Hey Minna! This is Ice-Princess again! Well, not too many authors' notes here! I have been getting a lot of e-mails from people who want to know why I chose such a name as "Forever Destiny: Finding my Eternity"? Well, I really don't know. It came to me one night and so I typed it in. I didn't really wonder if it fit the story or not. Eventually, I decided to tailor the story to the title. Gomen nasai! Well, enough of that! I'm sorry that the first chapter was mainly reminiscing between Darien and Serena, and this chapter's not much better, but I promise it will pick up soon. I also apologize for how long it's taken me to get this stupid chapter out! Man oh man, has it been a long time! A little over a month! Geez! Well, I promise to update more frequently Kay? CUT AND PASTE STANDARD DISCLAIMER HERE! &*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*& "Forever Destiny: Finding my Eternity" Chapter 2: An idea is born! Rated G By Ice-Princess ~*NARRATOR*~ "Rita, have you noticed Darien acting a little strange lately?" Andrew was wiping the counter intently, waiting for his shift to be up so he could take Rita, his girlfriend of four years, out to dinner. "You mean stranger than normal?" Rita looked up from her book and gave Andrew a sly smirk. "You know what I mean sweety. Darien's been acting far off and preoccupied lately. He totally spaced out during physics yesterday and the day before that. PHYSICS Rita! That's been his favorite subject for years!" Andrew now had Rita's full attention. "Well muffin, if your that worried about him, maybe you could try speaking to him about it and see if he will tell you what is bothering him." "Come on Rita! It's not something that I can just try to weasel out of him. It's something else." "Well then, I'll just have to see for myself because here he comes." Darien slowly strolled through the doors of the arcade, not really noticing the world around him. He had other things on his mind; or rather, other people. Serena seemed to be the only person he thought about lately. Nothing else, not even physics or Charles Dickens could hold his attention. It was like she unknowingly controlled him. He complacently sat down by the counter and once again, stared at the elusive change machine, while a certain meatballheaded blonde occupied his every thought. What was it about those crystal blue eyes, that long, golden mane or that atom bomb of personality that was shoved into a beautiful, petite body that entranced him so? While he was contemplating this, Rita and Andrew were moving in for the kill. Andrew was the first to make a move. "Hey Darien! How have you been!" Nothing. "Buddy, are you awake?" Still nothing. "HELLO!!!!!" Andrew shouted into Darien's ear at the top of his lungs. "Oh, hi Andrew. Did you say something?" Before Andrew could answer, Rita butted in on the conversation. " Nothing Darien. Andrew said nothing. Good day to you!" Rita ran off into the back room of the arcade, pulling a despondent and very confused Andrew behind her. "Rita! What in the world do you think you're doing?!" Andrew stated as he gasped for air. "Saving you from embarrassment dear. I know what's up with Darien." "What is it!" Andrew was now very anxious to here his girlfriend's hypothesis on Darien's condition. "He's in love." Rita stated simply. "Love?! Darien, in love! No way. He can't keep interested in a girl for more than five minutes!" "Believe me Andrew, nothing will get an otherwise despondent, self-righteous person like Darien wigged out like this, unless he was totally, involuntarily, fixated on somebody of the female gender." "Darling, could you please repeat that for me, IN ENGLISH!" Andrew shouted. "Please dear, shouting does NOT become you. Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Rita said as she eyed Andrew, "it's impossible for a guy like Darien to be this spaced out, unless he had a crush on a girl." "But who could Darien possibly have a crush on?" Andrew pondered. "I don't know. I suggest we watch him for a little while and see if he reacts to anybody who comes into the arcade?" Rita stated. "How do we know this person even comes into the arcade. It could be somebody in one of Darien's Physics classes. He's looked at Paige Nyugen a few times. But then again, so has every other guy in the class." Andrew added quietly. "No, she's not his type. Then again, I don't think that man has a type. But he spends most of his time in here, and this is where he seems to space out the most." Rita added "Yea, I guess you're right. But honey, how will we know who he reacts to? I