Awakening and Forgiveness
She awoke to bright beaming happy faces…and she had never been more confused. Her head was pounding as unmercifully as before, but that didn't bother her as much as the sheer joy in the faces above her. She didn't even know these girls. Why were they sticking around and why are they so happy? She was surprised to see even the dark longhaired girl was smiling at her from ear to ear. And the gorgeous man was sitting beside her on the bed, his eyes glowing. What on earth is going on?
She shook her head, winced at the pain, and stared at them in complete perplexity. "What happened? What did I do know?"
The entire group gave each other looks of surprise and a sad sigh erupted among them. Only Lita spoke.
"Well there goes that theory and that hope!"
Rei rolled her eyes and stared at Lita. "Of course, Lita. Hello! This is the Meatball-head we're talking about! Her head is so hard nothing short of sledgehammer is going to get through to it. I'm amazed she got amnesia in the first place."
Michiru just sighed quietly in relief. "At least she's all right." She smiled at the girl in the bed. "You had us all searching the city for you, thinking you'd died or fallen off the face of the earth."
The girl blinked. She shook her head again. "Wait a minute, wait a minute! Are you telling me I'm somebody you all know?"
Hotaru nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh. You're crescent moon birthmark on your forehead gave you away!"
The girl blinked evermore in bewilderment. "That is what helped you recognize me? You didn't recognize me before?"
Mina burst out laughing. "That's because you're hair was so different! With that huge braid of course we couldn't recognize you, though Darien was having a severe heart palpation because he said you looked so much like yourself!"
The entire group burst out laughing as Darien gave her a crooked sheepish smile. But the relief and happiness and love in his eyes were not getting past her. She was part of a couple with this hunk?
She turned to the laughing group, her eyes still wide with confusion. "Is that why you called me a Meatball-head? It had something to do with my hair?"
Haruka jabbed Rei when she saw the utter horror in their friend's eyes. "Rei you should know better. You know she isn't ready for your teasing yet! I swear as soon as we find her you start again, but she can't defend herself. She doesn't know enough!"
Rei stared at her toe.
Not wanting to waste another moment on this mystery, considering that her hair did feel different than the way she had it, she got out of the bed and went toward the mirror. Sure enough, her hair was up in two high pigtails, but because of the length had been wrapped several times before being let hang. It definitely looked like two meatballs!
Her eyes started to water. "This is what I look like every day! I look like a complete idiot with these balls on my head! I prefer my huge braid thank you!"
Setsuna emerged from behind her with a smile, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "This is your signature hairdo, Serenity. It is what makes you, you. That's why we couldn't recognize you earlier. You looked so unlike yourself without it."
The girl looked up to Setsuna with wide eyes. "Serenity?"
Ami shook her head. "All this time and we forgot to tell her. I can't believe we forgot to tell you your name." Ami approached her friend with a big smile. "Your name is Serena Tsukino. Only Setsuna calls you Serenity, but that's your name too."
Serena blinked at them in confusion, but rolled the name over her tongue. "Serena. Serenity." She looked up at the smiling faces. "I guess that all right, but I still don't like being called a Meatball-head over a hairdo I don't even like."
Darien laughed and approached Serena. She turned, looking up at him with huge eyes, her cheeks flushing. "I call you that too, Meatball-head. But in my case it's more like an endearment, unlike Rei."
Serena's eyes glowed. "So we're… we're an item?"
Darien smiled. "We sure are. We're engaged and you are living with me. I'm very sure that makes us an item."
Her eyes widened. "I'm living with you? How old am I?"
Darien grinned. "Nineteen and a half."
Dear goodness. She stared up at him and then at the girls around her and a thought suddenly struck her. "Hey, can I do what you guys did? Is that why I always get this impulse to help and to fight?"
The group nodded. But it was Ami who spoke. "But we don't know what happened to your compact. It had the Silver Crystal inside of it."
Serena blinked and reached into her shirt. She looked up holding the huge locket. "Do you mean this?"
Everyone stared dumbfounded. Rei scowled at her. "You had it all along!"
Serena took a step back and Lita jabbed Rei. "Well, yes. Dr. Takani said it was the only thing they found on me that could identify me. So I guess it just has, huh?"
The group nodded and Haruka let out a whoop! "All right! We finally found Serena!" She crossed her arms and glowered. "And it sure took a hell of a long time."
Michiru giggled and placed a hand on Haruka's arm. "Yes. And we're so glad you're back with us! Now we won't loose anymore sleep worrying about you, Serena."
Serena smiled and Darien unconsciously took her in his arms. She stared at him in confusion, but he didn't seem to have noticed what he had done. Serena didn't mind; it felt warm and safe. And with the chatter of the friends among her she felt at peace. She had found who she was and she wasn't alone. She smiled at the wonderful faces before her and wondered how a girl could get so lucky as to have so many best friends that care about her?
* * *
Serena thought it would have been strange going to home she didn't recognize. She didn't think it would be so difficult to cope with. Especially with the girls letting information slip. Information that was obviously too complicated to tell her about. She had to remember. And that really upset the group.
But Darien was the one that seemed to be having the most difficulty. When she was released from the hospital, Darien took her to the apartment and then realized that this was going to cause a problem. They shared the same bed…and she had no memory. But that was only the beginning of Darien's discomforting experience. Having her back was a relief and happiness he could not begin to describe, but not being able to touch her or have the same intimacy they enjoyed in the past was going to drive him insane.
