Chapter 10: Nightmares and Dreams
Usagi suddenly jolted from her bed, her breaths ragged and heavy and her trembling body drenched in cold sweat. Her anxious eyes darted in every possible direction, straining as hard as possible in a desperate attempt to find light, any light. It was the dead of night, hours before the sun would rise, and as such she could only see utter darkness except for a tiny sliver of pale silver light that flowed through a crack in the curtains. It was the reflected light from a full moon that hung high in the early morning sky. It would be this pale moonlight that ultimately would rescue her sanity. As her eyes adjusted she could begin to discern the outlines of large objects: something that looked like a desk to her left, another object resembling a bookshelf in front of her. Mundane items, really, but for some reason she was thrilled to see them. She looked down at her clammy, quivering hands, looking first at her palms and then flipping them over to see the backs. They were still there. She closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. When she opened them again that same desk, that same bookshelf, and that same shaky pair of hands appeared before her. All of that and the other things that began to come into focus were very real objects that belonged to her private sanctuary—her bedroom. She laid her head back on her pillow as tears streaked down her cheeks. They were tears of sorrow but also of joy, all mixed together. She was at home, in the comfort of her bed, but at that time she would have been just as happy to be at school or even in locked within the depths of the harshest prison. Hell, she was ecstatic to be anywhere but the place she felt trapped the instant before she opened her eyes.
She had just experienced a horrific nightmare. It wasn't one of the several reminiscences of her past life and death as Princess Serenity when the Silver Millennium crumbled after Metalia's attack. No, her dream was not a latent memory at all but a premonition, or something to that effect. In it, she was transformed as Sailor Moon, and around her she found her fellow senshi. They were all somewhere isolated and full of trees, probably the main park, underneath the suffocating black canvas of the nighttime sky. The overall mood was equally dark and tense and everyone was furious, murderously furious. Everyone save one soldier. They were fighting, but… there was no youma to be found. They were fighting, but they had a different target. The other four senshi, esteemed guardians of the solar system, were engaged in the ultimate act of betrayal. They were attacking Sailor Moon.
Conversely, Sailor Moon—Usagi—was doing everything she could to calm her fellow senshi, to dissuade them from assaulting her, always evading their attacks and never sending any attacks of her own. Yes, she was more than powerful enough to defeat them. At that stage they were no more powerful than any youma she had fought for real or in her training. One well placed throw of her tiara would have incapacitated all four of them in a single strike. But she resisted, despite her fatigue and the immense pain that was beginning to envelop just about every muscle in her body. She resisted because she knew in her heart they were merely misguided. She resisted because she could not attack her own friends, even if they did not consider her a friend anymore. Instead, she tried to get away, to leave them alone, to give them their time and to hope they tired of their foolish hatred and realized the monumental mistake they were making.
"Maybe if I just leave them be they'll eventually calm down. I'll have lost their friendship for a while, but… that would be that," she dejectedly thought.
But it would not have been that simple. They were not going to quit. They were hell-bent on attaining one goal: killing Usagi. And they were not going to stop until they succeeded.
She tripped over something, what it was she didn't know, and fell hard face-first on the rough gravel of a walking path. As such, there shouldn't have been any exposed branches or wires to catch her feet. She started to push herself up from the ground when she felt something whip-like smash against her back. The impact felt like thousands of knives pressing deep into her flesh. She collapsed to the ground yet again. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a figure clad in orange, holding a bright gold chain made of pure energy. Then she realized what had happened. She had been running for so long, evading their attacks for hours on end, and tiring herself to such an extent that her footwork wasn't as precise as it once was. The thing that tripped her to the ground, the thing that then lashed her back, was Venus's Love-Me Chain attack. She pushed herself to her knees and found to her horror that she was surrounded by all four of the senshi.
"Please, just let me go! I beg you! I won't bother you again! You'll never see me again!" Usagi yelled in absolute despair. Her body was trembling uncontrollably as she looked up at the four girls standing around her with pale, almost vacant eyes that overflowed with heavy tears.
"That's not good enough, you fucking fraud!" boomed the shrill, enraged voice of Sailor Mars. Mars was normally ill-tempered, but Usagi witnessed a new level of fury—passionate, unmitigated fury—that she had never before seen from the girl. "Bitch! You, of all things, deserve nothing but the most painful death I can possibly provide!"
"A death that can't come soon enough, you goddamned imposter!" That slightly lower-pitched but equally furious voice belonged to Sailor Jupiter.
