Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Reconciliation ❯ The Way Back ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Reconciliation Part 4: The Way Back


On the moon, Princess Serenity was happy and content. She had feeling that would come to her sometimes that she had forgotten something important, but when she tired to remember what it was, she got a feeling of intense pain and loneliness, and immediately stopped trying to remember. Whatever it is, if it is as important as I feel it could be, it will come to me, until then, she decided, I will not let that awful feeling bother me. Though she still could not shake the feeling of loss that followed her.



Stepping back though Pluto's time door, Tuxedo Mask found that he was alone, and in an unfamiliar forest. In the middle of the night no less.
"Pluto!" he called into the darkness. Not even an echo responded. "Pluto!" he called again. "Where have you sent me!?" he grumbled angrily as it became apparent she wasn't going to show up again any time soon. He shook his head. "When has she sent me?"
He walked though the moonlit forest for a few hours until he finally stepped into a clearing. Looking up to figure out which direction he was going, he was shocked to see not the moon in the night sky, but Earth, glowing bright blue overhead. I'm on the moon. Pluto sent me to the moon. Serena!
Tuxedo Mask began to run blindly though the forest, he had no idea if he was even going in the right direction, but all he could think about was seeing his princess again. He suddenly stopped running, his thoughts racing. The princess. What if Pluto sent me back to the Silver Millennium? He shook his head. There was no reason for her to do that. What good would he be in the past?
He stayed long enough to catch his breath, then continued his journey though the forest, walking this time. His thoughts were consumed with what would happen if he did find Serena. Would she even want to see him again? 'Never forget, your Serena loves you just as much as you love her. She always has. She always will.' Neo-Queen Serenity's words echoed in his mind. He truly wanted to believe her, but doubt still clouded his mind.
Finally he reached the edge of the woods. Spread out infront of him were the luscious gardens of the Moon Palace. He stared in awe at the magnificent building from his past. It looked even more beautiful then he remembered. Then he noticed the half-finished buildings off to either side and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He was in the present.
"Thank-you Pluto." He whispered into the night.
His happiness and doubt warred with each other until he gave up and forced his feet to move towards the palace. He could feel the raw power emanating from somewhere inside the palace becoming stronger with every step, and he knew that was what had led him here.
The moment he stepped within the limits of the newly rebuilt grounds, his Tuxedo melted away, leaving the black, gold trimmed armour of his past life in its place. Why not? This place is strait out of the past, why shouldn't I look like it as well? The prince put his hand to his side and found his sword there. He immediately felt a little better at having some protection if it would become needed. He sucked in a deep breath and forced his feet to continue towards the palace.



Inside the palace, Queen Serenity stood on her balcony, the cool night breeze playing with her silver tresses, watching the young prince walk towards the palace though the gardens lit by the dim blue glow from Earth that hung high in the star-filled sky. Even if he had known she was there, he would not have been able to see her; the shadows obscured her from view. She, however, had felt his presence the moment he had stepped though the gate.
"Has he come soon enough?" the Queen asked quietly into the dark.
Sailor Pluto stepped out onto the balcony, joining the Queen in the shadows, her eyes also on the young prince making his way slowly towards the palace, the dim blue light of Earth reflecting off his regal black armor, cape swirling out behind him.
"For once your majesty, I don't know." She sighed, attempting to relieve the weight that pulled heavily on her heart. "Whatever happens now is up to your daughter. The future is up to her."
Queen Serenity nodded.
"Only Venus would know if her heart is able to forgive him, but her powers have not yet matured." Pluto continued.
Queen Serenity sighed. "If only the girls were more mature with their powers. Mars might have been able to tell us if she had any recollection of him at all."