But on top of all this, they still had the problem of the specter and the monsters. What was going to be its next move? And when was it going to happen? And when it did, would Serena's memory be back yet? All these questions arose, making it all the more difficult for the friends and family to cope with Serena's amnesia. What could they do without confusing her all the more? Nothing but wait.
Luckily, when a situation finally came—another monster had attacked—the problem became solved. The Starlights all rushed to where the monster was attacking, all of the women knowing that they were being lured into a trap, yet knowing they could not avoid it. Darien went with them, thinking he had convinced Serena to stay at home while they handled this. She would not stay behind. And when the Starlights and Tuxedo-Mask finally arrived, they knew that without Eternal Sailor Moon they would loose.
The creature was a hundred times more powerful than the ones before it and its rage was much more intense. The group blasted it with their most powerful attacks, but to no avail. The thing was much too powerful and as it got the upper hand on the Starlights they knew this was one battle they could not win on their own. Tuxedo-Mask tried to help them as much as he could, but in the end he was at the mercy of the monster as well. He did not have the power to defeat it on his own. But a scream of rage turned the monster's attention away from the Starlights and the man among them.
When they turned to see who had caused the scream, there stood a furious Serena, holding the glowing Silver Moon Crystal as it blazed with power.
"No, Serena!" Tuxedo-Mask called out. "You can't do it without transforming! You need to transform first!"
But his words were drowned out by the creature's cry of fury as it charged at the girl who had no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she had to help her friends and her love and the only way she could do it was with the crystal she held in her hands.
With a cry of power, fear and rage the crystal blazed and blasted, a huge beam of light erupting from the crystal as it came forth and crashed against the monster. The power from the crystal demolished it, leaving nothing but ashes. As the light and the energy began to fade away, Serena collapsed to the ground, the silver crystal sliding from her fingers as her friends rushed to her. Their worried faces were the last thing she saw before her eyes slid shut.
When she finally awoke they were all staring down at her in complete worry. Serena blinked and smiled slowly up at them. "Hey, guys," was the whisper that emerged. She slowly sat up and all the women present heaved a sigh of relief. She just smiled at them and shook her befuddled head.
Rei scowled at her. "Good grief, Serena! You scared the bejeezus out of me! Never try to use that crystal again without transforming into Sailor Moon, okay?"
The group shushed Rei immediately after. But it was too late. The entire group waited for the inevitable question of "Sailor Moon?" but it never came. They stared at Serena who just blinked at them in confusion.
"I used the Silver Crystal without transforming? How did I pull that one off guys? The same way I brought Sapphire, Diamond and Nephlite from the dead?"
The stared at in for a brief moment of shock before what she said finally hit them. She had her memory back! The entire group burst out in squeals of joy and hugged the guts out of Serena. She just laughed, savoring the moment…
Until Darien walked in the room.
While everyone else was still in a frenzy of happiness, Serena had gone still and turned her face away from the man across the room. Darien winced at the hurt in her eyes. She had her memory back. Now all he had to do was convince her that it had not been him, but the evil specter that had been speaking through him. The Starlights gathered around him, still bellowing their delight, not realizing the predicament that Serena and he stood in. But with two silent friends they got the idea. The group quietly left the room, pushing Luna and Artemis away as they began to enter the room to see Serena.
Darien just stared at her, and she stared at the wall beside her. She couldn't look at him. She couldn't look at him. She had given him her heart and her soul! She didn't want to cry anymore! And that's all she seemed to do with him and their relationship! Cry. She was sick of it. Somehow she would have to cope with living without him…
She felt him sit on the bed and felt his hand gently go beneath her chin. He lifted her tortured gaze to his own and drowned in her beautiful eyes. Her lips and eyes trembled beneath his stare. Darien stroked her cheek and whispered, "Listen first, before you do something we'll both regret."
Serena's eyes filled with tears. "I think that's already happened, Darien. It's obvious we weren't meant to be. If we were you wouldn't get sick of me every so often and dump or forget me!" Darien shook his head and stared into her eyes, his own full of moisture.
"Oh, Serena. This time was no different from the others. First time we met—in this lifetime—we hated each other only because we liked each other so much." His lips quirked. "Then we remembered and then I was taken by Queen Beryl and brainwashed. You healed me and defeated her, and I forgot again. You helped me remember, and then I got those terrible dreams that made me do something drastic. When that was over I was trapped in a world of endless nightmares, and then died in a plane crash. Each time you saved my hide. This time, the specter that tried to destroy you with the Tree of the Lost tried to do it again. Only this time it spoke through me and made me say something I didn't mean."
Serena's eyes widened. "Why didn't you fight it?"
Darien smiled sheepishly. "Probably because I didn't know what had happened to me until you ran out of here in tears." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "Oh, Serena we've through every possible hell and back." He stared down into her eyes again. "This was just another hurdle to get over." His eyes glistened with the love in his heart. "I love you, Serena."
Tears spilled onto her cheeks as she smiled brilliantly. "I love you, Darien."
And as they embraced each other for a passionate kiss, they heard sniffing. Breaking away they turned to the door where the entire group stood there, Ami with a camcorder in hand. Mina sniffled and wiped her eyes. "That was absolutely beautiful!"
Haruka grinned and pointed to the camcorder. "And now we have it on film for posterity!"
The entire group burst out laughing. Darien and Serena grinned and kissed long and deeply, the Starlights hooting the whole time!
The camcorder continued to record.