Hi everyone,

I know this chapter has been a long time coming. There was just too much going on, and I won't bore you with the details, but a big thank you to those of you who chose to stick around. I will try to be more frequent with updates from now on. Thank you to everyone who PM'd me, it gave me the extra push I needed to get writing.

Without further ado, here's the chapter. Please review and let me know whether you like the story development thus far.

Thank you to Loki, my wonderful editor!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon; the characters are a fiction of Naoko Takeuchi's imagination.

Chapter 8

Self-pity; it's an acute and peculiar feeling. It consumed and suspended you in a thick fog of misery and loathing. You wanted to wallow in it further, to immerse yourself completely in your own misfortune.

Piercing rays of sunshine shone through the curtains rousing Serenity from her misery, her own state of self-pity. Her eyes burned, either from the lack of sleep or the crying; maybe both. She pulled the covers over her head and buried herself deeper into her bed. She was safe here, away from everything and everyone.

She had barely slept last night. Thoughts of what had transpired that evening swirled around in her head, preventing her from getting any rest.

She had wallowed in self-pity, reliving the evening over and over in her head. Every time she closed her eyes, it would play like a movie, his face appearing before her. Exhaustion had finally worn her down having cried herself to sleep, but a peaceful sleep eluded her. She tossed and turned as the nightmares plagued her throughout the night.

'Even Serenity? Can't you manage to keep your pants on?'

Raye's words were engrained in her mind, tormenting her no matter how much she tried to forget. She couldn't forget those words.

"Why would I think myself different?" scoffed Serenity, "Special, to him?" Her vision blurred as she angrily wiped away a tear that had escaped her eyes.

"God, I am so delusional! Why am I expecting something from him when he promised nothing? I mean nothing to him and he means nothing to me! He would have done that with any woman…it didn't mean anything to him at all," her lips trembled as she spoke.

In fury, Serenity swiped at her eyes. "I am not going to cry over him anymore. This is my own fault. I expected something when nothing was there…I was living in my own damnfantasy, and I'm engaged for god's sake! No…no more crying over something that never was..."

She moved with new determination. She would resolve to forget about last night and just move on with her life. Try to get back to her own time. Yes, that was what she would do.

She was still exhausted, having barely slept the night before. Serenity closed her eyes, fighting the images that so effortlessly sprung forth. At first sleep eluded her, but soon it claimed her, she slept, really slept for the first time since nightfall.

The sound of knocking woke Serenity; she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and listened for the noise again.

"-nity… Serenity, are you awake? It's Raye, may I-can I please come in?" her voice called from the other side of the door.

'Oh no, I'm not ready to see Raye yet.'

"Please Serenity," Raye pleaded.

With a sigh, she consented, "Oh, yes I'm awake. Come in."

She pulled herself up into a sitting position as the door opened and Raye walked in to the room.

Raye seemed startled to see Serenity still in bed. She offered an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Serenity, and I didn't mean to wake you."

"Oh no, don't apologize," Serenity waved her hand nonchalantly. "I shouldn't even be in bed this late, it's just that I couldn't get much sleep last night…," she trailed off.

"That's understandable, do you mind if I sit down?" said Raye as she gestured towards the bed.

"No, of course sit down."

Raye turned her gaze towards Serenity and her sympathetic eyes searched Serenity's face.

"Serenity, I'm sorry about yesterday…I shouldn't have made that comment...I-"

'Even Serenity? Can't you manage to keep your pants on?'

"It's okay, I'm fine," she said cutting her off mid-sentence.

"I didn't mean to be crass…I didn't intend to hurt," Raye started again.

"You don't need to apologize, believe me. I've forgotten it already," she interrupted.

Serenity could see the sympathy clear in Raye's eyes. She didn't need her sympathy; she didn't want anyone's pity. Yes, she herself had been damn stupid, jumping to conclusions and creating her own fantasies but she didn't want other people to console her with empty words. She would get through this on her own.

Looking up at Raye for the first time since the raven-haired woman sat on the bed, noticing her deep purple eyes were filled with concern as they met her own. Raye's gaze shifted down as she took in Serenity's attire.

