The End of the Millennium A Xian Shade Production Author's Note: Well, college sure is keeping me busy. I don't really have a lot to say for this author's note, aside from ONE major thing. Chapter 11 will be the last chapter of this fic. How is this possible, you ask? It will constitute the end of the first book in the series. Did you already forget? Also, I apologize if chapter 11 is especially long (even moreso than previous long chapter), but it originally contained chapter 10 as well, and I hoped to finish this book with few questions. Disclaimer: I don't own any aspects of Sailor Moon or Phantasy Star. If I did, this would be animated or a manga or both and you wouldn't be reading it right now. Thanatos and all other characters are © Xian Shade, and may not be used without my permission. People failing to follow this rule have broken Xian's Law #849, paragraph 3, line 2: Don't fuck with my shit. Guardian's Return, Chapter 11: Chronos was hardly one you'd call 'impatient'. His abilities went far beyond precognition, and yet, here he was, signalling guardian Pluto again. Still, she did not answer, and he couldn't understand why. She'd failed to report recently, and he'd checked the timeline to make sure nobody got past her and made any changes. There were none. Then he considered it to be a mechanical error. In previous centuries, the rift between the dimensions of time negated virtually all electronic communication, and most definitely telepathic communication. It was why he was oblivious to the destruction of the solar system he called home. Changes were made to correct the problem, but it still had bugs now and again. In checking, he found the signal was fine, and the technology had no problem. Then he heard sound on the receiver of his communicator. "-~Chronos? This is Thanatos. You all right?~-" "~Thanatos? Sure, I'm fine. Where are you?~" "-~I'm at the entrance to the time gate with the inners. Pluto's down, and the gate's doors are wide open. Can you find out if anyone's altered destiny yet?~-" "~No wonder I couldn't contact her... I did check, but I'll check again, and double-check with Noah...~" Meanwhile, Thanatos waited patiently, and Pluto groaned, rousing from unconsciousness. She held a gash on her head, her dark green hair was splashed with red to make an ugly black blotch. The scouts stood as Mercury knelt by her and tried to staunch the bleeding wound. "-~Thanatos? Chronos here. Everything checks out fine. No part of destiny has been altered through the time gate.~-" "~No change?~" he asked, perplexed. "~That's odd. Why would they attack Pluto, open the door, and not change the past?~" he thought aloud while pacing. It seemed slightly humorous to the scouts though, since there were no legs below the cloak doing the pacing... even if they couldn't understand a word he was saying. "-~I'm not entirely sure myself. The only reas-~-" the signal cut off suddenly from Chronos' end. "~Chronos? Chronos, come in.~" No reply. "Damn... stupid interdimensional time rift... the communicators have always had problems here..." He sighed and sat with the senshi, next to Pluto. "Can you remember anything that happened?" Pluto nodded. "Some strange beings attempted to pass. They ignored my questions and attempted to push past. I managed to dispatch a group, and one or two close-range... but one knocked me against the door... and they just went through it." Mercury paled. "Is there anywhere, or anytime else they may have gone when they went through?" Thanatos looked through the door. The path was basically straight-on, with branching paths further down on each side, warping colors and walls stretching for mile after mile, the colors enough to drive someone mad if they stared long enough. "Well from what I know of the time gates, they couldn't have gone anywhere except all the way to their destination. Since time isn't relevant here, it doesn't matter how much sooner or later after we came in here... they'd already have arrived in the time they wished." Venus didn't follow. "Say again?" "They went in, they're already where they want to be, and we can't find them." Mercury simplified. "But Chronos-san definitely said there was no tampering with the timeframe. He even said Noah confirmed it. Perhaps they got disoriented and lost, or..." Thanatos was going in circles over the concept. Then, his pacing stopped. He looked at his communicator again. "-Chronos, come in!