They were the only ones left.

The once great and shining palace had fallen. There was nothing more than rubble to sugget the once great empire rebuilt from the ashes of an earlier time. Back then, the viper had risen up from another planet. An outside force has lain all of their work to ruin and twisted their love into hatred. There had always been talk of hitory repeating itself for pessism was in their nature after so many years...

But no one had expected the viper to come from within.

"How could you?" her voice was small, shaking. She felt very much like a child again after all of this time. It had taken her so long to get to a point were she felt empowered. Now she was dwarfed by the destruction around her. "How could you do this to us?"

The viper could not face her. But then, she could scarcely hold her head up. "I..."

"You ruined everything," she whimpered, trying not to think of the faces of the Shitennou, the Senshi, her father as they had tried to stop the end. They had all died in screams and fire, Mars pushing her out of the door at the last moment...

She retched for the fifth time, but heaved only air, collapsing to her knees in front of the viper.

"I didn't..." she said again, her voice dazed and lost, much like a child herself in spite of her age.

"They're all dead," the princess sobbed, wanting nothing more in that moment than to join them. Because she was an heir with no allies in the middle of a war and she didn't know what she was supposed to do. "I'm all alone."

The viper seemed cut by that, but the princess did not care.

"What were you thinking?" she asked again, wanting to be angry but lacking the strength. "What were you thinking that made you... with my father?"

The viper swallowed and turned away from the pitiable monarch. She stared at the smoke rising from the fallen castle. The majesty had ended. They magic was gone. And the only two defenders were powerless in face of what was about to come.

"I thought Usagi would forgive us," the viper said softly.

Lady Serenity hung her head at a memory that she would never escape. "It should have been you in there."

Setsuna could raise no argument to the contrary.