Chapter One

She stared around at the misty, gloomy battlefield, tears in her eyes. Her hands went up to cover her ears automatically as cries of pain rang through the air. It was all she could do to suppress her own cries.

She knew by now that it wouldn't do her any good to try and help them but to no avail. She'd reached out before, screamed at them, run to their sides, but they couldn't see her, nor could they hear her. Goddammit, they couldn't even sense her presence!

When the final soldier fell, she wandered the bloodied grounds aimlessly, her heart aching terribly as she stared down at their lifeless bodies. She'd been in this nightmare an uncountable number of times before and, each time, it was like her soul was being run through again and again.

Yet, she wasn't afraid. Not anymore. She already knew what would happen and she knew the pain that she felt would lessen or worsen by day. The only thing she felt these days was a mind-numbing ache in her heart and soul.

No longer did she truly smile. She stumbled along each day, wondering what it would have been like if she'd been stronger the day that fate decided to throw her world off balance.

Still, she went on for them, her once sparkling eyes now dark with grief. If they could see her now, she knew they wouldn't approve of her behavior in the least and would probably even yell at her to snap out of it. But what use was it that she live for them if she couldn't even hold her head up high anymore?

During the time that she was in high school, everyone noticed the abrupt change in the normally happy-go-lucky girl. Her grades shot sky high and she was still beautiful but not glowing with joy like before. Her eyes held a haunted look and her face was always utterly calm, expressionless. She also changed her hairstyle, cutting her once ankle length hair so that it hung only halfway down her back. Slowly, everyone realized that she had lost much and she was growing into adulthood way too early. Though she was still a gorgeous young woman, it just wasn't the same. She'd done a complete 180, changing from the merry, energetic person they all knew to a complete stranger. Anyone that had known her before would not recognize her now as the quiet and withdrawn human being that she had become.

Her normal friends who saw the abrupt change tried to save her, bring her out again but to no avail. She was simply locked away, refusing help, because, inevitably, they would leave as well and she would only hurt more. Because, to be honest, do any people really stay together forever?

Yet, anyone that did not know her-had never met her-would most likely think that she was a very lucky person. She was one of the smartest people in college, ranking one of the top ten students even at her young age. But they didn't know the real reason why she was so intelligent.

It wasn't because she loved to learn. The truth was that she stayed up almost always until nearly 2 o'clock in the morning, studying. She was just trying to keep herself busy in hopes that she could keep the need to sleep at bay because, every night, that same dream would come and she wouldn't be able to wake up. She also thought logically that if she was too tired, she would fall into a dreamless slumber and wake up, still slightly drowsy, but feeling a little less pain than the day before.

Yes, she had gone to the doctor and purchased heavy sleeping pills and antidepressants but the dream managed to slip in between the chinks and she still had that same nightmare at least once a week.

It's disheartening, dismal, and dreary, isn't it? Well, this is her life.

Enter Miss Serena Tsukino, age 18, two years after the defeat of Chaos.