This is quite a long chapter, but that's because just about everything is explained and all is coming to a close. There will be a prologue following. I hope you all enjoy the final chapter in this adventure! ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

Chapter 17: Redemption

Serena groaned as she waited for Darien to finish getting dressed. Standing was becoming more of a chore than anything else these days. Her back was killing her, her feet didn't fit in any of her favorite shoes, and she always felt short of breath; these were the easy symptoms. Cramps were starting to dig their ugly nails into her lower pelvic region and as one day passed the next, they became a bit more intense. Her rib cages felt like they were being crushed like a closing accordion and her bladder was the size of a piece of rice.

When Endymion walked out of the closet, he held his arm out to his wife who growled as she grabbed onto it, "I am in a foul mood. I don't want to mingle with people. I just want to lie down and wait for this baby to come."

"You have to make an appearance Serena."

"It's our daughter's party, not mine!"

"You put it together."

"Ow!" She paused in the middle of the hallway and gripped tightly onto her stomach. She looked down at her watermelon sized belly and said, "Stop it! Mommy doesn't like it when you kick that hard!"

"You think it actually listens to you?" Darien asked as they started to move again.

"They have to hear something, right?"

When they arrived at the entrance of the ballroom, they were greeted by the scouts. They were all able to make it from their respective planets for Rini's ball which was a huge relief for Serena. She didn't think she could get through the night without them. Even Setsuna was able to make an appearance. She waved hello to them all as they gasped and gaped at how large she had gotten. Her eyes rolled as Mina and Lita bent down and started to rub her stomach.

"You're growing so fast!" Ami exclaimed.

"You mean I'm growing so fat," the queen replied as she patted her stomach.

"When's the due date?" Setsuna asked.

"Can't you tell? I should be giving birth now," she smirked.

"Are you excited?" Michiru quipped.

"Yes," she nodded. "I want to get my old body back!" As they prepared to go into the ballroom, Serena grabbed Darien's hand and placed it at the bottom of her large mound, "It really hurts. Can you calm the baby down?"

He nodded and looked over at the guards, signaling that they wait to open the doors. He then averted his gaze to Rini, "Small Lady, come here. Help your Papa heal her. Perfect example of the lessons I've been teaching you." The princess swooped over to her mother's womb and placed her hands on one side of the queen's tummy while the king had his hands pressed gently on the other side. The two of them closed their eyes and a glowing sensation consumed where the pain was emanating from. Serena sighed loudly and felt herself grow more relaxed.

"There," Darien smiled as he stood back up to his feet and kissed his wife on her temple. "Feel better?" She just hugged him as a response. He told the guards to open the doors and the scouts started to walk out into the large, crowded ballroom. They cheered first for the outer scouts, then the inner, and then whopping shouts came as the king and queen were presented to the audience. But nothing matched the applause of the princess being introduced as a true lady of the night.

Neo-Queen Serenity walked up to her daughter and beamed at her, "We have a surprise for you, Rini."

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"Helios!" Darien called out.

"What?!"

The slender princess spun around and found the tall and dashing young protector of the holy land Elysion sauntered through the doors. He wasn't in the usual sleek, flowing temple outfit that she remembered him in; instead he had slipped into a quintessential black tuxedo with a silver bowtie. She felt her skin turn pink as she blushed profusely at the sight of him. He strolled toward her casually, bowed, and then took her gloved hand. Helios was about to kiss it when she stopped him. She removed her gloves from her wrists and then returned her hand back into his grasp. A grin slowly formed over his face as he pressed his lips onto her skin. A chill showered over her.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Princess," he said as he stepped back. His golden eyes looked over at the king and he nodded to him, "Your majesty. Thank you for inviting me."

"Don't thank me," he replied, shaking his head, "it was all the queen's doing."

Helios stared at Serenity deeply as he gradually approached her with his hands reaching out toward her stomach. She gladly let him touch her and feel the baby move.

"Healthy … strong," was all he whispered before turning back to Rini and guiding her out to the dance floor where they had their first dance together.

"That kid weirds me out sometimes," Haruka said as she watched the teenagers swirl around the glossy ground.

