If the battle scene latter in this feels well… crapy, that's probably because I'm on a whole lot of antibiotics and it really didn't want to be written. But! I've got two nights to finish the story or you all have to wait even longer for more updates because I'm going to England. And the battle scene was the part of this installment that needed to be written still.
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"When Dawn Comes"
By Kimra
Part XXIII
The name 'Serena' hung in the air between them. Her hands fidgeted, her body reminding her suddenly that she was still somewhat pressed against him. She jerked back, putting a small but obvious amount of distance between the two of them. He watched her carefully, his attention riveted, the uncertainty still there.
"I-" She stopped and stared at him, reliving those thoughts of who he was. It felt so right that it would be Darien, and so wrong at the same time. They where both so different, and if Tuxedo Mask was Darien she would have to have a word with him about cheating on her Sailor form with her human one. That made no sense Serena. She told herself and looked about quickly to find that four girls where staring at them, but they stood far enough away not to have heard her name on his lips. "I have to kill that Youma." She managed scrambling away from him before standing on shaky legs and walking away from him. She felt his eyes on her back, watching each step she took so she took those steps purposefully ordering control to be maintained through her tingling body.
She pulled off her tiara, walking past the other girls and charged it.
He was Darien, she knew it in her bones like something she had already known and failed to acknowledge before the moment his lips had met hers. And he knew, knew who she was because Tuxedo Mask had never made advances to her, especially as he had just done. And that kiss had been a replica of their parting kiss in his apartment that morning even his gloved hand beneath her chin, directing her gaze to him, had been the same.
She wondered if he had done it on purpose, given her the key to his identity with his touch. It was possible, unlikely but possible.
She vaguely followed through the motions of releasing her tiara, not paying attention as the Youma crumbled to dust her back already turned from it, the tiara slipping back into place where it belonged.
"Those attacks where far stronger then anything they've thrown at us so far." Lita grumbled, her knuckles cracking in distaste, the corner of her eye trailing the new scout.
"It does appear that the Negaverse has been storing energy in an attempt to capture one of us. Or perhaps all." Amy too kept her eyes on the stranger.
"Did you just kiss Tuxedo Mask?" Raye shouted, far less tact then the other two.
A bubbly voice interrupted them. "That was so romantic!"
Serena looked to the new girl and found the girl was smiling at her encouragingly. The look in Venus's eyes suggested she knew far more then Serena wanted her to. "Yeah, sure, Romantic." Serena replied voice dripping with sarcasm then smiled at the scout. "Thanks for saving our lives Sailor Venus." Then looked at her friends. "Guy's we'll talk latter, I promise."
She walked past them to the awaiting Tuxedo Mask, and together they left the battlefield and four unsated Sailor Scouts.
As if to drive matters home for her, Tuxedo Mask lead her across roof tops at a quick pace before landing on what she immediately recognised as Darien's balcony. She could tell when she glanced at the building, the street below and finally when she walked through the glass doors to the desolate apartment. The scent of him lingered in the air with appeal.
Nervously she faced him taking the step required to bring her chest in contact with his own, then with trembling fingers she pulled the mask she hated with a passion away. Behind it she found the same perfect blue eyes she had been staring into a lot recently.
"Darien." She stated, just in case there was some misunderstanding. His smile was so timid it didn't suit either the Darien she knew nor Tuxedo Mask. She released her transformation, feeling more comfortable confronting him as Serena, she winched a little at the pinch where she had been wounded.
"Are you okay?" He asked casually and she looked up to find he too had de-transformed. His fingers swept the side of her shirt up quickly to find nothing but a pink mark along her side. She nodded her head quickly pushing his hand away and settling her shirt back. Scowling at the assumed physical rights he was claiming with her. She was far to uncertain at that moment to allow such closeness between them. It was strange having two persona's from your life suddenly merge into the one complex being. This was no longer Darien the jerk who she had been sleeping with, nor was he Tuxedo Mask the mystery who would always be there for her. This was a man of contradictions, who had offered her comfort and confusion, and friendship and enmity all at once. It was too much to process, to much to consider. Her mind wanted to go through every encounter they had ever had from the beginning and reinsert that extra personality that had appeared. Their first meeting, the first time she had met Darien, it had been Tuxedo Mask insulting her, picking on her hair and her grades, the other night when Tuxedo Mask had held her and comforted her it had been Darien doing that.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She growled, forgetting that they had never held any form of honesty between there normal forms. Even with sex in the picture there had never been real honesty.
