Naru awoke from the heavy, pill-induced sleep to find that the room had become completely dark. Even the small utility light over the bathroom area was out, as was the little green light on the smoke detector over the bed. No light from the hallway came through the thin gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. The room was freezing. The hospital had central heating, because of course the crazy people couldn't be trusted not to burn themselves on a radiator or turn it up too hot or down too cold. But no warm air was coming in through the vents.

The power must have gone out. And the gas. But what would have made both of those fail? And why hadn't the emergency generators come on? Surely the mental hospital had emergency generators. The regular hospital did; they had come on once when ice had knocked down some power lines while Naru was there. She got out of bed and pushed herself up on her walker, and went to the window. The metal bars were icy cold against her face as she peered through them. Outside, there were no lights to be seen. No lights in the windows of other buildings, no car headlights, no streetlights. The signs for the hospital and the mental health institute were dark. The only light came from the moon, dimly shining through thin, ragged clouds. Here and there a gleam of moonlight glinted off a patch of ice. As Naru's eyes adjusted to the dark scene outside, strange, lumpy shapes became discernable. After puzzling for a few moments over what they were, she realized they were objects covered with a thick, heavy coat of ice.

Everything was still and silent outside. No movement at all. The ice storm, for that was what must have caused the intense cold and heavy layer of ice and the electricity and gas outages, must have driven everyone inside. No one would want to set foot outside in such intense cold and dangerous conditions.

Or was it really an ice storm? No matter what anyone tried to tell her about the monsters being a hallucination of her traumatized mind, she knew that this cold wasn't natural. Had whatever was causing it defeated the Senshi? Would the world be like this forever?

No. She had to believe that Sailor Moon would win. Sailor Moon always won, eventually. The final battle was going on right now, and when Naru woke up in the morning, the world would be back to the way it had been before. And, as had always happened before, no one but her would seem to remember that there had ever been anything wrong. Even Usagi seemed to forget, sometimes, for a time. But Naru never forgot any of it.

The cold and the after-effects of her pills made her feel sleepy again. She put both track suits on top of her pajamas and two pairs of socks on her feet, then huddled in bed under the covers, trying to warm up. Finally she stopped shivering and went to sleep.

* * * * * * * *

She woke again, feeling sick. The room was still dark, still cold, still silent. There was no point in getting up; nothing had changed, and she couldn't bring herself to leave her bed. She lay awake, sweating, chilled, and shaking, thoughts and memories and dreams chasing each other around in her mind. The nurse coming in, waking her up to give her her meds, would be a welcome relief. It had to be time, or past time, for her midnight dose; the chills, shakes, and nausea made her think of withdrawal symptoms. Whatever Dr. Tajima was having her take, she was sure it wasn't a good idea to miss a dose.

* * * * * * * *

The next time she woke, the withdrawal symptoms were gone, even though the nurse never did come in with the meds. Actually, Naru realized, for having missed a dose of her pain pills, she wasn't hurting very much at all. She held her hands out flat in front of her. They weren't as shaky as before. The sweat on the bedsheets and pillow had dried, leaving them stiff. Naru tried standing up with the walker. She felt weak, but it seemed easier than the last time she got up.

Nothing had changed outside, except that either the moon had set or the clouds had thickened. Her eyes adjusted to the very small amount of starlight that was available. A large tree in the middle of the plaza between the medical center and the mental hospital seemed to have lost a large branch, and a wooden bench near it looked like it had collapsed from the weight of the ice.

She was starving. She had taken to hoarding food; meals were served only three times a day, and no matter how hungry you said you were, you couldn't get anything extra brought up. So Naru saved bits from her meals that would keep, mostly crackers and pieces of fruit. Fresh fruit had become scarce because of the cold weather that had covered the earth, but there was usually a packet of raisins or dried apricots or cherries. Naru went to the dresser and opened the drawer where she had stashed her food. It was too dark to see what was in there, so she felt around and found three packets of rice crackers and two of dried fruit. She took out one of each.

The crackers were stale, hard and tasteless. They should have still been fresh; she had only had them for a few days. It was too dark to read the use-by date. Maybe the hospital had gotten a bad batch. Still, it was food, so she made herself chew and swallow them. The dried cherries were almost too hard to chew. Naru went to the bathroom sink to pour some water into her plastic cup to soften them in, but no water came from the faucet. The pipes were probably frozen. She put the cherries in her mouth to soften, and was finally able to mash them up enough with her teeth to swallow them.

* * * * * * * *

The next time Naru woke up, it was still dark, cold, and quiet. Again she made her way with the walker over to the window, though this time she seemed to be able to move even more easily than before, as though she had finally finished healing. So strange that so much had changed in less than one night. What time was it, anyway?

Outside, there was still no light, no sign that the power had come back on anywhere, no sign that dawn was near. The night seemed to be lasting forever. Naru went back to bed and tried to make herself comfortable in the rumpled bedsheets and clothing that kept wanting to bunch up.

* * * * * * * *

Umino came to her, smiling and playing a tin whistle he'd had back in junior high school.

I thought you were dead, she said to him.

