The Weaver of Dreams

by Queen

When Usagi lapses into a strange coma, she becomes trapped in an endless nightmare. Determined to help, two of the senshi are forced to travel though a Doorway, in search of the only person who can help her.... (complete)2nd in the KamiDreamweaver series

5. Tapestry of Affinity

The Weaver of Dreams

-my dream is to live happily ever after, in a pretty house with flowers, and the love of my life and our child.

What's your dream? If I asked you, I wonder if you would answer me like that.

-Hotaru, Sailor Moon SuperS 3

Chapter 4- A Tapestry of Affinity

Before Hotaru could think to move forward, Ami grabbed her wrist, keeping her from uncharacteristically acting out of hand. The scene was very like the one Kami had left her with. The sunset was gone, replaced with the surreal brightness of Kami's day. Though it worried Ami to see that she sat under the tree, the only spot of darkness within the otherwise sparkling sight. The river was still there, blue and flowing, glittering with the light. And it merged with the sound of Kami's mournful voice, playing on her koto. The words were familiar, but unfamiliar, the same unrecognized song Kami had played the evening the fireflies had swarmed though the shoji door, sending her back to the waking world.

"Is that her?" Hotaru asked softly.

"Hai. Come on. We don't want to rush over. I...I just hope she remembers me...we still don't know everything for sure...."

Hotaru did not share Ami's uncertainty to their reception, but was calm regardless, and they watched from outside the shadow's circle as Kami's fingers flickered over the silken strings, the picks attached to each finger dancing. She showed no notice of them, oblivious to her audience, until the song ended after some length of time.

"Kami-chan?" Ami asked into the quiet. She saw the back of the young woman stiffen, then a muffled cry.

"Kanashi...?" The head swiveled around, and Kami's mouth fell open, clear eyes disbelieving. She moved as though to scramble backward, stopping, then shaking her head in shock. "No...." Her face suddenly twisted in fury. "Get away from me! How many times do I have to cast you out? Away!" Kami reacted more quickly than Ami could, her hands going up, parallel to each other, fingers wide, and tiny webs of lavender and silver light spidering their way between each fingertip. And as the webbing grew thicker, it shot forward in a ray of silver, the intention of the bolt clear: the destruction of whatever Kami thought Ami and Hotaru were.

"Silence Wall!"

The light blasted into the wall, screaming as each power connected. The instant of the attack and counter gave Ami enough time to gather her wits, and saw Hotaru with her hands in a mirrored position to Kami's, the strange nebulous power of her attack petaling out and absorbing Kami's, the powers merging. But the most remarkable thing was, it was Hotaru who created it. Not Sailor Saturn.

The attack lasted only an instant, Kami climbing to her feet as she held her hands before her. Her eyes were narrowed and dangerous, a look very unlike what Ami had seen of her before. "Kami, my name is Hotaru!" the girl called to the older one, as Kami watched suspiciously from within her shadow's circle. "I know you don't know me, but...I'm your sister. Please, believe me."

Kami's eyes flickered between the two senshi, and she backed away a step. "Lies. You keep coming. Demons of the Underworld. Harpies!" Kami spat. "Lies. I have no sister," her eyes switched to Ami. "And you. How dare you? What new low is this? Haunted by friends made even after I'm dead? Get out! Out!" Kami spun her hands before her, and a delicate weaving of silken threads formed, slowly gaining in brightness. "You will haunt me no more!"

"Mercury Crystal Power! Make-up!"

A moment later, Hotaru followed Ami's lead, hoping she knew what she was doing. "Saturn Crystal Power! Make-up!"

Kami's attack faltered as she stood watching the transformations, confused. The brightness in her webbing dulled, then brightened again as she prepared herself, warily. The two girls who stood there in the costumes...those strange costumes, which she had somehow before seen.

"Kami-chan," Mercury pleaded, her white gloved palms up and out, the sign of peace. "It's Kanashimi-chan. Really. Remember? You told me once that you saw people who fought with the darkness, as though it were tangible and solid, not a thing at all for priests to banish. Are we who you saw?" Then, more demanding, "Kami-chan, are we who you saw?"

Kami shook her head, backing away slightly. Her eyes switched from Mercury to Saturn, then Mercury again. "Not you..." Then they settled on Saturn. "You....into a dark mirror. With a girl. Younger. Brightly colored."

