Happy New Year Everyone! I hope everyone is safe and well after the holidays and are still having a great holiday! Here is my present to you all, the last chapter! So please read and enjoy!
However, the Epilogue needs some work done. My amazing editor and I believe that it needs more work. Closing the ending a little more if you will, but it will be coming your way real soon. Once Cursed Hearts has been completed, What Darkness Fears will be coming to you next. Something a little different but I hope you all love it just the same.
Happy and safe holidays eveyone!
Chapter 11
A shocked gasp escaped Darien's mouth, his jaw hanging open as the vision faded and so much of what had happened in Endymion's past fell into place.
As unbelievable as it was that not only was the curse real, but Beryl was the same woman who had murdered Endymion and Serenity four hundred years ago. Beryl had been the one who'd murdered Serenity, not the town. She'd used to town to do her dirty work but it had been her jealousy and evil heart that had destroyed Endymion and Serenity and their love. It was her doing that had cursed this town.
Beryline, who was looking at down at him with a waiting triumphant expression, had discovered Endymion and Serenity's secret. And she had destroyed them. Somehow she had turned the village against Serenity, and had used innocent town's people to murder her.
But how? Beryl was Lady Beryline, part of Endymion's past, how was she here now? Centuries later she stood over him looking exactly as she had in 1643. How was this possible? Even after learning that the curse was real and two long dead souls were reaching out to them from beyond the grave, it was hard to believe that he was looking at a young woman who'd been born over four hundred years ago, and who hadn't changed in the slightest.
Darien didn't have the answers but he didn't doubt that the Beryl of his time was the exact same Lady Beryline from Endymion's time.
Beryl stepped forward and slowly began to walk slow circles around them as she spoke, keeping safely out of his reach. Beryl's – Beryline's – eyes remained greedily on him, as if she finally had the one thing she wanted within her grasp and was impatient to take it. "Well, let me start from the beginning, shall I Endymion?" Her tone was casual, calm and tripping with delighted satisfaction; as if she were telling a story she had been waiting so long to tell. "Let me tell you our story. And then maybe everything will become clear." She smirked down at him as he watched her warily, not daring to take his eyes from her for even a moment.
Endymion had made the mistake of underestimating her, Darien refused to make the same mistake. Endymion's mistake had cost him Serenity's life, Darien would be damned if Serena would ever be the cost of any of his mistakes.
"Four centuries ago." Beryl began. "I fell in love with Endymion, so handsome and charming he was, but he was tricked and manipulated by that little twit, Serenity."
Darien watched the hatred and fury flare in her eyes like the fires of hell. She'd been carrying her hatred and anger for a long time and it was tangible. Darien slowly rose to his feet as Beryl slowly circled them, keeping well out of his reach. Physically, he was stronger than her, but Beryl had always been dangerous for reasons other than physical strength. There was something about her that screamed deadly danger. He'd never been one of the many who'd feared Beryl in High School, but now he felt fear.
Fear for Serena's fate.
"I allowed Endymion to have his little fling to get it out of his system, until I learned that he had proposed to that little bitch." An evil, chilling smile spread over her dark crimson lips, the exact colour of blood.
Darien hadn't failed to realise that her long claw like fingernails had been painted the exact colour.
"Well, I couldn't allow that now, could I? Endymion was meant to be mine, after all." The jealousy in her voice was as clear as a bell, jealously for Serenity that Beryl had obviously carried for centuries. "So I framed Serenity as the witch, when in fact it was I who was the true witch. The townspeople were so distraught over losing that pathetic tree but it was enough to seal her fate. A little dark magic and some well placed manipulation and they were more than willing to do my bidding. They burned her at the stake in my place." Beryl closed her eyes from a brief moment and a victorious evil grin spread over her lips as if she were remembering the happiest moment of her life. "I can still hear her screams; still smell those golden locks burning."
Darien clinched his fists so tightly that his fingernails cut into his palms, drawing drops of blood, and the bones of his hand threatened to break. His rage was more than he'd ever felt before, it boiled inside of him so violently, so hotly, that the manor around him should've burst into flames. For the first time in his life, he didn't care that she was a woman and that he didn't hurt women, he wanted to hurt her, to assure that she never harmed anyone ever again. She had murdered Serenity, an innocent young woman who'd never harmed anyone, and Beryl was talking about it like it was her greatest triumph. One to be prized and revered.
And it had been Beryl behind all the 'accidents'. It was Beryl who wanted Serena dead and it was crystal clear to Darien now that she still wanted Serena gone.
Beryl had brought Serena here to Endymion's manor tonight to murder her.
Everything within Darien screamed at him to attack her, to kill Beryl before she could lay one finger on what meant everything to him. He'd sworn to protect Serena no matter what, and it hadn't been until this very moment that he realised just how limitless his oath was. He would kill Beryl if she tried to harm Serena.
Darien tensed, ready to attack her, the instant Beryl came a single step closer to him. He'd take her down and attempt to restrain her, but if he couldn't do that . . . then he'd have no other choice but to kill for the woman he loved.
'Wait.'
Darien gasped and rose out of his battle ready stance.
Endymion's warning carried a lot of weight with it, so much so that Darien was helpless but to heed the warning. There had been a sense of wariness under that one word. Endymion's warning carried with it the sense that Beryl was not a defenceless woman that she seemed, and attacking her would do him no good.
In fact, Darien got the impression from Endymion that Beryl could handle him much easier than he could her.
Darien turned his full attention back to Beryl, focusing on keeping himself between Serena and Beryl at all times.
Darien watched as Beryl's smile faded and the hatred and fury returned in full force, twisting her face into a distorted mask of bitter hatred. "But I underestimated Serenity's hold over Endymion. He took his own life that night. But even greater, I underestimated Serenity, who with her dying breath cursed this town and me."
Darien's eyes narrowed in confusion. It had been Endymion who'd cursed the town, not Serenity. In Endymion's last moments of life, he'd cast the curse over Little Willow, proof of that was in Serenity's diary. It seemed that Beryl didn't know that it was Endymion's curse. She had been too busy all these long centuries blaming Serenity for everything. Just as she was now blamed Serena for everything.
Darien tensed once again, this time to defend and protect. If Beryl went for Serena, he didn't care how much it went against the grain to harm a female or how dangerous Endymion warned him she was, Beryl was never going to lay a hand on Serena. Not ever.
"Not even my power could undo her curse." Beryl went on, oblivious or unconcerned with his battle ready stance. She looked down at his feet at Serena who, still conscious, but still very weak from whatever drug Beryl had given her. "But I did manage to change the curse a little in my favour. Serenity's curse trapped the people of the town and their descendants within the town and took away their ability to remain loyal to love. She trapped me here with her curse, in this dead town that had nothing for me. So I used my magic to wield the power of the curse into giving me immortality. As long as the curse was upon this town, I would never age. Never die. But now I don't need the curse to remain immortal. My powers have grown over the centuries. Strong enough to easily maintain my immortality without the curse. A curse I will find a way to end and finally I will be free. At last."
Beryl believed that she could break the curse? Didn't she know that a love of purity and devotion was needed to break it?
"I knew it wasn't over though." Beryl went on, still slowly circling them, her eyes glued greedily to him. "For the innocent and stupid creature that she was, Serenity never would have placed the curse without leaving behind a way to lift it. I knew that one day she would be reborn, bringing you with her of course, and return to break the curse. And here you are." She indicated at him with both hands as if she were pointing out a rare treasure to a crowded room. "I knew it the moment you were born, I could feel it. I had planned to use my magic to make you remember your desire for me but I didn't count on Serenity's curse protecting the both of you from my magic."
Beryl looked down at Serena, still lying weakly at his feet, unable to even sit up under her own power.
