Yay, another chapter for you loyalists! Sorry it takes me so long! Enjoy!

I awoke very early. The cracks in the blinds had grown dark as the moon had long passed overhead. The numbers on my clock radio blinked Four AM at me from across the room and Darien was still there, curled next me on his side facing my closet. I lay there for a moment listening to him breath slowly and thinking about the dream that I had just had.

Maybe it was because of reading the account of what had happened on the Moon the night the Alien Queen attacked. I remembered from the show on T.V. the episodes where, ha ha, I had regained my memories from the past. I remembered Darien being taken by her and, when we finally figured out where he was being held, making the long trek to the Ice Castle hidden at the North Pole.

The dream I had was very similar to this, but I know it was my own memories of watching my friends disappear, one by one, as we tried to make it to the castle. Knowing they had died and it was because of me, knowing that I alone was going to do battle with the Queen, and hoping that I could stand against her. Hoping the belief my friends had placed in me wasn't wrong. I remembered standing in the freezing weather shivering, more from fear of letting them down than the cold, and asking for their strength.

When at last I was whisked away into the castle and stood face to face with Queen Beryl, I remembered finally feeling unafraid, knowing it was now or never, and I knew I had to win for the sake of the people on earth. I couldn't let them be forced to bow to a power that didn't belong here. I was strong and I could do it. And that's when I noticed a shadowy figure beside her. Someone knelt at her feet, his lips pressed to her hand with absolute reverence.

I don't think I had had, at that time, a greater shock in my life. I knew that he was working for them, and I knew that he was brainwashed, but the fall my heart made when he stood and revealed himself at her side was almost more than I was ready for. I know I swayed on my feet. The look in his blue eyes as they turned to me was stone cold. No one actually looked out and it was the most horrible sight I ever remembered seeing. No warmth, no light, no Darien.

Even in that awful moment, I vividly remembered wondering to myself if she could tell the difference, or wondering if she even cared. In her mind I supposed it didn't matter, she had him one way or the other and he did as she bid him to. It was then, as she sent him to kill me knowing that I wouldn't strike a blow, that it dawned on me this was her plan all along. The only way she could win would be to set him upon me, because surely nothing else would have stopped me.

I dodged his sword as long as I could, strike after strike, hoping I might see even a glimmer of Darien fighting to get out. I used my wand to try and counteract the brainwashing, but the waves of light passed right through him as if they were invisible. He walked straight through the stream to me and with out hesitation slapped the wand from my hand. For a petrified moment I wondered if I had the strength any longer to even dodge the next blow that I knew was coming. The Queens hideous cackling resounded in the background as she watched the final knell coming.

The whole thing sickened me more because I recognized the same scene that had been our death a thousand years earlier. But this time, I knew I didn't have it in me. How could I again steal the sword from him and strike? I hated the feel of burying it deep within his chest and the thought that it was the only way. I couldn't live with myself last time and I knew that I couldn't again, but this time there was no one else to fight the Queen at the end. They say history repeats itself but this was insanity. There had to be a reason for this second chance, death couldn't be the only way out.

My dodge of his blow certainly shocked him, at such close range a skilled swordsman should never have missed, but he didn't expect me to step to him instead of away. Using his momentary shock, I pressed myself to him and kissed him with all of the emotions I could find: my love for him, my friends, my family, my grief at their deaths, my fear for our safety and for the earth, and my anger at how nothing could be or would ever be simple. I could hear the sword clatter to the ground and an anguished cry from the angry Queen as I kissed him. From my closed eyes I felt tears stream in hope and in fear that I had made the right decision.

He stood absolutely motionless as I broke away and looked up. He stared down at me for a moment before he lifted a hand and brushed away the trail my tears had carved down my cheek. Somewhere in there he had still been fighting, help was all he needed and somehow I was able to give that to him. Funny what a simple gesture accomplishes sometimes.

