Sailor Moon: Hidden Years
THE FALL OF MERCURY
Part One: Storm Warning

	Ami, Princess and heir to the Throne of Mercury, didn't
 bother announcing herself as she entered her mother's private 
study. Although it was nearing midnight, the Mercurian Queen 
showed no signs of flagging as she reviewed the Council schedule 
for the following day. She glanced up from her desk top as her 
daughter shut the door and seated herself in the chair across 
from her. Athena smiled, and let the papers drop to her 
desk. "What brings you here, my daughter, so late at night?" 
she asked, plucking the solid gold barrettes out of her short 
blue hair. 
	Ami didn't return her mother's smile. "I've been having 
disturbing dreams lately, Mother," she said quietly. "Full of 
darkness and death." 
 Athena stilled, her face paling in the faint 
lamplight. "Tell me daughter," she requested softly. 
	"I dreamed I was visiting Idun on Saturn," Ami started, 
brushing a long lock of blue hair behind her ear. "We were in 
the Royal Gardens, just talking and laughing, about Keith, I 
think. Then, the sky clouded over, a great Darkness covered the 
planet. And I saw Idun fall, badly injured by an evil I can't 
describe, but not fatally. Suddenly, I was on Venus, and 
witnessing Aphrodite being murdered by the same insidious 
presence that hurt Idun." She frowned in worry. "Then I was on 
Mercury, and the same evil was here." Ami looked up, and fear 
shadowed her eyes. "It killed you, Mother. In the dream, you 
were standing below my balcony, and the darkness killed you as I 
watched."
	Athena went stark white and a long moment passed in 
uneasy silence. "Daughter," she said shakily. "There is 
something you should know." She sighed and massaged the bridge 
of her nose. "I received word today that Saturn has been taken, 
and destroyed. The Queen is dead, the princess badly injured 
and taken refuge on the Moon with Serenity. And Queen Aphrodite 
is dead as well, along with Christian, the younger Aphrodite's 
fiancé." She hesitated, then continued. "The latest 
intelligence reports indicate that this Darkness, what we are 
calling the NegaForce, is moving toward Mercury."
	Ami's face went ashen and she closed her eyes. However 
badly she felt for Minako and Hotaru's losses, it was completely 
dwarfed by the sudden rush of fear through her body. And the 
guilt for feeling so. 
	Athena smiled humourlessly. "I have felt this NegaVerse 
Queen's vile presence, as have the other rulers of the Silver 
Millennium." She sighed. "We paid it no mind. Now two are 
dead. Two worlds are lost." She looked at her daughter 
then. "You are far more sensitive than I in matters of 
prophetic dreams."
	"My Morphean blood again?"
	Athena nodded slowly. "Yes, daughter. And I fear that 
your dreams of Mercury's fall will come to pass." Suddenly, she 
looked very old, and very tired. "There is something I wish to 
give you, Ami," she said, rising from her desk and crossing the 
exquisitely decorated room to a safe in the wall. She pressed 
her hand against the panel, which then slid aside. "Do you 
remember the stories I used to tell you when you were a little 
girl? The stories of the Earth Amazons and the firstborn 
daughters of the Silver Millennium?"	
	Ami frowned in confusion. "Of course," she 
said. "Those were my favourite bedtime stories when I was a 
child. Why do you ask?"	
	Athena pulled an object from the safe and turned away 
from the wall. "They weren't just bedtime stories, Ami," she 
said gently, looking kindly at her daughter. "They were truths 
that have been passed down from mother to daughter for the past 
ten generations. As have these objects." She glanced down at 
the two items she'd taken from the small vault. One was a foot 
in length, a silvery blue staff with the planetary sigil of 
Mercury crowning the top. A small blue stone was set into the 
heart of the sigil. The other object was smaller than the 
first, a blue penlike device with a small sigil at the top.
	Ami caught her breath. "Are those what I think they 
are?" she asked incredulously, eyes locked onto the mythic 
things her mother held. 
