Chapter 1: No longer the Leader?

Serena had had enough. Luna was treating her like a child and the scouts thought her incompetent. She feared that Darien would soon tire of her as well but quickly erased this thought knowing that Darien never would, smiling as she thought of their love.

Why can't I be my true self and let everyone know the real me? thought Serena as she walked to the Cherry Hill Temple.

"I am tired of her being late. We must put a stop to this. If she is to remain as the leader she must be more responsible, she must take the position seriously!" yelled Rei, tired of putting up with Serena's tardiness.

Hearing this as she climbed the temple steps, Serena became enraged. Reaching the shoji screen she pulled it back fiercely, anger evident in her eyes.

"Is that what you think Rei? Then you can have the position of leader. I know none of you would last for long. Just so you know, you are judging me incorrectly and one day your mistake shall be rectified" Serena stated silently upset that Rei would do this.

Finished she walked away free for the afternoon. Deciding to take a walk she headed towards the park to blow off some steam. After a while of wandering, Serena found a small alcove in the park completely out of sight and untended for.

No one must come here she thought

Dressed for training as that was on today's agenda for the scout meeting she decided to workout like she had in the past. Sparring with an invisible partner, her movements were precise, rehearsed, and graceful. Completely engrossed in her memories of sparring with Heero, Duo, Wufei, Trowa, and even Quatre, she did not hear as someone approached from behind. Finally feeling a drop of sweat form on her brow she stopped and turning around gasped as she came face to face with a chest. Looking up she was met with familiar blue eyes.

"I've never seen you fight like that before" Darien said curiously.

"It was great, maybe you and I should spar together" he told her smirking.

"Let's spar! I'll wipe that smirk off your face" she said jokingly as they embraced.

"Truthfully though, that was really good. Maybe you should teach the girls" said Darien

Concerned, Serena grabbed his hand telling him that he couldn't tell the scouts about what he saw. And then went on to tell him about what had happened at the temple.

"They don't understand me and they truly don't know me" Serena said sadly.

"I'm sorry Darien but even you don't fully know me and although I want to tell you everything, I can't. At least not yet" frowning as she thought once again why she was to always be unhappy, restrained, and caged.

Eyeing her curiously he said that it was ok and that he understood.

"When you're ready, I'll be here waiting to listen" he told her solemnly.

"See this is why I love you so much. You're so understanding and patient. I thank kami for having you" she said as she tipped on her feet to kiss him.

Breaking apart, she sighed telling Darien that it was time she headed home. Darien walked her home, giving her a quick kiss before she ran to the door, looking behind at him once more and then entered.

Sighing Darien also headed home unaware that tomorrow was going to one of the most eventful and surprising days ever.

Next Day

Deciding to surprise the others Serena left to school early. Arriving at the Juuban District Junior High 20 minutes early, she calmly walked in receiving surprised stares from most of the students and several teachers.

Reaching her classroom she walked in.

"Good Morning" she said smiling seeing Ms. Haruna at her desk.

"Good morning Serena. I was not expecting you today" stated Ms. H kindly.

"I just couldn't wait until this afternoon to get my scores for the math and science tests I took the other day" Serena said impishly as she blushed.

"That's alright I have the scores right here" as she pulled out the two exams from her briefcase. "Perfect scores as always Serena" stated Ms. H as she hand them over for Serena to inspect.

"Thanks"

"Serena maybe you should stop hiding your intelligence. I don't know why you do this and yet act so differently in front of the others", "Are you afraid of being teased for your intelligence?"

"No Ms. H" Serena said as she sighed.

"I'm going to tell you this out of confidence. The thing is I've had a very different past than from what most believe and I just can't let it resurface, at least not now"

"It's alright Serena. We all have our secrets and our pasts to deal with. If you ever need anything just let me know ok." Ms. H said kindly.

"Actually I'm going to participate a bit in class today. I need to get some people off my back. They think I'm a complete ditz and have lost all faith in our friendship" said Serena

"That's quite unfortunate, but I understand Serena. I'll let you answer the harder questions, give them a shock" chuckled Ms. H.

It was about 5 minutes before class and students were beginning to enter so Serena took her seat, although not before receiving incredulous looks from her classmates. I mean really, when was Serena ever on time.

The truth was that Serena was even smarter than Amy. She had been secretly taking her class in the afternoons during detention, although her classes with Ms. H were much more rigorous seeing as she was very advanced. She would be a ditz during the day and sleep in class but come 'detention' time and things would change. She would retake her tests, hand in papers, and have discussions with Ms. H and everything. Ms. H never understood why Serena would go to such lengths to hide her intelligence from everyone else but tried not to question her motives. Aside from regular classes, Serena was also taking several college classes online, and would often spend several hours at a time on the computer. She was so advanced that she could graduate college in about 2 more years, the same time as Darien, with a bachelor's degree. It was quite amazing.

Moving forward to the present time.

Amy, Lita, and Mina walked in shocked to see Serena there early. However, since class was just about to start they could not ask to see if anything was wrong and had to immediately take their seats.