"I did." He replied his voice cracking a little. She spun to stare at him, her confusion shifting into anger as it so easily did.
"When? I didn't hear you say it!" She screeched. He caught her hand and pulled her firm against him.
"You know though don't you?" He demanded, his brows pulled close, his eyes pleading. She saw his point, he had told her, in that one simple kiss he had told her everything she needed to know about who he was.
"Yes." She chocked out, staring up at him. "I know now." Her voice wavered only a little on those words, her eyes sharp as she fought the pain she felt.
"We need to talk." He told her calmly. A half laugh half sob escaped her at the words and she glared up into his eyes.
"You knew yesterday didn't you? After that battle." She moaned her head cradling in her hands. "I'm such an idiot, you knew then!"
"I'm not entirely stupid Serena, you ran out of the arcade like the devil himself was after you, and two seconds latter I get the summons for a battle. I get to the battle and you where still panting for breath." He stared down at her, a little on the mocking side. "And honestly, the second the thought was in my head I couldn't deny it. There couldn't possibly be two creatures like you in this universe, or any universe." His hand slid into her hair, thumb brushing her forehead with the motion, his eyes a calm blue.
She pulled back from his touch, a little afraid, still confused. "Please don't do that." She begged, she was starting to feel ill from exhaustion and mental overload. His hand fell back to his side, a sigh of surrender escaping his lips as he turned his body half away from her.
"I haven't been sleeping since I woke up with you by my bed that morning. I thought it was her. Punishment for losing the crystals. But she didn't come back and it never felt as if I'd lost her." Both his hands slid through his hair in frustration and he took three steps away from her.
Serena stared at him, knowing he was telling her something important but unable to decipher it. "Who is she?" She managed to ask in a clear voice despite the clutching in the pit of her stomach that feeling of illness was manifesting.
He gave a half laugh, his eyes grazed over to her before turning back away. "A princess, maybe, I think." Another half laugh. "I never really knew." Calmly he rested his hand flat against the wall, his eyes closed against something but she wasn't sure what.
Serena took a step closer in the confused need to understand. "And she wanted the crystals?" I was almost a whisper in it's volume but the silence of the world around them made the words perfectly clear. Serena went to frown when he turned quickly to her.
"She'd always ask." He began, then drew in a deep breath. "Ask me to bring her the Rainbow Crystals, ask me to free her." His eyes diverted from her for only the briefest of seconds before returning. "Beg me to find her. And I was always looking for her, always trying to find her, my princess."
"And-" Serena frowned, she still wasn't sure but.. "-and I lost your crystals?" Her frown deepened and he shook his head at her, forgiving, denying or accepting she was not sure.
"I lost her crystals, and she stopped asking." Carefully he rested his hand on her shoulder staring intently into her wide eyes. "But I didn't lose her, inside I knew, she wasn't lost."
"Your not making sense." Serena told him sternly, feeling out of place, feeling small and awkward, "And you didn't answer my question."
"It doesn't matter." He told her sternly, his expression still calm, still tender.
"It does to me." Serena replied quickly, the butterflies in her stomach doing nothing for that queasy feeling that had settled into place.
He gave another sigh and caught both her shoulders drawing her closer and she did not flinch. "When you showed up, when I woke up and you where there. She stopped asking me to find her."
The implications where there but Serena couldn't make herself translate it, and the rough translation she made for herself she didn't believe. She looked up into his perfect blue eyes questioningly.
He brushed her hair back behind her ear, eyes ardent and focused on her own. " I think that mean's you're the princess." He lent forwards and kissed her forehead gently, then rested his forehead where his lips had been. "At least mine." He whispered not relinquishing eye contact. He caught her right hand in the soothing grip, bringing it to his lips and placed another kiss upon it. Then lowering the hand he lent forwards, his lips seeking her own.