mean, his idea of being emotional is his reaction to receiving a car payment reminder!" Andrew drawled sarcastically. "Well, that won't be too hard. Right now he isn't reacting to anything! The world could be ending and he'd still be off in la-la land! If he comes out of his trance for anyone that's a girl, then chances are she's the one." Rita's insightfulness was beginning to rub off on Andrew. "All right then, let's get started!" Andrew said. Rita was ready and raring to go. "Yeah! Let's play a little Matchmaker!" Andrew and Rita headed towards their unsuspecting victim and sat down quietly a few tables down. A few hours went by and then some. Rita and Andrew were getting restless, but remained patient. Darien suddenly checked his watch. He said nothing but Rita and Andrew could clearly see him mouthing the numbers 3…2…1. As if on cue, bubbly, meatballheaded blonde hopped through the door. Andrew and Rita watched in awe as Darien got up from his stool and replaced his serene smile with a cynical smirk. They recognized the happy ditz as 14 year-old flunky, Serena Tsukino. As she headed over to the worn control panels of the video game "Sailor-V: 2002", her foot caught on an uneven piece of linoleum. She was sent crashing to the ground with a hard thud. Darien shook his head and went over to her. Serena was wailing at the top of her lungs about the injustice of her current situation. "Geez! Lower the decibels, meatballhead! Just because you're a klutz doesn't mean everyone else wants to hear about it too!" Darien stated with an annoyed expression. "Not you again! Darien, I've got to hand it to you, you've single-handedly ruined every day of my life for the past three months! I have had a horrible day at school, not to mention a messy scene with my boyfriend; and then you just tease me every time I mess up or trip, making my life even worse." The minute Darien heard the word "boyfriend" his expression went sour. Andrew and Rita were still listening in quiet fascination at the sight before them. "Look meatballhead, we all have our problems, but I can't control the fact that you seem to make them everybody else's problems too. Just suck it up and deal with it! Your life can't be all that bad." Darien was sick of Serena ignoring him. He'd try to be nice, but every word that came out of his mouth seemed to insult her. He knew how mean he was being, but he couldn't seem to help it. A silence fell between them. Though they welcomed it, Andrew and Rita thought it was time to act. "Hey you guys, you're gonna scare away the customers!" Andrew stated in an upbeat voice. "Yea," Rita added in, "you guys are definitely making a scene. Why don't we all have some ice cream! On the house!" Darien was trying to find an excuse to leave. "I don't think..." "Nonsense! Everyone likes ice cream! Come on!" Rita cut Darien off in mid sentence. And dragged Serena and him off to a table in the corner. Then Andrew stepped in. "So, what can I get for you guys today?" Serena was eager to eat, so she was the first to order. "I'll have one Serena special with extra hot fudge and peanuts please!" "One Serena special with extra peanuts and fudge…" Andrew repeated out loud as he was writing down the order. Rita was next. "I'll have one chocolate malt with two straws dear." Andrew blushed furiously at this, and hurriedly scrawled down the order. "And Darien, what can I get for you today?" Andrew asked pointedly at him. "Um, I guess I'll have a triple chocolate fudge sundae with a brownie pie." "Geez, all choco-holics are he same." Andrew said jokingly. Suddenly, Serena looked very uncomfortable. "Andrew, on second thought, I'm not hungry." Andrew was in a state of shock. "Serena, not hungry! Are you feeling okay?" Serena rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I've got someplace I should be. I'm really sorry, and thank you for offering the ice cream to me, but I really must be going." Serena complacently got up from her seat and headed towards the door. Andrew caught her arm. "At least tell us where you're going. I mean, it is kind of rude to just leave with no explanation." Serena looked visibly guilty and blushed as she turned towards the window. "Well, it's kind of stupid, but I have a figure skating lesson in 20 minutes down at the rink, and I can't be late." "I didn't know you ice skated Serena. That's such a difficult sport." Rita added enthusiastically. "It's not really all that difficult once you get used to it. It just takes practice." Darien was now giving his full attention to Serena. He suddenly made himself known. "So