Author's Notes:
1. This is it.....the story arc is done.
More of my ramblings after the story ;)

*******************
FUTURE: CRYSTAL TOKYO
**********************
Zoicite awoke, his joints stiff and awkward. The fog that
had followed him from the land of dreams shrouded his sense of
reality. He knew his name, but not much else. So many images, so
many memories and chaos surrounded his mind.

He looked around. What was this place? Planes of an opaque purplish
crystal surrounded him. The same substance formed
the meager furnishings of the small chamber. He lowered his
eyebrows, puzzled that every object in the room
except the pallet on which he slept was
made of this substance.

The last thing he'd remembered was porting in against orders, to see
Beryl. Had he been successful? Or was this her prison? He couldn't
see a door.

Despite the sparse furnishings, the room had an oddly familiar
elegance of design. He noticed a crescent moon
reflecting in the pattern of the wall.

Then was he in the Moon Kingdom? Some
part he had never seen before?
Why couldn't he remember?

The wall shimmered, and Sailor Mercury entered. She looked different somehow,
though he couldn't explain why.

"Amy!" He cried sitting up, the motion sending the
room spinning. "Tell me your really here, or
else end this cruel nightmare of mine ."

She reached out and steadied him.Her hands
were gloved, as she was attired as
Mercury. "Careful,
you've been asleep a long time. "
When he moved to tighten the embrace,
she moved away sharply. Rather than
look at him, she pulled out a computer
and began to analyze him.

"How long?" He asked, perplexed
at her distancing herself. "Where am I?
Am I on the Moon?"

"No. You've been here a few days...
But rest, you've been through a lot."

"Is the war over? Where's Endymion? Where's
Malachite?" His questions flowed quickly
in the gaps left by Mercury's hesitancy to
say anything or be near him.

"Right here." Malachite stepped into the
room, a slightly worried expression on his
face. "Sorry, I was delayed." He kept
his eyes low, not meeting Zoicite's gaze

"You're angry I went, aren't you.
I know it was foolish but I...what's
wrong?" He said looking at his friend's
changed demeanor. He didn't look quite
the same. He seemed younger and older
at the same time.

"He doesn't remember does he?" Malachite
said to Mercury.

"He appears to think he's back in
the Moon Kingdom Era, I believe." She
appeared to be analyzing him through
her visor.

"Why are you talking *about* me like
this?" Zoicite asked, his annoyance
temporarily dispelling his joy at seeing them.

"He's suppressing the painful memories."
She said. "I'm not sure how
long this stage will last. Perhaps
we'd better call Jaedite here as well."

"What's going on!?" Zoicite said standing
up--the motion brought him face to face
with the mirror. Disbelieving his
eyes, he ran to the mirror, fingering
the planes of his face. "What--is that me?
I'm OLD. Why am I so old?"

"You're only in your late 40's. That's
really not old." Mercury said, her
voice softening. "You're
in excellent health, and, as a denizen of
the Crystal Palace you should expect several
hundred years more of life."

"What? I can't stay here--the war "

"Is long over.
You're in Crystal Tokyo. In the future"
Malachite said. "The Moon Kingdom ended over
two Millennia ago."

"Then how did I get here?" He asked. Memories
pushed against the void of his mind, he
shoved them away. "How come I don't remember?"

"It was your punishment."Mercury replied.

"And a merciful one at that." Malachite
said a little dryly.

"Punishment? For what?" He turned
to her. "What did I do?"

*********SILVER Millennium

Sailor Mercury cringed as the blast from the
monster hit the pillar. Her home
world was no more. Word had come that
the outer kingdoms had been destroyed to
feed these inhuman wraiths that danced
before her. She jumped aside as its
arm swept to where she was. How
could this have happened? The Moon
Kingdom was a place of peace...why
attack it? How had the shields
been breached?

She wondered how Earth had fallen..Her
mind wandered to Zoicite--had she
been right to say what she had? Why
hadn't she revealed her feelings when
she had the chance?

She looked down at her hands. Rapidly
she typed, fighting with her mind.
Mars' fire blasted the ShadowWarrior.

