Crescentia's Story

I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters from the Mange Series or anime…but I do own this storyline, any other characters outside of the original works of the Sailor Moon franchise, and any other fictional environment outside of the original Sailor Moon.

Chapter 19 - Uncertainties

Sunday

He woke up with a headache. More accurately, he hardly slept at all. Hence, his aneurysm inducing headache. Since his dreams began Friday, sleep was becoming an elusive fantasy he yearned for. The moment his eyes closed in sleep, the dreams came. Then he'd wake up with nausea and a strong unbearable need to vomit. Then he'd shut his eyes because inevitably, the spirit of Endymion appears to warn him that they would "lose her." Darien was sick of hearing that.

Earlier in the morning when he'd nodded off and bolted awake at the onset of the dreams, he'd come face to face with Endymion's ghost again, pronouncing his ominous warning. Exhausted from lack of sleep, head pounding, and emotions eroding his nerves, he lost it. He'd yelled at the phantom, demanding he says more than those five ominous words.

"What the hell do I do!? I've done everything I can! What more do you want from me!?" He yelled, his breathing haggard. But the ghostly Endymion continued its melancholy way, uttering the same words he'd been saying since appearing to Darien. It was completely unaffected by Darien's explosion. Then as if to prove that Darien's tantrum couldn't change whatever message he was here to deliver, he uttered those dreaded words again.

"We're going to lose her."

Darien growled, picked up a pillow and threw it at the transparent figure just as it disappeared. He'd stayed seated for a while, it was only 8 am after all. Then as his body relaxed, he woke himself, not wanting to succumb to any more dreams. The worst part of the dreams was that he was no longer dreaming about his first sweet time with Serena. The dreams were now entirely focused on their second disastrous sexual exploitation. But unlike the first time where the dream ended with Serena roasted by fire, this ending was so much worse in Darien's opinion. This was the reason he was fighting to keep from dreaming.

He stood up from the bed, drowsy and irritated. He poured four pills of ibuprofen in his hands and swallowed it down with a glass of water sitting by his bedside. He hoped the medicine would kick in soon to drive away the merciless pounding headache.

Then with slow steps, he made his way into the bathroom and stripped for a shower. As the warm water poured over his shoulders, his tired body soaked in the warmth of the water, luring him slowly into a state of half-consciousness.

"Darien,'' her voice echoed in his head softly.

He swore he felt her breath on his shoulder.

His body shivered as it woke to her voice. He felt ghostly fingers reach over his shoulder onto his upper chest. With eyes closed, he let his body experience everything his half-unconscious mind was dreaming. He felt her breath, tasted her luscious lips. He took her heavy breasts in the palms of his hands and groaned at the delicious weight. He leaned down and took those deliciously tempting nipples into his mouth, moaning at the velvet feel of them.

"Darien." she breathed again, her arms wrapped around his neck.

"More." She begged him and he wanted to give her more. Oh, he desperately wanted to give her more. He fidgeted with his pants, struggling to remove the belt from the loops. She was naked beneath him and that was exactly how she would be for the rest of her life. He'd make sure of it.

When he finally got his pants down and away, he could hardly wait to thrust his big heavy cock into her. God, he was dying for this woman. He positioned at her entrance, fantasies of hard and fast foreshadowing what he intended to do to his princes. He bent over her more to take her wet lips into his own greedy mouth.

"Mine, Serena, you are mine" he growled, consumed with a need to prove to her that she belonged to him and him alone. Then he shifted his body back to sail into her womb.

The phone rang.

"NO!" his half-conscious mind roared. But his body stilled, regardless of how much he wanted to force himself in the dream to ignore the call.

Then Rini's voice came on.

"Darien? It's me, Rini. I just arrived at the activity center, can you come get me? Are you home? Please call me back."

He felt his present self detach from the dream and watched once again as his past self turned away from Serena. He watched as the door closed. He watched as she folded in on herself, pain slicing through her at his abandonment. The Darien outside the dream fisted his hands, angry….just angry.

Then the door which had been shut by him opened slowly. Darien closed his eyes, afraid to witness what he had been seeing since Saturday night. But even as his eyes closed to shut out the scene, his ears were fully open. With his eyes closed, his ears were more sensitive than ever. He heard HIM approach the bed. He heard HIM take off his clothes. He heard HIM ruffle the bed covers as he crawled over her naked body. He knew exactly when she opened her eyes, the tears sliding down her cheeks. Even with his eyes closed, he saw how HE smiled at Serena, saw how Serena's eyes, which had been sad a moment ago, light up with fires of lust and joy.

