Out of Time

AN: Okay, my dear readers, the votes are in! The winning idea is the 'Time Traveler's Wife' concept. This WILL NOT be a cross-over or a Sailor Moon version of the book or movie, but there will be some things that will just happen to be parallel to that story…with a dash of my personal dazzle.

Prologue: The First Shift

It was early evening, and the light of day was just beginning to yield to the shadows of night. Fall was giving way to winter, and the leaves had just begun to turn red. In the city of Chicago, Illinois, the sky was gold and clear. The city was still alive and bustling, and traffic was an utter nightmare. In one particular car, a violet haired woman screamed, "Mister, GET YOUR THUMB OUT OF YOUR ASS AND DRIVE!" The blonde teenager in the back snickered softly, and between giggles, managed to say; "Wow, Mom. Talk about road rage! You're almost as bad as Amara."

Ilene Tsukino flashed a glare at her daughter and snapped, "Well, this idiot in front of me is driving twenty miles under the speed limit!"

The blonde girl dared to twit her mother, and replied with mock prim-ness, "I do hope you don't talk like this in front of Sammy; you'd be setting a terrible example for him."

Ilene let out a snort of laughter, and sighed. "I suppose I deserved that," she admitted, smiling affectionately at her only daughter. "I'm sorry, Serena."

"It's cool, Mom. It's just that my friends think you're so sweet and nice; it's always like; 'Serena, your mom is so nice. She never has anything bad to say about anyone.' Man, if they could hear you now…" the blonde burst out laughing again.

"What do you say we turn on the radio? Maybe that will give me something to do besides yell at the idiots that are on the road tonight."

"Sure," Serena replied. "Just don't turn Justin Bieber on."

"Okay, honey." Ilene turned on a country music station, and Serena made no objection, so Toby Keith came blasting out of the speakers. They stopped at a red light, and Serena looked out the window, just as a pickup truck came barreling through a stop light to the left.

"MOM!" Serena screamed. Oh, God…the truck was heading straight for them…Serena looked at her mother in terror. Ilene looked back, and her face took on a look of utter shock as she looked at her daughter. "Serena, what…?" There was a strange tingling sensation that spread through Serena's body, and suddenly, the blonde found herself standing in her room, looking down at herself.

The blonde stared down at the unconscious figure lying in her bed. Her trademark hairstyle was unmistakable. Luna lay curled up, sound asleep at the figure's feet. A cold breeze rushed across the blonde girl's buttocks, and Serena looked down at herself. "Holy shit!" The blonde wrapped her arms around herself. It did little good; she was stark naked. "I've gone nuts," she whispered softly. "I'm looking down at myself…only there's two of me…and where'd my clothes go? What about Mom? A car was coming…"

The tingling sensation returned, and the blonde watched in terror and confusion as her hands disappeared, like they had been wiped away with an eraser. The rest of her body followed, and the next thing she knew; she was standing in a dark alley, seeing from a distance the wreckage of her mother's car. "Wh-what's h-happening?" the blonde whimpered.

"Calm down, Serena. It'll be okay," a voice said from behind her.

The blonde turned, and gasped. She was looking at an older version of herself. It was impossible to deny it. There was her trademark hairstyle, and even though the hair was beginning to turn silver, she could not fail to recognize her own face, though the features were somewhat more mature. "Wha…?"

"Shh," her older self murmured, and took off her black leather jacket. "I know it's scary, but you need to remain calm. I wish I could explain things to you, but there isn't time." She wrapped the jacket around the trembling blonde. "All I can tell you is that this will keep happening, but I don't know what caused it or how it works."

"What about my mom?"

"I can't say; it might screw up the future." Her older self turned and disappeared into the shadows, leaving the blonde trembling under the scant cover of the black leather jacket.