Chapter 10

‘sword master’

Mina wiped her brow and tried to fan herself with her hands. She always hated having to come down into the engines; it was always so burning hot. She tried to wipe the sweat off her palms before picking up her wrench again. From her position lying underneath one of the engines Mina reached up and tried to tighten up some of the nuts and bolts. Once she finished, she tapped the communicator at her wrist. “Neph, give engine three a try now,” she said.

“Sure thing,” he replied. “Here we go.”

Mina grinned as the engine above her roared to life and joined in with the other engines already running. “Brilliant. I’m coming back up,” she spoke into her communicator once more before switching it off. She crawled back to the manhole opening, dragging the toolbox with her, and pulled herself back up into the cargo hold.

With a sigh Mina plaited her hair again (after having most of it fall out while working on the engines) before turning around. She jumped slightly at the sight that greeted her. A man was doing push-ups in the middle of the cleared floor without a shirt on. Mina felt her stomach tingle as she watched a drop of sweat trickle down the well-toned back. Sure she had a boyfriend but she could still appreciate a good-looking man just as well as the next woman could. Mina scowled though when it registered in her mind just who it was that she was appreciating.

Darien stood up and wiped his face and neck with the towel he’d left on a crate. He smirked as he turned to face Mina. “See something you like?” Darien raised an arrogant eyebrow at her.

“Hardly,” Mina scoffed. She cast suspicious eyes around at the crates piled up. “What are you doing down here Hino?”

“Just trying to keep fit Miss Aino.” Darien trailed his eyes over Mina’s oil-streaked face and work overalls. “Care to join me?”

Mina merely sneered at him and walked up the steps, intending to head to the cockpit. Halfway up, she turned and glowered at Darien. “Don’t touch anything,” Mina warned him in a frosty voice.

With an innocent grin Darien saluted her in response. Mina turned again with a huff and disappeared up the stairs.

Once Darien was sure she was gone he threw the towel onto the wooden crate. Throwing his hand to the side he conjured his sword. It had been quite some time since he had been able to run through his sword drills. Grandpa Hino would be so disappointed in him. Slowly and steadily Darien began to twist and parry and block his way through his drills.

***

Serena glanced both ways down the hall as she poked her head out of Ami’s cabin. Seeing no one around she quickly snuck across to her own bunk. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sleeping but she had a feeling that it was a new day. Serena opened up her drawers and pulled out a white sundress. As she slipped it on she remembered the dream she’d had.

Serena tried to resist most of her dreams and visions, especially ones about her own future. It made her feel as though she had no control of her own destiny. Even when it was something good about the future, like the vision she had of her daughter, she still tried to resist in order to keep her destiny in her own hands. But this dream had been different somehow.

She thought it might have been a vision of a parallel world with a parallel Serena and a parallel Tuxedo Mask in it. She had been wearing a long, flowing, white dress and her hair had been done up in two buns with two long ponytails, the same style Serena used to wear hers in before chopping half of it off. She had been in a large ballroom and she had danced with a handsome man with dark hair wearing a mask. Serena had instinctively known that that man was that world’s Tuxedo Mask.

When Serena had woken up she had known that she had to act on this dream, she had to re-enact it. She still didn’t know why, only that she had to. Serena glanced at her reflection in the small mirror that Mina permitted her to have and touched her short, blonde locks. She bit her lip in thought and then grinned as an idea came to her. She quickly pulled her hair up into two short pigtails and tied them with white ribbons. Serena gave a satisfied nod when she saw the final result. It was the closest she could get to looking like the dream-Serena.

Serena checked the hallway again before she stepped out of her cabin. She placed a hand against the metal wall of the Ice Chamber, closed her eyes and stretched out her senses. Now she just had to find Tuxedo Mask. Serena didn’t often use her magic like this. In fact, she usually didn’t use it all, except for the visions which she had no way to stop. She hadn’t tried this technique since Mina had taken her away from the Institute. With her senses Serena could feel where everyone was. Mina was in the bunk she shared with the captain. Ami and Shingo were both in the common. The captain and the pilot were in the cockpit. And Tuxedo Mask was in the cargo hold.