"Raizen." she breathed his name just as she'd done with Darien. Bile rose in Darien's stomach.

"I will never leave you," Raizen said, his voice husky and his eyes full of lust, adoration, and sincerity. "Never ever."

Darien wanted to scream as the man took his woman, pleasuring her as he had and so much more. Serena moaned louder, more urgent and needy. It sliced through Darien sharper than any blade could. Her body rose to meet him as if she couldn't stand a second without them touching every part of herself to him. She screamed when he sucked on her breasts and she begged him, begged him for more. Darien shut his eyes so tightly his forehead creased painfully. He tried to block out the noise of the two lovers but covering his ears was no use. Raizen was taking his woman the way he had intended to, fast, furious and yet so deep she could do nothing but scream in pain, in pleasure.

"Don't stop, oh God don't stop." she huffed out, thrusting upwards to meet him. Raizen groaned and picked up speed, his body shining with sweats, his own voice hoarse from crying out her name.

Then he stopped and watched as her aching yearning twisting body demanded he continue. But he held still until she came down out of her high and opened her lust darkened eyes to his.

"Rai…"

"I love you." Then he slammed in her one more time, throwing both of them over a precipice they hadn't even realized they'd been standing at the edge of. Their screams were drowned out by Darien's own scream of pain as his physical body slipped in the shower, slamming his head to the wall.

He laid still for several minutes, his breathing ragged.

When he recovered from the shock, he tried to stand. He used the wall of the bathroom to stabilize himself, nearly slipping again. He felt the side of his forehead. Yup, he was swelling.

"Fuck" he cursed as he gingerly turned off the tab and walked himself out of the tub. His headache was back with a vengeance.

After an hour of taking more painkillers, putting ice on his swelling forehead, and cursing out his frustration, he sat on his living room sofa, exhausted and hopeless. He kept glancing at the phone. He wanted to pick it up and call the Tsukinos to see if they had any news on Serena's whereabouts but he resisted the urge. He felt out of touch with himself, out of sort. He felt as if he was experiencing everything through an out of body experience. Something in him wanted to scream, wanted to reach out and stop the madness but to do that, he had to let the madness in. He had to give way and let it consume him. He was just afraid that if he did, he'd never rise again.

"All I have," he said in a monotonous voice so unlike him, "is my pride."

Lost in his own emptiness, he didn't even recognize what he had admitted. Didn't realize its significance.

Didn't realize the sadness associated with it.

The doorbell rang.

Darien jumped out of his skin, brought to the present by the sound of the doorbell. Before he could get up to unlock it, he heard the lock turn. He cringed, an unknown fury briefly washing through his system. But as quickly as it had come on, it went away, leaving him confused and little apprehensive.

"Darien!" Rini cried out his name as she ran to him. He picked her up and hugged her.

"Hi munchkin," he said, faking enthusiasm he did not feel.

"Hi"

"Good morning"

The girls greeted with smiles. He glanced briefly at them, returning their smiles even as an echo of what he thought last night reverberated through his mind.

'She doesn't have any friends.'

He felt guilty suddenly so he buried his face in Rini's neck as he hugged her harder. These girls weren't supposed to be in his apartment, in his life without her. How had things switched so completely? In his guilt, he didn't even notice that it wasn't just Serena that was missing from the usual group of five.

"We're going shopping! You should come with us!" Rini said when he let her go.

"I'd love to, dear but I have a lot of materials I need to go over." He told her.

Her face dropped in disappointment.

"I feel like you've been distant lately. You're not mad at me are you?" she asked as she looked down, her eyes sad and scared. That gave him a pause. Had he? He couldn't remember acting distant but maybe he'd done so and not know it. He knelt eye level to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Rini. I've been a bit busy lately. I am not mad at you at all." he said. She looked up at him.

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I am going to be starting my residency soon. I just have a lot to do before then."

"Will you hang out with us when you have some free time?" she asked, her eyes shining.

"Of course," he promised.

After a few more reassuring promises, the girls left his apartment but not before he noticed the look of concern and contemplation on Rei's face. He turned away from her, feeling spiteful that she could read him at all and knowing that his spite went deeper than he was willing to acknowledge.

As the girls left Darien's apartment, Rei felt a bit unsettled.

Darien hardly looked at them.

He paid attention to Rini, but not to them. He hadn't even asked where Mina was. And like Rini, she too had noticed that Darien had distanced himself a little. What was going on between Darien and Mina lately? Both seemed lost.

