Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or her characters, and have no right to it except as a long time fan.

Unexpected Restart
Chapter One: Anger and Grief

Serena sat alone in her room on her bed late one evening hugging her pillow and listening to her treasured star locket. The musical melody was a soothing balm to her grief, and a sharp contrast to her anger. She had never in her life felt such a way. Part of her was uncomfortable with the anger coursing through her like a living thing, but the other half of her just didn't care and even felt justified in feeling the way she did.

After all it had only been a couple of days since her Prince had been taken, and not one of her Scouts had done a thing to stop it.

She squeezed her pillow and took a shuddering breath, tears leaking from her eyes, as she recalled once again the events of that fateful yet enlightening day.

~~uUuUu~~

Sailor Moon stared in wide eyed disbelief as the guy she thought of as a jerk/friend transformed into the mysterious figure she had had a major crush on for months. She blinked slowly as if it would change the visual standing before her. How could this be? How could he be Tuxedo Mask? How could she not have known?!

Of course it occurred to her seconds later that he obviously had a way to keep his identity a secret otherwise she would have recognized him during her first fight as a scout. It wasn't surprising since she had realized that the Sailor Scouts had some mysterious way to keep their identities secret. She had wondered about that very thing after saving her best friend her first time out as the scout of the Moon what with her distinct hair style. She hadn't believed that Molly wouldn't instantly recognize her despite the dangerous situation.

As she and Tuxedo Mask stared at one another she wondered how different things would have been if they had recognized one another as the person they encountered earlier the day they met when she threw her crumbled test paper at him. But now was not the time for such thoughts; she would have to think on it later.

"You have to run! It's too dangerous!" She pleaded, thinking of his injury.

"I can't. I have to get the rainbow crystals." Tuxedo Mask said quietly.

"I know. I know, so you can find your princess." She replied with a light sigh.

"Yeah. But I also want to protect you." He stated, and she nodded slowly, her face coloring.

"Then be careful." She implored with a frown despite her blush.

"Of course." He said with a smirk before he moved forward as she stepped aside.

"I want you to promise that Sailor Moon will be safe and not be involved in our fight." She heard Tuxedo Mask say.

"Sure. She won't be involved." Zoycite agreed.

Both she and Tuxedo Mask knew that Zoycite wasn't likely to keep that promise, but she was sure Tuxedo Mask thought it was worth a shot.

Tuxedo Mask continued to step forward and she looked on anxiously, worried that he was injured, and still shocked that he was actually Darien. Then she blinked, and he was gone. She blinked again, wondering where he had gone, and heard a pained gasp behind her. She spun around and gasped in horror to see him standing with his back to her, a large pointed crystal piercing through his back.

"No!" Sailor Moon screamed and ran to him as he fell, dropping to her knees at his side.

"Darien! Darien!" She called, her panicked and shocked mind idly noticing that the large crystal was gone as she watched him struggle to open his eyes before finally succeeding.

"Don't forget I'm on your side, and I always will be." Darien said haltingly before his eyes closed once again.

Her eyes widened at his words and she feared he was about to die as his eyes closed.

"Please don't go, don't leave me! Please!" Serena begged, but all she could do was watch anxiously as his eyelids fluttered, struggling to open again.

As she leaned over Darien she was unaware that the rainbow crystals had appeared from the ceiling and were floating down toward her. All she could think about was that Darien was hurt; hurt very badly because of her.

She glanced up unconsciously and saw her Crescent Moon Wand floating with a bright crystal sitting in the curve of the crescent, and suddenly her vision pulled back and she watched from what felt like a distance inside herself as her body moved on its own.

She got to her feet and gazed at the wand, and felt herself transform. Looking down she saw that she now wore a beautiful white gown, and felt high heel shoes on her feet. She looked back to her wand and suddenly knew that it was the legendary silver crystal Luna had spoken of.

Serena grabbed the wand and sank down to her knees before lifting Darien to rest his head on her lap. In the next moment she was aware of Zoycite attacking and brought her hands up to shield her face. When the attack died down she calmly brought her wand up and looked to the man.

"Cosmic Moon Power!" She said quietly and an attack of her own blasted him back and incapacitated him enough that she felt he was no longer a concern at that time.

"Darien." She said softly, sad and upset that he was injured because of her, and watched as he opened his eyes and gazed up her.

