Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, TOEI Animation, and VIZMedia and well, I woke up to go get me a cold pop, then I thought somebody was barbecuin'! I said, 'Oh Lord, Jesus, it's a f'ar!' Then I ran out, I di'n't grab no shoes or nothin', Jesus—I ran for my life! And then the smoke got me and I— I got bronchitis! Ain't nobody got time fo dat! Sorry. I get bored with the droning.

Guys. Guys. Last night, I had a nightmare that Lucifer was trying to kill me. Lucifer Hades, the figment of my imagination. That's not cool, guys.

Notes:

I'm sorry that Mamoru was kind of a dog in the last chapter, but ya know. Men.

I was going to make this chapter more on Mamoru and Usagi's romance (ahem, dirty), then it turned really weird and no, that's not this story. I wanted to, but I won't. Just imagine dirty things. I guess. Like Haruka and Michiru dirty, but probably worse. Sorry.

I've literally been writing this chapter for over a month because I don't get any free time. So yeah. Don't expect 46 anytime soon.

Please look on my deviant for an idea of what Terra and Solara, and—hopefully soon—the others look like! Thanks c:

REMEMBER:

Athena-Mars

Aphrodite-Venus

Posedeia-Neptune

Iris-Mercury

Upon looking up, Terra spots two figures descending from the sky. They're still about forty yards up, but she can tell already who they are.

"Well, would ya look at that," she mutters, then louder, "They got wings."

Varuna and Hera look to see what she's talking about. "How could we expect less?" Hera says with a small, faithful smile.

"She can always save herself at the last second," Varuna adds, "but I didn't know he could grow wings as well."

Terra shrugs. "He's certainly gotten the better gene, 'cause I can't do anything he's done nor do I think I could've gone through what either of them have.

As they land, Terra moves to meet them. "Um, sorry, but— what the hell was that?!" she asks critically. "Why'd you guys take so long?! For all we knew, you were already dead!" Then she notices how flushed Serenity's face is, how smug Endymion looks, and how giddy they both seem. Terra narrows her eyes. "Maybe I don't wanna know."

Endymion smirks, his windblown hair flopping slightly as he stands straighter, boastfully. "Don't worry about it."

Terra shudders. "That's so gross. Do you even know how gross that is? That's grosser than walkin' in on your parents. Not that I have, but— ew. You're my brother, and she's —she's Blondie. You guys are so gross. I don't ever wanna hear about that ever again, and when you have a child, I wanna be the last to know."

Serenity looks away, and so does Terra, her cheeks warm. "A-anyway, as much as I hate to say it," Terra continues, "we should head back up, but first, we gotta round up Jose."

"Hey!" Terra yells as Jose comes into her line of sight. "They came down to Earth!"

"Are we even on Earth?" Serenity responds coolly.

Hera smirks. "Probably not."

Terra rolls her eyes. "It was a joke."

"You're just jealous you don't have wings," Serenity says with a sly grin.

Terra scoffs. "Yeah, that's it."

"Did something happen? I'm confused." Jose says. "Why am I always out of the loop?"

Varuna shakes her head. "For now, that's unimportant. There is currently a war going on upstairs, and that's what we need to deal with."

With a sigh, Serenity agrees. "She's right. We can't keep getting distracted this way."

"Uh, Blondie? Problem. Where's the building?"

Serenity turns around, and just as she does, the world around her turns into a spacious, red desert, and a loud clap of thunder rings in her ears and fills the space around her, the sound waves shaking her, or maybe it's her fright sending chills down her spine and making the hair on the back her neck stand up.

"W-w-w-w-what do we do?" she utters finally.

Another clap of thunder shakes Serenity's bones, and lightning splits the sky on the horizon. That wasn't exactly was scared her that time. What completely froze her muscles and bones and made her skin tingle as though she had been struck was the fact that the lightning was blood-red, and a picture of a grieving, agonized face appeared in the clouds for the split-second that the lightning was there, and Serenity couldn't help but let out a shriek.

She turns around to find herself alone, and squeezes her eyes shut, tears slipping down her face. "What am I gonna do?! I'm not fearless enough for this!" She thinks about everyone who had been with her before, and how strong all of them are. Terra, Endymion, Varuna, Hera, and Jose are the bravest of their whole group, and Serenity can't stand to be alone.

She squats down on the ground and buries her head in between her knees and her chest. She thinks about the story that Lucifer had told them before. She sits back on the ground and looks up at the burgundy sky. "Is there really a God out there? Am I exempt from you, too?"

She listens for something—anything—and finally gives up when nothing happens. "I didn't think so. I'll just do what I always do in this situation."

Another clap of thunder, and it begins to rain. A drop falls on her arm, and she jumps. "Ouch! What the–? This rain is like fire!" A drop hits her face, and she screams. She covers her face, and yells, "Lunar Shie–!" She shrieks in agony at the burning rain, falling to her face, unconscious as the steady downpour makes her skin bubble and blister.

"Where is everybody?" Endymion wonders, scanning the vast, red landscape.

"Well, gee, if I knew, don'tcha think we wouldn't be in this situation?!" Terra snaps.