Serena pulled back reflexively her hand slipping from his lose grip. She stood shakily watching him, but he did not move to approach her.
"I need to think." She told him quickly. "Think about this, about us." She bit into the bottom of her lip eyes moving out past the balcony windows to the fading sunlight. "I need to tell the others."
He stood behind her, his presence encasing her with security. Then unexpectedly said, "I love you."
Her heart stopped, her eyes jumping to meet the honest blues that watched her.
"What?" She gasped, her mind telling her she was hearing things, her heart pounding in her chest with something akin to excitement.
"I love you." He repeated, a soft smile slipped onto his lips. "More then the sun," the smile became heart wrenchingly teasing "more then the moon." He reached between them and caught her hand lifting it to his lips once more, and she was powerless to do anything but watch the action. "You are my princess, Serena Tsukino."
Confusion reigned in her body and all she knew was he was standing before her, professing love she had never considered, never wanted to consider. And his expression pulled at the fibber of her being, waiting for a response when all she could do was force the air in and out of lungs that had frozen with the rest of her.
How long had she waited for someone to say that to her? And even considering their actions towards each other, in both forms, she had never expected them to come from him. It filled her with such contentment and terrifying confusion all at once that she didn't know which way to turn, but he still waited. And all she knew was that she didn't want him to walk away, to think he meant nothing to her, because he meant something, she just needed time to consider what it was.
She lunged in, claiming his lips as her own. No one else was allowed to have them, she was determined, and she kissed with every thread of her emotions. She didn't know if it was love. She couldn't be as certain as he was, but she knew that it was something powerful, something she had never experienced before.
When she pulled back from the kiss she smiled at him. And with as much devotion as she could she offered the only response her young mind could offer with honesty. "Your more special to me then any man has ever been." And she watched his eyes determinedly willing him to understand. She was pleased to see the acceptance in his gaze, to know he wasn't disheartened by her response. And with one quick kiss on his perfect lips Serena once more left his apartment. Knowing if she stayed there would only be difficulties, they both needed time to think.
Four heads turned to look as she entered the temple grounds. Three shocked, one overly cheerful. Serena smiled at them, a genuine smile, the kind of smile she thought lost to her. She had his heart, and she knew it, and even the responsibility of such a gift did not dampen her spirits. She would treat it well, even if she gave it back to him, he deserved that much after his honest professions.
"Serena!" Amy squeaked first, looking overjoyed by her sudden appearance.
"What?" The new blond asked quickly. "Done with him already." That same knowing look that said this new girl knew far more about her relationship then anyone else came into display. Serena rolled her eyes none-the-less.
"For now." She replied, a quick smile teasing at her lips and leaving the girls she knew gapping in shock. The new girl giggled.
"I'm Mina." The new girl offered her hand, looking devoutly proud of herself. Serena shook the hand firmly.
"I'm Serena." And that little drop of tension between two new acquaintances vanished as the blonde before her gave a squeal of delight and launched her self around Serena. Before a reaction could come from the started Scout of the Moon the girl had pulled away, looking positively abashed.
"Sorry." She mumbled to the floor, not making eye contact.
Serena raised her brow and looked at the other three. She found Raye and Amy were looking around absently, Lita's finger was pointed at the temple doors, her own eyes not fixed on the spot. Serena glanced and found two cat's watching her. Luna she knew, black with her little gold crescent moon forehead, the other cat was white with his own crescent moon his eyes greener then Luna's.
"Boyfriend Luna?" Serena teased absently scrutinizing the cat. His head bobbed in greeting before scowling at the abashed Sailor Scout.
"What did I say about hugging strangers?" He demanded, his voice slicker then Luna's imperial tone with just that hint of adulthood that made him not seem like an accusing teenager.
"That I shouldn't do it?" Came a meek response. Serena looked between the white cat and the blonde.
"Guardian?" She asked, and blue eyes jumped up to meet hers a bright twinkle in their depths.
"I see you have one as well." Mina's head nudged towards Luna.
