As promised, it's November and I'm back! This chapter officially ends my hiatus and signifies the end of my undergrad degree. Forgive my writing style if it's a little awkward at times, it will take me a while to get out of academic writing style and back into creative writing. I now have a plan for Akai Ito and my outline sees it having 21 chapters, so the end is near!
Thanks to: MissTexMex, IzzyKstone, Guest, Perfect Beauty, Phoenix, Guest, SailorLeia, Guest, veronica, moon86, Guest, SailorMoon489, Guest, LoveInTheBattleField, LLW, Guest, UnwrittenOpus, new fan, Guest, Miss Katrina Malfoy and boston for reviewing the previous chapter
Title: Akai Ito
Author: Crystal Saturn
Rated: T
Chapter: 17- Enough to Let Me Go
I'm a wandering soul
I'm still walking the line that leads me home
Alone
. . .
But every seed dies before it grows
Do you love me enough to let me go?
Serena awoke from her slumber, feeling like she had barely slept at all. Noticing almost immediately that Darien's jacket was missing, she patted down the bed and searched the floor beside her to see if she had dropped it. It was nowhere to be found.
"Darien?" She called out to the empty room. A cool tingle across her hand reassured her of his presence. "Darien, I miss you so much. I'm so glad you're still with me." Another cool touch spread across Serena's lips and she smiled. "I should probably get home." She yawned and stretched her arms above her head before straightening out the bed sheets and making sure all windows and doors were locked as they were when she first walked in.
As the elevator reached the lobby level, the doors opened slowly, revealing what looked to be man standing before her, clad in grey slacks, a black turtleneck and a distinctive green dinner jacket. The breath caught at the back of her throat and the blood drained from Serena's face as she watched him smile at her briefly.
"Serena, what are you doing here?" He asked, tilting his head gently to one side in mild curiosity.
"I..." Serena began just as the elevator doors began to shut. The dark haired man reached his hand out to stop the doors from closing any further.
"Did you come to see me?" Another playful smile graced his lips.
"Mr Chiba," At that moment, the lobby receptionist walked past with a bundle of letters. "Here's your mail for the past few weeks."
"Thank you, Ryo. I'll have next month's rent paid by the end of the week." The Darien look-a-like gave a cool smile to the receptionist as he shot him his trademark Tuxedo Mask salute, before turning his attention back to Serena. "Shall we head upstairs?" Without waiting for a response, he walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the eighth level.
"Wait, no!" Serena ducked past the tall man and swiftly stepped out of the elevator. "I don't..." She shook her head to clear it from the foggy confusion that currently consumed her. "I have no idea what's going on... or who you are... but I think I need to go." The blonde teen turned swiftly on her heels and dashed toward the exit.
"Serena, wait!" Darien's doppelganger chased down the girl, finally catching up to her and stopping her in the middle of a busy Tokyo sidewalk. The air was still but Serena's long golden locks tossed about her as a cool breeze raised the hairs on her arms like a signal to be cautious. "Serena, don't you remember me?" The man asked, almost incredulously. "It's me, Darien!"
"I don't know who you think you are, but you're not Darien." Serena pulled away slowly; all the while, her mind raced and her heart betrayed her, pounding with the excitement of a lover in the embrace of her beau.
"Serena, it's me." A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He meant it as affection, and as always, she read it as a sort of condescension and frowned. A nostalgic feeling swept over her. "I told you the Silver Crystal would help me. It's slowly healing me and restoring my memories."
"Endymion?" Serena's defences immediately returned as she took another step back to distance herself from him.
"Please don't be afraid, it really is me." Endymion raised his hands, as though he was displaying a sort of unarmed defeat. "I'll prove it to you. I'm starting to remember some things..." Serena found her defences gradually melting away with the sound of his voice. Even though she could feel Darien's spirit beside her, she still couldn't help but fall for Endymion's charm. From the small gestures, to his reserved smiles, he was so convincing. As he began to reminisce about the memories that they shared, Serena found herself unravelling and succumbing to every one of his words.
Darien stood beside Serena as Endymion spouted stories of a wayward shoe and some sort of test paper projectile. He listened as the man dressed in his clothes continued to pretend that some sort of memory was 'coming back' to him. Unbeknownst to them all, as Darien watched Serena fall for each and every one of Endymion's false memories, the red thread that connected Darien's spirit to Serena began to unravel and fade. In a matter of seconds, it was gone, and for Darien, the feeling of being cold increased tenfold. It was an empty iciness that he had only ever experienced once before.
Darien watched as his hand faded in and out of transparency, and in an instant, he knew that he was running out of time. Reaching out, he frantically waved his hand through Serena in an attempt to gain her attention, but it didn't seem to work. She no longer felt his touch. Cursing out loud, Darien knew that he had to leave her with him. This couldn't wait any longer. With one last kiss on her cheek, he left her side, and ran as fast as he could to the Tsukino residence.