"I had planned to kill her while she was still a child, but she was too protected and then her parents took her away." Beryl scoffed scornfully. "I suspect that they felt the pull between the two of you and fled in hopes that it would spare her from her fate."
It took everything Darien had to keep from leaping at her in a fit of rage and killing her with his bare hands. She'd planned to take Serena from him before they'd even had the chance to fall in love? How was it possible that he'd never seen the true evil Beryl held inside of her?
"But once the curse is lifted, there will be nothing to protect you from my power." Beryl sighed longingly, her sigh heavy with the burdened of her many long centuries. "I have waited so long and now finally you will be mine. This time I'll do things right." And she came to a stop in front of him, Serena at his feet between them.
Beryl clasped her hands together in front of her in a ladylike manner, as Endymion's mother had in the vision he'd had just outside. "You see, Endymion, you were meant to be mine. I have suffered under this curse for so long but you were worth the wait, to finally have what I have wanted all these years. My power has only grown over these long centuries." She looked around the room slowly with an unreadable expression on her evil face. "Centuries I've spent here. In the house that was always meant to be mine. Once I kill her I'll have you at last. With the curse lifted, there's nothing left to protect you from my power."
Darien didn't know if Beryl was evil or just insane, maybe a lot of both but he knew two things for certain. One, he'd rather die than go anywhere near Beryl and two, he had to protect Serena at any cost.
Beryl stepped towards him. In response Darien stepped forward, over Serena, to keep himself planted firmly between Beryl, keeping her away from Serena.
Darien watched as Beryl's eyes soften just enough to be noticeable in response to their close proximity to each other, but still she looked anything but soft or caring. "Oh, Endymion. It has been so long, so so long. We can be together now, in this time of tolerance. How the world has changed, no longer is decorum necessary. Here we can be together. Be with me, Endymion. I am your destined wife. I can give you the world, all that you desire will be at your feet. Money, power, even the will of mankind."
Beryl raised her hand to his face to cup his cheek but Darien stepped back away from her – not enough to remove himself from between Serena and Beryl – and away from her touch. If she touched him, he was going to be sick. He didn't welcome any touch but Serena's, especially not the hand that had murdered Serenity and seeked to murder his own love.
"I'd rather die than live without her." Darien spat truthfully at her, his eyes hard and resolute.
Instead of reacting angrily as he'd expected her too, an evil smile that sent chills down his spine spread across Beryl's lips. "You haven't changed, Endymion." And she resumed her stalking, circling them, as a vulture would circle its dying prey.
Darien didn't dare take his eyes off of her.
"You are still a fool, Endymion." Beryl went on with a subtle shake of her head. "But you will see things clearer when she is gone." And then she turned her full attention to Serena, lying at his feet, with icy predatory eyes. The way a starving lioness eyed her pray before she mercilessly attacked and devoured it.
Without even considering what it was that he was doing, Darien stepped carefully over Serena's fearful form to stand protectively between the two women once again. She was still too weak and drowsy to move and he didn't trust Beryl enough to turn his back to her to pick Serena up and run. This left him with one option, to stand and protect her.
"Even try to touch her and I swear you'll regret it Beryl." Darien threatened darkly, standing his ground steadily. "I won't let anyone near her."
Beryl's expression darkened furiously at his defiance. "You may be mine, Endymion, but that will not protect you from my wrath. I don't need to kill you to prove to you how dangerous it is for you to cross me again."
Beryl was a witch. Darien didn't know anything about Beryl's black magic or abilities but he didn't need to, to know that she was dangerous. He was afraid of her but he refused to show it and he refused to move from between the woman he loved and the insane witch who'd brought so much misery to this town and to Endymion and Serenity.
"I'm not going to let you hurt her." Darien told her, firmly. Endymion hadn't been able to act to protect his love, but he could and he would. "You'll have to kill me before I let you lay a hand on her."
Beryl's black eyes narrowed dangerously. "You don't have a choice, my love-."
Darien flinched as disgust so strong filled him at the endearment that he was on the verge of vomiting.
"-I may be unable to use my power against you directly but that doesn't mean I can't use it in other ways." And Beryl raised her arm high above her head towards the high dirty cracked windows.
A second later the glass shattered, imploding, raining down over them.
Darien reacted instinctively. He raised his arms to protect his own face in the same moment that he fell to the floor and rolled on top of Serena, using his own body to protect her from the glass raining down over them that he could feel piercing the flesh of his recently healed back.
Darien cried out in pain but didn't move. No matter how much the shards of glass piercing his flesh hurt, he was going to protect Serena. He may be Endymion reborn, he may not, but he refused to let Serena die before his eyes as Serenity had before Endymion's.
Endymion's mistakes and failures would never be his own.
"Darien!" Serena cried weakly in horror from beneath him, her eyes wide with horrified fear.
Darien looked down into her tear-filled eyes as they stared back into his with fear and sorrowful remorse. She was afraid for him, she was afraid of suffering Endymion's fate of watching the one she loved die. Her entire form was trembling and her hands grasped frantically at the front of his shirt so tightly that he could believe that she never wanted to let him go, that she really did love him as he loved her.
He really wasn't worthy of her. She was so kind and generous and loving and selfless. She was pure light and love and laughter, and she could bring him to life with a single smile. He owed her more than he could ever repay, he loved her more than he could ever say. She was so small and delicate and fragile – on the outside at least, on the inside she was a tower of relentless unyielding strength and will – she needed to be protected. He needed to be the one to protect her. She'd brought him to life, she was his life. As long as she was okay, then so was he.
Looking down into her terrified and concerned but always loving eyes, Darien could believe, he could truly see, a happy future. He could hope for what he hadn't allowed himself to before, he could believe that he would have someone with him who loved him for him, who made him happy who he could make happy in return. Someone who would stand by him no matter what, someone who would be his family and never leave him. His loving family. He didn't have to be alone anymore; he didn't have to be sad anymore.
He had her. And he wasn't going to lose her, no matter what it cost him, Serena was going to live. She wasn't going to suffer Serenity's fate. He had saved her life three times before and he would do so again, whatever it took.
"I'll be alright." Darien whispered softly, struggling to keep his pain from his voice. "We'll be alright. I won't lose you." He wanted so much to kiss her, to take away her fear and replace it with the love he felt burning powerfully inside of him. But now wasn't the time.
"But I don't want to lose you!" Serena sobbed fearfully. Even though both their lives were in danger and Darien was obviously in pain, Serena could still see his love for her shining dominantly in his eyes. She could still feel it radiating from him. She felt her own love for him swell intensely and brightly within her. She loved him so much and she didn't want anything to happen to him but she could plainly see in his loving and determined eyes that he was resolved to defend her. There were no words she could say to change his mind.
Before Darien could answer her, to make a weak promise that he wouldn't leave her, a fierce wind picked up around them that was strong enough to tear the house apart from the inside out.
Instead, unbelievably, the howling fierce wind pulled Darien off of her and listed him up into the air, carrying him until he hit the far wall opposite the doors he'd entered through, hard.
Darien cried out in pain as the glass embedded in his back was forced deeper into his soft recently healed flesh as he slammed against the wall. He could feel the glass tearing through flesh and muscle, he could even feel the warm sticky wet blood running down his back and the back of his legs to where it pooled at his feet. The hurricane force winds were all that was keeping him on his feet; mercilessly pounding into him and pushing him ruthlessly back against the icy wall.
Despite his pain and the crushing wind, Darien raised his head to see Beryl standing between him and Serena, Beryl's arm raised towards at him, her hand open wide. She was commanding the wind that had no effect on her but danced eerily with her hair and gown.
Finally Beryl slowly lowered her arm to her side and just like that the wind subsided and was gone as if it had never been.