Opening her eyes again Serena practically skipped her way towards the cargo hold. Everything was going perfectly.

Serena paused at the bottom of the stairs and watched Darien move across the cargo floor. He was like some sort of exotic animal, so sleek and smooth and controlled in his movements. He was so focused that he hadn’t even realised that she was there yet. Serena slipped silently across the cargo hold, positioned herself directly behind him and waited.

Darien spun around on his toes, sword twisting above his head, and quick as a flash brought the sword slashing downwards. Eyes widening suddenly as he saw Serena, Darien just managed to pull the sword to a halt, only a millimetre away from cutting into the blonde girl’s neck. He breathed heavily and stared into Serena’s smiling eyes. No one had ever been able to sneak up on him like that. She was bloody lucky that he hadn’t cut her head off. And now his fear of what he had almost done was making him angry. “What the hell were you thinking sneaking up on me like that?” Darien yelled as he dropped his sword to his side and let it disappear into thin air. “I could have killed you!”

Serena was unfazed. She continued to look up at him with her innocent eyes and smile. “Dance with me,” she demanded in her soft voice.

Darien blinked. “Pardon?”

“Dance with me,” Serena demanded for a second time, this time in a stronger voice. She placed one hand on his bare shoulder and took his left hand in her other before he had a chance to object.

Darien opened his mouth and closed it again, unsure of what to do. He tried to pull his hand away and step back but Serena’s grip was too tight. She leaned up on her toes and moved closer. When her lips were just centimetres away from his own, Serena whispered, “Dance.”

“If I dance with you will you loosen your grip on my hand then?” Darien raised his eyebrows at her.

Serena tilted her head to the side and nodded. She relaxed her grip slightly. With a sigh Darien placed his free hand on Serena’s waist. “Okay, you win. Let’s dance.”

Slowly Darien began to lead Serena across the cargo hold in a waltz. “You know, it’s been a long time since I did this,” he commented, “and even then I was never very good at it.” Just as he said that he accidentally stepped on her toes. He cringed. “Sorry about that.”

Serena didn’t reply, just closed her eyes and continued her graceful movements. Darien watched her face as he stumbled through the steps. She looked… peaceful. This young woman was such an enigma. First she writes on walls, and then she’s a fighting machine, and now a dancer so good that even he was beginning to get better just by dancing with her. Even with everything that Ami and Shingo had told him about her past he still couldn’t figure her out. He was also having trouble seeing the klutz that Shingo had spoken of.

Darien was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with the silence and so began speaking again to fill it. “Don’t you find it odd to be dancing without any music?” he asked.

Serena opened her eyes again and stared up into his. “Just because you can’t hear the music doesn’t mean it isn’t there,” she replied. “You just need to feel the music.” Serena dragged her hand down from Darien’s shoulder, across his chest and rested it over his heart. “In here.”

They had stopped moving and were simply standing in the middle of the cargo hold, the crates stacked around them. Darien felt his breath catch and his heart beat a little faster as Serena left her hand on his naked chest. He could feel how close she was and, unconsciously, he pulled her still closer using the hand he still had at her waist. Centimetre by centimetre he lowered his head closer to Serena’s. His lips were almost touching hers when a voice called out.

“What in nine hells do you think you’re doing?”

Darien and Serena sprang apart immediately. Turning around they saw Kunzite stalking angrily towards them. “Oh great,” Darien muttered under his breath. He snuck a glance at Serena and saw that her blank expression was covering her face again. She didn’t seem to care or even realise that they had just been caught almost kissing. As Darien looked at her, Serena turned her head slightly to shoot him an amused glance and winked. Then again, maybe she was completely aware of what was happening.

Kunzite’s eyes quickly rove over Serena to make sure nothing had happened to her before stepping right up into Darien’s face. Without looking at Serena again the captain commanded, “Serena, go up to the common. I need to speak to Hino.”

Darien frowned. “Don’t talk to her like that.”

