I Won't Give Up
Minako leaned her head against the warm window of the SUV pretending to listen to Serena's story about how great Darien was. She could hear Rei groaning in the far back fighting her bout of car sickness while Leita and Ami laughed and giggled about the cute little things that Darien had done. Minako watched as mile markers passed on the long blank expanse of highway, she watched as the sign reading "Interstate 40" passed in a near blur. It had been a week since they came to America for their last summer break in high school. They had decided to visit all of the major cities they heard about in songs and movies, the plan was to land in New York and make their way to Hollywood, stopping in Santa Fe along the way. She sighed; it had been a week of hearing about Darien, and how much Serena missed him, Minako was getting sick of it, Serena wasn't the only one that missed someone.
As she watched the desert landscape passing by, there weren't trees; at least none that she could see, all there was were little bushes and yellow weeds. Her thoughts focused on the lyrics to the song playing on the radio, two years of English classes made her semi fluent in the language. The music just made her feel worse, much lonelier than she had felt moments before. "If you're gone, baby you need to come home, there's an awful lot of breathing room but I can hardly move," the voice on the radio sang sounding hopeful despite the sad words he sang. Serena was lucky, and so were Rei and Leita, they all had someone, and she and Ami were still alone. Ami liked it that way, which was good for her, but after so many years of fighting and only having a little bit of time for herself, she hadn't found time to date like the other girls. Then again she was the only one that remembered her past. Serena was happy living in the present and looking forward to her future with Darien, but Minako wished that she could go back to the past and feel what it was like to be in love again. She couldn't stand the memories, just knowing that she had lost everything because of one woman's jealousy, and then later destroyed the thing she once loved, not even knowing the truth.
"Mina!" Serena wined making her jump, "Why aren't you listening!"
"Sorry, I was spacing out," she said rubbing her eyes. The desert looked distant now, almost like while she was looking out the window she was closer to the world around her.
"Fine," Serena pouted, "Either way there's only 140 miles between us and Santa Fe."
"Serena, that's still a long way to go," Ami said from the back seat.
"I know!" Serena said happily, almost like she didn't care how long the trip was as long as she got where she was going.
"Serena, can you ever stop talking?" Rei asked sounding sicker than she was earlier, "Just turn up the radio and let me sleep."
Serena pouted and turned up the radio. The song sounded much happier than the last, but the lyrics still made her heart sick. If only I can go back and do it all over. She thought closing her eyes and resting her head on the back of her seat. She slept the rest of the car ride, seeing the echo's of the past in her dreams. She didn't know that she was crying in her sleep, and she didn't know that Leita had tried to wake her up several times with only a mutter no as an answer.
"Mina," Ami said catching up with her as they unpacked their luggage at the small square building that was their hotel, "Mina, what seems to be the matter?"
"Oh nothing," she replied with a little giggle, "just jet lack I guess."
"Lag," Ami corrected her, "But you were crying in your sleep Mina."
"Oh, I'm just homesick," Minako replied hoping that Ami wouldn't press the subject.
"Oh, alright," Ami replied with a sweat smile, "I'll see you in the morning when we go to breakfast."
Ami shut herself in her room leaving Mina standing outside in the cold night air. Serena and Leita were already in their rooms sound asleep, and Rei was just dragging her suit case to her own. They agreed on having separate rooms during their stay in Santa Fe so that they all could get sleep, especially after Serena's snoring got on Rei's nerves and she blew a gasket and yelled at her. They didn't stop arguing about it for the majority of their time in New York, Mina didn't mind having her own room, or staying alone, but she still wished she didn't have too. She unlocked her door to see the Hispanic style room decorated in triangular patterns in tans, dark reds and bright light blues. It was a gorgeous room with a large comfortable looking bed taking up the middle of the room. She sighed tossing her bag onto the bed and making her way into the cold white bathroom.
"I really wish I could go back," she said to her exhausted reflection, "Or at least find someone."
She finished brushing her teeth and combing her long yellow hair into a ponytail. Shutting out the lights she crawled into the cold empty bed. Her head hit the pillow and she fell back into a deep, deep sleep.
"Minako come back!" A deep voice called to her in the dark. She knew the voice well from her other dreams. It was HIS voice, and he wanted her to go to him, but she couldn't find him, she never could. She ran to where the voice was calling, her every stepped echoed in the blackness. She ran expecting to wake up as soon as the scene started to become clear around her like she would every night, but this time, she kept running as the scene turned into a wasteland of ice. She stopped wide eyed as she recognized where she stood. Looking around she could see two silhouettes fighting in the distance. Panicked she ran towards them trying to scream at them to stop, but she couldn't find her voice no matter how hard she tried. She kept running, getting closer and closer watching as the shadows dueled, slicing at each other, not even noticing the desperate girl running towards them. They came into clear view just as Minako's shadow self trust her sword deep into the shadow memory of Kunzite's chest. She watched as his cool gray eyes went wide as he sunk to his knees, watching the shadow of the man sink to the ground as blood pulled from the wound that she herself had given to him. In turn her own shadow fell to the ground exhausted and lifeless. Minako tried to scream again, falling to her knees hoping that she would wake up, but instead she was stuck, unable to wake up, unable to move. "I'm over here Minako!" the voice called again this time from behind her, Minako jumped up onto her feet and started to run to the voice again watching as the scene around her changed into a dark light restaurant, she could see him leaning against the wall with a crooked smirk on his face and arms folded across is muscular chest, "I knew that you'd find me." He said as he stepped forward and opening his arms to her. As she ran towards him the scene turned to smoke.