'Hope it has nothing to do with Serena's disappearance.' she thought a bit peevishly.

"Rei?" She blinked and looked up to find Amy, Lita, and Rini looking at her questioningly.

"Yeah?" she asked, not sure what she'd missed.

"Are you planning to cross the street anytime today?" Lita asked, an eyebrow lifted. She looked around her and realized the crosswalk sign had long begun its countdown.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Just lost in thought," she said.

They crossed the street and continued on to their destination.

From a distance, atop a building, Mina watched the progression of the girls, her face a sad reflection of her inner turmoil. Since waking up last weekend in a drunken mess at Rei's house, she'd felt a sickness in her soul she couldn't explain. Being around the girls only made her feel worse.

Lately, when she looks in the mirror, she finds it hard to recognize the eyes that stared back at her. And if her own inner conflict wasn't bad enough, she was now feeling a-ways about Serena and those damned sisters.

Those weird sisters had appeared and Serena had vanished. There was a thread connecting these incidents but she could not see it. She'd try to look for Serena on her own but had no luck.

'What is happening to us?' she asked herself that question a million times over the past week. She felt a true sense of fear she hadn't felt since….

'Since before I met her' her mind supplied.

She shut her eyes to that one truth, the one truth that led to all the other truths she was too chicken to face.

She couldn't go near her friends without wanting to throw up, she hadn't been able to find Serena, and she felt like the apocalypse was about to reign on them.

She was scared, she knew it.

"What's happening?" she asked the emptiness around her mournfully as she wrapped her arms around herself.

The girls spent most of the morning shopping. By noon, Lita was grateful that their shopping trip was over. They retired to the Crown Arcade where a certain blonde college man took their orders.

It was a rather peaceful Sunday, not much happening. These were the kinds of days Lita lived for. And yet today, she couldn't seem to make herself enjoy the peace and quiet. In fact, she really really wanted something to happen. It had been a long time since she felt the need for violence.

'Not since meeting Serena.' she briefly thought.

By the time she turned fourteen years, she had transferred school four times in order to avoid expulsion. She had been an angry child, bitter by the circumstances that had rendered her an orphan at such an early age. Her parents' death on the plane crash when she was ten years old resulted in a temper no one could control. The rest of her family, her aunts and uncles, didn't want to deal with her. Neither could any friends she'd had before or had attempted to make.

Anger didn't make for good company.

She had caused so much trouble that at the age of 14, she had been emancipated by the court to live on her own as an adult. She suspected that the emancipation was so that the court system could trial her as an adult rather than a minor if she caused any more problems.

When she transferred to Juban Public Middle School, she had been strictly warned that if she caused any more problems, she would face jail time or at least, end up in a detention center. She hadn't cared about going to jail. She hadn't feared jail at all. It was the last thing her aunt had said to her that forced her to make an effort to change.

"Don't bring any more shame to your mother and father. They were good people and your behavior reflects very badly on them."

Anger and guilt had silenced her usually sharp tongue. She'd attempted to tame the wildness in her, the anger. She'd gone approximately two weeks before some kids in the neighborhood annoyed her and she swung her fists. She'd been called to the principal's office and sternly warned that this was her last chance. Her aunt, who had been called to come meet with the principal and the families of the boys Lita had beaten up, had refused and disowned her. She'd walked out of that meeting hating all adults, and basically all people.

Rumors about her violent temper and her record of violence spread through the school until no one wanted to stand even ten feet of her. She'd convinced herself that she was cool with that. That she was better off alone anyway. Until one day, a blonde-haired blue-eyed klutz appeared in front of her and showed her how to solve problems without raising a fist.

She hadn't asked Lita to change, but Lita had changed because the girl had shown her that she was worth being loved and she wasn't alone anymore.

So why, after four years of calmness, was she feeling nearly homicidal? Why was her aggression returning with a vengeance? She was aching for an enemy to attack them so she could use up the aggression that was building up in her system.

"Lita?" Amy's soft voice interrupted her dark contemplation. She turned to her friend, saw the concern and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"Just tired," she said, evading her real problem.

"Not sleeping well?" Amy asked.

"Yeah."

"Me too."

They lapsed into silence and watched Rei and Rini chat with Molly and some girls who had gathered around them.

"So where is Mina?" One of the girls asked.

"Yeah, it's not like you guys to go shopping without the queen of shopping." Another girl chipped in.

Lita took this opportunity to look out the glass wall, pretending to be engrossed in something even as her spirit troubled over the absence of their other blonde friend. It seemed the blondes in their group were becoming extinct.

