Thanks for all of the reviews you guys! Here's the next chapter. It's a stepping stone for the next one which is going to be the second to last in this arc. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

Chapter 16: Faith

"She's still out there," Serena said grimly as she leaned up against the control board.

The room was wide and open with large screens covering the wall in front of them. There were key boards, buttons, knobs, levers, and speaker boxes all across a long silver panel. Multiple chairs were placed all along it for when the scouts had to keep an eye on the palace, but most of them were empty. Luna and Artemis sat on the board with head sets on while Diana was perched in a chair watching them do their job. Rini and Hotaru were standing in the back of the room watching the screen and keeping silent the whole time. It was a life lesson for both of them to watch what was going on.

"We can still catch her," Luna reassured Serena as she pushed her headset off with her paw. "It's not the end yet."

"That witch keeps slipping through our fingers. How could we let this happen?!" she exclaimed. "She nearly killed a bunch of innocent people and one of my oldest friends! And for what?! To get back at me? To get Darien to notice her again?" She whipped around and shouted at him, "You sure know how to pick them, don't you?! What is it? Crazy in the head, crazy in bed? Huh?!"

"Serena, you're getting hysterical," he replied calmly as he removed his headset and swirled around in his chair to face her.

"Don't tell me what I'm doing!" she screamed.

He stood up and towered over her, "Want to hit me? Go on. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Darien, Rini is—"

"She's seen worse."

"King," Hotaru said tentatively.

"You just don't get it, do you?!" Serena asked as she ignored Hotaru's gaze and clenched her fists.

"You're mad. I get that," he answered simply.

She let out an enraged grunt and pushed him away from her. He stumbled backwards and luckily fell back into his chair. She spun around and stormed out of the room with the rest of them simply staring at her in shock. Her outbursts were becoming more frequent the further along in her pregnancy she became.

Darien was about to go after her, when Luna said, "Let her be. She needs some alone time I think."

He flopped back down in his chair and placed his head in his hands. Rini strolled up to her father, bent over, and embraced him tightly. He hugged her back, closing his eyes as he did. His daughter hadn't actually shown any true signs of affection in months. This was a moment he was willing to relish in for as long as it would last.

Serena sat down on the stone bench and covered her face with her hands. She had decided to get lost in the labyrinth made of shrubbery they had in the garden. She didn't want to be found by anyone at the moment as the sun sunk below the horizon. There was a crunching noise in front of her which made her angered, wet eyes drift up above her fingertips. Seiya was standing in front her, his head tilted slightly to the side in a concerned sort of fashion.

"Why are you crying, your majesty?"

"Confusion. Hurt. Anger. Depression. Heartbreak. Longing. Love," she listed. "Take your pick at any one of the emotions and it'll pin-point how I'm feeling."

He knelt down and placed a warm hand on her nylon covered knee, "You shouldn't be like this. Not when a baby is on the way."

"Too late," she shrugged as tears forced their way out of her eyes. "The only way to get passed this is if we catch that malevolent woman!"

He slipped his hand over her flaring red cheek and asked her, "How would you feel if King Endymion died tomorrow."

"Dreadful… guilty."

"Would you care if Stella was caught?"

"I'd probably be too numb to care."

"You love him."

"To the depths of my soul."

"Then let the scouts do their job. You and your family should return to Crystal Tokyo. Let us all take care of what needs to be done," he explained. "You're restless, I understand that. Use that energy and put it into your daughter. She could use you right now."

She nodded as she wiped the tears away from her cheeks. Seiya leaned forward and kissed the crescent moon on her forehead before getting up. He held a hand out to her which she gladly took and strung her arm through his as they ambled back to the palace through the maze.

Before Serena decided to leave the Earth though, she went to go visit Molly in the hospital. She made sure that her room was filled with bellflowers which meant "thinking of you" and marigolds which signified pain and sorrow. Serena always found it strange that such a plant that looked like a firework would mean something so depressing.

