Title: The Thirteenth Year

Summary: When All-American girl Serena Warren turns thirteen, weird things start happening. Every night she dreams of the life of a Moon Princess and as time progresses, her dreams become more and more real, so that finally, she cannot distinguish between the life she leads in her dreams and the one she is trying to live during the day.

Author: Silver Sparklze

Reason for Writing: A challenge, issued by Sage: The Dark Dryad

Author's Notes: Words written in bold will be translated at the end of the chapter.

Silver Moonlight-81: Hi, nice to hear from you again. J Hope you like the chapter.

Sage: The Dark Dryad: I can always rely on you to review. Thanks for Andrew's last name, I was at a total loss, so I figured I'd just use his Jap first name as his last.

Serena followed Rochelle and Amelia to the local mall, her head hanging. She was absolutely exhausted, and her ankle hurt terribly. She didn't know why. Perhaps because last night Sailor Moon had twisted her ankle while fighting a nega-monster from the Nega-verse.

"'Rena, you ok?" Amelia asked.

"I'm fine." Serena replied automatically.

"Don't lie, 'Rena. What's wrong? You might as well tell us." Rochelle contradicted.

"I'm fine, Rochelle. Just a bit tired."

"Tired? Tired?! You have got to be kidding me! How can you be tired?! You've spent almost all your time sleeping since your thirteenth birthday. What's so cool about your dreams that you wanna sleep so much?!" Rochelle spat.

"N-nothing…I'm just really tired…"

"Perhaps you've got anaemia." Amelia said thoughtfully; "Maybe you should go to the doctor."

"Maybe…" Serena trailed off.

"Who cares, let's go?!" Rochelle led them into the mall.

"Serena, are you gonna come in?" Matty asked. She and Louisa had met up with Rochelle and Amelia outside the Computer Café.

"Nah, I'm gonna go to the library and study for that science quiz." Serena said.

"Ok. Catch ya at the home then."

"Sure." Serena got up and headed for the library, stopping in at Starbucks on the way to buy a frappuccino.

~Dream Sequence, The Bus Stop, Tokyo~

Serena was walking slowly home from school one afternoon when she saw the police cars driving past. She grinned when she saw Ami at the bus stop.

"Hi, Ami!" She said, smiling

"Hi, Serena, hi Luna." Ami replied. "O genki desu ka?"

"I'm good, you?"

"I'm good. Do you know what's happening?"

"With the police cars?"

"Hai." Ami nodded.

"Iie. Sorry."

"It's not your fault." Ami turned back to the bus time-table.

"Where are you going?"

"To cram school."

"You're taking the bus? Why don't you just walk?"

"I feel like taking the bus. I can get more reading done on there."

"Why do you go to cram school anyway? It's not like you need the help." Not like me. Serena thought privately.

"Now that I'm a senshi I need as much knowledge as possible so that I can help you and Luna fight the Nega-verse." Ami explained. Serena smiled at Molly when she walked up, another friend of theirs, Sadi, trailing behind her.

"Hi, Molly, hi, Sadi." Serena said, bowing.

"Hello, Serena." The both chorused, grinning.

"Did you hear?" Sadi asked, "A busload of people disappeared just up the road from here. The police are very worried. They're going to investigate."

"Oh no, how awful." Ami exclaimed.

"Yeah," Molly agreed. "Sadi and I are heading to the Hikawa Shrine to get a good luck charm off the girl who works there. They're supposed to work really well."

"Can you get one for me, Serena?" Ami asked, digging in her purse for some money.

"Why don't you come with us?" Serena asked.

"Because I've got to go to cram school. There's a mock-test coming up, and I don't want to get sick while I study."

"Ok. See you later, Ami." The three girls called.

"Ja!"

Serena, Molly, and Sadi all headed for the Hikawa temple. Once there, a short fat man accosted them. ((No prizes for guessing who he is J!))

"Hello, girls!" He crowed. "My you're cuties! Would you like to come and work for me?"

"Grandpa!" A pretty girl with long black-purple hair and dark brown eyes walked up. "Gomen," She apologised, "My grandfather is a bit weird." She sighed. "There've been some bad rumours about him going around recently."

