Woah, now, I know you guys don't remember me, but I'm back, half a year later, with the end of this story! How exciting, right?
I went on a quest to secure the rights to Sailor Moon. But as you can probably deduce, I came back empty-handed. And finished writing this story.
There's some death and violence in this chapter, but that's pretty much standard I suppose...
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Quickly, Haruka and Michiru dashed back into the ballroom to gather the other senshi. Upon arriving at the eerily calm, lethargic scene, they noticed that Makoto, Rei, Ami and Minako had all gathered, sporting identical worried expressions, but Usagi was nowhere to be found.
"She's still on the balcony with Endymion," Michiru stated as they reached the others, and Haruka nodded.
"She'll be all right for now," Haruka began. "We're out of time. We need to take action." Everyone nodded and summoned their wands, but as they geared up to transform, a loud, sonic boom filled the air, terrifying the dancing guests, and they stopped dancing in order to scream.
The ensuing wave of energy from the blast nearly knocked the civilianized senshi off their feet, and as the guests began to flee in terror, they noticed that Artemis and Luna had taken to running through the crowd, shouting for preparedness and alerting them to the situation. Civilians were stampeding towards the shelter, and amidst the pandemonium in the room, the senshi transformed.
No sooner had they finished their transformations when a gigantic pillar from outside toppled into the building, falling through the roof. The senshi leaped out of the way just in time to witness the pillar crashing into the floor with an excruciatingly loud slam.
"This is it," Mars said grimly.
"Right. Let's do this," Jupiter agreed bitterly, clenching her fists.
They were about to split apart when Queen Serenity reached them. "It's no use. They won't listen." She paused, and took in the state of the senshi. "Where's Usagi?"
At the sudden pause from the senshi, and suddenly terrified for her daughter, the Queen dashed off to locate her, ignoring Uranus and Neptune's frantic pleas for her to stick to the plan. The Queen knew she would die- she would not be without her daughter in these last moments.
Cursing, Uranus turned back to the Inners, and met each one's gaze briefly. "We need to follow the plan," she said, her tone low and serious. "We're here to do everything we can right now." As another sonic boom shook the foundation of the palace, the senshi rushed into action.
"We'll meet the troops head on," Venus started. "Don't worry." She turned to the others. "Let's go, everyone." She took off hastily, flanked by Mercury and Mars.
Uranus grabbed Jupiter's arm. "Mako…" she began. She paused, unsure of what to say, but hoping her friend would catch her message.
Jupiter smiled. "You, too." She grasped Uranus's hand gently for a moment, and then moved to catch up with her fellow senshi.
"It's just us, now," Uranus said sadly, knowing the other senshi were racing to their deaths.
"We're the only defense left," Neptune added, placing her hand on Uranus's shoulder. "We'll see them again…"
Uranus nodded, her expression hardening. "Let's catch up with the Queen."
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Outside the palace, the inner senshi were confronted with the whole of the Dark Kingdom's army, which consisted mostly of civilians that had been brainwashed and reinstructed, and daimons. Amongst the troops was a lone figure of a woman who looked to be some sort of Queen, and a gigantic, shadowy, evil mass that darkened the entire sky with its body. Its red eyes and cruel mouth smiled down at the senshi, and as they reached the front line of troops, they were each engaged by a Dark Kingdom general.
"Starting today, I will rule the entire galaxy! No one will defy me! Our beloved Metalia, this is the birth of our Dark Kingdom!" The Queen cried with glee, pointing her staff in the air, which gave off random jolts of green electric power. The shadowy figure, Metalia, laughed at the tribute, and watched, amused, as the senshi continued to fight.
They were holding their ground well, but the Queen soon grew tired of watching the brawl and waved her shaft in the air again, instructing Metalia to blast the perimeter. Seconds later, thousands of electric bolts rained down, killing the inner senshi instantly.
Uranus and Neptune had reached the balcony they had previously stood on. The balcony itself had been blown away, leaving a large jagged hole with some crumbling chunks of building before it. They witnessed the death of the inners just as they reached the outside, and, completely shocked, faltered for a moment at the massacre.
They quickly regained their composure, for they were the last line of defense for the princess and queen, and they stood in a jagged hole in the wall between the Dark Kingdom and the royal balcony. Usagi and Endymion were standing on the opposite balcony, with the Queen halfway between them and the two outer senshi.
After a quick survey, the two senshi realized the danger their Queen was in, and what they needed to do to correct it- to engage the enemy on the ground.
"Here we go," Uranus muttered darkly, and her eyes widened as she felt Neptune grab her hand gently.
"Haruka, I--"
Neptune was silenced by a quick, passionate kiss. Uranus met her blue eyes. "I know, Michiru."
They turned back to the Dark Kingdom forces, and jumped.
Landing on the ground, they were surprised to find that Endymion had moved to stand beside them.
"Those are my former generals," Endymion stated sadly, unsheathing his sword. The two senshi nodded in understanding and prepared to attack.
In an instant, they felt shards of dark energy raining down on them from the shadowy mass, and their power became slightly weaker. In that moment of hesitation, the troops and generals attacked.
At first, Uranus and Neptune were able to hold their own ground, much as the inners had done, but the sheer numbers of the Dark Kingdom were slowly but surely prevailing. In a last desperate attempt, the two leaped to reach the Dark Kingdom Queen, but were instantly met by two of the generals.
"Good work, Nephrite, Kunzite," The Queen cackled as the two generals advanced on the two Outer senshi. "I have other matters to attend to," she muttered, and disappeared.
"Your attempt was brave, but very foolish," the auburn-haired general, Nephrite, complimented as he unsheathed his sword and beckoned to Uranus.
