AN: So, this little piece of crack fiction is based on two things. First of all, the idea came from this story I read when I was just a little Sailor Moon fanatic over on called Mercury Twilight. This was simultaneously the most epic and most screwed up fic I've ever, ever read and I sort of blame it for coloring my perception of Sailor Mercury. PGSM's Dark Mercury didn't help that either, let me tell you. Said fic's written by King of Mercury and can be found both here on fanfiction . net and over on sailorjupiter . com. If you haven't read it, I highly, highly suggest that you do (though I prefer the one on . Small details and some of the writing differs between the versions, and I tend to prefer that one.)Secondly, the inspiration for this piece came from a picture over on dA by xxx-Sorako-xxx called Apocalypse Now. Go check it out, it's awesome. I don't think that this is really what she was thinking of when she made it, or really what she was going for at all, but hey, this is what I got out of it. So, thanks buddy! This one's to you.

I've talked your ear off long enough. Let's do this!

Twilight Falls

There she stood, alone in the dust and rubble that was once the most powerful center for good and righteousness in the galaxy. The splendid and shining Crystal Tokyo lay in ruins, and with its fall, all hope was lost. The inhabitants of the once proud and elysian city were dead, if they were lucky, and those unfortunate few who managed to survive the onslaught were stricken by disease and despair and the fear of an unseen evil.

It was reminiscent of the time that the mighty city was attacked by the children of Nemesis, when nothing but rage and evil sat in the hearts of the exiled clan, enough so that an evil entity succeeded in using and manipulating the mind of their young prince into launching a vicious offence against the calm and peaceful kingdom on Earth. Then, just like now, the sky filled with battleships; the sisters Ayakashi, led by Crimson Rubeus, swept through the city like demons, a wind that brought nothing but death. Yet even in this darkest of time, hope held fast, as was plain to see by the impenetrable Crystal Palace, which stood standing strong against their enemy, even when the rest of the city lay destroyed.

But now…

Now, all there was left of the Crystal Palace, the magnificent center of the city, was fine gains of crystal dust and shards of the stone that made its smooth, elegant walls. And as a final blow to the city, in the center of the piles of rubble, lay Neo Queen Serenity, pale as alabaster and just as cold and lifeless. The fall of Crystal Tokyo could only mean one thing: its guardians, the Sailor Senshi, were dead. The city was silent and still, save for the shifting and crumbling of the rubble and the sound of the wind that whipped through the air, bringing dust and ash and the cries and wails of pain and despair of the survivors. As twilight fell, the city was bathed in a harsh, red light that made it appear as though it was covered in blood.

In the middle of all of this stood Sailor Mercury.

She was not herself as she stood there silently and emotionlessly, surveying the destruction. The reason that the senshi of ice had survived, had remained unscathed where her friends had fallen was rather simple: she was the one responsible for the brutal scene before her.

There had always been a tug of something dark and sinister in young Ami Mizuno, a certain loneliness that gnawed at her very core, a deep seeded insecurity that even her friends could not fully irradicate. It was the same elements that allowed the Wiseman to manipulate Chibi Usa and transform her into Black Lady. None of it mattered anymore. The Small Lady lay dead as well, and while she was not physically harmed, Mercury was far from unscathed.

The fight was unfair from the start. The senshi did not stand a chance against their friend. They could not believe it, could not bring themselves to fight against their longtime friend, but the woman that stood before them was no longer the Ami they knew, merely a shadow, a dark, twisted version of the girl they loved, but this they realized too late: the strongest of their ranks were dead before they had a chance to fight back.

After the senshi were killed, the destruction of Crystal Tokyo had been easy. With the awakening of her dark side came tremendous powers, which she used liberally in pulling the city to pieces. Like her former comrades, the people of the city were slow and stunned in their response against her, shock paralyzing their actions as one of their own protectors destroyed them. She did not fault them for their inaction, though; after all, she looked just like she always had to those who did not know her. Those who looked closely, though, would have seen a lifelessness, a vacancy and void in her bright blue eyes where love, and caring and signs of a bright, promising soul resided. But now, even as she gazed at the destruction of Tokyo, the bodies of her best friends, the blood of the senshi that covered her hands, her eyes showed no emotion at all, no recognition of the terrible thing she had done, not even triumph at having succeeded where hundreds of creatures of evil and enemies of the senshi had failed before her.

The sun was setting over the city that once was Crystal Tokyo, and none were sure what would happen next, though it was certain that nothing but darkness would follow. Only one remained, and she was no longer a protector, a defender of light. The senshi were gone; their smiles, their hearts, their souls, the way their eyes would light up when they laughed and played and spoke of love and hope and their dreams. It was all now just a memory and Ami was its sole keeper.

Through emotionless, shallow eyes, her eyes filled with tears that she seemed not to feel as she turned her back on the city and the setting sun and walked off toward the darkness.