"I find him endearing," Michiru replied, leaning into her partner.

"He has an old soul," Hotaru said.

The night carried on without a hitch. The crowd weaved in and out on the ballroom floor and even Serena went out to dance slowly with her husband. She kept to the throne for most of the time though and spoke to people from there. When she could feel her stomach growl and the baby growing restless, she decided to get up and go to the buffet for some food. She could tell what she wanted just by looking or sniffing at it. When she picked up a piece of shrimp, she almost thought she was going to throw up all over the table. Her plate was filled with bread, some vegetables, rice, and grilled chicken. Darien walked up behind her and whispered, "That baby has you eating healthy now."

"It's a regular organic freak," she mused before biting into her wild rice. The taste of it made bile rise up in her throat. She took her napkin and spit it out immediately. "Ugh. I guess it doesn't like the rice after all."

"Picky."

"I know," she scowled. "Hey, where's Luna, Artemis and Diana?"

"Control room," he answered as he walked with Serena over to the table that some of the scouts were sitting at. "They're watching over the other planets, still bent on trying to find any connections to all of the disasters."

"They never give up, do they?"

She put her plate on the table when she felt a sharp pain hit her again. A moan escaped from her lips and she bent over a little, holding onto the back of Lita's chair for support. The rest of scouts grew tense while Darien crouched over and held her stomach in his hands, doing his best to try and maybe heal her a bit.

"It's not going to work," she breathed heavily. "I need to lie down."

"Are you okay?" Setsuna asked.

"I'm fine, I just need rest." She turned around to leave and Darien was about to go with her when she stopped him, "No, no. You stay. Our daughter doesn't need both parents gone from her party."

"Are you sure?"

"Please no more questions. Just do as I say!"

She was tired, cranky, and quite annoyed with people not listening to what she had to say anymore. Everyone seemed to expect that they knew better than she did. It was frustrating that she didn't have any control over her body, her emotions, and now she felt like she had no power as queen. She walked up to her daughter who was talking with her friends and kissed her goodnight. Rini hugged her mother tightly – as firm as she could considering how large the queen had become – and then told her to sleep well. Serenity bid her scouts and husband goodnight as she waddled out of the room with an attitude much like an independent toddler.

Darien stared as his wife left the ball and then turned around to find Rini standing behind him. He tossed her a smile and she grabbed his hand as the music changed to a classical slow song. The two bowed and curtseyed to one another before sliding into an easy dance position.

After a moment of music filled silence and making swirls around the floor, Darien started up an awkward conversation, "Do you like Helios?"

"Y-yes," she blushed. There was always a reason to her father's question and she was interested as to what he was getting at with this conversation.

"Would you like him to court you?"

"What about defending the holy land?"

"He's been tending to the inner palace lately instead and the golden crystal has been doing most of the guarding," he explained. "Your mother some how knew all of this and I didn't."

"Mom seems to keep on top of things more when she's under pressure," Rini said.

"Yes she does, doesn't she?" he replied. "You know you're going to have to thank her profusely for putting all of this together. She should be resting more—"

"SCOUTS! ENDYMION!"

The music stopped suddenly and everyone froze for a split second. Darien didn't bother to wait around for any more noise or shouts and bolted out of the room with the scouts trailing behind him. He called over his shoulder to Helios, "Take care of my daughter!"

The scouts morphed as they sprinted with the king to the third floor where he was certain the distressed holler came from. The doors to the Imperial Crystal room were shut, but there was a heavy glow coming from the inside and he could see the shadow of footsteps through the crack under the door. Stella's voice wafted through the air and before he knew it, he was ramming his shoulder up against the door screaming, "SERENITY!"

Minutes earlier…

As Serena walked down the darkly lit hallway, she caught sight of a tiny, silky black figure race up the staircase passed her bedroom doors; it was Luna.

"Luna?" she called out. The animal didn't answer, possibly didn't hear her, and continued to climb up the stairs. "Luna where are you going?"

