Disclaimer: I own nothing! I own nothing! (Sing along!)

Silence.

Nothing.

No pain, no screams.

Can this be right?

"Sh. Don't look."

Look?

Her eyes opened.

"Serenity, no!"

Her mouth opened in horror, but could not make a sound.

Red. Black. Red. Black. Red. Black.

"Don't look! Don't look!"

Who is that?

"Serenity, close your eyes!"

What is that?

"Oh, gods!"

I don't understand.

A long, terrible scream tore through her vision, going on and on until she thought it would rip her in two.

Who is that? Who is screaming?

The scream became ragged. A frightening gasping sound took its place, as though someone were drowning. She heard a wet ripping sound, and the scream rose again.

Oh, you poor thing! Why are you screaming so?

"Serenity! Let me go!"

Let you go? No, I can't do that. I promised…I promised…

"Oh, gods, no! Serenity, let me go!"

But what is that? All that red and black…Where are we?

"I should never have let you come! My child, my darling child!"

Mama? Is that you? What's happening?

The scream took on a new sound, weaving into words.

"MOTHER! HELP ME!"

Who is that? Why does it hurt when she screams?

"PLEASE! MOTHER!"

Oh. That's me.

With that sudden thought, Usagi's world snapped into focus.

There was, in fact, plenty of pain within the Abyss. And the screams were more painful, because they were her own sounds of anguish and horror. Yet she refused to loosen her grip on Inanna, clinging to the Star with all her might, her own body wrapped around Inanna's to shield her as best she could.

The strange ripping sounds were coming from her own flesh as it was flayed from her body. The pain was incredible, almost slamming her mind back into that dazed place beyond feeling. But she used the agony, clinging to it as tightly as to Inanna to keep her sanity for at least a few moments more.

All around her she saw dizzying, confusing flashes of akai and kuroi, red and black. She watched in horrified wonder, trying to understand what she was seeing.

"POOR PRINCESS! STUPID GIRL! WHAT DID YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE?"

The voices of the Abyss made Usagi retch with disgust, only to find her stomach so dry and empty to be pointless.

"SWEET FOOL!" The Abyss laughed. "SHE CAME TO DIE WITH THE EVIL MURDERESS! AND SHE BROUGHT HER LOVE WITH HER!"

"Nani?" Usagi whispered. "Iie! I came alone!"

"SO STUPID!"it snarled. "DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD STOP US BY GIVING US EXACTLY WHAT WE WANTED! THE HOLE TO YOUR WORLD REMAINS, AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE EAGER TO JOIN YOU!"

"IIE!"

Through the black and red came a body. Tuxedo tattered, mask and hat gone, eyes closed, pale face spattered with her own blood, he was still so beautiful.

"Mamo-chan! Oh, why, Mamo-chan?"

"LOVE, LITTLE GIRL! HE CAME FOR YOU BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU!"

She closed her eyes, trying to will the tears back. But she never could hide her emotions, and her body began to shake with sobs.

"Let him go!" Usagi whispered. "Please, let him go!"

"LET HIM GO!" the Abyss mocked. "LET HIM GO! NO, NO, PRINCESS! WE WILL KEEP HIM! HE WANTED TO JOIN US!"

"Oh, sweet Goddess Selenity, it's all my fault!"

"YES! YOUR FAULT AGAIN! ALWAYS YOUR FAULT! JUST LIKE THE SILVER MILLENNIUM!"

Usagi buried her face in Inanna's hair. "Stop it!"

"YOUR LOVER DIED TO PROTECT YOU!"

"Shut up!"

"YOUR MOTHER DIED FROM THE PAIN OF LOSING YOU!"

"That's not how it happened!"

"YOU ARE ALWAYS THE ONE, THE SELFISH ONE, THE ONE WHO FAILS THE OTHERS!"

"Iie, iie, you don't understand!"

"JUST LIKE YOUR GRANDMOTHER!"

Usagi stilled, her eyes opening. "What did you say?"

"THE QUEEN OF THE MOON WAS THE ONE TO BREAK THE CIRLE! SHE WAS THE ONE WHO TRIED TO RUN! SHE WAS A COWARD, AND WEAK! SHE WOULD HAVE LEFT THE OTHERS TO DIE!"

Staring into Inanna's hair, Usagi felt her jaw begin to clench. "That… isn't true."

"SHE COULD NOT HANDLE THE DARKNESS. SHE FEARED FOR HER OWN LIFE. SHE SACRIFICED HER FRIENDS, THOSE SHE LOVED, FOR HERSELF!"

Usagi's head whipped up, glaring at the dark and bloody whirlwind spinning around her. "That isn't true!"

"IT IS TRUE!" the Abyss shrieked, ripping at her exposed face. "IT IS TRUE! YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

"You're lying!" Usagi shouted into the wind. "She wouldn't have left them!"

"WE DO NOT LIE!"

The Abyss roared, and she felt claws tangle in her long, beautiful hair. They pulled, beginning to peal her very scalp free.

"You're only made up of lies!" Usagi yelled. "You lied to Inanna! You lie to everyone! But you won't make me believe you! I would never abandon my friends to their fate. My mother would never abandon her friends to their fate! My grandmother would never abandon her friends to their death!"

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

"You know nothing!" Usagi screamed. "You know nothing of love! You mock Inanna's love for her children, Mamo-chan's love for me, my friends' love for me, my love for them, but you have no idea what that even means! You know nothing about my grandmother, or any of those who stood with her the night she died!"

"WE KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR GRANDMOTHER, YOU FOOLISH LITTLE PRINCESS! WE KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THOSE SHE CALLED FRIENDS!"

Usagi threw her head, unconcerned with her lack of hair. "How? How can you, who never lived, who never loved, understand!"

The laughter of the Abyss this time held no amusement. There was something almost heartbreaking in the sound, as well as disgusting and terrifying.

"IT IS YOU WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND, PRINCESS OF THE WHITE MOON. DON'T YOU WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM, ALL THOSE FINE KINGS AND QUEENS, THAT DAY IN SPACE?"

"I know what happened to them! You killed them! They're dead!"
"DEAD?" The Abyss shrieked and snarled. "DEAD! OH, NO, LITTLE PRINCESS! WE ARE NOT DEAD!"

Usagi's head jerked back. "What did you say?"

"WE ARE NOT DEAD, GRANDDAUGHTER OF SERENITY!"

"Iie…"

"WE ARE STILL HERE!"

Her whole body began to tremble around Inanna. "Oh, my gods! It can't be!"

"OH, BUT IT IS, PRINCESS OF THE MOON! AND WE WILL TAKE OUR REVENGE ON THE BLOOD OF THE TRAITOR WHO LEFT US IN THIS HELL!"

The whirlwind opened, and she saw them, floating in a circle all around her, as though dead. Her family, her protectors, her beloved sisters, and her prince's dearest brothers. Her friends.

"Don't hurt them!" Usagi cried.

"WHY WOULD WE HURT THEM? THEY ARE OUR BLOOD! NO, PRINCESS. WE WILL JUST RIP YOU APART!"

"What will you do with them?" she whispered.

"YOU WON'T EVER HAVE TO KNOW."

Hate, loss, disgust, suspicion, terror, despair, loneliness, and rage shredded her body like so many knives. Her skull shattered under the screams of evil. Her soul cried out wordlessly to her friends. The shards of her pure heart glowed briefly, then began to darken…