Part I: Usagi


Now it's been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday


Endymion looked at the beautiful woman beside him as she looked down upon the Earth bellow. Her expression was soft and carried a hint of sadness on it and Endymion knew that this came from years of battle and memories that filled the Moon Castle that they now were occupying. He leaned his lips close to her ear where a simple pearl earing resided.

"What are you thinking of?" She turned her head and his lips touched her ear gently. "Usako." A faint smile appeared on her sorrowful face and she lifted her hand to motion to a place bellow the balcony.

"Do you remember when you came to me that night? To warn us of our coming destruction?" King Endymion looked to the place he had once stood, so very long ago.

"Yes, as if it were yesterday." He said. Neo Queen Serenity lay her head against his chest.

"As if it were yesterday..." She repeated softly. Endymion remembered another conversation as he viewed his beautiful Earth.

"I once asked you what the Earth looked like from the Moon, do you know what you said?" Serenity smiled.

"A blue, crystal ball." She remembered.

"Its true." He confirmed. Serenity looked up at him. "The Earth is a blue ocean, and the Moon is its soft glowing pearl." Serenity's smile brightened. She liked that metaphor, it meant that they would always belong together: The Moon and The Earth. Her smile faded slightly as the memories of the old and yet new palace filled her, and she shivered. Endymion wrapped his cape around her and he held her close to his heart. "What's wrong?" A few tears glistened at the edge of her eyes.

"There was so much death at that time." She whispered; choking a bit. He nodded.

"But its long past us now." He assured her. "We've had peace for so long now, everything is alright." She pressed against his chest a bit tighter.

"I know, it's just, tonight," She paused. "It's just like that night, so calm, so peaceful, but just like that night we may find that the end has to much sorrow to tell." He looked around at the castle.

"Maybe we should go back to Tokyo." He reasoned. "This place has too many painful memories." He started to lean away from her but she held him there.

"No." She said with strength. "No, Small Lady should have memories of her future kingdom, both on The Earth and on The Moon." She said and she smiled up at him. "Besides, there are many happy memories here too!" At that moment she was no longer Neo Queen Serenity, but his lovely Usagi. He let her smile warm his heart and he smiled with her.

"Alright." He agreed, and she brightened up even more, as bright as The Moon.

"Small Lady will be here soon then we can all go to the gardens, and she can have the best view of The Earth and Moon all at once!" She said excitedly. She looked around the castle. "If only she would get here!" She whined. He watched her, his smile gone once more.

"Are you sure you are alright being here?" He asked one last time. She looked at him and then back towards the Earth. She stood silently for another moment and then nodded quickly.

"Yes." She said. "These memories are part of the reason we are here now." She said. "I wouldn't trade this future for anything, and..." she paused. "If I had to relive every heartache and painful memory once more in order to keep this future I would!" She stood staring at the Earth and her right hand was clenched in a fist over her heart. "I would die a thousand times, just so I could live one more day with you." The King grabbed hold of her shoulders and then caressed her face. She was so soft and strong at the same time. Sometimes, in the most intimate moments, he still found himself wondering if he truly deserved her, and the answered scared him.

Then again nobody would ever truly deserve her.

"Usako..." It was a tone so familiar to her, but it still took her breath away and reddened her face just like the first time he had used it. His lips met hers and the kiss was weighted with every moment, good and bad, that they had ever shared. "Serenity..."


The Doorway of Time and Space opened up and when the pink mist vanished a small pink haired preteen girl stood there with The Doorway already shutting behind her.

"Welcome home, Small Lady." The girl's face brightened and she ran into the arms of the dark, tall Senshi.

"Puu!" She hugged her and laughed. Luna watched the two friends and the girl next to her coughed to get Small Lady's attention.

"I missed you too, Chibiusa-chan." The girl said and Chibiusa's head whipped around to face her.

"Hotaru-chan!" She ran to her and then she noticed Luna. "Luna!" The girl hugged them both and laughter echoed through out the void of the Doorway's dimension.

