As promised, another chapter. It's a bittersweet occasion as I've finally finished my other story Only in My Dreams,and will be posting the final chapter later tonight. But I guess that's a good thing. It'll give me more time to focus on this story, and I have university starting next week *sob*. As I announced last week that I had run out of inspiration for any new stories, I thought up two more within the week. Funny how muses and fate works sometimes. But alas...

Thank you to: Usako, Moon Princess Selene, Scarlet L, DeeDee, Stacey, CCFan4Life, life705, The Cuteness, Miss Katrina Malfoy, CharmedSerenity3, TropicalRemix, SerentiyMoonGodness, merangelgal and SulliMike23 for reviewing my previous chapter

This chapter is for Goddess of the Moonlit Sky who has been a long time reviewer of Only in My Dreamsamong many of my other stories. Thank you for all the lovely reviews you've given me these past 6-7 years.


Title: Akai Ito
Author: Crystal Saturn
Rated:
Chapter: 3- The Beautiful Letdown

"It was a beautiful letdown
When I crashed and burned
When I found myself alone
Unknown and hurt"

"Wait, you can see me. You can see me!" Darien jumped to his feet and pointed at Serena accusingly. "How long have you been able to see me? It was this whole time wasn't it?"

"Yes." Serena nodded, attempting to blink her tears away.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wasn't sure if it was really you. You're supposed to be in hospital. I thought I just hadn't gotten enough sleep and was seeing things." She shrugged as she rose to her feet and picked up her book bag. It was time for her to head home.

"Wait, where are you going? You can see me! That's fantastic. You can help me find my body." Darien chased after Serena and attempted to grab hold of her hand, only succeeding to swipe through it.

"You're at the hospital, Darien. Apparently the police found your body at the Starlight Tower. They said you're in stable condition." Serena slowly began to shuffle her way home.

"You have to take me there. I have to get back into my body."

"I can't, not right now. It's getting late. I have to get home." Serena clenched her hands into fists. She wasn't ready to see him yet. Not in that state at least, especially since she felt responsible for leaving him behind. "How did you even manage to get separated from your body?"

"I guess it was the Silver Crystal. When the real Starlight Tower began to separate from the Dark Kingdom realm there must have been a shift in space and time. I guess it happened just as I… well… was supposed to die."

"You're not meant to die." Serena muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Darien matched Serena's pace just as she shook her head to dismiss her comment. "I think the question is: Why is it that only you that can see me?"

"Akai Ito." Serena whispered as her face became flushed. She reached for her key and unlocked the front door to her house.

"A-what?" Darien questioned as he eyed the front door suspiciously.

"Are you going to come in?" The short blonde school girl slipped her feet out of her school shoes and into a pair of pink bunny slippers. "Or would you prefer to go back to your apartment?"

"I can't, well, do anything. I can't touch anything or talk to anyone other than you. Would it be awkward if I stayed with you tonight? If you're uncomfortable with it I can leave. I guess I can head back to my apartment. I'd have to take the stairs though. I wouldn't be able to press any buttons in the elevator."

"You can stay." A crimson hue stained Serena's cheeks at the thought of a boy being in her room. "But please, come in quickly. If someone walked past I'd look like an idiot standing here talking to myself." She ushered the man inside and closed the door behind them. Serena watched with amusement as Darien took off his shoes out of habit. He slid his feet into a pair of slippers only to walk away without them.

"This is going to take a little getting used to." He sighed as he stared down at his semi-transparent feet.


Later that evening, Darien kept himself occupied in Serena's room as she bounced downstairs for dinner. He found that as a phantom he did not need to do the usual things to keep his body functioning, like eating and sleeping. Oddly enough, he also discovered that although he could not reach out and move an object, he could in fact, still sit and hover over furniture. With a little leap, he found himself wedged in the space between the ceiling and the roof. With great effort, he could eventually push his way through walls. It seemed that the difference between him gliding effortlessly through a window and struggling through a brick wall was the density of the object he was moving through. Glancing down as he jumped on the spot, he discovered that his feet never touched the ground. An invisible blanket of air prevented him from making contact with the floor.