A call of OAK EVOLUTION--and the leaves of
energy shot out and wrapped into the monster.
It shook a little--but not enough. Mercury
frowned as she again drew a blank on
the weaknesses of the monsters. How
much longer could they go on? Jupiter
screamed as she dived to cover Mercury.

Over her communications link, she could
hear Luna's voice.
"Your majesty...."Luna
"This can't go on for another day--the
Senshi are very weakened. Neptune is near
death, and Uranus refuses to fight without her
They've lost all the outer kingdoms.They just teleported
here."

In a daze Queen Selenity nodded. "I know
what must be done. I've been gathering my
strength for this." She stepped
outside as a shadow struck down, destroying
the Grand Ballroom. Light swirled around
the Queen, revealing a translucency to her
body Mercury had missed before. The Queen looked
over at Venus and some private message passed
in their look.

"Mother!" Serena cried out, seeing her mother
faint. She rushed to cradle her. "This is
all my fault!" She said eyes large with tears.

"Serena. I'm sorry. Your birthday celebration
must be postponed." She whispered,
each word an effort. She gently touched her
daughter's dress, and the starlocket around her neck,
and the guilty tears pouring down. "No
Child it is not."

"But Beryl....she's attacking because
I fell in love with Endymion!"

"No. And we will celebrate
your love another day, my daughter."
She whispered. "Take the crystal..."

"NO. Mother...You're ok." She said, as if
repeating that would make it true.

"Must repair the shields..."Selenity whispered..
"They fell today, and the shadows that ravaged
the outer kingdoms invaded....I don't
have much strength left."

The sky's darkened...and four figures appeared,
guiding their demonhorses straight towards the
weakend Queen.

"QUICK EVERYONE! SURROUND THEM" Venus called,
as the Sailors formed a circle around the two
cats and the Queen, and the Princess. A
series of well placed flame arrows from Mars
had the figures jumping from the demonshorses
onto the ground, to run forward.

A form materialized on the floor below the
terrace "Serena!"
Endymion called...his cloak was dirty with
blood, the charming smile gone without a trace.

He ran to her, and climbed up, grabbed for her hand.

She broke away from the protective circle--despite
Mar's strong curse and Jupiter's attempt at a tackle,
and grabbed for her love..
"Endymion" She called as the explosion behind
him revealed the dark face of Beryl. Another
blast, and the terrace they were on separated from
the rest of the palace, tottering on its own. He climbed
onto the balustrade, to hold her--as a force
sucked him into the air away from her.

The Sailor's were temporarily distracted by this--until
suddenly they realized the riders of the demonhorses were
in front of them.

"You'll never get to the Queen!" Venus shouted,
raising her glowing stone sword
as Mars launched a fire attack at the blonde haired
man who merely ducked. Her second attack would
have killed him--but she hesitated. "Jaedite?!"
She asked as he materialized right behind her
and ran his sword through her. He said
nothing, looking at her with unrecognizing
eyes as she stared at horror at him...she
reached up her hand to immolate the both of
them....

Serena began to scream as she tried to
hold onto Endymion--the wind was ripping
through her.

Jupiter called lightening and shot it
at Neflite's sword seconds before it
would have hit her--his whole body sparking
and then slumping, as she grabbed his shoulders
"Neflite, Why?" She demanded, even
as she felt the mace wielded by Malachite
enter her back...a chain of hearts pulled
the weapon away before deadly damage was done,
she collapsed onto Neflite's prone form.

Malachite's expression didn't change as
he stepped forward--Venus didn't even blink
as she raised her sword and ran him through.

He smiled grimly. "I knew you didn't love me."
He whispered as he fell forward. "Duty
is your only companion. " Venus drew
back her sword, and caught him.

Serena's scream rent the air as the blast
took Endymion, his body dead and floating--
as she lost consciousness, the sigil on her
forehead sent spinning splintered light that
suddenly shut off. "Endymion...my only love"
she gasped, her eyes closing lifelessly.

Zoicite looked up from where the ice
blasts had him knocked down--"MALACHITE!"
He called, distracted enough that Mercury
had her chance. A quick jump, and she
brought the fallen mace onto his skull
smashing down. "CHECKMATE" She whispered
as hysterically she slid to the ground...
"Serena!" She cried, looking up
to where the Princess floated, her head
limp and silent. She was too late...she
couldn't save her Princess.

