The Seer

I float in the vast deep blue that is an ocean without waves.

It is neither day nor night. There is no sun, no moon. I float on my back with my arms outstretched, unmoving, unseeing, because there is nothing to see, and this sea never ends. It is silent and stagnant. I wonder if I should scream, try and stir the waters, try and split the dank air that presses down on me like a shroud.

But when I do, the sound is swallowed before it even starts and sinks down into the darkness.

I wait for it to end. I pray for a wave to carry me forward or carry me under. I pray for the wind.

But there is no wind here.

I am alone.

Someone is sobbing. For a moment I am still frozen: then the life jolts painfully back into me and I lash out, struggling desperately to free myself. The panic obscures everything. I cannot see, cannot breathe.

My fist connects with something hard. The pain awakens me, a little: a sound forces itself past the choking lump in my throat. Through the black, I hear a voice.

"Michiru! Michiru!"

A strong pair of hands come down on my shoulders, shaking me. They are firm and I cannot free myself from them; there is a warm weight pressing down on me that stops me from escaping.

"Michiru. Open your eyes."

I do. The world is blurred, dark; there is a shadow above me.

"It's okay." It murmurs. "It's all okay. You're safe."

A face slowly swims into view.

"H-H-Haruka." I mumble.

You wrap your arms around me and press me against you, as if you can take the terror away with a simple thing like that. That's just like you, Haruka.

And it breaks my heart.

"Come on now." You murmur into my neck. "Don't cry like that. It was just a dream."

"Haruka." It is all I can say.

"I'm right here."

Your lips brush my skin. Perhaps you feel me tense, because you lift your head and look at me. Your eyes are soft, troubled; it makes me wonder if you have begun to awake to any part of this nightmare yourself.

I reach out and wind my arms around your sides, pulling you down, closer to me, the warmth of your body seeming to flow into mine, connecting us. I hold you tighter and tighter, until it is hard to tell where I end and you begin. If only we could merge. Lying there, I wonder why we were born in different bodies.

"It was bad this time, huh?"

Your face is very grave; I realise I am probably hurting you and loosen my grip slightly, fists still balled in your nightclothes. You slide one of your arms from under me and cup my face in your hand. Slowly you brush your thumb across my cheek.

"Was it the ocean?" You whisper. I nod again. The mere mention of it sends a chill through me. Instinctively, I lean into your hand and close my eyes. A moment later, I feel you shift and you slide one arm around my shoulder, pressing your face into my hair.

When we lie together like this, I sometimes feel as if there is nothing else; no outside, no reality, just you and me. We could stay like this forever, sharing our bodies, our warmth, our love.

Of course, I know it's not true. Our time will pass, and the world is still there, waiting. But I wish…

"Oh, Michiru." You whisper.

Haruka. Oh, Haruka.

How can I possibly tell you, when you do this to me? How can I, even though I know I must, even though our time is coming so soon, even though this very moment could be one of our last?

I am still trembling. The tears are beginning to dry on my skin, making it stiff and cold. You were right, it was bad this time. But you were wrong too.

Because it wasn't just a dream, Haruka. It was a vision.

And soon I will be floating in that ocean, that nothingness, that silence.

Soon, I will die.

"Haruka?"

"Yes?"

I bite my lip.

"I love you."

There is a long silence.

"…I love you too."

Haruka.

Oh, Haruka.

Author's note: Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me. Thank the lord.

This fic takes place sometime before the events at the Marine Cathedral.