Jedite returned to the tomb of crystal. Citrine sat in front of a hole in the stars. Through the hole, 30th century earth glowed it's warm light.

The black pillar, an odd artifact among the crystal, seemed to be consuming the light around it. Darkness emanated from the pillar like rays from the sun, a grasping hand of evil closing out the stars. Jedite felt eerie looking at it.

"You have returned just in time to see the end," Citrine said nonchalantly. "This future will be destroyed and a new one created."

"I've always wanted to see a world destroyed," Jedite replied.

Citrine said nothing. She wondered why she had bothered to even awaken Jedite. Just as easily, Citrine herself could have killed ChibiChibi. And Jedite was so damn annoying.

But the answer was easy. He reminded her of Luke so much. You're a sentimental fool, she chided herself.

Jedite made to lean back against the pillar. "Don't!" Citrine pulled him away. "The darkness would destroy you."

"So you do care about me," Jedite laughed.

Citrine growled. "It's not you. I've summoned Pharaoh 1 from the Deep Reaches, at least in part. That pillar is the focus of it's energy. It would be a pity for you to be it's first victim."

"What is our next course of action?" Jedite asked, mildly shaken by the thought of being eaten away by an absence of light.

Citrine returned to her usual calm self. "We wait for the end of the world."

Rei felt something was wrong as she crossed the temple compounds. Not a bird sung, nor a child played. The silence hung thick in the trees. A heavy smell permeated the area.

On the porch the first of the horrors met her eyes. Two decapitated bodies lay side by side. They had decomposed unnaturally fast as if something rotten had invaded their body. Inside the door rested more bodies, each more mutilated than the last and each as decomposed.

The smell clogged Rei's nose. It invaded her stomach. She threw up until not on drop of food remained.

Rei searched through the massacre to find one person who could say what happened. Just one person to tell her why everyone had died. One person who was alive!

The blank stares of rotten eyes haunted Rei. She ran through the temple screaming. "Anyone alive!? Anyone alive!?"

A loud moan greeted Rei's ears. Despite the pain in the noise, Rei felt relieved to hear a living voice. "Where are you?"

"Li...brary!" the voice answered, panic and pain filling the sounds.

Rei took the stairs in a state of distraught unbecoming to a priestess. The Great Library lay in a state of wreckage. A body lay in the middle of the floor.

Rei rushed to the body, the young priestess Kendra. Blood stained her robes, but no injuries were apparent. "What happened?"

"The woman..." Kendra said slowly. "She attacked. Her name was..." Kendra shivered, "Calithan."

Rei recognized the name. "Calithan? The girl from Phillip's temple?"

"She killed everyone! But she said she'd let me live because I'd helped her,"Kendra moaned. "She said I could still help her. That's why I lived."

Phillip, a man she hadn't thought of in years. If she hadn't married Chad, she might have married him. But is she was one of the students form Phillip's temple, then trouble, terrible trouble, headed their way. "Did she say if she came from Phillip's temple?"

"She took a book...about summoning." Kendra said, not hearing Rei. "She said she would summon the Virago. She said the end was coming. Coming to Crystal Tokyo."

Kendra closed her eyes. Her breathing eased and she quieted. But a thought drove Kendra into a state of panic. "She has control over my life! Now I've served my purpose and I am dying."

As Kendra stopped breathing, Rei said, "I don't think Calithan can control your life. At least, I hope not."

But the message plagued Rei. The Virago were children's stories, nightmares conjured from sick minds, meant to frighten naughty children into behaving. Rei had been scared by the stories, terrified mostly.

"The Virago were said to belong to the demons." Rei started a favorite story of her grandmother's. "They murdered children and painted their faces nightmare colors. On their backs, they carry death itself."

The dread and fear caused by those tales had slipped to the back of her mind. Now they jumped into life. She began praying right then, for the souls of the murdered and for her soul. For the souls of Crystal Tokyo.

Adam was panicked. He repeated in an unsteady voice, "I've killed her! I've killed her!"

They stood on the street, the still body of Sailor Uranus a bloody mess on the pavement. Naomi kneeled and checked her pulse. "She's alive."

Naomi turned her back on Adam. He clutched his head, the pain reappeared, this time more intense. If he killed, Naomi and Sailor Uranus then no one would ever know what he did. He pulled his pocket knife out. It would be slow but effective.