	Athena nodded. She raised the larger object. "This is 
the Staff of Mercury, all that remains of Alosha's Imperial Mind 
Talisman," she replied. "And this is the Mercury henshin 
wand." She fell silent for a moment before resuming her 
explanations. "It is custom for the Queen of Mercury to give 
this henshin wand to her firstborn daughter on her eighteenth 
birthday," she continued. "It is some months early yet, but I 
have a feeling that you'll have need of it before your 
birthday." She shook her head sadly. "Only Dain, Alosha's 
granddaughter, ever used it after it was made. It's so sad to 
think that almost eight hundred years of peace are ending now."
	"I know," Ami replied quietly, accepting the henshin 
wand and staring at it. "I know."

** **

	Reports of the NegaVerse's progress came in at regular 
intervals, but it wasn't until three weeks later, as Ami was 
eating a solitary breakfast in her suite of rooms, that the 
first attack came. As everything crashed down around, she 
dashed headlong out onto her balcony, her long blue hair waving 
like a banner behind her. She stopped dead just outside of the 
doors, an eerie feeling of déjà vu crawling up and down her 
spine. A vast darkness filled the horizon as far as her blue 
eyes could possibly ever dream of seeing. There was no sunlight, 
no emerald expanses of the heavens. Black clouds roiled and 
seethed in the skies, and shadows with glowing red eyes and 
gleaming yellow fangs danced with malevolent evil upon the 
winds. Dark warriors were gathering within the boundaries of the 
City. At the fore of the amassing legions, riding point on a 
dark cloud, was a twisted, snakelike, pinch-faced woman with 
claws for hands, fangs instead of teeth, and wild red hair. 
	And standing below Ami's balcony, looking very small and 
very helpless against the numbers of the dark forces, was her 
mother, Queen Athena.
	"Mama?" Ami called to her, worry and fear sharpening her 
tone. "What are you doing?"
	Athena didn't move. She didn't even turn her head 
around. She just stood there, tightly clasping her hands to her 
chest, the legendary Staff of Mercury wedged firmly between her 
palms. "Ami, turn around," she said sharply. "Go back inside. 
This has nothing to do with you."
	"No," Ami rebelled, reaching for the railing and 
preparing to climb over it to get to her mother's side. "I 
refuse to abandon you like this. I won't leave!"
	The snakish woman in the sky snickered nastily. "How 
noble, foolish Princess," she crooned, and her voice matched her 
appearance, harsh and scratchy. She raised a taloned hand. "It 
matters not who dies first, the daughter or the mother. The 
other one will soon follow."
	Athena swallowed hard, and straightened her 
shoulders. "Leave her out of this, Beryl," she ordered.
	Ami clapped a hand to her mouth in horror. So this 
insidious and vile Queen was the infamous Queen Beryl, destroyer 
of worlds and would-be conqueror of the universe. Already 
attached to her name was the annihilation of two of the Silver 
Millennium planets, Saturn and Venus. And now she was here, 
looking to add the peaceful world of Mercury to her list.
	Beryl chortled. "Your daughter poses as much of a 
threat as you do, Athena," she snapped. "Do you really think 
that the Queen of the NegaVerse has a heart? I don't care about 
your stupid daughter any more than I care about you. You and 
all of the pathetic rulers of all the pathetic worlds of the 
Silver Millennium are little more than obstacles in my path to 
total conquest." 
	Athena's lips tightened. "We'll stop you, you twisted 
witch."
	Beryl sneered. "You can do nothing, Queen of Mercury. 
You will only be able to watch as your planet dies." She paused 
dramatically, then raised a hand that began to radiate with dark 
energy. "I think I'll start with your precious Princess 
Athena!" With a roar, she shot her hand out in front of her, 
and unleashed a stream of black power at the young, blue-haired 
royal, who was still standing frozen on the balcony. 
