The Stone Hearted Princess-

The Moon is a land of death, regardless of the amount of life the people who live there brought to it. It is barren, cold and lifeless, a desert of silver wasteland, beautiful but useless. My starship landed, sails being brought close to its sides, landing in line with the others that had settled into mare serenatis. The Crystal Palace gleaming red in the light of a fire, smoke coiling up from one of it's distant towers.

"Assemble the men," I ordered the captain, and he leapt to obey. Within a few moments, the regiment was behind me, backing me. I turned to them, looking at their faces. Men of Earth, come to fight for their future Queen. "You fight for Earth! Remember that!" I called, and turned away, beginning my march to the palace of the Moon Kingdom. Behind me, I heard them shift and then the steady tread of an army, moving forward with trained precision.

There were pockets of men that fought as we came closer. Tiny mills of murder that eddied and swirled in violent acts of homicide, blood pouring into the ground of the Moon, a sick watering.

A scream of intense violence carried to my ears, and I saw a shining blue light pierce through the wall that surrounded the palace. I broke away from my men, waving the captain forward. Rubble was strewn through the hole, and as I approached, the dust and smoke cleared.

Draped brokenly over the shattered stones of the wall, lay Zoicite. Splinters of ice had torn into his body, and he bled from the shards, eyes glazed and staring up into the sky, where the Earth hung heavily. He was dead, and I did not need to check his pulse to be sure. I looked farther inside, and saw another crumpled figure, feminine. I stepped closer, and saw the princess of Mercury, face down in the moondust, a puddle of blood around her chest. She was wearing the most peculiar clothing, a short skirt and high blue boots and a bow and tiara. Had the ball been a costume party? How ridiculous. Her eyes were closed, and a trickle of blood fell from her mouth. They killed each other. Apt, somehow. At least I knew Zoicite had stayed true to his world, if he was able to kill his princess. I wondered if the other generals had been able to do the same.

Glancing up at the fire that was raging in the east, I assumed they had. How could Mercury have done this to Zoicite? An affinity to ice, yes, but to tap into one's element like this was unbelievable. Could they all do such things?

I left the broken bodies, catching up with the backlog of men inside the palace's inner wall. Holes had been torn though it, but the palace guards were holding.

"Flank the right!" I screamed at a lieutenant, "And where is General Kitsune?"

"Inside!" He shouted back, then hacked away at a man presenting himself for battle. "With the first to get through!"

Damn Kitsune, she would go through first. I hacked my way deeper into the melee, carving a path. "To me!" I rallied them, screaming over the echoes of battle. "To me!" Behind me, I felt the current of battle flowing, swelling up as men backed my charge, slicing though the line of the defenders.

A throat was slit, gaping, as I broke through the last man in my path, shoving though with my shield. I wasn't going to leave my men behind. I needed them. We needed to overwhelm the Moon.

Illusions were my specialty, and what worked once will work again. I closed my eyes, and saw the beasts of my nightmares, wolves of giant size, dragons with fiery eyes and demons that stalked the night in the terrors of children. I would not let my men fall to the defenders, and the illusions tore into the line. Shadows they may be, but all men fear what is hidden in the dark.

The line faltered, screaming as they saw these nightmares, and we pushed though the breach, annihilating the line. A roar went up from the Earth soldiers, seeing the flight of the palace guard. "We will conquer the Moon Kingdom! Takethe Silver Imperium Crystal!" I ran forward, the pursuit alongside me. I heard words being called among the men, and it gave me hope.

See? Our new Queen fights with us! She will not betray us to invaders. See how she uses her magic to fight! See the cowards run before us like frightened little rabbits!

I tightened my grip on my sword. We would take the Moon and its glory. Victory was within my grasp, so close I could touch it with the point of my sword. I sliced through another defender, and looked up to see a knot of men, on the steps not so far away, fighting violently with a single man, who was protecting a woman.

Endymion. And Serenity.

