Ok, I'm putting this quickly for those of you who, well, read this. I'm a
lazy, lazy person. So here's how it works. Reviews = motivation and
motivation = fic. So, when I'm not getting any reviews, I think no one is
reading the fic, hence lack of motivation. So to end this little rant, R
and freakin' R! I now have a review quota! Spread the evil! And to those of
you who R&R anyways, thanks. Sincerely. :P
****************
Haruka buried her face in her pillow and sighed in exhaustion. The trimester was coming to a close and rehearsals were getting longer and more intense, rules were being enforced to the point of highest severity, and the Team Halls were being pressed to give outstanding performances. The entire school had turned its focus on proving itself the best to their soon to be visitors.
"Gods, it's too much..." Haruka moaned, rolling over and staring up at her ceiling. 'I'll see them again.'
Chapter 10: Moon Landing
# "Tenoh-san!"
Haruka scowled and turned around. Sure enough, the black haired boy was running after her. Seiya.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"Aren't you staying? I thought you were going to enroll." He asked.
"In Divine Hands? Yeah right, you have to be stinking rich to get into there. Besides, they tried to make me wear a dress, not that that's any of your business. Where're Taiki and Yaten?"
"In the office. They still don't know why that hall collapsed like it did," Seiya gave her a knowing look and Haruka's eye twitched. She couldn't stand this guy, but he and his brothers had latched to her, thinking she was like them, like their shared a common bond. Not only was he incredibly annoying, he always shared the truth about her gender before she had a chance to flirt, let alone get any farther then that. So everyone treated her coldly, like she'd been trying to trick them by looking like a guy, which might be the case, but still.
"They'd probably give you a scholarship after they see how fast you are. Think about it Tenoh-san! We could go to school together, then join forces and sell our talent. I bet you could play in out band too! Come on Tenoh, it'll be fun!" he laughed and Haruka resisted the familiar urge to punch him square in the nose. The sound of angry voices coming their way distracted Seiya and when he looked back, Haruka Tenoh was gone, racing past the gate and out of Divine Hands Academy. Never to see the Three Lights again. Or so she had hoped. #
"Focus Haruka!"
The blonde collapsed, breathing hard and sweating, and lay on the dusty ground, trying to ignore the gut-wrenching, pulsing vein in her forehead. Setsuna kneeled besides her and pushed her over onto her back and put a hand over the girl's heart, checking her pulse.
"Good." She nodded in satisfaction. "You lasted a lot longer then yesterday."
"Yeah, great." Haruka gasped sarcastically. "10 seconds instead of 2 is such an improvement." Setsuna shrugged and sat back, resting her chin in her hand.
"You know, it takes some people years to improve that much. And it was a lot smoother this time too." The green-haired woman said.
"It felt like hell."
The pair had been in the same spot for 5 hours now, working on Haruka's powers. Feril had begun to train Haruka in merging with her elements, and Setsuna had picked it up after the older woman had left. She merged easily enough with wind, so they were working on earth. Only problem was, instead of combining her power with it, the earth had been opening beneath her and pulling Haruka in. So they started working on controlling it externally.
Haruka would focus all her energy into the palms of her hands and press them against the ground, and bring the element into her. She'd been trying to force tendrils of earth to rise up on command, like Feril had during their first training session, as shown by the hand shaped rise in the earth only a few yards away.
First she had to force away the natural movement of the earth, twist it to move from just a rumble of the Earth's surface to a flowing movement to heed her will. But she couldn't do it. Just recently, she'd got it to stop shaking and was working on the flowing movement. And it felt like she was trying to stop her own heartbeat.
"...well, if you want to just give up," Setsuna stood up and threw a towel to Haruka. "Let's call it a day anyways. We can pick it up next week, if you want."
Haruka nodded, not having the energy to do much else.
"I could work on it in my spare time," she muttered when she had rested a moment.