Pushing his way through walls and doors, Darien finally made his way into Serena's room. Reaching around for something, anything he could use to leave her a note on. He grasped at her pen tin with no avail. He still couldn't move anything but paper. Yelling out to the heavens, Darien fell to his knees with exasperation. With one last sigh of frustration, he slammed his fist down onto the ground, and to his surprise, he hit it.
"Serena? Is that you?" Mrs. Tsukino hollered from the kitchen, "Are you home?"
Darien raised his hand to the window and waited to see if the light would pass straight through. It didn't. He was himself again, but he knew it wouldn't last long. Reaching for a pen and paper, he began to write Serena one last letter.
. . .
"Serena? Serena, are you ok?" Endymion supported the blonde teen as she dropped to her knees and grasped at her head. "Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"
"No no..." Serena shook her head in an attempt to gain some clarity.
"What's wrong?" Endymion watched, feigning compassion as he helped Serena back up to her feet. He knew that Darien was in trouble, he had seen him begin to fade away.
"Something's wrong." She felt queasy in the pit of her stomach and turned in the direction of her house. "Darien, I have to go." On impulse, her intuition pointed her toward her home and she moved to run, but was stopped in her tracks as Endymion grabbed a firm hold of her wrist.
"Where are you going, Serenity?" He pulled her close. "You have me, stay with me."
"What... What's with you?" Serena shot Endymion an incredulous look as she struggled to free herself from his grasp. "Let me go Darien. There's something wrong. I have to get home." Wrenching her arm away from him, she shot him one last look of confusion before sprinting away.
As she burst through the front door, she caught sight of her mother in the kitchen. "Mama, is everything ok?" The blonde teen asked urgently, grabbing hold of her mother to make sure.
"Yes, of course, what's wrong Serena?" Illene placed the soup ladle down on the kitchen counter, observing her daughters strange behaviour. Beads of sweat clung to the girl's forehead as her eyes darted back and forth around the room. Realising that none of her family were in any immediate danger, Serena focused her thoughts on to the only other person she knew who could possibly make her feel like this.
"Nothing, mama. Everything's okay." Serena forced a smile as she released hold of her mother and bolted up the stairs into her room. As she barged into her room, she was confronted by a momentary cool gust of wind, before a sudden feeling of complete stillness. Almost immediately, her gaze fell upon the note hastily scrawled and left on her desk.
To my beautiful Sere,
By the time you read this, I will be gone. No more midnight visits, no more invisible kisses; my spirit can no longer protect you, so please be careful. I will find my way back to you, one way or another. I promise. You need to know that Endymion is not who he seems. He's manipulative and dangerous. You cannot trust him. There's one more thing I need to tell you. That night we kissed, the night that I disappeared, just like now, I knew it was going to happen. I knew I wasn't going to make it through the night and I didn't want to leave behind painful memories for you, so I moved all the paper roses into a box and hid them at the back of your closet for you to find one day, maybe when you were ready. I love you, Dumpling Head. I'm sorr
And with that, the note abruptly ended. Serena rushed over toward her closet, ripping the doors open and desperately diving toward the back in search of some sort of box. Sure enough, in the bottom left corner of the closet, hidden by an old t-shirt, was a paper box. With trembling hands, she lifted the lid and removed a paper rose, letting her tears fall freely as she cried into her hands.
Lita's theory seemed to have worked, but the shadow of doubt crossed Serena's mind. What if, by exposing herself to Endymion, she weakened Darien's spirit instead of strengthening it? What if he really was gone forever? Serena clutched at the paper box with a nervous uncertainty as she tried to gather all her thoughts and focus on the positive. She had to believe that this would work. She had to believe that Darien's spirit was now fighting his way back into his body, because if not, Endymion now possessed the Silver Crystal, and without Darien to stop him, there would be nothing left for this world but death and destruction.
Within the cold, sterile halls of the Dark Kingdom, the sound of heavy footsteps on solid marble echoed throughout the vast emptiness.
"Kunzite," Beryl acknowledged the presence of her last remaining shitennou warrior. "What news do you bring?"
As the caped warrior stepped through the mist and shadow of the hall way, into the light of the throne room, he knelt down briefly before the Queen. A small victorious smile spread across his lips as he glanced up into her emerald eyes.
"Your highness," He addressed. "It's Endymion; we've found him."
. . .
So, a quick chapter to break my hiatus, but the next one will be longer, promise! Thank you all for your ongoing support and reviews! I really do appreciate them. I'll post the next chapter within a week, and will hopefully have an update for Summer Rain too.
Crystal Saturn