Adam raised the knife. "No!" he shouted and dropped the knife.

Naomi turned to him. "Are you okay?"

Adam stared blankly at the knife. Naomi glanced between Adam and the pocket knife, a confused look on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked again.

The pain flashed between his eyes. "I've got to go." Adam ran as fast and as far away as he could.

Sailor Uranus woke with the slow struggle of a dying person. "Who are you? How did you know my dreams?"

Naomi closed her eyes. "I have dreams. I see things."

"Will the Senshi die?" Uranus asked. "Will Michelle die?"

Naomi nodded slowly. Her resistance to death slowly slipping away, Uranus asked Naomi, a defeated tone in her voice, "Tell me what you see."

Naomi began in an odd tone to her voice, as if she were reciting a poem,

"I see the end of hope, cracks in the sky,

the sky crying blood, the angels' fears,

black spears of light, a hole ripped in the sky,

a wall of flame, the death of the Senshi,

warriors of the demon, darkness."

Naomi placed her hands on Sailor Uranus's head. A purple glow brightened her hands. The glow was absorbed by Sailor Uranus.

Sailor Neptune came around the corner, seeing her love dying on the pavement. She stopped in shock, a small cry escaping from her lips. "No!" she whispered.

The injuries on Sailor Uranus undid themselves, healing and knitting into new flesh. Blood still stained her fuku, but otherwise she was fine. Naomi sagged in exhaustion.

Michelle kneeled by Erica, but her eyes remained on Naomi's small form. "Helen..."

Naomi's purple eyes locked onto Michelle. "I'm Naomi."

Rachel and Katherine stared out over Crystal Tokyo from their parent's apartment. The night sky lightened in the East. "It's sun rise and they're still not home," Rachel commented.

"Really," Katherine replied.

Rachel said nothing, used to the sarcastic and patronizing attitude of Katherine. She returned to watching the sky lighten. But as the sun rose well over the horizon, a strange sight met her eyes.

"The sky is cracking!" Rachel pointed to the horizon. Red lines creased the sky, like cracks on an old plate.

Katherine's sarcastic remark died on her lips. "My God," she said in awe. As she whispered these words, the cracks rapidly grew.

Pink light lit the balcony on which they stood. A form stepped from the light, Sailor Pluto. "Come. We haven't much time before the end."

Together they walked home from the party. "Too bad we got kicked off the bus," Lissa laughed.

"For disruptive behavior!" Carol grinned.

"What the hell!?" Lissa pointed up. "The sky is turning red!"

The cracks had widened until the covered most of the sky. "It looks like blood," Carol shivered, for the color of the sky resembled that of the fluid of life and death.

A doorway of light opened before them. Sailor Pluto said to them, "Come with me."

"The sky! The sky is burning!" a servant girl screamed as she ran up the stairs.

All the people cleaning after the wedding crowded into the hall where the windows weren't stained glass. "The sky is red," Mary said.

Even as they watched, black swirls of clouds gathered into vicious storm. Lightning, strong winds, and rain pummeled the earth below the clouds. The crowd around the window grew as NeoQueen Serenity, Darien, Rannon's parents, Rannon and Reenie joined them.

"Sailor Moon," a voice from the hall said. It was Sailor Uranus, followed by Sailor Neptune. "Have you seen the weather?"

Rain began falling from the sky. Naomi held out her hand. A thick red drop landed in her palm. It wasn't water, it was blood. "The sky is crying blood," Naomi said.

The high winds picked up dust and dirt that had been imbedded in the streets for years. The guards at the gate both turned their faces to the sky as black flashes of lightning touched the ground. "Can I get into the Palace?" Naomi asked.

The guards, too scared to care, opened the gates for her. Naomi hurried through the gates, her head down against wind. She stopped before the NeoPalace doors, large and impressive flanked on both sides by angel statues. The faces of the angels had warped until it appeared as if they were screaming. "The angels' fears," Naomi said as she went through the door.

Reenie stared out over the scene below. An eery glow lit the eastern horizon. "This will put a damper on our honeymoon," Reenie tried to joke in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood.

"Serena," a tired voice sounded down the hall. It was Rei, exhausted and frightened.

