Serena is having a dream. She's in a dark room, filled with smoke & fog.
"Where am I?" she called out to no one in particular. She looks around. "Hey, will someone answer me!"
"Sure. Just calm down." a voice calls out.
Serena spins around & was shocked to see… "Andrew!" she gasped out, mouth falling open.
'Dream Andrew' laughs. "Yep, why are you so shocked? You know my past & I know yours."
Serena nodded. "Yeah, but shouldn't you appear to Mina?"
'Dream Andrew' sighed. "I wish I could, but there's a problem…"
"What? Are you engaged to be married or something?" she jokes. Then she opens her eyes & saw Andrew's face serious. "Wait, you are!" she exclaimed.
"Unfortunately, yes. And there's another problem."
"What? You have a child?" Serena half-joked, watching his face closely.
"No, it's…"
But she never found out what he said because at that moment, she was awakened by "SERENA TSUKINO, WAKE UP!"
Serena wakes up, jumping 3 feet into the air & screams. "What!"
"You were sleeping again." Lita sighs, shaking her head.
"Yeah, Serena. Why are you falling asleep at such an important time?" Raye asks.
"It's not like studying for the high school entrance exam is mucho importanto."
"Yes it is. Do you want to stay in middle school forever?" Amy asks, looking up.
"No," Serena starts, sitting back down. "But I'm exhausted." she whined.
"From what? Sleeping?" Raye joked.
"No. From…other stuff." Serena thought of her dream. She stands up again. "Um, I need to get some air. I'll be right back." She walks out onto Darien's balcony.
She stares at the city, lost in thought. "What was Andrew trying to tell me?"
"Talking to yourself again?" a voice called out.
Serena spun to see Darien smiling at her. "Hey." she smiles. "No, just thinking."
He walks up to her & puts his arm around her shoulder. "About what?"
Serena sighs. "Lots of stuff…" she rambles off, lost in thought again.
"Earth to Serena." he shakes her.
Serena blinks once, then twice. She look up at Darien's worried face. "I'm fine." He didn't look convinced. "I really am. I'm just tired."
He didn't look too convinced, but decided he would prod her later. "Okay, if you're sure…"
She nods. "Yep. I'll be there in a minute."
"Okay." he kisses her on the cheek & walks back in.
Serena smiles, watching him go. She turns back to the sky. "Great. This proves another problem. How am I supposed to tell Darien?" She stares into the sky, sighing. She turns to go back in.
Flash to Serena's bedroom
Serena's lying in bed, thinking. "Okay, I'll talk to Mina tomorrow & then we'll decide what to do." She closes her eyes & sleeps.
Dream Sequence
Serena's in the same room from before. "Now where's Andrew?" she wonders out loud, looking for the blonde boy.
"Looking for me?" he walks up.
"Yes. Sorry I had to leave the last time. What were you going to tell me?"
Andrew sighs. "Yes, that. Are you sure you want to know?"
Serena had a bad feeling in her stomach. "Yes…is it bad?"
"Depends on how you see it."
Serena waited patiently, but inside wanted to shake it out of him.
Andrew sighs again. "You see, it's about Darien."
Serena's heart dropped. "Is he engaged?"
Andrew shakes his head. "No, he's not."
Serena lets out a huge sigh. "That's good. I was afraid that I'd have to kill him." she jokes.
"It's worse than that." Andrew breaks in.
"What could be worse?" Serena asks.
"Haven't you noticed how he's been falling asleep & becoming increasingly weak?" Andrew questions.
Serena flashes back to times when Darien had to go home because he felt tired & the fact he's been getting sick a lot. "Yeah, what about it?"
"I've been talking to my superiors."
"Your what?" Serena stares at him.
"My bosses." Andrew explains.
"I know what superiors mean. But, why do you have them?"
"I'll explain that later." Andrew gets back on topic. "They've told me that when Darien was in Kyoto visiting a friend, he attracted a virus."
Serena's breath changed to deep breathing. "What kind of virus?"
"One that slowly takes over your body. Darien's been going this long based on his strength, but he can't keep it on forever."
"Do you mean…" Serena's eyes widened.
"Darien's dying." Andrew said, matter-of-factly.
Serena's dropped to her knees, eyes watering up. "No…he can't." she cries. "Is there a cure?"
Andrew bent down to her height. "Not that we know of."
"Does Darien know?"
Andrew nods. "He told me a while ago. I told him I'd tell you that day at the hospital. He asked why & I explained the whole deal about the past."
Serena nods. "So I don't have to tell him now. That's good." she cries. "How long does he have?"
"A few months, at the longest." Andrew sighed.
Serena let herself go, crying. She pulled her knees to her chest, bawling. "No…he can't leave me! There has to be a cure!"
Andrew tries to comfort her, but she shakes him away. "No! I won't believe it! He can't die. He's strong & he'll survive. He can't leave me!"
Andrew opens his mouth to say something, when…
"…morning, Tokyo! It's a beautiful Saturday morning! Go out there &…" Serena shut the alarm off. She laid in bed, tears in her eyes.
"No, it's just a dream, right?" she cried softly.
Her phone goes off, but Serena ignores it. She's thinking about it. "But if it's true, I only have a few months with him left." She starts to cry again. "No…he can't leave me." she repeats to herself, but even she doubts it.
Meanwhile, at Mina's, she's still snoring. Artemis jumps onto her. "Mina, wake up!"
"Five more minutes…" she groans. But Artemis won't let her. "Get up, or I'll shred your favorite bow."
"Fine, fine." she groans, getting up. She throws off the covers & looks at herself in the mirror. She sighs. "My hair looks like crap. If I'm gonna get Andrew, I gotta go get a haircut." She throws her hair up in a bow, throws on shorts & a tee & runs out to the salon.
Serena's walking around, half-dead. She can't get the dream out of her head. She shakes her head & starts running.
Mina's running too. She wants to get to the salon fast before it fills up.
They run toward each other, &…BAM! They run right into each other!
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Mina cries, rubbing her butt. She looks up to see Serena. "Hey, girl." Then noticing the tears, she asks, "What's wrong?"
They are in a café, talking. "So, all this in a dream?" Mina asks in disbelief.
Serena nods. "Yeah, but I think it's a premonition. Which means Darien's going to…" she starts crying again.
Mina goes over to her & puts her arms around her crying friend. "Shh, it'll be okay."
The bell rang, letting them know someone walked in. Mina looked up to see Darien & Andrew walk in.
Darien took one look toward the crying Serena & ran over. Mina got up to let Darien sit by her. He put his arms around her, & Serena clutch to his shirt & cried. She didn't have to say another, they all just knew.
Mina stood by Andrew, shoulders shaking, trying hard not to cry. Andrew noticed and put his arms around her.
Mina blushed, then shook her head, thinking 'He has a fiancé." But it felt so right that she let it alone.
I know, depressing. Darien dying! I can't believe it myself. Do you think he actually should, or he should live at the last moment? And what about Mina & Andrew? Please RR.