Serenity started to follow the frisky feline up the steps, her body trying to resist as much as it could. Her breath was becoming short and heavy as she made it up to the third level where a pair of extra large white French doors stood in front of her. This was where she held the Imperial Crystal and when they were all "sleeping" many years ago, this was the very room where she kept her scouts, her husband, and herself. She knew that Luna liked to come to these quarters for privacy and the calming sensation that the crystal provided. Serena pushed the slightly ajar door all the way open and gasped at the sight in front of her.

"Stella!"

The woman was standing in front of the Imperial Crystal with a sly expression over her features. She couldn't touch the powerful gem due to the force field around it, but she was examining it nonetheless.

"Beautiful," she said quietly, her dark eyes glowing at the very sight of the floating jewelry. She snapped her gaze over to the pregnant queen, "You know, you really need to work on this security system you have in your palace. I was able to slip through easily."

"W-we use retina scanning. You have been on watch for—"

"I covered all of the cameras just by throwing a sticky-gum bomb, gassed the guards and removed a pair of eyes from one of them," she explained as she studied her bloodstained finger tips. "It ruined my manicure."

Serenity suddenly felt liquid trickling down her legs and she pulled her skirt up to reveal that her water broke. A deep cramp started to overwhelm her and she crouched down to her knees, huffing and puffing heavily. She shouldn't have been surprised that this child wanted to come early as well; it just seemed to be in the royal nature to be as impatient as possible.

"SCOUTS! ENDYMION!" she shrieked.

Stella walked casually over to doorway and locked it closed, shaking her head, "Oh, no, no, no your majesty. This is between you and me."

Hugging onto her stomach with one hand, she reached out at the Imperial Crystal and it flew to her hand. She gripped tightly onto it and watched as a crystallized, spherical shield wrapped around the area she was at. Stella touched the barrier and was immediately electrocuted deeply, causing her to yelp in frustration.

"That fucking crystal has protected you for the last time!" she snarled.

The enraged woman raised her hands up in the air and black smoke started to swirl in her palms surrounded by black electrical currents. She wasn't just any normal mortal woman; she had practically sold her soul to the big bad daddy down below. Stella had gone to a rural, mossy green, marsh infested area where voodoo was something that the people used to protect themselves and gain powers. It had been the one area where there was a whole village not dedicated to the royal family and their all mighty supremacy. In this town, Stella had met a woman who performed an ancient ritual that gave her powers of her own to fight against – as Stella had described it the mysterious mistress – a wretched woman who had stolen the love that consumed her heart. To say that she was obsessed with Darien was … an understatement. She had gone to the depths of the world to seek vengeance on Neo-Queen Serenity.

One year ago…

Stella stepped into the little wooden shack with her body drenched in awful rain water, her khaki jacket soaked through and her red satin heels ruined because of the mud. She was a mess, but she figured it was worth it. The room she stood in was draped in scarlet red and indigo tapestries and was lit by a dozen candles or so. There was a dripping, rusty sink with a full drying rack of rather clean dishes, a tiny window at the faucet where the winy and wet weather could be seen. There was a single long, rectangular table in the center of the room with wrist and ankle straps on either end. This was the location where she was told to go to if she wanted to become all powerful? Great.

She had just met with the king of the earth for the first time that morning and she had to say, he was dashing. Too dashing. She had to have him, but her talents of persuasion and seduction were not exactly that great … if she had any at all. Stella had mainly acquired her post as Prime Minister because she had a great press secretary, a father who was well-liked in politics, and a beautiful smile that came with a brain. She was relatable to people, but when met in person, behind closed doors, she was shy, a little too robotic, and didn't know how to "wrap a guy around her finger" as her friends put it. Never to be the one to do the dumping, she felt like she was forever destined to be this pathetic bachelorette for as long as her life continued. Thus, why she had driven six hours after meeting King Endymion to this dreary town – if one could call it that – in the worst weather imaginable.

"Welcome."

Out from the back room was a tall standing older woman with a multi-colored head wrap twirled around her skull. Her face looked young and her body was slender, holding up well to the laws of gravity and old age. She glided toward Stella in her floor length black robe and gestured to the table.

"We really don't have all night, Ms. Belle," she cooed with her sultry voice that had a seductive southern accent. "Or should I call you by your real name? Florence Camp, am I right darlin'? Changin' yer name don't change appearances or personality, honey, trust me."

