Hotaru looked around at the panic-stricken faces of her
comrades.
"Hotaru! I believe in you!" Chibi-Usa yelled over to her, barely heard amongst the other wails. Hotaru closed her mind off to everything, and felt a hundred fears and thoughts shoot through her skull.
'What am I gonna do? I have to do something, I doubt anyone else can. Chibi-Usa believes in me, but what does she believe in?' Hotaru thought to herself. She saw a dull glow through her closed eyes, and when she opened them, she saw her crystal hovering at an arms length away. She wondered how it had slipped out of her pocket, but she didn't have any time to worry about it. She closed her hand around it, and wished there was some way the crystal could help her, give her power to save her friends. 'Or at least Chibi-Usa,' she thought sarcastically to herself.
'Believe in yourself, and the power will grow.' She heard through out her mind, as if someone had whispered it in her ear.
She tightened her eyes, and she called on the powers of Saturn to save her friends. ' I know I can do it…' she thought, and within her hand, a dull throb emanated out of the crystal. The crystal seemed to change shape, until it had almost turned into pure energy in her hand. The energy shot through Hotaru's hand, up her arm, and filled her body with white-hot electricity. She let out a blood-curdling scream as she felt the energy mould itself into her very essence. Just as she thought she could bear the pain no more, and blackness ebbed it's way into her vision, the pain stopped.
She opened her eyes as she looked around. The sailors had stopped falling, and just floated in mid-air. 'Did I do that?' Hotaru thought faintly. She felt the darkness grow stronger around them, and the air shifted, grew menacing. Hotaru felt a strong energy force rising up from underneath, homing in on them. She didn't want to find out what it was, and with a thought, she created a bright ball of light to surround them. The light carried her and the others far away from the darkness, just before a dark hand swept up to grab them.
*****
Mamoru opened his eyes, seeing spots from the blinding light that had encircled them. He looked around at a barren landscape pocketed with hundreds of craters. He looked to the others, who were slowly regaining their visions. They looked around, dazed and confused.
"Where are… how'd we get here?" Setsuna asked, looking to the others for answers. Her eyes stopped on Chibi-Usa, who gave her a meaningful gaze.
"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers?" Chibi-Usa said, startling the older woman. Setsuna recalled on numerous occasions telling Chibi-Usa that, and it shocked her that she never imagined being told her own advice. Chibi-Usa looked over sadly at Hotaru, who was a couple meters away from the rest of the group, staring down at her hands.
*****
I looked at my hands, scared stiff at what had happened. Had I really done that? How did we get here? I knew subconsciously that I had caused the light that carried us away, but I didn't want to believe it. I was scared at the new feelings that coursed through me. Had that crystal… fused itself into my being? Did that explain the power I felt? I didn't want to know. I really couldn't, and didn't want to, explain what had just happened.
I continued to stare down at my trembling hands. The crystal had been there a minute ago, but now it was gone. I didn't like the though of the crystal adding its power to mine. I also didn't want to know what the others thought. I'm the last person who deserves more power, oh, why was this happening to me?
I pulled myself out of my own misery and turned towards the others. My heart skipped a beat when I saw them. All staring at me, as if I had done something wrong. What was I talking about? I had! I never should have used that power, even if it had all saved us. There could have been another way out, something else I could have done! I continued to look at them, feeling me heart seize up with fear. I couldn't tell what emotions they were feeling. They probably hated me even more, feared my powers all over again. I scanned the others, and stopped when I ran into Chibi-Usa. She was the only one that seemed genuinely happy with me. She ran over and hugged me, then pulled away and looked straight into my eyes. "I knew you could do it!" she said happily in a voice that no one else could hear.
Usagi cleared her throat, and I looked up at her. "Umm…
was that… you… that did that… thing… and brought us here?" She managed to
scrape out, her voice sounding harsh and unused.
"I… I don't k-know… um… maybe?"
*****
"Hotaru, we're not mad at you… we just weren't sure what had happened..." Michiru said, wondering if she really saw tears welling up in Hotaru's eyes. She opened her mind to Hotaru, and gently probed her mind. She felt thick waves of fear coming from her, and Hotaru felt way more powerful.
"You're… you're not mad?" Hotaru said in a feeble voice, barely heard by Michiru.
"No, don't get us wrong, we are mad, we're just waiting for the right time to kill you, that's all…" Haruka said cynically. Hotaru blanched and started to back away. "I was KIDDING!!! We're not mad!" Haruka exclaimed when she saw Hotaru's face fall. Setsuna elbowed her in the ribs. "OW! What? It was just a joke!" Haruka yelped as she rubbed her side.
Chibi-Usa looked back up at Hotaru and smiled. "She's kidding, you know. She'd have to go through me first, and she has orders to protect me, so she won't even attempt it." Chibi-Usa was relieved as Hotaru forced a small smile.
"But really, how did you get us out of that?" Luna asked. "I've never seen that happen before…"
"Yeah, it was really amazing! You got us out of there just in time." Makoto exclaimed.
"Um, like I said, I really don't know how I did it… technically…" Hotaru stammered out, looking at the ground.
"What do you mean? Like your talisman did it?" Michiru asked.
"Whoa, there's another talisman? And Hotaru has it?" Usagi asked.
"Well… it might be, we're not exactly sure. Why don't you show it to her? Setsuna asked, turning to Hotaru. She looked to the ground and shuffled her feet.
"Well, it's not that I don't want to… It's just that… you see, the funny thing is…I don't exactly… have it anymore." Hotaru finally blurted out.
"What?" Everybody cried out, jaws dropped.
"Well… it's not that I don't possess it, it's that I don't have it in my pocket anymore." She said, matter-of-factly.
Everyone just continued to stare at her , and she looked down at Chibi-Usa for help. She smiled comfortingly up at her. "Don't worry, I won't let them take you away in a straight jacket." Chibi-Usa said.
"Thanks… I think. Anyway," she continued on to the others, "I think that's how I got us here. I think the crystal was… I know this sounds weird, but… absorbed, into my conscience. It's in me."
The others continued to gape at her. "Sheesh. That sounds bad, better just send me away to the loony bin before I go off hopping around like a rabbit."