Two
"Ay me! For ought that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth"
A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare
Serena waited impatiently in front of the movie theater. She looked down at her watch again; Darien was extremely late. She sighed, finally deciding to give up. She began to make her way back home. Darien was never late. She was confused, why hadn't he shown up tonight? She decided to go to his apartment and make sure everything was all right. Her thoughts were jumbled as she made her way to his building. Something was definitely not right. She made her way up the elevator. As she rounded the last corner, she heard some quiet voices coming from the hallway in front of Darien's door. One was distinctly Darien, but she didn't recognize the other. It was a young woman's voice, sweet as bell and gentle as a breeze. Serena looked around the corner, confused. What she saw shocked her. Right there, in front of her was Darien and the other woman. Their lips were locked in a kiss. The other young woman was older than Serena; that was sure. She had a shock of beautiful auburn hair that was pinned nicely behind her ear. Her face was simple but beautiful. She was tall and slender; she looked stunning in the long green dress that she wore. Serena felt tears well up in her eyes. How could Darien do this to her?
"Darien?" the name was no more but a whisper and Serena couldn't help but let it slip from her lips. The two both looked up at the sound. Serena was not mistaken; it was her Darien that had been kissing the beautiful woman. She couldn't find her voice. She was frozen to the ground. Tears were spilling now freely from her eyes, staining her cheeks. The look that was on his face was at first surprise, then recognition, and finally remorse. After what seemed like hours, though it was only a couple seconds, Serena found her legs. She turned quickly and ran as fast as her shaky legs could carry her. She buried her face deep into her hands. Her chest felt heavy, she could feel a pain deep inside her. She couldn't believe what she had seen. Darien had always said that he loved her, was he lying? She kept running; she could hear footsteps behind her.
"Serena!" Darien shouted after her. She didn't stop; she couldn't stop. He was faster than she was and quickly cut her off.
"Serena." He said again, this time softer.
"Please," her words were just barely above a whisper and they came out ragged and shaky, "Let me pass, Darien."
"Serena." He gently laid his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him, her face was tear-stained. Her eyes searched his for a second and then she looked away. They both stood there in an awkward silence.
"Why?" she finally asked.
"I..." Darien searched for the right answer, "I don't know, Serena. It's just, I couldn't... You're so young Serena; I'm three years older than you are. Sometimes, you and I just don't make a good match. I'm sorry Serena. Please understand."
He had expected her to get angry. But instead, she looked up into his eyes. The large shimmering pools of tranquil blue told him that he had hurt her, more than anyone could ever.
"I don't ... love... you anymore." He finally said.
She looked down, getting control of her voice before she looked back up, "I understand." She finally said, beginning to walk away.
"Serena." He called after her. She stopped and turned again.
"I do care about you." He said, "You know that, don't you?"
She hesitated and then nodded.
"You're still one of my closest friends." He said, his eyes pleading.
She closed her eyes forcing a smile, "Friends." She repeated. With that she turned and disappeared around the corner.
* * *
"I have a feeling that the Negaverse is just waiting to build up its strength to attack us." Mina commented as she lounged around in Serena's bedroom.
"I agree." Lita added, "Right now it's too quiet. It's not like the Negaverse to leave us alone for such a long time."
The five Sailor Scouts were all in Serena's home, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. They were planning their strategy.
"Is Darien joining us?" Ami asked, looking at Serena.
She sighed, shrugging. "I don't know." She finally replied.
"What do you mean? Shouldn't we call him, Tuxedo Mask plays a big role in our plans!" Rei asked.
"He... broke up... with me." Serena replied surrendering.
"He what?" The others all said at the same time.
"Why?" Mina asked.
"He found someone older, and more mature." Serena sighed, "I guess I should have known. I'm such a klutz and a crybaby, who would want to go out with me?"
"Serena," Ami cut in, "Don't be so hard on yourself. You've changed a lot now. You are a great leader for the Sailor Scouts, you risk your life to save others, and you really care."
"Yeah, Serena." Lita added.