All this, and he was still protecting her? He would kill his own people? To protect her? Didn't he understand? "Prince! Do you betray us? We fight for Earth!" I screamed at him over the clanging of the weaponry. He heard me, and I saw his eyes move to the killing blow of a soldier. A soldier with black hair, and was a woman. "Kitsune!" I screamed as the sword fell. She was struggling on the steps, her leg, with its injury, not strong enough to support her for so long.

No, Endymion! How can you do this? To your own people? To one who served you for so long? You would kill those you should protect? For her? For some foreign invader, that you believe you love? Why? Don't you understand that we are insignificant in comparison? I wanted you. I still want you, gods know why. I understand why she wants you. But I will not allow you to betray your own people for her. No. I will not allow that. I'm sorry, my dear Endymion. If I am to be remembered as the Princess with the heart of stone, then so be it. Love is not my life.

I broke away, leaping over a man who fell before me in death, a white fletched arrow in his neck. Endymion saw my charge, and broke away, shoving Serenity back with him. They vanished down a silent, empty corridor, and I followed. Endymion, I am so sorry. I understand, now, that you will never agree to be my husband. Never will you sit by my side, ruling with me, aiding me as I decide the fate of our world. No...not your world. My world. You have forsaken the Earth, in exchange for the Moon. So be it. If you are not my ally, then you will be my enemy.

I stopped running as we reached a court. Square stones paved the place, and doors lined it. Serenity and Endymion were frantically trying to unlock a door, and I could hear Serenity choking back tears as they attempted to escape.

"Endymion."

It was quiet in the courtyard, and he heard me clearly. They both stopped, and he turned, wrapping an arm around Serenity. The fool probably thought I was here to kill her. Why would I want to kill such a pathetic weakling of a princess? She had no power of her own. I'd let her live, if only in exile.

"Murderer," I told him.

His eyes widened. "You can call me that, after what you've done?"

What I've done? Bastard! What I've done! What have I done that is not eclipsed by the wrongs he has committed? Bastard! I lifted my sword.

"Endymion. Die."

Serenity gasped, grabbing at him. Little girl, clinging to her love. He understood, though, and came, sword ready.

We bowed politely to each other. It seemed silly, but it would have been wrong if we had not. I respected him. Loved him, even. But if he were to live, and live as my enemy, then my rule would always be in dispute. It was either him as my husband, or dead as a casualty of war. And I knew he would never agree to be my husband.

He opened as he always did, a slash to the right, which I parried easily, dancing out of his reach. As tall as he was, he had reach on me, but I was faster. That day fighting in the courtyard. Goddess, had that only been a few months ago? I had beaten him. No, it did not seem that way to any but me, but I had. I could fight through it now.

I stabbed, a strike that tore the cloak he wore, slashing it down the center. I heard a muffled scream. Serenity, shut up. Do something useful for once. "Why her, Endymion?"

He leapt back as I slashed forward. "I love her."

"Why?"

"How can one explain why?"

"Is it because she's beautiful?" He grit his teeth and kept fighting. "I may not be beautiful, but I'm strong! I would have done everything she would have for you! I would have been just as good a wife!"

I saw him hesitate, as he began to understand the implications of my words. This wasn't supposed to be how it happened. I suppose he should have known before he died. I didn't mean for him to hesitate in shock, though an observer might have believed that. Those who hesitate in the field of battle do not survive. And my body was fully in the dance of death. Metallia, you showed me what was happening, showed me his betrayal of Earth. I have seen it again, here on the Moon. With your power, I saw it.

I struck, and he fell under my blade, and I heard a scream from the Princess he loved, and a scream from the Princess he did not love, and a gasp from the Prince of Earth.

"Endymion!" The little girl broke out of her terror-induced shock, and she fell down next to him, as he slid back from my sword. I saw her grab at him, trying to gather him up onto her lap. She held him, cradling him as the blood trailed out over his clothing, staining her dress, staining the stone. After a moment, she turned her eyes up to me, big, luminous eyes, filled with tears. She didn't speak, but simply looked at me, without pity or hatred. I looked back, empty. There was nothing to feel, save the emptiness.

