After almost a year of not writing I must offer to you my dear readers my most humble apologies, for neglecting you so. For the past year things have been so busy for me, with school (including AP classes), and this year applying and auditioning for colleges, along with my dancing and a job, it's been really busy. And sadly for that period I had lost the inspiration to write TT. Fast foreword to the present I'm at college now and I know I'm a horrible person for not working on my fanfictions, and I sincerely apologize to all of you. I was intending to make this the last chapter, but I've decided to cut it in half so that I can at least get something out to you guys. Feel free to persecute me, I know I deserve it, but enjoy the chapter. Please forgive me if there are numerous grammar and spelling mistakes, I was in such a hurry to post this chapter it did not get a chance to go through my editor, so please bear with me.

Please check for my response to your review below, I respond to each and every single one!

I don't own Sailor Moon.

momoko213: I swear to God that I am going to finish this story!! In fact it's so close to being done that I can practically taste the epilogue!! Thank you so much for your review I really do appreciate it, and I apologize for the wait. Hopefully this story will be finished very soon!

KayeBell: Thank you so much for your last review; obviously I'm not handling the juggling thing very well anymore, lol. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out sooner though

Ayu-Chan15: I'm sorry I haven't updated since '06, but this fic is almost done! So there's only about one chapter and the epilogue next, so hopefully it won't take me as long as before. Thank you so much for your thoughtful review, it really did warm my heart! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Miss Katharine: I'm sorry about updating so late; I hope I haven't lost you as a review! It's hard for me to remember a time when I wasn't reading your thoughts on my stories I promise the next chapter will come out much more quickly!

chibiangel413: I'm glad you enjoyed the first story, and I actually can answer your question about the generals. Sadly, they are not playing as big a role as they did in the last one, they will be included in the epilogue though. Originally I was planning on doing one of these fics for each season (which I will elaborate on when the last chapter finally comes out) so when I started this story I planned not to include the generals in this one because I had planned on featuring them in the next one…I'm not so sure if I'm going to do that now, but I will ask for your opinion (and the rest of the reviewer's) on that subject in the next chapter.

rosebudjamie: Thank you so much for your review I really do appreciate it Sorry it took me so long, but I hope that this chapter is just as good as the last one, let me know what you think.

Megan Consoer: I'm sorry that there aren't a lot of chapters left, I start this story so long ago, and I really do need to wrap it up. Albeit I will wrap it up very nicely and this chapter is on the long side, so I hope it lives up to your expectations

Ldsprincess: I'm sorry, I'm sorry hopefully with this chapter I can relieve your chair gripping a little, there isn't much of a cliffy at the end of this chapter. The good news is the chapter is already about ½ written, I just have to type it up and finish it. Thank you so much Belinda for all of your wonderful reviews!

Princess of the Rogues: I'm terribly sorry for the wait, and I hope that I can receive your forgiveness or at least a little forgiveness by posting this chapter. I hope I haven't lost you as a reviewer! Love your penname by the way

VaudeVillian67: I'm sorry I left you guys in such suspense in the last chapter; hopefully I can relieve some of it with this chapter. Thank you so much for your reviews!

sakurawolfblossom: Yes, the story will be ending soon, but the good news is that I had intended for this to be the last chapter, but I changed my mind  So you guys get one more chapter and an epilogue!

Meligha: I'm really sorry about the cliffy in the last chapter, so I tried really hard not the make this one a cliffy too. Thank you so much for all your wonderful reviews, I really do love getting them

ideagala: Well sorry for misleading you again but this isn't going to be the last chapter, you get one more chapter and then the epilogue The next chapter won't be as long as the one, but it will still be another chapter none the less. I promise I'll try to update faster, thank you so much for your patience too!

Princess Rosalie: Sorry for taking so long, thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! I hope I haven't lost you, please take this chapter as a very big apology

starangel07: Sorry about the late, hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon!

v1cky84: Thank you so much for your review, I really do appreciate it. Sorry about the late update, I hope you like the chapter

MuppyPuppy: Sorry about the late update! Thanks for all the reviews you've given me, no matter how short the review I still love getting them, thank you so much!

serenity11287: I'm sorry about all the long updates…I really am, and I'll try to get the next chapters out as soon as I can. I hope I haven't lost you; I really do love getting your review!

Chapter 9: The Anagnorisis

"Jupiter Thunder Clap Zap!"

Another odd moaning and shrieking sound erupted from the huge vines that were slowly overrunning the city. The vines wasted no time retaliating and propelled themselves at Jupiter. The scouts had decided to spread themselves out, to try to keep the monster from advancing any further into the city. The vines seemed never ending, no matter how much they were damaged more came to replace the ones that had been injured or disintegrated.

"This is pointless!" Sailor Venus yelled. It was painfully obvious at this point that they were getting nowhere, and their energy was beginning to wane.