Her old friend from back in her mortal days looked pretty good for just going through a whole fiasco of explosions and chaos. The pastor only had a broken leg that was held up in a contraction, a broken arm in a sling, and small gash on the back of her head as well as being dotted with a few bruises here and there. Serena grasped onto her hand and beamed down at her.

"Your majesty," Molly croaked.

"You know you can call me Serena," she said, holding the tears back. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Much better," she answered. "I've been preparing for my release at the end of the week. I want to get back to work and create another sculpture of you to replace the one that was destroyed."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yes I do. Your job, Queen, is to protect us all and hold us all in unity. My job is to produce images that people want to see."

"I admire you for you resilience."

"You're the one who inspired me to be like this."

Serenity gazed deeply into Molly's eyes before asking quietly, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I would be honored," she breathed. Molly sat up in bed and Serena propped up her pillows for her. She took a sip of water before starting to tell her story, "I was ending the tale about Saturn's creation and I told everyone to light a candle for you and the royal family. That dark haired woman came up to me and asked if she could speak with me in my office about the gospel word of the moon; she acted like she was confused. I directed her into my chambers and we started to discuss candidly about the origins of the scouts and their powers before she slapped some handcuffs over my wrists." She exposed her bruised wrists to her queen before continuing, "She stole my cloak, placed a ticking digital clock on my wall and was out of sight. Before I knew it, I heard the bells ringing and then something that sounded like an earthquake. I was chained to my desk, but I was able to crouch down underneath anyways in order to protect myself. When the walls came tumbling down on me, I called out for help and one of your sailor scouts, Mars I believe, came to my rescue."

Serena brushed away a single tear that had fallen down her face and tightened her grip on her friend's hand, "Thank you for telling me all of this Molly. I promise you we will get this treacherous woman."

"I know you will. My faith in you never wavers," she smiled.

Four months later…

There still hadn't been any progress in finding Stella or trying to track her down. Every time the scouts thought they had her, she found a way to slither out of their clutches. It was annoying and aggravating, but the royal family had other matters to attend to. Serena needed to take care of her body and her current teenage daughter for now while Darien was all about politics and dealing with other planets in the midst of all of this chaos. The Sailor Stars found themselves to be rather useless and decided to return to their homes. They told the scouts to contact them again if they needed anything else or any assistance. The queen felt rather alone during the day time when she had nothing to do, but then when she felt a kick or two from the child inside her, she was reminded that she would never be by herself.

Late one night, Serenity sat up in bed as Endymion walked in with a mug filled with warm milk. She grimaced as she took the cup from him, "There's no point in you doing that. I could have had one of the servants do it for me and you wouldn't have been disrupted."

"But they don't know how to make it like I do," he replied with a glint in his eye. "There's a touch of cinnamon and vanilla extract. Drink up."

He got back into bed and she grabbed his hand, placing it on her enlarged stomach. He could feel their child kicking wildly. A smile curved his lips and she beamed at him.

"Fidgety, just like yourself," Darien chuckled.

"I hope they have your patience," she said seriously as she rubbed her round hump and drank her milk. "Having one intolerant child is more than enough."

She lay back onto her pillows and handed Darien the half empty glass which he gladly finished the rest of. The two snuggled up against one another and watched the snow trickle down to Crystal Tokyo through their tall windows. The seasons were artificially created so that people felt more comfortable. Serena smiled at the sight of the cold flakes dancing down to the ground.

"A winter baby," she whispered.

"An anniversary baby, you mean," he corrected her.

Serena furrowed her brow and rolled over in an awkward way to face him, "What do you mean?"

"First time we met, remember?"

"It was fall I'm pretty sure," she said. "It was the middle of the semester—"

"No, no, no," he said. "The very first time we met. Think back to our previous life."

She closed her eyes and snuggled up closer to him, "Tell it to me like a story."

