Chapter 2 Part One

A Web of Sunset and Shadow

It would have been a lovely night, if not for the screams. There was a cool breeze, enough to stir the hair, or send the leaves of plants to rustling. If you looked to the sky, your eyes would meet with the starry heavens, the thick curve of the white swirled Earth hanging heavily in its mantle. But this night was a fated night, and the screams were accompanied by theclangor of battle. Outside the palace walls, great winged starships were landing, one by one, their sails furling as they settled into the moondust. Serena watched all this in a distant stated, floating high above the clashing of palace guards and soldiers of Earth. Her feet were cold, and the nightgown rippled in the faint breeze, catching at her unbound hair. The sick feeling in her stomach was from recognition. This was, after all, the last battle the Silver Millennium of the past would ever see. The fragmented memories she held showed her what happened . . . and still to see it before her eyes brought fresher tears.

"Darien?"
The word brought a change in her location, her feet touching the bare cobblestones of a courtyard. It was decorated prettily, with heavy marble pots. Silver roses grew from them, and the shadows cut by the earthlight did not seem to make them fade. There were doors, locked, that circled the round, empty space, set between columns that arched into a solar above. Serena turned when she heard hard breathing and the sound of footsteps. Running footsteps.
"Here . . . Endymion, here!" There was a darkness around the edges of her vision and a dizziness. That was her own voice.
"We can get to a ship . . . get away . . . ." Out through the empty archway, Serena
witnessed herself emerge, her white gown flying alongside Endymion's dark cloak. "This one . . . you can pilot, can't you?"
"If I know the system . . . ." The Prince of Earth and the Princess of the Moon began to fumble with the doorknob. "It's locked."
"No! It can't be locked, it's never locked!" Serenity was near to hysterical, her voice ending in sobs. "It's never locked . . . ."
The royal pair twisted at the door, Endymion throwing his weight against it in a futile attempt. As he began to reach for his sword, to hack the knob off, Serena became aware of another presence in the room. There was a girl there, a young woman. She was tall, muscular in a lean way, and though not lovely, striking. The hair down her back was black and wavy, and Serena recognized her as the girl who had first appeared in the mirror not so very long ago. She held in her hand a sword, finely wrought. There was wet blood on it.

"Endymion."
Serena watched the past shadow of herself and Endymion stop struggling, to turn and face their enemy.
"Murderer," the stranger continued, her eyes growing harder as she saw Endymion place his arm around Serenity. To protect her, of course.
"You can call me that," Endymion said in disbelief, "after what you've done?"
Several reactions flickered dangerously across the face of the woman. Serena felt her confusion from where she stood. She saw it clearly on the woman's face, and within the piercing pain of the moment, felt pity for her. The expressions were fear, hope, guilt, remorse, love . . . and finally hate. Her eyes became ice, and Serena felt a familiar, evil presence, the aura of the
long dead Metallia.
"Endymion. Die."
Serena saw herself gasp, a hand clutching the sleeve of her love. But it didn't seem to matter to Endymion. He stepped forward anyway, and Serena could not prevent herself from trying to move forward, to come between them, to stop this insane dream. Insane nightmare. Before she had moved forward more than a pace, she found an arm blocking her movement, outstretched and barring her path. Serena looked to see the stranger from the mirror, her own
reflection, who was looking away and frowning.
The opponents faced each other, bowing politely. It seemed ludicrous to Serena, but no stranger than, perhaps, announcing that she would punish villains in the name of a lost civilization. Then the battle began, the clang of metal against metal, slashing and stabbing violently against each other. She saw her own form, huddled against the door, too terrified to put a stop to the oncoming end. Endymion, for all his skill, was tiring, and the woman . . . the woman danced, her body beautiful in the deadliness of it. She stabbed, and Serenity screamed as it cut too closely, the sound echoed by Serena, still held back by the barring arm.
"Why?" The woman demanded, sword arching forward again.
"I love her."
The sound was pitiful when she asked, "Why?"
"How can one explain why?" And that was true. What list of qualifications could one give? Was love a market, to be bought and sold?
"Is it because she's beautiful?" The woman was twirling now, her feet flying in circles as Endymion's grew stilled. "I may not be beautiful, but I'm strong! I would have done everything she would have for you! I would have been just as good a wife!" The final words were torn from her throat, as though they were a plea. But the impact of the words caused Endymion to
freeze, their implications settling into his mind. She, though, did not hesitate, and the dance ended as her blade struck deep. He gasped at the impact, and Serena heard screams echo in the place, one from Serenity, one from the woman, and one from herself. And it was that, in
the end, that broke the spell over the Princess of the Moon, and she pushed herself from the comfort of the door, falling to grab him as he slid back off the sword, catching him as he fell. Blood pooled from Endymion's chest, painting the whiteness of Serenity's gown, dyeing it scarlet.

