Robyn failed to get any sleep the night before but remained tightly coiled in Pluto's embrace, she wondered what would happen if she brought the Outer Senshi with her on her mission. Her transformation pen started to glow sometime in the early hours of the morning.
"What in the world is going on?" Robyn asked as the pen revealed a snapshot of some henchmen entering the portal.
"Where are they going?" She asked again. The pen displayed a number, "-3 AC? Is that right? So we're going backwards this time?" Robyn gently removed herself from Setsuna's grip and headed out.
##
Hours later Setsuna awoke to a note taped to her forehead.
"Sets, Majesto's men opened up a new time and I followed them. I don't know when I'll be back but I don't it's best if we all meet up today. I'm sorry." Setsuna groggily read before crumbling up the note.
"Dammit Robyn, you don't have to do this alone!" She mumbled before joining the others for breakfast.
"Where's Robyn?" Haruka asked.
"She left a note this time but she said she had a meeting to go to." Setsuna replied.
"But she's excused from all of that." Michiru noted.
"She said she would be back later and not to worry. We have other things we need to pay attention to today." Setsuna mentioned and the room turned somber.
"I dropped Hotaru off with Mamoru, he doesn't mind watching her while we investigate time with Sailor Sun." Haruka stated.
"Sailor Sun said that she's investigating a new opening in the time portal and that she doesn't think we should join her." Setsuna poured some coffee.
"What? When did this happen?" Michiru inquired.
"She stopped by early this morning to tell me." Setsuna lied.
"And you didn't protest? Why didn't you wake us up?" Haruka asked.
"I was asleep but we're going to follow her." She said as she sat down. The two nodded. After breakfast they headed to the portal and made sure no one was around before jumping through.
##
Sailor Pluto easily found Sailor Sun's energy signature and the three landed right next to her, surprising her.
"Thought you could get away from us?" Uranus prodded.
"I told you guys to wait!" Sun protested.
"And we told you we're a team." Neptune said. Sun shot a displeased look to Pluto.
"Where are we? When are we?" Pluto asked.
"We're in Tokyo. We're three years in the past." Sun replied.
"Then what's going on?" Uranus inquired.
"I'll let my new staff fill you in." Everyone noticed that Sun's staff had transformed into a giant clock.
"In this dimension Michiru Kaioh, Sailor Neptune, pursues Haruka Tenoh, Sailor Uranus. However, Ms. Tenoh rebuffs her enough times that she simply stops following her and seeks out the Pure Heart Talismans on her own." The staff explained. The trio gasped in shock.
"So Haruka, in this dimension you and your lover girl never get together. That is why I told you all to stay home." Sun chided.
"You know who we are?" Neptune wondered.
"It's not important, but of course I do." Robyn replied. Uranus set off running, "Oh come on!" Sun ran after her, no doubt Uranus was trying to track down herself to make her change her mind.
"This is why I keep telling you guys to stay home!" Sun shouted as she ran. She kept a bit of distance between her and Haruka so not to tip her off to her real identity.
##
"That was a great lap Tenoh, keep it up and you'll find a team in no time." A man congratulated Haruka on a record time. In the garage Uranus confronted her.
"Hey! What is your problem? Why didn't you accept the pen for Uranus?" Uranus yelled.
"Who are you? What are you talking about?" Haruka lashed.
"I'm you! I'm you from another dimension. Why didn't you accept the pen?" Uranus shook her alternate self.
"I couldn't do it. Get your hands off of me!" She protested.
"Now Michiru is going to either get injured or die because of you! How could you do that to her!" Uranus continued.
"I don't care what happens to her!" Haruka yelled back.
"Of course you do! You love her!" Uranus screamed.
"I don't love her! What the fuck is your problem?" Haruka hissed.
"You start dating her and you love her! That's what's supposed to happen!" Uranus felt a sharp pain in her back and fell to the ground.
"Don't interfere." Sun sighed.
"I'm getting out of here!" Haruka jumped in her car and sped out of the garage.
"What the hell Sun!" Neptune helped Uranus to her feet; Sailor Sun had slammed her staff into her back.
"Emotions make people do stupid shit. You are not to interfere! We're here in this particular time for a reason. Get your shit together or go home, I warned you all about this. I will not tolerate this as a Guardian of Time." Sun sternly warned.
"Good show." A familiar voice clapped. Sun almost snapped her staff in half from anger.
"What the fuck do you want Majesto, I'm busy." Sun shouted.