"Your mother wanted us to formally be introduced. The Moon Kingdom and the Earth never really came into contact with one another unless it was absolutely necessary," he whispered as he stared out at the glistening Earth that hung in the midnight sky. "I waited with my generals at the front entrance. I thought you were going to be able to see my pounding heart through my armor when you arrived, but you didn't. The queen walked in first. I bowed and waited for you to glide on through. When she announced you, I felt my breath escape from my body. You were glowing … I had never seen a woman do that before upon entering a room. I fell in love.

"You had a white lace umbrella in hand to cover your body from the light ice falling from the sky. You greeted us warmly and then asked what this strange phenomenon was. I said it was snow and just looked at me curiously. You were truly from another world…"

"Our baby will love the snow," Serena breathed as she started to drift off to sleep slowly. "They will play in it and have rose-red cheeks."

Darien nodded closed his eyes, feeling the warm milk do its job. They were dragged happily into slumber.

When Serena woke up the next morning, she found that she was alone in bed with a single red rose and a note card in Darien's place. She groggily sat up and flipped open the card which said, "Meet me in the den, dearest. Love Endy."

She sniffed the rose and smiled at the heavy fragrance. The queen climbed out of bed and removed her night gown as she strolled into the bathroom. The shooting water from the shower massaged her aching back. This child was heavy and often times she wondered if she was going to be able to carry them to full term if they continued to gain weight. After drying herself and getting her face and hair fixed up, Serenity slipped into her royal gown which had been specially made for her pregnancy. She looked at her reflection from side-font-side and huffed at the vision before her; she felt like a whale.

"You're pregnant, you're not fat," a voice said from behind.

She looked over to find her daughter leaning up against the bathroom door.

"Small Lady, don't you knock?" Serenity said in an exasperated tone as she walked out of the bathroom. "I swore I taught you manners…"

"Papa sent me to come get you," she announced.

"I was just on my way to see him."

"Are you going to discuss my coming of age party?"

"What your father and I discuss is none of your concern until we approach you," she replied with an arched eyebrow as she exited her quarters.

Serena waddled down the hallway with Rini at her side, bugging her about the prospect of a ball. She silently prayed to the gods and goddesses that she wouldn't have another child who incessantly whined, complained, and irritated her. She knew her patience level had dropped due to having a whole knew body growing inside her, but her daughter was all too consumed in her own dilemmas. When they arrived to the king's den, he immediately dropped the report he was reading and stood up. He breezed over to his wife and kissed her good morning. His eyes drifted over to their daughter who was still complaining up a storm.

"Mommy please?! Everyone else has had their coming of age party!" she wailed. "I'm sixteen! I'm the laughingstock of the whole teenage court!"

"Rini," Darien said in his warning tone, "what did I tell you?"

She crouched over and placed her hands behind her back as she lowered her head, "Don't upset Mom."

"And why did I tell you this?"

"Because it's stressful to carry a baby."

"And?"

"And it's stressful to carry a whole universe on your shoulders especially when you're pregnant."

"Good," he nodded. "Please leave the room. I'll meet with you after breakfast for your healing lesson."

"Yes Father," she bowed. She took a step toward her mother to kiss her cheek and then kiss her stomach.

Once she left, Serena felt herself feel relieved. Darien rubbed her shoulders and massaged her neck; an immediate groan of satisfaction escaped from her mouth as he did this. A smirk covered his lips while pushing her gently toward the chair that sat in front of a table where their breakfast was laid out. He continued to rub her shoulders as she closed her eyes and leaned forward.

"Was I this big before?" she moaned.

"Honest answer?"

"Honest answer, please."

"No. Rini came out premature though."

"That's just it! I wasn't this big when I was even this far along with her! I'm only seven and half months and I feel like I should be giving birth already. It's uncomfortable," she said as he continued to dig his hands gently into her sore muscles.

"It'll be over soon," he said through gritted teeth as he tried to rub out a knot that had formed in her back. "And then you'll go through your crying phase of post-partum depression."

