CHAPTER THREE

This place is beautiful, Mina admitted to herself as she explored the three-story home on the beach. The house was light and airy, with widows opening to a magnificent view of the ocean. Mina loved it immediately. She grinned at Malachite, letting him know that as far as prisons went, this one was incredible. He smiled shyly back, pointing out some of the less obvious assets of the house. He led her to her bedroom, a large room with one entire wall made out of glass so she could see the beach. It was beautifully decorated, full of crystal vases and classical paintings. "Did you decorate this room yourself? It's perfect," she marveled, eyes shining. There was even a tiny cat bed for Artemis.

He shrugged, embarrassed. "It just seemed to fit, that's all." She gave him a sharp look, wondering why he seemed to know everything about her. Does he remember anything of our old life? Is that why he always seems to know exactly what I'm thinking and what I like?

"So, where's your room? Can I see it?" she asked, dismissing her thoughts as futile. He blinked, surprised, but obediently showed her his own bedroom. She suppressed a grin when she looked around. The room was completely bare and austere, echoing the hard shell he'd always built around his personality. She turned to him, pushing the memories away, and asked, "What do we do now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's have dinner, then hit the sack. The jet lag's killing me."

She followed him out to the spacious kitchen, murmuring, "Does dinner include soap bubbles this time?"

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"Stop, please! You're killing her!"

Her screams woke him in the middle of the night. He flew to her room, alarmed that they weren't the screams of a simple nightmare, but screams of terror. He found her in her bed, her cat pawing anxiously at her arm. The cat looked at him with a helpless expression, meowing piteously. Malachite sat on the edge of bed, gently shaking Mina's shoulders. She didn't respond, still tossing wildly on her sweat-soaked bed. He shook her with greater force, but she still didn't wake up. "Stop, please stop! Leave her alone! Serenity!!!" The grief in her voice tore at his heart, but he still couldn't wake her up. "Goddess, no! Take me, not Serenity!" She started to sob helplessly. "Malachite, how could you?!"

He stopped shaking her, shock stilling his movements. Whatever her nightmare was about, it clearly involved him. What has she gone through, to feel such pain? Her movements abruptly stopped, and he pulled away. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she whispered intensely to the phantom in her dream, "I loved you."

The cat meowed again, and the pain in the girl's face slowly eased. Her erratic breathing returned to normal, and she calmed. Malachite stood, knowing that she was fine. He quietly left the room, leaving the cat on Mina's bed.

Grief weighed heavily on his own heart as he lay back in his own bed. He wasn't sure if the grief stemmed from Mina's obvious heartbreak, or if it came from those last three words. Who had she loved, and did she still love him? Malachite sighed, knowing that he could never fall back asleep now.

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Mina woke, eyes gritty from her tears, and slipped out of her bed. She dressed quickly, choosing her clothes at random, and headed for the kitchen. Her throat ached from the screaming of the previous night, and she badly needed some water. Goddess. When are these nightmares going to stop? Every night it's the same thing. I don't know how much longer I can take it.

She found Malachite already at the table, reading a newspaper. "I made breakfast already," he said, watching her closely. She wondered how much he'd heard. According to Artemis, she sometimes screamed loudly enough to wake the dead, and last night was one of those. Surprisingly, Artemis had been amazingly reticent about whether or not Malachite had heard anything.  When Mina continued to look at him blankly, Malachite sighed and set his paper down. "You had a pretty bad night, and I figured that you needed something hot in your stomach. Of course, I forgot that you don't wake up until noon," he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

She smiled, relieved that he wasn't going to make a big deal of the night before. She grabbed a plate and filled it with cold eggs. "About last night," she started as she sat across from him at the little table.

He held up a hand, interrupting her. "In the beginning, I promised not to interfere. I'm going to stick to that promise, even though I'm worried about you."

She looked down at her plate, and then looked back at him with what she hoped was honesty in her gaze. "I don't really mind telling you about the nightmares. They've been with me for as long as I can remember, so I'm mostly used to them. I'm sorry that I disturbed your sleep, though."

He stretched out a hand and gently held one of hers. "Don't worry about it. Have you seen somebody about it? Somebody who may be able to help you get rid of them?"

She shook her head, saying, "Somehow, I don't think that there's anybody who can help with this. The dreams come from a place too deep within myself. Besides," she murmured to herself with revelation dawning on her face. "I don't think I'd really give them up if I had the chance. They're my link to…well, to before." She smiled ruefully. "Unfortunately, that's one of the things I can't talk about."

She pulled her hand from his, and stabbed her fork into a lump of scrambled egg. "I can heat that up, if you like," he said, amusedly. "You don't have to eat cold eggs just to please me, you know." She just grinned and chomped down on the contents of her fork.

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Their lives settled into a comfortable pattern. Every day, Mina would go to the local college, and Malachite would head to work. When he came home in the evenings, she would be waiting for him with her latest attempt at cooking. After a few days of this, he silently took over on the meals. She didn't seem to mind, especially since she couldn't stand her own cooking, either.

After dinner, they would spend a few hours getting to know each other. Sometimes they went out, but usually they chose to just stay home and talk. They slowly learned each other's likes and dislikes, their personality quirks, and life goals. He found that she had an endearing and slightly confusing habit of mixing up her sayings. She had a fondness for English proverbs, but she mixed them up with an appalling regularity. She learned that he loved the opera, trips to museums, and, strangely enough, Disney movies. He never mentioned his job or the work that he did, and she never brought up her past.

Every night, she would have a nightmare, although they weren't as violent as the first she'd had. Every night, without her knowledge, he would sit beside her on the bed, holding her hand, until she calmed and fell back into regular sleep. The cat, Artemis, usually sat with him on his silent vigil, and Malachite was often struck by just how human the cat behaved.

One night, several months later, he and Mina were having dinner together. It was pretty late, but she'd ordered Chinese food for them both. In the middle of the meal, Mina's funny little watch started to beep. Malachite, who'd been sneaking bits of meat to Artemis, looked at her curiously. Mina gazed at her watch sadly, and Artemis padded over to her. She hugged him fiercely, and then quickly excused herself. Malachite watched her go, wondering at her abrupt change of mood. He cleaned up their mess, and then headed for bed. As he passed Mina's room, he heard her talking to someone on a tiny vidscreen on her watch.

"…everything's alright? Nobody got hurt?" she was asking anxiously in Japanese.

Malachite recognized Raye's voice. "We're fine," the other girl was saying. "The guy they sent was really stupid this time, and we killed him easily."

A chill coursed through Malachite's body. Had he heard what he though he'd heard? Mina, meanwhile, shook her head slightly. "Something's not right. Why are they sending such weak agents against us? We haven't had to fight anyone really strong since Galaxia. What are we not seeing?"

A third voice cut into their conversation. "Maybe there just isn't anyone that tough out there," Lita said. "Maybe we've already taken care of everyone out there who wants to stop us."

Mina shook her head again. "I still say that we're missing something important. There's nothing I can do now, though. Call me if you notice anything suspicious." She turned the watch off, staring thoughtfully into space. Finally, she turned to her cat. "We're missing something, Artemis, something that could get us killed. I think that it's time we called in reinforcements." She grinned. "The Starlights are in California, aren't they? Maybe we should pay them a visit. Besides, I want Malachite to meet them in case something ever happens to me."

Malachite jerked away from the door, quickly going to his own room. What was Mina talking about? Had she really killed somebody? What is she involved in?