A/N: This is a weird chapter, you guys. A lot of dialogue. Like, nothing BUT dialogue. And not much humor, either. I spent hours agonizing over it, and I'm still not sure of the final product. So…proceed carefully.

Disclaimer: If I owned Sailor Moon, I'd get me some liposuction. Weeeooooh!

Subject to Change

Chapter Sixteen: Sanctuary

To Do List:

1.) find out what's bothering Odango so badly – hopefully, it's just the youma attack

2.) find out why the Odango's afraid of Tuxedo Mask

3.) heal shins when get home – those things burn like hell

4.) speaking of hell, what in the hell was all that junk Zoicite was spouting off to Sailor Moon? Find out, quick. She's not going to hell if I can help it.

5.) find Silver Crystal so that I can go back to sleeping at night instead of traipsing around after youma! God!

Somewhere in the time between Serena leaving the temple and talking to Darien at the arcade, night had fallen. As the blonde followed Darien out of the arcade, the only light to illuminate their path was the tangerine wash of the streetlamps.

Despite this meager lighting, Darien saw all too clearly the way Serena wrapped her arms around herself and darted glances up and down the street as though expecting something to jump out of the shadows and grab her. Poor kid. The combination of a youma attack, a near-death experience, and viewing her first horror film – even if she hadn't seemed that frightened by it at the time – must have done quite a number on her nerves.

"Here we are," Darien announced quietly when they reached his Mustang. He unlocked the passenger door and motioned to Serena to sit.

She slid into the car's shadowy interior. "I didn't know you had a car..."

"I don't drive it often." He shut her door gently and crossed around to the driver's side. "In a small place like Juuban, driving's not usually worth the hassle of parking and meters and gas and all that. And I only got my license a couple of months ago."

"Oh." She threaded her fingers together in her lap and stared at them.

She suddenly looked quite frail and pale in the darkness. He didn't like seeing Serena that vulnerable. He turned away quickly and keyed the ignition.

"Odango, I – Serena, I mean – " He sighed frustratedly and thumped the heel of his palm on the steering wheel. He couldn't even get her name out right. How was he going to vocalize the confusing emotions he was feeling right now if he couldn't even figure out her name? "I know I'm not a great listener and all – but are you sure you don't wanna talk about it? I – I want to help you. I don't like seeing you…depressed and droopy all the time."

Serena's hand unknotted, then re-knotted in her lap, white and taut. "I…I'm sorry. I won't cry anymore, I promise."

Darien frowned and glanced over at her. "That's not what I meant." The traffic light turned red. "I'm not saying that you should bury all your feelings inside and wear a mask to hide them." Ha. Look who's talking. Hypocrite. "Like with Seiko. You hate horror movies – or at least I thought you did – but you sat through practically that whole slasher flick with him. And with Coach that time, when you were going to join the track team because he wanted you to even though you didn't. You're always doing things because you want to make other people feel better. But you need to worry about yourself. You need to tell people when you don't want to do something. No one's life is always happy and carefree, and people need to know that you're no different. You're not this carefree angel they can dump their own desires on, you're a person."

Serena's fingers clenched. She looked up at him, eyes oddly bright. "But people have responsibilities," she said. "Obligations. You're supposed to put other people's needs before your own. That's what people do if they…if they want to get to heaven..." She choked slightly before continuing.

The pause was long enough for Darien's mind to jump back a few hours in time – the gates to Hell are barred. Was he not the only one who had overheard Zoicite's cryptic words to Sailor Moon?

"Maybe I'm not happy all the time. But just because I'm not happy doesn't mean I can dump my unhappiness on someone else. Then I'm just making them miserable, too, and that's not right at all."

"Maybe it's not right, but it's the way we are. It's the way human beings are. We're not perfect. We need support. We need people to share a little bit of our burden when it gets too heavy for us. That's not a weakness; it's a NEED. Instead of just taking everyone else's needs and wants upon yourself, Serena, you need to unload some. That's what your friends are here for. That's what Ami and Rei and – and – " And me, he added inside his mind.

Serena's gaze fell to her hands once more. "Could we…could we just not talk about this right now? Please?"

Darien was almost too preoccupied with his own anxiety to notice that mentioning Ami and Rei had caused her make such a plea. Almost.

"You had a fight with them, didn't you?" He hadn't know his voice could sound that gentle. "Ami and Rei."

Serena didn't answer. He hadn't expected her to. But an unexpected flood of pity washed through him, mingled with fury. He'd often heard Ami and Rei yelling at Serena for being late or not doing homework or klutzing out or pigging out – normal Odango things. And if they'd ripped into her today, after she'd been through a youma attack… His fingers tightened around the steering wheel.

