A Senshi's Past.

	There was Silence, then the Bang. For a moment, there was nothing, no good, no evil, no peace, no war. The creation disrupted the Silence, and in its first and last moment sent its existence, held forever locked in a piece of time, it was doomed to travel until it found a guardian.

	There were planets, hundreds, thousands, all with life. Teeming with it. By the time the Silence, now appearing only as a small orb, reached them, there was joy, life, so much good that there was little balance. There was hatred without good at times, but so much good without hatred, the Silence could not exist there, so it travelled, searching without thoughts for one who was like it, one who was alone yet whole, quiet yet strong, good and evil. Then it found Saturn.

	She sat alone, dark mists swirling around. Wearing only a purple dress, her black hair sliced through the air. The land was barren. There were no others in this world. Sunlight cut through the mist, but did not destroy it. The only other thing on the world was a long staff of a metal, held tightly in her hands. She looked at the Silence, not judging, but observing, accepting. the Silence floated to the Staff, and sat on the top, transformed into the head of what was known forever after as the Silence Glaive, guarded for eternity by the senshi of Saturn.

	"We have to battle Serpentia before the green energy transforms everyone!" Rei said, holding fast to her beliefs. "Remember Naru? We can't let them stay like that!" Usagi looked up.
	"But why didn't the ginzuishou work? Why can't they be healed?" she whined.
	"We must heal them by Silencing them. They must have nothing to have something. It is a balance." Makoto thought of the crystal forms slaving away at Serpentia's palace.
	"Stop it with the Silencing! We can't kill anyone!"
	"Silence is not death." Hotaru felt that she was returning to a conversation she had had to many times before. She never had the strength to explain herself, but she had to try. "You have to have nothing before you can have something, and something before nothing. If there was no evil, how could there be any good?" Her voice faded as she grew tired again. Ami put her hand on her shoulder.
	"This isn't about good and evil. This is about saving those we care about. Giving them back their freedom." She gave Hotaru a kind, understanding look, but depressingly similar to those an adult gives a child.
	"Wise words, Ami-chan." Rei said.
	"The ginzishou did not work because there was no healing to be done. Did not Nehrenia say that if it is a dream, Sailor Moon would sleep forever? Perhaps they do not heal because they do not acknowledge injury."
	"We have to try." Makoto said. Hotaru thought, I will fight alone.

	That night, in bed, Hotaru dreamed, or rather remembered. Like Haruka and Michiru, her memories had returned. Hers, however, did not appear in the depths of her thoughts, but were different because they had been brought to her from her spirit, Saturn. The planet Saturn during the Silver Millennium had been so different...

	I danced a dance never seen to another. It lasted years or millenniums, minutes or months, it made no difference. I spun the Silence Glaive through the air, spreading its power throughout the Universe, sending the ribbons of Silence across time and space. The silver sheen of the Glaive's head swished above me and around me, as the thousands or ribbons spread, eventually coming to rest on other worlds where they held a life for a moment, letting them see the total form of a leaf, a raindrop, a pebble, for the duration of its existence, its purest form. Understanding creation and destruction, if not for more then a moment, is still a powerful gift and the ribbons made sure that the power of existence would not be forgotten. She had danced before, letting the Silence's power cascade like a waterfall over her, gradually building a force around her planet, the rings, which protected her from the others who had always sought her. When I finally let the Glaive rest at my side, I heard a gentle calling inside my head.
	"Princess Saturn, I require your presence." I returned the unwelcome thought.
	"Queen Serenity, this is strictly against our agreement."
	"That was ages ago." I started to remember the first time I met Queen Serenity. She was truly peaceful, warm and caring. I envied her, but what she asked was cold to my tastes. She had asked `only' that I stop Silence, that peace may resound. I remember shaking my head in depression. No one understood. The Silence was part of peace. True, I could take it away and end some war, but I would also end some peace. Silence must exist, for the balance, I told `her majesty.' She was young, true enough, then, but still I asked her never to return. Perhaps I was to harsh, perhaps not. But it does not matter. The Queen apparently has forgotten the agreement, I thought.
	"What can be of such dire importance to make you contact me?" I was not one to exist in small places at a time. This is where the Silence lived, or began, and so it was where I liked to stay.
	"Metallia is free." This put me deep into thought. Metallia was evil. Pure evil, without balance. Or, perhaps there was.
	"She is to be your responsibility, Queen."
	"I cannot defeat her."
	"Of course not. You are her equal."
	"I ask you only to shift the balance."
	"That, my queen, is the one thing I cannot do. If the balance is shifted that drastically in your favour, I will have to side with Metallia."
	"But she is evil! Do you respect such a thing?"
	"No. But good and evil must co-exist. There is an end and a finish, but both must be balanced. You must learn this. Farewell, your majesty."
	"Saturn!" I cut my thoughts off from hers and began to question my decision.

