Author's Note: Sorry about how long it took; I was away for five days, and next week I'll be gone for two weeks! But I'll be working on this while I'm gone and I'll update as soon as I get home!

Serena and Darien walked hand in hand down the street. Darien held a black umbrella over their heads, shielding them from the rain. People with the same idea walked around them. Most people were hurrying off to wherever it was they had to be. Darien and Serena walked at a slow, leisurely pace, each of them thinking their own thoughts.

Serena was thinking of ways to bring up the dream she'd been having to Darien. Normally, she supposed that she would be able to simply talk about it with no trouble at all, but since the whole Chiharu incident everyone had seemed a little out of sorts. Everyone seemed gloomy. The constant rain that had begun the night that King Gavin carried off Chiharu's limp and lifeless body added to the melancholy mood. Instead of chattering endlessly when she and Amy, Lita, Raye, and Mina all got together, they just sat in silence, much as Darien and herself were doing now.

Darien did not only look down in the dumps, but he seemed far away. He simply wasn't himself.

He knew that Serena noticed, of course she did, but he didn't think he could bring himself to account for it. What he had seen happen to Chiharu was a real downer, but worse were the things that Setsuna had said. She had not meant the words unkindly, but Darien had seen the tears making trails down Gavin's face. Darien did not think anyone else really felt what Setsuna was saying, exception Gavin and himself and maybe Michiru.

Michiru, he knew, had not slept in the four days since the end of it. She confessed to him over coffee that she would sit in the kitchen at the table, sometimes with a cup of tea and always with an oversized cashmere sweater on, and just stare into the darkness, thinking. She told him that she stayed like this until she heard Haruka getting up and going to get in the shower. Michiru would put on the coffee and have breakfast like normal. She also confessed with misty eyes that Haruka did not seem to notice. The two had spent the rest of the time in complete silence, Michiru staring down at the table's surface, fighting tears, and Darien examining her red-rimmed eyes and her tired face.

Darien observed that there was not too much change in either Serena or Rini, who both seemed to be in more-or-less better spirits. Everyone was slowly coming out of the funk, save Michiru, who seemed tortured by other demons she would not speak of to anyone.

"Darien?" Serena's voice, a bit timid, shattered him out of his thoughts and he looked down at her with a smile.

"What is it, Bunny?"

She bit her lower lip. "I've been having this weird dream," she came out with. Darien nodded.

"Go on," he pressed.

"Well, it's really more of a nightmare than anything else," she then proceeded to tell him all about it, and concluded with her visit to Raye's. He didn't look at her as she spoke to him, and she continuously glanced up to read his expression; was disheartened to find that she could not. Raye had told her distinctly that Darien would not know anything of this, she had confirmed that Darien would not remember. However, Serena still felt a strong and curious need to know if he could at least give her insight.

Darien digested this. Serena was inquiring about Setsuna and she didn't even know it. By the way things sounded, Raye was on the right track, and a lot closer to home than she suspected. Darien stopped walking and looked down at Serena. He reflected on how young she was. He reflected on how naïve. Serena was beautiful and loving when she stepped up to the plate, but truthfully he did not think she was old enough to really comprehend many things.

If he went so far as to try to explain that there was another woman and her name was Setsuna, Setsuna with the utterly soft skin and the perfectly proportioned body, the woman whose heart was bigger than any he'd ever known, the woman who smiled with love pouring from every grin was once his lover, Serena would cry. He knew she would cry and be upset that she was not his first love. She had been an only child on the moon, and not only that, but a child sheltered from the rest of the world but for parties and galas the moon kingdom so frequently held. Darien wanted to venture so far as to say that she knew little of true love. She had only ever been with him.

Aside from the rest, Serena was the least bit selfish when it came to Darien. For one of her friends, Serena would give her life, but she would not give her man. She would fight against all of them at once if they even hinted that they had a little crush on him. Darien could rarely take Rini out for treats without getting an earful from Serena, though he quite frequently spent a large sum of money on her.

He had considered all these things quickly in the brief space of half a minute, all the while looking down into her hopeful blue eyes.

"I don't remember," he lied. For all the lying that Setsuna had done to him for years, this lie seemed the biggest of all. He felt a pang of guilt as Serena's contorted expression relaxed and her lips slipped into a smile.

"It's okay," she told him, her tone that of a mother who decided that her son didn't really eat any ice cream and spoil his dinner, after all. She spoke as though she were giving him some great favor by forgetting the whole thing. "It was nothing but a dream, and if you don't remember, it's probably better, right?"

Darien managed a smile that didn't even seem false to him, and he said, "Right, Serena. Absolutely right."

