Eclipse (e-mail at cp96au@badger.ac.brocku.ca) Fervent Juxtaposition - Part 3 He seems so much like a boy when he is asleep. No troubles are bothering him as he dreams. I have peaceful sleeps like this at times, and luckily last night was one of them. I did not want that dream to come again. Those images are so real. The metal. The blood. It might have helped if the dream were to have occurred because I could have received more details of what was going to happen. I didn't want it though. I sometimes feel it is more of a curse than a gift to see the future and not know how to stop it. Darien is stirring and I rush into the kitchen so he would not see me watching him as he sleeps. I am looking out the window with a glass of juice in my hand as he rises from his bed. He stretches and makes his way over to me smiling. I push a glass of juice over to him that I had on the counter waiting for him. It is as close to breakfast in bed as I will ever get. I wonder if he realizes that I can offer him no more than friendship and what I gave him last night. He takes his juice and runs his fingers along the sides gathering the water droplets that had formed there. He is pensive and his smile fades as he looks up into my eyes. "You know, Haley, that last night was, uh, great, but it doesn't, um..." "It doesn't make us anything." I finished his thought for him and saw his muscles relax with relief. "I never expected anything to come from it. I know it can't. You and Serena are meant to be. It is not for me to challenge." It also cannot be because I am immortal and to outlive a love is the most devastating feeling ever experienced. To outlive all your loves is even worse. Darien grabs my hands cradling them in his. "Thank you for understanding. I know I was just frustrated yesterday, and I knew I would get over it. I really do love Serena. I could never see my life without her. You're a dear friend, Haley, and that's all it can ever be." "No need to justify yourself to me. It is Serena with whom you should talk with. We're friends and what happened last night occurred because we both needed it. It bonded us and brought us closer, but I never intended for us to be anything but friends. If it helps, I will stay with one of the Scouts until this business is over. Maybe with Raye at her temple; she seems to have a lot of room there. I think Serena will feel soothed by that move." "You are too great, Haley." Darien grins broadly and leans forward to plant a kiss on my forehead. I ruffle his thick hair and head out of the kitchen. "I will feel even greater after I have a shower and you have breakfast ready for us both this time!" Darien laughs, a real honest hearty laugh. I peel off a T-shirt I had borrowed to sleep in as I walk to the bathroom. I smile to myself as I feel his eyes behind me drinking in my nakedness. I step into the bathroom leaving the door open and bend over the tub to start the water running. I find it near impossible not to be seductive. I am a very sexual creature. It is a most primal and basic part of me. I know I am tempting him, but everything is straight between us now. I am not calling for anything else but a bit of raw affection. The shower is running and I proceed into the shooting streams of warm water letting it flow down my body before I close the shower curtain all the way. In a matter of seconds, Darien in there with me kissing me all over. Fantasies do come true! "Just once more." He murmurs into my neck. "Once more for friendship's sake." * * * We rush to Cherry Hill on Darien's motorcycle. We had promised to be there in the morning and it was past eleven already. I had no doubt the Scouts were early risers and would certainly be waiting for us to arrive. I, too, usually do not sleep for long periods of time, but it was not sleep that kept us this day. I do not doubt either that Darien will tell Serena what went on between us. I do not know how that will affect how she and I will get along. If she truly understands, she should have no problem with it. I do not know her well enough to judge what her reaction will be. If she is like the princess she is suppose to be, she will behave rather gracefully about it and in her wisdom know I pose no threat to her relationship with Darien. Yet Serena is still young and not a ruler of any kingdom as of this day. Teenagers are prone to give themselves to emotion and blow everything our of proportion as she did yesterday. Darien knows what he is doing though, and I trust him to do what is best. My relationship with Serena is not the important one and I shouldn't fret about it. We arrive at the temple. I can tell Darien is eager to speak with his love. I am eager to ask Raye if I may stay at her temple temporarily. The Scouts are waiting for us on the front stairs of the temple. The air carries wonderful odors and my eyes are bright with anticipation. I quickly slip off the bike and take off my helmet. I am glad to be rid of it, it is quite constraining. As we near the girls sitting there, I notice they no longer wear looks of curiosity or even the hoped for friendliness. I see hostile eyes, condemning