Hi everyone!! I'm back! I hope like this part. This should be the second last part before the epilogue. I hope you like it so far, please write me!!! I'm trying to get as much out as possible so I can start my next one in the middle of Skiing season, although it is a summer fic. I have noticed though that I have totally forgotten a disclaimer so here it is, for this part and the previous parts as well: I don't own Sailor Moon, the wonderful anime goddess on earth, Takeuchi-sama does or the MS Volendam, which belongs to Holland America Cruise lines. The plot however is entirely my own and I would appreciate it if it remains my own. If you are writing a cruise fic, PLEASE e-mail me so there isn't conflicting plotlines. No one likes to read a copied story, so we must avoid that! Well on with the story!
Title: Caribbean Cruise part 3
Author: Selene Terra ([email protected]) also known as the Goddess of Cows (especially blue ones!^_~)
Rating: PG-13
Pain shot through her head as she groggily came into some semblance of consciousness. 'Owwy...my head hurts. What happened?' she thought as she stumbled out of bed, then clutched the wall as the world spun around her. Regaining a bit more balance she stumbled into the open part of the suite. Darien looked up to see the hung over blond staggering around the room and caught her faint mutterings of "DiD sOmEoNe CaTcH tHe LiCeNsE pLaTe Of ThE tRuCk ThAt HiT mE????...No wait I'm on a boat, no trucks on boats...gack what happened?" then she stumbled over some furniture and landed in Darien's lap. A memory came floating to the surface of her mind, just a brief flash of being carried over Darien's shoulder, fighting all the way back to the room. This left her even more confused so she simply drifted back into dreamland on Darien's lap to avoid all the difficult questions not to mention the pounding headache that made thinking painful. Darien looked at the sleeping blond on his lap and shook his head. He reached around her to pick up the phone and ordered room service for Serena. Then he put an arm around her and continued reading over a report on his laptop. When he had finished, he carefully leaned her back against his chest, putting an arm around either side of her so he could type. It was half an hour later when she woke up to the call of room service and he was finishing typing up the missing data and sending back to his colleague, who wrote the report. He set his laptop aside and stood and placed Serena down in the chair again before answering the door.
Serena blinked confusedly as she tried to figure out what was happening through her aching head. 'Why was Darien holding me?' she thought as he paid for the food. Suddenly Serena was aware of the awful feeling of imminent loss of her "lunch." She pushed herself to her feet and staggered over to the bathroom, just barely making it to the toilet in time as all the contents of her stomach came up violently. Hands stroked her hair back from her face and rubbed her back as she continued to be sick into the toilet. When she had finished, Darien pulled her back against him and wiped her face with a Kleenex, before offering her the water from the tray. She washed out her mouth, spit into the toilet and flushed it.
"Drink up that water then we'll get some food into you," he whispered. "Now relax."
"Don't mention food to me," she rasped, her throat feeling like it was on fire. He frowned.
"You have to eat Serena, it will help dull the hangover. And then you have to drink the thing I'm gonna whip up for you," he ordered, as he loaded the fork. He brought it up to her lips, but she groaned and turned her head. He frowned again and gently took her by the chin, turning her head back to the fork.
"Serena you HAVE TO eat. There is no other option. You do not have a choice here." She sighed, grabbed her head and obediently opened her mouth. In went the fork and she mechanically and slowly chewed the bite before finally swallowing. She managed to get the rest of the meal down, although slowly. When she was done Darien carefully lifted her off his lap and leaned her against the wall. He walked out of the room, Serena wincing, to get the other tray.
"Please don't walk so loud," she begged on his return and was rewarded with a chuckle. He set the other tray down and began mixing the contents into a glass, stirring. Then he picked her up and shifted her back to his lap, handing her the glass but keeping his hand on it as well.
"Now drink this up, big gulps, it'll make you feel a bit better," he commanded. She stared dubiously at the liquid before lifting it to her lips and taking a big gulp. Her eyes widened as she breathed out harshly and grabbing her throat.