meatballhead, how long have you been skating?" Serena tried desperately to ignore the first part of his question. "I've been skating for eleven years. Since I was three. Something about being out on the ice seemed so natural; I couldn't stop myself from skating. Pretty weird huh?" Serena said laughing. To Darien, her laughter sounded like ringing bells. Andrew wanted his friend to have a love life but he had a few questions of his own. "Serena, I'm getting off my shift in a few minutes, Rita has nothing to do, and Darien, well, you know him." Darien shot Andrew an angry glare. "So, I was wondering if it would be all right if we could all go and watch you skate. It might be fun; that is, if that's okay?" Andrew gave Serena his puppy dog look and she blushed. Flustered, she tried to come up something to say. "Why would you want to watch me?" Serena asked. Before Rita and Andrew could answer, Darien put in his two cents. "We don't just want to watch you, we want to skate a little too. Geez, you expect too much." Darien stated pointedly at Serena. All of her shyness had gone; she angrily spit out her rebuttal. "Fine! If you guys are coming, then let's go. I've got to run by my house first to pick up my skates." "That's great! My shift will be up in approximately one minute and thirty four seconds, so that should give you enough time to swing by your house and not be late." Andrew said in his normal, upbeat fashion. When Andrew left, Rita babbled on about this and that, purposely trying not to hold the attention of neither Serena or Darien, but at the same time, trying to keep an awkward silence from falling between the two. Darien studied Serena's features carefully. The light of the noontime sun gave her face a heavenly glow. Her seemingly ethereal features were apparent and enchanting. ~*DARIEN*~ I wondered if she knew how impossibly beautiful she really was. 'Not likely.' Darien thought to himself. 'She's too selfless and totally unconceited to know. Oh well. I still can't figure out how one minute Andrew and Rita offer to give us ice cream, and then he next, we are invited to go watch Serena at the local ice rink. At least I get to admire my angel and not be given funny looks or have anybody else notice. This will be a good day. But what is Serena going to say when she finds out that I compete too? And that I'm looking for a new pair's partner? I guess I'll just have to wait and find out. Please, if there is a God; let nothing rude come from my mouth. That is definitely not the way to gain the attention I want from Serena.' ~*SERENA*~ 'I can't believe that I actually let Andrew talk me into letting him and Rita go to the rink with me. And, they let Darien go with them too! What if I fall and Darien laughs at me? I'd just die if that happened! Oh, what am I thinking? I know I'm good at skating so I should just lay low and hope that everything goes as planned. Darien might know a lot about skating. Maybe he could help me find a new partner! After all, with Chris being paralyzed from the waist down, I need a new one. Better yet, Darien could be my partner! What am I thinking?! Darien might not even know how to skate. And even if he does, why would a sophisticated guy like Darien want to be partners with a klutzy, ditzy, meatballheaded flunky like me? Oh well, I don't want to think about that right now. I just want to impress him. That's all I need to think about right now. That, and how to win Darien's attention.' ~*NARRATOR*~ "Everybody ready to go? We better get a move on if we don't want to make Serena late!" Andrew layed his apron on the counter and walked over to the table where a nervous blonde, her totally calm admirer, and an expectant brunette sat, awaiting his arrival. "Yea!" said Serena, "Let's go! &*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&**&*&*&*&*&* What will happen at the ice rink? How will Andrew and Rita go about getting Serena and Darien together? Will they just get together on their own? What will happen when Serena finds out that Darien can skate? This could get messy! Stay tuned for chapter three: "The Figure Skater and the Tiff" Note: I just had to do a fic that involved ice-skating! How else do you think I got my name? Anyway, all the info in the following chapters that refers to figure skating is accurate and comes from three programs of mine. I will also tie in a little bit of Super S and Stars as well ~_* (You'll see!) PS: I know that this is a first season archive, but regardless, this story is still in that framework and is not part of the fourth or fifth seasons.