"Sorry, I was just wondering aloud. No need to get so snappy."

Terra sighs. "We've just been at this and at this for weeks, and our situation isn't getting better."

Endymion presses his lips into a thin line, his eyes tightening. "It just gets worse."

After a moment, Terra snorts. "You'd probably rather have ended up with Blondie, huh?"

"I can't say I'm upset with the cards dealt; I mean, besides the fact that we're stranded in this never-ending desert in Hell. Other than that, life's great."

Terra rolls her eyes, but smiles. "Weirdo."

Then there's a searing spot of pain on her arm, and she sucks a sharp breath through her teeth. "What the hell?!" She looks and sees a drop of blood bubbling on her upper arm. Then another one appears next to it, and she suspects rain, so she looks up. One drops on the bridge of her nose and she yelps, rubbing at her face viciously to rid it of the scalding pain.

Then, her brother yells, too, and she knows he's feeling the exact pain she is, and that maybe it's not just her imagination.

The rain picks up, until it's pouring bloody fire. She tries to shield herself against the rain, but the strapped, low-cut gown that has slits up to her hips and a very exposed waist doesn't offer much protection. There's the knee-length cape she has, but it's made of silk, so the rain burns through it like acid quickly, and even her braces made of metal are being disintegrated. She drops to her knees, unable to fight it. She notices Endymion do the same.

"Stop," she croaks in pitiful voice, and she hates herself for it. "Please…"

Terra falls to her face, unable to get back up.

Varuna looks around. "What an interesting predicament…" She scoffs, shaking her head. "How on earth did I end up here?" She walks on, wondering where her comrades and princess could have gone to. She runs a hand through her tousled, light-blonde hair and sighs. How can she find her way back to the others most efficiently? She'd probably have to get an aerial view, but alas, she can't fly, so that's not an option. It's embarrassing, really. She's the warrior of the wind and skies, but she can't fly. How can she even call herself the guardian of Uranus when she can't fly?

She stops and scans the area. There isn't anything in sight for miles.

With a huff, she pulls out her Space Sword and cuts a new hem along her thigh. Her long skirt gets in the way. She takes off the high-heels and throws them aside along with the silk fabric from her gown.

Something stings her arm, and by instinct, she quickly smacks it, rubbing it off as she does so. Then her hand starts stinging, so she inspects it. Is that blood? How could that be? There aren't any mosquitoes around that she knows of. She quickly rubs it off onto her dress, and notices a hole burning into her dress where she rubbed it. This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger.

Another sting on her head, and she rubs at it frantically. "What the hell?!" she exclaims, wondering where this is all coming from.

When another falls onto the hand rubbing her head, she thinks to look up, and sure enough, another one falls on her nose.

That was just the beginning of the awful downpour that was to follow.

"Lady Hera!" Jose calls. "Are you alright? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Hera shakes her head, smiling. "I'm fine, thank you." He's such a cute boy, she thinks to herself. If only he were older, and lived in this time period… "What we need to do is think of a strategy to find the others as soon as possible. If only there were a way to get a bird's-eye view…!"

"Oh… You mean you want to get to a higher altitude to see better?" Jose grins. "I've got just the thing! I keep everything I might need in the handy-dandy waist-pack. I think you people in this time period call it a 'fanny-pack.' In any case…!" He rummages through the fanny-pack the lay on his hip, and finally comes up with a small, reflective cube. "Here we are!" He sets it on the ground and taps it with his foot. Hera watches with interest as the small cube unfolds. It picks itself up.

"What would you like–?"

"Elevation."

"As you wish."

The small cube expands into a much, much larger ladder with a platform at the top.

"Wow!" Hera gapes up at the podium in astonishment. Technological advances are definitely something to look forward to!

Hera climbs to the top of the ladder, and Jose joins her. She places one hand on her brow like a visor, and the other on her hip. She looks around, but she can't see anything.

"There really isn't anything is there?" she notes, frowning. "We can't know where we're going without a general direction to follow. This is a problem. We could end up going in the wrong direction and be even farther away from the building than before." Jose sucks in a sharp breath, and Hera turns quickly to see the matter. "What's wrong?" she asks worriedly.

Jose rubs his face on his sleeve. "I'm... not sure. There was this sudden pain on my face... It was... weird." He looks at his sleeve where he rubbed his face, and sure enough, the cloth was receding.

"What in the world?!" Hera exclaims. A droplet lands on the back of her neck, and she tenses. She loses her balance and falls to the ground, but being a black belt in karate, lands on her feet. "What's going on?!"

"Solara…" Athena says anxiously. "Why are they not back yet?!"

Solara sighs, frowning, then looks at Lucifer. "Please enlighten us. What are you doing to them down there? I know you're doing something."

Lucifer grins. "You have caught me, as you humans say, 'red-handed.' But let us just that they are having quite the time!" He snickers, and then bursts into a fit of maniacal laughter. "Never fear, it is only an experiment. I want only to see what it does."

Solara grits her teeth. "They're not your lab rats, and I'll die before you treat my family that way!" She sighs. "They'll be back. They can suppress your demons, I know it." I just have to trust Akira, she thinks to herself.

