We knew the Dark Kingdom was coming. We thought we were ready. We had been told that our princess had the power to keep the Dark Kingdom away.
But either we weren't ready, or we had been wrong about our princess, or her powers didn't work.
When it was over, there was nothing left.
The entire landscape had been decimated. The ground was nothing but dirt. The trees were nothing but burnt sticks. Even the sky was brown and gray, with heavy clouds that threatened snow.
The bodies were everywhere-as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of thousands of people had been killed, including all my fellow Senshi, or so I presumed. I'd found several of them lying on the ground, motionless, some with obvious mortal wounds. I assumed that all the Sailor Scouts they were all here. I was far too late to save any of them. There were so many others, as well. Kings and queens, lords and ladies, servants and subjects. All dead.
Strangely, I didn't see a single fallen enemy. Every body belonged to those who had fought for the queen, for the Earth and Moon. How had so many of our own been slaughtered? How had the Dark Kingdom amassed such numbers? And how was it that none of the Dark Kingdom had been left behind?
The wind began to blow, filling my nostrils with dirt and the stench of death. I turned my head away, and the breeze lifted by dark green hair into my face.
Then I saw them. I slowly walked toward them, stepping around and over the bodies, my black, heeled boots kicking up swirls of dust. And then I was there, standing over the lifeless forms of Princess Serenity and her husband, Prince Endymion.
Princess Serenity was lying on her back, her eyes wide open and looking at the sky. Dried blood crusted around her nose, mouth, and ears. Her gloves were burned and covered in blood, as well. Endymion was beside her, his head resting on her stomach. He faced away from me, and I didn't bother to walk around to see his face. His head had significant trauma, with his blood soaked into Serenity's white outfit.
I didn't want to see it, but I couldn't look away.
All that pain and heartache, and it had come to this.
Endymion and Princess Serenity were supposed to have saved us. Maybe they had, as the energy of the Dark Kingdom was gone and I couldn't sense anything. But was it worth the cost?
The snowflakes that landed on their bodies began to accumulated-a testament to the fact that the bodies were no longer warm. The sight chilled me more than the frozen air.
I tried not to cry-to be a stoic Sailor Soldier-but I could no longer take it. My anger, my fear, my shame, and my loneliness exploded inside of me.
I screamed, slamming my Garnet Rod to the ground. And then I fell to my knees and sobbed.
Eventually my sobs turned to cries, which turned to sniffles. I don't know how long I sat there in the dirt and snow, wiping my eyes and nose on my white gloves. But the sounds of footsteps from behind broke me out of my thoughts, and I grabbed my staff, jumped to my feet, and spun around.
It was Princess Serenity's mother, Queen Serenity. She stood a few meters away, her white dress and hair so perfectly clean that she seemed to glow in the filthy surroundings.
I immediately dropped to one knee, giving a nod of my head to my queen. What a sight I must have been, covered in dirt and obviously post-breakdown. She didn't acknowledge my gesture. Her gaze fell from me to the forms of her daughter and son-in-law, her expression tight and sad.
I continued to kneel for a moment, but realized that I was not going to be spoken to. No doubt the queen was wondering why I was here. And why I was alive when the others were dead.
Quite simply, I had been too late.
I rose to my feet and began to walk away. I had seen enough here. More than enough, really. The images of what I had seen here would no-doubt haunt me forever.
Before the battle, I had hidden at the Gates of Time, using my duty as an excuse for closing myself off from the universe, hiding from everyone that I knew.
Now, there would be no choice in the matter.
I was truly alone.