Title: WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Sailor Moon
Authors Notes: This story will be a little darker then the ones I've written before. I don't know why, it's just feeling that way.
Serena woke up feeling groggy and tired. She had spent the night tossing and turning, and aware that Darien was with her the whole time.
She couldn't explain why she felt safer around him, but the fact that he had stayed with her the whole night really meant something. If he truly hated her, he wouldn't do that for her. He had been so sweat and caring the whole time.
She walked out into the living room.
"Hungry?" Darien smiled at her from the kitchen.
Serena couldn't help but smile at the sight. He was cooking pancakes, and had flour on his shirt. His messy black hair shone I the light and he looked so comfortable and casual. Serena wondered why she hadn't really noticed how extremely good-looking he was before. She always knew he wasn't ugly, but he was drool worthy now.
She sat down on a stool looking over the island into the kitchen and tried to nod, but her neck hurt.
He put a plate of pancakes in front of her with butter and syrup.
She gently dug in, not wanting to eat to quickly, but the taste and smell got to her so quickly that she couldn't help herself. She how downed it in record time.
Darien leaned against the counter and watched her.
"I haven't seen you eat like that since you were a kid," he said.
Serena looked at him confused.
"I always eat like this," she said after finishing the food in her mouth.
"You used to, five years ago," he seemed to realized what he was saying and trailed off. They looked at each other for a good few minutes.
"I'm sorry I don't remember," she said after a moment.
Darien nodded, but she could tell he was hurt. She was telling him she didn't remember him.
"Darien, I…"
"It's okay Serena, let's just focus on getting you better so that you can remember okay. I'll try not to do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. And I understand if you want to stay at your mom's house for the next little while."
She knew what he meant, and she felt guilty.
She put her fork down and looked at him seriously. She didn't really know him and the situation she found herself in was more then she could handle, but she didn't want to hurt him anymore.
"Why don't you tell me a little bit about us," she said trying to smile.
Darien hesitated, but then nodded.
"Well, I suppose you don't know anything so I should state the obvious. We live together. We have for two years now. We're not married and have no plans to be so in the near future, but it is a possibility. Believe it or not we're in love."
He couldn't help but laugh at the complete denial on her face.
"You'll remember Serena, just wait and see. Ah, you work as a secretary at Star Light Inc. Your awful boss is names Seiya. Andrew and I have started our own chain of arcades and we're moving along to other things now that we're successful."
What about the girls?" She asked suddenly.
Darien looked at the table then.
"When you and I started dating you and the girls were still friends. They're part of the reason we got together in the first place. Now, I'm not sure how the fight started, but you split apart. You and Lita teamed up against the other three. Apparently you got angry with Amy for not helping you more with you school work. Raye told me that you had asked her to help you cheat on an exam."
Serena looked at him in shock.
"I would never do that!" Serena said.
"Well, I'm sorry to say that you did. Raye and Mina thought you were in the wrong, and when you refused to apologies, things got worse. You guys were so nasty to one another. Soon it was a free for all. Every time you saw each other you would yell and scream and there was just so much anger in the whole thing."
"But we've gotten over fights before, why was this one so big?"
Darien looked away.
"What, what did I do?"
"Mina was dating Andrew at the time," Darien said. "To get back at her for calling you innocent, you kissed him."
Serena could only look at him with wide eyes.
"Mina walked in on you two and that was it. She hated you."
Serena felt tears filling her eyes, but she didn't move.
"Luckily I suppose, you and I already had a strong enough relationship that we got past it. But Lita thought it was the worst thing you could have done so switched to the other side. After that, you simply stopped talking to one another. Mina never forgave Andrew and they broke up."
"I can't believe that," she said finally in a whisper.
"Serena, it sounds bad when you can't remember, but it happened over half a year. I'm sure it was different when you were going through it."
Serena could only nod.
"Hey, it's all over now," Darien said. "You guys aren't friends. You have other things in your life now."
"Like what?" She asked.
"Well, like you job for one. You hate it, but it pays you enough money to get by."
"Why do I work there if I hate it?"
Darien shrugged.
"That's what I've been asking you for years," he said.
Serena sighed.
"My life is nothing like I thought it would be."
Darien kissed her gently.
"It never is," he said. "But that doesn't mean we have to live with it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, do you like the life you're in now?"
Serena furrowed her brow. She shook her head.
"Well then, change it. Try to make amends with the girls. They might not want to hear it, but it's worth a shot. What can you loose? You don't like your job, then try to find a way to get a better job. You're not trapped Serena."
