Five Ways the Silver Millennium Never Ended
by Contrail
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and associated companies, and is being used with out permission. No profit is being made from this story.
1. Kage no Tsuki (Moon of Shadow)
It was less than a handful of years after the Prince's birth that the Moon changed, a veil of shadows drawing across its pure silver light. The dull grey glow that remained seemed dimmer than the light of the stars despite being much closer.
But it took over a decade after that for the people of Earth to begin locking their doors and fearing the night during the darkest time of the Moon. For that was when the Nightmare Hunt began descending from the Moon in their ship and riding through the night, spreading fear and violence in their wake. At the head of the Hunt raced the Princess of Shadows, her long hair the color of dark ashes flying behind her, attended by spirits of fire and ice, of lightning and lust, all taking the form of young girls of deadly, alluring beauty.
Only the Prince of Earth, Endymion, and his Shitennou could stand against them with the radiant power of the Earth itself and turn the Nightmare Hunt aside. But they could not be everywhere at once, and the Hunt was capricious in its targets. And even they had not the strength to capture or kill the leaders of the Hunt. So the people of Earth continued to fear the dark of the Moon and hope they would not be the ones driven to madness or simply taken this time.
And in a room in the heart of the Castle of Shadows on the Moon, within a mirror that shimmered with a light of its own, Queen Serenity wept silently for the fate of her daughter and kingdom.
2. Black Earth, White Moon
After the dark energy that transported them to the Moon faded, Prince Endymion took a cautious look around. The scenery around them would have seemed almost normal if it had been for the shimmer of the dome that kept this area of the normally barren world alive and the clarity with which the stars gazed upon them. He lead his guardians and the armies of Earth ahead slowly at first, but soon with increasing boldness as they found little resistance to their strike.
Part of him wondered if the Moon could truly be the threat his wife, Beryl, convinced him of if they had so few men to provide their own defense. It must be arrogance, he decided, for all the other worlds were their pawns and they couldn't conceive of a true threat coming from the poor, barbaric, lesser world of Earth. Well, he would prove to them the error of their ways and take the power of the Phantom Silver Crystal from their unworthy hands.
It was in a garden quite close to the Palace that they came across the girl. Her elegant white dress flowed softly around her, gleaming in the starlight, and her golden hair was caught up in a bun on each side of her head, twin streamers trailing from them all the way to pool on the ground. But it was her clear blue eyes, wide with surprise, that caught his own. He slowly crossed the ground between them to stand before her, looking into her eyes for several long moments... Then calmly running her through with his sword. He wiped the blade off on the long skirts of her dress before turning away to continue on.
The little moon witch must truly have had great power to have captivated him so. Just the sight of her had made him want to take her into his arms and kiss her senseless. Such an impulse to betray his wife and love must have come from an enchantment the girl had cast upon him, so she was too dangerous to let live, as much as it had hurt him to destroy such beauty. But then, maybe the pain he still felt was just the lingering effects of her enchantment.
They faced more resistance as they drew close to the gates of the Moon Palace, but nothing could halt their advance. He had just begun mounting the marble steps that lead into the palace when the doors in front of him swung open to reveal an older version of the girl he'd killed, the crown upon her head declaring her to be Queen Serenity of the Moon. They stared at each other for a long moment, tears streaming down the Queen's face but the wrath of a hundred hells in her eyes, before the Queen raised a shining object above her head and the world was washed away in a wave of silver light.
3. Mutually Assured Destruction
Endymion was in his chambers, brooding over the encroaching darkness that had seized almost all of the Earth now, when a flash of silver light heralded an unexpected arrival. He had barely stood up from his chair when Serenity flung her arms around him, tears soaking into his shoulder.
Drawing away a little so she could look into his eyes, Serenity sighed, "Oh, Endymion, it's so awful. Mother has decided that the only way to cleanse the Earth of this darkness is to awaken Saturn! The Senshi with the power to destroy entire worlds... I tried to convince her not to, but she wouldn't listen." Serenity removed herself from his embrace abruptly and paced to the other side of the room, arms wrapped around herself tightly. "The Phantom Silver Crystal holds the power of rebirth, so the Earth can be healed after the darkness is dispersed, but..."
She turned back to gaze at him, eyes frightened. "What if you aren't the same, after... Please, Endymion, come away with me, so you will be safe no matter what happens." She stretched out one hand to him in entreaty, but he slowly began to shake his head. The people of Earth were his responsibility, he couldn't abandon them to their fate no matter what was going to happen. Serenity's whole body drooped at his response.
Endymion opened his mouth to explain, but he never got a chance to as Serenity suddenly gasped and the bloodied end of a sword suddenly protruded from her chest. She slowly toppled forward, sliding off the blade and revealing Kunzite behind her, hand gripping the sword that had killed her and grim satisfaction on his face. He'd never even seen or heard the man enter.
