The first time she had seen this vast landscape in her dreams, she had been standing knee-deep in water before it had frozen over and had trapped her; this time, she was trapped from the beginning, ice enclosing her legs and keeping her from moving even an inch.
At least, she crazily thought to herself, she wasn't cold, wondering if one could actually feel that in dreams; and that thought brought on the realization that this time, she was aware that she was dreaming, prompting her to ask herself if this knowledge gave her the ability to control and direct the dream.
She tried focusing on the ice, willing it to break; nothing happened though, and just when she realized that even being aware of this being a dream didn't grant her any control, the voice came up again, surrounding her from all sides, speaking with great urgency.
You suffered a setback, it told her, not letting her know anything new, but do not let this stop you. You must reach the vault.
Just like the first time the voice had spoken to her in her dreams, it grew louder and louder as it repeated the final sentence over and over; and soon, it was so loud that she would have fallen to her knees, had she been able to, but as it was, all she could do was press her hands against her ears, screaming a scream she couldn't hear as the voice grew louder and louder, impossibly hurt, until she was sure it would tear her mind apart…
Again, Michiru didn't scream as she woke up, her eyes snapping open in the darkness of the cave; they had made their escape from Old Haven during the night, and it still was dark out, the sniper thus figuring that she hadn't been asleep for long when the dream had torn her out of her slumber.
Almost automatically, she reached over, her racing heart slowing down when her hand found Haruka's arm; the blonde was still sleeping soundly, Michiru once more having suffered through her dreams without waking her, any noises she might have made not loud enough to disturb Haruka's sleep.
Clearly, unlike her, Haruka had quite the deep slumber, since Michiru's touch didn't wake her, either; suddenly in need of being close to her, the sniper shifted on the rather uncomfortable stone floor until she could rest her head on Haruka's shoulder, the blonde letting out a somewhat funny sounding grunt in response, but, to her relief, still not waking up.
Closing her eyes, Michiru tried to go back to sleep, finding herself unable to drift off again though; again and again, she replayed what the voice had said to her in the dream this time, wondering whom the voice actually belonged to and why the owner of it still wanted her to go to the vault – with the pieces of the key lost to the Crimson Lance, even if Haruka and she would find the vault first, they'd have no way to open it.
Holding back a sigh, she focused on Haruka's heartbeat, hoping that the steady thump thump thump would lull her back to sleep; the noise turned out to be just as soothing as she had hoped, and not long after, she was fast asleep again, slumbering through the rest of the night without any more strange dreams disturbing her, until the next morning dawned.
When Michiru woke again hours later, this time due to sunlight shining in her face and not because of bad dreams, she felt relaxed and well rested, despite the time she had spent awake in the middle of the night; part of this, she was sure, was due to the fact that she had moved even closer to Haruka in her sleep, now lying halfway on top of her, one of the blonde's arms loosely around her, her chest rising and falling slowly as she slept peacefully.
Not wanting to wake her up just yet, Michiru remained in her embrace a bit longer, focused on the her long, calm breaths and her heartbeat; then, with a heavy heart, she finally disentangled herself from the one-armed hug and gently touched the blonde's shoulder, along with saying her name, actions she had to repeat a few times until they had an effect, Haruka letting out a somewhat unhappy grunt as she opened her eyes.
"Sorry for waking you", Michiru apologized, smiling as she moved one hand to caress her hair, "but we should use as much daylight as possible, we need to find weapons again and perhaps come up with a plan to get back the pieces of the key."
"Weapons will be easier than getting back the key", Haruka sighed, making her grimace as she had to nod her agreement, "as far as I know, there's a guy living not far from town, and he sells weapons, we should get something there. As for the key though… Well, I'm not good with planning."
"I usually am", Michiru let her know, "but I've never had to plan for going up against an entire army, with just another person to help."
Distraught, she picked up a random pebble from the ground and started toying with it; picking up on her dismay, Haruka scooted a bit closer to her and started rubbing her back, making her smile weakly at her in response – before she allowed herself to give in and leaned into the touch, a small sigh escaping her as she enjoyed the warmth of the taller woman's hand on her back.
"Well, no use in sitting here moping, is there", she then decided to pull herself together, sitting up a bit straighter as if to underline her decision with her body language, "so we better get moving. We need some weapons and fresh supplies, quickly."
