A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers, favouriters and followers! Here's chapter 12, enjoy!
The Masquerade Chapter 12 – Unmasked (Eternal Torment)
Sophie lay, sprawled across the green green grass in the dead of the night. Her brilliant curly red hair lay in its tight French braid, now no more than a tangle of crimson frizz. Her long white dress was curled around her legs like a blanket against the chilly wind of the night. Her left arm was far from her side, almost stretching out to reach the cluster of stars that appeared to hang over her.
The sudden crunch of grass and heavy breathing brought a smile to her face as she stared only at the balls of luminescence in the sky rather than the man who walked with his hands in the pockets of his much too long black pants, with the sleeves of his midnight blue button up shirt rolled up to his elbows. But Sophie gave in at last training her gaze upon him, unable to resist the sight of his once-again mess of alabaster blue hair.
"I was scared you wouldn't come." Diamond confessed plopping down on the ground behind her, laying his head to the right of hers, his legs and body stretched out the opposite direction of hers.
"I have never had the ability or self-control to ever not come for you. It's not something I can decide myself. No matter how angry, or upset, or troubled, I am about you, I can't stop myself from coming back here again. Not even once." Sophie spoke so softly that Diamond had to turn his head towards hers until his long lashes nearly brushed her cheeks as he strained to listen to her.
Sophie listened to Diamond's breath slowly return to an even pace; the effect of it was calming. Sophie turned her own head, wrenching her gaze from the multitude of miniature suns to take into regard the only sun she had ever wished to reach.
"See any new ones yet?" Diamond whispered into her ear, his breath tickling her and his lips nearly teasing the edges.
Sophie tried to ignore the tenderness with which he spoke, trying to focus on the stars above them. "I think so..." Sophie lifted her left arm and pointed right above them to the small burst of radiance that hid behind three other suns. "I think that's a new one."
Sophie loved this part of their star-gazing. The time every year when they looked about for a new sign of life, a new light in the darkness. Surprisingly enough, every single year a new did appear, just as surely as the sun rose and fell every day. For the past three years, Diamond and Sophie had found three stars that they held close to their hearts, the very three stars that shone so bright as to almost block out the small one behind them.
"What do you want to name it?" Diamond asked. Sophie could feel his ardent gaze burning through her.
"How about ocell?" Sophie proposed holding her breath for his response.
"Ocelli? Whose eyes?" Diamond smiled, shifting in his spot, causing his messy hair to fall over Sophie's eyes as well.
Sophie brushed his hair aside and reached her hand back, closing her eyes, her fingers lingered over Diamond's eyebrows and then over his eyelids as he closed them to her soft touch. "Yours." She whispered as she drew her hand away.
Diamond caught her hand between his, pulling it down to his lips, kissing the tips of each of her fingers as Sophie tried to stomp fluttery feeling in her lungs away. "Why don't we name it after you, Soph?"
"I think it's fair for me to decide this time in light of the recent events." Sophie joked, turning over on the grass, putting an arm under her head like a pillow, as she stared at the horizon that was the form of Diamond's features. His nose like an insurmountable peak and his eyes a sunken ocean depth.
Diamond ruined her painting as he turned to face her, mirroring her posture. He used the change of position to mask the flash of pain across his grey purple eyes with an engaging smile. "Alright, fine. Anything to make you forgive me." He was already aware by the beam in Sophie's features that he would always be forgiven.
Sophie stood up, brushing off her long white dress, and Diamond was almost sure she was an angel in disguise, here to show him the path of light.
Sophie turned in a slow circle observing the miracle around them.
They stood on a pinnacle, as if they were at the crest of the world, where the earth truly met the sky and stars. They stood there, at the top of a cliff that dropped indefinitely on all sides, but this was the place that held the most enchanting view. A view of a thousand stars that shone only for them. A view of an impossibly radiant sky in the dead of the night.
But as Sophie surveyed this captivating sight, Diamond fixed his eyes on the entrancing magnificence that was Sophie, from the tips of every strand of her unruly hair to every freckle that peppered her delicate nose. She was his eternal torment and his perpetual strength, all at the same time.
Diamond stuffed his hands in his pockets again as he scuffed the toe of his shoes against the ground. His head bent he spoke, "I have to go soon, or I'll be late."
He didn't have to say to where he would be late. Sophie knew and she had purposely taken her only vacation date for that day because she did not want to witness her Diamond as the stranger he became at the balls.