A shriek that was from no human voice broke the moment as the Queen finally reacted. In seconds, a large crystal materialized in her hands and she threw it at us both. Darien produced a rose and hurled it at the crystal, while diving out of the way. He did as he always promised to do and protected me until the end which he found quickly by a stray shard as he pushed me to the ground. As I knelt beside him he breathed his last I love you. I wanted nothing more than to lie on that cold marble floor beside him and be done. Wishing it could be as simple as just waiting for the end, but the reason I still lived was the reason he died and it wouldn't be right to just lay it all down now.

The Queen had disappeared from the room as she had flung the crystal. I brought myself slowly to my feet and reached for my silver crystal. Last time it had been used against the Queen it had been meant to seal her away for all time, I knew that could no longer be her fate. No future earth needed to be threatened by her, especially one I couldn't be sure I'd be reborn again for.

I made my way back into the thrashing winds of the North Pole to face the Queen who, under the power of the Negaverse, had grown to the size of the Tokyo Tower at least. My next memories, still a tad hazy even in the dream, flash through this last battle. Rather than slowed down versions of themselves they flew by as if in fast forward mode. My transformation into the Moon princess, the beginnings of the fight, my friends powers helping, and Darien's final powers combining to not only deal the death blow to the Queen but vaporize any trace of the Negaverse she so easily pulled her power from.

Although I knew it was an end justifiable enough for all that had been caused by her jealous anger, I still felt pained that it had been by my hand. I truly believe that guilt is going to haunt me for the rest of my life more than anything else. And I thought hope was dangerous.

I was grateful at least that the horrible episode was over with, but I wondered now, if the Negaverse was destroyed, who was sending the new youma? It was a question for the girls in the morning for sure. I knew it had to be going on a few weeks now, only because I remembered they had been going on mysterious late night outings since about two months ago. It also seemed to me, at least compared to the one I had actually faced, that they seemed stronger, and stranger if that was at all possible. A beer bottle after all?

I sighed heavily and adjusted my pillow. I had forgotten Darien was sleeping beside me and I froze as he stirred slightly. He mumbled something in his sleep and turned towards me. I noticed although it was cool enough in the room, his forehead had a light sheen of sweat on it and his features were scrunched as if he were face to face with something truly unpleasant. I hoped it wasn't another bad dream; he seemed himself to be destined for un-restful sleep and nightmares for eternity.

It made me giggle quietly, and maybe a little hysterically, to myself. Yes, we were definitely a pair. If I didn't already know we should be together, it was another thing to add to the list.

I lay for a few minutes contemplating Darien and I again. I still couldn't believe how much had really happened between us and to us. It seemed so short a period of time. Different memories and scenes drifted in and out of focus as I thought about all the time we had lost too.

Since I was having a hard time remembering I was definitely going to have to speak to him first. There were things I knew, but didn't know if the scouts knew, that Darien might just know. Especially since they pertained to his now absent officers and my scouts.

Did they know that their Negaverse enemies had actually been their lovers once upon a time? Did they want to know for that matter? Rei seemed so happy with Chad, but knowing she had had a part in destroying someone who she had once called her soul mate…

I couldn't bear to think about the others reactions, they must not know, or at least have been denying it.

Darien stirred again beside me and his face scrunched tighter. I watched silently as in his sleep he reached forward, "Serena." He said more quietly then I had expected but so painfully. I reached out and threaded my own fingers into his grasping hand. I pulled myself closer to him and cuddled next to him hoping it would abate whatever dream he was having and make it pleasanter for him. "Darien" I answered back quietly near his ear. His face seemed to relax at once as if in his dream I had come to him as well. His other arm, which had been hidden somewhere beneath one of the pillows, drew me closer and tucked me further into his embrace.

I sighed happily as my worries began to leave me. I listened to the steady beating of his heart so close now to my own. His even breathing lulled me and his warm arms made me sleepy again. I was grateful for these few moments I got alone with him, when I could, that he could make everything else melt away for a short time. Now hidden from my view by Darien's comforting hold, my steady clock blinked Five AM as I dropped back into sleep.