He rolled about on Serena's bed. Not a crease in the sheets. He launched himself off of Serena's bed and found himself tumbling through her bedroom door and down the hallway. Losing his balance as he tried to stand on his feet, Darien tripped near the stairs and fell through the handrail. His apparition fell from the second storey of the house, into the dining room area and at Serena's feet. She gasped in shock as he landed in silence; face down, under the dinner table.

"Serena, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." Her mother, Ilene, looked up from her plate. All eyes were on the nervous girl as everyone at the table had stopped eating and focused their attention on Serena. She paled and swallowed the lump in her throat as Darien groaned and began to stir. He rose to his feet and found himself standing through the middle of the dining table. His crotch region hovered within the bowl of mashed potato.

"I umm… I'm not all that hungry anymore." Serena smiled politely as she tried to converse with her mother through Darien's translucent abdomen. She gritted her teeth as she excused herself from the table and headed upstairs, into her room. Darien followed behind her silently.

"What were you doing?" Serena hissed as she shut her bedroom door behind them.

"I was just… experimenting. Seeing what I can do in this form." Darien shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry Dumpling Head." He reached out and attempted to affectionately squeeze one of her hair buns. She swatted at his hand in annoyance.

"Why are you still calling me that?" She pouted, sitting on her bed with a bounce. "Don't you… remember?"

"Remember what?" He took a seat on her study chair.

"Well, everything. The battle at the Starlight Tower, the Rainbow Crystals merging into the Silver Crystal… who the princess is?" Serena paused as she chose her words carefully.

"Yes, I remember everything." Darien glanced over at the seemingly nervous girl. "Including our past lives." He confirmed her suspicions. Serena began to blush profusely as visions of their past, passionate relationship flashed through her mind. Memories implanted in her mind from the Silver Crystal.

"What about Rei? Isn't she your girlfriend?" Serena subconsciously began to chew on her bottom lip in nervousness. An odd feeling began to manifest itself within her chest. It made her feel uneasy and rather melancholy all of a sudden.

"I never actually thought of Rei as my girlfriend. I guess it never really struck me that she would think of me as her Boyfriend. I mean, it was never really official or anything. She just seemed to like my company and often needed someone to accompany her to galleries and such. I never really had the heart to tell her that I was too busy, and to be totally honest, I thought we were both only doing it to make you jealous." Serena looked away in an attempt to hide her embarrassment at such a topic of conversation. A part of her felt that she was betraying her friend, and yet being with Darien felt right. It was fate after all.

"I see." She struggled to think of a response to break the awkward silence that had ensued.

"Look, Serena, just because we were lovers in a previous life, it doesn't mean it has to be that way in this life too. We can choose our own destiny. Maybe in the Silver Millennium, we were destined to be married, but today, we barely even know enough about each other to be friends. Sere, don't feel pressured into feeling like you suddenly have to pick up where we left off thousands of years ago. We're both different people now."

"Is that how you feel? That we're different from our former selves? That we're different people?" Serena crossed her arms in an attempt to still her trembling hands. All this time she had hoped that Darien would remember his love for her, like she had for him, but it wasn't to play out like that. The battle at the Starlight Tower, the Silver Crystal revealing itself and restoring their memories, none of it had made a difference to him. She was still plain old Dumpling Head to him. The ditzy school girl dressed in a pretty Sailor Soldier suit.

"Yes. Don't you? Don't you want to break away from the past, the princess, and just be you? Don't you find it slightly weird that one day we're teasing each other like usual and the next day we're meant to be a couple?" Darien raised an eyebrow dubiously. An intense silence filled the air for a second as Serena began to squirm and fumble with her bed sheets. She stood up briefly as she turned down her bed and sat back down, wriggling under the sheets. Glancing back at the shadowy form of the man beside her, she noticed that he was still waiting for an answer.

"Darien, I believe in Akai Ito." She smiled quietly as she turned off her bedside lamp and pulled the covers over her head, hoping to hide the tears forming in her eyes and muffle the sound of her disappointment.

"Red thread? What's that supposed to mean?" Darien attempted to nudge the hiding girl, unsuccessfully.

"Good night, Darien."


. . .

A bit of a boring bridging chapter, but now we've explored a little more into Darien's spiritness, and the current state of the Sere/Dar relationship. Next chapter will include an appearance from the red string itself... Until then, please Review!

Crystal Saturn