"I know, but could you stay with me just a little longer?" Sophie entreated, spinning in her white dress until she swung to stand right before him.
Diamond seemed to take a sharp breath when Sophie stood so close to him by her own movement. It had always been Diamond who ever closed the distance between them. He recovered quickly, longing to be closer to her soft soft skin. He lifted his hands from his pockets and placed them on either side of her head, just like he had that morning. He leant his forehead against hers until every one of their features lined up parallel to each other. Like a mirror. "I will always stay if you ask."
Ami waited nervously in her alcove, her book laid gingerly on her lap. Ami was not one to be fidgety nor was she impatient but something about the way the songs at the ball seemed to pass on swiftly without a word made her feel like it had been ages since she had seen or talked to Zoisite. The inconvenient and upsetting part about these balls was the fact that after this one night in the week, where one talked and laughed and got to know another, that you are unable to see the other for a whole week. Almost everyone here was from another planet in the galaxy and it was not part of etiquette to just randomly demand for another's address so that you could send them a letter. She wished the castle had some sort of communication service for the guests to contact one another. Ami conceded to bringing it up to Serena later on.
Ami could feel the decline of her spirits as she waited in vain for Zoisite to knock on her curtain when it made no sound and bless her with his bright and smiling face. Over the past few weeks Zoisite had become someone Ami admired just as much as she liked him. He was in every sociable aspect the kind of person she wished she could be. He was the kind of person who could strike up a conversation with just about anyone and laugh and smile with such ease, as if there really were only things to be happy and joyful about.
Zoisite's smile was contagious and the aura he exuded was thrilling.
But he was not here now. Ami had had about enough of waiting around. She slammed shut her book and tucked it under her arm. She got up from her seat with conviction, ready to storm out into the ballroom of people, but instead, she peeked out through the crack between the heavy curtains to almost squeal in fear of the mass of bodies and eyes that could at any moment turn to stare at her if she so much as placed a foot outside her safe alcove. Ami scrambled away from the curtains, fearing someone would notice her. She did not think she had been in that crowd more than once; that one time being when she ran away from Zoisite at the first ball, and she had been so caught up in her emotions that day that she had barely gotten past the crowd only to break down in one of the balconies. Other than that she tried to make sure she was never in the thick of the crowd, always arriving early to the balls when only a few people were around and leaving late when only a few people remained.
Ami sighed at her predicament. She had to admit that without Zoisite here she was feeling anxious even if she was out of anyone's eye, but there was no way she could just walk through that crowd in search of him.
Where was he?
After minutes of pacing in the small alcove and repeatedly opening and closing her book trying to read but unable to keep focus, Ami gave up and scurried to the opening of the curtain again. She peeked out uncertain and afraid; it seemed that the group of people who had been standing nearby had left. The coast was clear, for now.
Ami chanced a step outside, pushing the curtains aside, her book placed under her arm again. No one was noticeably looking at her but still the feeling of being watched and judged stayed with Ami as she walked with all her self-control towards the food table where she supposed Zoisite must've at the least been searching for crumpets to eat. He had always loved a good crumpet.
Lita stood at the food table trying to discern through the throng of people where exactly Nephrite was. Usually, he was always the one who found her inexplicably, as if he had been waiting the whole time for her. Lita leaned against the table in her emerald green dress feeling nervous to see Nephrite again. She smiled despite herself, her fingers finding their way to her pink lips, remembering the kiss he had planted on them only last week.
"I'll have to do that every time I see you, now that I know how it feels, or I think I might go insane." Nephrite had joked after parting so sweetly with her lips.
Lita wanted nothing more than to sink deeply into this sense of bliss and joy that Nephrite made her feel but she was beginning to consider what Serena had said to her the other day that she shouldn't hide how she really was. Lita had given her friend's wise words some serious thought, but every scenario that played out in her head when she confessed her faults ended in Nephrite running in the other direction. But even now she was exhausted playing the part of a respectable, delicate, and normal young woman whom any man would enjoy being around.
Serena words rang through her head again as Lita glanced around the room for the hundred time, but this time something caught her eye. She noticed a small girl, with short blue hair and book tucked under her arm. She looked around the room as if she were afraid of getting noticed by anyone at all. She kept to herself, silent, trying not to draw any attention to herself, but she didn't seem to realize that the very act of her being cautious was making her that much more noticeable. Though, that was not the reason Lita had noticed this shy girl. Lita had noticed her because everything about seemed to suggest that she was the girl Serena had told her about the day Lita had gone to the castle.
