Michiru dreamt that night of a time when she was not yet ruler, when Nixie, Dylan and her were just three normal brothers. It was the day of the annual festival held on Neptune, one year before their father would die. It was the only day Michiru and Nixie were allowed to dress in costumes and wonder the streets alone, without being recognized, as the towns were filled with visitors from the other planets. It was the happiest day of the year for Michiru.
"Can you recall that day, Michiru?" she heard Dylan's voice speaking in her dream. "That was your last free day".
"Dylan you are speaking to me! We had so much fun…you and Nixie and I. The festival was a holiday for us" Michiru whispered in her dream. She could see the image of them, grown up, but with no burdens on their shoulders. She was walking in the dream next to them, next to her own image of a younger self.
"It was the beginning of your end" Dylan said. "The end that Nixie had foreseen for you. But it hasn't happened yet".
"What are you trying to show me, Dylan?"
"What you have not seen in those times. You are standing in line for cotton candy. Nixie and I are waiting for you".
"I don't understand…"
"Look behind you".
Michiru looked at the people waiting for her in line. She immediately observed the blonde girl, probably not older than 12 or 13. Having the appearance of a child, features had started forming on her face, the eyes gaining strength, the face it's sharpness. The girl was looking up at Michiru buying cotton candy, with mesmerized eyes. She stretched her hand, going with her gingers over the thin material of the dress of the soon to be ruler. But Michiru, in her past didn't feel it. She paid and returned to her brothers.
"That is…Haruka?" Michiru asked the voice of Dylan.
"Look at your sister".
Michiru looked at the young Nixie. Her eyes were stuck on the little girl, desperately.
"Nixie recognized the girl…her witch senses smelled Haruka's powers over Uranus" Dylan explained.
"Why is she…why is Nixie so desperate?" Michiru asked.
"She can see the bound that would have formed in the future between the two of you. She saw how the two of you could become indestructible. But she has also realized that none of you would ever want to use that power for other purposes than defending the galaxy. And suddenly…she wants it. She wants the power over the whole world. This is the moment when Nixie became a witch".
Michiru looked at her sister leave, as she and Dylan were admiring some hand painted masks. She was walking after Haruka and her mother.
"Did Nixie try and kill Haruka that day?"
"No, she needed Haruka to become that strong. She wanted the same bond as she saw in you and her. She was absorbed by her, she just walked after her. And you followed her later, seeing she had left. You followed her to the beach. But she was not in sight. Still someone is looking at you. You feel it, but when you turn, no one is there".
Michiru can see Haruka hide after a bush. Nixie approached her younger self.
"I don't understand Dylan, what are you trying to show me? Haruka hiding? Where are you?"
"Somewhere in that dream".
Michiru opened her eyes. She was still in Haruka's arms, who was wide awake looking outside the window.
"I fell in love with you that day. You filled my thoughts ever since. I didn't know you were the princess. And Nixie has tried hiding any paintings of you, so I would not recognize it. I realize that now. And when I found you in the dungeon…do you understand how it feels to realize that the image you had always adored is the same image of a witch?"
"Did you have the same dream?" Michiru lifted her upper body looking at Haruka.
"No…but you spoke out loud when you replied to Dylan" Haruka smiled stroking the woman's cheek.
Michiru bent to the blonde and kissed her lips long.
"So where is he?" Haruka asked.
"He didn't tell me…he said somewhere in the dream".
"Rei might be able to help…" Haruka said. She placed her palm on Michiru's waist and pushed her a little towards the sheets. "Will you be able to love me with your and my duty? Because I can't give up Uranus and you definitely can't leave Neptune".
"I will love you beyond my duty, but always as the ruler of Neptune and you as the ruler of Uranus".
The blonde captain smirked. She kissed Michiru almost forgetting of the day, until she felt the woman under her lightly push her away.
"Right" Haruka rubbed her forehead. She jumped off the bed.
Michiru told her dream to Mars, who was listening carefully.
"Well, it seems to me like Dylan has no idea where he is, but can somehow enter your mind when you sleep. Now, tell me why he didn't do that before? Why didn't he warn you about Nixie taking over his body?" the dark haired woman crossed her legs and rested her chin in her palm.
Michiru tried finding an answer, but she couldn't.
"He never spoke with you in your dream, you dreamt he did. All you saw there was in your memory".
