Info:  This was my first fanfic, which I wrote about five years
         ago.  I have finally taken the time to re-edit it.
         This story takes place after the defeat of Galaxia
         and Chaos in the Sailor Moon Manga.

Feel free to e-mail me any comments you may have.
Email:   ml_eclipse@hotmail.com 

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all the characters of Sailor Moon
is copyrighted to its respective companies and the original
author, Naoko Takeuchi.

<< >> = thoughts

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O' Rose thou are sick.  The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm
Has found out thy bed of crimson joy
And his dark secret love does thy life destroy.

~ Blake

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>>>>> SERENITY'S LEGEND <<<<<<<<<
                    by Cosmos
=================================


Part V:  The Dying Light



"Who are you?" Serena screams in the darkness.  She can hear laughter 
all around her, evil, mocking laughter aimed at her, but she cannot 
see anyone through the brooding darkness.  "Why did you bring me here? 
What is it that you want?"

"I have been waiting for you to ask that question," says a haunting 
voice somewhere in the darkness.  Serena hears sneering laughter all 
around her.  The laughter comes from all directions.  The darkness seems 
to surround her in a tight grip and squeezes her slowly until she feels 
that her very life is oozing out of her body.  The laughter swirls 
around her in the darkness, mocking her.  Suddenly she feels dizzy and 
grabs her head.  Somehow she senses that the room itself is spinning in 
circles before her eyes.  <<I must get out of here,>> she thinks 
desperately.

"Moon Eternal Power!" she screams…but nothing happens.  "Whuh?…It…didn't 
work."  Again she hears the same sinister laughter.

"You cannot transform here, Eternal Sailor Moon.  Your power is too weak to defy 
mine."

<<No…no…why can't I transform?>> her mind thinks desperately.  
<<W-w-what am I going to do? Darien!>> her mind screams.  <<Darien, 
please!…help me!  Everyone! Where are you? Please…anyone…please…>>  
her mind begs in desperation. Feelings of utter despair and 
hopelessness engulf her.  And realization dawned on her like a slab 
of brick…she is alone…and no one will save her…not this time.

"What is it that you want," Serena asks again in an almost tearful 
and frightened voice.

"Your life," came the solemn reply,  "I want your soul and body."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Serena screams out in anguish as she 
feels the darkness closing in on her.  She feels a strange dark force 
invading her mind and slowly taking control of it.  The laughter 
and darkness, in addition to the fear and desolateness, slowly breaks 
down her resistance and eats away at her soul.

That dark voice speaks again, "Soon Sailor Moon, your power and your 
being will be mine.  And I will use it to destroy all that you have 
treasured and love.  With you under my control all of space and time 
will finally belong to me."  

Serena hears a spine-chilling trill followed by a sinister laughter that 
causes her skin to get goosebumps.  She tries to fight against the 
invading darkness that she knows is seeping into her soul, darkening it.  
<<I cannot let it win>>, she thinks determinedly, whatever that IT may be.  
She feels as if she is fighting a loosing battle from the beginning.  
This is something she has never before encountered, and it is scaring 
her to death.  This darkness overcoming her numbing mind is spreading 
through her body like heat from a fire, slowly, gradually taking over and there 
is nothing she is able to do to stop it.  Even as she is desperately 
trying to figure out a way to free herself, she can feel her soul and 
mind giving up on her.  This is nothing like the brainwashing she has 
experienced from Prince Diamond or the Wiseman from the Dark Moon Family.  
At least with brainwashing, she knows what she is dealing with, but 
this…this strange flow…almost like she is drinking an elixir that she 
just can't stop herself.  She feels as if she is fighting against 
herself, much less against an embodied thing, with neither shape, face, 
sound, nor sense.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Serena screams in pain as the darkness spreads deep 
within her mind, distorting everything in it.  Her memories of the past
 and those of the present runs together, mixing into a jumble of 
visions neither recognizable nor clearly remembered.  Visions of the 
Sailor Soldiers, Rini, the Moon Kingdom, Darien, everything gradually 
fades and disappears entirely.  All that is left is the emptiness and 
the cruel driving force of that strange darkness.

As the darkness takes control of more of her mind, Serena can feel her 
strength weakening.  She can sense her soul losing its grip on her 
body and her mind on reality.  Everything fades gradually, reality 
fades like the light of a dying star.  That is just what she has become 
now, a dying star.

"Do not fight me, Serenity," the voice invades her weak mind like a 
roaring thunder.  "Instead you should rejoice that you will soon be on 
my side…sister."  Serena's eyes widen in shock and disbelief.

"W-W-What?" Serena struggles to speak. "What did you just say?"

"Do you not know?" the voice asks mockingly, though not with surprise.  
"We are sisters, you and I.  We both came from the same origin, the 
Cauldron of the Stars.  You are the light, and I am your counterpart." 

A silence envelops them both, Serena senses that the dark being is 
smiling evilly down at her, seeming to enjoy her pain and suffering.  
Then a face appears out of the closing shadows.  Serena struggles to 
look up to see who is her captive.  What she saw horrifies her.  Meeting 
her gaze is the mirror image of herself.  Yet, instead of blue eyes, 
the face looks at her through eyes that do not contain any color or 
pupils.  It appears like swirling black empty void that can swallow one's 
soul by a simple gaze.  "I am Chaos."

"Nooooooo!" Serena screams in pain as her soul shrivels and dies.  She 
falls to her knees, grabbing her head as the last image in her mind fades 
away.  She feels a strange coldness suddenly clutching her heart and 
freezing it into hard stone.  She now realizes this is one 
battle that she cannot win.  The pain and heaviness force upon her by 
the conquering darkness makes her crouch low on the floor, holding her 
aching head.  The darkness makes its last strike and her soul slowly 
leaves her body.  As a crystal tear, the only source of humanity that 
is now left in her, leaves her eyes and slides down her pale cheek, 
Serena suddenly realizes what will happen after this moment.  A strange 
vision of what will be flashed faintly, quickly in her dying mind.  For 
that split second, she saw her herself holding a single red rose, and 
from the rose droplets of blood oozes out.  She realizes that the rose 
is dying, and she is killing it.

Sadly, she whispers in a dying voice, "Forgive me my friends…for what I will do."  
With a last desperate gasp, Serena closes her eyes and the darkness swallows 
her.  Suddenly the Silver Crystal radiates with intense light and disappears.

Sailor Chaos looks at what has just occurred before her in solemn 
silence.  A cruel contorted smile appears on her thin black lips.  
This is what she has been waiting for.  Her quest for total conquest 
of the universe has been barred by a single Sailor Soldier whom she 
despises incredibly, and now with Sailor Moon as an addition to her 
army, this other soldier will be no match against her.  Finally the 
strongest Sailor Soldier in the Galaxy, Eternal Sailor Moon is hers to 
control.  And she will use her to defeat the Soldier of the Universe.  
The strongest soldier in the galaxy against the strongest soldier of the
universe,  <<hmmm…this will be a battle to see,>> Chaos thinks, <<and the 
outcome is as good as mine.>>  The body lying before her slowly darkens 
and a strange aura surrounds it.  The brooding darkness around Chaos 
seems to be waiting for her to give a command to commence something that
 will inevitably change the future, forever.
==============================================
Next Chapter..."The Encounter"...

<<Cosmos 1999>>
Re-edited 2003