"Her name is Ami. She's from Mercury and she's a really nice girl. She just left before you arrived; she was fixing my computer for me." Serena had said.
Lita was caught off guard when the girl, Ami, looked at her panicked, realizing that Lita had been staring at her. Ami seemed to retreat backward, stepping in shock and nearly falling over, but Lita was quick and strong, grabbing one of Ami's hands and pulling her before she could fall.
Lita let go of Ami's hand gently once she was on her own two feet. "I'm sorry I startled you. I know you don't know me, but I'm a friend of Serena's and I recognized you from the nice things she said about you." Lita said with a soft smile, trying to seem welcoming to this girl who appeared as if she wanted to curl up in a hole by herself.
Ami's face lit up at the mention of Serena. Her recoiling nature from before faded away to bring forth a more relaxed and trusting countenance, yet she was still very shy. Ami stuttered uncontrollably. "Y-you kn-kn-know Serena?"
"Yeah I do. I'm Lita and your name is Ami, right?"
"Y-yeah. I-it's n-nice to m-meet you, Lita." Ami appeared to be struggling with a decision whether to speak further or not. She opted for the former. "H-have you known Serena for a long time?"
Lita respected Ami for her effort to carry the conversation, even though she was probably scared to death to do it. Lita could plainly see that Ami was not only shy but she also feared people in general, if that was possible, though Lita believed that it was for no malignant reason. She merely did not have the disposition to approach and converse with people as easily as others could. Lita admired her for trying her best.
Kunzite walked through the empty halls of Darien's apartment on the Moon to Darien's room. He checked his watch for the hundredth time, taking long strides. He reached the room, the door left hanging open askew.
Kunzite took a sharp breath at the sight before him. In the middle of the room, Darien knelt in a mess of broken glass and overturned furniture. Drops of scarlet blood littered the floor before him and his hands that he held in front of himself as if he held his heart in their palms. Darien wore a white button down shirt that was barely hanging on to its second last button. His body was coated with sweat and his hair was matted against his forehead in a crude mess.
Darien finally seemed to notice Kunzite's presence in the room. He lifted his hollow gaze to his confused and worried friend. "Darien, what has happened to you?" Kunzite demanded as he approached his broken friend, carefully dodging the pieces of glass on the floor.
"I can't control it, Kunzite. I can't stop them." Darien lifted his bloody hands to his sweaty temples.
"Can't stop what? What are you talking about?" Kunzite took hold of Darien's arm.
"The visions, the images, the hallucinations. I'm starting to wonder whether I'm living in an illusion or a memory. It hard to tell the difference anymore. Everything that I remember seems like it's something out of a dream or something meant to be an illusion. None of it makes any sense! You have to help me, Kunzite!" The last part of this dialogue came out as a hoarse shout.
"Darien, Darien! Calm down!" Kunzite tried taking Darien's other hand but was pushed back.
"Don't say my name! I can't stand it, not after knowing how good it feels when she says it." Darien seemed lost in another world, but Kunzite knew he was lost in a blonde haired girl, not in an illusion.
"Okay, I won't say your name. Can you at least tell me what has happened? Can you manage that?" Kunzite pleaded, pulling Darien onto the couch behind him.
Darien took several pained breaths before explaining, "Ever since the last ball, ever since I led her through that maze and ever since we got back, I've been seeing things."
"What kinds of things?"
"At first it was just fragments of images. A lock of blonde hair. A blue eye. A sunset horizon. Things that made me think of only her." Darien seemed to light up at the thought of her. "But then it became more intense. Suddenly, the images became memories, long visions that took over my mind until that was all I could see. Suddenly, I was seeing more of my past, of my lost memories, than the present, than this reality."
"What did you see?" Kunzite asked warily.
Darien regarded Kunzite for a moment before speaking. "You've lied to me haven't you?" He paused rethinking, "Okay, maybe not lied necessarily. But you've definitely hid some of the truth." Darien put his hands to his face. "All these years, not once, did you tell me of my past with the Princess. With Serena. You knew, didn't you? You knew what she meant to me in the past, and yet you never mentioned it!" Darien's voice rose to a dangerous dynamic.
