Serena Dwyer <serena_dwyer@hotmail.com>

Hey everyone! Yup, it's here! Ummm....not much to say
about this one. Sailor Moon isn't mine, it's someone else's
and......well, that's about it. Enjoy! ~Rena

                Chapter 6- Painful Memories

---Sunday---

     "Bring! Bring! Brrrriiinnnnggg!" Serena's alarm clock
rang urgently as if to say "Get up! It's Sunday! Get up!
You have work to do!"
     Serena reluctantly popped her head out from the sheets
and glanced at the time. "Is it morning already? Well, time
to get up I guess.....If only I could!" she laughed at her
laziness. "Well, another hour won't hurt!" she set her
alarm for an hour later, and rolled back over and went to
sleep again.

     Darien walked down Claire street deep in thought.
'What will I say to her? Ummm....Sorry I told you all those
lies before, but my future self was controling my dreams?
Can you forget about it and take me back? No, there has to
be some other way. DAMN! Why'd I have to go and say that I
loved Rei? I was so stupid! I hope to God she'll forgive
me. I don't deserve her. She could do *way* better than me'
Darien laughed, 'Who'd have ever thought that I could get
this hung up over one girl? Me, the *rock* The one who
never let's anyone into my heart. I let a girl 5 years
younger than me get under my skin. But Serena's special.
Very Special.' he sighed. 'I hope she can forgive me.'

     "Bring! Bring! Brriiinnnggg!" Serena's alarm cried out
for the second time that morning.
     Serena yawned, then sat up and streched. "That was
refreshing!" she said, now fully awake. She got up and made
her way to the bathroom for a shower.
     Once in the shower, Serena began singing. She had
never heard the song before, but it was beautiful, and so
familliar....

     "If again we meet
     Will you still love me?
     Forever my candle for you will burn
     I pray you love me in return.

     "How long must we stay apart?
     You forever in my heart.
     Am I in yours?

     "Forever is a long time to be alone,
     But still too short to be together.
     Will we be one?"

     "Woah! Where did that come from?" Serena asked
herself. She finished her shower, got ready, changed into
Selene, and was off for the day. All the time she wondered
'Where did that song come from? It's seems so familliar.
Like I sang it before....'

     "Hey Darien!" Selene said when Darien showed up
beside her on her way to the temple. He seemed to be going
to the same place, and she guessed it was for a scout
meeting, but she kept quiet.
     "Hey Selene, what brings you up here?" Darien asked
curiously.
     "Oh, I'm just on my way to the Hiawaka Cherry Hill
Shrine. I hear it's very relaxing, so I thought I'd come up
and *finally* get some peace." Seeing the confused look on
Darien's face, she explained. "Things have been really
hectic lately, and I've been really confused as to what to
do. I thought I'd find some answers here. I've heard about
the great priestess here." she couldn't help adding. "So,
what about you? What brings you here?"
     "Well, basically the same reasons." he paused. "So,
what's got you so confused?" Darien asked. Although he had
only met this girl a few times, and briefly at that, he
felt strangely comfortable talking with her.
     "Well, the guy I'm in love with doesn't know I love
him. In fact, he thinks I hate him. I'd like to tell him,
but I can't just yet. And then there's this child who
*really* depends on me and I'm not sure if I can pull
through for her this time. I can't talk to my friends,
although they're the best a girl could have, 'cause I don't
want to get them involved. It feels as if I've been away
forever and am sorta detached from life!" Although Selene
was pouring her heart out, she was careful to not include
things that would give her away, like names, or running
away for a year because her boyfriend pushed her away.
After taking a deep breath to gather herself, she turned to
him and asked, "So, what's getting you so confused?"
     Without thinking, Darien began to tell his story, even
though it wasn't the reason that he was there. "Well, the
girl I love was gone away for a long time, and now that
she's back, she won't even talk to me. You see, we left on
bad terms, because of things I believed that I shouldn't
have. But now that I know the truth, I can't reach her to
tell her. Then, even when she does know, I'm not sure if
she'll take me back. I just don't know what to do!" he
exclaimed.
     "Well, try having a little faith!" Selene told him.
"If you love her like you say you do, then she's bound to
see that and listen to you!" It pained her to see Darien
hurting so much. It took all of her resolve not to fling
herself into his arms. But what was stopping her? She knew
she was needed and wanted, and even loved.....but still....
     "Well, thanks Selene! For listening and the advice."
Darien smiled at her.
     "Anytime!" she smiled right back at him, turning her
face up so that she could see him. "Oh! we're here!" she
said as they arrived at the door.
     "Ladies first!" he told her with a grin as he held the
door open for her. 'What am I doing?' he asked himself.
'I'm actually enjoying myself with this girl!' he shook his
head as he walked in after her. 'Nah, it's just that I
needed someone to talk to and she was there! Yeah, that's
it.'.
     As Selene walked into the room and saw all of her
friends gathered there, she was hit by a wave of memories
and emotions, and fainted. Rei and the others following her
quickly came over to see what had happened. Thankfully,
Darien was standing behind her as she walked in and Selene
had fallen back into his arms. He picked her up easily and
brought her over to a cot in the room.
     'Wow,' he thought, 'Deja-vu!'
     Just as Darien was about to lay her down on the cot,
Selene half woke-up.
     "Hi Muffin, when did you get here?" she asked groggily
as she put her arms around his neck and snuggled into his
chest.
     Realizing what she had just said and done, Selene sat
up in his arms, fully awake and alert. She looked up at him
in fear, and the look on his face confirmed her suspicions.
She had blown it. Darien was frozen stock still and his
face had gone as white as a sheet. 'Damn!' she groaned
inwardly. 'Well, here goes nothing!'. "Oh my God! Darien!
I'm sooo sorry! I wasn't fully awake and thought you were
Luke! I'm sooo embarassed!" she exclaimed as she climbed
down from his arms. "I used to call him Muffin...that was
before the....problems we had. I'm sorry!" she said again,
blushing heavily.
     "Hey, it's okay!" Darien told her, regaining his
composure.
     "Are you okay?" Selene asked.
     "Yeah, you just reminded me of someone else." he
explained. "In fact, she'd be your age by now. Serena
Tsukino." he figured that he'd take one more stab in the
dark and if she was his Serena, although he had no idea why
she would be, he'd see it in her reaction. He didn't know
why he kept doing this, and as soon as he said it, he felt
stupid for even mentioning it.
     Selene didn't flinch outwardly, although inwardly she
was kicking herself. 'How did he realize? I act to much
like Serena I guess.....or maybe it's that link we share.
Or is that gone? No, 'cause I still know when he's in
trouble, but maybe it's one sided. Oh, I don't know!' As
all this went through her head in a split second, Selene
just took the question in stride. Nope, I came here after
she had run away. At least that's what Molly tells me. She
talks about Serena a lot. They were best friends." she
paused. "Molly misses her a whole lot."
     "Yeah, I guess she would. So Selene, what brings you
here?" Lita asked.
     "Oh, well, I was here for some spiritual guidence,"
she giggled, "but right now, I think I'll go home. I'm not
feeling so hot. I guess I should've had breakfast." she
said with a guilty smile on her face. "See you guys!" and
with that, Selene left the temple grounds.
     "Wow! She does remind me of Serena!" Mina said.
     "Yeah, but Meatballhead miss a meal?" Rei joked. "I
don't think so! She'd probably faint from too *much* food!
See! That's just another reason why Selene *couldn't* be
Serena!"
     "Rei's right." Lita agreed. "Serena just couldn't skip
breakfast!"
     "Hmmm....I wonder...." Ami mused.
     "What's that Ami?" Mina asked.
     "Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself." Ami said
staring at her computer screen. While Selene was here, Ami
had scanned her with her mini-computer. Not surprisingly,
all of her statistics read the same as Serena's that she
had taken at their last battle. 'Welcome home Serena'
thought Ami, as she directed the thought to her friend.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, Ami silently closed her
computer after turning off the screen. Serena would come
when she was ready. Ami would keep her secret.