Through her blurry eyes Usagi spotted her salvation standing tall above her—a route of escape. She hurriedly lifted herself from the ground and attempted to jump to one of the trees. From there, she planned to hop from treetop to treetop away from the trap. However, she never made it that far. In midflight she felt a sudden electric shock course through her body, causing her to lose control and crash back to the ground. Before she could gather herself she felt a pair of hands holding each of her arms to the ground, and another, much stronger pair of hands grasping her legs. She struggled as mightily as she could to free herself, but she was running out of strength. As was typical in hunting highly mobile prey, all the hunter eventually had to do was to corral the prey. To make sure it didn't get away. To give it no true outlet for escape. The target's desires for escape, its innate survival instinct, would have driven it to run and run, searching for every possible out, to the point of exhaustion. From that point, the kill was all too easy. The girls, her former friends, had chased her to that point of utter exhaustion. The easy kill, she figured, could only be moments away.
An angry figure clad in red stood over her. Sailor Mars. Her narrowed eyes, though normally violet, were blood red with unmitigated rage. She pointed at Usagi with both hands held together and her fingers extended. Her fingers then ignited to form a large ball of red flame. At that same moment her lips were pulled into an unmistakable smirk of utmost satisfaction, as if she was seconds away from fulfilling her life's dream. Usagi knew what was coming next, and it terrified her to no end.
"Don't! Please!" Usagi yelled with all her remaining strength. Her eyes widened in anticipation of the horror she expected. Her plea went unanswered.
The gargantuan red fireball erupted from Mars's hands and blasted Usagi from point-blank range. A shrill, deafening scream borne from unimaginably intense pain escaped Usagi's lips for several seconds as the searing flames engulfed her. She had observed that attack applied several times against various youmas with various degrees of success. Never had she seen the attack used with that level of ferocity. For a brief moment, she understood just how much Mars—Rei—truly, truly hated her. Her screams soon ceased, and all that remained of her was a badly broken girl wearing a shredded and burnt leotard and blue skirt, the occasional rise and fall of her chest the only sign of life. In the darkness that slowly encapsulated her vision she could barely see a hand reach to her chest and grasp her transformation brooch.
"Now, I have to take this back to its proper owner," Mars shouted as she tugged hard on the brooch to rip it from Usagi's chest. "I have no fucking idea where you got our princess's Silver Crystal, but I'm sure as all hell you don't deserve to have it!"
"No…" was all Usagi could wimper as her transformation disappeared with a bright flash of white light into several glistening streams of pink ribbons. A few seconds later she felt sharp pain explode throughout her entire body. She felt as if every single nerve ending in her body were dipped in acid and set aflame. But that wasn't the real source of her excruciating pain. Her physical pain was equal when Malanche attempted the same thing. However, the added stings of abandonment and betrayal trumped any physical pain. For someone who, at one time, cared for her as a devoted friend and swore to protect her life at all costs, for that same person to then strive to end her life was the absolute worst. That turnabout was the thing that made her suffering the most intense pain she had ever felt.
Soon, her bodily pain would recede, replaced by an eerie calmness that caressed her very soul. The smallest tingling sensation coursed through her veins. Despite her failing vision she could clearly see the ground through her body as she slowly looked herself over. She was slowly fading away. Her very existence was coming to an all-too early end. With all her might, she struggled to lift her head to lay her eyes upon the figures standing around her. Through the darkness she could barely make out a girl staring back at her with narrowed, hate-filled violet eyes, her lips pulled into a mocking grin. A tiny flash of gold light emanated from a gloved hand, and she knew exactly what that girl possessed. The last thing Usagi saw as she felt her body completely disappear and her world slip into a numbingly dark, frighteningly silent, and infinitely huge abyss was Mars holding the transformation brooch in her hand.
It was at that time when Usagi finally escaped from her nightmare.
She looked down at the floor toward a still-sleeping Luna. Her head began to throb, but she welcomed the pain as it reminded her that she was still alive. She quietly slid herself out of bed and walked out of her bedroom, down the hall, and into the bathroom. The flood of light as she flipped the switch on the wall momentary blinded her, but she soon recovered. She stared into the mirror and saw a face devoid of color except for paled blue eyes, covered in sweat and framed by completely disheveled blond hair. She was an absolute mess. She trudged back into her bedroom and looked at her alarm clock. It showed "4:00" in dim red numbers. She had two hours before her alarm went off, but she knew she didn't need to worry about it. She had no desire to sleep anymore.