"That's ok." Serena said. "My name's Serena Tsukino, and these are my friends; Molly ((Ack, dunno her last name)), and Sadi Tomodachi."

"Oh! How rude of me. My name's Rei Hino. I'm the fire reader here, and my grandpa owns the temple."

"Nice to meet you, Rei." Molly said politely.

"This seems like a nice place to work." Serena said thoughtfully. Luna frowned when she saw the man who was sweeping the path. He looked very familiar, but she couldn't place him.

Suddenly, Luna saw the man who was sweeping blast three girls who were leaving the shrine, causing them to faint. Rei must have felt something too, because she jumped, and slapped an anti-evil talisman onto Serena's head. Serena passed out immediately.

When Serena woke up, she saw a really cute guy walking by with a toolbox.

"Wow," She remarked, "He's cute."

"Hey, you're right, he's gorgeous." Molly agreed. She turned to Rei, "Is he your brother?"

"No. Grandpa has a habit of picking up people. He doesn't care if it is girls or boys. So he picked up that guy when he came here. Now he is living here with us, and working for us. I'm sorry Serena. Something is wrong with me recently. All of my feelings and predictions are wrong." Luna jumped up on the bed, and whispered in Serena's ear;

"Serena, she could be the princess."

"Unh." Serena groaned to cover up the fact that her cat had just spoken.

When Serena and the others left the shrine, Molly and Sadi left, apologising, but saying that they had too much homework to linger. Luna took on look around, and scowled.

"Serena, there's something wrong here." She said, "I think the Nega-verse is involved. Call Ami."

"I can't; she's busy." Serena protested.

"Too many people have vanished, Serena. Call her now." Serena subsided, and called her quickly.

By the time Ami had arrived, the bus was there, and all of the girls who had bought good luck charms were on it.

"Come on, Serena, let's get on it too," Ami urged, "It's the quickest way home." To Serena's own surprise, she did not want to get on that bus.

"No, let's walk, it's much healthier anyway." She babbled. Neither Ami nor Serena could believe their eyes when the bus vanished right in front of them moments later.

~Galaxy Dorm, Planet Orphanage, New York~

Serena sat up in bed, breathing hard. She rubbed her eyes gently, and lay back so that she could think.

"Ok," She said to herself, "Let's think about this calmly, calmly and rationally. Ami is Sailor Mercury, Dream-Serena is Sailor Moon, and this Rei girl…she looks like Rochelle…sort of…except Rochelle's hair is curly and only reaches her chin…perhaps Rei is this princess that Luna was talking about. At any rate, she's important, I can feel it." Serena was anxious to find out what was going to happen next, so she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

~Hikawa Shrine, Tokyo~

Serena and Luna headed for the shrine the next morning. When she got there, she saw Rei sweeping the front stoop, muttering to herself about vanishing buses.

"Hi, Rei, what's the matter?" Serena asked.

"Nothing. Well, I'm just worried, because another bus vanished yesterday." Rei replied.

"I saw it! It was the six o'clock bus!"

"Are you saying it's our fault as well?! The police have already been here! They've threatened to close us down!" Rei yelled.

"No! I didn't mean that at all." Serena exclaimed.

"Just go home!"

"Fine. I'll see you again tomorrow." Serena left, leaving a strange pen that Luna had given her behind.

"Luna, why did you want me to give Rei that pen?" Serena asked later that day as she sat at the bus stop and did her homework – a rare occurrence, and one that Luna was reluctant to comment upon.

"There's something that I want to check out."

"What?"

"None of your business. Now hush." Serena 'hushed' until the bus arrived, and Luna told her that they'd have to get on it.

"What?! No! Ami's not here yet. I'm scared!" Serena wailed.

"Serena! Stop acting like a baby!" As the bus was pulling away, Serena made a decision and pulled out her Luna pen.

"Disguise Power turn me into an ultra cool stewardess!"

"What are you doing?" Luna asked.

"I'll feel braver this way." Serena explained. Luna only sighed, and muttered 'Why do I even bother?' So Serena assumed that it was ok, and hopped onto the bus.

When she got on there, she was amazed to discover that everyone was unconscious. She ran back to the door, but it was closed tight, and all she saw was Ami running for the bus as it disappeared…

~Common Room, Planet Orphanage, NewYork~

"'Rena!"

