Strong Destiny, Weak Heart
Chapter 3
Freedom Vs. Heartache
Disclaimer: I wish I could take credit for Sailor Moon! Alas, not my creation, only this story is.
Previously on Strong Destiny, Weak Heart:
Serena was absent from school and didn't show up to the temple for two weeks. She was REALLY hurt. She couldn't stop thinking about him, and when she did, she cried all over again. Mina and Lita took that time to scout around for a new man for her. Rei was constantly thinking about what Lita had said. Did she really think she had a chance with Darien? If Serena really did move on, maybe he could too. She mentally scolded herself for having the thought, when she knew Serena was in her room crying for weeks. She decided to wait it out, if Serena really could move on, it was going to be game on.
And now the continuation...
Chapter 3
Darien was in his apartment reading a medical journal when his thoughts wandered toward Serena. 'I wonder what she's doing?' He had been to the arcade every day to run into her like old times, but she hadn't been there. He checked all the buffets and snack stands he could find, but he couldn't find her anywhere. After 3 days, he gave up and focused on things he had to get done, 'no need getting space from someone if I try to hunt her down.' he was trying to remind himself. After a week, he was ahead in his college courses, and worked overtime at the hospital every chance he got to fill in his time. He had never realized just how much time he had set aside for her, he was beginning to see just how lonely his life really was without her.
Rei couldn't believe Serena still wasn't going to the scout meetings, it had been a full 14 days since 'the incident' and she was still moping? She decided to go see Darien, but she wouldn't dare go alone after what Lita said. She called Ami and asked her to go with her, "Sure, let me just finish this last page of homework and I'll head right over." Rei was anxious, as soon as Ami got there they headed straight to Darien's apartment. "Rei, what made you want to go over so bad?" Ami was glad she didn't go alone, but she didn't think Rei would go over with ill intentions while Serena was still so miserable.
"Well, the way Serena's acting, I really want to know both sides at this point. I'm glad you were torn about them too, I don't think Lita or Mina would have wanted to come with me without yelling at him...or maybe punching him." She thought of Lita throwing a fist as soon as he opened the door.
"I'm not torn, I just don't want to get involved. The future isn't set in stone you know, the Dark Moon Kingdom proved that when they came through time, I just don't want something I do to mess up such a bright future."
"Yeah, yeah. I just want to get to the bottom of things." Rei said, knocking on Darien's door.
Darien put his medical journal down and went to get the door. "Rei, Ami! Come in, come in. Do you guys want anything?" He pushed them toward the couch and hurried toward the kitchen. The girls just looked at each other, surprised by Darien's attitude and actions.
"What's gotten into you?" Rei said suddenly.
"Huh? Nothing, just glad to see you guys, how about some tea and cookies?" Rei suddenly felt VERY strange, she didn't like it. She knew she was looking too into the meaning of what he said, but she couldn't help but feel special when he said it. Darien was putting some cookies in the oven and boiling some water before he sat down on his recliner, facing the girls on his couch.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Um, Darien, this isn't just a social call. I was wondering, what did you say to Serena?" She started blushing after she said it.
"Huh? Didn't she tell you? Speaking of her, would you mind telling me how she is first?"
"Oh, um, we haven't seen her."
"Really? Has she been avoiding you?"
"No, she's just been home. She's real upset about what happened, in fact, that's why we're here. From what she did tell us, I think she's overreacting."
"Well Serena is overly sensitive..."
"And loud, and a crybaby, and childish-" Rei cut in.
"And our leader, and friend, not to mention our princess and future queen." Ami reminded her.
"I know Ami. I'm just saying, right now she's still a child!"
"Oh, and you're an adult? We are all the same age you know." Rei began to blush, she couldn't believe what Ami was saying in front of Darien.
"That's not what I said, but I've never met anyone else our age who acts like she does." Darien nodded in agreement.
"I know what you mean." Rei refocused on why she was there.
"So would you mind telling us what you said?" She said, hoping Ami wouldn't embarrass her anymore if they got what they came for and left.
"Not at all. I just told her I didn't think she was ready for our relationship, because she's still so young, and we were very serious. She's not the serious type, not yet anyway. I told her it was more of a break or challenge."
"Challenge?" Ami asked, wanting the details of the 'wager'. Rei was beside herself, she couldn't believe that Serena was telling the truth about the challenge.
"Yes, I told her to try and find a better man for herself, date around for four years."
"And you would be..." Ami said, since it didn't seem like he was going to head in that direction.
"Busy."
"Meaning..."
"I have college, work, and there's always Andrew for me to talk to."
"Yes, but what about dating wise?" Ami pried.
"None for me. I'm just going to wait for her, she's the only one I want."
"Why now? Why so suddenly?"
"Well, you could just say I'd had enough."
"..."