"No. You're not far enough along to try it on your own yet. It's dangerous enough, even with me here. If something were to happen to you, it'd be impossible to get to you in time or even find you afterwards. You could be pulled to the center of the earth and crushed." Setsuna looked the unmoving blonde over seriously. "Don't worry about it Haruka, you're getting stronger everyday. We'll pick up next week. See you then." She walked off towards the school, leaving Haruka to lay there, the wind blowing sympathetically around her.
"Am I that weak...?" Haruka murmured to the wind, closing her hand around a clump of dirt. "Am I still so weak?" she whispered, but no one answered. There was no one there, just the wind.
# There was no one there.
The small girl crawled onward, pulling herself forward simply because it was in her to do so. Her body shook with hunger and fatigue. She felt so weak that she believed she would blow away with the sand around her.
Sunburned, with salt and sand in her many cuts, battered, broken and bruised, she still moved forwards, some primal instinct telling her that if she stopped, she'd never move again.
"They don't care anymore..." she rasped from a throat that felt like it hadn't known water in years. And like it always did, the voice answered.
** "Who?" **
It was always with her, she couldn't escape it. Maybe she was the voice, maybe it was part of her. But it felt so much like something outside of herself, she couldn't really believe that.
** "Who? Why don't they care?" ** Even though the voice knew, she could feel it, it still always asked.
"They gave up on me. They left me here..." Haruka whispered, tears running across her face and onto the hot sand, disappearing without a trace.
** "Why?" **
"Because I'm weak..." she tasted blood as her cracked lips spilt with the movement.
The voice was gone now. She could always feel when it stopped talking, it always left her feeling vacant, like part of her was missing.
"I'm weak... I should have saved them..." she whispered, closing her eyes. But there was no one there. Just the wind. #
"Haruka-kun!"
Haruka opened a bleary eye and cursed inwardly. She'd fallen asleep. The sun had moved completely across the sky.
"Haruka-kun, are you alright?" Usagi bent over Haruka, looking worriedly into her face. Haruka managed a charming smile, despite her current state.
"I'm fine Koneko-chan," she laughed. "Just taking a nap." She reached up and tugged gently on one of the trademark odangos on Usagi's head. Usagi reached up and took Haruka's hand in hers.
"Are you sure? You look pretty beat up." she persisted. Haruka laughed and sat up.
"I'm tougher then that bun-head. This is just a little workout." She assured, instinctively running her hand over the smaller girl's cheek, pleasantly surprised by how soft it was.
"Haruka-kun, can I ask you something?" Usagi asked earnestly, sitting down next to the other blonde.
"Go ahead Koneko-chan," Haruka said.
"You know how you were talking with Mamo-chan earlier?"
"Uh-huh."
"About the different places you've been too?"
Haruka nodded, not quite sure where this was going.
"You never stayed anywhere very long and I was wondering..." Usagi trailed off and looked at the ground. Haruka gently lifted her chin and locked eyes with the smaller girl.
"What is it bun-head?" she asked gently.
"You're not going to leave us, are you Haruka-kun?" Usagi asked anxiously. Haruka started in surprise. No one had ever asked her that. Few had ever cared if she left or stayed, most preferring the former. Haruka smiled and, without thinking about it, pulled Usagi close in a hug.
"Are you really that worried about it Usagi-chan?" she murmured, amusement in her tone, but the happy warmth couldn't be completely disguised. Usagi nodded, her arms wrapped loosely around Haruka's waist. Haruka moved her face closer to the smaller girl's hair, taking in her scent and presence.
"I wouldn't leave, Koneko-chan. I have to protect you, don't I?"
Haruka had no clue what had brought those specific words out, but she meant them whole-heartedly.
"You know, this is the first place where it feels like I have a family. I like that feeling. I'm surrounded by people who actually give a damn what happens to me, and I want to protect that with everything in me." She explained, running her fingers through the long blonde strands of Usagi's hair.
"... You think something's going to happen, don't you?"
"Like?"
"You know. Something bad. Is something bad coming, Haruka-kun?" Usagi turned her face up to look into those brilliant green eyes, her own blue ones questioning.
"It doesn't matter bun-head, I'll protect you and everyone else, no matter what."
