Hotaru’s words made a proud smirk rise to the corner of Haruka’s mouth, but it faded as she marched towards the tent. Inside, there were no signs of life save for the sound of their steps on the floor. The further they went, the lesser the remnants of light coming from behind them got. Haruka kept scanning their surroundings as minutes passed, preparing herself for an attack. But it was impossible to predict where one could come from in this darkness.  

Suddenly, a jab of pain hit her from behind, knocking her off balance. Realization hit her on the spot – they had been ambushed.

“Watch out!” she yelled, but her warning was irretrievably late.  

Haruka raised her sword as Lemures attacked them from all directions, forcing the group on defense. When one fell, two new ones replaced its place, and soon they were in the middle of a full-out battle.  

Then, what little light had been illuminating their battleground dimmed out, followed by a sudden force hitting them – like the space inside the tent was being warped, and they with it. Alarmed, Haruka reached her free hand for the others’ in an attempt to keep their group together, but her hand came to a stop in the air.

She couldn’t move.

Gritting her teeth, she tried again. They were not defeated, they were still standing. If their enemy thought they would give up so easily, they were mistaken.

But then a new wave hit them, and her vision went black.

___

Little by little, darkness gave way to light. When Haruka opened her eyes, she was met by thick fog clouding her vision, clinging to her skin. Cold stones dug into her palms when she leaned on her hands for support. Head still spinning, she turned around to inspect the place, but there wasn’t much to see. No matter where she looked, rocky ground veiled by fog was all that surrounded her. The still air felt heavy on her shoulders, not even the slightest breeze of wind brushing her hair.

Something was off about this place. Everything was so still - too still.

Chastising herself for not being careful enough, Haruka stood up with a grunt. It was better to keep moving than stay as an easy target. As she started walking, one thought surfaced to the front of her mind; what had happened to her companions? Could she find them?

What was this place?

Sailor Saturn cautiously sat up, wiping dust from her uniform, looking around. It was unfamiliar. Nondescript. So far, she seemed alone. That wasn't right, was it? There should be others. Or was it right? She furrowed her brow, touching a gloved hand to her forehead. The violet eyes looked at the stone floor, learning nothing from it.

What had we been doing? she wondered, struggling to recall her most recent actions.

The young girl pulled herself to her feet, hoping for more clarity from another angle. She gained none. Saturn looked at her outfit again, noting that she had transformed at some point, and knew that something wasn't the way it should be. Her comrades... they should be nearby. She wouldn't have fought without them. The other outer soldiers... she needed to find them.

She glanced around, cautious, but she heard no sounds other than the sounds of her own footsteps and breathing. She felt nothing—no ominous presence or evil energy. Similarly, she did not yet sense her friends. Typically she had at least some kind of idea, some intuitive flicker that they were nearby. This had to mean something.

She narrowed her eyes, resisting the unreasonable urge to call out to them in this murky darkness. No, that would only put her in danger. Her body was young, but her mind was old. Careful.

The sailor soldier of destruction continue onwards, always wary, looking for clues.

No sooner had they stepped into the tent did they get ambushed. Neptune was immediately engaged in battle, straining to see in the darkness, seeming to fight phantoms she couldn’t see as she frantically tried to defend against their blows and attempt to anticipate where the next one would come from. She had completely lost track of the others, and worry for them distracted her further.

There was blackness for a moment, she thought. She didn’t know exactly what happened, but one moment she was fighting, the next she felt dizzy, everything spun, and then black.

When she opened her eyes again, the place seemed unfamiliar. It was eerily quiet, as if no one else was around. This kind of loneliness… Neptune shivered. She could not see much, except for the thin fog that seemed to hang in the air. Unnatural.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” she managed to call out, her voice deceptively steady. “Uranus? Saturn? Pluto?”