This story was inspired by an RP with a friend of mine. We have taken tremendous liberties with the original Sailor Moon Storyline in its creation.

There had been a battle, they knew that much. Many denizens were unaware of what exactly had happened for several days until the generals began to pour back in, wounded, near death. Sailor Earth among them. Her short, white hair was stained with blood, and it ran down her arms and face. Limping in, using her sword as a crutch, it was she who gave them the news.

"The queen is dead!" she roared, trying to stand on her own. There was a hush over the entire kingdom as her voice carried to the far corners. "She is dead! Killed by THEM! I saw it!"

She dropped to one knee, coughing blood up. It was… strange. It smelled odd to several around her, but her words were far more important.

"The queen lays dead at their feet! We are BROKEN!"

Her eyes went wide and she choked, spitting up more blood. Some went to tend to her at once, others broke into screams, others wondered… who would lead now?

Sailor Earth, her true name unknown to the others, lay in her bed, bandaged up. One of the servants, a young boy, was tending to her while his elder brother was in a war conference as one of the generals. He was trying to change the bandages on her arm when she awoke with a start, trying to sit up.

"What…?" she asked, putting a hand to her head. "Th-the battle… I must…"

He gaped, not sure what to do. She did this sometimes. After severe wounds, she would black out and loose memories from right before. It had been discovered only a few weeks ago, when the fighting had grown more intense. When she tried to stand, he sprung up.

"You can't get up," he pleaded "you're badly hurt."

She gazed down at him, staring at him with her yellow eyes. She seemed to stare through him and it always made him uncomfortable. She wasn't like them, after all. Sailor Earth was… different.

"The battle stopped, it ended. We lost."

"I don't-"

"You blacked out."

Earth leaned forward, willing those memories to come back. It was shaky, but in the end, she had an idea of how it had happened. "We lost."

"I need to change your bandages."

She looked back over to him and nodded, going to undo the fastenings on her arm, watching him blanche at the sight of the wound. He managed to redo the job, and stumbled back. Earth was unsure if he could do the others. She was numb where they were, she was sure the wounds were just as hideous.

"Go find another to aid me," her voice commanded. The boy stood and hurried out of the room as she got back up, walking to the window, gazing out into darkness. There was no wind to greet her in this desolate, hostile place. It was their fault things were this way. She found herself growing angrier with each moment.

"You're awake. I was beginning to wonder," a voice greeted. She didn't bother turning around.

"The little one couldn't handle the sight of the gore. I trust you to fare better."

There was a laugh as she pulled her robe open to allow access to her bandaged mid-section, the new attendant came to tend to her.

"How terrifying. Our mighty Sailor Earth couldn't handle a few enemy soldiers. What hope do we have if they plan to march on us?" the attendant asked.

"We are far too broken for them to concern their selves with us. I'm sure they'll return to their corrupting ways soon enough." She looked back out the window, hissing as the bandages were tightened, already growing pink from blood still seeping out.

"You haven't been checked in a long time. Is it wise for you to be up?"

"I'll be fine. This place sustains me."

"Hm. Nevertheless, you should take it easy," he chastised "you don't want to be opening those wounds with such a struggle going on."

"You speak as though this concerns me. Surely the queen has an heir-"

"None."

Her head snapped up, she moved to him, grabbing his shoulder. "What was that?"

"Oh? The struggle?" the attendant asked. He was met with a glare. "Ah, you didn't know about that. Perhaps that blackout did more than erase temporary memories."

"Ukito, you mean to say we are without a ruler?"

"Yes. A terrible thing, too. Many are fighting over power. Several of the generals are in argument about it as we speak, I think they plan to crown one of themselves and continue on."

She didn't stay to hear. She was out the door as Ukito watched. There was little to do to stop her when she set her mind to something. Earth stormed past the boy, shoved her way through several servants and only had to knock one person over for not moving fast enough to suit her quick pace.

