Prologue

Summer, A.C. 206, Glastonbury, England

A young man wandered through the streets of a run-down district in the city. Bars and vendors of all types, some of which one wouldn't want to eat at, lined the road while young people milled about venturing from one location to another. The stench of rain, spirits, pot, and food mingled in the air. He hears a woman's voice -a fortune-teller- calling out to him from her booth. He's bored, and because she's good-looking, the young man decides to get his Tarot cards read.

The fortune-teller lures him into her tent and reads his cards. She deduces that he has suffered much in his short life, half of which he can't remember, and he yearns for a lost love who chased a specter of her past and succumbed to her own demons. She then charges him twenty pounds for the reading and offers him sex if he's willing to pay more. He declines, stating that he never has to pay for sex.

The young man strolls into another bar, but not before stopping to purchase and take a mind-altering drug -acid- from someone standing just outside the bar. Stepping inside, he surveys the room for possibilities, someone to give him a release he wouldn't have to pay money to have. His eyes landed on a slim, scantily-clad blonde on the dance floor. Her body swayed slowly and sensually while she sang along to the music. Something in her graceful, fluid movements captures his attention before their eyes lock for a moment. A memory of the woman he once loved surfaces.

The drug starts working overtime, enough for him to wander toward her. He joins the mystery woman on the dance floor, lights are low, causing him trouble discerning her features. From what he can see, she's pretty enough, and that's enough for him. She asks him to dance as a new song starts to play. It's not his favorite activity; preferring what dancing leads to instead, but he agrees anyway. They move together in the low lighting, and under the influence, they start getting handsy before leaving the bar together. While walking arm, and arm through the streets, the young man notices she's wearing a crop top, short shorts, and black boots. Her medium-length -fake- blonde hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and he decides, in the moonlight, she looks even prettier.

The mysterious woman leads him to a motel, the same one he has a room for the night. Once inside, they start kissing before things quickly escalate. As they undress, he thinks her body is familiar. The young man wondered if the drug was supplanting her form in his mind. Perhaps she was less attractive, and his mind conjured up a friendly image to appease him into performing for her. But as they continue, he becomes convinced that he does, in fact, know her, and they have done this before.

They had already agreed not to exchange names, but the familiarity of her body was gnawing at his mind. But the young man looks at her face and decides he's never seen her before, but then he wonders what she must look like under all her makeup. He suggests they shower together. She agrees before they head to the bathroom to shower. With the light from the room illuminating them, the young man got a better look at her. After she's rinsed all the makeup from her face, he's persuaded the mysterious woman is who he suspects her to be.

But it was impossible because she was dead.

The young man's mind races, trying to piece together what's in front of him. He wonders just how powerful a drug he was given. Maybe it was laced with other things because clearly, he's hallucinating. In his panic, he exclaims her name. The woman pauses before responding with a laugh. Wondering what he's on and if he has any more of it because, "If we're going to do this, I think I need to be on your level."

He tries to explain himself back in the room, but she questions why he keeps bringing up the name of a dead girl and tells him she is only there to have fun. The woman tells him she's still down to keep going, even if he's insane. He wonders why, if she thinks he's so crazy, she would want to sleep with him; she responds with a "why wouldn't I?"

The spell broke momentarily, and he's back to being a lustful guy with a naked woman before him. He picks her up and carries her to the bed. The young man resumes his love-making while thanking all the deities possible for giving him a second chance with the girl he lost or finding a convincing lookalike.

After, she offers to let him stay the night. With the rule broken, he asks for her name, but she refuses. He asks if she'd care to see him again after tonight. She asks why he called her by the name of a dead woman while they were making love. He returns her question with one of his own. She stares at him, almost glaring with her light blue eyes, eyes that should be a deep shade of blue. She tells him she's not this "Serena" girl, and if he wants to fuck again, he needs to stop calling her that. He tries once last time for her name. This time she responds with just a simple answer. "Isabella."

The drugs and spirits take hold of him, and he falls asleep in the woman's bed. He wakes to find her gone. No note was left behind, and the room keys lay on a desk opposite the bed.

Trowa looked around the room, remembering what had transpired the night before. A memory of what possibly could have been her. But Serena was dead. He had watched her die, replaying the video in his mind until he made himself sick. Trowa didn't want to believe it, couldn't believe it, but in the end, he had to accept that she was gone.

At the time, it felt like the universe was telling him they'd never be together, that there would be no fairytale ending because they were helpless from the start. And it was simply mocking him for falling for a woman like her. He could never have her because her life wasn't her's to live all because of one selfish act of a twisted and deranged individual.

Trowa was put on mandatory leave after. Mainly due to his erratic behavior. Une advised him to spend some time away from the city, take a vacation, and clear his mind to have the time to grieve. But it didn't matter the number of times he tried to drown his thoughts and feelings about her. Serena would always haunt him. Just like the mysterious Isabella would now.

A/N

Welcome to the sequel of When The Tides Change! If you haven't read the story yet, I recommend that you do, or none of this story will make sense to you.

In Forever Changed, we'll finally get the answers to some unanswered questions I left in TC, along with new twists and turns. You'll get back story information, a new plotline, and subplots, and as always, I love hinting at things and making you second guess everything. I hope you'll come along on this journey as we continue the story of Serena and Trowa, Heero and Relena, and a few others you have yet to meet. But do not fear, as Heero and Relena will have their moment being back in the spotlight if the prologue is any foreshadowing. I will forever be a 1xR lover, even though I've strayed from that in TC, which is why I am making them have their moment to shine in this story!

I want to thank RFP for providing this prologue years ago. I absolutely love it, and I'm still so grateful for it.

For now, I will leave you all here. In a few hours, I will be uploading chapter one, and moving forward, I will upload once a week. Subject to change depending on how far I get in my rewrite of the first twenty chapters and how fast I write and edit the rest of the story. I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I'll see you all soon!

-MM