Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal Serenity Series ❯ Last Kiss ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimers: The characters within all belong to Naoko Takeuchi, DIC, Toei Animation and whoever else has rights to them. Also, the lyrics and song of "Last Kiss" belongs to Pearl Jam and whoever else holds exclusive rights. I own nothing but the story idea found within.

Author's Babble: This is my fourth fic for the SM universe and if interested, please feel free to check out my other fic at http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/5977/index.html. Also, any comments/criticisms would be greatly appreciated at the address listed above.

Description: The hunt for Serenity continues for Darien as the lyrics to a favorite song take a tormented twist.

Rated: PG-13

With a flash of bright light Darien knew that his journey was complete once again. Groaning as the familiar wave of nausea ripped through him, he quickly slipped to the ground, his worn slacks pressing against a lawn of soft green grass as tears of pain stung his eyes. Sighing, he waited the few minutes that it usually took for the side effects of his time/dimensional travel to fade before slowly climbing to his feet.

What he saw, like always, was enough to take his breath away as a vise closed around his bruised heart, tightening mercilessly. It was Serena's house--his meatball head... Wincing against the wave of painful memories, Darien quickly ducked his head into the shadows. He loved her so much.. so very much that sometimes he wondered why he did this, why he put himself through this torment of seeing his Serena happy and exuberant... and alive and with another of himself. When his own Serena had died in his arms, having given everything that she had to save everyone.

But, like always he knew the answer to that question. Even though it killed a little piece of him each time he had to watch his love die, in the end he would deal with it a thousand times over as long as there was hope that one day he could be with her again.. anything to be with her again.

Somehow his Serena had known this.. she knew that despite the small changes in the different worlds it was always the same soul--it would always be her and with her dying words she had begged him to find her once again--in life and not in death. The Meatball Head somehow knew something that Sailor Pluto had to tell the rest. Serena was eternal.

Shaking his head to clear his muddy thoughts, Darien allowed his eyes to roam up the brightly lit house till they settled on one lighted window. "Serena," Darien murmured as he closed his eyes and concentrated on that room. A moment later he was now standing amidst total chaos.

Chuckling slightly, Darien watched as Serena tore through her small bedroom, a whirlwind of flying clothes and jewelry. By the battered alarm clock and the warm breeze filtering in through her open window, Darien judged it to be a little after sunset in the beginning of summer.

"Oh my God! He's going to be here any minute!!" Serena screeched as she quickly slipped on a pair of small white sandals.

Rolling her eyes at her ward, Luna continued to lick her paws in an unconcerned manner. "If you wouldn't have had three helpings at dinner tonight then you would have had plenty of time to prepare for your date with Darien," she replied as Serena promptly stuck her tongue out at her guardian.

Chuckling again, Darien was once more thankful for his ability to observe uninterrupted... seeing Serena interacting by herself or with her friends without him around gave Darien a whole new look into Serena's personality... he kind of liked it.

"Besides, you look fine," Luna mumbled as she brushed a wet paw against her whiskers.

"This is my first real date with Darien," Serena grumbled as she fastened a pearl stud in one earlobe. "I don't want to look 'fine' for it! And you didn't even look!" she accused, stomping her foot to accent her words

Smiling, Darien slowly nodded his head. Now he knew when he was. Smiling appreciatively, he remembered that the first time that Serena's father had finally and reluctantly agreed to allowing Serena on a date, the first time he was actually acknowledged as a possible love interest for his daughter, was the week after Serena's sixteenth birthday. Nodding his head once more, he admired her slim form that was covered in a soft pink summer dress with thin straps that hugged her form before flaring out into a loose skirt that ended mid thigh (a birthday present from the scouts if he remembered correctly) with a light, white cotton sweater worn over top. Like usual her long, silky hair was worn in her high tails with two pearl clasps adorning them and a spray of fine curls lining her face. Already her large blue eyes were sparkling with an excitement that he remembered well.

Sighing, Luna paused in her grooming and looked up at the young girl. Immediately her dark eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Why Serena, you look like a princess!" she exclaimed, her honesty showing in her evident surprise.

Laughing, Serena quickly ducked her head in embarrassment as a flush stained her pale cheeks. "Thanks, I think," she laughed, causing Darien's smile to grow.

