AN: One Time disclaimer for all Chapters: Harry Potter characters belong to J.K Rowling, and Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takuchi
Story Name: The New Princess
The fall of the Moon Kingdom was complete, Queen Metalia had won. But it was not the end. Now millennia later, a new princess will be chosen, claimed by the Silver Crystal, guided by Pluto and led by prophesy, to lead, protect and choose new guardians of her own, to succeed where the former had not.
Chapter last time edited: 19/7/23
The New Princess
Prologue
Chapter 1 - The Fall of the Moon Kingdom
Long ago, in a solar system almost identical to our own, there once existed an impressive kingdom that spanned nine planets and their moons. This kingdom was named the Moon Kingdom, and it was ruled by a kind queen called Serenity. Queen Serenity wielded the legendary Silver Crystal, an artifact of immense magical power said to be able to grant any wish and with its power, she would protect the peace and harmony of the cosmos.
However, peace in general is a very fragile thing and as such could not hope to last forever. One day a dark malevolent force from another dimension known as the Negaverse, managed to corrupt an influential high-ranking noble human woman named Beryl and with promises of love and power it convinced her to attack the kingdom for them.
Beryl had been a faithful vassal to the King of Earth, an ally to the Moon Kingdom. However, she was in love with the Earth's monarch's son and heir, Prince Endymion who had already pledged his heart to another: the daughter of Queen Serenity from the moon. Unfortunately for the loving couple, the romance was forbidden and heavily frowned upon by both kingdoms.
Consumed by righteous anger and plagued by jealousy Beryl was soon overwhelmed by hatred by the unjust union and in her anger chose to betray her king and planet. Joining forces with Metalia, the Negaverse's queen and leader, the sworn enemy of both kingdoms, she gathered an army of monstrous creatures called Youma and launched a surprise attack on the moon.
Not expecting an attack from one of their own, the Moon Palace was soon overrun by the invaders. Moon soldiers, guards, or civilians, it made no difference. All were caught off guard and were soon outnumbered and slaughtered by the Youma who used their dark magic to overpower them.
In the end, the only hope remaining for the once-powerful Moon Kingdom was Queen Serenity herself. Sensing the impending danger, she prepared to use the Silver Crystal to repel the enemy, even knowing full well that it would mean sacrificing her own life. She hoped that by doing so, she could not only save her kingdom but also the lives of her daughter and friends. She believed her daughter was safe on a diplomatic mission to the outer regions of the solar system.
However, fate had different plans. Unbeknownst to the queen, her daughter, along with her personal guards and closest friends, were not safe in the outer reaches of the galaxy as expected. Instead, they were in mortal peril, deep within the enemy's stronghold on Earth.
The crown princess and her four guardians, also known as the Inner Sailor Guardians, magical princesses in their own rights of each of the system's inner planets (Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus), had each fallen in love with one of Prince Endymion's four generals: Kunzite, Zoisite, Nephrite, and Jadeite. They were not as safe as the queen suspected.
In secret, they and the princes of the four kingdoms that ruled over Earth, Endymion's loyal friends and warriors, had met on Earth, defying ancient laws that forbade romantic relationships between the leaders of the two worlds. They shared moments of happiness and bliss but were unaware of the looming threat until it was too late.
Their love was doomed from the start. Metalia had sensed their presence on Earth and ambushed them with a blast of dark energy, killing them all. She then used her immense dark powers to hide their deaths from Queen Serenity's awareness. Now, Metalia waited for the right moment to strike, smiling wickedly as she watched from afar as Beryl's army stormed the moon palace. She was confident that she would win, and that the crystal would finally be hers.
But then something unexpected happened. Something she had not foreseen...
For it was at that very moment of total victory that Queen Serenity, in her desperation, not knowing of her daughter's recent untimely demise, had decided to act. In a moment of ultimate sacrifice, she held up the Silver Crystal and glared at Beryl, and the fate of the galaxy was forever altered.
