Version 2. 26/08/2012

I Wish They Could See Past the Mask

Chapter 1: A Typical Day

Nights had always been Serena's favourite time. Before the Negaverse attacks her favourite pastime was taking long walks underneath the moonlight, she'd always felt more active at night than during the day, it was the way her body was supposed to function. Lunarians had very sensitive skin which burnt easily under the sun and so all work took place at night and everyone slumbered peacefully during the day.

"Like vampires." Endymion had laughed during one of his visits to the Moon Kingdom, she had not understood what he had meant and had pestered him into telling her, then immediately taken offence at being compared to a blood sucking monster. Her displeasure hadn't lasted, he was far too charming and kind for her to be angry at him for long. In those times, regardless of his own tired state, Endymion had joined her on her walks. A fact which secretly brought her great joy since she was not left to dwell on thoughts of the forthcoming attack by Queen Beryl and her army.

Now, she walked alone and reminisced of better times. Serena knew it was silly of her to stay up all night instead of trying to adjust to Earth times now that she had more robust skin, as it left her drowsy and unable to concentrate during the day but she could not help it. Nights were the only thing she looked forward to now as it provided her time for her own thoughts and of some blessed silence, uninterrupted by accusations of her incompetence by just about everyone.

Like most nights she was caught up in her own thoughts until the sun started to rise and cast its first lights over the park. Cursing to herself Serena ran back home to try to get a few hours of sleep before she had to get up for school.

Predictably, the alarm failed to wake her up and it was only with the assistance of a black cat's sharp claws that Serena got up that morning. Luna berated her as Serena frantically got ready.

"You've slept all night, if you weren't so lazy you would have been up, ready and on your way to school by now!" Serena longed to snap 'How would you know?' but knew that she shouldn't take out her sleep deprived grumpy attitude on Luna since she didn't know better. Serena usually waited until Luna was asleep before going on one of her walks. She silently took the stern telling off, remembering the utmost respect she used to be treated with.

But it wasn't the Silver Millennium anymore, no matter how much she wanted it to be, she couldn't spend her life longing for the past. She had to live in the present. And in the present she sprinted to school.

Serena slowed her pace as she approached the Crown Arcade, ready to stop in case a certain someone in an ugly jacket stepped out without looking for blondes going at high speeds. The coast looked clear. She increased her speed and immediately barrelled into someone coming around the corner, knocking them both to the ground with a high pitched squeak.

"Couldn't you be a bit more careful?!" Darien snapped as they tried to disentangle themselves.

"I'm sorry, you came out of nowhere!" Serena apologised sincerely then sarcastically added "Maybe if you learned how to dodge you wouldn't get knocked over so often."

"Maybe if you got up early and didn't have to run like a madwoman you wouldn't knock over unsuspecting people." He snapped back and rose, brushing his clothes off. Serena glared at him venomously.

"Grow up, Darien." He snorted.

"That's rich coming from you." In the midst of storming off, Serena froze in furious indignation. How dare he? She had the worries of the universe resting on her shoulders, if anyone needed to be light-hearted it was her. He might have some of the same worries as her, but even he couldn't grasp the full consequences of what their failure to defeat the Negaverse would result in. She had to. The nightmares plagued her whenever she slept.

She looked back at him darkly and resumed her run to the school, ignoring the prickling in the back of her eyes.

Serena ended up arriving at school in time, but by then her eyes were red from crying. She didn't want anyone seeing her in such a state so instead of going straight to class she went to the toilets to calm down. 'I really am a cry baby' she thought to herself bitterly and tried to force a smile. It was stupid of her to still get so emotional after a confrontation with Darien, but she couldn't help it. No matter how often he insulted her, she didn't become numb to it. Each attack was just as hurtful as the first. Maybe it was because she had so many fond memories of him and with each confrontation he was destroying her perception of him as a kind and honourable man. The main reason she hadn't given up on him was because as Tuxedo Mask he still embodied all those favourable traits and treated her as Endymion always had.

But why did he act so differently as Darien? She couldn't understand how during the day he could be so cruel and during the nights fighting youma he was so kind. What was it about Sailor Moon that was so much better than Serena Tsukino?

She felt her eyes watering again and quickly tried to think of better, happier things. If Darien didn't care about her he would never die for her. And if she herself died, he would quickly move on. Find someone else. Find the happiness she clearly could not provide.

These thoughts were not very comforting and Serena had to angrily brush away more tears as she cursed her own weakness. At this rate she would never make it to the classroom. After a few minutes of calming down, she splashed some called water on her eyes to try to remove the red puffy look that betrayed her current emotions and steeled herself for the inevitable wrath of Miss Haruna.

"Ten minutes late!" Was the shout Serena received when she walked in. "Detention! We all like our sleep, Miss Tsukino, but some of us still show up on time!" Head bowed, Serena walked to her seat, avoiding looking at her fellow scouts as she knew what she would see if she did. Disappointment, disgust, annoyance. She didn't want to deal with that right now, not when she was already in that emotionally fragile state that always occurred after suppressing tears.

Serena looked up at the board at the front and held back a sigh of disappointment. Science. She was useless at science and maths. They were the two subjects where she failed even with maximum effort, she had never been expected to know algebra or the periodic table of the elements in the Silver Millennium, they would not have helped her rule. What she was good at were languages, history and literature. As queen in training, she had to be able to communicate with many other cultures, she had to be able to look back in time and point out mistakes that they had to avoid and she had to be able to analyse, argue and interpret a variety of documents. Unfortunately for Serena, these were the subjects the Negaverse and the Scouts expected the Princess to be good at, so when examinations came around it was with a heavy heart that Serena deliberately failed them. Reminding herself that safety was more important than pride did not make her feel any better about it.

Miss Haruna was glaring at her for not copying down the notes already on the board, Serena smiled at her weakly and started to write.

When school was over, the other scouts left while Serena stayed back for an hour of detention. She'd waved to them as they walked away. They didn't look back, too busy laughing amongst each other. Wistfully, Serena wished she had woken up earlier so she could be with them now. But then she remembered the hostile telling off she'd received off Amy at break time about her punctuality, all the scouts had seemed more cold and distant than usual.

Serena shook her head. She was imagining things. It must be because she was so tired. Tonight, she vowed, she would go home at midnight or earlier from her walk. No later.

She ended up breaking that vow, as she did almost every night. Today was a typical day in her life.

AN: Chapter 1, complete overhaul. This is mostly an explanation of her attitudes and behaviour as well as why she seemingly doesn't do well in lessons. I stopped making her good at everything. So she's a little less Sue-ish, hopefully.