You guys... It's been 4 YEARS since I have updated ANYTHING on this profile... for that I am truly sorry that I left you all hanging. I took a very long and very much needed break from fanfiction. Covid had me writing some, I started a couple of new stories during that time, but I was one of the ones who had a little quarantine baby! So then I got caught up in being a mom of two and then I had ANOTHER baby! So now I'm a super busy mom of 3. But I'm starting to slowly get back into my writing groove and I've been trying to work on this story and I completely rewrote A Twist in the Story. It is now my absolute FAVORITE story I have written and I'm going to finish it before I start posting anything.

Again I am terribly sorry for this very long wait and hopefully now that I posted this chapter I'll get inspired to write more to this story! I do have the outline completed so it should be easy... right?

Please enjoy and please leave a review!

Summary:

It's the 30th century and Serenity Hawthorn is the eldest daughter of the country's president. Serenity's father has been in power since she was 5 and is one of the most famous men in the world. But not all love what this man has done for his country. There is a group of rebellions that want him out of power and dead. Anyone who is in political power has been threatened by them but they haven't been caught. One night Serenity is kidnapped, escapes, but is now in the help of two men who are very wanted by the Dark Moon Clan and are trying to stop them. Can they stop the Dark Moon Clan or will they fail in the process?

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Chapter

Fifteen
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Serena released the breath she didn't know she was holding once she heard Darien close the trap door. Her nerves were on edge and she couldn't stop shaking. She was frozen halfway on the ladder, she was climbing down, as she stared at the trap door and listened to Darien's footsteps. She heard the footsteps as they traveled quickly throughout the apartment. Her breathing stopped when she heard the footsteps pause for a moment too long.

Serena released a heavy breath, her anxiety was running on high and she needed to calm herself down. Thinking talking to Sam would be a good distraction Serena turned around and her eyes grew as she looked around the room.

The only source of light came from the only window in the room. There was a full sized bed that laid against the wall next to the window. A desk sat next to the bed, under the window, and a closed laptop laid flat on top.

Serena moved towards the desk and upon further inspection she saw no dust, so she assumed Darien used this room frequently.

"He comes down here when he has meetings with HQ that are so top secret I can't be around for them." Sam said as he sat on the bed and moved to place his back again the wall to stretch out his legs.

Serena didn't respond as she looked out the window and watched the busy streets below. After a couple minutes of silence Serena sat down on the desk chair and moved it to face Sam.

"Why do you think Birdie is here?" She knew it was a dumb question but she wanted to know what Sam thought.

"Clearly she's here to hunt you down… or try to recruit us to 'The Dark Side'." Sam let out a soft chuckle as he said it all as a joke but it just made Serena more curious about their pasts.

"How did you guys get into the Silver Alliance?"

Sam paused for a moment as he thought over what he could actually say, "My brother and I were randomly taken by the Dark Moon. They made it seem like some kind of honor as they came to our school and took the best athletes and the students with top marks. I was 12 and my brother was 15. When we got there they injected us with this serum, which I found out later, was used to brainwash us but for some reason… it didn't work on me. There were a couple of us that the serum didn't work on so we tried hard to blend in. The ones who were caught…" Sam sighed heavily at the memory, "I knew about three who were killed because the brainwashing didn't work… but the others… I have no idea what happened to them. The place was like a boot camp on steroids. Strict schedules and you were punished for anything that seemed 'out of line'." Serena shivered at the thought, "I worked my ass off to be the best and at one point I had convinced myself that it was an honor to even be a part of the Dark Moon. I was able to keep up with the charade until I was done with their boot camp. My brother and I were sent on the same mission to kidnap this kid from section 4 and it was fucked up." Sam paused as he took a deep breath.

'Section 4? My cousin that went missing is from section 4.' Serena thought as she began to piece the puzzle.

"We had to befriend them and gain their trust but the way my brother went about it… I'm sure he broke her heart. Once we had gained their full trust the next step was to give them this poison that would just weaken them and once that was done Rubius would come and take them. When we got back my brother was promoted and I was put on guard duty. A couple days later some of the prisoners had escaped and I was in one of the search parties to hunt them down. I had gone a different route than my group and that's when I bumped into Artemis. He could tell immediately that I wasn't under their influence and I told him I wanted out. Artemis originally wanted me to stay in the Dark Moon to help out the SA and I did. I helped at least a dozen escape but I was almost caught on the last one. That was when Luna decided to pull me out and put me with Darien. They had someone in the Dark Moon wipe my info out of their data base but Birdie never forgets a face. Everyone but her forgot I was there. As far as we know, Birdie doesn't know that Darien and I work for the Silver Alliance."

