Author's Note: This is a reimagining of Sailor Moon that has been floating around in my head for a while now, and now that Crystal has started I felt compelled to write it. This note is a fair warning, this story will deviate from canon. A lot. Starting with the name of Princess Serenity's mother, and going as far as the elements each Senshi represents, the origins of the cats, and the nature of the Ginzoishou. If that sort of thing bothers you, turn back now.

Queen Selene stumbled as the entire palace shook. Her golden hair, drawn into two pigtails that extended to her ankles, fluttered around her. Dust from the arches above her settled onto her white gown, but she did not take the time to brush it off. Her green eyes were too focused on her goal to even notice the marring of her normally impeccable appearance.

She recognized the rumbling as the power of Demeter, princess and Sailor Senshi of the Planet Mars. And she finally paused a moment later as the young woman's lifeforce faded from her awareness. Iris and Borea were already gone, which left only Hestia between herself and the invaders. The other four Senshi were not present. Gaia and Nereia would not abandon their post. Their task was to protect the Sol system from external threats, and so intent on it were they, that this internal battle could not budge them. And Rhea was attending to Persephone; the Sailor for planet Pluto had been left emotional and mystically unstable after the destruction of her homeworld.

Selene could only hope Endymion had managed to get Serenity to safety. She believed her daughter and the Earth prince must have already escaped the palace, as she could no longer sense them. And the Moon Queen dared not spare the energy for a spell to track them.

Selene gestured as she approached her throne. Out of the air, her scepter appeared, floating before her. The staff was five feet long, composed a pink alloy of silver and iron, and topped with a golden crescent moon. Selene caught it in her left hand as she covered the last few steps to the center of her political power. She placed the tips of her right pointer and ring fingers against the back of the ornate chair, and began to trace a series of mystic runes.

"Your majesty, what are you doing?" the black cat cried out even as she and her white comrade slipped into the audience chamber from a side entrance, "You must be away from here. Most of the Senshi have fallen. And Beryl is nearly here."

"I know, Luna," Selene agreed sadly. The wards she was manipulating flared briefly and then faded. Selene opened the sealed compartment in her throne, and withdrew a teardrop shaped diamond roughly the size of her fist.

"The Ginzoishou?" the pale feline sounded nervous, "So that's where it was hidden…"

"What are you doing, your majesty?" Luna demanded. Ignoring her for the moment, Selene murmured a brief spell as she touched the silver crystal to the moon emblem on her staff. A mounting brace grew out of the gold and connected the two artifacts.

"Beryl must be stopped," the queen answered, "And I can think of no other way. Can my two advisors?"

Neither cat could answer her question, but after a second Luna spoke again.

"But the Ginzoishou is not meant…."

"I know, Luna," Selene cut her off with a hint of annoyance at the cat's lecturing tone.

"Selene, if you do this, you…" the male feline addressed her sadly and familiarly.

"I understand Artemis," she interrupted him as well, but her voice was more gentle this time, "But I ask again, as Queen of the Moon and elected leader of the Sol Federation, to the wise Cait Sidhe who serve as my advisors: Is there anything else we can do to end this war and protect the survivors?"

Once again they remained silent.

"I can't either," Selene said firmly. Then she flinched as she felt Hestia's power flare and then vanish.

"In that case, take cover behind the throne," the queen ordered. Even as the cats scrambled to obey, the doors to the throne room exploded inward. Seven youma charged in through the gap, but with a wave of the hand not holding her staff, Selene reduced them to dust. Following behind them were Beryl's four generals, Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. Selene's heart fell even as she pointed her staff at them with both hands. The four members of the Shitennou had been followers of King Aethlius and bodyguards of Prince Endymion. The Moon Queen did not know why they had betrayed their liege and land, and her uncertainty stayed her hand.

Jadeite was first in, and the only female member of the Shitennou dragged in Hestia, the Sailor Senshi of planet Mercury, by the neck. Selene was not sure if she was outraged that the girl was dead, or relieved that she was not being tormented while still alive. The general tossed the girl's body aside, and shook out her short blonde hair as she gave Selene a feral smirk. Her sharp blue eyes said she enjoyed the cruelty and she flicked her left wrist, spattering the blood on the blade she carried across the white stone wall.

Nephrite barely resisted the urge to shake his head at his colleague's attitude and action. There was disappointment in the dark grey eyes of the eldest general. He had reddish brown hair, and carried a broad-headed spear that was noticeably cleaner than the weapons of his comrades.

Zoisite also had blonde hair, but his was as long and wavy as Nephrite's. He was the shortest of the three male generals, but still taller than Jadeite. Unlike his three comrades, Zoisite carried no weapon. Instead, the blood of his victims played across his white gloves. His eyes were dark green with brown flecks, and never seemed to leave the face of the last general to enter the throne room.

Kunzite was the tallest of the Shitennou, and the only one with straight hair. Not quite as long as Nephrite or Zoisite, his white locks extended well past his shoulders. His red eyes as locked on the queen, but unlike Jadeite, his focus was professional and cautious. He held a war hammer in his left hand and had a buckler strapped to his right wrist.

With all four generals present, and enraged at the treatment of Sailor Mercury, Selene began to charge an attack strong enough to blow past their defenses and incinerate the quartet. But before she could unleash mystic death on them, her true enemy appeared.