In an alternate universe and story, Queen Serenity, aware of her daughter's death, would have opted to seal away Metalia, Beryl, and their army. Then, she would have used the last of her power to transport the souls of her daughter and her friends to the future. There, they would have been reincarnated on Earth with no memories of their past lives until they could be awakened later.
However, in this universe, it was not meant to be.
In this reality, Metalia had chosen to stay away from the moon, allowing Beryl to attack alone. Choosing instead to cloud the good queen's mind, ensuring she remained unaware of her existence and her daughter's untimely demise.
Believing that her daughter and her friends were still alive and safe, Serenity saw no need to reincarnate them as she would have in the other reality. Instead, she opted for a far more "permanent" solution.
Overcome with grief and righteous anger at her vassals' betrayal, Queen Serenity, feeling tired and recovering from her earlier battles that day, still stood tall and proud as Beryl stepped into her throne room, her face a stoic mask of defiance and determination.
"Duchess Fairwind," Serenity began with deep sadness.
"Or maybe Duchess 'Nightfall' would be a more appropriate name now?" she continued, her voice filled with disappointment.
"To think that you could have chosen to aid us in our darkest hour, but instead, you chose to damn your soul and beliefs by joining with the Negaverse. I must ask, what did it offer you? Was it worth forfeiting your honor and friends... your family?" Serenity asked, wishing to know her former friend's reasons for betrayal before the end.
"It's Queen Beryl now," Beryl said, cutting her off. "And I don't need to explain myself to you!"
Serenity simply shrugged. "I guess it doesn't make much of a difference either way, not at this point," she said with a small sigh.
Beryl grinned maliciously. "The crystal! Give it to me. Now!" she commanded as if expecting an easy victory.
Serenity however raised an eyebrow and smiled coolly at her adversary. "I'm afraid not, Ryl... we all know that for that to happen you are going to have to take it from my cold lifeless hands." Serenity started to say as she got up from her throne and made the silver crystal appear in her hands and glow brightly, its powerful aura briefly pulsing with energy and crackling with unseen power, an act which caused all of the youma to shrink back in fear and take a hurried step back.
Each knew and greatly feared the immense powers the Queen still held in her hands and neither of them wanted to be the first in line to attack the still far from truly defeated queen. If anything, neither of them would have a chance against the queen and they knew it.
Hearing this Beryl smiled. "That's the idea," she answered evilly as she took a step forward, a cruel smirk on her face, her weapon, a long black staff, glowing ominously in her grip, ready for battle, ready to strike or defend as necessary at a mere seconds notice. She too knew that the youma were no match for Serenity but that was not the point, their mere presence would serve their purpose when they provided enough of a distraction for Beryl to make her move. She knew, for this final battle to end favorably, she would have to take care of it on her own.
"Come now Ryl, do you truly wish to fight me?" Serenity challenged, her second fist balled up tight with a combination of anger and fear. She could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage as she waited for her former vassal's answer. But instead of retreating in fear, Beryl met her eyes with a fierce determined unwavering glare that suggested that a confrontation was inevitable.
Battle lines drawn and stakes set far too high, both forces readied themselves for the clash between good and evil that was sure to come. But even as Serenity prepared herself for the coming fight, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. After all, she had once considered Ryl more than just a servant — they were family, too.
Desperate to try one last time, Serenity offered clemency to her former vassal turned traitor. "It's not too late Ryl," she pleaded. "You know that the Negaverse will never keep its promises. Please renounce your ties to them and I can offer you a royal pardon."
For a moment it seemed like Beryl was considering her offer, but finally, she shook her head sadly and replied, "No, I have gone too far down this path for either of us to turn back now."
Serenity felt her stomach drop in disappointment, it was expected and yet she had hoped... alas, she now knew that nothing would stop Beryl from finishing what she had started.
However, even knowing this, Serenity still had to at least try one last time and shook her head in denial. "I promise nothing will happen to you. You have my word as the Queen of the Silver Millennium. If you return to our side now in our time of need, we offer a complete pardon of all crimes," she pleaded.