"You're still wearing your evening gown," Raye stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

'Damn. Why did she have to notice that?'

Serenity looked down at her attire, "Yes…I- I was just very tired when I returned to my room last night. I didn't have the energy to change…I can be very lazy," she laughed, her laughter sounding hollow, even to her, and it definitely didn't fool Raye.

"Serenity…Endymion may come off as a jerk but he acts different around y-"

"Raye, please. I don't care about Endymion. I'm not special to him, nor is he special to me. Yesterday was just a mistake…a momentary lapse in judgment.

It will not happen again. So can we just drop this subject please; it's irrelevant, please?"

Raye opened her mouth to argue, but thankfully thought better of it and closed it again, realizing that she was fighting a lost cause. With a big sigh she said, "Fine. Consider it dropped… for the moment, but I have just one thing to say." At Serenity's groan, Raye reached across and took Serenity's hand with a smile. Her purple eyes lookingearnestly into hers and Raye continued, "I'm here for you. Whenever or wherever you want to talk, about anything, I'm here. Don't ever feel like you're alone here."

Raye's words touched Serenity and made her think of Raye as family. She squeezed her hand back, "Thank you Raye."

"So, you will come and talk to me… about anything?"

"Definitely," she agreed with a smile.

Serenity had no intension of ever talking to Raye about this subject again, as she was going to stay far, far away from Endymion.

"Good." That seemed to have placated Raye enough to bring back her old enthusiasm. "My word, you must be famished! You haven't had anything to eat since yesterday evening!"

"Yes, I am pretty hungry. What time is it?" asked Serenity, looking about her room.

"A little past one," Raye answered as she moved about opening the curtains.

"One! I can't believe I'm still in bed!"

Raye chuckled, "I know, come on, and get out of bed now. Do you want to come down and have something to eat or should I have them bring something up for you?"

She was now standing by Serenity's door.

"No no, I'll come down. I need to get out of this room."

"Okay, see you in a bit" Raye said with a smile.

"Raye?"

"Hmm?" with her hand frozen on the door handle, Raye turned around with an inquisitive expression.

"Thank you."

"Don't be stupid. Anytime," and with that she walked out of the room, softly closing the door behind her.

Serenity rested her head against the headboard and took a deep, steadying breath.

"That's right. I'm going to forget about what happened yesterday and I'm going to stay as far away from him as possible."

With new resolve, she pushed the covers back and swung out of bed.

Serenity walked to her bathroom intending to change, when she caught her reflection in the mirror. She looked terrible! She looked haggard, her skin pallor and eyes red and puffy,with dark bags underneath.

'No wonder Raye hadn't believed me, my face had given me away.'

With a sigh, she changed out of her clothes and left her room in hopes of finding something to eat.

Serenity closed the bedroom door behind her and walked down the hallway towards the dining room. She was famished, and why wouldn't she be, considering nearly twenty-four hours had passed since her last meal. She hoped Raye had spoken to the chef so that she could have a little something to eat before dinnertime.

As she moved down the next hallway, Serenity pressed her hands to her temple. A headache appeared to be starting, her head pounding in a dull rhythm.

'This is probably a result of all that crying I did last night. What a wonderful day this was shaping up to be,' she thought woefully.

She turned the corner, almost colliding headfirst into someone, a tall, broad-shouldered and bothersome someone.

'Why, oh why do you hate me?' Serenity sent a silent question towards the gods. 'Maybe he didn't notice me; maybe I can still get away…'

She chanced a look in Endymion's direction.

Two blue eyes, a shade darker than hers, were peering back at her with concern.

'Oh the gall, what does he have to be concerned about?' Serenity lamented inwards.

The image of him standing there looking as if the perfect image of empathy, this, more than anything else infuriated her; did he think he had such a profound effect on her that she would fall for it?

Did he think that she would be drowning in sorry, after yesterday's events? Did he pity her now, with mock concern marring his face?

'You can get through this Serenity,' she reminded herself.

"Um, are you doing all right?" the worry in his voice wreaking havoc with her insides.

