"The dark spots on the sun have continued to spread at an unusual pace," the newscaster on the tv said, "natural disasters believed to be caused by this strange phenomenon are occurring all over the world."

"This is bad," Zwei said as he sat on Yang's lap as the two watched tv. It had been a few days since the battle with Roman and the little corgi was still covered in bandages.

Yang nodded in agreement, "yeah we have to act fast. This has got to be part of Queen Salem's invasion."

"Dinner's ready!" Ruby shouted as she walked out of the kitchen carrying plates.

Yang, her mother, father, and cousin all headed to the table as Ruby placed the food in front of them.

"Wow Ruby it sure looks...interesting," Taiyang said trying to smile, "thank you for cooking dinner for us."

"Oh it's nothing really," Ruby said.

Kyle pulled out a length of chives from his bowl, it appeared like Ruby hadn't cut them at all and the vegetable looked more like an accordion.

"Are you sure it's edible?" Kyle asked.

"Of course!" Ruby said before taking a big bite.

Everyone stared to wait for her reaction and were shocked to see Ruby begin to cry.

"Ruby are you ok?" Raven asked.

"Y-yeah," Ruby swallowed the huge mouthful, "it's just...spicy..."

Everyone looked down at their plates and sighed.

———————————————————————

Later that evening, Ruby and Yang, along with the other sailor scouts, had gathered at Oniyuri Temple. They were ready to finally take this fight to Salem.

"Everyone ready?" Yang asked.

Nora cracked her knuckles, "yeah let's do this."

"No turning back now I suppose," Blake said.

Ruby quickly tapped on Cinder's shoulder, "hey Cinder...did you remember to give Charlie a kiss goodbye?"

Cinder whipped around, "and why would I do that?!"

"Geez I was only asking, in case something happens I just wanted to make sure you don't have any regrets you know?"

"Well I won't have any regrets because nothing is going to happen!" Cinder said defensively.

"Rubes nothing is going to happen to us ok?" Yang said.

Ruby didn't look so sure.

"Is that why you made dinner for us tonight? So you wouldn't regret anything?" The blonde asked her sister.

Ruby nodded slowly, "I just...wanted to make sure that mom and dad knew I loved them. In case we don't make it back."

Yang hugged her sister tightly, "hey we will, don't worry."

Nora stretched her arms above her head, "I don't know about you guys but I think I'm ready for all this Queen Salem fighting to be over."

"Me too. When it's over I think I might try and find a partner," Blake said, though she thought she had said that last part in her head.

The girls all turned to look at her and the cat faunus buried her blushing red face into her scarf.

"Ok girls it's time," Zwei said, "transform and let's do this."

The sailor scouts all nodded.

"Moon prism power!"

"Mercury power!"

"Mars power!"

"Jupiter power!"

"Venus power!"

Their magic items glowed and turned them into the sailor scouts.

"Ok girls now stand in a circle and hold hands," Zwei said.

The scouts nodded and did so.

"Do you feel each other's energy flowing between you."

They all nodded again.

"Good," Zwei said, "harness that and think of where you want to go, Remnant's North Pole."

Glowing auras began surrounding each girl, each a different color. The air seemed to hum with energy.

"Now! Sailor teleport!" Zwei shouted.

"Sailor teleport!" The sailor scouts shouted in unison.

In another flash of light the girls all vanished, leaving behind a smoking ring in the dirt where they had just been.

"Good luck sailor scouts," the corgi muttered.

————————————————————————

Sailor Moon shivered as she and the other girls stood in the ankle deep snow, snowflakes and icy wind whipping around them.

"Geez it's freezing!" She said.

"If you move around you won't feel it as much," Sailor Mars said.

"Easy for you to say miss soldier of fire!"

Sailor Mercury tapped into her mini data computer and looked around the frozen landscape.

"There I got it!" She pointed in front, "there's dark energy readings coming from that way."

"Then let's hurry up and get there," Sailor Jupiter said.

The other girls nodded and together they began making their way across the snowy tundra.

——————————————————————

"Well it seems the sailor scouts have come to pay us a visit," Queen Salem said as she watched the girls in the reflection of her seer grimm.

She stood to address her subjects, "who wants to be their welcoming party? Any volunteers?"

A clicking noise was heard as five humanoid creatures stumbled forward, they were quite tall, with long arms that reached down as far as the ground and extremely long fingers. They had hideous faces, resembling skulls, two were even lacking nostrils, and they all had low-hanging jaws.

"The Apathy grimm. Perfect," Salem said with a nod of approval. These grimm were some of her finest work, they were extremely powerful in packs and were known to even drain the very fight out of their adversaries.

With a wave of her hand she sent the grimm to the sailor scouts' location.

———————————————————————

"Shouldn't be much longer now," Sailor Mercury said, "the energy readings are getting stronger."

