Disclaimer: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC, and I would be a supreme idiot for claiming it or any of its affiliated characters.

Some say the world will end in fire,
some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those that favor fire.
But if it had to happen twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
—Robert Frost

I trudge through the snow and ice, the storm around me not affecting my progress.

I have a mission. I will not fail.

"Do you not understand? Earth is dying, and all you are doing is speeding up the process!"

"Frankly, Your Highness, The Earth is our business now. You and yours abandoned it and left it to us. What we do with it is our concern, not yours." The envoy put so much malice in the few words that the court was shocked.

Queen Serenity sat down on her throne once again, sighing softly. "Earth is the cradle of Humanity, yes, and we have left that cradle. But can you not see that the cradle is being befouled? Your defiling waste and power reactors, your destruction of resources that cannot be replaced, your insensitive corruption of your own children!"

The Terran envoy snorted. "Preach your drabble to those who don't know any better, Serenity. You send your waste to be dumped on Mars, while terraforming efforts are taking place there! You mine asteroids that have been around longer than life itself. And look around you!" He waved his hands at the assembled court. "What kind of morals do you think you are teaching your children? Women consorting with women, men with men? How can their bloodlines continue with such? Should you not pair up women with men, so that your courts can live on beyond you?"

Serenity was about to speak, when one of those who stood by her side came forward. Dressed in red with raven hair, she spoke with gentle melody, yet there was fire beneath the velvet. "Do you think that I would let my own planet be destroyed like you are doing to the Earth? What waste is sent from Luna has been purified and actually helps the terraforming process."

Another stepped up, dressed in green with a brown fall of hair like the bark of an old oak. "The Asteroid Belt is under my jurisdiction for now, and let me tell you this! We actually leave behind more than we take, plazsteel and inorganic plastics, things that will degrade into simple metals and be pulled together to make new asteroids, for our descendents to mine."

Two more spoke, one dressed in deep blue with sea green tresses and one in light orange with blonde hair. "Look to your own culture before you criticize ours," said the one in blue. "Our people are healthy, happy, and enjoy much longer lives than yours."

"Look at your mortality rate and the birth rate. Just look out your window and see how many faces have smiles instead of frowns!" The blonde woman accused. "You are destroying both yourselves and the Earth!"

"And do please look around you here," said the woman in blue. "Don't you see families just as happy with both parents of the same gender? What does it matter as long as the children are loved and grow into people that can love in return?"

The envoy was by now almost purple, when a soft voice spoke from behind him. "You are of a kind that destroys without thought, and calls it progress. This is a culture that both destroys and creates with care, but still calls it progress."

The envoy whirled around and backed away from the woman behind him. He regained his composure then and turned back to the Queen. "I have said what I came here to say, and I will not be bullied by your personal lapdogs or your maniac assassin. As soon as I return to report, the Grand Council will surely declare embargo on all goods from space." He turned and attempted to leave gracefully, but the last speaker still blocked his path. Gruffly sliding around her, he could feel her stare on him the entire way out of the hall.

The Queen rose again and looked at the woman before her. "That, Mercury, was not entirely called for. But I suppose it makes no difference now."

One step, two steps, three, and so on. I've been reduced to counting paces to keep from being bored. The storm has cleared, at least, and I am nearer to my goal than before.

I once read a story about a traveler in the artic, who grew so cold on his trek that he tried to make a fire underneath a snow-laden tree. The fire warmed the tree and the snow on it, causing the slush to fall on the traveler and bury his fire. The traveler only survived another few hours without any way to make himself warm.

I don't have to worry about the cold, no matter what my outfit looks like. My destination, however, is still a full day away, and that only if I keep walking all night. Which I will have to. Timing is important when it comes to the Greater Magicks.

Seventy-four, seventy-five, seventy-six.

"What is it, Pluto?"

"Serenity is in danger."

Silence. Then: "Who, where, and when?"

"Not like that. It is not wholly physical danger, but rather emotional."

"Does this have anything to do with things I have refused before?"

"No. I will only ask you this once." Silence again. "I told you all once that the Earth would be covered in a great ice age to cleanse it of corruption."

"You did. I can tell there will be a few minor ice ages in the next few millennia, but nothing to compare with what you told us about."

"Because the ice age that I was referring to is artificial."

This time there was no sound at all for several minutes.

"You… want me… to murder over ten billion people?!"

"Yes."

"You had better have a DAMN good reason."

"The Terran Grand Council placed an embargo on all goods from outside their atmosphere. That includes foodstuffs and other necessities that they need to survive."

"They make food, they have CO2 converters. They can survive."

"But for how long? Think about it. Either their whole society goes into starvation and malnutrition, or — and more likely — only the select few at the top will get food, leaving those lower than them to die."

"They made embargo on everything outside their atmosphere? Including the SkyGardens?"

"Yes. Serenity has already begun planning to siphon off CO2 and other necessities from Luna to the Gardens."

"And where shall she put the food? The Gardens produce ten times what all of Luna and Mars can eat. By the time it could be shipped to the Belt and Jupiter, it will need six tons of water for every one ton of grain."

"She's planning on smuggling it."

"What?! You can't just smuggle in a hundred thousand tons a day!"

"Nevertheless."

"I know. It is her way."

