"Isn't peace great?" Makoto sighed, leaning back in her cushioned seat at the crown arcade. Across from her sat Usagi and Mamoru, to the side Ami and Rei and next to her Minako. Galaxia had been defeated a mere two weeks ago, and since then nothing had gone wrong. It seemed as though they were getting a chance to have normal lives for awhile, and they were certainly enjoying it. They knew to enjoy it, after all – it usually didn't last long.
"Yeah." Minako agreed, taking a long sip from her vanilla milkshake as Ami watched on amazed, wondering how in the world she wasn't getting an ice cream headache. "It feels so nice to be alive again." She joked, and Usagi giggled… half because of the joke and half because of the large ice cream mustache now adorning Minako's upper lip.
"It almost seems to good to be true. I'm reluctant to relax yet, because it seems that every time I do a new enemy comes." Rei admitted sheepishly, but immediately cut off any speech about being a senshi from her mouth as Motoki wondered aimlessly over. Minako blushed slightly as she scooted over, making room for her crush to sit down next to her. He did so, but didn't say anything.
All conversation ceased the moment he sat down, everyone fearing that they might accidentally let something about the senshi slip since it was still on their minds. Motoki looked around at them curiously and cocked an eyebrow at the sudden silence from what was usually the loudest table.
"So…" He began, and all six heads shot toward him in hope of a good topic. He chuckled as a small sweat drop formed on his brow. "I was just wondering how you wound up so lucky Mamoru? I mean, you're always hanging out with five lovely women." The girls all blushed, and Ami squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. Minako looked quite pleased, as did Usagi.
"I was wondering that myself." Mamoru admitted, as a sweat drop formed on his brow as well. "Though I'm not sure I would consider myself lucky…" A fist suddenly made impact with his shoulder and her grimaced in pain, looking down at his "sweet" little Usako, who had obviously become much stronger after becoming a senshi. She smiled back up at him innocently, and he laughed.
"Yeah, I can tell what you mean." Motoki commented, noticing the way Mamoru was holding his arm in pain. Either Usagi had gotten stronger, Mamoru had gotten weaker, or Mamoru just didn't want to make Usagi feel bad. A small bell jingled suddenly, meaning the door had just been opened. Usagi's eyes wandered aimlessly over to see Haruka and Michiru wander in. Immediately the young girl stood up, yelling and waving, beckoning the two over. They looked at each other with a sweat drop before heading over to the table where a very noisy Usagi was seated. Seeing that there was barely any room for them to sit down, Haruka and Michiru each pulled a chair up from a nearby table and took a seat.
"Ok, scratch that, seven women." Motoki chuckled.
"Eleven actually." Mamoru grinned slightly at the shocked expression on his friend's face. "Because Setsuna, Hotaru, Chibi-Usa and Chibi-Chibi aren't here." Motoki shook his head hopelessly before rising from his seat as a group of high school boys came in, taking a seat at the counter and waiting to be served.
At the table next to them, a man sat reading the newspaper and secretly overhearing every word of the conversation between the scouts. He stood up and folded the newspaper, tucking it neatly under his arm before heading toward the door.
"And there's about to be more." He muttered, heading out. Looking left and right, the man made sure no was around. The street was fairly deserted since it was only around 10:00 AM and most people were at work. Seeing that no one was looking, a small flash of light engulfed him, and the man was gone.
~
"Here you go honey, your last birthday present." Akemi's mother handed her a small black box tied neatly with a purple ribbon. Akemi couldn't help but notice that there were tiny holes poked in the top of the box, and she was getting very curious to what it could possibly be. Apparently though not as curious as her sister.
"Please open it!" Her sister, Hatsuka begged, and Akemi grinned at her, deciding to take as much time as possible. She slowly tugged on one of the loose parts of the ribbon, as if overlooking the fact that it was double knotted. Her 8-year-old sister was hopping about nervously behind her, and looked ready to snatch it out of her hands and open it for her.
"Hmm…" Akemi said, examining the box from all sides as if she were examining the best approach to take on opening it. Her sister groaned in frustration, and the box was quickly grabbed from her hands. Akemi blinked stupidly for a few seconds at her now empty hands before spinning around. "Hey! Give that back!" She protested, and, after a cold glare from her mother, Hatsuka reluctantly handed it back.