But Beryl was not convinced. "The others would never agree. Not after what I have done," she argued, her voice thick with guilt for having betrayed everyone around her. Even now her youma were laying siege to countless planets and killing innocent civilians all across the solar system. She was painfully aware that none of them would ever trust her again - not either side of the battle - let alone want to associate or have anything to do with her. All she could now do was rule, either through fear or die trying.
With a heavy heart, Beryl answered Serenity's plea one more time. "No, I'm sorry, I have gone too far and you know it," she said finally as she readied her staff once more, ignoring the silent gasps of relief from the youma beside her who had been waiting nervously for her decision.
"Please, I beg you... can't we come to a better understanding?" Serenity pleaded, her hands clasped together in desperation. Her words, however, were swiftly cut short by the cold glare of Beryl, who raised her arm as if to bar them from progressing any further.
With an abrupt shake of the head, Beryl raised her staff and began walking closer to Serenity.
"No... not anymore. This is the end," Beryl declared as she quickened her steps and her youma followed along ominously.
Serenity sighed in acceptance steeling herself for the confrontation although every ounce of her wanted to just run away and escape her now inevitable doomed fate. But she knew that was impossible; this fight had to be won if they were ever going to have peace again. Taking a deep breath, she resignedly nodded and began focusing her energy on the crystal in her hands.
"No my dear friend, You are wrong," she declared defiantly. "You are wrong. For now...it begins."
Suddenly the silver crystal in her hands starts to glow and become even brighter.
For a second Beryl seemed confused but then her eyes widened in alarm and clear panic as she understood what the queen had planned. Jumping forward, all traces of her plan forgotten in her wild haste, she frantically tried to strike down the queen but just before she could reach her the Crystal pulsed out wildly, and then in a massive flash of bright white light, a light straight from the pictures of what one would expect from an atomic blast, a wave of pure energy blasted out from the queen towards Beryl and the surrounding youma.
Neither had a chance.
Beryl's final moments were spent filled with screams and agony as the crystal's powers spread across the moon wiping her very soul and the souls of every youma from existence. And then... then there was nothing.
Back on earth, Metalia, the Dark Lady and Queen of the Negaverse was eagerly waiting for a report on the fate of the remnants of the moon kingdom from the soon-to-be 'neo queen' Beryl, not that she ever had any real intention of keeping the woman in her position of power, when she suddenly lost all connection to the new would-be queen and all of her minions on the moon.
Looking up at the Moon all she could see was a sudden wave of white bright light spread out all over the moon and a little beyond, encompassing it completely, before it faded just as suddenly as it had arrived.
Startled but in no way surprised by the sudden loss of thousands of her dark minions, Metalia, paused what she was doing and waited. Then, when after a moment nothing else happened, she sensed out with her powers searching for the moon's queen, before she began to smile. A smile that then steadily increased until it turned into a full-blown grin.
"This is it, my moment of triumph. It's over. Victory is mine, Victory is finally MINE!" she started to say becoming louder as she began to celebrate.
The moment she had planned and waited for had finally arrived. Her plan had worked. The Moon Queen was dying...maybe already dead from power overuse of the crystal, the only real 'Achilles Heal' the Queen had. Judging from all the power the queen had already spent so far that day, it had finally happened. Nothing would stop it from happening now.
She had won!
Glancing over at the rapidly cooling bodies of the former princess and her entourage of servants and bodyguards, she finally allowed her powers to wane and let the Queen sense her daughter once more. Unfortunately for her, all the Queen would be able to sense now would be her dead, lifeless body.
Then, slowly, sensing her adversary's sudden misery, she let her grin turn into a giggle... and from a giggle into a full, evil laugh.
Back on the moon, Queen Serenity gasped quietly to herself, as she waited out the last few minutes before her end.
She had always known before using the crystal's seemingly near-infinite powers, that using too much power at once was going to kill her. She knew she wouldn't last for much longer now that she had used the last of her powers in her final gambit to quickly end the war. But it had been a sacrifice she had happily made as it had assured the continued existence of the Kingdom.
Or so she thought. Because it was at that very moment that Metalia finally allowed her to see the dismal truth. The real truth! The truly terrible truth!