Kunzite sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead. He knew this day would come and he knew it was coming without fail from the moment Darien had said he was going to the Moon. "Let me explain."
"Oh, please do. Enlighten me to the reason why you hid such a big part of my life from me. Why you would never tell me that Serena was in that fire! Queen never killed my parents!" Darien threw his hands in the air, pacing about the room now.
Kunzite's brows drew downward. He got up from his seat cautiously. "What are you talking about? Where did you ever get the idea that the Moon Queen killed the Earthen King and Queen?"
Darien seemed defeated. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I came to the Moon with the objective of getting the trading lines back by using Serena's affections, but when I got here I found out from a source that the Queen had been responsible for my parents' death. That she had been behind the fire my parents died in!"
"Is this why you've been so determined to get to the Princess? Why you've been so cold about the subject?" Kunzite asked incredulously.
"Yes it was, but I was wrong! I was wrong, Kunzite! I was completely wrong! Serena was in that fire, with me. She was with me, in as much danger as my parents and I were." Darien paced, unable to stand still. "But Kunzite, I don't know what to do! I'm being tormented by thoughts of her, by the longing I feel to touch her and see her again. I don't think I can last another moment without being next to her. I can't control how just the image of her blue eyes drives me insane, as if my heart is ready to be wrenched out just to stop the pain.
"Kunzite, I have been getting back years of memories in a matter of days. Memories that I had lost. Memories that I didn't even know I had. Memories that all include her. She has been in every important moment in the beginning of my life...and I didn't even know it."
Darien sunk into the couch seat again, his head falling into his hands.
Kunzite teetered in his spot, unable to discern what he could do for his tormented friend. He sighed, taking a seat on the short table in front of the couch to look Darien in the eye.
"Darien."
"Don't say my name, please. I feel as if I might explode." Darien seethed.
And suddenly, everything clicked in Kunzite's mind. All of a sudden, a story, a memory that he had long forgotten came back to him again. "Then let me tell you a story."
Darien made no sign of acknowledgement except a slight nod.
"This is from ten years ago, when I first joined as your general, advisor and brother." Kunzite smiled at the term brother, something he had only ever had the chance to apply to Darien. "When I first joined, I lived by myself in a flat near the castle, so I never really ventured to the castle except to see you. Consequently, I was never really around in the beginning, before the fire, and I only ever saw you and on occasion your parents. And that meant I never really saw any of your guests."
Darien seemed to clue in on this piece of information.
"But when I first started looking after you, I remember I called you only by your real name, Prince Endymion. You cursed me often for calling you in such a formal way, but I found it a necessary. But that stopped when I learned the reason why you wanted me to call you by your nickname, Darien."
This time Darien did not flinch at the sound of his name, but only listened intently as Kunzite continued.
"The Earthen Queen, your mother, spoke to me one day, on that rare occasion when she heard me call you by your real name. She asked me why I called you Endymion and not by your nickname. I told her you were a Prince and no subject was supposed to call you in such a way."
"I wish you still had the same respect." Darien commented sourly. Kunzite was glad he could at least be cynical.
"Anyways, the Queen asked me as a favour to her to call you by your nickname. When I asked her why, she told me her own story of a little prince who had wanted to protect a little blonde princess with blue eyes and a crescent moon birthmark. She told me that Serena had always come over to visit and play with you, and was always clumsily and getting into trouble. She told me that every time Serena almost got herself hurt, you would swoop in and protect her, whether it was by catching her when she was falling or blocking a brick from falling on her with your own body."
Kunzite was amused to watch as Darien's eyes opened just a tad wider.
"And it was from these acts of protection on your part, that one day when you were eight years old and Serena was five, the Queen who had witnessed this for the hundredth time, said: "Maybe we should've just named you Darien." Serena who heard this, asked what the name Darien meant. The Queen replied that it means protector. Serena took a great liking to the name and only called you that from then on. Eventually the name caught on and everyone close to you called you that. I'm quite sure the other Shitennou don't even know about this, since they came so long after you had abandoned your real name for formal occasions only." Kunzite clasped his hands together and then looked at Darien carefully. "Darien, I know that all of this is hard for you, but I want you to understand that when I didn't tell you of your past with Serena, I did it because I didn't want to give you any more pain. You had just lost your parents and when I spoke to you when you finally woke up, you didn't seem to have any kind of recollection of Serena. But, the deciding factor to my oversight was the fact that Serena did not remember you either."
