A/N: I have no words… I simply can't get over how many people fought for this story. I would like you all to know that I truly appreciate it. Thank you and I will try my best to give you a story worth reading.

Serena

Mina and Kunzite both arrive just as I'm starting to fall asleep on the sofa. As they walk in Mina forces a smile. I raise an eyebrow in question, but Mina just mouths later.

"Girls, we need to be honest," Kunzite gestures to both of them. "We don't want you to go home. And it's not anything romantic, but it's for your own safety. We're afraid of what Diamond might do, what he's capable of." Kunzite stands beside Darien in a military stance. He looks at both Mina and I with a completely serious face. "We're afraid he might go as far as to kidnap one of you."

Mina and I both gasp in shock.

"I want you both to understand how serious this is." Darien steps forward looking down in shame. "I wish I didn't have to bring you two into any of this. Diamond has already made contact with Serena and I'm sure he's gained more information since then." Darien bows, "I beg of you both to please stay here. My room and my bed are larger so you can both stay in there. Kunzite will be sleeping in his own room and I'll stay on the sofa. I'll change the sheets in my room of course and we will give you a shirt to sleep in."

Mina and I looked at each other.

"We should give them a moment," I hear Kunzite whisper. He then turns to us, "We'll be in the kitchen making some hot coco. Please us either Darien's or my room to talk. Join us when you've made your decision."

With that Mina pulls me into a room. I assume its Darien's considering all the medical textbooks.

Mina sits down on the bed and pulls Darien's computer chair in front of her. I sit and try to make sense of the situation.

"Are you alright?" she asks.

"Physically I'm fine, mentally… I'm a bit scrambled." I hug myself and try to think even harder. There are just too many thoughts in my head. But one thing is certain, Darien is truly afraid for our wellbeing. "Mina, I believe them."

Mina nods, "I do too." She pauses and closes her eyes. "And that's what frightens me. That is this all true; Diamond, Hell, things that go bump in the night!" Mina opens her eyes and looks to me with certainty in her eyes. "But I can feel their fear and concern about us. Whoever and whatever this Diamond guy is truly dangerous. I'm not going to lie and say that I feel safe going home."

I nod, "I agree. I feel a strong connection with Dairen. They are both afraid of what might happen if Diamond gets his hands on us."

"So we stay," Mina confirms.

"We stay." I shrug, "Then we'll discuss Darien becoming the next Underworld ruler later." I wave it off.

Dairen

I pace back and forth in the kitchen. I keep glancing at my bedroom door hoping that they come out soon. "Do you think they'll stay?" I ask Kunz.

Kunzite just keeps stirring while he answers. "Yes." Kunzite cuts his eyes at me. "What are you so worried about?"

I stop pacing for a moment. Serena. "Serena doesn't have the reactions I expect any other human to have." I sit at the table and lean my head on my hand. "I just— I'm afraid that one day she'll wake up and freak out. She'll figure out that she doesn't belong in my world and that we're a mistake."

Kunz pours the hot coco into two mugs. "Darien, I'm going to give you some great advice." I raise an eyebrow at him, waiting. "You need to talk to Serena. You need to ask her these kinds of things. If you want to have any successful relationship you need to communicate. If you don't there will be trust issues and you'll just grow farther apart."

I nod in understanding. "You're right." I sigh and grab another beer from the refrigerator. I turn back to him while leaning up against the icebox. "So how did Mina take it?"

Kunz chuckles, "She freaked out. There wasn't anyone around us but you could've probably heard her a mile away. Once I convinced her that I am still human and not some demon she calmed down. I told her about being your guard and how we find our brides. She listened and she said okay."

I laugh, "We have the strangest brides ever."

"Oh really?"

I snap my head up and there's Serena and Mina looking back and forth at us. "Uhhh…. I mean, you guys just took our past with such grace! It's almost strange!" I say with fearful eyes and a forced grin.

Mina rolls her eyes. "Nice save Romeo."

Kunzite breaks the silence. "Have you two made a decision?"

They both nod. "We've agreed to stay."

I breathe out a sigh of relief. Kunzite brings them both their hot coco and we all move into the living room. Serena and I take the love seat while Kunz and Mina take the longer sofa. Kunz flips the TV on and hands the remote to Mina.

I can't focus on what we're watching. All I can think about is how close Serena is. She's less than a foot away. All I have to do is reach just a few inches and I could be holding hands with her.

Just a few inches.

I take a quick glance around the room. Serena is actually watching whatever's on TV. Kunzite and Mina are sitting close together but are still PG.

I set down my beer and quickly place my hand on top of hers. I don't even look at her. I just stare at the TV; not really watching but keeping my face from hers. I cut my eyes towards her again and see she's smiling.

Then she grabs my hand for the full motion of hand holding.

I smile and keep watching whatever the hell we're watching.

Serena

I can't stop yawning. I'm not even sure what we're watching anymore.

"I think it's time to get these girls to bed," Darien chuckles.

