Title: An Angel Plays Cupid (revised) Prologue Rating: PG (mild curses, but they're not said in a bad way) Author: Angel Erika E-mail: Erika515@aol.com Author's Note: Here's another fic! :) Inspired by the movie, Earth Angel. The very beginning may not seem like it, but this is definitely a humorous Serena/Darien alternate reality story. It's just a little twist on your average matchmaking plot. ^_~ Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not, I repeat, does not belong to me. So don't sue coz I don't got any money anyway. ^_^ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up?" Darien asked on the phone. "Yes, I'm sure. I can drive, you know, Darien. And my place is really out of the way anyway." "I know, but I just figured, since it's our prom and all-" "I'll be fine, don't worry about it. I'm heading out now, so I'll see you, Andrew, and Rita in about 20 minutes, okay?" "...Alright. I give up, I'll see you in a few minutes. Be careful, Faith." Darien said. "I will. 'Kay then, bye!" she put the phone back into the receiver, grabbed her coat and a hat, and walked out into the rain. *Of all nights for it to storm, it just had to be prom night.* she thought as she climbed into her car, *I'm surprised the school didn't cancel it.* * Faith drove down the nearly deserted road in the car that her and her older brother shared. The windshield wipers squeaked and the rain pattered on the roof. *Gosh...it's too quiet..* she turned on the radio, only to have loud, hard metal music pierce her ears. *Oh man, Jacob left it on too loud again!* She managed to lower the volume, and attempted to change the station, but the dial was stuck and wouldn't turn. She bent over in her seat to take a closer look. Faith was a skilled driver, and didn't have to worry about ramming into someone. Besides, the road was empty. Finally, the knob turned. The words to Mariah Carey's "Just to Hold You Once Again" echoed through the car's interior. Faith gave a little smile; this was one of her favorite songs. She rose up to face the road, but her smile faded away. Lights blinded her widened eyes, she gripped the steering wheel so tightly, her knuckles turned the color of ash. Everything seemed to go into slow motion, she drew in her breath. She closed her eyes and a single tear escaped, *Take care, Darien.* was her final thought before she was swept into oblivion. * Faith opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by mist, and a sweet fragrace tickled her senses. She moved slowly, as if she hadn't for years. "Ah, there you are!" a man's voice said. She looked behind her and saw a man dressed in pirate's clothing. "Well, don't you recognize me, Faith?" She squinted her eyes to focus on his face "M-Mr.-Mr. Kemp?!" she asked in bewilderment, her mouth gaping at her former principal. "The one and only. You're late, you died about 2 years before I did." "D-Died?" "Yeah, the car accident. Apparently, the other driver was drunk. You're lucky you were dressed nicely," Faith looked down to see that she was still wearing her light blue prom dress. "I died of a heart attack at a Halloween party." he motioned to his eye patch. "If I'm dead...then am I in...Heaven?" she asked with a shaky voice. "Not quite. You're in Limbo, this is the mid-point between Heaven and *ahem* Hell. You have some unfinished business to take care of, Ms. Toshika." he snapped his fingers and, out of no where, a chair appeared behind Faith; which was lucky because she fell right into it. "Limbo...Unfinished business...And I thought my living days were weird." she said blankly and shook her head. "Unfinished business?" "You affected things and people when you died. Now you have to go back and fix things." "What do I have to fix?" "I can't tell you." "Well, if you can't tell me, then how am I supposed to do it?" she raised her eyebrows at him. "I see death has not done anything to your smart remarks." Mr. Kemp shook his head lightly. "That's your mission. You have to figure it out yourself." She groaned and said, "I have a feeling this will take a while." "Actually, you have limited time. You have until the night of your death to repair all things." "...And if I don't?" "You get to take a trip down to what we like to call the Hellevator." he laughed at his own joke, though Faith didn't find it too funny. "I don't want to go to Hell!" "Then I suggest you start your mission, Ms. Toshika." he snapped his fingers again, this time, sending Faith out. * "Jerk!" "Ditz." "Moron!" "You should talk..." "Shut up, Darien!" "Why?" Darien asked with an incredibly annoying tone. "Ooooooh! Okay, that's it! LEAVE ME ALONE, JERKWAD!" Serena was so mad, you could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. "Now Meatball Head-" "My name is Serena!" she cut him off, "Not Meatball Head! Not Meatball Brains, not Meatball anything! SE. RE. NA! Now you try." "Meat-ball-head." Darien said. Serena saw red. "AHHHHH!!!!! DARIEN CHIBA, YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!!!" Serena turned on her heels and headed out the automatic doors of the infamous arcade. "Why, thank you!" Darien said this with a small bow. "OH, WHATEVER!" she walked out the doors, she was steaming up now, and you could swear that her footsteps left behind traces of charred tile. "Bye Meatball Head!" Darien said, just seconds before the doors hissed closed. Serena stopped dead in her tracks, threw her hands in the air, and screamed. Everybody turned their heads to see the girl with the weird hair-do and the red face stomp angrily into the streets of Tokyo. Darien walked over to Andrew with a cocky smile on his face, only to have it disappear when he saw the look on Andrew's face. His eyebrows were knit together and he said with anger lacing his tone, "Darien! Why do you have to be so mean to Serena? What has she ever done to you?!" "What?" Darien shrugged innocently and gave Andrew a half smile. "Um...I have to go now...bye-Andrew!" he said quickly and ran out of the arcade. Andrew rolled his eyes and walked back behind the counter. *He'll never learn.