Hi Everyone! I'm so sorry about the late updates, but you all know how life can get in the way of things! I am graduating this year from university, so schoolwork and projects kind of got in the way for the last month or so, but I thought I would give you all a nice Easter treat! I have some exams still to come, but what better way to take a break from studying than updating? I'm almost done writing the next chapter too (the last one, my goodness!) so I should be able to update again soon! I hope you all like this one and please review! I love hearing your comments! xoxo Colanna oxox

The Forgotten Lives (Chapter 9)

The blonde haired girl opened her cerulean blue eyes, blinking softly, to see a man sleeping in the chair next to her bed. She looked at him curiously; he looked familiar and was very good looking with black hair, broad shoulders and well-defined muscles. He looked tall too, looking uncomfortable in his sleep in the small chair next to her bed, using a green jacket as a pillow. She wondered who he could be. She tried to stretch and winced in pain and then realized that she was in a hospital bed. What was she doing here? She sat up slowly and assessed her limbs, they were all there, but her leg was bandaged, as were her hands, her stomach, left arm, and her head. She reached up and felt a large bump on the back of her head and winced again.

"Ouch," she said.

Her voice knocked the man out of his restless slumber and he sat up, looking at her anxiously, "Serena, how are you feeling?"

She looked at him, frowning in thought, "Serena... Is that my name?"

The man's eyes widened in alarm, "You don't remember, Serena?" he asked, dashing to her side.

"Well, it seems familiar, everything is just so, so fuzzy and dark! And who are you exactly?" she asked him curiously.

"I'm Darien Shields," he replied, "a close friend of yours."

"Oh," she said, accepting it as the truth, "Why am I in the hospital, Darien?"

Darien struggled over what to say, should he tell her about her past life as a Moon Princess and Sailor Moon or should he wait until she remembers on her own? Would she remember? Would she believe him if he told her? Would she still love him? "You hit your head pretty hard and fell on some rocks," he ended up telling her.

"Oh," she said yawning, covering her mouth with her hand.

Darien smoothed her hair down the side of her face, "Go back to sleep, Serena, I'll be here when you wake up again."

Serena nodded, she felt strangely comforted by his presence and she drifted off to sleep again.

"She's forgotten who she is? How can that be?" Mina asked shocked.

"What are we going to do, she's our leader!" Rae said.

"We're just going to have to wait until she gets her memory back," Amy said, "and hopefully she gets it back soon!"

"Yes," Lita agreed nodding, "We will just have to handle everything until she is feeling completely better. We can do it girls!"

The girls nodded in unison. "Yeah!"

"So can we see her?" Mina asked Darien.

"Sure, but quietly, you don't want to overwhelm her and I think she's sleeping now."

The girls crept into the room quietly to watch over their sleeping princess.

"Awww she reminds me of sleeping beauty!" Mina said smiling.

Rae snorted at her comment, but took up the chair closest to the bed, her anxious demeanor showing her concern for her Princess. The other three girls took up posts, forcing Darien out to get some food and coffee.

"You look a mess!" Lita told him, pushing him out the door firmly and closing it behind him. Darien, realizing he had no choice, left to find himself some food and perhaps a present for his sleeping beauty.

A short while later, Serena woke up to find herself surrounded by 4 very beautiful girls.

"Ummm, hi!" she said, smiling nervously at them.

"Serena, you're awake!" the tall, brown haired one said.

"Do you remember me?" asked another blonde.

Serena shook her head sadly, "Sorry, but I don't. You all look familiar and I feel like I should know you, but I can't remember anything!" She was overwhelmed by how much she couldn't remember.

"That's okay," the long black haired girl beside her bed told her, "We're here anyway and we will stay whether you remember or not."

Serena smiled at her, tears forming in her big blue eyes, "Thank you," she whispered, "I hate feeling alone."

Serena laughed at Lita's tale of how the two of them had first met. The girls had an unspoken agreement to not tell her about Sailor Moon, but to keep her spirits up with lighthearted stories.

"And what did we do on weekends then or after school?" Serena asked curiously, trying to fill the voids in her memory.

"Ummm well, we often…" Mina started, trying to think of what to say, normally they were fighting in battles or having Scout meetings at those times!

"We would hang out at the crown and play video games or get milkshakes and study," Amy said, covering Mina's faltering, "Or else you and Darien would be fighting in an all out screaming match."

"Darien and I, fighting? Do we hate each other? He seemed so nice when I talked to him earlier!"

Lita laughed, "Hate each other? As if! You two have had secret crushes on each other for the past two years! The screaming is just how you express it, or cover it up!"

"Oh," Serena blushed, "But what about now, what are we now?"

"You'll have to ask Darien that yourself, Princess," Mina said with a wink.

"Princess?" Serena asked confused.

"Just a nickname!" Rae covered up quickly, giving Mina a look. Mina flushed, whoops, she thought to herself.

