Welcome all, to my first fanfic in 4 years!

All of the character descriptions are what is provided on Ms. Meyer's official website. So if you think any of the descriptions are incorrect, then take it up with the original author herself~

If anyone likes this story enough to do it, I'd love artwork for it! I can't draw to save my life so it'd be greatly appreciated!

Now, STOP RIGHT HERE IF YOU DID NOT READ CRESS. While this story is an AU, I did pull some aspects of the characters and plot from the stories up until the ending of Cress. So if you have not done so, go read it, then come back to this story! I don't want to feel responsible for you reading spoilers if you do not intend to.

With that said, I hope that you all will enjoy and review to keep me motivated. I love this series and hope that I can provide a great fanfic! :D

oooOOOooo Star light, start bright. Won't you grant my wish tonight? oooOOOooo

To say Cress was nervous was an understatement.

Immediately after entering the two large double doors to Brighter Stars Academy she felt as if she would collapse right then and there in front of the entire student population. Having been home schooled until the eighth grade, Cress was still nervous when surrounded by people. It did not help that when she did finally join others at the tender age of thirteen, they had immediately taken to teasing her after someone labeled her as teacher's pet.

Still, her standardized testing had topped them all and she had graduated at the top of her class. Her tests had been so high, in fact, that the state had honored her and granted her a scholarship to this very prestigious high school for the smartest minds that she was currently about to have a panic attack in.

At first, scared to ever go to school again, she had made her father homeschool her again. But now in her sophomore year, here she was.

Grateful that a bathroom was easy to find, she hurried past the sea of teens and into one. The petite girl ran into a stall, where she tried to calm her jittering nerves. Her knees were shaking so badly that they were clacking against each other and her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely get her backpack off of her shoulders. Her frustration at herself for being so weak made her big blue eyes fill with tears that spilled down her cheeks despite the fact that she was trying desperately to hold them in.

She wanted to go home.

Back to her brilliant doctor father who had taught her everything that she had ever needed to know.

Back to her room that they had filled together with the best technology they could install in an average house. Back to her favorite shows, music and solitude.

But he would not have her there.

Dr. Erland's eyes sparkled with mischief and joy at the same time as he clasped his daughter's small hands in his own.

"Brighter Star Academy is an amazing high school, Crescent! Congratulations, my dear sweet girl!" He pulled Cress in for a bear-hug.

"Thanks," she responded quietly, not hugging him back. This peculiarity caused him to raise his eyebrows and slowly pull away from her.

"What's wrong?" he asked slowly, eyes searching hers for the answer.

She took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears, but her voice came out small and shaky anyways. "I…I don't want to go. I want to be homeschooled again."

Dr. Erland was silent for ten agonizingly long seconds before he sighed, took his glasses off and rubbed them on his pristine white lab coat. When he put them back onto the bridge of his nose he spared his daughter a small smile and patted her hand gently. "Cress, you know that we cannot do that again. You must become a functioning member of society. And you cannot do that from your room. I am sorry that I allowed you to become such a hermit and dependent on me but-"

"But it's a boarding school!" Cress cried, immediately shocking both herself and her father at her outburst. "I- I mean…" she bit her lip and then shook her head, determined to say what she had to say without fear. "Father, why can't I go to a regular high school so that I can at least come home after school? Isn't that a fair negotiation?"

Dr. Erland's shook his head. "It's all or nothing, dear. Please try to understand that this is best for you. At least try it for one year. You need to make friends, Cress. Be normal teenager," his chuckle made Cress want to throw one of his heavy medical books against the wall but then he said something that quite surprised her.

"For heaven's sake, get into a bit of trouble for once!"

Cress took in a shuttering breath and placed a hand against her fluttering heart. Somewhere deep down, she knew that her father was right. She needed to learn to function in everyday society. At least for a year, as he had asked.

She could do this for him and herself.

She closed her eyes tightly and delved into the sparkling colors. If she could not do this as Crescent Moon Erland, she would have to do this as someone else.

Yes, that was perfect! She would pretend that she was a spy infiltrating this school, looking for bad guys, trying to blend in with the student population!

A small smile graced Cress' features as she swung her pink backpack over her shoulder again and exited the stall. She went to the mirror and smoothed back her long blond hair a bit. She had braided it into one long braid that draped down her ankles. Her face was slightly flushed from crying but it did not look bad when she bit her lips until they were a brighter pink too.

She wore a pink dress and a blue jean jacket over it to keep the chill away.

"Okay Cress, you can do this. You're a spy," she told her mirror-self with a firm expression.

"Oh great. We already found a weird freshman," a voice said, causing Cress to nearly jump out of her shoes. She whipped around to see three girls nearing her, their smirks and chuckles immediately making her blush. She had been so focused on motivating herself that she had not even heard them come in!

"S-sorry," Cress stammered, even though she did not know what she was apologizing for. She remembered the girls from eighth grade all too well. Bullies could be merciless.