"But no one will ever stop Queen Beryl," Kunzite, the remaining general, finished. He gestured to the balcony where Queen Beryl had suddenly rematerialized, poised to attack an unprotected Usagi.
"NO!" Uranus and Neptune both shouted in fear, and moved as if to jump in the way. In that moment, the two generals took their chance to strike.
Nephrite charged Uranus, his sword barely missing her on his first swing. Uranus, weaponless, slashed at Nephrite, her sword materializing in her hand as she did so. Nephrite dodged, and the two continued to sword fight.
At the same time, Kunzite had unleashed his twin pink energy sabers on Neptune, who had done a good job of avoiding and deflecting them with her mirror. They seemed evenly matched, but Neptune still had her planetary powers to use, and waited for an opening to do so.
Uranus could hear the exhange of dialogue between Queen Beryl and Endymion, who had rushed to stop the Dark Kingdom Queen's advance. The insults to the Princess angered her, and she knew that Nephrite was only minutes away from being defeated.
Nephrite knew this, too, but he would not be overcome so easily. He signaled for some spare daimons to rush forward, and within moments Uranus was overrun. Nephrite used the distraction to land a blow to Uranus's head with the pommel of his sword. Staggering from the blow, she struggled to regain her footing but gasped when Nephrite's sword cut into her upper chest, barely missing her heart. She lost her breath as the general planted his foot on her diaphragm and kicked her off of his sword, pushing her back to land on her back, knocking even more air from her. She cringed in agony as she took a painful breath, coughing from the blood seeping into her lungs.
Laughing, Nephrite leaned down close. "No one can defeat the Dark Kingdom," he stated, then stood and, as an afterthought, spit on the fallen senshi. Uranus, choking but concentrating solely on breathing, listened to the sound of debris crunching under Nephrite's boots growing fainter and struggled to stay alive.
Neptune was not immune to Uranus's pain, and the depth of their bond forced some slight agony on the water senshi as well. She had already felt herself starting to slip as Kunzite had employed the same tactics Nephrite had used to overcome her partner, but with the addition of Uranus's anguish she braced herself for her own demise.
It came quickly, for Kunzite did not wait for the daimons to overcome her. He charged with them, and she felt one of his energy sabers stab into her bare thigh. Crying out and losing her balance, she tried to avoid his second saber, but was unsuccessful- it connected with her back ribs, effectively spearing her kidney. She fell forward onto her stomach, clenching her teeth to keep from screaming.
Kunzite laughed triumphantly and placed his foot on Neptune's face. "Such a shame a pretty thing like you had to die," he said, amused. He caught Nephrite's eye, who shook his head and rolled his eyes at him, then walked away. "But the Dark Kingdom never loses." Kunzite grinned and followed after his comrade, leaving Neptune suffering on the ground.
She could hear troops running past them. She could also see Uranus a few feet away, her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling unsteadily. She wanted to call out to her, but felt like she had no strength left.
A sudden, piercing sound caught both of the dying senshi's attention, and in the distance they could see Endymion and Princess Serenity floating lifelessly near the balcony.
Queen Serenity's anguished cry of her daughter's name reached their ears and in that moment, they knew it was over. Not even the princess remained.
Uranus felt a tear streak from her eye but she was still unable to move. Her head dropped to the side and her eyes caught Neptune's blue ones, also filled with tears. Her heart began to ache even more at the sight. She wished she could do something, anything, to ease her partner's pain, but she could only lay there in silent agony.
Around them the environment began to change. Smoke was swirling around into the air. Pieces of buildings were being sucked into the vortex created by Metalia, only to fall back towards the moon a few yards away.
Loud, piercing laughter began to reverberate from Metalia, echoing across the entire moon. "She's dead! The moon princess is dead!" Queen Beryl screamed ecstatically, laughing maniacally with the evil mass above.
It sent chills through the two senshi, so much so that they almost didn't notice that their powers were slowly drifting from them to another, stronger point. All of a sudden, Luna's clear voice reached them.
"Queen Serenity, if you use the Silver Crystal, your life…"
"My life is nothing compared to peace in our galaxy," The Queen replied in a strong, determined voice. She raised the crystal into the air and rays of silver light began to depart from it, shooting straight for Metalia's dark form.
As the Dark Kingdom's forces were destroyed by Queen Serenity's own life energy, Uranus and Neptune felt their bodies suddenly being drained of pain. Around them the environment was changing again, the Dark Kingdom troops were being shredded by silver beams, and everything became sucked into the vortex created by the silver crystal to be sealed away, except for the lifeless bodies of their fellow senshi. The atmosphere had a calm pinkish-silver glow.
Knowledge suddenly appeared in their heads; they now realized what was happening, how they would be reborn, and they locked eyes, scared of finding each other in their next life.
"Haruka," Neptune called softly, reaching her hand towards the senshi of the wind.
Uranus caught her hand immediately. "Yes?"
"Will I… ever…"
Uranus squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Yes." She smiled faintly. "Don't worry. We'll find each other." She paused. "I love you, Michiru."
Michiru smiled back. "I love you, Haruka."
"Until we meet again…"
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Queen Serenity watched as the senshi, encased in protective bubbles, floated to Earth to be reborn.
"Serenity and all of our sailor warriors, may your love be fulfilled in a future on Earth… and in the future on Earth… please live happy lives."
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Aww… See, not too sad is it? :X
Hold on, we've got one more chapter to go… the epilogue is super short so I went ahead and posted it, too. You can thank me later. ;)
Also, I had originally planned to write what Queen Serenity shouted when she held up the moon crystal to destroy Metalia and the others, but I just couldn't bring myself to put "MOON HEALING ESCALATION" in my story. I'm sorry. :(
Haha. ;)