eyes. What were they judging me for? I have done nothing to harm them. Serena does not even look at Darien nor I. Could she have told the others her irrational suspicions of us? I could think of no other reason. They deserve an explanation. Darien is also noting their expressions. Fear that irreparable damage has been done crosses his handsome face. He is so in love I'd hate to see him get hurt simply because of my presence. Lita, the most vocal of the group, has her arms folded across her chest. She holds her head high looking down upon Darien and I. "We tried to call you last night, but there was no answer." "You didn't leave a message on the machine..." Darien begins weakly. I have to cut him off. It is unimportant if I offend the Scouts, but he needn't get himself into any trouble. "We went out. Just a couple of old friends having a night on the town." "You... you went out? Where?" Serena looks up with wide eyes. She had been doing some serious crying. If only I could assure her that there was nothing to worry about. If she only knew me, she would know that I would never do such a thing. I answer quickly before Darien. "To a club I managed to come across one night. No big deal. We're here now. There's more important things to think about." "I think you stealing my boyfriend is more important!" Serena burst out in tears. Poor assuming girl. I could never imagine being that paranoid. The other Scouts stand up with arms folded or hands on hips. Darien tries to embrace Serena but she backs away from him. He seems like a hurt puppy with such a pitiful look. He rubs her back with on hand softly whispering her name. I am suddenly bombarded with accusations. "How could you do that to Serena?!" "You knew Darien had a girlfriend!" "How can you be such a bitch?!" "Look at what you've done to her, you stupid slut!" I stand my ground. "What ever you're thinking I did, I didn't do. I have never had any intentions of taking Darien from Serena. We are just friends. I realize that Serena is the world to Darien and I would never do anything to destroy that for him. I know that none of you know anything about me. People are naturally suspicious. But if you trust Darien, you must trust him to do the right thing if you can't trust me." I seem to have saturated their fire. What I had said was short, sweet and to the point. They couldn't argue with my logic. "Well, yeah. I suppose you're right." Raye confesses slightly embarrassed because of her outburst before. Serena is especially impressed with my speech. She is susceptible to simple reason. A little light seemed to have gone on behind her eyes as if she was thinking: Yeah, Haley is right. I trust Darien. I know he loves me. He would never do anything to hurt me. Darien is rewarded with a hug and kiss from his love. I wonder now if he will tell her that we had slept together. If he does, I hope he can explain it well enough not to send her on a tirade again. "I guess we owe you an apology." Amy says meekly. She is almost ashamed that she didn't use her rationale before to know that Darien would never hurt Serena. Intelligent as she is, I suspect Amy is as given to as much emotion as any other girl her age. No apology for me as we hear an explosion off in the distance followed by a rumbling of a building falling to the ground. The ground shakes slightly as we spy a billowing tower of black smoke off to the east side of Tokyo. It is the beginning. It is the first of many to come. This is what my dream predicted. This is what Raye saw in her fire reading. Without speaking, we all run for our vehicles. I see Darien and Serena hand-in-hand. I motion to him that I will go with the other girls so Serena may ride with him. The young blond looks at me for a few seconds and smiles. I think she likes me. What is even stranger is the odd feeling of deja vu that passes over me right when she smiles. Has she looked at me like that before? Or does she just remind me of someone else? I hop into Raye's jeep and we're off towards the scene of the disaster. * * * The chaos in the crowd is not what was in the wreckage. It is merely an abandoned factory deserted for years. This choice for the first bomb must be purpose though. It is a sign. A warning of what we all know is to come. Television news crews and newspaper photographers have beat us to the scene. Fire fighters are dousing the flames. Police officers are taking down the testimony of witnesses and dealing with the crowd. There is no way we can get near to investigate ourselves. "Who could have done such a thing?" Mina asks to no one in particular. She is visibly affected by the destruction, and it makes me wonder how well she would handle a situation where innocent people were killed by such an explosion. Perhaps in her real identity, she would weep for those lost. In her Scout identity, she would avenge the wrong done. We survey the consequence of the bomb's work for a while without saying a word. They must be thinking the same thing as I: next time there will be humans in the building when it falls. When will the next time be? Will we be able to stop it? Darien