The Weaver of Dreams

The Weaver of Dreams

More remote, I fear, my place of exile, than the storied ones in lands beyond the seas.

-Murasaki Shikibu

Chapter 3- A Tangle of Dreams

They walked until their feet were sore and red, the world around the Yellow Brick Road blurring with surreal ability, flexing and stretching as they moved. The Yellow Bricks seemed to continue on forever, and each location they passed was just as empty as the next, sometimes empty plain, grasses high, others halls of concrete. They trudged through cities in seconds, and flew through marshes in hours. Each place was unique from the next, the memory of a land or place long lost. Some cities were modern, others ancient. Some were villages, some temples to forgotten gods of Earth. Yet through all this, neither Soldier of Death nor Soldier of Water could shake the feeling that they roamed in endless circles.

"Ami-chan," Hotaru said at last. "I need to rest...." She had a hand to her chest, and though did not breath hard, looked worn.

Ami agreed, walking carefully beside Hotaru. She didn't take the younger girl's arm. Hotaru was far stronger after her rebirth, and did not need the same help she did before the banishment of Mistress Nine. But there were times that worried them, such as this. Ami was careful not to suggest that Hotaru was weak, and needed help, though she was there if Hotaru requested it. "It's tiring, just walking. This looks like as good a place as any to take a break."

In fact, it was a lovely area, just within a forest that they had been traveling through the last hour. Pine trees scattered the Yellow Brick Road, along with maples and oak, their branches twining confusedly overhead in delicate wooden fingers. There was little grass, but some grew sparsely around a white rock beside one of the maples, and they sat upon it, breathing.

"We're going in circles, Ami-chan," Hotaru stated, breaking the silence.

"Is there anything we can do? To move faster? The entire Underworld can't be empty."

Hotaru tilted her head up to the sunset lit branches. "There's something we're not doing right. Have you noticed that it's still sunset?"

"Hai, I have," Ami said, bending down and removing a shoe, rubbing her foot. The sole was red where her heel hit the ground from walking. "And I'm not hungry."

"Didn't those strange people say something about time being different?"

"They only thought Brenda got upset once a week. Time is different here."

Hotaru smoothed the skirt of her uniform, her hands pale white against the darkness of the pleats. "I can sense this place. It's different than the real world. Like a dream."

"It's distorted..." Ami agreed softly, closing her eyes and feeling the sunset against her eyelids. "It feels like...I don't know. The way Infinity College did. Out of place. But this...I don't think it's evil."

When Ami opened her eyes, Hotaru had a small, considering smile on her lips. "Setsuna-mama always said you should have a good feel for dimensions."

Ami looked embarrassed, placing a hand to her mouth. "Oh...ah...well. Maybe all that studying of physics has rubbed off a bit...." She tucked a lock of hair behind an ear, then frowned as the light shifted above them. "Hotaru-chan, did you just see something?"

Hotaru was on her feet, looking up even as Ami was. "There's something here. A shadow."

"A shadow?"

And as if in answer to Ami's slightly bewildered question, a sound reached their ears, as though falling in from above, accompanied by the sound of foliage moving. To each side of them, the forest circled, the heavy trunks closing. The music that rained from above would have been a beautiful sound if it did not sound so out of tune, the sound of a harp being plucked by a rusted nail. It was too harsh for any kind of music. And the sound grew louder. Much louder, as the shadow above grew larger.

Through the sunlit branches, a blackness descended, blotting out the sunlight as it swung its way onto the lower branch of a maple across the Road. And as it settled its feathers, they saw what it was, and that it was the wings of this strange creature that created the sound.

A ragged face poked out of ash grey feathers around its neck, feminine in the sense that it was slender and narrow, though warped by mottled skin, flecked with warts. Wild black hair rustled around its head, and taloned feet clutched the branch. Bent wings sprouted from the thing's back, and as she moved, they struck the strange music as they met.