Without the forceful gusts to hold him against the wall, Darien fell weakly to the floor, landing heavily in a pool of his own blood. He was in pain and he could feel his strength draining from him with his life's blood. The pain was excruciating, worse than anything he'd ever experienced. He'd endured Endymion's death as his own in his dreams but this failed in comparison. Dying had been easy then, peaceful even. It had freed Endymion of his pain and suffering, but Darien's suffering came from the knowledge that he was going to die leaving Serena unprotected and alone.
But there was nothing he could do. He felt so weak; he didn't have enough strength left to raise his head. Darien wanted to sleep, to allow his body to rest even though he knew that if he let himself sleep now, he'd never wake. But he couldn't give in to what his body wanted, Serena was depending on him.
Needing to know that Serena was alive more than he wanted to be spared from the agony of his torn and bleeding body, Darien forced himself to conjure strength he didn't have, and he rolled his body back from his stomach and onto his side so he could see where Serena was laying on the floor several feet away from him.
What he saw made what was left of the blood in his veins run ice cold.
Beryl was walking over to Serena with evil intent in her eyes and a triumphant smile on her lips.
"No." Darien moaned weakly.
Beryl was going to make her suffer, Darien could see that in her eyes as plainly as he'd seen anything since he'd realised he was in love with Serena. That he'd always been in love with her, ever since the first time he'd seen her when they'd been young children. Children too young to know what had been born into them that day, but they had carried it within them ever since, waiting for the day that they were reunited and reminded of that love.
Darien didn't have the strength to do so, but he rolled back onto his stomach and he forced himself to raise himself weakly up onto his elbows. He had to get to Serena, he had to keep her safe from Beryl, from the same evil that had murdered Endymion and Serenity.
Darien crawled towards them, crawling slowly and unsteadily before his strength completely gave out and he collapsed heavily to the floor with a meaty thud.
He didn't have it in him, his spirit was willing but his body was bruised, broken and torn.
Darien raised his heavy head enough to lay eyes on his Serena and he extended his arm out to her as if to reach for her but there were still several feet separating them. He'd never get to her, not before Beryl hurt Serena, maybe even killed her.
He was as helpless as Endymion had been the night Serenity had been murdered before his eyes and now Darien would suffer Endymion's fate of watching the woman he loved more than anything else, be taken violently from him.
Darien watched helplessly as Serena weakly rose up onto her elbows. She raised her weak gaze to meet his, staring into his eyes with sorrowful love, regret and fear in her own bottomless depths. She was too weak and drowsy from the drugs Beryl had given her to run and even if she hadn't been, she never would've made it across the jagged glass-covered floor with her bare feet before Beryl stopped her.
"Serena." Darien breathed weakly with faint desperation and regret. He wanted so frantically to get to her, to save her, but he'd never be able to and for that he was remorseful and broken as he lay there in his own blood, defeated. It had been his job to protect her, to keep her safe, as it had been Endymion's to protect Serenity.
Now both he and Endymion had failed because of the same evil they'd been unable to defeat or even realise until it had been too late.
Serena saw the agony and the self-blame in her love's eyes and her own eyes softened. She gave him what she could as they were both faced with their final hour, a weak loving smile. A smile that told him that she didn't blame him for this and that it was alright. She loved him and she was grateful that she'd found him and had a chance to know him, even if it had been for such a short time. She was grateful for being the one he had chosen to love and she'd go to her death with peace and love in her heart, just as Serenity had. Serenity's one regret had been Endymion's pain from watching her die so violently and now it seemed that Serena would repeat Serenity's fate, carry her regret.
Darien couldn't believe how even after he'd failed her, Serena was still comforting him with her sad but loving smile.
"I love you." Serena whispered silently to him but Darien heard her words in his mind as clearly as if she'd yelled them to him.
Just as Serenity had done before she'd been burned to death before Endymion's helpless eyes.
Had this been their fate all along? To repeat Serenity's and Endymion's doom? To watch one die while the other just gave up and followed them into death? Would that end the curse or only strengthen it? The psychic had told them that only a love as strong Endymion and Serenity's that had bloomed under the curse could end this, could break the curse. He'd dared, for a short while, to believe that they were the ones who would break the curse but now it was so hard to believe.
Darien loved Serena, he didn't doubt it and he couldn't and wouldn't live without her. He'd sell his soul to the deepest pits of hell to be able to save her but he knew there was nothing he could do. Beryl's black magic was too strong and he was too weak, he was bleeding to death. It seemed that he'd soon join her in death. He wouldn't have to commit suicide to join her in death.
He loved her but he'd never told her – not while she was conscious at least. She knew he loved her, didn't she? He hadn't spoken the words before because he'd been afraid. Deep down he'd always feared the curse, had always known the curse was real. He'd watched his father destroy his mother with his infidelity and it had killed her because she'd loved him so much.
Darien had been afraid of admitting that he loved Serena because he'd been so afraid, so terrified, of both betraying her and of her betraying him. But now he knew that he'd been an idiot. Serena would never betray him, no matter how powerful the pull of the curse was and he never would have betrayed her because she was everything to him. There was no woman on Earth who could ever compare to her.
"I love you." Darien whispered to her, honestly. He wasn't afraid of anything anymore except losing her.
Serena stared into his eyes and her smile widened slightly. Finally he'd said the words that he'd proven to her so many times. She knew that he loved her, she'd known it for a while, but to hear the words, even in this bleak hour, warmed and strengthened her heart. She could see it in him then, he loved her but he'd also somehow healed himself. As long as he'd carried the scars from his childhood, he never would've been able to say those words. She'd learned that much about him in these past weeks, the most wonderful weeks of her life.
The old saying, it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all passed through her mind and for the first time in her life, Serena knew just how true those words were for she would rather have loved him and die tonight than to have never come back to Willowson and found him. Any life without him would've been an empty and meaningless one.
"I know." Serena told him reassuringly, wishing more than anything that she could touch his handsome face.
"Isn't this touching?" Beryl spat furiously as she kicked Serena brutally in the chest causing Serena to cry out in pain as she was forced over onto her back and onto the broken, jagged glass.
"Don't!" Darien cried out beseechingly.
Beryl ignored him, glaring down at Serena with burning hatred in her black, soulless eyes. As Serena was kicked away from her, Beryl followed after her. "Endymion is mine! He was always meant to be mine! You have brought this fate upon yourself again because you can't accept the truth!"
Beryl kicked Serena again, sending her rolling twice more over the sharp, jagged glass.
Serena screamed out in pain, louder then before, as the glass cut into her delicate flesh. This time Darien saw blood smeared across her bare arms, shoulders and feet, staining her nightgown. The glass was cutting into her with every movement she made.
The cuts Darien could see were superficial, but it was only a matter of time before a piece of glass pierced something vital and Serena would bleed to death before him!
Darien watched powerlessly, not having the strength to stand, as Serena looked up into Beryl's face, into her dark eyes defiantly, showing no fear of her. "Darien will never be yours, just as Endymion was never yours." Her voice was defiant and without fear. "They were in love and you couldn't stand it that Endymion chose Serenity over you. You couldn't stand that Serenity was everything you'd never be. She never needed magic. She never needed to be anything but what she was. It was never about Endymion. It was that Serenity was everything you despised because she was everything you could never be. You blame Serenity for your fate but you sealed your own fate the moment you decided to murder her because she had something you wanted, because she was something you wanted to be. Something you could never be."
"SILENCE!" Beryl roared furiously as deadly rage flashed in her back eyes and she threw out her hand down towards her.
Suddenly Serena was caught by a furious gust of howling wind that seemed to appear out of thin air – no pun intended – just as Darien had been. Serena found herself helplessly hurled back across the jagged glass covered floor, agony exploding through her body as shards of sharp glass embedded themselves deeply in her flesh.
Serena was slammed into the wall adjacent from him and cried out in pain.
"NO! SERENA!" Darien roared horrifically as he watched, powerlessly as his love was violently harmed.