"No, that is impossible, I don't recall Haruka as a child nor Nixie's change of mind at that moment" Michiru said.
"You recall it now".
"You are confusing me".
"There is no way how Dylan could have showed you images that you have not seen before" Mercury stepped in. "What Rei is trying to explain is that you had those memories, but you forgot of them. They didn't seem important to you then".
"How can I know Haruka was hiding in a bush? When I turned, in the past, back because I felt someone was watching me, I didn't see Haruka. I saw Nixie some moments later".
"I told you I was watching you…when you spoke in your dream, I answered to you, I wasn't sleeping" Haruka said.
Michiru looked at the blonde with a trace of desperation in her eyes.
"So Dylan isn't trapped somewhere in that dream? I thought that maybe Nixie used an object we had seen at the festival, like a mask, or a tree from the beach or…" Michiru whispered.
"Actually, I think your mind was trying to tell you that the answer is in your mind. You have the answer, but you can't realize what it is" Rei said.
Michiru let herself fall in a chair and covered her eyes with her palm.
"Neptune, why is the sea holding Venus trapped?" Jupiter asked.
"Because Mina won't believe Nixie is in Dylan's body. She says she has proof Dylan is in his own body" Michiru explained.
They all looked at her long.
"What if…" Pluto whispered.
"What if she is right?" Michiru asked. "The sea is not mistaken; it can't be lied to or fooled".
"Still…what if the sea is under the influence of Nixie?"
"That is impossible" Michiru looked up. "She doesn't have any influence over the sea. The water was starting to die because it was against Nixie. It was warning our people".
"Are you sure?" Amy asked.
"Yes, of course I am! There is nothing I can be surer of than this!"
"Then ask the sea to release Mina and let's see what she has to say about this" Jupiter said.
"I cannot ask the sea to release Venus…I cannot control it, it has a mind of its own".
The room became silent.
"You don't believe me, don't you?" Michiru asked.
"It's not that we don't believe you, we just think you might be mistaken. Maybe Nixie found a way to control the sea and now she is just fooling with our minds" Jupiter said.
"No. Nixie is not stronger than all of us. It's impossible for her to be".
"But she is slick" Amy said.
The window broke open and wave of water filled the room, leaving Mina behind as it pulled back.
"There you go" Michiru said, sighting. "I need a moment…" she said leaving the room and heading for the beach.
"Where is he?" Venus asked with a cold voice.
Dylan's body was still captured in the official room of the castle. He was silent, sighing from time to time. It almost seemed like it was truly Dylan in that body and not Nixie. Venus bent in front of him and he looked up in her eyes.
"My love" he smiled bitter. "You believe me".
"Release him" Mina looked at the guards, but they didn't move a muscle.
"All due respect, princess, orders come only from our ruler".
"Mina, it's better for him to stay where he is" Saturn said.
"Look, I know it's him. We share secrets, secrets only him and I know. If it wouldn't be him, how could he recall?"
"Because if Nixie is in there, she has access to everything even his memories" Saturn continued.
"Are you telling me that I am blinded by love? That I myself can be blinded by love?"
"As Neptune can be blinded by the sea and I by the sky, or Saturn by death, yes, you can be blinded by love" Uranus replied.
Serena took a step forward and looked at the man in chains.
"You know what Dylan would have truly said if he saw Mina after she had been swallowed by the sea? 'My love, you are safe'. That's what he would have said" Serena explained.
Dylan let his head down and Venus stood up.
"I am a fool" she whispered leaving the room.
Meanwhile Michiru was sitting where the waves and sand met. Her dress was wet and eyes lost in the blue water. She felt Haruka approach. The blonde stopped and remained standing behind the woman.
"I loved Nixie as my sister, I truly did. And she loved me. We were sisters and Dylan was our half-brother and we all got along so well. We were truly friends. At least until I became ruler of this planet. Things had started to change then, but I was too preoccupied with ruling to notice it. Now my sister is in the body of my brother, trying to find a way to get her revenge, while the soul of my brother is…who knows where" Michiru whispered. "And Venus…".
"She understood she was fooled".
"The sea sent her back to prove you all Nixie is not using it. I am a fool Haruka".
"For?"
"Suffering because my sister does and did the things she did. When I was trapped in that dungeon I was sure I will get to hate her. But…"
Haruka bent to Michiru and touched the water with her hand.