"A harpy," Ami realized out loud, recognizing it from her books. And knowing what it was, and the fact that they were in the Underworld, Ami backed a little closer to Hotaru, an arm out in what could be recognized as her defensive posture. Harpies, as they are remembered in legend, were known as many different things. One of the breeds lived in the Underworld, and sought out souls to punish for their sins in life. "Hotaru...."

Hotaru had already angled herself to the side, an eye on the existing harpy, who watched them with wide black eyes. Eyes skimming the rest of the forest, she heard the others approaching before she saw them, their wings signaling their arrival.

"You two...are very interesting specimens," the harpy before them decided, her head twisted abnormally to one side, horizontal to them. Her voice was rough, though high pitched. "Never seen living souls like you here. No, never, never. Interesting to play with."

The first of the harpy's sisters settled down, the rest not far behind, the air filled with screeching plucked sounds. Each harpy was identical, yet slightly different, much in the way mirror twins are alike. Different, yet the same. And with these creatures there was an eeriness in their stares. Then came the whispers.

"Living souls?"

"Cannot be. Never. No, never."

"Fun...."

"See their nightmares."

"How are they here?"

"Ha...living...."

The two senshi backed closer together, looking up at the flock now around them. One of the largest had settled beside the first, and her face was the most lined of them all. At last, she spoke harshly through the whispers of her sisters. "Living souls do not belong here," her eyes peered down with old eyes through the branches. "You think you are heroes? Break the taboo? Living stay." There were many screeching sounds of agreement from the assembly in the branches.

Hotaru, Soldier of Death, turned to face the harpy, who she believed to be the leader, since she spoke for all above. She tested her limit here. "I order you to leave us alone. We have committed no crimes against you. We don't want to fight."

That brought screaming laughter, and Hotaru's face set, eyes narrowing as she was laughed at. At last, the old harpy said, "Do you think you're Hades, to order us about?" The rest of her words were lost in the garbled sounds of her laughter.

Muttering under her breath, Hotaru could have said, "Close enough," but Ami wasn't sure she heard her right. "Ami-chan," she heard more clearly, I think we can still henshin...."

"Hai. Mercury..."

The harpies took that moment to attack, falling in swoops from their perches on the branches, their wings sending up a painful, splitting sound, the air filling with it and beating against their two victims. It was their nature, to find the darkness in a person's heart, and to find the crimes they commit. The talons they stretched outward would have cut into their victim's hearts, cutting them to shreds. And they were swift, coming from all directions.

Into the storm of wings and screaming, a sleek, golden figure leapt, roaring her fury. A lioness, sinking her teeth into the neck of the harpy that came too close to Ami, who had been forced to abandon her henshin to dive down, in an attempt to not be struck by the talons.

The lioness took a defensive stance before the girls, Ami clambering back to her feet as the lioness began to change her form, rearing up and back, the unmistakable figure of a woman took shape. She was armed with arrows, and gracefully swept one out of the quiver on her back, nocking it and releasing it to fly swiftly into the neck of an oncoming harpy.

"If you two have weapons, I suggest you use them now!" The woman called encouragingly over her shoulder, a delighted smile on her face. Two more arrows flew, and the woman leapt forward, a fierce battle shriek adding to the clamor of wings.

"Mercury Crystal Power!"

"Saturn Crystal Power!"

"Make-up!"

The fighting woman let out a shout of joy when she saw the magic surround the two she rescued. Rippling colors of blue and purple sent electric bolts of energy though the clearing, and several fresh arrows fell in a volley around the transforming girls. Not one of the harpies got close enough to interrupt.

"Protected by my star Mercury, I am Sailor Mercury, Soldier of Wisdom! I will punish you in the name of Mercury!"

