Wow, it seems people like this one. Sorry the princess is still absent in this part but she will turn up in the next. Feel free to put critiques in as reviews – both good and bad things. I want to get better and I can't do that without feedback. Thanks.
Draegyn
The Choices We Make – part 2
By Draegyn
Dragynne2000@yahoo.com.au
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Each choice we make bears consequences. My decision to send my daughter with the Greater Senshi had consequences that were both far reaching and near. The difficulties between Earth and the Moon were never healed but Pluto told me that they were not fated to in my lifetime in any case. No, the true difference that my choice made was in a single Terran soul from which unknowingly I had stolen hope.
Endymion, he who was Earth's crown prince, his was a hard life. He endured much for his people. He weathered the crushing burden of the crown from a heartbreakingly young age. He suffered through the treacherous politics of his world only to be forced to tolerate the fickle attentions of shallow and ambitious station-climbers. He was denied the comfort of friendship because even his guardians were forced to uphold his station. And then I denied him love, for my daughter would have given him that. Freely and unstintingly, she would have loved him and he would have loved her and together they would have begun something that the universe would have treasured.
But I sent her away. So Endymion grew in loneliness. While my precious daughter fought in the Senshi Wars that had begun in the unthinkably distant recesses of space Endymion grew jaded and bitter. While my beautiful Serenity triumphed against the enemy forces only to have the true enemy flee her power Endymion lost the battle against the darkness in his soul.
Learning that should have been forgotten became his. Knowledge that had been held secret was revealed to his seeking mind. Skills that should never have been formed, he mastered. He was not Senshi. In a way, he was more. And he looked to my people's Moon for something he did not know he was searching for.
Thus came the Reckoning.
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Sailor Mars sent a sheet of flame out at the Terran soldiers and their cries of agony almost made her flinch. Almost. Too much had happened for them to draw even a shred of pity from her any longer. She was no longer the naïve adolescent she had been when she had first met those of Earth. No, now she was a fully mature Senshi with decades of experience behind her in which she had prepared with her sisters for the war they now fought. Had Earth attacked the Moon Kingdom while she was still that feckless child then she had no doubt that she would have died long since. But they had not and she had not and so the Western Armies of Earth faced the Senshi of fire in her full strength.
Her previous attack had cleared a space around her and, as prearranged, the Lunarian forces began an orderly retreat… leaving her to hold the field on her own. As she wanted.
She sighed quietly in some far corner of her mind. She had lied when she said that pity for the Terrans was beyond her. For what she was about to do to them she could not help but pity them. If only… what? If only they had not attacked? If only their prince and his generals had not gone over to the Dark Kingdom? If only Endymion weren't such an unimaginable bastard? If only the princess had been here to love him as Pluto seemed to believe that she would have? If only the universe were perfect… but it was not and so the Senshi would defend.
The ranks of Terrans began to reorganise and Mars began to call her power upon her. On the horizon she could feel the power rising as Uranus did the same and she could feel Jupiter, Neptune and Mercury as they called upon their own elements where they stood across the moon. Closer at hand soldiers once more began to charge her and sadly Mars raised a wall of fire to stop them. Behind her the Lunarian army had disappeared into shelter and the time was almost there.
In front of her she heard shouting and for a moment she was tempted to ignore it. What difference would it make? She was about to silence these unjust attackers eternally so why should she care?
Because if she did not then she would be as bad as Endymion and his generals.
A figure stepped through her fiery barrier and she wondered if she should laugh or cry. In the end she did neither as Jadeite the General of the West, a man she could have loved, approached her, sword drawn.
There was grey at his temples. It was almost unnoticeable but she saw it along with the other small indications of time passing. It had been years since they last met. Absently she wondered what he saw now that he looked on her once more. Did he see her unchanged violet eyes and sable mane? Or, in the fullness of her power, was all he could perceive the living flame? It did not matter either way.
"You cannot win Mars."
She did not answer him. Her power gathered within her and the temperature around her began to rise.
"What do you hope to accomplish? We outnumber you. My forces alone outnumber your entire kingdom a thousand times over. Don't you understand? We have won."
