Your going to find some of this chapter a little familiar but theirs a reason for that as you'll soon find out. Anyway chapter 26 is going to be out in a few days so look for it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Darien felt Serena's grip on him tighten and looked down at her. She looked up at him with anxious eyes. "Its going to be alright" he said softly "Nothing will separate us again." he leaned down and kissed her softly before pulling away. When he turned back to Beryl he saw her ire at being ignored and laughed. She had no idea the extent of his power but she'd learn soon enough.

He felt the darkness rising up inside him and grasped the power with both hands. He had planned on using Beryl after all every King needed a Queen and she had suited his purposes. But that was until he met Serena. She was like a breath of fresh air and she warmed his cold heart. And now that he knew the truth about who he was and what she was to him. Nothing and nobody would keep her from him.

And as for Beryl he wasn't a totally ruthless man. He would have allowed her to live if she hadn't betrayed his trust. By keeping his identity a secret from him and forcing these false memories on him he could no longer trust her. And if he couldn't trust her than she was useless to him. It was time she witnessed his true power and be one of the first to tremble before him.

Beryl felt the negative energy emitting from him and began to feel real fear. No it wasn't possible. What had she created? Could she defeat that kind of power? She watched as he started to approach her and panicked. She aimed her staff at him and sent forth a burst of energy.

"Is that all you got?" he taunted and calmly raised a hand. Stopping the ball of energy just inches from his face. Than he grasped it and immediately the energy started to seep into his skin becoming apart of him. Making him even stronger. He laughed at the expression on Beryl's face.

"Thanks" he sneered "but I really didn't need an energy boost. My powers will reach their peak soon enough. It's really a shame that you wont be around to witness it." He stated coldly as he reached that same hand out to her.

Beryl paled and gasped as she felt something grasp her by the throat. She could only look at the Dark Prince in horror as it dawned on her that he was doing this.

"As you can see" he stated coldly "I don't need my full strength to defeat you. I could kill you now with just a thought. But for the moment I want answers more than I want vengeance. So for the moment you can shed a sigh of relief . But only for the moment. For your sake you better have the answers to the questions that I need to ask." he started walking to her all the while retaining his grip on her when he felt Serena transforming. It was an unusual sensation that took him completely by surprise and it stopped him in his tracks. Unable to help himself he turned his head to watch.

Watching her transform was a beautiful thing to behold. And very, very distracting. Once transformed he saw her reach for her communicator and yet he still couldn't look away. He felt as if he should be doing something. As if her transforming was like a trigger for something else. But what?

……….

Beryl felt his concentration waver and then the grip around her throat slackened. She also watched princess Serena transforming into Sailormoon and felt the hatred in her heart rise to new levels. It was all her fault. It was always her fault. She always came between her and what she wanted. It was like a bad scene playing over and over in her head. Her defeat by that moon brat before was bad enough but to be defeated again by something she herself had helped create was even more humiliating.

It was she who embedded a piece of herself into his soul. She had thought to corrupt him permanently from the inside out but instead she had created something unexpected. A power far greater than own. A power she could have shared with him if that brat hadn't once again interfered. She who had helped create it should be the one to share in its glory. But instead it would destroy her.

And just look. Look how even now he ignored her. He had dismissed her from his mind as if she were nothing more than a minor nuisance that could be dealt with at any time. Well she'd show him. She'd show them all. Her eyes fell apon her staff and a crazy gleam entered her eyes. If she couldn't have the power than no one would. She felt her moment come when he released her from his grip completely. She quickly reached down and retrieved her staff and raised it high above her head.

Her eyes then fell apon Sailormoon standing their with her back to her. No respect. She'd teach them. She'd show them all that Beryl wasn't one to be counted out. She swung her staff down and slammed it hard against the ground. The crystal cracked and then an instant later exploded as the power it held expelled. For her it was all over in an instant.

Darien felt the danger and swung around only to see it was too late. In that split second he had to make a choice. He could leave and save himself or he could stay and risk everything to save Serena. Surprisingly his choice came easy to him.

"Serena" he cried as he lunged for her.

Sailormoon heard the sound of a scream and knew it was her own. But then she heard nothing else as darkness descended on her.

……………..

Darien sat up with a groan. He could feel the blood trickling down the side of his face and knew that he must have been hit by some flying debris. That explosion had been huge and nearly brought the whole palace down around their heads. It had been close but he had managed to deflect most of the energy from the blast. That crazy witch. Who would have thought that she'd go as far as to sacrifice herself just to destroy him? Well he hated to disappoint but he was in no hurry to die. He got to his feet and looked around. Everything was in shambles.

