A breeze caressed the side of a young girl's face and picked up her long, golden strands of hair and tousled it in the air. Serena latched onto Darien's arm as she dragged him to the nearest takoyaki stand. The unmasked Tuxedo Mask smiled at this love, in his present and past life, and hopefully in the next as well. He pulled out his wallet, albeit a little reluctantly as he knew how large her appetite could get sometimes. He chuckled. Well, anything for his princess and his future queen.

Darien's smile grew fonder at Serena as she took in an entire takoyaki ball. The schoolgirl yelped as its piping heat and damaged to her tongue within its first contact. But she would never spit out something her dear boyfriend had bought her. The masked protector by night chuckled at his girlfriend. "You can spit it out if it's too hot, you know."

She gave him an adorable pout and shook her head. The meatball head drew up an index finger to signal him to give her a moment and proceeded to swallow the hot takoyaki ball. The tall man gave her a small smile, his heart almost overflowing with endearment for his princess. He had missed her dearly and wanted to make up for the time they had been separated.

As they rounded the corner of the familiar arcade, the couple met the rest of the group. She ran to hug them tightly, joyfully laughing all the way. It was the first time they were together after the battle with Galaxia. This was the impeccable scene. Of Serena with her friends and her love. She had it all in this one moment.

If she knew she would lose it all in the next, she would have hugged them tighter. Would have laughed more. Would have kissed Darien one more time. Would have told each and every one of them that she loved them more than life itself.

Without any notice, no big shift in the universe, no explosion, not even an implosion, Serena slowly started dissipating. At first, even she hadn't even noticed. But when she tried to take a step to follow her friends, she fell. They laughd endearingly. Classic clumsy Serena. But Darien, who had immediately went to her side, yelled with horror that her foot was disappearing into specks of light.

For a moment, she did not believe it herself. She tried to pat her phantom limbs, to prove to her friends and herself that she did indeed exist. But to no avail. Her skin transformed into flecks of light that would float into the air like dandelion seeds. As her shins began to disappear, so did her fingers. She started floating, the loss of limbs making her weightless. Darien, Rei, Ami, Lita, Mina, Luna, and Artemis reached out for her floating, disappearing figure, all screaming her name. They did not care that they were causing a scene. Several heads turned to the phenomenon. Others paced on, dismissing the event at some filming stunt not worthy the distraction. Some deadlines were more important things a disappearing girl. Their apathy went unnoticed by the people who were screaming Serena's name in despair.

Serena could do nothing as she disappeared. She reached out for them, her translucent fingers stretched towards her beloved prince. Even the tears that she shed for her beloved weren't allowed to exist in this world any longer as they too, dissolved into nothing. Once again, they were helpless in a fate bigger than them. A fate that would do anything and everything to attain her. It was cruel. But it was an ageless truth.

She woke up with a migraine. It was as if a thousand small hammers were banging against the perimeter of her skull. And. It. Was. Painful. She did not even want to open her eyes. For some reason, behind her eyelids, she saw the imprint of lights from all directions. She willed her eyes open.

The sight before ripped all words out of her mouth before she could even begin to form them. She didn't know whether to be amazed or terrified. Around her were so many orbs emitting a bright blue light. They floated in space just as she did in front of her friends. Except the orbs didn't seem to have anywhere to go.

Serena's ears pick up the sound of heels echoing off marble floors. But that was impossible because there were no discernable floors in the world she existed in. There was only space. A blue, endless space that encompassed her like an ocean.

"Hello, Serenity." Hearing the sound of a familiar voice, she leapt to her feet and ran toward what she thought to be the source. As she did so, her mind began to register that she was no longer in her civilian clothing, but the fluttering pearl white dress of her past life.

It was Sailor Pluto. And if it was Pluto's voice, then it must mean she was in the Space Time Continuum. She ran several paces before Sailor Pluto's voice spoke again.

"Princess, do not waste your energy in trying to find me. I do not exist in that plane as my powers do not-cannot extend there."

