When she came to the doorway, she saw that the door was open.
Immediately feeling thankful, she stepped inside to see if everyone was all
right. She froze when she saw Darien sitting on the bed, his eyes dark and
empty.
Just as the rest of the room was.
"What happened?" Serena said softly, fearing the worst.
"They're gone," Darien said simply, "They ran away."
"What?"
I Need You
by Phantasy Star
--------------------
Chapter Eleven
"Ray Ray, I'm hungry," Mina pouted, "Let's go home."
"We're not going home," Raye said bitterly, "It's not our home anymore. We
don't have parents and we don't have Grandma."
Amy and Lita's eyes were downcast as they followed Raye down the street. It
was five in the morning and they were tired and sad.
"Maybe they have a reason for not telling us..." Amy said softly.
"There's not good reason to lie to us about Grandma!" Raye cried.
"Where are we gonna go, huh?" Lita said, discouraged, "Who's gonna take care
of us?"
"We can go find my Sunday School teacher," Raye answered, "She's nice."
"Where does she live?" Amy asked, "We won't be able to go very far without
being noticed, and I don't think..."
She trailed off, looking at Mina's flushed face.
"Ray Ray..." Amy said, "Is there something wrong with Mina?"
Lita put her hands on her waist and frowned, "Mina, you look red. Really red."
"I feel so warm..." Mina complained, her bottom lip beginning to stick out and
curl into a pout.
"It looks like she has a fever..." Amy said softly.
"Oh no," Raye said, "Okay, we've got to get to my Sunday school teacher's
house fast."
"Let's just go home..." Lita said, pulling on Raye's arm.
"No!" Raye said, "I don't want to see Dar Dar or Serena! Come on, let's get
going."
Taking Mina's hand, she led the other three girls down the street just as the
sun started to come up.
- - -
"They can't have gotten far," Darien muttered as he went down the stairs
quickly, with Serena following behind him.
"I can't believe I did this..." Serena whispered, eyes watering again, "Darien,
I'm so sorry."
Darien shook his head, ignoring her.
"Please, just say something. I... I wasn't thinking, and I-"
"What do you WANT me to say?" Darien finally responded, turning around angrily
and filling her with shock, "You want me to say that it's all right? That
what you've done is just fine!?"
Serena blinked away tears, "I didn't do it on purpose..."
"You didn't do it on purpose, huh," Darien said bitterly, "Well, that just
fixes everything, doesn't it? I can't believe that I actually thought you'd
changed, that you weren't the Meatball Head I thought you were. But you're
just as irresponsible and immature as you were when we first met!"
Serena wasn't sure if she was hurt or angry, "I didn't WANT it to happen! It's
not like I thought it would be a good idea to let them know that-"
"It doesn't matter what you thought!" Darien shouted, "The fact is that you let
this happen and your 'not wanting it to happen' doesn't change anything!"
He shook his head and put his hand against his forehead, "I don't have time for
this, okay? I have to go out and find the girls."
He grabbed his car keys from the counter and headed out.
Serena's hand trembled as she locked the door. Tears streamed down her face
as she walked to the couch and picked up the phone on the drawer top.
"Rick..." she whispered shakily, "Can you come over... Please?"
- - -
"I wanna go home," Mina pouted again, "I don't feel good... My tummy hurts."
Raye wasn't sure which way they were going so they wandered down the city
streets, hoping that they'd come to a recognizable area soon.
"What should we do?" Lita asked Raye, "It looks like she's really sick."
"I'm dizzy..." Mina said, "I want to sit down."
Raye looked at her worriedly as the four girls sat down on a bench by the
sidewalk. Mina's eyes slowly closed as she leaned against Amy's shoulder.
"Raye, she's fainted!" Amy cried.
Just then, a white van drove up to them and stopped. A tall blonde man wearing
a light-blue T-shirt came out.
"What's going on?" he demanded, worry in his eyes.
"Our little sister's real sick!" Lita cried, "Please help us!"
- - -
Serena went and opened the front door. Rick stood there, staring at her with
his face full of concern.
"Sorry for calling you so early in the morning..." Serena said softly, "Th...
Thanks for coming over..."
"Tell me exactly what happened," Rick said as he stepped into the house, "Why
did they run away?"
"I accidentally let them find out about Mrs. Muriel..." Serena guiltily.
Rick let out a deep breath, "No wonder... Okay, don't worry. I'll go out and
look for them. You go call everybody they may go to."
Serena nodded, "Right. Yes, that's... that's a good idea."
Her body shaked visibly as she turned and headed back to the kitchen.
"Hey, Serena," Rick said, and she turned around.
"What?" she said.
"It's going to be okay," he said with a small but reassuring smile as he put
his arms around her, "We'll find them."
Serena nodded, tears flowing uncontrollably down her face as her voice broke,
"I'm so scared! I mean, what if something happened to them? What if some
stranger came and-"
"Serena, stop," Rick said gently, "They're fine. I'm sure they are. Mrs.
Muriel's watching over them, all right?"
Serena nodded and buried her head in Rick's shirt.
"I'm so glad you're here..." she whispered.
- - -
Raye, Lita, and Amy followed the tall man into the house as he carried little
Mina inside.
