The Four Lovers: Air On a Cosmic String
V. Memories and Meetings
 Love brings a lonely lonely heart
 I'm just all alone now
 Lonely lonely heart
 All the joy and pain I feel, I'm always
 Dreaming it by myself
 Love brings a lonely lonely heart
 But I know that someday it will come
 While I'm being held in your strong arms
 Wanting to be together with you...
                ---Alex Glover's trans of
                "Watashi-tachi ni Naritakute"

I want to be called softly... Even if by
just one word... "Ami-chan"... Someday,
somewhere, by the wonderful person I know
I'll meet. I want him to call me that.
              --Ami's Monologue, "In Another Dream"

 I will remember you.
        --Amy Grant, "I Will Remember" (Creo..)

 It was already dark, stars dotting the sky in clusters of
cosmic baby's breath, when Darien and Luna arrived home.
Both beat, they silently moved about the familiar apartment,
not stopping to turn on lights as they readied themselves to
sleep.  However, despite his long day's work and the
morning's Senshi meeting, Darien still felt...keyed up.
Restless.
 "Care to take a breath of fresh air, Luna?" he finally
asked quietly.
 "Feeling restless?"
 "Yea..."
 She considered for a bit, then with a prim voice and a
kitty smile said, "I suppose."
 He grinned back, and got up to slide open the door, saying
softly, "After you."
 She trotted out onto the balcony and leapt up onto the
edge, followed by the still grinning Darien.  "I'm still
afraid you'll fall," he said, pulling up a chair near her.
Both faced the darkened city.
 "How silly," Luna said.  "I am a cat--and besides, you're
one to talk! Always balancing on the highest thing around!"
She clucked disapprovingly at him.
 He grinned again.  Ever since...Serena had...Luna had moved
in with him, and even though she'd been just as stricken as
he, she'd done her best to help him go on.  However, her
"disappearance" yesterday had given him a clue to how she
truly felt.  "Well, at the time, I was protected," he
replied.
 "Hah! How many times did you get yourself hurt for
Sere...oh, what am I saying?  Gomen, Darien," she said,
voice arcing from smarting to sympathetic.
 "It's all right, Luna," he replied in a quiet voice. "I've
never regretted that."  He fingered the two pieces of red
string that always remained nearby.  
he thought, tracing the worn thread.
 Now, though, his mind turned towards the morning's Senshi
meeting, and the question he'd been dying to ask Luna all
day.  Actually, given the indignation of last nights'
aftermath, the meeting had gone relatively well.  Artemis
and Luna had listened to the battle report, and then Lita,
Mina, and Raye got into a sort of three way argument that
was interrupted by the cats...and a surprise.  Well, for at
least him; the Senshi had all looked so thoughtful...
 "Luna, why didn't you ever tell me the Generals were mine?"
he asked quietly.
 "What?" the cat wondered.
 "The Generals.  Today, you said they'd been commanded by
Prince Endymion--and last time I checked, that was me."
That had been his morning surprise.  Though his memories of
Endymion had increased from just brief, brief flickers in
his head, tiny snips of years past, this had never emerged.
 "Actually, they were more the equivalent of the Senshi than
under your command," she replied, cat voice measured.  "They
were led by Kunzite, and by all reports, the five of you got
along superbly well."  Now she sighed.  "We all believed
that they turned traitor to the Kingdoms, though why they
would when it seemed that they'd..." she clamped a paw over
her mouth.  "I digress."
 That was surprise number two--that they'd once been good,
his protectors, and his friends.   he wondered as he leaned forward.   "What else is there, Luna?" he gently
prodded.
 "Darien, I couldn't tell you.  It involves the Senshi, and
I don't...oh dear," she stopped, for the LOOK had entered
his eyes.  It was one that she'd seen a couple of times when
Serena needed him most--the one that spoke of never giving
up.
 "Now I need to know more than ever, Luna," he whispered.
"How can I protect Venus and Jupiter--and Mars and Mercury,
though I doubt they'd want it--if I don't know of a
potential threat?  I can't bear to lose any one of them,
Luna.  You know that."
 She considered his words as she looked outwards, then
heaved a sigh and looked back.  "Promise you won't tell?
This memory came to both Artemis and I out of nowhere today,
and when need time to consider if we should tell the
girls...especially Raye..." she paused, her voice having
dipped to its softest purr.  "Promise?"
 "Don't stall me, Luna.  You know I'll keep it quiet if you
advise it.  Now tell me."  His voice had gently sloped into
quiet urgency, and as the cat locked eyes with him, she
found them a deep, sensual blue that seemed to glow from
within.  It was a gaze she could not resist.
 "The fact is," she quietly purred, "1000 years ago, during
the time of the Silver Millennium, your Generals and
Serenity's Senshi were involved in secret affairs."
 "What?! Luna, are you saying they were in love...as
Serenity and I...were?" he exclaimed.
 "Yes."
 "How?"
 Luna didn't reply, only took a breath, settled down, and
began to tell a condensed version of the story.