She looked over her shoulder at her bookshelf. There had to be something good that could take her mind away from that terrible dream. Unfortunately, the bookshelf didn't have many books, as Usagi—the old Usagi—wasn't much of a reader. Instead, the shelves were filled with stacks of manga. Many of them were about Sailor V. It was bitterly ironic that that she absolutely devoured those books when she idolized the fanciful crime-fighter of whose identity she had no idea. But, as she stared at the shelves, her stomach turned at the mere sight of those volumes as she knew how Minako felt about her. Minako, as well as all the others, wanted her dead… right? That was what she experienced in her nightmare after all. But was any of it real? The girls loathed her very presence, she knew that. Even after a week Ami, one of the calmest and kindest people she knew, someone who rarely ever held a grudge, hated her, loathed her, and could not even stand to be around her. Did that hatred finally culminate into a desire for her ultimate demise? And what did that have to do with Ami's proclamation that she brought all of this upon herself? Usagi gazed through her window upon the starry night sky and sighed. So much for her attempt to distract herself from the nightmare.
She reasoned there was no point in being cooped up inside her room, worrying herself sick about the implications of her nightmare. So, she would sneak out of the house and find some other place where she could contemplate things. Luna seemed too peaceful to be worried, she thought, so she decided not to wake her. She carefully slid open the window and climbed over the sill to a short ledge that wrapped around the house. She was still wearing her pink silk pajamas, and she involuntarily shuddered as a cold breeze hit her. She looked over to her right and saw the drain line for the gutter. "Too risky," she thought, for if she slipped it would make too much noise. She decided to jump down from the ledge directly onto the garden walkway below. It was about a ten foot drop, which initially scared her, but she soon found the confidence in herself to make the jump. She landed gently and silently with both feet and one hand touching the ground. All of her training was paying off.
Once on the ground, she exited the garden through the side gate and walked onto the street. She stood there, utterly motionless, for several minutes as she stared up at the sky and bathed herself in the pale silver moonlight. A small smile came to her lips and her melancholy eyes slowly started to display their true resplendence. The moonlight had a therapeutic effect on her. The longer she stood there the more her emotions of anxiety and fear were replaced by feelings of hope and assuredness. She caught a glimpse of a light much brighter than that from the moon in her right eye which broke her trance. It soon became a pair of lights, headlights, belonging to a car that was quickly approaching her. She dived off the road and hid in a pair of bushes belonging to the house across the street from her own. She didn't want to be struck by a car in front of her own house in the middle of the night. She also didn't want to be caught violating curfew in case that same car belonged to the police.
She emerged from the bushes once the car passed and started walking with a sense of purpose toward Juuban Park. Why that particular destination suddenly came to mind was uncertain to her, but it just felt right. She walked swiftly but carefully, hiding whenever she sensed cars approaching or saw policemen patrolling on foot nearby. About twenty minutes later she found herself standing in the middle of the park, staring at the reflection of the moon within the perfectly smooth surface of the pond. She began to feel calm once again, but that tranquility was to be short-lived.
Her head began to throb as all sorts of images flooded her mind. Memories from the past of the Silver Millennium mixed with premonitions of the future, some of which were like her nightmare, others completely different. She placed her hands on her head and fell to the ground writhing in silent agony. Then, the pain stopped, and everything around her disappeared except for the pond. A faint pink light lead from where she laid to the reflection of the moon in the center of the water. She heard the soft, serene voice of an older woman, a melodious voice that seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Stand up, my dear," the voice said quietly.
"What? What's going on? What is this?" Usagi whispered. She continued to lay on the ground, her body trembling lightly, unsure of anything except her own existence. And even that she was beginning to question in her mind.
"I will tell you everything in due time. For now, stand up," the voice said slightly louder but still in a peaceful tone.
Usagi slowly pushed herself up from the ground and onto her feet. She turned and saw the pink glow of the pathway leading to the center of the pond.
"Follow the path to the moon."
"But…" Usagi started to complain about how the path was over the water and that she couldn't possibly walk on water, but she was interrupted by the unknown woman.
"Please hurry. I don't have much time," she said in earnest.
Usagi took one tiny step, and another, and another along the shimmering pink trail until she reached the edge of the pond before she paused. She was still uncertain about continuing out onto the water.
"Just believe in me, and believe in yourself."