"I'm just a jar full of the worst emotions," she growled.

"And I treasure you all the same," he chuckled as he kissed her temple and then went to go sit in the chair across from her at the table. "So, about—"

"Hold on."

Serena's ears pricked at a noise from outside. She was about to push herself out of her chair when Darien bid her not to. She silently pointed to the door and he took a few long strides across the room toward it. He swung it open to find the pink-haired princess pressing her ear against the thick wooden barrier. She blushed profusely and stumbled to stand up straight.

"Serena you have amazing hearing," he grinned as he kept his steel eyes on his daughter.

"I'd like to think it's more intuition rather than hearing," she said.

"Hotaru!" Darien called out. Sailor Saturn quickly but with ease came to Rini's side and turned her attention to the king. "Would you be so kind as to place a silence barricade around this room and then escort the princess to her morning breakfast?"

"Yes, your majesty," she bowed.

The dark-eyed girl bent down, placing her palms flat on the ground and slowly raising them up as a thin, glowing wall started to emanate from her hands. She smoothly finished the fence of silence with great ease and watched as any trace of it disappeared. A small smile dropped onto her face as she signaled to the king. He closed the door behind himself and strolled back to his seat.

"I'm really glad she hasn't left," Serena said through her partially filled mouth of eggs and bacon.

"Do you miss the others?" he asked.

The queen could only nod to him. Upon tending to the Stella dilemma, the scouts hadn't been able to visit the queen as much as she would have liked. Each of them had seen her maybe once or twice. She had been lucky enough to see Mina three times during the months they spent apart. Recently, the women had received distress calls from their home planets, each one more bizarre than the last. Mercury said there were people rioting in the streets of twenty-seven major cities across the globe. Jupiter said a major earthquake had hit her capital. Mina couldn't believe this, but a chief bank that held most of the economy together on her home planet had gone bankrupt some how. Rei said that although the people of Mars were still as rowdy as ever, they were breaking out into a major civil war that wasn't expected. Sailor Uranus was having troubles with her parliamentary government; no one was passing a damn law and the people were getting anxious. Michiru said a huge natural disaster had crashed onto her planet Neptune and close to a million people had died because of it. Pluto had to keep guard of the Gate of Time so Neptune and Uranus bounced from their planet to hers and to Saturn to see how things were progressing there. Major resources were dwindling on Saturn while on Pluto an epidemic of a rather curious disease was spreading across the planet. All of these encounters were rather suspicious, thus Luna and Artemis investigated each incident carefully, trying to discover some sort of connection. So far, they couldn't find anything.

"So as I was saying before we were interrupted by our daughter," he smiled, "what would you like to do about Rini's 'becoming an adult' party? We have to introduce her as a true lady of the royal court soon. Like, you know, before your water breaks unexpectedly."

"I was thinking we could do it next week," Serena said calmly as she bit into her buttered toast. "I have been make arrangements during the afternoon—"

"When you're supposed to be taking a nap and not worrying about anything?"

"Yes, exactly," she replied cattily. "I've scheduled for caterers, florists, a band, and asked the head mistress of the servant board to figure out who will set up the ballroom."

"And you did this all from our bedroom when I was away in the afternoon?" he asked.

"I was laying down the whole time," she beamed. "The final thing we need to do is figure out the guest list."

"How about just everyone is invited?"

"Yeah, right, that'll go over really well with our finicky daughter," Serena commented as she finished up her bacon and then reached over for a thick, fluffy, strawberry pancake. "It needs to be specific and have some exclusivity."

"Okay, well, the scouts—"

"If they can make it."

"Right," Darien agreed. "And I suppose the whole teenage court?"

"What did I just tell you?" she asked. "Not everyone can be invited."

"But I have connections with their parents! They'll be offended!" he said indignantly as he cut through his pancakes.

"I'll let Rini handle the guest list," she said with a wave of her hand. They paused for a while as they continued to eat and then Serena looked up from her plate, her eyes gliding slowly over at her husband, "I have a question…"

"Yes?"

