See I told you, here is the next chapter. No notes this time but refer to the end.
Can Love That's Lost Be Found
By crystaldove
Chapter 10
Darien entered Crown Arcade that afternoon and found Andrew in the storeroom. Amongst the cluster of bags, cups, napkins and carryout trays he saw a piano.
"A piano Andrew?"
"Oh hey Darien! Yeah, Pop got Lizzie this for her birthday and since she never comes back here, this is where we are hiding it."
"Can you play?"
"No I would like to…but you know us jocks didn't have time for lessons. What about you?"
"Who knows?"
Andrew proceeded to dramatically dust the bench and tapped it a few times before Darien sat down.
"Have you seen her lately."
"No, well not a good view of her. She is avoiding me. Ever since that day at the shrine when the girls helped me figure out my problem, I've been trying to think of ways to approach her. I've hurt her so much, she is afraid of being around me Andrew. How can I get her to trust me?"
"Well opportunity is knocking…she just walked in."
Darien peeped out of the storeroom to see his angel following the girls with her head down. She was wearing a light gray jacket and skirt. He noticed she was caressing its corner and when she moved her hand he saw an embroidered red rose. His eyes became glassy and Andrew felt he needed to be alone. Dejected, Darien walked back to the piano and pressed a few keys. The keystrokes became chords and a golden glow surrounded him. One of the many doors of his memory opened and he remembered. The queen wanted her son to be well rounded and he learned the piano. Placing both of his hands on the keys, he began to play.
Raye thought she heard some music and knew the jukebox up in the fruit parlor couldn't be heard in the arcade. She decided to investigate and was surprised to find the source of the sound in the back storeroom. She quietly opened the door, shocked to see Darien playing a beautiful melody. The others noticed she was just standing there and went to see what had grabbed her attention. Eventually Serena did as well and went to follow the others. She someone sitting at the piano with his back facing them. As if he sensed her presence, he began to sing.
I remember days when nights were never cold
Had you in my life, I had you there to hold.
And I remember love warm as a summer day
But I lost you
And I lost my way
Now I'm in the rain
Begging you please, please…
*
Baby won't you show me the way
Back to your heart
Let me see a sign, to know if I'm
Close or far
Lead me back to the road that leads
Back to your arms,
Back to your arms…
*
Every night another lonely street
I walk down alone
Searching for a light
Your light to lead me home
Leave a candle in the window
And let it shine for me
Take my hand and take these tears away
I can't take the pain
I'm on my knees begging you please
*
Baby won't you show me the way
Back to your heart
Let me see a sign, to know if I'm
Close or far
Lead me back to the road that leads
Back to your arms,
Back to your arms…
*
Take my hand
Take me in your arms
I'm out in the dark
Down on my knees, begging you please
*
Baby won't you show me the way
Back to your heart
Let me see a sign, to know if I'm
Close or far
Lead me back to the road that leads
Back to your arms,
Back to your arms…
While he was singing, Serena found herself standing in front of the crowd that had gathered at the door. Applause broke Darien out of his trance and he looked to see his beloved intently staring at him. He walked towards her and saw the tears running down her face. He reached out and caressed her cheek, wiping her tears with his thumb.
"Tears as delicate as yours need not to be shed. Where would this world be without your smile to bring light to each day?" He gathered her tears and glittering gems fell into her open palms. "Even the most precious jewel can not compare to you."
"Please don't Darien. Save those words for someone you love."
"And that person is you Serena. I love you."
"No." She painfully whispered. "You don't love me…you love her, only Serenity."
Darien grasped her face between his hands and stared her deep within her pools of blue; trying to make her understand.
"You are the one that has been my light. It's your smile that brings me joy. Your happiness enriches my blood. Your sadness is my despair and your pain…is my death. I've loved you from the first moment I saw you and I've never stopped."
"Stop it! You don't love me, you've never loved me, only who I used to be…Serenity, only her. I tried Darien…I tried to be worthy of you, tried to make you proud. I can't live up to everyone's expectation of me. I can't be all the things she was. I tried to make you happy, tried to give you what you wanted. I tried to give you her. But it didn't work, as long as you were happy, I would let her be with you. I'm not trying to be selfish this time I'm sorry, I failed ."
"You are Serenity!"
"I'm not her, you told me yourself…you love her, only her!"
Serena pushed herself away from him and stumbled out of the crowd and ran away. Raye gave Darien an understanding look and ran after her. He lowered his head…he failed. Mina and Andrew watched as he walked back to the piano. Lita and Amy cleared the crowd and closed the storeroom door. Mina watched as Darien played the tune of the broken locket
"Darien?"
"She did what I wanted her to, she hates me Mina. I've lost her forever…"
Mina looked at him and saw the unchecked tears falling on the piano keys. She took a seat beside him.
"She doesn't hate you Darien. You know as well as anyone that she is incapable of that. I think she believes what you have been saying to her for the past few months."