"Endymion, my love," the words of the girl whispered into the silence as she touched his face, closing his startled eyes. The light shed from the Earth was very bright there, and Serena watched herself tilt her head, eyes settling on Endymion's dropped sword.
"I loved him, too," the stranger informed Serenity. It was her reason, not her excuse. Serenity, who could always seem to see into the heart of a person, smiled gently as she decided her course of action.
"I know," the Princess told her, and then pointed Endymion's blade at her own belly. Within a moment, the blade was cutting into her, and her own blood mingled with that of her Prince.
From there, time halted.
The look of surprise on Serenity's gentle face. The empty eyes of the woman, and how her sword slipped from numbed fingers to the ground.

"Pretty violent, aren't they?" Serena told herself, the reflection in her school uniform dropping her arm, then examining her manicure with distant interest. "Not exactly kiddie fare, is it?" She yawned, then clasped her hands together dramatically. "Romeo, O Romeo, what happens when the Juliet is a wimp?"
Serena could only watch herself, the expression of loss and surprise that was written on her past self's features. "That was . . . " Serena looked to the stranger, the empty eyes, so void of emotion. "Beryl, wasn't it?"
"Brilliant!" Serena staggered when she was slapped extremely hard on her back. "So brilliant! You should use those brain cells on your tests, Serena!" The laughter should have been harsh, but it was identical to Serena's own, the reflection being her twin. "Then again, you don't remember everything about the past, do you? Just that Princess Beryl here decided she wanted your precious loverboy, and ended up killing him. Shame, isn't it? That she had to die?" The reflection moved herself to stand beside the statue of Beryl, peering up into her face, then tapping her on the head with her knuckles, giggling when the frozen memory did not move. Serena gathered up her wits. Memories, clear, fresh ones of her life, came flooding in. Beryl sending the Generals after her and her scouts. One by one, defeating them. One by one, dying. Until the four were gone, and Beryl at last had her Darien, under spell and made her enemy. Then Beryl herself had appeared. There had been no hesitation then. No looks of remorse when she had tried to kill Sailor Moon. Serena pulled herself upright, chin
in the air.

"Beryl was evil."
The reflection glanced up from making silly faces at Beryl. An eyebrow arched. "Evil? Really? Quite a statement for one who doesn't even remember all this that clearly."
That unnerved Serena. She remembered this . . . but it was fragmented, the shards of a broken kaleidoscope, the memories of a dream. "Beryl was evil," she repeated, though not so sure this time.
"Mm. So," the reflection hesitated, looking as though she were concentrating very hard, "let me get this straight. Out of pretty much nowhere, Beryl here, who always looked exactly like she did in your time, popped out of the thin air. Then, she proceeded to brainwash Endymion's guardians, who were considered strong enough to protect him. When she was
ready, poof!" Her fingers snapped as she walked around, near to laughter, a fake smile and wave. "Poof! 'Hello, my name is Queen Beryl, and I'm here to take over your planet today,'" the shadow version of Serena broke out into laughter as she faced her nightgowned counterpart. "Goes pretty well right along with, 'Would you like fries with that?'"
Serena could only look at the three figures that lay in the dimmed pool of light. "She tried to kill us."
"Mm, yeah. So? You think everything is that easy? That there's good, there's evil, and one will win out? Tch," fingers waved dismissively at the sound. "Please. Don't be as naive as you usually are, Serena. If you think you're going to be a Queen someday, you need to understand the shades of grey. And believe me. There are a lot of them."
Hearing the off hand way it was said, Serena looked at the reflection of herself. "The Silver Millennium will be a time of peace . . . ."
"Oh really?" Eyebrows lifted, she shook her head. "And at the price of what? How will you maintain rule? Force? Love and friendship? So long as someone out there wants to kick the crap out of their neighbors, there's going to be fighting. Take a look."
The world shifted, and the Earth filled Serena's eyes, the beautiful blue and green orb where white clouds swirled in the sky. The sun glowed brightly behind it, and in a great distance, shining planets circled. "How many billion people on your world? What's a good number? A billion? Oh, wait, you passed that. Six billion? Seven? Eight? All of them working
for love and friendship. Won't it be grand? Good thing, that Crystal of yours. Nice, snap ending to it all. What happens to a world without that? Do they just keep ruining their planet?"
From her vantage point, many images came into view. Crowded cities, corrupted people, hate and lies and pollution in the air and water, ruining the earth, the soil.
"What happens when too many people compete for not enough resources? Lucky,lucky you, being able to use your pretty Crystal. Clean it all up, real nice. It'll all work out real well, won't it? The perfection of your future, Rabbit of the Moon?"
Serena felt . . . a little doubt creep in.

NOTE: Sry about the wait for the update, i've been having some family problems and personal issues going on, i'm sry, it's short, i do have it finished i'm just putting it up sporatically, tell me what you think.