Disclaimer: I only own the story, not Sailor Moon.

Chapter 12

Serena awoke the next morning as the sun was just starting to rise. She hopped to be awake before the others, but knew that they probably already beat her to it. She put on her robe and headed down the stairs to the kitchen to see the light on in the library which was odd for this time of the day.

She poked her head in to see all four ladies sitting on two of the large couches set up in the room as a comfort for reading the large quantities of books that the room seemed to hold. Not one of the three of them had a smile on their faces.

"Morning all, what is going on? You all look like the end of the world is here." Serena walked into the room smiling cheerfully.

Katri looked up at Serena, her indigo eyes showing a mixture of sorrow, concern and inner turmoil. "You better have a seat."

"Katri, what is wrong? I have never seen you like this." Serena looked at her friend with her eyes full of worry.

"What I am about to tell you is not something I wanted to ever have to tell you." Katri paused looking at the other three for encouragement. "Darien is engaged to marry someone else."

Serena looked at her with shock. "Please tell me this is some sick joke?"

Katri shook her head as she continued. "I wish it was, but that isn't the worst of it."

"How can that not be the worst of it?" Serena stood up in anger. "The man I have loved in two lifetimes is suddenly engaged to someone else! How can this not be the worst of what you have to tell me?"

"I talked with Andrew just prior to your return here to Tokyo and apparently just two weeks prior to Darien breaking up with you he started to date this other girl. No one knew until after you had disappeared that he had even done this to you." Katri watched as Serena sat down in shock. "They are now engaged to be married in a month's time."

"Serena, we have made a big choice on your behalf and that is part of what is going on right now." Michiru spoke up as she watched her princess with concern.

"What decision would that be? To make him renounce his title?" Serena whispered angrily. "He did this to me and no one told me. I will make him pay!"

Katri looked at her and took a deep breath. "Actually, Serena you are correct on what we will be doing. After I talked with Andrew last night I went to the news papers and gave them a press release announcing your coronation. You will be taking the throne in three weeks."

Serena shot up from her seat and looked at the woman, furious of her decision that was now going to affect her personally. "You did what?? That was out of line Katri! I am not ready to take the throne. I just got back and haven't even faced the scouts for their betrayal and now you are telling me that my ascension to the throne is in three weeks! You are out of your mind."

Katri stood and looked the Moon Princess straight in the eye. "Sit down Serenity! With Darien getting engaged in one month we have to have you take your destiny the week prior. There are things about your previous engagement to him back during the Silver Millennium that you don't understand.

"When the two of you were engaged before Beryl attacked your mother had placed upon your engagement some terms so that if the Earth was to back out of the engagement then they would not only loose a place in the Silver Alliance, but their power as well. If Darien broke off his engagement to you then he would also be renouncing his title and all of the power that went along with it."

"I don't understand what you are saying. Darien and I loved each other very much back then." Serena sat back down and looked at the women in the room in confusion.

"You did, in the end. When you were first engaged your mother was really worried about his intentions and thought that there was a chance that he was just in it to gain power and rule the universe. So the conditions were placed upon your engagement to him to protect you and the Moon Kingdom. Because he is now doing this, the policy stated that he must either renounce his title or get engaged to you or the worst would be that he would no longer be engaged to the other woman and would be part of your council without a title or power." Katri paused as she looked at the young woman sitting across from her in shock.

"Serena, this was something that you were never to know about, but circumstances have changed in such a way that you needed to know what to expect." Haruka told her calmly. "Personally, I was ready to go out and beat him to a bloody pile of Darien, but Katri reminded me how much more effective this route will be."

Serena looked out the window in deep thought. "What do I need to do now?"

Rei picked up that morning's paper and looked at her fellow Senshi. "Have you seen the headline for today?"

"My mom showed me this morning before she headed out to work. She asked me if I knew about it and I was in shock." Amy responded. "Do we know if this is true or not is my question?"

"It is." Lita spoke up. "I talked with Andrew before coming here and apparently she has been back for a few days and because of Darien's upcoming wedding this happened."

"Okay, so Andrew knew all along where she was?" Mina looked at her friends in surprise.

"He has always known where she was." Lita looked up at the sky before continuing. "He was the last person she talked to before she left and the first person she saw when she got back. Andrew told me that when she is ready she will get in touch with us, but for now for us to be patient. Especially with this going on. Apparently he has been asked to help out with the coronation and is in constant contact with her."

"So I was right." Rei surmised. "Well then I guess the big decisions are, where do we go from here and do we meet up like the request states here in the paper?"

Mina moved some of her long blond hair out of the way as she looked at her friends. "I think we should. I think we will get answers to all of our questions by doing so. Serena left because of the pain she was in and for all we know she just found out about Darien's little two timing and this is the result of that discovery."

"Lita, did Andrew say anything else about Serena?" Amy asked quietly.

"He told me she looks great and that we wont recognize her when we do see her. He also told me that she is a much stronger person now." Lita told the group. "I agree with Mina that we should attend this meeting, only I think we should go as Senshi and not like we are right now just as a precaution."

"Then that's what we will do. Do you think Darien knows she's back yet?" Rei asked in curiosity.

Serena looked at her friends and knew that they understood the sacrifice that they were asking her to make was not easy. "So for right now you just want me to continue my training and you'll take care of everything else? What about the Senshi?"

"I will be meeting with them at the next full moon at the temple." Katri responded calmly. "I know you aren't ready to face them just yet so I will start working with them and see if they are ready to take their places at your side as well as put them to work."

"They will ask to see me." Serena pointed out to her friend.

"Don't you worry about any of that. I have already figured out what to do about that. It is something from the days of the Moon Kingdom. If they still don't have all of their memories of that time back then it works to my advantage and will also help you out in the process. But once they do figure out what I am doing then you will have to see them."

"Serena, they are not the biggest problem you face at this time. Darien is." Haruka pointed out.

"I am not even sure what to do about him. I am still so hurt and shocked that he would do something like this to me." Serena walked over to one of the large library windows and looked out. "How will that process of stripping him of his title work?"

"You will publicly strip him of it and then it will happen. That will happen right after you become Neo Queen Serenity." Setsuna explained to her. "He wont even realize it has happened until he goes to become Tuxedo Mask again and suddenly can't call upon his powers."

"I guess its for the best that its that way then." Serena sighed as she realized that they were right about taking his powers away from him. "What are you going to do to the Senshi before they can see me again?"

"Oh, its just a little something called the trials." Katri smiled knowingly. "I just happen to be the only one out of all of them to actually pass it before the Moon was destroyed. I wonder if they will have the power to do so now."

"To do what?"

"Take their powers to the next level at the end of the trials."