A/N: So, wow, long chapter, I didn't realize it was going to be that long when I started this. Good news guys! The next chapter should be the last one for Part 1. Part 2 is told from Mina and Michiru's POV's, so we won't be getting back to Serena for a while. Anyway, I'm going to have to go back through some of the earlier chapters to do some editing to make sure that all of the information is correct. I changed things alot as the story progress, so I'll have to make things more current I guess, make sure everything flows and such.

I've had some major breakthroughs with this story, and I've been planning Part 3 out. I have the first few chapters of Part 2 written, so I'll be sure to start working on Chapter 11 right away. I have a road trip next week which will help. It'll be another long one though, like this one. A lot of stuff has to happen, but I don't want to split it up since it happens pretty much around the same time.

Anyway, review please

Chapter 10

"Serena wake up," Luna whispered into my ear, "You're going to school early today remember? Self-defense lessons with Sofya and Brigitte, any of this ring a bell?"

"No…" I whined, burrowing further into my pillow. It was the week after Stella's birthday part. She and Hailey left a few days after the party, taking their craziness with them so that I was finally able to sleep. I hadn't realized that their crazy behavior around each other only got worse the longer they were together. They get into arguments, yell and pull pranks on each other and just when I think they're going to come to blows, they're laughing and hugging each other.

Flashback

I quirked my eyebrow as Stella and Hailey began arguing over the consistency of mashed potatoes and which brand of mac and cheese was better. I heard Dawn chuckling from the couch and looked over to her. She was looking at the two in the kitchen as well and laughing at their antics.

"How did they even become friends?" I asked her, referring to the bickering pair.

Dawn laughed, "Well that's a little complicated. Hailey grew up and went to school in England, but she came to New York to study fashion. She and Stella ended up as roommates in the dorms their freshman year. In the beginning, they pretty much just fought the whole time; since they're so different, their personalities just clashed, I mean, they have led pretty different lives."

"What do you mean?"

"Hailey basically grew up like a princess," Dawn replied, "Loving, loaded parents, butlers, maids, the whole works. She's also the oldest amongst her siblings and cousins, so she's grown up with the responsibility of being the oldest while Stella has…"

"Grown up as the middle child?" I added helpfully.

"Right, anyway, I thought for sure their fighting would escalate worse and that they would come to physical violence, but all of a sudden, they just started laughing together. They became really good friends after that. They didn't stop fighting, because they were still the same people, they didn't change at all, but it was like they understood each other, what motivated the other. If you ask me, those are the best kind of friendships."

I had looked back over towards the two in the kitchen who were now arguing over yellow or white corn but glanced back to Dawn when I heard the last part of the sentence. "Why's that?" I asked her, wanting to know what was so special about Hailey and Stella's friendship.

Dawn smiled, "Well, how did your friendships at school develop? With Anna, Sofya or Brigitte? Or even your friend Mina?"

"Well…" My face scrunched up as I thought, "We just started talking, found out we liked a lot of the same things, stuff like that."

"So they were formed by mutual interests and personalities that weren't offensive," Dawn clarified. When I nodded, she continued with her explanation, "Stella and Hailey have practically nothing in common, absolutely nothing. Stella's a dog person, Hailey's a cat person. Hailey likes really girly things like fashion and spa days, while Stella prefers to spend her free time, when she's not playing music, gardening or watching soccer. Their friendship was built on a deep understanding of each other, which then progressed into reluctantly spending time together. Stella tolerates spa days with Hailey because every time she does, Hailey agrees to do some type of outdoor activity."

"Didn't they just go to the spa for facials?" I asked, "What did she agree to go to?"

"I think she agreed to a polo match, but I could be wrong, that might have been the last time," my oldest sister laughed, "I can't really keep up with how they function. All I know is that Hailey is Stella's best friend. They're odd and a little crazy when they're together, but it's amusing in a way."

"Don't even bring creamed corn into this discussion!" Stella yelled, "Everyone knows regular corn is better!"

"Not if you're eating cornbread or if you're mixing the corn and the mashed potatoes together. Creamed corn is better for smoothing out the potatoes," Hailey returned.

"I thought we'd already settled this," Stella replied, exasperated, "Mashed potatoes with some lumps are way better, brings character to the mashed potatoes."

"They're mashed potatoes! Why do they need character?!

I just looked back over to Dawn and she just shook her head. "Be prepared not to get much sleep," she said to me, before returning to her book.

End Flashback

"Serena…" Luna started up again, "You told me last night to make sure that you got up since you didn't want to bother Dawn, now get up!"

I sighed, pushing myself up off the bed and into the bathroom. "I'm up, I'm up," I grumbled all the way into the shower. Quickly I took a shower and got ready for school, tying my hair up in a loose ponytail instead of letting it hang free like I normally do.

I went downstairs and made a few pieces of toast and heated a piece of sausage in the microwave. I put the sausage in between my pieces of toast and stuck it in my mouth. Heading out the door, I muffled a goodbye to Luna around my make shift sandwich, and drove to school.

