A STITCH IN TIME by Princess Ophelia
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Sailor Moon.
CHAPTER FOUR
One minute, Serenity was staring at Raye urging her to let Serena have a chance to be the princess she was, the next, she was staring at Sailor Pluto in the Teleportation Room back on the Moon. "Puu?" she questioned. "Am I home again?"
"Yes, Princess," Pluto sighed, relieved to see her princess standing where Serena had been only moments before. "Serena decided to try to teleport to Earth since that is the way you switched in the first place. Apparently, it worked," she smiled.
"Serena's friends seem to believe she is nothing more than a dumb, whiney, crybaby. Yet she is the one that put forth the effort to switch us back," Serenity commented.
"Serena has put up a façade for most of her life, Serenity. If you had not switched places with her, she may have never taken it down. She is much more than she allows her friends and Darien to believe."
"Well, I hope she puts Raye in her place because I could tell Darien was more than interested in Serena. He acted just like Endy did before we admitted our feelings to each other. He holds back more than Endy does, but his feelings run just as deep."
"There is much I need to tell you. There has been an attack on the moon and the Prince of Earth is here to help defend you and your mother. The ball tonight will still happen though."
"Endy's here?" Serenity exclaimed. "Please take me to him, Puu."
"As you wish. We will talk on the way." Pluto explained that although her mother, Luna, and Pluto knew of the change, no one else did. Pluto gave Serenity strict instructions not to discuss event of the future without Pluto being present. She also informed Serenity about the battle that took place only minutes before Serenity appeared in the teleporter but left out Serena's involvement in the battle.
"Well, that was quick," Endymion commented as he saw his princess step into the room. Serenity's eyes lit up and she threw herself into his arms and sighed.
"I am so glad to see you, Endy, even if it is during these trying circumstances."
"Were you able to teleport to Earth?" he asked.
Serenity, unsure of how to respond, looked over at Pluto to allow her to explain.
"Your parents must have blocked the transporters, Prince Endymion," Pluto answered. "We could not establish a connection."
"Well, I must say I am grateful for that. I was quite confused that you would want to travel to Earth when I am here to protect you, my princess."
Serenity giggled at his chivalry. "I am glad that it did not work, Endy. I would much rather stay with you anyway."
Pluto smiled sadly at the prince and princess. Their love was obvious. It was too bad that it would only last a short time. Laughing at herself, she realized that if Serenity was correct about Darien's feelings, then their love was also reborn and lived on in another life. Although she knew the events that were to take place in mere hours, Pluto was helpless to stop them. She would be there though when the queen made a wish on the silver crystal before breathing her last breath. Her wish was that her daughter, the prince, and her daughter's friends would have another chance at life and at love sometime in the future. Serena, Darien, and the others were the fulfillment of that wish.
Serena opened her eyes and grinned widely. "Pyro, why do you look so sour?" She asked of Raye who sat across from her. Everyone turned to look at her in shock.
"Serena?" They all questioned. "Is that you?"
"Yep, I take it all of you knew about the switch?"
"We didn't even see you change," Amy commented.
"Probably because Serenity and I were wearing the same thing," Serena tried to explain.
"That would make sense…" Amy replied.
"We sure are glad you're back, Serena," Mina said as she jumped up to hug her friend.
"So, Raye, you never answered my question. What's up?" Serena persisted, seeing Raye's expression had not changed when she realized it was Serena and not Serenity.
"Nothing," Raye responded with a frown, "I got to go. I have chores to do."
Confused, Serena stared after her friend as Raye left the arcade. Shrugging, she turned to Darien who was standing next to her, "So, what are you doing over here, Jerk?"
"Trying to figure out why you were acting so weird, Meatball Head," he replied.
"Oh? Did you find out?" she questioned grinning.
"I think so," he answered mysteriously.
"Serena, we need to tell you a few things that Serenity did. You need to be prepared if someone questions you," Lita said, distracting Serena from asking Darien what he meant.
"Okay, shoot."
"Well, the first and major thing she did," Amy began, "was answer a senior level extra credit math problem correctly."
Serena started laughing. It was not her normal hyena laugh; it was more like a delicate amusement. "I bet Mrs. H was speechless."
"Oh, she was floored, Serena," Mina said smiling. "Serenity also baffled all of our other teachers as well. I swear, she was smarter than our Amy."
"Not quite," Serena commented.
"Why not?" Amy questioned, looking at her friend strangely. "There were several things I had to look up to verify."