     Selene got home half an hour later after taking the
bus. She was worn out and ready to flop on the bed and not
wake up for a long time. The thought passed through her
mind, but was dismissed with great difficulty, as she
forced herself down to her homework.
     As she changed back into Serena, she smiled at how a
year earlier, she would have been sleeping happily by now,
with no willpower to stay awake and do work. Only after she
changed, however, did the full force of the day really hit
her. Serena realized that over the last month, she had
become more and more worn out. Today she even fainted! She
knew that her body couldn't take much more of this, and her
energy sources were gradually being depleated. She either
needed to give up the charade, or get a super long sleep.
At the moment, she could afford niether.
     "Just a few more days." she said to herself. "If I can
get 'till Wednesday, I'll be fine." With this resolution in
her head, she got down to work. "Let's see....a 250 word
essay in English on 'My Life Now'. Oh my God, *that* would
be an interesting subject to be completely honest on! I'd
love to see Ms. H's face after reading that one!" she
smiled at the mental picture that provoked. "Well, that
rules out the talk about my daughter from the future, or my
powers of the moon, or about any of my past 1000 years ago.
What does that leave me?" Serena chewed on the top of her
pen as she thought of what to write. "Well, there's always
Selene's so called life." With that Serena made up the
details of Selene's life, in halting English, but for the
most part, correct. "Why can't everyone just speak plain
Japanese?" she complained to herself.
     Math was next on the agenda. She was already four
chapters ahead of the class, so she finished the assigned
work, and completed the next chapter.
     Chemistry and Physics were easy. In Chem. she had to
go through the nomeclature of bianary molecular compounds,
and in Physics she went over Newtons three laws of motion.
     In Japanese literature she read a short story and had
to classify it in either the tragic, comic, or romantic
mode, and name three elements of the mode found within the
selection.
     Finally, in music, she had to write lyrics to a song
and write the simple piano score to go along with it. She
immediately recalled the song she sang in the shower that
morning and began to write.

        If again we meet
        Will you still love me?
        Forever my candle for you will burn
        I pray you love me in return.

        How long must we stay apart?
        You forever in my heart.
        Am I in yours?

        Forever is a long time to be alone,
        But still too short to be together.
        Will we be one?

     "Why does song sound so familliar?" she asked herself
for the thousandth time that day. "Anyway, it doesn't
matter. I have to get to sleep." Serena shook the nagging
idea that she knew the song from somewhere before, from her
head. "Goodnight Darien, goodnight Rini." she whispered,
hoping that somehow they would get the message.

     "Goodnight Serena, goodnight Rini." Darien said as he
turned off the light and went to sleep.

     "Goodnight Serena, goodnight Darien." Rini whispered
from her position in bed, quiet enough that no one but her
heard her message, and so that Luna, sleeping at her side,
wouldn't hear her. She thought of her future parents and a
worried smile came across her face. She hoped they'd be
able to pull through for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, that's Chapter 6....out next, chapter 7. Hopefully
soon too! See ya!
~Rena

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com