Okaaaaaayyy, sooooooo… I'm um… sorry I suppose. I whole year and a half without updating is cruel. Very cruel. I have an idea though that I'm going to run with. So HOPEFULLY I will not do this to you again. I want to thank everyone who's stuck with this and continues to read my stories despite my flaky tendencies. I know I have three open right now and that's bad. On the upside, I've been working on new stuff and hopefully those will be hits. So yeah, without further ado here is chapter nine. Good luck and REVIEW!

9

Shell of a Former Self

The next few days were uneventful for Darien and I, and, as I sat on the couch surrounded by my friends I simply sighed. The craziness appeared to be gone but I knew the truth, Wiseman still wanted my future child and Diamond was still out there waiting.

"So Serena, where is Darien? I thought he'd be here by now?" Mina cooed in her suggestive tone. The girls had been drilling me all evening about any possible "romantic" endeavors Darien and I had. They would probably flip a circuit if I told them the truth.

Darien and I were scared to even think of starting a relationship. Wiseman's plan to get me pregnant (oh God that sounds so sick!) and take my child had shone a very real, very disturbing light over us. We had the code words but still, what good would that do us if one of us was taken over. Darien could overpower me easily and I could destroy him if I didn't control my powers.

Then there was poor Luna. I know it sounds silly and maybe a last grasp for an excuse, but we didn't want to do anything around Luna. She may stay in her cat form but I know what lies underneath that fuzzy exterior.

Pulling myself back to the conversation I simply shrugged and looked at Mina. "I don't know when he'll be home. Really Mina we're just room mates. I don't understand why you think we're romantically involved." I avoided her eyes. I knew what she was thinking but how could I tell her the real truth? Amy simply put a hand on my back and sighed. She was the only one who knew my predicament.

"Oh, I don't know… maybe it's because he's crazy about you." Lita piped in and smiled genuinely. "Look, I've had plenty of boyfriends to know when two people have that certain something and you two have it."

As I went to respond the door opened and Darien walked in. When he appeared in the living room he scanned over the girls and smiled tiredly before walking into his bedroom. "He's had a rough day by the looks of it." Raye whispered as we all watched the door. She was right, he looked so tired.

"Let me go and check on him." I stood and walked to the door, knocking lightly. "Darien? Are you okay?" I frowned and placed my hand on the knob to open the door. Pushing the object open I saw him sitting on his bed staring at the ground almost sadly. "What's the matter?" I stepped in and closed the door behind me.

His eyes moved to me then he looked back down. "Wiseman came to see me today." I paled and stepped forward placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know what to do anymore." He looked up at me with despair in his eyes. "He threatened to tip off the officials, threatened to have you captured and Lord knows what else. I think he's going to capture you again."

"He won't have what he wants if he does. He wants us to have a child and what good am I to him without you being around me? He's just threatening us to hurry it along. He's impatient." I assured him and sat next to him. "It'll be fine… now, let me get rid of the girls and I'll make you dinner." I smiled and waited for him to respond. Finally, after what seemed like eons. He nodded and closed his eyes. He looked like he was in pain, as if he were struggling with something. "I'll be back." I sighed and stood.

Walking out to the girls I managed to convince them to leave because Darien was having a bad day. Mina simply winked at me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I smiled and felt her squeeze my shoulder a little sending a shiver down my spine. She then walked out, closing the door behind her.

The moment the door closed I turned to Darien's door and felt an overwhelming need to go into his room and kiss him. Make him feel better about his day. As a neared his room I felt a tingling sensation begin to envelope me, as if I needed to see him. Aw hell, I'll admit it. I was so damned horny I could hardly contain myself.

I began to reason with myself. What harm would be done by just having a little bit of fund once. Just once couldn't hurt right? If we used a condom and everything? Yeah, it would be fine. I smiled and walked to his bedroom door and opened it slowly. He was no longer sitting on his bed. Instead he'd moved into his bathroom and I could hear the shower water running and I immediately smiled. Oh hell yeah, I was totally getting laid!

I stripped down and found my way into the bathroom quietly. Smirking I teleported into the shower and wrapped my arms around his strong torso from behind. I could almost feel his body freeze. "Serena, what are you doing?"

"Taking a shower with you. Trying to make you feel better." I smiled and move my right hand down his torso. I was almost to his lower half when he grabbed my hands and stilled me.

"Meatball head." He hesitated. "I'm really not in the mood."

"Come on Jerk face… I actually want to. Forget about Wiseman. I don't care about him; besides, once couldn't hurt could it?" I asked and pressed my front against his back intimately. For some reason I just didn't want to take no for an answer.

"Serena, just a few seconds ago you were being very sympathetic. What changed?" He was still hesitant.

"You came home and I got the girls to leave." He went stiff again and turned his head to the side so he could see me. "What is it baby?"

"You can forget about whatever you're thinking of because it's not going to happen. Mina was here and you know she can push emotions or feelings onto you." I frowned at that and pushed into his mind. Mina wasn't the only one with that ability. "Stop it!" He snapped and glared at me fiercely. "I'm not going to have sex with you. End of story!" He affirmed and untangled my arms. "Look! I'm not going to do this! I do want you, believe me I do, in the worst way but I can't have you. Don't you get it? I'm not going to bring a child in to this world only to have her captured and used for some sort of doomsday device. I will not end the world… I'll take care of you like I promised but we can't be together Serena. We just can't."

I stood there speechless as he unceremoniously ended any sort of romantic endeavor we may ever have. I hated him for this. Hated him for being right, but hated Wiseman more for making Darien right. "So, that's it then? You're just going to give up?"

