End of the Millennium
A Xian Shade Production

Author's Notes: Zoicite's made himself a wanted man! What can be done
now? Will Thanatos be able to live with only one arm?

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspects of Sailor Moon or Phantasy Star.
If I did, this would be an anime, or manga, or both. Thanatos, Ares,
Chronos, Aljus, King Marcus, and the worthless one 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.


The Path of Finding Destiny, Chapter 20:

Zoicite found himself back in his chambers on Earth, and he dropped
the ice sword, which shattered from the impact, the melting ice
mingling with Lord Sotanaht's blood. What had he done?  He was so
sure... so sure he'd be able to remove this upstart of a lord from a
forbidden world with no trouble! The king of Mercury shouldn't have
even given him the chance to defend himself! Now, he'd attacked a lord
from Saturn... maimed him, even. There would be war. War between the
planet of death itself and his own world.

'...perhaps not. Perhaps a bounty will be put on my head instead.
Won't that be lovely...'

Zoicite figured it best to tell the others after his panic diminished.
Perhaps something could be salvaged to at least avoid war. Their
people were fighting almost constantly until recently, when the
generals had decided to court the four inner-world princesses. If even
one of them were able to succeed, the alliance could be made. Now it
seemed quite unlikely. Kunzite was rejected by Venus' royal family
since Venus' age of choosing was much later, Jadeite defeated in a
duel for the right to court Mars' princess... Zoicite had gotten the
furthest, and as far as he knew, Nephrite was still working out his
plan. What could he do now? Opening the door to their meeting room, he
found the other three pouring over one of Nephrite's stellar maps,
before looking up to the room's newest occupant. He thought he saw a
fourth in the room, but he was probably just still panicked, for only
the three remained in his sight when he blinked. He was used to seeing
their prince with them often enough, yet he wasn't here.

"Zoicite. Glad you could join us." Kunzite stated flatly, before
looking back down to the map.

"I take it from the expression on your face that you were equally
unsuccessful?" Jadeite said with a rueful smile. Being defeated for
your first time was certainly cowing.

"Someone's making fools of us. The stars whisper of others working
against us in our search for unity in the Silver Millennium." Nephrite
mumbled.

"That's nothing new, Nephrite. The whole damn solar system is against
Earth. Even Saturn." Zoicite snapped, having heard him.

Kunzite looked up. "Saturn? What could they have against us? They're
hated more than we are!"

"Well, right now it looks like THEY have a better chance of getting in
the alliance than we do. A lord from Saturn was accepted to court
Mercury's princess... and after all the careful planning, all the
work, all the effort, I'm beaten in a month's time by a lord from a
forbidden planet! She chose him!"

They all looked down at the table, then Jadeite looked up. "Then why
would Saturn hate us? Surely they wouldn't be so petty as to hold it
against you for courting Mercury's princess at the same time... "

"No... when I heard her say those words, I-I saw red... and in a fit
of rage, I sliced off his arm."

A collective groan was heard. "Well, that clinches it, then." Kunzite
said, pinching his eyes to clear them. "Things have officially gotten
worse."

The doors burst open to the silhouette of a man wearing onyx and
silver armor. Short tousled black hair waved in front of his midnight
eyes, and for a moment Zoicite jumped. "Why all the glum faces, men?"
came the voice of their prince, Endymion. "Today is a day of
celebration!"

"We failed, your majesty. And now we even have another world against
us."

"It can't be all that bad! All the princesses turned aside your
charms?"

"Most of us didn't even get THAT far, my prince." Jadeite said,
outstretching the bandaged arm he'd suffered from Ares in the duel.

"Well, no matter the case, we are now going to be in the alliance!"

The four generals exchanged equal looks of confusion. "What are you
getting at, my prince?" Kunzite asked finally.

"I have wooed the princess of the moon and gained their queen's trust!
It won't be long before we're united!"

Zoicite chewed upon his lip in thought, then nodded, making up his
mind. "Majesty, we must speak alone. As wonderful as this news is, I
fear we have war on the horizon, but this time it's not from our
world." Zoicite said, turning the future king about and out of the war
room. As the door shut, a beautiful creature with wavy auburn
streaming locks peeled out from the wall to the three remaining
generals.

"Leave it to Zoicite to make things better for us when he thinks
things can't be worse."

"What could be better about an early war, Milady Beryl?"

"There is no Lord on Saturn. Our spy's information states that the
creature he maimed is Saturn's Guardian! The war will be ours,
gentlemen. Not only will Saturn do nothing in retaliation, but the
solar system's defenses have just been cut, if you'll forgive the pun.
The entire battle that will approach can be blamed upon them!" she
cackled. "Soon, Endymion and Zoicite shall be under Metallia's control
as well. With them, the forces of Earth, and the reinforcements from
beyond, we'll easily lay waste to this system's defenses!"

"Lady Beryl, we still have some problems." Nephrite said, pointing to
several marked places on the stellar map. "Even with only one of the
three guardians active, since Queen Metallia has already wiped Pluto
clear and absorbed all its life energy, we still have to deal with the
power of the Lunarii and their silver crystal. By estimation of its
maximum power through the queen, or even one of the guardians, it
could still wipe out our entire legion, including Queen Metallia.
Plus, if Saturn's alliance comes to fruition, even with their guardian
wounded, his disciple may still do the same as the crystal. The odds
are still three to one in their favor."

"I was hoping one of you four would be able to gain a part of the
alliance. Once you had, the darkness could easily spread to whatever
world you came to, and the people of that planet could be convinced to
join our cause... but I had little hope for you, Jadeite. To think
that the princess of Mars would choose its guardian as a mate seems
odd to me, but perhaps he sees the battle coming despite Metallia's
efforts. I'd sought the most from the other three."

"She chose her guardian...? Then why send me at all?" Jadeite seemed a
little peeved that he was used in such a way.

"Quite simply, I wanted to see how well you matched against Mars'
guardian. You did surprisingly well for not taking any of the promised
power at that time."

"Be that as it may, Queen Beryl... couldn't Metallia's influence
directly spread to the moon kingdom through the prince's alliance,
like you wished to do with our own?"

"No. The silver crystal's power prevents others from being controlled
so easily. It doesn't even allow us to get close. All it will end up
doing is cause the moon to turn on Earth before the battle is ready,
and we will lose a great deal of our troops. We must wait for our
instructions. Until then, I can coerce Zoicite to join our cause.
Besides, I've been informed that we will be sent a specialist to
handle the power of the silver crystal. We must simply wait for its
arrival. Nephrite, go to the prince and Zoicite, and begin your plan
to court Jupiter's princess. Perhaps we can use Jupiter's forces to
'fend off' Saturn, and possibly kill the guardian's disciple in the
process. With him maimed, and still on Mercury, he won't be able to
protect them. Victory will be ours!"

------------------------------------------------------------

The plans of the dark kingdom come forth! A specialist to handle the
power of the silver crystal? What was that about Pluto? Jadeite and
Zoicite weren't under the control of the darkness when they were
attempting their courtships? And here you probably thought they were
breaking into the alliance just to disable it. See you again!