* * Faith stood still, frozen. "That. Was. Freaky." she muttered. "Hello! Welcome to the Crown Center! Would you like-AHHHHHH!!!" Andrew screamed when he turned to see who was behind him. His face was the palest of whites and he quickly made a grab for the closest thing next to him. He raised one of the spatulas in defense and said, "Stay away!" "Oh my gosh! Andrew? Is that you?!" Faith said with a big smile on her face. She ran towards him, stopped to carefully lower the hand he held the spatula with, and gave him a hug. "Oh my gosh! How are you? How's Rita? How's Darien?" "Uh..." "Oh please, don't act like you don't know me! It's me, Faith!" "Uh..." She dipped her hand in a glass of ice water and lightly splashed his face with it. He came to his senses, but he was still surprised. "F-FAITH?! Y-You're s-supposed t-to be D-D-D-EAD!!" "I know that, silly! And I am dead. I have to do some 'unfinished business' though. Or at least that's what Mr. Kemp told me." "M-Mr. Kemp? The old principal?!" "Yeah, he was up at 'Limbo'. Says I have to do this mission before I can go to Heaven. If I don't do it, he'll send me down the Hellevator." "Uh..." "Don't start that again! Oh gosh, I'm so glad to see you!" she gave him another hug. "Um...Let me get this straight." he said, "You've come back, after FOUR years, to do this 'business'-" "Unfinished business," she corrected. "Whatever. So anyway, you came back to do that, so that you can go to Heaven?" "Yup!" she said without any sign of remorse. "I think I need to sit down." Andrew pulled up a stool and felt his forehead. "I knew I shouldn't have come to work today. And I think it's those finals, too. I'm so stressed, I'm getting delirious." Faith smacked Andrew upside the head, "Don't you get what I just said?! I don't want to go to Hell!" He rubbed the back of his head painfully and turned to the girl in front of him. Her dark-lilac hair was not in its usual style, if there is even a "usual" between four years, that only consisted of a ponytail, but fixed nicely. She was also wearing a formal dress, the dress that Rita had helped her pick out. "So...does that make you a... ghost...or an...angel?" "Hmmm...I think I like angel better." she shrugged. A familiar figure walked through the doors, for the second time within those ten minutes and said, "I...uh...forgot my books." "Darien?!" Andrew and Faith said at the same time. "Uh...yeah...who else would it be, Andrew?" "Y-You don't see her?!" "See who?" Darien looked over Andrew's shoulder searching. "I don't see anybody." "She's right here!" Andrew motioned to his side, where he could clearly see Faith, whose gaze made a path towards Darien. "Um...buddy, I think you've been working too long. How about laying off studying for finals for a while, eh?" "...Uh...no, no, that's okay...I'm fine." "If you say so..." Darien walked out again, waving goodbye. "Why couldn't he see you?!" Andrew asked Faith. "I don't know...I guess only you can. And my gosh, has he gotten cuter since the last time I saw him!" she answered, dazed. "By the way, when is Crossroads' Prom?" she asked once she snapped out of it. "Crossroads High?" "Yeah," "Why?" "Just tell me." "It's next week." "NEXT WEEK?! I'VE ONLY GOT A WEEK TO FIGURE OUT -AND- FINISH MY MISSION?! ARE YOU SURE?!" she screamed at him, wide-eyed. "Yeah...Serena's been going on and on about it." She calmed down at the unfamiliar name, "Serena?" "Serena's a friend of mine, a senior at Crossroads. She comes here a lot, and Darien likes to tease her, I don't know why though." "Maybe he likes her." "Nah, Darien's been pretty...distant...since you...how can I put this?" "Died?" Faith said simply. "Right. He blamed himself for it since he didn't pick you up." "It's not his fault! I was changing the-" "I know that. We all tried to convince him that it wasn't, but he insisted. You know he's a very stubborn guy. He just kind of...drew away from reality." "...I've got an idea! Why don't you help me find out what my mission is?" Faith beamed. "Uh...I'm still trying to decide whether or not this is a dream or if I'm just hallucinating..." She hung her head in exasperation, "You can see me, can't you?" "...Yeah..." "And I take it no one else can 'coz all your customers are staring at you like you're crazy." Andrew looked around him. All the kids were staring at him, and some were snickering. "Uh...I'm rehearsing for a play...and...uh...my partner isn't here..." They nodded their heads and a few "Sure.."'s, "Whatever you say.."'s, and "Right..."'s were heard. "Can we take this somewhere private, Faith?" "Sure thing." she replied, "Do you still live in that stinky, old apartment?" "Yeah..." "Let's go there." "Um...we can't, Darien's my roomate, remember?" "So, lock your bedroom." "I...guess that'll work..." Andrew said cautiously. "Well then, let's go!" she grabbed Andrew by the arm and started to drag him out of the arcade. "Lizzy! Something's come up, run the arcade!" he yelled out before the doors hissed closed. Lizzy just shook her head, "He gets weirder everyday." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Alrightee then. So...how do you like it? Please send me feedback! And yes, the next chapter will have more in it, remember that this is just a prologue! :) 'Til next time! Erika Oh yeah, I recommend that you guys read any book by Lois Duncan! She is SUCH A GOOD WRITER! ^_^ Oh yeah, read the Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, too. Talk about romance! Bye! (Revised version)