Welcome to the very last chapter of Sailor Scouts R.    In my personal opinion, this story 
wasn't one of my best, but I still had fun writing it out.

Usual disclaimers apply!

Sailor Scouts R – Epilogue: Darien's Decision

	It was early into the night by the time the scouts and Darien got to Darien's 
apartment.  The girls were obviously nervous about explaining things, as they would ask 
for some juice or something else once they got inside.  Finally, Darien had had enough of 
the distractions, "Alright, stop!  Just tell me.  What happened to Serena?"

	The scout hung their heads in sadness, until Ray decided to be the bearer of bad 
news, "She's dead, Darien.  As far as Luna and Artemis know, she never came back with 
us from the North Pole."

	Darien was in shock, "What do you mean she never came back?"  While Darien 
asked this, a lot of things were swimming in his minds.  Serena, his sweet innocent 
Serena, is gone.

	Ray continued, "Just that, Darien.  She never came back with us from the 
North Pole, and the police declared her dead only a month ago."

	Darien was now very sad and did something he hadn't done in 10 
Years, he cried.  Cried for the loss of the love of his life.  The Scouts, sensing that Darien 
would like some alone time, decided to leave and said to him, before leaving, that they 
would be there for him, if he wanted to talk to them.

	Darien cried for hours that night, while sitting in his living room sofa.  Once he 
calmed down enough to stop crying, he got up, and walked out onto his balcony.  He 
looked up at the moon and asked a lot of questions to the moon, but got no answers.

	It was several days before Darien felt well enough to leave his apartment.  He got 
to the arcade and ordered his usual coffee from Andrew.  Andrew, saw that his best friend 
was depressed about something, but when he tried to talk to Darien about it, Darien just 
said he didn't want to talk about it.  While Darien was having his coffee, he spotted the 
scouts in a corner booth in the back of the arcade, so Darien excused himself from the bar 
and walked to the girls and talk.  While he was with the girls, he got a summery of the 
events over the last month with Allen and Ann, and their never-ending stream of 
Cardiens.  Technically, the memories were not really his own, but Darien occasionally 
had flashes of events where the Moonlight Knight helped the Sailor Scouts.  When the 
girls told Darien of another Sailor named Sailor Pluto, and what her duties as a Scout 
were, Darien had mixed feelings about what to think of her.  On one end, he wanted to 
wring Sailor Pluto's neck, if he could find her, and demand to know why she just let 
Serena die, knowing she could have stopped it.  On the other hand, he knew that 
protecting the time line had to be a stressing job, and might even require sacrifices to 
keep time flowing properly.  In the end, Darien decided not to think about it anymore, 
and excused himself from the girls before heading off to the one place he had never been, 
and hoped it wouldn't turn into a war zone when he was done visiting.

	After getting directions, and taking a few wrong turns, Darien got to where he 
wanted to go… the Tsukino's front door.  He rang the doorbell, and a woman, most likely 
Serena's mother, shortly afterwards, answered it.  Darien introduced himself and the two 
went into the living room for some tea and talked for a while, mostly about Serena and 
how he seemed to have a knack for saving Serena, time and again, during the battles with 
Queen Beryl, and her minions.  Mrs. Tsukino lost track of how many times she thanked 
him for saving her baby girl's life, and even told Darien that she believed Darien would 
have made a good Son in-law.  Darien was shocked and said he felt honored to have such 
praise from her, before he got up and left and thanked her for the Tea.

	Days, and then weeks, went by in a blur for Darien.  Each day he felt more and 
more depressed.  Everywhere he went, he would spot something that would remind of 
Serena and their arguments together.  Darien decided he needed a change in order to heal 
his broken heart, and when he got back to his apartment to check his mail, he saw his 
chance.

	In the mail, was a letter from Harvard University in the United States.  It said that 
his application was accepted and he could attend if he wished.  Seeing that it was a 
chance to get away from everything for a while, Darien wrote back saying he wished to 
attend school there.  He then started packing what he believed he would need for studying 
in the states, and when he was done, Darien went to Ray's temple, to tell the Scouts the 
news.

	When he told the girls, they were sad to see that he would leave, but they understood 
why he wanted, and had, to do this.  Darien thanked them for their kindness and left for 
the Arcade to tell Andrew the news.  Andrew said he'd miss Darien and that he'd keep an 
eye on his apartment while he was away.

	It wasn't until a few weeks later, that Darien had finished all the necessary paper 
work for Harvard, finished packing, and got the plane tickets for the trip.  Everyone, 
including the Tsukinos, went with Darien to the airport to wish Darien a safe trip.  They 
all stayed at the airport until Darien's plane took off and was out of sight.

	Meanwhile, in another part of Japan, far from Tokyo in the 439 Mountain district, 
the usual series of Earthquakes went off.  Those that lived in the area were use to it, but 
then again, not many lived out here.  A certain Saiyan, and his very first student, Sera 
Gardner Son, Goku's adopted Daughter, caused these earthquakes with their advanced 
Martial Arts moves.  Goku wasn't there when it happened, but from what he was told, 
Sera was found washed ashore on Master Roshi's island about 4 months ago, most likely 
from some boating accident since the Island was so far from the main land.  When Sera 
came to, she said she didn't know whom she was or where she was from.

	Chichi, who was visiting the island at the time because Gohan came when he 
should have been doing his homework at home, grew on Sera, as did Sera grew on 
Chichi, and as soon a possible, adopted Sera into the son family.  Gohan was thrilled as 
well, since he got a sister out of the deal.

	Once Sera had recovered enough, she developed an interest in Martial Arts, and 
asked Master Roshi to be her instructor.  In less then a month, she learned all she could 
from him, even the Kamahamaha wave, witch supposedly takes 50 years to learn.  For 
some reason, Sera became a fast learner at just about everything, and before long, even 
Chichi had her studying as hard as Gohan was.  Not that either complained since they 
were now study buddies together for the same teacher, aka their Mom.

	When Goku returned to Earth, 3 months after Sera was found, Goku decided to 
take it upon himself to continue Sera's training where Roshi left off, and Daughter and 
Father had a blast.  When Vegeta met Sera, when Goku returned, he made the comment 
that, given enough training, could give even a Saiyan a run for their money.  Everyone 
was surprised to hear such a comment from Vegeta but chose not to say anything, for 
they knew he didn't like to show 'weakness for humans' as he would call it.  But then 
again, something about Sera told Vegeta, that Sera was no ordinary human, even by 
Krillen's standards, and he was the most powerful human of the group.  Nobody could 
figure it out so they just chalked it up to having Sera's skills as a 'Son family trait.'

	Sera, was happy with her new family and their friends.  But every night, Sera 
would look out her window and gaze at the Moon, wondering if anyone she knew in her 
previous life, was looking for her.  She also often wondered, what happened out there in 
the ocean to cause her amnesia, and if anybody else was with her when it happened.  
These are questions she always asks herself, but sadly, knew she wouldn't get an answer 
anytime soon.

	Getting out of their thoughts, Goku and Sera powered down and went back to the 
house for dinner, which was almost ready.  On the way there, Sera thought, "I may not 
know who I really am, but at least I have family and friends who care about me now.  I 
also know I better get in the house before Dad and Gohan take all the food.  With that, 
Sera ran for the house at lightning speed, with Goku behind her as he yelled, "Hay, no 
fair.  Save some for me."  With that, the 2 ran inside, wondering what the next day would 
bring.

That marks the end of this story.  Send all comments to gbess@iname.com  Visit my web site at 
www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Courtyard/2058