Title: Winter Snow
Author: Crystal Saturn
Rated: G-PG 13+
Chapter: 11- Hidden Truths

Last time on "Winter Snow"…

"So you called just to hear my voice?" Darien asked.

"Um… y…yeah." Serena faltered. The dark figure began to move closer and closer. Serena walked backwards, and attempted to hide behind her bed. She was terrified. The pink and white curtains moved as the figure stood just a step away from them. A pair of hands brushed the curtains away and the dark figure stepped into the room. Serena dropped the phone…



"But wouldn't speaking to me in person be much better?" The dark figure spoke, stepping into the light and revealing his face.

"Darien!" Serena jumped in fright. She was shaking slightly. Darien turned off the phone that he was talking into and placed it on Serena's table.

"Did I scare you?" Darien asked, smiling.

"Darien you jerk! You scared the hell out of me! How could you?! I was hiding behind my bed, scared beyond belief!" Serena lightly slapped Darien's arm.

"Ouch! Oww! Ok, sorry! Sorry! Geez I always thought that you'd be happy to see me!" Darien put his hands up to surrender.

"What are you doing here?" Serena asked, still quite angry.

"I sensed that something was wrong, about half an hour ago, so I called you. Your mother said that you had fallen asleep straight after you came back from school, so I had to make up an excuse. When you called, I sensed a bit of tension in your voice so I came to see if you were ok." Darien said sincerely. Serena sighed deeply and hugged Darien. "What's wrong Sere?" Darien asked. Serena took a deep breath, trying to calm her rampant heartbeat.

"Nothing," She released her hold of him.

"What happened?" Darien asked, referring to uneasy feeling he had earlier, concerning Serena.

"Oh I just had…" Serena's voice faded as she had sudden, quick flashes of her dream. The battle had seemed so real, as if it wasn't a dream, but more of a memory.

"Are you ok?" Darien noticed the sudden distant look in Serena's voice and eyes.

"Oh, yeah…yeah. I just had a quite vivid dream." Serena snapped out of her trance.

"Well do you want to talk about it?" Darien asked, caringly.

"No, no, it's alright, just another stupid dream, nothing that exciting." Serena smiled

"Oh alright then," Darien gave Serena a hug. Just then, Serena's mother called from downstairs.

"Serena? Are you alright?" Illene asked.

"Oh my gosh, that's my mother, you have to go." Serena whispered hurriedly. She pushed Dariens' phone into his hand, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and saw him leave, via the balcony.

"Serena? What's going on? I heard you call out Darien's name and when you didn't answer, I thought something was wrong." Illene came into the room. Serena was leaning over the balcony.

"Oh, yeah sure mum, I'm fine. Um… Darien just walked past and I just said 'hi' to him" Serena explained.

"Oh well, ok. Don't forget to open the door to let Luna in tonight ok?" Illene reminded before she left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Yes, that's it…Luna can help me!" Serena said quietly to herself.

"I'm not doing your homework for you, if that's what you mean." Luna came in from the balcony.

"No Luna, what do you know about the Silver Millennium?" Serena asked sitting on the bed.

"To be honest, not much" Luna sat next to Serena. "Why?" She asked.

"Well because I had a dream, just then, and it was about the Silver Millennium, on the moon." Serena said remembering the masked ball.

"What was it about Serena?" Luna said, sounding urgent.

"Well everyone called me Princess Serenity, and I was with Prince Darien, at a masked ball." Serena explained every single detail of her dream… "And then I woke up." She said. Luna looked at her blankly, but she was obviously thinking to herself.

"That was a very detailed dream you had Serena." She said finally.

"Yes, but the thing is, it felt so real." Serena said distantly, placing a hand over where she had inserted the sword, in her dream.

"Like a memory." Both Serena and Luna said at the same time.

"What do you think it means Luna?" Serena asked.