Brigitte and Sofya were waiting for me when I pulled into the parking lot. I glared at the bright and chipper brunette and looked worriedly as the blunette wavered, looking as if she were asleep on her feet. "What's up with Sofya?" I asked Brigitte as she tugged the other girl towards the gym.

"She's not a morning person," Brigitte answered, "She sits in her morning classes like a zombie until about 10:00 when she starts to wake up."

"Does she not like coffee?" I asked. While I don't particularly care for the stuff, I'm not going to turn it down if I have to get up early and have a hard morning ahead of me.

Brigitte blanched, "Oh she loves it, none of us are willing to give it to her though. She's evil when she's caffeinated, pure evil." The brunette shivered, "Just remembering the last time someone gave her a soda still gives me the shakes."

"Was it that bad?"

"Just imagine the craziest person you know," Brigitte started, "Then multiple it by 10 and you might come close to what she's like."

I grimaced, "Alright then, on to self-defense, who's teaching this anyway?"

"The CSO Emma Swan, she's really nice. When she learned that not many of the girls at school knew any self-defense techniques, she offered to do these free lessons," Brigitte said.

I hummed as we entered the gym and I spotted the blond security officer, "Do you think she and Ms. Blanchard are related?"

"I don't know, why do you ask?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, I see them together a lot and they look really similar. I asked Ms. Blanchard but she just said they were best friends."

"And you don't buy it?" Brigitte asked as she directed Sofya towards the back of the back of the group.

"Not in the least."

"All right guys," Officer Swan clapped, "Line up, for the next hour I'm going to show you basic moves to defend yourselves against attackers. Be prepared to work your muscles because that's what we're going to do."

I whimpered a little a cast a glare in Brigitte's direction. "I have fencing this afternoon," I hissed at her as we started stretching to warm up.

"You'll be fine by then," the brunette returned.

I glanced in Sofya's direction and saw that she was slumped over on the floor asleep. I tried to get her to stand up, but she was just dead weight in my arms so I had no choice than to leave her on the floor. "And she was doing so well too," Brigitte murmured, "Got all the way here and everything."

I rolled my eyes in response and continued copying the motions of Officer Swan, as well as ignoring my irritating brunette friend.

"I'm going to kill Brigitte the next time I see her," I muttered as I made my way painfully to fencing practice. My muscles were aching from the self-defense lessons earlier that day, and I knew I was going to have some difficulty during the lesson. Dr. Isles was having us work on footwork and our lunges.

"Hey Serena," Dr. Isles greeted me when I walked into the practice room, "Looks like it's just going to be us today. Most of the others came up to me and told me that they weren't going to be here today due to other work or conflicts."

I groaned, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Her hazel eyes flicked over me in concern, "It looks like you are favoring your deltoid and trapezius muscles, as well as your gluteus maximus." I blinked in confusion and she clarified, "Your shoulder, back and butt muscles."

"Oh right," I laughed lightly, "Self-defense lessons this morning with Officer Swan. I got tossed around a bit since I'm so small."

"Mhm," she hummed, "That will do it. You know I can help you with that too if you would like; since my wife is a police officer, she wanted me to make sure that I was able to defend myself, also helps that I am well versed in the art of taekwondo."

"No that's okay Dr. Isles," I hurriedly said, "Really, it's fine, you're already doing so much by teaching me fencing and everything."

The petite blonde woman smiled, "It's my pleasure Serena. Teaching young people fills the passions previously occupied by my work as a medical examiner."

"That's right, you used to work with your wife didn't you?"

"Yes, I resigned the post though when I had our first child. I wanted to have steadier hours to be with her when she was growing up and other children we would have. Now, why don't we spar for a while to see how well you implement the footwork you've been practicing?"

"Sure," I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. We put on the protective equipment and began sparing.

"Remember," Dr. Isles said to me through the mask, " While fencing is considered a sport by many, it is also an art form, a dance between the competitors. It should be beautiful as well as effective, no unnecessary movements."

We practice, well, I practice, Dr. Isles taught, for half an hour before she called a halt. "If fencing is supposed to be beautiful," I asked, taking off the protective mask, "Does that mean that professional sword work in old times was also beautiful."

"Fencing and swordsmanship are two different things Serena," Dr. Isles answered, "Fencing is an art form, like I said, used as duels between noblemen or as a way to entertain people. Swordsmanship was more useful in the fields of battle. People would train in the art of swordsmanship, learn the techniques and rules, but it would all disappear in the heat of battle."

"Interesting, so fencing is really just a way to show off?" I asked.

"That's just what I've been telling her," a husky voice said from the doorway into the practice room. I turned towards the voice and saw a tall, lanky woman leaning against the door jam, her dark brown hair falling in wild curls around her head.

"Jane," Dr. Isles murmured in surprise, moving towards the brunette, "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to pick up my wife to have some alone time while the children are away," I heard the woman, identified as Jane, Detective Rizzoli, Dr. Isles's wife, reply.

"That sounds wonderful," Dr. Isles returned.

I interrupted them before anything I didn't want to see could happen. "Dr. Isles, I'm going to put the gear back in the closet and head home."