Her hair began to dance in the air, like black flames around her head. Almost time…
"I respected you once," she told him and surprised the both of them. "Twenty years ago, when I met you, I respected you then. We of the Senshi all did. In a way I still respect you, my enemy. But it no longer matters." Her power flared and she saw the light of her flames reflected in his widening eyes. His sword swung but her white-hot hand grasped his wrist and stopped him mid-blow.
He smelled of burning flesh and he screamed in pain.
She looked at him in pity. It was time. "It is we who have already won…" she whispered and let the fire within her loose. Jadeite was nothing more than ashes in moments and soon his armies joined him.
Across the Moon four more planetary Senshi similarly freed their elements and the forces of Earth perished in a conglomeration of fire and wind, sea and storm and ice.
A single thought was shared between the five:
"Gods grant you eternal serenity my poor enemy… for we surely won't."
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The light of Senshi magic given free reign lit the night sky. Venus felt the exact instant her sister Senshi loosed their power and the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Terran soldiers shook her to the core. So much death… so much destruction… All of it due to one man. There were some truly evil beings spurring the invasion forth and the sorceress called Beryl was not to be dismissed lightly either but in truth the true danger was Endymion and his utterly dark heart.
As if her thought had conjured him she saw the man responsible for the magnitude of the war slip through the shadows of the abandoned city. Silently she followed him and his two companions as they headed towards the palace. There was a broad open area in front of the palace where crowds could assemble. Venus knew it well, Artemis often trained the Senshi there, and there she would act.
Moments later the three men left the shadows. An instant later a whip of golden light flicked out after them. The smallest of the trio cried out as he fell and his two companions turned only in time to see him dissolve in a shower of sparks.
"Who's there?" one of the remaining two demanded.
Venus kept to the shadows and began to coil her weapon-chain for another strike. The golden chain struck out at the speaker. He threw himself to the ground. The second man snatched at the weapon and caught it. The hidden Senshi smiled grimly and wrenched back on the chain. It slipped through the man's fingers and bit deep into his palm as it did so.
He hissed in pain.
The man on the ground rolled to his feet. Silver hair glinted. "Venus!"
She gathered the coils of her chain and wrapped it around her waist before stepping into sight. Blue, green and red flickered across her skin, reflections of distant magic. She inspected the two men before her. The injured one was shadowed. His hair and his eyes were just two more patches of darkness to merge with the blackness that was his whole. The other was a man she knew and had, at one time, admired.
"You should not have come here Kunzite."
He looked at her coldly. "Why are you even bothering Venus? You cannot hope to win."
"On the contrary. Your armies have almost been annihilated by now and that is only with the power of five Senshi. Her Majesty was not even required to wield the Ginzuishou."
"And that is supposed to deter us?" the other man questioned lightly and Venus concealed a shudder of revulsion for him. It was obvious to her that felt no concern at all for the people he had led on this fool's quest. Then again she would be foolish if she had expected him to. Endymion of Earth was as heartless as his allies of the Dark Kingdom.
"It is all for nothing," she growled, suddenly angry.
He smiled hungrily. "Perhaps you think so. I do not. I believe this war to be worth every death." In a blur of motion he abruptly hurled a score of dart-like weapons towards her.
Instinctively she conjured a crescent-shaped boomerang and let it fly. It scythed through the majority of the missiles. She spun, most of the remaining projectiles hummed past harmlessly. Her hand snapped up and a strange weapon was trapped between two fingers. Her cheek suddenly stung as a second projectile glanced off it but she ignored the small annoyance. She examined her catch and inwardly sighed at what she found. An ebon black rose. Steel tipped, it would be deadly when hurled with enough force… as Endymion no doubt knew.
"You do?" Deliberately she met the prince's frighteningly rational eyes and orange-gold ropes of stars spun around her hand. The rose crumbled in the vortex of power she created. Then grimly she spread the vortex out around her. A network of golden lines engulfed her and began to spin furiously. Resolutely she poured her strength into the deadly web and then cast it at her prey. It was not a single chain of power that arced towards the dark prince but a thousand and each was interconnected. There was no escape from it, not even for such as he. There was no mercy in it, especially not for such as he. Wielded as Venus intended, the magic meant only death to those caught within.
In some ways it was very similar to Endymion.