"Well, I do know that there was a Princess Serenity and a Prince Darien back in the Silver Millennium. And that they were engaged to wed but Beryl and her minions attacked on the eve of their wedding, destroying everything. Queen Serenity saw all the destruction that Beryl had created and she also saw her daughter, lying lifeless beside her beloved prince, and vowed that one day that all good would rule again. She then sent Princess Serenity, Prince Darien, and the scouts into the future to live our lives safely on earth, and she also sent Artemis and I to guide you all and reunite the Prince and Princess, to rule the future together as King and Queen." Luna told Serena. "But I have no idea why you had that dream." Luna lied. *Could it be, that Serena, is Princess Serenity?* Luna thought to herself. Her suspicions grew and she decided to talk to Artemis about it.

"Well ok then, thanks for your help Luna." Serena said before the doorbell rang. Serena ran downstairs to open the door. She opened the door to see Mina and Artemis

"Hey Sere! Sorry, I know It's late but I remembered that I left a bag here earlier." Mina explained.

"Hey Mina! Come in." Serena opened the door wider to let her friend in. Artemis hopped of Mina's shoulder and began to talk to Luna. They began discussing Luna's new findings.

"Are you okay Sere? You seem a little spacey." Mina asked

"Oh, yeah… I just had this dream about the Silver Millennium. It was really weird." Serena said as they entered her room.

"What was it about?" Mina asked curiously. Serena began explaining in the same exact detail. Artemis also listened in.

"Wow that sounds really detailed!" Mina exclaimed when Serena was finished. Luna and Artemis began talking in private again.

"You're right, she could be the princess. The way she told the dream, it was as if it was a memory of the past." Artemis told Luna.

"And could it be that Darien, is the prince?" Luna asked.

"Well, they both have the same name. It is possible." Artemis thought.

"And they do have a natural bond, whenever Serena is in trouble or needs some assistance, Darien feels this and comes to her aid, that's how he knows when Sailor Moon needs help…" Luna added

"Much like the princess and the prince, on the Moon Kingdom." Artemis interrupted. Luna nodded, deep in thought.

"It all makes sense now." Luna whispered excitedly. Just then, a soft beeping noise resonated from within Serena's shoulder bag. Serena ran toward it, pulling out her scout communicator and flipping it open to see Sailor Mercury.

"Serena, there's trouble in the park. Transform a.s.a.p.!" And with that the image of Sailor Mercury was gone. Mina and Serena transformed and headed to the park as quickly as they could. When they arrived, All the scouts had already arrived and were fighting off the attacks from 4 different monsters at once. They were obviously struggling. Just as Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus arrived, Zoisite appeared out of thin air and cackled wickedly.

"Do you seriously think you can stop us now, Sailor Moon? You're pathetic! I will get that Crystal and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Zoisite cackled again, while watching the battle.

"Wanna bet on that?" Sailor Moon exclaimed while destroying one of the monsters.

"One down, three to go!" Lita confirmed, getting ready for her own attack. The second monster was harder. It looked familiarly like a mirror and reflected any attacks that were aimed at it, and increased the power times 2. Sailor Mercury scanned for a weakness but found none.

"Bad news! It's got no weakness!" Mercury told everyone.

"Well then we're going to have to give it all we've got." Sailor Moon held strong, determined to win this battle.

"Crystal dreams all so clear, attack this monster's biggest fear!" Crystal chanted. It worked. The monster was weakened, but not for long, it soon attacked at Sailor Mars and Mercury, hitting Mars, causing her to lose consciousness. It attacked again, and this time it aimed for Mercury and succeeded.

"NO!" Moon cried out. The demon then turned its focus onto her, but before it could begin sequencing its attack, a red rose hit the wicked, overgrown mirror. It shattered into a billion pieces before evaporating in a mist of black smoke.

"Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Moon announced, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Focus Sailor Moon, you still have two more to destroy." Tuxedo Mask said sternly as he stood beside the wavering heroine. Venus and Jupiter teamed up attacks at the next monster. It radiated beams of light, causing Venus to lose her footing, slipping and falling into the attack, losing consciousness. Jupiter focused all her energy into it her next attack and blasted the monster, falling to her knees in exhaustion. Sailor Moon took over and disintegrated the beast.

"One more…" Crystal groaned, pressing a hand against her shoulder which was wounded by one of the earlier monsters. The last monster was the most gruesome. It looked like all the other demons that they fought before, rolled into one and with a little hint of Godzilla added in with it. Ugly didn't come close to describing it.