"Yeah, whatever. Just move out of the way," the girl with black hair said. Cress nodded and hurried out of the bathroom, grateful that they did not pull her hair or put her in a trashcan. If this was the worse that these school bullies had to offer, she thought that maybe she could handle it after all.

She maneuvered into the hallway, pulled out her iPad that she had made special modifications to from her backpack, and scrolled until she found the notes she had made for herself in her dorm room. Her roommate hadn't showed up yet, which she was secretly happy about, but now she wished that she had already made a friend so that she could perhaps show her where her locker and classrooms were.

No matter. Cress could fend for herself when it came to things like this. Once she knew what number locker she had been assigned to it was simple to scout through the internet and pull up the school. She searched until she found a map of the school and then into more secret and detailed files again she found the most detailed one she could find.

It turned out that she was not far from her locker so she found it in no time. She opened it swiftly, noticing that it was almost time for her to get to her first class of the day. She dug out all of her books and positioned them neatly inside then hung up her backpack on the hook at the top. She then pulled out her AP Chemistry book and closed her locker.

And was started for the second time that morning.

"Oh!" Cress jumped back and stared into the most beautiful, mischievous blue eyes she had ever seen.

He had short brown hair that was pushed back away from his handsome, clean-shaven face. He towered over her at what Cress estimated was at least an even six feet tall. He was broad-shouldered and looked strong beneath his white button-up dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the buttons not done to the top, jeans and white shoes.

"Well, aren't I lucky for a new locker-buddy. The last one was some fat guy who smelled bad," he joked, a grin spreading across his face.

Cress felt her heart hammer in her chest. For a second she could not say anything. It was as if her tongue were swollen and too thick to life.

Either ignoring or not caring about her lack of words, he smirked and reached over to touch her long, thick braid. His eyebrows flew up and he let out a laugh. "Wow, is this really all of your hair? I bet it's difficult to be in bed with anyone!"

Cress suddenly felt hot from her face down to the bottom of her neck.

"W-what," she stammered, taking a step back.

He laughed again, releasing her hair and leaned against his locker. "I'm sorry, it's probably rude of me to make bed jokes when we've only just met, isn't it? And you're probably just a nervous little freshman."

"I-I'm a sophomore!" she sputtered out probably a bit louder than she needed to, but she wanted him to know that she was older than she looked, if even by a little. "I just transferred in this year is all."

He grinned and nodded. "Well, can I ask your name, Ms. Sophomore?"

"C-Crescent Erland. But please call me Cress," she tried to smile and look as normal as she possible. It was her first time really having a full conversation with a guy other than her father, and she found herself wanting to make a good first impression even though she had probably already ruined it.

"Then please call me Captain," he replied with a wink, "Captain Carswell Thorne."

If it were not for the amazing benefits of going to school at Brighter Star Academy and the fact that it freed her from living with her evil stepmother Adri, Cinder would not have come back for a second year.

But everyone knew that if you were extremely good at your chosen field, Brighter Day Academy set you up with an amazing internship your senior year that would put you on the right path for both getting to and a head-start on your resume. Even if she did not earn the internship, this school had excellent teachers who could all be working at collegiate levels if they chose to do so. Cinder guessed that they were getting paid the same amount though, based off of the student's tuitions costs.

While Cinder did not want to brag, she knew that she was on the top of the list for the mechanics of her class.

This school would help her to be so much more than a mechanic. She would have the skills of a mechanic, architect, entrepreneur and whatever else she could get her hands on. One day, she would build a whole new city.

So for now, she would tough it out at Brighter Star Academy and pay for the part of her tuition that was not paid by scholarship with her own hard-earned cash from her part-time job as a mechanic at an auto-shop. She also did some work for local shops whose owners she had made friends with and who would occasionally call her if something broke down or needed tinkering.

It was unfortunate that she had stayed late at her job, so she did not get the chance to meet her new roommate. She had quietly entered the room at five in the morning. The girl had lifted her head up, her eyes glazed over with sleep. Cinder had waved and smiled and then the girl had flopped back down into her pillow, asleep again.

By sunrise Cinder had woken up earlier than the girl and rushed out so that she could meet Kai for breakfast at their favorite café before school started.

Cinder sighed as she pulled her Honors Geometry book out of her locker.

Kai had been acting so strange lately. Distant, with a far-away look in his copper-brown eyes. Whatever it was, he had told her that it was nothing and not to worry. But how couldn't she?

His father was a politician, running for a seat in the Senate. Maybe it had something to do with him. Maybe Cinder just should not pry.

"Cinnnddddeerrrrr," came a sing-song voice from across the way, and Cinder looked up to see her best friend Iko, a fellow Sophomore who was also her childhood friend, running up to her, blue braids swinging. Iko crashed into her with a force that almost knocked the wind out of poor Cinder.

"Iko…don't act like we haven't seen each other all summer and didn't just go out for pizza last week," Cinder sighed, pushing her friend off of her gently.

