A/N: Enjoy!

The thing about running blindly down the hall was, we were too involved in watching everything around us to make sure that nothing snuck up on us. Did that make sense? Probably not. We left Koan behind in the hall once we were sure she was securely tied, and I hoped that Berthier, Calaveras and Petz would be too involved in their own ploys to bother going back to free her. The five of us kept going, moving in the same formation as before. I was carrying Chibi-Chibi, and the three Starlights were spread out around us. At the slightest hint of something changing in the air, one of them was right there to see what was going on.

In retrospect, maybe we should've been holding hands. Or stayed closer to each other, I didn't know. What I did know was that one minute I was running up a platform with my friends right beside me, and the next the bottom dropped out from underneath them and they were gone. I was so shocked I tripped and fell hard on my knees. Because I was holding Chibi-Chibi, I could only catch myself with one hand. It wasn't enough and my shoulder slammed hard into the floor, my cheek skidding off a second later. I did manage to keep Chibi-Chibi safely above the ground, though, and for that I was thankful.

I stayed where I was for about two seconds, my mind trying to process what had just happened, before I bolted upright and looked around. I was just in time to see three holes that were sealing over. I cried out and threw myself at the closest one, trying to get there before it shut, but I was too slow. By the time my hand made contact with that space, there was no way to tell that it had ever been anything other than a floor. It remained solid even when I set Chibi-Chibi down and pushed and pounded on it with both hands.

"Oh my god," I said, my heart pounding as the realization that we were now alone swept over me. My shoulder was throbbing badly, and my cheek stung from the movement of my jaw when I spoke. Chibi-Chibi whimpered and stared at me with big eyes from where she was sitting, and I pushed myself up and grabbed her off of the floor. I did not want the two of us to be separated if the same thing happened.

Chibi-Chibi wrapped one of her tiny hands around the back of my neck, avoiding the worst of the bruising that Koan had done. Her other hand patted my cheek gently. "Don't cry," she whispered.

I hadn't realized until that moment that I was crying, but she was right. Tears were sliding down my face without my permission. It hurt where they rolled over the raw skin on my cheek, but that pain was easily ignored. I turned my head into her curls with a muffled sob, pressing my face against her soft hair. It felt a little like a kitten's fur, like when I used to lay in bed and put my cheek against Luna's fur when I was upset. She would wash my forehead with her tongue and purr, the rumbling sound enough to ground me from whatever new horror I was facing. I missed Luna so much right then that it was like a physical hole had opened up in my chest.

I wasn't sure how long I stood like that, crying into Chibi-Chibi's hair. It was all just so much. But finally, the knowledge that I was being a baby got through the anguish that was making me want to curl up. If Fighter had been there, I knew she would've been telling me that I needed to keep going. Giving up was not the way to victory. I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of lime and vanilla and honey: Chibi-Chibi had been bathing with Yaten again. Then I lifted my head.

The worry on Chibi-Chibi's little face made me feel guilty. I said, "I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to lose it like that."

She smiled at me. "It's okay, Mama."

The word jolted me, I had to admit. Chibi-Chibi had never called me that before. I started to say that I wasn't her mother, but I stopped. Because I was, wasn't I? Who else was going to take care of Chibi-Chibi? She had no real parents, no one else to worry about her. To the rest of the world, she didn't even exist. I'd known all of that before, but hearing her say it was a little frightening. I couldn't help thinking about what happened to my last child. I prayed I would be able to do better by this one and forced a smile.

"I'm sure that the others are fighting right now," I went on. I had to believe that. I couldn't let myself dwell on the fact that they might be dead already, that those holes could've ejected them right off of the ship or led them down to the incinerator or something equally horrible. "So that means we have to, too. I can't give up. That's the last thing everyone would want me to do."

I turned to face the dark corridor again. Nothing had really changed, leaving me with the impression that for all the running I'd been doing I wasn't getting anywhere. But I had noticed that the slope of the ground was gradually getting higher, so I was almost positive that I hadn't run into some sort of a trap. Besides, where else could I go but forward? So I started walking again, this time with one eye on the floor just in case it decided to open up again and a much tighter grip on Chibi-Chibi. But it remained solid under my feet.

And gradually, the darkness started to become a little bit lighter. A red haze settled over everything, but at least I was able to see. I realized that I was walking up what might have been a staircase, had there been stairs, and we emerged from a hole in the floor into an enormous room. It looked chillingly familiar. I recognized the crystal spikes that made up the surroundings as the ones that had kept Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus captive the last time we had been here. That meant it was also the room where Rubeus had kept his power source. I wondered if he was stupid enough to do the same thing twice in a row.