"Oh...no," she suddenly whispered to herself while closing her eyes in the utmost dismay.
"Please...no!" she gasped to herself as she suddenly realized what had truly happened.
"How could this happen? How could I...we...have been so blind," she whimpered to herself.
"Serenity...my child... no... please no, " she sobbed as she realized her daughter, was dead, had been for a while now, as were all of the other sailors.
"This can't be happening. She moaned out helplessly. It was at that moment that she realized the true extent of her enemy's plans and that she had lost. It was all over. No return. No second chances. It was over! Done for! Finished...utterly!
With the last remnants of her powers quickly dwindling and leaving her once-powerful body, she collapsed to the ground, tears running down her once-proud face. There would be no one to carry on after she died. There would be no more royal family. There would be no more moon kingdom. Without her and her daughter, it would soon cease to exist. Beryl had been right all along... it truly was the end. The enemy had finally won.
And with these final thoughts Queen Serenity, the ruler of the Silver Millennium, a kingdom which only a few short hours ago had ruled over a whole galaxy, drew her final breath.
It appeared all hope was lost. The Queen and her only heir had perished, betrayed by one of their own. The Negaverse had finally accomplished what many other dark forces had tried for centuries to do —but had always failed.
Until now!
But... it was not 'the end' the now late Queen Serenity thought it would be. Far from it!
For unknown to even the former Queen, the 'Legendary Silver Crystal' was not just a precious jewel with special powers. It was far more than that. It had a 'mind' of its own.
For you see, the crystal was not just a crystal, but a vastly powerful and incredibly ancient semi self sentient crystalline symbiotic lifeform. Its original true purpose, erased from its many wielders' memories throughout the eons of its existence. Needing a host for it to fully survive and flourish it had at one point made a symbiotic pact with a many times great ancestor of the current moon queen and had been passed down from the family from each queen to the next ever since. Sensing the untimely death of its latest 'guardian', the ancient magical symbiont activated to transfer to its next host.
Finding its next designated host already dead it began to search for another, anybody else compatible enough to take over as its next host, to continue the long cycle, but found its ancient enemy instead.
Sensing the presence of one of its oldest enemies on a nearby planet in the system the crystal decided to act. Following an ancient set of self-preserving protocols, instinctual memories it had inherited from its parent during a long-forgotten age, it began to 'power down' and proceeded to go dormant to avoid detection from the Negaverse.
Slowly the crystal began to lose its heavenly glow as it began to grow darker and darker, seemingly growing weaker and weaker, until finally, it seemed to lose all of its powers completely. Then, in what would have seemed like one final act of resistance, a final pulse of bright white light was discharged from it before it darkened and shut down completely and went silent.
Back on Earth, Metalia was celebrating her victory, having just felt the former Queen's death and the fall of the moon's last protective shields, when suddenly she could no longer feel the crystal's mighty presence.
Startled by the sudden absence of the mighty crystal's power, Metalia felt a chill run down her spine.
'No! This cannot be happening!' she screamed in her mind, her gaze locking on the rapidly dimming moon in the distance. It was as if the once heavenly light itself was slowly fading as if it too somehow could sense its ruler's death.
What had happened? Why could she no longer feel the power of the crystal? Questions flooded into her brain, giving way to panic and fear that something might have gone wrong with her plans.
Acting quickly, Metalia opened a shadow gate, a one-way portal created with her powers to connect to the moon. With urgency, no longer hindered by the moon's former shields, she stepped through the gate and found herself in the throne room of the Queen of the Moon.
There, lifeless on the ground, was the rapidly cooling body of the once powerful Queen, the now late ruler of the cosmos, surrounded by the various corpses of what had once been her many minions.
But Metalia paid them no attention - all she cared about was finding the crystal.
Where was the Crystal?
Cautiously she approached the dead queen and with a sneer of contempt and disrespect, used her toe to roll away the body.
And there it was: an inconceivable sight for even Dark Queen Metalia - yet inescapable in its truth!
A completely lifeless crystal!