The prince retreated and his own power responded. Not quickly enough. It loomed over him. She could almost see the unbreakable strands wrap around him and then the web jerked. Another shape was tangled within its coils and Endymion was saved. Venus looked on in sorrow as, for the first time, the prince evinced a shred of true emotion.
Over the corpse of Kunzite she met his eyes and in their depths she saw grief. "You were not worth his death," she told him.
His indigo gaze became truly terrible and had she been any less than she was she would have feared but she was not. All that the Terran prince inspired in her was wrath. "You were not worthy of him," she repeated harshly. Once more she summoned her magic and the golden power began to dance around her willowy frame, outshining the distant light of her sisters. She uncoiled the chain from her waist a final time and the length began to hum with the power she infused into it.
Suddenly she felt the ground shake and not due to the power of any of the Senshi. Unconsciously she turned to the peak outside of the city. Its tip glowed white as the Prayer Pillar that stood there reflected the power of the Imperium Silver Crystal. Overhead shadows were gathering and overwhelming the light cast by the battling Senshi. In that shadow a presence gathered and Venus knew her queen would need her.
With out further thought of the prince she teleported in a blast of gold. A split second later a blade of strongest Terran steel pierced the spot where she had been but she was already gone.
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The glaive spun and spells ran off it like water. The strength of the wielder belied her slight stature and Saturn took full advantage of her enemies' misjudgements when they first approached her. Those that underestimated her never lived to learn from that mistake. Her current opponent had been the exception, even so Beryl had entered into the duel arrogantly and disbelieving of what her mistress and Endymion had told her of the Senshi of death.
She believed now but the damage had already been done. It was only a matter of time until she was dead. The only question remaining was whether or not the sorceress would be capable of taking her opponent with her and saving herself from torment beyond the grave. Saturn believed not.
With every moment Metallia, the source of Beryl's power, grew weaker under the Moon queen's barrage of levin bolts. The Ginzuishou had been roused to full waking and it gathered more strength to invest in each blow. Even as Saturn thought about it through the crystal Serenity released a bolt of power that shook the moon. Metallia's substance of shadow flinched in the sky and Beryl wavered.
Saturn felt no victory at all as she moved in to end the duel. With each blow Beryl retreated but there was no accomplishment to the achievement. The sorceress meant nothing to the Senshi. She was merely a pawn who had allowed herself to be used by the patron demon of the Dark Kingdom. Saturn felt nothing personal against her and so when a golden chain coiled around the woman the Senshi felt nothing more than relief that it was done with.
Knowing that Venus would finish the task she had begun Saturn turned to find her queen. The monarch's heart shaped face was pale but that was the only sign of her exertion for otherwise it was calm as she and the Ginzuishou slipped into full rapport. The power now contained within the slender queen's body was awe-inspiring and speechlessly Saturn watched as that power was gathered and cast at the being that haunted the Moon's sky.
Light lit the darkness. Purity met corruption. Demonic queen challenged the royal wielder of the Ginzuishou and lost. In the distance the Senshi's magic began to die away, their purpose served. A few steps away Venus yet again recoiled her lethal chain of power. The foe had been met and matched… all but one.
A cry of rage sounded and the impact of a sword against the stone ground rang out. The silent Pluto moved into sight from where she had guarded the queen in secret. Her staff was held ready and she was prepared to intercept another. The three Senshi turned to face their final opponent.
Somehow he had made his way from the city to stand above them. Silhouetted in the light of the Prayer Pillar was Endymion. He straightened from the position that throwing his sword at the Lunarian queen had left him in. Indigo eyes met silver and for an endless moment the will of two monarchs fought.
It did not surprise Saturn when neither Moon queen nor Terran prince was able to dominate the other. For all her power Serenity did not have the dark recesses within her that her younger counterpart possessed. In his own way he was more terrible than those who had gone before him for he knew himself utterly. Every perceived flaw he had found within he had scoured from his soul. Every weakness that might defeat him had been burned away. What remained was a man who had forged himself into a blade both strong and true but of a metal that no sane man would touch. Saturn could feel the force contained within him and she knew it. It was the complement to her own. Endymion was death wrapped in human form and now that death was rapidly being bared.