"It wasn't their fault," she said in a small voice.

He looked over at her. "No, it was yours, right?" he said sarcastically, lip curling. "It's always your fault, Serena."

"That's the general consensus," murmured Serena.

He blinked. "Are they laying a guilt trip on you?" he demanded. She remained still and silent, and that was answer enough for him. The traffic light turned green and he slammed a foot down on the pedal, squealing into motion. "Damn them. Both of them. I am so sick of people laying guilt trips on you every damn second of the day – "

"It wasn't them!" Serena protested suddenly, lifting her head. "I mean – and even if it was – they're still right – "

Darien slammed a foot down again, this time on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt.

Darien swung around to face Serena. His timing – or hers – had been perfect; a pool of orange light from the streetlight bathed Serena's face so that he could see every tear track, each exhausted smudge under her eyes, every flicker of her expression.

"They are not right, okay? I don't know what it is they're blaming you for, but whatever it is, it's not true. You are a good person, Serena. Better than most of the rest of us – hell, you're right up there with Sailor Moon when it comes to martyrdom. I don't care what Ami says, or Rei, or Coach Etoukou, or Seiko, anything that's going wrong in their life is not your fault. You talk about people having these responsibilities, these obligations." Darien was gaining steam now, encouraged by the glimmer in Serena's eyes. The fact that she looked like she was about to burst into tears again meant that he was getting through to her, right? "Doesn't anyone have an obligation to you? Isn't there anyone who should put your happiness first?"

He stopped. Tears still rolled down Serena's cheeks, but her face was firm, and she was staring at him, but not. It was as though she was staring through him. When she spoke, however, it was him she was speaking to. "You're talking about people. When you were talking before, you said I was a person. But what if I'm not? What if I have different responsibilities and obligations? And I'm supposed to protect, not be protected?"

"What, now you think you're an alien?" Darien attempted a grin. It failed to draw her out of the emotional clam she'd shut herself into, so he gave up. "Everyone should be protected. Everyone's got someone who…likes them enough to protect them. Especially you."

"But what if I'm not supposed to be protected?' she insisted.

Darien snorted. "Let me tell you something. The people who care about you enough to protect you don't care whether you're supposed to be protected or not. I'm going to tell you a little secret, Odango – " He noticed her start a bit and glance at him as though startled. I don't care. I'm tired of calling her Serena. "You know how Motoki said we were at the movie today? It wasn't because we just had a sudden craving to see Paris Hilton with a knife sticking out her cranium. We knew you were going there with Seiko, and we wanted to make sure he didn't try anything on you. That's why we were there. To protect you. And if you think that Numa and Toki and – and – " He faltered momentarily, "…and I are going to leave you to the wiles of some boy just because you've got some crazy notion you're not supposed to be protected, you've got another think coming."

"No, but – " Serena stammered. "You still don't get it, Darien!"

Darien sighed. He twisted around to face forward in his seat again, his fingers drumming the steering wheel. After a long pause, he began, "You know, there was this week, a while back, when Asanuma got this crazy idea in his head that you were Sailor Moon."

Serena choked; he ignored her.

"I guess it was because you're practically the only blonde in Juuban, and you've got the hairstyle and everything. So he followed you around for a week trying to get proof that you were Sailor Moon. At the time, I thought he was a moron. I mean, come one, what did you have in common with a superhero?" He snorted to himself, then remembered that he was trying to cheer Serena up, not depress her further. "But now…I'm kinda seeing what he meant. Sailor Moon puts everyone before herself, but does anyone look out for her? No. Not even her friends; they're always squawking around like a couple of chicken with their heads cut off – " He clenched his fingers. "And you – you saved a kid's life today, nearly got killed yourself, but do Ami or Rei appreciate it?" He speared her with a sapphire glance. "Did you even tell them?"

Serena's mouth opened and closed, working silently. She seemed dazed.

Darien decided it was time for him to lay off. He keyed the ignition again and pulled back into the road. Not a word was spoken by either teenage until they rolled to a stop in front of Serena's house. Then they sat still for a moment. Darien's hands were slick with sweat, and in this ceasefire of conversation, he became more aware than ever of the burning scrapes on his shins.

"There's something in your leg," said Serena suddenly. "Something gold."

