Chapter 3 cold
A month later, Serena and her friends were fully recovered. "I can't wait to get a strawberry chocolate shake!" she exclaimed to Ami and the others.
"Sere, you're supposed to eat healthy foods." Ami chided.
"I need sugar. And I know you want it too." Ami didn't respond and everybody knew that Serena had spoken the truth. Ami would rather be silent than tell a lie to get herself out of something. She'd rather be silent than let people know she had a weakness for sugar like every one of the other senshi. "To the Arcade."
"But Sere, Darien might be there." Mina said worriedly.
"So? He lives in this town. I can't avoid him indefinitely." She argued. "Besides, I need sugar."
"Then to the Arcade." Mina cheered. Ami and Lita chuckled.
When they got there, Rei was necking in a corner with Jadeite and Andrew was busy cleaning a glass. He looked up and a smile split his face. "Serena!" he called waving from behind the counter. Serena made a beeline for him and launched her small body over the counter. Luckily he had put away the glass.
"I've missed you so much." she said happily.
"It hasn't been the same without you and Darien's bickering." He laughed.
"Well, I'm back but the bickering is not." She laughed.
"I know. You and Darien have gotten really mushy." He mock complained.
"On the contrary. Darien and I aren't speaking not each other."
"What did that idiot do now?" Andrew asked.
"You'll have to ask him when you see him. Right now, I'd really love a strawberry chocolate shake. Extra sweet." She said.
"The usual for everybody else?" he said nodding to the girls who had interrupted Rei's session with Jadeite.
"Of course. I'll take it to them."
"Nah. You go sit with them and I'll take it to you." He looked out the window. "Bedsides, Darien just pulled up and we both know where he's heading." Serena looked behind her to see the shock of black hair as he rose from the car. She inhaled sharply then turned away.
"I think I'll go sit over there." She said her voice shaking nervously.
"Are you okay, Sere?" Andrew asked worriedly. Serena lifted a hand to her chest.
"I'll be fine. I've just been out of commission for a while. I might have over-extended myself."
"Well, go sit and rest. I can't have my favourite person passing out in my Arcade." He smiled. Serena quickly ensconced herself to the booth where Jadeite and her friends sat laughing.
"I'll admit, when Rei told us she was still seeing you, we were a bit upset." Lita was saying to Jadeite. "But I can see she has you whipped."
"Guys, don't tease him." Rei said but she was fighting the urge to laugh. Jadeite was glaring at her.
"At least one person in this group has romance in their lives." Serena said. "Andrew will be here with our snacks." She added quickly so that the depression-laden statement wouldn't dampen the mood.
Darien took his seat at the counter and Andrew handed him his regular cup of coffee. "Haven't seen you in a while." Andrew said.
Darien looked up at his first and, up until recently, only friend. "Been a little busy."
"Too busy for a friend? I guess this meant keeping Serena away too?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I guess it doesn't mean anything now. Serena just told me you and her are over."
"Maybe she hasn't gotten her senses back yet. We didn't break up."
"So is that why she's sitting over there avoiding you?" Darien jerked his head in the direction Andrew pointed and almost growled.
"We had a little argument." He said.
Andrew snorted. "Serena adores you. I hardly think she'd break up with you because of a 'little argument'. My guess is you did something idiotic."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. I didn't do anything to her."
"I told when you started dating not to hurt her. And you did. I hope that she doesn't forgive you." Andrew said.
"I thought you were my friend." Darien said smirking.
"I am but Serena was always too good for you." Andrew laughed. He looked up when three men walked in. They walked to Darien and took seat flanking him. "Can I get you something?"
"Coffee." They said simultaneously. While Andrew got the beverages, Darien looked at them.
"What's going on?"
"We have nothing to do, you know." Nephrite said. "We're in your service. Your boring service." He said and Zoicite snickered.
"Go play with the girls." Darien said. They all looked at him as if he was mental then took the drinks Andrew placed before them.
"I'm Andrew. You new here?" he said amicably.
Darien answered for them. "These are friends of mine. Malachite, Nephrite and Zoicite." He said pointing to each. "That over there is Jadeite."
"Nice to meet you." He said smiling. He looked at Darien then said. "With all that happened a month ago I've realized how precious life is. You obviously found the time to piss Serena off."
"Is this going somewhere, Andrew?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna ask Mina out." Darien choked on his coffee and Malachite nearly spilled his when it slipped from his hand.
"Are you serious?" Nephrite and Zoicite were snickering to themselves.
"Yeah. I've always liked her but I was never as brave as you to publicly rob the cradle."
"I don't know-" Darien said while trying to calm Malachite mentally.
"You know what? I'm gonna do it now." With that, Andrew walked over to the booth and asked Mina out. Darien and his three ostracized generals watched as Mina accepted gleefully then smirked evilly at Malachite. The others at the booth were trying hard to contain their laughter, except for Serena. When Andrew left, she made sure to warn Mina.
"Mina?"
"Yeah, Sere?"
"If you're doing this to make that idiot jealous, don't."
