Out of Time

AN: …and the votes are in! The time-traveling idea wins.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon….I'm just playing in Naoko Takeuchi's sandbox.

Prologue: The First Shift

It was early evening, and the light of day was just beginning to yield to the shadows of night. Fall was giving way to winter, and the leaves had just begun to turn red. In the city of Chicago, Illinois, the sky was gold and clear. The city was still alive and bustling, and traffic was an utter nightmare. In one particular car, a violet haired woman screamed, "Mister, GET YOUR THUMB OUT OF YOUR ASS AND DRIVE!" The blonde teenager in the back snickered softly, and between giggles, managed to say; "Wow, Mom. Talk about road rage! You're almost as bad as Amara."

Ilene Tsukino flashed a glare at her daughter and snapped, "Well, this idiot in front of me is driving twenty miles under the speed limit!"

The blonde girl dared to twit her mother, and replied with mock prim-ness, "I do hope you don't talk like this in front of Sammy; you'd be setting a terrible example for him."

Ilene let out a snort of laughter, and sighed. "I suppose I deserved that," she admitted, smiling affectionately at her only daughter. "I'm sorry, Serena."

"It's cool, Mom. It's just that my friends think you're so sweet and nice; it's always like; 'Serena, your mom is so nice. She never has anything bad to say about anyone.' Man, if they could hear you now…" the blonde burst out laughing again.

"What do you say we turn on the radio? Maybe that will give me something to do besides yell at the idiots that are on the road tonight."

"Sure," Serena replied. "Just don't turn Justin Bieber on."

"Okay, honey." Ilene turned on a country music station, and Serena made no objection, so Toby Keith came blasting out of the speakers. They stopped at a red light, and Serena looked out the window, just as a pickup truck came barreling through a stop light to the left.

"MOM!" Serena screamed. The truck was coming straight at them, at such a speed that one needed only the most basic knowledge of physics to see the danger. Serena turned to her mother in terror. Ilene looked back, and whispered, "I love you, Serena. Close your eyes." The blonde obeyed, bracing herself for the pain that she was certain to feel. She heard the sickening thud of metal giving way to an even larger projectile, the momentum creating even more damage. She felt a sharp pain on her left cheek, and then, a pulling sensation in her abdominal area.

The next thing she noticed was the unusual silence. A burst of cold air flashed across her injured cheek, whispering through her hair in the same moment. Why was it so cold? Her eyes flew open. "What…?" she whispered, gazing about her in confusion and no small amount of fear. Long gone was the street where she and her mother had been. Trees surrounded her, and there was no sign of another soul to be found.

"Where am I?" she whimpered.