"But please hurry." She added quietly. Grinning, Akemi quickly ripped off the paper, placing it to the side neatly. She slipped the bow off, revealing a plain brown box with air holes on the top. The box suddenly began to move a bit and Akemi gasped in surprise, dropping it. The lid burst open, and out jumped a little black poodle. It jumped onto Akemi's lap, desperately trying to climb up her to reach her face to kiss it. The girl laughed in delight at the little animal.
"Oh, I love it!" She cried, hugging it to her. It had curly black hair, and was the kind of poodle she always wanted – a teacup poodle. She noticed that it had a strange marking on its head, it looked like a crescent moon with an h in the middle. She dismissed it as nothing.
"What are you going to name it?" Her father asked curiously.
"Calypso." She replied without a moment of hesitation, then stared curiously down at the dog. Now where did that name come from? It seemed familiar, and it did seem to fit him, but she was sure she had never heard it…
"Calypso it is." Her mother said, smiling warmly. Hatsuka was quickly by Akemi's side, waiting her turn to hold the puppy. Akemi handed it to her for a split second so she could see, then quickly took him back.
~
A loud crash made Akemi sit straight up in bed in panic. She noticed at the end of her bed that Calypso was awake as well, looking very alert. It was the middle of the night, so she knew it wasn't Hatsuka, and her parents weren't usually up so late. Was it a burglar? Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she felt a strange sense of anxiety mixed with fear. She was so aware of her own breathing that she almost didn't notice Calypso jump off her bed and head out of her room.
"Calypso, no!" She hissed, jumping out of bed as well. Her first night with a puppy and he was going to go and get himself killed! She sneaked silently until she reached her door, then cautiously poked her head out. The sounds were coming from downstairs, and she let out a small whimper in despair as she noticed Calypso's black tail head down the stairs. She heard a soft snoring coming from her parent's bedroom as well as Hatsuka's, and was now assured she was the only one up in her family. She thought about waking her parents up, but if she didn't go after Calypso the person downstairs might kill him!
Silently she followed him downstairs, and looked surprised to see him waiting patiently for her in the hallway leading to the kitchen… almost as if he were leading her there… Akemi made a quick movement to grab Calypso but he dashed out of her reach, making Akemi nearly trip and fall flat on her face. She caught herself just in time, and noticed that Calypso was now about two feet farther away then he had been last time. Again she lunged, again he ran, and again he moved farther away. He was nearly in the kitchen now, and Akemi was ready to head upstairs and tell her parents what was happening. But something, perhaps the thought of seeing her new puppy dead, refrained her.
She was about to make another lunge for her dog, when he suddenly turned around and trotted into the kitchen, the place where the burglar obviously was. Akemi's eyes widened, this dog was insane! But she couldn't let him get hurt… and maybe if when she got Calypso she made enough noise she could scare away the burglar or at least wake her parents up…
She stepped into the kitchen, and opened her mouth to scream – but nothing came out.
~
"OW!" Rei screeched, doubling over in pain suddenly, grasping her head in her hands. The noise awoke both Ami and Makoto who were spending the night, and they were by her side immediately.
"Rei, what's wrong?" Makoto asked worriedly, helping her to a couch where Rei took a grateful seat.
"I just sensed an evil presence… more powerful than anything we've ever encountered before…" Rei muttered through clenched teeth and above her head Makoto and Ami exchanged worried glances. Rei's predictions were never wrong. Never. "It's not even near the Shrine… but I could still feel it as if it were right next to me… the energy it's emitting is… more than anything I've ever felt…" As two tears fell from Rei's eyes, pangs of fear shot through the other two girls like lightening. If it could make Rei cry, they were in trouble. They had to warn the rest of the senshi, quick.
~
Standing in front of Akemi was the most horrible thing she had ever seen in her life. It was like something from a nightmare, something that wasn't even real. It's eyes were no more than red slits planted into a long, black shadow that stretched itself over almost the entire kitchen, like a horrible snake. It had yet to notice her or Calypso, and seemed to be looking for something. Akemi would have run if her legs would allow it, but they were shaking so hard that she highly doubted she would ever be able to walk again. And then Calypso did the worst thing he could do. He barked.