He bit back a curse as a piece of the ceiling came crashing down a few feet away from him. He looked up and noticed that the energy field he had enforced to keep the rest of the ceiling from collapsing was starting to waver. He couldn't keep this place standing for much longer.

His eyes searched the room frantically. "Come on baby. Where are you?" He murmured. He hadn't been able to reach her before the wave of the blast struck and now she could be anywhere in this mess buried under tons of rubble.

It took awhile to find her and when he did she was barely breathing. He picked her up trying not to jar her to much since it was obvious that she had at least one broken leg. "Hold on baby. Just hold on."

He carried her swiftly to the healing chamber ignoring his own injuries and could have killed someone when he saw all but one of the healing pods was still intact. Knowing that time was running out he placed her in the pod.

"I'm sorry baby" he coughed as a shower of dust fell from the ceiling. He quickly reinforced it with a field. It was draining but necessary "I cant heal you completely theirs no time. So just the essentials." He was reaching for the control panel when he saw a flash of red. He turned his hand palm up and what he saw had him stiffening and reaching a hand up to his mouth. When he brought his fingers back down they were wet with his blood. It seemed his injuries were more severe than he first thought. He was coughing up blood.

…………………

Serena sat alone in her darkened apartment huddled up on her sofa. It was strange but the darkness no longer felt threatening. In fact it felt just the opposite. It felt inviting. And she was beginning to prefer it.

All week she had put up with the persistent ringing of the phone until she thought to unplug it. She ignored the timid knocks of Amy and the more aggressive ones of Lita. Even Raye's shouted comments that she was being a baby and to open the door failed to get response out of her. In fact she hadn't moved from this spot in days. She didn't have the energy or the desire to move.

Since the morning when she had awoken surrounded by her friends instead of in his arms she had been surviving not living. She felt like she was losing a part of herself little by little. At first all she had wanted to do was sleep knowing that he would be there waiting for her in her dreams. But now she couldn't bare it any more. It just wasn't the same. Once you've tasted and experienced reality dreams were pale by comparison. Each day without him felt like an eternity. She didn't know how much more she could take.

(Serena)

Serena looked around the room in bewilderment. She could have sworn that she had heard someone call her name.

(Serena)

Serena was off the couch in a flash. "Darien" she cried searching the room frantically. But their was no sign of him.

(Serena come to me. I need you.)

………..

"We should just go there and knock the door down." Lita cried crackling her knuckles. If Serena wouldn't let them in than they'd just have to bust their way in.

"That wouldn't solve anything" Michelle stated although the idea had some appeal it wouldn't solve their problem. "The problem is not getting in. We could have done that days ago. The problem is getting Serena to tell us what happened."

"When she first got back all she seemed to want to do is sleep." Luna mused

"She seemed happy when she was asleep."

"What did they do to her?" Raye growled. What was so horrible that she rather live in a dream world than here with her friends in the real world?

"We don't know." Luna answered repeating what they all knew "She wont talk about it." But maybe she did know. She'd been thinking about this for days and had meant to talk to Artemis about it and get his opinion. Could something have happened between Darien and Serena? Was that why he let her go? Was it possible that the old Darien was resurfacing?

"But something has changed since she's been back." Artemis pointed out giving Luna a funny look wondering why she hadn't mentioned it.

"What?" Mina asked anxiously dreading what he was about to say knowing that it couldn't be good.

"Well where as before all she wanted to do is sleep now she seems to be avoiding it at all costs."

Everyone let out a sharp gasp. Serena not sleeping?

"Whatever comfort she was getting from her dreams doesn't seem to be working anymore." Artemis remarked.

Raye jumped out of her seat "I've had enough of this I'm going to try another fire reading. Maybe if I focus on her dreams I'll get something."

"You can do that?" Mina asked in surprise

Raye nodded her head "If her dreams have strong vibrations, yes. It all depends on the intensity of the dream whether good or bad. But its easier to focus on someone's dreams when their having a nightmare than anything else. The energy spikes they give off are tremendous."

"We'll go with you in case you find something." Luna announced after all their wasn't very much else they could do.

……………

Serena ran as fast as she could to the park. She just knew he would be there. But when she arrived he was no where to be seen. Serena sat down on the bench tears streaming down her face. Where was he? Had she just imagined hearing his voice? Was she going crazy?

"Serena?"

Serena's head jerked to her left. He stepped out of the darkness and into the light

"Darien" she sobbed before launching herself at him. He caught her and held her to him inhaling her sweet scent.

"Serena what are you doing here?"

Serena looked up at him in surprise. "I heard you calling me" her lips trembled. "You said that you needed me."

Darien sucked in a sharp breath. It was true that he had been standing here in this park where he had left her thinking about her wishing she was here with him. But he didn't call her to him¼ did he?