Serena let it sink in.
"You're right," she said after a moment.
"So you're going to do it?"
Serena nodded, a smile slowly forming on her face.
"Yes, I want to get my life back. I want to be like I was when I was happy."
Her smile faded when she saw his eyes look down. She sighed.
"Darien, I don't know how I felt about you during this whole thing, but I'm sure I wouldn't have stayed with you if I didn't love you. If we got together once, then there's no reason we shouldn't try to make this work again. It just might take me some time."
He nodded.
"And I'm going to need your help sorting this whole thing out."
"I'll always be there for you Serena, even if you decide you don't want me anymore."
She smiled at him. He really was sweat. She tried to think of a time when he was this nice to her, and she realized that he wasn't all that bad in her memories. The idea of being with him was starting to sound really good.
"Well, the first thing you have to do is go to work," Darien said.
"Right," Serena said determinedly.
Serena sat at her desk looking at the things around her. It all seemed pretty straight forward. There were lots of hand written notes about contracts on her desk, and her computer was full of those files typed out. She had her own email, and looking through them she realized that she did a lot of following up at Seiya's request. And everything else was pretty well labeled. So, she got about typing up the latest contract notes.
Seiya came in about an hour later, and he didn't look too happy.
"I have a meeting until three o'clock, and then we need to talk. Until then, I expect your contract notes to be typed out and emailed to my associates. Schedule a discussion meeting for tomorrow, and make sure that everything is prepared for Friday."
Serena quickly wrote everything down and watched him storm into his office. He intimidated her. She felt her heart thumping madly in her chest. She took a deep breath, and set about finding out what he was talking about.
She found a calendar that had all her daily tasks written down. It was amazing that she was so organized. She was never this organized in high school.
Darien's words came back at her when she had finished everything at about two o'clock. She had been angry with Amy for not letting her cheat. That simply didn't sound like her. Yes, she wasn't a very good student, but she never cheated. And of everyone, she would never assume that Amy would help her with something like that. Why had she even asked her?
Serena puzzled about this fight for a while, trying to work out why she would have been so angry about not getting a good grade. She never got good grades. She couldn't remember any big test coming up that she should have studied for.
The phone rang.
"Good Afternoon, Star Light Inc."
"I still haven't received the notes from this weekends meeting," an angry voice said.
"I'm sorry Sir," Serena said as polietely as she could. Her heart was pounding. She thought she had gotten everyone. "Can I please verify with you that I have the right email address."
The man repeated it and Serena wrote it down.
"I'm sorry, it seems we had it spelt wrong. I will forward that on to you this moment."
The guy seemed to hesitated.
"Thank you Serena," he said.
"You're welcome."
Serena cringed when she hung up the phone. Did she know that guy? He knew her name. Was he upset that she didn't know who he was?
"Serena, get in here!"
Serena jumped at the angry voice coming through the speak on her phone. She quickly got up and walked into Seiya's office. She stood in front of his desk and felt herself shaking.
"What happened?" He said looking at her.
Serena couldn't help but look confused.
"Don't play with me Serena. I don't like being stood up."
It wasn't any clearer to her.
Seiya rolled his eyes at her and stood up.
"You really are dumb aren't you," he came around to her. She wanted to argue that, but before she could move he was kissing her.
It took her a moment to respond, but when she realized what was happening she pushed him quickly and roughly off of her. But her kept her close.
"Why are you suddenly fighting this Serena, you're making me angry. You were supposed to come over Saturday night. We've been over this. It's not an option. I expect you to be there when I ask you to come."
"What are you talking about?" Serena looked at him scared.
"Have you lost you brain or something?" Seiya said letting her go by pushing her onto the desk. "I have a very busy schedule so I can't play these idiotic games. I expect you to be there this Friday, and you're going to have to make it up to me."
Serena didn't want to think about what he was saying, but she had to be clear.
"We're having an affair?" She nearly whispered. "But I have a boyfriend."
"And if you ever tell him," Seiya said with venom in his voice. "I'll make you wish you'd never met him. Now that you've denied me for this week, I'm going to have to be extremely rough with you on Friday, so come prepared."
Serena saw him step aside and she quickly ran back to her desk.
He slammed the door behind her.
Serena leaned against her desk and breathed hard. This couldn't be happening. So far in this life the only good thing seemed to be Darien, and she was cheating on him. How could she do something like that? The only thing she could think of was that she desperately need her friends.
