This is definitely coming along better now I figured out what was bugging me :) Thanks once again for reviews and opinions - please let me know if you spot errors as well, or if you maybe have a guess about what might come next :p

Edited 02/08/2014

The power thrummed in Usagi's ears as she ran. Distantly, she could hear Rei and Minako following her, but her mind was focused on what lay ahead. She burst into the main hall, where Makoto and Ami crouched over the prone form of Haruka and Michiru.

A short distance away stood Setsuna, surveying the scene with cool red eyes. Haruka coughed, and Usagi looked back at her to see her push herself slowly to a sitting position. Michiru was also stirring, but her wounds were severe, and she didn't seem up to moving quite yet.

Usagi stormed over to Haruka and knelt beside her. "Why did you do it?!" she demanded. "Why did you come? We're a team now, don't you get it?"

Haruka didn't reply, and Usagi felt a hand on her shoulder. She tensed, and turned to glare up at Setsuna. "It had to happen, Princess," she said quietly. "These events… this place. They were important."

"Important enough to risk killing them?" Usagi asked.

"Yes." Setsuna replied. Usagi didn't have a response for that. She merely gaped, her mind reaching for something to say. Finally, someone else found it for her.

"No," Eclipse said with Usagi's mouth. She stood, gaining full control over the body for the first time in a long while. "No it wasn't. Nothing is worth that, not ever!" Usagi, now a passenger in her own mind, was gobsmacked.

"I apologise if you disagree with my actions, Princess, but respectfully I must point out that you cannot know as I know, cannot see the future as I see it. Had this," she gestured to Haruka and Michiru, "not happened, then neither would that." This time she gestured at Usagi, and for the first time Usagi, regaining control, looked down at her fuku. It had, once again, changed form. Now the skirt was yellow, with black and red layers beneath. The sleeves were pink and her gloves longer.

"You are now Eternal Sailor Moon," Setsuna said, "And you are stronger than you have ever been before." Usagi knew Setsuna was right. She could feel the power; feel Eclipse's power, circulating through her blood and beating with her heart.

"Michiru needs medical attention," Ami said, looking up from where she now say beside the prone Sailor Neptune. "I can probably help Haruka, but Michiru's far too wounded."

"The helicopter," Usagi said. She hesitated and then turned to Setsuna, who nodded. "I shall take her, and smooth this over."

The not so distant future

As he stepped through the portal, the first thing that struck Mamoru was the light. Elysion had always been a bright country, the golden sunlight made stronger by strong ties to Earth's power and the golden crystal.

Now the sky was dark, and the trees were covered in thick, white webs. "Well, this is depressing," Jadeite said, stepping through the portal behind Mamoru. Kunzite and Nephrite were already ahead of them, and as Jadeite joined Mamoru Zoisite arrived, turning to seal the portal behind him.

It had taken them a while to find a way through to the dream world – the old ways had been blocked off, and it was only with the help of Sailor Pluto that they were here at all, for it was she who had told them that the way into Elysion lay with the stars.

"What can you see?" Mamoru asked, turning to Nephrite.

"The stars are dark here," he said, shaking his head, the clouds obscure them.

"Whatever did this was travelling in that direction," Kunzite said, pointing behind Mamoru, back past where the portal had been. They didn't ask how Kunzite knew this – of all of them, he had been the most connected with Elysion in the past life. It would have been Endymion, had he held the golden crystal, but he had died before his father passed it on.

They walked in silence through the dark country, feeling it weigh down upon them, an intense pressure upon their hearts and minds. In time they came to a wide, shallow pool, in the centre of which stood a white Pegasus. It was still and unmoving; it's red eyes glassy and unseeing.

"Helios," Mamoru said quietly, moving to stand beside the prone guardian, "What did they do to you?" The creature did not move – it could not, for it was not truly there. While Helios' physical body remained in the mirror pool, his spirit – the essence of his being – was gone from it.