I laugh, "Sorry guys." I look over to Mina and see she's already knocked out. She's practically all over Kunzite. "Oh, well at least I tried to stay up."

Kunzite chuckles and wakes Mina. She looks around in confusion then spots me and tries to go back to sleep on Kunzite. I laugh and walk over to shake her. "Come on Mina; time for bed."

Mina yawns and stretches and follows me into Darien's room. There are already two shirts waiting for us on the bed. Once we change we lay down. The lights are off, the room is warm, and yet I can't fall asleep just yet. All I can think about is watching the history channel and watching their version of Hell. All the demons and punishment. The different circles of Hell.

"Mina?" I whisper.

"Yeah?" She answers.

I sigh, "I'm freaking out."

Mina sits up in bed, "I was waiting for it." She rests on her side and I mirror her. "You're freaking out about the whole Hell thing?" I nod. "Kunz says it isn't like that. He says it's different for each person. It's not Hell, it's the Underworld. It's both Heaven and Hell. Come on Serena, you're a rational person think about it."

I sigh in frustration. "Darien told me to think about it like a big hallway and behind each door is that person's fate. I can see that but I can all see Hell the way everyone else thinks of it."

Mina nods, "Serena, maybe you should sleep on it."

"Yeah," I agree. "Goodnight, Mina."

"'Night," Mina turns over and falls asleep.

I feel my eyes growing heavy until they finally close.

I feel myself being swallowed into the ground. I feel the soil of the earth surround my skin. The soil itself becomes hot. I'm sinking deeper and deeper into the Earth. The soil itself is starting to bubble. It's burning my skin!

Finally, I'm free of the surrounding soil. I look around and see lava and fire and red rocks. There's only one path that's not covered in fire or lava. I stick to the middle of the path and make my way down. The lava flows just like water and fire takes the sky. I hear someone calling my name. The father down the path I go the hotter it seems to get.

Farther down I see the cells. The cells all line both sides of the pathway. The men/women inside the cells are forced to stand on the lava. Although it doesn't seem to burn their skin they still scream out in pain. I try and hurry to get past them.

"Serena," I hear my name being called again. I walk faster down the path until I come to a fork. I see that the other path is a set of stairs but I also see that the lava has cut the path off. I turn to the right path moving forward to continue but a demon starts going down the stairs. My curiosity gets the better of me and I watch as the seven feet tall demon begins to be swallowed by the lava.

I gasp and turn around to the other path.

But I run into something… or someone.

I look up and it's Diamond. His red eyes are on fire and his horns are a sharp as any knife.

I wake up in a cold sweat. I glance at Mina and hear her softly snoring next to me. I grab my phone off the night stand and see that it's 3 o'clock. I head to the bathroom and splash my face with cool water. I grab the sink and take a few deep breaths.

"It was just a dream, Serena," I mutter.

I pat my face dry and move into the kitchen for a glass of water. I see the TV light and walk quietly into the room just in case Darien fell asleep with it on. To my surprise he's still up. He notices me walk in and sit up on the sofa.

"Hey," he whispers.

"Hey," I whisper back.

He frowns and waves his hand over to me, motioning me to sit. I do and he throws the blanket over the both of us. Like its natural, I lean into his side.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"Bad dream," I reply.

He hugs me tighter to him. "Do you want to talk about it?" I shake my head no. I feel Darien take a deep breath and let it out fast. "Serena, I forgot to mention one major detail in my confession to you. I was so focused on trying to tell you I'm going to be the next ruler that I forgot to tell you why I was telling you."

Darien sits up and I sit up also. He turns towards me bringing one leg on the sofa. "Serena, the reason I had to tell you about myself is because you're my bride."

I frown in confusion. "That's why I'm here," Dairen continues. "I came up here to search for a bride. Before the heir can take the thrown he must first find his bride. We do this whole ritual thing at home and find out the location you are going to be found it. Its tradition, but it's my job to find you. It doesn't take into account of how long until you get to this location, but it'll be where I found you. Father sent me here two years ago and I thought for sure I wasn't going to find you. I was so ready to head back home."

I ask the first question that pops into my mind. "Darien, how old are you?"

This time its Darien's turn to frown in confusion. "I'm only 54," he states.

I feel my heart fill with sadness. "I'm sorry that you had to wait for long for me. I'm so lucky that I didn't have to wait or go through guy after guy. And suffer heartache over and over again until I found the right one."

Darien just stares at me. "You never have the reactions I expect."

I shrug, "I'm more of a keep cool now and freak out later kind of girl." I pause thinking about Gran. "I wasn't always like this. I was immature, impulsive, and a brat. But when my Gran died I had to rethink things I had to grow up just a little but faster than I wanted to." I look towards Darien. "But I'm thankful for being able to be a kid."

Darien smiles softly. "I wish I could've known you back then."

I laugh, "Nah, you would've hated me!"

Darien laughs. "Perhaps but we would've worked it out."

I nod and grin at him. "Yeah, I think so too."

A/N: I hope y'all like it!