It bothered her a bit that they had to set out on an empty stomach, but at least, she told herself, they still had the bike; they still had a few supplies left, but not much, and both knew that they had to ration what they still had, until they'd acquire more.
"Hop on", Haruka smirked, her mood apparently not influenced in a negative way by the lack of breakfast; mindful of her injured arm, Michiru got onto the bike behind her, wrapping both arms around her waist, making sure to keep a slightly tighter hold with her good arm though, not wanting the stitches to open up again.
It was quite fortunate, she thought to herself as Haruka started driving, that the rough way Steele and her soldiers had pushed her around hadn't caused just that; on the other hand though, she still had no idea about the true extent of her Siren powers, and thus couldn't know if perhaps, said powers had helped with healing her wounds.
Well, you did heal Haruka, she them reminded herself, carefully flexing the muscle in her forearm in an attempt to find out if the wounds were healing faster than normal without removing the bandage, mildly surprised when it barely hurt, who knows what your powers did when you went on your little rampage back in that building.
She made a mental note to check the injury as soon as they would interrupt their journey; even if it hadn't gotten better, she figured that it couldn't hurt to change the bandage, only to grimace as she realized that they had no medical supplies left, hoping that they'd find the man Haruka had mentioned quickly and that he'd not only sell them weapons, but other necessities, as well.
Straightening up behind the blonde, she glanced around, making sure that no unpleasant surprised were waiting for them; this had been one of the advantages of the gunner seat, she realized – she'd had a much better vantage point, and had been able to see approaching threats easily, while on the bike, she could be closer to Haruka, but only saw the back of her neck and head when she looked straight ahead.
Giving her best to not shift around too much, Michiru made sure to keep scanning the area surrounding them; the roar of the bike's engine made it quite difficult to hear anything else, but she figured that she'd be able to pick up another engine, should it approach them.
With nothing else to do than hold on to Haruka and look around, her mind started wandering again, and she thought back to the powers she had displayed back at the Crimson Lance building; now that she had time to think about it, the enhanced strength she had shown frightened her a bit, goosebumps forming on her arms as she thought back to how easily she had torn the chain between the cuffs binding her.
The balls of energy she had thrown around had been quite the sight, as well; Michiru couldn't help herself, but had to wonder where this energy had come from, if she had conjured it up out of nowhere or if it, in some weird way she didn't understand, was using her very life force to manifest, frowning to herself at the thought that her own powers might weaken and perhaps eventually even kill her, without her even realizing.
I wish I knew more about this, she thought to herself, while Haruka kept her focus on driving, noticing nothing of her ponderings, and how to make proper use of it, so far, these powers only showed themselves when Haruka was in danger.
It was a bit of a calming thought that she had a reservoir of enhanced strength and other powers to protect her lover, but she much would have preferred to be able to use her powers without the blonde in danger; after all, she thought to herself somewhat sardonically, she couldn't put Haruka in peril each time she needed to access her powers.
Well, even if you can't figure it out, it'll be fine, she told herself, looking around once more just to be on the safe side, you've been doing this for a while now, without any mysterious powers.
Losing their weapons and the pieces of the key had been quite the setback, Michiru knew, but she wasn't willing to let this stop her; that she had lost the gun she'd carried in the holster on her hip wasn't that bad, but it vexed her quite a bit that her sniper rifle was gone, a rifle which had been customized to her needs, and which had laid in her hands perfectly.
She was quite sure that she wouldn't be able to get one as good from the man Haruka had mentioned; he might have a rifle he'd be willing to sell her, but it wouldn't have the specifics she'd wanted back then when she'd ordered the one she had lost to Steele, and she doubted that the guy would be able to customize the gun to her liking.
She held back a sigh, not wanting Haruka to notice anything of her ponderings and get distracted; they were on a road now, but it was uneven and not very well made, making their ride a rather rough one, the sniper figuring that the blonde needed quite a bit of focus to keep the bike from falling.
At least you're not in this alone, she thought to herself as she allowed herself a moment of lowering her guard, resting her head on Haruka's back; in response, the blonde briefly touched her clasped hands, making her smile slightly, then the taller woman moved her hand back to the bike's handle and focused on driving again, Michiru letting her mind wander again while her companion drove, confident that, despite their setbacks, everything would work out in the end.