"The Queen said for you to go straight to The Moon from here." Luna said and the girl seemed to get even more excited, if that were even possible. "Diana will meet you there later. She is with Artemis finishing some things up for The Queen." Chibiusa grabbed hold of Hotaru's hand and looked back to Sailor Pluto.

"I'll come back tonight Puu!" She called out and began to leave, but Hotaru stopped her.

"There is something I need to discuss with Pluto-mama." She said letting Chibiusa go. "I will catch up soon, okay?" Chibiusa looked at her and then back to Sailor Pluto who nodded. Chibiusa smiled and turned to continue onto the Moon.

"Okay, I'll see you there!" She said happily as she ran towards the portal that would take her to Earth, and then, on to the Moon.

The three watched her leave and then each faced the other.

"What is wrong Hotaru-chan?" Sailor Pluto asked and the usually stoic girl's eyes revealed a sense of worry.

"Things have been peaceful lately, but I have had a sense of apprehension about all of this." She said. Luna stepped forward.

"I have been worried as well." She agreed. "We have never had such a long stretch of peace before, and it seems only natural that things would turn bad once more." Sailor Pluto seemed to stand thinking.

"Maybe so, but there have been long stretches of peace before, so it is not unheard of, but I do agree that we must be careful not to let down our guard." She said, a small, rare smile revealed itself on her face. "I think that perhaps Small Lady's reign will be filled with a peace that even The Queen has not witnessed." Hotaru smiled at this and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, a reign of peace and dreams." She was referencing the blossoming romance that had been happening between the heir to the Silver Millennium and Elysion's guardian. The three of them shared a smile at that.

"Maybe we all are worrying over nothing." Luna said. Hotaru nodded.

"Perhaps." Sailor Pluto agreed. Hotaru leaned forward and hugged her adoptive mother, and Pluto hugged her back.

"Arigato, Mama," She said as she pulled away. "I'll come back later with Chibiusa-chan!" She promised as she turned towards the exit. She waved to Pluto one final time with a bright smile, and then glanced down to Luna. "See you in a bit, Luna." She said running off, and the two waved back. Sailor Pluto looked down to the small cat after Hotaru was a bit aways and fading in the mist.

"Was there something else, Luna?" Luna nodded.

"Yes, it's just that The Queen would like to invite you to dinner tonight," Sailor Pluto opened her mouth to object but Luna raised a paw to stop her protest, "She understands your objections, but she was going to allow me to guard in you place, just for awhile." Sailor Pluto seemed hesitant to accept.

"She really is the same old Usagi." She said smiling finally. It seemed that the Senshi of Time and Space was smiling more and more now days. Luna smiled back. Yes, she really was the same old Usagi.


"Mama!" The cheerful voice filled the typically quiet Moon Castle and the royal couple turned to see their daughter rushing towards them. "Papa!" Her smile was huge and The Queen bent down as Small Lady reached them and her arms wrapped around her. After 900 years, the girl still only looked about twelve or thirteen, and she had traveled through time so much that Serenity was unsure of how old she was exactly.

"How have you been, Small Lady?" Serenity's happiness was parallel to Endymion's and Small Lady looked up at her father and hugged him tightly.

"Great!" Small Lady chimed. "But I missed you both so much!" Small Lady said holding onto both of them. "Mama, Papa!" She laughed and so did The Queen and King.

"And what adventures have we had this time, Small Lady?" Small Lady laughed and shook her head.

"I think I should keep it to myself." She teased. The Queen's eyebrows lifted up.

"Oh?" Small Lady pulled away.

"It would be embarrassing to let people know about how silly my mother was in her youth." She declared, and The Queen grabbed her arms before the girl could get away.

"What do you mean? Small Lady, or should I say, Small Brat?!" She asked with a mischievous smile. The girl cried out as The Queen pulled her in close and began to tickle her.

"No! No stop!" She laughed. "Papa! Help!" She lifted her hands up to him, and he shook his head as he watched appearing amused.

"I think you better tell her," He warned. "Who knows what she might do next!" He said laughing at the scene before him. The Queen held the girl and was tickling her nonstop.

"Small Brat Tickle Attack!" The Princess shouted turning on her mother offensively. The Queen let out a squeal of shock and delight as the tide turned and she was now the one getting the brunt of the tickles.