"Uh....hi, Natasha." Serena said, struggling to breathe as one of her old friends embraced her.

Natasha Trix had long straight red hair and bright blue eyes. She was a bit of a ditz, and very over-affectionate. She and Serena had been best friends while in Nursery School, before Natasha had been adopted, and moved to Jamaica. Now Natasha's hair was a copper colour, and her skin was dark.

"Fancy seeing you again." Natasha's smile widened, if that was possible.

"Yeah, well, I managed to convince my parents that I wanted to come and see this place again. Mum was really worried that it might hold bad memories for me, but I managed to persuade them that this place held nothing but happy ones. Memories, I mean."

"Oh…of course. So…how have you been?"

"I've been great! Jamaica is excellent! What about you?"

"I've been ok, too."

"Fantastic!" Serena rubbed her forehead. She was getting a headache.

"Shizuka ni shiro," She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just…thinking aloud."

"In Japanese?"

"You knew I was speaking Japanese?"

"I've heard other people." Was all Natasha said.

"Ok…Well, sorry, I have to go. Heaps of homework." Serena gathered up her books, and the book report that she'd been trying to write on Jane Eyre before she'd fallen asleep, and ran out of the Orphanage Common Room.

~Dream Sequence, Somewhere…uh…somewhere?~

Serena looked around, lip trembling.

"Luna, I'm scared. I don't want to do this anymore." She said pitifully.

"Oh, Serena, don't worry." Luna sighed. At that moment, Rei fell through a hole in the bus roof, and the bus driver (who was the only one not asleep) caught her. Serena gulped, and decided to transform.

"Moon Prism Power!" She yelled, transforming into Sailor Moon quickly. She quickly attacked the bus driver, who was choking Rei. A strange mark glowed red on Rei's forehead. Luna yowled and bit the bus driver, causing him to drop Rei. Rei fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Use the pen Serena gave you. Say Mars Power." Luna commanded.

"Wh-what?! A talking cat? I must have lost more oxygen than I thought." Rei muttered.

"Just do it!" Luna yelled.

"Mars Power!" Rei said, and she transformed into Sailor Mars. She blinked, looking at her costume in surprise.

"Cool." Sailor Moon said approvingly, glancing over the short red skirt, and the purple bow. Sailor Mars wore red high heels and a red neck ribbon. Other than the difference in footwear, colour of the bow, skirt, and neck ribbon, her outfit was just like Sailor Moon's and Sailor Mercury's.

"Mars Fire Ignite!" Sailor Mars yelled, and the fire blasted towards the bus driver. He disappeared immediately.

"Oh no!" Luna exclaimed, "The power of Mars' fire is vaporising the hole into this dimension. We have to leave quickly!"

"How?" Sailor Moon asked.

"I don't know…" Luna whispered.

Suddenly, a light shone through the darkness. Sailor Mars was the first to spot it.

"Look!" She cried.

"It must be Sailor Mercury showing us the way home!" Sailor Moon said. Tuxedo Mask came by, driving a bus.

"Hurry up, Sailor Scouts!" He yelled.

"Wow," Sailor Mars said softly, so softly that only Sailor Moon heard her, "He's cute." Sailor Moon glared at her. Back off, b****, She thought, He's mine.

"Let's get on the bus." Sailor Moon said shortly, and they both hopped on, and returned to the normal dimension.

Sailor Moon hugged Ami as soon as she got out of the bus. Then Sailor Moon went back to the bus. Tuxedo Mask was already gone.

"He's gone…" Sailor Mars said.

"It can't be… You don't like Tuxedo Mask too?"

"I just wanted to say thanks. You're the one with a stupid one-sided crush on him.

"One sided…" Sailor Moon began to cry.

~Galaxy Dorm, Planet Orphanage, New York~

Serena sat up, and rubbed the tears from her eyes. Rei reminded her of Rochelle. Really reminded her.

"What a b****." She muttered, scowling. She didn't want to admit that she was beginning to crush on Tuxedo Mask.

O genki desu ka?: how are you?

Hai: yes

Iie: no

Ja: See ya

Gomen: Sorry

Shizuka ni shiro: Shut up