"What are you talking about, Pluto? Where am I? Why am I here?" she begged to the woman as she ceased her fruitless search for the space-time keeper.

"Princess, turn around and look carefully at the orb in front of you."

The blonde girl did as she was told. The closest sphere was bright and glowing so it took several moments for her to adjust to understand what she was seeing. She gasped when the sight hit her. It was the scene she had just left from. Darien and all her girl friends were frantically looking for her, desperately calling out her name. Although their voices did not carry over to where she was, she could imagine their cries in her head. She yearned to return to their arms. With no hesitation, she ran toward the sphere with all her might, ignoring Pluto's cry for her to stop.

"Wait, Princess! If you do that, you'll-" the Sailor Scout warned, but before she could finish, Serena reached the sphere that contained her friends and was immediately repelled. It felt like she had ran full force into an electric fence. An electrifying pain shot through her and fried all of her nerves. It was if a thousand needles were pounded into her skin at once. She cried out in pain and crumbled to the ground. The moon princess sat there, convulsing, as tears poured down her face from the agony. It took several moments for the blinding pain to ebb away.

When her senses finally came back to her, she could hear Pluto's worried voice calling out to her in her head. "Pluto, please tell me what's going on. Why can't I go back to my friends?"

She heard the tanned woman take in a breath and imagined that she was steadying herself. Worry began to curl the insides of her stomach.

"Princess, as the heir to the Silver Millennium Crystal and the future Neo-Queen Serenity, you are tasked with a burden that only you can bear."

Puzzled, Serena pushed further, "what are you talking about, Pluto?" Her mind raced. What more could there be to being the future protector of the universe?

"Princess Serenity, you are not only the protector of your universe, but all universes."

The Lunar Princess's mind went blank as she attempted to process those words. She let the words saturate her mind, but it was if the words were being repelled like a difficult math formula she could never comprehend. She was glad she was still on the floor, her knees splayed out under her, because she did not have the strength to get up. Even if she did, that sentence would have knocked her off her feet. Serena stared at her hands in her lap, still shell shocked.

"My Princess, please look up. Look carefully at the orbs around you." She did as Pluto commanded. She craned her neck upwards to assess the scenery in front of her. Slowly but surely, she began to distinguish scenes inside the orbs, just like with her own world. She saw people flourishing on fantastical lands she had only seen in movies. She saw warriors fighting on a battle arena as the cheers of the crowd shook the stadium. In other spheres, she saw forms that were as far from human as could be. However, from some spheres, she could distinguish a sadness that drew her to them. In those spheres, she saw blood splattered everywhere, painting the world in a sea of red. It was terrifying and too much for her to process. She clutched her eyes shut, unable to look at any other orb, scared of what she would find.

"Pluto… are you telling me that each of these orbs contain a universe?" the revelation came crashing down on her like a thousand worlds.

"Yes, you are correct. From what I understand, each orb contains a universe, sometimes even more."

In an unidentifiable tone she asked, "So there might be a plane such as this in one of those orbs?"

"Perhaps. I do not have all the answers. I only know the details that your mother spared me through her journeys as I am unable to travel through the worlds myself. My powers only work in our world."

"Wait! You're telling me that my mother also did this as well?! I don't remember any such thing from my previous life."

"Of course not. Not all your memories of your last incarnation were restored. It's better that way. There is no reason to relive them. Plus, these duties would not have been revealed to you until the crystal deemed that you were ready to receive them. It seems that after your battle with Chaos, the crystal has deemed you ready to begin your journey as Protector of Universes."

Whether incapacitated by shock or incredulity, Serena did not say anything so the time keeper continued.

"This is speculation, but I surmise that the crystal is the reason you cannot return to your home world. Simply, it will not let you take the throne of Neo Queen Serenity in Crystal Tokyo until you fulfill its requirements. Before you ask, I do not know what those are. Just as I guard the secrets of time in our world, Queen Selenity kept the secrets of universe traveling under tight guard. Only the heirs to the Lunar Dynasty are able to inherit the powers and secrets bestowed to them by the Silver Imperium Crystal."