"Acting under the protection of my star Saturn, the Soldier of the Silence, I am Sailor Saturn! And I will punish you in the name of Saturn!" Sailor Saturn drew her hand into the air, and the Silence Glaive glinted in the sunlight. "Silence Glaive...Surprise!" Cutting down and through the harpy she took aim at, the accompanying light cleaved a path through the attackers.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" The delicate strings of the winged harp sent out a roaring tide of ice, tearing into those that fell from above.

Their mysterious friend was not doing so badly, her white fletched arrows seeming to be endless in her bow, flying one after another into the thick clouds of beating wings. With the repeated attacks of each of the women, the harpies were forced back a bit, Mercury, Saturn and the lioness woman in a triangle, back to back.

"I don't think we can hold them back forever," Saturn called as she spun the Glaive in an arc over her head, letting the sharp edge bite into the wings of an attacker.

Drawing back the bow again, the woman asked, "I take it you two are new?"

"Hai!" Came the two responses.

"Then you don't know how to manipulate this place. Keep them off me a second!"

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

"Silence Glaive Surprise!"

The fresh blasts of water and power rolled into the circling harpies. Their rescuer dropped to all fours, her body growing sleek and golden once more as the form of a lioness took its shape. "Get on!"

As the attacks had blasted the harpies backward, Mercury and Saturn took the moment to leap onto the lioness's back, Saturn in front, the Glaive held tightly in one hand, her thin, other arm wrapping around the fur of the lioness's neck. Mercury sent her harp back to its awaiting dimension, tucking her legs up close so they would not drag against the ground.

The harpies swarmed above, their screeches and horrible sounding wings echoing in their shadows above, which once again began to plummet down. There was a shout of, "Hang on!" from the lioness, and they lurched smoothly forward, the muscles of the lioness bunching as she leapt directly into the enclosed circle of trees and brambles. Both of her riders flinched, closing their eyes and ducking their heads, but there was no impact. Instead, they ran rapidly, along no road, jumping from rock to tree to ground, their ride lithe and easily avoiding the obstacles of branch and upturned tree root .

As they broke the tree line onto a rocky ledge, Saturn and Mercury let out a combined gasp as the lioness did not slow herself, leaping directly off and into the chasm below. Saturn clutched more tightly, and felt Mercury's grip tighten around her as their hair went flying straight upward, smacking their faces as the wind rushed past. There was no time to be afraid. Within moments, the cat had landed on her feet, and was standing solidly on the rock in the clearing they had just left.

"We should be safe here," the lioness said as she looked over her shoulder at the confused senshi.

"But we just left here," Mercury commented, as reluctant as Saturn to get off, in case of a return of the harpies. After a moment, she looked to the sky, which was completely clear, though still in the color of sunset. "They couldn't all have left that quickly."

There was the sound of laughter, which was very strange, considering it was lion-like and nearly a roar. "Get off," she said as she continued to laugh, shaking her head. "Come on, ride's over."

In a little disbelief, the two climbed off, eyes switching from the lioness to the sky, as though their attackers would return in a moment.

"Newbies," the lioness chuckled as she reared back into her human form. Watching her, Mercury and Saturn saw that she was young, though a full adult. She was strong and lean from running, and wore a loose light blue tunic, and leather sandals which wrapped around her ankles neatly. Her face was strong, with high cheekbones, defined by eyes that remained catlike, even human. She brushed a lock of mahogany hair over her shoulder, tucking it back into a cloth wrap that bound it to the back of her head. "But I have to admit, it was great fighting with some women for once. You got to tell me...are there more that can fight like you two? Gods, it's great being the only hero remembered that was female, but I could sure use the company!"

The stranger looked happy, though questioning, smiling at the two younger girls, who just stood there in confusion. The woman blinked once, then sighed. "Look, you two are new. Don't worry about the harpies, we're as far off as we can get from them."

The senshi looked at the clearing.

That caused the woman to snort. "Don't tell me you're that literal. Just because this place looks like that place doesn't mean they're the same place."

