Chapter 7: Lives are Lost

Minako awoke to the warmth of a glowing fire
 and the solace of her lover's embrace. They 
had gone back to Kunzite's quarters when it had
 become too cool to stay outside. Hence they had
 accidentally fallen asleep in front of the 
comforting fireplace.
Minako carefully removed Kunzite's arms from their
 grip around her, not wanting to wake him from his
 slumber. Her long gown swished about her feet 
as she slipped them into her high heels. Before 
leaving the quarters, Venus looked back to Kunzite. 
He looked so innocent, like a child, when he was 
asleep. She kneeled down as kissed him tenderly on 
the forehead. She giggled silently as he smiled in 
his sleep.
She sneaked out the door, shutting it quietly behind 
her. She walked out into the middle of the courtyard 
and called out, "Venus Power! Teleport to the Moon 
Palace!" The stone on her tiara radiated a golden 
light that surrounded her. She was warped into a white, 
empty dimension, and then spit out into the air right
 outside the Palace, or at least where the Palace 
should have been.
Minako regained her footing and looked around. "Wha… What happened?" Minako asked, panicked. All around her were burning 
buildings, and thick smoke billowed into the air blotting
 out the sunlight. Right in front of her was the Moon 
Palace, in ruins.
"The Princess! Where is the Princess?" Minako screamed in 
hysterics, "I need to find her! VENUS POWER, MAKE-UP!"
Orange and yellow lights flashed around Minako, and in a 
burst of golden stars and crystals Minako was instantly
 transformed into her Sailor uniform. Venus stood amazed 
for a moment; she'd never been through a transformation 
before! 
"FIRE SOUL!" Explosions of fiery red came from behind a 
smoldering building. The sound of Sailor Mars' angry 
voice awoke Venus from her trance. She raced around a 
corner to see Sailor Mars fighting back an army of 50 
Earth men.
"Fire soul… BIRD!" Mars screamed again. She threw her 
deadly fire attack at the charging men, who fell to the
 ground barbecued.
"Wow, Mars!" Venus exclaimed.
Mars turned and saw her friend. "Where the heck have you
 been?" she demanded angrily. "We've needed your help! 
You're as unreliable as Serenity!"
Venus' face grew hot. Maybe Mars was right. I'll prove 
them wrong, she thought.
Another group of men came charging towards them. "I'll 
take them," Venus took charge, "Crescent Beam… SHOWER!" 
Hundreds of laser light beams erupted from Venus' hand 
and pelted the soldiers. They also fell, dead as doornails.
"Good one!" Mars said, "but you need to find the Princess! 
NOW!" Venus nodded and ran.
Earth soldiers surrounded her on all sides as she 
continued her desperate search. She could hear Mercury's
 normally quiet voice yelling loathsomely. Venus saw 
the small, blue haired girl gathering a ball of bubbles 
n her hands. She then cried out, "SHABON SPRAY!" The spray
 blinded her attackers. 
Jupiter was beside Mercury, and a lightning rod extended
 from her tiara as she bellowed, "SUPREME THUNDER!" Twenty
 or so Earth men dropped dead from electrocution.
Venus watched in awe as her friends demonstrated such great
 power, but she forced herself to continue on. "I must 
find Serenity, I must find Serenity…" she repeated as she
 ran. Ashes flew through the air and burned on her bare 
skin. Red welts began to cover her arms and face. Venus 
tried to ignore the pain and continued searching.
The sound of uncontrollable sobbing drew Venus around 
yet another corner, onto the platform where the Palace 
had once stood. In the center of the pile of ruins was 
the Princess, kneeling over the body of her dead lover.
 Endymion lay misshapen on the ground. Serenity continued
 to shake his lifeless body, trying to awaken him. 
"Endymion! Wake up! I need you! Please! ENDYMION!" Serenity
 cried helplessly.
"Princess!" Venus called to her. She crawled over the 
ruins, scraping up her arms and legs on the broken marble.
 "Princess, wait for me!" she hollered.
The Princess was oblivious to Venus' calls to her. Venus 
watched in horror as Serenity pulled Endymion's sword out 
of its holster. She held it above her head for a moment, 
calling out between sobs, "To my love!" With that, she brought
 it back down to stab herself through the stomach. She fell 
in a bloody heap over her lover's body.
Venus screamed in terror. She bolted over the last of the
 ruins to the Princess' side. Serenity coughed and her 
body shuddered as Venus lifted her head into her lap.
 "I was too late…" Venus moaned as tears trickled 
down her cheeks. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" 
Serenity used her last bit of energy to look up
 at Venus and mouth the words, "I love him." With
 that, her body grew limp and her eyes glazed over. 
Venus sat, shocked, beside the dead lovers. The 
sky continued to grow darker and darker as 
smoke filled the air. Venus just sat there, stunned,
 until she heard another blood curdling scream. 
She whipped her head around to see the Queen 
standing behind her, hands covering her mouth 
and eyes brimming with tears.
"Queen, I… I tried to protect her… I tried…" Venus
 choked on her words.  
The Queen said nothing, she just knelt down beside
 her daughter. "How…how did this happen? Did this man…"
"No, your majesty, this man didn't kill her. She killed
 herself when she saw he was dead. They were in love."
The Queen nodded slowly, sadly. "She had such a bright 
future…" her voice trailed off. Sobs trembled through 
her body as she mourned for her only daughter. 
Venus stood and took a few steps back. She looked up into
 the sky. All is hopeless now, she thought, it couldn't 
possibly get any worse than this.
As she gazed into space, an object began to materialize 
in the sky, just before her eyes. "Queen!" Venus cried, 
pointing to the figure, "What is that?" It was a tall woman
 with fiery red hair and a long, purple gown. She had 
horns growing out of her shoulders and a wiry, black 
crown resting on her brow.
"Queen Beryl!" the Queen spat the name. "How could you do
 this? You caused the Earth to revolt against my 
peaceful kingdom, and now you've killed my daughter. 
What more could you want?"
The Queen cackled hideously, "Nothing more, really. Just 
to make sure every last person on the Moon Kingdom is
 DEAD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She spread her arms wide before
 her. "How would you like to meet my new generals? 
Unfortunately, Prince Endymion is already dead so 
he can't see how they betrayed him… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Venus' stomach flip flopped. What had that witch done 
to Kunzite? She stood appalled as Jadeite, Nephrite 
and Zoicite appeared, each holding one of the corpses 
of the other three guardians. "MARS! MERCURY! JUPITER!" 
Venus fell to her knees, wailing.
Lastly, Kunzite appeared. His arms were crossed in front
 of his barrel chest. 
"Kunzite! I'm so glad you're here!" Venus called out to
 him. She began to run to him, but she stopped suddenly. 
"Kunzite? What are you doing?" Venus asked confusedly as
 he reached his palm out towards her. Before she even 
realized it, Kunzite used his evil powers to pull Venus
 into his choking grasp.