A Fated Love Serena was running late. Again. Big surprise. Maybe if today I were there on time I would be able to go down to the arcade and flirt with Andrew instead of boring detention, she though to herself. But no such luck was with her today. She was still half a mile away when she heard the bell ring. Damn! She wasn’t looking where she was going, and was in a full-out run when she crashed straight into Darien. “Late again Meatball Head?” he sneered. “Not that it is any of your business, but yes, I am, and you are in my way, so move.” Him again. “Fine, fine. Your path is clear, see?” said Darien as he stepped out of the way. ‘Thank you,” Serena replied sarcastically, and took off again. * * * Darien watched her go. What is it about that girl? He pondered. I really don’t mean to be so cruel to her; it’s just that she sets me off wrong. With these thoughts Darien started walking down the street, and continued to his work. * * * “Really Serena, you show up an hour late, again, and then expect the rest of us to have saved you a piece of the lemon pie?” said Raye. “You-, you didn’t?!” Serena wailed. “You didn’t save me any?” “Oh, you’re such a crybaby. Of course we did. Amy wouldn’t have let me eat it anyways, you know that.” At this Raye unveiled the piece of pie that they had saved for her. “Yeah! Thank you Amy!” Serena cried, now in that blissful state she gets when taking the first bite of one of her favorite foods. Munching happily, she asked, “What’s on the agenda for tonight?” “Studying,” replied Amy firmly. “Oh Amy, you are so cruel!” “We haven’t gotten through one session with only studying,” said Amy in her most professional tone. “Oh come on, Amy!” said Lita. “We can study any old time. Now gossip, that is something entirely unique which can only be done at certain times.” “Should we do clothes, boys, movies, video games, or just the usual random?” asked Mina. “Movies,” Amy said, resigned to her fate. “Boys!” “Clothes!” “Video games!” “Random it is!” “Well Raye, anything new in the Darien situation?” Lita took hold of the conversation. “No… not really. He always seems elsewhere…” “What?! Three weeks and he still hasn’t opened up?” Demanded Mina. “I don’t see why you even bother.” said Serena. “That guy is a total jerk!” “You know Serena, just because of your miniscule experience with guys you should be able to tell that Darien is a total hottie,” retorted Raye. “Uh oh. Get out the crash helmets!” warned Lita. “This one’s gonna be big!” The rest of the crew proceeded to take out big army helmets and to duck behind the table. Sounds of screaming and hissing and yelling were heard. “Aha!” said a triumphant Raye. She had succeeded in placing one of her charms on Serena’s forehead. Serena stared at it cross-eyed, dumbfounded. “Uh… Raye, how do you get this thing off?” Said Serena, tugging at the charm. “I don’t see why I should tell you. Unless you take back that comment about Darien. Besides, he does look a lot like Tuxedo Mask.” “Oh, fine. I take it back. But he so does not look anything like Tuxedo. I mean, come on.” “Could we stop bickering just long enough to study a little? There’s that big test tomorrow and—“ Amy began. “WHAT? A TEST? OH NO!” the Scouts cried in unison. So finally they began to study. * * * No matter how hard I try to study on these tests I always do poorly, thought Serena gloomily as she crumpled up the test paper. For once she had enough sense to look behind her before she threw it back. Nobody was there. The one time I do think to look around… She let the paper fly. And it once again smacked Darien right in the face as he was coming out of a store. “A 60? Wow Meatball Head, you’re doing better!” Without turning around, Serena said scornfully, “How many times is it that I have to tell you not to call me Meatball Head! And I have been doing better, thank you very much.” “Sorry,” Darien said, sounding insincere. That guy, Tuxedo Mask? No way! Serena thought as she stalked off. * * * Why do I always do that? Wondered Darien. I’m always making her mad at me and I don’t want her to hate me… I’ll go talk to Andrew. So off he went to the video arcade, coincidentally, the very same place that Serena was heading. When he got there, who else would be talking to Andrew than Serena? Darien headed over there, and as soon as she saw him Serena got up and left. He sat down. “You know Darien, you really should be nicer to that girl. She takes the things you say to her harder than you know.” Scolded Andrew. “I know, but—“ Darien was cut off by that annoying little feeling that told him he was needed