It took them a moment, but eventually there were nods as the words were absorbed and fitted into the mindset that was developing about this strange afterlife. "Arigatou," Saturn said after a moment, straightening her back as she felt some control over her confusion again. She bowed politely, and Mercury followed suit, smiling at their rescuer. The woman laughed, and held out a hand. Saturn stared, but Mercury clasped it, the grip firm on both ends.

"You didn't answer my question...any more like you two? Like I said, I can use some company out here."

Mercury laughed a little, and Saturn touched the heart shaped pin on her bow, sending her power fluxing around her, and returning her to the form of Hotaru. A moment later, Mercury did the same, and answered the question. "There are several like us. But I think we'd like to know your name, if you don't mind?"

The woman tilted her head to one side, as if to consider the request. She shook her head then, as though teasing, and bowed elaborately. "Well, after introductions like you two gave those harpies, I guess I should do the same. I am Atalanta, only woman remembered as a hero from the age of Hellas. Raised by a she-bear, and the killer of the Calydonian Boar. Though I never told it I would punish it first," she winked, then looked at them expectantly. "And am I to always call you Sailor..." she frowned. "No, you didn't say Hermes and Chronos...ugh, these language things never work right...."

"Mercury and Saturn," Ami corrected her. "Language things?"

"Everyone here speaks their native tongue. Magic in the air translates it, best I can tell. I don't argue with that gravity thing. Why should I argue with this?" She shrugged at her own advice, then waited. "Your names?"

"Oh, gomen ne...I am Mizuno Ami, and this is Tomoe Hotaru."

Atalanta frowned a moment in consideration, a hand to her chin as she mused, then when Ami began to speak, waved a hand. "No, wait, I have this. I talked to some guy who called himself a samurai awhile ago. Ami," she pointed, "and Hotaru. Not Mizuno and Tomoe, right?"

"Hai."

"Good," Atalanta seemed very happy with herself, nodding firmly as the idea set. Then she stared at them. "You two are different, and I'm not talking magic." Her eyebrows drew into a taut line as she stared harder. Then her eyes flew wide open. "Persephone! You're not dead, are you?"

The two girls backed away a bit, unsure if this would be taken well. Their last encounter with a living pair of souls did not suggest they could tell the difference. Atalanta, however, was much sharper than Chuck and Brenda.

"No," Hotaru agreed after a moment. "We are on a mission."

Atalanta took this in for a moment, then a wide smile broke out on her face. "Well, glad to know the first to make it in here were fellow females. Nice for company. Look, for all the length I've been here, I think it's Tereisas you will want to talk to."

"Tereisas?" Hotaru asked, then hesitated. "I know that name...."

"The Odyssey, Hotaru-chan. A blind prophet, if I remember correctly," then, to Atalanta, "Why him?"

Atalanta shrugged, turning to begin to walk down a path away from their clearing and the Yellow Brick Road. "If you're alive and my memories serve me well, then you will be looking for someone, or something. Someone to help you, advice or something, or searching for ambrosia or Lethe water. Right?"

"Hai..."

"If it's not Tereisas himself you look for, then he might be able to point you after it. Will that help?"

Ami and Hotaru exchanged a glance. There was no reason not to trust her. She had saved their lives. "Hai," Hotaru said in agreement, and began to follow Atalanta. "But I think we want to know why you are helping us."

Atalanta grinned, holding a finger to her lips and winking back at the trailing girls. "Let's just say that Susan B. Anthony and I had a good long talk about fifty years back, and I like to help out fellow heroines."

With that, the three of them headed to the home of the blind prophet, Atalanta leading the way.

It had not taken the doctors very long to run their tests. Each of them had gone about their business with quiet efficiency, despite Dr. Mizuno's few yawns. She was sleepy, having been there nearly a full twenty-four hour shift. But the girl on this bed was one of her daughter's closest friends, and she would do anything for Ami, and thus for her friends. Her worn eyes had seen how concerned the boyfriend was, and the little girl who looked eerily like her daughter. When she and Dr. Yurei left, she saw how he immediately returned to the bedside, dragging back the chair they had moved. She shut the door so they could have their privacy, strange though it was for such a young girl to have such a serious relationship.