Usagi closed her eyes and moved her right foot forward. She loosed an audible gasp of amazement as her foot never hit the water but landed firmly on a solid surface mere inches above. She continued to step forward, each step more confident than the last, until she reached the end of the pathway. As soon as she stopped a bright white light shot down from the sky and enveloped the awe-struck blonde. She felt herself being lifted quite rapidly into the air, but just as soon as she felt like she was flying the sensation ceased and she found herself in a very dark room. A pure white light that was nearly blinding shone almost directly into her eyes, preventing her from seeing anything more than the silhouettes of two women. One of the women had a curvy figure and gossamer-like wings emanating from her back. If she looked hard enough she thought she could make out long pigtails falling from her head and nearly touching the floor. The other woman wore a skirt that looked similar to the kind she wore with her senshi uniform and had extremely long, straight hair that went past her back. In her right hand she held a staff that was taller than her and vaguely resembled a long, slender key.
"I knew you would make it here, as only you could," the mysterious woman whispered in a sweet, melodious voice that contained a mixture of joy and apprehension.
"Wait! Who are you? Where am I?" Usagi asked in complete confusion.
"Hmmm… It's so sad this poor girl doesn't recognize her own mother," the woman said solemnly, her voice slightly trailing off at the end.
"Mother…?" Usagi said hesitantly, searching her mind for the meaning of the word. She had just sneaked from her house. Her mother was at home, sound asleep, or at least she should have been, unless… Then the realization hit her, and hit her hard. "Queen Serenity?" she yelled in confusion and anxiety.
The woman, now exposed as that ancient Queen, nodded. She stepped forward so that Usagi could see her more clearly. The clicks of her heels against the hard marble floor reverberated about the room as she approached, stopping a few paces in front of Usagi. The figure that stood with her hands clasped before her was one of absolute resplendence. She wore a flowing white gown topped at the bust line by a white bow containing a gold crescent moon. Usagi could see her mother's silver pigtails matched the style of her own blond pigtails, odangos and all. Her sapphire blue eyes locked onto a pair of orbs almost identical in color and positively radiant. And yet, she could sense in those same eyes a depth of anguish that she had never before seen or experienced. She felt even her own state of misery did not compare to the sadness she witnessed from her mother. And yet, right in front of her, this gentle woman stood stoically, doing her utmost to conceal her own pain. How truly strong she must have been.
"You're in the Moon Palace, within a special room where we can combine the past with the present and the future without the utter destruction of everything," Queen Serenity said softly.
"Why am I here?" Usagi asked.
"I desperately needed to check up on you," Queen Serenity replied with a hint of sadness in her voice. "It was my last wish, to be able to see you in the future, to make sure your future was well." She exhaled a deep sigh. "But it appears not all is well after all. It seems you are deeply troubled and conflicted."
"Last wish… that means you're…"
"Yes, sadly, I'm no longer alive. Not in this world, at least. But the Silver Crystal granted my wish and gave me one last opportunity to see you."
Queen Serenity then walked up to Usagi and placed both hands on her shoulders. Usagi felt a sudden shock course through her body and a witnessed a bright flash of gold light that momentarily blinded her. When her eyes adjusted from the sudden blast of light she saw she was dressed in a white gown, the same gown she had worn before when her life was threatened by Malanche. The touch from her mother had involuntarily caused her to transform into Princess Serenity. Suddenly, a flood of emotions had overcome her and she started to cry. Queen Serenity placed an arm around her and Usagi fell into a warm embrace, burying her head into her mother's chest and tightly wrapping both arms around the elder sovereign's waist.
"Mother!" Usagi shouted in a muffled cry.
"Now, now, dear. I'm here," Queen Serenity whispered, gently lifting her head and wiping the tears away from Usagi's eyes. "Please, tell me what's bothering you."
"My friends… my senshi, they have abandoned me," Usagi responded in a cracked voice between sobs.
"What?" Queen Serenity said in shock. "How could this be?"
"I have no idea," Usagi sobbed. "They were just so angry, saying that they didn't want to have me around as their leader anymore… or at all…"
"W-wait… Leader? I don't understand. Isn't Venus the leader of the senshi?" Queen Serenity asked in confusion.
"Venus is supposed to be the leader? I thought I was," Usagi said. Her tears began to subside. Maybe they were right in not wanting her to be their leader anymore. She never was supposed to fill that role. But, it only answered one of her questions, and didn't explain why they wanted to completely abandon her. If all they wanted to do was give leadership of the senshi to Venus, or whomever, she was more than willing to give that up as long as she could continue to fight alongside them and remain friends with them.
