Prologue: Overture

Sailor Pluto walked silently and sadly through what was once the main courtyard of the Silver Palace. Where once a fountain played and flowers bloomed and tall, luminescent white columns had stood now only rubble and shattered ruins remained.

So tragic, this loss of life. So sudden. So cruel. Just when so many hearts had found their way through darkness and into light, the darkness then tore at them once more.

Something blue lay near the fountain and she stopped to look.

Lady Mercury, her body broken and fragile-looking, surrounded by the pooled blue silks of her royal dress, delicate and frail. The broken remains of something made of crystal that was once undoubtedly very beautiful lay scattered near her hand, sparkling pitifully. She had not even had time to transform before she had been attacked and killed, only time to send warning to her fellow Senshi. The communicator she had used lay in pieces near the fountain, broken by an angry boot. Tear tracks still glittered on her pale cheek.

A few feet away stood the one that had slain her, encased in ice as Lady Mercury's final act in life. The look of sheer outrage and surprise on Zoicite's face was almost comical, and Pluto would have smiled had it not been for her dead comrade lying close by.

Pluto shook her head sadly and moved on, knowing that there was nothing she could do. Even though she was the Senshi of Time, she could not reverse death.

She found Uranus in the gardens, kneeling over a body dressed now in an emerald gown. She didn't even need to see the auburn hair to know that it was Sailor Jupiter, defeated in battle. She grasped the blade of a sword in her hand that was not her own, and her blood stained the grass crimson. The gown was torn and tattered, the ribbon which once wound around her slender neck hung in the hand of the man that had once been her lover. Pluto knew that the sword had been both their deaths, for she had a raw red wound in her stomach and he smoked; she had used the metal to conduct her lightning.

Uranus stood, all cool composure and careful neutrality. But Pluto saw beneath it, for she knew her comrade's secret, and she knew that Uranus had been crying even if there was no trace of tears now. Grieving for the one lost to her by the mistake of others and now taken by darkness.

"She killed him as she lay dying." Uranus reported, her voice as devoid of emotion as her face, though her eyes burned silver, and there was barely a trace of their usual blue. "I arrived in time to see her transformation die."

Pluto nodded, understanding; the young woman had finally died mere minutes, maybe even seconds, before Uranus had found her. Uranus had reported that she had been leaving for the Moon Kingdom a few hours after the attack. The Outer System had been dealing with other problems at that time and so had not been able to assist until all was lost and it was too late.

"Neptune has gone for Saturn." Uranus added. "She took one look at the state of the Kingdom and left."

Pluto walked on and Uranus followed close behind, not wishing to see the fallen woman in the garden any longer.

They found Lady Mars on the staircase in the ballroom. She lay on the steps near the left hand railing, her red gown spread beneath her, violet head turned to the side. On the opposite side of the staircase a few feet down lay the General Jadeite, blackened and burned on one side. She had been stabbed in the breast. Uranus surmised that Lady Mars must have struck her killing blow when Jadeite wiped his sword on her gown. Her hair, dark violet that looked almost black, covered her face. The two Senshi looking at her knew that she had cried in her final moments.

Lady Venus lay inside the throne room, long blonde hair fanning out around her, her gown tattered and bloodied, tears streaking the dirt on her face. Her eyes were open, lifeless blue, the lilac tints gone in death, staring glassily at the silver-haired Malachite. There was only sorrow on her face. His sword still dug into her side. Her chain-whip lay in her hand and was still wrapped around the throat of her assailant. The move had cost her, for it would have surely torn her wound open further. She could have survived, possibly, if she hadn't taken him into sweet oblivion with her.

"Why would they do this?" Uranus whispered, staring down at the fallen leader of the Inner Senshi, a mixture of confusion, horror and grief stinging her eyes. Her voice rose now, an unusual thing in the one who was always impersonal. "What evil compulsion had them in its grip for them to do this? The last time I saw her she was safe and happy in his arms!"

Pluto looked at Uranus again before looking towards the thrones, knowing why the anger was in Uranus' voice and who she referred to.

"A being our Queen believed destroyed." she whispered.

Together they moved on.

They found the Queen, the Princess and the Prince in the next set of gardens. Queen Selenity lay draped on a fallen pillar, the Moon Wand fallen from her hand to the floor and the Imperial Silver Crystal hovered over her, glowing white, gathering the energy to grant the Queen's last wish.

Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion lay on the grass near the roses and a fountain, still holding on to each other. Even in death the Princess looked pure, untouched by anything, although her ethereal glow had faded with her life. Endymion still held her protectively. Neither had a mark on them, for they had been killed by raw magic and not by a weapon as had most of their guards. Tears still leaked from the Princess's eyes. Even in death they had not been separated.

"The Crystal will begin its work soon." murmured Pluto, staring up at the sky and the Earth. Terra, the place where this madness had begun.

"I have returned." the soft, almost musical voice, a sweet song that hid an arctic ocean behind it, announced Neptune's arrival. The Ocean Senshi stood there now in the doorway from which Pluto and Uranus had just come. In the shadows behind her something glinted ominously.

"Good, the Crystal will begin soon." Pluto motioned for the one hidden by shadows to step forward. Sailor Saturn, Senshi of Destruction and Rebirth, held the Silence Glaive in her hands. "You know what to do." Pluto told her.

The younger woman nodded and shifted the Glaive's position so that it stood upright, her eyes on the Crystal, her face impassive. It would fall to her to ensure that the Crystal's task succeeded.

"I must return now to the Chronus Gateway, to await the future." Pluto said. She placed a hand on Uranus' and Neptune's shoulders. "I am sorry." she whispered. "If I had seen these events sooner . . ." they nodded grimly and she turned now to Saturn. "I will see you all in a thousand years."

Saturn turned her light purple eyes to Pluto, the amethyst orbs mostly blank. She nodded solemnly and focused once more on her task.

Pluto turned and vanished.

Neptune and Uranus watched Saturn and the Crystal now, standing quietly, awaiting their inevitable fate. They knew their duty and would fulfil it regardless. They would awaken with the Inners, a second line of defence. They would await the future.

The Crystal's glow intensified suddenly and bodies everywhere began to glow, either to fade or to rise. Those that faded went to some dark realm, to be imprisoned for their crimes. Those that hovered in the air awaited the moment of their salvation from the tragedy of this life, for they would be sent into the next. Princess Serenity, Prince Endymion, Lady Venus, Lady Mercury, Lady Mars, Lady Jupiter, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Uranus, the two Lunarian Advisers who had stood silently and watched the four Outer Senshi with sad eyes. All rose and in a sudden flash of light faded into time. Some of the rest faded into oblivion. The others faded into what for them would be a thousand years in limbo until light would return for them again.

Saturn let the Silence Glaive fall. It struck the cold stone with a ring of finality.

Pluto returned to the Chronus Gateway and wiped away a solitary tear. She must not cry for them, for they would live on in another life.

But what had happened now? She had been busy helping to defend her home world from an outside invader, as had Neptune and Uranus. She had returned to the Time Gates in time to see the final battles being played out in the Garnet Orb and, horrified, had contacted the others. Uranus had left first with Neptune, and then she had followed. But it had been too late. As they had sped past using the Star Dust Paths between the planets of the Silver System they had felt each Inner Planet die. Already they were becoming wastelands incapable of supporting life. Soon their own worlds would follow.

She looked into the Garnet Orb to watch the events unfold in their entirety.