 "Ahh...so this is the infamous balcony," Zach said as her
alighted on the edge.  "Nifty."
 "Zachary Petal, come down, you're making me nervous,"
Serena said, tugging at his pant leg.  He obeyed, agily
backflipping off and landing lightly (though unsteadily) on
his feet.
 "Generals' reflexes," he smiled.  Both of them were feeling
much better after a day's rest--Setsuna said they had two--
though Zach still looked a little worn.  Still, the day of
sleep had left them both a bit punchy, and they both giggled
before slumping over the edge to appreciate the dark.
 "Oooh, nice view of Darien."
 Serena said nothing, merely stared.  "Luna, too."
 "You're not in love with Luna."
 "Zach..." she protested.  "Stop it."
 "Pardon me if I'm eager to get the Princess and Prince
thing resolved.  Gives me fifty percent more chance of
getting back with Amy."
 "What..Zach, why are you so certain you're going to fail
with her?  Knowing both of you, I'd say you two are going to
charm each others socks off."
 He brushed it off, saying, "Is Amy down there on the
balcony with Luna?  Think not.  Now, how are you going to
get his attention?"
 No reply.
 "Serena?"
 Nada.
 "Hello, Earth calling Serena, respond now, Serena."
 Barely, "He still has it."
 "What?"
 "The red string...the one I snipped to show it was over?
He still has it." Her voice was wistful, and almost hopeful,
yet Zach wondered if she, too, really felt she'd join up
with her mate.
 He looked down, scanning for a trace of red--jackpot! It
lay in front of him, two pieces curved towards each other.
That shape gave Zach an idea, which he promptly told Serena.
 She smiled wanely, looked again, and then brightened a tad
more.  "I think I've got something just as good."
 "So we'll use both," he nonchalantly said as the aura of
Zoicite appeared.  "It can't hurt a thing.

 "Incredible," Darien said, leaning back.  "SO, what
happened?"
 "What I said before--we thought they were traitors.  Now,
though, I'm not sure.  And if they are good, what does it
mean for the Senshi..." she trailed off as Darien closed his
eyes.
 Love had always been difficult for Darien, mostly because
his life's path had ripped away his trust in those
"connections" at a very young age.  Serena, his cute little
meatball head, had been one of the first to help him begin
to trust again, to make these connections again.  Without
her, though...
 It always struck him of the bitter ring of the day
she'd...no, even now he couldn't say it.  For then, he'd
spent most of the day recalling the pale shadow of death
that had flashed over her face that night...and the
realization that had hit him as tears streamed down his
helmet.  It'd been painful, he recalled--a painful and angry
day as his pure, realized affection for Serena battled that
stupid dream voice.
 Actually, it wasn't the first war he'd gone to with
himself--he'd done this before.  He knew he'd loved her
before, that is, but it'd never been so poignantly evident.
He'd broken a few things as his emotions unleashed
themselves, as he tried to decide whether to follow the
dream or his heart.
  he recalled icily, though
not bitterly.  If there was any bitterness, it was directed
at himself, not at her.  He still could remember the phone
call from Raye.  "Come down to the Temple.  It's about
Serena" was all she'd said, yet you didn't need to be a
rocket scientist to read the extreme...tension in her voice.
It sent a chilling premonition through him, and he'd raced
there as fast as he possibly could, even as each step filled
him with more and more dread.  The shrine steps had vanished
under his feet a few at a time, and he'd entered with an
expecting (and perhaps odd) look on his face.
 The thing that struck him immediately was the absence of
Reenie.  Usually the pink haired girl stayed as close to
this group as possible, her and that floating cat head.
Absurdly, he thought of how it was that he'd never seemed to
notice it floated before.
 "Where's Serena?" he asked the four girls, two cats group
in front of him, voice strangled as his clamp on his
emotions slammed down on the waves of coldness within him.
 Instantly Amy burst into tears, and the others looked not
far behind.  It was finally Mina who managed to get to her
feet unsteadily and take the few steady steps towards him, a
piece of paper in one hand, and something else in the other.
She tried her best...but then, she collapsed in front of him
with a long, muffled cry that could only be considered a
sob.  "Serena..." she tried, "Oh Serena!  She's...she's..."
 "What?" he exclaimed, apprehension flooding him.  "Mina!"
and here he grabbed her shoulders, "what happened to
Serena?!"
 His cry seemed to bring silence upon the sniffling group,
and that silence scared him more than anything in his life.
It was as if they were trying to shield him from something
devastating; now, making now effort to shield his voice, he
cried out, "Tell me! Where is she!?  Raye, Amy, Lita,
SOMEBODY, TELL ME!"
 "She's dead, Darien."
 He never knew who said it.  The voice was drowned out by
this sharp cracking in his chest, an incredible burning pain
that he'd later identify as his heart shattering.  "NO!" he
said, screamed--his voice was nothing but a whisper.  "I
would've felt it...felt any danger, I would've KNOWN..."
 "Not if she wasn't," Mina whispered.
 