"Princess." He breathed. "Serenity." He said as he lifted his hand to caress her face, and she held it there and closed her eyes. "I remember now. I'm Endymion, Prince Endymion."

Serena's eyes snapped open as she gasped; the last few moments began to make sense as his words registered to her. She was the Moon Princess. She was Princess Serenity. As the realization came to her the memories of her past life flashed before her mind's eye in rapid scenes that her mind was somehow able to process and understand.

Once they finished she looked down at her dying friend. This was Darien. The same Darien that teased her, made fun of her sometimes, and always seemed to be arguing with her, but he was also the same Darien that had confided in her, and had vowed to protect her when they were trapped together.

He was Tuxedo Mask. The man she had a major crush on, the one who always protected her, the one who always encouraged her, the one who could cut straight through her fear with his words alone and get her to do what they both knew she needed to in the moment.

And he was Endymion. The man who loved her, who treated her like a woman and not just a pretty princess. The one who gave his life to protect hers, and the man she loved so much she killed herself to join him.

She gasped lightly as she came out of the rush of memories.

"Endymion." She said as she looked down at his pained face. She knew he was dying. She could feel it. He was going to die and leave her again. She couldn't let that happen, she just couldn't. She knew she could save him; she had the knowledge! She just had to find it in her new swirl of memories.

But she was tired and she could barely think. She could feel her gown changing back into a sailor suit, but she ignored it and tried to find the information she needed.

It has to do with my silver crystal. Was the last thing she thought.

~~uUuUu~~

Serena remembered coming to and finding Darien gone, and most of the Scouts, Luna, and Artemis thought his comrades had just taken him back with them.

She had been confused at first but the more they said to try and calm her and tell her of what happened after she had apparently fainted, made her realize that despite not wearing his mask they had not been able to tell that he was Darien, and they had apparently been too far away to hear them speaking to each other and didn't know that he was Prince Endymion either.

She had already been sad and worried, but once that realization sank in she was on the verge of a breakdown. They had let their enemy take him because some of them thought he was their enemy as well. They said it had been sudden how the enemy had taken him, but they hadn't even tried to stop them once they realized what was happening.

It wasn't long before anger began to wind its way through her grief and pain. She was outraged that they let him be taken, that they even thought of him as an enemy after all the times he had helped them and saved her.

She felt it even more so as she remembered him struggling through his pain to tell her that he was on her side and always would be. He had wasted precious energy to tell her that, to make sure she knew, which told her that he had known he was dying as well.

She didn't bother telling the others who he really was. She hadn't seen the point. He was gone; in enemy hands. He was either dead or he would be made to fight against them. As painful as it was she thought it more likely that he was dead. He had been so hurt, too injured for him to possibly live without immediate care.

Serena squeezed her pillow tighter and closed her eyes in pain, more tears leaking from her eyes as she remember that day. She blamed herself for Darien getting injured. If she had been paying attention to her surroundings he never would have had to risk his life saving her.

It hurt so much that he was gone, that he was away from her. Just days before she would have been glad to have a break from Darien and his behavior, but so much had changed and she had been forced to take a look inside herself and see how she really felt about him.

She discovered that she had liked him, had liked him for a while. Seeing Raye pursue him had made her jealous even if she hadn't showed it. She had hidden it even from herself.

She was sure Raye had been out looking for him these past few days since she hadn't come to see her or call her. In fact, the only one to come see her was Mina. Luna saw her but she lived with her, so she didn't count. She had taken to locking her out of her bedroom anyway. Her guardian advisor had thought he was an enemy as well, and had been insensitive in her comments.

Mina hadn't been there with the group long enough to have an opinion about him one way or the other, but she hadn't wanted him to be taken if only because Serena seemed like she had some kind of connection to him. She had come to visit because she was worried about her, and how she was handling the man's disappearance. She could tell that something was wrong, but Serena wouldn't tell her.

She had appreciated her concern but she saw no reason to inform her of who Tuxedo Mask really was, and especially who he was to her. She assumed the others were just giving her space, but she didn't particularly want to see them anyway.

Serena sighed tiredly and got under her covers.

I wish things were different; that I had acted differently. I'm sure if I had Darien would be fine right now and going about his life. She thought with another sigh as she settled in her bed. What I really wish is that I could go back and do things differently.

As she was falling asleep, tired from all her anger and grief and helped along by the soothing sound of her star locket, she felt her silver crystal pulse warmly inside her as if to tell her that everything would be alright.