Chapter 9—Manifestation

Serena was everywhere. She was on billboards, on busses, on park benches. She was absolutely everywhere. Her music was accompanied by commercials. The taxi that Darien and the others took to Mina's house was the only music that the driver played. Selene was pretty big in America, but there were other artists that were just as big.

"Do you guys like Selene?" The driver asked.

"Yeah." Only Ami answered. Darien didn't really want to have anything to do with Selene. He wanted Serena. He needed to talk to her. He needed to see if it was too late to be the man that she had always wanted. The hand that had covered her mouth was her left hand, but there was no ring on it. Could she have forgotten it by accident? Could she be in a relationship with someone else? She had acted as if she hadn't wanted to see him. Was he destroying more things by staying here?

"Well, we're here guys."

"What's the total?"

"It's ¥4,000." Ami gave the driver the money as they all got out of the car. The house where they had pulled up was the size of a normal house. It had two floors and was only eighty square miles. Somehow Darien doubted that they were all going to fit in it. Even though they were all staying for free and the house was in a good area, Darien wanted to go back to his old apartment. It was already occupied though; there was no way that he was going to be able to get into it.

"It's going to be a bit of a tight fit, guys, but hey, at least it's free." Mina walked up the steps towards the house. Darien looked to Ami and Mina. He didn't like what he saw.

They were both smiling! How could they be smiling when they all had to cram into that tiny house?

"Mina, it's been so long since we've had a sleep over. I can't wait to do it again." That's why they were so happy. Darien shook his head. He had never gotten the meaning of sleepovers. They were pointless. If you wanted to sleep you could stay at your own house and sleep in a bed; you didn't have to go over to someone's house to do it on the floor. Darien went to the trunk to get all of their suitcases out of it. When he turned around to hand them theirs, they were nowhere to be found. Figures, they realize since I'm here, I'll just carry in all of the bags.

"Darien, Rai is on TV." Darien grabbed all four suitcases and made his way to the house. Once he got in, he turned and saw a black haired girl on the television screen. It was definitely Rai. She was talking in front of the map of Japan.

"The forecast for tomorrow is cloudy with a sixty percent chance of rain. It is supposed to get up to 19° C. The next couple of days—" Darien turned away. Rai was only a weather girl. He already knew that though. So did everyone else. All of the forecast tools went off of the screen. "Thank you for joining me on my last day as Tokyo News Channel 12." The screen went back to the main anchors. They were clapping as Rai walked off of the stage.

"Thank you for joining us for the last five years, Rai. We'll miss you. In other news, Tokyo's Princess, Serena Tsukino, returned to Japan today after being gone for a month. Welcome back, Miss Tsukino. Today in world news, the United States—" The anchors started to talk about how the United States' economy started to go back up again.

"So, Rai quit huh?" Mina pointed out the obvious.

"It looks like it." Ami stated looking at the screen as if mesmerized.

"Let's go visit her." Everyone looked at Darien as if he had grown a second head. "What?"

"We can't go visit her!"

"Why not?" They didn't have an answer for that one. The girls looked amongst themselves as if they had to contemplate the answer together, before he was given one.

"Let's go." They weren't that far away from the Temple, so they started on their way there. They walked by department stores sporting the clothing that Serena had been wearing for her interview. Apparently everyone loved what she wore because a lot of people were wearing that same outfit. Even the shoes were the same, which was sad, considering it was still raining.

They reached the temple finally. The grass was overgrown, the fence was weather beaten, and the gate was off of its hinges. They stopped trying to decide if they wanted to enter into the run down looking place. They heard a door slam on the inside. Darien opened the gate. The inside looked even worse. The main temple was so run down it had holes in the roof. The house Rai had slept in was pretty run down too, but it didn't have any holes anywhere. They walked onto the porch and knocked on the grimy door. Rai had always been good with cleaning things. It had always bothered her if there was any dirt on the property. The grass had to always be cut on the same day of the week, the drive swept twice a week, and the house washed at least every two weeks. What had happened to the OCD girl?

"Coming." It was Rai's voice. They heard footsteps as she walked to the door. "Hi, may I help—Oh no!" Her eyes went wide as she saw them standing on her porch. "Um…sorry, but I really have to go."

"Rai! Rai, come here!" Darien yelled for her, but his voice was drowned out because she slammed the door. Darien opened the door to chase after her. He took one step in and was suddenly assaulted with a shoe. It was a tennis shoe, so thankfully no heel, but it still stung. "What was that for?"

Rai was down the hallway, holding the rest of her artillery. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. "Get out of my house," she said menacingly, holding up another shoe for emphasis.

"We just want to talk to you, Rai." Darien told her, quietly taking a step. She threw another shoe at him, but this one he dodged. Unfortunately for Rai, it hit Lida.

"Ow! What was that for?" Rai held on to her shoe's for all she was worth.

