Hotaru still hadn't stopped crying when she reached the palace. She was growing tired and hungry and the task was becoming too much for her. "Oh Suna," she sniffled. "I'm starting to think that I may really never find you. I may not even get home again. Maybe I'm supposed to stay here forever. Maybe I'm dead too. What will Michi do when she finds out I'm dead? She and Ruka will be so lonely with the both of us gone!" This made the child break into more miserable tears.

Hotaru reached the steps of the palace and gazed up at it. The splendor of the place made her tears momentarily cease. "Wow…I wonder who lives here? It's so beautiful!" she said breathlessly.

The Garnet Orb, which had been floating silently at her side, drifted up the marble steps. Hotaru wiped her eyes and - with some hesitation - her nose, on her sleeve and followed the Orb. "At least I know I'm going the right way. Maybe I'm not as far off as I think. But I wish I had some kind of sign. Can you prove to me that you know what you're doing?" It wasn't that the girl had no faith in the talisman. It was just that it seemed to be taking so much more time than she had expected. "I may not be back in time for supper after all. Michi will be so worried!"

Hotaru headed down a long corridor made out of cool white marble. She imagined the moon kingdom must have looked a little something like it. "It's so serene. I almost expect to see Usagi come sweeping out from behind one of those doors." Hotaru paused in front of one of the many doors, almost willing her wish to come true. When it didn't happen, she trudged on. "It's a silly fantasy, anyway," she decided. "I'm just lonely."

The palace was huge, but Hotaru finally wandered into what appeared to be a dining room with a huge stone table, at least thirty feet long. The table was set for many people with golden plates and soft white napkins. Hotaru went to the table and longingly rubbed a hand over a plate. "If only it were full. I'm so hungry, and I haven't seen anyone in here yet."

She looked away for a moment, and when she turned back to the table she gasped. Food had magically appeared on the plate in front of her. There was Japanese Soba and several other favorite foods, and a goblet of tea to drink. And next to the plate was a lovely pomegranate. Hotaru ran her fingers over the fruit. "Persephone…" She had suddenly remembered the Greek myth about Persephone, queen of Hades, and how she had eaten pomegranate seeds and was made to stay in the underworld all winter. But in this case, Hotaru knew the pomegranate was not to eat, but bore a message. She instantly knew that she had the favor of the queen of the palace and the nourishment came from her. "Thank you," she whispered, bowing her head, and began to eat.

Later, after she had finished, she put the pomegranate in her bag to take with her and started up the steps to the second level of the palace. She still had not run into anyone, and she was growing more uneasy by the moment. She wasn't keen on meeting any more strangers, but at the same rate she was afraid of walking around the palace for the rest of her life.

The Garnet Orb had also been silent and docile, sometimes out in front of Hotaru, or next to her, or sometimes a bit behind. Hotaru was surprised when it finally seemed to move with a purpose. It led her down yet another hallway and stopped in front of a door. Hotaru gasped and her fingers flew to the surface of the door. Carved in the marble was the sign of Pluto. She traced the sign with her fingers, joy rising in her chest. "This is it! Setsuna must be behind this door! Oh, thank you! I could have never found this without your help!" She wrapped her arms lovingly around the Orb and then used all her weight to push open the door. She found herself in a pitch-black room. As the door swung shut again behind her, spotlights flashed on to focus on something in the middle of the room.

It wasn't exactly Setsuna herself, but it was close. It was a statue of Sailor Pluto, garbed in the eternal uniform, and bearing the Time Staff. The statue was illuminated only by the spotlights, and the rest of the room, as she had previously noted, was dark. It was enough to take the breath away.

Unable to stop herself, Hotaru ran to the statue and flung her arms around it. She pressed her cheek against the cold marble and held on as if the statue would come to life. And honestly, Hotaru wasn't so sure it wouldn't. She squeezed her eyes shut and held on tight, almost laughing. "I'm so close now! This is the sign I wanted. I'll find her for sure, now!"

