Minako and Artemis were traveling through space from the Moon to Venus. He held her hand in his. His grip on hers tightened when he saw it- a dark purple cloud bubbling over Capitol City. The closer they got, the larger it seemed to grow.

Minako prayed, closed her eyes, and told herself that a great explanation was awaiting their arrival but her heart told her otherwise.

When they finally materialized on her planet, it hardly looked like the home she had been hoping for. It was cold and haphazardly abandoned.

She and Artemis landed delicately in the transportation room, empty of any human life. As they appeared, the sounds of what was happening outside began to fill their ears. The clang of metal swords on shields, the dark wind at blistering speeds blasted across her land, and the rushing oceanic sound of the warriors screaming their resolve made her deaf to any other senses.

Decidedly, she went to the window with Artemis still at her side.

Her heart absolutely dropped into her stomach. There, as far as the land stretched out before them, was a war. Venus had never seen one before in her current lifetime but she had read about them. She remembered reading all about the tremors of the ground and the smell of blood. However, at this moment she felt if a person had never seen one with their own two eyes, they could not possibly imagine it.

There were bodies everywhere. Some were dead and lain strewn across the dusty landscape. Some were alive and fighting- swinging great weapons over their heads thrusting them here and there. Some were dressed in her own uniforms- orange and white now musty with the rust colored dirt that was her mother planet. The other half were dressed in the colors of the Earth- or something more wicked. Their faces were dark and heavy with an evil purpose.

"Princess! Get away from there!" Into the silent room approached a somewhat elderly woman who was short and fat dressed in maid's clothes.

"Lady Bea!" Venus recognized her as one of her most loyal servants. In a flash she also remembered that the last time this woman had this kind of desperation in her voice- she was standing on the other side of her bedroom door informing Venus of an intruder on their land. That was a little more than a year ago. "What happened here?"

"My princess, you must return to the Moon."

"I will not! You must tell me who these men are! They look like they are from the general army of Earth but that can't be so." The stream of voices from outside laced their dialogue and annoyed her ears that she was not fighting with them at this moment.

"My lady…" She hesitated, gripping the edge of her tattered apron. "It's Earth…"

"Lead by who?" She demanded.

Still the woman said nothing but her eyes started to water. Venus shouted and the battle outside seemed to quiet in fear.

"Who leads them!?" The little woman opened her mouth. She could not have possibly known how Venus felt about what she was going to say but she did know it was bad. Only Artemis, in that moment, could see what really made his princess stagger backwards as the words came from the simple servant.

"General Kunzite."

"….Kunzite?"

"He lead a great army on us." At Venus's silence the woman began to run on with all the information she had. From topic to topic going over disaster stories one after another. Earth had been taking out little towns all over the planet for weeks now. Some quietly and some publicly, displays of horror on their battle front to prove that there would be no mercy. It wasn't until this dawning that the biggest army had come upon the main city where a majority of women and children were being held. It seemed they knew exactly where to find them and it wasn't until the great general Kunzite had head up the march today did they know why. This afternoon, the battle, while at its most ferocious, was certainly coming to an end.

All this she said but Venus could tell there was one last piece of information Bea was not sharing.

"Please," Lady Bea begged, "go back to the Moon. Leave us here-"

"I am the Princess of Venus and I will protect this mother planet in the name of-"

"You don't understand!" The maid's gritty plump hands gripped Venus's bare arms. Her aged blue eyes bore deep into Minako. She pursed her lips, wilted.

"Princess, they are attacking the Moon."

"What?" Artemis to her side voiced her thoughts in a breathless stutter. "When?"

Her lip trembled. "Now. I overheard them say that they will arrive in at most ten minutes. And they don't yet know it's coming." A pause fell before suddenly the room around them began to fervently shake. Something had hit the castle. Debris clattered around them- the sounds of war becoming clearer but the word that came from Bea's mouth was very lucid.

"Go." A great explosion burst from just outside a door to the left making all three of them drop to the floor to cover their faces. A bomb gone off? Or was the Earth simply throwing things at their great walls large enough to make it crumble?

Bea stood wearily but with as much conviction as she could gather. Her fists curled in defiance.

