"How did you survive?" Luna didn't care for Autumn any more than she did the other two.

"Solar came back and rescued me." Autumn stood up and stared the cat squarely in her red eyes. "I don't care for the way you're talking about her and Pluto, Luna. And I really don't care for the way you treated my mother."

"Your mother is dead."

"Oh, and yours isn't?" Autumn said sarcastically, crossing her arms. "I'm my mother's power and my father's attitude. Don't mess with me - you won't win." Luna clamped her jaw shut.

"You're just a child!" Artemis growled, recovering from his blow. "How dare you threaten us!"

"Was I talking to you? I don't think so. I'm not a child - I'm one thousand-seventeen years old." "Then why do you have a girl's body?" Artemis taunted.

"Have you ever asked Rini that question?" Autumn returned evenly. That shut Artemis up right quick.

"She sure shut them up in a hurry," Uranus muttered. "She's almost like a princess."

Autumn stared at the two moon guardians coldly. "I'll have no more of this, hear?"

*

Tuxedo Mask surprised them all by detransforming. Sailor Moon did the same, and Serena walked over to Pluto. Darien strode over to Solar and knelt down in front of her. She gave a low groan and sniffed around her sobs. "Solar?"

"Prince...I..."

He gently took her hands and moved them away from her face. "Don't cry, Atia."

She didn't even look surprised. The thing she could not do was stare him in the face. She kept her gaze on the ground. Darien released his hold on one of her hands and gently lifted her chin so her liquid eyes stared into his. He heard her stifle a whimper, as though she feared a hard word. Her whole body was shaking, and she was breathing fairly hard. Half-caught cries staggered her breathing and made squeaking sounds when she inhaled.

"Isn't this what he wants? To make you cry?" Darien asked gently. Solar could only stare at him with a forlorn look that made his heart ache. "You can't let him win, can you?"

"N-no." She blinked, sending another cascade of tears flowing down her pretty face.

"Then there you go." He smiled. She managed a small grin. But he could see she was forcing it and was in no mood to smile. Darien took his thumbs and gently wiped her tears away, then cupped her face in his hands. "You can't let him win."

Solar gave a shuddering sigh. "It's...h-hard..."

Darien shook his head a little. "You're strong and powerful. You can do it. I have faith in you, Atia." Unbidden tears fled her eyes once again. "If he's destroyed everything for you, why are you unwilling to fight him?" he asked gently.

"B-because I l-love hi-him!" Solar choked out, looking away from him again. "I love him."

"How could you possibly love someone that's so evil?" Uranus asked, frowning.

"He didn't used to b-be this way. B-Beryl took him a-away from me and tricked him. I'm the protector of the sol-solar system, so when I felt his presence, I was so happy he w-was back, I...I didn't pay attention to Beryl's...she got...right by m-me..." Her voice trailed off, and it was becoming more of an effort not to burst out sobbing.

"Even I can verify they were very much in love," Artemis said begrudgingly. "They were like you and the princess. They were engaged. None of us believed her when she started screaming about him bringing in the Negaverse."

"She warned you?" Jupiter frowned.

"It was during a banquet; I can't recall now what it was for. But I remember her just vanishing and being gone for about fifteen minutes. Then she came in calling the guards to arms, shouting battle orders. The guards, of course, believed her and summoned out the army. In the confusion, I guess no one really noticed that she had been injured and was crying, but it didn't seem to affect her." Artemis shook his head.

"At any rate, she was too late. The Negaverse came pounding in the doors and opened fire. Between her, Trista, Lia, Ocean, and Sky, the hall was clear in a matter of minutes. But it didn't do much good - Amara, Michelle, and countless others were already dead," Luna continued.

"Wait, wait. Before you go any further, I want to know who Ocean and Sky are. It's bugging the crap out of me," Neptune interrupted. "You're always talking about them, but now I want to know who they are."

"You don't remember them - at all?" Even Luna looked surprised.