"What did you put in it?" she rasped.
"Tabasco sauce, vinegar, pepper and some other stuff," he said nonchalantly. "Now finish it up or do you want to be sick all day?" She looked into the half full glass and up into his face then made a face, plugged her nose and swallowed the rest of the vile liquid. She coughed harshly and abruptly stopped as she felt a comforting hand caress her back. The thought ran through her mind of trying to get up but she realized she just didn't have the strength. She sighed and leaned back against Darien's strong chest and closed her eyes. She was feeling better, and as much as she hated to admit it, that vile drink did do some help. Then she drifted off to sleep right there in his lap. He smiled down at his angel as his hand drifted idly through her hair, letting the silky strands drift through his fingers. Then as the floor became more and more uncomfortable, he gathered her in his arms as he stood and carried her over to the chair they had first occupied. Sitting down, he let her sleep as he gave his mind to daydreams.
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Serena at on a stool in the arcade, talking animatedly to Andrew as he sneaked up behind her. Before she knew what he was doing, he had her in his arms and was kissing her neck hungrily and she reached up to wind her arms around his neck...
Then he was escorting her into the opera box to watch "The Marriage of Figaro" and kissing her hand and then her eyelids...
And then they were back at his apartment slow dancing in his living room then falling on the couch and kissing each other with as much passion as there are stars in the sky...
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Serena woke again to find herself back in Darien's lap in the chair they were previously in. Only the aftertaste of that vile drink she was forced to have told her that she hadn't dreamed the preceding experience. She stood, feeling much better and Darien opened his eyes.
"So now you know what it's like being drunk," he stated. "Think you'll ever drink that irresponsibly again?" she shook her head. "Good. Now are you up to going to the beach? We docked in San Juan this morning." She smiled enthusiastically.
"Let's go!" she cried and headed toward the bathroom to get her suit.
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Serena laid down her towel on the beach and looked up at the breathtaking majesty of El Morro.
"Sure is something isn't it?" Darien asked from beside her. She nodded, not taking her eyes off the old fortress. She stared at it for a few minutes longer then laid down on her towel after fashioning a sand pillow underneath, and closed her eyes. The sun caressed her like a mother soothed an infant and she let her eyes drift closed as the sun worked magic on her back tanning her to a nice golden hue. Darien, also relaxed by the sun's rays lay down too next to Serena and let the sun tan him also. When he woke up a while later he let his gaze wander over to Serena. Seeing her tan had reached a beautiful golden shade, he reached over and lightly shook her and whispered her name. She blinked sleepily at him and he smiled.
"Your back is done. Turn over so you won't get burned," he said smiling as she flipped over onto her back and grabbed her shades before lying down and finishing her nap. He let his eyes rove down her, noting how her full chest gave to a flat stomach which gave to shapely legs just fit her so perfectly. He sighed and settled down on his towel to finish his tan.
Serena awoke later, feeling quite hot, but with a perfect tan. She sat up and fanned herself with a hand and glanced over at the still dozing Darien. Her gaze flicked over a muscular chest and washboard stomach and she smiled. Reaching into the inner pocket of her sundress, she pulled out some money and headed over to where she could see a vendor in the distance.
Darien woke up and glanced over to Serena's unoccupied towel. Startled her sat up and looked around for the girl, not finding her on the beach, he started to scan the water. He was trying to find out if a blond out pretty far was Serena when he felt a freezing cold can pressed against his back and a familiar voice ring out as he jumped slightly from the unexpected cold.
"Gotcha! Who are you looking for Darien?"
"A certain blond about 4'11", blue eyes, wears her hair in odangos," he trailed off turning around to see the missing girl, who was holding two cans of Pepsi. She offered him one, which he accepted before continuing. "So you went to buy pop I see and leave me to worry that you've been kidnapped when I wake up."