Suddenly, the wind, which had previously been blowing fiercely around the girls, ceased and everything went dead silent. The sky began to darken to a indigo colored hue.

"Here they come, get ready," Sailor Venus said.

The girls all looked around anxiously, preparing themselves for an attack.

Suddenly, out of the fog, a figure began to appear. Whoever, or whatever, it was was suspended above the snow, their arms out to the side and tied with ropes.

"Is that-" Sailor Moon saw the figure become clearer, "Tuxedo Mask!"

Indeed that's exactly who it was, except his clothes had become torn and dirty and he was covered in cuts and bruises.

"Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Moon shouted and she tried to run to her friend.

Sailor Venus quickly put her arm out in front of her sister to hold her back, "wait it's probably a trap. Mercury scan him and see what's going on."

Sailor Mercury nodded and began doing just that.

"Sailor Moon...help me," Tuxedo Mask said weakly.

"It has to be him..." Sailor Moon said, "I'm sorry I can't let him stay there suffering!"

"Ruby!" Sailor Venus shouted as her sister ran forward.

Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter quickly jumped onto the moon heroine, pinning her down into the snow.

"Let me go you guys!" Sailor Moon shouted.

Just then, Tuxedo Mask's eyes began to glow red and Sailor Mercury got a reading of a surge of dark energy on her computer.

"Get back guys that's a monster!" She shouted.

'Tuxedo Mask' faded away revealing an Apathy grimm. It extended its long, shadowy, skeletal arms and tried to grab at the scouts.

Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars barely had time to grab Sailor Moon and roll out of the way as the monster's clawed hands closed on nothing but snow.

"You ok?" Sailor Jupiter asked.

Sailor Moon nodded.

The grimm floated into the air and the other four members of its pack appeared behind it. They all stared blankly at the scouts.

"Looks like they're waiting for us to make the first move," Sailor Mars said.

The grimm faded away once more and Tuxedo Mask reappeared.

Sailor Moon almost ran back to him but Sailor Venus stopped her before she could.

"Don't fall for it again!" Sailor Venus chastised her.

"But what if this time it's really him?"

Sailor Jupiter looked back at her friend and scowled, "I've already had enough of these things playing with my friends' feelings."

She crossed her arms over her chest and extended her pinkies and pointer fingers upward, "Jupiter thunder-"

Just then Tuxedo Mask faded away and was instead replaced by Jaune, on his knees in the snow, tied up.

"Jaune?" Sailor Jupiter faltered.

Her moment of hesitation was just what the Apathy needed. All five of them burst from the ground and elongated their arms as far as they would go. Their clawed limbs wrapped around Sailor Jupiter's body, pinning her in place, she was trapped.

"Sailor Jupiter!" Sailor Moon shouted.

The grimm began slowly floating into the air still keeping the lightning heroine captured between them.

"Let her go!" The moon heroine said.

She took off her tiara where it promptly turned into a discus, "Moon tiara-"

Sailor Mars clasped her hands together with her pointer fingers facing upward, "Mars fire-"

But before the two girls could finish their attacks the Apathy all pulled the trapped sailor scout toward them and stayed huddled around her. If Sailor Moon or Sailor Mars tried anything now they would almost certainly hurt their friend in the process.

"They aren't gonna let us get close," Sailor Mars said.

Sailor Jupiter strained to turn her head to her friends, "don't worry about me girls, keep going toward Queen Salem."

She suddenly cried out in pain as the apathy began to drain her energy.

"So that's how you wanna play huh?" She asked wincing.

Lightning began to crackle around her.

"Jupiter thunder crash!"

A large bolt of lightning came down toward the Apathy and Sailor Jupiter. Three of the grimm were able to let go and avoid being fried but the other two and the captured lightning heroine weren't so lucky. The lightning struck them head on. The resulting explosion was so bright the other scouts had to avert their eyes.

Once the smoke cleared the sailor scouts saw that the two Apathy caught in the attack were dead. They were slowly turning to black ash. Sailor Jupiter was laying on a large, jagged piece of ice. Lichtenberg scars covered her body and she seemed to be unconscious.

"Nora!!" Sailor Moon shouted as she ran to her friend.

She kneeled next to her and slowly took her hand in hers, "Nora...."

Sailor Jupiter opened her eyes a fraction of an inch, "hey..."

"Just hold on Nora! I'll heal you!"

But her friend weakly placed her other hand on her arm, "don't...save your magic for Salem."

Sailor Moon was stunned, "but if I don't heal you-"

"I'll be ok," Sailor Jupiter forced out a small smile, "you girls just go on without me."

The moon heroine shook her head and tears began to pour down her face, "no! We don't leave anyone behind you know that!"