	*Princess! Watch out!*
	The telepathic scream rang in Ami's mind as a brown blur 
with a golden streak gleaming on its forehead dashed towards 
the immobile princess like shadowed lightning. Eclipse, Ami's 
friend and mentor, leapt desperately in front of her just as the 
lethal wave reached her. 
	Ami fell aside as the small chestnut feline barrelled 
into her, knocking her away from the beam's path, and she landed 
heavily on her side. She stared in horror, mouth agape as 
Eclipse hung suspended in the center of the black flux, writhing 
in agony. As the energy subsided, the tortured feline plunged 
to the ground. Only Ami's outstretched hands saved the cat from 
cracking her skull open on the hard stone surface of the terrace.
	Ami's hands flew over the cat's limp body. "Eclipse!" 
she called frantically. "Eclipse!" Eclipse's eyes fluttered, 
but there was no other response from her furred and injured 
friend. 
	Ami sat back on her heels and gently laid the cat down 
on the cold stone floor. She stared in shock as Eclipse spasmed 
and then stilled. Grief choked her throat. "Eclipse," she 
whispered brokenly, and then found she could say no more. 
Shaking with Infinite rage, she rose fluidly and turned to face 
Beryl with eyes of ice. 
	The Princess and the Dark Queen held gazes for an 
incalculable period of time. Athena, growing uneasy with the 
steel and fury in her daughter's eyes, cried, "Ami! No!"
	Her attention drawn away from Ami's pinning stare, Queen 
Beryl broke eye contact. She grinned maliciously. "Do forgive 
me, Queen Athena," she said sweetly. "I didn't mean to leave 
you for so long. Where were we? Ah, yes, now I remember. I 
was about to obliterate you." Again, the black energy began to 
build around her clawed hands, and she raised them threateningly.
	Ami's mother staunchly held her ground as Beryl and her 
warriors slowly advanced upon the Palace. Another beam of dark 
power blasted at Athena, but there was no brave soul to save the 
Queen like Eclipse had saved Ami. It smashed into Athena like 
she was no more than a rag doll and knocked her backwards over 
thirty feet. But Athena remained standing. Beryl snarled and 
increased the intensity of her attack as the Mercury Queen 
started to push her way forward against the force of the assault.
	"You'll find...I'm not so...easy to...get rid 
of...Beryl," she ground out from between gritted teeth as she 
steadily moved forward. She was panting with the exertion of 
going against the energy attack, and beads of sweat appeared on 
her forehead from the pain. "I trained...all my life for...just 
an...event like this...and I...can handle...anything you can 
throw..at me..."
	Beryl snorted. "I doubt that very much, Athena," she 
scoffed. The darkness pouring from her hands increased yet 
again, and Athena screamed with the torture. Ami's eyes widened 
as her mother thrashed in the murky rays. "Mother!" she 
screamed, feeling that sense déjà vu once again. She was 
powerless to do anything but watch as her mother disappeared 
into the lightless beam. The Queen reappeared after an endless 
moment, her flesh and the cloth of her dress smoking. "Mother!" 
Ami screamed again, reaching a helpless hand out towards her 
stricken mother. 
	"Ami!" Athena screamed, twisting around. She toppled 
forward, her arms flying up and out. The Staff of Mercury was 
thrown from the Queen's failing grip. It sailed through the air, 
tumbling and twisting, rotating top over bottom, its silvery 
blue shaft shining in the faint light fighting to get through 
the gloom obscuring the sky. 
	Ami later could not remember moving at all. One moment, 
she was watching as her mother disintegrated into ebony ashes 
and tattered scraps of cloth. The next, she was leaping from 
the railing, soaring towards the falling weapon. Her eyes 
narrowed as her hand shot upwards. The Staff slapped into her 
open palm, and reflexively, her fingers curled around the hilt 
protectively. An instinct she never even considered she had 
burned within her, and she curved and twisted her body expertly 
so that she landed on her feet on the ground below her. She 
rose smoothly and fell into a warrior's stance, the Staff 
extended in front of her, the henshin wand in her other. "Get 
off my planet, Beryl," she said softly. "You have no rights to 
be here. You have no right to attack me, no right to attack my 
guardian, no right to kill my mother." Her eyes glittered 
dangerously. "Get out of my kingdom."
