-grins- This is not the last chapter. I know, I know, I keep lying, but it's not the last chapter!

-----------------

Several months had passed since the curse had been lifted from Hotaru. Trunks was the happiest Vegeta had ever seen him, and each time Bulma saw Hotaru and Trunks together, she had to resist the urge to cry. Michiru had returned with Haruka and Setsuna, who both told Michiru that there was nothing for her to worry about, Trunks had done a great job at lifting the curse from their Princess of Death.

-- Flashback --

"Sere-hime?" Hotaru had approached, rather timidly.

"What is it, Hotaru-chan?" the girl had replied warmly.

"W-would you like please bring Small Lady to this dimension? I would like her to be my maid of honor." Hotaru said, relaxing slightly.

"Of course!" Serenity had answered, and she left at once.

--End Flashback--

Hotaru sighed. It had been nearly a week since Serenity had left to go and get Rini.

"Hotaaaaaaaaruuuuuuu!" someone shouted her name from the first floor. Being on the third floor, Hotaru would have barely heard them if it weren't for the boredom heightening her senses. Even though she was about to get married, she still wasn't busy. You'd think someone planning their wedding for eight months would be rushing around. Not Hotaru. She finished everything of her part in the sixth month. The wedding was in three months. May 18th, was the date to be precise.

"Cooooming!" Hotaru replied, teleporting down the stairs. She figured it would waste some of the energy she'd seemed to have so much of lately. Reaching the first floor, she looked up quickly to see Rini standing before her. "RINI !" Hotaru shouted, sprinting over to her best friend in the world and embracing her fondly.

"Hotaru." the girl said in a sigh. "I've missed you so much. You just left without a trace... It scared us so much... And now, almost a year and 8 months later, you're getting MARRIED!" Rini laughed.

"It is all still a little surreal when it comes to my wedding day." Hotaru replied. "Do you want to come and see my room?" Hotaru asked.

"Sure!" Rini answered enthusiastically.

"Hang on, I've gotta find Serenity." Hotaru said, frowning lightly. "Serenity?" she asked, walking through the first floor, searching for the queen.

"She's in the sitting room." Bulma replied from the kitchen.

"Thanks, Bulma." Hotaru said, heading in the opposite direction.

"Serenity?" Hotaru asked, peeking into the sitting room. Trunks and Vegeta were the only ones in there.

"She went outside." Vegeta grunted, obviously angry that she'd interrupted his conversation with his son.

"Thanks, Veggie." she said, laughing, and ran from the room, dodging energy balls.

"Serenity?" Hotaru called, for a third time as she wandered outside looking for her friend. She wandered all around the grounds until she came to her favorite tree. Sighing, she wanted to climb into it, only to look up to see Serenity, crying. "My Lady... what's wrong?" Hotaru asked, leaping to her side almost immediately.

"Oh, Hotaru." Serenity said, smiling weakly. "It's nothing, hon. You don't need to worry about me. Go and spend some time with Chibi Usa." Serenity brushed it off.

"I can tell when something tragic has happened, you know, its aura is all over you. If you don't tell me what's going on in my own time, I'll postpone my wedding and go find out for myself." Hotaru warned. The feel of deep tragedy had seeped into Serenity's own aura causing Hotaru to shudder for a moment before continuing. "And you can't stop me, even if you want to."

"Oh Hotaru..." Serenity sobbed, suddenly launching herself into the unexpecting girl's arms. Serenity sat there, sobbing and sobbing as if tomorrow would never come. As if her grief would never fully come out, and would weigh on her soul until the day she died.

"My Lady...?" Hotaru asked again, this time confused. She frowned at the open way her queen was breaking down into an oblivion.

"I'm sorry, Hotaru..." Serenity sat up, drying her tears. She had cried for a good ten minutes before letting up.

"It's alright, milady... please, tell me what ails you!" Hotaru begged.

"It's, I... Oh, it's dreadful." Serenity couldn't bear to say it, it seemed, but Hotaru took her time. "Endymion and I, well, we had planned on having another child... A few short months back, 7 really, I had conceived a child. It took me so long coming back with Chibi Usa, because I had to visit the palace doctor. You see... there had been complications with the baby, and I didn't want to worry any of the subjects I'd come to visit in this dimension, because I wasn't ready to announce my pregnancy yet. But I had none of the normal symptoms of a pregnancy, either. When I went back, I went straight to the palace doctor, and..." Serenity broke off in a sob. Hotaru patiently waited for her to finish, even though she seemed to know what would be coming. "Well, she said that the baby had been growing, but it hadn't been feeding off of enough of the nutrients available to it, and it had died in my stomach. She said it won't grow anymore, and I have to wait three more months until it comes out, but it will be born a stillborn." Serenity finished. She began to weep again as she had earlier, breaking down.

"I'm so sorry, Serenity." Hotaru said sincerely. She truly felt for her queen, and could tell that the woman was heartbroken. "Please, you need to come inside. I'll get you something to eat, and you can lie down for a while." Hotaru said, hoping her queen would agree.

"T-thank you, Hotaru." Serenity replied, quietly. Hotaru hopped down from the tree with Serenity on her back like a cat. She walked back to and into capsule corp., Serenity clinging to her like a Koala who was 50 feet off of the ground in a eucalyptus tree. Hotaru carried her up to her room, and said, "Lay down a while, and I'll bring you something to eat." Serenity nodded, and Hotaru left to get her food.