The thing whipped its ugly head around at the sound, focusing on the dog almost as if Akemi wasn't there. It lunged toward him, and before Akemi was quite sure was happening, she found herself placing her own body in front of the dog's. Calypso's eyes twinkled.
"Akemi!" Came a voice from behind her, and she quickly spun around. Seeing no one she whimpered in the realization that she was alone. "Akemi!" The voice said again, and she suddenly looked down. In his mouth Calypso held a small black stick with a purple sphere on top. Akemi looked at it in wonder, momentarily forgetting the large black shadow snake behind her. It was so familiar… "Take it!" Calypso suddenly shouted at her, making her jump. Gingerly she took the stick out of his mouth, overlooking the fact that her dog just talked to her and that a monster behind her was probably getting ready to eat her. "Now don't ask questions, just raise the stick above your head, and shout…" Calypso was greatly surprised, however, when Akemi cut him off.
"TITAN POWER!" As flashing lights swirled around the young girl's body, making shadows dance playfully across the wall, Calypso sighed.
"Well so much for that." He said, sounding resigned… it appeared as if it wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him. The shadow snake was stunned to the point where it forgot about attacking either the young girl or her dog.
The lights disappeared as soon as they were there, leaving in its place Akemi. Only it wasn't Akemi. She was wearing a Sailor Suit, the kind she had seen Sailor V wear on TV… and there was a certain air of pride to her that hadn't been there before. Sailor Titan quickly looked over her Sailor Suit in wonder, then got a grin on her face that even scared Calypso a bit. She turned back to the shadow snake and glared.
"Who are you?" The shadow snake hissed in wonder, and Akemi shivered – its voice was like the wind in a graveyard.
"I am a child of destiny. I am the heart of fate. I am a solider of love and justice. Prepare to meet your ultimate destiny, for I am…" she thrust her gloved hand down, causing black shadows to jump from the ground in a large wall around her. The shadows were slightly transparent, and her outline could still be seen within them. "Sailor Titan!"
The snake lunged at her again, and this time she wasn't able to miss it. It threw her out of the kitchen and into the living room, slamming her against the hard, brick hearth. She grimaced when she felt a few drops of blood trickle down her back, staining two small red streams in the back of her fuku. Shakily, she stood back up. The monster had turned its back to her again, dismissing her as dead or at least unconscious.
"This cannot continue." Sailor Titan said, and the snake turned to look at her again, a slightly surprised expression on it's black face. For the third time that night she suddenly knew what to do and what to say, though she wasn't sure how. This was all so new, yet, it almost seemed familiar. Like she had done this before, like she had held that stick in the air to point where it was worn down badly. "Fated Silent Death!" She screamed.
If transforming was strange, it was nothing compared to this. Black energy was growing in her hands, and she felt so powerful that she almost forgot what she was battling. As it continued to grow, she knew what to do, and eventually threw it at the snake, aiming for its eye. It was a direct hit and it reeled back in pain. Sailor Titan felt a moment of triumph, but it quickly faded when she realized she hadn't done much more than make it very, very angry.
It attacked, she froze, Calypso barked… and then she suddenly wasn't alone.
"Hold it!" All three heads whipped over to where, in the entryway of the kitchen, stood five girls wearing sailor fuku. Sailor Titan's eyes went wide in wonder. The Sailor Senshi! Was she a senshi also?
"I am Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice, and on behalf of the moon I will punish you!" One of the girls announced.
"I am Sailor Mars, champion of fire, and on behalf of Mars I will punish you!" Said another.
"I am Sailor Jupiter, champion of thunder, and on behalf of Jupiter I will punish you!" Said the third senshi.
"I am Sailor Uranus, champion of sky, and on behalf of Uranus I will punish you!" Said the fourth, very tell, very masculine senshi.
"I am Sailor Saturn, champion of destruction, and on behalf of Saturn I will punish you!" Said the fifth scout who didn't appear to be much older than she did. Her eyes lingered momentarily over this fifth scout – she was so familiar…
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" The phrase broke Sailor Titan from her stupor and she covered her eyes quickly when the bright light of the attack flashed into the room. When the light was gone, the snake was still there, looking slightly dazed.