"Chibiusa-chan," Saturn said, her Glaive still held defensively before her. "We fought nightmares against the Queen of the Nether Moon."

"Nightmares. And you still stand?" then she determined, "No. Only the dead come here."

"No!" Saturn argued as Kami brought her hands up again. "Please. Let me show you who you are. Who I am, and why we're here. For the Princess, and the future."

Kami flinched, hesitating. She considered this carefully. There was something different about these two, she could feel that. But centuries of holding harpies of the mind and soul at bay had made her wary and cautious of what she saw outside her shadowed circle. Too many times family, friends and loved ones had come, begging her to leave her isolation. Harpies, all of them, Furies that came to punish her for her so-called sins on Earth.

"Kami-chan," the one in blue called to her. "The most dangerous demons are the ones we create for ourselves."

Kami felt her heart break. In the end, that had been what had caused her death, in life. Her own demons, catching up with her. "Show me," she commanded the Saturn one, softly.

The Solider of Silence did not hesitate. She moved forward, piercing the line of the shadowed circle, ignoring Kami's shocked gasp. No one, never, had walked though that. Even now, the one who called out to the planet Mercury was held back at the barrier, the wall of shadow blazing up in practiced magic. "Death...."

Kami staggered back as the Glaive was hefted high over the younger girl's head, and she flung her arms up in the instinct of fright. The shining arc of the Glaive dropped down, and she felt it crush into her body, as she heard the word whisper from the girl's lips. "Reborn."

Such a blaze of blackness Kami had never seen. Then, tiny and indistinct, she saw light. The light of fireflies, and in the stories of her people, the souls of the dead, dancing around her in dizzying spirals. Kami twisted as she looked around, and saw the glimmer of wandering stars around the blazing circle of the sun. "Amaterasu-sama?" Kami floated, staring at the golden sun, calling it by the name of the sun goddess. The layers of her robes floated around her loosely, and she had once called it Chrysanthemum Rain, the style not unlike that of her mother's, in her last life. She felt so cold, in the velvet vacuum of space. Shivering, she gathered the folds closely around her.

"Don't be afraid," she heard, and felt a smaller hand in her own. Saturn was now beside her, floating more comfortably than she. Kami stared at the dress the girl now wore. It was such a deep shade of purple that it was more black. High gloves came up over her arms, and a band of ribbon tied around the girl's neck. "I'm Hotaru."

"Kami?" she stammered as her own name. It was a name she liked, now. When Hotaru smiled at her, Kami found herself smiling back, twin gentle smiles.

"Let me show you, who you should have been."

The blackness dissolved into the columned elegance of the Silver Millennium, beautiful lavender roses blooming in small bushes around them. They stood in a garden, and above them swirled the faint colors of aural magic. The way that the moon of Saturn, Titan, had been terraformed, made habitable by human life. Under the protection of the magic of the planet's king and queen, they were safe. "Where are we?"

"This is our home. Long ago, in what is now only a legend." The two stood side by side, and looked up and out. "I don't remember it very well. Fragments, like in a dream. Sometimes, Setsuna-mama tells me things, and I remember more. This was what I remember of our home. Titan Castle of Saturn, the planet of death."

"Our home?"

Hotaru folded her hands before her, sadness crossing her face. "Once upon a time," she echoed the words, trying to sound out them as well as Setsuna had, so much earlier in the hospital's cafeteria. So far away, that seemed now. "the queen of Saturn was to have a child. But those times were dangerous yet, the protections of magic that warded this Castle not so strong. This child was to have the power of death. And this Glaive." Holding her hands up, the Silence Glaive formed from a line of mist, dropping into Princess Hotaru's hands. "I do not know what happened. Setsuna-mama says only that the child was stillborn. That child, I believe, was you."

Wide eyed, Kami thought: Impossible.

Kami watched Hotaru, and the way she tilted her head like an uncertain bird at her. Then the younger girl continued. "Later, I was born. And the power of death became my fate. My karma. Yet the realm of sleep, the sibling of death, was left to be owner less. I believe, that since death was given to me...when you were reborn, the powers that still lay unclaimed by the royalty of Saturn became yours, though by then unneeded, as that era had ended. It makes me wonder. How long, exactly, have you been able to slip in and out of dreams?"

Sister?

