Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this anime.
Rating: T
Warning: Extreme Sadness | But It Will End Happily! | R & R
Note: I know its very sad, but I wanted to do it with a different type of ending. Scenes taken from SailorMoon R-The Movie.
"I've still got your face
Painted on my heart
Scrawled upon my soul
Etched upon my memory, baby
I've got your kiss
Still burning on my lips
The touch of your fingertips
This love so deep inside of me..."
. . .
Dreaming.
A dream is a release from reality. In which a sequence of images, desires, thoughts, sounds, memories, fantasies, and emotions pass through the mind during the process of sleeping. The content and purpose of a dream is never fully understood or remembered. But many have tried to grasp the meaning that a dream can leave behind, once a person opens their eyes to greet the day ahead. Parts of a dream can remain, with the person who has awakened, never letting them forget an image or desire. Many questions can arise from a dream, questions that may never be answered. But as it reoccurs, the person may already know and understand why they are being tormented with a replica like dream every night. Yet, the person can still refuse to come to grips and face the dream. For fear that the person in the dream will disappear forever with the dream itself.
. . .
Rain poured from the open skies, covering the ground incy blanket. The thunder rumbled across the blackened sky, with a laziness unlike its viscous counterpart - lightening. Somewhere between the sun bidding its hills and valleys goodnight and the moon greeting his ever constant twinkling friends - the rain had begun to cry. Whether in mourning the loss of the warm the sun had brought, or simply because it needed to, no one knew.
But one thing was clear. The storm was welcomed. It cooled the torturous heat from the day. It gave part of the world a moment to sigh - like a tire with a leak continuously releasing air - in peace. However, though the world seemed to be at a momentary peace - not everyone in the world could claim the same peace that the darkened world exhibited.
Silkened sheets wrapped tightly around him. They were trying their best to suffocate the man they had once claimed to warm and protect. He twisted again in the opposite direction. This only caused the sheets to grasp him tighter. They encircled him from every direction. The sheets were covering him in a satin coffin with the intent to never release.
Darien's chest constricted as he tried his best to take in the much needed oxygen. But it was no use. Again he twisted. He tried to stretch his arms out, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but sit there and let the satin sheets consume him.
He shifted again. Darien screamed suddenly while sitting up in the bed quickly. He blinked several times doing his best to let his eyes adjust to the darkness around him. Once they were adjusted to the darkness he quickly surveyed the room around him from his position on the bed.
My Room.
Darien heaved a sigh as his body relaxed slightly. He moved. Once more he twisted which in turn gave the satin sheets more dominance over his body. Darien moved, kicking his legs to try and loosen the satin sheets that gripped him mercilessly. The sound outside his window caught his attention. Rain.
He exhaled deeply before settling back down in his California king size bed. One exhale after the other escaped from behind his lips. His breathing began to lull him back into another restless sleep. Darien twisted, opening his eyes.
Pit, pat. Pit, pat.
The rain outside continued to greet him by pelting the windows. Normally this action would relax him and help him return to sleeping but now . . . Now it made him restless. Frustration racked his body as the sound of the clock ticking rolled over him. It had to be the loudest sound in the world. Darien moved his head to the left a little more to look at the digital clock on his nightstand.
2:30am.
Sleep.
Something he needed desperately. Something he craved like nothing else. Yet at the same time….It was the worst thing out there in the world. Sleeping gave him something he no longer had in the human world while awake. But it also brought more pain than was ever imaginable.
In his sleep he could see her. He could be with Her. Sitting with her, holding her, dreaming about her, it didn't matter what they was doing. Why, because she was there with him. She was always in his dreams. One minute she would be sleeping next to him. Darien in turn would roll over, reaching for her, only to grasp the air next to him. But it didn't matter, all that mattered was the fact that he could be with her when he closed his eyes. Whether day dreaming or actual sleeping, the woman was always there. And that little fact was something he held onto, never to let go. But, Darien knew the golden haired beauty by his side would vanish as soon as his dark liquid fire blue eyes opened letting reality set in.
Though Darien couldn't see or feel her when he awoke, the effect she had on him in his sleep lingered long after the morning had come. She taunted him with everything she did. Her eyes haunted—no plagued him—every time he closed his eyes, he could see hers staring back at him. Her hands, sliding over his smooth bronzed skin—blood moving rapidly—leaving trails of liquid fire in her wake. Her kiss—tempting, yet never real—tortured him to the very core of his being.
But as time ticked on, Darien was beginning to lose his steady grasp on the world around him. The golden haired woman haunted him and she was beginning to take her toll over him. His body ached with fatigue. Though he went to bed like he was supposed too, not once was it ever restful. As always, he felt tired, sluggish, and more importantly jaded. The Chief at his residence had told him to take some time off. He just needed . . .
Time, that was what they said. To rest, to . . . Just let his heart heal.
Though he agreed, it wasn't that easy and it just didn't seem to be working.
He was beginning to see her during the day, when he was wide awake. It was turning out that she was everywhere he looked. Just a glimpse and then she'd be gone. Darien had thought that with time, she would slowly seep into the back part of his mind, letting him move on. But no, she just wouldn't release her firm grasp, not even in death. No matter what he did, she would always—somehow—weasel her way into it.
