Prologue:

Shroud in the cover of a thick silvery fog, she ran…

With each passing step, the muscles in her legs screamed in protest. There was no time to worry about that, the only thing that mattered to her was getting away. Terror coursed through her veins, which alone would keep Tsukino Usagi running until her body finally gave up. Oh, but she was exhausted! Her heart pounded like a hammer on an anvil. She felt her strength slowly start to fade away from her.

If only I could reach my broach…she felt the familiar weight of the object. Trying to touch it was like trying to grab smoke; her hands just went right through it.
…it was hopeless.

..she was completely helpless.

Everything was beyond her control. All she could do was keep her legs moving, and she would escape this nightmare. She would escape; she just had to. The wind behind her picked up, she felt it on the back of her neck. With it, came a voice that whispered, 'Why do you run, little princess? Do you flee because you are afraid?' Yes,' it mused, 'you are afraid. I can sense your fear.'

Startled, Usagi lost her footing and fell, scraping her knees on the way. Moments that seemed like hours passed with her just staring in shock confusion. The reality of the situation soon became clear. Frantically, she darted her head around in each direction in search of the voice.

There was no time.

Getting off the ground proved difficult, her whole body ached. She would be sore come the dawn. Despite the pain, Usagi laughed. There would be no morning. She was here for eternity. That was if she didn't get far, far away.


 But what was the point? Her mind inquired. There was no hope for a doomed soul.

No. Not yet.

With a desperate haste she continued at the same pace before. It was not her time to die. Not yet. Not now. And not here, whatever 'here' actually was.

After being subjected to the torture she put them through, Usagi's legs finally gave up. They simply went limp, causing the girl to be completely helpless. Sprawled on the ground.

Usagi did not know whether to laugh or cry—she wanted to do both. The irony! She was going to die.
Not without a fight.

The voice was back, whispering in the stillness of her mind. 'I found you.' So familiar. She knew if she listened closely, she would be able to remember.
Just listen…

All thoughts were shattered when unseen ice cold hands gripped around her throat as nails dug deep between her skin. Blood dripped down her neck, it took all the effort in the world not to scream out in agony. 'I will not cry,' she told herself when the tears welled up in her eyes. 'I will NOT cry!' The pain felt like an iron was scalding her skin.

"Be at ease,' the owner of the voice tried to sound soothing, but Usagi was in no position to be comforted. 'I won't have to kill you for I have no desire to end your life. You see, I have the power to keep you in my Nightmare for eternity. Or I could do that as easily as send you back to your bed and this will be all a bad dream.'

A bad dream?

"What do you want of me?" She heard the echo her voice cry out.

'The Silver Crystal,' the voice breathed in reply.

In an instant, Usagi was overwhelmed. Ghostly strings entwined her heart pulling her, calling her to obey. Tears streamed down her face as she felt her will fade away. Just a bit longer and she would give in to everything and anything that was asked of her.

Anything.

Through all of this, she abruptly found another emotion: anger. Push her, pull her, she was no servant to do the will of anyone. The anger squeezed itself into a hard knot and she clung to it.

She would never surrender the Silver Crystal to the hands of this malice being! "I'll never serve you," she hissed. "The Silver Crystal will never be yours."

The grip around her neck tightened but for a moment, then released. The stench of decay lay thick around her. Then did Usagi see her surroundings: she was on the Moon.

A figure looked over her, shroud in a cloak of shadows, she could only make out two ice cold eyes that bore into her soul.

"It will be mine. Whether you live or die, it will be mine, Serenity." A hand reached out and ripped through her.

The world around her faded…

She was dead.

With her body covered in a thick layer of sweat. Usagi sprang from, her dream. Taking in the familiar surroundings of her room, she sighed with relief. Even though she saw herself safe in her bed, her surroundings seemed surreal; the only thing that seemed real to her was the images her mind projected only moments ago.

Only then did she realize how cold she was. As cold as those hands…cold as ice.

"It was only a dream," she murmured to herself. Dreams had no way of hurting you, besides, she had many nightmares with her being killed countless times by Tau Ceti, Pharaoh 90, Queen Beryl, any many others. Why should this nightmare of a faceless woman be any different? She laughed, hoping that hearing he own voice would break the spell the dream still had on her.