This night could still end in tragedy for the Moon Kingdom. Saturn, more than her sisters, was aware of what the prince was capable of if pressed. "You are alone," she told him, "There is no more cause for conflict."
He did reply and he did not need to. Saturn understood his unspoken response implicitly. He did not need a reason to fight. War was an end in and of itself. Deliberately Saturn nodded and stepped between the prince and her queen. The prince's dark eyes gleamed and his white teeth were bared in a ferocious smile. He was anticipating the combat to come and the Senshi was certain that it was not because he underestimated her. They were indeed kindred, this dark prince and she, but there was something within him that even she could not read. Saturn did not know if anyone could and then wondered if that might not be the heart of the problem.
It no longer mattered.
She levelled her glaive at him. "Then fight!" she demanded of him and his feral grin grew was lit with unholy glee. A bright sword appeared almost magically in his hand and then it began. Girl and man, they leapt and met each other with the clash of steel against… crystal? Had he noticed the blood welling on his palm? Had he felt the bite of the crystal blade when he had drawn it from its keeping place near the Pillar? Did he know what it meant for him presuming to take up the Moon Senshi's blade?
The small Senshi's eyes widened in realisation as all these thoughts ran through her mind and that moment of distraction almost cost her her life. The sword he wielded sang through the air where her neck had been, only reflex saved her. She moved and her glaive was interposed between them. Sparks flew and she felt a rush of his magic through the contact. It was so strong, if fully harnessed it might equal even hers and she was the most powerful Celestial Soldier ever created. She wondered if he knew. She wondered if it would have made a difference. She would never know.
Her glaive spun and he ducked the razor tipped blade to come up within her defences. She leapt, accepting the burning slash to her side as just reward for her carelessness. Distantly she wondered if the death that even now slipped through Endymion's guard would be hers as well. A somersault and then she landed, glaive already in striking position. As quick as a cobra she snaked forward and her blade bit into his side. Blood started to flow but the wound was little more than an inconvenience. Not so the stinging cut on his palm. His blood had made his grip uncertain and with an unspoken curse he swapped hands.
His unharmed fingers closed around the hilt and he flinched openly. Blood began to stream from between his fingers and run from the hilt down the blade. Saturn straightened. The fight was over without a victor. Shadowed indigo eyes met hers and she endured the furious awareness in his gaze stoically. He had dared to draw the crystal sword. This was his payment for those few moments in which he had matched a Senshi.
For a moment longer their stares remained locked, aging man and ageless girl. Even with the first flush of youth behind him he was magnificent. It was a tragedy that all that potential for greatness had been warped. Without looking away from her he raised the sword in two hands. His bright blood ran freely down its length and Saturn could feel the power contained in each drop. Endymion made no attempt to stave of death. With each of drop of blood that flowed over the sword he grew weaker… yet in another way he grew, not lighter exactly, but more brilliant. It was almost as if he flared a final time with his own dark light.
He held the sword vertical, the hilt in one hand raised above his head and the second clasped the blade at the level of his chest. With great exaggeration he kissed the blade. His power reached its peak and exploded. The air became congested with black rose petals. Behind her Saturn was sure that Pluto and Venus had shielded the queen but there had been no need. Endymion was making a statement and, this time, that statement did not involve the death of any bar himself.
One by one, the petals fell to the ground. She looked down and smiled slightly at the man's arrogance. Sailor Moon's blade was once more embedded in the marble base near the Prayer Pillar. By some twist of fate their duel had brought them there and there the unique sword had fallen in Endymion's last moment. There was one difference however. Earth's prince being unable to surrender the last word, the crystal blade now had faint tracings of crimson in its clear blade and six perfect rubies were set within the hilt. Even in the end he had made a mark. What was unexpected was that the sword had permitted him to do so.
There was no sign of the prince but Saturn had felt his passing. He was no longer among the living, of that she was convinced, but that did not mean he was of the dead. He would be back, she certain of it. The part of the Senshi that was attuned to death could feel it. He would return, his generals at his side, and when he did… Nothing would be held sacred.