-" Still no reply. "What's wrong?" Sailor Moon asked, noting the change in his tone, even without understanding him. "It's possible that they went after Chronos-san himself! If they can manage to overwhelm him, they can force him to allow them access to the future! The time gates can't take you there without the proper authorization, because otherwise they'd just head into the past!" They dashed through the gate along the warping colored corridor. "Why would they want access to the future?" Jupiter asked while running. "It's possible they want to find out whether they'll be successful in bringing back the Profound Darkness, and what they may do to prevent any interference!" He replied, floating quickly along, then Thanatos side-stepped into a section of the colored wall that looked to go far off in the distance instead of right in front of them, and disappeared. The others stopped, until his masked and hooded face poked through the 'wall'. "Come on! This way!" They shrugged, and Mars stepped carefully through first, and felt her stiletto heel sink as her foot hit... "...sand?" The rest stepped through and found themselves surrounded by black sky, freezing air, and white sand. A crumbled castle stood mostly-buried in the sand, and they stared at it for a moment before seeing something hurtle over the front wall. A frightened scream eminated from the flying object before it impacted with the sand, accompanied by the resounding snap of its neck. The creature dissipated in the chill wind, confirming Thanatos' suspicion. They were after Chronos. But at that thought, Chronos stepped out from atop the battlements, and floated down from the perch he'd stood upon. "Sorry about the radio silence, but I had some uninvited guests." Chronos smiled under his white cloak's cover. His garb seemed much more kept than Thanatos', and he did not float constantly. Short black hair peeked out from under the hood, and he'd almost appear to be a priest of Elysion by the appearance of his uniform. Pluto then kneeled before him. "I have failed as guardian of the time gate. I await your punishment, Master Chronos..." "It is indeed not the first time you have mishandled your duties as guardian." Chronos' smile faded as he spoke, and he placed a hand upon her head, reverting the wound to an earlier time, where it was healed. "I hereby relieve you of duty as guardian... to help your friends, who will need your abilities more than I. Your abilities will remain intact until you prove your worth otherwise, and show that you are once again capable of handling the title of guardian of time." Pluto's eyes closed, and a single tear slid down her face. He was still giving her a chance, despite her failure. He removed his hand, and she wiped her face clear, standing before him with a determined look. But she was greeted with something unexpected: Chronos embraced her, wrapping her in the folds of the cloak. "I'm fortunate I did not lose my guardian, though. Remain safe, Setsuna-chan." he whispered to her, and her sad expression managed a smile and a peck on the cheek, before the collective throat-clearing of the others could be heard. He released her, and they turned to the rest of the scouts. "Ahem... so they're all taken care of, then? That seemed awfully fast, even for you." Thanatos mumbled, trying to change the subject. "Ahh, indeed it was. I had some help." he gestured to the castle entrance, where someone stood. "I was wondering if I'd have to stand here all day before you gave my introduction." a familiar voice's shout echoed from across the sand between them, and the figure walked into view. What approached them was what they hardly expected. "Chibi-Usa?!" the inners ran over to her, but she wasn't as they remembered. She was a teenager now, almost fully grown, and long bushes of cotton candy hair streamed down from pointed buns atop her head, now looking very much like her mother. They gabbed and bubbled excitedly, while Chronos, Thanatos, and Pluto stood back, watching the reunion. Suddenly, she looked past her one-time guardians towards the others, and paled. "YOU! I won't let you hurt us again!" She drew a heavy, decorated sword from her side and pushed past the scouts, leaping into the air and slashing down at Thanatos. He caught the blade in his artificial hand, and was dumbfounded to see it was sparking from damage. Pluto and the inners tried to pry her away, but she'd gotten much stronger than her child-like form. "Young Lady, what's gotten into you?!" Pluto demanded, no longer using the nickname 'small lady' since the girl was hardly that anymore. She struggled with the others until the sword was wrenched from her, still imbedded in Thanatos' own hand. "It's him! He's the one that attacked me all those years ago in my dreams! Sailor Moon, you remember! You fought him! Let me GO!" she struggled with shuddering anger and fear. Sailor Moon thought it over, looking at Thanatos once again. "Even Chibi-Usa thinks it's him... but, Chibi-Usa... Thanatos is a friend of ours. He's not that monster I fought. Please, just relax!" she held her future daughter in a hug that drained her anger, and she collapsed from exertion. Usagi hardly believed her own words, though. Jaakoku had invaded Chibi-Usa's dreams, much like Thanatos had with Ami. Jaakoku himself was nearly unstoppable until Chibi-usa allowed them to defeat him through belief that they 'could', much like Thanatos was. And just how powerful was Thanatos outside in the physical realm? The coincidence was too difficult not to question. Thanatos just stood there, examining the weapon stuck in his hand, then wrenched it free, seeing sparks fly from the wound to the external structure and internal circuitry. "We must have been successful, then." "What are you talking about?" Venus asked. "This weapon appears to be made of a Laconia, but only partially, as though an alloy. Laconia is a highly dense mineral