 Now it was his turn to crumple to the ground, knees giving
way weakly as he splattered to the pavement.  "Serena!" he
again whispered-cried.  "SERENA!"
 "She wanted..." this was from Mina, and he looked up,
emotions in the form of split tears pooling on the ground.
She held out something...two somethings...to him, a piece of
paper and...no, NO! Not the locket! She'd never...
 He tore at the letter, seeking some reassurance, something
to help him believe that they were wrong, and she was still
out there, still alive...there had to be something...
 And out fell the cut red string.
 If Darien Chiba ever thought he felt pain, it was nothing
compared to the shattering smack in the face of that sight.
The letter was worse, and by the end of it he was crying
with the rest of them, slow, silver tears because Serena had
left this world without realizing he loved her...

 Luna knew by those water filled eyes what he thought about,
but she didn't try to comfort him.  Five years meant she'd
seen this happen many times before-- she
decided--yet the feeling she sensed within him never failed
to flatten her spirits.  At least, as far as she could tell,
the worst of it was over.
 No, no--she'd forgotten about Lita's breakdown.
 Darien hadn't, for his unfilitered mind's eye was just
coming to it.

 After that day, things hit below rock bottom for awhile.
Sure, they all threw themselves into something else to try
and blot out the memories.  But the Senshi were still needed
to clean up after Rubius and his women; the absence of
Sailor Moon threw a serious wrench into the works, though.
First of all, they didn't have someone to finish off the
enemy, and battles took longer as they tried to wear the
beast down.  This was finally solved by combination attacks,
himself included.  The second was psychological; though Mina
was the leader, she was too distraught to run things.
Therefore, for awhile, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter were almost
timid in battle, unsure of when to strike and when not to
with no one to defend.  Mercury, though, began to think and
strike at the same time, a devastating new fighting style
emerging.  He, too, came down from his aloof tree tops,
telephone poles and skylights to inflict some brutal damage,
discovering some things about his abilities that would've
remained hidden.
 One night, though, as Lita had to help him carry Mina
home--she'd been hit by some serious backlash--he wondered
if it was all worth it.  So, apparently, did Lita, for as
she laid Mina down, silent tears began to run from her eyes,
as if her tear ducts had suddenly gotten their version of a
runny nose.  "I wish I could die," she whispered suddenly,
looking at the prone Sailor Venus with no light in her eyes.
"Oh, WHY did she leave!  She knew we cared! She knew..."
 He tried, for the first few moments, to comfort her, but in
the end gave it up for honesty.  Strangely, what came out of
this shared night of anguish was a bond between the three,
one that soon helped them begin to rejuvenate.  It was about
this time they started the dinner ritual, just to keep an
eye on each other, and to have one place where they could
air themselves freely while Lita taught he and Mina how to
cook.  However, though he tried, he still couldn't keep the
two of them from leaving school to pursue their interests--
cooking and modeling--for which they both became highly
successful.  And though the dinner night was cut down from
nearly everyday to once or twice a week, it was still a
something they needed.  Perhaps they'd need it fro the rest
of their lives.

 He opened his eyes and sighed.   he thought as he sat up.   and here he twined the whole
red string in his fingers, 
  he thought, looking down at his hands,

 "What's this?" Luna asked, springing down as he stared,
dumbfounded, as the piece of thread.  As he tugged on it,
and rubbed his eyes, wondering if this was some sort of
desperate hallucination, Luna gently examined the item on
the deck.  "How odd," she said, scooping it up carefully in
her mouth.
 "What?" he asked half-heartedly, and the cat returned to
drop a flower in his lap.  He picked it up, and with a
knowing eye examined the clusters of bluish flowers that
flowered fro

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