Strong Destiny, Weak Heart
Chapter 17
Disclaimer: I wish I could take credit for Sailor Moon! Alas, not my creation, only this story is.
Previously on Strong Destiny, Weak Heart:
"C'mon! It's the only place we can think of that Serena won't just 'pop up' at! Please! We could use a break from all this serious talk anyway!"
"Fine." Rei said, realizing they could all use something to lighten the mood for at least a little while. Mina was back on the phone before Rei even finished the word.
"Hey Reagan, c'mon over, we're all already here, bring your best ideas!" She quickly said over the phone and hung up once again.
And now the continuation...
Chapter 17
Regan arrived shortly, anxious to get some plans started. "Hey guys! Thanks for helping me out, I really want this party to be memorable for her."
"No problem, what ideas did you have so far?" Mina asked, trying to keep Reagan's focus on herself, instead of the raven haired priestess fuming behind her. Rei thought of him as the source of all Darien's problems, and just the mention of his name now a days, caused her to be in a bad mood. Now having him at her temple, talking about a party for Serena irked her to the point of not wanting to be at her own temple for fear she would do something she'd regret.
"Well, I've already called a couple places and have them reserved until further notice, so we'll have a banquet hall." He pulled out several brochures that he had acquired from different halls.
"Reagan, these are usually wedding halls, and can get really pricey!" Mina said, shocked at the brochures he held. He had eight, so each girl took two. Each pair of brochures had a specific location area, the beach, wineries, hotels, and gardens.
"Eh, you only turn 17 once." Reagan tried to dismiss his extravagant choices. Mina noticed that she overlooked one of the hotels, as it wasn't really a hotel at all.
"Is, is this! Oh my gosh! No way Reagan! Himeji Castle! Can you really afford to have it there?" Mina's eyes bulged at the beautiful castle images, it was a popular tourist sight, but she never heard of anyone having a birthday party there. "How did you pull this off? You already have this place reserved?"
"Well, yeah. Do you think that's the one she'd want?" Reagan asked passively.
"Well duh! How on Earth did you manage this?" Mina demanded, even Rei was surprised and took the brochure from Mina, as if she had to see it for herself.
"Actually, I'm not quite sure myself. All I know is my dad said I could have it there. I don't know what kind of pull he has, or how he managed it myself." Reagan said smiling.
"Uh-huh." Mina said skeptically.
"No, it's true." a giant sweat drop began to form on Reagan's head.
"Well whatever, can you take us to see it? We have a lot of planning to do if this is the place we're going to use, it's huge!" the other girls nodded in agreement with Mina.
"Well, we should all fit in my car, you're coming too, right Rei?" Regan noticed Rei acting distant toward him.
"Yeah, sure." She had nowhere else to be since she had no idea where Darien would be training anyway, and she couldn't pass up the opportunity to view the castle.
"We should make it a masquerade ball!" Lita said happily. Rei immediately saw Lita's plan, if Darien went, it would cause Serena to focus on the love and memories she had with him. If not, she still would be forced to think of Darien at the ball, and Reagan didn't have a clue!
"That's a great idea Lita!" Rei finally smiled.
"Serena always wanted to feel like a princess, it'd be perfect!" Ami chimed in.
"If you guys say so. Well, let's head over, with the space we have we may barely have enough room for all of Serena's friends." Reagan joked. The girls quickly headed to Reagan's car and piled in, anxious to see the castle.
Meanwhile, Darien focused on his training. After Rei left the night before, he trained for hours yet, finally going home just before dawn, but only to get his work and school numbers to call them when they opened, to tell them he would be 'unavailable' for a few months. After which, he got the cyborg and headed to a new, more secluded spot to train, one that was out of the way. Only he knew about these grounds from his early training days when he trained alone, when the Moon Kingdom still existed. He forced himself to take a break after training for 18 hours straight. He didn't want to be too exhausted to fight if the time came, and wanted his body to recover.
"Alright, it's settled! We're having her party here, and it's going to be a masquerade ball. With that stuff out of the way, we can now focus on the guest list and decorations!" Ami said, typing in the specifics on a hand held computer.
"Let's try to keep it under 200." Mina said casually.
"200! Serena knows that many people?" Reagan said in shock.
"Well, it's not so much she KNOWS them, it's more like acquaintances and plus I'm sure you know your fair share of people whom you'd like to invite." Ami clarified.
"Well I guess that's true, it does make sense." Reagan began to ponder who he would invite, not many people beside his family, which were only 5 people as it was. He'd have to consider business partners. At least his father would be happy about that. "Ami, I'll give you a list of people for my end so you can figure out what we're dealing with. I'm counting on you to come up with Serena's of course. My invites will be flexible, as long as whoever you'd think she'd want to be there can make it. Okay?"
"That sounds like a plan, I'll get right on it." She nodded, and with that, she was completely in her own little world while pressing keys on her hand held computer.
Reagan was dropping the girls off back at the temple, and afterwards paid the first of many payments to lock the castle in for sure. Since the money was in an envelope marked ' Himeji Castle' none of the girls knew how much he paid, or if he had paid at all. It may have been just a note for all they knew. Regan was obviously keeping a lot of his information 'hush, hush'. The girls began to wonder about his intentions, but were also very excited about the upcoming party. The girls broke the load into sections, each with their own flair for the party. Lita was in charge of the catering, Mina was in charge of decorations, Rei was in charge of entertainment, and Ami was in charge of seating and invitations. With all the would-be chores assigned among themselves, that left Regan to keep her just distracted enough where she wouldn't catch on to what the girls were doing.