"Luna?" Usagi called out, hoping the black feline would reaffirm her thoughts on her topic of concern. Unfortunately, Luna did not respond.

Sitting up in bed, Usagi looked around the room, when her eyes settled on the window, two of her worries were solved; the reason she was cold was not because of her dream, but rather the window being carelessly left open. Luna must have escaped and went on a walk.

Throwing back her covers, she stalked over to the window and promptly closed it. If Luna wanted to get back in, there was no reason she could not take full advance of the cat door in the kitchen Usagi herself installed—if she got mad, she would just point out the fact that she did not want to get a cold when spring just begun.

Yes, Usagi thought, all was well with the world now. It was just a dream and when she would go back to bed, she would dream of more pleasant things…Like Mamo-chan, for starters.

Smiling at the thought of her beloved Mamoru, Usagi happily dashed for the bed, eager to welcome all dreams about him. Halfway there, a warm substance slide down her chest. Holding it up to examine what it was, Usagi's eyes widened.

Blood.

Switching the light on, Usagi studied her reflection in the mirror. Exactly ten gashes surrounded her neck, just like finger marks.

"It was a dream!" Dreams couldn't hurt you. Examining the gashes more, she could see that though they were still bleeding, the wounds seemed to be healing. That was impossible!

With no other option, she flung open the window. "LUNA—!" She wailed, having no regard for anyone who she woke by her shouts. Calling Luna one more time, something appeared in the corner of Usagi's eye: the moon. Looking up at it, she recoiled; instead of it glimmering silver, it shone with a deep scarlet hue. It was not the kind of moon dubbed a sailor's moon, but rather its deep color reminded Usagi of the color of blood.

- - -

Being Guardian of Time meant she stood apart from time itself, for in her world, there was no time. Thus, she was doomed to watch every single event that could possibly unfold with one minor variable. Most of all, she knew when the timeline shifted, it was only natural to expect with the Sailor Senshi present, but this…

This was not supposed to happen. If this course of time continued, she saw the future for the world.

Though out the streets of Crystal Tokyo, people screamed in terror as visions of the dead came to life. The world around them shifted, with towns melting into the earth. Worst of all, a new monarch stood in place, wielding the power of the Silver Crystal. New Senshi stood in place as tyrants much like their queen, with everyone else cowering at their feet as they danced to the turns of the new queen like puppets. Sailorpluto was rarely afraid, but seeing herself and the other Sailor Senshi groveling at the new queen's feet, pledging fealty to her chilled to her marrow.

There had to be something she could do. But alas, Sailorpluto had crosses the threshold of time to many times in the past to intervene with events. The only resolve she had was to sit and pray for the Senshi to rise up and destroy the new malice to the Earth.

She thought that until the Guardian of Time had a visitor she assumed was long dead—only she alone could grant the freedom to safely travel across Time once more. After all, she was the one who damned her to this fate, so it was only natural that she could save her.

"We have delayed long enough, Pluto," as she remembered, the visitor's voice remained melodious, but the heavy mists in the Corridor of Time drowned it out into a faint hiss.

Being a lover of physics, Sailorpluto knew that this action would cause a reaction perhaps greater than the original action; crossing time would only triple it because even beings that existed outside of time were affected by this law, as well.

With the Time Staff in hand, Pluto and her visitor stepped through the Time Door. When it closed behind her, Pluto knew when they were to enter this period of time; all knowledge of the future would fade away and be replaced. Such was the consequence for her action. 'Good-bye, Small Lady.'

Duty above love. Duty above honor. Duty above all else. That was the oath the made the day Princess Persephone of Pluto became the Time Guardian, Sailorpluto.

Duty above all.

- - -

For so long have a been subdued by the line of the Moon. It was Selenity who brought the destruction of the Silver Millennium.


The red moon is an omen that means a storm will begin soon…

The silence mocked her. It mocked the what was and should still be the greatest kingdom of all. By right, this kingdom was hers! How long has it been since the first descendant of Selene has been locked in the darkness, hiding from the light and only to survive in the Dreamworld? Hope. In the darkest hour of despair, there was always the slight glimmer of hope. She was now free. Free from the prison!

The red moon…never before has an omen ever been so true.