Darien had known it wasn't entirely right, but he had still tried to forget her. But it was too late, she was everywhere he looked, in everything he did . . . She somehow was ever present, ever a part of him. She had been in his heart, for too long and now there was no way to get her out. Darien just couldn't seem to chase her from his mind.
Heaving another sigh thick with frustrations, Darien threw the covers back and let his feet hit the floor with a thud. The cold wooden floor sent shivers coursing through his body. Moving, he stood and began moving towards the bathroom. Darien flipped the switch on in the bathroom letting the light envelope him.
The door opened about 30 minutes later. Steam poured out, the clear air quickly began to attack, evaporating it. The cool air touched his body—wrapping around him—holding onto his now cooling bronzed skin. Water slid—from his jet black hair—down his neck, over his shoulder blades—which rippled as he walked—only to reach the towel that hung low around his waist. While some of the water chose to travel down and over his collar bone. Trails of water were left behind as the made there slippery trek—over his 4 pack—to finally reach the cotton towel.
As Darien turned the corner to his bedroom, he caught a glimpse of golden honey colored hair. He picked up speed—trying to catch the apparition, which was always just out of reach. His hand moved forward in a feeble attempt. But, as always when he got to the end, she wasn't there. A dead end. Darien's pace slowed to a stop as he rounded the corner and walked into his room. No one but himself was in the room. A broken sigh escaped from behind his lips as his head lowered. Walking to his closet, Darien began to dress.
Darien cut the engine of the black corvette. He sat in the car, unmoving. Unsure . . . of what to do.
White lilies sat bundled together in the passenger seat. Grabbing the flowers, Darien opened his door and stood. The door shut with a click. He squinted slightly before putting on his sunglasses.
The sun had finally begun to rise in the East. Hues of pink, yellow, orange, and red streaked the sky. Birds began to sing their happy tune as he made his way down the gravel stone path. The rain that had come during the night—now gone—had covered the hunter green grass with a shiny gloss.
All the while the world around Darien seemed to be oblivious to the pain he was currently feeling.
He stared down at the tombstone before him. The white lilies hung upside down in his slackened left hand. The long fingers on his right hand grazed gently over the top of the tombstone. Sadness began to fill his soul. He still needed her. She was his everything. The only reason he breathed was gone. So what exactly was keeping him here? Darien didn't know, but in all reality he didn't want to know either. As he continued to look down at the tombstone before him, his mind went back to that horrid day.
. . .
The worst was over. She had been able to stop the comet before it self-destructed. The group was now left floating on the mostly destroyed comet.
Darien held his love in his arms, while the sailor scouts kneeled, gathering around their princess.
Mars—the closest to the couple—shook Serena roughly. "Wake Up!" was Mars' watering cry as she continued to shake the princess before her. Tears began to slide down her trembling face. "You did it! You stopped the comet."A sob tore through her throat and out into the open. More tears fell. "Sailor Moon! NOOOO!" Another sob escaped from behind her lips. "You said everything would be alright."
Mercury sobbed from beside Mars. Tears slid down her cheeks. Each one fell faster than the one before. "The moon crystal used all her strength." Her hand flew up to cover her face as she cried. "We can't lose her, we can't."
Sailor moon continued to lay, unmoving, in her lovers arms. Oblivious to the world around her that seemed too lost and hopeless without her. The once bright and ever present crystal—that sat on top of the bow on her senshi uniform—now lay tattered and broken upon her chest. The crystal that had once given her her essence was now gone. Her crystal blue eyes that had once held an enigmatic hue to them now were dull and faded.
Jupiter, who was kneeling off to the side, cried softly. "Wake up." A soft sob tore its way through her chest. She shook her head, "you can't leave us alone like this!"
Venus—who sat next to Jupiter—cried, as her head hung low. Tears dropped onto the rock that now kept them afloat thanks to Sailor Moon. "Don't go. You're the glue that holds all of us together."
Darien sat, unbelieving, with Serena in his arms. How could this be? The one he loved so much was gone. Tears shone in his dark hazy blue eyes. He leaned forward—hunching over her body in a protective manor—as he began to cry. He brought Serena closer towards him and kissed her cooling lips. His eyes closed. Darien pulled back. Nothing happened. His true love lay dead in his embrace.
Crystal tears, one after the other, fell from the sailor scouts and the prince as they watched their lifeless princess continue to lay there.
. . .
He moved his sunglasses as he continued to look at the tombstone. Sadness deeper than the seas themselves was clearly evident in his eyes. Again he let his fingers slide over the smooth grave marker. A tear slipped down his cheek as Darien dropped to his knees before the tombstone. A sad smiled graced his lips as his bronzed fingers traced the etched in letters on the stone itself.
'Serena Tsukino Shields
Treasured Friend, Beloved Wife
Forever Painted On Our Heart'
Another tear slid down his cheek as he laid the lilies down in front of the grave. He stood, lingering slightly in front of the grave. For the last time today, Darien let his hand run over the top of the tombstone marker. The wind blew softly, leaves lifted into the sky as the wind carried them. His eyes closed, in what seemed to be actual peace. Darien let the wind slip around him in a warm comforting hug. "I love you, Usako," he murmured into the wind, letting the words be carried off.
Though he may try to rid himself of her presence, at the end of the day . . . Darien will always be glad she is with him. As she always will be. Although she may be gone in real life, part of her will remain. Why? because she will forever be painted on his heart, scrawled upon his soul, engraved within the corners of his mind, and etched in his memory.