Disclaimer: Don't own Sailor Moon.

Chapter 5 – Can I trade you

What does one think about when death is upon them? What are their last thoughts? What would they want to say with their last breath?

Serena got out of the ambulance as the paramedics rushed Lita into the emergency room. Serena wondered if she would ever see her friend again, if she would be alright. So many thoughts ran through her head as she turned around to find the guys behind her, also drenched in Lita's blood.

"Is she going to be alright?" One guy asked. Serena was quiet. What could she say? She didn't even know if Lita would live to see tomorrow. Serena stood there as still as a lion looking for their prey. It was almost as if she had blocked everyone out. She could see it. It was almost as if she was standing back watching a play. There she was a white wife beater on with blood all over it. Her jeans a shade of red and her wrist band that had slid down her arm was now revealing her cuts. She saw the nurses, the doctors, the many sick people around her, and the man standing behind her who was talking to her. She didn't answer. Serena came back to reality a few more minutes later to see Darien running in her direction threw the sliding glass doors.

"Darien" She said running to him as he held her tight in his arms. She started to cry into his chest, letting out her emotions.

"What happened" He said not knowing who was hurt.

"Lita got shot by Thomas" she said still crying hard.

"What" Darien said shocked that his friend of several years was sitting somewhere in an operation table with a bullet inside of her. He held Serena even tighter.

After several hours of waiting in the waiting room, Serena's head started to spin with ideas that she would never see Lita again, and would be attending a funeral next week for her best friend. Just then and there a middle aged man with his white jacket came into the room heading in Serena's and Darien's direction.

"Are you Serena Williams" The doctor asked. Serena nodded her head in response. The doctor pulled up a chair next to them as Serena waited to hear what he had to say.

"Your friend Lita has suffered much blood loss, and will be paralyzed" Serena cupped her hand over her mouth as she thought about Lita. She was a track star, and now her dreams were gone.

"There is still hope for her, if you'd like you may go see her" The doctor said before he walked away. Darien began to stand up as Serena was still sitting on the plastic chair trying to swallow what the doctor said.

"Aren't we going to go see her?" He asked.

"I can't" Serena said quietly.

"Why not" He said to her gently.

"I can't go in there and see my best friend sitting there, knowing that she's paralyzed. Darien she's never going to walk again, she's never going to run, she's never going to do anything she used to" Serena said as tears fell down her face.

"Didn't you hear the doctor, there's still hope for her, hope" He said as she looked up at him while he kneeled in front of her. He wiped her tears and took her by the arm, trying to support her while she walked down the hall. They walked in as the nurse marked her chart to smile at the two coming in.

"She can't talk yet, but she can hear you" She said passing the two on her way out. The door closed and it was quiet. The monitor beat as Lita continued to breath on her own. Serena sat next to her and held her hand, knowing that Lita couldn't feel it. A tear fell down her face slowly, as if time itself became slower. Lita opened her eyes, almost to feel Serena's presence there in the room.

"Hey" Serena said still with her tears falling. "I wish I could trade you" Serena whispered in her ear as Darien watched her and almost wanted to cry himself, but he knew he had to be strong for the both of them.

When Lita fell back asleep, they were informed that Lita would begin to go to a rehabilitation center and that there was a 50 percent chance that she may walk again. Serena felt a sense of hope, but still wished they could add another 50 percent to it. Serena and Darien stayed with Lita the whole night. They both dozed off here and there, but could never completely get a good night's sleep with the noise outside.

"Here you go" Darien said half way into the night when he brought Serena some hot cocoa.

"Thanks Dare" Serena said as she took into her icy cold hands that weren't cold in reality but in her mind their were cold as a glacier. In her mind everything seemed cold and dark, and the cocoa didn't seem to make a difference.

"I hate hospitals" Serena said breaking the silence in the eerie room.

"Why" Darien asked taking a sip of his drink.

"It's so gloomy, dark, and depressing. It's kind of like death all around and no one has to fake if their alive like in life" She said looking out the tiny hospital window in the room.

"That was deep" Darien said looking at her seeing a whole other side to her. One that was profound, yet scary to him in his heart.

"What did you tell Lita earlier" He asked as Serena sat still.

"I told her I wish I could trade you" She said to him without hesitance.

"No you don't" Darien said concerned by her response to his question.

"Yes I do, what I have to get up for in the morning, no body cares, no one ever has" She said more quietly at the end of her sentence. Darien took her hand into his.

"I care about you Sere" He said in a quiet voice while taking her hand up to his mouth where he kissed the back of it gently. She smiled and put her head on his shoulder.

'I know you care, and I care about you' She thought to herself, 'But maybe one day I loose you like I lost myself'.

Hey guys sorry this was shorter. There's so much more to come. The next chapter may be a tear jerker. Just FYI. Oh yeah, this story does not contain anything about Sailor Scouts and the negaverse or anything like that. It's just… well… life. I'll update soon. Please R&R. Thanks.