Prologue

Juuban:

Tsukino Serena, adorable six year old blonde stares at the door to her home, stunned. Why had mommy and daddy locked her out? She had been good, hadn't she? The little blonde clenches her fists as she holds back tears. If they didn't want her then fine, who needed them, who needed to stay here. She still remembered the butcher knife that nearly took her arm from her when she was three, the chains, the whips, the rolling pin…why did they hate her so much? Well, it didn't matter, she'd survive without them. She already was skilled at picking pockets, she had to be so she could get food and clothes. The girl knew her daddy didn't have a pin on any of his credit cards and she had lifted one off of him.

She buys plenty of clothes at a specialty shop, this one sold clothes that grew with you, along with shoes. Then she made sure to get a special backpack as well, the kind demon hunters used for the really long hunts, getting plenty of food, medicine, water, and other essentials. In short she maxed the card out and then tosses it, hoping someone would steal her daddy's ID. Her next step would have to be getting away from this place.

Two weeks later Serena can be found stowed away on an airplane bound for a place called Metroburg.

Five Years Later:

Tsukino Serena's eyes widen as she sees a kid her age slam into the ground not far from her, he had dark hair and was dressed like a superhero. The eleven year old blonde curses even as she darts out of her cover and calls upon the shadows, wrapping them around the monster attacking, holding the monster down. She had also placed herself in between the monster and the boy.

Max Thunderman groans as he comes to and his eyes widen as he takes in the sight of a girl around his age defending him with shadows. She was an umbrakinetic. He watches as she manages to take down the monster and slowly he gets to his feet, " You didn't have to help me. "

Serena turns to look at him, " Yeah, I think I did. You've got people who will miss you, I don't. "

Max watches her walk away, his brown eyes narrowed. Was she really that alone, did she really have no one?

Time Gates:

Sailor Pluto, Guardian of the Time Gates, stares in horror as Crystal Tokyo fades away as if it never existed. How could this have happened, the hime was safe in Japan with her new parents. The viridian haired time senshi checks on the Tsukinos and then curses, where was Serena? Why the hell couldn't she find her hime? To her absolute dismay a new future starts to form, it was foggy at the moment and she couldn't make it out. The hime had to marry Endymion or all was lost.

In the shadows shapes were taking form but then the view was stopped. Pluto curses, very few beings had the power to block the Gates. She just wondered whom was blocking her vision currently.

Empire State Building, 600th Floor:

Hermes, God of Messengers, Travelers, Thieves, and Liars smirks as he watches the Plutonian Senshi panic when she can't find her hime. There was no way in hell he was going to allow his daughter to be used as a pawn. He may have guided her quite a bit to get her out of the abusive situation she had been in, she was six, though he hadn't been expecting her to stop in Metroburg and stay. Then she had met Max Thunderman and Psyche, Goddess of the Soul, had almost squealed in joy. Now, Hermes knew why she had stayed. Hell, he'd even given Max his blessing.

Chapter One

Hiddenville:

Tsukino Serena still didn't know when Max Thunderman had become so important to her, he was the one that had made sure she got her education and he'd even gotten her into Hiddenville High. Of course, accommodations had been up to her as Max's family didn't even know about her, though Max had always made the time to help her train her powers and stay caught up academically. Max had continually hunted her down after she had saved him back in Metroburg, generally bringing food with him as well.

Sure he knew she stole, she'd had to, to live as long as she did, but she also tried to help others in little ways. Unlike most people she saw everything in shades of gray and there was no way in hell she would ever go back to that cesspool she'd lived in until she was six. She'd stowed aboard a plane that got her to Metroburg and she had hidden out there ever since, until Max had informed her he and his family were moving to Hiddenville. She'd found an abandoned building that Max had been quick to use Dr. Colosso's money to buy. Colosso was all for it since they were hiding things from his arch enemy.

" How are you settling in? "

Serena smiles at this, " Now, how did you manage to get away from your family this quickly? "

Max smirks, " I'm a super villain, Sere, seriously, how are you settling in? "

" Still don't know when you grew on me, Thunderman. I'm settling in well for the most part. "

" Colosso's letting me access his accounts to get this place tricked out and to get you what you need to survive. He expects you to rob people blind. " Max states, " As for when I grew on you, Sere, well I think that was probably when I saved you from getting gang raped. "

That had been a year ago and Max hadn't realized until then exactly what his feelings for the petite blonde were. He did enjoy the thrill of dating her while keeping his parents in the dark. The dark brown haired fourteen year old pulls the petite and fiery blonde into a hug, until he'd seen her here he wasn't sure she had managed to make it to Hiddenville. He needed her close for the moment. Serena lets herself relax, she knew exactly why Max had pulled her into the hug. He worried about her living on her own with only her wits to keep her safe.

