Darien waited outside patiently for the all the lights of the house to shut off. He had stayed maybe an hour after finishing the dishes. He and Ken continued their talk about the orphanage, as he gave Serena time to finish her bath. When he left, he only went far enough to where they would no longer see his car, but he could still watch for the lights to shut off in the house.
When they finally went out, he calm got out. Looked around and started to walk towards the house. He walked until he found a small area for him to stop. It was the little alley right between someone's fence and their house. He made sure no windows were opened and there was nobody watching. He slowly pulled out a rose, still being observant of everything around him. A quick flick and he was no longer Darien, he was the masked hero with a long cape.
He stepped out the alley into the light. Fixed his sleeves, and took one big leap. He landed on a roof about three houses down from Serena. He peaked over the chimney to see if he could see her house, incase someone woke up. No luck. He leaped two more houses and watched. Only light he could see was coming from her window. He watched as her shadow moved around the room. From what he could see she was brushing her hair. He gave her another minute, the took breath to calm his nerves, and he leaped onto her small balcony.
Her window was opened just a bit, he thought about just opening it, but he didn't want to startle her and wake her family. So he knocked twice. Just enough to her to stop what she was doing. He watched as her shadow moved closer. She was leaning over the bed, when she pulled the curtain open, he couldn't help but smile. His heart started to race. She opened the window.
"Hello stranger." She too couldn't help but smile. She loved Darien and always thought he was handsome, but something about Tuxedo Mask always made her stomach flip, and her heart skip a beat. For a minute she thought about cancelling the night and telling Darien her she was too tired, but seeing Tuxedo Mask changed all that. He could never do any wrong. Even when he was evil, she knew it was was Beryl's spell.
"It has been so long." Tuxedo Mask whispered. "It is a little cold, you may want to grab a light sweater." He really couldn't help but admire her natural beauty. Her hair was in a messy bun with a few strands hanging on the side. She didn't have any make up on, but her cheeks were still rosy. She was in long yoga pant, and a long sleeved crop top, which she threw a pink hoodie over.
She stepped on the bed, looked the cape hero up and down. "Ready."
He stepped back allowing some room for Serena to get on the balcony. He reached his hand out.
"You're not going to drop are you?" Serena asked nervously. Her balcony was not that far off the ground and she remembered climbing down the side of the house many times, but that was years ago.
"Do you trust?" Was all Tuxedo Mask asked with his stand still out waiting for hers.
"I am still deciding."
His heart felt a little stab. His smiled started to fade. He slightly drew his hand back, but stopped when he felt her small fingers embrace his. His smile came back. He moved her hand to his other, swung it over his shoulders. "Hang on."
Before Serena could say a word, he swooped her up into his arms and took a big leap. Not sure why but Serena held her breath and closed her eyes. Her heart pounded. Her tense body did not go unnoticed. Darien looked down at her in between leaps. She was scared. He pulled her in closer to him as she tightened her hold around his neck.
He kissed the top of her head before he did another jump. "You can relax, I will never let anything happen to you." He whispered. "Just breath." He kissed her head again.
He felt Serena release her breath. She opened one eye, peaked over his arm, closed it again abruptly, and sunk back down into her ball.
"I promise I will not drop you." He whispered.
"I am scared." She responded. "It has been so long since I have been this high."
"I know..." He tightened his grip around her. "I should have taken time to do these things with you back home."
With that he felt her body relax just a bit. Her head moved up as if to look at him. She opened her eyes, and admired him as he looked out into whatever. Her eyes followed his gaze to see all the lights in front of them.
"It's so pretty." She whispered. The wind blowing across her face. She took in the fresh air with one big inhale, and released.
"If you look just far enough, it is almost like the stars are sitting on the houses."
She released one of her arms so she could pivot her body around to see. "The stars out here are so much brighter than back where we live."
"They are."
"So where are we going?" She asked looked back at him. Still one arm around his neck.
"I think I know of a little place we can stop." He looked down at her as the soared. "It is not too far, as promised."
She nodded her head and looked back out at the view in front of her. Tuxedo Mask tried so hard to focus on what was going on in front of him, but he wanted to stare at Serena even more. From what he could see she was more relaxed than she had ever been. Her body was not as tense, though he did love her clinging on to him.
Serena continued to watch as they started to descend towards the ground. She looked up at Tuxedo Mask again. "Are we here?" She started to look around again. She was trying to figure out where she was.
"Yup." He quickly kissed her forehead one more time before his feet touched the ground. He slowly put her down. As she walked towards the edge of a small hill, he looked around to make sure there as nobody there and he untransformed.
"I have never been to this part of the park." Serena said looking around. "And I feel like with all our battles I have seen it all."
He approached her slowly from behind. "I don't think it is actually apart of the park. For some reason I want to say there used to be line a little building here."
"It makes the park look so much bigger. And the view." She looked up at Darien who was now standing next to her. "How did you find this place?" She wasn't sure if she was prepared for the answer, so she looked back over the park and started to bite her bottom lip.
Darien put both his hands in his pockets, turned to her. "I couldn't sleep so I went for a jog. Not really paying attention. Just kind of let my feet guide me."
"Hmmm." Serena nodded and refused to make eye contact.
"What?" Darien asked softly.
"Nothing. Just thought maybe..."
"Maybe what?"
"Nothing I don't to fight about it." She started to walk to another side of the mountain.
"There is no fighting, Sere I want you to talk to me." Darien said desperately."Say what you are thinking. I want to fix this so bad Serena, please let me in."
She turned to look at Darien who was maybe 3 feet away. "And what would we talk about Darien? 'The women who would destroy galaxies for you?' I guess dying multiple times to save you and our future just wasn't enough."
"Serena please don't get mad, I am not trying to make you mad. I am sorry for making that stupid comment." Darien took one step towards her. "I am sorry for the whole fight at the school." He took one more step closer to her. "I am so sorry for the situation with Seiya." He took two more steps until he was right in front of her. "I am sorry that my jealousy got the best of me." He used his thumb to scratch his forehead. "It gets to me that you went to him, and I should have tried to understand where you were coming from, instead of making the scene." He took one more step forward. "I wanted to call so bad. I tried to call you, but I wasn't sure how to start and I thought you would hang up."
A light breeze blew by brushing her hair over her face. She tried to tuck that hair away. "I probably would have hung up." She nodded then blew out a puff of air from the corner of her mouth to help move her hair. "Well at least you finally apologize for that." She crossed her arms, giving up on her hair, the wind kept coming.
Darien was now within inches of Serena. He reached his hand up to her face, she turned away, but he was still able to catch her hair and tuck it behind her ear. His warm fingers just brushing by her face."I know I have a lot of things to be sorry for, but I promise I will make it up to you."
She didn't say a word. Just turned around to admire the view some more. She wrapped her arms around herself, only to have Darien wrap his arms around her too. She thought about moving, and he must have known because his grip around her got tighter. His body warmth sent a sense of comfort throughout her body. It was all too familiar sense of comfort that she had missed.