"Serenity is from the past, Amy. Your knowledge would surpass hers because you have more material available to you. I must admit though, she is smarter than your past self." Serenity smiled at the memory of beating Amy in a brain challenge as they grew up in the past.
"So, Serena, you remember your past?" Mina questioned. "Do you remember who you were?"
Serena nodded but did not elaborate.
"Why do you remember but we don't?" Lita asked. She had wanted to ask why Serena did not act like the Princess of the past, but she did not want to hurt her friend's feelings.
Serena shrugged. She knew why but she did not want to answer them. She glanced at Darien, but he was looking at his feet and not her. She wondered if he had been experiencing the dreams as well.
Noticing Serena looking at Darien, Mina asks slyly, "So you remember your past with Darien then?
At this, Darien looks sharply up into Serena's eyes. Serena held back a cringe since she had hoped to address this issue later when she could be alone with Darien. Finally, she answered her friend, "I have memories of the love Serenity and Endymion shared."
Serena hoped her eyes said more than her words. At Darien's slight nod, she knew he remembered some of the past perhaps even all of it. She also knew that he understood why she held back.
Turning back to her friends, she asked, "You said Serenity did other things that I would not normally do. What were they?"
"Besides throwing yourself at me?" Darien joked.
Serena smiled, "I would think that would be no different than literally running into each other every morning."
Darien laughed. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't much different. Except since I knew you were acting weird, I gave you a ride to school."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Mina answered, "all the girls at school are so jealous of you now."
"She didn't do anything else extremely different, Serena, except act like the princess she is."
Serena frowned. How would she ever explain to her friends and Darien that the person they believed her to be was a myth? She could not just tell them that the girl they had seen that day was more like the real her than the girl she had shown to them for the past year.
"I'm sorry, Serena," Amy said sounding contrite.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Amy," Serena answered. "It is my own fault that Serenity and I seem so different." At their confused looks, she decided to change the subject. She asked, "Anyway, why's Raye so upset?"
"That would be my fault, Serena."
Serena turned to Darien in shock. Not only had he called her by her real name, but he had admitted that he was the cause of Raye's bad mood. Something big must have happened right before she and Serenity switched back.
"What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.
"Raye is mad because of Endymion and Serenity. She thinks that because they loved each other, that love was passed to us as well."
Serena frowned. That love had passed into her through her dreams and memories. That love gave her the power to heal and fight for the people she cared about. That love was a dream worth fighting for. The love she felt for Darien was something new. Something shared only between the two of them. He was her soul mate. The love she remembered from the past only served to strengthen the love she felt for Darien now.
"She thinks you are going to try to steal Darien from her," Mina continued where Darien had left off. "You know how she has wanted to date him."
Serena nodded. She knew about Raye's crush. She knew it must have hurt Raye deeply to know that she and Darien shared a past. That was one of the reasons she kept up the fight with Darien. As long as they fought, she did not have to admit her feelings for him. She could complain that they were enemies and she could stay away from her friend's crush.
"I told her that I will make that decision. The past can not make that decision for me," Darien continued. "Then I told her that I could never be more than friends with her."
Serena looked at him for a long time. Part of her was hurting for her friend and the other part ached for Darien because she knew he had not wanted to hurt Raye. Finally, she smiled, "I know you did not mean to hurt her."
Darien sighed, "No, I didn't but she's still acting mad at you."
"She's jealous about more than just Darien," Lita said hesitantly.
"It is also because I am the princess, right?" Serena questioned. Her friends' eyes widened that she mentioned that in front of Darien, but she was pretty sure he already knew that Serenity was her past just as much as Endymion was his. One glance at his expression proved her theory true.
"Am I right?" she again questioned.
They nodded sadly.
"There's more," Lita said. "It has to do with Mars. Pluto said something about Mars won't exist if Raye keeps acting like this."
Serena gasped. She had to find Raye quickly before a monster attacked. They would need Sailor Mars.
"Darien, you and I need to talk," Serena said, looking into his eyes, hoping he would understand. "But first, I need to go find Raye. After I am done, I will come find you and we will talk, okay?"
Darien nodded. He took a napkin and wrote down an address and a location. "I'll be in one of these to places," he told her handing her the napkin.
Serena nodded, and then turned to her friends. "I have to go find Raye. Hopefully, she will be a little more understanding after we talk." She stood up and left the arcade.
To Be Continued...
A Note from the Author: Please read and review. This is my first try at writing fanfiction. Thanx, Princess Ophelia