Kunzite sneered at him. “You shouldn’t be speaking at all Hino, after what I just saw. I’m just about ready to throw you off my ship right here,” he hissed. Kunzite actually looked at Serena this time to give her his order. “Serena I told you to go up to the common.”

“No.” Kunzite’s eyes widened in shock as Serena’s eyebrows lowered in anger. Darien looked over at the mysterious girl and saw that she was really angry. She was furious.

Kunzite blinked and tried to get his thoughts together. Surely he was hearing things. After all, Serena hadn’t said one word to him in the twelve months that he had known her. “Excuse me?”

“I said no.” She could feel the ends of her fingers shaking.

Darien flinched as he felt the waves of power rolling off of Serena. “Sliha,” he swore.

Kunzite stared at Darien. “What?”

Darien glared at him. “You, shut up.” He stepped closer to Serena and gently laid his hands on her shoulders. “Serena, look at me.” Gradually Serena raised her head and Darien saw her angry, red, power-filled eyes. A swift glance down showed that her fingers were still shaking with the repressed magic. “I want you to listen carefully okay?” When Serena nodded he continued, “You need to calm down.”

“How?” Serena’s voice came out as nothing more than a puff of air but somehow Darien understood what she meant.

“Keep looking at me. Forget everything. And then think of a happy place, your own personal haven of peace and harmony.”

He could feel her power lessening as her eyes, still fixed unblinking on his, slowly turned back to blue. He relaxed his grip on her shoulders and softly ran his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to keep her in this moment and calm. Finally, all the power seeped away and Serena briefly shut her eyes in relief. Darien grinned. “That was great. You were great.”

“What the hell was that?” Kunzite demanded to know.

Before he could receive a reply Neph’s voice was broadcast over the comsystem. “Attention everyone! We have a slight problem. All crew members please report to the cockpit immediately.”

“I think that’s your cue to leave Captain,” commented Darien snidely.

“It’s Serena’s cue to leave as well, in case you weren’t paying attention Hino.”

Darien glared at Kunzite over his shoulder. “She’s in no condition at the moment to deal with whatever emergency your crappy, run-down tin can is experiencing. Now go do your captainy thing Kunz and let me help her.”

“Fine,” Kunzite spat out. “But it will be your head on a platter when Mina finds out.” He made his way across the cargo hold but paused at the stairs. His final words were, “And it’s Kunzite.”

Darien returned his gaze to Serena, who was still watching him. “Hey, it’s okay,” he murmured. “I’m still here.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. Serena carefully twined her thin arms around his torso and buried her head in his chest. Darien sighed and whispered, “Everything will be alright.”

***

“Neph, what in the ‘verse is this ‘slight problem’ of yours?” Mina asked as she stomped into the cockpit. She had just been about to catch-up on some much needed sleep and she didn’t appreciate the sudden wake up call. She blinked when the others all looked at her with worried expressions. “What did I miss?”

Kunzite spun around in his chair. “Someone zapped us and we’re getting pulled in to the planet.”

“Kami,” Mina breathed. She rushed over to Neph and looked down at the screen. She poked the pilot in the shoulder. “Can’t you do something?”

Neph shook his head. “I’ve tried everything to break the link. We’re stuck until we hit land.”

Shingo was standing by the door with his arms folded and a scowl on his face. “Is it pirates?” he queried.

“My bet is yeah,” replied Neph. “We got pirates.”

“Well, isn’t that just peachy? A group of scavengers on a rust-bucket boat getting zapped by pirates. How desperate are they?” Shingo made a face, then stood up straight and made a move to leave. “If anyone needs me I’ll be in my room.”

“You can stay right where you are Shingo. We need to get a plan together.” Kunzite cocked his head to the side.

“Why should I bother?” Shingo raised his eyebrows. “You’ll just tell me to do the same thing you always do – keep quiet, don’t move and don’t get mixed up in any fighting.” He shook his head in disgust. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Kunzite growled lowly in his throat. “What is it with Tsukinos and insurrection today?” he grumbled.

“What are you talking about?” wondered Mina, feeling utterly confused.