"What else can we do? Serena, this is a guy who can control level ten abberants like you and I. He can travel through time and do anything he pleases. We can't beat him so we have to simply prevent him from getting what he wants; and we both know what he wants." Darien sighed and hung his head.

"Okay then." I nodded and quickly got out of the shower. I threw on my clothes and shoes and went into my room. Staring out the windows I felt tears in my eyes. What was the point of living if my life was going to be like this? For as long as we both live Wiseman will chase us. With that thought I walked into the living room and stepped out onto the balcony. Stepping up on the railing I heard Luna's frantic scream. I turned and saw her dashing for the balcony door in her human form with Darien emerging from his room. Goodbye. I pushed the mental thought out and fell backwards off of the balcony.

The wind rushed by me, the sound of the whistling in my ears overwhelming me until everything just went black.

I felt as though I was floating in water. The warmth that surrounded me made me feel peaceful and serene. What was happening to me? Was I dying? Was I already dead? I tried to open my eyes only to not be able to. I couldn't wake up despite how hard I tried. Maybe this is what they referred to as limbo. The place in-between everything.

As I lay there I heard voices around me. They sounded far away but I could feel presences all around me. None of the entities around me were aberrants. I could tell that. So I focused and was able to hear a little of the conversation.

"It's amazing. I've never seen anything like it." A male voice murmerd.

"Me either. Incredible. Doctor, how should we proceed?" A woman replied.

At that moment I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness once more.

*Darien's POV*

I heard her mentally say goodbye just before she threw herself off of the balcony and felt my heart plunge into my stomach. Luna had transformed and was leaning over the railing screaming. It was a scream similar to that of a mother's, it was chillingly indescribable. Rushing to the balcony I leaned over and saw her body on the pavement twenty six stories down. I felt sick. I'd killed her.

"What did you do to her?" Luna cried and turned to me with those heartbroken eyes. "Why did she kill herself?"

"I told her… we couldn't be together." I breathed and felt the urge to go down to her body. I had to see if she was truly dead. It was a long shot to think otherwise but it was possible. Turning towards the front door I ran as fast as I could to the elevator then went down and out the front doors. I hesitantly stepped outside and felt fear and anger grip me. Standing only a few feet away was Diamond and in his arms was an unconscious Serena. She looked dead, her body much like a bloody and broken rag doll. "Leave her alone!"

"You've already killed her Darien. What good have you done? It's clear that you two will never cooperate and it is for that very reason that you will never see her again." Diamond smiled a wicked smile. "Sad really, it would have been so much easier had you cooperated. No matter though, we can still use her."

"What?" I asked hesitantly. "I thought you said she was dead."

"For now. Wiseman has more power than you know and soon, she will be alive again. She will serve as a conduit for our plans. Like I said though. It's too bad you didn't cooperate. It really was a charity to you, giving you two time to be together, to be happy." With that Diamond teleported leaving me with a sick feeling in my stomach. Not only had I killed Serena, but I had let her fall into Wiseman's hands. Let her suffer some ungodly, unnatural process where they would use her for their evil plans.

The older man smiled as he admired the beauty on the other side of the glass. She was beautiful, powerful as well. She was the future, how could anyone look at her and say that aberrants were terrible?

"How long?" The white haired man stepped beside him and gazed at her through the glass. He looked stoic and yet, there was a slightly disturbed air circling him. "I asked you how long?" Diamond turned to him with a dangerous glare in his eyes.

"I don't know. It depends. To modify her powers to the specifications… could be days or even years. It's hard to know." The man stated sternly and watched as Diamond nodded.

"As long as she can regenerate, that's all we need." Diamond's eyes went back to her unconscious form. Darien had been a fool. He didn't see the future in the right way. Wise man wanted a world without regular humans. He hated them with a passion. He only wanted a world with abberants, true abberants. There was only one way to channel all of that power to be able to eliminate all the humans and it could only be done by someone with Serena's powers. The moment Darien had rejected her was the moment he sealed her fate. She would die because of his stupidity. Die a terrible and excruciating death. A child born of their combined powers would have survived the gates, but Serena wouldn't. Not with artificial, borrowed powers.

He felt sad as he gazed at her. Placing a hand on the glass of the incubation tank he sighed. "I warned you Serena. Why didn't you listen to me? Was I really such a bad option?" He felt the scientist looking at him strangely and turned to him. The man pitied him! He could feel it in the thoughts. "Do not pity me sir." He urged and paused for a moment. The ground shook violently. Darien was on the move again. He had begun to search for the blonde the moment she had left his sight but nothing he could do would bring her back. Serena was gone, all that was left of her was a shell and an empty mind which he would control. Darien had killed her, killed his own woman. There was a simple irony to the whole situation. The one person that could have saved her killed her.

"Let me know when she is ready. I want to know before anyone else because I have something I want to do." He gave his instructions and turned away from her. He walked to the door where Sapphire stood looking at him smugly.

"Planning to dangle her in front of him are you?" Sapphire laughed a little and smiled at his brother fondly. He was always a fan of Diamond's liking for mind games. Darien certainly deserved to know what he'd done and Diamond, who had also loved the woman, would be sure to let him know. "What will you do?"

"I will take her there, make her walk right up to him and tell him he killed her. I'll tell the truth and then I'll release her mind so he can see the empty shell she is. After that I'll take her to wiseman, there's nothing else to do really." Diamond reported and smiled wickedly. "He'll pay for killing her. Pay dearly."