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Neptune and Uranus fought side by side. Their blades flashing like quicksilver in the battle charged atmosphere. Not all of the Terran invaders had been on the Moon's surface. More than one company had made their way into the catacombs that twisted like honeycombs under the Moon Kingdom's surface. Add those to the enemies that had fled the Senshi's reckoning a few hours before and the Lunarians were left with the tedious task of rooting the remaining Terrans out.
The last of the foreign soldiers fell to Uranus' sword and she allowed herself to relax slightly. Already the royal guards were moving the bodies to the side so that passage would not be hindered. There the bodies would remain until the war was ended. A small group of non-combatants crept out of hiding and Uranus made herself smile at the children.
"All will be well now."
"Will it?" an old woman asked.
Uranus nodded. "Yes," she replied absolutely certain. "It will."
Neptune agreed calmly, "Endymion and his generals are dead, as is Beryl, and the queen herself destroyed Metallia. Earth's armies are broken and the remnants flee our guards. They are of no more danger to us now. The Senshi crushed their spirit as well as their forces."
"You destroyed our kingdom! Our farms and cities were also ruined in the magic you called down upon the Terrans," an old man declared sadly and one of the children whimpered in fear.
Neptune's eye gentled. "You were in the last wave of the evacuation were you not? That was why you were caught here. You have not yet seen the sanctuary."
"What has that to do with anything?" the old woman asked.
Uranus straightened and regarded the group with slightly less sympathy. "Do you believe in our queen?" she asked them, a hint of coldness in her voice. The Lunarians nodded quickly, some with outraged expressions as if to ask, you doubt us?
Luna's voice warmed once more. "Then trust that she will do what is best. Have faith."
"Sailor Uranus? Sailor Neptune?" a young man in a silver and white guard uniform saluted the two advisors. Neptune nodded for him to continue. "I was commanded to inform you that no more invaders have been found in the catacombs. Mars and Jupiter report that all surviving Terrans are on the surface and are even now boarding their transports for Earth."
"There are enough to return all of them?" Uranus frowned as she considered the shuttle numbers that the Senshi had reported as destroyed. It had taken Zoisite three days to transport all of his prince's forces to the Moon, even with the aid of the Dark Kingdom. The death toll among the invaders had been staggering but more than half of the shuttles had also been destroyed.
The guard nodded. "Yes ma'am. Mercury calculated that there would be more than enough space. She also asked that I inform you that the task you requested of her is completed and the spell in place."
"Thank you lieutenant," Neptune said, nodding. "Was there anything else?"
"Only that the queen is preparing to address the people. The captain thought you might like to be there."
"Thank you," Neptune told him again and looked at the small group of waiting civilians thoughtfully. "I think we all might attend."
Uranus nodded in agreement and gestured to the commander of their guard detachment.
"Lady Uranus?"
"Detail sentries for this sector and gather the rest of your people. We will need to teleport if we wish to arrive in time for the assembly."
"Yes my lady." She turned and started snapping commands while the children and their kin looked on, slightly awed and more than a little excited. Uranus restrained a small smile. These people would no doubt consider this one of the highlights of their lives. After all, how many people accompanied a Senshi in a teleport?
Moments later the commander and her guards had chivvied the civilians into a closely surrounding Uranus and Neptune at the latter's direction. Then the two Celestial Soldiers smiled at one another. With great deliberation each reached a hand to the other. Two tiara gems began to blaze with light. Dark blue eyes met sea green and the minds of the two who were more than human connected. Power flared and the universe spun. When it settled once more the group found itself inside a cavern that gave reason to believe the Moon was hollow.
Here and there torches and lanterns lit the darkness and occasionally even a magelight added to the dim illumination. They found themselves on a large ledge relatively close to halfway between the ceiling and the floor of the rocky chamber. The ledge was almost exactly on level with the flat tip of a bizarre stalagmite formation that resembled a mushroom. There was slight consternation in the crowd at the sudden appearance of the new arrivals but it vanished almost instantly. The royal advisors had already arrived and were standing on the natural platform made from the stalagmite, heralding the queen's appearance.
In a flash of silver the queen appeared, her royal staff in hand and the Ginzuishou glimmering softly at its tip. Those few who had not been silent before quietened then and there was utter silence as queen Serenity began to speak.