The doctors gone, the cats came out from their hiding place under the small couch, peering up with their large eyes to the scene. Chibiusa came to stand beside her future father and said, "I'm still here," to which he smiled faintly and held her hand a moment, the other already holding Usagi's again. Some could suppose that the pink haired child's statement was selfish, self-centered. But she said it softly, and with the sad look in her cinnamon colored eyes, it was meant to be reassuring. If she was still there, then Usagi would be fine. At least well enough to have her in the future. It was a slender but strong thread of hope.

"Usagi-chan has fought all kinds of things," that from Luna, who leapt up onto the bed, Artemis a beat behind her. Diana tried to leap up as well, but wasn't quite large enough yet. Chibiusa scurried around the bedside, picking her up and placing her on her shoulder, to which Diana settled herself in comfortably. Luna continued, "she won't let this end her. Don't worry."

Mamoru smiled a little, shaking his head. "She always fights. She may not like it, and may whine and complain, but she always fights. This time though...I can't even be there, much less help her."

"You are here," Artemis reminded him, settling down onto his haunches. "You got to her before anyone else. I'm sure she knows that."

"Diana," Chibiusa asked with a yawn, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, "I don't remember anything about Mama being sick...do you?"

The kitten replied, "No."

There were some disappointed looks across the group. If someone remembered it, then maybe it was part of their destiny after all.

A knock came at the door, and a head poked in at the same time. The cats froze, ready to leap back to the couch, even though it was too late. Fortunately, the head was the familiar blond of Haruka, who shut the door quietly behind her. "How's the odango?" She asked as she shed her uniform's jacket, tossing it onto the couch and unbuttoning the collar of the white shirt. Mamoru and Chibiusa watched her small transformation with a little surprise, Haruka shedding her masculinity before them. The effect completed as she ran a hand through her hair, ruffling it and making it fluffier, fuller, and more feminine. She pulled up the spare chair and turned it around, sitting backwards. Still the same old Haruka.

Artemis replied to Haruka's question. "The same."

Haruka frowned, putting her chin on her arms, which rested on the back of her chair. "How you two holding up?"

A shrug from Chibiusa, who moved her arms to hold Diana. She yawned again, rubbing sleep grit from her eyes. "Tired."

"You ready to go home?"

Chibiusa looked at Mamoru, and shook her head no. Then she went to the couch and pulled the small blanket from the side, taking the tiny head pillow and positioning it against the wooden armrest, for her head. "I'll sleep here," she announced, and closed her eyes. Within a minute, she was asleep.

Haruka snorted and shook her head. "If anyone ever doubts that's Usagi's kid, just have them look at that. I've never seen anyone fall asleep that fast."

"Speaking of people holding up," Luna asked, looking at Haruka. "How are the other senshi?"

Haruka shrugged, trying to look casual. They had decided quickly not to tell Mamoru about the attempt to find Ami's ghost friend. The way he'd been acting, he'd likely charge off after them, and try to go himself. Losing not only one, but two of their future rulers was out of the question. When Michiru had calmed herself about Hotaru, she had made an uneasy comment.

"Even if Usagi does not become Neo-Queen, that does not necessarily prevent Mamoru from becoming King. He holds the Golden Crystal, and if it was the source of the Earth power in the past, then it may still be in the future...." She had then buried her face in Haruka's shoulder, and had remained that way for several minutes.

That had unnerved Haruka. Michiru had a point. They had always assumed that it was Usagi alone who caused the future to take the path it did. With her gone, the changes would be drastic. But still, the question of the Golden Crystal and its power remained. If it was equal, as it was rumored to be, as the Silver Imperium Crystal, then Crystal Tokyo could still be forged. Chibiusa's presence was the only indicator of a good outcome.

