Thank you Hoshimare and Kybele! You guys are so nice! huggles This part just kinda explains the bitlet about the dreams...in a way. And about Hotaru...uh, yea, we are just going to pretend that she has already grown to age 12...poetic license...how I love it!! Enjoy! Oh, and yes, the rumors are true; Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya do not belong to yours truly.
"I had a dream." Hotaru waited for Michiru to complete her sonata, merely wishing to feel the words on her tongue before the blue-haired beauty gave her all of her attention. Michiru's bow dropped and she gazed at Hotaru patiently.
"What was that, dear?" she asked, laying the violin carefully in its case. Hotaru took a deep breath.
"I had a dream." Michiru opened her mouth to speak when a deeper voice interrupted.
"That's a pretty common phenomena, kiddo," Haruka remarked, strolling inside, tugging off her blazer, and smiling at Hotaru. The girl remained solemn, and the smile faded from Haruka's face.
"What did you dream about, Hotaru?" Michiru asked after glaring at Haruka for interrupting. The blonde fell into a sulky silence, and Hotaru looked not at Michiru, but out the window.
"It wasn't a dream, really. It was more of a...nightmare." Neither of the two women present missed the shudder that ran through the slight girl's body.
"What happened?" Michiru gently pressed. Hotaru sighed, one hand straying up to rest directly above her heart.
"I was underneath a night sky," she began slowly, her eyes dimming with memory. "And I was in awe of the stars and the planets...they were so bright. So beautiful. And I heard a voice tell me that the stars were bright because the saints' were burning their cosmos." Haruka took a deep breath, probably to ask about the saints that Hotaru had mentioned, when Michiru gave her a sharp look that said ever so plainly, do NOT interrupt. Haruka lapsed back into her silence, and Hotaru still watched out the window.
"And then...the beauty of it all left. Everything was ugly and bare. And this...thing...came after me. It tried to bend me to its will, tried to make me feel the malice it did. And when it realized that I did feel it, and I let it go through me, it attacked. It tried to draw my soul away, and I saw a woman behind it, looking fearful. She knew that she and her creature had no sway over my mind. And so it tried to suck away my soul...and...it hurt." The liquid purple eyes finally looked at Michiru, haunted and tortured.
And the worst part was..." the girl's voice had fallen to a whisper, and both Michiru and Haruka leaned in to hear her. "The woman reminded me of Mistress 9." They fell back as though they had been pushed back. A tear trickled down Hotaru's face, and Michiru reached out to wipe it away.
"The saints you mentioned, Hotaru. Is that all you know of them?" She artfully steered the topic away from Hotaru's frightening comparison. Hotaru shrugged.
"Yes...all I know of them is what the voice told me. They must be avatars of the stars." A muscle in Haruka's jaw began to pulse, and Michiru could tell that she wanted to discuss the other bits of Hotaru's dream.
"Please go back to sleep, dear," she requested, smoothing Hotaru's hair. "All will look better in the morning." There was a light of protestation in her eyes, but Hotaru turned, and left the room. Haruka barely waited for her to be out of ear shot before exploding.
"Mistress 9, Michiru?! Mistress 9?!" The blue haired woman said nothing. "And not only that, but a creature that can suck the souls of another, and that can influence someone in their dreams. What are we up against?!" Michiru walked over to where Haruka was sitting and fuming. Gently playing with the fine strands of hair, Michiru sighed.
"I don't know. We should be grateful that it wasn't able to influence Hotaru in the first place. Her will is strong enough to stand against this thing..." Haruka reached up and untangled Michiru's hand from her hair, and instead interlaced her fingers through Michiru's calloused digits.
"And saints? Cosmos? What does it all mean?!" Michiru shrugged, and smiled down at the disgruntled woman.
"You look to me for answers, Haruka, when I cannot give you any." Haruka shrugged in reply.
"Old habits die hard, I guess." Michiru laughed, windchimes on the wind.
"Then the only answer I can give you is that we can only wait, and see what happens. Warn the other girls to guard their minds carefully, and watch themselves.
"That's all we can do."