"That I love Serenity, not her."
"Yes, she's heard that for so long, what else is she to believe."
"I love her Mina…more than ever."
"I know, we all do, but we're not the ones you have to convince. You have to prove your love to her. All she has received are words of your admission of love, but she has received action for your denial of it. It seems that she resents a part of herself, just because she feels inadequate. Your going to have to get her to understand that she is Serenity, like you are Endymion and that you loved her before you knew about your past."
"I have to romance her, do the things I was afraid to do. I have to show her just how much she means to me."
"Exactly, but let me warn you, Serena has shut herself up some. She has placed barriers around her heart and she may be difficult to approach. Think about what you are going to do, I'm going to find Raye. I wish you all the luck Venus can give."
Raye caught up with Serena by Darien's school.
"Serena why did you come here?"
"This is the one place no one would think to look for me. I want to be alone Raye."
"I can't stand to leave you alone when you are in so much pain. You're my friend…my only friend."
"You have the others, they're your friends too."
"But I wouldn't know them if it wasn't for you. You are the only person that didn't seem to be afraid of me. You take my brash attitude and argue along with me."
"Really?"
"Of course Meatball Head! Now, why did you leave? I think Darien was trying to open up to you."
"It's too late, don't you see? I only fueled his desire to have Serenity. Once he saw me for what I was, klutzy, immature and stupid…he realized his dream would never be reality."
"You are Serenity."
"I'm not her, I'm nothing like her! She's strong, she would have never been reduced to how I am; Endymion wouldn't have left her. She was loved, respected, beautiful…I…just leave me alone Raye, please."
Raye looked at her with misty eyes and granted her request. She walked back to the shrine in deep thought.
'She was talking about all of us, not just Darien. I know that I have given her a hard time in the past, I didn't know about the disguises then. But that isn't an excuse. Instead of trying to help her before all of this, I just helped her lower her opinion of herself. All she wanted was to be accepted for who she is now…not her alter ego and especially what she was in the past.'
"Raye."
"…"
"Raye!"
"Oh Mina, I didn't hear you."
"What's wrong, you did find Serena right?"
"Yeah I found her. She isn't doing that well."
"Why did you leave her alone?"
"If you saw her…she's a wreak, but she needs her space. She has endured so much, keeping most of it inside…and we haven't been the most sympathetic either. I know before you start, yes we have been there for her but have we understood her sufferings? Her confidence is extremely low and what have I been always complaining about? Take your duty more seriously, you need to start acting like a princess…but could we do what she does. We all say that either one of us could be a better leader, but could we? Do we have the compassionate nature that she has? I don't think I would have been able to do what she did with Beryl, when Darien was under her control, how she refused to hurt him? I wouldn't been able to let him hurt me…I would have killed him."
"What did she say?"
"She has heard him deny his feelings for her for so long, she now believes him. I thought when she first found out she was Serenity that she accepted it. She handled it better than Darien, but that was on the outside. She resents who she once was…how are we going to help her?"
"I thought if Darien just told her how he felt…but he has been telling her what he supposedly felt for Serenity. You're right, we have part in this too. How do we show her how much she is appreciated by us, that we love her for who she is, not who she was or could be?"
Paladin flew towards the park and found Serena sitting on an old stone bench. He felt through his link with Darien what had just transpired and watched her since his ward couldn't.
"Why don't they understand? I know it's Serenity they all care for, why do they try to make me feel better by saying that we are the same person?"
"Serena you never thought of yourself as different from your past, why now?"
Serena turned to see a pair of magenta eyes looking at her with concern. To any passerby, they would have been afraid because eyes were the only visible part shown. Serena wasn't alarmed though, in fact, she knew this was Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time or Puu as she calls her. Pluto has been appearing to her since she was a small child and helped her to develop her guise for this world.
"You know why Puu. Why couldn't have they liked how I am now? I know it's wrong to make them think that 'Serenity' a part of me, but that is the part of me they were always concerned with, the part that was the most important. Can't they understand how confined I was then, all the protocol, the rules, how miserable I was. This is why I went to Earth to escape all of that, to be my true self…to be what I am now. Yeah, I'm klutzy and don't like to study that much. I use to be in class for 10- 12 hours a day! Can't I goof off? Yeah, I know the stuff, the classes bore me. If the others were as insightful as they claim to be, they would have realized that I have been acting all this time. That I knew who they where and who I was and who Endymion was. I was going to leave them alone, meet them on a different level. That's why I fought with Darien so much. If he could like me at my fabricated worse, then when the real me was shown to him, he would love me that much more."
"Why don't you tell him, tell all of them?"
"Darien hates me."
"He does not."
"You don't know, remember I know your range Puu. You can't see 100 years either way."
"Yes but I know he loves you."
"But are you sure, say we are together in a time you can see, you don't know what happened here that caused that. Maybe he is just tolerating me for destiny's sake."