Metalia was in shock! Her jaw dropped in disbelief as she beheld the lifeless crystal. She extended her shaking hand, slowly touching its cold surface as if to deny the truth it conveyed — that the legendary silver crystal was gone! Powerless!
The legendary silver crystal. A source of energy, said to have cosmic abilities, capable of granting wishes and powering the entire universe, was now lifeless. Void of any power!
An item once worth fighting wars for, now reduced to nothing more than an empty paperweight!
DEAD!
WORTHLESS!
Try as she might, she could no longer feel any trace of the crystal's once legendary power.
The realization of failure at her moment of triumph was too much for Metalia to handle; she unleashed a blood-curdling scream that filled the air with rage and pain.
To have come this far, only to fail at the last hurdle! At the moment of her victory!
Oh, how she screamed! Cursed, raged... and razed.
With a fit of rage, she obliterated the palace around her, destroying all in her path. Tears of futile anger cascaded down her face as she screamed and cursed.
Minutes passed as the evil queen annihilated what little was left of the moon palace throne room.
Pillar after pillar crumbled into ruin as the evil queen of the Negaverse unleashed her wrath upon the once mighty moon palace. In a frenzy of senseless fury and wanton destruction, she reveled in her power. And it was at that moment, amidst the chaos emerged a new visitor- Sailor Saturn, known far and wide as the 'bogeywoman of the galaxy' had arrived.
Carrying her infamous glaive with a steady, yet hesitant pace, of someone who knew they were unwanted and uninvited, yet necessary all the same, she made her way towards the ruins of the throne room, her eyes filled with sadness for what was lost.
Sailor Saturn was a mighty force to be reckoned with - feared by all who knew of her powers. For Sailor Saturn only appeared when all hope was lost, reborn each time when victory seemed impossible. She was there to swing her glaive to bring justice and punish those who dared cross her path.
The air itself trembled with dread as the formidable Sailor Saturn, emissary of death, second in power only to the fully transformed Queen of the Moon herself, arrived, descending through a hole in the cracked roof of the palace, like an angry angel of death from the very heavens themselves.
"I am Super Sailor Saturn, guardian of ruin and rebirth, protected by Saturn, the planet of silence and destruction," she proclaimed ominously, her voice echoing through the chamber like an icy wind. The evil queen was taken aback, unprepared for this sudden confrontation.
"Normally I'd offer a more polite greeting," Saturn murmured, her words filled with menace. "But I see no one worthy enough to appreciate it here."
With that, she lifted her glaive high above her head. "And so, in the name of Saturn, I'll now swing my glaive... and erase you from existence... DEATH REBORN REVOLUTION!"
Her bellowing cry echoed throughout the moon as she unleashed her most powerful attack, one so powerful it had the potential to destroy entire planets, even an entire galaxy, if not stopped in time.
The infamous chime of her weapon soon filled every corner of the moon as she released her most potent energy attack yet, heralding the end it promised to all nearby.
Metalia had heard tales of the devastating, godlike power of Saturn's avatar and guardian, stories about a powerful being who would only appear on the brink of utter defeat or when hope had already been lost. She had heard descriptions of powers that could destroy entire galaxies on a mere whim, but never before had she expected to face such a formidable foe herself.
Though her powers were great, she knew her chances of coming out unscathed were limited at best. Reminded of the tales she had heard as a child, she forced herself to quickly turn and run away before it was too late.
In a screech filled with terror and cowardice, completely uncharacteristic of the dark queen, Metalia desperately opened a Shadow Gate to the Negaverse, fumbling once before she attempted to step through, just seconds before Saturn's ultimate attack could hit her. Even then, it was barely enough! Had she stayed even a second longer, Metalia did not doubt that she would have been annihilated by the sailor guardian's destructive power. Even then, the dark queen was damaged severely despite her daring escape.
Unable to make it completely through her gate in time, Metalia, screeched in pain as a small portion of Saturn's mighty power still managed to hit her, sapping her great powers to near depletion and causing her to lose control of the gate.
Unable to keep the gate stable anymore it closed before she could reach the safety of the Negaverse on the other side, trapping her in the wild 'in-between' areas known only as 'the void'.