"Don't break your head about it. It's not something you can choose. You can't choose to forgive your sister, you don't have that right, because a whole planet depends on you, together with your brother's pour soul. Heaven, I can't believe how she fooled us again. I talked with Dylan a lot these days I was here, he tried opening my eyes. And now I find out it was Nixie who did this? She was so slick to… look, we can't let her escape this time. This is what you should think about".
Haruka embraced Michiru's body with one hand and kissed her neck.
"And the sooner this is over, the sooner I finally get to spend some private time with you" she whispered.
Michiru smiled.
"I'll talk to Dylan…Nixie. Why don't you all go to the library and read anything you can find about our annual festival? Maybe there are things I have overseen" Michiru said.
More than two hours had passed since Michiru was staring at Dylan. His head was hanging down; his arms were stiff from the chains. He hadn't moved, but was still kneeling.
Michiru was sitting directly on the floor. She hadn't spoken a word since she had had sent the guards away.
"I don't understand why you really think you can pull this over. No one believes Dylan is in there anymore. Not even Venus. What has she ever done wrong to you? But I guess it doesn't matter. Power, power. What do you want to achieve with all that power? You had power as a princess on Neptune…why do you need to control the whole galaxy? Or Universe. Are you trying to destroy that?"
A long pause followed.
"Why don't you tell Haruka how you healed her?" Dylan finally spoke. He looked at Michiru through Nixie's eyes.
"You think…Haruka doesn't know?" Michiru asked surprise.
"No one knows, Michiru. No one understands, but me. You think people get this magic so easily as the two of us do? And…did you explain the whole process to her?"
Michiru shrugged.
"Michiru, you and I are so much alike. You and I could have been so big. Nothing could have stopped us, not even our mutual friend the blonde captain. You had a dream last night, didn't you?"
"You know, Nixie, you being without a form is getting to annoy me. Do you need to know everything?" Michiru smiled.
"You didn't get what was to get of that dream. You thought I woke up the moment I saw what bond you and Haruka could have. But the truth is I had become a witch long time ago. And I wanted you to join me. I wanted us to bind in a never ending bound. I was sure the two of us would always be together, a force no one has ever seen. And then I saw her…and you drifting into her. She was going to take you away from me, sister. She did".
"You let her" Michiru said. "You sent me away. And you sent her after me".
"Yes, I guess things that meant to be, can't be changed. I only tried turning you into a witch, turning you heartless. Why didn't I succeed? Why did your soul survive that dungeon?"
"Maybe another 200 years would have turned me into that".
"I don't have 200 years, Michiru! I want everything for you and me now!"
"You can't have it, Nixie. It's over. You gave me no other chance than to have to destroy you. And it breaks me into pieces to do so. But I know I am still alive if I feel this. Give me Dylan back".
"And die?"
"You will die eventually" Michiru stood up. She went to the window and sat on the porch looking outside.
"Nothing else mattered than you and me, Michiru. This world was supposed to be ours".
"I don't want the world. The wellbeing of my people is enough. And…"
"An embrace from Haruka from time to time? You are such a fool".
"Because of you I didn't get to embrace her lately at all!" Michiru looked at Nixie in Dylan's body annoyed. Then she chuckled and so did Dylan's body. "I want a happy ending for this. I want my sister back" she sighted.
"Too late…" Nixie whispered.
They both remained silent for a longer while.
"Haruka should have felt you…in Dylan".
"She was too absorbed with you to feel me in another body. She did only when I attacked. I tried fooling her then as well…but I couldn't. She doesn't give a damn about me, this is why she doesn't feel me. But she gives about you; this is why she feels you in danger. Pretty romantic isn't it? To think you get that romantic story from the most unloving woman in the galaxy. Life has given you so many things, Michiru".
"I am paying the price of losing my sister".
"Nothing comes for free".
"Really, Nixie…can't you"
"No, don't even try. I am who I am, I am a witch. I won't turn into your loving sister again. I don't want that. To be in your shadow. I want to be at your side".
"You were always at my side…"
"I want to rule this world with you!" Nixie yelled.
"There isn't any world for us to rule. I am ruling Neptune and that is enough. I am a guardian of the galaxy and that is all!" Michiru stood up and approached Dylan's body.
"Then I will end you, sister!"
