Well, it's finally here. Took me long enough, ne? The FINAL part of Surfacings: Eternity, and the final part of the the three Surfacings stories. Just in time for Ramadan for anyone muslim like me. ^_^ Minna-chan, thank you SO much for your support through all of this - the original Surfacings would've never become a series had you not encouraged me so. Thank you, and enjoy the ride. ^_^ MY BOOK IS FINISHED!! The reason this part took as long as it did is because I was finishing up my novella, which is now DONE AND READY FOR SHIPPING!! My first self-published book is entitled "Rain," and can be ordered by going to http://members.tripod.com/~Lianne_Sentar/book.html. If you like my fanfics, I seriously think you should check it out - I've gotten wonderful feedback so far, and have already sold my entire first printing. Hope to see you there! ^_^ More notes at bottom. But for now - ON WITH THE SHOW!! ^_^ Happy Holidays! ^_^ -Lianne (LianneSen@aol.com) *Surfacings: Eternity* Part 7 (final) Rated PG-13 for language and violence Serena didn't think to scream. Staring at the thousands of people watching her with wide eyes, it simply didn't strike her. She felt like she had fallen on her head and lost her ability to think. Normal thoughts didn't come to her. Shock? Perhaps. High-strung, dizzying images made her feel naseous. her brain spun around. She couldn't move her fingertips, her body was so tight, was shaking so hard. Shock? Perhaps. Perhaps. Darien hissed. Grabbing her by the collar of her jacket, he yanked her up as he rocked to his feet. The drummer beside him blinked. "Hey," he said after a moment. "You shouldn't get so rough with he-" Darien's fist slammed into his chin so hard he fell from his stool and crashed to the stage. Like an explosion the crowd started up again, crying angrily and roaring like a sea of rushing waters. The lead singer of Dreams Come True shot a finger out at Darien. "Hey!" she called angrily, her voice echoing through the microphone on her collar and mixing in the cries-filled air. "What do you think you're DOING to my drummer?!" Serena blinked rapidly as the stage lights suddenly moved and burned into her eyes. She choked and covered them, her mind breaking free of its cloud. "No!" she screamed as Darien's arm snaked around her throat. "Get AWA-" She was cut off as he yanked his arm and cut off her air. Her knees gave way and she was suspended in a half-stand by his grip, her face turning blue as she fought to breathe. One of the guitarists' mouth dropped. "S...stop it!" he cried as he ran forward, his instrument high above his head. Darien's black eyes flashed, and a blade flew from his fingers to bury in the man's arm. He dropped his instrument with a cry. "Get *back.*" Darien's hiss was low as a blade flashed within his fingers. He pressed it against the struggling Serena's neck. "Come closer and I slit her throat." The crowd suddenly went silent. They hadn't heard his words, but the stage lighting picked up the flash of the blade.... Miwa* slowly put down her arm. "W...what do you want?" Her magnified voice echoed in the silence. Serena felt tears burning her eyes. Instinct. She tried to say something, but she had no air to. Darien gripped her harder and pushed the blade closer against her throat, keeping her from swallowing. Without oxygen, she felt the blood pound in her temples as her sight blurred..."Enough." His hiss into her ear made her blood freeze. "You've played *enough* games, little bitch. You've played ENOUGH." Her throat suddenly stung, and she realized the metal was cutting into it. Her heart stopped. Serena couldn't see anything anymore. Fire. It was all she saw. Life was fleeing, so she couldn't even feel her body. Shock? No. Death. She was dying, and her vision was obscured by fire...it was everything. Everything. The world had melted into red-orange flames, as her body was melting into death... Fire. Fire. Nothing else. "Serena!" She blinked. "Serena!!!" Serena suddenly realized she wasn't dead. "Serena, RUN!!!" Night air. She could feel it against her cheeks. She was on the floor of the stage, staring at the wooden surface of it. Her hands were pressed palms-down in front of her. The slight stinging at her throat dripped tiny drops of blood to stain the light wood. "Serena, oh God, RUN!!!" Serena's head shot up. She slowly realized the crowd was crying out again as her hearing faded back in. She could see them. But...fire?... "Serena!!!" Flames burst through her vision again, and, for an instant, she thought she was dying again. But then she realized what the flames were. She nearly choked on the word. "M...ars?..." "Serena!!!" She