Disclaimer: I own no part of the Sailor Moon universe.
AN: Sorry for the lack of action, but this is a bit of an exposition chapter, where the girls do a lot of talking. I also apologize for not giving every character the attention they deserve, but there eight Senshi, four Shitennou, one Princess, one Prince, the Enemy, and a scattering of supporting characters! I'll start working on each personally in the next few chapters.
Putting a worried hand on her friend's pale, clammy brow, Minako watched Usagi's lashes flutter fitfully. The other girl moaned in her sleep, and turned her head away. After another sigh, she grew quiet again.
"How is she?" Haruka asked, leaning over the back of the couch, her face concerned.
"Still unconscious," Minako muttered. "We should leave her alone for the moment."
"Well, at least one of us is getting some sleep. It figures Usagi would be the one. Brat."
Rei's grumblings would have been more convincing if she hadn't at that moment gently placed a cool, damp rag on Usagi's forehead. She brushed the pale blonde bangs back, a look of deep concern in her purple eyes. Sighing, she took her friend's hand in her own and squeezed it.
Everyone had woken to a startled gasp from Usagi. She had jerked into a sitting position as though someone pulled her up by invisible wires, her eyes wide with terror, her lips silently crying out a single word. She stayed like that for a heartbeat, quivering with some unspeakable tension. Then, with a soft sigh, she collapsed into a dead faint.
The murmuring voices of Ami and Setsuna drew everyone's eyes away from their wilted Princess. The two stood close together, first one shaking her head, and then the other. After a moment of whispers and gestures, they seemed to come to some sort of agreement. Nodding, they turned to the others.
"What?" Minako asked. "What's the matter?"
Setsuna returned to the center of the room, lowering herself gracefully to sit on the floor at the book laden table. "Something very strange happened while you were all asleep, right before Usagi woke up."
"Stranger than Usagi having some sort of fit?" Rei demanded.
"The two might be connected," Ami said, moving to kneel beside Setsuna. "You see, just before Usagi sat up, the room suddenly felt a lot colder. I could see my breath for a moment. You didn't notice, because you were all asleep, but Setsuna and I felt odd."
"Like something cut into our souls, and bled all our strength out," the Timekeeper added softly. "Only there was nothing in the room."
"Then Usagi sat up, and the room got hot for a second. And then she fainted," Ami finished.
"Maybe she had a dream again," Rei guessed, looking down at the pale, drawn face.
Michiru shook her head slowly. "That wouldn't explain the cold, or Setsuna and Ami loosing their strength. Something must have been here."
"An invisible enemy?" Minako asked with alarm.
"No," Setsuna interrupted her. "Nothing came into the room. How could it? Even the window is closed."
They all turned to look at the window, reassuring themselves of Setsuna's words. Suddenly, Ami rose, and walked slowly across the room, a little, puzzled frown on her face. She moved to the window, staring at the glass intently.
"What is it?" Minako asked with concern.
Ami touched the glass, then tapped it twice with her fingernails, as though proving to herself it's solidity. She checked around the seams, probing them gently, then stroked the wood. Everyone exchanged baffled looks as she nodded to herself.
"Ami?" Makoto asked slowly. "What are you doing?"
The petite genius spun around, pinning them all with a look. "It has been very hot and humid this summer," she reminded them unnecessarily. "How many of you slept with your windows open last night?"
One by one, hands went up. Hotaru paused with her arm halfway up, then lowered it slightly.
"I did to begin with, but I closed it when..." She shrugged guiltily.
"But by then the damage had been done," Ami murmured. "Most of Tokyo had their windows open last night. I'll bet anyone who's windows were closed slept just fine."
Haruka stood up and joined Ami, leaning her hands on the sill. To the surprise of her friends, she pressed her ear against the glass, eyes screwed up in concentration. She appeared to be listening. Then her eyes opened, and she nodded at the others.
"She's right. With our windows open, the wind could get into our rooms while we slept last night."
"The wind?" Michiru echoed with surprise.
"I can hear it. I didn't notice last night, I was too distracted, but now... It's whispering. I can't make out the words through the glass, but I know its intent. It means harm, terrible harm, to anything it touches." She glared out the window at the wind shaking the leaves of the trees. "Whatever this enemy is, it's poisoning the very air."
"How long is this heat wave supposed to last?" Minako asked. "If we could get people to keep their windows closed-"
Ami sadly shook her head. "People would still go out at night. You can't escape the wind."
"What is powerful enough to effect an entire city with nothing but whispers?" Haruka asked softly.
"Something horrible."
All eight girls gave a glad cry to hear Usagi's voice. She looked at them all weakly, the hand not clutching Rei's against her forehead. Her lips pressed together so tightly they became white.
"Usagi! Are you all right?" Minako cried.
"You saw it?" Ami added. "What was it?"
"Sick."
"Something sick?" Hotaru repeated blankly.