Kami nearly had tears in her eyes as she looked around her. It was so empty. Centuries of stony isolation, and now she was being told she was not only royalty of a planet...whatever such a thing was...but had a family? Her reason struggled with this relevation.

Yet, at the same time, it feels so...familiar.

"Time does not have meaning, in the realm of the dead."

"What, then, have you seen?"

Images, only. I do not know what they are...but they are good things. This girl, in her strange clothes who fights with nightmares. Kanashimi-chan. Was that truly her, who danced in the water, as this one in the light? I see...those who fight for the beauty of the future. And the images of what they attain. A crystal city. A crystal palace, rising so high in the sky. Kanashimi-chan, in a dress of the same odd style as the one this Hotaru wears. So lucky, these. Living above the clouds. Living my dream. This can't be a joke. Not even a Fury is that cruel. Telling me I would have been part of something so grand?

For the first time in centuries, Kami felt a little hope in her, though afraid it would be crushed. And also, a little bit of trust.

"You've seen it, haven't you?" Hotaru prodded, eyes wide and looking up into Kami's. Kami made no movement, but Hotaru saw it in her eyes. She pulled back, a smile breaking onto her delicate face. "Crystal Tokyo."

"Crystal...where?" Kami laughed at the word, and Hotaru scooped Kami's hands into her own. "There was no city called that in the day I last lived."

"Tokyo." Hotaru told her. "If you have seen that place, then you know the importance of its being protected. And let me show you what threatens it now."

The courtyard of the castle became a place very different, sterile and cramped slightly, with the beeping of a computer monitor. It was dark in the room, save the light from the computer screens, and empty but for the still figure on the bed. "I know her," Kami stated as she looked at the pale figure of Usagi. She lay there with the covers up high over her chest, the golden hair still loose and falling over the pillow.

"She will be the Queen of that city."

Kami tilted her head at the girl, her thick hair falling in a curtain as she leaned forward to see. "There is something that she fights, in her soul."

"You know what it is?"

Kami turned quickly, since Hotaru's voice suddenly became sharp and hopeful. Urgent.

She claims I would have been her older sister. I...I believe her. How odd. She needs my help. This one...a Fury. Yes, that is what is in her. Not a harpy, an easy thing to banish. That takes only power and some strength. This is a Fury. How long it took me to fight that kind of creature off, ne? That was when the visions began, when I defeated it. Of the living world. And the visions grow stronger with time. She is asking me to protect her future Queen. I am not beholden to such a person. But...neither was I obligated to help Kanashimi-chan. This girl holds no sorrow in her heart. Then where does the Fury come from? Ah....I think I know. And for you, my would-be sister, and Kanashimi-chan, my first true friend. For you two, I will help her. For your sake.

"I will help her."

The dreamland Hotaru summoned faded away, as did the shadow created by the autumn sakura. Mercury watched this happen, Sailor Saturn complete her blow into the body of the dead woman, the word "Reborn" clear and terrifying, since Mercury knew what would follow it. But the final word of Saturn's strike never came, and Kami did not crumple under the weight of the Glaive's sharp edge. Instead, there was light. So much light, in fact, that Sailor Mercury staggered back, a hand over her eyes to block it out. Peering through the slashes of sight between her fingers, Mercury saw the silhouette of Saturn before the blinding brilliance. Her fellow senshi was backing away, also with an arm up to keep the light from blinding her. When the purple clad figure came close enough, Mercury grabbed her, and they watched a startling transformation under the sakura tree.

First a single thread. Then another and another, lavender and shining, the thread spun by the Fates. Each struck the ground, the air, piercing it as the sakura from above began a slow waltz into the air around Kami. Her eyes closed to the brightness, a tiny, delicate image appeared on her forehead. And when her lavender eyes opened, the shining symbol lit, the shape of three teardrops chasing one another in an endless circle. And from there, an all together too familiar uniform took shape from the threads, lavender on the skirt and collar, high, heeled boots that came to a point just over her knees, in the same color, though unlined in the white in the way Mercury and Pluto's were. Behind her, a long, silvery grey bow trailed, and the same over her chest, the tiny, lavender pin holding it together. The teardrop symbol on her forehead was covered by the lavender stone on the tiara as the transformation became complete.

"Unite your keys," came Kami's voice. "do it now, and return. Your friends are worried about you."

