Chapter Fourteen
I've never been the praying kind
But lately I've been down upon my knees
Not looking for a miracle
Just a reason to believe
[D. Hayes & D. Jones]
Darien found the idea of someone using his name to lure kids into a trap horribly unsettling.
As he stared vacantly at the books spread out across his coffee table, he frowned, tapping a pen absently against the edge of the table. Feeling unaccountably restless, Darien slid to his feet and strode over to the window, hardly noticing when the phone rang behind him, and the answering machine finally clicked and cut off the sound of Raye's voice.
Surely she wouldn't really go?
His frown deepened, and when he felt the dream tug at the edges of his awareness again, he flung himself into it with an unusual vigour. Tonight the enemy would be at the mall, where all the teenage girls of Azabu-Juban were going to be. Including Sailor Moon. And Serena.
When the dream threw him out into the strange and silent world of the empty shopping mall, dark windows full of faceless mannequins and dresses, he had one heart-stopping moment as a dark figure descended and a young girl stepped forward to meet him. Black satin cape floated around them both, then Darien saw the girl's red hair as she turned adoring eyes on the man who stood over her.
He's not me! Darien protested silently, then out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a flicker of golden pigtails, and his heart froze again. Serena's here. He realised his mistake as Sailor Moon stepped forward, her boot heels echoing loudly on the marble floor.
Sailor Moon shrieked, "Molly!"
And the girl fell back, her red hair spilling over Nephrite's arm as he caught her, bending over her with a gesture of almost vampiric seduction. The girl hung limply, her face pale in the dark shadows, and Nephrite raised a hand over her, glowing and growing steadily brighter with a strange light as the girl in his arms faded almost visibly.
"Molly!"
Sailor Moon's frantic shriek shattered the silent darkness, and Nephrite's head snapped up. He smiled oddly, his figure luminous, and with a swift movement, he shoved the girl's slack body at Sailor Moon, who caught her and stumbled under the sudden weight.
"Here. Take your little friend." Nephrite looked down at his hands, flickering now with a brilliant energy. "And do thank her for me. Her energy was just what I needed, and now it's time for you to taste it for yourself. Leo!"
Nephrite threw up his hands, spreading them wide.
"I call upon the power of the stars! Send me the astral lion!"
Darien watched in horror as the light between Nephrite's hands spilled to the floor, and coalesced … and roared.
As Nephrite laughed, a giant lion pawed the marble floor, staring at Sailor Moon crouched in front of it and supporting the red-head's unconscious weight. The lion roared again, and Darien saw her face turn white.
"Leave her!" he shouted. "It doesn't want her – it'll follow you!"
And for a mercy, Sailor Moon unthinkingly lowered the girl to the ground and staggered to her feet. The lion's head swung, watching her with its golden eyes. It paced forward.
Darien threw the rose just in time, his cape swirling around him as he flung himself between Sailor Moon and the lion. The lion bellowed its fury, lowering its head and shaking its mane in a shower of glittering sparks.
"Get out of here!"
Sailor Moon just stared at him.
"I'll take care of this. Just go!" And she started to run, as Darien narrowed his eyes, watching the lion.
Behind him he could hear the sound of her boot heels slow abruptly, and stop. Dear gods, she was coming back.
"Go!" he shouted.
"Not without you!" she screamed.
A small gloved hand grabbed at his arm, dragging it backwards with surprising strength, and Darien was being tugged against his will. He could see the lion begin to pace. He turned and ran, pushing Sailor Moon forward when she stumbled. They ran the length of the dark and echoing mall, the lion's hot breath behind them, and together they flung themselves into the gaping maw of an open lift. He smacked his hand against the buttons just as the lion crouched and sprang, and Sailor Moon shrank back with a sharp squeal as the lion exploded in a shower of fire and the doors slammed shut.
For a long moment, Darien just stood there, leaning against the wall of the lift with his eyes closed.
"That was close," Sailor Moon said quietly, and he looked up. She was still pressed into a corner, her hands shaking a little where they were flattened on the glass mirror that covered the walls.
Slowly, Darien turned, and his reflections followed. He lifted his gaze to stare at the ceiling, and raised one hand, running his fingertips along the welded metal overhead.
"This was a really bad idea," he said.
"What's wrong?"