"You're a great friend Serena," Rei said, "Despite all that. He's being very foolish to let a girl like you go."
Serena forced a smile, "I guess you guys are right." She sighed, "But I miss him so much."
The room was silent; they all watched the young woman thoughtfully.
"Well," Mina said, "We have to be blunt about this. We need Tuxedo Mask. If something goes wrong, we need him to be our back up."
"I know." Serena replied, "Maybe you guys could call him. He'll come if he knew it had something to do with the Negaverse."
"You guys aren't going to be awkward or anything will you?" Lita asked, hesitating.
Serena shook her head, "No. We're friends still, I guess."
"All right," Ami said picking up the phone, "I'll call him."
* * *
While they waited for Darien to arrive, they made out their plans, with the help of Luna and Artemis.
"The Negaverse seems to be gathering their forces in the mountain forest." Luna spoke up.
"That way, they can hide their numbers." Artemis agreed.
"Then we'll have to go to the forest and find them." Serena decided.
"But the forest is so big!" Lita exclaimed, "How will we be able to find them there?"
The others thought about this.
"We could split up, we'd make better time." Ami suggested.
"Good idea, Ami." Rei agreed, "But we should have at least two per team. Going alone can be dangerous."
"Right, we have six people. We could just make three groups of two." Ami added.
"What's this about groups?" a voice interrupted behind them. They all turned. Darien was standing in the doorway.
"Hello Darien." They greeted him.
"We were just discussing about going to the forest and finding the Negaverse's hidden troops." Lita told him.
"Hidden troops?" Darien asked even more confused.
"Both Artemis and I have been able to feel their presence in the mountain forests. If we let the Negaverse keep building their forces up, we'll certainly be outnumbered." Luna replied.
"Right, but since the forest is so big, we have to spilt up into groups to search for them." Mina continued.
"We figured if we spilt up into three groups of two, we'd be able to cover more ground but still have some safety in numbers." Rei finally finished. There was a moment of silence as Darien absorbed all this new information.
"When do you think we should leave?" he finally asked.
"As soon as possible." Luna replied rather firmly, "Wouldn't you agree, Serena?"
The young woman hadn't spoken ever since Darien had arrived. Now everyone looked at her. Darien's eyes seemed to show more kindness than before and an almost pleading look.
"I think that would be the wisest decision." Serena finally replied thoughtfully, purposely avoiding Darien's gaze, "The sooner we find these troops, the more time we'll have to defeat them."
"Do you have a map of the mountain range?" Ami asked, thinking ahead, "We should plan out what land we should cover and who we should pair together."
"Yeah," her voice sounded quiet, and small. She got up and examined her shelf. "It should be somewhere in here." She deftly picked out a map, handing it to Ami. The smartest of the sailor scouts opened the map up. Everyone crowded around to see.
"This is a lot of area to cover." Ami was saying. Suddenly there was a cry from outside.
Serena quickly got up, "I'll see what it is." She said to the others. She ran quickly to the front door. The others turned back to their study of the map. Serena opened the door slowly, looking outside for any signs of trouble. Suddenly, she found a small figure clinging to her leg. She looked down surprised. It was a little girl. She had bouncing pink hair that was tied into two little pigtails. She wore a small blue dress that had large pink ribbons on it. The outfit was torn in many places and covered in dust.
"Rini!" Serena exclaimed, kneeling down, "What happened? Why are you here?" She quickly closed the door and picked up the small child. Rini was a girl from the future, the daughter of Queen Serenity and the King of the Earth, who were Serena and Darien in this time. They had only discovered this a couple months ago and had sent Rini back to the future to live with her parents, since it was thought Serena and Darien were too young to take care of their daughter yet.
"Mommy!" Rini exclaimed quickly clasping Serena around the neck.
"Come now, Rini." Serena said quickly wiping away the little girl's tears. "It's all right, everyone is in the other room. Why don't we go there, and then you could explain this to us, all right?"
Rini nodded, "Is Daddy here too?"