Suddenly her bedroom door was thrown open as Sammy stepped into the room uninvited. "Serena, your DATE is here!" he cried out, snickering the whole way.

"Oh, he's early!" Serena wailed as she quickly finished putting on her light make-up as her brother continued to laugh from her doorway.

"You better hurry," he snickered as he prepared to run, catching his sister's blue eyes through her vanity mirror, "cause he's waiting with Dad!" he finished as he bolted, knowing what was to come next.

"Oh no... DAAAAADDDDDDDDD!!!!" she screeched as she grabbed her small purse and tore out of her bedroom.

Laughing fully now, Darien quickly shook his head as he concentrated on the living room below, remembering all to well the third degree that Mr. Tsukino would be giving his counterpart at that moment--and Serena's stunning entrance.

When Darien opened his eyes next he found himself in the Tsukino living room, his younger self standing tall under Mr. Tsukino's heated glare.

"And what exactly are your plans for the evening?" the man asked as his wife gently nudged him in the side, an exasperated smile pasted on her face.

"Serena and I are going to the ten o'clock showing of 'Runaway Bride' at the Tokyo Cinema," his younger self responded calmly, looking dashing in his favorite green blazer and slacks, a copy of what Darien was wearing now.

"Why so late?" Mr. Tsukino quickly asked, cutting the young man no slack and making it obvious that he didn't let his little girl out with just anyone.

"Because Serena said that she wanted to eat with her family first--that her mother was making her favorite."

"How kind of you, Darien," Mrs. Tsukino broke in before her husband could, "to respect her wishes like that."

Chuckling, Darien turned away from his younger self's reply and watched in amusement as Serena made her graceful entrance.

"DAAADDDDD!!!" Serena wailed as she flew down the stairs, catching everyone's attention as her foot somehow missed the final step, causing her to trip and go lurching forward--right into the other's arms.

"Like clockwork," Darien smiled as yet another blush stained her cheeks as her boyfriend steadied her on her feet.

"Serena, how many times have I told you..."

Tearing her eyes away from the other's bright blue eyes, Serena smiled brightly at her mother. "Sorry Mom, but we better run if we don't want to be late for the movie," she stated as she began dragging him towards the door.

"Running--exactly what I was trying to warn you against," her mother sighed as the couple slipped through the front door.

"I want her home by 12:30!!"

Smiling wryly at Mr. Tsukino, Darien slowly shook his head. "Don't worry, he'll have her back by 12:20pm.. I'll have her back by then," he laughed. He remembered that he and Serena has been so anxious to stay on her father's good side that they had sped home right after the movie--an event that had caused him to be pulled over by a cop who had just happened to glance away from his half eaten doughnut at the moment that they went by. Shaking his head, Darien quickly concentrated on the back seat of his car and prepared himself for yet another night of 'Runaway Bride.'

Two Hours Later

Smiling, Darien slowly leaned back in the comfy backseat of his car, thankful once more that his car did have a backseat. Like before, the movie had been good and it had been... heartwarming, to see his younger self gently take Serena's hand into his.. so nice to hear her laugh tinkling around at the funny parts in the movie. It was kind of like reliving a very good memory, and so far he hadn't encountered any deviations from his past.

"Ooooh, I love this song!" Serena suddenly squealed as she lurched forward and quickly turned up the volume, oblivious to her boyfriend's amused expression. ".... where can my baby be?" Serena crooned, diving into the song. "The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to Heaven so I got to be good, so I can see my baby when I leave this world..."

Sighing, Darien slowly let his eyes drift shut as the melancholy chords and Serena's angelic voice drifted around him. It was just as he remembered...

Blinking back her tears, Serena sniffed quietly as Pearl Jam finished the song without her. "Oh Darien... it's so sad," she whispered, her large eyes filling with tears.

"But you made it sound beautiful," the other replied as a beautiful rose appeared in one hand, the other firmly holding the wheel. "As beautiful as my love for you."