To Luna's question, Haruka replied: "They're doing all right, I think. Minako and Makoto went to Mako's to get food for you and Small Lady. Mako decided hospital food wasn't good enough, and wanted to whip up some gourmet thing. Michie is at the gift shop. Too depressing in here, apparently. She's getting some flowers."

Mamoru picked up on Haruka's continued silence. "And what are the others doing, Haruka?" He was frowning, and looking at her.

"They went to Rei's temple. To pray for good health."

Mamoru was staring at her, hard. Haruka stared right back.

Eventually, Mamoru stood. "Both Pluto and Saturn went? They're trying something."

Even as he stood, the door opened, and Michiru walked in, her hands full of a vase of long stemmed red roses. "Mamoru, calm yourself." She held the roses out to him, and he watched her face from across the flowers. "We cannot risk both of you. And if they are successful, don't you think the first person she will want to see is her Mamo-chan?"

Mamoru looked away, then reluctantly accepted the vase, the string of a balloon drifting up into the ceiling. The balloon itself was a rabbit, brightly holding a sign that said 'Get Well Soon!' He sighed, and turned, setting it on the low table under and beside the television. "Arigatou, Michiru. They're very nice."

"I'm glad. A compliment from you about roses is like that of an expert," she said with a faint smile, teasing lightly. When Mamoru was forced to smile back, Michiru took a seat beside Chibiusa, then straightened the blanket over her. "She's asleep already? Unmistakably Usagi's child."

Luna shook her head, and Artemis looked between the couple. Diana actually giggled, "You two sound like Momma and Papa. Always saying the same things!"

"We do not!" Came the reply from Luna and Artemis at once, then they reddened.

"Great minds, you two," Mamoru said, settling down on his chair again.

"I said something like Haruka?"

Haruka shook her head, hair falling into her eyes. "Don't worry about it, Michie. You missed the beginning of the conversation."

"I suppose I did," Michiru sighed, then looked at Mamoru. "Despite Haruka's talking too much," that earned her a dirty look from Haruka, but Michiru ignored it. "We are doing what we can. And to keep you safe as well."

Mamoru nodded thanks, and then there was a snore from Chibiusa, who murmured something that sounded like, "Helios," in her sleep, but they couldn't really know for sure. Then again, there was a big grin on her face when she mumbled it. Her observers smiled.

If only Usagi were having such sweet dreams.

"Ami-chan," Hotaru asked as they headed through the forest, Atalanta walking a few strides in front of them, "this Teresias...how will he help us? You said he was a prophet, but I didn't think such people would keep their visions after death."

Ami hesitated, mentally running though her Greek literature. "Persephone let him keep his powers. Some kind of special favor. Atalanta is talking as though this is true. For now we should follow her lead, I think."

Hotaru nodded and they continued on in silence, eventually breaking though the forest into a more rocky area. Time, with Atalanta at least, seemed to be running more normally. The rocks were hard underfoot, with only patches of grass between them. The hills rolled, and they saw no house or dwelling for Tereisas to be living in. Then, it seemed that Atalanta had no intention of taking them to a house. Suddenly, they broke into an amphitheater, in the Greek style of them, the stage low to the center and the rings of stadium seating rising up high into the slopes of the hills around it. In the middle of the stage a man stood, black robed and performing.

"Sleep on, ho there! yet what need have I of sleepers? I tell you that I, thus slighted by you among other dead, am unceasingly reproached among the shades...."

The clear tenor of the man vibrated off the hills, and the three women leapt down the steps that ran though the bleachers. Quietly, they settled into the first row, and it became clear to Ami and Hotaru that the man was still blind, dead though he may be.

Tereisas continued, "...and am left to wander in disgrace; and I tell you that I have to bear the greatest blame from them. Yet, though I have endured so dreadful a fate at the hands of those dearest to me, none of the gods is indignant in my behalf...."