Queen Serenity had noticed the change in the princess almost as soon as it had taken place. She had felt the power of the crystal when it had reacted to Serenity's pain, but hadn't known what it had done until the appearance of her daughter the next day. Instead of moving slowly about the palace, always on the brink of tears, she had been happy and smiling. The faraway look in her eyes had been replaced with one of happiness and contentment, the one the Queen remembered from her daughter's childhood, before Endymion had entered her life. She knew then that the crystal had suppressed the memories of Darien and her life on Earth, but every so often, when Serenity was lost in thought, the Queen would notice a look of pain and longing flash though her eyes, which Serenity would quickly dismiss every time. It appeared the crystal had not completely rid her of her memories.
"We will just have to wait and see." Pluto replied.
"Who goes there!?" a guard bellowed from below.
Queen Serenity looked over at Pluto, who nodded before disappearing once again, somewhere into time. She sighed and headed down to where the palace guards has stopped Prince Endymion in the garden.



"Who goes there!?" a guard bellowed as he stepped out of the shadows of palace, blocking Darien's way. Three more guards quickly joined him.
Darien sighed. He should have expected this. "I have come seeking the princess." He said commandingly as possible, omitting his name. He was still unsure if he should use his royal title or not. In this time, Earth has no royal family, or prince.
"Not just anyone can call on the princess, and certainly not in the middle of the night, either! Tell us why we should let you call on her?" the second guard questioned him, his hand on his sword.
Darien was about to draw his own sword when a silvery voice interrupted them. He vaguely recognized the voice somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind.
"Stand down, gentleman. I don't need blood spilled in my new gardens already." The voice addressed them, commanding, yet gentle. Then the owner of the voice stepped into the dim blue light. The guards bowed down on one knee to her. Darien gasped, then did the same. "Prince Endymion is always welcome here." She said. The name sounded strange to his ears, and at the same time, fitting. (AN: Because Queen Serenity is from the past, she knows Darien as Prince Endymion, and refers to him as that because that's how he's dressed.) "You are dismissed." She addressed the guards. Standing, they nodded and walked away.
She looks exactly how I remember her. He thought with astonishment as he looked up at the long-since-dead queen. She was smiling gently at him.
"Oh, Endymion. How strange this must all be for you." She said.
He stood and nodded, still unable to say anything. He was caught completely off guard when she embraced him, and even more so when he looked at her and found a few unchecked silent tears rolling down her cheeks. He held her for a moment until she regained her composure and pushed away from him.
He dismissed the rest of the formalities and came strait to the point, Serena.
"Am I too late?" he gently asked her. He knew from her tears that things were much worse than he had previously thought. Even with the image Pluto had shown him moments before he had stepped though the time gate and onto the moon, he hadn't allowed himself to believe how bad things could possibly be to allow that horrible image of destruction and darkness become reality.
"I don't know, Endymion. I don't know." She replied sadly, wrapping her arms around herself against the slight breeze that swept though the chill night air.
He took off his cloak and threw it around her shoulders. Queen Serenity nodded her thanks, tears welling up in her eyes once again.
"Let's go inside." He quietly suggested. She nodded and allowed herself to be led into the palace, her arm laced though his.
They walked in silence while Queen Serenity led the way to her meeting chambers. She returned his cloak and led him though the ornate white doors into the room. She crossed the large room and tossed open a pair of large curtains that had concealed an equally large set of doors, overlooking the shining Sea of Serenity, the largest ocean on the Moon.
Darien replaced the cloak around his shoulders and dropped into an oversized chair. He sighed and shook his head. Talk about one giant case of déjà vu.
"Endymion." She said softy, startling him out of his thoughts. "I'm glad you've come." Her voice was intensely sad. He remembered how much she loved and cared for Serena. If she was upset enough to cry, then things with the princess were very bad.
"What happened?" He couldn't wait any longer, he had to know, but he wasn't prepared for her answer.
"She doesn't remember you." Queen Serenity replied, just above a whisper, tears again slipping silently from her eyes. She knew all too well what would happen to the future if her daughter never returned to her prince. Pluto had shown her as well, in order to aid Endymion in any way possible, though she had a feeling things were not as should have been in the future when she saw the Dark Moon Family's crystal ship disappear.