"We chose this particular time and place because we found something of value." Majesto held up a rock similar to the one across Sun's necklace, "We found a core. Four more and our mission will be complete." A vein popped out of Sun's head.
"One other thing, we also found a straggler." Majesto snapped his finger and Rage dropped a dying Sailor Juno to the ground, "She managed to survive and has been stalking us. Looks like your body count has increased." He laughed as the group disappeared into the rain. Sailor Sun ran to the green haired Senshi.
"Juno! I didn't know you survived! Why did you follow them?" Sun cried.
"I had to get them back Sun, they can't succeed in their mission. I was looking for you, you left us." She said with her last breaths.
"I followed Majesto, if I had let him escape then he'd win and we'd all be dead. I'm sorry I had to leave Juno. I'm so sorry." Sun sobbed.
"You must get him, we're all counting on you." Juno replied. Her body went limp in Sun's arms.
"I will, I promise." Sun said as her body disappeared. Uranus and Neptune held each other close; Sailor Sun deeply cared about each and every Sailor Senshi. Pluto bent down and hugged her.
"Goodbye Juno." Pluto wiped a tear from her eye. Sun pushed Pluto off and got up. Sailor Sun headed back to the portal as the others walked in silence.
"You three will go through this portal and go home. You will leave me the fuck alone, is that understood?" Sun turned to face them.
"But-" Neptune was cut off.
"No. I don't care about the 'we're a team' bullshit. There was a core here today and your little distraction prevented us from getting it. Get in the portal, I'm not tolerating this shit." Sun pointed to the gate.
"Sun-" Pluto tried to get a word in edgewise.
"Portal!" She shouted.
"She's right Neptune, my emotions got in the way. I'm sorry." Uranus coaxed Neptune to jump through with her after she apologized.
"She's sorry Sun, I'm upset about Juno's death as well but I'm not letting you do this alone." Pluto said.
"I'm tired of people dying on me Pluto, please understand why I have to do this." Sun pushed Pluto through the gate before jumping through. The trio had been sent back to the correct time and place. Sun reached for the clock and pushed it back one hour before crossing over herself.
##
Pluto came flailing through but Uranus and Neptune had been waiting to catch her.
"She pushed me! I can't believe it, she pushed me!" Pluto yelled as the two helped her up.
"Pluto, we fucked up bad didn't we?" Uranus lowered her head in shame.
"How can we tell her we're sorry?" Neptune's eyes filled with sadness.
"She'll come around, I think for right now we need to give her some space but let's keep some tabs on her. The next time she accesses this portal we'll be right behind her." Pluto explained the plan. The duo nodded.
"Oh, it's a text from Rubel, he wants us to meet him at the concert hall." Pluto studied the text.
"Oh my goodness, today's the day we're all supposed to play with him!" Neptune remembered.
"We better head over there!" Uranus replied. They de-transformed as they jumped into Haruka's car, Pluto couldn't help but stare at the portal, "Where are you going Sun?" She thought aloud.
##
"I was starting to get worried you guys wouldn't come!" Rubel elatedly said after he hugged his three friends.
"We're sorry, we had morning plans that ran over but we're here!" Michiru happily said as she removed her prized violin from its case. Haruka took a seat at the black grand piano on stage.
"I'll be enjoying the show from the audience." Setsuna took a seat in the first row.
"Did Robyn come with you all?" Rubel pulled his violin from its case and rested it on his right shoulder.
"No, she said she had a meeting. We haven't seen her all day." Haruka cracked her knuckles.
"Is she okay? She's injured after all." Rubel asked with a look of concern on his face.
"I'm not dead." Robyn entered from stage right. Robyn grabbed her cello and positioned herself to play.
"Where did you disappear to?" Haruka innocently asked.
"I uh, had some stuff I had to take care of." She tightened a string on her instrument, "let's play before I run out of energy." The quartet played a wonderful song together in unison, each member played in sync as Setsuna smiled as she enjoyed the show. When the mini-concert concluded the group headed to the Tokyo Sports Complex for a swim.
"It might be raining outside but today has been wonderful." Rubel commented as he and Setsuna lounged in the corner of the pool.
"Swim season hasn't started yet but I was wondering if you'd be up for a race." Robyn coyly asked Michiru.
"Are you up for it? Are you feeling okay?" Michiru asked.
"I'm fine, and I'd feel a lot better if we raced." Robyn replied.
"If you hurt yourself it's on you." Haruka shouted from the diving board.
"I'm okay with that." Robyn winked and Michiru nodded.