"Where the hell is that meatball head when we actually need her?" Mars grumbled perfectly satisfied with blaming their circumstances on their absent leader.

"We have another problem coming in fast," Mercury informed them her blue visor letting out a rapid blinking in the corner. Alan and Ann appeared in front of them in the blink of an eye; it always seemed rather unfair that their enemies could continuously appear out of thin air. The evil duo sneered at them from their position in the air.

"How dare you harm our precious Doom Tree," Ann growled her body shaking with her livid rage. She dived preparing her attack, Alan followed close behind her.

Darien ripped and tore through the vines encasing Serena; there were so many layers it seemed that he would never reach her. They were like weeds, as he tore them aside they ever-so-slowly began to creep back up upon him, trying to hide her from him.

"Serena! What's going on in there? Are you alright!?" He yelled feeling an ache settle in his arms as well as his heart; doubt began to take root in his mind. What if he couldn't make it through to her in time? Around them the tree swayed and glowed not really noticing Darien, for this small blessing he breathed a sigh of relief; for the time being the tree was obviously occupied with someone or something else.

"W-Weak," Serena stammered. It was dark within her cocoon of vines; she could hear Darien calling to her but his voice sounded s far away. She tried to inch closer to where his voice penetrated her prison, but her body refused to move. "Hurry"

She managed to wiggle about and inch or so in Darien's direction, but the vines that were wrapped around her inside the cocoon tightened slightly as if sensing her feeble attempt to escape. Light broke through over her head; she looked up her heart giving a leap of joy and a burst of warmth just at the sight of his face. Darien had finally broken through the outer barrier.

"Hold on Serena, I'm almost through."

Feeling incredibly weak she laid her head back on the ground and merely nodded. The vines that were wrapped around her glowed and dragged at her energy once again, her very life force slowly trickling out of her body, leaving her even weaker than before. Silent tears leaking from her eyes in despair, even Darien did reach her the tree would never let her go, and he would get hurt; she needed to protect him. He was still ignorant of his, their, past, and unable to use his powers, he was vulnerable.

"Serena quickly, give me your hand!" she heard Darien say from above her. She looked up and offered him a wane smile, his face was smudged with dirt, but his eyes were ablaze with determination. His arm was outstretched towards her, and her mind took her back to another time, another place where they'd reached for each other with , but they just couldn't seem to stretch enough…

"Serena run, go now!" Endymion yelled, Queen Metallica had sent up a horrible wind that disorientated and confused everyone. The wind was so strong it was chipping away at the Moon Palace and throwing people around with the debris. Endymion who'd gotten caught in an unexpected gust was barely hanging onto the railing of the balcony, about to be blown away to his certain death. Serenity had managed to break the lock that had been locking her inside of her bedchamber, she too risked getting blown away by the terrible wind, but she refused to leave him. Not while she could save him.

"No, I won't leave you!" She said keeping as low as possible and close to the railing, slowly inching toward him. She was so close but the wind suddenly picked up again, she couldn't move. She reached out her hand as far as she could without risking getting picked up by the terrible wind, "Here Endy, just take my hand!"

"No Serena! It's too late, go back inside." His grip was slipping.

Feeling the tears that she'd been holding back leak out the corner of her eyes she yelled over the wind, "Don't say that! Don't you dare say that! It's not too late and you can't give up, just take my hand and everything will be alright!"

He was about to yell back when the wind suddenly whipped and lashed at them from all sides, his griped slipped again. Serenity cried out sliding closer to him, but she still came up short, he was barely hanging on by his fingertips. She sobbed, he couldn't give up now, not when she was so close; if they could just reach each other...she would be able to pull him to safety. They could still reach each other, he could not give up.

She cried out her tears barely having time to roll down her cheeks because of the wind's fury, "Endy please, don't give up up!"

She could see the doubt in his eyes, that he wanted her to return to her room where she would be safe, but he could also see that she was not going to leave him.

"Please Endy reach for me, take me hand!" She begged, and then at last she saw him silently concede defeat, accepting there was no way her could get her to retreat to safety. Ceasing to rely on her voice she pleaded to him through their link. Endy, don't give up, reach for me, reach for us, my love please.

Be very careful Serenity, he cautioned.

Carefully shifting his weight so he could continue to hang onto the railing, he reached out his hand straining to reach hers. Serenity stretched out her arm as far as she could but it still wasn't enough, there was barley an inch between their outstretched hands. For a couple of moments they both strained for each other, but to no avail.

Sucking in a breath Serenity let go of the railing and scooted another inch towards him. The wind picked up and nearly lifted her off the floor, Serenity latched onto the railing hanging on for dear life.

"Serenity!" She heard Endymion's worried reprimand over the wind, but Serenity wasn't worried about that, she was finally close enough to reach him.