"No! Stop! Stop! Help me!" The Queen grabbed hold of Endymion's arm. "Endymion!" The Queen said through her involuntary laughter. The King shook his head.

"I am just the innocent bystander." He said crossing his arms and made his face as serious as possible. The Queen and Small Lady stopped what they were doing for a moment and looked up at him.

"Innocent?" The Queen asked with a new mischievous smile.

"I don't think that was the word for it." Small Lady agreed. Endymion looked at them with widening eyes. He could see the plan forming in their all too alike minds.

"Hey now," He said backing away with his hands out in front of him protectively. "I know what you're thinking." The mother and daughter lunged at him and he found himself on the ground with the two laughing women tickling him. "Stop!" He laughed. "Someone help!" He called out, but his laughter assured everyone in hearing that he was really alright. "I'm being attacked by two mad women!" The two Serenitys towered over him.

"I think you'd better take that statement back." Small Lady advised with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Yes, who knows what we might do next," The Queen said with a mocking tone. Small Lady laughed. Endymion looked up at them with his mind turning. This was indeed a dire situation, and if he didn't do something quickly, he was a very doomed King. He had to take a chance... But he didn't want to think of the consequences of what would happen if he failed! Taking a deep breath, The King lunged upwards quickly, and the two women squealed in surprise as he caught both of them in his grasp.

"Now I have the upper hand!" He announced loudly tickling them both, but knowing he had just barely pulled it off.

"Oh no!" The two laughed almost at the same time. The Queen pushed him back down onto the ground playfully, and he fought to maintain his control of the situation, but her action enabled Small Lady to break free. "Save yourself!" The Queen shouted. Endymion had already regained a decent hold over his wife and was tickling her once more. The Queen let out a girlish squeal, and Small Lady rushed forward once more.

"Never!" She yelled heroically as she collided with them, and her body's force helped her mother push down her "attacker". The King stopped pushing against their attack and the three of them fell to the floor in a heap of laughter. The King wrapped his cape around them.

"Now I have you!" He declared triumphantly. The two women were still laughing and Small Lady looked at her mother with a wide smile as she spoke.

"I could never abandon you." The Queen watched a bit more calmly, and with a sentimental gleam in her eyes as the young girl laughed; her father squeezing her shoulders playfully.

A minute or two passed, and finally all of the laughter had stopped as they sat together on the floor of the Moon Castle; holding on to one another as they looked up towards the Earth.

"It's so beautiful from here." Small Lady said dreamily. "Like a Christmas Tree ornament!" She declared with her voice raising in excitement as she looked at her mother who was laughing at the comparison.

"Yes, I guess so." Serenity agreed and Endymion held them a bit closer.

"I seem to recall someone else said something similar before." He said looking into his wife's eyes. They looked back at the Earth together, and The Queen rested her head contently against his chest as Small Lady leaned forward; putting her elbows on her knees.

It was as if time had stopped... and as Serenity closed her eyes she let out a content hum. A moment or two later though, she felt Endymion's muscles become tense and she opened her eyes in concern, and lifted her head to examine him.

"Endymion?" Endymion's eyes widened as she watched. A strange, almost fearful, warning erupted inside him, and Serenity too grew tense as a chill crept over them, and she turned her head to look around them warily. The Moon was usually cold, but this chill was different than the usual simulated breeze, and it carried a foreboding presence along with it.

"Something's not right..." Endymion said in a soft, uncertain voice, and as he spoke, Small Lady let out a panicked cry. The adults turned their attention back to her, but then followed her horrified gaze upwards. The Queen quickly rose to her feet.

"The Earth!" Endymion and Small Lady stood up beside her hastily as they watched The Earth be consumed in a dark, misty, shadow. After a moment's disbelief, Small Lady instinctively lifted her hand and grasped at her broach.

"Pink Moon Cry-" Before she even finished the phrase a sharp tearing sensation erupted in her chest. She let out a cry of pain and leaned forward with her arms wrapping around herself.