He gestured. "I have this thing about walking right into Negaverse traps. Generally, I try to avoid them, but we do seem to be stuck in a little metal box, with Nephrite somewhere out there plotting our deaths."
In the mirrors, he could see her face turn white.
"For such a little thing, you really do make some big enemies," he said.
There was a sudden boom, and everything shuddered. Sailor Moon choked back a tiny squeak, and squeezed her eyes shut, as Darien regained his balance. As the walls shook again, he leaned back, his eyes on the welded square. One hand went out, and felt the cane fall into his palm, and with all his weight behind it, he swung it at the ceiling. The welding exploded in a rain of molten metal, and Darien ducked out of the way as the square of metal fell with a sharp clatter.
Sailor Moon was staring at him, her eyes wide, as he stretched up and launched himself at the tiny opening. He swung his legs through, and reached down a hand.
"Time to go, Sailor Moon."
She took a tentative step forward, and as the lift juddered again, and lurched, she ran, and Darien felt her catch at his hand. He hauled her up, one arm around her as he stared up into the darkness above them.
"We're nearly at the top," he explained quietly. She just nodded, unusually silent. "When I say jump, we jump for it. Try to grab the ladder that runs down the shaft, because Nephrite's going to send this thing straight to the bottom, with us in it if he can."
He felt a shiver run through her.
"We'll be okay," he said gently, and she moved closer.
"I know," she whispered back. In the shadows, her eyes were wide. The end was drawing closer.
As the lift made a strange grinding sound, slowly inching up the last few steps, they were getting nearer, and nearer …
"Now!" Darien threw himself into the darkness. He felt his fingers catch at the edge of something and heard Sailor Moon scream; blindly, his other hand shot out and grabbed at her wrist as she fell, with a jerk that wrenched at their shoulders and nearly pulled him over the edge. Below them, the lift shrieked and plummeted into the darkness with a sound like thunder.
They hung precariously in the black lift shaft, and the only light that Darien could see as he looked up was a faint thread of gold above his fingers where light shone through the cracks in a door just above him, faintly illuminating the narrow doorstep that he was clinging to with one hand. He felt Sailor Moon's wrist slide a little, and the girl gave a strangled scream.
"Don't drop me!"
He forced himself to breathe again, and spoke calmly and slowly, hearing her breathing coming too fast and panicky from the darkness below him.
"I'll never drop you. You know I'll never drop you. Now, can you stand on my foot? Use it to climb up and hold on to me, and then I can use both hands. Everything's going to be fine."
Darien felt her shift, and her weight swung a little as she hauled herself up, but he could only hold his breath until he felt her set one foot on his and her arms wrap around his neck. She was safe, and his other arm reached up to grab the ledge, feeling the square marble edge dig into his fingers.
Her breath was warm on the back of his neck, and as he shifted a little, trying to get a better grip, she gave a little gasp, burying her face against his back.
"Ease up a little," he told her gently, "or I'll strangle to death, and then where will we be?"
The chokehold loosened a fraction.
"I can't see the bottom," she whispered. He could feel her shivering. "There's nothing there, and it's so black, all the way down …"
"We're not going to fall." He was trying not to think about the fact that his grip was all that kept them from tumbling into the yawning darkness below, and that his fingers were beginning to ache like fire under the drag of their combined weight. "Think about something else."
There was a long silence, and Darien kept his eyes fixed on the thin sliver of light over his head while Sailor Moon tried to hold still. He could feel her frightened breath on the back of his neck, disturbing his hair. In the motes of light he was beginning to see things.
"I'm so sorry about all this," Sailor Moon said miserably. "Mars is right. I'm a lousy Scout, and if you didn't keep turning up, I'd be toast by now. How come you're always risking your neck to save me?"
"I was sent to keep you safe." His mouth quirked in a painful little smile in the darkness. "And believe me, it's a tough mission sometimes."
There was a long silence.
"Oh," she said in a small voice. "Oh, I see. It's okay, I didn't really think it was because you … I mean, it's not as if someone like you would … I understand. Everyone seems to think that I can't look after myself," she added bitterly. "And you wouldn't be in trouble, hanging over certain death here, if I wasn't so hopeless at all this Sailor Moon stuff."
