Sitting in the boat, Hotaru had been looking straight ahead into the gloomy darkness, very much focused on her task. She missed the Sibil dreadfully, even though she had only known the woman for a few hours at the most, but her loss was great in Hotaru's mind. She held her schoolbag on her lap, clutching the handles tightly as if to better protect the Garnet Orb inside. The cake for Cerberus was sitting directly on top of the bag, ready to be eaten. Hotaru had let it lie there, as her hot hands threatened to melt it into nothing. She had nothing to do now but wait. Yet Hotaru could not forget one very important fact: She didn't much like big dogs.

After staring at nothing for so long, it was a shock for the girl to suddenly realize that the ceiling was coming down upon her. She drew in air sharply and jumped before letting herself relax. The ceiling was not falling – just getting lower. Hotaru set aside her bag, drew herself up onto her knees and placed her hands on the side of the boat railing. She peered around Charon, who was in the front of the boat, propelling it through the water with a long stick, and looked around with interest.

She was shocked at the knowledge that there really was a ceiling of rock overhead, and probably had been the whole time. She just hadn't noticed it before, as it was too dark and high-up. They must have been in a huge cavern. Now that the rock ceiling was growing lower and lower, she realized that they were coming to a dead end up ahead – a solid wall of rock. Hotaru immediately felt claustrophobic and wished someone would hold her hand. One Halloween, she had gone to a haunted house that consisted mostly of a maze, pitch black, which she had had to find her way though with the possibility that something could have leapt out at her. She had pressed her hands to the wall, trying desperately to find her way, while other children shoved into her and pinned her to the wall in their own terror. She had wanted her father then, and she wanted one of her mothers now. She was infinitely grateful for the faint light coming from Charon's lantern.

Just when the ceiling was so low she figured the rock would press down and smother them all, the boat ran aground. She had closed her eyes to keep out the vision of the low ceiling, but now she opened them expectantly. The light from the lantern cast dim green light across the rock wall, which at second glance was not all rock. There was a door, made out of plain, rough wood. Hotaru blinked and lifted up the cake and her bag. She would have to get through the door in order to continue. She would follow the others and hope for the best.

Before she had time for further examination, Charon had snatched her under the arms and lifted her from the boat. Deposited on the ground, she couldn't help but notice the piles of bones that lay around the door. 'I wonder if any of them are human?' she thought. 'Surely they don't kill little girls.' She also noticed the claw marks imbedded in the huge door - slashes as long as her arm. "Oh dear," she muttered.

When the last of the souls were out of the boat, Charon once again took up his stick and shoved away from the shore. Hotaru watched until she heard the creak of hinges. The door was opening. 'Now's my chance!' she thought. 'I'll just run through the door and then I'll be on the other side and done with it!'

She took off at a run, shoving by the slow moving souls, hurdling towards the door. She was so intent on getting through that she didn't even know what hit her. She was almost to the door when something heavy and furry slammed into her side, bruising her ribs. She flew a good ten feet through the air and landed on her back. Panicked and in pain, Hotaru opened her eyes to find the heads of what appeared to be three elephant-sized dogs, all of them baring their teeth at her. She lay on her back, trembling, terrified sobs making her choke. She was paralyzed.

The dogs continued to bare their teeth for a moment, but then they closed their mouths and sniffed the air. They sniffed each other and then sniffed Hotaru herself. Hotaru didn't dare move, even when a giant paw started to prod her legs with interest. As two paws came to rest on either side of her, she realized that it really was just one dog with three heads. A dragon's tail swished from side to side behind it. "Nice…p..puppy," Hotaru said, feeling every inch a tiny girl, and slowly lifted the hand that held the cake. She fought back a cry as one of the heads became very interested in what she held and started to lap at her hand with a two-foot long tongue. She forced her other hand to move and she broke the cake into three parts. "Yum," she said, trying to smile.

The dog didn't hesitate. Each head quickly lapped up its piece of the cake and started to nuzzle Hotaru and lick her face. Despite how wet and sticky it was, it made Hotaru want to laugh despite herself. After all, it wasn't the dog's fault it had to guard the door with nothing but empty souls for company. It probably just wasn't used to children.

Still, just to be safe, Hotaru lay on the ground, not really wanting to move until the dog was asleep. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait very long. By the time the dog was done licking each of its chops, its eyes were heavy. Not five minutes later, it gave a little whimper and started to fall, fast asleep.

"Eeek!" Hotaru cried and rolled to the right in a hurry, narrowly escaping being laid upon. She rested on her stomach for a moment, staring at the sleeping dog, before retrieving her schoolbag from where it had fallen earlier and making tracks through the door. Once through, she used all her strength to slam the door behind her. She leaned against the back of the door, breathing heavily. "That must have shortened my life by at least several years!" she panted.

~*~

Haruka woke with a start. "NEP-!" she cried, before realizing that she was no longer falling, but lying face down on a hard bolder. She thrashed frantically before letting her cheek rest on the bolder, her eyes falling closed again. She ached all over, as if she hadn't exactly been distributed on the rock gently, but nothing felt broken. She hardly had the strength to wonder why she was no longer in Sailor form. She suddenly felt very vulnerable as Haruka, something she wasn't very used to.

Opening her eyes slightly, she realized she was in some sort of cavern. It was mostly dark, but there was also a reddish light. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a river of fire, perhaps lava, obviously the source of the light. 'Have we fallen into the center of the earth?' she wondered blearily.

Her next thought pricked at her heart like a sharp pin. "Neptune?" She tried to raise her head. "Neptune!" Her voice grew in strength as panic surged through her, not knowing where her lover was. She gazed across the cavern, desperate to see Michiru's familiar form nearby.

Haruka's eyes eventually fell upon something lying a good distance away, near the river of fire. The leaping flames made the figure look dark and twisted, but she knew what it was. She scrambled off the bolder and ran as fast as her sore legs could carry her. "Michiru!"

Michiru was out cold, one hand nearly dipping into the flames. Upon reaching her, Haruka snatched her up and pulled her as far away from the fire as possible. She realized in horror that some of Michiru's hair had singed away from being so close to the flames. "Damn them," Haruka muttered, trying to shake her lover awake. "Who did this?" She glared angrily around the cavern. "WHO ARE YOU?!" she screamed.

"Haruka?" Michiru groggily opened her eyes and weakly clutched Haruka's hand with her own. "Haruka, what happened? Why do I feel so achy?"

Haruka checked her anger in favor of hugging Michiru. "Don't you remember how we fell into the earth? We didn't break anything, but we must have fallen hard. That's why you're sore. But I don't remember it happening. I was asleep."

Michiru used Haruka to brace herself as she pulled herself to her feet. "We don't have any time to spare. We must find Hotaru. But where are we?"

Haruka looked around. "The center of the earth?"

Michiru paused and squinted against the light coming from the river. "We're in Hell."

Haruka shuddered. "I wonder why?"

Michiru shook her head. "I don't know. Setsuna is not here."

'Why does she persist in believing we're going to find Setsuna?' Haruka wondered. 'Does she have so much faith?' She suddenly felt a loss so great at not having the same optimism as her love, that it made her nearly sick to her stomach. Why couldn't she just approach the situation and, like a small child would, have faith? The faith of a child was exactly what had brought them there. She took Michiru's hand. "No, Setsuna would not be here. Never. But perhaps Hotaru is."

Michiru raised her chin. "Then we must carry on."