“Nothing. I’ll explain later.”

Mina frowned but put the matter aside. They had more pressing problems to deal with first. “Ami, how are the med supplies?” she inquired.

“Doing good,” answered Ami. “I managed to pick up some things cheap on Questacon that we’d run out of, so we’ve got a fully-kitted med bay again. If things go ugly, there won’t be any problems in terms of stitching us up.”

“Okay, so do we go about this the same way we usually do? Or do you have an actual plan Mal?”

Neph glanced over at the captain and said, “Gee, an actual plan? What a novel concept.”

Kunzite shrugged. “Well, no, I don’t have any sort of solid actual plan…”

“Right. The flying by the seats of our pants method it is. Again.”

“Hey now,” Kunzite objected. “It’s worked before. It’s a tried and true method.”

“’Course it is Captain.” Ami smiled. “Call me once we’ve landed. I’m going to go find Serena. It’s not like her to not come to a crew meeting.”

Mina looked up thoughtfully as Ami left. “Ami’s right,” she said. “It isn’t like Serena to miss something like this. I wonder where she is.” ‘And if she’s okay,’ Mina added in her mind.

Kunzite growled again. Mina and Neph both looked at him. “What’s up with you?” asked Neph.

“I do not like Hino.”

Neph shook his head feeling amused. “What’s he done this time? Breathe the wrong way?”

“He was taking advantage of Serena. I caught them making out in the cargo hold.”

Mina’s blood began to boil. “He did what?”

Kunzite was rambling now. “Well, okay, so maybe they weren’t exactly kissing. But they were about to. ‘Course then something weird happened to Serena, she started talking back to me and Hino seemed like he was afraid Serena would do something unless he got her to calm down.”

Mina was still stuck on the image of Darien and Serena smooching. “I am going to throttle him to death, bring him back to life and then rip his head off.”

Neph grabbed her arm before she could carry out her threats. “Whoa, one thing at a time, eh? Stop the pirates first. Then you can murder Hino as many times as you like.”

“You’re right, I know.” She took a breath and lowered herself onto Kunzite’s lap. “So what do we do now?”

“We wait,” Kunzite replied.

Twenty minutes later the entire crew of the Ice Chamber and Darien were waiting in the cargo hold. From his seat on one of the crates Darien could see Mina giving him death stares. Kunzite and Neph were looking prepared and were fingering their guns as the ramp began to lower. Ami looked worried, Shingo was bored and Serena was writing on the floor, the same word over and over. Dance. She’d been doing it ever since she pulled out of his hug fifteen minutes ago, and he had watched over her the whole time. Darien smirked and returned his gaze to Mina as he stood up.

The ramp dropped to the ground with a thud. Darien followed the others off the ship at a leisurely pace. Pirates, Neph had said. He could handle pirates. It would probably be good as well to work off his excess energy. After the run-in with Kunzite earlier he was spoiling for a fight. Darien stepped onto the dry, dusty land and glanced around at the large group surrounding the Ice Chamber’s crew, all of them carrying a big gun or wielding a very sharp-looking knife. ‘Well,’ thought Darien, ‘this will be interesting to say the least.’

The ring-leader of the pirates flicked off the safety on his shotgun and pointed it at Kunzite. “Hand over everything you’ve got and maybe then we’ll let you go.” He cast his eyes over the Ice Chamber. “Although maybe we’ll keep your ship too. I’m sure it could be sold off as scrap metal.” The other pirates all laughed as if their leader had just told the best joke they’d ever heard.

Kunzite shrugged. “Go ahead. You won’t find anything valuable though.” He stepped to the side and gestured towards the ship. He raised his eyebrows as a couple of the pirates shifted nervously at his compliance. It wasn’t something they were used to. A ship’s captain was meant to put up a fight and they were meant to take their bounty by force.

The pirate leader scowled and clicked his fingers at two of the men. “Carok, Duvet, check it out.” They glanced at each other but didn’t move. “Now!”