Teleporting down to the kitchen, Hotaru put some mac and cheese on the stove to cook. She then began searching for some sensu beans. So Serenity would feel better after eating and sleeping. Finishing up the mac and cheese, Hotaru took a bowl out with a spoon. Spooning the mac and cheese into the bowl with one hand, and crushing up a sensu bean into the cheesy mix with the other, Hotaru didn't notice Trunks standing there watching her. Her face had a look of deep concentration, that her furrowed brow only heightened. Finishing up, she got a glass of milk, and a small tray. She placed the food on it, and made to exit the kitchen by teleporting, only to find Trunks in the doorway, smiling amusedly at her.

"Can we talk, sweetheart?" he asked her. Hotaru smiled painfully.

"Can it wait? There's someone I need to take care of first." Hotaru answered honestly.

"Who could be more important than me?" Trunks pouted.

"Right now, my queen is. She's very upset, but will be sleeping soon. I promise I'll find you and talk then." she offered, hoping he wouldn't be angry, or upset. He nodded and walked out.

"I'll be in my room!" he called, his back retreating away from her. She teleported up to the guest room, and greeted Serenity with her food.

"Here, mac and cheese, and milk." Hotaru smiled, placing the tray in front of Serenity.

"Thank you." the queen replied. Serenity ate her food hungrily, and despite the look on Hotaru's face, Gulped her milk down like someone who hadn't eaten for a while. And suddenly it was plain that she hadn't. Hotaru checked back the shocked look that fought to form on her face.

"Now, get some rest. Sleep." Hotaru commanded, picking up the tray. Instantly, Serenity fell asleep. 'Good.' Hotaru thought. She teleported down to the kitchen, left the tray next to the sink, and teleported back.

"You won't be depressed again for long, my queen. I owe you my life, and then some, and now, I'll have the chance to repay a part of that debt." Hotaru whispered, pushing a lock of Serenity's silvery hair off of her face. Placing both hands slightly cupped over Serenity's stomach, she spoke softly, prayed, "Please, let this work!" over and over. Focusing her energy at the dead point she could now so easily see inside of Serenity, she watched as her hands began to grow steadily purpler, until the light of it was almost blinding. Inside the light, a black torso began to move, and twitch slightly, as if a heartbeat was suddenly present. And it was. "You will grow quickly over a short time, and you will be born a normal, healthy child, whatever gender you are supposed to be." Hotaru whispered, her will being done, the glow receded, leaving odd lighting spots in her eyes. Hotaru felt drained, but nonetheless left Serenity in a peaceful sleep to find Trunks.

-----------------

"Trunks!" Hotaru said, collapsing tiredly into his arms.

"What's wrong dear, you look exhausted?" Trunks questioned her.

"I just used up a lot of energy comforting Serenity to sleep, that's all." Hotaru replied.

"Your ki is slightly higher. Did you use energy to put her to sleep?" Trunks asked, prying. She hated that, but answered anyway.

"Yes, she was having trouble sleeping, so I helped her along. Nothing big." Hotaru answered smoothly. 'Nothing big, something huge...' she thought to herself with a tired smile. "So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" she asked, doing her share of the questioning.

"Well, we've been planning our wedding for six months now, and I just wanted to ask you if you'd like to start planning the honey moon?" he answered with a question.

"Oooh!" Hotaru squealed excitedly, "Yeah, let's start planning that! I've got lots of free time. Who knows, maybe we could even take our honey moon in my time?" Hotaru suggested. Trunks grinned.

"That sounds like fun." he replied, leaning in to kiss her. But that quick kiss soon turned into more, and before either of them knew it, they were so enveloped in kissing that if someone had walked in, they wouldn't be able to tell were Hotaru started and Trunks ended, or vice versa.

Finally breaking off, Trunks smiled. "I guess I got carried away?" he asked, grinning.

"Nah, I could've pushed you away if I'd have thought you were going too far..." Hotaru teased. She kissed him one more time, and then left the room, where she could go for a flight by herself and enjoy the night time air.

-----------------

'Oh my gosh, I forgot all about Chibi Usa!' Hotaru thought on her way back from her short flight. She raced back from her trip to go and find her friend.

"Rini?" Hotaru asked, calling out her friend's name.

"They're all in Bulma's room. They're looking at the bridesmaid gowns you picked out, Hotaru." Vegeta replied gruffly.

"Thanks, Veggie..." she said in a hurry, dodging another barrage of energy blasts, and teleported to Bulma's room. "Oh my gosh, Rini, I'm sooooo sorry. GOMEN NASAI! Can you please forgive me?" Hotaru said, standing in front of her friend.

"Yeah, I already have." Rini replied, laughing at her friend. Although her appearance did kind of startle the group, they had thought she'd been with Trunks. At least, Bulma had mentioned seeing them in the kitchen talking. "But we're looking at the dresses. We'll go and get them two weeks before the wedding, right? I mean, we'll order them, but we'll have all of the minor adjustments made two weeks before hand, ne?" Rini asked Hotaru.

"Yes, of course. At the same time as they make the adjustments to my wedding dress." Hotaru nodded. "So you want me to show you around tomorrow, then?" Hotaru asked.

"Yes, that will be fine." Rini grinned. At that, since it was late, Hotaru rejoined Trunks in his room after putting on her pajamas, and they fell asleep together, embracing each other for warmth and comfort.

-----------------

Well guys, that about covers chapter eight. Hope you like it, and look forward to the wedding next chapter, and possibly the last!