Dr. Isles turned towards me, "Thank you Serena. Oh Jane, this is Serena Parker, she's going to be applying for my AP Biology course next semester." The blonde introduced me to her darker haired companion.

"It's nice to meet you Serena," Detective Rizzoli extended her hand to me, "I'm sure you'll make it into the class."

"I'm sure she will as well," Dr. Isles replied, "Mary Margaret has only had wonderful things to say about her."

I blushed a deep red straight to my silver roots, and muttered a good bye to the two adults and rushed towards my car. When I pulled in front of the house, I noticed that Dawn's car was gone from inside the garage. I walked into the house and found a note on the kitchen counter from Dawn staying that she was going out for a late lunch then to work and wouldn't be there when I got home.

Jacey toddled up to me when I walked into the living room and sat on my feet before I could head upstairs. I bent down and cooed to the puppy and took her out to make sure that she went before I took her back up to my room. Luna wasn't in my room when I came in with Jacey, so I assumed she was out playing with Sasha somewhere.

I pulled up my email when I sat down at my desk in front of my computer. I noticed new emails from both Michiru and Mina so I opened Mina's first, wondering what she was doing with her love life at the moment.

Moon Bunny,

I'm not sure where to start. I told you that I was completely besotted with this senior and school, and now I can safely tell you that I am completely in love. Hopeless in love would be better actually. I took your advice and started getting to know her, speaking to her was a trying thing though because I kept getting tongue tied around her. The more I got to know her though the harder I fell. I don't know what to do. I don't know if she likes me like that, or even likes girls to begin with. What do I do?

Help me Moon Bunny…

Goddess of Love

I sighed and leaned back in my seat, trying to figure out what to do about my blonde friend. I clicked reply and typed up a short response.

Goddess of Love

Just tell her! Her reaction can't be any worse that what you're imagining.

Love,

Moon Bunny

I sent the email off to get it out of the way, hoping that maybe the next time Mina emails me that she'll have good news or something else to talk about. I moved onto Michiru's email, which caused a strange fluttering sensation to move in my stomach. I shook off the feeling and opened the message.

Dear Usagi,

The last time I talked to you, I told you I was staying with one of my brother's friends while working, since I didn't want to live alone. Well, she came back a few days ago, and she's absolutely psychotic, she must be, she's absolutely crazy. Don't get me wrong, she's really nice, and I like her a lot, actually I've admired her for years, but she's wacko. I'm not sure how living together is going to work out. I'm not used to living with someone this crazy, considering, outside of my family, I've only lived with… well…

Work has been going good, though living in France is a completely different experience than just traveling through it. It's a good different though; when I don't have to work, I can just walk to a local bistro and watch people. I was never able to do that before since she was always with me, and she hated to be idle, always wanting to go for a drive instead.

I'm glad we are talking now Usagi. I always felt that we would have made good friends, but with the burdens of being an Outer senshi, I was unable to really spend any time with you. Now it appears, we are both free from our burdens and we can be two people who knew each other a little bit, who want to know each other better, be actual friends instead of just acquaintances.

Michiru

I smiled, my heart warming a little at the last part of the email and giggling at the first part. I quickly typed up a reply to send to Michiru.

Dear Michiru,

I would be honored to call you my friend, and as my friend I insist you address me as Moon Bunny in any email. Mina and I decided to come up with code names and stuff at first to trick people, but then they just stuck.

I'm glad work is going good, but I'm not sure how to respond that your roommate is crazy. How exactly is she crazy, what did she do to deserve such a title? I didn't know you had a brother, older brother I'm guessing.

Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying the atmosphere of France, and enjoying living there. It's always important to love where you live.

Moon Bunny

I closed my computer and remembered that I had unfinished business to attend to before I got started on my homework. I took out my cell phone and pulled up Brigitte's contact information. Tapping the send button, I waited for the older brunette to pick up the phone.

"Howdy Serena!" Brigitte answered. I could hear bustling and rattling in the background.

"Are you at work?" I asked. The brunette worked as a barista at a coffee house in her free time to save money for college or things that she needed. Her parents pay for an apartment for her since she came up for school, but she's determined to pay for her own food.

"Yeah but I'm on break, what's up?"

"Just thought I would tell you that I was still sore for fencing practice this afternoon."

Brigitte gave out a nervous laugh, "Hehe, um, I thought you would be fine by then."

"After the way you just tossed me around this morning?" I yelled, irked at the taller brunette.

"You're just so tiny Serena, and we were paired up, what was I supposed to do? Let you attack me?"

"You could've been a little gentler," I grumbled.

"Duly noted, I'll keep that in mind for next time."

"Next time?" I cried.

I heard someone speaking to Brigitte on the other end. "That was my boss Serena, I have to go, I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Before I could say anything else I heard a dial tone signaling that Brigitte was gone. "Grrrr," I growled, tossing my phone on my bed. Sitting back down at my desk, I pulled at my homework and quickly completed what needed to be done for class tomorrow.