"What?" Darien gasped.
"Darien, I didn't want to remind either of you of each other if it meant it would cause you more pain. I didn't want to tell you of a girl you held dear, when she couldn't even recognize you. I believed that eventually your memory would return and then you both would be able to heal together, but as the days went by, they stretched into months and then years and eventually all of a sudden you hadn't seen or spoken to each other for ten years, let alone remembered what you meant to each other.
"And then, when you said you wanted to come to the Moon to see Serena and convince her to help you, I thought that maybe your memory was returning, or at the least that fate was somehow bringing the two of you together." Kunzite paused. "I never anticipated that regaining your memory would cause you so much insane pain and I never realized how deep the memory loss was on Serena. Darien, I'm sorry. In some ways, I regret not telling you all of this when you were ten because of the pain I see you in now. But in other ways, I don't regret the way I've acted up until this point, because I never would've been able to stand watching you go through that pain for ten years... the pain of loving someone who you couldn't be with..."
And this time it seemed as if Kunzite wasn't just saying all this to make Darien feel better, but that he was speaking from the experience of that very pain and that he too had let go of something he loved and had never recovered from it.
Darien sighed heavily, processing all that information. His shoulders hunched over in grief for a decade that he wished he could've spent with Serena. He felt defeated. "So what now? She still doesn't remember me."
Kunzite put a hand on Darien's shoulder and with a serious expression he said, "Well, that's a tougher question. But if I have any advice to give it's that you should say what you want to the person you like...if you miss the chance...you'll always regret it." And again, Darien had the feeling that Kunzite wasn't just talking about Serena and him anymore, but that he was also talking about himself and a chance he wished he could've taken.
Kunzite put on a smile. "She may not remember you now, but you could always help her to remember. Now come on, the boys are getting impatient waiting to go to the ball."
Diamond was late. The ball was already in full swing. The men and women were dancing enthusiastically and many were also already chatting amiably with their friends and partners. This had not been the first time Diamond had felt like a fish out of water amongst so many people who enjoyed this sort of thing; talking and dancing with people they had just met. Diamond was not fond of making new friends or making small talk. All the people here lived their lives with ease and comfort of the fact that they had the money and wealth from their parents to provide for everything. They did not have to worry about feeding a family or fighting for peace in a broken kingdom every day.
They did not know what suffering was. But Diamond knew, and it tormented him even more that Sophie knew.
Each time he had come to these balls he had had a simple hope or dream of sorts; that as he walked through the throngs of people he would find Sophie, in a fancy dress with a drink in her hand and a beautiful smile lighting up her face, and he would ask her to dance as if they had never met on a poor street after Sophie had lost someone she loved, but that they had met as two people who had nothing more to worry about then if the other would accept their offer to dance.
But he knew that it was an impossible dream, but it was still a dream that he held on to as a hope that one day things would be better for the two of them; that he would no longer have to follow Wiseman's orders for his revenge and that Sophie and her family would no longer suffer the cruelty that was poverty.
He wished that she did not have to suffer and work so hard, but he knew that was the life, the situation that was given to her. He just wished there was more that he could do, but as the prince of a destroyed planet, there was nothing much more that he had for her except for the large house his brother had bought when he first came to the Moon. Diamond had asked her several times to move in to his house with her family, but she had refused every time, saying, "I will not be a burden to you."
But despite his protests that she could never be a burden to him and that she would always be a simple pleasure of the mind for him, she did not change her decision. After a while, as he got to know her further, he realized that she feared becoming a burden to him just as much as her family was a sort of burden to her. But she loved her family beyond compare and he knew she would do anything for them. It just didn't change the fact that she would always be wishing that she had had a better life to start out with.
Diamond roamed the ballroom searching for the Princess whom he should've been focused, but thoughts of Sophie seemed to plague incessantly. The times that he had come to the balls before this he had been able to shut down his emotions and everything that made him who he was, to just leave the charm and deceit he was to use on the Princess, but now that Sophie knew everything he couldn't stop the feeling that he was betraying her.
At last, he spotted the Princess, who seemed to be in search of someone herself. Diamond approached her, his emotions and Sophie tightly locked away behind his mask of a charming smile and welcoming demeanor.
"Serena!" he called.
