Second Chances - Final Chapter
by Athena
nikita@sgi.net

Well, finally, here it is! The long awaited ending! YAHOOO!!! Everyone please
stand up and cheer because Athena finally finished it. I hope that everyone
liked this and I appreciate all the support that I have gotten from every
one, esp. Alicia, P-120 and Jade.  You all are the best! But don't fret
because I have two more Serena/Darien stories in the works, so stay tuned!

The usual disclaimers apply here: Sailor Moon isn't mine!

Take care, See ya Soon!

Love and Peace

Athena

************************************************************************

Meanwhile, in Ares' throne room, Ares and Draco were making the necessary
arrangements for the Scouts and Generals arrival.

"All of the guards are in place and the shield around the castle is up,
my lord.  No one will get in or out without us knowing." Draco said.

"Excellent.  See to it that it remains that way or it will be your head."
Ares growled back.  He was nervous. He had used up a lot of energy to bring
the Princess here and now keeping her contained. He was sure that he had
plenty of energy left to destroy the Princess's protectors who were 
certain to come chasing after her somehow, but he was no fool. He knew 
what could cost him this battle...the Princess herself.  Only she was 
powerful enough to destroy him. So as long as she was contained, he could
win. He began to nervously pace in front of his throne when a weak voice
caught his attention.

"You are afraid." He turned to where he held Serena contained in a ball of 
energy that was floating about the floor.

"Afraid? What do I have to be afraid of?" He asked with more confidence than
he felt.

"You know that my friends will come and when they do, they will destroy you."
Even in her weakened condition, she was still able to sound regal. She was so
beautiful. But he quickly regained his thoughts as he retorted.

"Humph, they can try, but I will prevail and the Dark Forces will finally be
free! And you my pet, will rule by my side."

"Never!" she whispered out as she felt him bombard her with more dark energy.

"Stop resisting Princess. You can only win by joining me. We can make this 
painful or it can be easy, but it will.....what is that?" he yelled as a 
flash of silver light flooded the room and blinded it's occupants. The light
disappeared as fast as it had come and in it's place stood the Sailor Scouts,
the Royal Guard, and Prince Darien.

"We've come for our Princess! Free her or die!" Prince Darien declared as he
levelled his blazing sword at Ares.

"Fools! You can't have her and you can't destroy me! Guards! ATTACK!!!!" 

Just then, hundreds of guards suddenly materialized in the room and the battle had
begun. The Scouts were taking out hordes of dark soldiers at a time with their
powerful attacks.  The Royal Guards were also fighting eliminating large numbers
of dark soliders, that just seemed to keep materializing, with their own powerful 
magic. While Prince Darien tried to take on Ares.

Powerful swords clashed again and again as each warrior tried to kill the other 
with their powerful blows.  But they were evenly matched. Finally, Ares ducked a
blow from Darien and sent a ball of black energy hurtling at him.  Prince Darien
threw a bunch of roses at the energy causing a huge blast to rock the throne room
and knock each warrior back.  Slowly, both Darien and Ares gained their feet,
each getting ready to unleash another powerful attack on the other when a voice
suddenly cried out in Prince Darien's mind.

"You must free the Queen in order to destroy him!" Quickly Darien looked to where
Serena was suspended in the ball of dark energy.  Her body was limp and she appeared
to be unconscious. Darien made up his mind. Instead of hurtling his next group of
roses at Ares, he threw them at the energy ball.

"NOOOO!!!" Ares yelled as he saw the roses hit the ball and destroy it.  Serena 
fell to the ground and Darien was instantly at her side.

"Serena?" No answer. Gently he tried to shake her and again called her name.

"Serena?" This time she moaned. It was the sweetest sound that he had ever heard.
The Scouts and the Guards, seeing that Darien had freed Serena, now concentrated
their attacks on Ares. The noise of the battle finally penetrated Serena's senses
as she began to make sense of where she was. Looking around in confusion she 
asked,

"Darien? What's happening?" 

"It's Ares. He had taken you and now we're going to kill him for it." He growled, 
his voice full of venom.

"But you can't."

"What? Are you crazy?"

"No, I mean YOU can't do it. Only I can do it." Darien began to frantically shake 
his head as he said,

"No Serena. You're too weak, you can't...." Just then a shrill scream filled the 
air as one of Ares large energy balls took out all of the Scouts. Serena and
Darien looked up as the Guards screamed at the loss of their mates. Because they
were distracted, Ares was able to take them out too.

"NOOO!" Serena screamed horsely. Tears formed in her beautiful eyes as she looked
at her fallen friends. Ares was laughing menacingly as he began to stalk towards
her and Darien.

"You see, Princess.  I told you that I would win." Darien stood in front of Serena
in a battle stance in order to protect her. His blazing sword and rose were already
ready to strike. 

"Over my dead body!" Darien yelled. Ares mockingly bowed his head and said,

"As you wish." And unleashed another powerful ball of energy. This time, it absorbed
his rose and continued straight on to hit him. He and Serena screamed as he went 
down. Ares continued to descend upon her, laughing at her loss and pain when she
looked up at him and screamed,

"I WON'T LET YOU DO THIS!!!!!"

"There's nothing you can do to stop me." Serena struggled to her feet as she replied,

"Oh yes there is, Moon Crystal Power!!!!" and in a blinding silver light, she 
transformed into Sailor Moon. The rush of pure energy from the Imperium Silver
Crystal was all that she needed to regain most of her strength. Ares was speechless
as he stared at Sailor Moon standing so proudly before him.