"Pain's aren't they?" Serena asked, her smile breaking into a grin. Mina's eyes flashed with dangerous playfulness.
"Aren't they always? Artimis is always-"
"Mina!" The cat admonished quickly, looking abashed himself. He seemed to overcome the emotion and looked up at Serena. "Mina is Sailor Venus, the Scout of Love."
"Besides that." Luna cut in looking barely tolerant. "We must discuss the enemy's plans."
"Shouldn't we discuss Serena disappearing after the battle with Tuxedo Mask?" Raye asked quickly, obviously surprised by Luna's calm attitude. Serena had to guess they had already had a quick meeting in her absence.
"I will talk with Serena about that latter. For now we must focus on the enemy."
"But why would anyone care that they ran off together?" Mina interrupted sounding highly confused.
"Mina." The white cat, Artimis, warned once more. Serena watched Mina's lip stick out in a pout but she looked like she wasn't going to talk for a while.
"They must believe we can do something, or we have something that is essential to their plans." Raye began.
"But we don't even know what their plans are." Lita snapped, her toe digging into the dirt ground in agitation.
"Maybe they haven't figured out how to find the Silver Imperial Crystal yet?" Mina suggested, still perky. Eyes turned to her a little surprised and she looked flustered. "What? The Rainbow Crystals are the key to the Silver Imperial Crystal right? But maybe they haven't figured out how to use the key?" She brightened. "Like those locks on the school locker, I can never figure them out!"
"She babbles when she's excited." Artimis explained to the curious audience.
"That could be right though." Luna interjected drifting off into deep thought. Serena took the pause while all the key figures considered the possibility to smile at Mina again.
"Where did you come from?" She asked as pleasantly as she could. "Not that I object to being saved, I'm just curious."
"What?" Mina paused for a moment then brightened. "Oh, well me and Artimis where over in England, and when Luna told us all about the crystals being taken we packed our bags and came flying over here as fast as we could." She frowned. "Did you know you can't take cat's on planes?" Her frowned turned into a scowl. "You would think they would make it much clearer before the plane took off."
Serena blinked. The girl changed topics faster then she did.
"But anyway. When we arrived we did some reconnaissance work, but that was only two days ago and we had a beeper thing for Luna to call us on in case you where in big trouble."
"So why where you there today? Luna wasn't."
"Oh that was just luck. You know how it is, staring at the lake one minute, being pushed aside by people screaming 'Youma' the next." Mina gave a little shrug. "So I thought I'd take a peak, see you guys in action." She did a funny 'v' sign before giggling and glancing down at her guardian cat who didn't look half as impressed.
"So you've been talking to Luna?" Serena continued.
"I have been working on central a lot recently." Luna told them with a sternness that implied she was about to delve into several secrets that needed discussing. "Trying to trace the Negaverse energy patterns around the city. To there source" Luna looked at them carefully, her eyes uncertain. "We." Luna nodded her head towards Mina and Artimis. "Have located what seems to be one of their base's, though we can't yet tell if there are more."
"We located one of their bases?" Raye demanded in shock staring at the cat who was watching them all with worry.
"We would have left it until more base's had been located-"
"Before what?" Lita interrupted, eyeing the cat with wide and suspicious eyes.
"Before we attack." Luna admitted immediately her face stern.
Serena blanched at the words, staring into the cat's gaze to be certain it wasn't a joke.
"But we've never attacked them before. We don't know what their security will be like." Amy whispered her voice quivering ever so slightly.
"It has to be done." Artimis told them sternly, his expression however was uncertain.
"Why?" Serena breathed. She didn't want this, didn't need this, she needed to figure out Darien before she threw more problems into her life.
"Because they attacked us." Luna began reasonably.
"They always attack us!" Serena defensively spat.
"But this time they where attacking us. We didn't stumble upon one of their plans, we didn't jump into a fight that was already started. We didn't have anything they wanted to steal off us. They wanted us." Luna frowned at her. "It was an attack on us, not a battle that we where a part off."