"Okay, here's the deal. I'm just fed up with the way she treats me. She goes gaga over any guy that's half decent, complete with drool and starry eyes, even if I'm standing right next to her. However if I simply NOTICE another woman, she flips out and goes into crazy psychotic mode. She says things like I don't love her, or maybe I'd rather be with someone else, when that's not the case at all. For instance a month ago we went to her favorite candy store, and there was a new guy working the register. Right there, in the middle of the store, SECONDS after clinging to my arm, she starts staring at him screeching 'what a hunk!' I'm guessing the guy got uncomfortable cause he went into the back room and a woman came out. She was probably ten years older than me, but that didn't matter to Serena. She saw me LOOK over, I was just checking to see if anyone was at the register, and she flipped out, pulled me out of the store and said she never wanted me to go there again. When I asked her why, she said she didn't want me to make goo goo eyes at my 'girlfriend' at the register! It's like that all the time! Anywhere we go if we're not alone! It's not that I don't love her and want to be with her, I just want her to realize how much I love her, and hopefully, she gets whatever she thinks she's missing out of her system." He got up to check on the cookies and make the girls some tea.
"So you really want her to meet someone else?" Rei asked.
"No, of course not, why? Do you think she will?"
"Not at this rate." Rei said, remembering when she saw Serena in her room crying.
"Okay, after hearing this, I couldn't agree with you more Darien. If she's this upset over you telling her you guys weren't over, but simply on 'pause' mode and it's affecting her this much, it can't be healthy." Ami said, suddenly surprised at Serena's attitude toward her relationship.
"But I just want her to be happy, I hope she's not crying. I never meant to hurt her. Honestly, I think she'll be happier once she stops thinking of this as a breakup." Darien said as he handed them their tea and a small plate of cookies.
"Well if she's not out in the real world by now, believe me, she will be tomorrow. She's had more than enough time to grieve a breakup, and this isn't even one!" Rei said, suddenly more angry with Serena than she's ever been. They both ate the cookies and sipped their tea.
"So what did you mean by getting something 'out of her system'?" Ami asked as she put her tea down for a moment, while grabbing another cookie.
"I don't know, but it seems to me, if I'm not enough for her, she must think she's missing something. I'm not going to take her youth away from her, I had my fun and experiences when I was her age. Why would I want to take that away from her?" Rei felt her heart beat faster and realized she was feeling more attracted to him.
"Fun and experiences?" Ami asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
"Yeah, the excitement of dating, crushes, seeing someone you really like, and finding out they don't think you're half bad either."
"But I thought you said you didn't want her to date anyone else."
"I don't, but I really am in no position to stop her. I figured it'd just be easier for both of us with my permission, plus, when we get back together, I'm sure she'll stop her weird 'I'm attracted to every guy' phase.
"But what if she does date, or you see her with someone else? Four years is enough time for a lot of things to happen..." Ami was pondering the possibilities.
"I didn't really think it though. I'm sort of taking it one day at a time, but I feel sorry for the guy who I see her with."
"Why?" Rei asked.
"Because not only will they be intimidated by me, but now that I think about it, I'll probably end up threatening guys to stay away from her behind her back." He smiled at the idea, pleased she wouldn't find anyone that he couldn't put in their rightful place.
"If you say so...we should get going. We're going to check on Serena and head to the temple for training." Ami said, putting her tea and empty plate of cookies down. Rei followed suit, half-hoping he was wrong, and Serena would find someone else.
"Oh, I see. Well feel free to stop by more often, and bring Serena sometime, when she finally gets used to the idea. Just because we're not dating, doesn't mean we can't still all hang out. Hell even if just one of you wants to stop by, that would be okay." Darien's loneliness was getting the better of him. He really wanted them to stay, but he knew they were busy and had plans. Rei felt herself blush at the thought of her coming over by herself. She quickly walked out the door waving a hand at Darien, Ami behind her.
"Um, we'll think about that. Bye Darien, thanks for the tea and cookies." Ami said as she closed the door to his apartment, and left him holding the empty tea cups and cookie plates.
"What was that?" Ami asked when they reached the sidewalk.
"What do you mean?" Rei asked, feeling her cheeks turning red.
"Him, Darien. He seems so lonely without her, I'm sure that's why he invited us to come over more often, although I don't think Lita or Mina would be up to it right now." Rei was relieved, and refocused on her anger toward Serena and the way she was acting.
"Well Serena needs a reality check! We're going over there right now, c'mon Ami." She said, grabbing Ami's arm and dragging her along.
Serena was lost in her thoughts yet again. Laying in bed, asking her mother if lunch was ready. "Serena, you've moped long enough. Just so you know, you ARE going to school tomorrow so I hope you have been getting some studying done."
"But mom!"