Tears ran down Venus' eyes as she took Malachite's
limp hands, placed them on her sword. "We both
followed the path of duty but our duties are dead now"
She whispered "I couldn't love you in life, so let
me try in death" She closed her eyes to brace for the
pain."Let me have one last kiss to remember."
She pushed forward, her lips meeting his as the
sword slid through her body. Without her to support
him, he crashed forward knocking them both to the
ground.

"VENUS.....MINA"Artemis screamed...as he leapt
forward too late to do anything, transforming
into a human. He rolled Malachite off of her,
to stare at her pinned to a stone.

"NO...THIS CANNOT BE!" Queen Selenity cried, the
moon on her forehead sending forth a blast of
pure energy as light circled around her--much
stronger than that from her daughter seconds before.

"DEATH REBORN REVOLUTION" The glaive wielding
girl said materializing out of the beams
of Serena's light, as hundreds of ribbons shot out
and began to cut through the invading masses
of the monsters that had appeared, driving
back the floating form of Beryl.

Mars hesitated looking at Jaedite. His
eyes were glassy. "MARS FIREBIRD ...
Please.." She said stopping. "I
don't want to do this...I love you" He snapped,
awareness returning...

'Raye?" He whispered, his hand caressing her
cheek as her eyes closed, the hesitation
taking her chance away.. "I love you..." Her eyes
fluttered and closed for the last time. The
screaming of her crows caught his attention--
....He turned around, and immediately
blasted his demon steed that had been about
to skew the forms swirling down to be with their
mistress. "I renounce..."He never
finished the words--a ribbon wove through him
cutting him apart.

The dark hissing cloud of Metallia formed behind
Beryl who was enjoying her triumph over the
still floating forms of the Prince and Princess.
"FOOL...Serenity has started the Silence....we
cannot takeover now--we must go now...."

"But! If we leave, the Silence will seal the
Dimensional door!" Beryl screamed...angry that
her triumph was cheated.

"Greed and evil will always open the seal..Besides
the one that swore to you stacks his essence
into the stones of this world...and fool that
she is, Selenity will save him too...When he resurfaces,
he shall free us...Come Beryl..you are my link to
this world." She winked out...Beryl followed as the
Ribbons missed her, in their snaking dance of purification.

"My daughters!" Queen Selenity said, in the midst
of the purple ribbons swirling dance.... "NO!
THIS CANNOT BE...THE POWER OF THE
CRYSTAL...."It glowed fiercely... The spell
was so explosive, so unexpected that she
couldn't even work it with words--just
the fervent wish of a mother who's seen
her children's happiness die...her
kingdom destroyed, her people killed....while
she could do nothing to stop it. SailorSaturn
jerked, her body twisting, instantly the ribbons swirled into
her, weakening her so much the effect would last
through several lifetimes...

A young woman stood, long green hair swirling
around her. "Dark Dome Open" She said....
A blast of temporal energy appeared opening
the hidden door to the time stream.

"To a new future!" Queen Selenity whispered as the crystal
imploded, sending the rainbow of crystals
to earth. Hundreds of moonbeams captured
the essences of the Children of the Moon,
and the guardians of Earth ...and
the Prince and Princess. "On earth!" She said.

"Your highness?" Luna asked, noticing
that she was the only one moving besides
the two other women, ... "Who--
what?"She stared at the mystery Sailor
standing by the portal.

"SailorPluto guards the gates of time...
See that she alone will bear the burden of
these dark days...Go Luna...find my daughter, protect her--
see that she lives a happy life...but if
Metallia *should* return..."The Queen
was fading now from sight... "Prepare
her better than I..." A moonbeam encased
Luna, and she floated away into the ether
of time....Artemis was similarly encapsuled
and dispersed.

"Your majesty?" Pluto said, as the moonbeams
swirled past her...she looked at the
ghost figure... "What happened?"

"I stopped time...QueenSelenity said.
"If only I could turn it back" In the quiet of the ruins,
she explained how she'd traded her life for
a new future...a brighter one...Pluto
asked how she dared change the time line...
Was that not forbidden?