"...I'm glad you came here Haruka-kun."
"Even with all the excitement recently?" Haruka joked. Usagi nodded.
"Promise you'll stay?" she asked. Haruka just smiled and hugged her.
"Whatever you want Koneko-chan," she laughed.
The school bell rang in the distance and Usagi looked up.
"You go on bun-head. I'm gonna go wash up. See you at dinner." Haruka helped the girl up and set off towards the bathes, her muscles protesting weakly at the movement. Usagi sighed and turned back toward the main school building.
"Alright people, the visitors will be here sometime this week. We don't have an exact date because of some unexpected delays, but we will be ready! Everyone know their places for the welcoming ceremony?"
There was a murmur of acquiescence throughout the room. The headmistress wiped her brow and smiled.
"Good. Now, Serenity-sama has promised at least a day's notice before their arrival, but let's practice, practice, practice!" she clapped her hands in satisfaction with lecture and walked out of the room feeling rather important. The students held in their smirks and comments until she left.
"Do we look like a group of five year olds? We know what we're supposed to do." Minako sighed and returned to backstage to get ready.
"Well, if you squint..." Hotaru muttered, doing just that. "And maybe your eyes aren't that good, why, yes, I guess we do."
Haruka gave her a look and shook her head.
"Let's just get this over with," she sighed. She was still sore from her training the day before. She hadn't been able to rid herself of the sensation of being suffocated and pulled down. It was as if her bones had become heavier and her movements were painfully slow, at least to her, and it was hard to get up the energy to move.
"Are you sure you're ok Haruka-kun?" Usagi asked quietly, so that only Haruka and Michiru, who was standing near by, heard her.
"I'm fine Koneko-chan," Haruka flashed Usagi a smile and flexed her fingers to try and remove the dead weight inside of them that would slow her music. She played a few notes and frowned inwardly. Sure enough, the flowing sound, the music of the wind, was replaced by the heavy notes of leaden fingers. Most of the others didn't notice, but Michiru heard the change.
"What happened?" she murmured into the blonde's ear, worried. Haruka shook her head.
"Just been training too much lately. Bun-head over there found me after I fell asleep the other day. Guess I pushed myself harder then I thought." She explained quietly, leaning back to answer in Michiru's ear and gave her a quick covert kiss on the cheek that no one else saw. Michiru's expression softened, but the concern remained.
"Elemental immersion?" she asked, sitting next to Haruka and slipping a hand over the blonde's.
"That's what Setsuna calls it. How'd you know?"
Michiru smiled and pressed her fingers down over Haruka's on the keys and a few notes played emptily.
"Just be careful, ok?" she asked softly and Haruka nodded, leaning closer to her briefly, before both reminded themselves of their surroundings and Michiru had to abandon the blonde for her violin.
"Tenoh-kun, where is the path tonight?"
Haruka examined the night sky, trying to find the answer to the Heavens House instructor's question.
"From the North Star , over the moon, to three spans below Orion." She answered.
"Close." He marked the chart in front of her with a check of approval and dismissed her. The rest of the class watched enviously as the blonde escaped the remainder of the lesson.
Now she had a little under an extra hour to herself. Heavens house had gone longer because they'd spent half the day rehearsing, with Queen Serenity arriving tomorrow, information courtesy of a fleet footed messenger. They would have spent the whole day, but the students had nearly mutinied at the thought of an entire day under the headmistress' scrutiny and she'd let them go in a fit of frustration and stress.
'Michiru's still in Depths, Hotaru's still with Setsuna in Temporal and everyone else already went to bed...' Haruka thought, after checking all the rooms discreetly. A small, determined smile slipped across her face. 'Perfect. No one'll be looking for me for a while yet. I'm going to get this immersion thing down if it kills me!' Haruka vowed, racing off to the small clearing where she trained with Setsuna and Feril, having no idea how possible it was she'd fulfill that vow.