Along the floor from Beryl's feet to where Serena now lay motionlessly, curled up in a fetal position trying to protect herself from the relentless assault of wind and jagged glass, were long streaks of smeared blood. Her blood.
Beryl lowered her hand and the vicious gust subsided. Evil, triumphant laughter rang from Beryl's blood red lips that echoed loudly in the large empty dark space.
Ignoring the glass, the pain and his fatigue, Darien forced himself up onto his hands and knees. His body was exhausted, battered and bleeding, but that wasn't going to stop him.
Slowly, Darien weakly crawled across the floor of broken glass, one pull after the other, towards his love. The journey seemed to last an eternity, he couldn't close the distance between them fast enough. He wanted to leap to his feet and run to her, to do what he could to keep her life's blood in her tiny body, but Darien greatly lacked the strength. Strength that still continued to wane with every drop of blood he lost and every wound he sustained. He didn't even notice the glass shredding his palms and his knees or the glass that had been pushed further and further into his flesh with each crawl
Finally, after too long, Darien reached his love. Serena lay, weak and barely conscious, in a steadily expanding pool of blood.
Darien paid no notice to his own wounds, but he couldn't fail to notice hers. There were multiple shards of jagged glass embedded in Serena's tiny pale body. He could see one large shard embedded in the side of her waist and another large shard in her thigh that had pierced all the way through.
Basic Biology told Darien that that wasn't a good thing. If any shard had hit an artery, there was no way he could get her to help before she bled to death, but judging by the rate the pool of her blood was growing, she was already bleeding to death.
Darien knew, that at best, Serena had minutes to live.
He was watching helplessly, as Endymion had, as his love slowly died before his eyes.
And there was nothing he could do to save her. He had failed to protect her and now she was going to pay the price for his failure. Her life was that price. The price he would have sold his soul not to pay.
NO! Darien couldn't and wouldn't let it happen! There had to be a way to save her. She was in pain and she was dying, and inside so was he.
What had either of them ever done to deserve this?
Sure, Darien could think of a few –more like a hundred – wrongs he'd committed in his life to be worthy of this, but Serena had never done anything to anybody. Of all the people on this planet, she was the least deserving of this fate. A fate she was enduring solely because she loved him. That's all she'd ever done, she had fallen in love with him and had gifted him by accepting his heart in return. They were in love, it wasn't meant to end this way! It hadn't meant to end this way for Endymion and Serenity either!
Darien had to end this! Beryl had to be stopped before she hurt anyone else! She had murdered Endymion and Serenity and she was murdering them now for something that she had no right trying to steal! He had to stop this evil now!
For Serena's sake. For Serena.
And maybe with Beryl's death, it would end. The curse would be broken and love and happiness could return to the town that had once been generously gifted with both. Maybe the town could know happiness and love and sunlight again. Maybe that way, Serenity's death would mean something, wouldn't have been in vain.
"ENOUGH!" Darien roared furiously, turbulently. He was a man who'd been pushed beyond his limits and stripped of everything. Where he found the strength he didn't know, but Darien slowly rose to his feet as Beryl turned to him, confusion and shock on her evil face.
"Enough of this, Beryl! You've hurt enough people! Innocent people! Serenity, Endymion, this town." Darien swayed weakly on his feet as his vision began to blur and he was hit by a wave of dizziness as the room began to spin around him, but he fought against the wave of weak light-headedness. "And Serena, who's never hurt anyone." His voice broke at her name and Darien had to struggle to find the strength to go on.
The agony of his body was nothing to that of his heart and the piercing anguish of the injustice upon his love.
"Your evil is a poison, you are poison." Darien accused her with burning loathsome hostility. "Do whatever you want to me but I'll forever hate you. May I live a thousand lifetimes that will never change! You are no more deserving of love than Serena is of dying. Endymion never could've loved you and that's from where your hatred and jealousy was born. You cursed yourself the moment you took Serenity from Endymion and now I curse you." He glared directly into Beryl's stunned evil eyes, meaning every word on his tongue. "May you live forever in your hollow lonely existence."
For a brief moment, Darien thought he saw something flash across her face, something that had almost looked like hesitation and uncertainty, but it was gone so fast that Darien wasn't even sure that it had been there in the first place. Maybe it had been his imagination, his wishful thinking that there was some piece of humanity in her black, immortal soul.
Threateningly, Beryl raised her hand towards him. No wind gushed at him but it was clear that it would should he take a single step towards her.
Darien knew better, but for a moment he was almost tempted into believing that Beryl feared him then, despite all her dark power and immortality. But that was ridiculous. She had no cause to fear him, she was the immortal being with the dark power.
Darien knew one thing for certain though; he'd never get near her. He'd never be able to get close enough to Beryl to harm her in any way. That was even if he could harm her; it seemed that she couldn't die. Time hadn't touched her in over four hundred years and Darien had no clue if he could even cause her harm by anything he could do to her.
Darien had had enough. He was defeated, that he knew. He could either spend his last few precious minutes of his life trying in vain to kill Beryl or he could turn around and return to his love, to spend their last few moments on earth together.
They would die in this life, but like Endymion and Serenity, they had the chance to meet again in the after life. Endymion had never found Serenity in death, Endymion had long ago told him this, but Endymion had been cursed by his own hatred and rage.
Darien, however, felt all of his hatred and rage towards Beryl disintegrate. What use was it now? They were defeated and dying. Why waste their last few moments together?
Making his choice, Darien turned away from Beryl and weakly stumbled on his lead-heavy legs back to where Serena lay dying. While he stumbled his way back to her, Darien weakly reached into his pocket with his blood drenched shredded hand and pulled out Serenity's handkerchief and Endymion's wedding band.
It was then that Darien's weak hazy mind noticed Serenity's chest sitting on the floor on its side above Serena's head. It seemed that the gust of wind that had carried Serena across the floor had also carried the chest.
A small miracle in this dark hour. What more could he ask for in this solemn moment?
Darien could feel his blood soaking and staining Serenity's delicate white handkerchief but he didn't think that Serenity would mind. Like Serena, Serenity was a very forgiving soul.
Darien reached where Serena lay just as the last of his strength left him and he fell to the floor before her, in the pool of her blood.
How could a body so small hold so much blood?
Darien looked down into Serena's barely open eyes and white pale face. Her face was the one part of her that had been spared from the jagged glass that had slashed and pierced her small delicate body.
That Serena was still alive wasn't a miracle, it was her fierce unrelenting will. She was dying but she was hanging on with everything that she was.
Weakly Darien reached for the chest and dragged it in closer. The chest could've been blown in any direction but it had faithfully followed her across the room.
Unclasping the lock, Darien flipped open the lid to reveal the treasures inside. Everything but the two blood soaked objects he held in his hand were there.
He had asked Serena to always wear Serenity's locket but it seemed that she'd taken it off and had returned it to the chest for the night while she slept. She'd always worn it when she'd been with him and at school ever since he'd asked her to wear it that morning that seemed so long ago now.
Why Serena had taken it off tonight Darien didn't know and he didn't really care. It was too late to worry about such inconsequential things now.
Turning his attention back to the fleeting present, Darien reached into the chest and pulled out Serenity's beautiful locket. It looked as new and as flawless as it had the day Endymion had presented it to Serenity, his love.
Before any of this had begun, such would have seemed impossible, but now not so much. Darien could believe that the locket had been preserved by the curse.
God knew that it wasn't the most impossible thing Darien had seen in the last few weeks, especially this night.
Gently, Darien wrapped it around Serena's neck and with shaking, slippery, blood soaked shredded hands, he secured it around her neck. Maybe it would call out to Serenity and she would guide Serena to wherever it was that she had to go. And just maybe, he would meet her there.
What did he have to lose now by hoping?
