Finding Heaven on Earth

Vacation Album: Kaguya Island

AN: This is the first season special of Finding Heaven on Earth. Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip that will send our heroes into a new adventure.

Chapter 1: I'm on a Boat

The Princess sat at her window again. She let out a heavy sigh. "How much longer will you make me wait? I need you. My people need you. Please…" Outside the window, heavy winds blew. A storm whipped through the air. Rain pelted the outside wall and thunder echoed with a resounding clap.

Darien jerked awake and looked up into the blue sky, dotted here and there with white, fluffy clouds. The sun felt good on his skin in contrast to the heavy dampness of the storm in his dream. He leaned back in his deck chair, trying to relax and forget.

"Wow look over there!" came a cheerful cry from the bow of the yacht.

Darien looked over to see his ex-girlfriend Serena pointing out at something in the ocean. He sighed wistfully as Diamond looked out to where she was pointing, his arms around her shoulders and laughing at her childlike-demeanor. A part of him still wished that he had never driven her away. He had once thought that she was his everything.

However, now she was with Diamond, the one responsible for them being on this little cruise, and he was having dreams of another woman. He wasn't sure if he wanted to believe his dreams this time. Last time, they had been true but he had ended up with a broken heart.

"Are you alright?" came a voice from beside him.

Darien jumped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," Sapphire continued as he sat down in the deck chair next to Darien's.

Darien shook his head. "I wasn't frightened, I was distracted." He continued staring off at the horizon.

Sapphire knew that look. Diamond had learned it perfectly. It was the look of being haunted by dreams. "Bad dreams?" Sapphire said.

Darien looked away, refusing to be startled again. He didn't really want to talk about it. He never did. "I'm all right," he insisted. Sapphire decided to let him be, for now. When Darien was ready, he would talk.

Serena's laugh rang through the clear air. Once he had made her laugh, but now Diamond had that privilege; he cringed and looked over at them.

"She's good for him," Sapphire said. "I know it's not really what you want to hear but as he's my brother, I have to admit I'm glad for them. He's a lot more open than he used to be and it's because of her."

Darien nodded. "She's special. I was fool to give her up."

"Ehh I don't know about that," Sapphire said. "If the two of you had been right for each other, would you really have felt the need to dump her? For any reason?"

Darien looked over at the blue-haired boy. He was surprised at how quickly he and Sapphire had warmed up to each other. They were a lot like in many ways and yet Sapphire seemed to be a little bit wiser, if also oddly innocent at times. It was like having an older brother. He and Andrew were like brothers of course, but this was different. Darien couldn't tell Andrew everything about every aspect of his life. Often times, he'd had to outright lie to his friend. Sapphire was different. He could tell Sapphire everything and receive sage advice based on the whole story instead of only a part of it.

"I don't know anymore. I'm so confused. Everyone keeps telling me I need to move on and find someone else…."

"And that's not easy," Sapphire finished.

"The whole thing makes me feel uneasy, like I'm cheating on Serena and what if I make the same mistakes with a new woman?"

"You won't," Sapphire assured him. "You don't strike me as the type to make the same mistakes twice. You just need to find the right girl. I have a feeling she's just waiting for you around the proverbial corner."

Only about ten miles from where the small yacht sailed was a beautiful island. It was an island rich in vegetation and animal life. In the center of the island's jungle sat a thriving city. The women wore dresses that looked like a cross between the saris of Indonesia and the traditional garments of the Polynesian Islands in bright hues of reds, blues and yellows. The men wore nothing more than long baggy pants of more muted shades. Their feet shuffled bare through the dirt streets and into homes built of wood and thatched with palm fronds.

In the center of the city was a palace formed of clay from the streams. In the palace sat a beautiful woman on her throne. A small, amethyst tiara adorned cascading auburn hair streaked with purple. The two-piece royal purple sari that she wore accented her lightly tanned skin and made her deep-purple eyes seem to sparkle.