"No buts Serena! The only reason you stayed home so long was because you took advantage of the fact that I was on that retreat with your father and Sammy for the past two weeks! I had hoped you would have used better judgment and would do what you have to, but your school called today and said you've been missing since last Monday! I'm very disappointed in you. Not to mention all the snacks are missing, have you even eaten a real meal!"
"But mom, I'm heartbroken!"
"No you're not! You're being immature! Serena, even I can see that boy loves you more than you give him credit for. You'll be fine, you're lucky I'm not skinning you alive, but you are grounded for two months, the girls are just going to have to study without you, or come over here to study!" Serena knew her mother was very angry, but she thought her mother would understand if she didn't go to school for a while. It just added to her suspicion that people thought she was overreacting. If her mom was this angry, then she must have thought she would be over her 'slump' by now. She did feel better, the more she thought about the arrangement, the more she realized it suited her. After all, wasn't she attracted to the men she saw in different places? Or did she just think they were attractive, without really wanting to date them? Now was her chance to find out, and she was excited. After all, Darien promised he'd still be there, this would be the best deal she'd ever get, and she still was up for that challenge.
Lita and Mina arrived shortly later, and saw Serena was doing just fine. "Serena, why haven't you been in school?" Mina said, finding it odd she didn't go when she looked this 'recovered'.
"To be honest, I took advantage of everyone leaving me alone. My mom was at a retreat with my dad and Sammy for the last two weeks, and I never turned my alarm on while they were gone..."
"It's been two weeks? Man, time flies when you don't expect it!" Lita said, thinking how her and Mina have been using up all their free time searching for suitors for her, they lost count of the days, it felt like it had only been a few days.
"Well, Lita and I have a few guys we'd like you to meet."
"I'm not interested."
"What? Why not?"
"Because, I want to find my OWN dates. I don't want to be set up!"
"Well, I guess that makes sense. But man, does that mean we can have those hunks to ourselves then?" Lita thought, hopefully.
"I don't see why not," Mina replied. "awesome, I picked out some nice ones too!"
Just then, Ami and Rei showed up. "What is this, some kind of party?" Rei asked, when she saw all the girls there.
"Yeah Rei, and you're not invited!" Serena said, sticking her tongue out at her.
"Oh grow up Serena! You'd better go to school tomorrow!"
"For your information I am! My mom is back from her retreat and forcing me to go."
"So you didn't go to school because your mom wasn't here? What the hell Serena! What about our scout meetings! There's no reason you needed to skip those!"
"I didn't want to go! I hate scout meetings, they're more like 'yell at Serena' meetings!"
"You meatball brained whiner!" Rei said, as she stormed out of the room, more furious with Serena than she thought she'd ever been. She decided to just go home.
"Serena, would you like a hand studying today? " Ami said, looking through Serena's book bag.
"Sure Ami, I'd love that, seeing how I'm going to have to make up quite a few tests. Thank you so much!"
"Well, I guess we'll leave you guys to it. We've got some guys to meet." Lita said with a wink.
"Bye Serena, see you tomorrow." Mina said with a smile, and they left Ami and Serena to their studying.
Serena's two months of grounding went by very slowly for her. Rei insisted that the meetings be held at the temple because Serena's house had three other people in it, and anyone could accidently overhear. Plus, they had room to train on the temple grounds, without being seen. Rei also found the time to convince the other Scouts that Serena was being unreasonable, and Darien's offer wasn't bad at all. Once everything was settled, they decided to include him in the scout meetings, until Serena came back, then she'd have to decide if he could stay. While training with the scouts, Darien realized how tough their training actually was, and he couldn't picture Serena keeping up with them. "Wow, do you guys hold back when Serena's around?"
"Not at all, in fact we all attack her." Ami answered, since this time they were off in pairs and Darien was just watching their practice and informing them of weaknesses in their defense, that he could see.
"Yeah, she must really need all that sugar she eats, cause she always uses it to run away from us. She never really attacks us though, she mostly just dodges, every once and a while she'll use something to protect herself, like her crystal or scepter. But that's usually cause Rei blasts too many Fireballs at her." Mina said, smiling at the thought Serena might be gaining weight since she wasn't training.
"She has to be prepared for anything!" Rei said defensively.
"Even so, it's not like any of us have even landed a hit on her once yet." Lita said, almost upset by the fact.
"Wow." Was all Darien could say, he was very surprised at the fact she did so well when she trained. But that did explain why she was always able to dodge attacks from any foe.
"How about we all attack you Darien? Or would you rather challenge us one at a time?" Rei said, anxious to test herself.
"Um, let's start with one at a time. I don't exactly have anyone to train with on a regular basis."