Once the locket was fastened around her neck, Darien reached once again into the chest and pulled out Serenity's wedding band, holding it up to her weak eyes for her to see. He had no fear anymore, no hesitations and no uncertainty. He felt so burden free and peaceful.
What was there to fear now that it was all over?
"Serenity never got to wear this but I think it should be worn at least once. I think she would want it be you." And he slowly and clumsily slid it onto the blood smeared wedding finger of her blood-covered left hand.
The ring was a perfect fit.
Silently, Darien slid Endymion's wedding band onto his own left hand, feeling no pain as he slid it over the torn flesh of his hands. It should've felt strange to be wearing another's wedding band but it didn't. It felt right.
Darien felt no pain anymore, all he could feel was his heart and their love shining there.
Darien took hold of Serena's left hand in his and weakly he sat up against the wall as he gently pulled her, moving her as little as possible, into his arms so he could hold her. They now sat just as they had done in the park that day, the day after their first time of physical love, against the hard wall.
Had it really only been a few days ago?
There were several shards of glass embedded in the wall around them, a testament to how strong Beryl's howling winds had been.
Darien didn't have the energy to be distracted by the memories of their first time together that had always so successfully been able to distract him without exception, but tonight all Darien wanted was to focus on Serena. He looked down into her eyes to see tears in her weak but love filled glistening eyes.
She was so beautiful.
"I'm sorry." Darien whispered to her as tears threatened to come to his own eyes, he didn't have the strength but he fought against them anyway. He didn't want anything obscuring his vision of her, his vision was blurry enough and it was hard to focus but still he could see her.
The faint hint of a smile touched Serena's pale lips. She couldn't feel her own body, but she could feel the warmth of Darien, her true love, wrapped around her. She wasn't that naïve that she didn't know that she was moments away from death, but she wasn't afraid. She was with Darien and she was happy.
What more could she ever ask for in her last moments?
Serena lifted her head ever so slightly and laid her head on his shoulder so she could look up into Darien's deep captivating eyes. Eyes that held so much love for her.
"I'm not." Serena whispered faintly, as close as they were Darien could only just hear her. "I have lived a few precious weeks able to call you mine." Her voice was hoarse and weakening by the second but it held love and happiness beneath the pain. "That is more precious to me than a lifetime without you. Endymion didn't see it but Serenity felt exactly the same way. She died with love in her heart and happiness in her soul. It was Endymion's death that was the true tragedy. He died with sorrow, hatred and anger in his heart."
Serena squeezed his left hand faintly that was entwined with her own, the wedding bands sparkling proudly from their linked hands. "Don't follow Endymion's fate, Darien. Be content with what we had, not longing for what we might've had. That was Endymion's curse. Don't let it be yours. He couldn't let go of his hatred and pain."
A tear leaked from her eyes and slowly ran down her face where it dripped free of her pale white skin and disappeared into the pool of their blood that was still growing around them.
Tears and blood, two things that seemed to have come hand in hand with their love.
"We will be together again." Serena promised without doubt. "In death no one will ever be able to part us. Serenity knew that when she died and she died in peace. As I am."
Darien wanted so much to deny it, to insist that she wasn't dying, but he didn't. He couldn't, he wouldn't lie to her now. Serena had accepted her fate and she'd made her peace with it. He would try to do the same. He could waste his time hating Beryl, hating what had happened to them, or he could spend his last moments loving and holding the woman who was his soul mate. His heart and his soul were hers and he'd find her again, even if it had to be in death. He wouldn't repeat Endymion's mistakes, he'd learn from them.
Maybe that was what Endymion and Serenity had been trying to tell them, to prepare them for. They hadn't broken the curse but their deaths would make way for someone else to do so one day. They'd repeated Endymion and Serenity's fate. Maybe the town would learn from this and break the curse themselves. Maybe they'd finally face the dark secrets of their past and reveal the truth.
Maybe that had been their fate all along. To prove to the town that love could bloom beneath a terrible curse.
"I love you." Darien whispered as he stared down into her eyes. She was growing weaker by the second. She only had a few minutes left at best. "I should've told you weeks ago."
"You did." Serena promised him. How silly her Darien was. There was more than one way to say 'I love you' and he'd said it in so many ways. He'd screamed it at her with every touch, every look. But that she'd been able to help him heal from the scars of his past meant so much to her, more than words could ever express. "The words may not have been spoken aloud but I heard you every time you looked at me. Every time you held me. Every time you thought of me. You told me so many times in so many ways. But the loudest of all is that you're now free of what has haunted you for so long. You're free now, free of the scars your parents unintentionally gave you."
Darien knew she was right. She had healed them. She had set him free. Serena had been his salvation, as he'd known she'd be.
"Thank you." Darien whispered, his weak voice thick with emotion as tears came unhindered to his eyes. "Thank you for loving me."
Serena's eyes softened and –.
"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME AGAIN!"
Weakly, reluctantly, Darien drew his gaze from his dying love to the fuming woman standing several feet from them, staring down at them with hatred, fury and evil disbelief on her twisted face.
Darien would've smiled with satisfaction if he'd had the strength. They may have been the ones dying but she was the one who'd lost. Just as she had four centuries ago. She'd managed to murder Endymion and Serenity but she'd gotten nothing she wanted.
"Get used to it." He whispered coldly. "No matter how many times you try this, you'll always lose, because the secret about love it that it's eternal and it never lets you give up the fight. Love makes one stronger than they could ever dream."
"I will get you, Endymion! Even if I have to wait another four hundred years! You will be mine!" Beryl shrieked furiously, enraged beyond any and all description, her fists clinched tightly at her sides like a disobedient child throwing a tantrum. She'd been driven into madness long ago. There were few fates for those of evil, the most elusive of those was victory.
"Not this time, Beryline."
Darien gasped at the sound of his own voice that hadn't come from his own lips. And as Beryl spun to her right, he followed her gaze and his eyes widened in stunned disbelief.
Apparently, severe blood loss made one delusional.
There in the silvery moonlight stood two translucent figures. The smaller of the pair – the female – was held in the arms of the taller figure, a tall male. They were dressed in the clothing they'd worn the night of their first dance in this very ballroom so long ago. In the moonlight, they shimmered brilliantly, like the stars in the cloudless night sky above.
A horrified shocked gasp escaped Beryl's open lips, her eyes wide with disbelief and she stepped back from them in trepidation.
"How is this possible?" Beryl asked breathlessly.
Serenity stared into her eyes from her lover's arms, with calculated purpose; Serenity truly was unafraid of Beryl. "Through the power of love. Something you still underestimate, Beryline. And because of that, you will fall this day. We won't let you cast tragedy upon our love again."
Endymion glared at Beryl acidly with raging anger and hatred in his own eyes. "You have lived on for centuries and yet still you have not learned. You weren't given immortality for this. You were given everlasting life so you may one day realise your mistakes and ask for forgiveness so you could find peace. That is why Serenity protected you from my curse and gave you immortality. She forgave you. You only needed to forgive yourself and let go the hatred and anger you have carried with you all these years to gain your freedom."
"I gave myself immortality!" Beryl snapped furiously as she took another step away from the ghostly couple.
Serenity shook her head sorrowfully. "You still haven't learned. I gave you the chance but you threw it away to bask in your hatred and evil. And now I'm afraid you must face the consequences of your actions. You haven't found peace in life, so I pray you find it in death."
Beryl took another two steps back, desperate to escape them but everyone in the room knew she'd never be able to escape the lovers she had wronged. "No! I bested you before and I shall do so again!"
In her frantic desperation Beryl threw out both her hands towards them.
Darien waited for something to happen, for Beryl to attack them with her evil dark magic, but nothing happened. No howling wind, no dark magic. Nothing. He turned his gaze back to Endymion and Serenity, still shocked speechless from what he was witnessing.