"Destiny must allow for choice, Pluto. It
is for freedom that we fight Metallia. Do not
let history be another tyrant. " With
almost the last of her strength, the Queen
touched Pluto's sigil. "Keep only the good
memories." Pluto felt herself
tingle with the energy of the Queen as the
Queen merged her essence into the crystal.
And into her.

Pluto nodded, watching as Selenity disappeared
before her eyes, the crystal shimmering..Leaving
the ruins behind her,she entered the time
stream closing the door of time on the Moon
Kingdom....for now... The Queen had given her a precious
gift....Her future and her past...they
merged into the everlasting present
and void of the time corridor.

A small last figure encased partly in moonbeams,
but also partly in a darker light slipped into
the time stream unnoticed, following behind the others.
*****************
PRESENT
******************
"At least he's finally asleep." Amy said
staring down at the still form of Sineheart.

Greg leaned over and put his hands on her
shoulders, kneading the tension out of her
as she relaxed against him. "You should
rest too..." He whispered in her ear.

"Greg. "Amy started to say.. "You shouldn't
have come here, your school--"

"I was worried about you, Amy. I couldn't
have done anything else. So don't
tell me I shouldn't have come" He paused. "That's
him, isn't it?" Greg stared at the man
who once in another life had loved the woman
that Greg now held.

"I know." She turned to look at Greg " You're
not worried about your picture are you?"

"That was part of it. How do I compete with destiny?"
Greg asked. "Of course I'm worried. I love
you...and he's..."

"Nothing." Amy held Greg's gaze. "Why should
my past determine my present life anymore than your
visions of the future? Remember what I said
to you that first day?"

He smiled remembering the first time he'd
really spent time with Amy.
Even then, Zoicite had been there...a force
driving them apart.

"I know, I know...destiny is something we
build ourselves.."

"And I still want to build mine with you." She
said.

"So how's the patient?" Jed inquired,
opening the door, as Greg and Amy pulled
apart, blushing slightly. "Tea's ready."
He said, lowering his gaze and sliding the
partition shut again.

They followed him into the main room, down
the hall, their bare feet making not a sound.

"How's he doing?" Serena asked, looking up
over a cookie and tea.She shot a semi-accusatory
look at Field.

"He's stable. I would have sedated him sooner, but after that
concussion Field gave him, I was afraid of
hurting him."

"He stopped screaming didn't he? " Field said
coldly in a voice that made Lita shift away from
him.

They were in the temple, for lack of a better
place to have taken their captive. They'd
all disagreed about what to do with Sineheart
when he'd started screaming. Neflite had decked
him, before Greg or Mercury could react. That
had enabled them to make their escape.

"Now that I'm done with him, why don't
you explain your transformation again?" Amy
asked Field.

"I can't really. I just fell out the window,
panicked and then--I was in this weird
church. I think it drew me there, and suddenly,
I knew what to do. " Field
shook his head. "It's as if all these blocks in
my mind were freed up."

Jed coughed, setting another tray of tea down.
"That's because I've been slowly removing
your memory blocks while you slept."

"What!??" Field asked looking at Jed, as
he crossed the space, grabbing the other
man's robes and pulling him up and
into his face "What did you do to me?"

Jed met the blue-grey stare calmly.
"Hey! Calm down friend! I just
wanted to help you." Jed gently moved
Field's hands off his clothes, and
straightened his robes. "Let me explain."

"I was able to remove my own
blocks through my meditations and my powers.
When you showed up, and couldn't remember
anything--I knew you had memory blocks as well.."

Field stared at Jed, not sure what to say.
"You didn't tell me."

"I couldn't...if I'd told you, it might
not have worked--...and would you rather
be dead right now?" He grinned, knowing
he had a good point.

Field considered, his anger subsiding
before his friend's lopsided guilty grin.
"No, I wouldn't, but next time don't
use your powers on me like that?"

"Swear! It was a very special case..."
Jed said. "I don't make a habit of
messing with other people's minds...at
least, with my powers...." He winked
at Raye. Serena had been the end of
more than a few practical jokes around
the temple, since Jed had moved in.

Lita eyed Jed skeptically. "Who else
have you done that to?"

He raised an eyebrow, as he straightened
his robes. "Just Sineheart in there...but
I'm afraid I removed his all at once.
That's probably why he experienced a
memory overload."