Hit by a sudden fatigue, Hotaru slid down and curled up at the feet of the statue, never taking her arms from around it. Using her bookbag as a pillow, she fell asleep, her arms still encircling the stone boot of her idol.

~*~

After what felt like only minutes, Hotaru was pulled away from the statue by her arm.

Groggy and disoriented, she tried to struggle. "Let me go!" She kicked her legs and flailed her fists for all she was worth, but the person pulling her was too strong for her. She was dragged off the base of the statue and through the darkness. Every once in awhile, she and her captor would walk under a bright spotlight like the ones shining on the statue and she saw that the person pulling her was most likely a man, but he wore a cloak and hood that covered his eyes. She noticed that his mouth seemed kind and calm, and this kept her from being too frightened.

But she was angry. She would have been content to stay there forever with the Pluto statue. It was like being ripped away from Setsuna all over again. Now she angrily tried to pull her arm from the hooded man's grasp. "Where are you taking me?" she demanded.

There was only silence from her captor.

Hotaru was being pulled along so fast she had to run to keep up. She kept expecting her feet to leave the ground at any moment, rather like Alice being pulled by the Red Queen in Through The Looking Glass. She was so surprised when the man stopped abruptly that her feet kept moving forward and she was jerked backwards and almost lost her footing. Recovering, she pulled her arm away. "Let me go, please!" Turning around again, she gasped in surprise.

A huge set of double doors, previously invisible in the near-blackness, had swung open and violently bright sunlight now spilled through into the room. Dazzled, Hotaru winced and shielded her eyes, but they adjusted quickly. She could now see that a vast garden lay beyond the doors. Her anger spent, she turned to the silent man. "It's so beautiful!" she said. "What is it?"

"The Elysian Fields."

Hotaru swung around. The person who had spoken was not the man behind her, but another who had appeared between her and the doorway. He was little more than a towering silhouette due to the brilliant backlighting, but he seemed to be quite an old man with long hair and beard, and flowing robes. Hotaru wasn't sure what to think about him. She didn't feel instantly calm and safe as she had with the Sibyl, but she wasn't frightened either. What she did feel was reverence. She bowed slightly.

The old man folded his arms. "So you are the child who has come so boldly into the domain of Hades."

"Yes, Sir." Hotaru bowed again. "My name is Hotaru Tomoe. I've come seeking Setsuna Meioh. She's been killed, but there has to be some mistake. She's Sailor Pluto, and we need her. I've come to bring her home. Her Garnet Orb and Sibyl-Sempai led me here." She tried to peer around the old man. "May I please search for her in that sunny garden behind you?"

The old man slowly shook his head. "Sailor Saturn. I know who you are. And I am Cronus, ruler of the Elysian Fields where the most extraordinary souls go to rest. But there are no mistakes. You may have made it this far and I have no doubt you are very brave for the underworld can be a frightening place, but I can not let you enter the Elysian Fields while you are yet living."

Hotaru suddenly felt as if her stomach had dropped into her feet. "But…"

"I will have my guards escort you back to the surface. You will not be harmed." He nodded towards the hooded man behind her, and others in the same garb who were filing into the light.

Angry tears stung Hotaru's eyes. "You don't understand!"

Cronus did not back down. "Sailor Pluto must stay with me, and you must return to the surface immediately. Your time has not come yet."

Hotaru's heart gave a leap. So Setsuna was in the Elysian Fields. Cronus had said she was to stay with him. Hotaru bit her lip. "Very well. If I can't go in, I'll just have to go home. You lead and I'll follow along." She turned as if to go with the hooded guards, but as soon as they had turned to lead her into the darkness, she broke free and ran with all her might towards the sunny garden.

Cronus, surprised, held his arms out to catch her. "Stop, child!"

Without hesitation, Hotaru slid to her knees and skidded right under the legs of the old man. She was back on her feet in an instant and running pell-mell through the doorway into the Elysian Fields.