'Damn that voice!' That deep baritone voice of his brought back unbridled memories of the day before.

"Fine…, as you can see, I did manage to avoid colliding with you," she responded her tone clipped.

"Serenity…you know perfectly well what I am referring to."

"No, I haven't the faintest idea, but since you are all-knowing, pray do tell," Serenity responded with sarcasm.

She wasn't looking at him. Her gaze wandered about, never resting on him for more than a moment or two.

Out of the corner of her eye, Serenity saw him rake a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Serenity, yesterday…," he struggled to find the right words, "Raye was out of line, she sometimes doesn't control what comes out of her mouth. She lacks the tact one should use before speaking, so you shouldn't take what she says seriously."

He continued looking at her with a concerned expression etched on his otherwise striking face.

"It's okay, really, it doesn't involve me so you don't need to be telling me all this," she spoke with what she hoped was an air of indifference.

"Oh really? That's why you look the way you do; not to mention, you haven't met my eyes once since we've started talking!" he challenged, making a sweeping gesture towards her.

So he had noticed. Serenity looked towards him, but she didn't think she could bear to look directly at him, so she focused on a spot somewhere above his left shoulder.

Endymion, clearly unimpressed, stood there with his arms folded across his chest, wearing an annoyed expression on his face, one eyebrow raised.

'What is he annoyed about? I didn't ask him to make conversation,' Serenity glared at him.

"I'm just tired is all, the time difference between your world and my world makes it harder for me to sleep, and contrary to your beliefs, not everyone finds you so attractive that they want to stare at you all day," Serenity retorted, glaring at him.

'Ass.'

"Okay, so you don't care about what happened yesterday?" he prompted.

"Why…what happened yesterday?" she asked in a mocking tone, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Really, so we're going to play this game now? You're actually going to pretend that yesterday never happened?" His voice was harder now, colder, as he deliberately moved that much closer to her.

"Look Endymion, yesterday was a mistake," she said backing away, mirroring his movements. "We made a mistake; it was just an in-the-moment thing, so there is no point reminiscing about something that meant nothing. Move on. I already have…"

Serenity faltered in her speech because Endymion was still moving towards her, and now he had a cold expression on his face. His eyes colored a chilling blue.

Oh, he looks angry. He looked pissed actually.

The small of her back now against the wall, effectively trapping her with the raging man in front of her; Serenity and Endymion now eye-to-eye; so close in fact she only needed to move an inch or so to kiss that little exposed area of his neck, beneath his shirt.

'Like I'd even want to,' scoffed Serenity.

Endymion placed a large hand beside her head, and leaned down until their faces were level, blazing blue eyes locking with hers.

"Meant nothing, huh? Well, I'm so glad that it meant so little to you, so maybe I shouldn't have stayed up half the night, tossing and turning, and wondering if you were all right, wondering if maybe there was a way I could make you feel better…hurt less."

'What?' His eyes searching for something in her own, she didn't know what.

Serenity looked, really looked, at Endymion for the first time. He looked like he had seen better days: his hair disheveled his twinkling eyes now hard, his handsome face haggard, dark bags under his eyes, and a five o' clock shadow apparent on his face.

Serenity's façade faltered. 'Am I wrong about him?' she wondered, peering into his handsome face.

Endymion's expression softened a little. Pain, hurt, and uncertainty flittered across his face; before he closed himself off again.

'Oh come on, he just feels guilty that you were such a fool,' Serenity chided herself. His beautiful eyes still seemed to search her face, before his gaze settled on her lips.

Was he getting closer, or was she imagining it, was she leaning into him? Her breath hitched in her throat, as she stared into his eyes.

Then the warmth was gone. Just like that. Endymion spoke, in a cold whisper, "But if it was all just a mistake, maybe I should move on. Since it meant nothing anyway…," and with one last burning glimpse at Serenity, he was gone.

He retreated down the hallway, leaving behind a very bewildered and confused Serenity.

'What just happened?' she wondered still staring after him, feeling a little faint.

Thank you for sticking with me thus far. I really do need the feedback, and love reading reviews. Please review!