"Now you will pay!" she snarled at him. "Crescent Moon Beam....." her tiara 
disappeared and the crescent moon sigil appeared and flashed on her forehead. Then
a beam of pure energy shot down from the sky and seemed to go directly into her as
she held her glaive in front of her. Then she directed the energy into the crystal
in not in front of her as she finished the attack "SMASHHHHH!!!!" 

Serena felt the energy surge through her, draining her as it left her, knowing that
she was killing herself in order to kill her enemy. She heard him scream and barely
saw him hit the floor as her own sight was failing her as the life left her body.
Something tld her that he was dead as she stopped the flow of energy and then fell
ontop of Darien's dead body. And as she laid there feeling the last of her energy and
life leaving her she thought, 

'Oh please, bring us all back safe and sound to where we were.' And then she was gone.

Sailor Pluto stepped through the portal that she had opened and looked sadly, yet
proudly at her dead King and Queen and their court lying before her. Then suddenly,
they all began to glow brightly, flicker and then disappear.  Pluto smiled to herself
and stepped back through the portal to the Gates of Time.

A wish had been made.

A wish had been granted.


***********************************************************************************

Bright sunlight streaming through her bedroom windows was the first thing that 
Serena became aware of. Slowly she began to awake and listen to the sounds in
the house around her. There wasn't any. 

'Strange,' she thought, 'it must be earlier than I thought.' Then suddenly light a
freight train out of control, she remembered everything that had happened.

"Oh God!" she cried out as she sat up in bed and looked around. She was in her room!
She was here! She was alive! So if she was alive, then maybe.... Quickly she threw
back the blankets on the bed and raced out of her bedroom looking for any of the
others. It ws then she realized that she was dress in only a silky nightgown and 
went back to her room to grab a robe. Then she raced again from her room, this time
yelling,

"Hello!!?? Anyone here?! Marcus, Michael, Jason, Greg! Anyone here??! HELLO!!" 
Finally a bedroom door opened with a bang and in it's opening stood Michael.

"Please keep it down Serena! Some of us are trying to sleep!" By Serena just started
screaming even more and ran and threw herself in his arms.

"You're here! You're alive!" He desparately tried to untangle himself from her as he
heard Lita say from inside his room.

"Lower the decibles Meatball Head or I'm gonna flatten you!" Serena let go and gasped.

"Lita!" and she ran over, jumped on the bed and hugged Lita fiercly.

"Geez Serena, what's gotten into you?"

"Don't you remember? The battle with Ares? I know that it wasn't a dream." Both 
Michael and Lita smiled at Serena and Lita said,

"The crystal, Serena. You made a wish again, just like when we fought Beryl." Serena 
looked confused for a moment as she tried to figure it all out and then it made 
sense.

"Then that means that...." but she didn't finish. She just got up and ran from the
room, slamming the door shut behind her. Wearily Michael climbed back into bed
beside Lita and Lita asked as he gathered her into his arms,

"Where do you think that she's going now?" Michael yawned before he answered,

"To find Darien hopefully." Lita smiled and they both fell back to sleep.

***************************************************************************************

Thirty minutes later, Serena pulled into a parking spot in the parking lot at the
building where Darien lived.  She didn't know exactly which one was his, but she
didn't care. If she had to stand outside and yell out his name until he came out,
then that was fine with her, but decided that she would try to use that link that
she and Darien had. She went in and got on the elevator and pushed the number 5.
After a short ride, she practically ran off the elevator and stood there a moment
as if trying to figure out what to do next. Finally, she turned to the right and 
went two doors down on the left and knocked. And knocked. And knocked. Finally,
she heard someone mumble,

"Just a minute." Then she heard the locks rattle and finally the door opened. It
wasn't Darien. It was an older gentleman who she had obviously gotten out of bed.
Geez, what time was it anyway, she thought. Immediately she bowed and began to
apologize.

"Oh, I am so sorry! I'm looking for Darien Chiba. Do you know which door is his?"
The old man looked confused at first and then said,

"Next one over." And then slammed the door shut in her face. But she didn't care.
She ran over to the next door literally began to pound on the door. Inside, Darien
was sitting on his couch, sipping a cup of coffee, thinking about the battle that
he believed that he had just died in. The knock startled him from his thougts as
he got up and went to answer it. He wasn't expecting to see Serena on the other
side.

Serena stood there in the hall, hopping from one foot to the other waiting
for Darien to open the door.  When it finally did, she stopped moving all
together and stood there motionless just staring at him.  He stared back,
unmoving and not speaking. Finally, a smile spread across his face and he
opened his arms to her. Serena didn't hesitate as she threw herself in them
and felt his powerful arms crush her to him.

"You did it!" he said, "I don't know how you did, but you did." Slowly she
untangled herself from his embrace and stepped back so that she could look
up at him and then smiled and said,

"Why it was magic, of course!" He looked surprised by her answer and then
he pulled her into his arms as he laughed. But again Serena pulled away,
this time walking into the apartment, closing the door behind her. When
she was across the room from him, she turned back and looked at him and said,

"Do you still want me?" Darien quickly crossed the room, took her in his arms
and the forced her to look up at him and said,

"You have to ask?" she smiled shyly and asked,

"Will you forever love me now?" He smiled back and said,

"Always and Forever." Then he leaned down and kissed her with all of the 
passion that he had been saving for over a lifetime.


The End