"What?" Sailor Moon said, looking amazed. "Why didn't it…" she looked down at Sailor Titan, her expression beginning to get more and more confused. "Who is…" Sailor Titan watched in surprise as the girl who seemed so strong and brave in front of her broke into tears, and the scouts behind her sighed resignedly. "WAH I'M CONFUSED!"
"Not now meatball head!" Scolded Sailor Mars. "Let me try. Mars Flame Sniper!" An arrow lit with fire shot with dead accuracy toward the shadow snake, piercing its tail. It didn't flinch.
"World Shaking!" Tried Sailor Uranus. A tiny planet shot out of her hands and sped toward the shadow snake, which easily dodged it. Uranus muttered something under her breath, not noticing that the shadow snake was about to spit venom at her.
"Watch out Uranus!" Saturn shouted, stepping in front of Uranus and holding her glaive out in front of her chest. "Silent Wall!" Purple ribbons shot out from her glaive that surrounded she and Uranus. The venom bounced off the ribbon, landing in a sizzling heap on the floor that burned a small hole in it. Uranus's eyes went wide at what could have been her.
"Thanks Saturn." She said gratefully. Not wasting any time, the next scout stepped up.
"Jupiter Oak Revolution!" The leaves shot off the spinning girl, heading for the snake. A few stray ones headed elsewhere, and Titan had to drop to the ground to avoid one that flew over her head. Out of the possibly fifteen leaves Jupiter shot, only two successfully hit the snake. "Try going again Sailor Moon!" Jupiter urged, turning toward the girl that Titan assumed to be the leader.
"I don't know that I can, that attack takes all my energy. I may faint, but I'll try." Sailor Moon responded, getting ready for the attack.
"No wait!" Mars said, grabbing Sailor Moon's wrist to prevent her from attacking. "You won't be any good to us unconscious. Don't attack." The other senshi nodded their agreement. The snake had momentarily forgotten about them and was looking for something again.
"What are we going to do?" Saturn asked sounding worried. Titan had to wonder why Saturn wasn't attacking, but said nothing from her spot on the floor.
"I…I don't know." Uranus muttered.
"I'll call the rest of the scouts on my communicator." Mars said, quickly flipping open the lid of a small watch on her wrist. The snake suddenly whipped around, lunging at Mars who fell backwards, hitting her head on the marble floor. A small trickle of blood made its way down her forehead, and she closed her eyes, not opening them again. She was still breathing, but was unconscious.
"Mars!" Sailor Moon shouted, and was by her side in a second. Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn stood in front of the two girls in a ready position incase the snake attacked again.
It did. And it was worse than before. Focusing on the five girls and forgetting about Sailor Titan, it raised itself to as high as it could go in the small kitchen. Which was very high. Black wisps of energy began to join to it from thin air, and it got larger. The senshi gasped. Saturn began to try and make a shield, but it quickly knocked her over with a powerful swish of its tail. Focusing on Uranus and Jupiter, a large black energy stream shot out of its stomach, heading for the two girls.
"Titan Midnight Destiny!" Sailor Titan shouted suddenly. It turned out to her luck that, just like Fated Silent Death this seemed to be one of her attacks. She aimed it straight at the monster's head rather than its eye or body. A black beam very similar to the one the monster was shooting shot at it. It let out a scream that was almost deafening before disappearing in a pile of dust on the floor. The black beam had been inches away from the two standing scouts. Sailor Mars and Sailor Saturn were both unconscious and Sailor Moon was now kneeling by Saturn. She stood, and walked over to Sailor Titan.
"Who are you?" She asked. Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Uranus, who were both very tall, stood behind Sailor Moon as if protecting her from anything she might do. She couldn't blame them, they didn't know her, and she could be their enemy. For all she knew, she was. She had just transformed for the first time ten minutes ago. She didn't know who she was against and who were her allies.
"I…" She said, looking Sailor Moon in the eye. "Am Sailor Titan, the senshi of destiny."
