End of the Millennium
A Xian Shade Production

Author's Notes: Fleh. My work no longer allows internet connection, so
I can't post from there. Bad enough it's boring here, but now I can
only type the story up on off-occasions.

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 28:

Thanatos pulled the thin gauzy soul of the last blue-haired warrior
free from its lifeless body, recognizing the familiarity. It was
Princess Amilia's runaway sister Kyra, the one who would have been
queen had she only accepted her fate. Still, it would have ended the
same, just that he probably would not be able to unite Saturn, which
was moot anyway... and he'd never have met Amilia. He placed the soul
in his pouch to send to judgement later, then realized the queen of
Mercury's soul was missing from his pouch. Her time had come, and she
passed into the cauldron... but did this mean she would have died when
this war happened? Was it fated that they would fail in their defense?
He turned to the Queen of the moon, who was just barely conscious.

"It is done. I'm sorry, your majesty. Had we only known sooner... "

"...n-nothing you... could have done... too strong... "

Thanatos looked down at the dying queen. So much of her energy had
been lost in the release of power that wiped out the forces against
the moon... He never should have given the wand to her. He should have
taken the crystal from her and wiped out the entire army himself when
he heard of it. That crystal was never meant for mortal hands. So many
lives, lost simply because he and his brothers put faith in them to
defend themselves...

It was then that he realized the lack of spiritual presence on the
moon. It had wiped out their own forces too.

"The spirits... I can't sense any of them, your majesty."

"I'm s-sorry, Thanatos. I couldn't destroy the enemy without killing
everyone... but all of the royalty is now dead. Were there no
survivors on the other worlds?"

"I was informed that Neptune and Uranus are gone, and I can only
assume the same of Saturn. The entire population of Mars and Jupiter
were fighting up there, and Venus took a direct blast from their
strongest warrior... the entire surface of the world looks molten. I
have no idea about Mercury yet. Perhaps being close enough to the sun,
they were not considered a threat." Thanatos explained, but he knew he
was fooling himself. The darkness was after everyone, and Mercury's
planetary defense mechanisms hadn't fired at the huge shadow entity,
nor had they answered Ares' communications earlier. "I see no evidence
of the bodies, either. Did the crystal obliterate everyone?"

"No, I d-didn't kill any of them. I m-merely s-sent them ahead. Gave
them another chance. A chance for life... for peace. I used the
crystal's p-power of judgement... to seal the darkness and send the
rest ahead. It was the most... most humane thing I could think to do."

Thanatos would have struck her if he thought it would have made a
difference. Instead of letting the natural course of reincarnation
come forth, she forced it upon them. The new 'normal and peaceful'
life they had would be plagued with fighting the darkness, and strong
memories of a past life would eventually trigger. Even the darkness
would be reborn without being sent to the negaverse's dark cauldron
for judgement, and none of them would learn their lessons. At least
Metallia would remain sealed. The level of energy was enough to
shatter his binding shell, so it would be enough to keep Metallia
imprisoned. It was no wonder the silver crystal had broken apart from
such stress. "What you've done is a terrible thing, but I understand
that you didn't think any course of action would be better."

The two cats that had run off to warn the others now returned, hopping
about the rubble.

"Majesty, you did it!" the black cat spoke. She didn't even seem to
see Thanatos. But the white one did. He did, and he knew.

"Luna... The queen's not going to make it. Thanatos is here."

She looked to the white cat, not really comprehending what he said,
then followed his gaze to Thanatos, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"...No... please don't take her from us... please..."

Sad pools of Jade glowed from behind the white mask. "All that work
and effort, trying to eliminate my prejudice, and even the last two
animals believe I am a thief..." he sighed. "You two will be
necessary. The queen sent everyone into forced reincarnation. We need
to send you two ahead as well to warn the others. You will have to
remind the survivors of this war that it isn't over. It never will be.
I will return around that time, as well. Even if I do not take the
queen's spirit, she will die here. The atmosphere is dissipating from
the crystal's use and the darkness' theft." He took the queen's limp
arms, her body barely clinging to life. "We will take care of them,
your majesty... rest now. Just hold on." he said, pulling her body
into the black space of his cloak. He couldn't let her die this way.
"You two, hop in. We're making a trip to Mercury."

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Hey, what's going on here? This isn't quite how you remember it, is
it? Of course it's not. It's MY story! XD I hope you've all enjoyed
reading thus far. There's only a little bit more to this book, then
it's on to book three, to pick up where book one left off!