only found in the system of our destination, and a VERY small amount resided on Mercury, which was used to develop my hand." he explained. "But that sword's been around since before the fall of the Moon kingdom." Sailor Mercury stated, examining the sword, and taking note of what Thanatos said regarding his hand. "In fact, the markings indicate it's the very same one from that time period. Chibi-Usa, where did you get this?" "Sailor Venus gave it to me when I finished my training. She said it was an excellent weapon, but I didn't know it was that old!" she explained. "So much for hopeful thinking." Thanatos cursed inwardly at the damage done to his hand. It didn't hurt, but his fingers refused to move. It was useless until he got it repaired. Chibi-Usa looked dejected as she took the weapon from him. "I'm sorry, but you looked so much like him... I just sorta lost it." she resheathed the sword, and Thanatos examined his hand further, lost in thought for a moment. 'It's quite possible I AM the being they fought, since so many have confused me with this 'Jaakoku'. This girl is from the future... No creature truly knows their predestined future except Noah.' He wanted to contemplate it further, but he snapped from the daze and turned over his now-useless hand, hoping the communicator still worked. "~Ares, are you there?~" Nothing but static greeted him on the receiving end. "~Ares, come in.~" still nothing. "~Shit... Chronos, you call him, this thing's usele-~" "-~-fft-res here. We're having a little trouble, T. Nothing I can't handle, but would you care to lend a hand?~-" The sounds of battle were muffled in the background, as was the scream of a monster being impaled by the communicator. Thanatos smiled under his hood, relieved it still worked. "-We're on our way.-" Chronos held up a hand. "I must remain and tend to Earth's prince. He's still ill." Sailor Moon stepped toward Chronos. "Please take care of him... I imagine he'd be more than happy to help us." "Bring him to 'Destiny'. We're better equipped to care for him there." Thanatos spoke, fully aware that the girls didn't know what Destiny referred to. Chronos simply nodded and drifted backwards, fading out to do his secondary duty, and Thanatos ripped another hole into the time dimension, then once everyone was through, ripped another into a rocky heated world, which the scouts continued to follow. He stopped them, holding his arms out, and some of them crashed into him, and each other. Usagi protested, holding her face, which had hit his metallic arm. "What's the big id--" The rest of her sentence was lost to the sound of an earth-shaking blast winding past them, tearing up the rocky terrain, and eventually bowling over a small army of monsters a short distance away. "What took you so long?" Sailor Uranus smirked, pulling her fist from the ground, then standing with Neptune, Saturn, and the war-monger Ares. The battlements of his already-ruined castle were well-worn and smoking, having faced both a recent and an ancient seige. He seemed to glow as red as the planet around him, and Rei knelt down and sifted some of the loose gravel in her hands. "Home..." she mouthed silently. "Good to see you again, Reianna..." Ares stepped forward, sheathing his weapon. "That should be the last of them. The invasion this time was pathetic. I apologize for not helping you with any earlier information... but I can only share what I know, or am not bound to keep hidden. Thanatos, or Samuru, as you knew him, asked me to keep silent on his identity for security reasons." "I suppose I can understand. We have to remain incognito in our normal lives too. Where are these creatures coming from?" Rei asked, getting a little annoyed with their enemy. "It's strange, actually." Ares motioned for them to follow him inside the castle. "When you eliminated Chaos two years ago, negative activity bottomed out almost completely, and a good deal of light activity was restored. Then about six months ago, it all started again: the resurfacing of creatures of darkness, and the elimination of creatures of light. Noah hadn't sensed any trace before that sudden activity, so they must be spawning from the opening seal." Ares explained. "What seal?" Sailor Moon asked. "The source of your troubles is sealed in a dimensional hole which your enemy has affectionately called the negaverse, though we refer to it as the dark cauldron. Its interior is quite large, which is why they gave it such a name. Like Chaos, the prisoner inside creates small duplicates of itself to release upon our universe. One of those duplicates was Chaos itself. Beryl's forces, as well as Metallia herself were sealed in a smaller version of the dark cauldron here on Earth. Thankfully, Mettallia didn't get free before you were ready." Ares led them inside the castle, walking the earthen stone halls. "This larger dimensional prison is sealed with a small solar system of three planets revolving around one fixed star: The Algo Solar System. That seal would have been near-perfect, and would only let out small monsters one at a time... but two-thousand years ago, a mortal stumbled upon the seal and offered to release