I decided to head downstairs and fix dinner before reviewing assignments that are due later this week. Jacey followed me down to the living room and I saw Luna and Sasha stretched out on the couch with the TV on. "When did you learn how to use the remote?" I asked Luna.

"I haven't," Luna replied, "Sasha does though, she turned on the TV."

I looked at the golden cat appraisingly and she just meowed and rolled her head over to look at me upside down. "Strange cat," I murmured, heading into the kitchen to make some dinner. I pulled out some chicken that Dawn had grilled and frozen for me to have when I didn't feel like cooking, and started heating it back up on the stove.

I also pulled out pet food for the furry ones and set them on the floor in their bowls. "Luna, Sasha, Jacey, dinner," I called them before turning back to my own food in the skillet.

I heard a scampering of feet rustling towards the room and Sasha and Jacey immediately went to their food bowls. Luna gracefully followed them and looked at her food on the ground disdainfully. "Do I have to eat on the ground?" She asked me.

"You have to set a good example for Jacey," I told her.

"Dawn never makes me eat on the ground."

"That's because she would put out food for you before I fed Jacey."

"Why can't you just do that?"

I glared at her, "Luna, you're a cat, you can eat on the ground every once and a while."

She sighed and flicked her tail at me, "If I must."

I giggled at the antics of my guardian and finished getting my dinner ready. I ate quietly with animals, telling Luna about my day and everything that happened. Once I finished and cleaned up the plates that I used, I headed back upstairs and started working on a few papers and projects due in a few weeks. I started running out of steam a few hours later so I decided to call it a night and get ready for bed.

As soon as my head hit the pillow, I drifted off to sleep.

Dreamscape

I appeared to be a bit older than the last few dreams, maybe 12 or 13 by the looks of it. I was hiding behind a tree spying on a sword fighting class taking place in the palace arena.

"Pst, Selena," I heard from my left. Turn towards the I spotted my best friend Anna concealed underneath a large bush, "Get down here and don't get spotted or you'll give me away."

Confused, I squatted down and crawled to the bush as best as I could wearing the dress that my mother forced me in that morning. "Why aren't you in class Anna?" I hissed at her, "You're old enough to start sword training to become a knight."

"Ugh," she groaned, "Don't get me started on that. I'm not very good at it. I just end up whacking myself with the practice swords. Coming here the past few years and being educated is fine, but starting weapons practice, I'll probably end up killing myself, and besides, you're one to talk, you're supposed to be in your magic class."

"I wish I could be in weapons training," I sighed, "But mother doesn't approve of weapons classes; she had me learning strictly magic, and nothing else. It's boring."

"Why don't you just talk to her?"

I snorted, "She doesn't listen; she has this idea in her head of who I'm supposed to be and I don't exactly meet any of those expectations. I mean, she calls me Serenity all the time, completely ignoring my real name as if it wasn't my name."

"That's true, your mom is a little on the crazy controlling side. What does she have against weapons classes."

"Says they aren't elegant, and she wants me to be spending more time with the squires and less time with you."

"What? What does she have against me?"

"Alphabetically or chronologically?"

"Shut-up," Anna replied, hitting me on the arm. I winced and rubbed where she hit me. She started babbling on and on about something or other, but I wasn't really listening to what she was saying.

I had lost focus. I was too busy watching the class-taking place in field not to far from where we were crouched. Anna noticed I wasn't paying attention and followed my gaze. "You know you're going to have to go to class at some point?" I asked her.

"I know," she sighed, "I could probably manage in any other weapons class, so I don't even know why they assigned me to the sword."

"You're better with staves really, and maybe throwing knives. You're also pretty handy with magic."

"Battle magic when combined with weapons training is pretty handy."

We both feel silent again just watching when suddenly a hand shot down through the bush and grabbed my arm. Another one came down and grabbed Anna, jerking us out of our hiding place. Whirling around, I came face to face with my mother, her lavender eyes seething with anger. I glanced over to Anna, relieved that the hand that grabbed her wasn't my mother's other hand, but Luna's.

I caught Luna's eye and sent her a look telling her to get Anna out of here before mother turned her ire toward her. A harsh shake of my shoulders brought my attention back to the angry woman in front of me. "Why aren't you in class?" She asked, shaking me.

I squirmed, trying to get away. "Mo-mother, you're hurting me," I stuttered, pulling back.

"Then answer my question."

"I don't want to go to magic or etiquette classes, I want to go through weapons training," I told her finally.

"You will do as I tell you!"

"Why, why can't I do what I want for once?"

Something dark glinted in her eyes and I saw her hand descend quickly toward my face…

End dreamscape

"Aah," I cried, sitting up. I could feel my face stinging from the force of the slap and my shoulders were sore. They would surely be bruised in the morning.

"Serena you're bleeding," Luna said, pointing to my cheek.

I touched my cheek gently and felt a wet stickiness on my fingers where it stung the most. I quickly took my hand away and got up to go to the bathroom to get a better look. I gasped when I flipped the light on and saw a three-inch gash on my cheek.

"What happened?" Luna asked, "Was it another dream?"