breaks the silence with a soft male voice. "I think we should go. There's nothing we can do here." The Scouts and I nod in agreement. We leave in the vehicles we arrived in and return to the temple. The rocker boy whom I had seen the other day with the girls, and whom Darien informed me was named Chad, is sitting in front of the temple doors with a radio listening to the news. He immediately bolts up when he sees us, and in his greetings us, has eyes particularly for Raye. She does not return the look though. "Did you hear about the bombing? The police received a letter from the guy who did it and they're just about to read it on the air!" We crowd around the radio awaiting the news. This letter may help us for we have no clue who has done this terrible thing and who will certainly do it again. I always think that those evil beings that do such things are not that smart when they go for the publicity as this bomber is surely going for. Why else would he send a letter to the police? The truly demonic lurk directly in front of you and because they are so ordinary, their deeds remain undiscovered. I have dug up a few of these fiends before. I have delivered justice when the system could not. The reporter on the radio is saying that the Police Chief is ready to read the letter. "We had received this letter in the mail today, but at the time we were unable to do anything about it. We are hoping through the reading of this, we will find someone who recognizes the style or personality of the author and lead us to a possible arrest of the man who has done the bombing. I will begin now. `To the finest of the lowest: I am merely a merely in this world. We all are nothing under the iron boots of the elite. They are crushing our wills, dominating our minds. Sweet dreams of sugar plums no longer dance. I must rebel. I won't let them squeeze the juice out of my container of skin. I am ready to strike and not as a batter. I will have a warning in their history. I will write a warning with this pen. Then no more of being a merely. My battalion of metal is ready. My arsenal of combustibles are placed. Soon no more iron boots will walk on the bodies of fallen butterflies and dazed sparrows. Freedom.' If anyone has any information concerning this letter or the bombing, please contact the Tokyo Police immediately. Thank you. No more questions." I think the letter is elegant in its use of words. I would not say this outloud because I do not think the others would notice the poetry at this moment. My mind does. I think much the same way as this lost soul does. Yet I would not act as he does. It is the wrong kind of retaliation. "That guy is totally screwed up." Chad comments. "What in the world was he trying to say?" Lita asks bewildered. She is a bright girl but not artistically inclined. "He's obviously feeling oppressed by the government and feels that there is no escape." Amy analyzes a thing that a lot of people throughout history have felt. The Liberation in the Silvermoon Millennium occurred because the laborers felt swindled by the elite. It is a constant theme throughout the history of civilization. One would think that this would prompt a people to restructure society so such a tyrannical hierarchy would not build up. "He's like a postal worker pushed over the edge!" Chad exclaims in his Californian surf accent. It can get irritating. He gets up brushing the hair out of his eyes only to have it fall back in place. "I have to tell Grandpa this. It is just too bodatious!" "Well don't wake him if he's asleep!" Raye calls after him rolling her eyes in mock annoyance. There is a fondness she feels for him, but I sense that it has not matured to a higher level. I can tell by her body language; she feels comfortable around Chad but not tremendously affectionate. I believe she is searching for something else. She catches me staring at her out of the corner of her eyes, and then, self-consciously, pretends that she didn't. The skirt that she is wearing rides up her thighs as she changes her position. "I think that the rest of the bombs will go off very soon now that he has sent his warning." Darien ponders aloud. "Warning in their history is in that old factory. Warning with his pen is the letter." "His army of metal must be the robots that Raye and Haley had seen." Serena adds proud of her insight and contribution. Then her face clouds over, "But what is he going to do with the robots?" I feel their eyes on me. I have no answer for them. "I really don't know. My dream was so disjointed that it's hard to tell." "Well, there are going to be more bombs, that's for sure. And these bombs won't be in abandoned buildings." Lita states firmly. Luna pokes her head through the crook in Amy's arm. "Have you discovered anything with your computer yet? I think the best chance we have to find out where they are and defuse them as soon as possible." Amy takes out her computer and starts punching in commands. Her face is full of concentration. "It's difficult because I don't know what type of bombs they are. I can scan for nitro glycerin or nuclear devices, but I doubt I can locate