*~*Dark Nightmares*~*
*~*Dark Nightmares*~*

"It's alright letting yourself go… as long as you can get yourself back."

-Mick Jagger

I have nothing to say… this is me… speechless… wow… this is such a new feeling… never before have I felt at… such a loss for words… wow…  oh, shut up.

Chapter 9:      Nightmares

I felt separated from my body as I stood on a rock amongst the ruins of a castle. The dark sky shone above my head as I scanned the skies for any sign as to where I might be. Dark purple lines ran across the sky, making the place look even more familiar. The terrain was lifeless, to trees, no grass, no nothing, just rocks and dust. I turned as I felt a cold breeze send chills down my back.  I looked to the sky and saw a tall woman with long black hair and dark eyes scream out in pain. The woman faded away to nothing but a shadow, and then the shadow exploded, the dust settling to the ground. I saw a young girl cradling someone that looked injured. I saw bodies all around the girl, none of them moving. Were they… dead? She cried a name out. The body fell limp, and I heard the girl keep crying. I wanted to go help her, but I felt glued to the spot. A light purple aura appeared around the girl, and I heard a weak voice cry out "Sacrifice Reborn!"

I saw the aura glow brighter until all I could see was the girl again, only this time in a long, flowing, and violet evening gown. She held what looked to be a crystal of some kind above her head. The crystal shot out the brightest light I had ever seen, and the light separated into the whole colour spectrum, flowing over the whole area.  And then I felt a great peace, a calmness that can only be followed by death.

I slowly felt myself become more aware of things around me as I woke up. The first thing was that I saw a faint purple aura radiating from my body, which meant that I was healing myself. Second, was that someone was holding me in their lap, trying to rouse me.  The third thing I felt, to my dismay, was the pain. Oh, the pain. It felt as if someone had lit a fire in my head, then stabbed the softest parks of my brain with a knife, then screamed in my ear as loud and as close as they could. And that was just my head! I slowly started to shift around, to make sure that I could still move everything. I slowly opened my eyes to see who the caretaker was. I had to wait a minute for my eyes to focus, but Haruka held me in her arms. As I looked into her eyes, I saw that her eyes were red and puffy still… why would she cry about me? She never cared about anyone.

"Hey," she whispered. "How are you feeling?" She asked. I groaned as new pain attacked my head. Man, and I thought hangovers were bad. "Try not to move around much, you're still in pretty bad shape, although, you're been healing for 2 hours and you're a lot better that when you first stopped by to visit." She smiled a weak smile, but it brightened when I giggled at the comment. The giggling didn't last long though, as my throat seized up and I started coughing. Haruka helped me sit up, and after the coughing fit subsided, her arms returned around me and she pulled me into a hug.

"Hotaru… I'm sorry… for all the things I said, earlier, I mean…." Haruka choked out.  I smiled and tucked closer to her chest.

"I'm sorry I ran away…" I replied.

"Hotaru… do you… remember anything about… Mistress 9?" Haruka asked cautiously.

I shook my head, the name not ringing a bell, but I felt as if I should know what she was talking about.  "Who? No, who is she?" I slowly closed my eyes, and slipped back into unconsciousness.

*****

Mamoru walked over to where Hotaru lay sleeping in Haruka's arms.  "How is she?" he asked her. Haruka shrugged. 

"She woke up for a minute, but then few asleep again. What were the others talking about?" Haruka asked, glancing over at the group about 10 meters away.

"Just talking about Hotaru and getting back. Pluto can open up a passage home, but she's worried about those monsters attacking again." Mamoru said. "And as usual, Usagi's bawling her eyes out for some incoherent reason. Typical Scout business, you know how it is. I thought I'd join more amiable company… Rei's getting a little… twitchy." He glanced over at the dark haired girl, who looked ready to kill Usagi.  "Well, they're coming over, so I guess then we'll find out whether we're going or staying." The others gathered around the three.

"Well, we've decided to risk it. Sooner or later, we're going to have to go." Setsuna declared. "I can open a time passage to take us back.  We can only hope that they don't attack again."

"Let me do it…" a small weak voice said. They all looked down at where the voice came from, and stared at Hotaru as she looked up at Setsuna. She slowly got up and dusted herself off. "They can't attack if the don't know where to. If they think that Setsuna's the only one who can open up a portal, then they'll be waiting until she does it. I can do it, and create it so that they can't follow…"

"No way. You're not strong enough, yet…" Usagi said. "You should rest."

"I can do it! I know I can! Why don't you believe in me?" she said, a beaten look on her face.

"Let her do it."  Makoto said slowly, looking at Hotaru as if analyzing her.

"Yeah. If she believes she can do it, that's good enough for me." Minako said. "And if she gets us home safely, there's a bonus." Minako looked at Hotaru and smiled warmly at her. "Go for it. What's the worst thing that can happen? We end up on Jupiter or something, no biggie"

"Trust me, you don't want to go to Jupiter, not during their storm season…" Makoto said, grimacing.

Hotaru looked at Minako, shocked at the fact that someone was backing her up for a change. She looked to Setsuna for her permission, and smiled when she saw the older woman agree to it.

"Saturn Crystal Power!" Hotaru transformed into Sailor Saturn, and, as the other soldiers stood in a circle around her, she put her hands together in front of her. She let her eyes close, and imagined a purple light engulf her and the others.

Haruka saw Hotaru put her hands together and close her eyes. She saw a purple light appear from her hands, and a purple circle appeared on the ground beneath the tiny girl. The air around them seemed to shift, and winds picked up around them. The light surrounded them all and whisked them back home.