"Small Lady!" Endymion supported her in his arms as she cringed painfully and her eyes squeezed shut

"Small Lady?! What is it? What's wrong?!" Serenity demanded as she reached out to her as well. Her fingers were inches away when an explosion filled the air and the sound of the glass dome above them shattering sent panic shooting up her spine. The Queen let out a startled breath, and a rushing wind struck her squarely on the chest. Beside her Endymion lifted his cape protectively, but too late. The blast sent them flying into the air as the vacuum of space pulled at them without the protective dome. The sudden difference in pressures did its work on their bodies. Suspended above The Moon Castle, Serenity found herself being dragged away from her family, and she struggled to reach her hand out to them.

"Usako!" Endymion grabbed hold of her by the wrist before they were completely separated, and The Queen clasped onto his arm with all of her might. She could not, and would not, let him go.

"Mama! Papa!" Small Lady's scream filled the air as she found herself being torn out of Endymion's arm violently; not just from the force already working upon them, but by an unknown tugging sensation. The King reached out to grab her once more, but she was already too far away soaring through the disappearing atmosphere.

"Small Lady!" Serenity shouted, and Endymion's eyes darted around in a vain search for something to grab onto, and anything to help reach out for their daughter. Glass shimmered all around them along with the flowers and dirt that had been misplaced by the sucking vortex. Small Lady let out another pained yelp as she curled up tightly. "Small-" Serenity' heart stopped as she momentarily saw through her like glass. "No." Her mind couldn't even make sense of what was happening, for while she watched, a gaping hole in the sky appeared behind the girl. A purple rimmed hole of darkness.

And the young girl was quickly being sucked into it.

"MAMA! PAPA!" Her hand shot out towards her parents desperately.

"SMAAALL LADYYYY!" The Queen's voice broke and tears stung her eyes as her daughter disappeared from view, swallowed up by the darkness. Before she had time to think about what to do, the couple felt a new tug on their hands and it forced them to return their attention to their current struggle of staying together. Serenity's eyes were filled with tears, Small Lady was gone, and she had to keep Endymion there with her. As long as they were together, she would be able to fight. "Don't leave me!" Serenity cried desperately as Endymion's hands slipped with the next pull. "Mamo-chan!" He was attempting to twist his fingers, and tighten his grip on her, but it was no use. Something was pulling on them desperately trying to tear them apart by any means. A new noise brought Serenity's attention sharply down towards the surface of the Moon where The Moon Castle was caving into ruin. The image seared into her brain as she looked for any signs of what had happened to those inside.

Mars! Jupiter! Mer-

"Usagi!" Serenity jolted her attention back to Endymion as her wrist cried out in pain, and their hands almost slipping apart with Serenity's attention diverted when the tug occurred again. It was tearing at them with growing strength each time. Barely holding onto each other, Endymion's eyes caught Serenity's and fear penetrated her entire being as she saw the terrified glimmer in his own; the sight reinforcing Serenity's own panic.

"Mamo-chan!" Helpless pain crossed his face at the sound of her terrified plea. "Don't go!" She sobbed, but already another savage tug was tearing apart their fingers and she was dragged away from him. "Mamo-chan!" Her eyes were wide as terror took over her entire body, and instinctively her thoughts went to the one thing she still had control over: "SILVER CRYSTAL, PLEASE!"

"Usak-!" His voice was drowned as Serenity lost sight of him and was enveloped in her own personal darkness. The rushing continued to press upon her as she fell; the power blazing in her soul helpless to stop it. Her hand was still outreached for Endymion, but...

The memory of him being taken was now gone.

Her mouth was still open wide in an attempt to call out to him, except her voice was caught in her throat, choking her with the forgotten name she wanted to scream so painfully. Her mind spinning in an attempt to remember. And yet even as it tried, her mind was beginning to race in so many other different directions. To so many other things. Everything precious to her.

All of it in a swirl of chaos...

Quick, painful flashed of memory as if happening right then flashed before her eyes! Then the next moment, just like Endymion... They were being ripped away from her. Tears streamed down her cheeks from her terror-wide eyes. She could taste them on her tongue as she struggled to breath in this mental storm. Drowning. All of it coming. All of it going. The fingers of her still outstretched hand coiled together in front of her desperately. As if she could physically stop the memories from leaving. As if she wasn't helpless. As if there was still hope! Hope that they wouldn't all be torn away from her so violently like this...