"Selkie," the princess looked at her chief advisor. "Do you think we'll ever be free?"

Selkie, dressed in a two-piece ruby red sari, sighed. "I do not know Princess. I think many of our people have completely forgotten our plight, blissfully content in their ignorance. We have been waiting for so long. I suppose that as long as we live, there is hope, but I cannot say whether or not we will ever be free."

The Princess pouted and looked away.

A man wearing a green kurta-pyjama walked in. "Your Highness, the shaman report a massive hurricane on the way. We need to get the people ready."

The Princess stood. "Now why couldn't he have at least included weather in that curse?"

Selkie shook his head. "Some are just incompetent that way, Your Highness."

Clouds were quickly starting to billow in above the S.S. Lilliput.

Ami scooted closer to Zoisite. "I have a bad feeling."

Zoisite closed his eyes. "There's a big storm coming. We should get under cover. I just hope this thing can handle hurricane force wind and waves."

Diamond gave the blonde an offended look but said nothing. To be honest, he wasn't sure as he'd never experienced a hurricane before. It wasn't like Nemesis really had anything they could deem "weather."

"I'm sure my brother wouldn't have bought the boat if it wasn't safe," Sapphire stated with complete confidence, "in any sort of weather."

Lightning cracked through the air. Serena screamed hysterically and clung to her boyfriend. "Save me!"

Diamond held her, rubbing her back soothingly.

The wind was picking up quickly. Waves crashed against the sides of the boat, knocking it from side to side.

"Let's get into the cabin," Darien suggested.

They all turned towards the cabin of the boat and were on the way when the ship rolled. Luna came running down to meet them.

"This is quite the storm," the black-haired woman clutched her coat close to her. She wasn't used to being in human form and water still irritated her. "Artemis said he would handle the helm and we should get under cover immediately."

Just as they were nearing the door, a great wave crashed onto the deck, sweeping them off their feet. The waves threatened to capsize them. The wave pulled Ami over to the side, trying to drag her down into the sea's depths. Zoisite grabbed her arm with shout. It took him and two others to get her back over onto the boat's deck.

Ami panted. "We need to find land right now, Diamond. I have a bad feeling that this isn't just a hurricane. "

"I was thinking the same thing," Diamond said. He'd never experienced a storm like this. He'd never experienced much more than a light rain. There was only one small body of water of Nemesis and they had very little atmosphere. "But I can't see three feet in front of us."

Darien looked at the bow of the ship, focusing dead ahead of him. "If we go that way, I think we'll find something."

"How do you know that Darien?" Lita asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know. It's as though something is calling me there. There's something there; I can feel it."

"Far?" said Ami.

"No, near. Very near."

"I hope so," Zoisite stated. "I don't think this yacht is really meant for being so far out at sea."

As if to prove his point, another large wave threatened to roll them. Another wave hit them at the stern of the ship, propelling them forward at great speed. A great crash followed as they hit something standing out of the water.

"Damn!" Zoisite cursed, earning him a glare from Ami. "Sorry."

Artemis ran down to join them. "What did we hit?"

The group went to the bow to examine the damage. The bow had been decimated by the large jagged mass of rock and water was gushing into the hull. Only the fact that the boat was being held up by the same rock that damaged the hull was saving them from sinking.

"That doesn't look good," Sapphire said calmly to his brother. "This thing does have a lifeboat right?"

Diamond immediately ran to the utility closet and threw out lifejackets at them, followed by a yellowed, rolled-up something. "The man said in case of emergency: just tug this cord." He tugged it. Seconds later the rolled-up yellow mass was an inflatable dinghy. He threw it into the water and jumped in to hold it steady. "Okay everyone, climb in."

As Ami was climbing in she looked past the wreckage. "Look, there's an island up ahead. If we can make it there, I think we'll be good."

AN: The weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was tossed alright. What will happen next? Stay tuned.