Here's another...
Darien continued to watch over the young girl as she slept. Amy was taking her pulse one final time, although she had already sworn that Serena was indeed sleeping and there wouldn't be any more damage to her memories. She put her stethoscope away and motioned for Darien to follow her from the room.
As they entered the living room, Darien noticed that the rest of the girls were sitting and having tea. The silence in the room was disheartening, the usual banter of the group replaced by a somber quiet. It had been that way for the last few weeks. Serena lived as if nothing had ever happened, with the only mention of Sailor Moon from her regarding the TV show she continued to watch. Without her laughter and excitement to fuel the fire that usually sparked when the girls were together the room seemed empty.
As soon as Darien and the girls had arrived at the apartment and detransformed, Darien and Amy had immediately taken Serena to her room. They kept the girls out while Amy ran some tests, so as they emerged from her room they were pounced on immediately.
After assuring the girls that Serena was fine a silence settled again. Rei took a sip of her tea and looked at Darien expectantly. "So what happened exactly when the youma threw those last two discs at you. She wasn't hit was she?"
"No." Said Darien putting his head in hands. "I had us both under my cape. They missed us but managed to cut through a few upper branches, which crashed down onto us. I thought we were covered completely but apparently one of the branches must have hit her."
Lita patted the grieving man on the back, trying to be light. "I know it was my idea earlier that we just bash her over the head one more time, but I'm beginning to think that girl is going to have permanent brain damage if she keeps getting hit. I mean, that first one she took that started this whole mess three months ago was bad enough."
The other girls nodded and the living room was quiet once more. Darien was sure as he looked around at the worried faces of the girls that they were all thinking about the same thing, the accident that had taken Serena's memories.
The accident occurred with a routine youma. The girls had arrived, given their usual speeches and were ingrained in battle. Sailor Moon, who had used her tiara and was powering up her Moon Scepter, never even saw the attack coming. Tuxedo Mask arrived on the scene just in time to witness Sailor Moon being thrown backwards by the blast, and was seconds too late as she plowed into the cement fountain in the middle of the park. He jumped in after her to keep her from drowning but the damage was done. He cradled her in his arms and watched in horror as her transformation faded and a single trickle of blood fell from her ear.
His anguished cry scared the Senshi far more than having watched Serena detransform. They watched him leap over the fountains side and lay Serena gently on the ground. Taking off his cape he tenderly covered her unmoving form and ran at the youma with his cane out. The girls watched as Darien surged forward, a pain and anger etched across his face they had never seen before.
By the fifth stride the aura surrounding him was blood red and his Tuxedo shimmered into the form of Prince Darien. Now brandishing his sword at the youma, he reached it at full speed, and in three strong slashes the youma fell dead at his feet. It had never even gotten the chance to make an attack. With his blood still boiling, he continued to stab at the thing until its body disappeared into the usual dust.
The girls stunned by the Prince's actions could only stand and stare. He watched it blow away in the breeze, collected himself and rushed back to Serena's side. As he fell to his knees his transformation faded and he picked Serena up gently and held her unmoving form in his arms.
"Mercury." He said unable to tear his gaze from Serena. Sailor Mercury rushed to his side and began scanning her body with her VR goggles and computer. It took only seconds to compare the new scan to a recent one had she had taken as a routine check up.
"Its her frontal lobe. The trauma is serious, we need to get her to the apartment so I can scan her more thoroughly and begin treatment." She looked up at Darien and paused a moment. "This could be very bad. We need to help her now."
Amy, with the help of some equipment from the base in the Arcade, managed to save Serena's life and repair most of the tissue damage. Serena drifted into and out of consciousness, the girls taking turns keeping a diligent watch.
But Darien never left. He lived on minutes of sleep a day and the strongest black coffee Lita could make. Though they tried to persuade him that even a few hours of sleep wouldn't hurt, he refused to leave her side lest anything should happen. Amy tried to assure him that Serena would live, as long as she woke up, but they wouldn't know what the outcome would be until she could speak to them.
Almost exactly a week to the day of the accident, Serena opened her eyes. She looked around her room, taking in the familiar surroundings. She saw Lita lounging on her chair in the corner reading a book and a young black haired man standing at her window, one hand in his pocket the other propping him against the frame as he stared out.
As she struggled to sit up, the bed creaked with her weight and both the young man and Lita glanced up quickly at her. Lita's eyes grew wide and she dropped the book she had been holding. In two strides the young man was across the room and had gripped her hands in his own. He kneeled beside the bed and Lita rushed to the door calling out as she went. In moments a group of people had entered her room.