"How did you—"

The woman started to pour herself a small glass of sherry as she interrupted with her answer, "You want traits of the supernatural, don't you? Yer dealin' with a woman who has seen everything that you do and all that you want. Runnin' away from yer past won't work here."

"I'm trying to create a future actually," she said sheepishly as she took a step forward, her clothes still dripping onto the floor.

"So you want seduction and control. Anything else?"

"What if I know I'm going to be harmed by someone?"

"Defensive powers, gotcha."

"And … I don't want to get caught."

The woman downed her shot of sherry and said, "You won't get caught here child. You won't get caught with mortals. But I cannot guarantee that yer soul, yer heart and whatever will be left of yer body will be protected when other forces try to work against you instead of with you. Does this make sense darlin'?" Stella nodded just to get her to stop talking. "Alright then … get yer pretty fanny up on this here table."

She removed her shoes from her feet, dropped her purse to the floor, and slithered out of her trench coat before climbing up onto the table. The woman tied her down into leather straps that were connected to chains which drained down through the cracks of the wooden planks and latched onto some hefty duty stakes that were plowed deeply into the ground. This was quite an excessive set up for just receiving some simple abilities of persuasion.

"Sit up for a moment doll," the woman ordered.

She did as she was told and propped herself on her elbows as she watched the classy, sassy woman pull out three different vials of liquid. Each was colored darker than the last as Stella was fed them one by one. She shook her head in disgust after every gulp of the shots of what she assumed to be potions. They tasted like sludge. No, worse, they tasted like sewer water mixed with acidic carbonation. Once they had all been consumed into her body, she laid back and waited for them to start working.

"What's supposed to happen to me?" she asked the woman.

"I'm not about to spoil it for you honey," she winked.

After a few minutes, she started to feel a warm sensation in her stomach. It soon started to turn into something blistering, like heartburn. Then the feeling spread through her veins and all over her body. Sweat beads dripped down her soft skin as she felt like she was being pinpricked by a thousand white hot needles. Stella started to writhe and wriggle around as if trying to get the searing touch off of her body. She moaned at first, then started to cry and soon enough bloodcurdling screams were jumping out of her mouth.

"Just let it all take over suga," the woman coaxed. "You'll feel great in the morning."

Before she passed out from the sheer pain of it all, Stella felt her body start to uncontrollably shake like having a seizure. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and everything went black around her.

When she woke up the next morning, her body was still sprawled out on the table top, her chains had been removed, and the woman was still standing in the same spot beside the sink watching over her. She had a glass of orange colored liquid in her hand and she handed it to Stella to drink.

"What is it?" she asked cautiously, not sure if she was to trust her.

"It's orange juice darlin'!" she laughed. "You had quite a fit last night, but not as bad I have seen in the past. We hardly need them chains. You took to the concoction just beautifully."

Her head was pounding like after a heavy night of drinking. She was about to place her hand on her temple when she noticed that her palm had a huge slash across it. She looked at her other hand and her expression of surprise turned into horrid disgust.

"We had to cut open your hands and spill a bit of yer blood to the gods as a sacrifice," the woman explained. "I was gonna tell you but ya passed out too soon!"

After taking a huge gulp of her orange juice, Stella asked, "When will I get to use the powers?"

"That's something yer gonna to have to figure out on yer own, child," she answered seriously, her southern drawl adding more attention to the situation at hand. "I've given you the tools. You gotta learn how to use em."

She nodded to the woman and slid off the table, standing wearily on her feet. She picked up her coat, slipped on her shoes, and pulled her purse up onto her shoulder. Opening up the large black bag, she drew out a couple hundred dollar bills and slapped them down on the cursed table beside her.

Stella stalked out of the shanty little home and walked down the damp path where her beaming red car was waiting for her. She climbed in and drove out of that dumpy area as fast as she possibly could. As her engine revved down the road happily, she heard sirens behind her and flashing red and blue lights blinded her violet eyes for a split second. She pulled over, feeling aggravated and rather annoyed by the whole community. If the police officer was anything like the woman she had met, she would just feel like she was being scolded by a parent.