Now, cast literally into the void heavily damaged and with only a mere sliver of her once vast power left, with no way to regain her lost energy and with nowhere near enough power to reopen, least of all create a new gate, Metalia suddenly found herself powerless, trapped, very afraid... and very very alone.
There the immortal dark queen would remain. Remain until someone one day would find a way to bring her back.
Saturn's annihilatory powers of a Death Reborn Revolution at full power continued to cascade across the whole galaxy like a supernova on its unstoppable rampage of destruction, from the moon to the Earth, and from the Earth to the other planets of the solar system, nothing was spared, erasing all traces of life and civilization in its search for the forces of the Negaverse, turning the once populated planets into the barren worlds we know today.
Enemy and ally combatants alike paused in their battles and laid down their weapons for a few last minutes of comradery before they too were removed from existence as it swept by, leaving behind only the ruins of the moon palace as a monument of its defeat and the dying body of the very sailor guardian who had only moments ago sentenced the rest of the galaxy to extinction, to die mere moments later as the cost of the attack she had just cast claimed it's due price.
The other planets' former inhabitants, dismayed by the loss of their beloved Queen and protector, could only watch in stunned hopeless silence of acceptance as their doom steadily approached them, on its way to swallow them whole.
One by one, it passed them by. One by one each planet went silent. All they could do was watch and wait as planet after planet, colony after colony, went dark as all life was erased. There would be no escape. No second chances. Not for them. Not this time.
And yet... even then, they also knew, it would not be the end. Not truly. For from the same ashes of the civilizations of the Silver Millennium, a new one would one day rise, to start anew. Like it had done multiple times in ancient history.
For that was her power, Saturn's misfortunate duty, and curse: to be reborn again and again at the moment of certain defeat. When all possibility of success had been lost and victory deemed impossible. To act indiscriminately, without remorse, as the avatar of death and rebirth.
Her only purpose: To act as the ultimate mutual destructive deterrence and final protector of the royal family, or failing that, to swing her infamous glaive and dish out the moon kingdom's final revenge, 'no matter the cost'.
And so, the Silver Millennium, one of the greatest galactic civilizations to have ever existed, died with a mere whimper, like many others before it, as the galaxy was reset once more, leaving only one place intact, to witness and act as a lone guardian for the next phase of evolution.
Planet Pluto, at the far outer reaches of the galaxy: The Gates of Time.
Standing inside the temporal protected superstructure known as the Gates of Time; a massive structure dedicated to the preservation of time and space, outside of the space-time continuum and thereby unreachable through normal means and protected from Sailor Saturn's destructive powers, Sailor Pluto, the immortal princess, guardian, and avatar of Pluto; the Guardian of Love and Revolution, Time and Space and master of the time gates, watched silently, hot tears of failure and grief running down her otherwise stoic and usually emotionless face, as all she had ever known was slowly erased from existence by the powers of Saturn.
She knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. Not anymore. Her sister guardian had seen to that. Just as her duty was to guard and preserve time and space, it was her sister's duty and right as the Guardian of Ruin and Rebirth to destroy and reset it.
She had her chance. The mere fact that Saturn had been reborn at all, meant that she had failed at her duty.
It had been her task to watch the gates of time and warn the Queen of any future attacks before they could happen. But she had failed. And now she knew she would have to live with this fact for the rest of what remained of her long nearly immortal life. Only this time, unlike other times in the past, there would be no more second chances.
Pluto forced herself to use her powers to recheck the time gates once more, to check the past and the future for any traces of the Silver Millennium, the empire which just moments ago used to stretch over the whole solar system.
'How did this happen?' she wondered for what seemed like the umpteenth time that dreadful forsaken day.
'How had she missed an attack of this magnitude from the kingdom's greatest enemy?' she wondered dismally. It made no sense.
'What good is staring at the gates all day and sometimes even nights if I can't see this coming,' she wondered, mentally cursing her failure.
It seemed she had severely underestimated the dark queen's powers.