Darien looked down at his bloody shins, which were revealed by his rolled-up khakis, and felt his heart leap into his throat. His psychometry sometimes emitted gold sparks when it was healing him. Was that what Serena had seen? Could he explain it to her without revealing that he was Tuxedo Mask? What if he couldn't? How would she react? She had seemed so frightened of Tuxedo Mask at the theater – maybe he could just say that he had this weird ability to heal himself and he didn't know where it had come from. That wouldn't give away his secret identity –

"There it is again." Before Darien could open his mouth, Serena leaned over and plucked something off his leg. He nearly had a heart attack. Serena sat up again, holding something long and thin that glinted gold and red in the tangerine glow of the streetlight.

"It's a piece of my hair," she said embarrassedly, her tearstained face flushing a darker red. "I'm really sorry – it must've gotten stuck when I was…crying…"

Darien, thinking of how Tuxedo Mask's blood had gotten all over Serena's air when he rescued her, said nothing.

"Darien…you said that you saw Tuxedo Mask rescue me."

He glanced at her briefly. "Yeah…"

Her fingers knotted together. "Does that mean you heard…does that mean you heard what that lady told Sailor Moon? That general lady?"

Aha. I was right. Darien thought carefully for a moment, eyes narrowed. Honesty is the best policy…what could it hurt? "Yes."

"Do you…what do you think it meant?"

"What do I think it meant?" Darien blinked. Well, I don't know. I haven't had a chance to think about it yet. It's on my To Do list, though. "Well…I don't know. What she was saying didn't make any sense. How could Sailor Moon go to hell? After all the lives she's saved?"

"She didn't save lives today, though," said Serena, a tinge of desperation in her voice. "Seven people died because of her."

"Because of her?" Darien quirked an eyebrow to hide his indignation. He failed to notice the desperation that tinged Serena's voice. He was too hung up over the idea that Sailor Moon, the angel of his world,was to blame for someone's death. "Where did you get that idiotic idea?"

"Well – she could have gotten there faster, couldn't she? She could have saved those people from the youma."

"Serena, I saw one of the newscast on the youma attack. Those seven people were killed instantly when rubble from the youma's arrival crushed their skulls. Sailor Moon couldn't have stopped them from dying."

"But – "

"No buts. Look, she couldn't have known that the youma was going to show up at the movie theater. She's not omniscient. She's not all-powerful, despite what people seem to think. She's a teenager. She could just as easily not show up when a youma starts attacking people. But she does, and every time, she's risking her life. She's like you, Odango, she doesn't think about herself. Just other people. That's why I think it's a bunch of nonsense that she could ever go to hell. If anyone deserves heaven, it's her."

"You really think that?"

He snorted. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't, would I?"

"So…you don't blame her? For those people's deaths?"

"Of course not!" Darien watched Serena carefully, curiously. "But you know what? I'd bet you my car that she's beating herself up about it. Like you do. She probably thinks it's her fault all those people died. Just goes to show that blonde's her natural hair color."

Serena frowned. "I don't get it…wait. You're saying she's stupid?"

"If she thinks it's her fault those people died, she is," Darien amended. "Look, Odango, you've been through a lot today. Why don't you go get some sleep? It'll make everything a lot clearer."

Serena attempted a smile. "Is that your way of hinting tactfully that you want me to get out of your car so you can leave?"

"Your all-seeing eyes have seen right through me," replied Darien, also smiling. "Now go to bed."

But I don't want to go inside, Serena thought, staring at Darien's shadowed face. When I get out, my mom's going to be demanding to know where I was and if I'm alright, and I'll have to lie to her and say I'm perfectly okay. And when I go to sleep, I'll have nightmares of Tuxedo Mask and Zoicite and the voice in the fog, and the fire and the screaming. And when I wake up, it'll be even worse, because I'll remember that those people are dead and I didn't save them, and Ami and Rei and Luna will ignore me because they hate me because they remember that those people re dead, and I didn't save them, and they're not like you, they don't think that Sailor Moon couldn't have saved them, they think it was her fault. And I don't know what to believe, because I want to think that I didn't do it, but I know that someone's to blame for those people being dead, and it seems cowardly of me to say it's someone else's fault, and – and – and – I just want to stay in the car with you.

Please don't make me get out.

But Serena said, "Okay," she opened the door. "Thank you. For the ride and…everything."

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"Everything."

Serena shut the door.

A/N: I HATE this chapter! But I had to get it out before I could do any of the new, better chapters…I'm sorry about this one, you guys. I PROMISE, I'll do better next time!

Um, also. I am seriously considering writing a chapter about the Spring Fling (it has been mentioned in passing a couple of times in this fic). IF I do so, I'm not sure whether I should post it as a stand-alone or as a chapter of STC. Please tell me in your reviews:

a.) whether you want to read a Spring Fling fic

b.) whether I should post it alone or as a chapter

c.) what you would like to be in it (give me a couple of ideas, please!)