…………….

"So…" Mina asked curiously as she trailed behind everyone else "Have you ever done this before? Peaked into someone's dream I mean."

Raye frowned at her over her shoulder "I don't peak."

Lita let out a snort of disbelief causing Raye to blush and muttered defensively "If I ever intruded on someone's dreams it was for a good reason or it was done unintentionally."

Lita let out another snort of disbelief that had Raye growling "Will you stop that?"

"Whose?" Mina broke in

"What?" Raye barked while glaring a hole in Lita's back.

"Whose dream?" Mina cried sticking her head between her and Amy. "Have you ever snuck into one of our dreams?"

Raye fidgeted nervously as everyone suddenly stop and turned all eyes on her. "Of course not" she replied hastily and she hadn't. She never entered one of their dreams before. But lately she had been experiencing dreams in which Mina was very much apart of.

She didn't know what to make of it which was why she had kept silent about it. She hadn't been lying when she told the others that in order to enter someone's dream they had to be giving off strong vibrations. And to make it even more bizarre this dream wasn't like the others. In the other dreams she was a witness to what the person was dreaming but in this case she was a participant. It was as if she were seeing everything through the eyes of the person that was actually dreaming.

It was an unnerving experience. And a very interesting one. And the most interesting part of it was that it had been a man dreaming about her. She'd been racking her brain for days trying to figure out who it could be. But nobody came to mind. It was mystifying as was the reason why this dream was so different. She had no idea what it all could mean.

"Hello?" Mina cried waving her hand in Raye's face. Raye blinked and looked around. Everyone was looking at her with very suspicious expressions on their face.

"What?" Than it hit her. "Oh come on you guys. Why would I need to look into your dreams when you tell me everything anyway?"

Mina looked at her thoughtfully "That's true." she sighed "I was hoping for something juicy. What's the point of having that ability if you don't even take a peak now and then."

"And that's why you don't have this ability." Artemis cried out in exasperation. Will this girl ever get serious. "You would only misuse it. Probably to look into the dreams of whatever guy you were in love with that day of the week."

Mina stuck her tongue out at him but didn't bother to deny it. After all he was right. And man what fun she could have with it. She smiled as endless possibilities danced around in her head.

"Quiet" Amara hissed suddenly and while they all watched she slowly made her way over to some near by bushes. "Gotcha" she cried and reached down and when she stood up Michelle and Amy could see that she held a small squirming little girl.

"Let go of me. I wasn't doing anything. Let me go."

"Really Amara let the child go." Michelle admonished

"She was spying on us." Amara said defensively. She had no idea it had been a child but even so she was not prepared to let the child go until she found out what she was up to and how much she had overheard.

Luna sighed. Really sometimes Amara was as bad as the others. She headed over to give her a good swipe when she finally got a good look at the child she was holding. "Oh great Serenity" she gasped. And everyone could only look at her in disbelief. Luna talking in front of another human. It was mind blowing. And then the child looked down and cried "Luna"

Now in complete shock Amara lowered the kid back down to the ground where Luna then proceeded to jump into the child's arms. Artemis too let out a great cry apon seeing the little girl and quickly followed Luna's example

Luna looked into a pair of familiar eye. Eyes that she'd never thought she'd look into again. "Oh Rini" she sobbed and buried her head in the child's arms.

"Ok is anyone gonna tell us what's going on?" Raye cried

Luna turned her head around to face the others. She knew she had some explaining to do but where did she start. What could she say when she didn't have all the answers herself. How was it possible that Rini was here now when that future no longer existed. She opened her mouth not knowing what she was going to say when Rini beat her too it. "Luna where's Serena?"

Luan looked up at her in surprise the urgency in her voice was unmistakable.

"She's home."

Rini placed them carefully on the ground before she set off running down the street.

"Rini wait." Luna cried .

"Will someone please tell me what's going on." Raye yelled in exasperation.

"We don't know" Artemis cried as he and Luna set off after Rini. But he did take the time to yell over his shoulder. "Come on we have to follow her.

"As if we needed him to tell us that." Lita remarked sarcastically

……………

"Serena where enemies that's all we can be that's all will ever be. You have to except that he treat me as such."

"I cant. I love you" she sobbed she looked at him with sorrow filled eyes. "I'm dying inside without you."

Her words touched him deeply but he couldn't let it show. How could she love someone like him? Didn't see sense the evil in him. Couldn't she feel the emptiness in his soul? And yet some part of him ached to accept her love and everything that it entitled. And it was that part of him that made him even more vicious. He couldn't allow her to sway him he had to drive her away.

"Really Serena your starting to sound like a love sick little girl. Grow up we had a good time together I admit but it had nothing to do with love." He ignored her whimper of pain and continued his brutal assault instinctively knowing the right buttons to push. This was for her own good.