While she stared at her face, Venus knew Lady Bea was right- her duty called her to the Moon. But she couldn't ignore her children and let them face Kunzite and the Earth's armies alone. However, this old woman, so full of life, was ready to throw herself into danger so Venus could leave without needing to worry.

The confusion gripped her heart in a fiery fist. She shook her head and stamped her foot as she stood up. "Stop! This is crazy! Let me protect you!"

Slowly, the woman in the dog-eared apron beamed up into her Princess's face as she said in old Venusiun, "We believe in you." She dropped her hands and began to run into the next room where the bomb had gone off, the flames just beyond still thrashing around.

"NO!" Minako reached a hand out to stop her in desperation but in the moment the door closed behind her, it seemed to collapse on itself as an enormous pillar fell through the roof and crashed into the wall blocking Venus's view. Beyond that point, she knew that no one would ever return.

Another booming sound yanked Venus out of the distraction of despair. She hit the floor with both hands and called out-

"Artemis!"

"Minako!"

"What will we do? They cannot win alone."

In a flash he had the answer. "I'll go to the Moon to warn them. I can travel faster as a cat. That will buy us some time. You do what you can to protect the Venusians and come as soon as you can." He looked at her with steely green eyes of understanding. She nodded in confirmation and sprinted through the last unblocked door, leaving her guardian cat behind her.

A deafening noise loaded her ears so that as she dashed from room to room, the scene played out like a horrifying movie all around her. Bodies (living or dead she couldn't tell,) were thrown like dolls across the rooms, shrapnel whipped through the dusty air, and beautiful things that hadn't been moved in years rocketed haphazardly in a grand explosion. Magnificent banquet tables, ancient paintings of previous rulers, glass lamps once shaped like bells, keys from a black piano that Mercury had sat at smiling at her from across the room one summer. Large things like the peaceful woman statue whose face had now crumbled away, the ornate bookcase Makoto made for her, and the small things like a lush hand mirror with roses carefully carved into its frame, and a toothy porcelain comb Rei once used to tie back her hair.

As Venus passed from one room to the next she saw more and more of her home's demise. The cracked and crumbling marble from the staircase, the burning wood from the dining room chairs, the shredded tapestries from the grand ballroom, the waxy candle bits deformed from a wave of hot ammunition, the shattered glass from a grandfather clock, the splintered tile from the kitchen floors, twisted wire from the fireplaces, all torn, destroyed, smashed, ruined, or tarnished, landed almost quietly across Magellan. The floors had burst open, the ceilings drooped inward, the walls caved and stairs crumbled, all meshed together or all damaged beyond recognition. All her memories and her safe things swept away in this grisly movie and within the next hour- all smoldering in dark flames to the tune of ended war outside.

She couldn't help but feel the gale of loss now attempting to invade her mind. There was so much of it trying to cram itself into her brain that hardly anything got through. She supposed that's what it meant to be a warrior- To not let grief strike her to ruin but rather use it in battle to meet noble ends.

Pushing through one alcove of fallen beams that had once resembled a circular doorway, she finally reached the front door. Miraculously, it's grand design and detailing had only been covered in dust in the fray- the door still stood between her and the steps down toward the main battle. She heaved its golden handle backward and opened her way to the war before her.

There, on the top steps on the Magellan was the Princess of Venus. She wore a yellow dress that blew harshly around her slim figure; bending into her leg's creases and around her tender looking arms as the wind whipped violently around her. This wind carelessly tossed up her golden hair. The fine strands crossed her face and swirled back strait up into the sky as if the wind were blustering from her roots. The yellow ribbons tied to her neck, shoulders, and waist were flung around haphazardly, surrounding her and through her.

Her golden-yellow eyes gleamed out at him from the haze of dust and mist like a tiger's from the shadows. They were wide and supernaturally bright. They narrowed in uncommon rage. The leader of millions of planets looked out onto the grounds that lay broken before her.

Her body seemed unaware of the incensed weather around her. Kunzite could have almost said that she was the anger it projected. He knew, though, that the purple sky and the violent turns had come because of the great evil leader Metallia. Or was it the planet Venus reacting to the princess's rage?

Painfully slow, the frail looking girl lifted a hand to the sky.

