The dawn of night fell swifly on the North Pole, and the clouds carrying the angry
blizzard blew away with the wind, and the wind, which had done away with the clouds,
settled on the blanket of snow and ice that never left the North Pole. Leuitenant John
Marquee of the United States Army lay facing the stars of the night. He was a rather long
way away from his regimeant, consisting of six men commiting what he had considered
suicide in the harsh tundra, with their shelters, and stoves, and MRE's (Meals, Ready to
Eat) out in this wilderness. But there was nothing wild about the tundra, John had
thought, besides the cutting winds, and blowing snows. Nothing dared to live here,
nothing bud the vilest and most darkest things of the Earth, things that thrived off the
cold. The Army was dispatched to check out some of the melting glaciers, which looked
like it had been caused by a geothermal, a rather large geothermal, crack in the Earth's
crust. But the goverment had enviromentalists swarming all over them, and they couldn't
risk not assessing those requests. But indeed, something dark and vile lived here, a
something that John had been dispatched to investigate. John had spent a long time
out in the blizzard, he had lost his three other comrades, and commanding officers,
and the blizzard was so intense that he couldn't find his way back. He just stumbled
around, disoriented, mumbling his general orders.

"To take charge of this post and all government property in view..." He slurred.
"To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always in the alert and observing what
takes place within sight or hearing. To report all violations of orders I am
instructed to enforce. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the
guard house than my own. To quit my post only when properly relieved. To receive,
obey, and pass on to the sentry who releives me, all orders from the commanding
officer..."

John would have continued on this way if the temperatures hadn't dropped so
low, and the very saliva in his mouth began to freeze.

Many would have died in just the cold temperatures, but the Army made jackets well.
John could have lived to see the blizzard die, and would have been able to find his way
back when the winds had died down, but something dark and vile lived here, and it was
something dark and vile that killed Leutinant John Marquee, and John Marquee would never
see his wife and child again, for the dark hand of Byerl had come and taken his life. And
that widowed wife and her fatherless child would weep, never knowing that their dear John's
life had been avenged, avenged by the fury and determination and love of a brilliant lady
named Princess Serenity. They would have never known that Princess Serenity would have
laid nothing down but her very life, in order to save John Marquee. They would never
know that Princess Serenity held the bloody form of the Price of Earth in her arms, and
never known and Princess Serenity rose valiantly to defeat Beryl and Metallia, so that
the every cell of John Marquee's body could lay to rest peacefully in heaven.

What they did know was that they suffered terrible pain, the pain of losing a
dear loved one.

Princess Serenity knew this two, and she lowered the Silver Crystal, gazing at the
spot where Byerl had battled her, and with the flick of her wrist, and the flash of the
moon insignia on her forehead, the dark, yet great castle of the Dark Kingdom fell to
ruin, and the ice swallowed its remains.

Sweat poured down Serenity's forehead, and she walked, dazed, on the icy surface.
She unknowningly felt the pain of and glorious agony of the burning of too much use of the
Silver Crystal taking the life from her body. She remained on her feet, but not with her
senses by the flood of adrenaline that still rushed in her body kept her walking. Idly,
she pressed her hand to the back of her head, where warmthness flowed, and felt something
sticky. Instinct told her to best leave this alone.

Serenity smiled as the came upon the limp bodies of two of her friends, Sailormars
and Sailorvenus.

"Rei, Minako..." She murmered, gathering them up in her arms. "I'm so glad I found
you, we have loads to talk about."

Serenity sat down, the limp, sticky heads in her friends flopping lifelessly against
her chest, and she hugged them closer, staring at the stars. The ice felt cool underneath
her rump, and the warmth was now trickling down her neck.

"We'll go home soon." She told them. "Home is coming soon."

Slowly, swiftly, green and blue light began to wave across the sky. Serenity
looked up at it, amazed, and began humming a melody.

"Look, Minako, Rei." She said, her eyelids stinging with blood, the metallic
taste of it invading her mouth, "The Aurora Borealis. Mama told me about it; isn't it
pretty? Its come to take us home. It has come to show us the stars. Are you ready?"

If Serenity was fazed by the fact that neither Minako nor Rei responed, she didn't
show it. All she did was smile dazedly once more, and draw their cold corpses closer to
her body. "Of course you are ready. We've been here so long, fought so hard. The
battle is almost over, Rei, Minako. Only a little longer."

A little longer, indeed. Serenity drew an agonizing breath, and bitter air
filled her flooding lungs.

"Minako... Rei... This battle... is for you... And for the world... I guess
no battle is ever won unless its the last battle fought... I know we won this one...
Rei... Minako..."

Serenity fought off a wave of dizziness. She fell back, and laid her head down
on the ice.

"This... this was a battle for peace... There will be peace... In this world...
This universe."

Serenity's eyes rounded out, wide, awake.

"I promise you!" She cried out, her voice ringing off the ice, out unto the
night. The northern lights twirled in ribbon-like forms in response to her outcry.

"To the generations, I give you hope, I give you future, I give you peace!
And my love will remain!"

Her eyes dimmed, and she relaxed a little, loosening her muscles on the ice,
content with the cold that made her fingers and toes numb. The sweat that had betrayed
her body heat was frozen against her forhead now, and her breathes grew ever more ragged.

"This," she said, certainity and regality owning her tone, "This is my decree."

She let out a breath, and her eyelashes fluttered against her pale skin. "Peace."

Serenity's arms encircled her unresponding companions again. "Let's... go home."

And her eyes closed. Her last breath peirced the air.

For a moment there was silence. Nothing moved. Nothing sounded in the frozen air.

Then, the swirling borealis grew brighter, and filled the whole sky. It surged in
a brilliance of light and color, and it covered the bodies of Serenity and her fallen
guardians, and the light drew back into the sky.

Several miles away, the 36th regiment stumbled out of their shelter to see the
light withdraw, and the aurora borealis continued moving in the star-studded sky.
There, near the North star, two fememine forms appeared, in flowing white dresses,
and long, silver and golden hair that intermingled. They looked almost like twins,
with the exception that the silver-haired one was a generation older. The two women
embraced, and the silver-haired one spoke in a clear, silver-belled voice that rang
throughout the world:

"This is my precious daughter, with whom I am well pleased."

The next morning, the 36th regiment went out searching for John Marquee. They
found him, and six other forms: a black-haired male, four battered females, and the
golden-haired woman that had appeared in the aurora borealis just that last night.

Upon their return several months later, the 36th regiment was pleasently
surprised to be greeted by the President of the United States himself, who was now
personally dealing with the enviromentalists. He shook hands with one of the group,
posed for photos, and then talked to the group a bit.

"Terribly sorry about John Marquee," he said, a bit awkwardly. "His family
will be commended for his service with
the United States Army."

"Sir," spoke up one of the enlisted men. "About John Marquee, well, sir,
have I got a story to tell you..."