This is the first of two epilogues.

Meaning I have written two alternative endings to this story.

Please read both.

(the second Epilogue will be up very very soon)

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"When Dawn Comes"

By Kimra

Part XXV (a)

He watched the city with something bordering on disconnection. Something empty and hollow had slowly eaten away at him for so long now that he could remember nothing but the feeling burrowed within.

"Endymion?"

He titled his head in response, hardly moving, hardly listening. The presence behind him approached, stoping by his side and lingering passively. He knew what they wanted, all of them, although they had only sent Mar's this time, he knew all too well she was there representing them all.

Lightning streaked across the sky. The beginnings of another storm.

"It's time to go home." The gentle hand she rested on his arm made him flinch. Nothing felt good anymore. He had thought he had lost everything before he lost her, he knew so much better now.

He considered telling the girl by him that he had no home, but no words came, no sound or movement of recognition. His glazed eyes continued to stare at the empty city, the lights flickering on and off, the shell of a world fading into nothing. Because how could there be anything without her.

He had never even realised how much he depended on her, before they where lovers, before they had even met she had been his hope, before they had met there had always been the chance of finding someone, something that would bring the world back to him, but with her gone he knew there where no chances.

"Please Darien, your worrying us."

He pulled his eyes from the empty world below to face the purple haired scout. He wondered fleetingly how they had all explained the sudden changes in themselves. Not just the physical changes, changes that had gone far deeper. The death of their princess, of their ward, of their friend had scarred all their souls. They where more mature for it, more empty and nothing like the people they deserved to be.

Serena's body had never reverted back to her civilian form, never shifted from that of the princess she had been destined to be. They had been forced to leave the mortal Serena behind, watch the police enquiries into her disappearance, watch her family cling to hopeless hopes that she would one day reappear. And they had been forced to lie and cheat those people she had held closest to her heart, because the secrets where too dangerous to share.

"Come home." She repeated softly her expression earnest, and this time he surrendered. There was no use in arguing with them; there was no use in anything. He turned back to the stairs, pushing back the power in his body, letting mortality touch him once more.

A wisp of a smile came to her lips; a brief moment of false happiness before it all came tumbling back to her. He saw her expression sadden, upset with herself that she had allowed the thought of a smile. Nothing had tempted him to smile over the month. When he had mourned her there had been no one but Luna who knew the extent of his mourning. Her guardians had suspected, or understood as there past lives caught up with them, the importance Serena… Serenity… had in his life.

He took the stairs silently, descending into a building he had no care for. Mars didn't follow him, her task complete knowing he would eventually return 'home'. His shoulders dropped further as he exited the building. It was easier to mourn as a human, easier to mourn when there where hundreds of people around who didn't care for your state of mind. That was something he had learnt as a child.

He avoided the familiar streets, streets that rang with the memory of her. His apartment lay deserted somewhere within the city. He had not the heart to return to where memories where most fresh, nor to destroy the last remnants of her.

Lightning crashed again, and this time the rain came with it, pelting down against him, drenching his clothes. He was closer to smiling at that moment then he had been all month, a bitter smile full of resentful acceptance, but even that smile never made it to his lips.

He made it home after many hours of wondering. Home at least as it had become. Mercury was waiting for him, in human form, curled up on the stairs blue hair tumbling across her face. He touched her gently and she came to the alert instantly.

"Hi." He gave her a weary smile, his gratitude for her care as she stood and brushed off her blue skirt.

"We expected you sooner." She whispered as he walked past her, ascending the wooden stairs.

He had brought a different apartment, away from everything, Luna had been the first to arrive. To keep him company, she had insisted but he knew she was as scared and alone as he had become. They each had depended on her so much. The others had slowly drifted into his home, Lita had come quickly, no mortal binding her. Amy had just showed up one night, her face streaked with tears and had asked if she could join them. Mina had shown up out of the blue with Artimis, no one was sure where they had been before joining them. Rei had taken the longest to break down, to show up at the house, and she hadn't asked nor had she needed to, she had belonged there as they all did.

Together there was some sort of solace they couldn't find anywhere else. And it made the difficult tasks a little easier. That Malachite persisted after the incident, that Beryl had not relented after the loss of one of her generals left them once more fighting nightly. Only now the fights became harder each day, their own wills unequal to the task given to them. He had known very early on when the battles had reigned that he still fought for her, because he knew how much she had valued everything around her, and he refused to allow something of sch great importance to her fade away.

"Andrew came again."

His feet stoped, the very breath in his lung's pausing as he processed the information. Andrew would never cease, and it was like rubbing salt into wounds to terrible to endure. He pushed the feeling of desolation away, he refused to be overwhelmed again today.

"Lita told him she'd beat him if he showed up again. Rei told him much the same." She followed him as he once more began climbing the stairs. "I think you should go to the arcade."

It was a sentence he had heard before so he had learnt the evasion well. "Maybe tomorrow." He uttered without an ounce of feeling, only if life depended on it would he enter that tomb of memories. He had too many memories without digging more up.

