Chapter II 

" I've been trapped inside of my own mind, afraid to open my eyes to what 
I'd find..." 
Lifehouse," Quasimodo" 

   4 years prior 

" Queen Nehelenia." 
The dark-haired queen turned to face her wizard, Zirconia. A sniveling, 
short, grey and wrinkled old alien, stooped over with nothing better to do 
than screech out orders, she could never understand her dependence on him. 
She sighed. But it was there, nonetheless. 
" Yes, Zirconia." 
" We are almost complete with the destruction of Elician." 
She smiled cruelly on the other side of the glass. Just what she wanted 
to hear." And everyone and everything's frozen, then." 
The slight pause from her 'mentor' had her whipping around." There aren't 
any survivors, are there?!" she shouted, demanding an answer. 
Zirconia visibly flinched." There shouldn't be, madame, but shortly 
before we had finished freezing the land, one of the soldiers caught sight of 
a comet of light, or flying device, speeding out of the dimension. We don't 
know all of who could have been aboard, but we expect it to be this land's 
royal family, if there was any to begin with." 
Nehelenia steamed. Her sickly pale cheeks turned red with the effort not 
to lash out, but her worst judgement prevailed. A quick surge of her power 
sent Zorconia to the floor with a large crack in the concrete on the other 
side of the mirror." You foolish idiot!" she hissed out, cat-slit eyes 
narrowed and pissed." Do you realize that this'll probably mean more enemies 
for us??!!" 
" But, my queen," Zirconia argued as he struggled to stand up," if they 
were trained warriors, they would not flee their homeland, they would stay 
and fight for it!" 
She was ready to lash out again when she stopped and considered what he 
said. Her eyes narrowed, this time in possibility." Hm...Maybe you're not so 
useless and stupid, after all... There could be truth in what you say..." 
Comforted that the refugees wouldn't pose a threat, she shrugged." We'll 
worry about the survivors when the time comes, but right now..." She turned, 
disregarding Zirconia's presence completely and walking toward the entangled 
figure knotted into the caged ball of tough spider web. 
She stooped slightly to get a good look at the pale, beautiful face of 
the male guardian she loathed yet loved, stripped of everything but the woven 
spider web encased around stretches of skin as his body slept, awaiting 
return of his life, his soul. She ran her fingers through the ear-length 
white hair, touching the unicorn's horn on his head briefly, watching it 
spark to life, then go dull. 
" You should have listened to me, Helios," she said sweetly." You should 
have said yes. And now look who's suffering. It certainly isn't me, you 
know." She leaned closer to his face, his ear so he could hear her through 
his coma-like sleep." Looks like you might have family or friends that 
escaped. Lucky them. Until I hunt them down." Her maniacal laughter echoed 
through the hall and caused Zirconia and all that could hear to flinch 
visibly, as their queen reveled in the thought of murdering Elician scum and 
taking what's rightly hers back from the White Moon princess... 

* * * 
Present time 

7:30. 
Buuuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzz... 
" Shut up," a cute blonde girl murmured sleepily, tangled in her sheets 
(including her long hair) like there was no tomorrow. The alarm continued to 
annoy everyone in the household but the sleeping beauty, who seemed to 
content to lay dormant in the land of dreams with her sweet lover... 
" SERENA!" A boy ran into the room and leapt onto the bed, unfortunately 
onto her, as well. 
" YOOOWWW!" She shot straight up, trying to stand but failing miserably 
as her feet and legs entwined even further in the sheets. 
She fell flat on her face on the floor. 
Sammy, her little brother, laughed and pointed." Serves ya right, 
sleepyhead! Mom's given up waking you up, so I guess you'll have to got o 
school late again!" 
" Well jeez, Sam, I didn't think you cared so much. And it's no excuse to 
jump on the bed and scare a body half to death!" Serena shot him an annoyed 
look before clamoring up on her hands and knees to stare at the clock. She 
shrieked as loud as Godly possible." Oh my gosh, I'm gonna be LATE!" 
Sammy chuckled to himself as she zipped around the room, throwing clothes 
together and disciplining herself about not getting up on time." Your blouse 
is right behind you, sis," he called out to help as she searched frantically 
for them. 
She eyed him spitefully as she whipped it up." Funny, Sam." She raced 
around the room, trying desperately to find matching socks and her uniform 
skirt, while Sammy watched a peculiar moving truck pull up in the house 
across the street. 
" Hey, somebody's moving in the house across the street," he piped up. 
Serena stopped long enough to jump over and look out. They were pulling 
up the doo in the back of the truck, revealing furniture, boxes and 
headboards for beds." Oh, wow, the Kizuna's finally moved out. Hmm. Wonder 
who'll be moving in." 
Sammy grinned as he looked at his watch." Wonder how many hours you'll be 
late this time, Ser." 
" Serena!" her mother called from downstairs, as if to prove Sammy's 
point." You're gonna be late again, sweety, come on down and get some 
breakfast, at least!" 
" ARGH!" She ran to the other side of the room, spotting her skirt, and 
swooped it up. She turned to stare at her brother." Kindly leave the room 
while I change," she said haughtily, making Sammy grin. He stuck his tongue 
out at her before racing from the room to escape her screams of rage. 
" I hate little BROTHERS! And I'm gonna be LATE!" 

