Disclaimer: The characters of Sailor Moon do not belong to me. They are the
property of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation, Nakayoshi, Kodansha, DIC, etc.
However, the story and situations in it belong to me. This story is
copyright Fushigi Kismet June 1998-1999.
Rain Call
by Fushigi Kismet
Serena, age nineteen, huddled in her apartment building, clutching a phone
as if her life depended on it. Rain poured down in nearly white sheets
outside, obscuring the view. Flickering eerie yellow and blue lightning was
the only illumination in the total frightening darkness. Thunder rumbled
loudly overhead, now and then crashing down with an enormous BOOM! and
shaking the apartment building. The windows rattled so loudly in their
frames that she feared they would shatter and let in the raging elements.
She curled more into herself in her position on the sofa, trying to bury
herself into the soft cushions. Another loud earthshaking clap of thunder
went off, resounding like a bomb exploding. She let out a shriek into the
phone and grabbing a pillow pulled it over her head.
The voice emanating from the phone spoke to her dryly. "Would you *relax*
already, Scaredy Cat?"
"Shut UP!" she screamed, her hands trembling. "How would you know
*anything*, Dunce?!"
"I don't know. Perhaps you could explain to me exactly why we're talking
on the phone to each other in the first place?"
"I don't know . . . I don't know what possessed me to call *you* of all
people . . ." Serena paused a moment, wondering how she had managed to get
herself into this situation in the first place . . . why she was now speaking
to her most hated enemy in the world as though he was her best friend . . .
why only the sound of his voice was keeping her from a nervous breakdown.
How had it all started, anyway?
* * *
"Serena! Pay attention, *please*!"
Serena stuck out her tongue at her best friend, Raye, and tossed her long
golden hair over her shoulder.
Raye groaned, but instead of retorting, she turned to the others and
ignored her friend. "So, when are we getting together to go skiing in the
mountains?"
Amy sighed. "'Never' would be my answer. All I want to do is study for
that exam coming up."
"That's next week!" Lita said, brushing off the exam.
Mina smiled. "C'mon, Amy, it'll be fun! Won't it, Serena?"
Serena was staring dreamily out at the blue sky.
"Serena?"
She turned to look at them, her gold hair glittering about her, pulled up
in that odd hairstyle that she favored, two buns on the sides of her head
with two rivers of hair flowing down from each. She smiled, then said
flatly, "You go. I'm not."
They looked at her for an instant as though she had not spoken, as though
they had not heard. Then, they brushed the matter aside for the moment and
continued talking, none of them quite willing to admit that they had not
expected such a response from her.
"Well, I feel *much* more comfortable skating than skiing," Lita said
doubtfully, pursing her lips.
"You would!" Raye retorted. "Skating since you were three - isn't that
right?"
"Oh, as if you haven't been skiing that long!"
"Girls, girls, stop fighting!" Amy cried desperately, stepping between her
two friends and flinging her arms out to separate them.
Mina laughed.
Serena continued to stare dreamily up at the sky, content that there was
no rain and that the forecaster had reported sunny days all week long.
* * *
It poured, raining hard, the water falling from the sky like drops of
acid. Serena flinched when they hit her and cursed, unable to suppress the
shivering of her body as she ran towards shelter.
She ducked under the dripping archway that hung over one of the wings of
the university and shivered again, her arms wrapped tightly around herself
for what little warmth they could provide. She glared at the door upon which
hung a sign that stated:
CLOSED.
All students seeking after-school help, tough luck.
She pulled at the door and it rattled loudly to her efforts but refused to
open. "It *would* be locked! Stupid Professor Jones!!!" She looked about
her but all of the other doorways were too far away for her to run without
getting soaked. A streak of lightning split the sky and a crash of thunder
followed so swiftly that Serena knew that the storm was almost directly
overhead.
"Great. Just great." The chattering of her teeth intensified and she
felt the panic beginning to well up in her as it always did. She slid to a
sitting position, her back to the door, without noticing. She felt cold and
frightened and utterly alone. She shut her eyes, cringing, as more thunder
crashed about her. A high keening wail occupanied the shudders that her body
made. Tears started coursing down her cheeks and she clawed ineffectually at
the door. Long scratch marks appeared on the paneled wood and she pounded
her fists against it until her hands were nothing but a mass of bruises.