But Sailor Jupiter went quiet as her eyes slowly closed once more and her breathing stopped. She was gone.

"Nora? Nora!!" Sailor Moon shouted hysterically, "Nora wake up!! C'mon you can't leave us!"

The other three scouts began quietly crying as well, but they also knew they had to keep going. Sailor Venus quickly raced over and grabbed her sister before pulling her away.

"No let me go Yang!" Sailor Moon shouted as her older sister practically dragged her.

"Ruby we have to keep moving," Sailor Venus said.

But the silver eyed teen wasn't listening. She looked up at the sky and screamed, "Salem you win! You want my wand?! Come get it I'll give it to you. Just bring Nora back..."

"Sailor Moon," Sailor Mercury said, "don't let Jupiter's death be in vain. We have to keep fighting."

Sailor Moon sniffled before nodding slowly.

Suddenly, Sailor Mercury's mini data computer began beeping. She looked down and saw three red dots coming toward them.

"The monsters are coming back. You three keep going that way I'll hold them off and catch up."

Sailor Mars shook her head, "no way. After what just happened we're sticking together."

"I'll be fine I promise," Sailor Mercury said with a smile, "plus you and Venus are stronger than I am. Sailor Moon needs your support more than mine."

Sailor Moon began to tear up, "Sailor Mercury you're not gonna-"

The cat faunus gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm not gonna die, I promise."

Sailor Venus gave her a sad smile before she and Sailor Mars and Sailor Moon began running in the opposite direction.

Sailor Mercury was now alone and she faced the approaching monsters with a determined look, "Come get me."

Suddenly, Sun appeared before her, and, similar to the illusion of Jaune had been, he was tied up and looked like he was hurt.

Sailor Mercury's eyes widened and she almost walked toward her friend until she realized this was yet another illusion by the Apathy grimm.

"That won't work this time," she pressed her right earring and a purple transparent visor appeared over her eyes. She scanned the figure before her revealing that, as suspected, it was an Apathy poised and ready to attack.

After a moment of the water heroine not moving the grimm realized she would not be falling for their tricks. So, they dispelled the illusion and instead hit the ground hard with their spindly arms. This caused the ground to crack open and erupt with a huge wave of lava in front of the sailor scout.

She held her hands out in front of her, "Mercury bubbles blast!"

She sent out a stream of purple bubbles from her hands at the approaching lava. As they popped the resulting fog began to cool the lava down. By the time the lava wave reached her it had solidified to rock

The apathy then burst out of the rock and leaped into the air. Putting their arms together they formed a huge lava boulder overhead and dropped it on Sailor Mercury. She quickly jumped out of the way before it could crush her.

She stumbled backward and pulled out her computer again to scan the boulder.

"This feels real but it's just another illusion," she said to herself.

She heard her computer beep again and saw that it had zeroed in on the center apathy's forehead, the one who had a third eye.

"That's gotta be the one making the illusion..."

Sailor Mercury saw that the grimm again were waiting for her to make a move and she realized what she had to do. The only way to stop the illusions was to destroy the source itself.

Thinking fast, the water heroine encased herself in a water bubble preventing her from being burned and jumped into the boulder illusion.

She was about to use her powers on the grimm when the two flanking their leader grabbed her, wrapped their arms tightly around her, and began to electrocute her.

The cat faunus screamed in pain and the monsters began to up the voltage.

"I can't let them win, I have to protect the others," Sailor Mercury said as she felt herself beginning to black out.

She shakily tried to raise her right hand, which still had her computer clenched tightly in it.

"I guess I won't be needing this anymore..." she muttered.

Using the last of her strength, Sailor Mercury forced her body to lean forward, despite her torso and arms still being pinned, and slammed the computer into the leader apathy's eye. The computer shattered as did part of the monster's face.

Illusion powers no more, the boulder disappeared and the grimm let go of their captive before vanishing themselves.

Sailor Mercury's limp body collapsed into the snow.

———————————————————————

As the other three sailor scouts were walking they suddenly all felt a pang in their hearts.

Sailor Moon turned to the direction where they had left Sailor Mercury.

"Blake...she's dead," she said before once again beginning to sob, "but she promised she wouldn't..."

Sailor Mars quickly wiped her own tears away, "Sailor Moon we have to keep going, they're gonna keep attacking and besides remember what Blake said? We can't let their sacrifices be in vain."

But Sailor Moon didn't seem to hear her and she fell to her knees and continued to cry.

"Sailor Moon-" the fire heroine tried again, but she noticed that the ice under her friend was beginning to glow. Thinking fast, she ran forward and pushed Sailor Moon out of the way as the Apathy's arms shot out from under the ice and grabbed her.

"Sailor Mars no!" Sailor Moon shouted.

The grimm dragged the captive sailor scout down under the ice.

