Doppelganger

Prologue: Forty Minutes Past Midnight

A/N: I have a lot of extra time on my hands (clearly) so I am starting another story. This piece of fiction will definitely be darker than anything I have ever written before, but I am excited to get it going. The premise of this story is to explore the origins of Serena's father (as they never really talked about him, at least in the anime) and her destiny as a result of his actions. This is in fact a prologue and will set up for the rest of the story to take place. We will be encountering a very dark version of Serena in this story, so don't be surprised if she is a little out of character. Anyway, please review and let me know if you would be interested in me continuing.

Rating: M (for language, scenes of violence and non explicit sexual themes)

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.

She couldn't breathe; the overwhelming vestiges of sadness attacking her being, stealing whatever remnants of joy that remained in her life. Somehow, over the last six years, life had changed her; the bubbly personality of the pubescent blonde had all but faded. She couldn't recall the last time a smile graced her mouth and bringing her fingers to her lips, she wondered what it would feel like for them to contort into such a distinct and foreign position. Her back was stiff against the bed in her dormitory and a sudden bout of claustrophobia overwhelmed her as the small bedroom twisted and turned around her, the brass doorknobs akin to evil eyes, glowing like embers under an afternoon sun.

She needed to get out of this place.

Serena grabbed her jacket, her brooch falling onto the floor with a loud thump. She wondered why she even carried that thing around anymore. There hadn't been any enemies since her last battle, four years ago, and the twenty year old surmised that at this rate, she would never need to transform into Sailor Moon again. The world no longer needed a hero; the world no longer needed her. Her fingers dug painfully into the gold as she brought the brooch to her face, the paleness of her almost white skin contrasting with the bright yellow metal. She really needed to get more sunlight. Sammy had commented that she was starting to look like a vampire. She was starting to feel like one too.

It was a rare occasion for Serena to exit her dormitory. There was class, the occasional need to eat and maybe even a study session with a few of her fellow students from time to time, but apart from those few instances, her empty dorm room had in fact become her mausoleum. She tossed the brooch onto the empty bed parallel to her and watched as it bounced against the mattress before settling into a still circle of reflected light, the sallow color clashing against the dull blue fabric. Her roommate had moved out some time ago. She never really had a conversation with the girl. But her name was Lizzie and she had been a journalism major. Four months into the school year, shortly after the fall quarter had finished, Lizzie ended up on academic probation and her parents forced her to move home. Elizabeth's fate was no surprise to Serena though; that had been the outcome of many of her friends. Central Juban University was a party school after all, or at least, that was what her parents had told her.

She hadn't seen her mother and father in about three weeks, despite their constant insistence for her to come home. What would she come home to? Her annoying fifteen year old brother or her even more annoying twelve year old cousin? Rini had been there for four god awful years and her presence was probably the most buzz killing thing of all time. What did her parents need Serena for? They had a smaller, smarter, cuter version of her to watch grow up all over again. Serena had become that girl; the daughter that went off to college, but rarely ever came home to visit and it was better that way.

Her pale fingers wrapped around the jean jacket that had dropped to the floor before putting it across her shoulders and emerging from the darkness of the shadowy desolate room. Her hand immediately rose to her face as the sunlight painfully skewed her line of vision. Quickly she reached into the back pocket of her demin jeans and forced a pair of cheap sunglasses onto her face. She had no direction today and walked the path that led to nothingness. Previously, during a similar spell of loneliness and boredom, she had ended up in a pet cemetery about an hour outside of town and had to take the bus back to her campus. This time she walked in the opposite direction, letting her feet lead her down the windy concrete roads of central Juban.

She had finally arrived to a familiar sight just as the sun began to set and the chilly winter air blew gusts of cold against her. She pulled open the doors of the Crown Arcade, and ushered herself inside, the warmth of the furnace immediately heating her chilly bones. Ignoring the commotion of the crowd in the corner, she walked to the wooden counter, shiny from a recent polish and glared at the menu thoughtfully.

"Hey, long time no see," said Andrew, approaching her and leaning on his elbows to look at her. As always, she looked tired. "What can I get you?"

She shrugged. "A coke would be nice."

"A coke? What happened to your obsession with chocolate shakes? With all this low carb crap going on, I don't even get to make them and you rarely come around anymore. I swear, I've never had this many salads on the menu before."

She smiled at his rambling. This was probably the longest conversation Serena had with a human being in the last seven days. "Thanks Andrew but I'm not in the mood for a shake. It's too heavy."

"Maybe, next time," he said, scribbling her order down onto a piece of paper and handing a carbon copy to her.

"Everybody's here, you know," said Andrew, eyeing a large group in the corner of the dining room. "They're waiting for the arcade to close; we're all going to study here. You should stay."

Serena shrugged but didn't verbally respond. Instead she mounted herself onto a comfortable stool and swiveled around to see what Andrew was referring to. Her gaze immediately fell to her boyfriend sitting in a plush booth, his raven hair falling into his eyes, his gaze on the girl next to him who was apparently telling him a very amusing story that she couldn't quite hear from where she was sitting. That girl was Ai and Serena hated her. It was common knowledge that Ai was after Darien and it was an obvious fact to everyone but him. Serena had asked Darien to stop hanging around her for that exact reason and he had consistently tried to argue that Ai didn't have romantic feelings for him and that even if she did, Darien only had eyes for Serena.

This is the reason that they were currently not speaking. Or at least the reason that Serena wasn't speaking to him.

She watched the emotions play on his face as they changed from concentration, to amusement and finally to surprise when he realized that she was sitting in the middle of an empty row of seats staring at him with an intensely sour expression on her face. He said something to his friends who turned their attention toward her. Some of the people in his group she didn't know, but some of the faces were all too familiar, as they belonged to her childhood friends and fellow former Senshi: Raye, Mina, Ami and Lita.

