Only when they had made it back to the car and had put a safe distance between Old Haven and themselves, Haruka and Michiru allowed themselves to relax; and only then, Michiru spoke up, giving the blonde a curious look as she demanded to know how exactly Haruka had managed to take the pouch from the Commander during the fight.
"A mix of luck and skill", Haruka replied, keeping her gaze on the road even though there were no other cars in sight, a slight smirk curling her lips, "Minako is the one who's super skilled at picking pockets, but she taught me a few things, so when I felt the pouch during the fight, I figured I might as well make use of that."
"Picking locks and now, pockets", Michiru smiled, not bothering to hide that she was impressed, "do you have any other skills you haven't told me about?"
"Perhaps", Haruka replied, now taking her eyes off the road for a second to wink at her, "but it'd be boring to just tell you, no?"
"Ah", Michiru nodded solemnly, "yes, of course. Have no fear though, even if you told me all your skills and deepest, darkest secrets, you'd still be very interesting to me."
"Good to know", the blonde chuckled, Michiru's smile widening at the sound; she still felt a bit dazed after having been slammed against the wall, but gave her best to ignore this, keeping her focus on Haruka instead of pondering how her head felt, and making the taller woman smile by reaching out and placing one hand on her upper leg.
"It's a pity we didn't have time to search for our weapons", she then stated, glancing at the backseat of the car, where the sniper rifle she had purchased from Earl laid, "I really would have liked to get my own rifle back. But at least we retrieved the key pieces."
Nodding, Haruka kept one hand on the steering wheel while she reached into her pocket with the other, pulling out the pouch; thanking her, Michiru took it from her, feeling how her heart beat faster in excitement as she undid the string holding it close, her eyes going wide moments later as she peered inside.
Suddenly frantic, she dug through her pocket, until she felt the piece they had been given by the men of Big Boris; suddenly sure that her eyes had played a trick on her, she peered into the pouch again, her breath hitching when she took another, closer look and saw that she had seen right.
"Haruka", she brought out, unable to keep her voice from trembling, Haruka immediately giving her a concerned look in response, "stop the car."
Worried, Haruka did so at once, not even bothering to drive off the road; before she could ask Michiru what was wrong though, the sniper upended the pouch over her palm, and the blonde's eyes went wide too when three key pieces fell out of it, glistening weakly in the sunlight.
"You didn't add the one we took from Boris yet, did you", Haruka finally asked, not surprised when Michiru shook her head; absent-mindedly, she tossed the pouch aside, then used her free hand to dig out the fourth piece, feeling it tremble in her hand, as if it was aware of how close it was to the other three and was eager to join them.
For a moment, Michiru was tempted to put the pieces together right there, in the car; then, she realized that this might cause some sort of reaction, and hurriedly got out of the vehicle, Haruka following suit, keeping a bit of a distance to Michiru though while the sniper moved a few steps away from the car.
"Let's hope this won't blow up in my face", she murmured, holding her breath as she moved the fourth piece closer to the other three; she had a moment to wonder how the pieces would have to be put together, and if they would stick together on their own or if they'd have to find some sort of glue – and then, the three pieces lying on her palm vibrated strong enough to make her whole arm tremble, the fourth piece practically jumping from her grip to meet them.
There was an audible crack, loud and unexpected enough to make both Haruka and Michiru jump; and then, a bright purple light shot from the sniper's palm, so strong that Haruka had to avert her eyes, her heart leaping up to her throat when she heard Michiru from within the bright light, her voice trembling and breathless.
"Oh God", the sniper brought out, a shudder running through her whole body now as she felt all this power, for the first time fully realizing what a mighty object she was holding; it kept flooding her, touching the very core of her being – and then, it suddenly stopped, and her eyes rolled back into her head as her knees gave in beneath her, the realization that she was falling being the last thing her mind registered before the world went dark.
There was no water this time, and no ice. Instead, she was standing on stony ground, and there was smoke, thick and black and stinging in her eyes; she could hear fire roaring in the distance, but couldn't see it, couldn't see anything in this thick, black smoke.
"They are coming", the voice she had heard in her dreams before told her, with a hint of urgency, and a bit of fear, "they are coming, you must be fast! Hurry! Wake up and HURRY!"
Michiru's eyes snapped open, and she gasped, her gaze meeting the confused one of Haruka; apparently, to her relief, the blonde had moved fast enough to catch her when she had fallen, and now knelt on the floor, holding her in her arms, her worry also showing through her voice when she demanded to know if Michiru could hear her, if she was alright.
"Yes", she croaked, briefly closing her eyes when the world spun around her; she could feel the power within her again, crackling, stirring, so eager to be used, but she forced herself to hold it back, telling herself it'd be a waste to let it out now, with no target in sight, "help me up, we have to go, now, they're coming…"
She would forever be grateful and touched by the amount of trust Haruka showed in response to her words, not questioning her for a second; she just nodded, moving one arm so it was around her waist and helping her up moments later, supporting her for the few steps back to the car, and still taking the time to make sure that Michiru sat safely and comfortably in the passenger seat before she hurried around the vehicle and took her place behind the steering wheel, the sniper during the whole process not letting go of the key for a second.