	Beryl looked triumphant, her beady red eyes shining with 
victory. "Your mother was no challenge, Princess," she crowed, 
raising her black staff. "You will be no more a threat than 
she. I'll destroy you just as easily."
	Ami's eyes narrowed. From deep within her, she felt a 
power seethe and come alive, a power that radiated throughout 
her entire body. She lifted the Staff slightly. "You may take 
me out, Beryl," she said evenly. "But I'm going to kick your 
ass before you do." She spun the Staff around her fingers, then 
held it aloft with a rough jerk. "MERCURY PLANET POWER!" she 
shouted, and a dazzling blue light illuminated the heavens as 
the ancient weapon sparked to life. Blue flame flared into 
being around the Princess.
	"Pathetic!" Beryl spat as she waved the first assault of 
her warriors forward. "Prepare to join your mother in oblivion, 
Princess of Mercury!"
	Ami held her ground as the strike force approached. The 
white-knuckled grip she had on the Staff tightening 
perceptibly. In pairs and in groups, the black, misshapen 
beings attacked the Princess. And in pairs and in groups, they 
encountered the shield surrounding her and screamed as they 
vaporized. Despite herself, she laughed. "Is this the best you 
have, Beryl?" she asked. Not bothering for a response of any 
kind, she hefted the Staff again and shouted, "MERCURY SILVER 
ICE RAZE!"
	From nowhere, tiny droplets of sparkling ice crystals 
spun into existence and spiralled through the air. Everywhere, 
the dark beings shrieked and fled as the icy razors sliced into 
them. A shimmering cloud of the tiny weapons surrounded the 
evil Queen, deftly slicing through her dark defenses and 
ruthlessly impaling her with their miniscule, razor-sharp 
edges. Beryl screamed in pain and rage, casting black, writhing 
energy all around her.
	*Keep it going, young Queen,* a deep voice resonated in 
her mind. *I will lend you what strength I may.*
	Her mind narrowed down to that one moment, her attention 
concentrated on nothing else but pouring energy into the Staff. 
From deep within herself, she felt a rumbling, and her eyes 
narrowed as energy lowed into her from what she instinctively 
knew to be the heart of the planet. Sudden words floated to the 
surface of her mind, and she sucked in a quick breath. "MERCURY 
GLACIAL ICE COLLISION!" she screamed, lifting the Staff higher.
	Two thick sheets of ice shot up from the ground, 
trapping the dark queen between them. As they slowly moved 
toward each other, Beryl screamed a wordless curse and blasted 
her way out of the heavy ice sheets. Ami noted in grim 
satisfaction that, although the ice hadn't killed her, the dark 
Queen had severely wounded herself making her escape.
	"I will be back to exact my revenge, Athena!" Beryl spat 
between gasps of pain. "You have bought your pathetic world a 
few days more. But it will fall." Slowly, the Queen faded from 
sight, leaving Ami standing alone in the torn and ravaged 
courtyard, sourrounded by black ichor and various body parts, 
all that remained of the first wave of invaders. 
	For a long moment, there was absolute silence, and then 
the servants began creeping from the Palace, bowing 
deferentially to her as they passed. 
	One face she dimly recognized as her mother's Captain of 
the Guard -- hers now, she thought dispassionately -- approached 
her, looking wary and cautious of her unmoving, expressionless 
face. "Your Majesty," he said carefully, making the change in 
title plain. He opened his mouth to say more, but the rest of 
his words never made it past his lips. 
	"Queen Athena XI," Ami murmured with a more-than-half 
hysterical laugh. "Queen Ami I." Then, her mind slid into 
darkness and her body fel bonelessly to a heap on the 
cobblestones of the castle courtyard.

********