Somehow, the Dark Queen of the Negaverse, just one of their many enemies, even if it was one of their greatest, had succeeded to occlude and stop her powers of foresight and premonition, powers granted to her as the Guardian of Time and Space, just long enough to successfully plan and execute an invasion of massive proportions right under her nose.
It was a severe blow to her confidence and pride. Inconceivable really... and yet, it had happened.
And now... now the moon kingdom, a kingdom she had sworn to protect, indeed had protected for millennia, had paid the ultimate price for her failure.
Sighing miserably for all that was gone, Pluto turned her attention towards the planet of Earth.
'At least not all was lost,' she reminded herself as she watched the few remaining areas of civilized life on the planet as they already tried to make a comeback from near extinction.
The old king of Earth, bless his former immortal soul, freed by Metalia's dark influence when she had tried to escape, had in his last moments sacrificed himself to use the powers of his own crystal, the golden crystal of Earth, a crystal said to nearly rival the powers of the silver crystal, if only in a different way, to protect a good portion of the Earth and his subjects from certain death, all at the price of his own immortal life.
Even so, having only had a very limited amount of time to use the crystal's powers, the destruction of the planet had been vast and far-reaching. Only a few small pockets of what had once been a diverse and powerful kingdom in its own right had survived the destructive powers of Saturn's final attack.
The reward for his sacrifice: a few thousand humans spread out in small pockets of a few hundred each, which could already be seen making simple shelters in the wastelands of the old crumbled mega cities of the earth...and a few smaller pockets of other intelligent indigenous creatures and lifeforms, who also shared the planet.
United, they would all be the start of the new beginning of civilization on Earth.
Looking through her tears, Pluto could see a few of the Zoblinx, a humanoid native war-like people with a fascination for gold and other metals native to the Earth, of the southern poles who liked to live underground as they scavenged for food.
Meanwhile on the other side of the planet, not to be outdone, some of the few surviving Kentaar, a half human half creature like race originally from Mars, who preferred nature to technology, were in turn already busy scouting out the remains of the few forests still available on the planet.
While in the warm oceans near the equator the Merreids a part humanoid part fish-like species formerly from Mercury were busy recreating their underwater villages.
They and the other surviving diverse races of the planet would one day rise to once again rule the Earth... and maybe from there one day the rest of the solar system.
Turning her attention away from the Earth Sailor Pluto tried once again to find any traces of the old kingdom, but try as she might, she could not. No matter how much she looked, the moon kingdom and the vast empire it had controlled no longer existed. It was all gone. Erased from history...and soon maybe from memory too.
All that remained was the ruins of the moon palace itself, which had been the only building spared by Saturn's destructive attack...and the gates of time themselves, where she was currently standing wallowing in her misery. They were all that now remained.
In short, she was the last of her kind.
Releasing a shuddering sob Pluto, the princess of Pluto, and the last of her race collapsed to the ground as the last remains of hope to correct her mistake left her.
If asked later Pluto would not be able to tell you how long she wept and wallowed in her grief. She truly was alone now. The last guardian of a now-extinct and soon-forgotten race. Several times, she even briefly considered suicide, if only to join her sisters in the great beyond. It would be easy, all she would have to do was stop time, but each time she managed to stop herself.
She just couldn't do it. She felt it was now her task... her punishment for her sins... her failure. To guide the remains of the other races and help them recover from the destruction of the galaxy.
Only then, only when she had undone her mistakes... or at least helped to undo whatever mistakes and damages she could, would she finally allow herself to pass on, on to the next great adventure. But until then she would wait, she would teach, she would guide and watch over the other races, guard the gates and continue to protect the solar system from outside threats as she had always done before. Only this time it would be just two planets she would have to protect, not a whole galaxy.
Her honor and sense of duty would demand no less.
And so, slowly, she settled down to wait, standing vigil at the gates, as the last immortal of a soon-to-be-forgotten empire, holding silent vigilance for the young world she had just sworn to protect as it evolved and revolved under her watchful eyes.
As the sole lonely guardian of the world, she had inadvertently helped to destroy.