any plastic explosives." "You could narrow your search down to government buildings, in particular. That's where his rage seems focused." I suggest hoping to speed up the process. Tokyo is so large that it would take months to go through every nook and cranny even with all of us working at it. "That's a good idea. Maybe you can try to locate the robots too. I mean, they must be some type of sophisticated machinery to be able to cause damage on their own." Darien is shot a few dirty looks for agreeing with me. What's with this suspicion? Has it happened before? I will have to ask Darien later, if he even knows why. Serena, though, is placid, just enjoying everyone's company. "This is going to take a while. I might need until tomorrow to find the right program." Amy doesn't even look up from her computer as she speaks. She is such a hard-working girl. Surely someone I would want on my team. Actually, she is cute in a childish way. I would think she'll grow to be a beautiful intellectual like the Goddess Athena. The world seems to stand still for a moment. Will that be soon enough? Mina sets everything in motion again by clapping her hands together once and jumping to her feet. "I think this means we can go get something to eat. I am starving!" "I'm all for that!" Serena giggles gleefully. She looks so much like her mother, Queen Serenity. What I remember that is. How do I remember? I never met the Queen... have I? What an odd feeling not to be able to know if I did or didn't. I have such a clear memory of most of my childhood. I could recall Darien though I only knew him when I was very young. I would remember something as important as meeting Queen Serenity. "Hey Haley, are you coming?" Raye is directly in front of me. I must have been lost in thought not to notice she had moved so close. She tilts her head to the side a bit knowing I was thinking about something important. She is extremely intuitive. Raye is one of those people that it is impossible to hide things from. I wonder if she picks up on body language as well as I do. "Yes. I'm coming." * * * How different I am from them. Was I ever like that when I was young? It is true that I lived in a wholly different time under circumstances the girls have never experienced. Opposite of the cushy lives they have here. I have never felt settled any where after Atlantis crumbled under the sea. I should feel comfortable with these people from my own time, but yet they belonged to a different world than me even then. Darien is the only one with whom I can feel any bond with that allows my tired soul to be calm. Serena has an unusual affect upon me. We'll look at each other in the eyes, and there's a link. Not the same as a bond that is between Darien and I, but something that is unknown to either of us. I feel it and I know she does too. It's not sexual as almost all my links have been over the centuries. It's the safest that way. Though there have been a few exceptions. Serena is so free. Her outrageous laughter shows her love of life. Could I be envious of her uninhibitedness with emotions? No, I also love life. Or is that just an extreme respect for it? For the remainder of the day, the other four Scouts seemed to be watching me out of the corner of their eyes. The talking felines, too, seemed very aware of me. But I cannot know if they are regularly like that because of a cat's heightened senses. Each Scout watches with their own reasons though. Amy peers up from her computer every now and again to look at me. I think with her own rationale she is trying to figure out if it is possible for a person to be immortal and if anything I say is true. Mina is encouraging a friendship to build between us. I think perhaps she believes there is more to me than I let on. Lita is the least encouraging. I am a stranger and I am followed by trouble. Could she think that I am the cause of the upcoming disaster? Or does Lita glare at me because she believes I am here to separate the Moon Princess and her love? Lastly there is Raye. She'll stare at me intently at times, and then look away shyly at others. She is at ease with her friends, but at the same time she is uncertain exactly how to act around me. Her body language constantly changes. The dark-haired beauty gets physically close to me and lets me brush up against her. Oh, the wonderful shock when there is skin contact! Then she is distant and awkward. Perhaps she is unsure of her own sexuality and thus does not know how to act with me. Experience is the only guide in that situation. I suggest to Raye that it would be best if I were to stay at her temple in case something were to happen. Cherry Hill is downtown and closer to the major government buildings than is Darien's apartment. Raye agreed that it would be a good idea and the others also gave their approval. There were a couple of relieved faces when I voiced my idea about staying at Raye's for I would no longer be at Darien's. Perhaps this will boost my popularity level with them. But since I'm not running for class president, I am only slightly concerned. The only positive vote I require is Raye's. * * *