* * * 

" I don't see why we had to move to this particular house," the girl 
grumbled moodily to her friend. She brushed her nearly white-blonde hair out 
of her face and grabbed another heavy box, grunting at the weight and praying 
to God she wouldn't drop it on her toe like the last one. 
" Aw, come on, Mandi!" the other girl called out cheerfully. She whipped 
a box full of fragiles in the house, her shoulder-length brown hair swinging 
as she turned and threw the box on a couch." Have a heart, it's a big house 
and it was cheap! We couldn't get an expensive one, that's not why we're 
here-" 
" I didn't mean the price of the house, Bryony," she gritted between her 
teeth. Throwing the box down with a gush of air, she plopped down on the 
couch and watched her best friend pull open the nearly empty fridge door to 
grab a Coke. 
" Want one?" 
" Yeah," she mumbled somberly. The brunette threw it her way, and she 
caught it with one hand, opening it and taking a sip. She wiped her mouth 
when she was finished and cleared her throat." I was talking about this area. 
We could have been closer to everything if we picked a house in the city, not 
the suburbs." 
Bryony frowned as she pulled up most of her hair in a ponytail with a 
rubber band, leaving two shorter pieces to frame her face." Do you really 
like the bustle of the city? I like some peace and quiet-" her friend snorted 
out laughter at that-" shut up, I really do-" rolled her eyes at that-" with 
a nice, big backyard, so we could get a dog, or a few cats or something." 
The blonde brightened at the thought." A puppy? When can we get one?" 
Her friend chuckled and took a drink of coke, occassionally directing the 
movers here to put stuff." When we settle in, Mandi. I want a puppy, too. And 
some cats. I miss having one." 
" Me, too." 
" And come on, Mandi -this is a dream house! It's so nice, what's there 
not to like, huh?" 
Grudgingly, she had to admit Bryony was right. The door had opened up to 
a mini library on the left (Bryony's dream come true) and a family room with 
a fireplace and a high ceiling. It was a beautiful house, with cherrywood 
furnishings that were left behind, and wooden floors in the hall and kitchen. 
She had yet to see the upstairs, but all of that didn't stop the twinge of 
homesickness that tugged at her heart every once and a while. She missed 
America: it was so different than Tokyo, and vice versa. She missed home so 
much. 
At the dismal look on her friend's face, Bryony bit her lip in thought.   
She brightened when an idea came to mind." Hey, why don't we go register 
ourselves for school? We could see the layout and some of our would-be 
classmates, too!" 
She was right: Mandi did brighten." Okay! Should we change? What year are 
we going in?" 
Bri made a face." I really don't know. It sucks that we have to go to 
school- 
" For no reason," Mandi mumbled. 
"- but since we're both seventeen, I think we're juniors. Which would be 
third year secondary school for them." 
She looked up at her friend." And when did you study Japanese?" 
She grinned." We know the language, don't we?" 
" Yeah, but that was-" 
Bri waved a hand to dismiss it." Yeah, I know. I've lived here before, 
'member? It was awhile ago, but I did. I met a few people. But that's about 
it. Now let's go, huh?" 
Mandi sighed, yet smiled." Kay. And hey, Bri-maybe we'll meet some boys." 
Her friend blushed at the thought, causing her to laugh." You are the 
shiest person I've ever met when it comes to guys. Jeez!" 
Bryony tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear, the pink in her cheeks 
fading." They make me nervous, is all. I can't really talk to them without 
choking up. Plus, I'm ugly." 
" Argh!" Mandi shouted between a groan and a scream. She raced over and 
framed her best friend's face in her hands." You are one of the most 
naturally beautiful people I've met!" 
" Besides yourself." 
" Yes!" Mandi giggled. The thing that made her friend even more pretty 
was the look of honest innocence in her honey golden eyes. Bri didn't realize 
her potential, and that made Mandi's laughter die. She knew why, too. And it 
sickened her. 
To lighten the mood (and her mood, too) she smiled again, tucking the two 
pieces of light brown hair behind her ears." Let's get ready to go. I'll tell 
the movers to keep working, and we should change clothes, too. Wouldn't wanna 
go into the school wearing flares and midriff tops, would we?" 
Bri's answering laughter made Mandi grin. Maybe the trip here wouldn't be 
so bad, after all. 

* * * 

Back in the cold recesses of the small planet orbiting meekly around the 
white moon, something stirred to life. Too disturbed to lay dormant in 
slumber, it raised its head to stare forsakingly down at the earth, ignoring 
the moon completely. 
Elician, I know you're there, somewhere, it thought to itself. It not 
only hungered for dreams, it hungered for the dreamworld itself. I know you 
defeated Nehelenia once. But that can all change, oh yes it can. And once I'm 
strong enough, I'll make you shudder underneath my feet. Shaking off 
centuries of defilement, its menacing gray eyes studied the planet it would 
soon land, hoping the queen would be easy to find...