Raye stood up and looked at Jaedite.
"Then its your fault if he never
gains his sanity...don't you *ever*
think? You can't act like this Jed!
Your powers are *not* toys, how many
times do I need to explain this to you!?"

"Calm down, love, I didn't do
that on *purpose*...he'd just stabbed
me you know..." He said as she flushed.
She'd forgotten he was hurt, since he
hadn't said a word about it.

"Are you ok!?" She asked worried,
"Where are you hurt? Do you need anything?"

"A kiss would make it better..." He suggested. She pushed
him away.

"Be serious." She couldn't help but smile, though no one saw it.
She remembered belatedly that everyone had already had medical and magical
attention.

"I don't see what the problem is." Field muttered.

Lita cocked her head. "You don't mean that, right?"

Serena looked up. "You don't do you Field?"

"He's evil and I hope he dies." Field said.

"FIELD" Lita exclaimed. "What are you saying?"

"Evil or not, he's human. Now that
its not a life or death situation we can't
just kill him..." Raye added.

"We've never really dealt with a criminal
like this before..."
Serena pursed her mouth, thinking
hard. "I tried healing him, but there
was nothing much to *heal* not like
with Jaedite...but Field does have a point,
Sineheart's not a *good* person."

"Not all healing is magical, Serena.
If there's a chance we can unearth the good in his
soul, we must try, but he won't have a chance
to earn forgiveness and redeem himself
if he dies... "Raye added.

Mina shook her head. "I always turned criminals
over to the police...but in this
case, I'd have to say that's not a good idea."

"He'd get out too soon." Amy said. "There's
very little in the way of proof of a crime, and I'm sure
we cant explain our presence to what we
witnessed nor explain how we escaped the building."

No, revealing their involvement in the
strange "Stanton Tower Incident" would open up
too many questions. As it was, they needed
to find some way to explain things to EZ.

They'd left him and Greg outside the base
of the tower as they made their escape,
Sineheart in tow. They knew there was
a risk EZ might talk about what he'd
witnessed, but they felt fairly sure
he didn't recognize them in their regular
forms...though he was still probably
perplexed about Amy's disappearance
and Field's fall.
Greg frowned. "You can't let someone
dangerous like that run around free."

"Of course not, we have to decide
on an appropriate punishment." Amy
replied. Everyone turned to Serena.

"Why is everyone looking at me?"
Serena asked, stepping back.

"You always say you'll punish someone
for the sake of the Moon, don't you?"
Jed laughed, as Raye put her hand on
his arm to quiet him. "Jed..."
she scolded, shaking her head.

"Yeah, but I never had to decide *how*
to punish before..." Serena replied.

"You know my suggestion." Field
interjected. Serena ignored him, but
Lita lightly smacked him.

"But if we don't kill him,
what do we do with him? Imprison him
ourselves? It's not like I have
some castle dungeon to throw him in...."
Serena whined.

"At least, not until Crystal Tokyo." Mina
added putting her arm around Serena.
"We'll think of something, don't worry
Serena. We don't have to decide today."

Darrien frowned. "Actually, maybe we should
send him to the future."

"I was joking...

"That's the only way we could guard him
properly." Darrien said. "We saw the
kind of power we'll have in the future.
That palace must have rooms in which we
could place him, until we were sure
he'd harm no one else."

"We could reach the good part of his
soul, given time." Raye said.

"Does he have one?" Field asked.

Jed's eyes lowered, his voice growing
unusually dark. "Do you? Can you condemn
him without condemning either of us?..
You may not remember it yet, but we both
served the Dark Kingdom of the Negaverse...Are
we beyond hope as well?"

"But you were magically possessed--you
had green blood, for heaven's sake!" Lita
argued. "It wasn't *you*"

Raye looked at Jed in wonder...she'd
never realized he still tortured himself
over the events of his past lives. She'd
never seen this side of him.

"And maybe it wasn't him...What do we know
about the forces of destiny and chaos?" Jed
asked quietly. "How does one recover from
being possessed?"

Amy responded softly. "Do you think then
that his actions are a direct result of some
sort of psychological trauma from being
possessed in his past lives?"

"Evil can leave an imprint...perhaps
one day I too will snap...." Jed said his voice
flat. "Perhaps you'd better send me
away as well....I don't belong here either."