turned her head shakily, her eyes quivering. "Mar...s?..." Sailor Venus suddenly jumped from her position on the stage lights, grabbing the dazed Serena and holding her close. "Oh God!" she breathed as she buried her face in Serena's golden hair. "Oh, God, you're ok!..." Serena felt her blood flowing again. "M...Mina? Is that you?..." "RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mars suddenly flew through the air, flames bursting from her hands as she half landed, half crashed in front of Serena and Mina. When she whipped her head to them, blood dripped down her forehead. "Serena, RUN!!!" Serena's eyes shot open. "Raye! What's goi-" Raye's scream cut her off. The Scout clutched her shoulder, blood staining her gloves. The blade buried in her flashed. "Serena, RUN!!!!!!!" Serena gasped. Mina shoved her aside, towards the edge of the stage. "Jump." Mina shot up and grabbed the chain around her waist.** "Serena, go." Serena stumbled to her feet. "But-" "GO!" Mina whipped out the chain. "VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!!!!" Serena didn't even get a chance to see what was happening amoungst the flames. All she saw was fire in the back, fire that Mina threw her chain into, fire that the band didn't seem to care about as they jumped into the crowd and were immideately sheltered by the waves of people. Fire. It wasn't death. It was life. She jumped from the stage, clambered over the fence, and ran into the night. ******************** * - Miwa Yoshida is the lead singer, if any of you don't remember from Part 6 (so VERY long ago...^_-) ** - Mina had that weapon in that way in this part of the manga. I mentioned that in "Surfacings," but that was a VERY long time ago. ^_^ ******************** "Mina?" Luna's eyes widened. "Mina?!" Lita looked up from her clenched hands. "What's wrong?" "Mina?!" Luna pressed the button on Amy's watch communicator harder. "Mina, come in!" Lita's eyes widened as Artemis looked up. "Luna, where is she?" "She's not answering!" Luna's blue eyes were frantic. "All I hear in the background is screaming...MINA!!! ANSWER ME!!!" Mina's cry suddenly burst from the tiny communicator, and then everything went to static. Artemis' eyes were wide. "Mina?!" The communicator went dead. ******************** She didn't have time to focus on it, anyway. Minor injuries. Serena wiped the blood from her throat as she flew through the back allies of the city, red from several parts of her body flying to splash on the concrete behind her. The streets were still deserted, silent as death. The only noise in the entire city was the thumping of her boots as she ran through the sidewalks, the roads, the allies. The night was pitch dark. "Dammit!" Serena clenched her fist. "Raye, Mina!...Dammit, Endymion!" She choked on something in her throat, but quickly swallowed it; fear. Fear for her friends, but fear for herself... She reached a dead end. Stepping back, she ran her eyes over it, the end of a thin alley that went deep between two buildings. She would have to run back for quite a while to get out of it. Turning quickly, she dashed as fast as she could, not wanting to be trapped... A black shadow slammed into her, and she was throw back with it to slam against the wall of the dead end. She made a strangled cry, but it was immideately cut off as a frighteningly familiar hand closed around her throat. Her body froze. Darien was heaving. In the dim light that reflected off of building windows she saw his teeth, clenched crazily, his eyes, burning with wild fire, his face, dripping with blood from wounds on his forehead and cheeks. "You think that's...enough?" His voice grated on the words, high, crazy. Serena felt fear clogging her veins. "Your little GIRL friends...you think that's ENOUGH?" A blade flew from his belt, and he stabbed it with venom into Serena's leg. She screamed and collapsed, but he grabbed her by her collar and shoved her back against the wall. "Your little games and tricks...you think that's...ENOUGH?!" Another blade buried into her arm, deep. Serena tried to scream again, but his hold tightened on her throat, and she couldn't. Pain burned in her wounds, blurring her eyes, which had already begun to sting with tears. He slammed her head against the wall, and pain exploded in her. She could feel her resolve, her chance at life, slipping away...Another burst of pain slammed into her shoulder. This time, Darien twisted the blade he embedded, and Serena screamed. The pain alone kept her conscious. "This entire city..." He grabbed a fistful of her hair. "You've had me run through...this entire CITY..." "No..." Her voice came out