Serena turned to face him, a look of surprise on her face. She smiled pleasantly though her eyes flickered around still searching. "Prince Diamond! It's nice to see you."
"My Princess, I so sorry that I had to run out on you that day at the castle, there was some urgent business to take care of." Diamond explained himself.
"Oh, don't call me Princess, please."
"Of course, Serena, though how much I enjoy calling you my princess, I'm sure you wouldn't realize." Diamond was laying the praise and affection on thick. He could just see Sophie breaking out into laughter if he ever said something as cheesy as that to her.
Though it seemed to work on Serena. She was more attentive to him now and she focused her gaze on him. Diamond kept on his charming smile. "Serena, would you care to dance with me?" Serena hesitated and Diamond pushed further, "Surely you wouldn't deny me of yet another pleasure, Serena?" He was very deliberate with his tone, emphasizing affection into her name.
Serena smiled and took his hand. "I wouldn't dream of it." she said.
They danced, just like they had at that first ball, but something about this time seemed different. Serena no longer held that look of awe. The first time he had met her, she looked as if she had found her prince charming at last. Diamond had found it a fact of hilarity that the Princess was so vain and childish as to believe in such things as Prince Charming and Mr. Perfect. When he first danced with her it was as if she had been waiting her whole life for a man like him who charmed her and showered her with praises and compliments until she was weak in the knee.
But all of that was changed now. Serena no longer regarded him with a look of admiration but seemed to merely consider him as just another man, no more special that the others. Throughout their dancing Diamond provided her with compliment after compliment, inquiries of her beauty and small entreaties of love and affection, yet still the Princess seemed to search for something more in his eyes when she looked at him.
And abruptly Diamond realized that that was exactly how he himself looked at the Princess, as if searching for something or someone more. In her eyes he searched for Sophie, the person whom he wished he could be dancing with now, the person who held his heart in her hands.
Diamond could see now that Serena searched for someone else in his eyes. At the first ball she had regarded him with such wonder because she had not yet met the man who made her feel the way Diamond did about Sophie.
Diamond had only to guess at who that man might be. He had disregarded the fiery passion between their gaze before but he knew now, that the man whom the Princess had been at the second ball, the one with the white mask and dark eyes, the Prince Endymion himself was the one she looked for now.
Diamond let out a slight laugh at the predicament. "What it it?" Serena asked.
"Nothing, nothing at all." Diamond couldn't believe this fate that the Princess had fallen for just the kind of man she had tried to avoid with this masquerade. The kind of man who could use her for his own gain. Prince Endymion was no better than Diamond in his deceit but somehow Diamond pitied the poor fellow for not being strong enough to not fall in love with the enemy. Diamond was surprised that even though Prince Endymion had been given the information from Sophie that the Queen had killed his parents, he still could not stop himself from falling for the Princess.
Theirs was a fate that Diamond did not envy.
Serena's gaze shifted from Diamond as he pondered these thoughts, and with a polite abruptness she declared that she had spotted her friend whom she desperately needed to talk to, and that she hoped Diamond would understand. She dashed off and Diamond watched her approach a girl in a golden dress with long blonde hair tied back in a red ribbon.
"Who's that?" Mina asked curiously. She noticed the handsome man in the white suit watching them carefully before turning away.
"What? Oh, Prince Diamond?" Serena glanced over her shoulder as she twisted the ends of her hair in her fingers. "He's just a guy who I know."
"Just a guy?" Mina asked skeptically.
Serena shrugged but Mina did not believe that was all there was to the mysterious Prince Diamond. "Come on, who is he?"
"Oh fine, alright. He's the son of Senator Crow. I met him at the first ball and he's really sweet and charming." Serena said still twisting her hair.
Mina grabbed Serena's hands and stopped the twisting. "And you like him?"
Serena sighed. "I don't know, maybe yeah. I mean he is the perfect guy, he's exactly what I've been looking for by hosting these balls."
Mina furrowed her brow. "But...?"
"But nothing. I don't want to talk about it, okay. I have better things to tell you." Serena exclaimed. She no longer stared at the floor but at Mina. "I've remembered us, Mina." Serena smiled ecstatically.
"What?" Mina asked confused.
Serena took one of Mina's hands and held it tightly in joy. "Mina, I've remembered us, the girls, you and I!"
"Serena, what are you talking about? How?" Mina asked incredulously.