"You have no power here anymore, Beryline." Serenity whispered solemnly as if she were being forced to do something she held no pleasure in. "I release you."
"No! NO! NNNNNOOOOOO!" Beryl screamed in ultimate terror as she backed away from them but with every step back she took, she aged years before their eyes.
Within seconds Beryl had aged from a young woman to an old woman who was too frail to remain on her feet.
Beryl fell feebly to the floor in a sea of her own gown that was now sizes too big for her and she disappeared within it.
And, a single blink of the eye later, there was nothing left but the gown and grey dust.
Darien breathed a heavy sigh of relief. It was over. They may not have survived it but at least Beryl's evil was gone forever. He didn't know whether or not the curse had been lifted but he knew that the world was better off without Beryl.
Relieved and strangely liberated in a way he couldn't explain, Darien lowered his gaze to his love to find her eyes closed and her breathing shallow and weak.
Serena was moments from death.
And he couldn't fight his tears anymore. Darien let his tears to fall freely from his eyes. Still holding her left hand, that had gone limp and was quickly becoming cold, Darien lowered his other hand to her face and gently stroked her cheek, smearing blood across her pale smooth skin.
Whose blood, Darien couldn't tell anymore.
With Serena's limp head resting to one side against his chest, Darien could see the faded red mark on her shoulder. It was the hickey he'd given her. It was fading but it was still there.
Even though Darien was dying and his mind was working sluggishly, memories from the past few weeks, from the moment he'd first laid eyes on her, played in his mind's eye.
Serena smiling at him. Serena laughing. Serena lying contently in his arms. Serena naked beneath him with love shining in her eyes. So many times she'd told him that she loved him, had forgiven him for his mistakes, had smiled at him with love so strong it had managed to shatter every wall he'd ever built around his heart. She'd taken away his pain with her selfless love and she'd given him a reason to live his life.
Serena had given him everything and he had only succeeded in taking her life.
And he loved her so much that he was glad to follow her into death.
"I'll be with you soon, my love." Darien promised her, relaxing his body as he ceased his fight against the looming darkness that he knew was his waiting death. He could feel nothing and there was nothing left in him to care; let the darkness have him. He'd be with Serena again in death. Endymion had let his hatred keep him separated from Serenity in death, but Darien had no such curse. He felt nothing but his love for Serena. It was over, Beryl was dead and he wasn't going to waste his last few moments of life hating a dead woman.
He'd spend his last few moments with only love in his heart, love for the woman he held dying in his arms.
"You have finally learned, my Endymion."
Darien gasped. His head snapped up and he found himself face to face with the translucent eyes of Serenity – the face identical to that of his dying love that he held in his arms. She was kneeling before him, smiling at him with loving pride.
Understanding flooded his hazy, darkening mind. All this time Darien had believed that he and Serena had been playing the parts of Endymion and Serenity in their dreams but he'd been wrong. They hadn't been playing parts, they had been the parts.
"So we're-."
"-living our second life. Yes." Serenity finished for him, her tone soft, loving and identical to Serena's in every way. "Love, true pure love of soul mates can never die. It is only reborn into the world. Such powerful love is too much for heaven to contain, so it is reborn into this world."
"We will live again?" Hope, something that had been so frail within him until now, bloomed into life. Darien looked down at his pale love he held to him in his lap. There was love and hope within him now, love that was so strong that it almost seemed to have a life of its own.
Maybe it did, nothing seemed impossible anymore.
"I'll find you again, my sweet Serena. My love." A tear ran freely down his cheek and landed on Serena's pale cheek, mixing with the smeared blood there and becoming red.
The now bloody tear ran down Serena's cheek and chin where it became one with the oozing blood seeping from her body. Tears and blood, what was the difference between them? Both had been shed in both of their life times, unjust blood. "My Serenity."
"Yes, my sweet love, we will live again." Serenity confirmed with a soft secretive smile that was filled with love and joy. "After you have had a long and happy life in this one."
It took a moment for the meaning of the words to penetrate the mounting haze that was consuming his brain, but eventually he understood and Darien's head snapped up so fast that he was surprised that he didn't break his neck. "What?"
"We can save you both." Serenity said gently, her smile fading into a more sombre expression.
Such a look didn't belong on her beautiful face, it wasn't natural. Whether her name be Serenity or Serena, it was the same face, a face that was meant to smile and laugh and shine and bring joy to the world.
"You only have to accept the truth that we are both one in the same." Serenity told him. "That we are one. You are Endymion as he is you. You need to accept the past so you can have a future. The both of you, Endymion and you, Darien, are both holding onto the past so tightly that you cannot have a future until you let it go. We didn't find each other in death until now because of that. For us to end this curse, you have to accept who you are and all that comes with it. The past needs to be resolved before we can move ahead to the future. You have already accepted and let go of the hurts of your past of this life, now you need to do so with your past life. The life in which we found each other."
If it meant that Serena would live, there was nothing Darien wouldn't do. He calmly closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He was Endymion. He had failed the woman he loved. He had failed to save her when she'd needed him the most. In the past he'd been unable to endure the agony of losing his soul, his heart, his only reason to live. He had taken his own life rather than endure it, but now they had a second chance.
'We are one soul, reborn to find her again.' Endymion whispered into his mind.
He whispered into his own mind as a presence, a mirror image of himself, filled the void within him that he hadn't known was there.
Slowly Endymion opened his eyes and looked down into his lap to see Serenity staring up at him with her fully open eyes filled with sparkling love.
Neither of them said anything as Serenity slowly sat up and Endymion rose to his feet. He reached down and gently pulled Serenity to hers, just as they'd done many times in both lives. There was no blood. Not one drop on either of them or the floor or the walls. Their wounds were gone, as if they'd never existed and the both of them felt strong and healthy again. Their hearts beat strongly in their chests, fuelled by the power of true love and the hope for the future that had come with a second chance.
Endymion looked down at his left hand, where Serenity's handkerchief was still clutched in his hand, until now forgotten. It was no longer soaked with blood but white and clean once more. From his finger, the wedding band he'd had specially made long ago, gleamed marvellously.
Endymion looked up into the eyes of his love and smiled with blinding love and sheer joy.
"We finally wear our wedding bands."
"We never needed wedding bands to prove we belong together, belong to each other." Serenity said affectionately, but then her expression turned serious once more and she drew in a deep, heavy sigh. A sigh that carried with it the weight of two lives and many centuries of sorrow and waiting.
Endymion too became serious; it was time to face the past. He had wandered the worlds of the living and of the death searching for her for too long. Until he had found her in Serena and Serenity had found him in Darien. They both had watched over their love reborn, knowing that the spirit of their true love was close by but never being able to find each other. But now that they were together again – at last – there were words that needed to be said and things that needed to be done.
Beryl was gone and their selves reborn had been saved and healed, but still the curse remained, there was still one single strand left, holding the curse in its place. Once the sun rose, the unbroken strands would mend, unless they did what needed to be done.
Facing the excruciating tragedies of their past.
"I couldn't save you." Endymion whispered remorsefully, as he stared deeply into her eyes like the man he was, the man who hadn't been able to lay eyes upon her in centuries. "They killed you before my eyes because of me."
Serenity reached up with her left hand, her wedding band feeling warm against the tingling skin beneath, and tenderly cupped his cheek, as she hadn't been able to do in centuries. They'd been apart for so long, walking through the planes, searching for each other. But unlike Endymion, Serenity had known that they could never find each other as long as the curse remained over Little Willow, as long as Endymion held on to the past, to his hatred and anger.
"Oh my darling Endymion. My precious love. My death was never your fault." Serenity soothed him. Just like his self of today, Endymion had always shouldered burdens that were not his own to bare. "You did everything you could but nothing could have saved me that day because it was meant to be. Now it's time to let everything go and release the curse you have cast over this town. Over our home and our kin."
