Chapter One

The Beginning

AN: I had a dream about this the other night, and decided to turn the overall idea into an AU Sailor Moon fic. We will see where this goes, but if I don't get any feedback, this might be doomed as a one-shot.

Future Pairings: S/D, Scouts/Generals

Obviously I do not own Sailor Moon.

Serena was pulled from her bed in the dead of night. Her eyes had no trouble adjusting to the blackness, and as soon as she'd opened her eyes she had caught the reassuring scent of her mother.

"Mama--" She started loudly but her mother's hand was over her mouth before she could finish her question. She kept her hand clamped over Serena's mouth and carried her to Serena's dressing chamber. The room was large and lined with innumerable dresses, cloaks, shoes, gloves, and play clothes for the six year old. Serena's mother closed the thick wooden door between the bed chamber and dressing chamber silently, and knelt in front of Serena, her lips pressed against her only daughter's ear.

"Serenity," she whispered, and suddenly Serena was scared because fear was making her mother's voice shake and the scent of it tinged the air. "You must do what I tell you now without question or hesitation. Do you understand?"

Serena nodded, her lower lip trembling. Why was Mama afraid? What was going on?

"Be absolutely silent. Do not speak, do not cry, and do not scream. Do you understand?"

Serena nodded again, the scent of her fear and confusion seeping from her alabaster skin and mingling with her mother's.

Serena's mother ran a soothing hand through her daughter's long, soft hair. "Good. Now listen. There are bad men in the castle." Serena's eyes widened and her mother shook her head; there was no time to explain it all, there wasn't even enough time to save herself but if she could just save Serena… "They are like the villains in the game you play with the girls. This time, the men will try to catch you but you mustn't let them. You must escape to the haven, remember? Your father showed you last year? I want you to go through the secret tunnels I showed you. Do you remember? Yes, good. You are the fastest runner in our pack, and the best hider. The girls can never find you, and now the bad men must not."

She pulled Serena's frozen form to the back corner of the room, where a large armoire stood. Serena watched as her mother opened the doors and triggered a hidden latch on the floor. The floor of the armoire popped up and the smell of feces was overwhelming. Her mother had explained that there were alternating vials of pungent scents that would mask the scent of any who passed through the hidden opening. Serena wrinkled her nose in disgust, already forgetting her fear and the strangeness of being woken up in the middle of the night. What a fun game! Her mother was always making up games for them to play, to challenge and test her budding abilities. This was just another one!

Her mother pulled Serena to the edge of the gaping black hole in the ground. The air that drifted up was stale and smelled of old earth. Her mother knew that her daughter's only chance of escape was through the tunnels. The Valterre didn't know of them, and by the time they found them, Serena's trail would be lost in the mires. She would reach the haven and Amara, Michelle and Trista would raise her until it was safe once again for Serena to reclaim her lands and rule over her people.

Hugging her daughter, she felt some peace creep in to quell the panic that had seized hold of her when the walls of the castle had been breached. Her daughter would survive, and that was enough. One day, she would understand the sacrifices that were made in order to ensure her safety. She cringed and squeezed Serena tighter, thinking of her husband's bloodied and broken body, and the horror of watching his head roll away from his broad shoulders. Serena was all she had left and she would die tonight clinging to the hope that her daughter would live.

"Go. Now. Before the bad men come." She whispered roughly and pushed Serena's small, warm form away. Serena clung for a moment, and then kissed her mother on her cheek, surprised at the warm wetness that met her lips. Mama was crying.

"I love you Mama." She whispered and began to climb down the tunnel.

Her mother felt tears coat her throat and she swallowed thickly. "I love you, darling."

Her mother was both elated and broken hearted when she closed the tunnel over her daughter and rushed from the chambers. If she hurried, she thought as she raced down the empty hallways and into her own chambers, if she hurried she may be able to make it out herself and meet Serena at the haven.

