Ch 1.

"An accident?" He repeated, still not fully comprehending what Amy was saying. His mind began to shift into overdrive. Thousands of thoughts flooded his brain, so many in fact that he barely heard what Amy said next.

"I only know what happened because my mom is working tonight, and she called me." It seemed that the statement was going to be her last discernable one. She began babbling incoherently as Darien struggled to hear what she was saying. Random words jumped out at him such as, "Accident," "Route," and, "Storm."

"Amy," his voice stopped her incoherent tirade. "Amy, breathe, take deep breaths. I can't understand a word you are saying." He ran a hand threw his unruly hair. "Now, try to remain calm and tell me what happened."

It seemed as if "happened" was the magic word that caused Amy to break down in sobs. All he could hear for a few moments was her wretched sobs, each one reminding him he still had no idea what the hell was going on.

She managed to say a few words, "Serena's had an accident."

The impact of those four words hit home. For a few seconds he could not breathe, could not think, could not focus. "Oh god, no," he grabbed the end table to keep himself from collapsing to the floor. "Please, no, not Serena. Anyone but Serena." He felt the walls of his apartment closing in on him. Suddenly he felt the need to get out of his apartment and run away. He tried to take a few deep breaths but found his clothes to be constricting, cutting off his supply of air.

After a moment or two of no response, Amy began to get worried, "Darien," her voice sounded raw on the line, "Darien, are you there?"

Darien huffed out, "yeah," before relapsing back to silence.

Amy sighed as she began to describe the tragic events that unfurled just a few precious hours earlier, "I don't really know all the facts. I just have a relative summary of what occurred…"

"Please," Darien whispered, "Please just tell me what happened."

Amy's heart broke as she imagined the pain that he was going through. Serena was one of her best friends, her first friend to be precise, but she was the love of his life.

"Her family was driving up Route 23; it takes you to Summit Peak."

Darien had a vague idea of what she was talking about.

She continued, "Well, as you probably know, it was storming hard. I heard visibility was down to almost zero." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing. "I'm not really sure what happened next. Police think the car began to hydroplane on the road. Her dad, overcompensating for the skid, narrowly sideswiped another car." Her voice cracked as she began to break down. "Reacting to the other car, he jerked the wheel around which caused the car to go into a spin, and the car broke through the guardrail. It rolled down the hillside before stopping at the base." She began to cry again.

Darien paused for a moment, reflecting on what he just learned.

"And Serena," he prompted, terrified to learn the answer.

"It's a miracle she survived," came the answer.

Darien visibly let out a sigh of relief, letting himself relax a little.

"But Darien," he immediately tensed up once more. "She's in critical condition. They don't think she's going to make it."

Darien recoiled from the shock of receiving her news. He mentally processed what she had told him.

"Well, what about her parents and Sammy? How are they?"

Amy replied so quietly that he wasn't quite sure if he heard her. "Like I said, it's a miracle Serena survived," she softly cried. "Her parents, Sammy," the sobs grew in volume. "They didn't."

Darien drew back from the phone in shock. "Oh god" his hand flew to him mouth. "What is she going to do? How could this happen?" Instantly his wind drew back in time, back to when he was just a little boy.

"Darien," Amy's concerned voice drew him away from the demons that haunted his past. "Darien, I have some information for you, so you can come to the hospital."

After getting all the hospital information, and the reassurance that Amy would call the girls, Darien took off for the hospital.

Even though the hospital was over ten blocks away, Darien made it there in about 15 minutes.

"Can I help you," the overly cheerful receptionist asked.

"I need information about a Serena Tsukino."

The receptionist typed the information in her computer. "She's in the ER at this moment. You can wait in the ER waiting room if you'd like."

"Yes please," he replied, reminding himself to be polite. "These people hold Serena's life in their hands; you don't want to piss them off."

After the receptionist gave him directions, he ran down the different hallways until he reached the ER lobby. There he sat in silence, raking his hair and brains, forcing himself to not think about what's happening and trying to force himself not to think about it.

Darien didn't know how long he sat there. He didn't even look up until he felt someone's arms around him. Looking up, he saw a tear-faced Mina…

"Oh, god. Darien, Serena." She sobbed openly into his shoulder for a few minutes while he held her before allowing the other girls to greet him as well.

Looking around, Darien noticed that everyone had the same expression. "Gosh," he thought to himself, "We all look like someone just died." He shook his head, "Stop that Darien Chiba, Serena is not dead, and she's not going to die!"

They all sat in silence until Lita asked, "Where's Michelle and the others?"

Amy looked up, "I left them a message. I couldn't reach them."

Nodding their heads, they resumed the silence. The minutes drew on, each feeling like a century. Yet still no one said a word. They were all engrossed in their own sorrows and their own memories to think of anything else. A millennium seemed to pass before someone punctured the silence.

Raye asked with silent tears streaming down her face, "What do we do now?"

A distraught Darien replied, "Pray."

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