"I thought you would still be sleeping when I got back besides I was hot and thirsty," she shrugged. "Besides I got you a Pepsi so you have to forgive me now!"
"Oh do I now..." he trailed off placing both unopened Pepsi's on the towel and grabbing her around the waist and carrying her over to the water over his shoulder like the other night, before dunking her into the water. She came up, eyes glinting.
"You know this means war," she teased as she splashed him and ran out deeper. He grinned and followed the girl mercilessly splashing him. He splashed back and tried to dunk her again, but she evaded him. Then the main goal switched from splashing to dunking with Serena doing most of the dodging as she formulated a plan. She maneuvered so he faced the sun when she dived out of the way and around him to his back before shoving on his shoulders and dunking him. It was a good move except he grabbed her arms and flipping her over him and into the water. She twisted in his grasp but only managed to get her arms crossed behind her with his arms still holding onto hers, encircling her. They surfaced pressed chest to chest his arms mostly wrapped around her as they held onto her arms, holding her up because her feet didn't touch the bottom when her head was nearly level with his. They gazed breathless into each others eyes as their heads started to inch together. Slowly Serena's eyes fluttered closed and his followed suit. She could feel his breath brush her lips, which she parted slightly. Their lips were just about touching when the shrill BREET! of the lifeguard's whistle shocked them apart. The man's voice blared over a loud speaker.
"Sharks have been spotted not far from the beach. Please evacuate the water immediately. I repeat sharks have been spotted, please leave the water immediately." Serena screamed and started running as fast as she could go back to the shore, Darien not far behind. They were gathering their stuff when a cry went up as a shark's fin was spotted. Luckily everyone was on the beach.
"Since our time in the water was interrupted," Darien said, "why don't we go into town and get an early dinner?" Serena nodded and slipped her sundress over her bikini while Darien slipped khakis and a T-shirt on.
They ate dinner at a small outdoor cafe, then decided to go to a club afterwards. 'I hope I get to enjoy it this time,' Serena thought. 'Seeing as last time I was so busy with that youma.' (AN: why does everyone spell it with a u? when I was watching my subtitled version of the Super S movie and she pronounced it yohma. Go figure?)
The club didn't ask for any ID, you just had to pay an admission fee. Inside, Latino music blasted and lights flashed around the dance floor. Darien immediately pulled Serena onto the dance floor and they joined the dance with no mishaps. In Darien's arms, Serena's klutzy tenancies melted away like ice on a hot pan. They whirled and laughed through 4 songs before the opening bars of the tango blared through the speakers. Darien grinned and wrapped a possessive arm around Serena's waist.
"I don't know this dance!" Serena whispered to Darien.
"Don't worry," he whispered back. "I've learned how to tango, so I'll lead you. You'll do fine." Then he started to dance. Serena was starting to get the hang of it when suddenly he dipped her way back so most of her hair pooled on the floor and her leg rose. She gasped when he put his hand on her thigh and wound it around him. He smiled down at her and finished the step. Serena was relieved when her foot was back on the floor however. The feeling she had gotten was most disconcerting. For Darien the dance was over too soon. He had very much enjoyed dancing the most romantic of all the dances with his Meatball Head. Serena on the other hand has tossed all memories if the dance to the wind. If she couldn't understand what she was feeling, then it simply didn't happen according to her. And so they continued to dance the night away. At 11 Darien put a halt to the dancing as the ship left port at midnight. He led her out into the dark night, and back to the docks where the conveyance back to the ship was. They got in the boat with a bunch of other couples. When they got back to the ship they stopped by the main desk to see if there was any messages. There was one from Corrine and Ryan from that afternoon. It said that there had been an emergency in Corrine's family, her father had a massive heart attack and was not expected to live. They were leaving the cruise early and flying back to New York so they could say good bye. They thanked Serena and Darien for helping them out and left a phone number and a request that they phone them after the cruise. Serena and Darien were both stunned. It was a depressing end to a lovely day.