"No," Usagi groaned. "I'm gonna be sick!"
"Oh!"
Her Senshi sprang into action. Minako and Rei helped her roll to the edge of the couch, while Haruka fetched the nearest wastebasket. Michiru seized her long blonde pigtails, holding them safely out of the way as she purged her stomach of all it's contents. Hotaru gently wiped her lips with the damp rag, while Makoto disappeared into the kitchen. After a moment, she returned with a glass of water, with a straw for easy drinking. Setsuna took the basket away, her own face a light green color. Ami hovered anxiously behind the couch, both cats on her shoulders.
"Do you need anything else, Usagi?" she asked gently.
"Yes. Mamo-chan!"
The others laughed a little, rolling their eyes at one another. Usagi, however, looked simply miserable, so they chose more sober expressions. She groaned and covered her eyes.
"What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Ami asked, disappointed. "We think we were attacked in some way. But the enemy retreated when you sat up all of a sudden."
"I just woke up now."
"No, you also woke up earlier, and then you fainted," Minako corrected her. "You scared us."
Usagi's brow wrinkled as she strove to remember. "Are you sure I woke up?"
"Yes!" they chorused impatiently.
"Don't yell at me!" she moaned. "I don't feel good!"
"We're sorry, kitten," Haruka said. "But are you sure you didn't see anything? Did you dream anything?"
"Dream?" Usagi whispered, her eyes suddenly far away. "I dreamed... I dreamed the same dream again! That place... that awful place, in a darkness so deep that no light can escape it! I tried to fight it, but I felt it eating all my strength. The more I struggled, the weaker I got." She closed her eyes, hiding her face behind one hand. "And it kept whispering to me."
Eyebrows raised, Haruka knelt at Usagi's side. "It whispered to you? What did it say?"
"Terrible things," she said. "Terrible, horrible, wicked thoughts and suspicions. It's like every scrap of evil got sucked into one inescapable whirlpool, and mixed together until it became something worse than evil."
A collective sigh of despair escaped eight pairs of lips. They looked to one another for any comfort, but all their eyes held a shared fear for something worse than they ever imagined. They bowed their heads or turned away, unable to bare this mutual hopelessness.
As though reading their thoughts, Usagi managed to pull herself upright, and regarded them all with an almost angry expression. "Don't you give up yet! Just because we don't know how to fight it right now doesn't mean we can't learn! In every battle we've been in, we never knew right away how to defeat our enemy. But we have never once failed to win! So no more long faces, you guys!" Her face dropped into a more gentle countenance. "I can't do this without you!"
Minako seized the hand not held by Rei. "You're right! We have never been beaten, so long as we stood together! We just need to remember that we have each other."
"And no going off alone, or keeping secrets!" Makoto added with a meaningful look at the four Outer Senshi. "This time we stick together!"
"Agreed," Michiru said. "Our best chance is to stay close to the Princess. We can keep her safe that way, and she seems to be able to fight this thing, somehow."
"You really don't remember anything, Usagi?" Makoto asked. "You looked straight ahead of you, right out the window."
"The window again!" Rei muttered, glaring at it. "Pull the curtains, Ami."
"Wait!" Ami ran back to the window and looked out. "What if that's where the enemy was?"
"But Ami, we're several stories up!" Makoto reminded her.
"So? Way too many of our enemies can fly," Minako said. "I guess this one can, too."
"It makes sense," Michiru murmured.
"I have a question," Hotaru announced suddenly. "Usagi has been dreaming of a place, right? Not a single entity."
"So..." Ami bit her lip, thinking, "what Usagi has been dreaming of is not the enemy, but...but maybe Its home!"
"Something came out of the Abyss?" Usagi gasped. She paused to think this over, then shrugged. "Well, can you blame It?"
"Yes!" Haruka snapped. "It brought part of that evil with It, without even thinking of the consequences to Earth!"
"It probably didn't even care," Usagi said. "After seeing that place, I'll bet It's willing to do anything to escape."
"Including ripping a portal into our world, leaking some of this Abyss into our reality, and changing everything around It by Its very presence," Rei muttered.
"We know why It's here, then," Setsuna took over. "And we know that It will not willingly go back. Now we need to figure out what It wants with souls, how to find It, and how to fight It."
"The best way to learn how to fight It is to fight It!" Haruka said.
"We can't just go out and chase down an enemy we couldn't even recognize!" Michiru argued. "Especially when It only comes out at night, when the Abyss is whispering terrible things to drive us all mad!"
"We need to learn more about It!" Luna added.
"How?" Haruka demanded. "How can we protect the world, even the city, if we just hide here and try to study something we've never even seen?"
"We won't do the world any good if we get ourselves killed uselessly!" Minako told her. "Calm down!"
The two faced off, both fuming with frustration and unspoken fears. Usagi moved to interrupt, when the lock clicked, and the door to the apartment opened. Everyone turned to look, and jaws dropped.