"So we attack there base?" Serena demanded. "And it's not their main base and they just throw a worse attack back at us!" She stared at the eyes of the other four scouts and two cats. "We hardly survive attacks on our soil, and you want us to attack them on theirs?"
"Serena it has to be done." Was Luna's blunt statement, and said not in the voice of her guardian, but with the voice of her friend. Serena stared at the black animal, trying to argue, trying to find a reason why she shouldn't be willing and no reason came but for something deep inside that warned of danger.
"They have the crystals, they have the mean's to find the princess we must protect." Mina offered her voice reasonable and calm, and a hard look in her eyes.
Serena's mind jumped back to Darien and his profession at the mention of princess's. And a sickening feeling settled into her stomach, she did not want to do this. Her eyes moved up ready to argue and found that all six of them watched her waiting. And she stared closely at them, scrutinizing them with intensity, and she saw what left her with no choice. She saw a level of fear that only their determination had overthrown, she saw a pride and honesty that proved them to be better people then she would ever be.
"When?" Was all she could ask as she surrendered beneath the strength and perfection of her friends.
"Now." Was the black cat's reply and Serena was not the only one who looked up in startled shock.
"Now?" Amy gasped a little stunned.
"Now will give us the best chance of success we could possibly hope for. Our numbers have increased and the Negaverse hasn't had time to accommodate, the two generals are weakened from the battle, and we will have the element of surprise. If we leave it a day there is no telling how prepared they will be. We won today by chance."
"Now." Serena murmured before running her tongue along dry lips.
"But we have to say good-b-" Raye stopped, her eyes growing wide as she realised what she was saying. Colour left her already pale face and she looked down ashamed to have said what was lingering in the backs of all their minds.
"Now." Serena agreed suddenly, her eyes darkening with determination. She felt the other six nod in agreement, but that was all she felt before coldness crept into her body and plans where discussed.
Serena stared out the glass windows, the elevator lurching below her.
"Serena?" Luna asked from her alert position by Serena's feet.
Serena gave a brief sigh, leaning against the glass a little harder, her attention a thousand miles away. She wondered where Darien was, she wondered what he was doing, if he loved her so much that he too was thinking about her, but mostly she wondered about herself. Would she live through this experience, would she ever understand what ever emotions tumbled through her body, would she ever live up to the ideals her position as Sailor Moon demanded.
"Serena?" Luna's voice persisted. Absently Serena looked down at the cat. "Perhaps you should transform now?"
Serena voiced another sigh, her fingers tracing over the locket clutched in her left hand, her eyes and attention once more beyond the confines of the elevator.
"We're nearly there." Luna warned a tint of fear in her voice. Serena looked down at the cat and rebuked yet another sigh. Reluctantly she glanced at the lift numbers, two more levels before fate took over. Two more floors until she found out how cruel fate may decide to be.
Reluctantly, though knowing it had to happen Serena threw her hand into the air whispering her prelude to battle. It wasn't until the magic had skittered over her, washed away and within, that she noticed her feline companion had relaxed marginally. Of course, real relaxation was not about to be had, not when they where throwing themselves into such a dangerous position.
The elevator glided to a stop, a small ping noise filtering through the air and the doors slid open automatically. Beyond the light silver elevator doors nothing was visible and she knew this was the point of no return. Taking up the mantle of Sailor Moon had never been that shocking, in it's own right it had been, but instincts had told her to protect. This was a conscious decision to attack, she didn't know if she had it in her and she knew no one would make her.
But even if she pulled away, hid from the nightmare that was her life her friends would keep on fighting, keep on going and she could not harm them by abandoning them merely because her nerves did not agree with what had to be done.
Steeling herself for the inevitable she stepped through the elevator doors feeble protection and into the darkness, the small black shadow of her cat hidden by her side.
The doors behind her slid shut again the feeling of entrapment complete, and she knew no matter what happened this time, someone would die.
The darkness around her pushed into her sense's reeking of Negaverse energy and hatred. The evil of it wanting to make her throw up but she held herself as stern as she could, gripping trembling fingers into tight fists and staring into the darkness, waiting for the enemy to make itself known.