And with that, the Soldier of Beautiful Dreams stepped into the light, which swallowed her and left the other two alone in the clearing.

"Ami-chan! Ami-chan!" Rei pounded down on Ami's still chest, afraid that the breath she had pushed into her friends' lungs would soon run out. She spared a look at Setsuna, who was doing her own CPR over Hotaru, who was just as silent as the death she represented. "Wake up! Come on!" Cursing the stupidity of their attempt, Rei prepared to scream for Grandpa to call the ambulance. It had happened so quickly, neither Rei nor Pluto having enough time to scream. Pluto had been circled by the violet water ribbons of her henshin even as she rolled Hotaru onto her back, applying the steps that could save her life. The instant Pluto had set the timekey into the outstretched hands of Ami and Hotaru, there had been a light like no other, and both had jerked violently, collapsing onto the tatami mat, not breathing.

Rei began to scream, "Grand-"

Then sound of a deep, choking breath cut her off, and she saw Ami spasm as she rolled to the side, choking. In Rei's arms, Ami gasped, "Hotaru-chan?"

Moments later, Setsuna was successful in her attempts, and Hotaru coughed, arms weakly grasping, and Setsuna grabbed her, sitting her upright and cradling her daughter. "Setsuna-mama? Oh!" And as she gained consciousness, Hotaru hugged Setsuna.

Ami suddenly felt herself bogged down by her fire element friend. "Rei-chan? Nan ja? What are you doing?"

"You're alive, you baka!" Rei shouted in relief. "We already have Usagi-chan in the hospital, we didn't need the two of you there, too!" Rei began to shake Ami, scolding her. "Baka! Baka! Baka! And you are not going to convince us that you can try that again!"

"Rei-chan! Calm down!" Ami managed to laugh, still gasping through Rei's shaking, "Rei-chan! We did it! It worked!"

"...you are never going to.... What? What worked?"

"We got to Kami! Hotaru!"

Leaning around Setsuna, Hotaru was smiling. "Setsuna-mama? We need to get to the hospital." She looked up into the Guardian of Time's garnet eyes. "My sister has had her Awakening at last."

"I'm beginning to feel a bit like Marley," Fury commented idly as she sat upon the low wall in the balcony of the palace. "Or maybe more like one of the Ghosts. First, Past, then Present...well, fairly close to present, and now...." she waved a hand at the scene below them, the throne room of the Crystal Palace, in Crystal Tokyo. Arrayed before the throne were three senshi, Mercury, Mars and Venus, each in their fuku, Mercury with her computer out. Neo-Queen Serenity sat on her throne, and was fidgeting.

Usagi had been returned to her nightgown and bare feet, standing beside and behind Fury with wide eyes. "Where is Mako-chan?"

"You'll see. Watch."

"Where is Jupiter?" The Neo-Queen echoed Usagi's words a moment later, eerily similar. "I ordered her here. This is an emergency. Where is she?"

Mercury shifted uneasily, as the other two looked at her for an answer. "Jupiter's daughter apparently is very close to her mother, and doesn't want her to leave....she's having problems leaving her behind...."

Serenity stood, the white folds of her gown falling around her in a waterfall. So much grace Usagi had gained in her years of aging. "The Black Moon's ships have been charted inside the barrier of Uranus. Jupiter is needed here, now!"

"Serenity...."

"We have a people to protect," the Queen continued, frowning at the raven haired one's protest. "Her duty is here...."

"Well, you've focused yourself a lot in the future," Fury commented as she watched the scene below unfold. "Wow, actually wanting to fight...oh. Wait. Silly me. You're not in your fuku, are you? That's right, you can't fight anymore. You're a Queen. You can only be protected."

Usagi knew how to respond to that, remembering quite clearly what she had been told by the future King Endymion in the future. And if what she was seeing was only in her mind, it hadn't happened yet. "The Neo-Queen took a stand against Wiseman. I took a stand against Wiseman. You're lying, now."

Fury giggled a little, then let a leg trail off over the wall. "Lying? Hmph. Yes, I suppose you did take a stand against Wiseman, didn't you. Touché! Of course, your friends didn't play much part in that at all, did they? Just good old Neo-Queen Serenity, defender of the universe, destroyer of families."

It was then that Jupiter came in, running. "Gomen ne, minna...."