	I sensed the Silence disturbed later that night, caused by an explosion far away. I lifted the Glaive into the air, drawing myself up with it, to see what had passed.
	"Neptune," I murmured, seeing the destruction that had befallen that planet. It was crushed, the cities, the life, the skies, all had grown a darkened black. I still sensed life from it, though. The senshi must still live. I prayed to anyone who could hear it that she had not been forced to witness it's destruction. My thoughts had caused me to lose track of the Glaive, which began to throb with pain in my hands. Something was trying to pass through the Rings. The Rings had to uses, the second known only to me. The first use was to keep out invaders, any fool who would try to enter my home. But they were also a storehouse of energy, collected over the ages. Thousands of ribbons, energy from the Silence Glaive lived there. It was a powerful intruder, I sensed. it was possible that they would break the Ring. I chose to let them pass. Raising the Glaive, the thousands of rings linked to its head, giving it centuries worth of power. Let them come, I thought. The battle would begin.

	I was not surprised when Metallia's form filled my sky, cackling at the `pathetic senshi' who awaited her presence. This was the curse I had thought to join? She thought that she had defeated my Rings, as I had left a few for her to break, enough so I could measure her power. She was Serenity's equal. No. More powerful. I could not destroy her, but I must weaken her. However, I could not under any circumstance allow her to destroy my home.
	"Death Ribbons!" I shouted, feeling my power grow. A thousand dances, a million worlds, contained within a single, powerful blade. I cut. I fought. "Revolution!!!" I released a force that was greater then any had been released since the Silver Millennium had begun. The ribbons swirled around Metallia, shrinking her. Slicing her. They became energy, cutting at Metallia with a destructive force that existed only to the Glaive. Metallia screamed. I screamed. She would not have Saturn! The Glaive released more ribbons, recreating the Rings. For a moment, I saw Pluto, speaking to Serenity about my life for balance, that which I can never forget. The ribbons formed the Ring, as powerful as ever. Metallia saw this, and in her weakened state had only two choices, to stay and finish me, but be trapped by the Ring forever, or to escape, fighting off the Ribbons before I gave them more power and leaving my home alone for all eternity. She chose well, and when it was over, I sat once more in the purple mists, alone.

	I looked to space that night, as the Silence Glaive had felt a disturbance, and watched as the powers of Ocean and Sky destroyed the invaders of Beryl who had left to there. This was getting out of hand. While it was true I would join Metallia in order to preserve the balance, I would have to do the same if Metallia becomes more power, as she was seeming to become. I raised the Glaive over my head, and then was somewhere else.

	Serenity was sitting on a stone near the edge of the palace pond, which edged through a river to the Sea of Tranquillity when I arrived. She was weeping. I approached her with no emotion on my face or in my voice.
	"Queen." Her tear streaked face looked up from the shadows, the Earth's light giving the water an eerie glow.
	"Saturn? You have come?" Her voice filled with hope, something I resent letting down.
	"Not to aid you. Metallia's forces, for the most part, were defeated earlier on Uranus."
	"Then you intend to join her?"
	"No."
	"What have you come for, then?"
	"You and Metallia will destroy each other." That which I had been unsure of earlier had come to a razor pointed truth.
	"What do you want? Saturn, if I fall, the Princess is not ready yet."
	"Much more will fall. While you will almost destroy the Dark Kingdom, they will almost destroy the entire Millennium." I looked deep into my soul, trying to find my meaning.
	"Can you save it?"
	"No." I felt the answer. "But I will end this battle."
	"The there can be peace." She sounded more hopeful. Perhaps she did not understand my meaning.
	"I will destroy the Moon. Metallia's forces will never be able to gain power here."
	"What of us, my daughter then?"
	"That is up to you." I powered up the Glaive, and disappeared into the darkness in a shimmer to wait for the time.

