Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.
"Plagued By Nightmares"Part 2 of 3: "The Nightmares"
I open my eyes, and sit up. Something doesn't feel right, but I can't tell what. I stand and run to the door; it opens without me having to touch it. The halls are dark and nothing moves.
"Is anyone there?" I ask, peeking out. My voice echoes in the silence. I shiver, frightened, and clutch Luna P to me even more tightly. The feeling that something isn't right comes to me again, and I tiptoe out, a sense of foreboding burdening over me.
"Keiko?" I whisper. "Momma?"
I hear a laugh- it was a man's. Chills run up and down my spine and I spin around, squinting into the darkness. I hate the dark, and run downstairs.
Yet again, I see no one. I run to the room where the meeting was and push open the great oak doors. No one was in there, and I know something is wrong. The meeting couldn't be over yet! It couldn't have been that long since I fell asleep! Momma and Papa would have come told me the meeting was over anyways. They wouldn't just leave me in my room.
I backtrack out of the room, running through the palace, forgetting to be quiet as fear overtakes my heart and threatens to engulf me.
"MOMMA! PAPA! WHERE ARE YOU?" I scream. No one was there, I was all alone.
"Small Lady! Small Lady!" Momma's voice was calling to me from outside. I ran, following the sound of her voice. I fly into her arms, but upon looking up I scream.
It was not Momma, but an imposter. Her face grew wrinkled, bloody. Her eyes turned red, not a lively red like mine but blood red, and her hands turned into claws that scratched desperately at me, wanting to rip me to shreds, limb by limb.
"I'm gonna get you, Small Lady! I'm gonna kill you!" she screeched, in a voice very unlike her kind one. I whirl around, and there was Papa and the Senshi, turning the same as her.
"WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU, SMALL LADY! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" they chanted, coming closer. Then, they produced knifes- bloody knives, pointing at me.
"This will be your blood," they said, sneering. The knives lifted, then came down at me, and I screamed, screaming louder than I ever have….
oOo
My eyes jolt open, and I am still screaming. I stop, panting and sweating. I look around my room- it is still sunny. Luna P was clutched to me tightly, as if she were me life support. It had seemed so real…so real…
I wanted Momma; wanted to know it had all been a horrid dream. I stand up and run to the door. It was still locked, and desperate tears ran down my cheek. Hey, at least it hadn't opened of its own accord though! Then I'd be really scared. Luna P nudges me, and I know what to do. I grab her, and bouncing her on the floor I yell:
"LUNA P! PRODUCE FOR ME THE KEY TO UNLOCK MY DOOR!"
I throw her up in the air, and for a moment she rotates, spinning until she turns into a key in a pink puff of smoke. I grab the key, and unlock my door quickly, my hand shaking all the while. The locked clicks free and I slip out. Still sunny, still bright as rays of light shine in. Phew! I breath a sigh of relief, then begin to cry as I think of the dream I had.
Please be there, I pray….
Luna P turns back to her normal self and floats behind me as I run full speed to the Meeting Room and fling open the door, crying. All heads turn to me and I see Momma- sweet, beautiful, comforting Momma- looking at me in worry.
"MOMMA!" I wail, running to her, not caring what anyone thought of this unladylike display. Who cares if I was scolded for it afterwards? I fling myself into her arms and begin sobbing my heart out, shaking. Momma holds me close and strokes my hair, and I hear her say:
"I'm very sorry about this, but would you hold on a minute?"
She probably already can surmise what happened. She picks me up and carries me to the door, giving Papa and the Senshi a look of I-will-tell-you-later. She then carries me to her room and perches herself on the bed, letting me cry some more.
When I begin to quiet down, she asks me what happened. I tell her every detail of my dream as I could remember from it. It was horrible reliving it in my mind.
"It felt so real…" I finished, wailing a bit more. Momma hugs me close and lets me let it all out.
"Small Lady, it was only a dream," she soothes, but something in her voice makes me worry. I could tell even she was not positive herself, and that made me even more scared.
"Why is this happening to me?" I ask. Momma shakes her head despairingly, having no answers or explanation for this uncharacteristicness.
"Baby, I have no idea," she croons, but it comes out almost like a moan. We sit a bit more, then she gets up, still holding me close to her chest as if afraid to let go. I was just as afraid to.
"I don't wanna go back, Momma, please don't make me go back in my room all alone," I plead desperately. Momma shakes her head.
"I won't," she whispers back. We went downstairs in silence. Sleep itched in my eyes… I just wanted to close them, but fear of that dream kept me awake.
When Momma reached downstairs and the Council was leaving. They bow to her and she bows back, but less so as she was holding me. I'm not huge though, I'm small for my age, so Momma held me in the way you would hold a baby. I was born prematurely.
"Good day," she wishes, going into the Meeting Room where the Senshi and Papa were cleaning up. Upon seeing Momma and I, Papa ran over.
"Serenity, is she alright?" he asks worriedly.
"Small Lady's had another dream, worse though," Momma replies, giving Papa a knowing look. Papa took me and held me close. I yawn.
"Are you tired?" he asks me. I nod.
"I'm scared though. I don't want to have another bad dream," I say. "They feel really real." Papa brought me to their bedroom, and everyone followed. He laid me on the bed, and tucked me in. Luna, Momma's guardian cat, jumped up on the bed and licked me.
"Small Lady, I'm going to have Luna watch over you. Go to sleep, and if you have anymore bad dreams she'll wake you up," Papa tells me softly, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"Don't worry, Luna's great at waking people up," Momma smiles. Luna huffs.