A thin layer of ice and snow coated the clearing, the silver moonlight giving it an eerie frozen look. Haruka rubbed her hands together to keep them warm and looked around. Feril's own display of ability stood off to the side, looking unnervingly like a real giant hand reaching up from the depths of the earth. The blonde scowled. It was a sight that she saw every time she lay in the dirt, exhausted and failing. It galled her awfully and she wanted nothing more then to best it tonight.
Brushing the ice off the largest tree around, she found the rune engraved in its trunk and ran her forefinger over it, speaking a single word, as Setsuna had done the other day. Before her eyes, the ice and snow faded and disappeared. Looking back over her shoulder, the blonde could see the snow and ice still remained outside the clearing. The spell provided just enough room to train comfortably. Slipping off her shoes and winter clothes, she placed them in a pocket in the roots. Haruka crouched low and breathed deeply. The thick smell of the earth calmed her, at the same time sending a thrill of the slumbering power beneath her bare feet through her entire body. It was cold, but the ground responded to her presence, bringing the heat from far below to her, showing its eagerness to join with her.
"Just like she said, concentrate." She sighed, focusing and moving to her hands and knees, taking the earth in through all her senses.
"Tune out everything else... complete the link, gain the power..." she whispered, pressing closer, feeling the far away pulse that was the power of the Earth itself. The wind pulled at her anxiously, like a small child that thinks it's being left alone, even for a moment.
"Shhhh... It's ok," Haruka murmured, calming it. 'Block it all out, join it.' A figure stood watching Haruka, softly illuminated by the moonlight.
The girl slowly released her senses, closing her eyes, and let the comforting darkness of the earth surround her utterly.
The figure watched as the ground moved gently up and around the motionless figure of Haruka, tendrils of dark earth wrapping around her arms and legs, burying her, pulling inexorably down.
That last lingering traces of her consciousness in her told her it'd happened again. Haruka tried to withdraw herself, but the earth didn't listen and continued to pull her down, holding her still in its powerful grasp.
"No!" she cried weakly as it reached over her head and covered her. 'NO! Goddess, I can't!' she didn't have the room to struggled, buried completely now and going further down. She cursed mentally, remembering how easily she'd disregarded Setsuna's warning not to train alone.
**************** R&R. Tell me where you think it's going, mistakes I make, anything. Soda can count at 93 and going up...
****************
Haruka buried her face in her pillow and sighed in exhaustion. The trimester was coming to a close and rehearsals were getting longer and more intense, rules were being enforced to the point of highest severity, and the Team Halls were being pressed to give outstanding performances. The entire school had turned its focus on proving itself the best to their soon to be visitors.
"Gods, it's too much..." Haruka moaned, rolling over and staring up at her ceiling. 'I'll see them again.'
Chapter 10: Moon Landing
# "Tenoh-san!"
Haruka scowled and turned around. Sure enough, the black haired boy was running after her. Seiya.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"Aren't you staying? I thought you were going to enroll." He asked.
"In Divine Hands? Yeah right, you have to be stinking rich to get into there. Besides, they tried to make me wear a dress, not that that's any of your business. Where're Taiki and Yaten?"
"In the office. They still don't know why that hall collapsed like it did," Seiya gave her a knowing look and Haruka's eye twitched. She couldn't stand this guy, but he and his brothers had latched to her, thinking she was like them, like their shared a common bond. Not only was he incredibly annoying, he always shared the truth about her gender before she had a chance to flirt, let alone get any farther then that. So everyone treated her coldly, like she'd been trying to trick them by looking like a guy, which might be the case, but still.
"They'd probably give you a scholarship after they see how fast you are. Think about it Tenoh-san! We could go to school together, then join forces and sell our talent. I bet you could play in out band too! Come on Tenoh, it'll be fun!" he laughed and Haruka resisted the familiar urge to punch him square in the nose. The sound of angry voices coming their way distracted Seiya and when he looked back, Haruka Tenoh was gone, racing past the gate and out of Divine Hands Academy. Never to see the Three Lights again. Or so she had hoped. #
"Focus Haruka!"