"So what's Darien's story?" Serena asked as she turned her head to watch the busy streets through the window.

"His story is probably the most fucked up one out of all of us… but I can't tell you it. Darien would have to."

Serena nodded her head understanding.

Sam and Serena fell into a silence, both deep in their own thoughts, for a couple of minutes. They could hear Darien's pacing footsteps above them until they suddenly stopped. The silence was eerie and the negative energy was getting heavy, causing Serena's nerves to go haywire. They then heard some muffled voices followed by multiple heavy footsteps. A female's taunting voice could be heard clearly above them and Serena's attention was quickly moved to Sam, who looked like he was ready to blow their cover. Sam was inching closer to the edge of the bed so Serena moved next to him ready to stop him, if he dared to run.

"Where's Sammy at?" They could hear a woman's voice speak, some of her words were clear but most of her conversation was muffled. Serena noticed Sam tense and clenched his jaw tightly. She got out of the chair and moved to sit next to Sam on the edge of the bed. "That's too bad… I was hoping to have a little family reunion." Serena now had to hold Sam down as he tried to get up to storm over to the ladder.

"Sammy stop!" Serena tried to keep her voice as a whisper but it was a little difficult with Sam aggressively trying to squirm out of her grasp. She wanted to try to listen in on the conversation but couldn't with the way Sam was reacting, so she slapped him. "Will you get your shit together? I doubt Darien is going to tell us anything, so I'm trying to listen!" she said in a harsh whisper. This seemed to snap Sam back to reality as he calmed down and the two sat at the edge of the bed again in silence.

"I know she's here…" the woman's voice sent chills down Serena's spine, "and your little roommate knows exactly where she is." That triggered Sam again as he quickly got up from the bed and began to rush to the ladder but Serena was faster and tackled him to the floor. She had him faced down on the floor and sat on his back to try to hold him in place.

"I told you." They herd Darien's voice say clearly and the tone of it sent relief through Serena.

Sam had tried to move again but Serena quickly punched him in the side and he let out a whimper, "Are you seriously trying to get us caught? Stop moving!" they remained silent as they tried to listen in on the conversation above them. It had seemed that Darien was able to get them to leave but her relief was soon washed away with dread.

"I will be back" Serena heard the female voice say and then heard multiple footsteps and a door slamming.

Serena let out the breath she was holding in a heavy sigh. They were in the clear… for now. Serena ignored Sam as he yelled at her to get off of him when she heard something scratching the floor above them and then the trap door opened to reveal and exasperated Darien.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" He asked when he saw Serena sitting on Sam's back, pinning him to the floor. Sam found his opportunity to push himself up, tossing Serena to the floor in the process and she quickly kicked him in the leg in response. "Would you two stop fighting and get up here?" Darien's cold voice froze the two teens and then they quickly moved up the ladder back into the apartment.

Sam found a spot on the wall next to the bookshelf to lean against and glared at Darien with his arms crossed against his chest, while Serena took a seat on the couch. Darien paced around the apartment and every now and then he would run a frustrated hand through his hair. The silence was deafening and Serena couldn't stand it much longer.

"How did it go?" she asked in a soft voice and winced at how her voice had betrayed her.

Darien paused and glared at the two, "How did it go? You guys almost gave up your cover!" the tone he held was comparable to a parent lecturing their child before their punishment. He directed his glare at Sam, "This is why I had you hide. You couldn't keep calm down there, who knows what you would have done if I had let you stay up here?! And you" Darien said as he turned to face Serena, "You're getting your hair cut tomorrow. I know you probably don't want to do it but you don't have a choice." Darien's tone had calmed a bit while he talked to Serena but he still held an affirmativeness to it, making it an order she had to follow. Darien looked at the two teens one last time before he walked away into his bedroom, slamming the door shut without another word.

Sam and Serena shared a shameful glance at each other before Sam moved and retreated back into his room.

Serena sat in silence for a couple hours, waiting for someone to come out of one of the rooms but the doors remained closed. She knew that her hair was going to be a huge indicator and a major issue, so she got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen quickly finding the scissors in a drawer with the utensils. She then made her way into the bathroom.

Serena stared at her reflection in the mirror, her hair was a reminder of home. A reminder that she didn't get to make choices of her own. A reminder that she was controlled. She had no attachment to her hair. She hated everything about it.

She took two hair ties, one to measure the length and the other to hold the hair she was going to cut so she wouldn't make a huge mess. Once she had the length figured out, she took the scissors and began to cut.

The once long knee length hair now touched her shoulders.