as a sobbing squeak, and he squeezed her throat tighter. She choked, but still tried to speak. "D...Da..." "I'm gonna kill your FRIENDS, too." Darien rammed his knee into her stomach, and she once again sagged in his hold. She couldn't breathe. "I wasn't gonna, but unless they're already dead I'm gonna hunt them down like the mice they are and rip their little HEADS off..." "No!..." Serena, though unable to breathe and unable to stand, still fought to speak. "You...are...DAR...ien..." "Don't SAY that!!!" He suddenly screamed it. The world blinked out for Serena as Darien throttled her mercilessly, stopping her breath and her thoughts. Suffocating her. His cries were high and cracking, his black eyes burning with insanity. "Don't SAY THAT!!!!!" Serena felt her grip on life fall, and she closed her eyes as she faintly heard him pull out another blade madly. Death. Not fire. Everything was just...dark... It didn't even seem ' shocking anymore. She just kept her eyes closed. There was a tinkling upon the ground. Strange that she could hear it, or feel the familiar softness that now pressed against her lips. Strange indeed. She was dying, but she could still hear that tinkling, as if metal had hit the ground, could still feel that pressing, as if skin was pushing gently against her mouth. But her pain was burning, keeping her awake, and she suddenly realized she could breathe again. That was when she realized that he was kissing her. ******************** Miwa, slowly, carefully, let herself be boosted back up to the stage. Clutching the wooden floor with shaking hands, she pushed herself to her feet, and slowly, shakily, stepped towards the bloody female. "H...hello?" Sailor Mars didn't move. Her hair was damp, and blood lay in a cracked trail down her face. A pool of red lay beside her, smaller than the pool that lay beside the nearby unconscious Venus. The crowd was silent as Miwa reached out slowly. "Are...are you ok?" Raye's lips moved. Miwa's eyes shot open and she whipped her head back to the crowd. "She said something!" she cried, going to her knees and gently supporting Raye's head in her lap. "Quickly - someone call an ambulance!!" "Already called," her guitarist shouted as he jumped on stage and ran to comfort Mina. He ripped off his jacket and pressed it against the blood flowing from her stomach. "What'd that one say?" "I'm not sure..." Miwa put her ear close to Raye's lips, holding the girl's limp hand. "What do you want to say?..." Raye fought to get her eyes open, but it was useless. Before she fell into unconsciousness, though, she managed to breathe her greatest fear one more time and into the ear of Miwa Yoshida, lead singer of Dreams Come True. "S...Serena..." ******************** She couldn't scream, even if she had wanted to. Serena was just too far into shock. Her hair tie had broken, unleashing a wave of gold to tumble around her and fall on Darien. As he kissed her, his hands gently ran through it. The word was the only thing in her head. She suddenly found her will again, and broke free of his lips. No longer being gripped, she fell to the ground, her heart slamming in her ribs as she made a cry. Tears burning her eyes, she pressed against the wall, turning her head so she wouldn't have to face him. "V...very...fun...ny..." she sobbed, tears in her voice and breaking from her eyes. "Mock...me before you...kill..." But Darien made no reply. His boots, directly in front of her, were shaking. When they stepped a step back, she blinked, slowly turning her face back up to her killer. Darien had a hand over his mouth, his black eyes wide with horror. He was shaking harder than her, sweat standing out on his forehead, blood dripping down and disappearing in the gold of her hair. "W...wh...what..." His voice was high, frightened. Serena's heart nearly stopped at the sound of it. "W...what are...you...doing...to me..." He suddenly collapsed to the ground before her. Serena's eyes were wide, her body frozen as his hands slapped against the cold pavement and his head fell. Her blood stained his hands. "W...hat..." He squeezed shut his eyes, and tears suddenly dripped to mix with his blood on the stone. "What...are you doing...to me?!..." Serena's lips hardly moved. "D...Darien..." "NO!!" He screamed and grabbed his head, his fingers plowing into his damp hair. "NO!!! What...WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!!!!" His hand lashed out and hit her cheek, and she fell back with a cry. "What are you...DOING TO ME!!!!" His hands fumbled feverishly, insanely, along the ground to find his dropped blade. Serena gasped as she fought to get up and crawl to