"Rei!" Serena exclaimed. Mina, Lita and Ami followed Rei into the room. Serena rushed to her friends, concerned at their serious expressions.

"Tell her what Kendra told you," Mina prompted Rei.

Serena took Rei's hand. "You're shaking! And very cold."

Rei ignored her. She pulled her hand away. "The Virago are the cause of all this."

"Virago? What's a Virago?" Serena asked.

Everyone sighed. Rei continued, "The Virago were monsters released during the Sailor Wars. You do remember those, don't you Serena? Anyway, my grandmother, my Silver Millennia grandmother, told me stories about them to scare me."

"They don't sound that bad," Lita commented. "I could take them."

"Chaos stole their souls in return for eternal life," Neptune said. "I remember this story."

"Isn't it star seeds?" Ami asked, as politely as possible.

"The Virago are going to destroy the world," Rei finished.

"It's not the Virago. It's something else," Uranus said.

"Mother!" Reenie shouted. "The sky is turning black!"

It wasn't just any black, it was a black so dark it seemed to be pulling light away from the surrounding areas. "A hole in the sky," Naomi said.

"Naomi!" Reenie said in surprise and hugged her servant. "I didn't even notice you."

Black lightning reached hungrily for the ground, an extension of the darkness trying to devour the planet. "And black spears of light," Naomi said to herself.

Uranus overheard her comment. "We can't just stand here. The world will be destroyed." She looked at Neptune.

Neptune took Uranus' hand. "I will fight with you."

"And I!" Lita volunteered.

Rei stared out over the city. "How do we fight this?"

Calithan said the last words of the spell. The power flung from her out into the far reaches of this life. Only a few minutes until the end. The Virago had been summoned.

The empty warehouse in which she now waited suddenly echoed with noise of a hurricane wind. Screaming followed. "Let me in!" a frantic voice screamed.

Someone broke the door of the warehouse in. Thousands of people rushed in seeking protection from the storm, like cattle to the slaughter. There was no protection here.

The people pushed her away from the pentagram. Those who crossed into the lines of the pentagram dissolved like ice. She struggled back screaming all the while, "Don't smear the lines of the pentagram. You'll ruin the spell. You people are idiots!"

Four people stood in the pentagram, unharmed. The Virago! She looked down, her feet standing on one of the points.

The pentagram flashed brightly, turning into a black five-pointed star, the sign of the Pharaohs. It flashed again, and the Virago were gone.

The Senshi stood far away from the source of the eery glow that had once lit the horizon. Now it loomed over them, a wall of fire. "What the hell is going on?" Jupiter asked.

"Now we fight, this is our battleground," Mina announced. "This is where the enemy is."

Reenie screamed. "Mother!" Tears spilled from her eyes. "I felt it. I felt her die!"

Rannon sensed Reenie's hysteria. He held her Silence ensued, the Senshi had died.

The Palace cracked, the earth shifted. A deep rumble shook the earth. Shadows entered from the abyss in the sky. They launched an assault on the Palace in an effort to tear it down.

"It's the demons warriors," Naomi said. Next came darkness, next came the end.

A doorway of pink light opened in the midst of the shadows. Sailor Pluto stepped out. "Follow me."

The ground shook violently. Part of the Palace dropped several feet. The doorway waited several feet up, the Princesses and friends remained several feet down.

The shadows pulled at the doorway. "Hurry!" Pluto urged, fighting the demons away from her door.

"I can lift you guys up," Rannon said.

Devon nodded. "I'll help."

Rannon and Devon lifted the Princesses up to Sailor Pluto and the doorway. The shadows became thicker as they rushed to the door. Reenie peered through the fog of darkness. "Rannon, get up here!"

Rannon replied, "Naomi needs to get up there too. And so does Devon."

The floor sunk another level. Naomi's hand reached through the darkness and up to the upper level. Setsuna grabbed it and pulled her up. The ground rumbled again.

Devon stretched toward the group. Somewhere in the darkness, something screamed an inhuman screech. Devon's hand jerked back into the darkness and he screamed.

"Devon!" yelled Mary. "Devon! What's going on? Devon!"

The screaming continued before being swallowed by a sudden silence. "Rannon!" Reenie screamed shrilly. "Rannon!"

Nothing answered. As the door of time closed to the destroyed 30th century, Reenie still screamed, "Rannon! RANNON!"

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