Time stretched as she waited, the cat at her feet silent. The pulse of the room around her driving into her heart beat, making it faster, her breathing uneven despite the command she demonstrated over herself. Then small lights bloomed into existence about the level revealing an amused Zoicite who stood watching her within attack range.
"Why, if it isn't Sailor Moon." The half smirk the general was supporting broke into a full fledged grin. "I was just thinking about you and your fan club." The teasing note in his voice was ignored by Serena as she squared her shoulders off more, trying to glare ominously at the enemy before her.
"I'm here to offer you the chance for surrender Zoicite." Her voice was even, those last few morbid thoughts gone as she stared down the enemy.
Zoicite broke into a riot of laughter, amused by the words and not attempting to hide it. It took a few moments before he was staring at her, letting her see his amusement. "And I thought you couldn't be any more of an amusement then you already where."
"This is your last chance Zoicite." Serena warned her voice louder determined. Zoicite stared at her in disbelief.
"Unlike you, I don't offer last chances." Where his bitter words before an attack was thrust at her. Serena jumped to the side of it reaching automatically for her tiara, her eyes ablaze with the intensity of her concentration.
Serena heard a shout to her right, and felt the warm burst of fire entering the room, her attention riveted on the enemy before her not her friends as they entered the room. But she knew from the heat, the direction and something inside her that Mars and Venus had just entered the room. And as they took their positions Jupiter and Mercury came in from the other direction.
It had taken Amy a little while to compile the data needed for a successful break into the tower before they debated over the positioning and the attack angle. It had ended with three points of main entry two sets of fire stairs and the elevator. Obviously from the explosions the fire entrances had been blocked.
"Look at this." Zoicite quipped, eyes flicking about them in curiosity. "This will save me a whole lot of trouble." He muttered.
"No." Lita countered looking enraged. "This will cause you a whole lot of trouble."
"Give it up Zoicite we don't want to fight." Serena cautioned tightly, knowing that it didn't mean they wouldn't. Zoicite scanned all five of them mockingly, and she saw the second he realised they where surrounding him. Saw that his expression hardly changed from the mocking contempt it always had. She went to frown, ready to form the important question she hadn't yet asked when a force caught her from behind.
She wasn't even sure who had her, though the vague suspicion in her mind that told her the new general hadn't been in sight range declared the chances of it being him where extremely high, but no matter who it was she knew she did not want to be within their grip. She tried to yank herself forwards and escape her confines and found it an incredibly difficult task.
"Beryl will be so pleased that you all decided that hand yourselves over to us." Malachite growled into her ear.
Something sharp bit into her upper arm, and she cried out through the controlling hand that was snapped around her mouth. Her mind hazed. She heard a cat like screech, heard a few people shout things out, felt the pressure of the hold slacken, and the next thing she was aware of was her face pressed hard against something solid, a trail of blood dripping down her right forearm with no memory of her decent.
For a long time she couldn't see anything, only a strange black texture that gave the impression of spinning around and around her faster then she could follow. Then groggily her sight cleared to reveal a muggy brown floor pressed up close to her nose and eyes.
She felt the tides of powers passing over and around her, managing to skim over her by scant breaths. The battle cry's of her friends and enemy's as they fought. She forced her face off the ground, her right arm protesting only marginally. Absently she was aware what ever wound had been inflicted was already gone but there was still a marginal pain that radiated from within and her head felt dazed from it's impact with the ground.
She pulled herself back to her feet, being wry of the attacks that where being thrown about the room, mentally berating herself for her fine beginning to the battle. She probably would have spared a moment for embarrassment if she had not being infinitely aware that the balance was anything but stable between her four friends and two enemies.
Serena spun around, a little dizzy but otherwise perfectly balanced. Her hand reaching up, withdrawing her tiara and she focused on the second general, on Malachite. She was the strongest of the five of them, and after debating over the rolls they would take during this attack, Serena had secured herself what she had thought at the time would be two of the more difficult jobs. The elevator entrance being the first, because of the un-coordinated timing of it all, it was known that who ever took the elevator would have to enter the room first, and hope they weren't put to death the second they exited the construction, or even when they where in it.