Why would you think that? he asked. Sailor Moon always saves us. Isn't that right?

He looked to his side. Standing there, shadowed, was a tall man with long wavy hair. This man nodded. She saved me. Don't you remember, Naru-chan?

Of course Sailor Moon had saved him. Silly her, thinking all these years that he was dead! But she was married to Umino now, so that was a problem. Naru stood paralyzed, wondering what to do. Then her mother appeared at Umino's other side. She had a tiny baby in her arms, as tiny as a doll; as tiny as one of those miniature dolls that came with their own tiny dollhouse rooms, that she had collected when she was little. The baby was sitting in the palm of her mother's hand. It's past your bedtime, Naru-chan, her mother said. You have to come home now. Do you like your new baby brother?

But that's not your baby, it's mine, Naru wanted to say, but the words were blocked by something in her throat. Her mother put the baby in the pocket of Naru's school jacket, while Umino and the man who really was dead, only he didn't know it, stood smiling at her, waiting for her to choose between them. Come home, Naru-chan, her mother said, pulling on her jacket to drag her along. Naru tried to stay, if she didn't choose soon, it would be too late....

"Wait!" Naru cried out. She awoke to find her sleeves and pant legs all bunched up and the blankets twisted around her body, binding her like a mummy. The room was still dark and cold. Would the morning ever come?

Her mind darted from thought to thought. She directed it to the feeling she had had for that one brief moment in her dream, when she thought Nephrite was still alive, before she remembered that she had separated herself from him forever by marrying Umino. That one brief moment of joy, when everything was all right, as nothing had been right since he had said should go eat chocolate parfaits together, right before the monsters came.

And then the guilt came back. How could she think that nothing had been right with Umino? He had been good to her. He had been there when she needed a friend. He had tried to protect her in the car crash. While she was in the hospital, she had asked the doctor if Umino had died because he was protecting her with his body. If he hadn't been trying to protect her, would he have lived? The doctor had said no. Umino's protection might have helped Naru survive, but he certainly would have been killed no matter what. The amazing thing was that anyone at all had survived what the paramedics had judged to be an unsurvivable accident.

He hadn't died because he was trying to save her. She wouldn't let herself feel guilty about that, at least. Umino had wanted her to live. He had been good to her; she should never think that she had made a mistake by marrying him. Nephrite had given his life to protect her, he would have wanted her to find a way to be happy.

Naru lay staring into the dark room, her thoughts spinning around and around each other. She longed for sound; anything at all. There was no radio in the room; apparently radios were bad for crazy people. If she could only listen to some music to block out her thoughts. Or any sound at all. The nurse coming in to give her her meds. A bird singing. Cars in the street. Anything.

The only source of sound available was her own voice. Naru began singing the silly pop song that she and Umino had practiced for the ill-fated talent competition so long ago. Her voice, small and weak as it was, filled the empty silence a bit, and concentrating on the song pushed back the thoughts and memories and sorrow and guilt. She sang until her voice grew hoarse, then she continued humming to herself until she fell asleep.

* * * * * * * *

Warmth stirred in Usagi's bones, strength flowed through her muscles. It's time, you are ready, the delicate voice chimed. Usagi opened her eyes to a gray, ice-covered world. She stretched, the coating of ice that had covered her crackling and melting with her movement. How strange, she thought, looking at the other Senshi as they began to stir, breaking their own blankets of ice. We should have frozen to death. How long has it been? she asked the voice.

Sailor Pluto has waited at the Gates of Time all this time. She can tell you.

Usagi stood up. Her body seemed strangely graceful, especially after being still and frozen for so long. The other Senshi got to their feet, as did Tuxedo Kamen. Yuuichirou still lay curled up where he and Rei had been. Rei knelt next to him, trying to shake him awake. "I think he's alive, but he won't wake up," Rei said, pressing fingers to the pulse point on her husband's neck.

"Do not fear, he will awaken with everyone else," Usagi said, knowing the truth of what she said. Her voice felt and sounded different--lofty and serene. She picked up her staff from the ground and held it straight in front of her with both arms. The other Senshi arranged themselves next to her, hands on her arms and shoulders to lend her their strength. Usagi took a deep breath, centering herself. At one time she had feared that when the time came she wouldn't be able to do this, but now, all doubts were gone. This was what she had been born for.

"Moon Crystal Healing Earth Revival!" she cried out, and flung her arms open wide, the staff in her right hand.

A wave of warmth and light shot out, not only from the staff. Usagi's whole body radiated with power, driving back the dull gray cold. The frantic anger of the Children of Zero at their sudden defeat buzzed and hummed in her ears. Numerous though they were, thousands upon thousands or even millions of them drifting through the dead, colorless, lightless, frozen utopia they had made, they couldn't withstand what her power had become, what she had become.

The warm, bright power flowed off of her, melting the ice, shredding the dull, thick blanket of clouds that hung low in the sky, driving the Children of Zero away from the world they thought they had conquered and back to the cold, distant reaches of the dimension they had come from. Sunlight broke through the haze and every tree and plant it touched burst into green, vibrant life.