"How?" he managed to ask her. His breath and his voice were caught in his now tight throat.
Queen Serenity proceeded to tell him Serena's reasons for leaving Earth and rebuilding the moon. She told him how melancholy her daughter had been until the night she felt the power from the crystal, and how afterwards, her mood had completely changed and she no longer looked to Earth.
"She has not forgotten other Princesses." Queen Serenity added, suddenly sparking hope in Darien's heart. "She has asked me where she can find them, but she refuses to believe me when I tell her they are on Earth. She refuses to even look at Earth, or speak about it."
"Then she hasn't forgotten completely." Darien said, hoping that might be the way to bringing his beloved's memory back.
"If you are to win her back, you must do it soon. The few memories she seems to have retained are fading quickly. She no longer knows why the other planets are uninhabited." Queen Serenity added with a touch of urgency in her voice.
Darien stood suddenly, turning on his heel intending to find Serena that moment and make her remember. What Queen Serenity told him next stopped him in his tracks.
"You can't force her to remember. The pain you caused her is what triggered the Silver Crystal to suppress her memories." She spoke forcefully. He turned to face her.
"What do you mean?" he asked, guilt washing over him once again.
"She calls to you in her sleep. She weeps uncontrollably and curses you and one called Rini." She continued, then asked him, "Who is this 'Rini'?" He could not miss the disapproving tone in her voice.
He sighed and took a deep breath. "Rini is our daughter." He replied. Queen Serenity gasped and placed a hand over her mouth.
"You took her unwed?" She accused him, on the edge of anger. "You allowed her to have your child then cruelly broke her heart, leaving her with a child to take care of? How dare you do this to my daughter, your Princess!" she was almost yelling at him now.
Oh, boy. I guess she has no idea about the future. He thought rolling his eyes.
"Your majesty, please, it's not like that." He tried to break into her ceaseless torrent of accusations and belittling comments. He grabbed her wrists, which succeeded in silencing her, and locking eyes with her he told her, "Rini is from the future."
Queen Serenity's face took on a quizzical look. "What do you mean? Did Pluto come to you?"
Nodding, he let her go. "Yes. She took me to the future, as it is supposed to be, and showed me what I needed to know. She showed me how important it is for me to get Serena back. She has to remember me. The future depends on it."
"Where is Rini now? I would like to meet my granddaughter." She said, a smiling crossing her lips as she spoke of a granddaughter.
Sadness clouded Darien's features and he dropped his head, shaking it. "She disappeared just after Serena left. I had no idea who Rini really was until Pluto took me to the future. If I had known, I would have taken better care of them both." Now it was his turn to cry. Tears of pain and longing silently rolled down his face as he stared at the floor.
"You will get her back." She told him softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It will not be easy, as you must fight her memories of yourself to win her heart once again, but I will help you." He wiped his tears away with his cloak and looked at her.
"Pluto came to me as well." Queen Serenity continued. "She told me only that you would need my help to bring her memories back and what would happen in the future if you failed. If we failed." She added. "I must apologize. Pluto did not tell me of Rini. Since Serenity brought me back, much of my memory from between has faded. The living are not meant to remember what they have seen while dead."
He just nodded.
She smiled at him. "We will succeed and you will have them back, both of them."
"May I see her?" Darien asked her in a horse whisper.
"She's sleeping now." Queen Serenity replied.
"Please? I need to see her." He almost begged. It had been only three weeks since he had seen her, but it felt like it had been forever. Ever since that day he broke her heart, a par of his own heart had died a little every day. He couldn't wait a moment longer.
Queen Serenity understood his plea and the look of love and longing in his wet eyes. She smiled at him and nodded. They walked in silence until they rounded a corner, then shouting became apparent from somewhere down the hall. Darien knew that voice all too well. It was Serena.