elsewhere. “I gotta go. Bye Andy,” he said, and took off. * * * Serena heard that familiar beeping. Why now? She had actually made it to level 5 in the new Sailor V game when it started. She left the game and ran to meet the other Scouts. When she got to the scene she was transformed and ready to fight. It was Zoicite, and apparently the dark crystal had spotted another Rainbow Crystal holder. Now the shadow was out and attacking the town. She ran over to the others. “What is it?” Sailor Moon asked. “A bad guy,” replied Sailor Mars. “Where is it?” asked Moon, this time directly to Sailor Mercury. “About a quarter mile that way,” pointed Mercury. “What are we waiting for? Let’s do it!” The Scouts took off after the monster, an ugly lizard-skinned creature with acid green eyes and big hawks’ talons for hands. Its reptilian wings were a burnt orange and caused chaotic whirlwinds. Not a very fun villain. The monster turned to them, grinned maliciously, and took flight. The Scouts tried to follow his path but the sun was too bright. Suddenly it dove and scooped up Moon. * * * Darien followed the pull of his calling, now Tuxedo Mask. He found the Scouts standing around a very ugly looking creature. Jeez. These guys just get uglier and uglier. The monster took flight and disappeared into the sun, then abruptly swooped down and scooped up Sailor Moon. He leapt up and swept Moon from the creature, but in the process her arm was scratched pretty deeply by the razor-sharp talons. They landed in a clump of trees. Tuxedo turned to dress her wound but Moon gritted her teeth against the pain and said, “Go help the others. I’m fine.” She wasn’t, and blood was running in a thin line down her arm. He bent and staunched the blood with his cape. She’s pretty strong to hide her pain. He thought. And downright pretty, too. But fantasies were going to have to wait. Tuxedo tore a strip of his cape off and wrapped it tightly around Moon’s arm. Then he went to go and help the others, not like they needed it that much. * * * Owowowowowowow! This hurts like hell! thought Moon. But where she would normally whine and cry, she knew she had to fight on. She brought out her Crescent Wand and stepped out of the trees. The monster was blowing the Scouts away, quite literally. But its back was to her as she raised her wand and healed the creature. The battle at last was over, and they could hear Zoicite cursing softly. Another shadow which was not going to stay and fight. Queen Beryl was not going to be happy… * * * Video games: the perfect tool for relaxation after a long, painful, and distressing night. Even though her arm stung when she moved it too quickly, Serena was happy to deal with her pain to see if she could beat her ultimate record. Unbeknownst to her, Darien was standing behind her. He gave her a clap on her arm, right where the stitching Amy had done was. She cried out in pain. “Oh, I’m so sorry Serena! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” said Darien. Then he started thinking. Sailor Moon: hurt on arm. Serena: hurt on same arm in same place. Nah. Holding back tears of pain she said, “You didn’t call me Meatball Head. Thank you,” she then got up and walked out of the building. Darien followed. “How’d you hurt your arm?” he asked suspiciously. “Uh…” What was that story they had come up with again? Oh yeah. “I fell really hard and scraped it up.” “Uh-huh,” he lifted up the sleeve of her shirt. “You don’t get stitches by falling.” “If you’re me, you can. Trust me there,” replied Serena, wincing as she pulled the sleeve back down. She was getting tired of Darien’s company. Darien thought about her retort. With Serena, it did make a great deal of sense. “Well, I hope you get better soon, Meatball Head.” Serena was being pushed. And she did NOT like that. “Why is it that you can’t ever say anything nice without completely botching it?” she said angrily. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” “Oh, sure. Whatever you say.” “I really do mean it. Here, you can… you can… keep this locket until you feel better,” stammered Darien. He didn’t want for dingbat Serena to have it, but he didn’t want yet another thing to make her hate him. He handed her the little star-shaped locket that was such a big part of her past and future. “Where… where did you get this?” she asked, stunned beyond words. “It’s something I promised to keep safe for someone,” said Darien, not really knowing where those words had come from. Serena looked straight into his eyes. There was no possible way that this absolute jerk could be Tuxedo Mask. He must be keeping