=-=

Michiru's hands trembled and coffee sloshed over the side and splashed onto the kitchen table. She did not really mind. Silly little things like a bit of spilled coffee at three in the morning seemed very trivial and far away. Michiru's eyes felt the sting of tears. What's happening to me? she thought. Her inner voice sounded a bit too much like what came scratching from her actual vocal chords: something that was so rough and hoarse it could be called abrasive, the voice of a woman on the edge of tears. Michiru could not stop the shakes and she could not stop the trembling voice she now possessed.

The worst thing of all was probably that no one noticed. Or, rather, she thought a bit bitterly, that everyone is pretending not to notice. She recognized that something was gravely wrong with her. She had not slept for five days. Michiru downed coffee at all hours, especially when doing so seemed most inappropriate.

What is going on? Someone help me, please!

Senseless.

Michiru brought the shaking cup to her lips and managed to steady it a bit to take a long drink.

She had gone out with Darien for coffee as a futile attempt to scream out to someone in hopes that they would see what was so wrong with her. She was so tired, but she couldn't sleep. Michiru thought, perhaps, that the problem could just be the apartment. The other reason why she seemed to be destroying herself could also simply be Haruka. Haruka had simply dropped off the edge of the world, hardly speaking two words to Michiru.

In addition, Haruka had been staying out later and later.

In fact, Michiru knew that Haruka was not home right now.

Michiru sighed, her breath coming out in hitches. She missed the days when Haruka had been disguised as a man. Michiru had felt so much more comfortable, then. Now, Haruka was getting boyfriends and other friends, big groups that she would go out to race cars with and hop from bar to bar with. Haruka had so many friends, and Michiru had no one to hug when she was alone and feeling like this, horribly used up in many ways.

She knew she had to leave, but she didn't know where to go.

=-=

For the second time in a not-very-long space, someone was banging on Setsuna's apartment door at an odd hour in the night. She yawned and assured whomever it was that she was coming, coming, and the moment the door was thrust open, she felt herself being swept into Darien's arms. He pressed her against his chest, barely leaving room enough for her to put her own arms around him. He held her head with one hand and his other arm slipped across her shoulders. Darien leaned down and forwards a tiny bit to put his face next to hers.

They stood in silence that way for long minutes, and she realized finally, in a bit of a surprised haze, that Darien was crying.

"Darien?" She whispered, trying to overcome her surprise at everything that had been thrust upon her so quickly. "Darien, are you all right?"

"I love you," he told her softly. "I love you so much, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't think. Serena, she wanted to… to do things with me and I couldn't, Setsuna, because you were all I could think about. She left and now she's angry and I need you so bad!"

He held her tighter and dissolved into quiet sobs. Setsuna closed her eyes and rubbed his back with her right hand. "Oh, Darien," she sighed. She tried to quiet him, and eventually he calmed a bit. Setsuna shut the door by sticking out her leg and just barely snatched the door and kicked it shut. She led him to the couch and sat him down. Setsuna turned one of her living room lamps on at a dim setting and then she went to her bedroom and put on her oversized black satin robe that trailed behind her a little when she walked.

Setsuna sat down next to him, close enough so they were touching, able to give him a hug when it was needed.

She had shed her own tears since he had been with her. Being without him now seemed to take a lot of getting used to, but she knew she could do so, and had been successfully for the past few days. Setsuna was trying to let things slip back into place, but they obviously weren't slipping as smoothly as she had hoped. Her brow furrowed in concern. She lifted a hand and stroked the hair on the back of his head.

"Are you okay?"

He didn't nod or shake his head. He just continued to cry. "I don't know if I can go on without you. I love you, Setsuna. I feel so torn between what's right and wrong, between the two that I love. I know that I can't have you both, and I can't deny Serena. I tried to deny you and I couldn't," Darien admitted miserably.

"It will become easier with time."

The moment the words were out of her mouth, Darien took her roughly by the shoulders and suddenly their faces were less than four inches away. "Don't you dare tell me that!" He snapped. "Don't you even think I want to leave you, or forget you! They took you from me once! Don't passively sit by and let it happen again!" Then, Darien kissed her with such an amount of passion that she was almost too overwhelmed to meet with her own. Darien's warm tears touched her cheeks, and just that simple thing caused her own eyes to fill up with tears. He was so right.

He grabbed her hand and held it to his face. His cool forehead touched hers. "We could change everything, Setsuna," Darien whispered to her. An incredible endless love flowed out from him and through her as he spoke to her. The feeling was something so great that she thought her heart might burst with it, but the touch of his hand and the feel of his body assured her that it wouldn't. "We could run away together and rewrite the entire flow and ebb of time. What stops us, Setsuna?"

Setsuna did not want to answer, however she knew she had to. "Chibiusa," her voice came out breathy and strange, even to her own ears.

Darien's other hand was suddenly on her stomach, thin and lovely. "I know a secret," he whispered, looking into her eyes. He saw a light there, an unmistakable and beautiful light. A light that shone just as brightly in the eyes of Rini.

=-=