"Where should I…?" she started, raising an eyebrow when Michiru shrugged, noting the way she kept glancing into the rear view mirror, the urgency still audible through her voice when she replied. "Doesn't matter, just away from here, and fast. If Steele could feel me being there just because we're both Sirens, then she might have felt what happened when the key was completed, as well, and they'll be on their way right now. I had another… dream when I was out cold, just like after our first time together."
At this, Haruka just nodded, then stepped down onto the gas pedal; the car shot forward with a roar of the engine, and Michiru briefly stiffened, then allowed herself to relax again, reminding herself of the fact that Haruka was a good driver and knew what she was doing, and that the blonde wouldn't lose control over the car even on this uneven terrain.
She kept glancing into the rear view mirror, half expecting an armada of Crimson Lance cars to appear behind them; only when Haruka had been driving for quite some time, and nothing out of the ordinary was happening, the diffuse feeling that something wasn't quite as she had thought began to surface, her heart speeding up as an impossibly to explain feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach.
Swallowing heavily, Michiru looked down onto the key, as if it could tell her what was going on; it laid perfectly still on her palm though, the only indication that it wasn't just a piece of pretty purple stone being the faint light she could see pulse deep within it, said light not helping with taking the dread away though, the suspicion that she had misunderstood the dream or vision or whatever it had been making her blood run cold.
"Turn around", she brought out, once more unable to keep the tremble out of her voice; Haruka gave her a worried look, but again didn't question her, just giving her a questioning look, and prompting her to speak on, "I think… I'm not sure how to explain this, but we have to go back."
She had been standing on stone, she remembered, and there had been smoke and fire… and whoever had been speaking to her had told her that they were coming and that she had to hurry.
But they never had said that anyone was coming for her.
"We have to go back to Fyrestone", she told Haruka, swallowing heavily afterwards, "don't ask me how I know, but… we have to go back, and fast…"
Once more, Haruka just nodded, then stepped down onto the gas pedal; swallowing heavily again, Michiru clutched the key tight as the blonde drove, glancing at her every now and then, asking herself how much Haruka would still trust her once they'd find out whatever had happened to her hometown and once she'd realize how much of it was Michiru's responsibility for the things she had done.
They rested as little as possible during the journey back to Fyrestone, taking turns behind the wheel, even though Michiru didn't dare to drive quite as fast as Haruka; they both knew that driving with as little sleep as they allowed themselves was dangerous, but also knew that Steele had had a head start, and a whole army at her disposal, making sure that sleep wouldn't be an issue, and so they pressed on, despite how exhausting it was.
Despite how little rest the two allowed themselves, and how fast Haruka was driving whenever it was her turn, they had to realize that they still hadn't been fast enough, columns of smoke appearing on the sky up ahead as they got closer to their goal, and not long after they had spotted the smoke, gunfire and explosions reached their ears, Haruka's only visible reaction being the way her hands tightened around the steering wheel while she sped up even further, until Michiru was sure that the car simply couldn't go any faster.
Clearly, Steele had expected someone to interrupt their raid on the small town, perhaps not Haruka and Michiru in person, but opponents she took seriously enough to put up a guard at the town's only gate; fortunately for the couple though, the guard hadn't decided to do his job sitting in the car, and Haruka took care of him before he could alert anyone, simply running him over.
The gate, rickety as it was, had been closed, with neither of them sure if this had been done by the inhabitants of Fyrestone or by the Crimson Lance; Michiru figured that it didn't matter though, and it stopped them just as little as the guard had, the car crashing through it, making enough of a ruckus to gain the attention of several soldiers and townfolk.
There were too many of the soldiers, Michiru realized at once; she wasn't quite sure what Steele was hoping to accomplish by raiding the town, but she had brought more than enough men for the task, several of them opening fire, apparently having realized that, despite the car being one of theirs, the people inside it were not part of them.
They opened fire without hesitating, the wind shield shattering just as both Haruka and Michiru ducked down; Michiru could feel bullets hitting the passenger seat, taking a second to glance over at Haruka, making sure she was okay – and trying to memorize every little detail of the blonde's face, knowing what she had to do if she wanted to keep the town from being wiped off the map, and not having an idea how her plan might end for her.
She had a second to regret that she hadn't been able to find out more about Sirens, about their powers and the dangers these powers brought; she knew though that she had to take the risk, that she couldn't just let the Crimson Lance destroy Haruka's home and kill all these people, not after how said people had stood up for her and especially not with the knowledge of what losing all of this would do to her lover.
And so, with that in mind, Michiru briefly reached out and touched Haruka's hand; the blonde looked at her from where she was ducked down behind the steering wheel, but before she could say something, Michiru pushed the passenger side door open, not seeing anymore how Haruka's eyes went wide.
She still felt the power crackle deep within her, and now, she not only stopped holding it back, but reached for it, the complicated symbols beginning to glow on her skin, the same glow shining from her eyes as she stepped out of the car, the soldiers beginning to gesture and yell to one another as they realized what was happening, but she just smiled, knowing that none of them stood a chance anymore.