"Let her go! I'll give you the crystal! I swear! Don't take anyone else!"

But the grimm ignored her as they began to zap Sailor Mars with electricity and drain her of her energy.

The fire heroine began to cry out and struggled to open her eyes as the Apathy continued to torture her.

Shakily she raised her right hand which was still wrapped up in the Apathy's arm.

"Mars...fire...." She pressed her palm to the grimm in front of her, "ignite!!"

Fire burst from her hand causing an explosion, killing both the grimm holding Sailor Mars and the sailor scout herself. The ground exploded outward into a mound of ice. Sailor Mars' lifeless body rested on top, still wrapped in the slowly evaporating grimm.

————————————————————————

"Cinder! Cinder!!" Sailor Moon cried out in anguish as Sailor Venus dragged her away.

The moon heroine began to smack her sister's arm, "Yang let me go! This isn't worth it."

Her sister sighed and turned to her, "Ruby listen to me. Whatever is about to happen. I had fun being a sailor scout with you."

Sailor Moon looked stunned, "what are you saying?"

But Sailor Venus didn't have time to answer as the two remaining Apathy appeared before them. They stood, poised and ready for another fight.

Sailor Moon practically launched herself at Sailor Venus and hung onto her upper arm,
"Yang please...please don't fight them. I'll take care of them then Queen Salem ok?! Why don't you just find a way to get home."

Sailor Venus pried her little sister off of her, "Sailor Moon I appreciate it really. But I can't let you waste your power on these guys. I'll hold them off." Winking she added, "We both know I'm the strongest. I'm not gonna die watch me. Give me two minutes and we can take on Salem together."

But Sailor Moon was anything but confident.

Sailor Venus stood prepared to attack. She pointed her index fingers up at the grimm who were hovering in the air.

"Venus crescent-"

But the grimm dove underground before she could finish her attack.

"The heck?" Sailor Venus asked looking down at the ground.

The Apathy then emerged from under feet at startling speed, bringing up large chunks of ice with them. In seconds they had encased Sailor Venus in an ice mountain.

Sailor Moon stared at the ground in pure shock, "What...what happened? Had the grimm really just taken the last of her friends away from her?

Slowly she stepped forward to see if she could still reach her sister inside the icy trap, but one of the Apathy suddenly emerged out the ice and dove to attack her, drawn in by her sadness.

Sailor Moon didn't even move. She had completely lost the will to fight.

As she closed her eyes to accept her fate a bright beam of light shot out of the side of the ice mountain and destroyed the attacking Apathy. Sailor Venus was still alive.

"Yang!" Sailor Moon cried out.

But the final grimm didn't like that its prey was still fighting back. It began to electrocute the sailor scout. Soon the ice mountain cracked open and the final Apathy emerged holding the limp body of Sailor Venus in its claws. Putting her down, it slowly stalked forward to finish Sailor Moon.

"No you don't!" Sailor Venus shouted before lunging forward and grabbing the long spindly arm of the grimm.

"Venus crescent beams, smash!!" She screamed, golden light exploding out from her hand and destroying the grimm instantly.

However, this proved to be too much for her body, as as soon as her adversary was done Sailor Venus slumped forward.

Sailor Moon ran to her and began shaking her shoulders, "Yang! Yang c'mon wake up! I can't lose you too...."

Sailor Venus slowly pried her eyes open and gave her sister a sad smile, "I'm sorry...you'll have to face Queen Salem without me. Just know that I love you little sister."

With that her eyes closed once more and she was gone.

———————————————————————

"Nora...Blake...Cinder...even Yang, they're all gone," Sailor Moon said sadly to herself as she sat alone in the snow. She felt completely numb. She couldn't even cry anymore.

She pulled her legs to her chest, "maybe this is some horrible nightmare. I'll wake up tomorrow and everything will be fine."

She burrowed her head in her knees, "that has to be it..."

Suddenly she felt a soft hand on her shoulder.

"Hey there's no need to be sad..." a voice said.

Sailor Moon whipped around to see Sailor Jupiter's spirit smiling at her.

"Be strong Ruby," Sailor Mercury's spirit said as it appeared to her left.

"Don't give up hope," Sailor Mars' spirit said from her right.

Sailor Venus' spirit appeared in front of her, "Ruby...you need to get up."

Sailor Moon sniffled and slowly stood up before nodding, "right..."

Sailor Venus smiled softly and placed her hand on Sailor Moon's cheek, "we will always be with you. Now go, keep moving forward."

Sailor Moon looked toward her friends, "I will. Thank you. All of you."

With a determined look on her face she started to run once more toward the entrance to the negaverse.

———————————————————————

Meanwhile, Prince Ozma sat up in the obsidian coffin where he lay and slowly opened his eyes.

"Sailor Moon...she's coming."