Beryl swept into the throne room, as if to claim ownership of it. Her glowing amber eyes looked on Selene's emerald orbs, and Beryl grinned viscously. Her crimson hair undulated gently despite the lack of wind. Selene recognized a minor vanity spell surrounding the other woman the produced the movement.

Beryl brought her hands forward, subtly showing the Queen the tiara and sword she carried. Selene recognized Serenity's circlet and Endymion's blade immediately. And she knew the reason she could not sense them was not because they had escaped. The magic she had been preparing petered out as her emotions shifted from rage to despair.

"Beryl, how could you?" Selene asked softly, "I though you loved Endymion. Was not this entire war started so you could marry him?"

"Any feelings I might have had for Endymion are long past," Beryl's eyes flicked to Nephrite before she added, "I pursued him at the end as a means to free Earth from the Moon's influence. Instead, he chose to shackle himself to your spawn. That left me with only one choice."

"Free Earth from the Moon?" Selene repeated incredulously, "You have killed two hundred billion innocent civilians, and rendered every other planet in the system uninhabitable. Does whatever political inequity you believe exists even come close to justifying your actions? How is that freedom?"

Nephrite looked troubled by her words, and Zoisite shifted his eyes guiltily to Selene for an instant. Jadeite, on the other hand, was unaffected by her words, and Kunzite actually looked amused.

"Death can be freedom," Beryl answered smugly, "Those who refused to see the chains in which they were bound, we have liberated their souls instead."

Selene shook her head in dismay, but also helped restore her focus. The queen faced the other woman resolutely.

"Duchess Beryl…" she started.

"Queen!" the tyrant interrupted with a snarl.

"… under the laws of both the Earth Empire and Sol Federation, I am taking you and your followers into custody for the crimes of treason, terrorism, and murder. You will be judged by the survivors of your massacres, and they will determine your punishment."

"You think you can capture us?" Beryl laughed, "We slaughtered your Sailor Senshi like so much cattle. And you are not even a warrior..."

"Moon! Crystal! Illumination!" Selene called out over the top of Beryl's taunts, sweeping her scepter towards them. Innumerable spears of light appeared in the air around them, stabbing into Beryl, her generals, and the battalion of youma massed behind them. The youma instantly turned to dust as the spikes pierced them. Each of the Shitennou also had multiple shards impaling their limbs and torsos, but unlike the monsters who served them, they were merely immobilized, not killed. Beryl was not instantly killed like the youma, but unlike her generals, her flesh began to bubble and blacken around where Selene's blades struck her. Even as her body melted into an ebony sludge, she gestured, able to move where her generals could not. A wave of emptiness erupted from Beryl, and the spears of light shattered. But even with Selene's spell destroyed, Beryl's body continued to erode around where she had been struck.

"Beryl what have you done? Have you given yourself over to…"

Selene's incredulous protest was cut off as the other woman flung her arms wide. A blast of darkness hit the queen, blinding her and compressing her defensive spells. And when it ended, Beryl and her generals were gone. The usurper left behind her trophies, the sword and tiara. Selene was not certain if it was in haste, or in boast.

"You did it, your majesty," Luna crowed triumphantly, emerging from behind the throne, "You forced the invaders to retreat and seriously injured Duchess Beryl."

"And it is not enough," Selene said, her normally noble voice sounding flat and hollow. She collapsed to her knees, and then leaned back against her throne so she would not fall further. As she crumpled, the body of her staff cracked and shattered, leaving little more than a wand's length in her hand.

"It's the Ginzoishou, isn't it your Majesty," Artemis said as he joined his partner, "Using it was too much for you, as we feared."

"Yes," the Queen agreed, "but since it is already too late, I see no need to hold back."

She brought the remains of her scepter up to her face, her now unoccupied left hand surrounding the silver crystal as if to capture her voice and power.

"Let them be sealed away," she half-commanded, half-pleaded, "Beryl, her traitorous generals, and her monstrous minions. Seal them in whatever hole they have fled to, for as long as possible."

"Let my daughter and her friends be reborn in that future," Selene continued as light began to grow in the talisman, "Give them another chance, at a time when the world has rebuilt."

"Your Majesty, such a seal will not last," Luna said, her voice uncertain.

"Which is why I have asked that the Sailor Senshi be granted a second chance to fight this war. I do not have the strength or time to pursue Beryl and finish it now. I must leave it to them."

"Let my advisors be sealed," Selene whispered to the Ginzoishou again, "So that they may guide my warriors when the battle is rejoined."

"And let my kingdom be protected from outside threats, until its people are ready to protect it again."

The light in the crystal was too intense to look at. The energy exploded outward, shattering the Ginzoishou into many pieces as it carried Selene's wishes outward. The queen watched as spheres of magic encased the two Cait Sidhe and carried them upwards, towards the Earth. She could feel the wave expanding, collecting the souls of the fallen. It incidentally shattered the remaining wards on the palace, allowing the last of the atmosphere to seep out across the Moon, now made desolate by Beryl's attacks.

Selene watched her wishes travel to the neighboring planet. One mass of energy centered on a small island at the edge of the largest ocean, and the other around the continent at the southern pole. Then as the last of her lifeforce left her, the remains of staff and the shards of the Ginzoishou flew off to the Earth.