"You saved our lives." Jupiter said, stepping up beside Sailor Moon and taking Sailor Titan's hand to shake it. "Thank you." Sailor Uranus flashed her a grateful look, but said nothing.
"I don't understand." Sailor Moon said under her breath. "I thought there weren't any more scouts."
"Let's not worry about this right now." Sailor Uranus cut in, crouching down beside Sailor Saturn and picking her up. "We need to get these two home. We can talk about this in the morning. Let's all meet at the Cherry Hill temple, 4:00 PM tomorrow. But first," she turned to Sailor Titan, "we need to see you in your de-transformed state so we know who you are."
Sailor Titan glanced over to Calypso who was hiding under the kitchen table. Sailor Moon just now noticed the puppy and her personality completely changed.
"Oh a puppy!" She squealed, reaching down to pick it up. "It's so cute!"
"Why thank you." Calypso responded, making Sailor Moon jump before laughing sheepishly.
"I should have known you could talk." Sailor Moon said, tapping the dog's nose with her finger.
"Um, sorry, but…" Sailor Titan interrupted, "How do I de-transform anyway?"
"Concentrate on your normal form." Sailor Jupiter said, picking up Sailor Mars. She closed her eyes and in a flash of green light a normal teenager stood there, wearing a pair of pajamas. Sailor Uranus chuckled a bit at the pieces of pie all over them and she quickly spun around and stuck her tongue out at her. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Moon changed back to normal quickly afterward, and Sailor Uranus de-transformed Mars with a touch of her finger to the girl's heart crystal.
Seeing the other girls do it, Sailor Titan concentrated on her normal form. She saw light flash on the inside of her eyelids, and when she looked back found that she was in her pajamas as well. When she looked up, the scouts were gone, and the only trace of the whole escapade happening was a tiny spot of blood from where her head had hit the hearth.
~
The afternoon sun hung over the Cherry Hill temple. Akemi looked up at the blue sky, shielding her eyes as she took note of the wonderful weather. Placing her eyes back on the temple in front of her she nervously shifted her backpack to her other shoulder. So far, she hadn't seen the girls that had supposedly been scouts last night. What if it had all been a dream? Or what if they had tricked her and weren't meeting her there? She swallowed hard as a woman with long dark green hair jogged past her, entering the temple without knocking. Another girl with long aqua hair followed shortly after her, taking slower steps and looking around the temple's surroundings, admiring the scenery. She stopped suddenly and studied Akemi's face.
"Akemi?" She asked, and Akemi jumped. How did this woman know her name? Slowly she nodded, and the woman's face broke into a large smile. She took her hand and shook it gracefully. "I thought it was you. You don't know me, but Uranus told me about you. Come on in, the meeting's about to start."
So she was a Sailor Scout too. Well, that explained a few things, but just exactly who was she? She thought that all the scouts had been there last night, but apparently she had been wrong.
It still all felt like a dream as she headed into the temple. At any minute she expected to open her eyes and find herself in her room. Yet, the sun's heat was real, and so was the smell of the ocean coming from the woman next to her. Still though, she couldn't believe she was a sailor scout. They were supposed to be myths. She hardly believed in them, and certainly never expected to become one.
The woman led her into a room, and she stepped in to see a large assembly of eight girls, two cats and one man. Some of them she recognized from the night before. The woman with long green hair was sitting there as well. They were mostly sitting around a table, with the exception of two people sitting on the bed. She took a seat in a corner away from both bed and table, while the woman she was with sat down next to who she recognized to be Sailor Uranus. Akemi took her backpack and placed it on her lap, hugging it to her chest for comfort, even if it was a bit hard. She stared at all the different faces.
They stared back at her with appraising eyes.
Not being able to stand the silence that was making the air so tense, she cleared her throat. The black cat suddenly rose to it's feet and, much to Akemi's relief, began talking.
"I am sure you are all aware by now that Akemi is a Sailor Scout as well." All heads turned to the black cat – except for the one girl she remembered to be Saturn. She and Akemi stared at each other.