"No, only a senshi may lead the assembly of solar system senshi, and historically that leader has been Sailor Venus. The job of all the senshi is to protect the solar system and the Silver Millennium's princess." Queen Serenity warmly gazed into Usagi's widened eyes, sending the point that she was the princess they were to protect. "The senshi of all the planets of the solar system, ever since the unification of the planets, made a sacred promise to protect this kingdom and to protect you. That is their duty. You do not have to lead the senshi in their battles or do anything else in that regard."
"But, what about me being Sailor Moon?" Usagi asked.
"What? Sailor… Moon? …You're a senshi?" Queen Serenity exclaimed in astonishment, momentarily abandoning her calm persona and involuntarily taking a step backwards, away from Usagi. The color began to fade from her face. "That cannot be. There must have been a mistake when I transported all of you away with the Silver Crystal."
"But, it's true. I am the senshi of the moon. We were all awakened to look for the princess and to fight Queen Beryl…"
"Beryl is back?" Queen Serenity asked in horror. Her body started to tremble at the thought of her old nemesis returning to conquer the Earth and destroy the remnants of the Silver Millennium in her absence.
"Yes, along with Queen Metalia."
"I-I thought I s-sealed her a-away…. The s-seal… the seal m-must not have been s-strong enough." Queen Serenity stammered. She collapsed to her knees, her whole body violently convulsing in agony, unable to maintain any semblance of calm any more. The ocean of painful emotions, of despair and suffering, she attempted to hold at bay flooded through her once her stoic façade fully crumbled. She covered her face with her hands as heavy tears streamed ferociously from her pale eyes. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! You shouldn't have to deal with them again!" she moaned as she wept on the cold, unforgiving stone floor.
Usagi cautiously approached her mother, not knowing what she could possibly do, but feeling in her heart she had to say something. She couldn't bear to watch the poor woman drown in her misery any longer. The irony didn't escape her that she planned to console the woman who, just a few minutes prior, used all her strength and gentleness to comfort her. She bent to her knees and tenderly placed her hands on Queen Serenity's shoulders.
"It's okay, mother. It truly is all right. They will be defeated for good. I'll make sure of it. Believe in me…" Usagi whispered into Queen Serenity's ear in the most reassuring tone she could deliver. She didn't know how she planned to accomplish what she just promised. But in her heart, in her soul, she believed she could do it. She would regain her friends, and the group would defeat both Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia so that they could never return. That was the way it would end. She slowly moved her arms so that they lighly wrapped around her mother's neck and gently pulled her closer. The convulsions immediately ended as Usagi embraced her mother and the queen's body started to become warm and emit a faint white light. Usagi released a faint pink glow as she held her mother and felt her depression slowly evaporate. The two continued the silent hug for several minutes until it was clear Queen Serenity was fully calm.
"Yes, I believe in you my sweet child," Queen Serenity whispered as her tears finally ended. She slowly pushed herself up from the cold floor and stood tall, her blue eyes shimmering once again as her strength and confidence returned. She felt refreshed. The depression, apprehension, and guilt that she had been harboring for all those years were finally gone, and her soul could be truly at peace.
She sighed and then begrudgingly returned to the earlier portion of their discussion. "So, you are both a senshi in Sailor Moon as well as my heir," she said softly. She remained silent for a long while as she stood in deep contemplation. She looked back toward the other woman, the one holding the tall staff. "Do you have any idea what this means for the future?"
"Your daughter confuses me," the mysterious woman standing back in the shadows said with a low-pitched, somber voice. "There is not one vision I have for her future, but several, all with equal probabilities of occurrence. Her future is not planned by the stars, but entirely of her own choosing." She paused in meditation. "My deepest concern is what she ultimately decides to do, as the entire fate of the solar system depends on that decision."
Queen Serenity nodded and then looked back at Usagi. "So, apparently your fate is entirely in your hands. I don't know what you'll choose to do, but I believe whatever it is will be in everyone's best interest." She looked over Usagi for a few seconds and smiled. "Your existence as Sailor Moon very well could be beneficial for the fate of this planet if you believe in yourself and believe in your fellow senshi," she said sagely, her light and melodious voice returning. She paused looked over at the mysterious woman, then back at Usagi. "But, I can see where this would complicate things," she said in a more somber, worried tone.