"No, because I will end you. For Neptune, for my people, for the galaxy, for Dylan. Against what I want and wish for. Against all my believes. You have made me this; you will make me end you!"
Michiru left the room, not standing the sight of her sister in her brother's body anymore.
"And when we find it?" Haruka asked looking up a book. "Dylan's soul I mean, how do we get it back in him?"
"That will be me returning him his soul" Serena said.
"Right…" Haruka sighted.
"So it has to be something connected to him, she couldn't just send his soul on a rock in space" Amy said.
Michiru entered and walked to the table in the middle of the room. She placed her palms on it and started into nothing.
"Under our nose, close to us, in our reach for vision, everything Nixie did was so obvious. That's where he has to be, but I can't figure it out! I just can't and, of course she won't tell me anything. "She…damn it!" Michiru whispered. She looked at Haruka. "How is your dog doing?"
"What?" Haruka asked confused. "He is fine, doing dog things. Why are you asking of my dog? I know he was very ill while I was in that coma or whatever it was, but I guess…he suffered for me".
"He didn't suffer he was…Dylan's parrot! How blind I am!"
Michiru left the room like a storm and all jumped up following her. She opened the door to Dylan's room and entered. The curtains were pulled.
"Lili?" Michiru called out. "Lili!"
"Is Lili…" Haruka whispered to Mina.
"Dylan's parrot. Sings all day and flies out, always coming back. I was wondering why I couldn't hear him…damn it Michiru did I sleep with your sister?!" Mina almost shouted.
Michiru had to hide a chuckle. The weak flap of wings came from a dark corner. Michiru picked up the pink parrot named Lili from the floor.
"You poor thing…when was the last time you flew".
"And Dylan is in that pink pelican?" Haruka asked.
"Parrot, Haruka" Amy corrected the woman.
"Looks like a pelican to me".
"Lili is a special bird. She flew one day through Dylan's window and never left. She was very dear to him…the dearest clean soul" Michiru explained.
Serena approached and stroked the sad parrot.
"Are they both in there?" she asked.
"I hope Lili is still in there".
"Let's go".
They went back to the room where Dylan was held prisoner. He looked up at the parrot. Michiru approached with Serena. They unchained the men, the two guards holding him put.
"At my sign you will both release him" Michiru said and they nodded.
Serena placed her palm on Dylan and on the parrot. To everyone's surprise Nixie wasn't moving a muscle. A light flew out of the parrot leaving it breathless and into Dylan.
"Now!" Michiru demanded and pulled Dylan out of the blood circle, leaving the transparent image of Nixie behind. Slowly her body became human again. Dylan almost collapsed over Michiru.
"Well, this feels much better" Nixie said with a smirk. "That body was…ugh".
Mina helped Dylan sit down. Michiru grabbed Haruka's sword and cut her palm. She approached the still standing Nixie.
"No one will ever love you as I did, sis" Nixie smiled as Michiru touched her cheek with bloody hand.
"Good bye, Nixie" Michiru whispered, stroking her cheek. A tear rolled down her cheek.
Nixie's body started turning into dust and, soon, nothing remained out of her. Michiru looked at her palm. There was black blood on it. She fell to her knees with her palm in her lap. They all stared at the black blood, mixed with red, dripping from her wound.
"It is the curse of the black witch. May the one who kills, but loved her, turn into a witch herself. It is the curse of my mother. This is why Nixie was so still…she knew she would turn me…into her" Michiru whispered. "I am now…I am turning into a witch".
"Excuse me?" Haruka said approaching.
"Don't come closer. Just…don't. I will leave you and find my death somewhere" she said as she stood up. "Dylan, you will eventually have to take care of Neptune. I am sorry".
"No, no, this is not how it works!" Haruka said with an annoyed tone. "I had enough of all of this. You are mine and you won't leave anywhere".
She jumped to Michiru, grabbed her waist as darkness took over the room. It seemed like the sky had fallen over them. It was hard to breathe and everyone tried seeing and feeling something. But when light filled the room again, both had vanished.
"You know what? This is getting pretty tiring" Saturn sighted long, falling into a chair.
Yep, I was eventually going to tell you how Michiru healed Haruka. But you have to wait, you will find out when the time is right.
I know...long chapter about everything other than Haruka and Michiru. But I promise the next chapter will be just about the two. So toon in soon. Until then Keep Reading!