She left the office right then.
Serena found herself at the arcade, her heart beating in her chest. All she could think about was what an awful person she'd turned out to be. She saw Mina sitting in the corner reading something.
Serena felt dread wash over her. She couldn't believe that she had purposely hurt Mina by kissing her boyfriend. It didn't make any sense. But she had to say she was sorry.
She saw down across from her.
Mina looked at her then rolled her eyes.
"Look Serena, Raye told me that you're having some memory issues right now, but I don't buy it. Why don't you just…."
"I'm sorry," Serena said.
Mina looked at her confused.
"What?"
"Mina, I am so sorry for what I did to you. If I could take it back I would. If I could be punished for the rest of my life, I would gladly put up with it. What I did was so beyond wrong that I'm ashamed to even look at her. I'm not sure if I've said it already, or if it even makes a difference, but it's the truth."
Mina just looked at her for the longest time.
Serena was sure she was going to just walk away.
"I don't know if I can trust that Serena, you're not exactly the person you used to be."
When she said that, Serena couldn't help but cry.
Mina looked at the blonde girl in confusing. First she was sorry, and then she was crying her heart out. Mina had once known Serena, and she knew that this was the sound that Serena made when she felt broken.
"Serena, what's wrong?" She asked despite herself.
"It's all wrong," Serena choked. "My whole life, it's all wrong. I don't know how it got so turned around. We were so happy."
"What? When? Who?"
"You and I. And the other girls. I remember us going shopping, and spending all our allowance because there was this big sale. We went to see a movie, and then we ate at the arcade. It was sunny, and I was happy."
Mina just watched her.
"What was I thinking to screw that up? What could I have been thinking to do what I did? It doesn't make any sense in my mind."
"You became a bitch," Mina said after a moment.
Serena looked at her. She could almost feel how much she had hurt Mina.
"But why Mina?"
Mina shrugged.
"I don't know. One day you were this amazing sweet girl, and the next you were a liar and a cheater. I don't know what happened, but that's what you became."
Serena nodded.
"I don't even know why Darien stayed with you," Mina said.
"He loved me," Serena whispered.
"Well, you're lucky then."
"Am I?" Serena asked. "Darien things I had some sort of nervous breakdown or something. I don't know what happened, but all I can see is that I've lost the only thing in this world that ever mattered to at all. My friends."
"You've made new friends."
Serena just shook her head.
"If we were so important to you, why did you fight so hard?"
"I don't know," Serena said. "I can't think of anything that would make me want to hurt you guys. Nothing at all. I loved you all so much."
Mina just looked at her, her eyes soft.
"Serena, what's happening to you?"
"I don't know," Serena said in despair. "I woke up the other morning and I was here, in this life. Before that morning, it was five years ago and everything was happy and sunny. I wasn't this awful person I am now, and I didn't do all those terrible things. Everything is so different. You guys hate me, Darien and I are together and my job sucks. And my dad's dead," she said in a whisper.
At that, Mina lost all her anger.
"You didn't remember that?"
Serena shook her head.
Even though the girls had all hated each other at the time, Serena's dad dying had hit all of them. Serena had been devastated and they had all tried to support her. It had almost brought them back together. But then Serena had started her job and she had become distant again and stopped trying to make amends. They hadn't understood it really.
"What are you going to do?" Mina asked.
"I'm going to try to fix things."
"How?"
"I don't know. I want my life back. Darien said that I'm not trapped, that I can fight for what I really want in life. He said that I have nothing to loose."
"Except him," Mina said.
Serena looked up at her confused.
"You really don't remember all those years you two spent together, do you?"
She shook her head.
"Are you going to break up with him?"
"NO!" she said loudly, and then calmed down. "He's been so nice to me these last couple days that I couldn't do that to him. He's going to help me and I'm going to try and remember him. I'm sure I love him. I wouldn't be still with him if I wasn't."
Mina nodded.
"Okay then."
"Okay what?" Serena asked.
"Okay, then I guess I can help you."
Serena just looked at her in shock.
"Look Serena, I'm not saying that I forgive you and I'm not saying you're my friend again. But we were friends once, and despite what you did to me I don't want to see you suffer. If you're serious about fixing your life then I'll help you."
Serena threw herself over the table and hugged her friend with everything that she had. In the last couple of days, this was the first truly happy moment that she could remember.
End of Chapter Three
Please Review!!!!!!! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I possible can. I promise it shouldn't be more than a couple of days!