"…"
"Thanks for trying, but you better go before someone sees you. And I know how you like your legendary status."
"As you wish Princess." 'But you are wrong, he does love you, the real you. There are some things people must see for themselves though.'
Paladin watched this exchange from the trees and thought that Serena was talking to herself until she heard the voice.
'I wonder who she was talking to, but what she said clarifies much. With Darien denying her as Serena, she feels that he doesn't love her. If she did become more like Serenity and something happened that made her revert back to her klutzy self, she thinks Darien would leave her. Oh boy, he has his work cut out for him'
Paladin flew off towards Darien's apartment. Darien had left the arcade a few minutes after speaking with Mina and headed towards the park also. He didn't know that Serena would be there and like her he couldn't bare sitting on their bench without her. So he too headed towards a deserted part of the park. He sat on a small hill and watched the clouds overhead. In response to his suffering, all matter of animals came around him.
"I wonder where she is…could you guys find her for me and make sure she is ok."
Several birds flew off and reported to their prince that Serena was sitting on a bench in the thicket. Darien swiftly walked towards the area and sat out of her sight. He touched his hands to the ground and all manners of flowers bloomed.
'Follow her wherever she goes, let her steps be surrounded with your blooms.'
As Serena continued to think, small flowers appeared at her feet. She bent down to touch them and they suddenly grew all around her. Vines covered the bench and the trees surrounding her and flowers bloomed from them.
"Oh how lovely. Where did all these flowers come from?"
Serena stood up and walked around the thicket, she turned and noticed that flowers were appearing wherever she walked and pooled around her feet when she stood still.
"This is amazing!"
She stood again and noticed that butterflies were flying around her. She reached out her hand and they landed in her palm. She giggled slightly as they ticked her fingers. Darien watched her from the distance. He waved his fingers and little birds flew around her singing their songs.
"Boy I feel like I'm in a Disney movie. This is wonderful, but I have to get home."
Serena stood and began to walk out of the thicket and was amazed to see that the butterflies followed her and the flowers continued to accent her steps. Darien smiled, he liked this approach. He watched as the sun's rays shined on her and returned home.
That night the girls met and discussed the new development with Serena and Darien. All expressed the same thing…they all let Serena down. She had liked each one of them for how they are, and they in turn either verbally or mentally wished for her to change. When she did, they questioned her motives believing that Darien was the cause.
Serena awoke the next day inhaling a scent she hadn't smelled in a while. She opened her eyes and saw white roses all over her room. She noticed they came in from the window and saw that they covered the trellis that lead to it. Each was an unblemished, perfect bloom.
"Darien did this, but why? Why is he playing with me, doesn't he know how much this hurts?"
Serena got dressed and walked to school. She left at her now usual time of 7:30. Paladin told Darien what he overheard in the park yesterday and how he also would see Serena going to school each morning. Darien decided that he needed to start over with Serena by being friends. It would be hard with all that they both were feeling, but it was a start.
As she reached the corner, Serena heard her name being called.
"Serena."
She looked up and saw Darien leaning casually on the side of wall.
"Darien."
"Uh nice morning isn't it."
"I guess so. Is there something you needed?"
"I just wanted to talk, can I walk with you."
"Look if this is about yesterday…"
"No, I understand. I wanted us to be friends."
"Friends?"
"Yeah, we never had a solid foundation before all the stuff with our alter egos came up. I really didn't know much about you then, aside from what I observed. I know a lot now, but I want to expand on it."
"What are you doing? Is this some ploy to get me to trust you so you can be with her?"
"No. I haven't been honest with you Serena and I would like to be."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever did something so drastic to protect someone, that you ended up hurting yourself in the process?"
"Yes."
"I did too. I let my fears control my life. I thought that I was poisonous; cursed even. I thought that everyone that would get close to me would die by my actions…or lack of action."
"Your parents?"
"Among other people, someone that's real. Someone whose love I have felt and not from a dream. I thought that she would die because I wasn't strong enough to protect her. I have let her down before and didn't want to do it again. So I stayed away, hoping she would become strong enough to do for herself what I couldn't do for her."
Serena looked at Darien and realized he was talking about her.
"Why Darien, why did you abandon her?"
"Because I love her and if her death was caused by my lack of strength…I would have killed myself."
"…"
"Hey, here we are. You have a great day Serena."
Darien reached down and kissed her on the cheek. While distracted by his act, he slipped something in her briefcase and walked away. She stared at him until he reached the end of the block, he turned and waved at her. She smiled slightly and returned the gesture before walking into class.
End chapter
Ohh, did I end on a good note. Is this the light at the end of the tunnel? I hope you enjoyed both chapters. And that you will review. The song Darien sings is 'Show Me the Way Back To Your Heart' by Brian McKnight. It's found on his third CD "Anytime". READ MY OTHER STORIES PLEASE. And I have started writing my Sailor Moon/ Dragon Ball Z crossover. Look for it in January.
Ja ne
Dove