Endymion felt the anger and hatred rise up in him, anger and hatred that he had carried with him for four hundred years. Hatred for those who'd injustly taken everything from him, who'd taken Serenity from him. "They deserve this! You have no idea how it was to watch you die! To watch you bare such pain because of me!"
"Hush." Serenity soothed him gently once again. "So much anger, so much hatred. Just like Beryline."
Endymion recoiled from her comparison between him and the woman who had unjustly destroyed them, but Serenity went on before he could utter an objection.
"Such things can never lead to a happy ending. I'm sorry I left you my love, my sweet charming Endymion. It was never my choice. But now it's time to let it all go and release the curse." Serenity stared into his eyes with love and pleading in her own. Pleading for him to understand and accept her words. "You are taking love and lives away from the innocent."
"No one born of this town is innocent!" Endymion argued, unable to find it in him to let go of what he had carried with him for so long. "They all carry your blood on their hands! They are the blood of those who murdered you! They watched you die and did nothing! Beryline's spell over them wasn't that strong! They wanted to feel her spell! They wanted the excuse her spell gave! Not one fought against it! No one but me!"
Serenity sighed deeply, her eyes pleading with him. "The time has come to forgive. The past cannot be undone but we can have a future. We can be together now in this life. We can be free. If only you would let your anger go. Let your hatred go. It's what has prevented us from finding peace in death, from finding each other. Not my unjust death."
Endymion's eyes were pleading and distraught, begging her to understand why it was so hard for him to forgive and let go of what he had carried with him for so long. "How can I forgive those who did this to us? Who took you from me just because we were in love?"
"You need to hear me, Endymion. Please. Ignore the darkness you have carried in you for so long and listen to your heart. Listen to me. Hear me." Serenity implored him emphatically. "You have cursed this town with your hatred and anger, my love. That is what has kept up apart, not the unjustness we endured. You have to let it all go so we can both be free. So we can have a future in this life. You found me again, just as you promised, just as I waited for you as I promised. It's time to forgive, only then can we look to the future. We have a second chance in another time. In Serena and Darien we live on. We are them as they are us. The four of us share the same soul, the same heart. Release the curse and let love bloom in a place that was once abundant with it. Let this town be again what it once was. Forgive them. I did the day I died. They were afraid, afraid for those they loved. They held no true hatred towards me. Or you. Let Beryline's evil finally come to an end. Let it all end so something new can begin."
Endymion hesitated, how could he do anything else? He had been carrying this heavy darkness with him for so long, how could he just let it go?
"Our story did not end in tragedy, my sweet Endymion. Our story has only just begun." Serenity leaned closer to him, imploring him. "Remember the Endymion you were, the Endymion I love so much and have waited for so long. The Endymion you are now in Darien. Darien is your new name, not your new self. You have been reborn free of the darkness you now carry but you are still the same Endymion. The man I fell in love with all over again. In Serena, I live as she lives in me. Are you going to waste our second chance for the sake of retribution?"
Serenity raised her free hand to her neck and gently caressed her locket. "I love you. In our past life, in this life, and in our next. That will never change. Isn't that enough for us? For you? They took me from you, yes, but you have me back now. Isn't that enough? Haven't the innocent paid enough for the sins of their fathers?"
Endymion reached out and caressed her locket with tender fingertips. The locket that was, and still remained, the symbol of their love. In that moment he could feel the darkness, the anger and hatred, fade from within him. In its place he felt warm as the heavy burden he'd carried for so long, lifted from his shoulders, as he let go what he had been unable to let go until now.
Serenity smiled lovingly, proudly, at him as she felt something heavy lift from around them. "We are free. In death and in our new lives. Our second chance. My Endymion. My Darien."
And they exploded into blinding warm golden light that lit up the night for miles.
With love in their joined hearts, they returned to where they were meant to be, together.
Where they had always been.
January 17th 1643 – Sunset
'It felt wonderful to be in his arms as we danced around and around, allowing the outside world to fall away until it grew late and Endymion saw me to the tree line of my father's home. It will not be my own home for too much longer. A kiss my beloved Endymion bestowed upon me before he insisted that I retire before my father returned home and started in his hunt for me . . .'
Serenity could still feel Endymion's lips on her own even though their kiss had been forced to come to an end with the setting sun. She could feel Endymion's eyes on her as he watched her walk away from him where he stood hidden in the tree line only metres behind her.
Where Endymion would remain until she was safely inside her father's house. A house she would reside in for only a matter of days more. Then she would call Endymion's mansion home.
Serenity felt her smile widened impossibly. By all rights she should have been glowing brighter than the setting sun, blissful happiness and everlasting love burned within her being, bringing her immense warmth and peace.
Everything was perfect in the world; there would never be anything more that Serenity could ask for. She had her dreams, her love.
With a beaming smile of true happiness on her lips and true love in her eyes, Serenity turned, looking back to the tree line, to her love.
Endymion's watchful eyes were watching her with reflected joy.
"I love you, Endymion." Serenity told him sentimentally, not so far away that she had to raise her voice. "Through death and all else, my love for you will never fade."
Endymion's expression softened with love and mirrored sentimentality. "I would follow you to any end, my love. My sweet Serenity. However, death is not the end of love, it is merely a new beginning."
Serenity chuckled softly to herself. "I will be with you always, my Endymion. We will never have reason to say goodbye."
Endymion found himself chuckling with her even though the musical sound of her laughter didn't reach his ears. It shouldn't have been possible for a man to be so happy, so completely peaceful and content in his life. "Until the morrow, my darling."
"I'll wait for you in Sanctuary." Serenity told him.
"I won't keep you waiting." Endymion promised.
Serenity gave him one last loving look, and a knowing smile. "Yes, you will, but it matters not. I'll wait for you forever."
And Serenity turned her back to him and continued on her way to her father's house, Endymion watching her until she was safely inside.
Only a few more days and they'd be together for the rest of their lives and beyond. Only a few more days . . .
Serena moaned as she became aware once more. She knew she'd been asleep but she wasn't in her nice soft warm bed in the warm and familiar atmosphere of her parent's home.
Instead she was lying on her stomach on a cold, hard surface and her body was stiff and aching. There was a heavy coat of dust and dirt coating the surface beneath her that she could smell and taste. A layer of dust and dirt coated her mouth and her throat, making it obvious that she'd been breathing it in for a while. It was irritating her throat and agitating her nose. She tried to swallow but her mouth was so dry that she had nothing to swallow.
Why was she asleep on a hard floor when she could remember going to bed? If she'd rolled out of her bed she would've been sleeping on fluffy cream carpet, not a filthy, hard floor. She was lying on a cold floor but despite that fact, she felt warm as if she were lying beneath a blanket of warm air.
And all at once, everything came rushing back to her, hitting her harder than any physical blow ever could.
The dreams – correction, memories – of her past life that her past self – Serenity – had sent to her. Beryl – Beryline – snatching her from her bed and inserting a syringe painfully into her neck.
Serena remembered waking up in what she'd recognised as Endymion's Manor, or the ruins of the manor anyway. Then she could remember Beryl telling her the story of their past before she'd attacked them both with her black magic.
Beryl had been the witch who'd bewitched the town into murdering Serenity and, in doing so, had brought about Endymion's suicide.
Serena could remember being in dreadful pain and bleeding to death- both herself and Darien had been, but then Serenity and Endymion had appeared and had saved them.
She hadn't been conscious to witness it but Serenity had been, and Serena could remember it all clearly, as if it had been her standing in Serenity's shoes, seeing through Serenity's eyes as if they had been her own, which in a way they had been.
Were they dead? Serena's befuddled mind wondered idly.
Serenity and Endymion had somehow preformed a miracle in both healing their fatal wounds and breaking the curse. Serena could remember it all clearly, but could that have not been enough to save them?