Serena remained seated in her chair as Darien rose from the booth and walked toward her, his hands shoved deeply into the dark rinse jeans covering his legs and lower torso. "I didn't expect to see you here," he said honestly looking into her face. He didn't lean down to kiss her as he was fully aware of her anger towards him and figured that her jealously was something she would have to control on her own.

"I was bored," she said tiredly. "Having fun?"

"If you consider studying fun then sure, we're having loads of it," he said, sitting beside her. "You should come sit with us. I know you have reading to do too."

"That's okay."

Darien sighed. "If you came around more often, then this alleged fixation that Ai has with me would probably go away if she saw us together more often."

"Well if she wasn't such a bitch to me when I did come around then I wouldn't have a problem hanging around with you and your friends."

"They're your friends too Serena. Since when did you and the girls stop hanging out?"

"Since we got accepted into rival schools."

Darien cocked an eyebrow but provided no rebut. "Come on," he said, his fingers sliding against hers before tugging her toward him.

"I told you I don't want to."

"What else are you going to do then? Go bury yourself in your dorm room?"

She yanked her hand from his grip. "What else do I have to do? Your friends and that evil school you go to have corrupted my friends and turned them against me and you're busy every night of the week. Not that I'm blaming you, being in medical school and all but I haven't been alone with you in over a month."

Darien sighed apologetically. She was right, he was always busy with rounds, medical conferences and studying for oral examinations that doctors liked to spring on medical students during their time at the hospital. "By June, I'll be done with school and all of this will be over."

She scoffed. "And then you have twelve hour shifts to look forward to."

"Things will be different by then," he said, "trust me, Serena."

She said nothing and allowed him to steer her in the direction of the table that was populated by at least twelve people, all of their ages varying greatly in number.

"Hey, Serena," said Mina cheerfully as the walking blonde approach. "How's it going?"

Serena shrugged an answer. Darien was standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist which Serena concluded was his poor attempt at showing Ai who exactly he belonged to.

"So have you thought about transferring?" asked Lita, patting the empty seat beside her.

"No," Serena responded ignoring her friends attempt to make peace with her.

She was still livid over the recent fight the five of them had.

"You're not still mad are you? God, Serena get over it, it was just a jacket and Darien bought you another one," cried Raye, shoving a fry into her mouth and glaring at their blonde friend.

"It's the principal of the matter now," Serena, rebutted, clearly annoyed.

"You really should consider transferring to Azabu Tech, you know. Who wants a degree from Juban, anyway? And just because your grades and test scores weren't good enough t get in last time doesn't mean you should be afraid to reapply," said Ai, brushing her long bangs out of her face and behind her ear. Serena surveyed the brunette and even despite her envy, couldn't deny that Ai was in fact, very beautiful. Her brown, almost black hair, dangled past her waist in a cascade of midnight satin. Her eyes were large and a deep green and her skin was blemish free and just as perfect as she was.

"Take care," said Serena before enveloping herself in her jacket and rushing from the arcade, the voices of the group beckoning her return echoing in her ears as she hurried down the dark streets of Tokyo's underworld.

It was times like these when Serena thought something truly was wrong with her. She had been moody lately and it took almost nothing to irritate her, but sometimes her fits of anger were so strong that she wondered what inner turmoil was really wreaking such havoc on her soul. Tonight she was having another moment, where the sky seemed darker than it was and noise from the room above filled her with so much fury that she wanted to march right up there and snap her neighbors neck in half. And then there those truly scary times, when her flesh itched and burned so severely, that she became convinced that her skin was not her own. Sometimes, especially lately, she swore she could hear things in the darkest hour of the night that others could not. Sometimes, even the innocuous shadows on the wall seemed more sinister, as if they were waiting for her to let her guard down, for her to show that occasional moment of weakness and self doubt. The clock said it was forty minutes past midnight, but Serena felt as though she were in a time all her own, where reality ended and nightmares began. She wanted to think that it was from lack of sleep, she wanted to hope that it was because she took too many sleeping pills and forced herself into an accidental coma. But the fact was these times, where even the prospect of an eternity in hell didn't seem as scary, made her realize that what she was experiencing was no hallucination of another world, but was in fact, something so real that fear was manifesting itself into every aspect of her existence. Nights like these, she was afraid to open her eyes, nights like these where the silence in her ears drowned out even the loudest of sounds, were when she knew something bigger than herself was taking over her body.

She reached for the lamp, the brightness of the bulb chasing some of the ghosts away as it fought back the darkness of night. The air was stagnant and her palms were sweaty and despite her shaky stance, she forced herself to hobble towards the bathroom, her balance faltering as she tripped over socks and lonely shoes. She reached for the light and immediately went for the sink, her trembling fingers turning the faucet knobs until clear water shot from the spout. The liquid was pristine and warm and she felt a sudden calmness overwhelm her as the water splashed and seeped through her fingertips, dripping into the porcelain sink and cascading into the drain below. As she bent over, she plashed the water in her face, the liquid burning when it touched her bare pupils but nonetheless soothing against her hot, itchy skin. She squinted her eyes and waited as the labored breaths subsided, waited as her painful heartbeat slowed to a normal pace, waited for the ringing in her ears to cease .She reached out toward the sink, her fingers frolicking over the molded steel until a sight in the mirror caught her eye. Her eyes shot up to meet the chilling glare of black eyes that were not hers and as she stared into the mirror she suddenly realized that the face staring back at her behind the glass, was not her own.