"I can't do it." Pluto said nothing to Serena's answer. "Even if I could, how long would jumping in between worlds to fulfill some kind of wild goose chase for the crystal take? Months? Years?"

The Princess of the Moon felt her tears well up within her.

Pluto replied in careful and controlled manner, knowing that her answer would not be taken well. "It might take decades. Perhaps centuries."

Centuries were like a drop of water in an ocean to the Goddess of Time. Although she had not been there for the birth of the universe, she knew that she had been in existence long enough to no longer feel the passage of time. Her ageless body and mind made sure of that. It hurt when she had to watch the Moon Kingdom fall, and it hurt much more the second time when Crystal Tokyo fell to the hands of the Black Moon Kingdom. But Pluto quelled the surge of pain in her as she watch the destruction of her fellow soldiers. She did not even resort to escape to the past or future when Sailor Galaxia came to destroy her. That was how committed she was to her duty. But the agony that flooded through her as she watch her future queen crumble to the floor made her wished that she were by her side right now. This immortality was a curse and now her princess had to bare the same fate as her.

Immediately the dam holding back her tears broke at such a harsh revelation and Serena could do nothing but let the sobs wrack through her whole body. She thought back to the last battle. The battle that had taken everything out of her. The one that had taken everyone from her. Her loyal Sailor Scouts. Her Darien. Their future daughter. She had just lost them all and the only thing holding her together was one small seed of hope inside her soul. It was so small and fragile but it was the thing that had saved them all. Maybe that's what the Silver Imperium Crystal had seen and had deemed as what Serena needed to begin her ascension to her throne. But this new found power was not a gift, it was a curse if it prevented her from seeing her loved ones.

"Princess...I know this is very difficult to process. There's only one thing I can do to help you in your journey on my side. I can stop time in this universe. While you may return for an unidentifiable amount of time later, while you may change, I can guarantee the people you care about will not. No harm will come to them because nothing will happen. I know this is not much of a consolation considering the difficulties you will face in your upcoming journey, but it is all I can offer."

Pluto gave the crying Princess one more mental nudge, "my future Queen, there is one more thing I must tell you. Stopping time is the most grievous crime a Time Guardian can commit. As much as I wish to be there for you, even if it's just my voice, stopping time entails that I must also be trapped within the time itself. But I believe that you will gain the power to come back to us and restart time again. I, and all your loved ones, wholeheartedly believe in you, Princess, so always have faith in yourself. Please always remember that we love you."

As the words sank into Serena, she put all of her energy into her legs and forced them to move. To do something other than sit there and helplessly watch. Dammit, she was Sailor Moon, daughter of the Moon Kingdom, future Queen of Crystal Tokyo, and sole wielder of the Silver Imperium Crystal! She shot up and ran towards the large sphere containing her home and friends. She reached her hand out in a hopeless attempt to put a stop to Pluto's plans.

"Stop Pluto! There must be another way!" she cried as tears streamed down her face.

Ignoring the tearful pleas of her princess, Sailor Pluto, fated daughter of Chronos, took the Garnet Orb from its rightful place in her staff, and crushed it within her fingers, causing everything to still within the universe. It was instantaneous. The blood stop coursing through her body. On Earth, the Sailor Scouts and Darien were frozen in their spot, their faces etched with desperation as their search for their beloved friend and lover permanently ceased. Rivers stopped flowing and birds paused in mid-flight. The moon stopped revolving around its beloved earth. Black holes paused in their destruction. Supernovas simply stilled as its splatter permanently stained the cosmos.

The moon princess saw all these images through the orb in the instant she touched it. Unfortunately for her, the simultaneous impact of her contact and Sailor Pluto's shattering of the time-space continuum blasted Serena backwards. The electrifying pain was almost a hundred times worse and Serena promptly blacked out as her nerves were singed to the very core. Her unconscious body was thrown towards a glowing sphere and it absorbed her without a second thought.

Serena began her descent into a dark and infinite abyss.