The two cousins shook their heads no. "All I know is that they're Solar's cousins."

The four with answers were silent, unwilling to answer the questions. Autumn took the matter into her own hands. "Ocean was queen of Neptune and Sky was queen of Uranus. Neptune, Ocean was your mother. Uranus, Sky was yours."

"What?! That's absurd! That means- you're- she's-" Uranus stammered.

"It's not absurd. Solar and I are your cousins," Autumn replied calmly.

"Then why can't I remember her?" Neptune obviously didn't believe the tale.

"F-for the same rea-reason you don't remember me," Solar stammered.

"I want to hear the rest of the story," Venus objected, putting an end to the debate. "Artemis?"

"There's not much to tell. I'm not sure what happened after that - I guess they went out to the Moon battling field to try and stop what they could. I don't know; Luna and I stayed with Queen Serenity."

"We did just that." Solar's voice was wobbling, but she didn't stammer anymore. "And we fought until we were nearly dead. The moon palace began to fall, so I ran up to it. I thought the others were behind me - but they weren't. Serenity was dying, didn't see the falling column. I did. It fell on me instead of her." Her voice got tight as though she could still feel the pain. "She helped me; told me she was sending them to future. That she was sending Lia and not Autumn because Lia was already a trained senshi. Princess Serenity would be in-between them all, surrounded and protected. She let me guard them to the Earth. And then...he generated a meteor. I didn't see it, I was dying. I don't know how, but Lia got the princess out of the line of fire. The meteor hit and killed her on the spot. I waited until the others were on earth, then went back to Saturn and got Autumn. I took her home...and I don't remember anything else." She shuddered.

"If you all are such important figures in our past, why won't you let us remember you?" Mercury inquired.

"Serenity wanted you to forget about us. That's why Pluto's existence was forbidden to be known."

"But why?"

Solar could only shake her head.

Darien took one of her hands and stared at it. There was a lump on one of her fingers, her index. He took off her glove, revealing a ring. The sailor was too curbed to command to pull her hand away, but she sure looked tempted to. It was an amethyst heart set in a gold band with sapphires, rubies, diamonds, and obsidians decorated the area around it. He knew what it was but said nothing - he didn't need to.

*

He stared through the crystal, shaking his head. "Damned fool." And yet, hadn't he once loved her? For the briefest instant, his dark hazel eyes lightened, but then the darkness clouded them over again. "Now's the time to strike. She's not prepared."

*

Solar had the modesty to turn a light shade of pink and pull her glove back on. She stiffened suddenly, froze where she knelt. Abruptly, the sailor threw herself onto Darien, shoving him to the ground. Pluto was doing the same to Serena. There was a nearly deafening roar as a tremendous ball of fire shot over them and blasted out the wall.

"What's going on?!" Luna shouted, looking around frantically for the source of the attack.

Solar said nothing as she went flying to one side, then was hauled to her feet by some unseen force. A man suddenly materialized behind her, muscular arm wrapped firmly around her neck in a chokehold. She screamed suddenly as a flash of light hid her from view. When the light vanished, the senshi found themselves staring at the princess of Saturn.

Her black dress had a slit up the side, and the sleeves went over her hands. They had two loops on them that went over her middle fingers. She had a ยง symbol on her forehead, dark purple, like the half-moon crescents the princess and queen of the moon had. A black choker with an amethyst stone in it lay around her neck, barely seen by the man's arm. The only white article she wore was a half-inch thick piece of white leather than encircled her head. Where Atia's hair met her face, the leather was replaced by two roses of thin, golden necklace-like chain links. Her symbol was lay in-between the chains. Rainbow-colored crystal beads ran along the leather and were placed periodically through her hair. The contraption took the place of a crown.

"Let her go!" Pluto pleaded with the man, standing and stepping in front of Serena.

"Stop it, Se, please," Atia whispered, closing her eyes and not even struggling.