" Try to stay out of trouble, Sere, please. "

Serena rolls her eyes at this, " You're generally the one that I'm pulling out of the fire, Max. "

Max sighs, " Sere, things are going on in your old 'hood. "

Serena pales, " Not the senshi, no, they can't be active. "

Brown eyes look down at her in confusion, " Sere? "

Serena pulls away and runs a hand through her hair, muttering in Japanese under her breath, " How long have the senshi been active, Max? "

" About two months, though there was that Sailor V in London last year. " Max answers.

Serena groans, " Fantastic, why the…dammit, fucking Beryl and Metalia have broken free from their seal. Why the hell were they sealed away to begin with. Sealing enemies never works, you have to destroy them! Stupid psycho moon queen, leaving me to clean up her fucking messes. Beryl and Metalia was entirely her fault! "

" Care to explain, Sere? "

Serena sighs and begins the tale of the Silver Millennium's fall. By the time she has finished Max's brown eyes are narrowed in determination, " First thing we need to do is get those crystals, right? "

" Max, no, you don't have to help me. "

" Like hell you're doing this without me. Plus, I can devise a way to hide your power signature for when you call out the crystals. " Max retorts.

Serena sighs, " I don't want to go back, get involved but I can't let the Silver Crystal fall into the wrong hands either. "

Max looks at her, " You gave me the cliff notes of the truth, didn't you? "

Serena snorts at this, " Max, I never told you why I ran, did I? "

" I knew you had to have a reason. " Max admits.

" My parents literally hated me, I don't know which one did it anymore but I nearly had my left arm amputated when I was three. I got fed up at six when I had to steal for food and clothes and I kept getting locked out of the house. I took the hint they were giving me and somehow stowed aboard a plane and made it to Metroburg. Five years later and I'm saving your ass from a monster. "

Max winces at this, " You still have to go retrieve the crystals and I will be helping you. "

Serena nods, " How long until we can get this done? "

Max frowns as he starts to think, having super intelligence paid off at times. He needed some way to keep his girlfriend from being found by any of the senshi save for Sailor Saturn. Saturn rocked. Max knew Serena would want Saturn to find her, " It will take a little bit for me to work out how to hide you effectively. I may have super intelligence but this is something that will take a bit of doing. I may be a villain but something like Beryl and Metalia is bad for business. Take over the world villains are so cliché or destroy the world villains. "

Serena smiles at this, " Now, dear Max, what caper are you planning next? "

Max grins, this is why he loved Serena, she didn't care about his thieving ways. Max would never hurt his family but would prank them, steal from them, but never betray or hurt them maliciously. Most villains actually did care about their family. Max was firmly in the gray area, doing what was best for him. He was far from selfless and heaven help the idiot whom even dared to think they could harm Serena on his watch. His family had no clue how vicious he got when it came to protecting what was his.

It took Max all of a week to finish his latest project before he and Serena set out, reclaiming the rainbow crystals. Max had agreed to keep them safe and suppress their power for her. Max would never let anything of hers be harmed if he could help it. The fourteen year old rolls his shoulders as he starts working on the problem of when to introduce his family to Serena. Nora was the only one he could trust to keep her mouth shut, Billy, while a good kid just couldn't keep his mouth shut while Phoebe was too much of a goody two shoes to keep such a secret. It was why he hadn't told them in the first place.

Still, if he planned on dating her openly while in school then he would need to let them know about her slowly. So far they had kept their distance, somewhat, at school, while at Serena's place, owned by Colosso, they could let down their guard and be themselves. Max was also still getting her place tricked out though she had been picking quite a few pockets of cash, using umbrakinesis to return them to their owners before they noticed they were gone. Sure, she shouldn't do that but she'd been forced to adapt and learn how to steal in order to survive when she was only six. No one deserved that kind of life. Max knew he was lucky and while most days being Phoebe's twin sickened him he still loved his sister.

