- Prologue -
The Coming of Shadow

The past can change the future
But not many know
That the future can change the past
- The Prophecy of Ages

"Mama!"

Small Lady ran through the hallways of her home, the Crystal Palace, frantic and doused with cold sweat.

Frigid darkness followed her every step, threatening to swallow her in it's fatal grasp.

Her guardian Senshi were nowhere to be found, and her only hope was with her mother.

"Mama! Where are you?" she called into the emptiness, but there was no reply.

A tear fell down her cheek and silently fell on her bodice, leaving a spot on the pale pink material, but she didn't care. She wanted Mama.

With Mama, she could be safe. Mama could do anything.

The entrance to the queen's chamber soon came into sight, and Small Lady's heart leapt with hope. If she was anywhere, she would be

here.

Bursting open the doors, she quickly flew inside and slammed them behind her, hopefully trapping the vile creature behind it, if only for a

short while.

"Mama! Are you in here?" she called, whipping her head around frantically. "Where are you?"

"Small Lady, I'm right here," said the warm, familiar voice. "Out on the balcony,"

Small Lady gladly ran across the spacious room and onto the platform, where her mother was sitting on the rail, looking out onto the

fading sky.

"Mama!" called Small Lady. "What's going on? What's that black thing? I'm so scared, Mama!"

But the queen did not answer, instead continuing to stare into the void of the purple sky.

"Mama!" Small Lady called again, tugging on her mother's sleeve. "What's going on? Where are the Senshi? Mama, I'm scared..."

The queen delicately removed her hand from her lap and held Small Lady's, who quieted herself.

"Chaos," she said softly, and gripped Small Lady's hand tighter.

"What?" said Small Lady. "Chaos? Is that what that shadow thing is?"

The queen nodded, and Small Lady could see a tear fall down her cheek, glistening like a star in the heavens.

"You would not know of...Chaos," she said, wiping the tear. "He is the source of all evil, Small Lady. I defeated him as Sailor Moon long

ago, but..."

She trailed off, and looked at Small Lady, her eyes glistening with tears.

"...evil can never truly be killed," she concluded, and stared into the sky again. "Small Lady, our world is dying,"

"Dying...!" Small Lady gasped, and looked at her mother with fear. "Mama, what are we going to do? What's going to happen to us?"

The queen gave a gentle smile and stood up.

"We must be brave, Small Lady, and accept our end. Our hope lies in the Sailor Crystals,"

"Sailor...Crystals?" said Small Lady confusedly, following her mother as she glided back into her chamber. "What are those?"

"The life-force of the Senshi," the queen replied, standing at her vanity and taking off her crown, thinking of a pink-haired young woman

who had died in her arms long ago, begging for rebirth. "Senshi can never die, as long as there are the Sailor Crystals. They will be reborn

over and over again. Such is the fate of the people of the Silver Millenium,"

Smoothing her hair, the queen walked to the door and glared at what was behind.

"I was foolish and arrogant to believe that Chaos would never return," she said, narrowing her eyes. "and now I must confront what I

have feared for so long. Why must so many lives be lost? My dear Endymion..."

"Papa?" gasped Small Lady. "Papa's...gone...?"

The queen nodded.

"Yes. Endymion has indeed fallen to Chaos, as well as the other Senshi, and since Pluto is gone, we cannot escape to the past..."

Small Lady looked at her mother as tears of grief for her father fell onto her skirt, adding to the multitude of dark spots staining her dress.

"Travel...to the...past?" she hiccuped. "What do you mean? Who's Pluto?"

The queen sighed and bent down on one knee, stroking away Small Lady's tears.

"There is much you do not know, Small Lady," she cooed. "Things you once knew, that I was foolish to hide. Get behind me,"

Straightening, the queen confronted the door again, which was shaking violently and leaking dark energy at it's cracks, as Small Lady

stood behind her, her slender hands tightly gripping her mother's skirt.

"We must trust in the power of the Sailor Crystals and the Prophecy of Ages, my child," she said, and closed her eyes, grasping her

scepter and praying. "Let us return to the past, where a new future can be born, free of this suffering and strife,"

Opening her eyes, she reached forward and began to open the door. Small Lady closed her eyes tightly, clutching her mother's shoulder

and silently crying as the door opened, and felt her life end as they were swallowed by the deadly shadow that was Chaos.

- Next -
The Separation