The cop ambled up to her already rolled down window and removed his aviators from his face so he could ask her while looking at her sternly in the eyes, "Ma'am, do you know how fast you were going?"

"No officer, I didn't," she replied, her voice feeling and sounding like it was coming from some other woman … someone who had a tantalizing personality.

The man was drawn into a slight daze before nodding to her, "Well, I'm sure you'll be paying attention from now on. Consider this a warning ma'am. It doesn't seem like yer from around these here parts."

"Thank you sir," she nodded.

With that she rolled off into the light fog, feeling the magic do its thing. Her confidence was up, she felt her body become filled with life, and she suddenly wasn't scared to pursue her dreams no matter what it took.

The queen lay underneath the protection of the crystal and cried a little bit as she felt contractions shoot through her body. She didn't want to have the baby here, of all places. Her breath became shallow as sobs escaped from her lips. She placed her hands on either side of her stomach and rubbed it gently, trying to concentrate on her breathing. If she was going to die, she wouldn't lose the life of her baby; she struggled too long and too hard to let some heinous wench take that away from her.

"SERENITY!!"

The king's voice broke through the tension and he rammed into the door with his shoulder several times before a fiery blast burned a giant hole in it. Stella turned around with a huge black, sparking cloud in her hands. Her eyes had turned demonic and her hair was floating higher and higher the more power she used to create whatever sort of weapon she was making.

"The bitch has powers?" Haruka asked, tightening her hands into fists.

"I knew there was something off about her!" Mars exclaimed.

Darien went running toward his wife who was slowly going into labor, but he was shot away from her with just a flick of Stella's wrist. She shook a finger at him, "Don't touch her. She's tainted. It's me you want."

Sailor Venus couldn't take it anymore and sent out a whipping attack with her love chain toward Stella. She was immediately thrown to an opposing wall with black electricity sparking around her body.

"It's ancient black magic from the south," Michiru whispered. "Why couldn't I pick up on this earlier?"

"Because it's really old," Hotaru answered. "I can feel the souls of many people coursing through her veins. She didn't kill them, but she was fed their essence in order to get what she wanted."

Darien stumbled up to his feet as he heard wails coming from his wife who was clutching onto her large hump, "Serena… Are you alright?"

"It hurts," she murmured in between her breathing exercises. "M-my water broke. Contractions are coming f-faster than I-I expected."

"Darien … pay attention to me," Stella begged with saddened violet orbs staring at him as the cloud held above her head in her hands started to diminish.

"Serena, I'm coming," he said, keeping his eyes trained on his wife as he slowly started to make his way toward her.

The more and more heartbroken Stella felt, the weaker she became. The power held within her hands started to disappear as Darien sunk underneath the shield of the Imperial Crystal that was surrounding Neo-Queen Serenity. He sat next to her, kissed her cheek, and placed a palm on her stomach while the other was gripping onto her hand. He did the breathing exercises with her, placing her upper body on his lap. The scene of the loving couple becoming one as the proof of unity was coming into the world shattered Stella's heart. The demonic eyes, the floating hair, everything went away as she realized that this is what that old woman meant when she said that her heart, soul, and body wouldn't be protected against other certain powerful forces. The scouts suddenly attacked her without any warning, deteriorating any type of resistance she might have had.

"She's lost all remnants of enchantment," Sailor Pluto announced as Lita wrapped the convict's body up in multiple strands of electricity.

"Try to slip out of this one bitch," she growled closely to Stella's face whose eyes were gazing off into space.

The shield around Serena started to disappear and Ami slid over to her, typing away on her computer trying to see how she was doing. "Heart rate and blood pressure are elevated. Her breathing is …well normal for this stage. Contractions are closing in and you're already half way dilated," she announced. Looking at Serena right in the eyes, she said, "I'm going to need to keep breathing while Darien carries you to the front of the palace. We're going to the hospital, okay Serena? Are you with me?"

"Yes!" she gasped.