So familiar…
"This has been a large surprise for all of us. We didn't know of any other scouts to exist, and from her show of powers we know that she isn't just a fan." The black cat suddenly turned toward Akemi and looked her in the eye for the first time. "What do you know? Who are you, what do you fight for? And… are you our enemy?" Akemi removed the backpack from her lap and broke her stare with Saturn, turning to the cat.
"I don't know anything at all except that there was suddenly a big shadow snake in my kitchen and the next thing I knew my puppy was talking to me and I was transforming. One of the few things I know is that I am Sailor Titan, and I fight for love, justice and destiny. And… I don't know. This is all so new to me, I don't know if I am or not." The black cat nodded, as did the white one next to her.
"So you say your dog was talking to you?" The white one asked, stepping forward as well. Akemi nodded slightly, still slightly confused about what was going on and who was who.
"Isn't Titan…" Saturn suddenly cut in, "one of Saturn's moons?" A girl with short blue hair looked at her and nodded "yes" before pulling out what looked like a compact and beginning to type on it. Akemi watched in fascination.
"Strange. Her blood is the same type as Hotaru's… it's the kind of blood people from Saturn had." The blue hair girl said, still typing.
"Well then I think we can rule out her being an enemy." The white cat responded, talking more to himself than anyone else. Akemi looked down at her wrist, studying her veins. She had the blood of the people living on Saturn in her veins? This was just getting too weird. She didn't even know people lived on Saturn, let alone the fact that she was one of them.
"I'm sorry…" She suddenly interrupted, "but I'm so confused. I don't get this whole Sailor Scout thing and I don't even know who all of you are." The girl who was Sailor Moon stood up quickly, her meatballs bouncing up and down.
"Oh how silly of us!" She exclaimed happily in a very hyper voice. She quickly went around the room naming off everyone and their planets, though she did it so fast Akemi only heard "MY Mamo-chan…". Seeing the blank look on Akemi's face and the way the meatball head was bouncing around the room, a sweat drop formed on the brow of the black cat and she sighed heavily.
"Let me explain." She leaped off the table, landing gracefully on her feet before launching into a long story of different races of people from space, a forbidden love between the earth and the moon and a jealous woman who made war rage between the two. When it was done Akemi stared, amazed. There was much more to this than she had thought. Afterward she went through all the people in the room, telling her their name and scout. Akemi's brain was ready to burst from all the information, and she felt slightly faint, and suddenly very tired.
"Wow… that's a lot of information to receive in seven minutes." She said with a small laugh. Rei walked over and helped her onto her bed.
"I understand. Go ahead and take a nap, you need some rest." Akemi nodded sleepily before letting her eyes drift shut.
~
She was running, she had to get to that light. What was it? She wasn't sure, but she knew she had to reach it. She had to keep going, keep going. She was almost there… then suddenly there was no more ground underneath her feet. She was falling into darkness; the light fading farther and farther away as her scream became more desperate.
And then suddenly she wasn't falling anymore. She was standing on a soft surface, safe and sound, but the light was gone.
"Akemi." A voice sounded behind her, and immediately Akemi whipped around.
Nothing was there.
A feeling of fear began to coil deep in her stomach and instinct told her to run from the spot. She headed off in opposite direction of the voice, her heart beating in her ears and her heavy footsteps seemingly echoing off the emptiness.
Suddenly from nowhere appeared a pure black unicorn that, somehow with all its beauty, was the most terrifying thing Akemi had ever seen. She couldn't even really see it because it was the same color of the nothingness around her, yet she knew it was there. She could see all of it, from its black fur to its red eyes to its gray horn. Akemi screamed and ran as fast as she could away from it. It reared in anger and chased after her. For some reason, no matter how much faster she got the unicorn stayed right on her heels the whole time.
From out of nowhere a realization dawned on her that she was dreaming. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. She shut her eyes tightly, demanding in her head that she wake up.
Nothing happened.
She was trapped in her nightmare.
~
A muffled scream sounded, and Hotaru looked lightly over her shoulder at Akemi. The girl made no movements, so she excused it as a figment of her imagination. She turned her attention back to Minako who was talking about a new orange blouse she had bought.
The scream sounded again, and this time Hotaru was certain it was coming from Akemi. She pulled the sheets down off her face, and Akemi immediately let out another scream, making everyone jump. A small bead of sweat was trickling down the side of her face and she was clutching her hand to her chest like it was the last thing on earth.