Usagi turned away as she heard her future self begin to tell Jupiter she was out of line. Too many times had she been late herself, late for senshi meetings, study sessions, school in general.

"There are many sides, to being a Queen, ne?"

Usagi looked around, and suddenly found herself far away from Fury. Instead, she was once again in the space of mirrors, the image of the palace and the tardy Jupiter just before her, still being played out. Yet as she watched, mist swirled before it, and shrouded the events in the future. A beautiful young woman she did not know stood beside her, in a sailor fuku, which made Usagi stare. The eyes of the woman were sad, lavender and downcast, her hands folded delicately though she did not sit.

"Forgive me, Usagi-sama, I did not mean to intrude on your thoughts. It is very strange, being in your mind. You are much happier than I, or Kanashimi-chan."

Looking at the girl, Usagi could only ask, "Who are you?"

Who am I? I don't really know. I had a name once, then was given another by Kanashimi-chan. Now it seems a new title has come to me. Sister. And now...senshi. But these are just labels, things to call a person, ne?

Instead of replying, Kami reached out with a hand, and placed it against the still surface of the dream mirror before them, still looking at the scene of Neo-Queen Serenity and her four guardian soldiers. Where her fingers met glass, it rippled, and then they were once again within the dream, though now a far different room, and with much younger Sailor Senshi.

"Do you know the nature, of a Fury, Usagi-sama?" Kami asked as Usagi began to recognize the scene. Hair also unbound, a memory of Usagi's past lay before them. This Usagi sat on the floor, tears rolling down her face as she fumbled with the extreme lengths of her hair. It was growing rapidly. Always long, now it was reaching the floor. "Do you know their purpose?"

Looking at the strange senshi beside her, Usagi felt her body grow heavy, as though someone had placed a weight on her shoulders. "No, gomen...." Then she returned to looking at herself, and felt so cold as she saw herself sink to the floor, the wide skirt pooling around her knees.

"Furies look for the darkness in one's heart, and use the truth to make it grow. They show half truths, nothing more." Kami shuddered, remembering the Furies that had come to her, whispering in her mind. She had believed them. No, she would not let them get to this princess. "You remember this?"

"Hai," Usagi replied immediately. It was a scene she could never forget. It was just after the battle at Tokyo Tower, her Mamo-chan taken by the Dark Kingdom, and her discovery that she was the Moon Princess. How long her hair had grown in so short a time. There was a knock at the door.

"Minna?" Usagi heard herself say as Rei and Ami pushed their heads through the doorway, Makoto and Minako a step behind. Seeing their friend on the floor, tangled up in now extremely long hair, they stared, then exclaimed,

"Usagi-chan? Your hair!"

"It just kept growing...."

The four other senshi immediately huddled around, Minako beginning to fix it, pinning it up into the odango that they all knew was Usagi's trademark. "How about one more turn around the bun?" She asked as she did it, a pin sticking out of her mouth. Usagi couldn't help but smile at herself and her friends, as Makoto took a handmirror off her dresser, and held it up for Usagi to see Minako's handiwork.

Luna had entered the room as well, and had settled herself next to Usagi. "Where's the Crystal? Are you keeping it safe?"

The Usagi who stood beside Kami giggled. "Leave it to Luna to always be serious," then she frowned and looked at the floor. "Beryl had Tuxedo Kamen...I couldn't do anything...."

"Look at yourself, Usagi-sama. Look at your friends. Do you see them blame you for failure? Do you see them hate you or be envious of you? This is your own memory. Look at yourself, and do not see the half, but the whole."

Usagi turned her blue eyes on the scene again, and saw herself stand, hair now correct in its style. "Where is he now?" She saw her reflection say, eyes distant and eerie as the room grew cold. "We have to save him! If we don't, his body will melt, and...and....no!"

Minako was the one who grabbed her, though all four of her friends had come to stand closer, physically supporting her as they did with her mind. "Princess! Snap out of it!" Minako was shaking her, face worried, as were they all. "We're with you! We're here to help you. We'll help you save him. So...please. Don't cry. Cheer up...okay?"

Usagi looked into the eyes of her friends, each worried face circling her, then down at Luna, who sat at her feet, eyes turned up to see her.