"Okay, I'll go first." Rei said, as she hurled a fireball at him, he easily avoided it by spinning his cane and it dissipated. All the girls noticed she was holding back, her fireballs toward Serena were much faster and hotter. She fired one after the other, in different directions. He avoided them easily, either by jumping away, or hitting them away. When the next fireball came, he threw a rose through it, and they canceled each other out. Realizing she couldn't get a good fireball at him, she began to charge at him. The two began to spar, and they could see Rei seemed to just want to get close to him, she wasn't giving it her all.
"Alright, alright, looks like you guys are pretty even, my turn." Mina said, anxious to separate them, before Lita decided to. They each took turns against him and realized he wasn't that strong. In the end, they all decided it best if they trained him too. And he was much more eager than Serena ever was, not to mention he fought back, defensively of course, but he didn't just dodge all the time. Since Ami was more brains then brawn, they decided that he should train with her, and if and when he could finally beat her, he'd move on to other scouts.
The girls kept busy, but did visit Serena when they could, during her grounding. When it was finally over, she went straight to the arcade after school. While there, she found a flier for speed dating, she didn't even notice when Andrew walked up to her. "Someone dropped those off not too long ago, I guess the new hotel has a banquet room and they want a lot of people to see it."
"Oh, I was just wondering if I should try it." Andrew smiled, thinking she was joking.
"Um, I'm pretty sure you have to be 18 and over."
"Of course..." Serena said, as she put her head down.
"Why so glum, did you and Darien get into a fight or something?"
"Kind of. We're on a break till I turn 18."
"Really? That's odd."
"Tell me about it."
"So are you serious about dating around?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, he told me to, so I might as well take advantage of it, right?" She knew her heart wouldn't be in it, but she didn't care. He did say for her to have fun, after all.
"Oh, wow. Darien told you to? Geez, he must be crazy, I know at least ten guys that want to go out with you."
"Please." Serena said doubtfully.
"No really, this is an arcade Serena, boys come in here all the time and see you playing the Sailor V game. You don't escape their attention, believe me. You may ignore them, but they sure don't ignore you."
"Wow, I never knew."
"Yeah, several guys always come up to me and ask me about you. I just tell them you're seeing Darien, and they back off."
"Well don't say that anymore! It's time Darien learned what letting me go means!" She said, with renewed vigor for the challenge.
"Oh...okay...if that's what you want..." Andrew said, suddenly unsure if he said the right thing. Darien was his best friend, was he betraying him by helping Serena?
"Yes, it's what I want." She stated with firmness. "Well, I better enjoy my freedom and walk around the district for a while, I've also been grounded for the past two months."
"That explains why you haven't been around." Andrew smiled at her, and waived as she left.
"Lockdown is the worst!" She said as she waived back to Andrew and left. As she walked down the shopping district, she noticed several shops she never noticed before. One of which was a video game store, and she saw the Sailor V game poster in the window. She ran in, hoping to find the game on sale. When she found the worker, she noticed he wasn't bad looking. He couldn't be more than 16, with red hair, light skin, red eyes, and very muscular. 'Not too muscular though,' She thought to herself, as she gave him the once over, 'just the right amount'. She didn't realize she was drooling until another customer was tapping her shoulder.
"Miss, you've got something on your face." She snapped back into reality and wiped her mouth, laughing like a hyena. She straightened out and headed over to him to ask about the game, the good thing was he was busy pricing and putting more posters up, so he didn't see her make a fool of herself.
"Hey, do you guys really have the new Sailor V game?" She asked in excitement.
"Actually, if you read the poster, it says when it's coming out. But you can pre-order it here, and reserve your copy of the game so it won't be sold out before you can get it."
"Really?" She said, with stars in her eyes.
"Yeah, all you have to pay is the five dollar down payment. The rest of the price of the game is due when you pick it up, or you can pay it all now and pick it up when it comes out. Or you can make payments until it comes out, then just pay the remaining balance when it comes out."
"Hmmmmm" She pondered the idea. "I'll do it. I don't remember seeing your store here, did you guys just open?"
"Well, yeah. We've been open for about a month now, but I've seen you before. Aren't you the girl who always plays Sailor V in the arcade? You're dating that guy, Darien, right?" Serena blushed, did this mean he's asked Andrew about her? She was excited to test out the theory, and Darien's deal.
"I used to, we broke up."
"Oh, sorry to hear that." He said, with sympathy for her.
"Don't be, we didn't have that much in common, and we are much better friends." She lied, hoping it would be true when she saw him next. She read the guy's nametag when she got a chance and noticed it also said 'manager' on it. 'Reagan, hmmmmm. I wonder where he's from. I better ask him next time, or I'll be late to the meeting' she thought to herself. She paid her down payment, and headed toward Rei's temple. She skipped to Rei's thinking about Reagan and if he was interested in her...because she was certainly interested in him.
To Be Continued...
Special Thanks/Mention: xx Twilight Princess xx, Jovian Sun, Krystle Santana, SailorMoonAddict, Cassie Garcia and TropicalRemix for their reviews!