Beloved
by adlyb
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor the unspeakable perfection that is Jadeite.
Prologue: An End
The earth shook. Several hours had passed since the Negaverse forces had, assured of easy victory, overwhelmed Serenity's Kingdom.
Jadeite's boots echoed through the empty halls of the destroyed Lunar Imperial Palace, through cavernous ballrooms filled with the richly gleaming bodies of the gentry, dressed eternally for a ball that ended well before midnight. Jadeite glanced through the bodies, not really expecting to find what he was looking for inside.
A hand on his shoulder jolted him, caused him to catch the offending appendage in a defensive grip and whirl around to face his assailant.
"Jadeite, stop! It's me!"
Only Nephrite.
"You are needed."
"Why?"
"It's Serenity. She's missing."
"You mean you cannot find the body?"
"That's just it. We've gone through every corpse out there. The Queen isn't to be found. And if there's no corpse…"
"Then she may still be alive."
"Exactly."
"What does Beryl propose?"
"We're to search… Until we find either the Queen's body or…"
"Herself. I presume I have orders to eliminate her on sight?"
"Yes."
Jadeite nodded. "Fine." He turned, took one last look around the ballroom, noting the large veins running up the sunken staircase, the fallen chandeliers, before phasing out into the courtyard.
The destruction outside was on an even larger scale than the spectacular destruction within. Jadeite stayed alert as he scanned the piles of rapidly cooling flesh. He would continue his search while also looking for Serenity. His ability to accomplish many ends with a single means had aided his meteoric rise to power. It would also allow him to execute his own agenda today.
Jadeite approached the promenade. Where in the past a long line of luxurious, ancient trees had shaded the central avenue, there now stood only warped branches, twisted trunks. Near the main entryway into the palace there was a large wrap-around porch, designed to impress foreign envoys with its massiveness. In the wake of the battle, the heavy palace doors had been blasted, the imported ivory and marble columns surrounding the porch smashed. In the center of the resulting crater Jadeite could make out a faint, silvery glow. The Imperium Silver Crystal.
Unmindful of his steps, Jadeite snaked towards the light. His boot caught and he stumbled, catching himself only barely. He might have continued, without ever looking down at what had caught his foot had one of the buckles on his boot not become ensnared. Still staring at the bright silver light emanating from the crater, Jadeite fastened his hands to his boot and yanked hard. His boot came free. When he raised his pristine white gloves, he noticed long, raven strands wound around his hands, covering the vermillion stains pluming over the palms of his gloves. Deliberately, he detangled the hair from his fingers, slowly raised the stained glove to his face and sniffed. Blood. Finally, Jadeite looked down at the hair and blood's owner.
His search was over.
Lying in a disorganized heap on the ground was her broken body.
Jadeite crouched low, reached a hand out and slowly traced the curve of her jaw, the sweet line of her lips. Her eyes were wide, vacant and dark. Moving his hands through her heavy hair, Jadeite found the wound that must have killed her. A crack in the skull, exposing her brain to dribble out with the gushing red blood. He realized then that the puddle in which she was suspended was more than just blood; the heat of the energy blast that had killed her had evidently liquefied her organs. Viscera had leaked out of the many battle-inflicted wounds she carried. Even his fiery princess couldn't withstand Metallia's heat, it seemed. A shame. Even in death she was beautiful.
Urgent voices caught Jadeite's attention. He looked up for a moment, towards the light of the Silver Crystal. It seemed he had found Serenity after all. He stood still for a moment, listening to the agitated voices argue, hands still in his princess's hair, lovingly stroking the sides of her face. The voices mentioned Princess Serena, whom he noticed lying dead nearby, her neck twisted at a gruesome angle. Nearby were the remains of her beloved prince, Darien. The hope of the Silver Millennium, the product of a thousand years of peace, dead in each others' arms.
"It's the only way."
Definitely Serenity, Jadeite thought. Time to end this.
Taking one more moment to look at Mars, Jadeite stood, walked past her.
He was standing at the edge of the crater. He could clearly make out Queen Serenity, lying flat on her back, breathing raggedly. The two wretched cats surrounded her. He hadn't known cats could cry.
Jadeite cleared his throat to speak, but found his words caught in his throat as Queen Serenity raised her moon scepter high above her head, and, in a strong, clear voice, incanted, "Cosmic Moon Power, fight this evil!"
The air hummed. The crystal glowed, a bright, blinding silver that enveloped everything. And Jadeite burned. Burned in more terrible agony than when he had taken his unholy oaths binding him to Beryl and Metallia for all eternity. The crystal flashed, silver and pure, and the Moon Kingdom ended, forgotten.
A/N: This story is actually mostly complete. It's going to be four chapters (not including the prologue). Thought that would be really cool, since Mars is the fourth planet away from the sun!