Disclaimer: I own no part of Sailor Moon or any of it's characters.

A/N: Alright, the prologue to the sequel to Out of the Abyss. It will be competing with Silk and Steel for my attention, but I'll try to be fair. Thanks for everyone who read Abyss, which, by the way, you will want to read before attempting this one, and everyone who read A Woman's Beauty. That chapter will be appearing soon in all it's full glory. Thanks everybody! Now on to the story.

She saw eternity.

Planets…

Stars…

Galaxies…

Everything.

She floated in the sea of space, turning her eyes slowly this way and that. If she focused her sight, she could see every mountain, every valley and crater in a planet's surface. Yet if she let herself relax, let her mind drift, she could see all of it.

More than that, if she reached out with one hand, she was certain she would be able to touch anything, or everything.

Yet she reached for nothing. She let herself rest in the arms of the universe, let her soul lie unmoving, without want, without need, in simple silence. She let her eyes lose their focus, and instead listened.

The stars were singing to her. Some were joyous, some sad, some tired, some curious. Apart, they were a complex medley of emotions and memories.

Together, they were complete.

"Let me stay like this…forever…"

Yet something came to her. A star's song that stood out from all the rest. A song that sounded familiar, and sparked a tenderness in her heart.

"I know that song. I know…"

She turned her attention towards the song. There, glowing a deep carnelian color, a star sang in increasingly agitated tones. Four planets danced around it, one deep emerald, one dark violet, one vibrant sapphire, and one delicate pink.

"But…no. You're—"

Before she could finish, the star exploded in a flash of golden light.

"INANNA!"

Around her, the song of the stars erupted into screams of shock and fear as the star Inanna ruptured in a wave of fire and death. The planets shrieked, and galaxies moaned in horror.

Then Inanna began to collapse in on herself.

"No! Inanna, don't! You can't bring them back with despair! Inanna!"

The galaxies echoed with her cries, and the stars took up the warning.

"Inanna," they whispered. "Inanna, beware. Beware the darkness."

She reached out, trying desperately to reach the star before it was too late. But Inanna continued to shrink...and slowly, slithering out of nothing to wrap around her glow, came tendrils of darkness.

"Inanna! The Abyss—"

Then it came.

The sound of the Abyss. The screams, the shrieks, the moans and groans and wails. They crashed down like waves, battering the very universe with ripples of unspeakable darkness.

"Inanna!"

"PRINCESS."

The darkness lunged out to seize her.

She recoiled, rushing through the stars as the Abyss tried to capture her. The darkness began to spread, to seep out, beyond Inanna and her children. It rolled over the stars and planets and galaxies in its hunger, its unending need to devour her.

"No! Stop it!"

"YOU CANNOT STOP US, PRINCESS OF THE MOON!"

"Serenity!"

Very softly she heard it, the familiar song of that carnelian star. She heard Inanna's voice, calling to her.

"Serenity! Help me! Don't leave me!"

"Stop it! Stop! STOP!"

Serenity jerked her head up and faced the darkness.

"Liar!"

The wave slowed, as though wary of approaching her.

Her righteous anger burned bright as any star as she turned on the Abyss.

"You are made up of lies!" she hissed. "This is another one of your tricks! Inanna is beyond your power now! I saved her!"

"YES. YES, YOU TOOK OUR RIGHTFUL PREY, HEIR TO SERENITY."

She heard it in those voices…the voices of four queens and five kings, caught forever in a trap of their own making. She heard the hate, for the descendant of the one who was not caught with them.

"BLOOD OF A TRAITOR," the Abyss hissed. "TREACHEROUS BLOOD!"

"Shut up! I won't listen to you!" Serenity shouted. "You are so twisted you couldn't speak the truth if you even knew it!"

"WE KNOW! YOUR BLOOD LEFT US IN THIS HELL!"

"Don't lie!"

She struck out with one hand.

Laughter shrieked from the Abyss, and it lunged yet again to get hold of her. She felt the icy darkness wrap around her fingers and her wrist. She felt again the pain she had known the night she followed Inanna into the Abyss, the night she had lost her last connection with the Queen of the Silver Millennium. Her flesh began to peel away from her muscle and bone.

She clenched her teeth on a scream.

"This isn't real!"

"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE US, ROYAL MOON BRAT! WE DO NOT EXIST IN YOUR REALITY! WE DO NOT PLAY BY YOUR RULES!"

There was a flare of brilliant light. The Abyss screamed, and suddenly she was free. She fell back, and looked around.

One by one, like holes punched in a black blanket, the stars returned. Their light grew, intensified, until they drove the Abyss back.

"Run," the stars whispered in their strange chorus. "Run away! You cannot defeat the dark!"

Serenity turned, and looked at the maw of darkness where once Inanna had shone.

"RUN, LITTLE PRINCESS. WE WILL SEE YOU SOON."

She let her soul begin to drift backwards, back towards her body. She gave one last glance to the beauty of the universe, and a glare to the Abyss.

"I'll be waiting for you, every time."

Just as her eyes began to close, she heard, one last time, the song of Inanna.

"Serenity…"

She put out her hand as though to touch the dead star.

There was a flash of pink, a song like the most perfect soprano, and a sharp pain in her palm.

Usagi jolted awake, her eyes wide open, her body shaking with suppressed fear and rage. She looked around quickly to assure herself she was safe. Behind her she heard a soft sigh.

"Usagi? Are you okay?"

"Hai. Just a dream."

"Another nightmare?"

"Hai."

An arm appeared, wrapping loosely around her waist. She felt breath on the back of her neck.

"Go back to sleep, Usagi. I'm here."

"Arigatou, Rei-chan."

There came a soft laugh, as the other girl read all there was to be heard in those words.

"Shut up, Odango."

Usagi rolled over. Rei opened her arms, and let her snuggle close, burying her face in the miko's shoulder. She ran her hands gently over the golden hair cascading loose down Usagi's back.

"I'm here. It's just a dream."

Usagi let herself be lulled by her friend's voice. She let herself believe that she was safe. She let herself fall back into quieter dreams.

It wasn't until the next morning that she saw the cut on the palm of her hand.