Chapter 3: Ideas
Serena woke up with a giant headache the next morning. The girls' makeover plan wasn't quite as successful as they thought it would be. If anything, it probably only made Serena sadder. While the hairdresser was trying to pull apart her buns, she screamed and cried and whined like a child. Thinking about yesterday's events added more pain to Serena's pounding headache.
"NO, you can't cut it off!!!" she whined. The hairdresser stepped back; she wasn't used to having a client with the mentality of a two year-old.
"Why not Serena? Change can be good for a person," Mina insisted. She didn't think this would have such a great effect on her.
"I know it is... it's just-" Raye cut off Serena." God Serena stop being such a little brat! We took you here so that you would cheer up and now you're being a baby. Knock it off!!" Serena silenced for a moment, just staring at Raye.
How can she possibly understand, she thought, does she even know what it's like to be in love?
"Well!!!!" Raye interrupted.
"How can you say that? You don't know what it's like to be in love with someone so much and then all of a sudden, it's taken all away, it's not fair!" she cried. Even if Raye felt remotely hurt by this, she didn't show it.
"Why does everything have to be a you? That's all you think about! You you you you! I'm sick of it, have you ever thought that Darien might've left you because of your selfishness?!" she snapped nastily. Tears welled in Serena's eyes and she didn't say a word. She backed up near the exit of the door.
"Now Serena WAIT," Amy insisted. Her words fell upon deaf ears; Serena dashed out of the place as if it were to collapse. All four of them let out exasperated sighs.
"Oh great Raye, now look what you've gone and done," Lita blamed. Raye crossed her arms over her chest and gave them an acid look.
"Okay, if you want to blame me then that's fine, but you can't keep treating her like a baby! She has to learn how to grow up and deal with these things. How is she going to get stronger when all you guys do is coddle her? How can she have the strength to be our leader when she's still bawling over Darien? She doesn't need that!" Raye yelled. The other three girls didn't say anything. Raye was right. How could they expect Serena to be a good leader if she's depressed all the time. It would seriously affect her actions on the battlefield, putting everyone in danger.
"She's right you guys," Amy said, looking down at her feet.
"But you could have least shown your support, don't you think you were a little hard on her?" Mina questioned.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Raye lowered her voice, "But that still doesn't mean that my opinion has changed."
That was the last Serena heard of their conversation. They didn't know, but she stayed hidden nearby the boutique and heard their argument. They were right though; she had to stop moping around. Her actions affect the rest of them and she had to use the better of her judgment.
I shouldn't let my breakup with Darien affect me so badly, she thought, but how can I live without him? She looked around her room, almost everything she had reminded her of them, some of which were actually Darien's. She had his watch, his shirt, and other stuff. It was about time that she be rid of the burden called love. It couldn't be that hard, right?
Serena got up out of her bed and walked over to her closet. There, she picked up an empty box to put all of the stuff in. If she intended to get over Darien then she had to give all of the stuff back. As the box filled more and more, Serena sighed and reminisced about the good times she had with him. Everything was going great, up until he broke up with her. Why did he do something like that? Just the week before he said he was going to love her forever and now he said that he didn't feel the same anymore. Are men really that fickle? How can that be?
No, I can't do this to myself, she thought, I have to get over myself and get rid of this. Once she was satisfied with what she put in box, there was one thing left to give back, her star locket. She lifted the pillow on her bed and revealed a shining, polished locket. That was what started it all between her and Tuxedo Mask and the way she swooned every time she heard its lullaby. She opened it, to let the melody fill her ears one last time.
(Meanwhile)
"Diamond, I believe I have some information for you," the Wiseman crept up from the shadows.
"Oh and what's this?" Diamond asked, obviously interested.
"The only way that we can win and retrieve the Imperium Silver crystal is to capture its beholder," Wiseman replied. Diamond only chuckled.
"Of course Wiseman, do you take me for a fool, this is the obvious answer."
"Yes, I knew that you already thought about this, but there is...something else," he said.
"Hmmm?"
"You see we must have another strong warrior to our side in order to complete the task you have ambitioned for. We also need the crystal, so as soon as we capture Sailor Moon, we need to bring her over to our side." This interested the Prince a great deal.
"I've wanted to capture her, but I didn't think about her fighting for our side. How would we pull that off? Sailor Moon isn't exactly the type to stab all of her friends in the back."
"That's true my lord, but all we need is to somehow get her here and then the hardest part would already be completed."