	The battle raged on the Moon for a day. I sat, all this time, watching. People have called me cold, but it would be cold to let the Universe end, letting good or evil destroy the other. But still, I was torn as I watched innocents die along with the evil. Cold? Perhaps that is what becomes of one who stands against darkness and light, time and eternity. I have always protected that through Silence. What if there was no evil? Then there would be no need for good. I must stand, I told myself, but what will happen when I grow tired?

	The battle was over. I went to the Moon, only to find the Queen I had so much disrespect for lying on a pillar. Metallia was nowhere to be seen.
	"You won?" The astonishment must have been painfully obvious.
	"I trapped them in my crystal. They shall have a future, both the evil and good." I smiled. She understood. She had kept the balance.
	"I have no right to interfere now. I will wait for the future."
	"No!" The Queen said, with surprising force for her lack of strength, "No." I looked at her, trying to understand her. "It must end tonight."
	"Do you know what you are asking?" I balanced through Silence. I did not kill.
	"It will be better for them, won't it?" The way she said it, I knew instantly she was dying.
	"Yes." If the Queen lived, Princess Serenity would return the Ginzishou to her, where Metallia would steal it, make her base on the Moon and destroy the Earth, which is when I would battle her.
	"Then it is destiny," she said, "I have one last thing to ask of you, Saturn."
	"I grant no wishes."
	"Go with them. When it is over, go with them."
	"That is foolishness! Who would protect the Silence?"
	"The Ring can die, can't it? Saturn is under no threat?"
	"I have no more need for the Ring."
	"Then it can protect the Silence, using its power."
	"Queen, why do you wish me to go? My life is here."
	"I do not need you to go with them at all, Saturn."
	"I do not understand."
	"I knew from the moment I met you that you are weary of your destiny. Of your fate. You can have no friends, no change. I thought perhaps that if you went, you would learn these things, and be better off for it."
	"I... was not aware that there were any who understood me."
	"Go with them."
	"For me to battle with the Senshi would upset the Balance."
	"You know this is not true." The Queen was right. I have known this for a long time.
	"You know then, if I go, the evil that will come."
	"When you become good, it will be a balance, will it not?" The Queen shuddered. She was dying.
	"Please..." She whispered. The first person to understand me for a millennia was perishing. I looked to the stars and decided to grant her wish. A new era.
	"Death Ribbons!" I screamed, and as I rose into the air the Queen listened to the last words she would hear, "I will save them." 
	"REVOLUTION!"

	The end of the Silver Millennium.

	I relaxed back into the present. Those were the only words I have said that have gone against everything I believed. I will save them. I almost destroyed them, back when Mistress 9 was around. Perhaps the Queen had been right. I realized that I missed her. I looked in my telescope, out into space, and saw the shadow of my world, the Ring long since dead, used to protect the balance before I had been born. I would protect that which I had sworn to so long ago. I shall defeat Serpentia, lest she imprison the souls which keep the balance, and her own.

	It was a grey cloudy day, and as I walked down the deserted streets, a grey fog seeping around every turn, I thought about my decision. How can I defeat her? I will defeat her.

	The castle was a high crystal, reminding me of one of my dreams of Crystal Tokyo. The worst sight that greeted me was my father, whom I had been powerless to protect, walking around, a crystal shell of what he had once been. I cried out.
	"Professor!" I did not call him father, in his state he would not recognize me. He walked on, lifting pebble that he joined to the palace. I ran up to him, shaking him. Glowing green eyes stared back at me. I felt... cold? I looked down at my hands, which suddenly felt like pins and needles were going through them as my skin disappeared and was replaced by lifeless crystal.
	"NO!" I reached into the Silence of my thoughts, and the Silence Glaive appeared. I touched it, and the crystal returned to flesh. By now, Serpentia would know of my presence.

	In the distance, Eternal Sailor Moon was flying in the skies towards the palace, as the rest of the senshi searched on ground for the missing Saturn. Uranus called out,
	"This is foolish! She shall take care of herself! We must attack Serpentia now!!!"
	"Haruka," Ami said, not fearing discovery because of the empty city, "We must protect each other. What if she becomes evil?" Haruka looked uncomfortable.
	"We destroy her." Chibi-Usa looked up.
	"No."

	A green force wave knocked me off my feet before lifting me up to the blooming magnolia crystal of the tower. Serpentia was waiting there, green vines, crawling over it, searching for her prey. Her fangs were long, which she gently licked. Her nails were black claws, apparently sharpened. Her eyes were the most disturbing, though. Solid green, she turned her head to look at me as if half-blind, once more licking her fangs. Her tight green dress, hundreds of slices in it, covered almost the entire tower. I would not risk touching it.
	"A senshi," she almost purred, "How interesting. You will make a wonderful part of my collection."
	"None shall die today, witch."

