A/N: Hi everyone, I'm back after what seems like an eternity. I'm so sorry, but life intervined. Not only was I struck by a severe case of writers block, but my computer crashed on me (and I was almost done this chapter) when I lost everything... just imagine my rage! And then I just started College, so I had to concentriate on that for a little while. Anyway, thanks for everyone who has reviewed so far, I love you all so much!

So, I'm forseeing maybe two more chapters left in this story. I'm thinking the conclusion, and then maybe (if I'm feeling generous) an epiloge... but I'm not sure. Don't quote me on it. If anyone has comments, or has thoughts on what should happen next, please, email me or write a review! Thanks!

I don't own Sailor Moon...only the plot of this story. And my evil bad guy...and my warrior chick...thats it...I think...

The Darkest Hour

Serena wasted no time in chasing after Dirks, easily blasting away weaker demon monsters with her purifying moon aura as she ran. She couldn't believe that Dirks was here, that he would actually be swayed to the dark, evil side. She thought that he would be stronger than that. She would purify him, make him whole again, she promised herself.

She finally caught sight of him in front of two large metal doors, alone, with a completely empty, emotionless expression on his face. She stopped running when she was about a meter away from him. She looked into his eyes, and nearly let out a cry of despair when she saw the emptiness behind them. It was as if his entire soul had been sucked out of him. As if he were just a container, a zombie, used as a tool in a vicious game of war and hate. His face was pale and gaunt, with huge blue bags under his eyes. His powerful body was hunched into a relaxed position. "Dirks, are you still in there?" she asked, reaching out with her aura.

A barrier stopped her. "I have no name. I am here to serve my lord. That is all." Dirks' voice spoke tonelessly. "You must return to your cell."

Serena shook her head and held up a hand, "I hate to do this to you, but I have no time to waste on you." she whispered and forced a powerful stream of her pure energy out of her hand and hurled it towards her old friend, just like Jadeite had showed her how to do. Dirks crumbled to the ground in a heap, and for a moment, Serena was scared that she had killed him.

She went to go check on him, but a scream came from behind the closed metal doors and Serena was thrown into full panic mode yet once again. She kicked open the metal doors and loudly announced her presence with an earth shattering scream of her own.

Hotaru laid strapped to a wall, while a really old, wrinkly, naked man stood in front of her.

:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":"":":":":":":":":":

Cillian sighed and paced inside of the holding celling that held the men. "Look, if you would just tell me which one of you is really the ruler of Earth, we could work out some sort of agreement." she growled, very quickly loosing temper with these stupid males. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at each of the silent men.

None of them would speak to her. Infact, none of them would speak at all. It was quite irritating when she was trying to gather information that would help her people. She then decided to do it the old fashioned way. She looked to each male. She locked eyes with the young one first. Jadeite was his name, and he appeared easy enough to manipulate.

She walked over to him and very gently ran a finger along the side of his cheek, "Are you the ruler of Earth, young one? Could you be the King?" she whispered and leaned closer when she saw his eyes flash with instant lust. "Or could you point me in the right direction?" she asked, very gently biting the bare skin at his neck.

"Jadeite, if you say a word, I'll kill you myself." a white haired man asked, apparently the leader.

Jadeite shook his head, as if to clear himself of all thoughts of her and then stared hard back at Cillian. It was obvious the young one wouldn't give her any information now that he was on guard. "Go to hell bitch." he growled and lowered his eyes.

Cillian rolled her eyes, as if comments like that could possibly hurt her. "Look, I just want some information. I don't want anymore killing, no more deaths."

Darien frowned and sighed. He didn't like it, but the feeling deep within his gut was telling him to trust this woman. She didn't seem evil, she didn't even have an evil aura surrounding her. Her eyes only held desperation and determination. "I am the one you seek." he murmured, holding his head high, meeting the woman's piercing gaze with his own. "Release me from these shackles and talk to me like a normal human being." he demanded.

Cillian graced him with a small smile and with a wave of her hand, the chains that bound him dissapeard and he was able to move away from the wall. She gave him a small bow of respect before speaking. "King Darien," she started as she watched him stretch out his arm and back muscles, "my name is Lady Cillian, and I come from a world that is many light-years away from here."

Darien nodded, "Can't say its been a pleasure so far, Lady Cillian, but please, do continue on."