"Yeah," I answered her, "I remember a bit more this time, not much though. I was talking to someone, I'm not sure who, and watching a…" I paused to think for a moment before shaking my head, "Some type of class or something and then I was grabbed by Queen Serenity. She shook me pretty hard, then she slapped me. I guess the one of her rings or something caught my cheek."

Luna shook her head, "I don't understand, that doesn't sound anything like the Queen Serenity I remember, the one who would never hurt anyone, especially her daughter, but at the same time, what she said to you after what the scouts did doesn't correlate with what I remember either."

"What's going on Luna?" I asked my guardian desperately, "I've never heard of dreams that could physically hurt someone. And these feel so much more real than a dream, like they actually happened… If only I could remember more about what is happening in them." I was irritated with myself; before I could always remember my dreams, but it's like there's this haze clouding my mind from these dreams.

"Maybe they'll go away on their own," Luna said.

"I sure hope so Luna, I know I said I wouldn't run away from these dreams, but what if they get more violent? What if I get hurt worse than this?" I pointed to my face, "I mean how am I going to explain this anyway?"

"I don't know Serena. Why don't you clean it up, it might not be as bad as it appears."

I wet a cotton ball and wiped at the blood on my cheek. "It doesn't seem that bad," I commented when I had cleaned all the blood off, "It's already stopped bleeding so maybe it won't be as visible in the morning."

"Maybe, maybe…"

I threw away the bloody cotton ball in the trashcan and turned out the bathroom light on the way to bed. "Let's try this again Luna," I murmured, crawling under the sheets. I tossed a turned for a while before finally drifting off.

Fortunately for me, Dawn wasn't awake when I got up for school the next day and the scratch had pretty much disappeared by the time I got home. Nobody noticed it when I was at school, so I didn't have to think of a ridiculous story to tell people.

"Alright class, settle down," Ms. Blanchard said to us when we piled back in the next day from lunch, "I know you guys didn't enjoy that pop quiz before lunch, but I wanted to make sure that you have retained the information we have discussed so far in the term. It's the beginning of October now, so if you guys have been paying attention to your syllabuses, you'll know that we're starting a new section today." The petite teacher reached up and pulled down one of the numerous map screens at the top of the white board, revealing it to be a map of the solar system.

"We are starting the section of Earth science dealing with the solar system," the teacher continued, "I know what you all are thinking, what could Earth science have to do with space? Well, Earth exists in space right, so that is why we are studying. Now who here can tell me what we know about our solar system?"

As was typical for high school classes, nobody said anything. At my old school, we hadn't really studied space all that much in science classes, preferring instead to focus on aspects of science that were more 'down-to-Earth' I guess. With my past as Sailor Moon and my more distance past of course, I was a bit curious so I was excited to begin this chapter.

Ms. Blanchard waited a few minutes for someone to answer before sighing. "You guys do know that I'm grading you on class participation? So let's try this again, what do you know about our solar system?"

This time several hands around me popped up. They all provided different information regarding the planets, stars and constellations in the galaxy and a dispute broke out over whether Pluto was still a planet or not. Finally, Ms. Blanchard calmed everyone down and started her lecture. "Before we start, I would just like to clear up that Pluto is now known as a "dwarf planet" since it's so small. It's still a planet, just placed in a different bracket. Several planets found beyond Pluto have been placed in the same group because of their size." She pulled down another chart showing a chart of the orbital patterns of the galaxy. "Alright, now for the basics, every planet in this solar system orbits our central star, the sun. It is the closest star to Earth and provides light and energy to allow life to flourish on Earth. Centuries ago, people thought that the Earth was the center of the galaxy and everything, including the sun, revolved around it. However, scientific breakthroughs caused people to learn that the Earth and all of the planets revolved around the sun, which, as a star, stays in a fixed location."

I was completely enthralled with the lesson that I didn't notice the time creeping away from me. The bell rang, nearly startling me out of my seat and I gathered up all of my books. "Get a little bit distracted did we?" Anna asked, laughing as I flustered about for a moment before finally getting everything in my backpack.

"Shut-up," I said as we left the classroom, "I've never studied outer space before, it was never really that important. It's fascinating to hear this for the first time."

"Really, you've never studied space before?" Anna asked surprised.

"Yeah, it wasn't high on the list of topics to cover apparently."

"Well, you should be happy; we're getting at least a few weeks of this, pretty good considering we spent all of September on water... well, everything concerning water anyway."

"Knock it off Anna, I'll see ya later," I told her as we went out separate ways once we reached the gym. I, once again, got through class without hurting anyone or killing myself. With all the extra strength training I was doing at home to be able to participate in fencing and archery and the balance lessons that Coach Wood was putting me through, I was getting stronger and better. I still wasn't a world-class athlete and I wasn't good at sports, but I've been managing to pass each assignment Coach has given us.

As soon as class was over, I ran out to the field where Archery was held every Wednesday when there was good weather. Archery was really one of those "good weather" sports, so when it rained or got too far below freezing, we couldn't practice.