The blonde collapsed, breathing hard and sweating, and lay on the dusty ground, trying to ignore the gut-wrenching, pulsing vein in her forehead. Setsuna kneeled besides her and pushed her over onto her back and put a hand over the girl's heart, checking her pulse.
"Good." She nodded in satisfaction. "You lasted a lot longer then yesterday."
"Yeah, great." Haruka gasped sarcastically. "10 seconds instead of 2 is such an improvement." Setsuna shrugged and sat back, resting her chin in her hand.
"You know, it takes some people years to improve that much. And it was a lot smoother this time too." The green-haired woman said.
"It felt like hell."
The pair had been in the same spot for 5 hours now, working on Haruka's powers. Feril had begun to train Haruka in merging with her elements, and Setsuna had picked it up after the older woman had left. She merged easily enough with wind, so they were working on earth. Only problem was, instead of combining her power with it, the earth had been opening beneath her and pulling Haruka in. So they started working on controlling it externally.
Haruka would focus all her energy into the palms of her hands and press them against the ground, and bring the element into her. She'd been trying to force tendrils of earth to rise up on command, like Feril had during their first training session, as shown by the hand shaped rise in the earth only a few yards away.
First she had to force away the natural movement of the earth, twist it to move from just a rumble of the Earth's surface to a flowing movement to heed her will. But she couldn't do it. Just recently, she'd got it to stop shaking and was working on the flowing movement. And it felt like she was trying to stop her own heartbeat.
"...well, if you want to just give up," Setsuna stood up and threw a towel to Haruka. "Let's call it a day anyways. We can pick it up next week, if you want."
Haruka nodded, not having the energy to do much else.
"I could work on it in my spare time," she muttered when she had rested a moment.
"No. You're not far enough along to try it on your own yet. It's dangerous enough, even with me here. If something were to happen to you, it'd be impossible to get to you in time or even find you afterwards. You could be pulled to the center of the earth and crushed." Setsuna looked the unmoving blonde over seriously. "Don't worry about it Haruka, you're getting stronger everyday. We'll pick up next week. See you then." She walked off towards the school, leaving Haruka to lay there, the wind blowing sympathetically around her.
"Am I that weak...?" Haruka murmured to the wind, closing her hand around a clump of dirt. "Am I still so weak?" she whispered, but no one answered. There was no one there, just the wind.
# There was no one there.
The small girl crawled onward, pulling herself forward simply because it was in her to do so. Her body shook with hunger and fatigue. She felt so weak that she believed she would blow away with the sand around her.
Sunburned, with salt and sand in her many cuts, battered, broken and bruised, she still moved forwards, some primal instinct telling her that if she stopped, she'd never move again.
"They don't care anymore..." she rasped from a throat that felt like it hadn't known water in years. And like it always did, the voice answered.
** "Who?" **
It was always with her, she couldn't escape it. Maybe she was the voice, maybe it was part of her. But it felt so much like something outside of herself, she couldn't really believe that.
** "Who? Why don't they care?" ** Even though the voice knew, she could feel it, it still always asked.
"They gave up on me. They left me here..." Haruka whispered, tears running across her face and onto the hot sand, disappearing without a trace.
** "Why?" **
"Because I'm weak..." she tasted blood as her cracked lips spilt with the movement.
The voice was gone now. She could always feel when it stopped talking, it always left her feeling vacant, like part of her was missing.
"I'm weak... I should have saved them..." she whispered, closing her eyes. But there was no one there. Just the wind. #
"Haruka-kun!"
Haruka opened a bleary eye and cursed inwardly. She'd fallen asleep. The sun had moved completely across the sky.
"Haruka-kun, are you alright?" Usagi bent over Haruka, looking worriedly into her face. Haruka managed a charming smile, despite her current state.
"I'm fine Koneko-chan," she laughed. "Just taking a nap." She reached up and tugged gently on one of the trademark odangos on Usagi's head. Usagi reached up and took Haruka's hand in hers.
"Are you sure? You look pretty beat up." she persisted. Haruka laughed and sat up.
