Disclaimer: I own nothing! I own nothing! (Sing along!)

A/N: Haha! Proof positive I am not, in fact dead. IssaLee, thank you for checking. This was an incredibly hectic summer. Strangely enough, I feel like now that I'm back in college, I have more time to relax! But thank the holiday that I have time to write! Anyway, special thanks go out to Lysia Croft (I love keeping you guys on edge, and that's how I think a star or planet would feel, but what do I know :-P) cardcaptor eternity (okay, her name is Inanna, she was once a star, her children were the planets orbiting around her, but she went supernova and destroyed them, does that help at all? Sorry I wasn't very clear!) IssaLee (sorry to make you wait so long! You pretty much have a grasp of what happened. I love the names I found! But be nice to poor Kaspar, he had it touch with his siblings teasing him! Their names mean: Mehrdad- Gift from the sun; Kaspar- A treasured secret; Assim- Great one; Taraneh- Song. Their names are Persian. For those of you interested, Inanna was a Sumerian goddess, and called Queen of the Heavens) Erase99 (yep, she went supernova and took out everyone, and yes, Mercury's lines were supposed to be funny. Glad they were!) evaya (keep reading! keep reading!) kuyaga (thanks for sticking with it!) bunny angel (ah! So many reviews all at once! But very sweet, thank you!) and Eme (on baited breath! Nice one! I'm glad I'm not confusing you! There are so many characters!) Wow, that was long. But here you guys go!

Kunzite almost winced in sympathy at the look of horror on Inanna's face. The former Star trembled, black eyes unfocused and collapsing inward.

"No," she whispered, shaking her head slowly. "I can't go back."

Usagi bit her lip, glancing to them for help. The others gave her encouraging nods, but Kunzite's mind turned down another path.

"Inanna, please," the princess tried. "If you don't go back, the Abyss is going to keep growing. It is going to be released on this world!"

"I DON'T CARE!"

Gasping, everyone started back in alarm. Inanna slashed out with her wicked claws, barely missing Usagi's face.

"I don't care what happens! You cannot make me go back there!"

"Actually, we can," Sailor Uranus said. "You're going back one way or another. You either walk through that portal, or I'll knock you out, tie you up, and throw you through!"

"You can try!"

"Stop it!" Usagi cried, leaping between the two. "Inanna, you have to face the Abyss. It's the only way to save our world, and you."

"How can going back into that hell save me?" Inanna screamed. "I won't go back! You have no idea how it feels in there! You don't have to listen to them screaming for you to save them! You can never understand! I've told you that since the beginning!"

"Please, Inanna—"

"NO!"

Inanna whirled, gray dress fading back to black as she prepared to run. Usagi opened her mouth to stop her, but a hand flew past her and wrapped in that long black hair.

"We are not the ones who will pay for your crimes," Kunzite said against her ear. "You will stand and face your own sins."

"Let me go!" Inanna snarled, swinging wildly with her long claws.

"I will not. I agree with the plan to truss you up and throw you back into that monster if need be. Do you understand?"

She sobbed softly. "Please…"

Kunzite lifted his other hand, and she flinched. But his touch was gentle as he caught her under her chin and forced her to look at him. "Would you curse this planet, and all that lives, and all that loves, to the Abyss?"

"Please, stop…"

"Are you so cruel, Inanna?" he whispered.

"No," she moaned. "But I am so very afraid. You can't understand. You have never killed one you love."

His pale eyes darkened, and his hand in her hair loosened. He curled his long fingers around her shoulders, and turned her until she faced him.

"So, Inanna," he smiled, "you don't know everything after all. I will tell you a story.

"A long time ago, perhaps when your children were still alive, there was a beautiful kingdom, and a beautiful Queen, who ruled this solar system from the Moon. She was kind, and gentle, and very wise. In her court there was her daughter, Princess Serenity." He nodded to Usagi, almost a bow. "And there were four other princesses, those who guarded the heir to the Silver Millenium.

"These five princesses were young and happy, and each very lovely in her own way. And like young women do, each, in time, fell in love with a man.

"Then they all died."

Again, he gently propelled her around, until now she stood staring at Venus.

"Do you see that young woman there?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"Is she not beautiful?" Kunzite murmured. "So gentle, so kind, and so very sweet."

A faint blush stole across Venus' cheeks, and her eyes shone brightly.

"Yes," Inanna said. "She is beautiful."

"I think so, too," he said. "The first time I ever saw her, I just froze for a moment. I think I even stopped breathing. Her golden hair was blowing in a breeze, and she was furious. She had such a fierce gaze, with so much heat and passion, and yet, at the same time, an amazing grace, and a certain tenderness that not even anger could chase away. She was yelling at her princess for going to a place of danger, without the least concern that, by following the princess, she had put herself in danger as well.

"I thought she was an angel."

Slowly, a tear, shining like a star, slid down Venus' cheek. She did not seem to notice, her eyes full on Kunzite.

Inanna nodded slowly. "I can see the light of her soul. It is brilliant, gold, with arching light like the flares of a star. I have seen pictures of these angels, from the minds of those I held. She… could be one."

"Do you know how she died?"

"Don't!" Venus cried. "Oh, Kunzite, don't!"

Inanna looked over her shoulder at Kunzite, surprised. "Died?"

"Hai. For this young woman, once upon a time, was the beautiful Princess of Venus. Until the man she loved killed her."

Gasping, the Star stepped out from under his hands.

Kunzite laughed weakly. "There was something that came from a dark spot on our sun, something terrible and evil. It came to Earth and twisted the minds of those foolish enough to listen. And we fools took up arms in a war that should never have been. We fought those of the White Moon, those lovely and gentle people who cared for us and protected us.

"We four, the guardians of Prince Endymion, the lovers of the four princesses of Serenity's court, broke through the gates of the Moon Palace. Each of us slew a princess, our princess, and together we allowed evil to crush the peace of the Silver Millennium. We toppled a mighty empire, and destroyed all we loved."

"Sound familiar?" Zoisite called from the back of the group.

"Actually," Jadeite added, raising his hand for attention, "there is a minor difference in our stories. You destroyed a solar system by accident. We did so on purpose."

"Sort of," Nephrite finished.

"That is what Jupiter meant, when she spoke of the fall of the one she loved," Kunzite said. "Though the gods alone know why they still love us."

"Some things defy understanding," Mars said.

Inanna laughed wildly. "Indeed! My entire existence, in fact! Why was I even created! Just to destroy my children? To mangle everything I touch!"

She spun away from Kunzite, her face flashing to a terrifying mask for a second. "NO! I am not like you! I am not one who fell under the sway of evil! I am the darkness from your sun! I am the force that destroys! You can't understand! I won't let you understand!"

"Inanna!" Usagi cried out.

But she turned, and fled into the darkness.