"A week is too long! I missed you," Iko pouted, looping an arm through Cinder's.

Cinder spared her energetic friend a small smile, "I missed you too, Iko."

"It's a good thing we have the same lunch period again. I have stuff to tell you about," Iko said, pulling Cinder along.

Cinder laughed and nodded as Iko delved into a story about some guy she had met the other day. It always eased her mind to talk to her only friend in this stupid school.

The only other student than Kai who did not believe the rumors about her.

After the accident that had cost her an arm and foot, Cinder had entered the Brighter Stars Academy a formal shell of herself. She had trouble talking to anyone and appeared standoffish and mean because she simply wanted to be left alone.

Yet Kai, the popular Junior who all the girl's, (even Seniors) adored had still taken a keen liking to her and courted her. He was like a knight in shining armor with his slender build and dark hair.

That's when the rumors started. Cinder was just pretending to be helpless to get Kai to feel sorry for her. Cinder was holding something over Kai's head to get him to date her. Cinder had punched a girl in the hallway with her prosthetic hand.

She had no idea who hated her so much to spread rumors like that about her.

All she knew was that it had been Kai and Iko who had slowly brought her back to herself.

"Oh wait," Cinder said once Iko finally needed to take a break to breathe midway through her story, "I left my wallet in my car and I wanted to buy one of those fruit smoothies. Save me a seat, okay?"

"Sure thing," Iko nodded and waved as she walked into the crowded and noisy cafeteria.

Cinder wandered through the halls until she reached an exit that would lead to the parking lot, where her old Hooptie was waiting. The car was from an old family member of Adri's. She had only given it to Cinder because she needed the girl to run errands for her and got a laugh out of it because the car was "almost as horrid" as Cinder was.

She put her hands into her unzipped hoodie's pockets, conscious of her prosthetic hand despite the fact that she was trying to get used to it. She just hated the stares and the questions that sometimes accompanied them. She didn't want to talk about it, didn't even want to think about it.

"Why don't you just make this easy for the both of us and come with me, brother?"

Cinder stopped with raised eyebrows as she took in the scene a mere few feet away from her. A group of males, all wearing leather jackets, was surrounding one guy and female. The female, Cinder actually recognized. She was the president of the Archery Club whose name was Scarlet, though Cinder was not sure of her last name. She had a head full of red curls, big brown eyes, freckles and a curvaceous body that put Cinder's slim build to shame. She was a senior this year. Cinder had never heard anything bad about the redhead and she seemed nice enough, though Cinder had never had a conversation with her.

The guy that the girl was standing next to, on the other hand, did not seem so nice. He had strikingly bright green eyes, messy brown hair that was spiked in all directions, a muscular build and was probably the tallest person Cinder had ever laid eyes on. He swept Scarlet behind him with one hand, who was scowling and looking as if she wanted to knock an arrow and send it flying right through someone's heart.

The seemingly leader of the pack that was surrounding them smirked, sending a shiver down Cinder's spine. She wished that whatever this little meeting was, was not so close to her car.

"Get out of here," the man next to Scarlet said, sparing a glance down at her.

That was his mistake.

Cinder gasped as the sound of Scarlet's guy taking a punch to the side of his face.

"Wolf!" Scarlet gasped out.

Wolf did not miss a beat despite the sucker-punch. He fell, but immediately kicked his long leg out, connecting it to his opponent's ankle.

From then, Cinder's eyes couldn't move quick enough as the two men exchanged a series of punches, blocking and flipping each other. She was stuck, until Scarlet took it upon herself to come back with a giant stick thick enough to be a tree branch and smack it across the guy's back.

"Ran. Don't!" Wolf growled and held back the slightly less-bulkier man down. He threw him to the side and connected a hit to the jaw of the next man's face as he hurried towards him, then another hit to the next person, then the next.

They all came for Wolf at the same time but the stronger man was fighting back valiantly.

"I'll go get help!" Cinder shouted out, turning to head back into the school, just as a group of male teachers came out, one with a cellular phone in hand, and the sudden siren of a police car sounded through Cinder's ears.

That was when Scarlet's brown eyes met Cinder's for the first time.

The group immediately stopped fighting, the threatening group turned to run and hopped into a car and drove away just as the police was running to catch them. One of the policemen called out the license plate number over his walkie-talkie while the other neared Wolf, who was on the ground, his face covered by his hands.

"Alright, put your hands on your head and turn around," the officer said. "Hey-!"

The officer did not have time to reach for his gun when Wolf suddenly sprang up, pushing the officer down then easily barreling into the second one like a football player and knocking him down. He was quick on his feet, running out of the parking lot before the officers could fully recover enough to catch him. They chased after him, but to no avail, as he ran into the backyard of a house across the street, across the bike trail behind it, and into the woods just as the officers entered the backyard.

Cinder, Scarlet, and the teachers gaped.

Cinder swallowed.

She didn't need any more rumors following her, but somehow she got the feeling that even more would be popping up soon.