"They would go beyond the ends of the Earth for you, Usagi-sama. As you would for them. They already have," Kami said softly, looking at her hands, encased in the long white gloves. She turned them over, the backs of her hands, then the palms, looking at them. "They already have."

Kami felt Usagi's eyes fall on her, and she knew Usagi could see the sadness on her face. She sees into people's hearts too easily. If I am not careful, she will see into mine. The Fury is as strong as the one it inhabits. I must not become distracted.

And so Kami reached out and pulled the visions around her in a cloak, wrapping them up in memory, and returning them to the black hall of mirrors. "See how much you are loved, Usagi-sama. It is always good to know you have dreams, and that there are people who love you. Look, and see your family."

With these words, Kami reached into the air, and though there were many mirrors about them, more filled the spaces, small and large, some intricate, some simple, each reflecting an image of people Usagi knew, hovering in her vision. Luna, leaping onto her bed the day she was given her brooch. Sailor Mercury's startled face to learn she was a senshi. Rei-chan and herself, heads pressed close together, tongues sticking out as they argued. Her mother and father, Shingo, at dinner, a cake being produced by Ikuko, freshly frosted. Mako-chan dodging flying bits of food as Usagi jammed the latest culinary creation into her face. Sailor Venus blasting a youma from behind Sailor Moon's back. Haruka and Michiru, shaking their heads in despair as Usagi tried to play violin, Hotaru's pleased face to have a visitor. Pluto appeared, her body crumpled, torn from having to stop time, a desperate act to prevent the destruction of them all.

Her Mamoru, getting whacked in the face with a bad test paper. Her Mamo-chan, coming to get her to help save Mako-chan, the night she discovered she was Jupiter. Her Tuxedo Kamen, coming to place himself before Kunzite's blast, meant for her. Her future husband, leaning in for a kiss, suddenly interrupted by a pink-haired terror, landing on Usagi's head.

Everywhere Usagi spun, another image filled her vision, some happy, some sad, all filled with memory, with pain and happiness. In the empty space filled with dreams, the Rabbit of the Moon turned, her gown floating around her, arms wide as she smiled at the bitter and sweet memories of her mind. "Two sides, to every story, ne, Usagi-sama?"

"Would we have been better off, weaver of dreams, without the lives we lived in the past?" Usagi asked Kami, hoping the older girl would have an answer. "Would it have been better if we never remembered it at all?"

"That's a question you must answer yourself. You would have had a normal life, hai. But would you have such people around you? Such remarkable people, as family and friends?"

As Usagi began to reply, they were interrupted. "Just who the hell do you think you are?" Out of one of the dream mirrors, Fury broke through, coming into their conversation with all the finesse of a wrecking ball. Fury took in the appearance of the stranger, and stared wide eyed. Then she burst into hysterical laughter. "Not another god-damned senshi! How many of you are there? And since I don't know you, neither does she. Care to introduce yourself? I know how much you all love speeches."

Kami moved closer to Usagi, who took a nervous step away from her reflective twin. Kami did not know what to say, but only looked at the Fury with a face of pity. Usagi, though, looked to the mirrors. The nearest one showed the image of herself, looking up into Mamoru's eyes, her hands in his. The other senshi were there, and she remembered telling Mamoru that there was a star in their hearts, and they would know the star is shining when they felt that heat. Deep within, Usagi felt the warmth, glowing still, and she looked at Fury. "She is the Soldier of Dreams," Usagi told Fury, then glanced at Kami. "Aren't you?"

The Soldier of Dreams....

The thoughts were clear on Kami's face, though she did not give them words. Never one to be silent, Usagi took a step forward, as though to place herself between Kami and Fury. "She is...is Sailor Dreamweaver."

Sailor Dreamweaver....

"Oh, really. How convenient for you to have someone to protect you, even in your head." Fury didn't seem very impressed by Usagi's stance, only looking archly around the floating mirrors. "Nice memories, aren't they?"

"Sailor Dreamweaver?" Usagi asked, trying not to listen to Fury. She looked hopefully at Kami, who was watching Fury's idle destruction of the mirrors. Each memory she came to, she touched, and the mirror rippled, then shattered, the sounds of falling glass crackling around them. "How do I stop her?"

"I'm only a guide. You have to banish the nightmare you created yourself."

"But I have no powers here...I can't henshin...."

