Save Me from the Dark

Save Me from the Dark
1:1 - Wandering

/* Ayumi Hamasaki "Dearest" */

"honto ni taisetsu na mono igai subete sutete
shimaetara ii no ni ne
genjitsu wa tada zankoku de
.....it would be nice if we could put away and throw out
.....everything except what really mattered, but
.....reality is just cruel

sonna toki itsu datte
me o tojireba
waratteru kimi ga iru
.....in such times,
.....I see you laughing
.....whenever I close my eyes.

itsuke eien no nemuri ni tsuku hi made
dou ka sono egao ga
taema naku aru you ni
.....until the day I reach eternal sleep,
.....that smiling face will
.....have to stay with me without fail.

hito wa minna kanashii kara
wasurete yuku ikimono dakedo
.....People are all sad, so
.....they go and forget, but--

aisubeki mono no tame
ai o kureru mono no tame dekiru koto
.....For that which I should love,
.....For that which gives me leave, I will do what I can.

deatta ano koro wa
subete ga bukiyou de
toomawari shita yo ne
kizutsuke atta yo ne
.....Back then, when we met,
.....it was all awkward.
.....We went the long way, didn't we?
.....We got hurt, didn't we?

itsuka eien no nemuri ni tsuku hi made
dou ka sono egao ga
taema naku aru you ni
.....Until the day I reach eternal sleep,
.....that smiling face will
.....have to stay with me without fail.

deatta ano koro wa
subete ga bukiyou de
toomawari shita yo ne
kizutsuke atta yo ne
.....Back then, when we met,
.....it was all awkward.
.....We went the long way, didn't we?
.....We got there in the end.

nai mono ne dari o itsu made tsudzukete ikun darou
sou omoeta no ha kimi ni deatta kara desho
.....Longing for something that you don'thave
.....how long do you want to continue wishing for it?
.....When I begin to understand that feeling like this
.....started from the time I met you.

subete ha kitto kono te ni aru
koko ni yume ha oiteikenai
subete ha kitto kono te ni aru
kimerareta mirai mo iranai
.....Everything is in these pair of hands
.....Dreams cannot just be thrown here
.....Everything is in these pair of hands
.....Denying the pre-arranged future

subete ha kitto kono te ni aru
ugokanakya ugokasenai kedo
subete ha kitto kono te ni aru
hajimenakya hajimaranai kara
.....Everything is in these pair of hands
.....If there is not action, how can there be movement?
.....Everything is in these pair of hands
.....If you don't take the first step, how can there be a beginning?"


.

.

Her eyes opened, but for a moment she did not know it. Blinking, she had to use her sensitive fingertips to be sure her eyes weren't closed. The world was a black oblivion, an impenetrable darkness that threatened to stangle her soul. Her heart prayed that it was indeed night, though her mind knew the thruth. She could hear and feel the life bursting around her, indicating the presence of the sun. Life would not be so abundant otherwise.

Cosmos - no, she was Serenity now, with all the powers of the crystal and the universe bonded to her soul; it was a part of her. She was no longer three separate beings. She was finally only herself, only Serenity.

Slowly she began moving, testing each part of her body, mentally cataloguing each of her injuries. Every movement was stiff, muscles screaming in protest. She winced as bruises were touched, and prayed that none of the many cuts were infected. That was the last thing she needed, for the healing powers she possessed were activated through the Crystal, which was too weak itself to do anything of real use.

Her mind was numb, thoughts only on the next few minutes. Nothing else was able to make its way through the haze, the deep barrier her mind had errected to protect her. Serenity knew herself that should she think about the battle, the loss of her friends and lover, she would simply break down. There would be nothing to stop her fall.

The one though that continuosly play in her mind was that she had to move. Her instincts screamed furiously that she needed to ensure her own safety, and she could only attempt to do that by finding some sort of shelter. Being blind wouldn't help matters any. Progress was slow. She tried outright walking, but foundherself stumbling over stones and roots, running into tree limbs. Serenity finally ended up crawling on her hands and knees, feeling the earth that she had helped to create.

In truth, she had had very little to do with this world's creation. Serenity had begun the process, bringing together the purified ashes of the old world together to form the new. She had had no idea how the new world would turn out, for not longer after the core was formed the creation was taken out of her hands. She reliquished the task with a wave of gratefullness. Guiding the souls of the dead, she guided them to the web her fellow creators were weaving, not caring to watch them get caught in it. In the end she had small glimpses of what the world had become, but they were just that - glimpses.

It was quite possible that it was that world she was a part of right now. The question, however, was not where, but when? For all she knew, she had drifted in the time stream for millenia before settling in this world.

.

Serenity traveled for days, never finding another besides the animals. Not beng able to see prevented her from ever finding a source of food, and the one small creek she had stumbled upon was so filthy she had become sick after drinking from it.

Her fragile grip on reality began slipping as she found she could no longer turn her thoughts from the ones who had died protecting her. The battle had been fierce, with nothing she could do to stop it until the very end, an effort that had nearly cost her life. It had cost the lives of every other living being on Earth.

The faces of her Senshi, the loyal friends who had sworn to protect her dozens of times over, swirled in front of her mind's eye. She was tormented by the happy memories of their shared teenaged years. The many meetings at Rei's shrine, the almost daily visits to the Crown Arcade - a place that seemed nearly a second home to all of them... The hours of school that Serenity had so loathed at the time... The moon child wished with all her might that she could have just one of those moments back, that she could hear their laughter once more, and not just the dull ring of a fast fading memory.

Tears flowed down her cheeks, the salt held within them stinging the cuts. It was this sharp sensation that brought her mind crashing down upon the next set of memories, the ones she hadn't wished to experience. Not now, not when she was so vulnerable.

Mamoru. Endymion. The only man she had ever loved in all her many lives. They had had so few years together, their precious time always whisked away by the threat to their home. Twice they had nearly been married, both times shattered by the forces of Choas. Her lover and soulmate...

Frantically she grasped at her right hand, a cry of anguish tearing from her throat. Her ring, the only possession she treasured besides the Crystal, was gone. The only thing she had left of her lover besides what little resided in her mind had been stolen from her in a cruel show of fate.

One thought drove her now. A promise she had made in the first life she had lived after the Silver Millenium. She had sworn to the reincarnated Endymion that she would never stop living. No matter what happened to him or her senshi, she was never to simply give up. She was the light of the world, the future queen of the cosmos. Without her, the universe would crumble. Should she cease to exist, so would all life.

The truth of his words had rung clear to her then, and they were clearer now. Her heart was dying, but a part of her knew that she had to keep fighting, because for her, to live was to fight. She was born a warrior and it was a part of her spirit that would always be present.

She would keep her promise to her love for as long as she could, but time was wearing thin. Serenity's mind was blurring, her body not responding as well to her commands. Very little of her strength remained as she struggled to find someone who would help.

Distantly she heard a river. Her heart quickened as her hope for survival was renewed, but it was not to be. Her body was too damaged to go on, too weak to continue. Summoning the last of her strength, she let out a silent prayer to her mother for help.

A piercing scream echoed through the woods as the darkness returned to claim her.