The door slammed shut behind her and she spun around, her hair a silvery curtain. The scent of unfamiliar males, enemy males, assaulted her senses and she snarled in rage. How dare they invade her most private sanctum! Fear was quick on the heels of rage. If they had reached her chambers so quickly, how much longer would it be before they discovered Serena?

She sunk into a crouch; the Change took over and transformed her. For the life of her pup, she would do anything. Her silver eyes glinted dangerously, and she circled the men, calculating. All she needed to do was buy more time for Serena.

Serena ran silently down the underground tunnels, her feet avoiding any uneven patches of stone. She was barely breathing hard and was proud of how quiet she was being! When she got to the haven without being caught, her mama would be so proud of her! Maybe she would even hold a feast in celebration of her daughter's cleverness! She was imagining her mother's delighted smile and her father's booming voice praising her speed when she reached the end of the tunnel and pushed open the portal in the mires outside of the castle. She paused carefully, with the lid opened a few inches and scented the surrounding area as she had been taught. This was where Rei always messed up. She always forgot to sniff out any potential dangers. Well, Serena planned on showing Rei how smart and careful she could be!

It was safe, she decided and pulled herself out of the hole, replacing the lid behind her. She began to walk cautiously through the mire, her attention focused on picking out swamp water and sand from the safe spongy ground she could walk on.

She wasn't aware of another person's presence until she was pinned against the ground, her arms twisted cruelly behind her. She yelped in surprise and pain, and struggled against her assailant. Oh, she'd been caught! Her mother wouldn't give a feast for her now.

Her captor, a male by his scent, silently tied rough rope around her feet and her wrists, gagging her with a length of old cloth that tasted of mold, and blindfolding her. Serena kept struggling until he cuffed her hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. Shocked by his rough treatment, she was still as he threw her over his shoulder and began to jog, jostling her against his shoulder. No one in her pack had ever hit her before. Her mother and father forbade such physical punishment against their only daughter and against other pups in the pack. Who was this male that he dared treat her so?

She couldn't see as they traveled but she could smell and hear. She knew the familiar scents of her home well enough, but there were some scents that confused her. A warm, metallic scent that was like the blood of the animals the adults brought back for her and the other pups, but different. It was stronger the further inside the courtyard they got, and Serena was aware when they climbed the gray stone steps into the great hall. Voices had been raised, in anger, excitement and confusion but abruptly all sound ceased. Serena scented her mother, father and others but the scent of unfamiliar males overpowered the familiar scents of her pack mates.

Suddenly she was dropped to the stone floor, and she yelped again when she landed painfully on her head. Her captor grabbed the ropes binding her feet and pulled her forward across the floor. Something wet seeped through the back of her nightgown and she frowned at the thought of her pretty light pink gown being ruined.

"What did you bring me, Gregory?" The voice is velvety and completely masculine, and the power that inundated beneath the words froze Serena in her place.

Her captor, Gregory, shifted and the blindfold was removed, along with her gag. "I believe it is the whelp, sir."

Serena glared up at Gregory indignantly. How dare he ruin her dress and call her a whelp! "My name is Serena, you big idiot!"

The tension that filled the air was palatable and for the first time, Serena was able to look around the great hall. More than a hundred males, in both human and wolf form, filled the room and none of them were members of the Jericho pack. The great hall was a mess, but Serena barely noticed the disarray, her eyes drawn instead to something more horrible. Her mother was chained, naked and coated with blood and gore, between four enormous men. The men held the thick chains tightly, and as she watched, her mother slowly met her eyes and shook her head. Serena was not to move or say anything else.

Several Jericho pack members were chained as well, all in their human forms. She noticed Andrew kneeling next to Molly, her bright red hair matted and tears staining her cheeks. Patricia, one of Serena's tutors was half naked, blood dripping freely from a gash on her cheek. She too shook her head at Serena, and then quickly looked away. There were a few others—Rita, Elizabeth, Michael, Lucas…all chained and refusing to make eye contact with her. No adult male members of her pack were among the captured, not even her father's beta, Malloren, and Serena looked in vain for her father. He was no where to be found. Serena felt sick with fear as she realized that it hadn't been a game.