Reaching out her hand again, Endymion reached at the same time, and their fingers closed around one another. Serenity let out a shriek of joy and gripped his hand as tightly as she could. There was a roar of rage somewhere in the distance and something struck the balcony and everything exploded around them.

Serenity tried to shield her face from the debris flying around them and hang onto Endymion's hand, but another unexpected blast hit the balcony and Endymion was ripped away from her.

"Serenity!!"

"Endymion!!" She yelled surging to her feet, heedless of the destruction around her.

"Serenity go back!" He yelled as he was carried away by the unrelenting wind.

"No," Serenity whispered. Before she really knew what she was doing she was climbing on top of the ruined railing.

"No Serenity don't!"

No, I want to be with you, wherever that might be.

She leapt off the balcony into the deadly wind, in a kind of daze she whispered to him, Just take a hold of my hand, and everything will be alright. Trying to use her own powers to steady herself, the wind carried her towards Endymion, and reaching out with all their might their fingers intertwined once again.

"I will always reach for you Endymion," she said softly right before the next attack was launched, the one that would knock them out of the sky and to their deaths.

Remembering the desperation she'd felt at that time, how she'd begged for Endymion not to give up, she knew Darien must be feelings something of the same nature now. After finally finding him again, Serena refused to give him up, even to herself.

"C'mon Serena, just take my hand and I'll pull you out of there," Darien said. Serena could now see that the hole he'd made was big enough for her to fit through, but not for him. A thousand years ago, Serena was sure she would've died if Endymion hadn't at least tried to reach her. It would've meant that he had given up all hope and she would've lost all of hers. She wouldn't fail Darien, summoning some of the last of her energy; she began to drag herself towards Darien.

Darien tried to wedge as much as his shoulder into the opening he'd created, but it wasn't enough to reach Serena. She hadn't said anything in a while, but he could hear something moving within the cocoon of vines. From what he'd strained to hear, she was very weak, her movements jerky and dragging, which was probably why it was taking so long for her to grab his hand.

Once again he examined his surrounding, the larger vines around them were still pulsing and moving around, they'd broken through the wall and ceiling. There was no telling how far it had grown on the outside, the trunk itself seemed to have swelled to twice its size; like it was stuffed and getting ready to explode. It was growing at such a fast rate, which would've been deadly, not to mention impossible for a normal tree. Plants drew their energy from the sun, but it was pitch black in the chamber. The tree had to be gathering its energy from somewhere else, if he could find that source and somehow cut it off from the tree—Darien stopped his train of thought, and batted at the smaller vines that were slowly trying to close him off again from Serena, they didn't have much time left.

Something light brushed against his hand, it fell away so quickly, Darien was sure he must've imagined it.

"Serena, is that you?"

He received no answer, but something brushed his hand again and this time it settled into a very weak grip. Darien gripped back and after a few seconds assumed that it must be Serena's hand, but was confused why she didn't say anything.

"Alright try to hold on Serena. I'm going to pull you out."

Pulling her body towards the hole he'd made, she felt really heavy like she was just dead weight; and something seemed to be weighing her down. For some reason he felt that it was imperative that he pull her out slowly, as to not alert anything. Following his instincts he pulled her out slowly, at first only one arm emerged from the opening, but then another pale shaking hand rose and blindly groped through the air for him. He grabbed that hand in a gentle but steady grip, offering what comfort he could. Now using both arms to pull her, soon her head and shoulders squeezed through the opening. She looked pale and gaunt, what in the world had happened to her?

Now taking her by the shoulders he lifted her up and out of the vine cocoon, as her torso and hips appeared he saw what had been weighing her down, vines were wrapped around her tying her to her prison. They seemed to refuse to let go of her, but Darien managed to gently unwrap them, he scooped her up and carried her away from the cocoon.

"C'mon Serena talk to me," Darien said as he sat down on the floor in a place where the vines seemed relatively dormant, and a good distance away from the trunk. He cradled her in his arms, her hand that hand been weakly gripping the lapels of his jacket reached for his hand and laced their fingers together.

"I-I'm glad you came Darien," she said softly surrounded and comforted by the scent of him, even though she barley talk or keep her eyes open; her whole body screamed at her for one thing: sleep, a darkness or absolution of some sort.

"What did that tree want from you?"

"Energy, it has taken too much and now I am too weak to fight or to protect you."

He smiled, "You don't have to protect me Serena."

"Yes, I do," she insisted, "You still haven't regained you memories."

Darien was about to reply when the tree suddenly came to life around them, Serena's grip on his had grew stronger in alarm.

"Darien you have to get out of here."

"This isn't going to work," yelled Sailor Venus as she dodged another attack. They were going to lose; they were out numbered and out powered, even with Sailor Moon they wouldn't have stood much of a chance.