"Hey Ms. Blanchard," I greeted my teacher when I reached the field.

"Oh hey Serena," she smiled at me, "I think you've progressed wonderfully these last few weeks and you've completed the safety orientation, I think you're ready to actually start using a bow."

I grinned gleefully and skipped over to the practice bows, my teacher following close behind me. I picked up one of the cooler looking bows, but Ms. Blanchard just shook her head and handed me a plain, older looking bow. "Awe, Ms. Blanchard, this one doesn't look cool," I whined.

"But it's an older, more dependable bow," the teacher returned patiently, "the bow you picked up is newer, and better suited towards a more advanced archer. If you're a beginner, it's better to start out using a bow that has already been weathered a bit. And besides, that bow was too big for you; this one is closer to the size that you will be using if you continue on with this sport. If you do chose to carry on, you'll eventually get your own, customized bow. For right now, let's just get to practicing."

Ms. Blanchard showed me the proper stance for firing arrows and copied her position as best as I could. When she released her arrow, it buried itself into the center of the target. However, when I let go of my arrow, it didn't even fly halfway to the target. I sighed and lowered my bow in defeat, staring at my fallen arrow.

"It's alright Serena," Ms. Blanchard said, patting my arm, "Like all things, you can only get better through practice and improving your form. Now line up again, and I'll help you this time." I nodded and raised my bow, pulling back another arrow. "Wait, wait," Ms. Blanchard said, "Don't put an arrow in yet, just pull the string back like there's an arrow."

"Why?" I asked my teacher, placing the arrow back in the quiver.

"Checking your grip on the bow, if you have an improper grip, your arrow won't go where you want it to go." I nodded my head and lifted the bow again. Ms. Blanchard chuckled softly and put her hand over my own, the one holding the bow. "I can tell that your grip is too tense, you need to relax it a bit," she said.

"But don't I need a strong grip to keep the bow stable?"

"Most would think so, but too strong and you actually twist the bow, keeping the arrow from flying straight," the short-haired teacher replied, "Now just relax your grip a bit." I loosened my grip on the bow a bit, which apparently satisfied Ms. Blanchard because she smiled at me. "Good," she said, "Now you can nock your arrow and get into your stance, just remember the grip you have right now."

I picked up an arrow and pulled it back in place. "Alright, now make sure that you use a consistent anchor point on your face where you pull back the arrow… Good now fire!" My teacher yelled and I released the arrow. This time it hit the target, barely. "That's really good Serena," Ms. Blanchard encouraged.

"But I didn't hit the bull's eye," I replied sadly.

"That comes with practice silly," she laughed, "Now just keep going. I'm going to go help some of the other students."

I continued practicing for another hour, hitting the target sometimes, missing it others. I called it quits when my arm started hurting holding the bow up for so long. Gathering the arrows that I used from the target and from behind it, I replaced them in the quiver and placed the quiver and bow back in the storage shed on the field. The field where we practiced double as track and field practice area, so all of the equipment was kept in the shed.

I jogged back to the locker rooms and took a quick shower, rinsing off all the sweat that I had worked up through gym class and the club meeting. Casually, I glanced at the clock in the locker room and nearly cursed at the time. "I am sooo late," I hissed to myself and I quickly toweled myself off and put my normal clothes back on.

Racing out of the school, I quickly located Stella's jeep and climbed in, starting the vehicle. I started down the road towards home, hoping that Dawn wouldn't notice that I was late. She had told me this morning before I left for school that we were having guests over for dinner so I had to be home early to help her cook.

"I'm here," I yelled, running through the door, "I'm not late."

"Yes you are," Dawn yelled back from the kitchen.

I tossed my backpack down on the couch and sprinted into the kitchen. "I'm only an…" I looked at the clock on the wall, "hour late? Wow…"

Dawn rolled her eyes, "Just start tossing the salad, they're going to be here any minute."

"Who's coming?"

"Aunt Bee and Aunt Helen," my sister said, taking the lasagna out of the oven, "I told them to come over for dinner one night when I had the day off. They picked today. Aunt Helen is really excited to meet you apparently. They wanted to come earlier than this, but we all got caught up with work and everything."

I forced a smile out, internally sweating on how to get through this dinner without freaking out. These two women were some of the greatest enemies I've ever faced, but at the same time, they're not. They share faces and names, but they're not the same people as far as I can tell. "Can I go upstairs and put my bag away?" I asked, "Do I have to change my clothes?"

"No, you look fine. Bee and Helen are family, so it doesn't really matter what you look like. If you feel like you want to look nicer, feel free to change, but if you're okay with your clothes, it's fine by me."

I nodded and headed upstairs, tossing my bag on my bed as soon as I entered my room. "Hi Jacey," I cooed at the little puppy asleep on a pillow on top of my bed before moving to the black cat seated on the window sill. "Hey Luna, Beryl and… excuse me, Bee and Helen are coming for dinner tonight if you want to come down and eat with us."

"Hmm, I think I will."

I heard the doorbell ring downstairs and Dawn went to answer it. "C'mon Luna, they're here. I'll slip you some lasagna for dinner," I told her as we headed to the stairs.