Mina watched them from the corner of her eyes as they walked up the ramp and disappeared into the cargo hold. Once they were completely out of sight Mina flicked her fingers. A minute later two identical screams were heard and then the sound of two bodies crashing to the floor.

The pirate sneered at Kunzite. “So you left an ambush inside did you?”

Kunzite shook his head. “Nope, whole crew’s out here, right where you can see them.” He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t seem too worried about your men.”

“They’re expendable.”

Neph snorted. “How do you lot feel about that, being expendable and all?” he commented to the rest of the pirates assembled. They all continued to look at him blankly. “Bit dim aren’t they?” Neph said in an aside to Shingo.

The ring-leader pointed at two more pirates. “Go see if they’re dead. And kill whoever attacked them.”

Kunzite exchanged a glance with Mina and Neph. Once the two pirates were also in the cargo hold to find their mates, Mina flicked her fingers again so that the electric shocks she had sent through the metal floor would also take them out. At the same time Kunzite and Neph both drew their guns and began firing. As the pirates started to react and shoot back Darien flung his hand to the side and conjured his sword. With no gun available for him to add to the bullets flying everywhere, the sword was the only weapon he had. A quick swing later the man standing to his left was reduced to shrieking in pain on the ground with a gaping wound in his gut.

Kunzite let out a groan as a bullet grazed his shoulder. “Neph, go get the ship ready to fly!” He ducked and fired at the woman aiming for Mina before glancing towards Ami. “Ami, take Serena and Shingo and deal with the bodies in the hold.” Ami quickly grabbed hold of Serena’s arm and ran up the ramp with Shingo, hoping that they wouldn’t get hit while their backs were turned. Neph fired off three more shots, taking out another of the pirates, before disappearing into the Ice Chamber as well.

Darien had been moving silently around the outside of the fighting with his sights set on the pirate captain. Just as the burly man was about to kill Kunzite while he yelled his instructions to Ami, Darien stepped up behind him and held his sword across the pirate’s throat. “Don’t even think about it,” muttered Darien. “Drop the gun.” When the man hesitated Darien pressed the sword closer and drew a few drops of blood. “Do it.”

The pirate dropped his gun and it landed at his feet with a dull thud. “Good,” Darien said without moving the sword. He raised his voice so he could be heard by the people still shooting. “All of you drop your goddamn weapons or your captain dies a slow and very painful death.”

Everyone spun around to face Darien and the pirate leader. They all blinked in shock for a moment and then the pirates looked to their captain for instructions while Kunzite pointed his gun towards one pirate and Mina held her pistol out towards another. “Blethen, what do we do?” asked a female pirate as they all shuffled around still holding their weapons.

“Do as they say,” Blethen rasped out past the sword.

After a moment the rest of the pirates threw their weapons into a pile in front of Mina and Kunzite. “That’s the way, you motley group of good little minions,” Darien commented. He shot a quick glance over his shoulder and spotted the pirates’ transport ship parked behind an outcropping of rocks. Turning deadly serious eyes back to the pirates he stated, “You will slowly step away and start walking back to your transport.”

They glanced at Blethen again and at his desperate nod they obeyed Darien’s order. As they backed away Kunzite and Mina continued to keep their guns trained on the pirates. Darien pulled Blethen around with the sword still at his throat so he could keep an eye on the pirates and make sure they didn’t decide to come back and try attacking again. Once they were about halfway to the transport Darien hissed in Blethen’s ear, “Walk slowly to your ship and do not look back.”

He pulled the sword away from the pirate leader’s neck and gave him a shove in the back. Blethen stumbled but quickly found his feet. He sent a swift look back at Darien but Darien wiggled his sword at the pirate in warning. With wide eyes Blethen hurried after his group of misfits. When there was no chance that any of them would be coming back Darien turned around to look at Mina and Kunzite with a grin on his face, letting his sword disappear behind his back.

Darien raised his eyebrows. Mina and Kunzite both had their guns directed at his chest. He let out a light chuckle. “Is something wrong?”

Mina glared heatedly at him. “End of the road Hino,” she said. “You’re getting off our ship. Immediately.”