Mina was finally getting up and assessing the situation at hand and soon enough she was barking orders at her fellow scouts, "Setsuna, Hotaru, I need you go to the ballroom and escort people out of the palace. Get the princess and Helios into a car heading to the hospital. Rei run ahead and go get four vehicless to come around the front for all of us. Lita, go get some wet washcloths for the queen. Ami, keep your eye on her condition. Michiru, Haruka, you'll come with me and we'll take this woman downstairs for immediate interrogation." Before leaving, the head scout walked up to the queen who was being cradled in her husband's arms, "I'll be with you in spirit. We'll get to the hospital as soon as we can. Love you Serena."

With that whispered, they all set out to do their specific tasks and jobs.

Serena grunted and screamed as she sat up in the hospital bed. The medicine that the doctor's had given her didn't feel like it worked at all. Her body was red with exhaustion as she pushed and pushed, trying to get the child out of her system; it had been twelve hours. Sweat drenched her hospital gown and soaked her silver hair. The room was filled with doctors, specialists, Ami and Darien. The rest of the scouts had all finally arrived and were waiting with the princess out side in the designated area.

"You're doing great your majesty!" one of the doctors beamed behind a face mask. With a gloved hand, he gestured with a finger, "One more, big push for me."

Darien kissed her forehead and gripped tighter onto her hand as he whispered, "I love you."

Those words helped her give the final force she needed to help her child get out of her womb completely. When she felt a type of release down below, she flopped down onto her damp pillow and started to suddenly cry with happiness. She was overwhelmed. Serena did her best to steady her breath when she heard the crying of a baby cut through the air, but she just started to weep even harder.

"Congratulations," one of the nurses said. "You have a beautiful, healthy baby boy. A new prince."

"Did you hear that?" Darien asked with tears streaming down his own face as he kissed her cheek. "A boy. You just gave birth to a boy. A new prince of the moon."

"And the earth," she replied breathlessly as she tried to sniff her crying fit away.

After a minute or two of trying to gain their composure together, their child was presented to them by Ami. Serena held him in her arms, gently rocking him and grazing a finger down his super soft cheek. He opened his eyes, if only for a moment to show off the grey coloring of them to his mother and then closed them again.

"He has your eyes," Serenity murmured quietly to Darien.

"But I think he's got your hair."

"What are we going to call him?"

"What would you like to name him?"

She looked up at him and tilted her head with a calm expression over her face, "I want to name him after you. I want to name him Endymion."

A grin pulled at his lips as he said, "It might get a little confusing around the palace. Can we nick name him Jr.?"

She giggled a little bit, "Yes we can."

Ami approached the happy couple and asked, "Serena, would you like me to get your daughter?"

"Yes, please."

The blue-haired scout exited the room and removed her gloves as she went walking down the hallway to meet with the large group. They all stood up as Ami strolled up to them with a bright smile on her face.

"Well?!" Mina exclaimed.

"How's she doing?" Lita asked.

"The queen is doing just fine. She gave birth to a baby boy, eight pounds, six ounces," she declared.

There were a bunch of cheers and Haruka joking, "Great, just what we need; another man in this world."

"Rini, your parents would like to see you," Ami said. "The rest of us will have to wait to see the mother-son duo once Serena is well rested."

The princess squeezed Helios's hand and he gave her a reassuring smile as she walked down the hallway by herself to go and see her new baby brother. She entered the room slowly and cautiously, finding her parents' attention wrapped up in the bundled mound of white cloth in her mother's arms. Serenity gestured for her to come in the room and stand beside her father. Darien placed his hands on Rini's shoulder's as he introduced her brother to her, "Meet, Endymion the second… or as we'll most likely nickname him, Junior."

"Hi," Rini waved. The baby opened his eyes a little bit, studying the pink-haired creature that entered the room and then closed them again, causing his sister to jump in shock, "He looked at me!"

Serena laughed, "Get used to that darling. He's going to be looking up to you soon enough." She turned back to baby Endymion and whispered, "What sort of a world did you force yourself into, my little angel? Huh? … I guess it doesn't matter any how; I'll love you just as much as I love your sister and your father. You'll return the affection, won't you? Of course you will."