"I don't even know! It wasn't much but Rei came to the castle to return something to me and as I was talking to her suddenly I got flashes, of memories, nothing more than images of us when we were young. Of Rei's long raven hair and bad temper, Ami's old glasses that were too big for her, Lita's rolled up sleeves and rose earrings and of course, Mina, your blazing sun-like smile." Serena talked as if lost in a dream or a memory in this case, as if the images were dancing before her eyes.
Mina could see these images herself, her memory was not one to be trifled with, she had never forgotten a single moment of their past together. Mina could barely contain her exhilaration at the fact that Serena had remembered even such small parts of them. Mina was finally feeling hopeful that this was not all in vain.
"I think we should tell the girls, Mina." Serena began seriously. "I find them right now and we can tell them. Surely they will remember if we tell them? You could tell us all a few stories to jog our memories! There's no way five friends could forget each other completely." Serena exclaimed, but Mina worry grew.
She could see the excitement in Serena's eyes and Mina dreaded stomping it out.
She put a hand on Serena's shoulder. "Serena, just wait a moment, okay? We can't just throw this on the girls right now. They'll be totally taken aback especially since none of them know me yet."
"What do you mean they don't know you? We all know each other! They'll understand don't worry!"
"No, Serena. I'm sorry, but I can't tell them yet. If we just toss this story of a past that they can't remember on them, they'll be much too confused. We have to just get to know each other as new friends first and then wait patiently for all of your memories to return." Mina implored.
"But you didn't wait with me! You told me right away! Why can't we do the same now? I don't want to continue on as pleasant new acquaintances! I want to have my friends back!" Serena cried and she really was on the verge of tears, but Mina understood her desires.
Serena had grown up these last eleven years without a single friend to keep her company in this lofty castle that she was never allowed to leave. Mina knew that the Queen had been trying to protect Serena but she had also scarred her in the worst way possible. Serena longed for nothing more than friends to call her own and now that she had a chance to have them she couldn't contain herself or think logically at all.
"Serena, I know and I'm sorry to do this to you but you just have to wait." Mina repeated.
Serena was upset and she looked angry that something she had waited so long for was still out of her reach. Serena pushed Mina's hand away angrily. "Fine. If you don't think it's right, then fine."
"Serena, don't be angry, please. I'm sorry –"
"No, it's fine, Mina. I understand."
Mina sighed uncomfortably. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of someone lurking nearby. Mina turned around to see who it was and she was faced with the image of Kunzite's long silver hair billowing behind him as he walked away from her. Mina glanced back at Serena and then back at Kunzite's receding figure.
"Serena, I'm so sorry but there's something I have to do."
Serena nodded, still upset but no longer completely angry at Mina. She understood the situation, she was merely frustrated with her feeling of longing and despair.
Mina was uneasy to leave her friend in such a state but she was scared that if she did not go after Kunzite now she would not be able to find him again.
She watched as Serena walked over to stand on one of the balconies and then Mina left in search of the silver haired man.
"Why are you crying, Odango? Or should I just call you cry-baby?"
Serena's breath caught at the sound of Darien's voice so clear behind her. She swiftly wiped the tears from her eyes, attempting to turn away from Darien's intense gaze.
"Go away, Darien. I'm not in the mood for your incessant insults." Serena did not think she could face him right now, not after the dream she had had a couple nights ago, the dream that had left her crying until she had no more tears left in the middle of the night, crying over something that had happened in a dream.
Darien didn't get the message. Serena was still not looking at him, she was turned away when Darien stepped forward grabbing her fiercely by the wrist and swinging her around to face him.
Serena's hand fell away from her eyes and she struggled against his grip with no result. A string of curses flew from her mouth but she choked on them when she finally looked up at him, his height had always seemed elegant to her but now it was only overbearing as he looked at her with an expression of true anger. The tone of his voice from before had revealed no sign of his anger but Serena could now see it clearly written on his face.
"You're hurting me Darien, let go." Darien gave no intention of letting go neither with his hands nor with his gaze. "What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this, Darien?"
Darien winced at the sound of his name. Serena looked at him more closely now, noticing that the angles of his face were more pronounced and his eyes were sunken as if he hadn't had much sleep. He looked almost exactly as he did in her dream, as if troubled by something beyond his control.