"What about Helios?"

"The guardian of Elysion?"

"Darling, there's only one Helios that we know, please."

"Well, what about him?"

"I want to invite him secretly," she giggled.

Darien shoved a piece of his cinnamon pancake into his mouth and knitted his brow at her, "Why?"

"Do you know how long our daughter has had a crush on him?"

"Since she was in like second grade. What's your point?"

She shook her head in disbelief, "After all these years of being in love, you still don't recognize it unless it's right in front of your face. Our daughter loves him."

"No she doesn't."

"Yes she does."

"No she doesn't."

"Yes, she does!" Serenity said with some finality. "I still see her draw Pegasus doodles in her notebooks and write out the name 'Mrs. Helios' all over blank sheets of paper as though she was practicing her signature. She wants to see him and we haven't permitted her to go down to Elysion ever in her life so I thought this would be a good excuse to invite him up."

"Who do you expect to protect the holy land of Elysion?"

"Do you read the reports given to you or do you just act like you've got something important to do?" Serena retorted. "Helios has deemed Pegasus to protect the land. Your Golden Crystal does most of the work when it comes to providing that place with a defense system. Now a days, Helios just tends to the inner palace and watches over you."

"How did you get all of this information and I didn't?" Darien asked as he placed his empty plate on the tray.

"Beats me," she shrugged as she started to reach for another large, bulky pancake.

Her husband stopped her by blocking her fork with his knife as he remarked, "And you wonder why this baby is so heavy?"

"It's hungry! I have to feed it. I don't get to eat anything I want to. It's all them," she said as she looked down at her bulging stomach. "I haven't been able to eat pudding, no blueberries, the thought of basil makes my feet swell, and smell of cayenne pepper makes me feel sick. When I finally can eat something that this little rug rat likes, I eat as much to my heart's content."

He moved his knife away and let her dig into another pancake. While she wolfed down her food, he began to wonder silently what the child would look like. Serena had strictly forbidden anyone except the doctor to look at the sonogram. She didn't want to know the sex of the child and didn't want to see what it looked like. She said it was because she didn't want to put any pretenses on the baby when it hasn't even entered their world yet. At first sight, a child is already burdened with so many hopes, fears, and probabilities that it will be a great ruler. That's what happened with Rini when she was first born and then when she stopped growing, she was teased, made fun of, and eventually grew rather depressed. Darien speculated if maybe those troubled times were the reason she turned to turn to the dark side during that period of time. It was good for her to finally be making friends, talking to boys, and over all socializing in their tumultuous world.

"Do you want to tell Rini about the ball or should I?" Darien asked. His wife answered through her pancakes, but he couldn't understand a word that came out of her over-stuffed mouth. "I'm sorry, what?"

She held up an index finger, signaling that he wait a moment for her to finish munching on her food and swallow. After a full minute of all of this, she finally answered in a breathless tone, "You should do it. You have your lesson with her next."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because it'll make me look like the good guy again," he smirked.

"You're always the good guy," she mumbled.

The two finished breakfast and went off on their separate ways. Serena went back to her bedroom where Luna was waiting with a smile on her furry face. She sat down on the bed and cuddled with her companion, hoping to get some relaxation finally. The black cat climbed up on top of Serena's engorged stomach and purred loudly, thinking the vibrations would soothe the child inside.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and Rini came running in with a wide smile cutting across her face, "You've really set everything up for next week Mama?!"

Gathering her composure, she nodded fervently, "Yes dear, I have."

"Thank you Mother! Thank you!!"

Her daughter threw her arms around her neck and squeezed her tight. Luna was pushed off to the side by the greedy princess, but she didn't mind; this was a good moment to be shared. Serena looked up at Darien who was standing at the doorway with his hands in his pockets, giving her an all-knowing gaze. She was the "good guy" now.

Up next: Rini's ball!