"Thanks, the cat food is getting old," Luna replied before we trotted down the stairs. We entered the living room and I spotted the two look-alike former enemies sitting on the couch petting Sasha and Jacey.

They looked up and smiled when they saw me. Nehelenia… Helen stood up and moved towards me. "You must be Serena," she said, pulling me into a hug, "I'm so happy to meet you at last. You can call me Aunt Helen if you feel comfortable, but if not then please just call me Helen, no Mrs. or Ma'am nonsense."

I was slightly shocked at her friendly nature but quickly returned the hug so as not to offend her. When she pulled back, I got a good look at the woman who I had known as Queen Nehelenia, leader of the Dead Moon Circus. The only resemblance the two women shared was the same facial features and hair, but after that, it was easy to differentiate the two women in my head. Where Nehelenia was covered in dark makeup and flowing gowns, Helen was clean faced and dressed for comfort in jeans and a normal blouse, her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.

"It's nice to meet you too," I replied warmly, firmly separating the two women in my mind, before turning to Beyr- Bee. I could also see the difference between her and the Dark Queen who destroyed the Silver Millennium. Bee's red hair, while dark, was highlighted with auburn streaks that made her seem lighter, more approachable. It was also cut and styled differently. Instead of falling down her back in thick waves, part of it was pulled back and braided while the rest of it was straightened and hung around her face in wispy layers. "It's good to see you again Bee," I said to the woman, hugging her as well.

"Okay," Dawn said, coming in the living room, "Now that everyone is acquainted, dinner's ready, let's eat."

"Can I put some lasagna out for Luna for dinner?" I asked, "She's tired of cat food."

"It's fine as long as Sasha or Jacey doesn't see," Dawn answered, "You don't want to give Jacey people food this early and Sasha doesn't need the calories in lasagna. I worry about how much she eats, she's gonna get fat."

"With as much running around as Sasha does?" Bee commented with a laugh, "I doubt if she eats enough to cover everything she loses."

"Yeah," Helen agreed, "Every time we're here, that cat is off stalking something else, now at least she has a puppy and another cat to play with all the time."

"Oh Jacey loves Sasha," I interjected, "Luna however does not approve of running around all the time. She's far too dignified for that." I set a small piece of lasagna down on a plate on the floor and chuckled when I saw Luna strut towards the food.

Dinner wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be. Once I firmly separated the two women from their enemy counterparts, I began to see them as part of Dawn's family. I wasn't quite as comfortable to refer to them as my family as well, but given time, anything is possible. I sat next to Dawn while Bee and Helen sat across from us. The three of them talked and I listened, inputting into the conversation every now and then when prompted or when I figured I could assist the discussion, but other than that I was pretty content to just listen.

Once I finished my lasagna and salad, I asked Dawn if I could be excused. "I have a lot of homework to do, and I would like to get ahead in some subjects. We just started a new topic in science class," I said to her, looking apologetically at our guests.

Dawn nodded her head and waved me off, "Go, go study."

Helen got up and hugged me before I left. "It was really nice to meet you Serena," she said when she released me. Bee stood up and did the same. I voiced my goodbyes to both of them and headed back upstairs to my room, Luna hot on my heels.

"How was your dinner?" I asked her once we got back to my room.

"Dawn makes really good lasagna," she sighed, flopping down on my bed with a contented purr.

I smiled and shook my head, pulling out my science book to read the first chapter of the new section. I snorted when I saw that the first chapter was about the Moon. I'm the moon princess, or was, I thought to myself, I'm pretty sure I know everything there is to know about the moon.

I started to read the chapter anyway, just as a refresher about the place that was my home in my previous life. The more I read in the chapter, the more I came to realize that I knew absolutely nothing about the moon; everything I thought I knew proved to be wrong. The moon, the one that circles the Earth, is not the only moon in the galaxy, nor is it the largest in the solar system. I was completely shocked when I got to the end of the chapter when I read that the light of the moon doesn't actually come from the moon, but is really light from the sun simply reflected off of the moon's surface.

"Hey Luna," I said turning toward my guardian, "The Moon kingdom was the leader of the Silver Alliance back in the Silver Millennium right?"

"Yes of course," she replied, "The Moon was always the leader of the this galaxy. All of the planets, except Earth, bowed to the leadership of the Moon."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Well," I started, "According to my science book, the moon that orbits Earth isn't even the largest moon in the galaxy, and it's not like it is in the center of this galaxy, the sun is. So why was the moon the leader?"

Luna looked startled, "Well, because it produces a source of light."

"But that's just it Luna," I exclaimed, "Science has proven that the moon doesn't produce the light that shines from it. It's merely a reflection of the light from the sun."

The small cat looked at me flabbergasted before rubbing her head with her paw. "Aah," she cried, "It's like something is niggling at me in the back of my mind, but I have no idea what it is."
"Me too," I said, feeling a headache starting to form behind my eyes, "Ugh, I think it's time for bed, sleep it off I guess." I quickly packed my backpack for tomorrow for school, and went to the bathroom to start a bath. I pulled my hair up on top of my head and eased into the warm soapy water. I sighed at the tension from the day and the headache that had developed slowly eased away.