As the weeks flew by, Rei couldn't help but wonder what Darien was up to. She had spoken to Andrew several times, and he always had the same reply. He hadn't had any contact with Darien, the last one to really see him was herself. After finishing her plans for entertainment, and feeling secure that nothing was going to 'fall through', she set out to find Darien. She started by using her senses and powers. She had spent so much time with him, she was able to hone in on his aura after weeks of meditation, concentration, and focus. Many times she got distracted and ended up going to places he had simply already been, like the arcade, or his apartment. She had gotten flustered, but not given up. Finally, she was on a trail that was taking her somewhere beyond where she ever had seen him, and knew she was on the right path. By the looks of it, he really didn't seem like he wanted to be found. She began to doubt if she should continue to look for him at all.
Only Lita was told where Rei planned to go. The others were left in the dark, she didn't want anyone else distracted or worried. She told Lita, in case an emergency came up. Even then, Lita didn't know her exact location, only that she planned to find Darien. Lita was happy that someone would know where he was and if he was okay, and hoped for her success.
The outskirts of the area were dark and creepy. The large bare trees seemed to reach out to her and attempt to mutilate her flesh. The deeper in she got, the more inviting the area seemed. It was greener, and had softer colors throughout. Once she got to a clearing, she could see Darien in the center, with the cyborg. He was still hard at work, breathing heavily. He looked like he hadn't been eating well. She guessed, without his healing powers, he would have looked a lot worse. She thought about calling to him, but then thought better of it. She suddenly forgot why she had tracked him down. Was it to tell him about Serena's party? Just see how he was doing? Or was it to ask him if she was really an alien in his eyes? She knew all were questions that plagued her mind in her loneliest moments. However, once she saw his face, the determination and wear in his eyes, she knew all she wanted to do was hold him close and take care of him.
She suddenly felt very foolish. Why had she come and chased a man whom had told her to stay out of his affairs? The answer was simple. She cared about him. Suddenly nothing else mattered to her, only his well being. She decided to use her communicator to inform Lita where all of her party plans were, they were complete with back-up plans in case something went wrong with her current schedule. Rei didn't need to explain, Rei's face on the communicator told Lita all she needed to know. Lita knew Rei wouldn't abandon Darien, even if he tried pushing her away. Darien needed help, even if he was being too stubborn to admit it. No one was more capable of dealing with him in that kind of mood, more than she was.
After talking to Lita, Rei braced herself for the worst, and set off toward Darien. He had a small encampment a few yards away from where he was sparring. He was engulfed in his training and didn't even hear her come close until she was right next to him. He quickly turned his sword on her and froze solid when he realized his error. "Rei? What are you doing here?" He sheathed his sword and the cyborg shut down automatically.
"I was worried about you. Darien, you're running yourself ragged! You need to take a break!"
"Do you think the enemy will go easy on me just because I'm having a bad day?"
"Every day is going to be a bad day if you keep this up! Your body is in no condition to fight!"
"I'm not going home Rei."
"I'm not asking you to!"
"Then what did you come for?"
"I, I'm not entirely sure..." he turned his back and headed for his encampment.
"Go home Rei."
"No!" He turned back toward her and unsheathed his sword with the blade to her neck.
"Go home, before I make you go home." She didn't even flinch. She was beyond angry at this point, and her anger worked to her advantage, giving her strength, where fear would have rendered her paralyzed.
"So, what? Now you see me as nothing more than an 'alien'?" Hurt was evident on her features, but she kept her eyes firm. Never leaving his gaze.
"This has nothing to do with how I see you, I told you not to look for me, and I told you I didn't want to be bothered." He slightly lowered his blade, suddenly realizing how close he was to actually slitting her throat.
"So now you're ready to kill those who defy orders 'my prince'?" She noticed his eyes softening, and saw her chance. She hoped he wasn't so weak that he would be blind to the animal he was becoming. "Darien, you can't do this on your own, no matter how much you want to. Whatever you're training for is tearing you apart! Can't you see that! In a few more days, you won't be anything but a shell of a man, waiting for your enemy to destroy you." Now she was beginning to soften, but her words already reached their goal. Darien wasn't so blind as to not see what was happening to him. He realized he was acting like a savage animal, attacking anything that entered his 'territory'.
"You're right. But I can't have you involved. I don't want anyone involved. I'll take better care of myself." He re-sheathed his sword once more, and walked back to his camp, in an effort to show her he wasn't training every second.
"After what I've seen? Darien, you need help. Someone who cares about you. Someone who can help you."
"If you 'help' me, you're just going to want to join my fight, and I'm not allowing that."
"I understand you have a 'battle' going on that you don't want anyone to interfere with. At this point Darien, all I care about is your health. Please, let me help you. If you insist on this crazy fight, and doing it alone, the least I can do is make sure you'll be at 100%. I promise if you want me to stay out of it, I will." Rei didn't want to make the promise, but she knew Darien wouldn't accept her help any other way, just as he knew she'd never go back on her word.
"Alright Rei. I can see I can be just as stubborn as you when I want to get something done. I know I'm not exactly doing a good job watching over myself. I think I'm getting my priorities a little mixed up lately. I have learned a few things, but taking care of myself has gotten pushed to the back burner."
"I noticed." He turned his head to face her, gave her a weak smile, then collapsed from exhaustion in front of her.
To Be Continued...
A/N: Thank you to all reviewers! You guys are awesome! Sorry for the LOOOOONG delay! I've been very busy, and the lack of reviews has kind of made me distracted from this story since the alerts of a new review go straight to my phone. NO I HAVE NOT LEFT IT UNFINISHED FOREVER! Please be patient with me. I have limited internet at the moment and it's been very difficult to find time to finish typing on the computer.
Special Thanks/Mention: xx Twilight Princess xx, inufan155687, Ami-chanMercury98, and Elle Mariie