Groaning at the young man's words, Darien watched as he handed the rose to Serena, a large smile lifting her features as the young man returned his eyes to the dark road. Chuckling softly, Darien couldn't help but wonder if his lines always sounded this cheesy. Smiling, Darien returned his attention to the road and noted with amusement that they were almost upon the police officer's hiding spot, the one who would pull them over. Grinning at his remembered embarrassment, Darien quickly slid over to Serena's side of the car and watched through tinted windows as the green landscape flew by. And then, his sharp eyes picked out the police cruiser as they whirled past... and watched in confusion as the officer didn't look up once.

"Uh oh," Darien whispered as he slid back into the middle of the car and quickly surveyed his surroundings. "So this is where the past changes," he murmured as he looked back and forth between the other and Serena. "From here on out everything is different and anything can happen--good or bad," he muttered as a familiar wave of adrenaline rushed through him. By the simple act of the police officer not looking up at the precise moment that they has passed by he had altered times as Darien knew it. Now, it was anyone's game, a game that could end as harmlessly as Serena arriving home even earlier... or it had the potential of ending much, much worse.

And then it began as they curved around a bank of trees, having taken a short cut that bypassed through a heavily wooded and less-traveled area of Tokyo. The curve was blind as a bank of clouds covered Serena's moon and the stars, the trees crowding in on either side. And then, up the road, straight ahead a car lay in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes with its engine dead. Leaning forward, Darien quickly squeezed the other and Serena's seats as the younger man quickly smashed down on the brakes, the new tires squealing in protest.

As Serena's frightened scream filled the car it quickly became obvious that they wouldn't stop in time as the other car drew closer. Hissing in between his teeth, the other quickly slammed the wheel to the right, barely avoiding the other car as theirs became airborne. Soaring high above the deep ditch and into the thick copse of trees, finally stopping as a massive oak tree halted their progress. The wrenching of metal, the busting glass, and Serena's painful scream all that Darien heard last as his invisible self was propelled from the car, passing harmlessly through the jagged metal and into the deep night beyond.

Gasping, Darien quickly turned back to the car as the sky above finally opened up with a crack of thunder and a torrent of rain. "She has to be alright," Darien murmured fervently as he hurried forward, unable to recognize the twisted metal as his own car. Serena was perfection... an all-powerful goddess... it seemed horribly, horribly wrong and impossible that she could be struck down by something so ordinary and devastating as a car accident when she had defeated evil so many times before. "Please let her be alright!" Darien pleaded as he crawled onto what was left of the car hood and peered through the space that once held the windshield.

What he saw caused his heart to stop and for hot tears to burn in his eyes. Amongst the twisted wreckage he saw his Serena, his meatball head, leaning against her door, unconscious as a thin line of blood trailed down from a nasty cut on her forehead. But what he really saw was the gaping wound that poured her red blood from her side, staining her pink dress in its darkness.

"Serena?" the other asked as he slowly opened his eyes, temporarily blinded by a thick trail of blood that marred the left side of his face, his window covered in a web-work of cracks from when his head had smashed against its surface. Turning, his hazy eyes quickly focused on his love as he quickly fumbled forward and fought against her seatbelt, awkwardly drawing her into his arms.

"Careful, careful with her!" Darien called out frantically to his younger self as panicked voices could be heard from the roadside.

"Serena!!" the other called again frantically over the crack of thunder as his love slowly opened her eyes and weakly focused on him.

"Darien," she whispered as tears stung her large eyes and as pain tightened her small form.

"Serena, oh my God, please hang in there!" the other pleaded as he hugged her close. "You're going to be alright!" he vowed, even as Darien knew that his other lied.

Smiling softly, Serena felt a few tears trickle down her pale cheek. "Hold me, Muffin, just a little while," she asked, her voice growing soft.

Nodding through his tears, the other quickly held her close and pressed his lips gently against hers, sharing in their last kiss. For as the other pulled away, Serena's eyes drifted close for the last time, gone even though he held her tight. Gone his love, his life, that night. "No," he moaned, his own pain forgotten as a new anguish filled him.

"Oh where oh where can my baby be?" Darien sang quietly as he appeared beside Serena, gently lifting his hand and smoothing it over her pale cheek, never able to feel her soft skin even as the other's tortured sobs filled the stormy night. "The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to Heaven so I got to be good, so I can see my baby when I leave this world..." he whispered as he slowly looked up, past the dark clouds, and to the bright moon beyond as he disappeared in a flash of light.