When I realized that the water was getting cold and I was slowly starting to drift off to sleep, I reluctantly climbed out of the tub and dried off. With a towel wrapped around me, I pulled my hair down out of the bun it was in and walked back into my bedroom. I got dressed for bed and climbed under the covers of my bed. My eyelids started to droop and as I drifted off to sleep, I started to dream.

Dreamscape

This dream was much different from the others that I had witnessed. It was foggy, and clouded over. Shapes danced around me, but I couldn't tell what they were. I couldn't tell how old I was since everything was so clouded over. I could hear voices; at first they weren't really clear but eventually my hearing adjusted and I could understand what was being said. I could feel myself replying but I had no control over what I was saying.

"… Selena you have to run," a voice said to me.

"I don't understand," I felt myself replying, "What's going on?"

"I don't know," the voice replied, "but we have to get out of here."

"Hey," another voice called, "Over here, I found a way out."

The owner of the voice I was speaking to grabbed my hand and pulled me into a run. I could feel myself running towards the voice and down a corridor into another room. Everything felt ho;, it was making me uncomfortable. Suddenly an explosion of heat erupted near me and I was ripped away from the hand. I was hot, so hot, everything was burning.

I could still hear voices. They were muffled but I could still hear them. "-other why are you doing this, what did we ever do to you?"

"You existed," a cold harsh voice replied. This voice sounded like Queen Serenity but I couldn't be sure. "None of this was meant to be, none of this is what I envisioned my future to look like, my legacy."

The voice that directed us out of the other room spoke next, but I couldn't understand what they were saying until the other voice spoke again. "So this is how you decided to fix everything? To destroy us all?"

"I will make the future that I had envisioned, and I hate to tell you my dears but you aren't in it," Queen Serenity replied.

The burning heat intensified and I heard screams before everything fell silent. I felt a hand brush the hair on my head and I whimpered, turning away. "Shush my dear," Queen Serenity murmured in my ear, "It'll be over soon. You'll be the daughter that I always wanted, the one that I always imagined you would be, I'll make sure of that. I did all of this for you."

The heat increased, and I realized that I was on fire; I was burning. I was being burned alive. I could hear and noise roaring in my ears and I realized that it was my own voice, screaming out in pain…

End Dreamscape

I felt a hand gently shaking me awake. "Serena, Serena wake up," I heard Dawn's voice say gently. She sounded worried and frightened.

I slowly blinked my eyes open. "What-What happened?" I asked sleepily.

"You were screaming in your sleep; it sounded like you were in pain. I came in to check on you to make sure that you were all right." I sat up and put my hand to my head, trying to orient myself. Dawn gasped, "Serena, your arm, what happened?"

Confused, I looked down at my arm and realized there was an intricate burn in the shape of a dancing flame wrapping around my arm. I started to sob when I saw it. "I don't know," I replied honestly, tears dripping down my face, "I've just been having these dreams for a few weeks. Each one different, and each time I get hurt in the dream, I wake up with the same injury. The problem is that I don't remember what happens in the dreams." I looked up at my big sister and I saw confusion on her face. "Dawn," I whispered, "I'm scared."

"Oh honey," she said, pulling me into a hug. I nestled my head underneath her chin and just let myself be held as I cried. "How about this, I'll stay with you tonight until you fall back asleep, and I'll make sure to stay with you every night before you sleep to make sure you don't have any more nightmares."

"You'd do that?" I asked, pulling back to look at her.

Dawn gave me a loving smile, "Of course, you're my little sister. I don't know how your dreams are hurting you, but I don't want you to be afraid to go to sleep. Now let's put some dressing on those burns for right now. I'll take you to the doctor in the morning."

"But I have school," I protested before I realized what I was saying. Back in Japan I would do anything to miss a day in school, but here, I actually like going. I'm enjoying what I'm learning and the friends that I've made.

"I'm going to call Fiona in the morning and phone you in sick. I'll get the doctor to fax over a note to get the absence excused. We'll see how you feel on Friday okay?"

I nodded my head in acquiescence and let Dawn pull me up and into the bathroom. She took a bin out from under the cabinet sink and filled it with cool water. I placed my arm in the cool water and watched her while she pulled out other supplies from underneath the counter. After about 10 minutes, Dawn had me take my arm out and she gently patted it dry with a towel and wrapped it in gauze.

"Okay, you're all set," Dawn said, tucking me back into bed. I smiled gratefully up at my older sister and watched as she perched herself on the edge of my bed. "It's okay," she murmured, fingering my hair softly, "I'll keep you safe, just sleep."

Her soothing voice quickly sent me into a pleasant, undisturbed sleep.

A/N: Review please

I'm going to skip ahead in time a bit for the next one, I've gotten pretty much all of the school scenes I'm going to have unless someone wants an Omake for some of the Cameo characters. Probably the next scene actually at school will be finals