"Rai, you seriously need to calm down…" Mina was the only brave one out of them all. She walked towards Rai with her hands in front of her. "Now put down your shoes."

Rai shook her head.

"What's the matter with you? Why are you acting like this?"

"I don't want you in my house, now if you wouldn't mind leaving…"

"Rai, we need to talk to you about Serena."

"What about her?"

"We need to talk to her; we just wanted to know where to find her."

"Then you should have just talked to anyone of her fans, they would have gladly told you were to find her. Now if you don't mind…"

"Fine, we'll leave, but only if you tell us what happened to her and you."

Rai paled. They heard her swallow. "It isn't my place to tell. You have to talk to her."

oOo

Rai watched as they left her yards. She had wanted to talk to them, but she was scared that everything Serena had told her confidence would have been for nothing. Serena…Serena didn't know that Darien and the others were in town. Dropping all of the shoes that she was holding, Rai ran to her phone. She pressed speed dial and all of the appropriate buttons until she finally heard Serena's voice.

"Hello?"

"Serena, it's Rai. Darien and the others are here."

"I know."

"You know?"

"Yes, well I saw Darien slip in a puddle today. I didn't know it was him until I went to help him up. How do you know they're here?"

"They came to my house. They were looking for you."

"Is that all that they wanted?"

"Well…no…they wanted to know what happened to both of us."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them that it wasn't my place to say. I think that they're going to be coming to your work or your mansion soon though. You might want to warn Sammy."

"They're welcome to come to either place. I can't stop them."

"What if they come back here? I don't think I can keep everything a secret from them."

"It's okay. If worse comes to worse, then we'll have to tell them, but right now everything is going exactly as planned."

"It is?"

"If something out of the ordinary happens between now and my birthday, then we have a problem. But for right now, just calm down."

"Does that mean that they've come here before?"

"No. This is their first time."

"Why did it change?"

"People have free wills, Rai. We can't govern them."

"So, I still don't understand why everything has changed."

"Perhaps, Darrienia has given them a dream to come back. Whatever it is, we can't change it for a while, so just sit tight and relax. Everything will be okay."

"Serena, your dad came to my house again today."

Serena was silent on the other end. "I don't understand what he doesn't get about a restraining order."

"Serena, maybe you should let him see Sammy again."

"I would except it isn't my call, it's Sammy's. Sammy chose not to see him anymore. Rai, if you don't feel safe you can live at the mansion."

"Would you mind if I did?"

"Not at all. You have to remember that I'm hardly ever home though."

"That's fine. I think you should talk to Darien and the others."

"You know I'm not allowed to do that. They have to figure everything out the same way that you did. I have to get back to work, Rai. I'll talk to you later."

Rai didn't even have enough time to say good bye when Serena hung up. It had been a long ten years, but maybe it would change. Maybe they could go back to the way that everything used to be.

oOo

Darien walked into Mina's house again. He didn't want to come back, but when he realized that he had literally been flying all day. It hadn't hit him until he was walking back from Rai's house. He was suddenly so tired it didn't matter that he wanted to so desperately talk to Serena. He had to get back before he collapsed. Once he had finally set up his mat though and lay down, he slept.

It wasn't a peaceful sleep though. He had nightmares for the first time in ten years. It was similar to what he had seen so many years ago that made him break up with Serena. Except this time it felt real. It was if the floor beneath him was crumbling and tearing away. This time Serena was three people—the Princess Serena, the Meatball Head, and the Serena now. Each one looked over at him sadly. They looked like they were tired, not dying. He reached for the Serena he had fallen in love with, the only one for him—Meatball Head. She was just in his reach, but as he touched her, she evaporated like the dew in the morning. He immediately reached for the princess, but she too evaporated.

"Do you see how they disappear, Darien?" It was the Serena now. Her voice was sad.

"Why do they do that?"

"Wasn't it what you did?"

"What? I never left you Serena. I was always right beside you."

"Where were you for the past ten years, Darien? You weren't even in Japan, let alone Tokyo. You were in America."

"Before that I was always there for you."

"If you had been, they never would have disappeared. Why did you even bother to come back?"

"I came back because I love you. I came back because my I finally could. I came back because I want another chance with you."

"How can I trust you?" She disappeared, just as Darien awoke. He looked around him as though he expected to see her. Serena, wherever you are, I promise you that I will prove to you that you can trust me again with your love. I promise.

oOo

Serena was sitting at her desk. Her laptop was open as if she was doing work, but in all actuality she wasn't. She was focusing on Darien. She knew he was asleep, which was all the more reason to focus on him. Selene had given her god powers. One of the benefits of having the god powers was being able to go into other people's dreams, which is what she had done with Darien.

"I'm sorry, Darien, but I had to know why you're really here." Serena got up to stand in front of the window. It was dark outside, the stars shone brightly. The moon could not be seen though. In a month, I will be like the moon. She thought as she went back to sit at her desk.