it for someone. That was it. “Who gave you this locket?” she demanded, now sure of her path. “I’ve always had it, for as long as I can remember,” said Darien truthfully. At this Serena stepped back, horrified. “Oh no! Not you! It can’t be you…” she trailed off. Seeing at last she took off at such a breakneck speed the fastest Olympic runners would not have been able to catch her. * * * Faintly Darien heard a mild curse from far off. What had that all been about? Who knew. He noticed that Serena had dropped something. It was a black scrap of fabric, slightly blood-stained. “Oh. My. God.” The sudden realization came upon him. He had to find Serena! * * * At last she stopped at a clump of trees near the park lake. She collapsed there, sobbing. It couldn’t be! It just couldn’t be! She didn’t want to believe it. She couldn’t. If she did then she would surely die. Trying to choke back her wild sobs, she saw a figure standing above her. She looked up into the concerned face of Molly, who had been out in the park and heard her. “Serena… What’s wrong? Did somebody die? Come on Serena, tell me everything.” “I…**sob**… I can’t. Oh God, why did it have to be him? Why?” sobbed Serena. “Serena, you know you can tell me anything. Does it have to do with that guy you’ve been drooling over? Come on. Please tell me,” pleaded Molly. Despondently Serena shook her head. She couldn’t even tell Molly her discovery. Another figure came running to their stand of trees. She couldn’t even raise her face to see who it was. “Oh Darien, maybe you can help her. Something’s happened and she won’t tell me anything.” “No!” shouted Serena, surprising them both. She stood up shakily and ran off again. She was almost to the end of the park when Darien caught up with her. “Let me go! She screamed as Darien took hold of her arm, making sure he got the uninjured one. “Serena! Will you stop and listen to me?! We have got to talk about this!” said Darien as he restrained her. She suddenly went limp, and whispered, “God take me now if this is what Fate has in store,” she passed out. * * * When she awoke Serena was inside a dark apartment. She tried to get up but found she couldn’t move a muscle. She was too exhausted to do anything but lie there. She was wondering why until she remembered what had happened. Tears began running down her face. She was convinced that she could never become Sailor Moon again because she couldn’t face Tuxedo Mask/ Darien. As if on cue Darien entered the room with a steaming pot of tea. He set it down on the table next to her and disappeared again. Oh no, she thought. I’m in Darien’s apartment! I’ve got to get out of here! Using all her strength she lifted herself off the couch and made her way dizzily to the door. Darien ran up to her and supported her. “You’re far too weak to try to go home. I had Molly call your home and say that you were staying the night at her house. Please, sit down. We have a lot to talk about.” Numbly Serena complied. It wasn’t like she had a choice, anyways. She downed the cup of tea offered her. It helped to clear her head. Darien sat across from her. “You know, Raye isn’t going to like this,” said Serena, trying weakly to lighten the mood. “She’s going to find out eventually,” replied Darien, smiling mildly. Then he became serious once more. “You know we can’t pretend that didn’t happen.” Serena’s tears returned. She bent her head and whispered, barely audible, “I know.” “Then why do you keep running from it?” he demanded, anguished. “Because I don’t want to face it. A naïve dream of mine has been shattered.” More tears. He leaned over and lifted up her chin. “Face it,” he said, and kissed her. That kiss was what it had been that first time, pure, dark, and secretive. This was the masked man of her dreams, and Serena did have to face it. For that kiss could never have been given by another. They lost themselves in it. Until the door opened and Raye walked in. They broke apart, and Darien said, “Oh shit! I can explain—“ “No, I can. Raye, Mars, let me introduce Tuxedo Mask.” “I’m just going to go back outside and pretend that I didn’t see or hear that,” said Raye, doing just as she said she would. Then she ran straight back to her shrine to contact the others and tell them the news. “Raye is Mars? It figures. Who are the others?” “Amy is Mercury, Lita is Jupiter, and Mina is Venus. Only don’t tell them I told you that because undoubtedly they’ll want to tell you themselves.” “Right then. Should we, er, get back to business?” For the first time that day Serena smiled and said, “Absolutely.” And so they did.