	Pluto raised her head sharply.
	"I feel her! She's in the palace." Makoto looked at everyone.
	"Let's move!!!"

	"Your..." she laughed, "Friends are coming, you know." Her eyes were looking deep into my own, engraving what she said into part of my mind I did not even know existed.

	"Is she one of them?" Neptune looked sadly at Pluto, "Is she?"
	"I can't tell."

	"They think you're evil."

	"I feel her giving way."

	"They know you're evil."

	"She's tiring."
	"We have to stop this!" Usagi looked down at them.

	"You've felt evil, haven't you."

	"She wouldn't" Chibi-Usa's face was full of determined confidence.

	"It was so easy, then. The senshi never understood you, or the balance."

	"She has the balance to protect," Pluto hung onto her own words like a lifeline.

	"If we turn them all mindless, there will be nothing. That's where the Silence came from, after all." I fell to the ground as she moved towards me.

	"She defeated Mistress 9!"

	Her black claws caused a small drip of deep red blood to drip down my chin as she touched me, gently sliding down my face, with a hatred.
	"Mistress 9 you defeated, to save your father." I felt this, and hope, which she destroyed instantly. "Your father no longer exists."

	Chibi-Usa prayed for her friend.

	"And the one you know as Chibi-Usa no longer cares."

	"Please," Neptune thought to herself, "Please."

	She clutched my face, cutting wounds into it, as she stared with those green eyes that became so much more intense.
	"No one ever understood." There was venom in her voice, and the eyes. I felt myself falling. She was right.

	Chibi-Usa collapsed.

	A world? A thousand worlds? I did not know where I was, and wandered aimlessly. I was crystal. Shattered ruins of a kingdom lay around me. Who was I? Blackness for a sky, a cold wind. I had no form. A woman was ahead of me, in a pale white dress, shimmering with warmth, the only warmth on this world.
	"Saturn." she whispered, drawing me close. I did not know who she was. She touched my forehead. "You must go on." Was she speaking to me? Was I there. "I feel you have no past, no future. You once said that first you must have nothing to have something, and something to have nothing." Did I have any of those? I couldn't remember. She smiled a peaceful smile at me, almost as though she understood my confusion.
	"You have a promise to keep."

	Serpentia was enjoying the site of her new slave, cutting elegant carvings onto the walls of the palace with her Glaive. That was one moment. In the next, a glowing power enveloped the palace. Shattering crystal everywhere, when it dispersed, the palace lay in ruins. Serpentia stood up, looking for the source. The glowing figure, radiating with a purple energy, moved the mists with the movement of her long staff, with a bladed top.
	"You!" She spat venom, sending thousands of vines to destroy her opponent. The Glaive moved fast, slicing vine after vine, leaving Serpentia screaming. "I shall destroy you."

	Pluto smiled.
	"It is not finished, come."

	"Not in this day," I said, revelling in my own existence. " Not this day, witch."
	"How dare you!" Green energy exploded around me, turning into a sphere. 

	As the senshi walked, they were confronted by thousands of the crystal slaves. They all stared at them, green energy filling their eyes. Sailor Mars looked down.
	"They're transforming us!" The senshi screamed as they felt their bodies turn to stone.

	I raised the Silence Glaive to protect me, but was still weak. Green blades sliced through my force field, making me doge as one sliced my arm. "You are weak." She laughed. "What makes you so sure you can defeat me?"

	Chibi-Usa looked at Pluto, almost crying in her pain.
	"Pu," she said, "Do you think she can win?"

	I answered Serpentia with the truth, which is part of balance.
	"I have a promise to keep." The glaive filled with the energy of an eternity, since the dawn of creation, and I let it. As it filled me and was released, I whispered what were to be once again my last words.
	"I will save them."

	I awoke on a hill, somewhere I did not know, and stood. The sky was a light blue of the morning, a light orange speaking of the coming sun. A warm dew was on the grass, cooling me. The senshi were running about to the hill, all smiling. I was Hotaru, my powers needed to heal after the blast. I remember, in the last moments, a white glow protecting me. Serenity had smiled, "You also promised to stay with them," she had said to me, before disappearing. And so I smiled, as I ran down the hill, and greeted my friends and the warm glow of the rising dawn.