The man's eyes lightened, and the dark mar on his forehead turned a lighter of shade of black. That quickly, the light vanished. "It'll take more than pretty words to stop me," he said firmly.

"Why are you doing this?" Tears welled in her eyes as she opened them. "Why?"

"You and rest of the solar system rulers betrayed me. I thought I'd repay you the favor."

"We never betrayed you. We all grieved when you left."

"Then why didn't you stop me in the Battle?" Anger warred in his tone.

"I couldn't find you. I looked everywhere for you." Atia almost looked content, even though his arm was continuing to tighten around her neck.

The man was silent for a moment. "You're not afraid of me, are you?"

"No. I'm afraid for you. Sebradon, if you don't stop now, you'll kill yourself. You'll destroy everything and everyone. All the people you know and love will be gone."

"I don't love anyone."

"Yes, you do. You love the prince and princess just like I do."

"That's enough!" He closed his eyes and shook his head. She went silent. "I came here to kill you and the others. And that's exactly what I plan to do." His arm glowed, and Atia's eyes widened. It flared in blue flame, but there was no heat. That blue flame suddenly exploded onto the princess.

Although it obviously pained her, she didn't flinch or scream. She wasn't going to let him take pleasure in her pain. The dammed up tears trickled down her face, and she made no effort to stop them.

Autumn frowned and looked over at Pluto. There was nothing the Guardian could do, and she knew it. The younger girl chewed on her lip, and a staff-like object glittered into existence in her hand. She could've easily slit the layers of place and let Atia's wolves get the man, but she didn't interfere. Not yet.

Atia's knees buckled, but Sebradon was still holding her, so she didn't fall. Her whole body went slack. The blue flames stopped. Neither man nor senshi noticed her still-open eyes. Once the flame stopped, a huge blast of black power exploded on the man, and he shouted in alarm. But he didn't let her go.

There was no expression on her face, no regret, no sorrow, no pain. No indication of the pain that surely racked her heart.

A giant explosion surrounded the man, and he stumbled backwards, releasing Atia. She staggered forwards, coughing and spitting blood from her mouth. She turned and watched him as the explosion melted away.

He was the picture of astonished pain. He stared at her incredulously.

"If there's one thing you don't do, don't underestimate me," Atia whispered, wiping a new trail of blood from her mouth.

Suddenly Serena was surrounded by a pale silver glow, then vanished, reappearing in Sebradon's grip. "Nor you me." Unlike with her, a sword appeared over the girl's chest. Serena yelped in surprise.

Atia cried out, took a step forward. The sword lowered an inch closer to her heart. "Sebradon, stop! Now you've gone too far!"

Autumn struck viciously to her left, and there was a ripping sound. Black bled through a rip where the crystal shard on her staff had pierced the air. Before Sebradon could react, two huge wolves bounded through the rip and tackled him to the ground. Serena shrieked as she was thrown into Atia, and they both went flying to the ground.

The two wolves covered the man, then went sliding backwards as he blasted them. Atia held Serena as the girl clung onto her, scared out of her wits. Sebradon glared daggers at Autumn, trying to recognize her. Her eyes were wide with disbelief and anxiety. "You. You are...you have..." He stretched an arm out towards her, and his hand glowed brilliantly. Before he could aim, a familiar object struck him in the back of the head, and he fell forward.

"Lia!" Atia shrieked. "You said-"

"I didn't know I'd feel better after a moment," Lia replied helplessly. Her glaive glowed, then vanished. She stared at Autumn with a soft smile. "Autahna."

Autumn's mind reeled. Wasn't that the word for 'Autumn' in the language of Saturn? It was. She hadn't had time to react the first time. But now she did. "Mother?"