There are always powers. There are always choices to be made. I won't let you make my mistake, Usagi-sama. This is a mind, your mind, and only your own fears prevent you from becoming the powerful girl you are. How, though, for me to help you? I know nothing of battle. I lost the battle to my Fury in life. And in death, my Fury left when I faced her at last. You wish to fight, so, then, does she. A weapon, then. You need a weapon. But what? There is no weapon that I hold. Or...maybe I can summon a weapon for myself. Hotaru-chan carried a weapon. The only weapon I every held in my hands was not so different than that. An elegant weapon, used to defend and protect. To protect dreams. Then...a naginata. As samurai, and woman, that is my weapon of choice. Come to my hand!

The Weaver of Dreams reached out with one hand, and a small lavender ribbon of light blossomed from her palm, stretching out to the full length of Kami's height, then more as a blade formed, single edged and made of magic, the shaft ebony and scrolled in delicate silver sakura petals. It was an elegant weapon, deceptively delicate, and even more illusionary in the hands of its new mistress.

The formation of the weapon was enough to cause Fury to pause in her destruction, smiling faintly.

"Usagi-sama," Kami told Usagi, holding the naginata open to be taken. "You must fight her. Banish the darkness in your heart. It is the nature of fear, to be conquered."

Lightly, Usagi lifted the black shafted spear out of her hands, the grip awkward in her own hands, though it was so comfortable in Kami's. Fury, then, was heard to laugh. "Sure, Usagi-chan. Take the pretty weapon. Kill me with it. Go ahead. Do you really think you're strong enough to fight yourself?" Fury's arms were spread wide, welcoming, as she tilted her head back.

The weapon trembled in Usagi's hands, but then she heard whispers in her mind, and out of the corner of her eye, saw Dreamweaver with her eyes closed in concentration. The words were from familiar voices.

"I'm still here."

"Usagi-chan has fought all kinds of things, she won't let this end her. Don't worry."

"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."

"How's the odango? ....If anyone ever doubts that's Usagi's kid, just have them look at that. I've never seen anyone fall asleep that fast."

"We are doing what we can...."

Hear the words of your friends, Usagi-sama, and take strength from them....

There was a pause as Usagi listened, hearing first Chibiusa, then Luna, Mamoru, Haruka, and Michiru.

Her grip tightened as she gripped the naginata, twisting as she drew strength from it. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, then, slowly, opened them, filled with determination. "I am the pretty sailor suited soldier of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon! And in the name of the Moon...."

Mamoru became aware that something had changed.

His head lifted from where it was resting against the metal bar on the side of Usagi's bed, tilted up slightly. Looking around the room, he tried to discover what the source of the change was, but couldn't quite figure it out. Luna and Artemis were curled up beside one another on the foot of the bed, quietly waiting. Haruka was still glumly slumped over the back of her seat, arms folded and her chin resting on them. Chibiusa was still lying down on the couch, hugging Diana, and Michiru had found a copy of last month's Vanity Fair, and was idly flipping the pages, the rustling the only sound in the room, other than the hum of the computers.

Shaking his head, he thought it must be his imagination, until he went to change positions on his own chair, and in order to do so, he needed to release Usagi's hand. That was when he realized it. Usagi was gripping his hand.

She didn't have the strength before.

"Usa?" At the soft word, Haruka and Michiru glanced up and over, seeing Mamoru reach out to touch Usagi's sleeping face. "Usako?"

As his fingers brushed a stray lock of blond hair from her closed eyelids, he saw her eyebrows pull together, her lashes fluttering, still shut. "Usako! Come on...fight it...we're here...."

The tremors across Usagi's face increased, and now Haruka and Michiru were on their feet, the cats leaping up, and with the sudden motion and change of atmosphere in the room, Chibiusa's red eyes cracked open. "Nan ja...?" She mumbled as she turned to see the older senshi and Mamoru concentrating on Usagi so suddenly. She blinked, and after a moment, saw it as well.

Usagi was waking up.

"Mama?"

"Usako?"

Blurrily, the eyes of the Moon Princess opened, closed, then opened again, her face still blank as she turned her head slowly. "Mamo-chan?" She blinked a few more times, rapidly, eyes filled with wonder. "I'm here," she whispered, then her face lit up with the usual Usagi enthusiasm, and she loudly laughed, "Mamo-chan!"

The Moon Princess had returned.