Physically exhausted, she lay unmoving on the ground, curled into the fetal
position. After several hours had passed and the gray dusk had turned into a
dark, oppressive night without stars, nothing but the lightning providing
light, she succumbed to her exhaustion, and everything went black . . .
* * *
Early the next morning as the sun was just rising, Amy, Lita, Mina, and
Raye rushed to the university after Amy parked her blue convertible in the
nearest spot to the school.
"What could have happened to her?" Raye demanded, worry suffusing her
voice.
"She didn't come home last night . . ." Amy's voice trailed off as the
four girls exchanged a look and shuddered. Serena had never stayed out past
midnight any night, always returning to the apartment that the four girls
shared, except for one night . . . They didn't like to think of that time.
It had rained then.
"It rained pretty much all night." Lita bit her lower lip. The dark
circles under her eyes attested to the fact that she knew, having stayed up
all night.
"Let's not panic!" Mina said, for once calm, but the fact that she was
closing and opening her hands as quickly as she could belied her words and
showed her internal nervousness.
"We've got to find her before anyone else does." Amy looked hard at them
all, and they nodded. They couldn't let anyone else see Serena the way that
she *had* to be looking.
Unfortunately, they started looking at the wrong end of the school . . . .
* * *
Darien checked the books and papers under his arm and strode towards
Professor Jones's classroom. He prided himself on being early. Stifling a
yawn, he turned his attention back on the school and stopped short as he
glimpsed a limp form sprawled out before the entrance to the south wing of
the school.
He broke into a run, wondering if it was just some drunken fraternity
student, but no . . . it was a girl. As he got closer, he saw that it wasn't
*just* a girl. It was Serena Bunnie. (^_-) She looked to be in bad shape.
He noted the scratches on the door, her wet, shivering form, the tear tracks
down her face, and her hands which were a dark purple which he doubted came
from squishing grapes. He dropped his books into the wet grass and shook her
gently. "Serena! Hey, Serena! Wake UP!"
When she still didn't stir, he shook her harder. "SERENA!"
Finally, she made a noise and groaned, her eyes fluttering open. She
looked at him, mumbled something incoherent, that Darien thought sounded
suspiciously like, "Don't wanna go to school . . . Sorry, cutie, wanna sleep
. . ." but was so hideously garbled that he couldn't be sure, and promptly
drifted back into unconsciousness.
"Geez, Serena. Are you drunk or something?" he muttered to himself.
"Can't let anyone see her like this . . ." Pulling her to her feet, he draped
her arm around his shoulder and his own around hers and staggered with her
dead weight, leading her away from the door. Once he had reached a tree, he
set her down and ran back to pick up his hopelessly wet things. Groaning, he
ran with them to the car, dumped them in the front seat, and went back for
Serena. Getting her into the car proved quite a feat, but he managed since
he had left the back door open the first time and he deposited her
unconscious body into the back.
Slamming the door shut, he revved up the engines and drove off. "It would
*not* be good if someone saw us like this." He drove over to the nearest
dorm where his best friend Andrew lived. If he had thought that getting
Serena into the *car* was a feat, getting her up the *stairs* was even more
difficult. Using the key that Andrew had given to him in case there was an
emergency (i.e. Andrew got drunk and didn't have his keys on him and Darien
had to deposit him in his room before anyone got suspicious), and praying
that Andrew wasn't in, he opened the door.
He was in luck. Andrew wasn't in. (Darien didn't dwell on the fact that
he must've slept over at his girlfriend's *again*.) That was good. Of
course, this was Andrew's dorm. That was *bad*. Darien kicked aside a pile
of socks, raised his eyebrow at the beer cans (illegal, of course), dirty
laundry, medical texts, and overflowing trashcans. He glanced into the
kitchen, saw the mountain of unwashed dishes, the too-full-and-unable-to-
properly-shut mini-fridge, and the half-heartedly washed floor and quickly
ducked out. (
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