Amy shrugged, also troubled by Mina's absence.

Rei had told them that when she called to invite Mina, the girl had declined her invitation. There were several things wrong with that.

One, Mina never turned down shopping. Never.

Two, since Monday, it had become visibly apparent that Mina was keeping her distance.

She disappeared right after school, hardly returned phone calls, and when they met in school, she often tuned them out. All these behaviors were very unlike the bubbly blonde they'd known these past four years. But like Lita, when Amy had asked her what was wrong, she had answered with, "Just tired."

"She isn't feeling well so she took a rain check," Amy answered the girls. The lie was so obvious even the other girls raised a brow but no one questioned her any further.

After consuming the food Andrew had plated for them, they went to see an afternoon movie. A ritual they'd been doing for about a year now since the movie theater started charging half price on Sunday mornings and afternoons. They left the theater with several of the girls they had lunch with, arguing over the merits of the movie. Lita and Amy stayed out of the debates as neither had really paid attention to the movie.

Lita had been lost in thought, remembering her life as a child before and after her parents passed away.

She had been an adorably happy child. A tomboy from the get-go.

As an only child, she'd had her parents' full attention. Her father who had wanted a son but got her made sure that his little girl could run and play like every boy. He hadn't treated her like a glass doll needing protection. No, the man had taught her wrestling, martial arts, and treated her like she was his son. Lita hadn't minded though because her nature had been tomboyish anyways. She preferred getting dirty than sitting around being dainty. And she knew that despite her being a girl, her father loved her very much.

Lita's mother, however, hadn't been too happy about her baby girl tumbling around with the boys as if she was one of them. To counterbalance her husband's masculine influence, Lita's mother had forced her to learn needlework, cooking, and other female etiquettes. Lita had hated those lessons.

As a child, she had firmly believed she was going to become a pro wrestler, and as far as she was concerned, pro wrestlers didn't wear pink taffeta and chignon hair buns.

Lita was struggling to reconcile who she was today to who her parents would have wanted her to be. Was she who her parents wanted her to be? Was she who she wanted to be? She wanted answers but she didn't know who to ask. Amy, she could ask but she'd realized last week that Amy wanted to live in denial. Lita wanted to do so too but it had never been her style.

She can live in ignorance, but not in denial. Until Amy faced the problem Lita herself was avoiding, neither she nor any of the girls would give her answers that were objective and true. An image of Serena popped into her mind.

Lita sighed.

Beside her, Amy watched the distress on her friend's face and felt guilty and sad at the same time. Sad because Lita didn't seem to trust her enough to share whatever was causing her so much distress. She felt guilty because she knew of Lita's discontent but she had made a choice for herself, and she wasn't going back.

She couldn't go back.

They wandered around the shopping district, with no real destination in mind. They wandered aimlessly which started to grate on Lita's nerves. She felt like she was wasting her time, not sure what she was doing with this group of girls.

Aimless.
She had never minded aimlessness before and Serena had been the queen of aimlessness.

'No...that's not quite true…' her subconscious contradicted. She blinked, wondering where those words had come from. In her mind, she remembered the many times they followed Serena to one place or other, destination seemingly meaningless.

'But she always made an adventure out of it so it never felt like we were aimless. And we had fun. This just feels forced. Like we're trying to tape together broken glass.' She grew angry with herself at the comparisons that seem to be popping up in her mind more and more recently.

'I need to stop'

"Well well well...what have we got here? If it isn't a teacher molesting his student. Or did the little tramp come onto you?"

Lita's head shot up at the nastiness of the words and the tone. Her eyes widened with disbelief and shock at Rei's audacity and her meanness.

'Did she just call Serena a tramp?' Lita wondered in disbelief.

Lita watched every muscle in Raizen's body stiffen. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand, a rush of energy and power so potent it nearly knocked her off her feet. The man whispered something to Serena whose face none of them could see because Raizen's big bulk hid most of her. When he turned around slowly to face them, placing his body protectively between Serena and them, Lita gulped and broke out in cold sweat.

This man is dangerous. Very dangerous.

"What the fuck did you call her?" Raizen asked, his voice a deep dark smoothness that kicked Lita's adrenaline up through the roof.

His eyes were dark pools of unconcealed rage.

Lita and the girls took several steps back, their eyes widened in fear.

'Holy fuck.'

Please Read and Review

I know this one is pretty short...biut chapter 20 will make up for it if I can motivate myself enough to finish it!

Enjoy and sorry for the bad edit! I was watching the food channel while trying to edit this! it was a lost cause!