"This is what I was talking about. During the day she is happy and does not remember anything about you, but her dreams are plagued with pain and loss." Queen Serenity answered his questioning look. She watched as the question melted from his face and was replaced with a look of astonishment and guilt before he bolted down the hall to her door.
"She still doesn't remember you!" she called to his swiftly moving form as he ran down the hall.
I'm coming Serena! He called silently to her as he ran down the hall. It was longer than he remembered, but at least the layout of the palace was the same as it was before, he knew exactly which door was hers.
As he entered into the darkness, he could hear a female voice attempting to calm the princess, barely audible in Serena's frenzied screaming. He hoped her room would be the same as it was, and even before his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to make his way towards her voice, where he remembered her bad had been.
Serena's screaming was calmer now, and barely coherent, but every so often, she would scream one of his names. Every word she uttered, coherent or not, pulled on his heart, causing him to feel more guilty than he had any of the times he had hurt her on Earth.
"DARIEN!" Serena suddenly screamed from the other side of the room. His eyes finally having adjusted, he rushed to her side and took her flailing form into his arms, much to the surprise of the other woman in the room, whom Darien did not recognize.
Once in his arms, Serena stopped struggling. She was crying uncontrollably, and her hair and nightgown were soaked though with sweat.
"I'm here Serena." He whispered to her still unconscious form. Oh, god. How could I have done this to her? His entire being ached with guilt as he held her. He smoothed the wet strands of hair that clung to her face away and kissed the now-present golden crescent-moon that shone on her forehead even in the darkness of the room.
"So you're the one who the princess has been calling for!" The other woman in the room accused him, loudly.
He shot a look at her that even in the darkness caused her to shut her mouth and slink away from the bed.
"He is." Queen Serenity called from the door.
The woman spun around and quickly bowed to her queen. "Your majesty. I did not mean to be rude. The princess's welfare concerns me greatly."
"I know, Karen. But it is not me to whom you should be apologizing. I believe it was Prince Endymion whom you insulted." She replied gently. Karen had become Serena's guardian in Luna's absence, and had not previously known the prince. She was kind and very fond of the princess, but was known to have a sharp tongue and a great disliking for this unknown man that caused her mistress's unrest.
"His Highness? The prince?" she repeated astonished. Then she spun around and immediately began spluttering apologies to him.
Darien had no idea how to handle this. He glanced up at Queen Serenity for help, but received it in the form of another scream from Serena, still asleep in his arms. He held her closer and whipered word of comfort to her while Queen Serenity dismissed Karen.
He heard the door shut and soft footsteps crossing the room towards him, then a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Endymion?" Queen Serenity whipered to him. He looked up at her, guilt and pain clouding his features and filling his eyes. "She may act like she knows you now, but remember, when she wakes up, she won't have any memory of you. She may even dislike you and attempt to avoid you." She knew this would be difficult for him to accept, but he had to understand it.
Darien nodded, knowing she was probably right, but hoped with all his hear that she wasn't, and turned back to the sleeping young woman in his arms.
"I'll leave you with her, but it would be best if you were not here when she wakes up." The queen whispered, then turned and silently left the room.
Darien waited until he was alone with Serena before pouring his heart out to the unconscious princess.
"Oh Serena. I'm so sorry." He whispered to her. "I never wanted to hurt you. I now know why this happened, and I'm sorry. I never should have listened to myself." At this he chuckled, noticing the irony of his statement. "Please remember me Serena." He begged her, then as a final plea, he whispered into her ear, "I love you, Serena, my Princess."
He could no longer stop the tears from flowing freely. He kissed her again and again, allowing his tears to fall onto her. Eventually, exhaustion overcame him and fell into a haunted sleep with his love in his arms.



Several hours later, the sun streamed in though the partially open curtains, warming Serenity's face and body. She stretched and smiled, feeling better than she had in weeks. When she went to move, she suddenly became aware of an arm around her waist. She cautiously turned her head and looked behind her, then screamed.



Back | Next