part of the evil energy inside for the gift of eternal life. That mortal's name was Emperor La Shiec, and that creature he released was Falz, a pre-evolutionary form of the Dark Force. La Shiec and Falz were defeated many years after, but though Falz' body was destroyed, its spirit was not. Over a one-thousand year period, its spirit evolved, regrew, and reproduced. The two new Dark Force travelled to Earth. One studied the people of Earth, and the other studied the people on its moon. The one on Earth corrupted most of the people and taught them evil desires, and enriched them with power. They became the people of the black moon, which it seems you've already encountered. The rest were underpowered, but were still corrupt. That Dark Force reproduced once more, and one took the people of Black Moon back to Algo, to destroy its people, while the other, Metallia, remained on Earth, damaging relations and political situations between Earth and its moon. Strangely, the one Dark Force that studied the people of the moon was never found again. Whether dispatched by the silver crystal or not, we'll never know." Thanatos added. "When the prisoner within the dark cauldron, the Profound Darkness, found that three of us lived in this system of light, she was outraged. The people of Black Moon caused the prison sattelite, Gaira, to crash into planet Palma, and destroy part of the seal. Then the great war of the Silver Millennium began. Chronos was busy with some mission of his own, Noah was helping the damage in Algo, and that left only Thanatos and I to fend off the incoming armies before they hit home." They stopped in a room where 'Noah' sat before a giant loom, tracing each individual thread with a single finger, coming across small kinks and knots from intertwining lines, and undoing them where they appeared most necessary. Noah's back was to them, though, and his white and blue garb hid all his features. "Normally, the army would still have had quite a difficult time with just the two of us, but I had to claim Saturn's princess to aid us, so Ares fought alongside the warriors of Mars and Jupiter while I did so. Also, something odd prevented us from striking against the army. A giant mass of black that swallowed the light of the stars blocked our path. Ares had gone to the battle first, and it completely destroyed his physical body, along with most of the Silver Millennium's forces. It took the death of Sailor Saturn to decimate the dark entity... only to have it shatter into seven smaller versions of itself. Those seven eventually wore me down and distracted me while the rest of the army attacked your moon. You knew those seven as the Shadow Warriors. We can only assume since Palma was destroyed, that the large opening in the seal released that horror. Being sealed away by them, I watched helplessly as the blast of the Silver Crystal sent almost everyone ahead. The shadows were still alive after the blast, and I used the crystal myself to seal them within. I aided in your resurrection as best I could, even hiding the crystals on Earth. I'd never believed they'd take on human hosts, but perhaps that explains why the silver crystal didn't have a host itself." Thanatos settled before an ancient telescope and continued speaking. "Long after, I found Ares' reborn form and helped him as best I could. When we all came together, we swore nothing like this would happen again. We hunted down the evil we found, and grew stronger, knowing that if we pooled all powers and resources, we might have a chance against the Profound Darkness. We let Chaos' horde come to you these past few years to train you, instead of fighting them off for you. You've grown much more powerful, but you still need more. We came to 'collect' you, so that you'd be able to help, and to train you further before we can tackle her." Thanatos finished. "Why would the Profound Darkness be upset that you three lived here? What would she care about you?" Jupiter asked. "She was outraged because we'd chosen... mates." Ares explained, turning a slightly brighter red, if that were possible. It looked rather odd on such a burly man. "So what, she was jealous that you hadn't chosen her?" Venus joked. Noah turned about, pulling his hood back after hearing the conversation and questions, to reveal the one they knew as Rune. He kept his face straight, emotionless, impassive, and answered her question. "She was outraged... because she is our mother." ----------------------------------------------------------------- WHEW! Man, that had to have been the longest piece of work I've ever written as one chapter. I apologize again for the impossible length I made it, though most of the people who read it are thoroughly used to longer-than-life stories. This is the last chapter of "Guardian's Return". Keep a lookout for the next book, End of the Millennium: "The Path of Finding Destiny". Sorry for all those who love the story thus far, but I need a break, and I need to rethink book 3, "The Journey" a bit more before I decide to post it. I won't be able to leave this story alone, so don't worry about me never continuing it. My own irritating conscience won't let me.