His words grew quiet and hushed as he turned before them, the snowy hair and beard making him look ghostly and pale compared the darkness of his robes. Quietly he approached his audience, and though the eyes were sightless, they saw the three figures clearly.

He finished, "For the mind in sleep is clear in its eyesight, though in the daytime the fate of mortals is hidden from their ken."

When he spoke no more of his soliloquy, they applauded, the three sets of hands small in the massive theater. Then, Atalanta laughed, "Tereisas, you missed your calling in life."

The old man smiled, thin lips drawn tightly. "Ah, but then I would be unable to help your friends, Atalanta. They search for one to aid them," then his focus switched to the senshi, "do you not?"

"Hai," they replied in unison, Hotaru standing. "Can you help us?"

He turned his back to them, and lifted his voice to the empty theater again. "Go, speedily enter your caves below the earth; keep off all that is hurtful from the land, and send us all that is gainful to the city and leading to victory." He paused, and then Ami recognized the words of the play.

"Aeschylus. The Eurmenides."

"Very good, young scholar. Too few children know of the intricate tales of old. Strange, since they still crave the magic tales, yet forget their origins. Do you also know the tale of the Eurmenides?"

A little taken aback, Ami regrouped, explaining, "They were once the Furies, punishers for wrongs and guilt. Orestes killed his mother, out of proper vengeance right for killing his father. They sought to punish him for his crime. Orestes went to Apollo, and then both to Athena."

"And they became the Eurmenides, the Kindly Ones. Protectors, instead, setting up a system of justice and trial by jury. You come searching here for one to help you."

"Hai," Hotaru replied, coming to stand on the stage with Tereisas. "She may have been my sister...we want to find her, to have her help our Princess. Please...we came to the Underworld to find her. We would appreciate your help."

To that, the blind prophet chuckled lightly, a thin, speckled hand waving lightly at the sunlit sky. "Underworld. And what makes you think this is the land of the dead?"

That caused Hotaru to take a step back, and Ami to stand. "Nani? But this has to be...Pluto's key!" Ami drew out her part of the split timekey. "Atalanta? The harpies...."

Atalanta shrugged and yawned. "I never said this was the Underworld."

"But it must be! Setsuna-mama wouldn't send us to the wrong place!"

To the confusion of the girls, Tereisas sighed, coming to set his still elderly body on the lowest step of the tiers. "I also never said this wasn't."

That only confused them more, and Ami came to stand with Hotaru, the closeness to a familiar and understood person comforting. "Tereisas-san," Ami began carefully. "We would appreciate it if you explained this to us."

The old man and young woman glanced at each other, then Atalanta shrugged again, crossing her legs at the ankles and stretching out. Teresias only looked at the empty stage before them.

"All the world is a stage. All the worlds are a stage. Your key takes you to many places, many worlds, each their own entity. All this, no more than a stage. No more than a waking dream. Nothing more. Nothing less. The stage is a fascinating thing, is it not? Worlds created, worlds destroyed. Stories pass from different eras upon it. One day Rome. One day Hellas. The next Verona, Hong Kong, Harlem. This is a dream. Nothing more, nothing less. The actors upon the stage create the setting. The dreamer dreams the world around them. Is that not what you are?"

"A waking dream...." Ami repeated softly, a hand placed to her mouth as she considered carefully. "And if the dreamer, then, knows they are awake...."

Hotaru's eyes widened as she caught Ami's train of thought. "Then the dreamer can manipulate the dream."