All of a sudden a loud beeping came from Amy's blouse. She looked at it quickly before glancing up at the girls and giving them a significant look, "We've got to go Serena, we'll come back after!"

"Go where?" she asked.

"It's suppertime and our families don't want us to be late!" Mina covered as they dashed out the door.

Serena looked over at the clock beside her bed that said 3:56. It's a little early for dinner, isn't it?

She settled back in peace before the discomfort and loneliness overcame her again. Whenever she closed her eyes, she could only see darkness. It was a little better now because she had some new faces to remember, but when she tried to think back on the past, on her memories, strange images kept appearing in her mind. A man in a strange outfit with a sword and cape; a ballroom where they danced throughout the night and then a battle where she saw him die defending her. She shook her head, it couldn't be real, it wasn't, it was so strange and farfetched; it must be a dream from her childhood or a story!

"Are you okay?" A male voice asked her softly as a hand softly brushed the tears away from her eyes. She opened them to see the man from her thoughts standing in front of her in an ugly green jacket… no, it was Darien, but they looked so similar!

"That is a very ugly jacket," she told him.

He looked shocked, then laughed, "Well that's something you haven't told me before!"

"It's true!" Serena protested, "don't you have some sense of style, a girlfriend to pick out clothes for you?" Then she blushed, remembering what the girls had said earlier.

"My girlfriend hasn't been my girlfriend long enough to pick out my clothes for me," he responded softly to her, "and she wouldn't remember if she had."

Serena blushed as his fingers traced her cheek softly, tingling at his touch. She felt a strange attraction to him, despite having only talked to him these two times. It was like her heart and body remembered, but her mind didn't! She was so frustrated, but she couldn't let it rest, she had to know, there must be something between them!

"Darien," she asked, gaining confidence from the feel of his hand, "who is your girlfriend?"

"That depends, Meatball head, on who you are."

Serena looked at him in shock and her soft features quickly clouded over with anger, "WHAT did you call me?"

Darien stepped away startled, "Uh, Meatball head?"

"And may I ask you WHY you called me Meatball head?" Serena asked angrily.

"Because you're hair reminds me of two meatballs," he said.

"WHAT?"

"Well," Darien sputtered, trying to prevent the girl from having a conniption while recovering from head trauma, "You see, I like teasing you because you get so riled up and cute when you're angry,"

"I get WHAT when I'm WHAT?" Serena's face looked like pure fury and Darien shuddered, trying to fix his mistake.

"You're gorgeous when you're angry and you know you love it when I call you Meatball head."

"I most certainly do and would not, it's insulting!" she told him.

"Oh, but I love it, I love calling you it, I love your hair, I love teasing you and I love you, Serena."

Serena's eyes widened in shock as all her anger faded away. He loved her? Had he always loved her? Had he told her that before? She couldn't remember.

"You… you love me?" she asked quietly, her anger dissipating entirely and her blue eyes widened as she stared into his shocked eyes briefly before looking down at her bed anxiously as red stained her cheeks.

Darien stood there in shock at what he had just blurted out, but seeing Serena blushing and looking down at her bedcovers, he knew it was something he couldn't and didn't want to take back. He sat down on the edge of her bed and raised her chin to make her look him in the eyes. Shyly, she raised her eyes to meet his.

"I do, Serena, I love you with all my heart and for longer than you could possibly know."

She blushed furiously under his gaze and her fingers played with the covers anxiously.

"Is this something I should be able to remember from before?" she asked nervously.

"No," Darien said, "This is something for you to remember now, my beautiful Meatball head. It's the first time I've ever told you, but it's been true for so long," he reached up with his hand to stroke the side of her cheek and Serena closed her eyes at his touch. Just his fingertips and his closeness, his overwhelming male scent, it all set her heart pounding.

"Is it okay if I kiss you now?" he asked her softly, with anxious and nervous eyes, but inside she could see something more, a need burning beneath the softness, desire.

His face was only centimeters away from her own. She nodded at him, her eyes never leaving his until they drifted closed as his lips softly molded themselves against her own. She had never been kissed with such tenderness and love that tears sprang to her eyes. All sorts of colours started speeding through her mind, stories, family, friends, lives lost, lives regained… memories.

She opened her eyes in shock and pulled away as he looked at her in slight concern; afraid he had pushed her too far. He opened his mouth to ask her if she was all right, but she silenced him with her finger on his lips. She looked down at her bedspread, gathering her thoughts for a moment before looking up back at him. She stared him straight in the eyes bravely and said, "I love you too, Darien Shields, my Egotistical Jerk, my Tuxedo Mask, and my long lost Prince Endymion," before pulling his lips back against her own.

A huge grin went across Darien's face as he broke away to kiss her cheeks, her forehead and her nose, before leaning back in to taste her lips. She remembered… oh thank gods she remembered… and she loved him! He was the happiest man in the world, no scratch that, the entire universe!

And that is how the Sailor Scouts found them, after coming back from a harrowing battle; the two lovebirds were sharing in their never ending kiss with their arms wrapped around each other.