"So, you were able to track her down."

Serena warily looked toward the dais. A giant of a man sat on her father's throne, a blood red cloak thrown over his body casually to cover his nakedness. He was older, around her father's age, with curling dark hair shot through with grey and piercing blue eyes. Power emanated from him, and Serena felt the urge to roll over in submission, despite her own dominant standing within her pack.

"The tunnels, sir."

Serena glared up at Gregory. The tunnels were a secret!

The man nodded and inclined his head slightly. "That information was useful after all. Perhaps we should reward the messenger."

Serena felt her heart leap in recognition as Malloren, her father's beta, stepped forward. He was not chained, but walked to the dais of his own free will. As he passed her, Serena cried out his name. She thought he would free her and her family…but Malloren only stiffened and ignored her, dropping to a knee before the man on the throne.

"Is this pup the daughter of Selene and Leroy?"

Malloren kept his head bent in submission, but his hesitation was clear.

"Do you wish your life to end as Leroy's did?" The man's voice was cold, clear and threatening. Malloren shook his head in denial and glanced back at Serena's prone form, regret clear in his dark brown eyes.

"My lord, the girl is Serena, the only child of the alpha male and female of the Jericho pack."

Selene, Serena's mother, snarled and lunged forward. "Traitor!"

The males guarding her beat her into submission, but even pinned on the stone floor, Selene's silver eyes burned with hatred for Malloren. "He trusted you and you have killed us all! For what? To serve one no better than a common mutt."

The man on the dais stood abruptly, and his dominant energy spilled over the room. His eyes flashed with controlled anger. "I am Virtus, leader of the Valterre and it is the sins of your pack against the ways of our kind that have led to your demise!" His voice thundered throughout the hall and Serena was confused. Her pack had never done anything wrong…

Selene spit scornfully upon the floor. "We have not sinned. We do not make war with humans."

"A sin!" Virtus roared and in an instant he had snatched Serena from the floor and held her by her throat. Serena choked against his tightening grip, but the ropes kept her from clawing at his hands or even kicking her feet. "You dare to defy me?"

Selene writhed upon the floor, her eyes locked on her daughter's dangling form. "Do not hurt her! She is only a pup!"

Virtus clenched tighter and Serena gasped for air, her vision becoming blurry from lack of oxygen. The hall was silent, except for the muffled sobbing of Molly, who shielded her eyes behind Andrew.

"Father, she is but a pup."

The voice was calm and confident, but Virtus did not release his grip. His eyes were locked on Serena's, blazing with hate and deadly intent. "She will grow into her parents' child and then she will be a weakness within the Valterre."

Someone came to stand behind Serena. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't see and all sound seemed as if it was reaching her from a great distance. "She will be my mate."

Virtus' grip eased and he shifted his gaze to the male standing before him. Serena swallowed in giant gulps of air. "Is that so?" Virtus' was amused, all anger suddenly gone and all madness gone from his features. "In that case, here." He released his grip and Serena would have landed on the hard stone but strong, lean arms shot out and caught her.

She looked up, still stunned into eyes the deepest shade of blue she had ever seen. They were cold but there were emotions hidden just beneath the surface that made him more human. Strangest of all, she suddenly felt safe. She turned to glare at Virtus, who had stridden to stand over Selene, his back to Serena and her savior.

Selene ignored Virtus, smiling instead at the sight of her daughter in the arms of her enemy's son. She knew of Darien, and had heard from many that he was cut from a different fabric than his cruel father. She had not known he had accompanied his father and the Valterre pack to slaughter her people, but as she had watched Virtus strangle her daughter helplessly, he'd calmly made his way forward and saved Serena's life by verbally claiming her as his future mate.

Indeed, the bond was already visible. Serena was leaning her child's body into Darien's adolescent chest, watching her mother worriedly, and Darien's arms were protectively tight around her. They would be bonded, Selene knew, when Serena came of age and only then would Serena be safe.

She was still smiling, a peaceful ease settling over her limbs, when the sword cut through her neck.

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