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The next morning Serena woke up at 11:00 and asked to borrow Darien's laptop. He connected her to the Internet but instead of heading to hotmail first thing, something made her go check out the front page of the Tokyo Journal, Tokyo's main newspaper. Plastered across the front page was an article about a youma attack more successful than the others. Panicking she pressed to read the article. "Yesterday the Sailor Scouts battled a group of monsters terrorizing the Ginza. But where was their leader Sailor Moon? Or the hero Tuxedo Mask? All four of the Scouts battled courageously, and managed to kill all the monsters, but sustained heavy injuries. 53 civilians are in the hospital being treated for injuries sustained in the attack. 17 are in intensive care, but doctors say that all are expected to live'" Serena broke off reading.
"Oh no," she whispered, tears filling her eyes as she wept silently. "I've failed everyone!" Quickly she read the rest of the article, which got her crying harder. "The scouts, despite their serious injuries, were able to get away before medical help could get to them. The first paramedics on scene said that the three standing scouts had carried Mercury, who was unconscious, when they had made their escape. All looked bloody and worn and had broken limbs." Serena quickly checked her hotmail to see if messages had come from any of the girls. None had. So she disconnected the cell phone and took it into the bathroom, locking the door as she shakily pushed in the numbers to reach Raye's temple where she guess everyone was recovering. The phone rang 5 times before an awful sounding Raye picked it up.
"Raye! Are all of you all right! I just saw the paper! I'm so sorry!" she wept into the phone. "I shouldn't have gone away! How is Amy? It said she was pretty bad..."
"Serena its Ok we'll be fine in a few days, scouts heal fast remember? Lita's arm is broken and she has some nasty cuts and burns. Mina's leg is broken and she also sports all the cuts and burns and a sprained wrist. Amy's ribs are broken and her leg is also broken. She also has some third degree burns on her back. I have a sprained ankle and a broken arm and the burns and cuts the rest have. We are all on the mend though. We went in for treatment later after we made sure no one got a good look at our injuries. We just said that we got hurt at the beginning of the attack, but we were strong enough to escape when the Scouts showed up, distracting the youma. Amy is still in the hospital but Mina and Lita are over here..."
"Oh God, Raye don't be like that. It's all my fault and Amy is in the hospital..." She started sobbing. Through the phone line Raye could here Darien banging on the door wanting to know what was wrong.
"Serena its NOT your fault, now I'm gonna let you go cause I hear Darien. Bye."
" Bye Raye. Give my love to Mina, Lita and Amy. And it is my fault." She said then hung up. She buried her face in her knees and sobbed in earnest, with Darien banging on the door demanding to know what was wrong and to be let in. When she ran out of tears she got to her feet and opened the door. Darien was on her case instantly.
"What's wrong? Why were you crying? Why wouldn't you open the door? Who were you talking too? What's your fault? What happened? We've docked at St. Thomas, do you want to go ashore?"
"NO!!!! NOTHING!! GET OUTTA MY FACE DARIEN! WHO ASKED YOU TO BUTT INTO MY AFFAIRS!? WHY DID YO DRAG ME ON THIS CRUISE ANYWAY?! YOU SHOULD?VE TAKEN YOUR GIRLFRIEND OR ANY OLD FRIEND...BUT NOT ME!! DIDN'T YOU THINK I MIGHT BE NEEDED IN TOKYO?! BUT NO! YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT YOU WERE DOING EVERYONE A FAVOUR BY TAKING ME AWAY BUT YOU WEREN'T!!" she yelled storming out of the room. Darien blinked confused, as everything sunk in.
"What did I do Serena?" he whispered then ran after Serena. He caught up with her and tried again.
"Serena..."
"LEAVE ME ALONE DARIEN!!!"
"But what did I do?" he asked beggingly. She whirled around and slapped him across the face with a resounding smack.