"Rita!" he called upstairs, "You won't believe this! I found the girls out on
the street and Mina's got a bad fever!"
"Andrew?" Rita said as she came downstairs in her pajamas, "What are you
talking- Oh my goodness!"
She rushed over and took Mina in her arms, "Oh, poor Mina! I'll get her some
medicine right away. Andrew, get me a wet towel."
Raye and Amy looked at each other in confusion. Why were the two strangers
talking about them as if they knew them?
"Mina doesn't take tablets," Lita pointed out, "She only drinks medicine. And
she won't drink it unless Mommy sings her the 'Medicine Song'."
"Medicine song?" Rita wondered aloud as she laid Mina on the couch and pulled
a blanket over her.
"Serena made it up," Raye said quietly, "Just to get Mina to take her
medicine."
"She made up the food dance for Amy when she wouldn't eat too," Lita said,
giggling.
Amy's face grew red, "That was only for a while. I don't have a problem with
eating anymore..."
"That's cuz Dar Dar said that if you don't eat, you'll get so skinny you'll
fall into a crack in the sidewalk," Lita said as she burst out laughing.
Despite the situation, even Raye couldn't suppress a smile.
"Sounds like you have very nice people who take care of you," Andrew said as
he brought Mina a hot towel to put on her forehead.
"We do," Lita said brightly, "Mommy's fun and Dar Dar's the best."
Raye frowned. What was going on? Who WERE these people that she and girls
felt like they could really trust.
Dar Dar had always taught them to never talk to strangers and they never did,
but somehow, this was different. Very different.
"Well, anyone care to explain why you were out on the streets at six in the
morning without any adults around?" Andrew asked.
Raye stared at the floor guiltily. "We were going to run away from home."
Andrew blinked in surprise. He and Rita exchanged glances.
"What happened?" Rita asked softly.
Raye shook her head, not wanting to explain.
"Tell us, honey," Rita said gently, "Start from the beginning."
- - -
Darien stepped on the gas pedal at the green light and continued to drive
aimlessly in the neighbourhood. He had almost covered a four block radius
around the house, but the girls were still nowhere in sight.
"Oh great," he muttered, "Now it's raining... Just perfect..."
He turned on the windshield wipers and found himself stopping at the side of
the street, staring down at the driving wheel.
'How could Serena have done this?' he thought to himself, 'How could she have
let this happen? What if something happened to the girls?'
He sighed wearily.
He knew it wasn't her fault. They were going to have to tell the girls
someday anyway. And she certaintly didn't intend to do it.
'I hope she's feeling better...' Darien thought, 'But how could she? Not after
I yelled at her like that and stormed off.'
The guilt stabbed at him like a knife.
'She'd never like me now...' he thought painfully, 'Not after I lost it on her
like that. She needed me to be there for her, to comfort her. And I blew up
at her instead and made her feel worse...
He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
'Either way, the important thing right now is to find the girls...' he thought,
determined, 'Then I can try to patch things up with Serena, if she'll give me
another chance...'
- - -
"Mrs. Loughheed?" Serena said into the phone, "Hi, this is Serena Tsukino.
Yes. Yes, from church. I wanted to ask you if you've seen the girls this
morning. Oh... I'm... not sure where they are. I know. I know, I'm scared
too. Yes, thank you for praying for them. Bye bye."
She set the phone down and traced her finger down to the next name in the
phone book. Just then, the phone rang.
"Darien!?" she said urgently, "Did you find them?"
"Is this Serena Tsukino?" the man said on the other end.
"Yes..." Serena said, disappointed, "I'm sorry, I'm really busy right now,
maybe I can-"
"I'm calling about the girls."
Serena froze. "What, are they with you?"
"Yes. Don't worry, they're safe. Mina's a little sick so we're going to have
her stay with us for the night. We'll bring the girls right back tomorrow."
"Oh, oh, thank you thank you thank you!" Serena said, standing up from the
couch, "Please, who is this?"
"Andrew Furahata," he said, "You don't know me, but I look forward to meeting
you tomorrow morning."
"I'm sorry," Serena said, trying not to sound impolite, "but would it be all
right for me to come over and see them right now?"
"I don't think it's a good idea. The girls are in shock about their Grandma
right now and I think it's best to wait till tomorrow for them to see you
again."
"Of course..." Serena said softly, "Well, here's my address-"
"I know it already," Andrew said, "Well, see you tomorrow."
Before Serena could answer, he had hung up. He knew it already? Does that
mean he knew the girls? But he said SHE didn't know him...
'I hope the girls are safe with him...' Serena thought, 'But there's something
about that guy's voice that makes me feel like I can trust him...'
Shaking her head to empty her thoughts, she quickly called Darien to let them
know the girls were all right.
As she waited for him to pick up, her thoughts wandered back to the kind
stranger.
Why did she get such a weird vibe from this guy just by hearing his voice?
Who was he?
- Author's Notes:
My midterms are over! Hopefully I can update a little more often now.
About this chapter, can anyone guess who Andrew and Rita are?
This event is going to be the last one in the story.
Speaking of which, I'm extending this 'fic so that there will be
two or three more chapters. I know I said one before, but I lied.
(Yes, I do that periodically)
Thanks for reading.
Phantasy Star
