Title: An Unsuitable Match
Part: Epilogue
Rating: PG
Author: W. Bymeeh
E-mail: jhyunl@aol.com
Website: http://jayhyun.tripod.com/sm/

*Author's Note:  Okay, in case you missed it (duh) this is an 
Alternative Reality placed in the Silver Millennium.  This means 
I can do whatever I want!  Muahaha.  Okay, okay.  Anyway, here's 
the end of this series...*sob*  Thanks to ALL the kind people who 
wrote to me on *this* series, especially Erin & Tenshi-chan, two 
very cool people who encouraged me a lot!  

--> The intro's reminiscent of a part of a story of mine called 
"Promises".  It's not the same, but it might seem familiar to 
some of my constant readers.  :)  

*Disclaimer: Characters...are...not...mine...

					Epilogue

	Serena was lost in a flood of darkness.  She could not feel 
anything, herself or anything around her.  She was floating and 
flying and falling all at once, and she could not tell where she 
was anymore.  
	And then she felt a warmth surround her.  
	"Serena, dearest, it's time to go back now.  Everyone is 
waiting for you...they're worried."
	She managed to open her eyes, but discovered she was in the 
midst of a thick fog.  But it was warm now, not chilly, and she 
felt a comforting presence near her.  And the voice that spoke 
was the same that had guided her earlier.  
	"Mother?"  
	"Yes, Serena.  You've discovered who you are now.  My 
daughter, and the princess of the Moon."  
	"Princess?"  It hadn't fully sunk in yet. 
	She could hear the light laughter of her mother.  "Yes, 
Serena.  Princess.  I'm so happy that you've also found your 
prince, you know."  
	"Darien," Serena murmured.  "My friends...they're 
princesses too?"  
	"Yes, my dear.  They're waiting for you..."  
	Serena softly said, "I don't want to leave you, Mother.  I 
never knew you."  
	There was a silence, and Serena feared that her mother was 
already gone.  
	"Serena, I will always be with you."
  
	And that's when she began to wake.      

	She heard whispers.  Real whispers, in the world of the 
living.     
	"Move over!"  Thump.  
	"Let me through!"  Clunk.  
	"Ow!"   
	"Is she awake yet?"  
	"Hehehe, I want to try my new powers on her as a wake up 
call..."  
	"Does she always sleep this long?"  
	"Of course...when we were younger, we had to drag her out 
of bed so that we could all get started on our chores at the same 
time."  
	"We all met at the same time before we started our work."  
	"Who would've thought that we would've all ended up as 
princesses?"  
	"And I was looking forward to being a governess..." 
	"Amy!"  Thwack. 
	"Ow!"  
	"Hehehe...so, Darien, where are you taking the Meatball 
Head for your honeymoon?"  Snicker.
	"Princess or no, she's still a Meatball Head..."
	"ARGH!  Can't a girl get some sleep around here?"  Serena 
threw back the covers with a sudden burst of energy, but then lay 
back against the back of the bed, still rather tired.  
	Serena smiled at everyone's look of surprise and relief.  
Darien, nearest to her, gently hugged her and then kissed her 
tenderly on the forehead.  
	"What happened?" Serena asked, drinking in the sight of her 
beloved and the faces of her friends behind him.  She was lying 
in an ancient bed that seemed to have survived the years well, 
covered by blankets that someone had brought in.  The room itself 
smelled slightly stale, but the open windows brought in a breeze 
that was fresh and carried the scent of flowers.  
	"You were exhausted by using all that power...you've been 
sleeping for two days..." Darien held her hand tightly.
	Serena managed to tilt her head a bit and smiled when she 
saw the sight of her friends dressed in extremely short skirts 
that were part of what looked like sailor outfits.  They 
looked...different.  More confident, stronger, and noble than the 
friends that she had grown up with.  
	"Sailor Venus," Mina flashed a bright grin.   
	"Sailor Mercury," Amy smiled, pulling down a blue visor 
over her eyes.
	"Sailor Mars, your royal Meatball Head," Raye grinned 
wickedly, a glint in her dark eyes.
	"Sailor Jupiter," Lita performed a mock salute.  Even in 
their transformed state, Lita still towered over them in height.  
	The four looked from one to another, and then Darien moved 
aside, reluctantly letting go of Serena's hand.  She still 
smiled, but puzzlement was etched across her face. 
	The four girls knelt before the bed.  Then, finding the bed 
was too tall and even Lita's head was hidden from Serena's view, 
they giggled and stood up.  Each of them placed a hand on top of 
Serena's listless one.
	Serena weakly said, "What are you doing?" 
	Without hesitation Mina leaned closer and said, "We pledge 
our loyalty and our lives to you, Princess Serena of the Moon."  
	Serena opened her mouth to protest but Raye held up a hand, 
a stubborn look on her face and determination in her eyes.  
"Don't argue, Meatball Head!  Now that we know you're the 
princess of the Moon, and we're the princesses of the inner 
planets, it's for your own good!"  
	Amy added, "It's our duty."  
	Serena frowned.  She softly said, "It doesn't matter 
whether I'm princess Serena and you're the princesses of Mars, 
Mercury, Venus and Jupiter...I'm still Serena, the gardener's 
daughter...and you four are my friends...this isn't necessary."  
	Lita edged closer.  "Serena...we want to.  You are a part 
of our lives as we are of yours...and as either princesses or 
commoners, we were always meant to be together!  You know, when 
we were younger we said we'd grow up and our children would play 
together.  That's still going to happen.  This is just...saying 
that we'll be friends for always..."  
	Serena smiled in acceptance.  "So be it, Princess of Venus, 
Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter.  I accept your pledge of 
loyalty...and of friendship."  
	She was rewarded by a hug with all of her friends, and 
Darien smiled and left them alone.  