"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME BE!" she yelled then ran out of sight. Darien stared dumbly ahead and touched his cheek where she had hit him. 'Oh no! I can't let it end like this!' he thought frantically. 'I have to get her to forgive me for whatever I did. I can't let the cruise end with her hating me; I need her to forgive me. But how can I do that...Flowers! That's it! I'll get her flowers, no roses, yes lots and lots of roses.' With that in mind and only that in mind Darien ran to the shop that sold flowers.
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"Sir?" asked the bewildered clerk.
"You heard me. I want EVERY SINGLE LAST ROSE IN THIS SHOP!!"
"I don't think I can do that sir..."
"YOU CAN AND YOU WILL!!" he yelled. "She HAS to forgive me. I NEED her to forgive me!"
"Ok Sir," the shaken clerk replied and began the process of gathering up every single rose the shop had. Half an hour later every single rose was gathered up and three porters were called to help carry all 47 dozen. As soon as Darien left the store, the clerk picked up the phone and called the bridge to talk to the captain about the loony man buying them out of roses. Darien left the porters to arrange the flowers as he went on a hunt for more flowers. He visited a candy shop with a small selection of roses and bought them out too as well as some chocolate roses. He carried these back to the room where the porters were still putting the roses into water and left to the final place that sold flowers. He was looking for something else to convince Serena to forgive him when the captain finally tracked him down.
"So you're the young man who bought every single rose on this ship?" he asked. "May I ask why?" Darien turned to him, a desperate look in his eyes.
"I HAVE to get her to forgive me!" he cried. "I don't know what I did but she just has to forgive me!"
"Calm down son, why don't we go have a nice drink before we go hunting for forgiveness again. Besides I think all those roses should change her mind." He firmly steered Darien towards the nearest bar. "Get him your specialty Rob, he needs one badly."
"One Golden Angel coming up."
"She's my golden angel," Darien muttered. "With her gorgeous blond hair and blue eyes..." Then he downed the drink Rob, the bartender, sat before him. Rob fixed up another one, which Darien drank more slowly. "Thanks," he said when he'd finished. "How much do I owe you?"
"It's on me," the captain quickly interjected. "Go back to your room and wait for her to come back." Darien stood and thanked the captain and headed off, but towards the shops again to buy that angel figurine he saw in one of the shops. The captain sure had been helpful.
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When Serena had come back about 8:00 that night she was shocked to see the room covered in roses of every colour. All flat surfaces were covered with vases of the flowers, her bed was covered with roses, and the bathtub was full of roses. Even the two sinks and the toilet had roses in them.
"What the heck?" she asked a very desperate looking Darien, who was laying the last of the roses he had been creating on her pillow.
"Please Serena, whatever I did, forgive me please?" he begged. She just stared around her, shocked.
"Where did all these flowers come from?" she asked.
"I bought them all for you, to ask you to forgive me," Darien said. "Please forgive me!" Serena gaped at all the flowers and Darien stood up to give her the chocolate and a wrapped gift. He lead a stunned Serena over to a chair, swept the roses on it into his arms and dumped them on the other chair, and made her sit down and open the gift. She held the angel up to the light, with a stunned look on her face.
"Darien you idiot," she whispered. "You didn't have to do all this, in fact you shouldn't have! You didn't do anything wrong! I'm very sorry; I was taking my anger at myself out on you...I'm sorry, I never thought you'd take it this way..." Darien beamed.
"Keep them all anyway. The look on your face when you walked in was worth every penny."
"But Darien, there must be 700 roses here!" she protested. He just put a finger to her lips.
"Shh...they're yours. Don't even try to refuse. Now did you have dinner?" She shook her head. "Well then I think we can still get something at the Lido."