Darien sat in the den in the Golden Palace with the fire crackling as the inner scouts sat directly across from him. Ever since Serena had given birth, he found himself taking care of all procedures including meetings with the scouts. This one was of dire importance; they were discussing the final intentions of Stella and how she did everything that she did. They had all come to the agreement after the huge fiasco at the Crystal Palace that they would travel to Earth while construction and upgrades of the security system were being made.

"So she attained powers? How? Explain that to me," Darien instructed.

"Stella confessed to us that she went to the south after she had met you and received a mixture of potions that gave her these capabilities," Mina explained.

"She obtained the ability to seduce, manipulate, and disappear instantly," Rei continued. "These aren't ordinary forms of exploitation either. She just had to look at someone and they were suddenly cast under her spell. You had this happen to you, your majesty, but she couldn't get you to be a complete follower because of your love and devotion to Serenity."

"The great destructions that were happening all across the universe with each individual planet was also her doing," Lita said. "She seduced certain men and women in order to get them to do what she wanted, like collapse a whole bank and make the whole population freak out into a great depression."

"What about the natural disasters?" Darien asked as he flipped through some papers in front of him.

"They weren't natural," Ami answered. "It wasn't an earthquake that hit Jupiter, but a large drill that dug underneath a few layers of land and caused massive amounts of devastation. The huge crash on Neptune was a satellite that was the size of a small city. A few people from the space station redirected its course to land into the planet. And the epidemic that broke out on Pluto was a chemical spill caused by a man who was madly in love with Stella. The virus broke out at a rapid rate and wasn't detected until we realized it had a connection with all of the other planets."

"What was that cloud she was holding above her head when we entered the Imperial room?"

"You know how Serena's powers come from the love and devotion she gets from us?" Mina said and Darien nodded. "Well, Stella's powers came from craving that love and devotion. When she came to terms that she was never going to get it, she lost all of that anger and rage and then just fell into a depressed state."

"Who did she get these powers from?"

"We don't know," Lita replied. "When we went the location that she gave us, there was nothing but a burnt down foundation."

"The local police explained to us that there had been a massive fire there a few months ago and a woman was killed in the tragedy. There was no identification that they could determine," Rei said.

"And one final question, how did she lure Serena up there? Being that pregnant and going up two flights of stairs … my wife is crazy, but she has reasoning behind it most of the time," he chuckled.

"Serena told us that she saw Luna run up there. It was a hologram actually," Ami explained. "Again, using powers of seduction and getting one of the technicians that work at the palace was used to her advantage."

Darien stood up to his feet and nodded to the scouts, "Thank you for your time and cooperation. You have all done an excellent job. You are dismissed."

He strolled out of the den with a smile on his face and walked into his bedroom only to find the covers thrown back and Serena missing from the bed. With curiosity and a twinge of fear settling in, he went next door to the baby's room where Michiru and Haruka were taking care of the little prince.

"Have you guys seen Serena?"

The Neptune princess shook her head no as she coddled the baby in her arms, trying to get him to sleep.

"Last time I saw her, she was pumping breast milk, but that was an hour ago," Haruka replied quietly as she flipped through a magazine.

The king thanked them and left to go look around the rest of the palace. As he walked down the large hallway, he noticed that the white cloak next to the large glass doors leading out to the garden was missing. He sighed and placed his own cloak over his shoulders as he breezed out into the cold air. Snow was trickling down to the ground and the moon was full that night. Darien strolled through the gardens, tapping at a closed rose here and there, making it open up. He clipped off a perfect red rose easily enough as he made it to the gazebo and twirled through his fingers. Sniffing the flower deeply, he kept his attention on his thoughts which were mainly about his son.

A rustle of leaves suddenly broke his mindset and looked up to find his queen leaning up against the large wooden structure he had made for her. He sauntered up to her slowly, pointing the rose at her. She took it into her grasp gently, trying not to prick her porcelain fingers on the thorns.

"You should be in bed, out of the cold," Darien smiled.

"Today's officially our anniversary," Serena whispered as church bells rang through the still air signaling that midnight had fallen upon them. She stood on her tip toes as snow floated down on them and she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I love you."

He placed his hands on her hips and pressed her body close to his, "I love you too."

The two closed the gap between them and kissed deeply, passionately, and lovingly. She had finally forgiven him…

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