"I'm tougher then that bun-head. This is just a little workout." She assured, instinctively running her hand over the smaller girl's cheek, pleasantly surprised by how soft it was.
"Haruka-kun, can I ask you something?" Usagi asked earnestly, sitting down next to the other blonde.
"Go ahead Koneko-chan," Haruka said.
"You know how you were talking with Mamo-chan earlier?"
"Uh-huh."
"About the different places you've been too?"
Haruka nodded, not quite sure where this was going.
"You never stayed anywhere very long and I was wondering..." Usagi trailed off and looked at the ground. Haruka gently lifted her chin and locked eyes with the smaller girl.
"What is it bun-head?" she asked gently.
"You're not going to leave us, are you Haruka-kun?" Usagi asked anxiously. Haruka started in surprise. No one had ever asked her that. Few had ever cared if she left or stayed, most preferring the former. Haruka smiled and, without thinking about it, pulled Usagi close in a hug.
"Are you really that worried about it Usagi-chan?" she murmured, amusement in her tone, but the happy warmth couldn't be completely disguised. Usagi nodded, her arms wrapped loosely around Haruka's waist. Haruka moved her face closer to the smaller girl's hair, taking in her scent and presence.
"I wouldn't leave, Koneko-chan. I have to protect you, don't I?"
Haruka had no clue what had brought those specific words out, but she meant them whole-heartedly.
"You know, this is the first place where it feels like I have a family. I like that feeling. I'm surrounded by people who actually give a damn what happens to me, and I want to protect that with everything in me." She explained, running her fingers through the long blonde strands of Usagi's hair.
"... You think something's going to happen, don't you?"
"Like?"
"You know. Something bad. Is something bad coming, Haruka-kun?" Usagi turned her face up to look into those brilliant green eyes, her own blue ones questioning.
"It doesn't matter bun-head, I'll protect you and everyone else, no matter what."
"...I'm glad you came here Haruka-kun."
"Even with all the excitement recently?" Haruka joked. Usagi nodded.
"Promise you'll stay?" she asked. Haruka just smiled and hugged her.
"Whatever you want Koneko-chan," she laughed.
The school bell rang in the distance and Usagi looked up.
"You go on bun-head. I'm gonna go wash up. See you at dinner." Haruka helped the girl up and set off towards the bathes, her muscles protesting weakly at the movement. Usagi sighed and turned back toward the main school building.
"Alright people, the visitors will be here sometime this week. We don't have an exact date because of some unexpected delays, but we will be ready! Everyone know their places for the welcoming ceremony?"
There was a murmur of acquiescence throughout the room. The headmistress wiped her brow and smiled.
"Good. Now, Serenity-sama has promised at least a day's notice before their arrival, but let's practice, practice, practice!" she clapped her hands in satisfaction with lecture and walked out of the room feeling rather important. The students held in their smirks and comments until she left.
"Do we look like a group of five year olds? We know what we're supposed to do." Minako sighed and returned to backstage to get ready.
"Well, if you squint..." Hotaru muttered, doing just that. "And maybe your eyes aren't that good, why, yes, I guess we do."
Haruka gave her a look and shook her head.
"Let's just get this over with," she sighed. She was still sore from her training the day before. She hadn't been able to rid herself of the sensation of being suffocated and pulled down. It was as if her bones had become heavier and her movements were painfully slow, at least to her, and it was hard to get up the energy to move.
"Are you sure you're ok Haruka-kun?" Usagi asked quietly, so that only Haruka and Michiru, who was standing near by, heard her.
"I'm fine Koneko-chan," Haruka flashed Usagi a smile and flexed her fingers to try and remove the dead weight inside of them that would slow her music. She played a few notes and frowned inwardly. Sure enough, the flowing sound, the music of the wind, was replaced by the heavy notes of leaden fingers. Most of the others didn't notice, but Michiru heard the change.
"What happened?" she murmured into the blonde's ear, worried. Haruka shook her head.