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"Have you got all that?" Eric, the scuba instructor asked them. It was finally time for them to dive, having took lessons all morning and afternoon. It was after dinner, 6:00 to be precise. They nodded. "Good then remember you have two hours of air in your tanks. You'll get a warning at 5 minutes, 2 minutes and 30 seconds before you run out of air to make sure you get up in time. Ok let's get you in the water." He guided them over to where they would enter the water.
"Serena, you go first and I'll join you when I get all this stuff adjusted," Darien said.
"Ok, see ya down there. I'll wait for you near the surface," she chirped, much happier today as Raye phoned that morning telling her Amy was out of the hospital. She drew in her breath, put the scuba mouthpiece in her mouth and managed a half-decent roll into the turquoise waters, just like she had practiced. Immediately her eyes were drawn towards the colours below her. About 5 minutes later Darien splashed next to her and took his first clear look at the colourful sight beneath him. Serena smiled around her mouthpiece and started diving down to where the bright fish played in the corral, her long hair, which was out of the meatballs, flowing gently behind her. The sheer beauty of his angel yet again stunned Darien. Whenever her thought she couldn't get prettier, she always surprised him with something better. Smiling, he followed her down to explore the corral.
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Serena peered up through the corral and motioned Darien over. Together they peered up into the space where shells glistened and colourful fish swam. Serena swam up through the hole with ease and peered around the little cave like place. There wasn't a roof though and the sunlight poured into the magical place. Darien squeezed through the space and together they marveled at the gorgeous sight before them. Multicoloured fish swam idly around, unperturbed by the two strangers who had invaded their world. Seaweed moved gracefully in the slow current. They swam around, poking their faces around corners and into crannies. He watched as her eyes sparkled as she peered through a 'window' in the corral. He silently swam underneath another one and waited. She peeked through that little window and Darien quickly swam up, so his face peered into her surprised one, only inches apart. He grinned around the mouthpiece and brushed back a piece of her hair floating around her face. She blushed and turned away and Darien checked his timer. 10 minutes. He got Serena's attention and signaled to her that her was going up and she was to stay till she needed to come up. She shrugged and waved as he went up. Her timer let her know she had 5 minutes, but she had seen some shells and she decided to stay a little bit longer. She swam over and admired the silvery shells, running her fingers over them. Then she checked her timer, which was at three minutes and decided it was time to go up.
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Darien finished giving his instructions to the front desk on the ship using the radio on the outboard they were diving from, unaware of what was going on beneath the waves.
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Serena swam out of the corral cave and along the bottom. A light glinting behind her caused her to turn. She swam towards it because it looked suspiciously like a coin. She swam into the seaweed and picked up the thing that had caught her attention. It was simply a piece of shell. She sighed and tossed it back, swimming up through the seaweed. Suddenly she was pulled back. She looked down in horror to see her ankle hopelessly entangled and trapped in the seaweed. She struggled furiously, only to get her other leg and part of her hair trapped too. The 30-second alarm went off and she struggled for long minutes after her air supply died. 'Help! Somebody please help me! Darien!' she screamed in her mind. Then a strange peacefulness came over as she couldn't stop herself and more and took a deep breath of water. 'I'm sorry I let you down scouts,' she thought as her lungs filled with water. 'Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, please forgive me. I wish I could've had the chance to say goodbye to you and to Mom and Dad and even Sammy. Please God, even if I die, please let them live and crush the Negaverse......Oh Darien...' That was the last thing she thought before her world went totally black. The tank shifted and slipped from her back, having been undone when she fought to free herself. She looked perfectly at peace as her long blond hair swayed eerily in the current, partially covering her face and the still body in the navy swim suit.
The End.
JUST KIDDING!!! Like I'd ever kill Serena and end it! Ha ha! I've made a cliff hangar! Will Serena survive? And if she does will all her marbles be intact? Find out in Part 4! The last one before the epilogue! No fear this thing WILL be over soon! Hey minna-chan! Please read my short Being Overtired Can Do Odd Things. I need feed back on both! Have a Happy New Year!
Selene