On the other hand, this couldn't be what death was like, they couldn't be dead, the logical part of her mind objected. There was no way her body would be aching this much if they were dead.
Slowly Serena forced her eyes to open. She immediately winced and closed her eyes again as she was hit by a blinding golden light that stung her eyes and sliced into her aching overloaded brain.
Once the pain subsided, Serena tried again, opening her eyes warily, gradually allowing her eyes to adjust to the bright light.
Gradually everything came into focus as the bright light receded as her eyes slowly adjusted. The first thing Serena saw once everything came into focus was the old ballroom in which they'd nearly died – in which she had died – but it wasn't moonlight shinning down on her as she would've expected, it was the warm, golden light of the sun. Somehow it made the ballroom seem less haunted and more like the grand room it had once been despite the level of decay the harsh years had had upon it.
It also felt different than it had.
Instead of being a deserted, decaying place filled with darkness and the sense of tragic sadness, a feeling of peace had taken over and it felt warm and safe. As it had so long ago when Serenity and Endymion had shared their first dance and had fallen deeply in love here.
A love that would bring about their destruction and their salvation. A love that would last through life and death to be reborn in another time when they could, at last, be together without secrecy or fear.
And as it had turned out, the people of Little Willow hadn't been the only ones under the shadow of the curse. This manor had been too. The tragedy this house had held whispers of, for so long, had finally faded with the curse and now even the manor was free. The manor felt as she remembered so long ago, filled with warmth and love.
It felt as it had the first time she'd danced it with her love, her soul mate, Endymion/Darien. They were one in the same, as she and Serenity were one in the same. She couldn't remember everything of her past life but she remembered enough so she could live her new life as Serena appreciating what she had in Darien and their love. She was still Serena but she would always be Serenity.
Serena became aware of something warm and heavy draped over her hand which was laying flat on the floor on her other side. She slowly and carefully lifted her head and turned to her other side to see Darien laying on his back beside her, holding her left hand loosely beneath his own.
Remembering the wounds Darien had suffered while he'd tried, willing to sacrifice his own life, to save her, she scanned him desperately. He didn't have a visible mark on him, not even an angry scratch. His skin, which had once been deadly pale while his life giving blood had been draining from his body, had returned to a healthy vibrant colour.
He was even snoring softly.
Serena had seen Darien sleeping before but never had his subtle snoring seemed so endearing to her. Everything about him seemed so endearing to her now. Now that she'd come so close to losing him. Again.
Her eyes softened and her heart filled with love, joy and pride. He had tried so desperately to protect her from Beryl, both times, but now Beryl was no more and they were free. Free to be together and to simply be in love. Finally. They'd been through so much, faced so much. They'd died and lived to find each other again and then they'd nearly died once more.
Slowly, while keeping her left hand in place beneath his, Serena pushed herself up into a relaxed sitting position, pulling her legs beneath her.
Around them, there was silence as they sat bathed in the warm cleansing golden light of the morning sun. There was no jagged glass beneath them or near them; in fact they were in a perfect glassless circle in the middle of the ballroom, bathed in sunlight. The jagged glass around them glittered like a sea of diamonds, reflecting rainbow streams of light around the room.
The beauty was breathtaking. It was so beautiful, magical even. After weeks – centuries – of dreary days and dark nights, it was a beautiful greeting from the long hidden sun.
The curse had been broken and light and warmth and love had returned to Little Willow.
At last.
Serena felt so whole, so free, so happy and filled with love that she didn't feel as if she'd been reborn, she had been reborn. She now knew what it was that she'd been missing her entire life until she'd come back to Willowson. She'd been away from her home and her love. She'd only been living a half life, an empty life, until she'd found the other half of herself in Darien, in Endymion and in Serenity.
It was all over now. Now they could have their happily ever after. They'd earned it.
Groggily, Darien stirred beside her, drawing her attention back to him.
Serena waited patiently as Darien slowly opened his eyes, and after a few disorientated seconds, he found her own eyes with his. It took him a few minutes to slowly absorb everything that had happened as she had and accepted it for himself. To accept that they were together now. For always.
Carefully, Darien rose himself up onto his elbows, bending his right leg until his knee cap pointed upwards to the ceiling. No smile spread across his lips and the guilt in his eyes told her why. His hand closed more securely around her own, not so firmly that she couldn't pull her hand from his if she wanted too – as if she ever would – but enough to reassure her that he was there and that he wasn't ever going to let her go.
"I couldn't save you." Darien muttered brokenly. "She nearly killed you before my eyes because of me. Again."
Serena gave him a loving, understanding smile. He was the same old Endymion, the same Darien. He still blamed himself for what had happened to her all those centuries ago and she couldn't let him do that. Still, even after all that had happened, he blamed himself for things he should not blame himself for.
They had been born into a new life; regrets and sorrows from the life long since passed did not belong in their new life.
"That doesn't matter now, my love. What's done is done. It can't be undone. We have a chance for a future now. We are free to be together. In another time, but knowing the same love." Serena whispered lovingly, repeating Serenity's words. "We're together now. That's all that matters. It's time to let go of the past and look to the future. Our future."
Darien stared into her eyes silently for a long time. She could see in his eyes that he was thinking intensely about her words and what had happened.
And then another kind of worry appeared in his eyes, this one saturated with uncertainty. "Do you still want to marry me? I asked you a long time ago and we aren't now the people we once were."
Serena's smile widened tenderly. Her sweet Darien/Endymion. Through death and dark lonely centuries he remained as always the same. "The heart cares nothing for time, my sweet love. We are proof of that. And no matter who we are now, our love remains the same. And yes, I will still marry you. More than anything else in this world, in all ways I want to be yours." She paused, her smile fading slightly as a thought occurred to her. "After high school though. This is a different time with different traditions." Her expression brightened. "But on the bright side, we'll have more time together. Longer life spans in the twenty-first century." Serena laughed at how funny that last sentence had sounded.
Darien laughed happily along with her. He felt so light, so burden free, more so than he ever had since his mother had died. Serena had healed him, brought him to life, and he owed her everything for that. He owed her everything simply for being, for being part of his life. "Different time, same Serenity." He paused a moment, his expression become unsure, as if he were thinking hard about something that was puzzling him. "Or do you prefer Serena, my love?"
Serena laughed louder this time, fighting the urge to shake her head in amused disbelief. So much may've changed, the times, the date, their names and the society and their ways but he was the same Endymion, the same Darien. Truly as she'd become one with Serenity, he'd become Endymion and she loved both Darien and Endymion and who they now had become. "By whatever name I am yours, my Endymion."
Darien pushed himself up off his elbows and sat up, now staring down into her eyes from mere inches away. It was his greater height alone that separated their lips. "As I am always yours, my Serenity. My Serena. In every time, in every life. I am yours."
Serena could feel herself melt at his charming words, just as she had done so long ago. Such power his charming words held over her. "My same charming Endymion. With every word your hold on my heart grows stronger. A hold that will never wane. A hold that will last forever."
Darien wrapped his arms around her and gently held her to his chest. Being held in his arms was her only heaven. The heavens dwelling the clouds above held no interest for her and never would.
And as Darien's lips descended down upon hers, Serena knew that they finally had peace, a love that would last through every life they had yet to live and through all of time. True love never died, not even when life ended.
And as she sunk deeper into her love and his kiss, the sun was rising over the town that was finally free of the curse that had plagued it for so long. And with the bright rising golden sun, a new day, a new beginning had begun in which love and hope had been restored.
It would take a little time for them to find themselves again, to find a balance between their past and present selves, but they would.
Serena didn't know what the future held for them but whatever it was, she had no doubt in her heart that she and her love would face their future together.
For always and forever.
Well, that's the happy ending. Bare with me with the Epilogue. It will be worth the extra wait, promise!
Happy Holidays everyone!