"Small Lady is a much lighter sleeper though, thank god she got that from Endymion's side," she says mockingly, and I smile.
Momma, Papa, and the others went downstairs, whispering something about 'Senshi meeting''. Luna looked expectantly at me and I smile, closing my eyes and heading off into dream world.
Except it wasn't a good dream world……
Momma, Papa and I were taking our usual walk. Papa was humming, Momma was laughing, and everything was good and happy. But then, the sky turned black, and a weird UFO ship appeared. A man was up there, laughing. His profile was indistinct, but he had a bad aura about him and had jet black hair. I couldn't make out his face, but his voice was deep and cold, and what he said chilled me to the bone:
"Kill them." At once, two spears flew down at top speed and I screamed to Momma and Papa, but it was too late… the spears ripped through their bodies, and blood was spraying everywhere: on me, on the ground, and on their once lovely faces. The happiness was still there, but so was shock and pain, all mixed together and their faces. They made no noise, but fell to the ground in a slump.
"NOOOOO!" I screamed, falling to the ground and shaking them.
"Wake up…Wake up…" I sobbed. The man spoke again.
"You did this to them, Small Lady. Now you'll pay your price. Go to the fires of hell where you belong." Then he disappeared. Momma and Poppa sat up, evil smiles on their faces. Their eyes bled, and blood seeped out of their mouths. Momma closed a hand over my neck, and I couldn't breathe. I began to choke, tears still streaming down my face. But, I heard other voices. Faint, but still coming to me…
"Small Lady! Small Lady!" That was Luna's voice.
"Oh God, Endymion, she's not breathing! She's spasming! Wake her up!" Momma's voice was crying hysterically. I hear Papa calling my name, but the strength of Momma in my dream's hand was too great, too suffocating, that I lost consciousness.
oOo
I open my eyes slowly, and I see Momma sitting over me, silent tears streaming down her face. Had it really been that bad?
"Momma?" I mutter, and Momma starts.
"SMALL LADY! Oh, thank the heavens!" she exclaims. The Senshi all sigh in relief in the background and I see them too now, letting out the breath they had been holding in. Papa just hugs me, at a loss for words.
"Small Lady, tell me what happened in your dream," Momma presses urgently.
"Well, I was walking with you and Papa, and the sky turned all black, and a man appeared." I told them all about the man. When I finish, Momma, Papa, and the Senshi look worried.
"What is it?" I ask. Momma sighs, then begin talking.
"Sailor Mars has been having a lot of visions lately, concerning a man. But, like you, she never saw much. She also saw a UFO, and death. We are beginning to believe that this new enemy is real, and that your dreams are all connected somehow. Mars thinks this man is out to kill us," she finishes. I could only stare, unsure what to say. Could these dreams be premonitions; things to come? I hope not!
"Will we have to be guarded more closely?" I ask, dreading the response. That was one thing I hated- being ushered around, with no freedom, no life, and not being able to do what I want to do, alone or with my family. Momma looks almost sad as she replies:
"Yes."
I look down at my hands, and tears gather in my eyes. I don't want anyone to notice, but Momma already does. She gathers me in a comforting hug, and told me it would be OK. But I knew it wouldn't. I'd seen the horror coming.
I look outside; it was already dark. Bedtime, but I didn't want to go to bed. I was too scared. The nightmares were more frequent now. Momma noticed my fright.
"You'll sleep with Papa and I tonight," she says gently. I know though that she said this more so she could watch me, rather than as a comfort. I nod nevertheless. A grumble filled the room and we all laughed.
This would probably be the last normal time I spend with my family, I think sorrowfully.
"I guess that's your way of telling us your hungry, is it Small Lady?" Mars asked, a benign smile on her face. I giggle. For now, the fear leaves me.
"Probably," I reply. We chuckle again and I went downstairs to have dinner, noticing how the Senshi stuck very close to us. It had begun.
oOo
That night, I slid into bed, between Momma and Papa.
"Goodnight, Small Lady," they say, kissing me on both cheeks.
"Goodnight. I love you." I close my eyes and only knew darkness.
Another nightmare came to me around the middle of the night, feeling real as always. Momma and I were outside, picking flowers. The sun shown bright above, sky a pearly blue and clouds drifting by lazily. The Senshi stood nearby, and they waved. I waved back, a permanent smile plastered on my face. But the looks on their faces changed from happiness to fright as they looked up to the sky.
I followed their gaze- a man, the same as in my other dream, was looking down, an evil smile on his face that seemed to make the flowers melt before us.
"Give me over the Small Lady, Queen, and know one gets hurt," he said menacingly to Momma. She hugged me close, shielding me from sight with her body.
"NO!" she protested defiantly. The Senshi ran over too, making a protective circle around Momma and I. I shivered in fright.
"Never!" the Senshi cried, voices echoing in the eerie silence. The smile was gone off the man's face, to be replaced by an irritated scowl. His eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Don't you know who I am?" he asked. "I am Death." The Senshi gasped. He laughed, eyes gleaming now.
"Give me Small Lady, or you will see death," he repeated.
"I'd die before I give over my daughter!" Momma shouted.
"Then die," the man agreed simply, and he shot a spear at Momma. I screamed, covering my eyes.
That didn't block out the scream though, the scream that echoed through the air. Other screams accompanied it, desperate screams for Momma, and mine rose with them.
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A/N: End of part two! Only one left, where we get to the final battle. Please please review and tell me what you think!
Luv- Angel