him. "D...Darien..." "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" His hand found the blade, and clenched over it so fiercely it cut into his own hand. Blood dripped to the ground. "Don't... NO!!!! What ARE you?!" He brought up the blade as he shook madly. "Darien..." Serena's eyes shone with tears, sliding down her cheeks as sobs racked her body. "Darien...NO!! I...I love you!!! Darien!..." She reached out, and her shaking, bloody hands clamped on his shoulders. "I LOVE you!!" "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He convulsed, ripping free of her hold, and fell back. Grabbing the blade with both hands, he aimed it at himself. Serena's eyes shot open. "Darien, NO!!!!!!!!" Tears falling, he thrust the blade deep into his own stomach. He fell without a cry. ******************** "BERYL!!!!!!!!" Queen Beryl turned with surprise at the horrific voice that echoed through her stronghold. "Master?" "BERYL!!!!!!!!" Metallia, the deep, unending cloud of darkness, no longer remained in its alter. Quickly, so quickly it was frightening, it fogged up the air in Beryl's throne room and turned the darkness even blacker. Beryl shot up from her throne, eyes wide with horror. "Master, what-" "Your assassin is FALLEN, Beryl!!" The fog got thicker around the queen, and she clutched her throat as it began to seep in her nose and mouth. "You've failed TOO many times!!" "M...Master!" Beryl choked, her pupilless eyes flashing with fear. Darkness seeped into her pores, and she suddenly gasped as her breath was cut off. "You're my body now, Beryl," the fog hissed as the struggling queen's eyes rolled into the back of her head. "That's all you're good for now, you worthless trash." The fog thundered as Beryl collapsed to the floor. As darkness overcame her, she suddenly remembered something she had said not long before, to her own beaten captive. And she suddenly felt the fear she thought she would never have, squeezing her bones and burning her already-failing heart as her body was consumed by darkness. <"Hell. You're afraid of hell..."> ******************** Serena fell over, her hands crashing into the pavement. Her wide eyes didn't move from Darien's unmoving form, her tears didn't cease falling from her bruised and bloody cheeks. The blades still buried in her shoulder and arm moved in her as she fell, and her elbows buckled. Her cheek smashed into the ground, her blue eyes filled with horror. "D...arien..." Not thinking to pull the blades from her, she fought to her knees again, her body shaking, her eyes huge. "Dar...ien..." Shifting her battered body closer, she fell once more, but close enough to reach out and touch his shoulder. His back was to her, his body stretched out and lying lifeless in the night. The damp fabric of his shirt felt dead under her fingertips. "D...Dari...en..." "Leave me." Serena's eyes shot open. Her shaking fingers quickly gripped the fabric tighter. "Darien!..." "*Leave* me." His voice was quiet, his words flat. She could hear fleeting life in it. "Leave me to die. You've won." Tears started up in Serena's eyes anew, and she dragged her body closer to his. "No...Darien, no!..." She got to her knees beside him and tried to lift up his head, but he yanked it from her. She could feel his weakness in the movement and see his blood pooling on the ground. Her golden hair surrounded them in a world of shining yellow. "Darien..." "Stop CALLING me that!" His voice was weak now, weak and high, and she sobbed. He sounded like a child, weak and defenseless against death that came to him. His body shook under her hands. "I'm not...I'm not whoever you're calling," he whispered. "I'm not even Endymion anymore. I...I don't know what I am. Just let me die." "No!" Serena threw herself on him, hugging his dying body as tightly as her shaking arms could. "No!" she sobbed. "Darien...you ARE Darien! You ARE Endymion! But you're NOT evil! You're NOT!!" "Leave me." His voice shook. "NEVER!!!" She grabbed his chin and jerked his face to hers. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, from his crystalline black eyes. "Never!! Darien, REMEMBER!! You said you'd be with me for the rest of your life!!" "Leave...me..." he sobbed, fresh tears spilling down his face. "I love you! I always have, and I always will! NOTHING is going to take you away from me again!" She hugged his head close to her chest, sobbing into his hair. "Darien, I don't know what that witch did to you...but you're not evil!! You're my love, and I'll NEVER give you up!" He was crying. Crying and curling in her arms, though she knew he still wasn't free of the spell...he was lost in between good and evil. In between love and hate. In between freedom and slavery. He was lost, so all he could do was cry... Serena's own tears soaked his thick hair. She could feel his life force dying in her arms, and she was powerless to save him. She clutched him tighter. "Darien...Darien, hold on for me! Please..." She choked. "Please don't...die..." Something glowed in her eye, but neither noticed. She gently pulled his head back so she could stare at his crying, weak face, so she could run her shaking fingers over his features to try to convince herself he would live. "Please..." The glowing formed into a tear, and rolled down her cheek. "Please..." She touched his wet skin, and choked as she felt his breathing slow. "Please!..." She squeezed shut her eyes, and the tear dripped from her face. "Please don't DIE!!!!" Glowing suddenly filled the dark alley. Serena's eyes widened as she stared at it, at a floating ball of light that hovered between them. Her tear...it slowly solidified, formed facets and grew in size. Darien's black eyes widened, even though death had begun to dim them. His tears shone on his face like streams of silver. "What..." There was a burst of light. The night was suddenly illuminated, the entire city bursting with white and filling every corner and hole in all of Tokyo...Serena gasped and clutched Darien as the world fell away. She felt warmth coursing through her body, as she could feel it run through Darien's veins. But it wasn't enough. She could still feel his body dying... "NO!!!" Serena grabbed him and screamed into the sudden light, the sudden warmth, the sudden world. "Crystal...HEAL HIM!!!!!" The light exploded, and warmth was replaced with fire. Serena's heart stopped as she was suddenly engulfed in white flame; how she had known that the glowing tear was her crystal, was uncertain. She had just known. Fire burned in her, white fire that she hadn't felt in a thousand years. It burned in Darien. She could feel his life force, slowly, not completely but partially, creeping back into his body. Her heart started again and she gasped, opening her eyes; and it was then that she saw, in the burning white light, Darien's eyes slowly open. They met hers, shaking, quivering, almost fearful of the light but no longer glazed with the definite hand of death. His eyes were blue. Serena's lips breathed without her. "D...Darien..." Shadow suddenly surrounded them, and she screamed and clutched his body as a cold, death-filled air blew her flapping hair around their bodies. Her teeth clenched under her lips. Her mind threw around memories of blackness and screaming. Thundering echoed around them. Serena fought her eyes open, but fog tried to enter her body through them and she quickly shut them again. Their surroundings were dark, but not dark with night - dark with evil... "You've been a nuisance." The voice hurt to hear, and Serena screamed as it nearly bloodied her ears. It sounded like screaming thunder. "Beryl was useless, as all humans are...you'll die by her hand, for her hand is now mine." Serena suddenly felt Darien ripped from her grasp, and she cried out and tried to reach him with outstretched fingers. But she couldn't feel him, and she couldn't open her eyes. She felt blind again, blind like Beryl had made her once... A clawed hand suddenly gripped her throat. She choked and tried to break free, but the long nails dung into her flesh and she screamed. "Die, human," the painful, frightening voice hissed. "Serena!" Serena's eyes darkened. Searing pain was blackening her vision, and she felt her body give in to it. She hardly realized that the voice that had screamed her name was Darien's. "Serena, hold on!" It didn't matter. She was dying. All she saw was black... And then there was a scream, and the hand around her throat let go. The pain was released so suddenly Serena collapsed to the ground, unconsciousness clutching her and pulling her into darkness. But she still managed to open her eyes, barely. Queen Beryl, though not truly Queen Beryl, clutched her forehead and screamed. There was a diamond shape there, a diamond shape of blackness* that was darker even than the fog that filled the alley. In the center of the diamond, one of Darien's blades was deeply embedded. She saw him before she fell. With the terrible scream echoing through the air and the terrible darkness shifting and convulsing, Serena saw Darien's hand reaching for her, then his eyes shining through the fog. She reached her own hand out towards him, and their fingers intertwined, and she fell into his arms as their bodies melted into the dying fog and she fell into unconsciousness. But she