	After Serena managed to regain some of her strength, she 
was shocked to find out about the chaos that had ensued after the 
battle with Beryl in the two days that she had been asleep.  Luna 
and Artemis, the royal advisors of Queen Serenity, had quickly 
introduced themselves and cleared up explanations about who the 
Senshi were, and the legends that had surrounded them after their 
disappearance, caused by Queen Serenity, years before.  They had 
been impressed by the girls' abilities to channel their powers, 
but had taken it upon themselves to help them transform and 
introduce other aspects of their powers as well.  It was peculiar 
how such small creatures managed to exert such influence, as they 
quickly set each of the princesses to work in clearing up 
confusion.  
	Raye---or, rather Mars, had taken charge of Amiro's troops 
with ease.  Apparently he had not endeared himself to them, and 
after all, they had pledged their loyalty to the New Moon 
kingdom, not the general.  Of course, Mars, inexperienced at such 
leadership matters, although born with some innate talent, mainly 
spent time experimenting with her new powers and kept the troops 
in line mainly through fear of her fire.  
	Mercury, between speculations on how being a princess would 
affect her studies, busied herself in analyzing the current 
status of the Moon kingdom and its land, and the possibilities 
available to them.  She also secured a wing of the partially 
damaged palace for all of them to stay in, which was where Serena 
had slept while recuperating.  
	Jupiter spent her time looking for traces of Metallia, whom 
they had not known of before, but had found out after Luna had 
explained the source of the evil that had attacked them in the 
present and years before.  She also went on rounds to assist the 
others with their own work, and found time to rig some 
improvements in the ruined kitchen and fix them a better meal 
than the supplies they had brought with them. 
	Venus uncovered old political treaties between the Moon 
kingdom and the other planets, and was examining its implication 
on the present.  She was surprised to see the ties between Earth 
and her own home planet, which showed that she was still, in a 
way, related to the man she grew up calling brother.  She gave 
the material to Darien, and the first thing he did was look up 
the marital alliance between the Moon kingdom and Earth, made 
more than a decade earlier.  He smugly proved that the betrothal 
still held, news that had shocked him earlier (since he had not 
known the betrothal was to Serena), but he now took particular 
joy in the confirmation that Serena was indeed his soul mate, 
destined for him at birth.  
	It was not until nightfall that everyone stopped working, 
but it was by then that Serena had regained more of her strength 
and was able to tour the grounds with Darien.  He expected her to 
be sad at its decay, but was glad that she seemed more interested 
in making dreams and plans for the future than grieving over the 
past.  
	After reaching the still standing ballroom balcony, they 
stood together enjoying the view; Serena wrapped in Darien's 
strong arms, both peacefully content in the other's presence.  
	Earth glowed a brilliant blue in the darkness of the night, 
and they gazed at it in silence.  "I find myself wondering what 
might have happened if things had been different," Serena 
confessed.  "If the first attack on the moon had come when I was 
older, I might have grown up looking at the Earth, wondering what 
I was missing.  I would have lived the life of a princess, never 
being able to do what I wanted..." 
	Darien kissed her on the cheek and blew into her ear, 
making her giggle.  "I'm glad you grew up on Earth, 
though...communication between the Earth and the Moon was banned 
for a long time until your mother came along.  And even though 
you didn't grow up a princess, we were still going to be 
together." 
	"My mother..." Serena sighed.  "I wish I could have known 
her."
	Darien comfortingly caressed her cheek.  "I'm sure her 
spirit will continue to guide you."  
	Serena remembered her mother's voice, echoing in her mind 
and telling her what she needed to hear.  "I'm sure she will." 
	After another comfortable silence had passed, Serena spoke 
again.  "Do you think your parents will approve of me now?"  
	Darien smiled.  "They liked you before, they'll love you 
now!" 
	Serena giggled out loud, her laughter ringing out through 
the air that had heard no such sound for many years.  "The 
gardener's daughter and the prince of Earth...who would have 
believed such an unsuitable match?"
	Darien thoughtfully replied, "I think that the match 
between a girl and a boy who love each other is quite 
believable."  He added in a soft whisper, "I knew we were right 
together all along...ever since you asked me to be your knight in 
shining armor..." 
	Serena blushed.  "The first time or the second?"  Then she 
frowned.  "What ever happened to that guard?"  
	Darien had the decency to blush.  "I'm afraid it was his 
bad fortune to fall ill that night."  Laughing, Darien pulled her 
around in his arms to face him and kissed the newly formed 
crescent moon on her forehead lovingly.  "But it was my good 
fortune.  I love you, Serena.  My destined, my princess, my 
love."  
	"I love you, Darien...my one and only love." 
	The stars sparkled with promise, shining their light on the 
two that had always been meant for each other.  