After handing in her homework, which shocked half the class to death, causing her annoyance to rise, Serena also began to answer questions. During math, she evaluated problems quicker than Amy, and during social studies class in politics she led a very interesting debate. The whole class was shocked with her drastic change.

All was going well until an announcement on the school loudspeaker stated that all students, staff, and faculty had to report to the auditorium.

I have a bad feeling about this thought Serena as the students rose from their seats to exit the classroom.

The girls walked forward to Serena giving her curious stares. Mina spoke up first,

"Just so you know Rei was the only one thinking that you shouldn't be the leader, and even then you must understand that she was not being serious. You're our leader and nothing can ever change that. We're sorry you left so upset"

Lita and Amy nodded, silently agreeing but changed the conversation subject wondering about what the assembly could be about.

"I wonder what this assembly is about. Normally everything is planned a week in advance" thought Amy aloud as the walked into the auditorium and took their seats.

As Serena and the scouts gazed across the auditorium they noticed a rather large group of nervous teachers who seemed very anxious, although were trying to remain calm.

All of a sudden, the principal walked in, but not alone. There appeared to be a soldier holding a gun to his right temple. The students gasped in fear, except for one. Serena gazed on in anger. There were too many students. How was she going to pull this off, but waited to see what the soldier was going to do next.

Once they were standing in the middle of the stage (the principal and 3 soldiers), the one holding the gun to the principal's head, raised his other hand to silence the students.

"We are not here to harm anyone. We are a faction called the Red Dragons, and we are looking for an enemy who is thought to reside as a student in this school. Although we don't know her civilian name, her codename is Angel of Death, and probably Angel for short," stated the soldier as he projected an image of Serena, except with more silverish blonde hair, attacking and defeating some soldiers.

"Does anyone know or think they know this person?"

Lita, Mina, and Amy looked at Serena incredulously as Serena stared ahead, anger and defiance evident in her eyes.

They're going to use them all as bait. They know I would never let this many innocent people die just in order to hide myself. I'm going to have to fight, but at least now I'll be able to show the scouts and Darien who I really am, thought Serena as a plan of attack formed in her head.

Standing up she began her way over to the front of the auditorium with a determined gaze, although she could hear the scouts in the background telling her to come back. She was then stopped by a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see Ms. Haruna, with fear in her eyes and great worry.

Serena looked at all of them, "Don't worry I know what I'm doing. If I tell you to do anything, I expect you to follow my orders immediately alright. I want no casualties, understand"

They all looked at her confused, but nodded in agreement. Why would they question the person who was going to try and save their lives.

Reaching the front of the stage Serena told the soldier "I am the one you're looking for. Codename: Angel of Death and pilot of Archangel Gundam"

"Remove your gun from the principal's head" she said and he did so thinking that she would peacefully surrender. The soldier pushed the principal off stage and stepped towards Serena, gun in hand, giving the others orders to restrain her, and check her for any weapons.

"There are guards at every door in this auditorium. Do not try to exit or do anything funny. They will open fire at you upon my orders" said the soldier to everyone, although mainly as a warning to Serena.

When two of the soldiers were about to restrain her, Serena back flipped and hit them at the pressure point in the backside of their necks, causing them to fall unconscious to the floor. Next she went after the guy who was giving the orders. Knocking his gun out of his hand with a kick, she punched him in the stomach, and then sent a high kick to his head. He then also fell unconscious to the floor.

Looking up at everyone, she knew she couldn't let any harm come to them.

"I'm going to try and knock all the guards out one by one. I need you all to gather in the center of the auditorium and stay down until I tell you it's safe" said Serena as a gunshot was fired and more noise outside the auditorium doors were heard.

"Stay calm everyone and get down" Serena yelled as they began to panic. Grabbing the guns from the soldiers she had knocked out, she prepared herself for the oncoming attack.

The other 4 entrances to the auditorium suddenly opened at the same time, and as Serena was about open fire, she stopped, as she stared into familiar cobalt eyes. Smiling she lowered the guns, as Amy, Lita, and Mina ran to her, asking her if she was alright. Getting away from them she started to walk forward only to be picked up and twirled around.

Laughing and giggling she hugged Duo back. Looking at the others, she saw Heero, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei.

They are all here she thought

"We missed you so much" said Quatre as he approached and hugged her as well. Serena gave them each a kiss on the cheek. She hugged and kissed Trowa and Wufei, who were both smiling, and then ran and jumped on Heero, hugging him to death.

"I missed you big brother" she said looking at his eyes. He smiled and hugged her back, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Then remembering that the whole school was an audience to this she pulled back and asked them about what they should do with the bodies.

"We found their shuttle not far from here. Trowa, Wufei. Take the bodies back and set the autopilot on in their shuttle to go back to their ship" Heero ordered.

Trowa nodded and walked off with Wufei, taking the soldiers with them.

"It's safe everyone. You can all get up and exit the auditorium" Serena said

All eyes turned on her, questioning and incredulous. But nonetheless the students went back to their classrooms, no sign of attack evident in the building, except in their memories.