I know, I'm updating this story! I told you I was having extreme writers' block on this so put it on hiatus. Now you may be wondering why I haven't updated Tangent or Homicide…well, at this moment, I didn't have 115 reviews for Tangent. Yeah I have 114 as of Friday, but I was asking for 115…well I hoped for it, but now I am asking for 20 reviews for this story to put the number over 100. I am working on Tangent and this story is almost completed, so is that number too much to ask for?? I think not. Please review.
Can Love That's Lost Be Found?
By Crystaldove
Chapter 13
The next few days were somber for Darien and the girls, they saw Serena occasionally and when she noticed any of them, she would just nod politely and walk off. Whenever she saw Darien, she would turn and walk away. Darien was so saddened by this that he began to avoid her. But he made sure that Paladin would keep his keen eyes on her.
Paladin watched her for about two weeks after this and noticed that she was falling deeper in her depression. The other girls either out of respect or grief kept a further distance from her too. Luna called them together one afternoon to try to rectify the situation.
"I'm glad you got here so quickly. Things aren't going well with our princess. We've all noticed that she has become more despondent and distant from us. And I'm afraid that things haven't gotten any better."
The others shook their heads in agreement. All of their attempts to communicate with Serena were rejected. Artemis wasn't in attendance; he was visiting Darien and Paladin. Both guardians were trying to get him to talk to her.
"Darien, we understand you feel guilt from this situation, but you must try to talk to her."
"What's the use…"
"What's the use!" Screamed Artemis. "Your happiness, her happiness…the balance of the universe! The moon may revolve around the Earth, but without the moon, the Earth falls into darkness. So you see, you need her love, her light…you need her."
"You say that like I don't know it Artemis. I love her so much, even in my deepest denial, she kept me grounded. I've caused her so much pain and now I've cost her, her friendship with the others. I don't deserve her…if anything I will make sure that she understands the others did no wrong by her."
"If I may interject sire, the others aren't your concern. It's not like they were sworn, by you, to secrecy… they handled themselves in the way they saw fit. They have admitted that it was their consensus that the princess wouldn't have cared to know the circumstances around your breakup. Everyone, including myself, thought that reuniting you with her was the most important thing and from this we all disregarded her fears. They will have to work out their problems with the princess on their own accord. But you must make amends with the princess."
Artemis sighed, he knew Paladin was right, but it was still painful to hear. He had also disregarded Serena's feelings and her right to know her loves' problems.
"Luna is meeting with the girls, I think I'm going to join them."
Artemis didn't wait for a reply and Darien barely noticed his departure.
"What can I do Paladin?"
"Well, Serena feels betrayed from the fact that the others knew things you have never told her. Yes, I know they delved into your subconscious, but you opened yourself to them…it was like telling them verbally."
"So you're saying to earn her trust, I need to tell her something that no one else knows?"
"Well something like that, but that would be impossible since you have revealed all your secrets."
"Not exactly, the girls think that my subconscious personified itself because I was ashamed that I couldn't save my parents, so I didn't deserve the right to remember them. I can regain my memory anytime I want to. Once I come to terms with something that happened to me, I will feel worthy to merge with Mamoru."
Paladin looked at his charge with astonished eyes.
"You mean that you knew about your memory block, that it wasn't caused subconsciously?"
"No…I used to always dream about the past. I'm sure Serena did too…that's how she was able to advance in her skills and abilities in what seemed to be overnight."
"Sire, I don't think you shouldn't be telling me this…you need to find the princess. Telling her of this development could start the trusting process again."
Artemis walked to the shrine in deep thought. How could they start the healing process with Serena? Their intentions were good, trying to repair the broken hearts of two people, but they knew information that Serena didn't. This gave them a kinship with Darien that she didn't have. The thing that hurt Serena most, he assumed, was the fact they knew more about Darien than she did. The Terran Prince is notorious for his secrecy and Serena was the only one he told 'anything'…that is until now.
He silently walked up the shrine steps and padded towards Raye's bedroom where the others were meeting. He listened outside for a moment and noticed that it was very quite inside. He was afraid that he missed the meeting, when her heard one of the girls' sighs.
"Artemis, how did things go with Darien?"
"I left before we got too far. Paladin said something that hit home, something I couldn't endure listing to, so I left. Have you come up with anything?"