"No," he said quickly, then, "No, that's not it," he repeated more firmly as he realised it was true. She could be irritating and melodramatic, but there was a strange courage in her, and he was starting to wonder what would happen if he had to face her … challenge her … to take the Crystal. He wasn't sure of the outcome anymore, because reluctantly – oh, very reluctantly – he liked this girl too much.
"It's nothing I wouldn't have chosen. Well, perhaps not the whole hanging by my fingernails above a nasty fall. But there's something about you that just brings out all my protective instincts. I get a strange feeling about you."
"I know; it all feels so familiar. I wonder if I know you in real life?"
With Sailor Moon's distracted comment, it occurred to Darien that he had never wondered who Sailor Moon really was. Hanging there in the darkness, with a pain like fire prickling at his fingers, he realised that there was a teasing glamour that hung around her like mist, sending his thoughts skittering in other directions whenever he tried to see her clearly. Like the princess, he thought suddenly.
And it was obvious, in hindsight, that something must be concealing his own identity. A little white mask was hardly a convincing disguise.
"Magic," he muttered under his breath.
Against his back, her warmth spread through him, and he felt her shaky little laugh.
"I always thought magic would be so wonderful," she whispered in his ear. "Exciting and fun … but what do I get? A talking cat who nags me all the time, and a tiara I can use as a frisbee."
In the darkness, he gave a painful little laugh.
"Being a magical girl scout isn't all it's cracked up to be." She sighed. "But I did get to know you," she added shyly.
He could feel his fingers slipping, turning numb with pain. He closed his eyes.
"You don't know me at all," he said tiredly.
The weight was pulling him down, and he fought to hold on.
"I don't even know myself."
"Oh gods, I hate this."
He knew she wasn't just talking about their situation. She was shaking so hard now, he was afraid they were both going to fall, and his fingers slipped further, tense to breaking point.
"I'm going to try to climb up," she said suddenly.
Darien felt her arms shift, and her weight as she slowly, painstakingly tried to gain purchase with one foot on his hip. He closed his eyes, fighting the strain on his fingers, and Sailor Moon choked on a small scream as they swayed, then she was balanced on his shoulders, leaning precariously against the wall of the shaft as the pressure increased on his fingers and for a moment he was sure they were going to fall, and then abruptly, she was gone. He looked up, struggling to get a better grip.
Sailor Moon was wedged into the doorway above him on a ledge not wider than her bootheels, stretching gingerly for the panel of buttons beside her on the wall. There was a grating noise, and golden light suddenly poured down over him. He blinked.
Sailor Moon stumbled and vanished backwards into the light, then there she was again, her hands stretched out.
"Catch my hands!"
Later, Darien wondered why on earth he hadn't hesitated. He hadn't even questioned that she wouldn't let him fall. When had he come to trust this girl so much that as soon as she said Catch! he let go of the ledge? Then he was falling, and she caught his outstretched hands; he felt her slide as she took his weight. She made a small noise, her arms straining to hold him.
There had been a moment, somewhere, when he had known that there was steel behind those blue eyes that even she wasn't aware of. Something in her that would walk through fire and ice and death itself to protect the ones she cared about, and his life was safe in her hands. He squeezed his eyes shut.
Abruptly the strain eased, and Darien looked up into the golden light to make out two slim figures in Sailor Scout uniforms standing in the open door above him, their hands on Sailor Moon, dragging her back as she held onto him with all her strength, pulling him up into the brilliant light. It was dimly surprising how strong she could be, for all her fragile appearance.
The Scouts hauled Darien through the doorway, and as he knelt on the marble floor, Darien could see Mars bending over Sailor Moon, quickly assessing the damage, as the blonde girl rubbed life and feeling back into her shoulders. There was something in Mars' dark eyes that might have been relief before it clouded into a strange fury. Mars folded her arms.
"You didn't even think to tell us where you were going, did you? Or wait for us to back you up."
"What was the point?" Sailor Moon was arguing back.
Darien ignored them, knowing they were all safe, and got to his feet. The silent, empty mall was alive with activity now. Teenage girls, noisy and excited, were milling around, and Darien frowned. Without realising what he was doing, he found himself searching the bright crowd for a hint of gold.
"It's him!" someone shrieked, and Darien turned abruptly. "It's Tuxedo Mask!"
The mass of girls were all staring at him now, and as the first of them broke free and pelted towards him, waving a letter in her hand, Darien's cold calm deserted him.
Dear gods.
He fled.