"The SkyGardens must be shut down. Serenity will not do that unless there is no need for them."

"And while helping those still on Earth, she neglects her own people."

Silence reigned once more.

Four thousand, nine hundred, ninety-eight. Four thousand, nine hundred, ninety-nine. Four thousand, nine hundred… Wait.

I look up and peer around me. The sun is low on the horizon, signaling nothing in this Antarctic desert.

Serenity did try to implement a siphoning plan, but the Senshi as a whole took her aside and told her what the outcome of that would be. I still believe that if all eight of us had not told her the same thing then and there, that she would have gone on with it. She did not, however, actually shut down the SkyGardens. That was not noted until my ship docked with SAmerica Prime, the control tower for the SkyGardens in that area.

Since Serenity did not, and hopefully still does not, know about my plan, she did not give me the codes to cycle down the Gardens.

Not that that mattered much. Especially not when I have my computer. The time delayed virus I planted in SAmerica Prime should have spread to the other eight Prime towers by now, and they are set to cycle out to vacuum a bare hour before I am scheduled to begin my spell.

I rouse myself from my rest and begin walking again.

Five thousand, one. Five thousand, two. Five thousand…

"Where are you going?"

The woman in black looks up guiltily, then relaxes as she sees that the woman before her is not who she feared it would be. "I have an assignment."

"You've never been this secretive about it before. What's different now? Is it one of the nobles?"

The woman in black shakes her head. "I can't talk about it. If any word gets back to Serenity…"

"What? She'll lock you up? I doubt that," the woman joked.

The woman in black shook her head again. "It is something that if she knew of it, she would ban me from doing."

"And you would do it anyway."

"I do it to keep her from harm. In the long run, at least."

The second woman sighed and embraced the first. "Don't take too long, Anhara."

"I won't, Meskira," she lied.

Magnetic South.

The ice gleams from the glacier beneath me as I begin to scratch out the runes for the spell in the frozen ground. The shapes and curves of spell flow smoothly onto the ice. Most of them I am making up as I draw them. I've never cast an Ice spell this powerful. The nearest I've come is the memory.return of my Divination side.

I have been hoarding my resources ever since my talk with Pluto. I am full to the brim with the energy I leeched from the ground on my way here.

I'll need every bit of it to survive.

The Royal Gardens served several purposes. One, they were a source of exotic flavorings and herbs, two, they helped the CO2 Converters, and three, they offered a chance to walk under an open sky.

One such person walked the paths, pausing now and again to look up at the sky, or rather, look up at the Earth. The continents set out in patchwork as seen through the floating SkyGardens, each set anchored to a central tower at nine points across the globe.

Another person came into sight of the first, paused, and continued on towards her. As the two met, the first gestured that the second walk with her. The second quietly turned and complied.

"Did you send her?" The voice of the first was low and weary.

"Send who?" The second was cautious.

The first rounded on the second. "Do not play games with me!" After a moment, she continued walking, waving for her companion to keep up. "I received a report that the SkyGardens had been cycled out, and anyone with good eyes could see the air being exhaled from them."

The second responded slowly. "I did not ask her to do such."

The first continued without notice. "Her ship is still docked with one of the towers. She's down there somewhere, because not even she can survive in vacuum. What did you ask her to do?"

The second voice now grew weary as well. "I asked her to complete a future that I had seen. A future that is necessary, however much you will hate it and me."

The first stopped, then turned sharply to the second. "Where is she? Now!"

The second sighed, and checked her internal clock. "The South Pole. Magnetic south." She pointed to the white capped horizon of Earth.

Several things came together for the first. "The weather historians predicted an ice age. A drop of merely a degree or two centigrade. You always told us that a great age of ice would cleanse the world."

"She was surprised as well. She can read the currents of ice and could tell that there would be no Great Ice before I asked her to…"

"And what the price for the death of billions?"

"Two things. One, your safety."

"That would convince her right there."

"Yes. But she felt the need of another promise."

"What… did you promise her?"

"That I would keep her vow to you as best I could."

The first gasped, and turned to the sky, where a blinding point of light could be seen at the bottom of the globe above.

"Mercury…!"

I am at the cusp of power. All that I gathered is being put into this spell, the lines of acceleration on the outer edge of the diagram are taking that power and amplifying it ten, a hundred, thousands of times.

It may still not be enough.

I know that by now someone must have noticed me; the power I am giving out should shine like a beacon to those with trained senses. Still, there must be some waste energy and that will leak over into the electromagnetic spectrum as heat, light, and UV rays, possibly going as far as gamma and x-rays.

I shift my focus from the accelerator runes on the edge to the alignment circles nearer to me. The energy shifts accordingly, but enough stays with the accelerators to provide a constant stream.

One by one, the alignment circles glow, opening the way to the next level of the diagram, the one nearest to me.

Focusing runes light up, pointing the power that has gone through acceleration and alignment back to me, and the small circle that keeps me separated from the rest of the diagram.

I now stand in the middle of a cyclic rune that channels enough energy to cover the world in ice.

For a single moment before I cast the spell, my mind is at peace, and I wonder how long it will take me to gather enough power to begin cleansing a world trapped beneath my element.

"MERCURY ICE AGE!!"

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Last revision: May 21, 2007