Serena nodded hesitantly, "Darien's here." She picked the little girl up, "Let's go." The others were talking still when the two entered the room. Mina looked up for a moment, acknowledging them, then she turned back to the discussion. As if suddenly realizing what she'd seen she turned around again, in surprise.
"Rini!" she exclaimed. At this, everyone looked up.
"Rini," Ami said getting up, "What are you doing back here in this time?"
"Mommy and Daddy sent me back again." Rini replied, she was still crying.
Serena wiped the tears away. "It's OK, Rini." She said, "You look tired, why don't I take you upstairs to your old room? After you've rested, you can explain this to us."
Rini nodded tiredly, burying her head into Serena's shoulder. Then she looked up again, "Can you come too, Darien?" she asked hopefully. Serena looked at the young man. He seemed hesitant, but then he smiled and nodded. The two of them made their way up the stairs.
"I'm scared, Serena." Rini finally said, "I'm really scared."
"I know," Serena replied, "But you're safe now, all right?"
The little girl just nodded. Serena laid the child down onto her bed. Rini looked up at her future parents standing next to her bed. Then she sighed happily.
"I missed you guys." She finally said.
Serena laughed, "We missed you too, Rini." She said. She bent over and gently kissed the girl on the forehead. "Now get some rest."
"Will you still be here when I wake up?" Rini asked, looking at Darien. The young man looked over at Serena.
"Um, yeah." He finally said, "I will be."
She seemed satisfied at this, and closed her eyes. Almost immediately she was asleep. Serena watched Rini sleep for a moment. She felt tears well up in her eyes; finally she turned and began to make her way downstairs. A gentle hand on her shoulder told her to stop. She turned around, seeing Darien.
"We are still friends, right?" he asked, looking at her curiously.
Serena nodded, "Yes, I guess. Good friends." She looked at Rini, and sighed. "She looks so angelic when she's sleeping, doesn't she?"
Darien turned and looked at his future daughter, "Yes, she does. She really does."
Serena sighed again, "We should probably go and finish our planning."
Yeah," Darien agreed, following her out of the room. He stopped her again on the stairwell.
"You aren't mad at me, are you Serena?" he asked, there was genuine worry in his voice, "I don't want to hurt you."
Serena smiled, "How could I be mad at you Darien?" she asked, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. However, her voice still held a tone of pain and sorrow in it. The two finally joined the other scouts.
"Rini's asleep." Serena announced to them.
"Great!" Lita said getting up, "We also decided the groups and the territories we'd cover."
"We figured you'd probably want to take Rini with you, Serena." Ami continued.
Serena nodded, "Definitely, it's not safe leaving her alone."
"So we put you and Darien in a group, so that Rini could have both of you," Mina added, "Rei and I will be on a team, Lita and Ami will be a team."
"Sounds good." Darien replied coming over to examine the map. "What have we decided on the area to cover."
"Well," Ami said taking the map again, "Since the city is on the south side of the forest, we figured that we'd just take the three remaining cardinal directions. You and Serena will take north, Lita and I will take west and Rei along with Mina will cover the east portion."
"If anything goes wrong," Mina added, "We use our communicators."
"I advise that we leave as soon as possible. Hopefully we'll be gone by tonight." Luna added.
"We have a couple hours then," Rei said looking at her watch, "Why don't we go home and get our things and meet back here in two hours."
"Actually," Artemis said, "We've already prepared packs for you."
"We are magical cats, after all." Luna added.
"Each of you has a searching device, a sleeping bag, food, a fire starting kit, a compass, a map, a first aid kit, some flares, and other essential things. Each group will be sharing a tent, so that there are less things to carry." Artemis went on to say.
Serena laughed, "You think of everything don't you?"
"Of course." Luna replied rather indignantly, "Now you guys should just go home to get any clothes and things that you need to bring. Be sure not to take along too much, you don't want to have to carry a heavy load all the time."
The Scouts nodded and soon everyone had left for home. Serena sat down thoughtfully on the couch, finally realizing how tired she was. After the little incident the night before, she hadn't gotten much sleep.
