding back and gestured for the girls to follow her. Amy, Raye and Lita looked at Serena in concern as it was most unlike her to turn down cake before following their leader, leaving her alone with Darien.

"Are you okay?" Darien asked Serena once the girls were out of earshot.

Serena's head whipped round to look at him and she raised her eyes to the sky and sighed. She walked over to a bench nearby and plonked herself heavily onto the seat. Darien walked over and sat next to her, peering at her silently.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, offering him a small smile.

He considered her for a moment before leaning back against the bench and cast his eyes over the park, realising that they were nearby his favourite rose garden, incidentally where Serena always asked to go to sit with him when she felt distressed about anything.

"You do know that I love you, don't you?"

Her eyes bore into him when she stared at his face, still facing the gardens in front of them.

"Why would you ask that?" she faltered.

"Because I can sense something is wrong," he admitted. "You don't seem to feel any differently when you're with me than when you're not." He paused. "Except maybe a little distant."

She turned her face away from him and sat back against the backrest of the bench. They sat in silence as the minutes went by. The only sounds to break the silence was the birds singing in the trees, the rustling of the leaves as the breeze playfully nudged them and the laughter of other park dwellers. Serena felt Darien's hand fall on hers, his fingers intertwining with her own. She looked down at their clasped hands, and she frowned.

"You do know that I kept my distance from you to protect you, don't you?" he asked uncertainly.

She looked into his midnight blue eyes, seeing the turmoil there but she couldn't reassure him this time. It was just a feeling that she couldn't ignore. She pressed her lips together.

"Darien," she breathed. "I know… that you love me. But you left me. I just could never imagine leaving you to save you. I know that I have all the power I need to keep you safe if I need to. I'm just not sure you feel that you do. You've been my protector since we met a thousand years ago. And suddenly one day you felt like you couldn't be that person anymore. You were gone. And I'm not sure I'm okay with that." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I could never lie to you."

"I'm glad that you can't," he said. He sniffed and cleared his throat. "I can't ever express how sorry I am for the pain I must have put you through. Really, I know how it feels to hurt because I felt it too. It killed me to be away from you. I was just so… terrified of losing you. It literally haunted me." He sat forward and turned his body to face her. He took her hands in both of his, forcing her to turn to him. "I will always have the power to protect you, Serena. Never doubt that. In all the time I've known you, my role in your life hasn't changed and it never will. Even when it felt like I wasn't there for you, I was in the shadows in case you needed me."

"That's the problem though, Darien," she replied. "I needed you with me. I don't need a guardian angel."

"I can't lie to you either," he confessed. "I'm still… scared about being with you in case my dreams are prophetic. However, I know that without you I'm missing a crucial part of myself."

Serena laughed. Darien frowned in confusion.

"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "It's just sometimes you say words that ring so true."

"What did I say?" he asked curiously.

"Missing a crucial part of yourself," she quoted. "Have you noticed anything different about our battles the past few weeks?"

"In what way?"

"Specifically, soon after we broke up," she said flatly.

Darien frowned, pulling the corners of his mouth down in thought.

"I don't think so," he said cluelessly.

"I can't fight with the girls like I used to," she revealed.

"What do you mean? You fought fine today."

"Fine?" she echoed. "Fine isn't good enough. I can barely use the powers of the silver crystal. It's like something is blocking me. For example, that crack Raye made earlier about us having other attacks in our arsenal beyond our elemental powers. She's right. I should have been able to defeat that monster earlier if I was able to use my powers. My moon tiara? It doesn't work with an expert flick of my wrist. The power comes from the moon. That's how the magic works. These days, at best, it's a golden frisbee. Do you know what else I could have used on that monster earlier to destroy it? My supersonic waves that amplify sound from my red hair pieces. It would have shattered the mirrors. You wouldn't have had to intervene, and Lita and Mina wouldn't have needed your help. But when I try to access these abilities, they're weak. It's why I couldn't help today." She sighed. "I'm surprised Amy didn't consider my attacks beyond my moon power."

"I suppose they aren't attacks you use very often," Darien mused. He raised his hand to her cheek, tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear. "It's not your fault."

"How can you say that?" she said in exasperation. "I'm supposed to be the protector of this planet and I can't do that! I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Is this what has been bothering you?" he asked, his face contemplative.

Serena nodded her head briefly as if to respond that it was.

"Serena," he started, adjusting his seated position to take her hands again in his own. "I want to show you something."

She cocked her head to one side and sat up straighter, allowing him to squeeze her hands gently in each of his. He closed his eyes as if in deep meditation and she glanced around them in wonder, before closing her eyes too, waiting. That was when she felt it. It was subtle but it was there. It was like something warm, familiar and safe was pulling on her heart string and that something was someone she loved. She could feel it in every cell that called her body home. She didn't need her vision to know it was Darien. No one had this warmth. No one had his heart. It was a heart that was hers and hers alone. And it was calling out to her.

She saw her face, but it wasn't her face. It was younger somehow, paler, innocent, as if this face had never seen the true horrors of the world. The ethereal beauty that she'd only ever known the Silver Millennium Lunarian Queen to possess. The strands of such pale blonde that it almost appeared white. She knew this face because it was once hers. She felt the love in her heart looking at this face and she knew that this love came from Darien, but she felt it in her own heart.