"Many brave souls have passed from this world and, though our losses were few in light of that which our enemies suffered, each and every one of our lost kin will be mourned. Yet their sacrifice was not in vain. The Terran menace is ended."
Had those words come from another those gathered would have cheered but all could hear the unutterable grief that the queen attempted to conceal. She was Serenity but they were her people and they knew her well. Every death weighed upon her despite the knowledge that the massacre of the Terrans had meant less than a score of her own subject were killed.
The people waited in silence for the queen to finish. Faintly Uranus made out her sad smile at the absence of celebration. "The Terran menace is ended," Serenity repeated and then added gravely, "For now. Earth will recover and her people will once more come against us. Her prince is dead but his was a power over death and he will return, so has the Senshi of Saturn assured me. When he finds his way back to the realm of the living he will gather his forces to his side and once more there will be war. Metallia and Beryl are dead but the Dark Kingdom still dwells and it only awaits Endymion's touch to resurrect it. The threat to our people is not gone. It is merely sleeping."
Those were indeed grim tidings but no more than Uranus had expected. Around her people muttered quietly.
Serenity's silver eyes suddenly flashed with determination and her people straightened as her purpose infected them. "But we are not helpless!" she announced proudly. "We of the White Moon will never be helpless to affect our own fate!"
Artemis stepped forward and cried out, "Do we not have the Ginzuishou?" The gathered Lunarians murmured an affirmative. Artemis glared and demanded loudly, "Have we not just caused the destruction of the demon Metallia?" The murmur grew louder. "Did we not just defeat an enemy a thousand times stronger than us?" The noise grew into a dull roar. "Do we not have eight Senshi fighting for us?" Artemis paused then and the people quietened in anticipation. His next words were quietly solemn yet they all the more compelling because of it.
"Is not Sailor Cosmos one of us?"
For a moment there was absolute silence and then there was pandemonium. Uranus grinned as the ever-elegant Neptune ferociously joined the bedlam and then screamed her own agreement. They were Senshi but they were also Lunarian and they too knew the pride of having produced a princess born to such a role. If their people were capable of bringing forth such a being then what was not possible for them?
It was some time before the riotous tumult died away and by then Uranus could feel other Senshi scattered throughout the cavern. As soon as the noise died away enough for her to be heard one of these latecomers spoke up.
"Endymion is a terrible foe, true." Everyone turned to where Saturn stood with Venus on a ledge near the top of the cavern. Her normally soft-spoken demeanour was gone and the Senshi of death showed her true steel. "He is possibly the most fearsome mortal man ever to exist. But." The last word rang out forcefully. "But!" she repeated, "Even he could not overcome a united Moon Kingdom!"
At her side Venus announced angrily, "He dared to draw our princess' sword!"
Uranus knew this already and still she was outraged at the man's presumption. She was not the only one and for most this was the first they had heard of it. An angry rumbling began in the cavern. In the distance Uranus could feel the satisfaction that the reaction of assembled kingdom gave her sister Senshi.
Venus' voice was fiercely exultant as she proclaimed, "And he died for it!"
Uranus laughed as her people screamed their throats raw. For a short time she had feared that the Lunarians would break but that fear was now proven groundless. Endymion was a very real threat for the future but they would meet it with heads held high.
"My people!" Serenity cried out, "We have come to a crossroads in our history." The crowd quietened again and looked to their queen with absolute faith in her. Uranus knew the silver-haired monarch felt it and would do everything in her power to prove herself worthy of it. The Senshi wondered if the queen would ever realise that she had done that in her people's eyes a half a century before when she had given her daughter up for the greater good.
"We could persist in doing as we have done before," Serenity continued, unaware of the blonde Senshi's thoughts. "We could rebuild the cities on the surface. We could replant the crops that were destroyed at the Senshi's own hands. We could return to our old way of life… but we will not!" Silver eyes raked the gathered masses and found not one objection, not a hint of resentment and not a trace of doubt. All that existed was a silent patience as every soul of the Moon Kingdom waited for their queen to lead them.
Serenity nodded and abruptly turned her attention to her female advisor. "Luna?"
The black-maned woman nodded. "It is done you Majesty. Mercury assures me that every Terran to leave our Moon will do so believing the Senshi destroyed everything. To them the Moon Kingdom died in the Reckoning."