still felt him clutch her close, his lips in her ear as the world fell away around them. "I love you..." And so was Serena pulled into darkness. * - This is another manga thing. The diamond in Metallia's forehead was her only weakness. Epilogue Lita clutched her head. "Ow...when's this supposed to go away again?" Luna rolled her eyes. "Give it a few weeks, and you'll be fine." "A few WEEKS?!" "Darien hit you hard." Lita hissed as Mina laughed. "Take it easy, Lita," the blond said with a wink. "You didn't get the worst of it." She pointed to her own bandaged stomach, and Lita growled. "Little punk..." Her eyes were dark. "I REALLY can't kick him around? Even just a little?" "Hey, if you can pry him from Serena, do whatever you like," Raye sighed as she scratched the bandage on her arm. "But that's a feat in itself." Amy frowned. "Luna, is our mission really fulfilled?" Blue eyes twinkled. "You sound UPSET, Amy," the cat drawled. "Well, I mean, it all ended so fast-" "ExCUSE me?!" Raye narrowed her eyes. "Just because YOU were knocked out so early doesn't mean the REST of us weren't still fightin-" "She's right." Artemis flicked his tail behind him on the windowsill. "It did end fast. After the months we've been fighting, it ended VERY fast. But Beryl's gone, as is her master. The Princess has been found, and her crystal returned. That was our mission, so now it's done." "Ah ah, kitty cat," Luna chimed. "There's still PLENTY of evil for these girls to battle. Their mission is never REALLY over." Lita sighed and sank back into the couch. "Are we supposed to be glad about this or something?" "Like we have a choice." Mina frowned as she flipped through the signed photographs in her hands. Miwa Yoshida winked on each of them, her name and a heart scrawled in silver ink across the bottom. "Hey, guys - are these things gonne be worth anything?" ******************** Serena sighed and curled deeper into Darien's arms. "Marry me, ok?" Darien chuckled, playing with a stray strand of her golden hair. "When, now?" Serena buried her face in his shirt and smiled. "Yeah. Now." "Um, if you haven't forgotten, we're SUPPOSED to still be in the hospital." Serena shook her head. "So? I'm sure couples sneak out all the time." "Couples in OUR condition?" "Sure." Darien smiled and rested his cheek atop her head. "Darling, if we don't go back soon I seriously think we're going to collapse." "Then hold me up." Darien laughed. "Then who'll hold me up?" "I thought you're supposed to be so big and strong!" Darien rolled his eyes. "Serena, I nearly bled to death..." "And so did *I*..." "Fine, fine. So we're even injury-wise. But that still doesn't explain how we can walk down the aisle together." "How about wheelchairs?" Darien grinned and put his lips in her ear. "How about in a few years?" Serena smiled up at him. "Promise?" "I already did." His fingers slid through hers. "I'll be with you for the rest of my life, remember?" Serena leaned up in his arms and rested her cheek against his. She smiled. "Of course. How could I forget?" "Easy." Darien winked. "I tried to kill you, right?" Serena groaned and punched his arm. "Shut up. I was trying not to think about that." "So was I." "Great. Then let's forget together." She threw her arms about his neck and hugged him close, smiling into his ear. "I love you." "I know." She could feel his smile, his lips curved against her cheek. "I know. But I love you more." The sun began to shine, illuminating two figures embraced, sitting on the edge of the roof of Tokyo Hospital. Two figures barely touched by the golden light, two figures barely warmed by the rising sun. Two figures that didn't care, that didn't notice. Silence. Beginning. Sunrise. The End - If this really bit, don't hate me. Please. I had trouble. Please don't hate me. ^_^; However, I do dedicate this part to Sailor Red, whom I recommend you read for she is a budding and talented writer, and who is also my friend and has helped me through so much. I wish her the best of luck with everything, and I hope you all do, too. Now that my book is done and this fic finished, I have to make the plans for the rest of my fics, ne? Visit my page in a few weeks - I hope to be more straightened out by then. Thank you, minna! Talk to you later, when it's not midnight and I'm not as hallucinatory as I am right now! ^_^ -Lianne (LianneSen@aol.com) *Sailor Moon and all its characters are copyright Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha Ltd./Toei Animation, Co., Ltd. and the English adaptation is copyright 1995 DIC productions, LP. This story is copyright Lianne Sentar, July 1998. **DOWN WITH DUB-BASHING!!!