Without A Trace
Chibi-Usa stood on the balcony off of her room, her eyes looking over the brilliant landscape below her that was shadowed by ominous clouds. She sighed to herself as thoughts and snippets of conversations from yesterday lingered in her mind. These clouds rolled in several days ago and had made no attempt to clear since. It was unnatural for something like this to happen in the city of crystal, but no one else would share her concern - at least not out loud.
Something was happening though - something that had Pluto as uneasy as her mother.
Chibi-Usa approached the door of the time guardian, pausing when she saw her mother was already speaking with Pluto.
"Space-time is beginning to distort!?" says Neo-Queen Selenity.
"Very far away in space-time," says Pluto, "an enormous maelstrom is emitting power. Disturbances are occurring in the past. If things continue like this... history might change!"
Why was she suddenly not allowed to go to the past - what were they afraid of? What would she find there?
"Small Lady," says the Queen. "Your training has been completed. You gave the space-time key back to Pluto. Now you must study many things here in the 30th century."
"But-!"
"Now, good night. Tomorrow you will begin your curriculum of education at the remote palace on the moon."
"Yes, mom," Chibi-Usa says.
Sailor Mercury appeared in the corner of her vision, the petite inky haired girl dressed in her fuku of blue and white just like every other day. The young princess wondered from time to time what changed in all of her mother’s senshi that they no longer thought of themselves as anything but senshi. Even Minako had long since lost interest in fashion (along with her idol fascinations) to don her fuku.
Chibi-Usa paid little attention to the blue form that seemed to pause on the walking path as if she were inspecting the ground around her. Then a gasp could be heard and when Chibi-Usa looked down again the girl was gone. She immediately jumped onto her toes and leaned over the balcony railing as if it would somehow offer her a better view of the wide open area below her.
Mercury was simply gone without a trace.
In the 21st century, Sailor Mercury grabs at her chest as the strands of hair wrapped tighter around her neck. The pain is excruciating but she is unable to gasp enough air in her lungs to scream. Instead she looks to Jupiter besides her whose lips have turned a pale shade of blue. Mercury moves her hand thinking that if she could just save her friend she would be less of a failure to her Princess. As the power begins to surge through her, her vision goes black and with a silent scream of agony she can feel nothing more.
She had simply ceased to exist.
*Text in bold italic is borrowed from act 45. Text in non-bold italic references the death of Mercury and Jupiter in Act 44.