"Give me some credit, Sere. I'll admit, it's a bonus but I honestly like Andrew. I have for a long time. I juts never had the nerve to go up to him before." She looked at the handsome man as he served another customer with his dazzling smile. "I'll honestly give this a shot. I tired with that ice block and it didn't work. I'll probably never get him out of my system completely but I'll give Andrew a fair shot. I'm just sorry you don't have an option in who you marry." Mina said.
"I'm glad that you all have a choice." Serena said.
"You know, Serena's right. We do have a choice. I think I'll call Greg." Ami said. "I haven't seen him in a long time."
"I have no one to call." Lita said with a heavy sigh.
"Don't worry, you'll find someone." Serena comfortingly then went back to sipping on her shake.
At the bar, Darien was busy trying to keep Malachite from strangling Andrew. "He doesn't know." He was saying. "Besides, it's not like you're in love with Mina. Are you?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Love is a silly emotion made up by women to enslave men. She is my fiancé. She is not allowed to date other men."
"She would see it differently." Nephrite said. "At least Lita has enough sense not to do that."
"Ami as well." Zoicite said.
"Calm down, Malachite. Plus, if you kill Andrew, I'll kill you." He said and meant it. Malachite might have been his best friend long ago but Andrew was his best friend now.
"Hmmm." Malachite said.
"I'm gonna go talk to Serena." He said.
"Would you like some defense?" Nephrite asked with a slight trace of humour.
"Oh shut up." Darien said then walked over.
Serena knew he was coming over before she even looked up. She knew even before Lita nudged her. "Can I talk to you?"
"Go ahead. Even though I don't see the point." She said.
"Privately."
"She's not going anywhere with you, Darien." Lita said cracking her knuckles.
"It's fine." Serena said calmly. "I'll go with him. I can call you if I need you." Lita didn't shift her gaze from Darien but she nodded to show she heard Serena.
"We should talk about what happened to you." He said once they were outside.
"Why?" she said playing with her hair.
"I need to understand what happened. Plus we need to talk about a possible new enemy."
"I don't wanna talk about what happened." She said calmly.
"Well I do. Plus, why does Andrew think we broke up?"
"You think I'd stay with you after you cheated on me?"
"You didn't exactly try to stop me." He said folding his arms.
"I should have to, Darien." She shrugged dismissively.
"I need to know why my planet was almost destroyed."
"Our planet was almost destroyed because I dared to love a jackass. I dared to love someone who couldn't love. So much so that when I was exposed to the pleasure, the fulfillment that he got from being with someone else, my heart literally broke. The moon exacted revenge."
"What do you mean exposed to the pleasure-" Serena laughed cutting him off.
"I have always wished to be apart of you. To feel you in my every waking breath in hopes that you would feel me. I regret it now. I can feel what you feel when you feel and it sickens me. It hurts me." She looked up at him now. "You will never know what it feels like to love and not be loved in return. And this expose on the cruelty of fate when it comes to who I love will change nothing. I still have to marry you. I still have to live a life without love. I have to live knowing that you could leave to see her and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I just hope the next time it happens; I'm strong enough to spare the lives of those who have nothing to do with what goes on between us."
"You mean to tell me, you almost destroyed this planet because I broke your damn heart?" she slapped him suddenly.
"You know nothing about what happened to me. I almost died and with my fleeting breath, I tried to save this planet. I tried so hard to make sure everyone I loved was safe. It seems you were included." She said sickly. "I was not strong enough to stop the goddess of the moon from trying to save her poor broken child. Maybe I shouldn't have tired so hard to save this damn planet. It has done nothing, nothing but cause me grief in this life and my last."
"What do you remember about our past life?" he almost yelled.
"Everything. Even to my dying breath. Even as it replayed in my mind, I wished my mother had not used her energy to save you."
"Was that what you were-" he inhaled.
"Know this, Endymion," she said straightening to regal height. "Have your fill of your precious Beryl while you can because I won't sacrifice myself for your happiness ever again. I am going to kill her. I'm going to squeeze the life out of her with my bare hands if I have to. If you try to stop me, I won't hesitate to kill you too."
"You vindictive bitch-"
"You have no right to call me anything but patient. Even cursed to have the likes of you plaguing me because I have done nothing but love you since I met you. I wish I could hate you. I'd give up my powers just so I could die hating you. But I'm not so favored by the fates. I'm cursed to love you for all my lifetimes. The only twisted pleasure I get out of this is that, you can't be with you precious Beryl once we're married."
"What makes you so sure?" he said challenging her.
"You'll never know the extent of my powers, Endymion. Never. But I will tell you this, things must happen for balance to remain in this world. Go against them and the scale tilts. Someone must create the balance. My role in this drama is to make sure this balance is kept." She inhaled sharply then exhaled slowly. "Run along and enjoy your concubine." She spun around and went back to her friends. Darien followed a dark mood evident on his face.
"Keep an eye on them. I'm going to be out of contact for a while." He said to his generals. "Inform Jadeite." With that he left to find Beryl.