"Just been training too much lately. Bun-head over there found me after I fell asleep the other day. Guess I pushed myself harder then I thought." She explained quietly, leaning back to answer in Michiru's ear and gave her a quick covert kiss on the cheek that no one else saw. Michiru's expression softened, but the concern remained.
"Elemental immersion?" she asked, sitting next to Haruka and slipping a hand over the blonde's.
"That's what Setsuna calls it. How'd you know?"
Michiru smiled and pressed her fingers down over Haruka's on the keys and a few notes played emptily.
"Just be careful, ok?" she asked softly and Haruka nodded, leaning closer to her briefly, before both reminded themselves of their surroundings and Michiru had to abandon the blonde for her violin.
"Tenoh-kun, where is the path tonight?"
Haruka examined the night sky, trying to find the answer to the Heavens House instructor's question.
"From the North Star , over the moon, to three spans below Orion." She answered.
"Close." He marked the chart in front of her with a check of approval and dismissed her. The rest of the class watched enviously as the blonde escaped the remainder of the lesson.
Now she had a little under an extra hour to herself. Heavens house had gone longer because they'd spent half the day rehearsing, with Queen Serenity arriving tomorrow, information courtesy of a fleet footed messenger. They would have spent the whole day, but the students had nearly mutinied at the thought of an entire day under the headmistress' scrutiny and she'd let them go in a fit of frustration and stress.
'Michiru's still in Depths, Hotaru's still with Setsuna in Temporal and everyone else already went to bed...' Haruka thought, after checking all the rooms discreetly. A small, determined smile slipped across her face. 'Perfect. No one'll be looking for me for a while yet. I'm going to get this immersion thing down if it kills me!' Haruka vowed, racing off to the small clearing where she trained with Setsuna and Feril, having no idea how possible it was she'd fulfill that vow.
A thin layer of ice and snow coated the clearing, the silver moonlight giving it an eerie frozen look. Haruka rubbed her hands together to keep them warm and looked around. Feril's own display of ability stood off to the side, looking unnervingly like a real giant hand reaching up from the depths of the earth. The blonde scowled. It was a sight that she saw every time she lay in the dirt, exhausted and failing. It galled her awfully and she wanted nothing more then to best it tonight.
Brushing the ice off the largest tree around, she found the rune engraved in its trunk and ran her forefinger over it, speaking a single word, as Setsuna had done the other day. Before her eyes, the ice and snow faded and disappeared. Looking back over her shoulder, the blonde could see the snow and ice still remained outside the clearing. The spell provided just enough room to train comfortably. Slipping off her shoes and winter clothes, she placed them in a pocket in the roots. Haruka crouched low and breathed deeply. The thick smell of the earth calmed her, at the same time sending a thrill of the slumbering power beneath her bare feet through her entire body. It was cold, but the ground responded to her presence, bringing the heat from far below to her, showing its eagerness to join with her.
"Just like she said, concentrate." She sighed, focusing and moving to her hands and knees, taking the earth in through all her senses.
"Tune out everything else... complete the link, gain the power..." she whispered, pressing closer, feeling the far away pulse that was the power of the Earth itself. The wind pulled at her anxiously, like a small child that thinks it's being left alone, even for a moment.
"Shhhh... It's ok," Haruka murmured, calming it. 'Block it all out, join it.' A figure stood watching Haruka, softly illuminated by the moonlight.
The girl slowly released her senses, closing her eyes, and let the comforting darkness of the earth surround her utterly.
The figure watched as the ground moved gently up and around the motionless figure of Haruka, tendrils of dark earth wrapping around her arms and legs, burying her, pulling inexorably down.
That last lingering traces of her consciousness in her told her it'd happened again. Haruka tried to withdraw herself, but the earth didn't listen and continued to pull her down, holding her still in its powerful grasp.
"No!" she cried weakly as it reached over her head and covered her. 'NO! Goddess, I can't!' she didn't have the room to struggled, buried completely now and going further down. She cursed mentally, remembering how easily she'd disregarded Setsuna's warning not to train alone.
**************** R&R. Tell me where you think it's going, mistakes I make, anything. Soda can count at 93 and going up...