One. By one. By one...

A strangled cry finally made its escape, but as it did...

She couldn't even remember what it was that had pained her to begin with.

She continued to fall backwards, arching her back in the void, letting out a silent scream, vaguely aware of the missing pieces, but more acutely, heart-breakingly, aware of the current piece of her being stolen.

"Chib-" She began to choke, but instantly the name was gone. The happy memories. The sad memories. The smiles! The heartache!

Everything...

Spinning! Chaotic! Loud! Sharp! Blurring! Pai-

Silence.

Usagi let out a strange breath-like noise of shock, but it soon passed as the memory of the commotion also left her. She stared vacantly upwards.

Empty.

Nothingness...

An empty vessel surrounded by even more nothingness. Her lips were partially parted, and her face stained red with tears.

Alone... In this awful, silent darkness.

Though she did not know why...

Her mind was a blank page, and the acute pain of before gone. Slowly, she became aware that her hands had somehow become painfully pressed against the side of her head. But why? Where...? She let herself continue to drift deeper and deeper into the void around her. Her hands rose from the sides of her temples, and hung limply about her as she continued to sink.

Deeper and deeper into the darkness...

"What was I... sad about?" Her mind attempted to turn, realizing the heaviness in her eyes and the salty taste in her mouth. Realizing that she seemed to have been crying before this. "I can't... I remember.. I remember nothing... Nothing at all..." Her dark, vacant, half opened gaze remained trailed upwards but there was nothing but darkness. Just the lonely darkness. The blank darkness. "Where... am I?"

"Tsukino Usagi-san." Usagi's head tilted back towards the source of the voice. She felt sensation returning to her limbs as her mind tried to grow more clear. "Tsukino-san."

"A voice?" She thought curiously in her haze. "But whose? It's seems familiar... But I-"

"TSUKINO-SAN!"

Usagi jolted with her eyes bursting open wildly as she lifted her head upwards in panic. She breathed with a loud gasp of terror as all sensation and feeling returned full force. A split moment passed where everything was still a blur, but then the angry face of her teacher towering over her came into brutally, and embarrassingly, clear focus.

"A-AH!"

"First you arrive late, and now you're sleeping in class?" Haruna-sensei yelled violently into Usagi's red-hot face. Usagi cowered and put her hand behind her head shamefully. "The dream better have been worth the price, Tsukino-san!" Her teacher said standing up straight and crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the preteen girl before her. Usagi's mind drew a blank as she fought to remember what she had dreamed about exactly, but it stayed just beyond her reach. She finally sighed in defeat, and began to stand up; knowing the drill painfully by heart.

Whatever she had dreamed about, she thought bitterly...

It obviously was not worth the punishment awaiting her in the hallway...


Luna coughed violently as the thick cloud of dust around them settled. Sailor Pluto was already struggling to get up behind her, and Luna heard a horrified gasp escape the Senshi's lips. Luna followed her gaze to see she was staring ahead towards The Time Doorway. As Luna looked a it, she realized that it was cracked completely down the center.

"What happened?!" Luna asked through her coughing. Sailor Pluto got up to her feet quickly and raced to The Doorway. She inspected it for a few seconds as her hand touched it cautiously and she rubbed the wood for a moment. Then she looked back at Luna with pure horror in her usually calm and stoic eyes.

"Something has gone terribly wrong!" Luna could see that, but she did not question the Senshi as she raced past the cat advisor and towards the portal that lead to the Moon Kingdom, worry and fear penetrating her entire being. Luna jumped up after her, but she found it difficult to keep up with the longed legged woman. A few yards in front of her, Sailor Pluto stopped and the Garnet Rod fell from her hands as she sank to her knees. Luna rushed past her and the sight before her was one she could not have dreamt up, even in her darkest of nightmares.

Through the portal opening up to the Moon Kingdom lay barren ruins and the Earth in the background was pitch black; its surface unobservable.

"We have to help Usagi!" Luna shouted leaping towards the portal.