As far as I could see, we were the only people or creatures in the room. I started walking around the edge of it slowly, searching for anything that might resemble the black ruby Rubeus had been using last time. But there was nothing. I looked at the crystal spikes instead, and I nearly dropped Chibi-Chibi on the floor when one of them flashed a bright shade of blue. I stared into the depths of the crystal, half-expecting to see the city floating below us, and saw something else instead. I gasped.

Berthier and Maker were fighting. She was throwing waves of freezing black ice at Maker, who was dodging them. Berthier was laughing, and I could see that her lips were moving as she spoke, but I couldn't hear anything. I could only watch as Maker abruptly turned and launched an attack that shot straight through the waves, hitting Berthier in the chest. She flew backwards and hit the opposite wall. Maker straightened up from where she'd been bent over with her hands on her knees, and I could see at a glance that she was exhausted and having trouble standing.

Berthier stirred from where she was sprawled on the ground. She was just getting back on her feet when the spike flickered and died. In the next instant I was left looking at my reflection. "No! Maker!" I cried out uselessly, beating my fist against the crystal a couple of times. I had to stop when my hand started to ache with pain, but it did nothing to quell my frustration. My friends were out there fighting, and while I knew they weren't dead there wasn't anything I could do to help them.

"Damn it," I said, closing my eyes against the renewed, hot sting of tears. It was only the fact that I knew it wouldn't help that kept me from crying again. Instead, I turned around. I'd obviously gone in the wrong direction. I'd go back down the hole and retrace my steps until I found the room we'd started in. If I had to, I'd wake Koan up and threaten her until she agreed to tell me how to stop Rubeus.

But the hole was gone. For a minute, I just stood there staring in disbelief. The ground was perfectly smooth, with absolutely no sign of the hole that Chibi-Chibi and I had come through not ten minutes ago. "I'm not going crazy, right? We did come through a huge hole in the floor that disappeared," I said, looking at Chibi-Chibi for confirmation.

Chibi-Chibi looked back up at me and nodded somberly. It was so cute that it almost made me smile. "I don't know what I would do without you," I told her, wondering what I should do next. We were basically trapped and I didn't have a lot of options. I could either keep searching the room and hope that I would find another exit, or I could start throwing attacks at the floor. The problem with that, of course, was that if Rubeus didn't know where I was that would definitely tell him. And I didn't know how much energy it would take to get through, but that could easily tire me out and leave us defenseless if he did show up.

I kept walking. What else could I do? I watched the walls carefully, just in case I got to see Fighter or Healer, and I was rewarded for my scrutiny when after about five minutes a crystal spike about ten feet ahead of me flashed bright yellow. I hurried forward just in time to see the color fade and leave Healer reflected in the depths. She was going head to head with Calaveras, who was holding her whip. Every time that Calaveras lashed out with it, Healer would dodge. She was pretty good at it, too. There was one bright red mark on her left shoulder and that was it, even though the room around them had been pretty much destroyed.

But Healer was beginning to get tired. That much was evident at a glance. She was moving more slowly, and then she stumbled. I wanted to close my eyes and look away, but I couldn't. "Healer!" I shouted helplessly, watching in horror as the whip snapped across the left side of her ribs. Healer doubled over and fell to one knee, clutching at her stomach, and Calaveras pulled the whip back. She was smirking as she said something to Healer, and then she started walking closer.

"No!" I squealed again as the spike flashed yellow, keeping me from seeing what was going to happen next. This was agonizing, getting these short little visions of what was going on but knowing any real detail. But at least I knew that the two of them were okay. I looked around the room, wondering, hoping that I would be able to see Fighter next.

Instead, I saw the last man I wanted to see. Rubeus was standing right in the middle of the room, arms folded, watching me. I had no idea how long he'd been there, but when he saw me looking at him he smiled. "Sailor Moon," he said, "or would you rather I called you Princess Serenity? There is no point in calling you Queen, seeing as how you're never going to make it that far."

"Rubeus." I set Chibi-Chibi down and gently pushed her behind me. "I'm not going to let you do this. I will protect the Earth no matter what it takes!"

"Proud words," he said with a smirk, dropping his hands to his sides. I tensed in preparation for an attack, but he made no move towards us. "What about the death of your precious friends? Would that be enough to deter you?"

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