*same girl, same rose, same two shadows, but more pictures on the wall* Welcome again! This, as you must know, is the third story in the continual saga of "The Four Lovers." As winter is here, and as Lady commented, it's a sad week, and this is no exception. This is the story that ends our time in the Silver Millenium, and that means one thing: Beryl. I'm an explainer at heart; I like knowing, for example, how Jupiter got her rose earings. So this story is my attempt to bridge the gap between anime and the Dub; therefore, some parts of it are going to be downright CAMPY. Others, though, are going to be my attempt at serious, and some places I just might get downright violent. Also--and hopefully I'll be able to do this--you may want a tissue box on hand for the ending chapter. Past that...and onto DISCLAIMERS! DISCLAIMER: : Sailor Moon, all the other Sailor Senshi and other names and terms associated with the series are copyrighted by Naoko Takeuchi,Kodansha, Bandai, DIC and all the other companies (which I can't remember right at this moment). I-borrowed-Disclaimer: The story idea sprung up after reading "Soul Mates" and looking at the 4lovers.jpg, so I credit both the author, the artist, and this very site for introducing me to such. I also borrowed a major, major idea from Lady and reformatted it to fit me; thank you SO MUCH FOR PROPOSING IT, LADY! General thanks Disclaimer: You people who send me feedback are the sweetest people in the entire world. I truly get te warm fuzzies to know others have taken time out to write me. If I hadn't lost most of my e-mail messages, I would personally thank each and everyone one of you. Also, thanks to Lianne for advertising for me, and to anyone who replies to me after receiving one of my spastic e-mails. Finally, thank you ARTEMIS AND LUNA! You have to be the most patient and wonderful archivists on the 'Net to deal with my split posts and all! *hands both of them a bunch of flowers* Author reads: Tim Nolan, Jackie Chiang, LIANNE!!!, Bunny Anyla (spelled right, I hope), Allison Montgomery and Lady. You all rock. Well, enough of my jibber--onto it!! THE FOUR LOVERS: HAPPINESS IS A PHOENIX by Ninx Prologue Two months before Endymion and Serenity were to married, the darkness broke through the Outer planets. They'd seen it massing along the edges of the Sol system for months before, nearly right after Priam had died. It had furtively danced along the edges of the Sol, as if seeking some way into the system. However it happened, they found it. And so a brutal war was raged among the Outer planets of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; sometimes, a detatchment of the Blackness would reach for Pluto, yet knocked away by some repellant force that the other planets didn't posess. The Earth and the Moon people watched with fear present in their hearts; families had scattered all over the system, and many feared for their kin that lived in the Outers. And then the wounded civilians trickled in from the front, giving a name to their enemy--the Negaverse. The Seers of Red and Blue trembled at it; the Crystal muted itself if the name was mentioned in its presence. Archivists and scholars dug deep into their tects and found legends, fearful legends, of its terror. For some survivors of deep space attacks had fluttered in from time to time to give descriptions of what this was and what drove it, though they thought the power of the Crystal would keep it at bay. However, something had happened that drove it onward toward the Moon...something odd. Yet before it would press for the Moon, after its defeat of the Outers, it stopped. It didn't even try to touch Jupiter, nor swarm among the Asteroid Belt. It..just...sat...there. No one knew why. No one would ever have a clear reason, except for a person inside the Negaverse. And really, could you trust one of them? Yet the story, the true story, somehow made its way into history, and goes as this: While the Negaverse sat frustrated outside the system, its leader and driving power, called by many different names and prefering none, searched. And searched. And searched. For its avatar, Queen Barium, had died by through 'friendly' fire, and no one within the kingdom had been suitable to take her place. Yet the mystical forces it controlled told it there was a powerful woman to take her place right here, in the prize before it. Finally, it found her. She was a servant girl of base origin, of fiery red hair and dark eyes, with the characteristic fangs of her little sect of family. There was magic within her, crystalline magic, that with the right enhancement could be put to excellent use. And lastly, she just shapely enough to be a Queen; one must use all attributes to rule, after all. The girl accepted the offer of rule posed to her by the Darkness, and it rapidly swirled around her, enhancing her in dark ways. Lastly, the whispering shadow asked her, "What shall they call you?" The woman took the name of the one she served, and so Queen Beryl was born. Now the Negaverse surged into the system, overwhelming planet after planet and after a few struggles, putting to rest that Senshi opposition. It waited before attacking the Inner Planets to gather energy, and also because of a defect the new Queen had noticed--lack of leaders. Youma warriors were much too petty to lead anyone else, and she herself could not command the large force of warrios. So where were they to get their Generals from? It was then that Queen Beryl remembered the Guard of Earth, and its Generals. To her ruler she presented this, and it was then that a special power was bestowed upon her. For as Metallia said, "It takes too mcuh useful energy to turn a person from good to evil. However, if we peel away the surface and paste it upon someone else...we get a carbon copy with one difference: it serves us. Add a few touches here, a few there, and who needs the original character of the subject? We shall strip what we need, and discard what we don't." And so upon Beryl, the Negaforce bestowed the golden, dangerous and brutal power of DiC.