He sniggers. "It is interesting that you should say that, because my 'demons' seem to be doing quite well in their work." A hologram of footage appears before them, showing each of her friends and family screaming and writhing in pain, it shows Serenity crying alone, and worst of all, it shows Terra asking for mercy in a weak voice.

Solara swallows back tears, her throat thickening in pity and despair. She regains her composure. "You're lying."

Lucifer still wears his mocking sneer. "No, madam, this is happening as we speak."

Athena speaks up for the first time. "How could you do this to our princess?!" She hesitates. "Our… our comrades?!"

Lucifer shakes his head. "The point is, I am positive she's gone through pain worse than this, and for her to cry at this means that she is spoiled, or weak, or both. She used to be so much stronger, and now…" He shrugs. "She is not meeting my expectations. When I heard that she was the strongest soldier in the galaxy, I expected much of her, and now I am disappointed. Do you know what happens to people who disappoint me?"

Solara's eyes flicker to the hologram, for a split-second, but not fast enough for it to go unnoticed by Lucifer. He chuckles, low and teasing, like he knows exactly where to place his king because she glanced at a weak point. He snaps his fingers, and the six of them, though unconscious, let out ear-piercing screams, and Posedeia and Solara cringe away, covering their ears. The rest of them grunt, squeezing their eyes shut like a child who is scared.

Aphrodite sniffs, and speaks, her voice shaking with anger. "You'll never understand what's in her heart. She's had to bear so many burdens over the years because of you. If you didn't exist, we'd all be normal."

"But you never would have met, would you have? It is all by my hand that you lot know each other. You should be thanking me."

Posedeia straightens, and pulls out her mirror. "I will never thank you, not for as long as I live. Submarine Reflection!"

"Fire Soul!"

"Crescent Beam!"

"Bubbles Spray!"

"Solar Flare!"

Lucifer smirks, brushing their primary attacks off like something slightly annoying but not uncomfortable. "How long will it take you to realize that you cannot match me? This is not your battle; you people do not belong here."

"Then why drag us here?! Why kill our family?!" Solara inquires in frustration.

"Because you are in the way. I needed to draw you in to get rid of you thoroughly."

Her nose wrinkles. "You make me sick."

"As I did your beloved one, who lays helplessly on the ground as we speak. I am not in control of the weather here, therefore, I have no control over how they are tortured."

Athena growls, and pulls out her flaming bow and arrow impatiently. "Then who does?!"

Lucifer mulls for a moment, and finally, sniggering, replies, "Mother Nature, of course. Who else would you expect?"

"I'm being serious!"

"As am I, young one. Now please calm down before I have to make you."

"If you wanted us gone, wouldn't you have done it already?" Posedeia muses.

"Yeah, wasn't your original intention to get the Silver Crystal?" Aphrodite wonders.

Lucifer smiles and shakes his head. "I have come to the conclusion that this is so much more fun! I get to play with you people this way!"

"How could you—"

Posedeia's angry response to Lucifer's answer was cut off by a shockingly quick movement from beside her. Lucifer grunts, falling to the floor, fiery locks following after him.

"FIRST, YOU KILL MY SISTER, THEN YOU KILL MY LOVE AND MY PRINCESS, NOT TO MENTION KILLING BOTH THEIR FAMILIES AND TORTURING THEM AS WELL, AND NOW YOU'RE PLAYING WITH US?! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU AND THIS IS ENDING RIGHT NOW! SUPERNOVA!"

Terra gasps, her eyes flying open. She gets up, despite the pain, and looks behind her for a sign of what woke her. Sure enough, a faint glow erupts from the horizon line, like the sun, burning oranger and oranger with each passing second, becoming brighter as it does. "No…" she moans in horror. She scrambles to her feet and quickly scans the area for her brother. Spotting him, she rushes over and shakes him awake. "Endymion! Endymion! En-dy-mi-on! C'mon, it's important! Wake up!"

Endymion grunts. "What is it, Terra?"

She points crazily toward the light. "It's burning! It's a supernova!" He squints at the light, and she slaps him. "Don't look at it! Are you stupid?!"

"What did you want me to do?! Don't slap me! And what do you mean 'supernova'? That's impossible!"

Terra shakes her head frantically. "Not that! That's Haru!"

"Wait, wait, wait, what? Slow down, take deep breaths, and calm yourself. Explain to me like a normal human being what's going on."

Terra screams gutturally and stomps her foot. "This isn't the time for questions! Just come with me!"

"But what about Serenity?!"

"Forget her!"

"What do you mean 'forget her'?! We can't forget her!"

"You have to! Now, that way is the building and that's where Haru and the rest are, and Haru is about to die so we need to go! I'd do the same for you!"

Endymion bites his lip. He glances at the yellow-orange glow behind her that's beginning to look like a sunset, and back at the contrasting sapphire of her eyes, a color the two share. "Fine. Maybe we'll run into her on the way."

So thankful to be done with this chapter! *sighs* That took a long time, mostly because I don't have much consecutive time to begin with. Thanks for hanging with me through all of my awful stages, y'all! I can't tell you how long it'll be till 46 is up, but I'll do my best! Sorry for the delays!