"Oh no, how are we supposed to fight that?!" Moon became nervous and shaky.

"Confidence Sere. Confidence." Tuxedo Mask flashed a smile before attacking with a razor-sharp, crimson red rose. It deflected the rose and hurled it at Crystal.

"Crystal!" Tuxedo Mask warned.

"Crystal Shield!" Crystal yelled and a clear bubble surrounded her body just in time. The rose rebounded and aimed straight for the monster, hitting it in the chest, killing it.

"Thanks big bro!" Crystal smiled.

"I'm not through with you yet Sailor Moon. You still have to get through me to get anywhere near that crystal." Zoisite said, slowly floating towards the ground.

"Take your best shot!" Sailor Moon braced herself.

"Hmm, well this seems a little unfair now, doesn't it? 3 against 1?" Zoisite said, distracting them while she produced a jagged piece of glass from the floor, behind them. "Ok, let's see… who shall it be?" She smirked. "You!" She pointed to Tuxedo Mask. The jagged piece of glass tore at flesh and Tuxedo Mask let out a pained yell.

"No! Nooo!" Sailor Moon ran to his side. Crystal couldn't move, she was in shock. She held back tears on the brink of spilling. Her jaw clenched as she felt her blood boil with rage.

"GOLD BOLT!" Crystal exclaimed, sending a golden bolt of frozen lightning towards Zoisite. It sliced past her face, leaving a gash on her cheek.

"You pathetic little worm! How dare you?" Zoisite exclaimed as she held the side of her face. She threw a bolt of electrical light at Crystal. The current ran through her body, draining her of all energy and causing her to fall to the ground.

"Sere, look after Crystal for me, please." Tuxedo Mask groaned weakly. Serena nodded silently. Tears streamed freely from her blue eyes. "Listen, you take care of yourself alright? Everything will turn out just fine. Everything will be ok." Darien smiled wearily as he laid his head back and his breathing grew raspy and shallow. The pain was agonizingly horrific, but Darien clenched his jaw and smiled so Serena wouldn't worry as much.

"You can't go! You can't leave me! Please, No!" Serena pleaded desperately.

"It'll be Ok…but I think we'll have to take a rain-check on that date." Darien chuckled, attempting to make light of the situation. He closed his eyes and momentarily lost consciousness.

"No…" Serena sighed in disbelief as tears pooled within her eyes, blurring her vision. One solitary tear slid down her cheek. As it fell, it solidified and swelled. It became a purple crystal. It floated in mid air as a yellow crystal appeared out of thin air and floated next to it. A blue crystal immerged out of the water fountain nearby. A green crystal immerged out of the ground, and a red crystal immerged out of a flame, in a fire lantern. The five crystals wielded together to form one, large silver crystal. The Imperium Silver Crystal.

"The crystal!" Zoisite gasped. She moved to grab it when a bright shining light appeared. It engulfed both Darien and Serena transforming them.

"Serenity…" Darien whispered. They had transformed into Prince Darien and Princess Serenity.

"Yes, my Prince…" Serenity kneeled down beside Prince Darien.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry." He gasped for air.

"No, you did protect me, Darien. You did." Serena brushed away the stray strands of hair from Darien's eyes.

"I love you, Serena, Serenity, Sailor Moon. I love you." Darien confessed. Serena leant down, kissing his lips and savoring the feeling as he closed his eyes for the final time.

"I love you too…" Serena whispered as another tear rolled down her cheek. Her heart tore from within her chest and sank to the lowest of depths within her soul. She wanted so desperately to weep for her fallen friends and love, but she knew that now was not the time. This time, she would act. She would avenge them. Serenity rose to her feet, waving her hand in the air with power and authority.

"As for you…" The Crystal levitated with her, fusing with the Moon wand, becoming ready for battle. "You need to be taught a lesson!" Serenity exclaimed. The powers of the crystal worked their magic, weaving a spectrum of light and energy around Serenity. With a flick of her hand, It radiated and released a bright light destroying Zoisite without any effort or struggle. Serenity collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion.


Crystal Saturn