"Artemis?"
The man straightened and reported. "The evacuation was complete. None of our people remain on the surface. The herds have been moved to the designated cavern complex. Jupiter has done as you bid and even the plant life has been brought here. Nothing living has been left."
Realisation started to spread throughout those gathered.
Serenity's crescent blazed. "Let it be known that henceforth both the Senshi of Pluto and the Senshi of Saturn shall reside within Limbo! Pluto shall guard the Gates of Time and Saturn the Gates between Life and Death. When Endymion and his allies return we shall know of it ahead of time."
The heart-shaped face of the queen was set with determination. "Uranus and Neptune, it was ever your duty to patrol the borders of the solar system and so shall it remain. Yet when Pluto and Saturn call, you will return to fight the war once more." Uranus and her partner bowed to acknowledge the command. It did not matter that the queen could not see, she would know. She did.
That left the four Senshi of the inner worlds, they who would have guarded the princess had other choices been made. Serenity looked up to where golden Venus waited. "The inner Senshi shall reside among Terrans as Terrans…"
There were indications of shock from around the cavern. Send Senshi to live as ordinary humans? Terran humans? It was unthinkable! But not to one of the four Soldiers so commanded was it a surprise. Who better than they to be the hidden defence?
"As for us, my people, we shall take measures to ensure that never again will Earth look to us with a hostile gaze! Never again will the Senshi be forced to loose a Reckoning upon our soil! Never again will we be forced to war with those whom we protect! I AM SERENITY AND THIS IS MY WILL." The hand that held he staff thrust it forcefully into the air. The crystal blazed and the cavern filled with light. The ground shook as she called upon the white glory that lay within those crystalline depths.
With her Senshi senses Uranus felt the very rock of the Moon bowing to the Queen's will. Above them surface of the Moon was forever altered. Plains and mountains that had already been scoured by the power of five Senshi recreated themselves. Buildings were swallowed by ground and the seas vanished. The very air abandoned the surface world and soon all that remained was crater-scarred rock and a single, lone remnant of Moon Kingdom. The Prayer Pillar stood still, high above the ground where a citied once dwelled. The sword of Serenity still embedded in its base. It was the solitary monument to a past that would retreat into myth.
Some fell to the ground as their world changed. Other's shielded their eyes as the crystal floated from its keeping place. It rose into the air and slowly a silver sun dawned on the reborn Moon Kingdom for the first time. The queen allowed her people a moment to adjust to what they could now see. All around them the homes and structures that had once graced the surface world now lined the cavern's ledges. Their structures were subtly redesigned to accommodate the subterranean environs and yet the ethereal beauty of the Moon Kingdom still lived on. On the floor below them shoots already pushed through dark soil as new crops began to grow.
She looked out at them, her silver eyes fey and still lit from within by the power of the Ginzuishou. Then, for the final time that day, queen Serenity addressed her people. "From this time onwards the surface of our world will remain barren." She paused and then spoke the words that would become the unbroken law. "Henceforth to the people of Earth the White Moon is dead."
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And so my people and I retreated into legend. Perhaps we would have been forgotten entirely, Pluto only knows, if Endymion had not returned time after time as Saturn had promised. Time after time my Senshi found him and, time after time, my Senshi stopped him. Never again did he attain the heights of political power he possessed before his first death yet always in each lifetime he left his mark upon his people.
The myth of Selene was one such. The arrogance of the man, that he could and would dare to make all believe that I was obsessed with him! Still it is no more than a harmless story, although the Senshi were less accepting than even I! When I consider the frustration my people and I caused him when he could not prove our continued existence I believe it to be a minor revenge. He was capable, and still is, of much, much worse. Still, though he tries, he can reach neither my people nor myself. His Senshi watchers are too powerful.
And so I present some of the earliest consequences of my decisions. Both Pluto and Saturn were virtually imprisoned within Limbo, my four inner Senshi condemned to exile on Earth and Neptune and Uranus became my people's sole remaining defence. And Endymion, dark, evil, terrible… lonely Endymion, he who could have been one of his world's greatest heroes became one of the greatest villains.