She held him so carefully, then lay him back as the last breath of air slid from his lips, his body going limp in her arms. "Endymion, my love," she whispered as she touched his face gently. She looked around them, and her eyes settled on his sword. Her head tilted, birdlike, and she picked it up.

"I loved him, too," I told her.

She smiled. "I know." Then she took the sword, pointed it at her belly, and thrust it in, hilt deep. Blood of unbearable brightness flowed out over her, as she collapsed beside him. I saw her eyes widen as she died, a look of surprise written across her features.

Standing there, in the dim light of the courtyard, I saw something under Endymion's hand, under the folds of fabric in his cloak. A rose, but a rose like no other I had ever seen. Silver the color was, gleaming softly in the starlight, but stained red with blood, which was covering the petals, one by one. A red rose. How beautiful, and how deadly.

I felt like I should do something, maybe cry or scream. But there was so much emptiness. That was all. Emptiness. I couldn't. From my numb fingers, the hilt of my sword slipped, shattering to the ground, ringing hollowly as I turned away. I had no right to be here, now that it was done.

I moved away from the carnage and chaos of the battle that was raging outside, further into the silence within. The more I thought of it, the more quiet it seemed. Silence is such an odd thing, quiet and distant, sweeping in with its death.

There were rooms where I stood, and I wandered past them, not caring that this place was a battlefield, that I was unarmed, that I could be killed. Somehow, it didn't matter. The Earth mattered, and I had killed Endymion. I had to find the Silver Crystal, use its power to rule, to seal away Metallia, to be Queen. To exile the Moon Kingdom. Everything would happen, just as I'd planned before. I would be Queen, and everything would be all right. It would have to be.

One of the doors to a room was open, a large, spacious set of rooms, belonging to a royal, by the wealth. Princess Serenity's? No, they were too formal. The Queen's then, her mother's. White draperies hung from the walls, elegant and rich. My feet slid silently along the tiles, moving though the room. From the corner of my eye, I saw a motion.

In a mirror of intricate golden carving, a woman stood smiling. Catslit eyes gleamed darkly at me as she grinned, wavy long black hair trailing to the floor within the mirror. Then I began to understand. Somehow, though this, I had been used. I did not know this woman, her power, her place. The forces behind me were of doing beyond my own. I had believed in a lie, that it was my destiny to be Queen, and created my own destruction.

I had filled some place in destiny, but it was not my story that would be written or sung or whispered. I was to be cursed and reviled by those who spoke my name.

I had willingly embraced the evil that had come to me, thinking myself able to outwit it, overcome it, and allowed myself to be fooled though my own vanity and arrogance. I drew others into my delusion. Forgive me for that, at least. One's sins should be one's own, and nightmares should not be shared.

In the mirror, the woman smiles and stands aside a step, showing me my future self, the distorted face and body and hands that I would wear one day. How conceited I was, to think I fought for my world. That was selfishness. The death of the Princess of the Moon was courage. To join with her love. I cannot blame this on my love for him. Perhaps that was some part, but not all.

The face is still smiling at me, a cheshire grin. I wonder what her name is, and how she came to be here. A dark counterpart to the Moon, locked away in a mirror....

I turned away, no longer able to see what I would become, and the laughter of the woman in the mirror. Would there be another chance for me? Another chance for me to correct this? No. No, there would not. I left the chambers of the Queen, walking down the hallway. I was the one who had caused the fall of the Earth. Gaia was gone, Endymion was gone. I would soon be gone, in one way or another. It was my place to be the one who killed him. It was destiny that brought this upon me, and who can fight the Wheel of Fate? Destiny is a cruel goddess, and she does not care for those she plays with. If these things came again, in another life, I only hope that I do not remember my actions here. Perhaps I would take another path. Make better choices. Or maybe I would make worse ones. Just please, don't let me remember this life. I have caused too much pain in it, for myself and for others. Let me be on one side or the other, completely. I don't want to walk the line of selfishness again. Better fully evil than that. At least then I will only be a pawn, and my decisions will not be my own. Let me not remember. Let this life not impact my next. Let me forget. Oh, Goddess, please, let me forget.