"NO!" Raye gasped. "That's not true!
You're not like that!"

"Why don't you just admit you'd miss me?"
Jed said wryly.

Field stood up. "Are you saying that *I*"m..."
He paused, remembering his earlier thirst
for vengeance, the intense blinding hatred
and rage that roared through him. Could
he say even for himself that he was somehow
a better person than the man he sought
to condemn? He hadn't killed Sineheart only
because they'd restrained him...he'd let
anger sweep his reason aside. His memories
were only of his time in the Moon Kingdom...
But one day, he like Jed would recall
what he'd done in service to the Negaverse.
Would what he saw there erode his confidence
in himself? Would he agree with Jed that he
could not be forgiven?

"Jed...I might have said in some long
ago battle that I couldn't forgive you...
But I do." Serena said, stepping forward.
"We all do. You need to forgive yourself
now...and you too Field..."

"Then he isn't beyond forgiveness either."
Jed said nodding to the door where Zoicite
slept. "But I hate to admit it...because
I'm not ready to do it yet..."

Amy looked up. "There's more to
forgive for him, isn't there?"

"The betrayal of the Moon and Earth
Kingdoms? The resurgence of Beryl...."
Jed frowned. "Even now my memories
are not the clearest, but I'm sure
for some reason he was the trigger."

Field frowned. "I don't remember
my time in the negaverse from this
era, but Zoicite
was the first one to betray the Earth
and Moon Kingdoms."

"Then that solves *that* old
mystery..." Mina said "But
there are still lost strings to
be tied up...what about Malachite?
Do we need to watch out for him?"

"We may never really find him." Raye
added. "We should be more concerned
about what to tell EZ..."

"Same problem..." Jed said running
a hand through his hair.

"WHAT?" the others said turning to
face him.

"EZ Spade, weird haircut and age
aside, *is* Malachite." Jed replied.
"Its a wonder none of you noticed."

"We weren't thinking about it..."
Amy said, "I didn't connect
Field and Neflite....or even
Serena and the Princess of the Moon!"
Perhaps this was why he'd seemed so
fascinating to her...she thought.

"Well, I suppose we've agreed on the
first problem anyway..."
Serena commented. "We'd better send
Zoicite to the future."

Setsuna looked resigned and didn't
even argue.

Once the decision was made it
didn't take very long to implement.

"I'm glad that's over, but I've got
one question. Why was he so old?" Mina asked.

Setsuna sighed, calmly sipping her
tea... "I think I can
answer that. I never expected the
generals to be reborn. So I didn't
guide them to this age in the timestream
as I did the rest of you. Without
my supervision, its likely his soul
drifted a little and ended up at a different
point in time from the rest of you."

"So it wasn't just coincidence that we
were all born here, in the same time?" Serena asked.

"Of course not, Serena!" Pluto said
with only the barest hint of a smile.
"I picked this place and time for you all.
How could your mother's wish have been fulfilled
if you were not together?" Her eyes
darted to Darien. "She wanted you to have
a second chance for love...all of you." She
finished quietly, not wanting to explain
why she'd done nothing to bring them
together sooner. Some things were better
left unexplained.

"OH Amy!" Serena said... "Should
we have done that with Zoicite!?"
Her voice rose in her concern.
"You've lost your second chance!"

Amy faced her with a calm smile.

"I don't need a second chance to find love..."
She said. She felt Greg's arm surround her.
She turned and looked into Greg's eyes.

"She's already found it." Greg said, smiling
into Amy's eyes, the rest of the room forgotten.

END OF CHAPTER 6!!!
Of course, now that you know Malachite's back, I can't
really just stop here either, can I?
That wouldn't be fair to Mina, now would it?
And if you still haven't figured out who he is...well, neither has he!

Also, many of you wrote me about loose ends--
Joe, the Engineer, EZ, this whole "Sisters of the Millennium"
theme--> well, it'll get tied up in Mina's tale...they
were deliberately left loose so I had something to tie;).

I suppose that's where the next series will start
GOM: "Chain of Hearts"--look for it at a fan fic archive near you. ;).

It may already be hiding somewhere at:
http://www.oocities.org/Tokyo/Island/2924