"What is going on?" she roared, her voice carrying once more, washing over the squabbling generals, causing them to stop what they were doing. One looked back, frowning at her. Of all the others, he disliked her the most, though he did not know why.

"It is none of your business! We seek the right to rule!"

"And I was not invited to your conference? I am a general to the old queen as well!"

"You are an outsider!"

That stung at Earth, but she didn't let it show. She pulled her sword free of its sheath, the jagged runes carved into the steel of the blade causing the air around it to sing with its movements.

"I may be an outsider, but I was the most trusted confidant of the queen, General Yukio! I led the attack when their intentions became clear! I defended her in her final moments, I took many of the blows for her, and where were you!" she shouted, pointing the blade at him. "You were here! Claiming illness kept you from the fighting! Now we would allow a coward on our throne?"

"You returned when many did not! Why did you live and so many others die? You are the coward! I am positive those 'injuries' of yours are self-inflicted!"

Many sat silent and stared at the two, the anger between them so intense it was choking.

"I will not sit idle and allow a child on the throne! I don't care if your tactics had won us many a battle, you are a child!" Earth's face went red; her vision was clearer than it had ever been. Her yellow eyes pierced through him and for a moment, only a moment, General Yukio considered stepping down.

"And I will not allow an outsider be our queen!" he roared, striking her.

Earth's head snapped back as she was hit with a backhand and she put her palm to where the injury struck. With a growling noise, she lashed out, raising her sword, attacking him in a flurry. Her sword stuck in the ground, she ripped it out, bringing bits of the floor with her, rushing him. The others moved back, knowing full well that interference would likely mean their deaths.

"You will not be my King!"

"You will not be my Queen!"

The anger filled the room, many people fled in a panic when the blade of Sailor Earth sliced apart a pillar of marble, clean through. It toppled over as she was struck back into it. The fire in her eyes was intense, she was wild, jumping up, bringing the blade down. It sliced the air, the air around it sung, the material that was harder than steel came crashing down, missing General Yukio by inches. He backed away and ran from the room, Earth collapsed to one knee, holding her side in pain.

"Damn…"

Ukito had tended to her wounds once more and she was waking in her bed once more. The little boy was in there, watering the few flowers she could get to bloom anymore.

"You," she whispered "are here again?"

He looked up and nodded a little, going back to his work. "They were going to die. You've been asleep for a few days."

A few days. "Has your brother taken over? Am I to bow to his lead now?"

The boy shook his head, not looking up as he plucked the dead leaves, careful of the thorns.

"No. Yukio is injured, too. You managed to hit him before he left the battle. No one else is trying, they all fear it." He picked up his watering can once more, gently pouring the liquid out onto the plant itself.

"…what is your name," she wondered, still watching him carefully. He looked up, startled that she would even care to ask for something that should have been so trivial to her.

"M-my name? Uh… it's Hirokazu." She was acting strangely in his mind. Why did she even care about such things as his name? "Are you well? Should I summon for Ukito?"

Shaking her head, Earth stood up and wandered to the door, pulling her robe closed as she did. There was a power struggle going on, one that truly concerned her and she'd be damned if she were lying in bed as it happened. Hirokazu watched her walk out the door and she closed it behind her. The soft 'click' indicated a fear coming to pass… she had just locked the boy in.

"She is a lying WHORE!" General Yukio shouted, slamming both fists into the conference table, causing the men around him to jump. "I will be DAMNED if I listen to her!"

The others around him merely listened as he raved and ranted on about the Senshi of the Earth. She was a whore, she was no good, useless… his list went on and he began to repeat himself, though it mattered little to him that he was. His anger called for it.

"For all we know, for all the time she has spent THERE, she could be one of THEM!" he reminded, gesturing in the overly general direction of 'there'.

"One of what, dear general?" the woman in question asked smoothly, smiling from her place in the door. She did not have her weapon with her, she was not transformed at this time, but she still commanded respect… even when dressed for bed.