"Stop...right there." I heard, and I looked up from the ground to see the princess of Venus. She was ragged, in the same, strange clothing Mercury wore so much earlier, but colored differently. It was torn and shredded, bloody. One eye was closed, blood crisping over it, bruised. Her long, blonde hair was free, the red ribbon gone. She was carrying a sword, exhaustedly. "In the name of Venus, I command you to stop."

I looked at her. Sleepy words of a little girl from long ago came to mind. "The lady...with the blonde hair...she...." "You killed Kunzite."

She was too tired to argue, or to come back with some kind of remark. "Yes," she agreed.

I nodded. "He loved you."

"I know."

They all knew. Only me. I was the only one blind and stupid enough not to see these things.

"Get a sword."

I looked at her. Honorable of her, to suggest a fight, in her condition. "I don't need one."

"I'll kill you."

"Yes."

"Then in the name of the planet Venus, I will-"

Her words didn't even matter, anymore. I felt the sword she held sink into my flesh, cutting deep. A death blow. I didn't think one of the giggle squad would have been able to fight at all. I had been so wrong about so many things. So much pain, caused by me. I wondered, if I had set the crystal ball aside that night I saw Endymion with Serenity, and had learned to use the brooch instead, what would be different now?

My body fell to the floor, and it was wet where the blood touched my skin. Through my eyes, which were still open, I saw Venus fall to her knees, and begin to drag herself away from me. I tried to see where she was going. Near to the corner of the hall, there was a spill of white hair. Ah, so that was her intention.

I could have been one of them. That's what that brooch was for. Those odd outfits...silly things. I would have worn one. It would have had...a green skirt, I think, like the hills around Caer Sidi in the fall, dark green like emeralds. And that bow on the front and back...I heard myself giggle. What silly things to think of when you're dying. But blue. Like the sea around Thymos, glittering and bright, colors of the earth and sky, sea and wind. How powerful I would have been, with the Earth behind me. But I had given up any chance of this. Why? Oh, I still hated the presence of the Moon Kingdom. If they hadn't come, then none of this would have happened. I would have married Endymion, and would have gotten him to love me in return, in time. I would have united the Earth. Colonized the planets. So many dreams. None to come true.

But I would give that up now, to forget. Even Gaia, who was truly my Mother. My friends, Kitsune and Swallow. It would be best if they were never remembered, as well. To save them from the shame. But this was my doing. All my doing. Jealousy and hate and rage. Or was it? Metallia, you would be lurking still. Seal her away, Queen Serenity. I can't. Gaia is gone, creating some haven for the Earth. A haven. I wonder what it will be called. Serenity, I hate having to hope for you to do what I should be doing. Seal her away. Get rid of the demons threatening my world. For the sake of the future. And let any who would threaten the Earth meet their death on the end of a sword.

Okay! sighs Long, I know. Please review! I'd really like to know what you think of all this! If there's still any doubt, yes, that is Beryl. In the manga version, she is not originally evil. You see very little of her looking 'good' but there are pictures. There's even one in one of the artbooks, of her 'good' self next to her 'bad' self. She has wavy black hair, not red. Actually, (at least to me) she looks kinda like Luna in human form. I'm glad I found that picture when I did…I almost had her with red hair in the past! Oh well. It's the black and white manga to blame!

Certain things never made sense to me about why the people of Earth would revolt against the Moon, especially if things were happy. And the 'brainwashed' generals never quite sat right with me either…if they were strong enough to be Endymion's guardians, then shouldn't they have been able to at least resist brainwashing? So, the little author's note at the end complete, please write a review!

Ja ne, minna!

-Queen