*********The End*********

*Hmm, that's a wrap for this series.  Well, this was my first 
*silver millennium/alt. reality* fan fic series that I finished 
(not my first fan fic, although it may seem like it).  There are 
tons of these out there, I realize now.  Ah, well.  I'm still 
learning.  If you liked this fan fic, tell me!  Also, if you're 
looking for something more original, check out my other stories.  
They get better the more I learn.  :)     

*I also realize that I probably violated a dozen rules in writing 
this series.  For example, if Serena used the full power of the 
Silver Crystal she would have died.  But I decided to end it the 
way I wanted to, just because I intended this to be a romance 
between Serena and Darien, *my* favorite couple!  (an ongoing 
theme in many of my stories...)  I also regret ever mentioning 
the Golden Crystal in this story, but oh well, too late to change 
that.  =P

--> I'm planning on only writing a retelling of the Silver 
Millennium that will be as accurate as I'm going to get.  It's 
titled "Innocence", so look out for it.  :)  

**********

w. bymeeh
jhyunl@aol.com
http://jayhyun.tripod.com/sm/   

"An Unsuitable Match" finished - JL (My real initials) - 11.25.99 

All rights reserved.   

Stories may not be posted without permission.   
















Only read the below if you're brave...












**********An alternate ending********* 
[Takes place right after above ending]

	In the shadows, two feline figures watched their newly 
found princess and her prince on the balcony of the decaying 
palace.  
	"I told you so, Luna," a white cat said smugly.    
	"Do be quiet, Artemis."  The black cat made an offended 
sniffing sound.      
	"Luuuuna, why don't you ever listen to me?"  
	"Artemis, just because you were lucky this time doesn't 
mean that you will be lucky every time." 
	Pause.  
	"I'm still hoping to get lucky with you."  
	"ARTEMIS!" 
	Clunk.  

****The end****

*snicker* Sorry, that was in poor taste.  I originally wrote it 
in as the official end of the story, but I decided I had better 
end the story romantically and add in the joke at the bottom.  It 
refers to when Artemis and Luna were discussing the search for 
the missing moon princess and Artemis thought that they could 
find her through the prince, who had been her betrothed, and Luna 
disagreed.  But ya shoulda known that if you read my story, 
right?  :)