"I enjoyed myself very much. But I don't love you. How could I? You're a klutz. I'd be afraid to be seen with you knowing you might trip or knock somebody over any minute."

He looked down to see how she was taking this. She stood there with her heard down. Knowing that he succeeded in hurting her didn't make him feel any better in fact he felt worse and more confused then ever.

"I...I understand" she stuttered still not looking at him "I am clumsy and I'm always falling down. I don't why I thought someone like you would ever…"she broke off on a sob pulling away from him she turned and ran.

Darien didn't follow her although a part of him wanted to very badly. But he just couldn't do it. This was for the best. He knew it was. He was about to return to Beryl's when he heard a scream. It was Serena.

"Serena" he cried and dashed off in the direction she had gone off in.

…………

"She's not there. Where could she be?"

"The park." Rini gasped "Oh no am I too late. She looked at us with panic filled eyes. We don't have much time please you have to transform."

"Okay that does it." Amara announced their was no way she was going anywhere with a child who appears out of nowhere and who knows that where the Sailor Scouts. Not without some answers first "Where not going anywhere until you tell us what's going on. Luna who is this little girl? How do you know her? And how does she know about us?"

"Please" the little girl implored "theirs no time."

"Is Serena in danger." Luna asked anxiously

"Yes" Rini cried "and where running out of time. It might already be to late."

Luan turned to them "Alright transform."

"But Luna-?"

"I'll explain everything later. Now do as I say."

……………

"Let her go Jedite."

"I'm afraid I cant do that." he tightened his hold on her. "You see she's much to valuable.

"This is between you and me Jedite. Leave her out of this."

Jedite gave Darien a knowing smile. "I told Beryl that you couldn't be trusted. I warned her that you'd turn on her again. I knew the only way to keep you in line was to get rid of this one" he shook Serena roughly "But she wouldn't listen." he gave a surprised laugh. "Well I guess in this case that was a good thing because she didn't listen I now have the means to get rid of you. And believe me once I turn the Imperial Crystal over to Beryl you'll be one of the first to go."

Darien barely heard him all he could hear were Jedite's words about turning on Beryl again and needing Serena out of the way to keep him in line. "What are you talking about? What does Serena have to do with anything?

Jedite looked at him as if he were stupid. Did he really except him to fall for that. "Oh drop the confused act I'm not buying it" he sneered, "Why else would you team up with Sailormoon unless you got your memories back." Jedite's look turned to one of amazement and then glee as Darien expression remained confused. "Are you trying to tell me that you still don't remember your past. That you don't know who Serena really is?"

Jedite's expression turned nasty. "Than let me be the first one to tell you. So when she dies you'll know exactly what you've lost. And how your sacrifice and your persecution of me was in vain. You see before you were the Dark Prince you went by another title. You were once known as the Prince of the Earth and this lovely that I'm holding now is your wife."

Darien and Serena both let out startled gasps. Their eyes met and held.

"Your lying." Darien growled but looking into Serena eyes he was starting to feel unsure.

"Am I?" he taunted "I really have no reason too." he looked at Darien with half crazed eyes. "I was the one to take her from you before. Only this time the split will be final." he waved a hand in the air. "Bye now"

"No wait." Darien cried but it was too late. He watched as Jedite disappeared taking Serena with him.

……..

The Scouts arrived at the park just in time for them to see Jedite disappear with Serena.

"I was to late." Rini whispered despairingly

"No." the Scouts cried and attacked

"What?" Darien gasped and swung around. Before he could react to the Scouts presence he got bombarded with 6 different attacks.

The force of the attacks knocked him down to the ground but other wise had no affect. He didn't have time for this. He had to get to Serena back. And he had to know if what Jedite said was true. "I don't have time to play with you" he growled getting to his feet.

"Oh my" Venus gasped even with Neptune and Uranus their attacks hardly fazed him. And this was one time where Sailormoon couldn't help them.

"What have you done with Serena?" Mars demanded.

"Leave him alone." Rini cried at the same time

The Scouts looked at her in stunned amazement. "Listen we don't know who you are but this man is very dangerous. And he has our friend." Jupiter stated gently

"Enough talk." Mars cried "Lets show this jerk what Sailor power can do."

"No" Rini cried and jumped out in front of him "I wont let you hurt him."

Luna didn't know who was more stumped the Sailor Scouts or Darien "Rini?' she called out gaining her attention "Nobody's going to hurt him. Where going to help Darien remember who he is."

"Luna…." Artemis started to protest but Darien cut him off.

"What do you know about my past?" he growled

Luna bowed her head to him. "Your our Prince and future King."