Amy came forward and scanned her with what looked like her cell phone. "Its seems, that its nearly healed. There are some spots I'm still concerned about but now that she's awake she should recover fully."
The young man clutching her hands continued to stare at her. She glanced at the other people in the room. A girl with long black hair was trying to discreetly wipe away tears, while a girl with long blonde hair pulled back in a huge red bow grinned from ear to ear. She recognized them both but was having trouble placing where.
She looked back again at the young man beside her. His eyes were wistful as he watched her furrow her brow and look at him strangely. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice a bit raspy from lack of use. "Why am I in bed with you guys here?"
The girls glanced around at each other for a moment and a concerned look washed over Darien's face. "Um, Serena?" said Lita stepping forward. "What do you remember last?"
Serena thought for a moment growing a bit apprehensive at the question. "I remember coming home from work and having dinner with you and Amy. And then..." She struggled to think for a moment. "Waking up here. Just what's going on any way? And why are you in my room?"
"Serena." Said Amy stepping forward again and using her phone to scan her head "What do you remember about the fight?"
"Fight? What fight?" Said Serena looking worriedly at Lita for help.
For the first time since she had woken Darien spoke up. "Serena, do you know who the Sailor Senshi are?"
Serena sat and stared at Darien again. She realized her hands were still clutched in his and she yanked them away forcefully. "What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I know who the Sailor Senshi are." The girls looked at each other relaxing a bit at her response. "They're the superheroes from that TV show, and I'll thank you not to mock me about that anymore. By the way, who let you in and why? Is this a group meeting to pick on me or some sort of intervention about the show? I've told you before I'm not obsessed! And I recognize you now!" She said pointing a finger at Rei. "You're that psycho girl who threw a piece of paper at me at the Hikawa Shrine and knocked me unconscious for a few hours. And aren't you our neighbor?" She asked referring to Mina.
"You don't remember them?" Asked Amy continuing to punch buttons on her phone.
"What do you mean remember them? Why are you waving your phone at me anyway? Are you feeling ok?" Asked Serena. Amy backed away and put her phone into her pocket.
"Ah I see, well we'll just leave you then, Serena. Sorry to have woken you up. Just come out when you're hungry. Lita's making your favorite tonight: Curried chicken and mashed potatoes. Come on guys." She said hastening for the door.
"Damn right scaring a girl like that!" Said Serena as they group retreated again. "And you keep the creep away from me! Imagine letting him into my room, some friends you are!" She yelled as the door shut behind them.
After that the girls decided in Serena's best interest that they should go along with how she perceived what her world was and leave the memories to return on their own. But a month went by, and then two. Luna began to worry that her memories might never return. She and Amy came up with a plan to lead Serena into a confrontation with Rei and see what might occur. After storming off the grounds of the Shrine, Serena vowed never to return. As she went she ran blindly into Darien and things turned from bad to worse. Serena insulted him, believing they were still mortal enemies, and dashed home to sulk in her room about her bad day.
Amy and Luna had watched as Serena turned haughtily on her heel and rushed away from Darien. He looked as though she had ripped his heart out and done the tango on it for good measure. Never had they seen Darien look so low, even before he and Serena had known about their past.
"We need more than just a plan, Amy," whispered Luna into the girls ear. "I'm going to try the mind meld tonight at the apartment. I have a feeling it may not work, but it's something we have to try."
As she predicted, the mind meld didn't have any affect on Serena and only served to cause her to relapse further. The girls had held a few meetings to discuss what could be done but as the days kept going by they started to despair that Serena would never recover.
Darien stood and shook off the memories. He paced to the edge of the living room. "I'm going in there for a while. At least she can't insult me while she's asleep." He said. He tried to smile for the girl's sake at his joke, but it never reached his eyes. They watched as he disappeared into Serena's room and quietly shut the door.
"This has got to end." Said Mina sitting up on the couch. "I miss hanging out with you guys and I'm right next door. Poor Darien is practically grieving from the loss of his Serena."
The girls nodded together. "Well, I have an idea." Said Amy hopefully. "I was saving it as a last ditch effort and it seems this might be a good time to try. Here's what we have to do..."
Sorry about the long time between updates. I swear I have more chapters I just can't seem to find time to update and make sure they're ready to go. I'll put more out as soon as possible. Feedback is good! Yay!