Cold purple eyes locked with watery blue, each wide as they looked again around the world they were in. The ability of the people there to change the world around them, in the way Atalanta changed from lion to woman to lion again. The way one place could be the same but not. The sudden shifting between places. All things that were traits of a dream. And they were awake, and aware. It was Hotaru who hesitantly placed a finger in the air before her, and drew a fine black line, that hung there midair. Then she used her palm to erase it, the air a strange chalkboard. "It works," she stated in amazement, blinking. Then she looked at the empty stage. "I saw a picture of the Globe Theater in England...." a wave of her hand, and the amphitheater shifted and changed, becoming wooden and built straight up, the sunset sky clear though the empty top. Now rather than the stone stage, they stood on the dirt before the raised wooden one, curtains of red cloth drawn. Ripples faded away, and it left Ami and Hotaru alone in the Globe, where Shakespeare's plays were performed hundreds of years ago.

"They're gone," Ami commented as she looked around the stands, empty and shadowed, stacked one atop the next, the space between the arches revealing only empty seats.

"We don't need them anymore. Maybe they know that."

Ami couldn't help but tilt her head back and spread her arms, turning round in dizzying circles, looking up at the Globe's emptiness. She heard hollow steps on wood, and stopped to see Hotaru on the stage. "Round about the cauldron go, in the poisoned entrails throw...toad that under cold stone, days and nights hath thirty-one. Sweltered venom sleeping got, boil thou first in the charmed pot...." Hotaru chanted, then grinned down at Ami, who was shaking her head.

"There were only three witches in the Scottish Play, Hotaru-chan, not five."

"Scottish Play?"

"Ah, you can't say the name of that one in a theater. It brings bad luck."

"Oh," Hotaru turned and began to inspect the floor for a trapdoor. "And here Hecate would come through to speak to her witches. Double, double, toil and trouble...."

"Fire burn, and cauldron bubble...." Ami finished as she joined Hotaru on stage. "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."

"We shouldn't stay here. We do need to find my sister."

Ami glanced at Hotaru. The younger girl had taken very quickly to the idea of having a sister. Thinking about it, she supposed she understood why. Raised alone, with Kaolinite as a 'stepmother' and the Witches 5 never too far away, it would have helped her so much. Hotaru had loved her father. Haruka and Michiru, as well as Setsuna, serving as a surrogate family, gave her a still strange, but far more stable family life. Well, as stable a life as a senshi could have, she supposed. But still, the other Outers were not blood relatives, and that was the way Hotaru was seeing Kami. Or at least, something much like it. Looking at Hotaru, she remembered Kami's appearance. Thinking about it, Kami did resemble Hotaru a bit. The same purple eyes, Kami's far paler, but still lavender. The hair color was the same, though Kami's wavy, and closer to the length Mistress 9 had worn. The same thinness. It was possible. And if Setsuna was right about Kami....

"We do need to go. But how to get to her still?"

Hotaru considered this a bit, looking down at the empty ground level. "If they can leave when we change the world around us, then why can't we go to a world that Kami created?"

"Makes sense," Ami agreed, thinking.

"If it were me..." Hotaru began reluctantly, pausing to wait for Ami to acknowledge her idea. When Ami waited expectantly, she continued, "If it were me, I would go to where I died. If she committed suicide, and we have to assume that she chose not to be reborn, then she would stay with whatever caused her so much pain in life. That's what I would do."

Ami took a breath. This was Hotaru's realm. And it fit with where Kami had said good-bye to her after revealing the way she died. She remembered how Kami had seen it, strangely bright and surreal, too much brightness. "Well, let's see if I can do what you did."

"It's so easy, Ami. Like thinking. I can't even explain it."

Ami took a determined breath, then held a hand out, fingers splayed. Slowly, the Globe rippled, as though a sakura petal had fallen into a still pool of water. The round waves were small, but spread slowly, until the whole of their sight was filled with the tiny rolling waves. The dim sunset light faded into nothingness as the whiteness of Kami's memories of life filled in. Ami mirrored them, the way an illusion mirrors reality.

Then, sitting beneath a blooming mountain cherry, a dark robed figure sat before them.

Okay! One more chapter up! Liking it?? I hope so...so please remember to review! I had so much fun writing in Atalanta's scenes.

Ja!

-Queen