The second task had been distraction, and that meant while the other four dealt with Zoicite she had to keep Malachite's attention. No better way to do that then to try and kill him. She grumbled to herself, then without putting much energy in her attack she threw the tiara at the grey haired man.
His attention was immediately on her, a smirk of belittling contempt aimed in her direction and ignored by her tired mind. The tiara returned quickly.
"And I thought you'd stay out for the count." Was all he said before an attack was launched at her. Relying on reflex's that hardly ever worked Serena jumped out of the way, her attention wavering to her tired look friends.
"What?" She managed to ask, again throwing her tiara at him, using a bit more strength, a bit more skill then before. It occurred to her as he blocked her attack and sent it skittering back to her that she may have passed out for the briefest of moments when she hit the floor but she couldn't be certain.
She continued to throw and avoid his attacks, trying to draw the battle away from the one waging between Zoicite and the other four scouts. Malachite didn't seem to know, or care, she was uncertain which, that he was being distracted on purpose. She pressed her small advantages as best she could, never finding the right opportunity to off balance him, barely finding the right opportunities to avoid his attacks. And she knew luck was playing more a role in her continued existence then anything else.
Her attention was intensely focused on Malachite and his unceasing attacks when she became aware of fear, not her own, and her attention jumped away from her battle to the other one. Something was hurtling through the air, something small and undefinable to the two seconds her brain had to ready the image. And in a blur of motion her vision was blocked, and something sharp lodged into her throat as pain ripped through her and just as vaguely aware of one thing as she was of everything else, she knew it wasn't her pain.
And reality and motion tumbled back into play at an alarming speed, leaving her mind whirling her body racing, heartbeat pounding erratic rhythms of contradicting emotions. And the voice that left her throat was detached and wrong conveyed more shook then her body had yet allowed her to register. "No."
It was Darien, or Tuxedo Mask, and he was standing there before her, and she could feel the pain coming from him, and he was falling.
"No!" She screamed in shock jumping forwards to try and save him. His body slumping back into her grip and unable to hold his weight on her own she crumbled to the floor still cradling him. And she knew without words that he had just proved the very love he had declared, although no proof had been needed. But the blood she saw seeping from his wounds was such an honest proof that no matter how much she lied to herself she would know forever that he was willing to die for her.
She wondered when he had appeared, when he had made it to the battle. They hadn't summoned him, she hadn't told him, but just like every other battle he had found it. She realised with acute shock that in the speed of everything since his revelation she hadn't asked him any of those questions that should have been asked.
Her attention however momentarily distracted returned to his limp body. His breaths where becoming shallow, fading and she clutched at his jacket drawing him closer to her chest trying to give him life with her existence.
Searching through every grain of her body for some form of saving grace, pulling at ties that she had never explored, and that's where she found the two greatest ties within her. One leading straight to the centre of the man laying before her, the other leading to a strength that pooled at her fingertips waiting to be summoned.
Without hesitation she drew the strength to her, feeling the warmth of light and power flood into the room but more importantly through her veins. Then she directed it where she most needed it, filtering it through her grip and down the newly found link into his weakening body, trying not to force more then he could handle, feeling her own body burning with the energies intensity.
She heard gasps from around her, male and female alike and ignored them all, her attention fixed on him, her life line. If he slipped through her fingers now she wasn't sure she could cope, wasn't sure she would want to because in such a short time he had weened his way into her. He had been her enemy, her savoir, her lover, and her admirer, things no one else had ever been things she knew she needed. And things she knew would never be the same even if someone else offered them.
The power pushed at her, trying to break free of her restraints, trying to flood the room with it's intensity. But she held it firm, not willing to unleash the strange magic's that filled her to the brim before pushing deeper into her system seeking out the crevices forgotten.
And the power touched her mind, blinding pain flashing through her and all thoughts where forgotten but the ones the power summoned forth. Something inside her clicked, like a finishing puzzle piece and the torrent began.
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Review and I'll post the rest of it today... (yes that's blackmail).
And yeah I'm sorry it's all clieched, but I never said the story was original, not by a long shot!