"You know DAMN good and well what I mean!" He seethed as his head swam. The sight of this woman gave him a headache. Neither was fully recovered, he wished he was capable of combat. He would destroy her where she stood. She didn't belong, she was an outsider… and she was trying to become their Queen, only days after she had been killed by the enemy.

"You're getting that look on your face again," the woman teased, trying her best to agitate him without opening her own wounds any further. "You're looking at me like that again. If you want to kiss me so badly, then come on."

The smirk on her face made his go red with anger.

"The LAST thing I'd ever want to do is kiss some scum-sucking whore such as you! You DISGUST me!" He felt the veins in his head ready to pop, and he turned to storm away before that happened.

"I can sleep anywhere, you know," she said as he walked past her and was well into the hallway. Against his better judgment, General Yukio stopped and looked back. She wasn't looking at him, and that just made him angrier.

"What do you babble about now?"

"You have a choice to make, my dear general. You either abdicate your claim to the crown… or I destroy the only key to my room."

He began to laugh. It started quietly and slowly built until he was holding the smooth, stone wall for support. He feared he would open his wounds, but her 'threat' was pathetic at best.

"Y-you honestly expect me to fear that? What is in your room that I could possibly desire? Your corpse, perhaps," he mused, trailing off at the thought.

The snort she gave off then made him wonder.

"I was referring to your brother, Hirokazu. The windows are locked; the door is reinforced… why, if he were to stay in there for too long, he could die."

Earth stepped back, avoiding a punch to her face and spun, avoiding one to her back, now facing the enraged general.

"You bitch!" he screamed, trying to strike her. Impossible, she would simply dance away from his blows, leaving him exhausted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Though he despised this woman… his brother was far too important to him to risk losing over something like a squabble.

He had no choice but to accept, and it ripped at his insides to do so.

It had been two weeks since that fateful battle, between the two kingdoms, when their queen had been killed. Sailor Earth was well again, she no longer needed bandages, a daily salve kept infection at bay. Hirokazu had been released only once the coronation had been announced and General Yukio had renounced his claim, taking his younger brother into his arms to hug him and make sure he was uninjured. Aside from coming out smelling like the flowers Sailor Earth kept in her room, he was fine.

The woman in question was on the throne, the ceremony short and simple, considering many were needed elsewhere as soon as possible to restore what had been damaged in fighting, that last wave that had killed so many. She stood with her sword at the side of the throne, the simple crown on her head, still in her uniform, as though she expected a battle.

"The battle we waited for so long, the end of the fighting has come and fate was cruel to us. We have lost, and we are a broken kingdom, under THEIR rule."

The crowd was hushed as she spoke; none dared to even breathe loudly.

"THEY are in control, and they claim to others that WE are the ones who are evil! They accuse, they lie, they cheat, the subjugate us and force us into submission to THEM! They won that battle, but I will NEVER allow the war to be over! Our queen's ashes are scattered on THEIR soil, desecrated by their evil ways, and they expect us to be obedient children and bow our heads in THANKS to THEM for our very LIVES!"

The more she spoke, the angrier she became, her yellow eyes staring out at the others.

"I will not let the war end, not until we are free once more! I am the Queen, I am the one who will bring salvation to our people, to this place that has welcomed me and sustains my existence! They claim we are evil, that they are righteous, so we will EMBRACE the brand they have cast on us! If the claim we are evil, we will BE evil! For if their rule is 'good', I can see no other path to take!"

As she spoke, even General Yukio, who stood in the back, holding his brother aloft on his shoulders to let him see, began to feel a spark of respect for the woman's tenacity, the fire she had. He wondered if maybe he had been wrong about her.

"No longer are we the Golden Kingdom, the Kingdom of Elysion! The old royal family runs to the very Moon Kingdom that rules as tyrants! The name is DEAD! Never speak it in our sacred halls again! Forevermore will we be the Dark Kingdom!"