The volcanoes in the distance rumbled as the smoke rose from them spreading, coloring the orange sky with grey. The dull sky gave an ominous feel to the world. The normally hyper people of Mars walked around without purpose. The animals sat around haphazardly. Their colors were dull and rough looking.

"Look, it's Ryenia! Princess Ryenia." The crowd gathered around Ryenia. She had just grasped a feel for where she was. Ryenia was standing in front of the palace. Ryenia knew she had to get the palace, but people started to move in on her. Some shoved others just to get a lock of her hair. Others demanded an autograph. What was once a small group, become a huge body of people. The feeling of being loved by her people felt right. It was exhilarating and thrilling. It was all of that and more up until one of the subject's arms rubbed against hers.

"AH!" Ryenia fell to her knees. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Everyone stopped moving. Ryenia grabbed her arm in pain.

A guard at the palace gate found her, "What's wrong, Princess Ryenia. Are you hurt?" He moved to touch her wrist.

"AH!" Smoke raised from the pink and black burnt patch on Ryenia's wrist. "What's going on?"

The guard looked at the blister with such intensity Ryenia could have sworn his was causing the smoke. Then something in him clicked like a lock in a door. "We need to get you out of here. I think I know what's wrong." The guard made hand gestures to stand up, careful not to touch the princess.

"Tell me!" Ryenia grabbed the guard's upper arm.

"ITAII!" Smoke rose from her red, blistered fingertips.

"Ryenia, I can't explain now. Don't touch anyone okay?" The guard started to clear a path.

"Princess Ryenia is hurt!"

"Princess Ryenia is hurt?"

"She's hurt!"

The crowd around her started to fall into chaos.

"You came back from Earth, right? You renounced your oath. When you did that, you not only renounced your oath to the moon, but also your oath to Mars. I think your blood allows you to be here unharmed by the planet's atmosphere; but our oath to Mars makes our temperature's rise exponentially. If we touch you, you will burn."

The guard stood above her, clad in armor and shiny boots, looking like a knight. "My princess we have stayed faithful. But without you the Great Flame has gotten hotter. We can't live without you! WE NEED YOU!"

The guard touched her arm. "AH! What are you doing?!"

"HAHA! You're so cold! So cold!"

"Look! He's hogging the princess to himself!"

"I want to touch the princess too!"

Slowly the crowd began to move in on Ryenia. The civilians began to grab her arms and legs. Some rubbed their faces against her skin. "Stop! Please! I'm trying- I'm trying to make things right! Please –" Ryenia's pleas drowned in the cries of ecstasy. Dagger like shocks of pain lined her torso. Violet eyes filled with desire looked at her from all angles. Burnt patches of a scratchy red color engulfed the princess's body.

It wasn't long before the different explosions of pain melded together. It was as if the Great Fire was burning her again. All she could think was, Please let me help you! It was as if she as being testing again. She knew she was unworthy of her own birthright. But, she couldn't give up, not now, not on her people. What would happen when she died. If she died. These people would suffer, just like the scouts would if Serena died. Just like Ryenia would if Serenity died. And just like her mother did when Queen Serenity did. Ryenia was in Serena's position. It was a position she had long forgotten about when Beryl attacked. She recognized the cruelty in her mother's words. Her mother was lost in a different time in the future when Ryenia forgot her birthright. Her mother was right. She forgot what it was like to be a princess and to be responsible for a vast group of people. But that same responsibility was hidden in the scouts as well. When she acted against Serena, she jeopardized the lives on Earth, Mars, Serena, and her herself. The oppressive fire that consumed her soul, as if was nothing was meaningless to everyone and everything. She was dying.

Then she heard the voices again. "We need you Ryenia!"

Through the corruption and thirst in their voices, Ryenia could hear the pure cries of her people. "No!" Ryenia shouted at the darkness. I want to help them! I need to help them. I won't leave until my people are safe and sound! "I won't give up this time- I can't give up this time. This isn't over! This will never be over until I say it is!" Ryenia screamed at the top of her lungs. She closed eyes and took a deep breath. She opened them again.

Rei was on the ground. The pavement was colored with a light layer of black soot. Rei raised her hands to her face inspecting her black palms. She looked up. The sailor scouts were standing randomly by the Ferris wheel. All was silent. Serenity was hunched over on her hands on knees. Between her palms was a large red puddle. The princess was coughing and wheezing. Little flecks of blood slowly ran down her chin with each gasp.

"Why am I here? What's going on? I wasn't done-" Rei turned around. Ami was crying. In her hands were the tiny red shards that were once the Mars crystal. "No."

"There's nothing else we can do." Setsuna's voice was silent, hallow, vacant.

"NO! NONONONONO!"

"Serena… Please- please don't leave. Open your eyes- please!" Seiya was kneeling. He held Serena in his arms. Tears ran down his cheeks. His hair fell free around his shoulders. He let out a loud wail. The sound was painful to hear. Excruciating. Some sailors covered their eyes and shook their heads trying to prevent the cry of grief from penetrating their ears.

"Seiya! No! This isn't over. You know it isn't. Serena said it wouldn't be until we said it was over." Rei was on her feet moving slowly toward Seiya.

" Shut up. You touch her. Touch her and tell me- tell me- it isn't over. She- she's never been so cold-" Seiya gasped between his words, searching for air to keep him alive. But everyone knew, the moment Serena closed those eyes, Seiya died. Nastume and Rini stood side by side. Natsume's face of anguish mirrored his father's but he stood tall supporting his sister. Rini was doubled over. Tears cascading down her face. Her hair was in tangles, having fallen out of their odango hairstyle. Her pink eyes, grey. She too let out a wail. But it broken and ragged as she sobbed.

Rei looked up at Ataxia. The woman stood with her usually impeccable posture, but something seemed broken within her. Her dress was torn around his torso; the hem that once touched the ground was torn up to her knees. One hand held a black sword whose tip was dosed in blood, dripping rhythmically to the ground. The other hand was colored red. Ataxia stared at her red hand mesmerized.

"This is wrong- It's not supposed to be like this. THIS IS ALL WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG!" Ataxia was looked wide eyed up at the scouts But her gaze seemed to go right through them. The scouts all noted the same thing. Her eyed had color. It wasn't like before. It wasn't a flicker of color. It was there. And everyone knew, it would never go away again. Ataxia's eyes were blue. The deepest, most beautiful blue ever. They were Serena's eyes.

"See Rei. It's over. Ataxia won. You see it too right? That's the color of Serena's eyes. " Seiya spoke to Rei. But his eyes never drifted from his lover, who was never to open her eyes again.

AN:

Some of you have been asking why I keep saying I'm back and disappearing. I am proud to say it is because I have been typing up the remaining chapters of this fanfic:) So yay! I have all the chapters ready to go. And as an apology instead of posting them once a week, I will posting them once every two days. (I might make it more often if I am really excited to post a certain chapter.) And yay! This fanfic is a year old. I never thought the time would come :) I want to give shout outs to everyone who has followed, favorited, left a comment or PMed me. You all are amazing and I really wouldn't have been able to continue doing this without you. Special shout out to Puffgirl1952: Thank you for being with me since the very beginning and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come.