"200 meter freestyle." Haruka announced and the two got into starting position, "Go!" she shouted.
The race remained neck and neck until the end where Robyn shot ahead. The pool's water temperature began to rise startling Michiru who stopped. Robyn also stopped with surprise.
"What's wrong?" Robyn asked.
"Nothing, I felt the water get suddenly warmer, it scared me. I'm a bit on edge today." She put her arms on the side of the pool.
"Emotions make people sloppy." Robyn exited from the pool and took a seat. Michiru and Haruka furrowed their brows; they heard that saying a lot in the days since Sun had appeared.
"You don't say?" Haruka picked up on it.
"I heard someone say that the other day and it kind of stuck." Robyn berated herself internally from almost giving her identity away. Setsuna hadn't been paying attention; she remained lost in Rubel's beautiful eyes.
"That's the gist of what I'm studying. So tell me about yourself Setsuna." He inquired.
"Well you already know I'm a graduate student. There isn't much to know about me, I live with those two, and Robyn recently joined us. I have a young daughter named Hotaru." She explained.
"Oh." Rubel looked surprised.
"She's adopted, I took her in after her father died. She's wonderful. Michiru and Haruka help me take care of her. She's only a toddler." She said.
"Wow, I didn't know you had children." He noted.
"Yes, it tends to scare potential suitors off." Setsuna sighed. She hadn't been looking anyway.
"I bet she's a cutie." Rubel smiled.
"Stop lying to her Ruby." Robyn yelled from her chair facing the window.
"I'm not lying! I bet her daughter is adorable!" He defended himself.
"You hate kids." Robyn replied.
"I don't hate kids!" He retorted.
"He hates kids." Robyn said as she turned from the window.
"What is with you lately? You skip out on rehearsals and now you're ruining my date with Setsuna!" Rubel went over to Robyn.
"Setsuna is my close friend and I'm not going to let you lie to her. You hate kids. She has a kid. That's it." Robyn stood up. Rubel stormed off.
"Robyn, what was that?" Setsuna asked as she wrapped a towel around herself.
"I won't let this go on, he's a young man obsessed with bedding as many women as possible, he's going to break your heart Sets. I won't let him do that." Robyn returned to her trance.
"Thanks for looking out for me." Setsuna petted her hair.
"You're all I have left." Robyn mumbled.
##
"How are you holding up?" Setsuna knocked to see Robyn curled in a ball with some empty bottles near her.
"I'm fine." Robyn slurred.
"Look I'm sorry about what happened earlier. Sailor Juno's death hurt me too." Setsuna rubbed her back.
"I told you guys that we're all going to be confronting our demons and it gets emotional but we can't afford a repeat of today. There are more cores left and he still needs four more but we can't let him get close." Robyn sighed.
"Where did you go after we left?" Setsuna asked as she wrapped her arms around Robyn.
"I went back to the day everyone died, I watched as it all unfolded. I looked for a clue or something." Robyn explained.
"You looked to see if Juno was right didn't you? I know you wouldn't abandon your fellow Senshi." Setsuna said.
"I went to a couple of different times too. I went to that day everyone thought you died in a helicopter crash. There are a couple of new openings I plan to investigate. There are about three of them, that's where I'll be tomorrow." Robyn said.
"Let us come too." Setsuna pleaded.
"Okay, tell the kids to behave." Robyn joked.
On the patio Michiru and Haruka took in the events of the day.
"I can't believe I didn't accept my powers in that dimension, that's crazy. I can't imagine a life without you." Haruka cuddled with her lover.
"Thankfully we don't live in that reality. We are here, we are Sailor Senshi, and we are girlfriend and girlfriend. We are in love." Michiru smiled.
"Sailor Sun has a temper, doesn't she?" Haruka sighed.
"I wonder about her, she has a lot of emotional baggage but you know I'm more concerned with Robyn's outburst at the pool." Michiru noted.
"Yeah that was surprising. I didn't think she'd throw Rubel under the bus." Haruka said.
"No, well that too, I mean when we had our race the water suddenly became very warm. It was coming from Robyn." Michiru paused.
"I think she knows Sailor Sun, she has to, maybe she's helping her. You don't think Robyn is an enemy do you?" Haruka narrowed her eyes.
"She has too kind of a heart for that. We need to keep a close eye on her though." Michiru said as she relaxed in Haruka's arms.
"Yes, we'll keep an eye on her." Haruka wrapped her arms tightly around the aqua haired woman.