"She's having a nightmare." Setsuna commented calmly, taking a sip of her tea. "You should wake her up." Nodding, Hotaru lightly shook Akemi's shoulders.
Akemi didn't budge.
Again she shook her shoulders, this time harder. Still there was no movement from the girl. Minako and Haruka were now standing, looking worried. Haruka crouched down beside Akemi and called her name, pushing her arm lightly. Akemi did nothing but scream more.
"Mamoru, go get a glass of water." Hotaru said, concerned. She lightly brushed a bang off of Akemi's face.
Please wake up Akemi…
~
Unable to wake herself, Akemi kept running though she didn't know where she was going. Everything was silent from behind her, but she was reluctant to look to see if the unicorn had left. There was only one way to know though. Slowly she turned. The unicorn was gone. She let out a sigh of relief, but it didn't last long.
A sharp pain raced through her upper arm and she clutched at it, crying out. She turned again to see the unicorn's horn embedded in her arm. It removed it, leaving a deep gash, a few drops of blood trickling on its horn.
The pain was real, and so was the blood. The dream was real, and it could kill her. This wasn't a normal dream.
It took a moment for Akemi to realize that she wasn't completely helpless in this situation. There wasn't much she could do, but she could transform. She would have to fight it alone. It was the only choice. But just where exactly was her transformation stick?
As if on command, it appeared in her hand. She stared at in amazement for a moment before raising it above her head.
"Titan Planet Power!" She finished her transformation quickly to find that the unicorn was gone again. Sailor Titan turned to look at all sides, but couldn't make out a unicorn anywhere.
A horrible, stabbing pain in her side with the feeling of warm blood rushing over her skin let her know where it was. The wound was much worse than the one on her arm, and she kept one hand over it to try and stop the bleeding. The pain was horrible, and she was beginning to get faint from all the blood she was loosing.
She shut her eyes tight and then reopened them to gain concentration. The unicorn stood staring her in the eyes, as if daring her to make the next move. Akemi's eyes closed again, though this time it was from pain. She didn't reopen them for quite some time.
~
Hotaru splashed a bit of cold water onto Akemi's face, but she still did not awaken – her eyelids didn't even flutter. Everyone was getting very, very worried, especially Hotaru. She wasn't sure why, but she somehow felt connected to Akemi.
"What the…" Haruka muttered in amazement, placing her hand on Akemi's upper arm. She removed it to show blood on her fingertips. A large gash had appeared on Akemi's arm that certainly hadn't been there before. Everyone looked at it worriedly.
"Not good." Artemis declared, jumping up on the bed. "She's stuck in a nightmare that's actually doing physical damage to her. She's not trained well enough yet to fight by herself." A bright flash of light suddenly filled the room, and when it left Akemi lay in bed in the form of Sailor Titan. She had obviously transformed in her dream. "We might loose her." Artemis added quietly.
"NO!" Hotaru suddenly shouted, making everyone stare at her in surprise. The stares went unnoticed by her, however, as she stared at Akemi with fierce determination in her eyes. "That will not happen!" Another patch of red appeared on Akemi's side, this one spilling forth more blood than the one on her arm. Hotaru's hand quickly shot to Akemi's side and she closed her eyes in concentration. Hotaru's body began to glow a very light purple as the wound began to get smaller and smaller, before disappearing all together. Hotaru panted in exhaustion from the energy it had taken, but still moved onto the next wound. The others watched on silently.
~
Sailor Titan began to sway from side to side almost drunkenly at the effort it was taking to stay conscious. She raised one hand to prepare for her attack, but immediately dropped to her knees as pain convulsed through her, causing her to nearly vomit. Her hand fell limply to her side. The unicorn watched on with an almost smug expression. In a final cry of pain her body slumped to the cold floor.
Then suddenly there wasn't as much pain anymore. She sat shakily up on her knees, looking down at her side through the ripped material of her Sailor Fuku.
There wasn't even a scar.