A flash of radiant white light and she was altered. The golden fighter stood in her place. She was long and lovely just as legend had always told. Her shoulders had golden balls surrounding them. Her neck had a ribbon choker and her skirt was now a blazing yellow-orange, cutting into the dark surroundings. Her long pale legs stretched but they were easily muscular. Kunzite had never seen Minako's legs but now they stood thick with power, ready to move forward. Her hair almost had no change to it but that it seemed a little longer to him. It still shone with a thousand strokes but in its wild state it looked sexy and commanding with a Red bow crowning all her majesty.

Finally, to him he could almost see white wings unfolded themselves like budding flowers from her back.

Even though he knew no one would hear him, Kunzite whispered into the heavens before him.

"Sailor Venus."

She was dazzlingly enraged.

She roared across the battlefield.

"Kunzite you're with THEM?"

"I am protecting my Prince. I'm just doing it before he can be crushed by the rule of that hypocritical Moon family."

"So this was all an act? How long have you been with Beryl?"

"Four months ago I officially joined her great cause. We will begin a new era for Queen Beryl and Our Great Leader Metallia with the Prince when he come to his senses."

Four months ago? Venus's face twitched in memory. That had been that special night they had walked the grounds together until almost dawn…that night…that memory she would never forget:

(Part 16)
"Princess I love to be with you. I wanted you to know that."


"I like being with you too, General. I think you know me very well and I am glad we are friends."


"Yes…" His voice faded off. "I feel that way too."


Kunzite's face contorted in confusion at first. She looked right into his silver eyes- the most dangerous place because of their unusual effect they had on her. But the clear eyes were not looking back at her- not really. If he had been, he would be studying her hair or the outline of her face but these eyes seemed to darken. Not for too long, but just for an instant there was a shadow staring back from a hollowed shell. He blinked and the eclipse died.


"We are friends. I like you Princess of Venus. Venus-" his face relaxed and he began to, very slightly, lean forward. Like a comet, the two began to gravitate towards one another.


"I want you to know general- I'm very proud of you… You are…a good man." Her focus was shifting to his mouth. "for protecting…" Her weight seemed to rise up on the balls of her feet and her head wanted to tilt so slightly to the side. Would they kiss? … She wanted to kiss him and here he was-leaning closer and closer, her eyelids getting heavy… While she wasn't sure why, she was so scared. Even though she loved him, this, this was wrong!


She gasped "-your Prince! I understand w-what it's like to care for that one person."


He stopped. "One person?"


Her head jerked away with all the effort she could muster- her hand still in his.

It was then that they had both understood. Venus refused his kiss. Refused his love.

Venus had decided, they would never be together.

She stared at him as the truth began to sink in.

"You killed all those people on Mercury-"

"And the people on this planet."

"-so you could overthrow the princess? Oh no! Serenity! I have to-"

"No reason to go now Dear Sailor Venus. It's too late to protect her. My army has reached the Moon and you have your own battle to fight here." He gestured to the war surrounding them.

"So, you saved attacking Venus 'til the last to stop me from getting to Serenity?"

"Metallia was just waiting on Mars and the orbit of Mars is now closer to the palace than any other. Letting your pathetic foot soldiers come under my rule was only the last part of the plan."

All the pieces began falling into place. Why Mercury was first, then Jupiter, then Mars. Letting the Moon gather enough forces in one group to wipe them out or to recruit them to the Earth's cause. And now, the separation of Venus from her princess. But Kunzite was wrong about one thing, if Venus forsook her people here, it would give her enough time to stop them from coming. But from Kunzite's firm stance and the grip on his sword becoming noticeably more menacing, Venus realized he wasn't going to let her leave unless she fought him.

By the time her eyes finished roaming the battle still clattering around them, the silent moon above them, and the white warrior standing directly before her, he knew she had done the math.

"You've killed us all…" she whispered brutally.

"I know it's useless to say so, but don't move and we won't have to fight. Beryl will take the Moon and you can live on under the new regime."

Venus shook her head and the wind increased around her, making her air seem quietly more angry. Her voice was aggressive and deep.

"You are too lost to be found Kunzite. I can see you've sold your soul. Then I will tell you, just once, I'd rather die."

"It's too late Venus, you can't get there in time to save her. She'll be killed."

"Not if I kill you first!"