"What is that?" Zoisite asked, pointing up past the rolling hills of dark, dead grass. Hanging in the sky, obscuring the sun, was a great pavilion.

"The Black Moon Circus," Mamoru replied grimly.

Usagi was permitted to leave school early the following day, but she dawdled on the way to her appointment. Eclipse was still there – Usagi could feel her, lingering silently in the back of her mind – but she wasn't speaking. She hadn't said a word since they had left the marine cathedral, and neither had she tried to take control over Usagi's body.

But who was Eclipse really? It didn't make any sense to Usagi that this perversion of herself could somehow be anything other than inherently evil, but the fact remained that she had saved her life, and the lives of her friends. Was it all part of some larger plot?

Or maybe she was just being paranoid. It was hard to tell when there was a literal voice inside your head. She eventually made it to her destination, only a couple of minutes late, and was shown into Sarah's office.

As usual, they settled down into the comfy chairs, and she didn't speak for a little while. All remained silent within Usagi's head as well.

"So," Sarah said at last, "How are you settling in at school?"

"What?" Usagi asked, jumping. "Oh, it's fine, I guess." Except for the lunatic pastoral team, but hey, every school had its problems. They chatted for a little while about nothing in particular, before Sarah reached what was clearly the point of the day's session.

"Usagi, have you and your friends spoken about the time you were away?" That was what Sarah always called it – 'the time you were away'. It made Usagi think maybe they'd just gone on holiday or something. It was closer to the truth than the official story though, she had to admit.

"Yeah," she replied after a moment. "We talk about it quite a lot, actually."

"Do you think that helps?" Usagi swallowed. Suddenly, everything felt as though it was pressing down upon her. All these lies, building up and threatening to swallow her whole.

"Really, there's not that much to help." Eclipse remained silent in the back of her mind. "I mean, I remember it well enough."

"What is that you remember?" Sarah asked, leaning forward. This was a big change in Usagi's previous story.

"Well I remember where I was. I remember why I was there. I remember…" she hesitated. Her heart was beating faster and faster in her chest, and if Eclipse was going to stop her, now was the moment.

"I remember why I lied to the world," she said, looking down at her hands, rather than into Sarah's face.

"What do you mean?" Usagi looked up, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"We were only meant to be gone a couple of days. We didn't want to worry them, but we had no choice, we had to leave. If we hadn't, everyone would have died." Sarah didn't reply, but there was a look of slowly dawning realisation upon her face and Usagi had to look down at her hands again. "We were in the future," Usagi ploughed on. Now that she had started, she knew she had to finish.

"We were in the future, but we had to come back a different way, and it wasn't as precise as we'd hoped. We were late, weeks and weeks late, and people had been attacked while we were away! We failed the city, we failed our mission and Ami…" she stopped, taking a deep, steadying breath.

"You're Sailor Moon," Sarah said at last. It wasn't a question, it was a realisation.

"Yeah," Usagi sniffed, laughing.

"Sorry I just didn't expect… you're so young!"

"I was a lot younger when it all started. Fourteen, actually."

"And you haven't told anyone?"

"Just the others. The Senshi, Endymion, the Shittenou. Mama figured it out herself. And Luna knows of course. She's my cat."

"Your cat?"

"She talks."

"Your cat talks?"

"Yeah. That's not even the weirdest part of my life." Usagi smiled a little and risked another glance at Sarah, who had leant back in her chair, dumbstruck. "You must promise not to tell anyone!" Usagi said. "The others won't know I've told you, and you'll work out who each of them is soon enough."

Sarah nodded. "I won't."

"Swear it," Usagi said, "Tell me you swear it on the Silver Crystal."

"I swear upon the Silver Crystal that I will tell no one the secret you have trusted me with today." Usagi relaxed visibly, much of the tension in her body draining away.

Why didn't you stop me? She asked Eclipse.

Because, Eclipse replied, talking at last, I think keeping quiet any longer might have killed you. We need to sort this out.