The pain in her arm was lessening and she watched it in wonderment as the wound there got smaller and smaller before disappearing all together. The unicorn reared again, before lunging toward Sailor Titan. She quickly rolled out of the way of the sharp horn, standing up immediately afterward and preparing for her attack. She noticed – with some amusement – that the unicorn's horn appeared to be stuck in the ground and it was having a good deal of trouble dislodging it.
"Fated Silent Death!" She screamed. Since the unicorn was stuck it was unable to dodge the sphere of energy being thrown at it, and it hit it straight on. The unicorn dropped to all fours, and Sailor Titan felt a pang of guilt. It was so hopeless, she almost felt bad for hurting it when it was defenseless.
She shook her head forcefully, ridding it of those thoughts, before attacking again.
"Titan Midnight Destiny!" The black beam shot forth from her hands, though this time the effect was much different. A loud, almost whistling sound pierced the air and at the last moment before hitting the unicorn, the light turned white. The light was so bright and blinding that Sailor Titan fell to her knees, shielding her eyes. When it disappeared Sailor Titan was slightly distressed to find that the unicorn was still there in perfect condition, but it seemed different somehow, and something about it made it not near as terrifying. Perhaps it was the way its fur had turned white, or the way its eyes had turned blue, or the way its horn had turned light green. But something was much better. It's horn was no longer stuck in the ground and it rose, walking toward Sailor Titan.
"Thank you, Titan." It said, and Sailor Titan gasped in shock at its voice. It was such a familiar voice… "I now can find Sailor Proteus. I will however need your help." He turned and began to canter away, but then stopped suddenly and turned to look at Sailor Titan with an almost sheepish look on its face. "I'm sorry, you probably don't remember me. I am Poseidon, the guardian of Sailor Proteus… that is, once we find her. I was attacked by the nega-verse when I was looking for her, and they turned me to their side, preventing me from finding Proteus. And no, this is not my usual form – I am usually a cat. This is only a form I use for special occasions. I must request you tell no one about this form for the time, especially not Proteus. This is what she looks like." An image of a young girl, no older than twelve with layered aqua hair and dark blue eyes with a light blue rim around them appeared in front of Sailor Titan. She was sitting on her bed reading. Poseidon smiled up at the picture before coughing and turning back to Sailor Titan.
"Now your friends are getting very worried about you, you probably should rejoin them." Before Poseidon trotted away, however, Sailor Titan stopped him.
"Wait! Do you know anything about me? About where I'm from?" Poseidon looked at Sailor Titan with an expression of someone who had just been asked a question they had been hoping was not going to be asked.
"There is much you wish to know that I can't tell you." Poseidon replied. "This is one thing you can know, though – the reason you feel so close to Hotaru, Sailor Saturn, is because during the Silver Millenium you were sisters." Sailor Titan's eyes widened as it suddenly all made sense. Poseidon gave a slight smile before turning and heading off without bidding fair well.
Sailor Titan closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to wake up.
~
Sailor Titan suddenly sat up straight in bed, making Hotaru gasp in fright and nearly fall off her seat next to the bed. Titan looked around at all the faces that were looking at her worriedly before sighing in relief.
Then, suddenly, a pair of arms were around her neck hugging her tight. Hotaru was crying as she buried her face into Titan's shoulder.
"I was so afraid I lost you!" She cried, and Titan smiled down on her. She closed her eyes and let herself de-transform, then patted Hotaru's head in a motherly way, smoothing her hair.
"It's ok, I'm fine. Wonderful actually." Hotaru looked up at her face curiously. "I just found out something amazing – you and I used to be sisters. Isn't that great?" She asked, grinning. Hotaru's jaw dropped, before she turned into a whole different person.
"I knew there was something familiar about you!" She exclaimed loudly, hugging Akemi again. Akemi smiled.
"And I also have our next mission. We have to help find Sailor Proteus." Luna and Artemis exchanged an unseen glance. Things were getting very strange…
~
Two miles away, Migoto Mugen sat up straight in her bed, panting. A quick, piercing pain shot through her forehead, but as quickly as it was there it was gone. Dismissing it as nothing Migoto took in a deep breath before laying back down and giving into slumber once more. She didn't notice the crescent moon with a symbol of Neptune slowly fade from her forehead.
~
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