"I've only just now decided that I should talk to you. My people are slowly dying. Our planet is dying, and it is taking my people along with it. I need to move them to a different planet. My master found my band of warriors and me travelling through this galaxy, and told us of Earth. Told us of its abundance of resources and space." she started to explain to the King of Earth. "It had been my first thought to come to you, like I had to the other Kings and Queens of their respective planets, and ask them... no beg them to let my people live on their planet. But my Master, he said that that wouldn't work. No Ruler in their right mind would let another planets people live on his/her own. He told me to take the planet by force. To kill everyone who would oppose me." She watched the Kings face, trying to figure out how he felt about the information he was telling her, but he was like a closed book. Nothing was coming out of him for her to read. "I refused to kill everyone. Don't get me wrong, I thought about it, but I refused it. I would be no better than the warriors who attacked my planet. So he told me to take out the planet's protectors. The planet would then submit to us.

I'm desperate, My Lord. Very desperate, as well are my warriors. We all have children that we left behind in order to try and secure them a safe future. I'm begging you now, please, help me out here. Just promise me you'll help my people out, and I will release your warriors." she promised him.

Darien thought about it for a half a second before finally deciding. "Very well, Lady Cillian. But we will do this on my terms."

:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":"

Serena didn't know whether to scream with Hotaru, or laugh hysterically, but she did know that the sight of the naked old man would haunt her worst nightmares for years to come. When the old man turned around to face her, however, Serena broke out in laughter and nearly doubled over with the force of it.

When she was finished, Serena straightened up and wiped at the tears in her eyes. The old man had finally put on a black robe, and Serena couldn't resist the urge to tease him. "Thank you for finally putting on some clothes!"

The old man growled at her, even as his face lit up with embarrassment. "You can have your turn after, the young Princess here." he promised Serena, an evil looking grin appearing on his wrinkly face. He grabbed his powerful, long, wooden staff and held it at his side.

Energy started to pour off of him in waves, heavy waves of pure evil. Serena fought back by allowing her pure energy to stop the old man's evil energy from touching her. She looked at the staff the old man held, it appeared to be as old and wrinkled as he was, but it was clear that he had most of his magical energy stored into the staff. "In your dreams, sicko!" Serena yelled, unsuccessfully trying to suppress shivers of revoltment. "Who are you and what are you doing attacking us?"

"My name is Cian Kyahon, Master of Darkness, Keeper of the Staff of Destruction. I am here to destroy you and your pitiful planet." the old man replied with a stiff bow. "I guess I can start by killing you."

Cian didn't waste anytime. He held out his hand, palm towards Serena, and shot a powerful burst of pure, raw negative energy at her. "Now die!" he screamed.

Serena held out her own hand and forced her own energy to create a barrier around her, to try and deflect the attack. It didn't work, the force alone smashed Serena into the metal wall beside the door. Her energy only stopped her body from obtaining major injury. "Damn," Serena coughed and gingerly pulled her body away from the wall, only to drop to her knees. The world swam around her, and she hurt more than she cared to admit. "Is that all you have?" Serena asked Cian.

Cian was suprised that the young woman was still alive. It wasn't suprising though, she seemed so powerful. Everything from her stance to the way she spoke screamed power. She was a beautiful woman. Tall, beautiful long legs, the perfect face, the long blond hair. She was beautiful. She would make for the perfect Queen to his empire of destruction. Too bad she had to die. ''Still alive, wench? Want to give up yet?"

"Never, it'll take a lot more than some parlour trick to keep me down." she growled, and forced herself to her feet. She quickly transformed into Sailor Moon and held her own staff at her feet. "My turn."

Serena focused the energy surrounding her into the staff and let it all fly at the old man. Her purifying ball of moon energy flew at the man faster than the speed of light, but was quickly dissipated by a counter attack from the old man's staff. "No way you could have stopped that!" Serena spoke in stunned disbelief.

"You don't stand a chance," Cian grinned and pointed his staff at Serena yet once again, "'Twas a pleasure meeting you, Princess." he said mockingly as dark, evil power shot out of the staff and into Serena's battered body once again.

Serena could feel the world twirl around her even as the dark fuzzy spots forced their way to block her vision. She never felt the impact of her body hitting the metal, never felt the huge hole that blasted through her right shoulder. She could hear screaming though. Whether it was her own, or her friends, she couldn't be sure... the screaming was fading much to fast for her to pin point. And then she was caught in the comforting net of darkness, the unconciessness of her mind. Or perhaps death?

:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":"

Cillian tuned the King of Earth out the moment she felt a spike in her masters powers. He was using a huge amount of energy to kill someone. What would cause him to do that? What he in danger? Who would dare attack him? She felt the calling of her master energy and she was obliged to follow. The energy Cian had infused within her was his own. Of course it would want to go back to him when he needed it. "Damnit, not now." she growled and threw open the dungeon door.

She ran down the hallway straight to her masters chambers, her own warriors, along with the King and his own followed in suite. She was suprised to see Dirks on laying on the floor in front of her masters chambers...passed out or dead, she didn't know. Cian's heavy metal doors were open and Cillian looked inside. Her master stood in the middle of the room, his staff by his side. One young teenage girl was strapped to the wall, unconciess. And to the opposite wall of the teenage girl, lay the powerful girl Cillian had fought with earlier. Her body was firmly indented into the wall, blood poured freely from the wound in her chest, and she appeared to be dead.

She heard the cries of the young woman's' warriors behind her. Serena was her name. The Princess of the Moon. Shit.

"My Lord, what has happened here? Why is this girl dead? That wasn't part of the plan!" she growled, and started towards the blonde girl, wearing her boyfriends overly large dress shirt and a pair of jeans, who was firmly in the wall.

"Don't go near her, Lady Cillian, it would be a shame if I had to kill you too." her master spoke softly, energy gathering to the point of his staff. He turned to the group of warriors pouring into his private chambers. "You all will die!" he snarled and let the staff shoot a powerful beam of negative energy at the warriors.

Darien stood at the head of the group of warriors and quickly used his energy as a defence shield against the attack. Kunzite stood loyally at his side in an instant, adding his power to his friends power. Nephrite was next. Zoisite and Jadeite took up the lead, pouring their energies into the energy shield that would protect both them, the scouts, and the warriors that followed Lady Cillian.

Cillian realised Cian's attack for what it was. A betrayal. He used her, and he tried to kill her warriors. Yelling in rage, Cillian charged her Master, fully intending to kill the old bastard. She was barely three feet away from him when she hit his own energy shield and she went flying into the wall beside Serena. She growled and pushed away from the wall, intent on her target. The same attack used on Serena slammed into Cillian warrior body and sent her crashing into the metal wall.

"You're time is up bitch." the old man spoke darkly and turned his attention to the others. "So is yours." he growled.

It was all Darien could do to not rush over to Serena's side, to make sure she was alright. But he couldn't. He had to see to this problem first. This old man was endangering his planets future, his friends' futures. He would put a stop to that as quickly as he could.

"Alright guys, we need to take him on at once. My power alone can not defeat him. But maybe if we all use ours at the same time." he suggested to his Generals, even as he transformed into his Tuxedo Mask outfit.

Kunzite nodded in agreement, "I agree. Men, lets take care of this. In our Princess's name." he growled, his eyes darkening as he glanced over at the battered and bruised body of his future Queen. Someone would pay for this. Oh yes, someone would.

Darien glanced quickly at his trusted friends and got ready to charge their enemy.

"We're with you." a man growled from behind the group and Darien looked back to see all of Lady Cillian's warriors behind him, ready for battle.

Darien nodded and gathered all of his energy. He focused them quickly, along with his mind, and with one final glance at his Princess he led the charge against his enemy.

With all the warriors charging as one, Cian couldn't stop their attack, and was blasted out of his own chambers, out of his own ship into the open. His ship was tucked away in a mountain side, located just inside of Canada, and his body was sent flying into hard rock and stone.

Everyone one worked together, as a team, as a unit to try and destroy Cian. Attacks from the Generals were mixed together with attacks from the Sailor Scouts and Lady Cillian's warriors. The amazing amount of power that was used in concentrated attacks against the evil old man was awe inspiring. But they didn't see what he was doing in their rage to get revenge.

He was using his energy, his power, combined with the power of the staff to shield himself from the attacks. Sure he took a couple good hits, but his goal was to stay alive while wearing the warriors down. Let them waste their energy while he continued to use only what he needed to stay safe. Then he would attack. And he would kill them.

It didn't take long before the warriors where starting to slow down, their energies draining. A half hour was their limit. Sensing their decline in powers, Cian started his attack. Taking out the weakest first, while letting the stronger ones use more of their energy in fighting back. And when it was only Darien and Cian standing, Cian gave Darien a triumphant grin and shot Darien with the power of the staff.

It was over.

:":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":":