"No, I have been trying to see things from Serena's point of view. I understand how she's feeling. I know how I would feel if my friends knew something about me and didn't tell me. We probably made her feel that we respect Darien and his feelings more than hers."
"That's not true Lita…"
"Is it Amy? Before all this happened, how did we treat her compared to Darien? When they first broke up, did we empathize with her? I more than anyone know how it feels to be brokenhearted, but we ignored her. And when we finally realized that she was hurting by this, her despair was too far gone. We knew that Darien needed help, instead of trusting Andrew to help him…we put ourselves where we shouldn't have gone."
"We did it to help Serena!"
"Did we, or did we do it to help ourselves? Truthfully, deep down we've resented what Serena has become because of this…stronger, smarter, spiritual, graceful…all the things that we are and had more of compared to her. We went to Darien with the hope that if they got back together, she would return to her former self…"
"And we would regain our superiority over her…even with her being the Supreme Princess…"
"There would always be a need for us in her life…"
"And we would never be alone again."
Paladin was at the window; he left shortly after Artemis to leave Darien with his thoughts. He overheard all that was said and decided to speak his wisdom to the group…
"Why didn't you tell Serena about Darien's problems?"
"Paladin, how long have you been here?"
"That's not the issue here, my question is…"
"I guess we kept it secret in order to have something over her…"
"She surpassed us in everything…so not telling her about Darien, would give us an advantage over her."
"Listen to yourselves, jealous of your liege! This is what happened to Endymion's guard… you are on the same path to damnation as they were. They were jealous of his power and his abilities, but were never truly aware of the great burden he carried."
"What are you talking about Paladin. Endymion's guards were children of his parents' friends. Our course they were jealous of the Prince's power…"
"Actually, they had more power than all of you. The friends of the King and Queen were Dukes and Duchesses…which make the generals ducal heir's…"
"We're princesses Paladin… how could they have more power than us? And why would we be jealous?"
"I know you are lesser princesses of the solar system. What king would let his heir protect the their planet? Your father's were the second or third born…and never would have received the crown due to your cousins and their children. Queen Serenity knew this and decided that you should be guards and companions to her daughter. This was due to the fact that you were her daughter's age and got along well with her. You got positions, you got regions, and in the case of the death of your first cousins'…since you were the planets' senshi…you would get the crown."
"That's not true…your lying!!"
"I speak the truth; I told you that I knew many things. I became knowledgeable on the customs of the Moon when I visited there with the prince. I also learned many things after I resuming my true form…"
"He's right…"
"Amy?"
"It's all in the computers at Central…I've known for a while, that's why I didn't tell her. Why didn't I just talk about it with her, tell her of my fears…why didn't any of us?"
Luna adjourned the meeting after that. Instead of finding the solution to their problems, they have discovered the root of it. Simply, they were all jealous of what Serena had become.
The rest of the afternoon, they all kept to themselves. Artemis walked Luna to Central, since she was ashamed to return to Serena's. Lita took a stroll through the park and saw Serena in the distance. At first she thought about approaching her but remembered their admissions from earlier…overwhelmed in her guilt, she ran home.
Paladin had left Darien alone in his thoughts. So much weighted on his heart. Darien sat looking out his window. He felt compelled to walk on his balcony. He looked out and saw Lita entering the park across the street. He watched as she stated in the distance, he followed her line of sight and saw his angel standing by a fountain. He watched as Lita began to approach then turn and run away.
'Poor Lita…I wish the others didn't have to go through this. But Paladin is right…I didn't make them keep my secrets, my thoughts or my dreams. I assumed they would have told her. My love, you need to trust someone…I need to tell you everything.'
Darien walked back into his apartment and turn on his stereo. Happy songs played for an hour and Darien cursed the joy emanating from his radio. Across town the others tried to find something to take their minds off of their problems. They also found solace in their radios, while they reflected on what Paladin told them.
When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on.
Don't let yourself go, everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes.
Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along.
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on.
Everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends.
Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand.
If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone
If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on.
Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes.
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on.
Hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on
"What do you do, when there's nothing to hold on to?"
Five thoughts chorused throughout Minato-ku. How could they repair the damage they forged themselves. Darien reached up and turned off the radio. After walking back to his balcony, he discovered that Serena hadn't left her spot by the fountain and decided that now was the perfect time to tell her the complete truth.
End chapter
I know that this is really short, especially since I haven't updated this since December…but there is another chapter, so go read it!
Everybody Hurts is by R.E.M.