"Well what do you plan to do with her?" the prince asked.
"Provided that we collect all of the necessary energy, we can manipulate her," he answered, "It wouldn't be that hard, for you see, the love that ties that tuxedo bandit to Sailor Moon has been severed." Diamond's eyes couldn't have gotten wider.
"Oh is that true?' he asked chuckling.
"Yes and right now she's very weak from the strain in her heart. If we attack soon to get the energy, then Sailor Moon won't be at optimum level to fight, leaving us the perfect opportunity to capture her."
The prince stayed silent for a while, contemplating this plan. He liked it very much.
"That's perfect, now how would we arrange for the attack?" he asked.
"I've decided that Emerald should instigate it and soon the scouts will come running to save the day. We'll make it seem like they've won and then 'steal' Sailor Moon," he explained.
"Are you sure Emerald is suited for the job, why not send Sapphire?" he suggested.
"I'm not sure he'd be happy to oblige, but Emerald has been trained properly and she will follow orders at the whim of your command," Wiseman said. The Prince thought about this, he really didn't want Emerald to be sent out on such an important mission. He knew her all too well, when she looses her temper, it clouds up her judgment. He didn't want her hurt pride or whatever it may be to get her angry, to screw up anything. Sapphire would be better suited for this, he was cool, rational, and levelheaded, although something obviously has been bothering him.
"Fine, I guess it should work, but she must know that we cannot afford any mistakes if she looses her temper. It would cost us much if she messed up," Diamond said.
"As you command my lord," Wiseman said before retreating into the darkness. Now all I have to do is convince Emerald to take the mission and then the crystal along with its power is as good as mine, he thought maliciously.
Serena walked down the hallway to Darien's apartment. She intended to return his things to him so she wouldn't be reminded of "them" anymore. However, every step closer to his apartment seemed harder to take than the last.
Contain yourself Serena, she thought, you're just returning his stuff, and it's no big deal. After about ten minutes of unnecessary dawdling and thinking, she finally found herself in front of his door. She let out a big sigh and attempted a knock, but found that she couldn't bring herself to do it.
C'mon Serena, just KNOCK already, she screamed in her mind. Finally, she rapped the door three times. No one answered, so she rapped again. Exasperated that no one answered, she turned back and started walking back down the hallway, but then she heard the door open and she whirled around.
"Serena?" she was met with the surprised gaze of Darien. Immediately, she tried to find the words to say.
C'mon, she thought, it's just like we rehearsed before coming here. Here Darien, I'm returning some of your things so we can move on, so see ya! The words didn't exactly come out like she planned.
"Ummm... here Darien, these.... are...uh...s-some of your things...that I have to give back to you," she stammered and looked up at him. For a moment, she thought she saw the same hurt and pain in his eyes that she had in her own. However, those thoughts quickly vanished when he said his next sentence.
"Oh, so that's why you're here meatball head. I would've thought it was something stupid like you begging me to take you back and we both know that wasn't going to happen. So thanks for the things and I guess you should be on your way now, you see I'm kind of busy and you're bothering me," he said coldly.
Serena couldn't stop the flow of tears that ran from her eyes. How could he be so harsh and nasty? This wasn't the Darien she loved. She glanced over to his door and saw Rini's shoes. Funny, she thought, He seems to love Rini just fine, so what's wrong with me. Darien was surprised at her lack of reaction. By now he'd expect her to run away and cry or beat the hell out of him or something, the silence was disturbing him.
"You spend a lot of time with Rini lately," she said quietly.
"Uh yeah, but not like that's any of your business," he said, dumbfounded at her statement. Now Serena decided to be a little bold.
"You've always cared about her more than me, haven't you!?" she accused, not bothering to wipe away her tears.
"Serena-"
"No Darien, don't talk! What's the matter, it wasn't like I did anything wrong and you kick me to the curb like I have some disease, but Rini's still your 'little favorite'," she emphasized the last words and stared at him coldly.
"Serena please, I think you're just upset, calm down a bit," he said, putting his hands up in defense.
"No I won't calm down! Here's your stuff and thanks for nothing!" she yelled before storming down the hall. Darien was tempted to run after her, but decided against it.
It's for the best, he thought, I can't fight for her and be attracted to her at the same time. Why not? Hadn't he done that before? What was so wrong with it?
Damn dream! he thought. Who would've known that a dream could hold so much power over his life. He couldn't risk her being harmed though. He'd never forgive himself. He wept silently as he made his way into his own apartment.