But there was no way that the dream was real. There was just no way. It was impossible to suggest that Darien had come to the castle, to her own bedroom in the middle of the night, when he wasn't even supposed to know that she was the Princess. She had been careful to make sure he never realized her identity, something about him finding out turned Serena's stomach and made her feel anxious. Truthfully, it hadn't really bothered her when Diamond had known that she was the Princess but even pondering the thought of Darien knowing was too much to bear. Serena was sure it would break her.
"Darien, what is wrong with you?" Serena repeated.
Finally, Darien answered his voice coarse as if holding back too much emotion. "What was Diamond doing at your house the other day?"
Serena shook her head in confusion barely processing what he had said. "What? That's what you're angry about? Another guy coming over?"
Darien pulled her closer, leaning over her. "Why did you invite him over? Why were you dancing with him just now? Do you actually plan on marrying that guy?" Darien pointed over to where she and Diamond had been dancing just a while ago.
Serena was angry now. First he had the audacity to be spying on her and now he was complaining about who she was with. "What does it matter to you? Whoever I dance with or invite over is my business! It has nothing to do with you! And what do you care if I marry him?"
Darien seemed to blow off like a top. "You can't marry him." He spoke excruciatingly quietly and Serena was chilled by this sudden silent rage.
"And why not?" Serena enunciated each word shaping them as a stab to Darien. "What right do you have to tell me what to do? What makes you think you can decide this for me? Who are you to say that I can't marry him?"
One moment, Serena was staring defiantly into Darien's dark eyes, the next moment he had his arms around her waist and the other on the back of her neck and his lips were pressed against hers. He kissed her with the fervor and passion of their argument and everything fell away, all the people and the lights and the ballroom around them. Serena couldn't breathe let alone think. She found herself kissing him back with equal ardour tugging him closer and closer. Darien seemed to feel the same as he pulled her nearer, his hands teasingly placed on her waist and on her back, Serena could feel his touch through the thin fabric of her silver and white dress, somehow she felt like she had been kissed like this before, maybe in a dream or – Serena broke off the kiss, pushing Darien and his enticing lips away.
She regarded him with contempt at her sudden realization and Darien stood a foot away, his arms stretched out towards her as if something important had been wrenched from their grasp. His eyes were filled with loneliness and a sudden anguish.
"It wasn't a dream. You were there, in my room that night. You were there and you kissed me then too." Serena clutched her dress feeling the depth of this deception. Her body trembled with anger as she looked on at Darien who did not show any sign of denying this fact.
He stepped forward as if to explain but Serena cut him off before he could begin. "I can't believe that here I've been getting angry that you were being a classless jealous jerk about Diamond when I should've realized from the moment you mentioned him coming over that you knew. You know!" Serena shouted. She ripped off her mask no longer seeing a reason in keeping it on when he already knew. "You know that I'm the Princess."
She watched as Darien gasped in surprise as she pulled off her mask. He looked at her with a stolen gaze his eyes shifting to the silver mask that lay across the floor now.
"You knew I was the Princess. You came to me in the night and did that to me, confusing me and lying to me. And now you're here and you have to nerve to get jealous about a guy you found out about by spying on me? How dare you?" Serena lifted her hands in anger and pounded on his chest, tears falling down her face. She hit him for each word she said next, "How dare you? How could you?" She looked up at him, his lashes framing his dark eyes that looked at her with that same heartbreaking gaze he had regarded her with that night. "How could you lie to me and then kiss me like that?"
The night breeze blew locks of her hair in her face. Darien lifted a hand and tucked a strand behind her ear. Serena shuddered under his touch. She tried pushing him away but he caught on to both her wrists this time.
He looked at her and he was broken beneath her rebounding gaze. He let of her wrists but Serena did not put down her hands. Instead, she lifted them higher to reach Darien's face and his pure white mask. She pulled it off slowly yet surely, unmasking her mysterious man.
Darien closed his eyes as she stroked her fingers softly over the features she had missed out on because of the mask, but by the time he opened his eyes again, Serena was gone along with his white mask.
A/N: Hope you liked that! :) Please review!
And please check out the poll on my profile! Vote on whose your favourite couple from this story! I'm really curious to see which couple has the most votes by the time I finish writing this story, so please vote!
Questions of the Chapter:
How did you like Diamond's point of view while deceiving Serena?
What did you think of how Darien's nickname came to be?
How do you feel about that last scene? ;)