Staring at Serenity as she breathed her last on the floor of his chambers, in a tense voice he demanded, "Kunzite, why?"
"She was trying to lure you into a trap, my Prince. No Lunarian can be trusted, even if your infatuation with her has blinded you to that," Kunzite answered in a hard, steely tone.
Endymion shook his head in denial. "She loved me. I loved her. And you killed her!" Shock gave way to a flood of rage, and Endymion drew his sword and flung himself at a surprised Kunzite. Anger made Endymion's blows reckless and unpredictable, but Kunzite soon settled into the calm of battle, his superior skill letting him handle everything his Prince threw at him. In the end, a mistimed lunge by Endymion caused him to impale himself on Kunzite's sword. The sword was pulled from suddenly nerveless fingers as Endymion fell. With his last breaths, he reached towards where Serenity lay in a pool of her own blood. "At least... I'll be with you... Sere..." His voice trailed off as death glazed his eyes over.
Kunzite just stared at the scene before him for what felt like an eternity before he pulled his sword from his... former... liege's body and wiped the blood off the blade on Serenity's white dress. Whatever enchantment the Moon Princess had used to capture Endymion's love must have driven him to that madness, Kunzite decided, as he turned to leave. The girl had probably been lying about Saturn, but they had been hasten their preparations to attack the Moon in case there had been a grain of truth in her lies.
4. Fall Together
Prince Endymion had wanted to meet the armies of Earth when they came to the gates of the Moon Palace, to try one last time to talk sense into his people, but together the Senshi and the Shitennou talked him out of it.
So it was that the Prince and the Princess stayed in safety within the palace while their guardians awaited the arrival of Earth's armies before the gates. They stood together not in two separate group but in pairs, Mercury and Zoisite, Venus and Kunzite, Mars and Jadeite, and Jupiter and Nephrite, reflecting the bonds that had formed during the brief attempt at alliance before the coming darkness had changed everything.
They did not have long to wait before they could see the armies of Earth that were to storm the palace under the leadership of the Grand Dukes of Earth's four Great Houses. But it was a woman with long wavy hair of the darkest red who ran at the head of the charge, screaming at the Shitennou that they were traitors to their people.
The army drew quite close before Venus and Kunzite sprang down the marble steps and into the fight, the other swiftly following. The pairs were soon separated, each Shitennou guarding the back of his Senshi and having his back guarded in return as they fought against overwhelming odds. They knew that there were too many to fight and win, but they weren't about to let the Silver Millennium be destroyed without a fight. And if they must fall in the fighting, at least they would fall together.
5. Platinum
It had taken several long years and a love that would not be denied to bring them to this place. The councils of the Silver Millennium had to be convinced that Earth was ready to take its place as an equal of the Moon, and the envy and fear the people of Earth held for the long lived Lunarians had to be soothed, but both had finally been accomplished. Now the dignitaries of two worlds gathered in the great hall of the Moon Palace.
Princess Serenity of the Silver Millennium stood at the front of the hall, radiant in an elaborate white gown. Beside her stood Prince Endymion of the Golden Kingdom of Earth, debonair in black trimmed with silver and gold. They were ready to take the vows that would unite their two kingdoms and, more importantly to them, join them together in marriage.
The Shitennou and the Senshi stood flanking their respective Prince and Princess, all dressed in their most beautiful and formal clothes for the occasion. As the ceremony progressed, Princess Psyche of Venus and Lord Kunzite of House Boreas watched their respective charges with pride, occasionally glancing at the other and thinking of the day when they would be the ones saying the vows.
Whenever Lord Zoisite of House Notus caught Princess Metis of Mercury watching him instead of the ceremony, he flashed her a brilliant smile that always brought a flush to her cheeks and caused her to turn her attention back to ceremony until her eyes were drawn irresistibly back to the man standing across from her. Princess Athena of Jupiter sighed happily at the beauty of it all, aided by the flower arrangement she had overseen herself, while Lord Nephrite of House Zephyrus was often distracted from the ceremony by the green-clad princess herself. Princess Hestia of Mars glared at Lord Jadeite of House Eurus's discrete attempts to make her laugh during the ceremony, but couldn't keep the corners of her mouth twitching upwards towards a smile.
When Serenity had finished reciting her vows in her clear, high voice, and Endymion had replied with his in his own deeper one, and the bride had been throughly kissed to the applause of their friends and guardians, Endymion took Serenity by the arm and together they led the way out of the palace. Out of the past of the Silver Millennium and the Golden Kingdom standing separately and into the new future where the Earth and the Moon would stand together as one.
