Haruka, transformed into Sailor Uranus, and leapt up onto Usagi's windowsill. Sailors Neptune and Saturn waited in the front yard, in the shadows. No use in all of them tramping into Usagi's bedroom at three in the morning.

Uranus knocked on Usagi's window and prayed that the odangoed blonde would wake up.

Usagi moved slightly and opened her eyes. There was a shape at the window. "Ahh!" she cried out, and sat up. "Mamo-chan?"

Uranus motioned for her to open the window.

Usagi realized who it was. "Uranus? What's going on?" Instantly alarmed, she slid open the window. She shivered slightly in the air that was starting to develop an autumn chill. "Is everything all right? What's going on, Uranus?"

Uranus stepped onto the carpet and made a motion as if to shove her hands into her pockets, but naturally she had none. It was a helpless sort of gesture. "We have a problem, Usa. Do you know where Chibi-Usa keeps her time key?"

Usagi was startled. "I think she keeps it with some mementos of the 30th Century, in her dresser drawer."

Uranus nodded, looking around the room in a distracted way. "Is there any way we could borrow it without waking her up? If she knows why we need it, she'll want to come too, and...we don't want her seeing what we might find there. We don't even want Saturn with us, but we feel she has a right."

Usagi took Uranus's hand. "You're scaring me, Haruka. What's going on? Please tell me!" She paused. "It's Pluto, isn't it? She's still hasn't come home. Something bad has happened."

"Yes, something very bad." Uranus kept her voice calm, but her teary eyes betrayed her feelings. "Please...we need the key."

Usagi wasted no time in heading up to Chibi-Usa's attic bedroom. When she returned, she held an ornate silver key, small, but stately. Uranus noted how Pluto-like it seemed, and a lump rose in her throat. She could hardly manage a thank you as she took the key.

"Uranus, I'm coming with you." Usagi lifted her transformation broach from the dresser. "I want to be there for you and Neptune, and Saturn."

Uranus shook her head. "We must do this by ourselves. It could be violent, Usa. You can't..." She stopped and sighed. "You can come." Why argue? There was no dissuading the stubborn Usagi, anyway.

***

Out on the lawn again, hidden in the shadows of the house, Uranus once again lifted Saturn into her arms. "We must be brave, no matter what we find at the Gates."

Neptune nodded and took Uranus's hand, and then Eternal Sailor Moon's. "Let's bring her home."

Sailor Moon squeezed Neptune's hand and held up the small key. "Do you know how the keys work? Did Setsuna ever tell you?"

Neptune shook her head, blinking back tears. "Not in detail. Just ask it to take us to the Time Gates."

"That's pretty much what Chibi-Usa does," said Sailor Moon. Then addressing the key: "Crystal Key! Please take us to the Gates of Time!" The four were suddenly surrounded by a vivid pink light, and they felt their feet leave the ground. They were then shooting upwards into the sky, towards the dark time portal that awaited them.