"But, they never hated me before like they do now. We all got along very well. We were the best friends we ever had. Then, suddenly, this," Usagi said.
"Did they mention anything about their sacred promise?" Queen Serenity asked.
"No. I don't know if they themselves know about it. Luna told me about the promise a short while ago, but we don't know if the other senshi are aware."
"I am happy Luna is doing well and that she has remained loyal to you. However, I don't know what would suddenly make the senshi act like that."
Usagi looked at Queen Serenity with worried eyes. "I had a dream," she said so softly that the queen had to lean in closer to Usagi to hear her wavering voice. "I had a dream where the other senshi chased me. They kept chasing me and attacking me until finally… finally—" Usagi could barely get the words out of her throat— "until they ultimately killed me."
"Oh, dear!" Queen Serenity said with tears welling in her eyes. She knew dreams held immense power of prognostication, and if that were the case, then… she didn't want to contemplate such a result. Besides, it was only one of the possible outcomes. It didn't necessarily have to end like that, she told herself. She said she would believe in her daughter, and to believe meant to trust that she would be all right no matter the situation. Besides, what would excessive worrying do for a person who wouldn't be able to fix the situation anyway should it happen to occur? Nevertheless, it was something to at least take into consideration.
"The whole time they were calling me a fraud, an imposter, and they said I didn't deserve to have the Silver Crystal. I have no idea what they meant by that."
A spark ignited in Queen Serenity's mind. "Of course that's what's going on. Why didn't I think of it before?" she thought. She was about to speak, to give Usagi the answer she so desperately needed, to give her an explanation of her dream, when the woman holding the tall staff shouted impertinently from the shadows.
"Queen Serenity! It's almost time!" the woman yelled. Both the queen and the princess jumped at the suddenness of her shout. Queen Serenity looked longingly into Usagi's moistened eyes for what ultimately would be the last time.
"My dearest Serenity, I'm afraid have to depart now," Queen Serenity said in a somber whisper that somehow captured her all her strength and all her compassion. She stepped toward Usagi and lovingly wrapped both her arms around her as she whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry I cannot further explain your dream. Please, just remember this: you are my daughter, my only daughter. You are Princess Serenity. Do not let anyone else say or believe otherwise, ever." Usagi draped both arms around her mother's waist and squeezed her as tightly as she could. She never wanted to let go. She knew it would be the last time she ever got to embrace her mother—her real mother. In her heart she wished she could somehow go back in time, back to the original Silver Millennium. She would make sure Beryl and Metalia were killed with her own power, so that her mother never had to sacrifice herself using the Silver Crystal. But, she knew in her mind that it was impossible. The past happened and could not be changed. She could see her mother's presence gradually fade away, her body slowly becoming translucent. Usagi started to weep. She had just seen her mother for the first time in several millennia, and just as soon she was going to disappear forever. It was too much for her to bear.
"I'm so glad I got to see you this one last time. I love you so very, very much," Queen Serenity whispered as her physical existence faded to nothingness.
"I… love… you… too…" Usagi whispered as her arms snapped back into her body due to the sudden loss of the entity they were so tightly grasping. Her legs no longer possessed the strength to support her and she collapsed to the ground. The dark marble floor around her became wet with her tears. She cried the hardest and the loudest she had ever cried in her entire life.
The woman with the tall staff looked at the mess of a girl that was weeping and convulsing uncontrollably on the floor. "Such is the fate of the stars and the will of the Silver Crystal," she thought. She gave a sad sigh before pointing the staff at Usagi. A garnet sphere of light radiated from the tip of the staff and eventually filled the entire room with warm red light.
Moments later, Usagi found herself lying in the fluffy softness of her bed and not on the hard marble floor of the Moon Palace. Her pillow was soaked through with tears. She looked down at the floor and saw that Luna continued to sleep soundly. The alarm clock showed in faint red numbers that it was 4:23 in the morning. She must have fallen asleep again. She swore that she had snuck out of her bedroom, walked to the park, and then had the strangest and saddest experience of her life on the moon. Or was it in some alternate dimension. She wasn't sure. What she was certain about was that just getting to the park in the wee morning hours would have taken more than twenty minutes. So it must have been a dream. A wonderful and yet terribly cruel dream, but a dream nonetheless. She pushed the covers off of her and stepped out of bed. She let out an audible gasp as soon has her feet touched the ground.
In place of her pink pajamas, she was wearing a flowing white gown.