"You said that yesterday." She was whispering still. She had gone quieter after the accident, more contemplative and very dangerous in battle.

"I'll probably say it tomorrow as well." He didn't have the energy to lie to them.

"Darien." She caught his arm in a gentle hold, her silence a sign he recognised as she waited to be acknowledged. He looked back at her patiently. "I'm worried about you." She said earnestly, her eyes showing the concern she spoke of.

"You don't have to protect me." He replied slowly drawing from her hold and moving onwards.

Amy's voice came out broken as he walked away. "You're the closest thing we have to her. Without you, we don't have a purpose."

He blinked the tears out before he was aware of them, his chest constricting, wishing he had someone to protect.

Darien watched the image of the glistening crystal with apprehension. It floated above the dais, a silver glow emanating from it core and flooding the air around it. It hurt to see it, because it too had been hers. He tore his gaze from the image to the black cat that watched him, an expression of sympathy on her own face.

"Why am I here?" He gritted it out, his voice horse and his throat tight.

Luna jumped t the bench at his side, her eyes thoughtful. "This is the essence of Serenity. The Silver Imperial Crystal."

"I know that." He chocked out, trying not to look at it, even trying not to look to his loves guardian.

"Endymion," Luna chided "so long as it exists, so to does she."

Hope swelled in him. "But she's dead." He growled, trying to deny the hope that was fluttering to life again. "We buried her."

"You are talking figuratively." Luna interjected. "There was no grave made for Serena Tsukino."

He found himself disturbed by the words, unsure what to make of them. No they hadn't dug her a grave but he had never let himself think about where her body lay. "What are you saying Luna?" He stared at the cat, uncertainly mixed with a twinge of hope, what he hoped for he wasn't sure.

Luna moved across the desk and settled by Central's controls. It had taken Luna's request for him to come here, and he would have denied that to if her expression had not been so earnest. Luna typed something in and another door opened. He turned to look through it and found his princess, lying still, as if sleep itself held her and not death. Automatically he moved to her, unable to resit the pull in his soul. But he knew, from their bond alone, that she was not inside the shell that was her body.

Again he was bombarded with thoughts that had long ailed him. He wanted to shout at her, for allowing such danger close, wanted to scream that she should have told him she was going to battle, so that he could have been there for her. He wanted to cry at her and beg her to come back, but he had done all of it before, and he knew how useless it was. Instead he fell to his knees beside her, reverently taking her hand, unwilling to ruffle the perfect way she lay on the pedestal.

"The healing powers of the crystal have maintained her body, despite the separation. Though do not be deceived by the life she seems to hold, she is not there."

He nodded at Luna's words, barely acknowledging her presence in the room. Tears seeped from his eyes, trickling down his chin and falling to the ground. He had lost track of the tears shed for her since her death.

"Endymion-"

"Give me a minute." He interrupted her before she could continue and settled his check against her hand. The crystal was doing it's job well, her body radiated a warmth that was unreal, trying to trick him into believing her alive. The tear that slithered down to met her delicate fingers where ignored, and once more he let himself wallow in the misery of her loss.

Luna shifted behind him, and he turned tear stained eyes to her.

"Darien, we can get her back." The cat's blunt voice penetrated him as nothing had for so long. He stared at her, that hope that he had fought breaking out of his restraint and thundered through his body like an alarm.

"What?" He gasped the word, unable to believe Luna had said such a thing, unable to believe the certainty that had been in her voice.

"So long as the crystal is alive, she is alive, as is the bond between them. But to get her back, we need the Silver Imperial Crystal." Luna's eyes looked into his, searching and honest. "Have not your dreams been telling you so?" Her question although tentative made him wince. Yes his dreams had told him, that same dream that had haunted him before had returned to claim his sleepless nights. He had refused to listen to them, he had given up hope. A pang of guilt and pain shot through him, he had given up home on her.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" He demanded harshly, angry that he had wasted time when he could have been planning.

"I was unsure. Our memories are taking time to re-establish themselves. I did not want to raise hopes when there was no hope." Luna's expression was pained, but a determination was settled in her eyes. "We can get her back. All we have to do is retrieve the crystal from Beryl."

He smirked at that it was so deceptively simple. Yet it was a so minimal compared to what he was wiling to do to bring her back. Hope made it's way into his heart and made it's home there once more.

"The scouts will follow you. Your objectives are the same. Return Serenity. Bring back Serena."

Bring back Serena. He though about that every day, and now she offered him a way. He stood slowly, settling his loves hand back by her side, then lent down over her placing a soft kiss to her lips.

They would have her back. They couldn't survive without her.

THE END (a)

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Hey Everyone! I'm trying to get my reviews up to a Thousand.... it's so close yet so far away right now. I reckon I can do it, but it needs everyone who's actually read this far to hit that cute little review button down there (this is me pointing down to that left hand corner of your screen that's '-- that way'). So please please please review this story. Lots of time and effort has gone into writing it and I know I'm whining but really how long does it take to put in a review?

Kimra Lelanst

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