(Chapter 2)

"Wow, this place is amazing!" exclaimed Usagi, gaping in awe as they landed in front of the big… apartment building. At least, it looked a little like a twentieth-century apartment building. There were obvious differences, next to the carefully placed glass tubes that varied with different speeds (the slower for elderly and handicapped) and people shooting through them. It was quite easy to look at the interior of the building because it was made almost entirely out of huge sheets of glass. "Come on, Chisaii-chan. Let's go in before you start gaping."

"Small one?! I am not small! I'm… I'm… just not very tall!"

"But it fits you very well, Usagi-chan." Said a bemused Luna, surprisingly taking Trunks' side of the small argument. They'd had a very nice conversation while flying. Her insertion in the conversation ended the argument with a pouting Usagi as they entered one of the tubes. Trunks pulled out what looked like a very small compact disk and inserted it into a electronic box. A bright light flashed from the panel on the wall, and very soon they were shooting up the tube.

It didn't take very long to reach the apartment, and Trunks showed Usagi to her room, placing Luna on the bed. "Don't worry about anything. You can't be safer than being with us." he smiled and walked out of the room. Usagi smiled. He was nice for such a smart aleck.

She went around the room examining everything. Then she walked into the adjoining bathroom and smiled. It was small but nice and clean and sparkling. "Surprising… I always thought college guys were supposed to be messy and their apartments like pigsties!" Luna smiled at her charge, "It appears that your new friends aren't your every-day college guys. Most people wouldn't take in a strange girl from another dimension without much questioning. They're quite sure of themselves."

"I'll say."

Luna stretched herself out on the bed before curling up. "I suppose it would be a good idea to take a bath right now don't you think?" she suggested as Usagi found herself doing nothing but staring around the room. "Bath… why not, a bath sounds good." She walked into the bathroom, and began to fill the tub, happy to know she knew how to fill the tub.

A knock on the door interrupted her and she walked to the door to find Gohan standing there holding out several towels. "It's better to receive them now than later." He said winking at her before walking back through the living room.

Usagi flushed pink. Luna looked up once and wrinkled her nose disapprovingly and was about to interfere when she remembered all those sleepless nights that Usagi had had. Well, she wouldn't stop her now. A little less pain in that girl's life would be a lot.

Finally, Usagi walked into the bathroom, shut it and sank into the warm sudsy water with a sigh. She stared at the vapor swirling into the air and her thoughts drifted, first to her crystal, then to her friends… then to his face. And he was smiling. She reached for it, her fingers dripping, but the image disappeared and all that was left was vapor swirling around her fingers. She leaned against the edge of the bathtub and began to sob. Luna, outside heard and she wished a certain Mamoru Chiba was around so she could sink her claws into his face for what he'd done to her charge.

Gohan in the next room heard and wished he could help her. Trunks, passing through the hallway heard and felt like hugging the girl if only if would make her feel better. Usagi stopped crying with a last choked sob as she suddenly remembered where she was. This was not home, this was a strange place with strange people she didn't even know. She couldn't let them know the depth of her suffering. She just couldn't. She could hide that much from them… childish tears were better to let out than mature, heart-wrenching suffering.

~*~*~*~

"How's the fire-girl?" asked a bemused Haruka.

"She's asleep." Groaned a weary Setsuna, quite rumpled with the continuous, "It's alright, everything's fine, this is only temporary" 's.

"She's worse than a child." agreed Hotaru as she stood there, the little black-swathed nymph could barely be heard, she was always so quiet.

During this discussion, Mars had woken up and after gathering her wits about her, decided to remain silent for a while. She slipped off the small bed and walked quietly, her legs knee-high in the mist that was always there in the Hall. She passed the room where the de-transformed senshi were and walked past quickly. She wanted to go somewhere on Earth that she might remember… not this place!

She padded towards a great door. This might be the way out! She thought as she pushed on the doors. They wouldn't open. Growling under her breath in frustration, she examined the door for anything that might open it, finding nothing. Just as she was about to give up, a red light seemed to flow through her hand, stopping at her fingertips as if waiting. She stared at her hand and was about to scream when she realized a symbol on the door was glowing the exact same color. She touched her hand to the symbol and heat seared through her. The door opened without a sound and what she saw was a bright light shining. It seemed almost like sunlight. With only slight hesitation, the girl stepped through, hoping she'd find herself somewhere familiar.

"NO! REI COME BACK!" yelled a voice from behind her. She turned just in time to see that green-haired woman running towards her. "NO!" Setsuna grabbed her key staff as she tried to order that door closed. But a wild magic had overtaken the door and it responded in kind, inverting its power into a swirling vortex. She could see the outlines of the great palace at the center of Crystal Tokyo. The others were running over, and even the Inner senshi were managing to come slowly but steadily closer. "GET AWAY!" she shrieked as she was sucked into the vortex. The Time Wand wrenched from her grasp as she fell through time. The others would follow her, a maniacal laughter pounding in her ears confirmed it. Someone had tampered with the door, not only Mars. Someone wanted them out of the way… and that someone had the Time Staff.

Haruka and Michiru were holding onto one of the pillars for dear life as the other, weaker senshi who could barely stand were bodily hauled through the doors. Hotaru was holding tightly onto Haruka's leg as she tried to hold on her eyes shut tightly. "It's no use!" yelled Haruka as the marble crumbled under her fingers, wrenching them all loose from the column and funneling them into the door. As they fell through time, they could see the light of the door suddenly disappear. The vortex disappeared and the doors slammed shut leaving the Hall of Time empty and quiet again.

~*~*~*~

"Usagi-chan! Usagi-chan!" Luna meowed as she scratched at the bathroom door. It opened to reveal a schoolgirl Usagi looking down at her cat. "Luna…" she whispered as the cat leaped up into her arms, and with experience, Usagi caught her and hugged the black crescent-mooned cat. "Luna…" she whispered again as her tears came back and she sank down along the wall, holding her cat for comfort.

The cat meowed before she said softly, "You should go to bed now, Usagi-chan… you might feel better in the morning." Usagi looked at her cat before nodding slowly. "Sleep… yes, maybe sleep is a good idea." She whispered as she stood up. As she did, she realized something. She didn't have a thing to where other than her school uniform, and one shoe. "Luna…? Do you think I could use the Luna Pen?" the cat looked cautious about this sort of thing. "Well… I suppose so. It wouldn't drain you of energy like being Sailor Moon does…"

With the deft movements of long practice, Usagi called the words that changed her school uniform into a silky pajama set with a little white bunny face on one side of the shirt. Slipping into the bed, she looked around for the light switch. And she couldn't find one. "Luna… how do I turn off the lights?" in response, the room was plunged into darkness and Usagi let out a startled yelp before she realized. "Oh… well, that's different." She settled in for a good night's sleep. She'd need it.