Before she could react in her mind and wonder how this was possible, she could see a familiar memory of the downfall of the Silver Millennium, but she was seeing a side to it that she knew she had never experienced. She saw swords drawn, a shield in one hand and the desire to protect. She saw evil and terror rain down on the Moon Kingdom, but it was her familiar face that she saw again, arms coming out to protect her. And she felt the love there. She remembered the safety she felt in those arms and she could feel it again underneath the love she felt in her heart now for the princess that was in the cage of protection offered in those arms.

Then she felt an annoying collision on her head, and she saw why in her mind's eye. A balled-up piece of paper landed in large square hands, exactly those hands holding onto her own right now. She saw the angry red '30' staring at her on a test paper and hearing the angry response to her eyes seeing that grade. Her eyes saw her own angry face and she immediately recalled this memory. The first day she met Darien after their first incarnation on Earth outside the Crown Arcade. She felt the familiarity in her heart, even though neither of them knew who the other was to each other in a past life. She could feel her heart singing at the sight of her. She could feel a hint of love there, though confusion overpowered it.

Memory after memory overwhelmed her sight in her mind's eye, from their first meeting as Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion to their first meeting as Serena Tsukino and Darien Chiba, right up to the moment Darien chose to break up with Serena a few weeks ago. And that was when it all went black, but not before she felt the pain, as sharp as a knife, in her chest where her heart was.

She opened her eyes and stared at Darien, feeling breathless.

"What was that?" she managed to get out.

"My telepathic connection to you," he told her. "It took me a long time to realise that we had it. But it was after I learned how to transform into Tuxedo Mask of my own free will that I knew that I shared a connection with Sailor Moon. I didn't know what it was, then we learned who we were to each other. And then I knew why I instinctively knew when you needed me." He brought his hand up to her face, stroking her cheek carefully, affectionately, lovingly. "I wanted you to see how much I love you. How much your life means to me, Serena. You're everything to me."

Serena felt the tears rise and before she could do anything about it, she felt them fall. Without saying anything, he wiped the falling tears from her cheek with his thumb and he leaned forward to press his lips gently against her cheek that tasted slightly salty after her tears had fallen. He raised his lips to her forehead and then to her other cheek. He pecked her on the lips once, twice and then pulled away.

"I knew that if I held onto you, you would be able to access our connection too," he whispered. "It's not strong enough yet for us to access it both ways but my love for you makes it stronger. And I think I figured out why you're struggling with your own powers."

"What is it?" she murmured, her voice thick with emotion.

"The heartbreak, the stress of what I put you through, everything you've experienced," he explained. "Emotion can either power us up or block us from what makes us powerful. It's not your fault that you can't be the ultimate power right now. But I will help you. I'm your protector but I'm also your strength. There aren't enough words in the world to express how much I regret hurting you, but I also worry about you. My powers come from the desire to protect but your powers come from love. And I hurt your love. But there's one more thing that you don't know about."

"Another thing?" she asked.

"I can share my energy with people," he revealed. "It's like drawing on the power of my guardian planet. I can use it to help you in those moments you feel weak. You can feel it sometimes."

"The warmth," she whispered, pulling her hand up to her heart.

He hadn't let go of her hand that now rested above her heart. He kept his fingers intertwined with hers and now he could feel her heartbeat, strong and powerful. He felt no desire greater than wishing for her spirit to feel this strong.

"I would do anything to keep you safe," he told her. She looked into his eyes and she saw the truth there. "Even if it meant watching you from the shadows."

"I never wanted you in the shadows, Darien," she murmured. "I just wanted you."

"I know," he acknowledged. "I know. The thing is…" he paused, considering their entwined hands, "I was always waiting in the wings. I've never been able to grasp whether I was enough to keep you safe. My efforts were for nought once upon a time because you still died. And I blame myself."

Serena made to protest but he hushed her with a kiss on the lips.

"But I'm stronger now," he said. "My love for you makes me stronger and I just hope that it can do the same for you. I know it hurt to break up with you because the feeling nearly destroyed me. But losing you to save you made me realise that I've always had the power to do what was necessary to protect you. And I always, always will. You are my heart, Serena."

Serena gaped at him, lost for words. She knew him to be sincere because he wasn't any other way. No one had a heart like he did. His love for her made her feel whole. She felt the warmth that only he possessed, and she felt it in her hands which was odd. She looked down and Darien pulled his hands away from her grasp. Their eyes widened when they saw the light emanating from her palms and she looked up at him in shock.

"It looks like we're starting to find the spark to turn on the light," he smiled, running the back of his finger down the length of her nose.

She let out a laugh in disbelief and threw her arms around his neck, leaping into his lap from the bench. She felt the warmth in her palms fade but not in her heart. She knew without a shadow of a doubt, that whatever was coming for them next, their strength wouldn't fail them. Even when it felt impossible, he would move the very earth for her. And in the second of knowing that in her head, she felt it in her heart and that was enough to know that without him, she wasn't powerless, but with him, she was complete and more powerful than she could ever imagine.