"Don't you think we've noticed that already," Mars grumbled in annoyance.

"Any suggestions," called Jupiter.

"The only option at this point is to retreat."

"Retreat!!" Came a shriek of outrage from Mars.

"Yes, if we retreat to the origin of these vines we can find the source and possible have a better change of destroying it," Mercury explained while she laid down several layers of fog, hoping that it would give them a good head start. It wouldn't take Alan and Ann long to figure out what they were doing.

"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you here," Darien said trying to make his way towards the door with a fading Serena in his arms. The humongous vines thrashed and tore at the room around them, they were looking for her. Luckily the bigger vines were inhibited by their size and it gave them some time.

"I can't protect you like this!" Serena moaned feeling tears fill her eyes, they were in a lose-lose situation and it was beginning to look completely hopeless, at this point the only result she could see was both of their deaths, if she couldn't get him to leave. "You need to get out of here before you get hurt."

A smaller vine suddenly latched onto Serena's ankle and tried to yank her from Darien's arms. Darien stomped his foot on the vine which shrieked and released her, but more medium sized vines were already beginning to surround them. Something thick wrapped around his waist and jerked him into the air, tearing him away from Serena. The vine carried him high above the ground and as he looked down below he saw that a similar one had also captured Serena. The vine that was wrapped around her began to glow; he saw Serena shudder and slowly collapse against the vine.

"No!" Darien yelled, the tree was taking too much, she would die, she was going to die! The vine around him cruelly tightened its grip, and Darien felt himself slowly being crushed to death. "No," he gasped as another vine wrapped around his chest and tightened enough to cut off his breathing. He had to do something before the tree killed them both, there had to be something he could do, he wasn't... giving up on either of them. If he had some power of his own, he...could...protect...her.

There had been that last time, when Serena had put herself in harms way to save him, and had been gravely wounded. (Author's Note: If you don't recall this event you might want to do a little re-reading, I had to myself ). Something inside of him had responded to her agony, he'd healed her...somehow. He needed it again, that power that he'd called upon before, wherever it was inside of him, he needed to find it again.

Despite his constrictions that were, literally, squeezing the life out of him he closed his eyes and tried to find some semblance of calm. He needed to find that well of power that had come to him before, he was sure it was somewhere inside of him, he just needed to prod around a little. It was easier than he thought, it was a bright golden glow inside of him that shined like the Sun and smelled of the Earth. The smell particularly brought Darien comforting memories, he'd always had a deep connection with the Earth, it seemed ordained that he would draw his power from it now. He'd always been better with nature than people, maybe that was why he'd been alone for so long. But now...he wasn't alone anymore, he had Serena, and he was sure as long as she was around he would never be alone again. He wasn't going to let this, alien, this corruption of nature take her away from him.

As hard as it was he managed to take a deep breath, taking the scent of the earth into his lungs. He imagined that he was back at home, in his garden his hands buried in the soil, feeling the connection, the bond, and the richness of the ground flowing through him. He took a hold of that power and that feeling and immersed himself in it. Memories consumed him.

Serena felt like anvils were weighing down her whole body, but something was...bright and shining, like the young blazing sun that arose first thing in the morning. Warm and glowing the light seemed to sink into her skin and give her strength, the light was familiar, and where was it coming from?

Prying her eyes open was hard, lifting her head was even harder; almost impossible, but somehow she managed it. Darien! But he wasn't Darien, he was dressed in a familiar set of armor, a sword hanging by his hip; the vines around him had been totally disintegrated. Serena's heart ached with happiness; he'd managed to tap into his powers and his memories on his own.

"Endy?" She whispered.

His head turned to her and he gave her a brilliant smile, the tree around them let out a horrible screech of rage. Vines and roots surged towards Darien going for the killing blow. He raised his hand an a wave of golden power rolled off him, sending the tree into another shrieking fit. The vine holding Serena suddenly jerked her up towards the branches of the tree determined to imprison her again. Darien rolled another wave of power at the vine holding Serena, the vine crumbled away and she was falling.

She was caught and cradled against a warm chest, she opened her eyes and Endymion stared back at her, his eyes filled with love and recognition. He leaned down and brushed a feather light kiss against her lips, his soul called to hers; silver light fluttered around her. Her hair changed color, her birthmark flared to life on her forehead, and her clothes changed to a flowing white dress.

"It's my turn this time Serenity."

Speacial Note!

Just to let you all know, that one of the reasons I was finally motivate to put this chapter up was because a reviewer sent me a personal message asking me to finish it. I'm really sorry to say that i can't remember who exactly wrote me the message because my e-mail account deletes messages that are over a week old, but I offer my deepest thanks to this reviewer, thank you so much for giving me the motivation to finally post this chapter. Please let me know who you are so that I can give you another thanks in the last chapter