And then she found herself in a desperate chokehold. She shrieked mightily, kicking at him. "Lemme go! You killed my mother, you killed the prince and princesses, you killed my family, you ruined my home, you destroyed my kingdom, you totally screwed up the Silver Millennium, and you broke my aunt's heart! Let me tell you, bucko, you ain't gonna destroy me!!" Surprised, Sebradon let Autumn go, and the girl whirled around in a miniature storm of hate to face him. "Why I oughta-"

Lia stared at the girl in amazement. "I'm proud to announce," Pluto said, sidling up to her, "that she's just like you."

"Hey!" Lia squealed. Suddenly she blanched before diving onto Pluto and giving a hack. "I forgot...I couldn't breathe!"

"That's something nice to forget," Pluto mocked. She was smiling.

Sebradon got over his initial shock and frowned at the girl. "You've got gall, child, I'll give you that much." Before anyone could blink he blasted her back.

"Autahna!!" Lia jumped off of Pluto and tackled Sebradon. To everyone's surprise, the angel's angry onslaught brought the man to the ground. Within seconds, though, Sebradon had everything under control again. He wrestled the woman to her feet and pinned her arms behind her back expertly.

"Temper, temper, Lia," he scolded quietly. "Just like your sister. Tales of your tempers have spread far and wide. Why, even today I am asked, 'Have you ever heard of the twin princess of a faraway place? Their wrath is so...' and then they give me one of your stories, one that I already know, because I was there." He paused and tightened the grip on Lia's arms. "You know, I thought I'd killed you the first time, but now I see that I've been mistaken." An orange diamond glittered into existence and dangled before Lia's eyes. "This is the jewel that brought you here. If I destroy it, you will no longer be able to return to Earth. It might even completely destroy you. But we don't know that, do we?"

"Lia! Sebradon, no!" Atia cried. "Do what you will with me, but leave her be! Please!"

"Atia- gah!" Lia's plead was cut off as Sebradon dragged a sword across her neck, not cutting it but something else. She'd been breathing off of his oxygen - any breathing thing she touched she could draw air from. He had just cut that ability. She coughed and gagged, trying to breathe.

"NO!" Atia raced up to her sister, putting her hands on her sister's shoulders and trying to re-establish Lia's ability. But she could not. The powers of the other side were beyond her limits. "Lia..."

"Are you sure, Atia?" Sebradon asked evenly. "Anything?"

"No..." Lia whispered, loosing the strength to cough.

"Anything! Just let her go!" Lia suddenly stumbled into Atia's arms as the enemy let her go, but Atia knew she could do nothing. Just to hold her, to know she was there, was enough. Pluto was at Atia's side instantly.

Sebradon smiled wickedly. He raised the sword and jumped, bringing it down sharply on Atia's arm. The woman cried out in surprise, her grip on Lia faltering. Pluto caught her immediately and moved the motionless angel away from harm. The man didn't seem to care and struck again at Atia, who tried to move. "Move again, my love, and I'll make sure all these senshi die, right here - right now."

"Sebradon- ah!" She flinched as the sword struck her right calf, then in the same movement buried itself shallowly into her side. Atia bowed her head. But that wasn't enough for the enemy. He raised the sword and cleaved Atia's left side deeply from the top of her dress to her hip. Atia inhaled sharply, but he wasn't done yet. Bringing his arm back, he thrust the sword deeply into her chest as a remarkable rate. It went far enough to protrude from her back. Atia screamed then, a heartfelt scream of despair.

Serbradon reached forward and caught her as she fell. Blood ran down her in raging rivers. The orange crystal appeared in front of him as picked Atia up. They vanished in a roar of flame. The moment he left, a huge crack shattered down the crystal.

"Lia!" Pluto shrieked, feeling her friend convulse. He'd lied to them. Suddenly the crystal exploded. Lia, suffocating and nearly dead again, screamed, a mirror echo of Atia's. In a brilliant flash of light, the angel of Saturn disappeared. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no....this can't be happening..."

"Oh, but it is. Beware, Pluto. You're next." Sebradon's chilling voice riveted around the room.

With a wail, Pluto collapsed to her knees. Burying her face in her hands, she exploded into sobs.