While he made sure his grades were decent he never went all out, why be a super nerd in school when he could be part of the cool crowd? Already he and Serena were the king and queen of the freshman class and he made sure to help Serena get her homework done as her ADHD made it impossible to focus on stuff like that. Max knew how to get her focus on school work and actually liked tutoring her.

Juuban:

Sailor Mercury was confused as to why the Crescent Moon Wand wasn't reacting to the rainbow crystals. The blue haired genius had no way of knowing that the hime, the princess they were searching for had already gathered them all with her boyfriend. Luna was adamant that they had to be found before the Negaverse got them.

North Pole Point D:

Zoisite frowns, not one of the carriers he went after had the crystals in them. Had someone already claimed them? That should be impossible unless it was the princess. Yet where was the girl. No one had ever felt a mere whisper of her power and yet none of the carriers had any crystals in them so far. This was very disturbing, if the princess had claimed the crystals why hadn't…Zoisite's eyes widen, the princess wanted nothing to do with the fight and had only interfered to get the crystals and taken them out of the equation, without it things would be much harder for both sides. The princess wasn't going to be her mother's puppet.

That was actually rather smart of her, she took her crystal off the field and would probably only fight when she or someone she truly cared about was endangered. Zoisite couldn't blame her for that, he remembered all those talks he'd had with the hime, she had hated being royal and being trapped in a gilded crystal cage, as she'd put it.

Hiddenville:

Serena stretches out before she goes through her training course, that had been the first thing she and Max had gotten set up. Max also used the course as he knew he needed to keep his powers up to par, not to mention that he wanted to experiment and see if he could do different things with them. As she runs the course without powers first the fourteen year old can sense Max's presence, " You still can't sneak up on me, Max. "

" I will one day, Sere. You do know that if we date openly at school you will need to meet my family, right? "

Serena finishes the course, " Yeah, I know, I was just hoping there would be a little more time before that. "

" Sere, it's been a month and I fully intend on taking you to that upcoming dance. "

Serena's eyes widen, " Your parents haven't told any of you about the Achilles Comet yet, have they? "

Max blinks, " Achilles Comet? "

" For those like you your powers will go wonky. You might want to start working on something to deal with that now, otherwise you and Phoebe will have to stay within three feet of each other. "

Max groans, though if he could find a way to keep Serena off the radar then he could devise a way to keep his and Phoebe's powers in check. There was no way in hell he was going to be stuck with his twin, " How long will the comet make our powers wonky? "

" At least ten hours, Max. "

Max grimaces at this, " Great, you will help me with this, right, Sere? "

Serena grins, " Sparring first, Max. "

Max groans but complies with this. He'd been training her in hand to hand ever since he'd managed to gain her tentative trust. Serena was actually a great student, he enjoyed sparring with her, but the fact that she could kick his ass so easily at times really sucked. As they fall into the rhythm all their spars seemed to take on Max manages to clear his mind and focus solely on the spar. The pair just always seemed to click on a higher level when they were like this.

Max was surprised when the timer went off, they generally only sparred for an hour. The fourteen year old sighs, " I really need to introduce you to my parents. "

Serena grins at this, " You could just keep sneaking around like the villain you are. "

" True. Any ideas for what I can do for my next Selfie for Evilgram? "

" Well, theft is more up your ally, so what can we have you steal? "

" Plus not alert my parents. " Max states.

The pair look over their plans readily, they had cased a lot of places to rob, Serena would help him out a lot of the time. Plus, Serena had a lot of connections to move the stolen loot as well. Neither one would harm anyone if they could help it, but theft, that was something else entirely. They loved planning out a good heist and that was what they were doing now. Max knew when he needed to get home before his parents got suspicious. They set up a time to go pull off the heist and Max smiles briefly, " Once I've worked out how to dampen mine and Phoebe's powers I am officially asking you to that dance so figure out what statement you want to make. "

Serena smirks at this, " Ooh, so many choices with that, and making sure you end up coordinated with me as well. "

" We can talk more after we pull our next heist. "

" Admit it, our heists are our dates, Thunderman. "

Max rolls his eyes at this but has to admit that she had a point. They normally ended up making out at some point during a heist once they'd finally admitted their feelings to themselves and each other.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, The Flying Thunderman's, or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.