"NOO!" Sailor Pluto's high pitched scream froze Luna and her hair stood on end with fear. In all of the thousands of years she had known Pluto, she had never heard her scream like that before. "No you can't." Pluto said more calmly once she was certain Luna had stopped moving towards the portal. "This portal must be closed immediately!" Sailor Pluto grabbed hold of her staff once more. "Dark Dome Close!" She shouted the incantation and Luna watched as the portal, and her world, disappeared before her.

"But why? If Usagi and the rest are still there, you need to help them!" Luna argued. "We cannot just sit here!" Sailor Pluto looked at the cat.

"This is not a problem that can be found here in this present." Sailor Pluto informed her. Luna did not understand and tears were stinging her eyes.

"What is going on?" She asked blinking back the tears. Sailor Pluto turned back towards the direction of The Time Doorway, her eyes still wide and frightened.

"Come with me..." She began to run once more to her post and Luna chased after her. "The problem does not lie here, but in the past." Pluto began to explain as she looked upwards towards the top of the tall Doorway, the crack reached all the way up to the very top and zigzagged its way to the bottom. "Something horrible has happened in the past, and it must be fixed if this future is to return." Luna looked up at her face.

"A paradox?" She asked. Sailor Pluto nodded slowly.

"The source of the paradox must be found, and fixed before this future becomes permanent." Sailor Pluto said as they reached the Doorway. Taking her staff Sailor Pluto slowly opened the injured Doorway.

"Wait! Where is everyone else now? Are they still out there?" Sailor Pluto paused and then looked down at Luna.

"I'm not sure. This is a paradox whose affect is the worse I have ever seen." Sailor Pluto said truthfully as she examined the dimension around her. "It feels... different." She stared back at the Doorway. "You do not remember all the others because you were a part of them, and were always affected, but I remember them all. From The Dark Moon Clan to Galaxia, I have seen this future change and repeat itself." Luna's mouth opened in surprise.

"Why am I not affected now?" Sailor Pluto closed her eyes as she gathered strength to herself. Her eyes opened once more and she motioned to the area around them.

"Because you were here, in the absence of Time and Space. The paradox does not touch you, if you had stepped out through that portal just now you would have become a fixed point in time, and then that future would be the permanent." Sailor Pluto continued. "Anyone who was out In Time when the paradox struck would have been transported back to the time of the paradox and they would have lost their memories and would have been helpless against it." Luna looked into the void as Sailor Pluto spoke words that scared her. "You are the only one who can change this new future, you are the only one who can make things right once more!"

"Me?" She asked in disbelief. "What about you?" Sailor Pluto looked sorrowful and did not answer as she lifted her staff. A faint light shone through the void and Luna felt her fur rustle in the wind coming from the Doorway.

"That is the place where the paradox begins." She said, and the light struck the garnet orb. "This will lead you there." Luna felt herself being lifted up and the beam began to carry her into the void. "Once there be careful. Find out all you can before acting. Just... be careful."

"I must do this alone?" Luna asked urgently. Sailor Pluto nodded.

"I must make sure no one follows you through Time, and I have to investigate it from this end." She said. "Besides, leaving my post would only cause more troubles this time then help."

"But," Luna didn't want to leave just yet. "how will I know how to fix this?" Sailor Pluto smiled sadly at her.

"I don't know. It depends on what was changed..." Pluto admitted as she turned her key, "I will be waiting for all of you here." Sailor Pluto's voice was full of sorrow, and Luna felt herself being rocketed through the void. Sailor Pluto's silhouette became smaller and smaller as Luna sped towards the paradox's starting point. "I'm sorry..." The injured Doorway closed in front of her and Luna turned towards the twinkling light in the distance.

"I'm coming, Usagi-chan!"


NOTES: In hindsight and coming back a year later to edit, those black holes in the paradox scene remind me of Sonic Generations just a bit. Hmm... Maybe it was a subconscious addition? I don't remember... And I am in the process of editing this story, so if there is writing style differences and, I don't know, inconsistencies? O.o It's probably because I haven't gotten to that chapter yet. It's a slow edit... Blah... Someone give me motivation... Please?