To be Continued-

WOOOOOOO!!! One more chapter to go yall! After 5 years I'm finally wrapping this puppy up. Can I tell you my biggest concern? Once I post the last chapter, no one will come around anymore. Every time I try to post a final chapter I get no response. V.v People would rather say, "Please keep going!" rather than "That was great!" too much effort I suppose…

In anycase- onto thanks and replies:

Vchanny- Yeah, many people got lost in the last chapter ^^; my bad, I thought it was clear they didn't have any connection to one another. You HAVE been in love eh? Hm- that's probably what makes your writing so good. :D

Rachel- Thanks. I know I suck. ^^; Also, if you login, I can respond properly.

alizep- Daw!! Thank you! I can't believe you read the WHOLE THING. *I* can even get through it and it's MY story! LOL. I'm bad. Just wait til I re-write the whole thing. That'll be good.

Oh Ellen- You have been such a delightful reviewer. You make smiiiile. You know, when it comes to being in love, you often don't realize it until it's been a while or until after they leave you. Harsh. In my NEXT chapter I will answer the question of weither he really loved her or not. Oooh. Yes, true love IS great. Moh~ I wanna be in love. And for some reason I always find conversations easier to write. I dunno, I'm a pretty good public speaker. XD so I guess I know what sounds natural. It the descriptions I get lost in…And finally, I love the sweet friendship in the manga between Serenity and Venus. Really, it's so deep I had to do some kind of tribute to them. :D yay! Almost done! I hope you haven't left me yet! LOVE YOU!

Minako-chan4: where would I be without you? HM? I hope I didn't disappoint you as I have only started the battle and the real fight comes in the next chapter. Oh dear. Now everyone gets to taste my battle, writing skills. XI SO you've been in love before. Hm. That explains tyour depth. I'm sorry they both disappointed you. But you know what they say, you don't need a million boyfriends, just one good one. So, I'm working on a movie this summer about Minako and Kunzite and it's about disappointment in that same way. Back and forth, she'll be tossed. Let's see how it ends…Oh dear, I hope I haven't disappointed you! And that these stories don't make you sad. You seem like a bright and happy person to me.  :love:

Lady Aphadriel-order of the kai: Oh dear, I only update every few months! GOMEN! I feel terrible! But I hope you like this chapter even though it's been a while. You know, I've always loved that meaningful friendship between the blonds. I think too many people get it wrong. And I thought, what better way to end Minako's confusion than with the simple sweet love of her princess? It'll help us see why she feels she must forgo Kunzite's love. And you were RIGHT! I even thought about what you said and wrote in the answer about why Venus is last. Fishy indeed! You are all the motivation I need.  I would never forget this fic!

Venus Smurf- DAW!!! OF course! You're a master writer! I don't even come close. By I try! And this fic (being 6 years in the making) goes through major ups and down. Let's just hope it ends on an UP. Tsh- I adore youuuu. I love these characters with all my heart so naturally I would take care to get them right. Maybe I'm a little obsessed…lol. Nothing wrong with that. As long as I have you!

Angry Girl- I guess we'll never know how well her plans went considering she's been taken by SURPIRSE! Muahahahaaa!! Tee hee! I thought about that SAME FLAW- I just couldn't think of a better way to describe the size of the space without using the term 'football feild'. Lol. Lazy me. It never ceases to amaze me how deeply you read and remember. It's really very touching. Yep. Danburite loves Venus. But then, who doesn't? I'm trying to keep the story as true to the manga as possible (with the exception of the football reference XD lol). I'm so happy you understand what I was going for in the way of relationships between serenity and Venus. Also, I think Venus would have laughed and Serenity would be naive enough to believe it. Mars would never buy it But serenity is simple enough and not as wise as she is in the future. Hm. I wanna go back and make sure I did them justice. As always, I get all happy when you review. I'm sure I've lost you this time. V.v oh well. I'll still send my love out into the cosmic void that is the internet.

OK yall! Thank you so much for sticking with me! This is the second to last chapter so catch up for when the time comes to finish it all up!

Any suggestions? Anything you REALLY wanna have happen between these two? Let me knoooow!!

Again, I'm not a great writer but I do love sailor moon with all my heart. Please lave a nice supportive note for me. I could really use one.

Lovelove,

Vbabe