"I much prefer riding like this to the gunner seat of your previous vehicle", Michiru let Haruka know as the blonde drove, following the directions Michiru had given her; it still astounded the sniper how well her idea had worked out, the information about the location of the vault suddenly just there, right in her brain, as if she had known all her life.
"Because", she added as Haruka gave her a brief questioning look, "I can do this." Smiling, she reached over and placed one hand on the blonde's upper leg; Haruka smirked back at her, clearly not averse to the touch, briefly regretting that for safety reasons, she had to keep both hands on the steering wheel.
"I like when you do this", Haruka told her, focusing on the road again, "and hey, if we're lucky, the bandits we'll meet on the way will think we're Crimson Lance and won't dare to attack us."
"Just another advantage of this car, then", Michiru smiled, earning a brief nod from the blonde; then, she fell silent as she looked out the windshield again, at the rather bleak landscape, to her surprise realizing after a minute or two that it wasn't as dreadful to her anymore as it had been when she had set foot on this planet for the first time.
Perhaps, she thought to herself as Haruka kept driving, the miles between themselves and the vault melting away at the speed with which the blonde drove, it was a mixture of getting used to it and seeing it with new eyes, after all the things she had learned and discovered on this planet; not only had she realized that she was a Siren, she pondered, but also, for the first time in her life, she felt that someone truly cared for her, and not just Haruka, even though that would have been more than enough, but the people of Fyrestone, as well.
She smiled to herself as she thought back to her first thoughts about this planet, when she had gotten off the space ship; it still was a dump, she knew… but a dump where she had found so much more than she ever would have thought she'd find, before the vault itself even had been discovered and opened.
"I'm glad I came here", she said, making Haruka glance at her again, just briefly before her eyes focused on the road again, "no matter what we'll find in this vault, if we'll be rich beyond our wildest dreams or if it'll be a load of useless rocks."
"I'm glad you came here, too", Haruka told her, making her smile again, "and I meant what I said back at the town, we'll figure something out so we can be together even after we opened the vault."
"Yes", Michiru agreed, "there has to be some way to make this work. Perhaps I will simply tell—"
Up until this very moment, the visions only ever had come when she had been asleep, and so, she had no idea at first what was happening when the world blurred in front of her eyes, then vanished; next to her, Haruka stopped the car at once, calling out her name in alarm, Michiru hearing nothing of it though, hanging in the seat now, her eyes rolled back in her head, her body shaking as the vision took hold of her.
Again, she was caught in ice this time, the transparent, rock-hard substance enclosing her legs from her feet all the way up to her knees; in the distance, she could see a giant mountain, with a dark cave entrance, and she just knew that this was the way to the vault, the ground rumbling beneath her feet as something moved within the mountain.
Don't open it, the same voice she had heard in her previous visions warned her, with a hint of urgency, you have the key, and your powers. This is all you can ask for from this. Do not open the vault.
The vision ended as quickly and harshly as it had begun, and with a gasp, Michiru snapped out of the darkness; she could feel Haruka grasping her shoulder, and moments later, the blonde's voice reached her ears, full of concern, the fear in Haruka's voice prompting Michiru to croak out that she was okay.
"What the Hell was that", Haruka demanded to know, her hand still on the sniper's shoulder, but some of the urgency gone from her voice, "I thought you're having a stroke or something!"
"Nothing like that", Michiru reassured her, running a shaky hand through her hair, surprised to find cold sweat on her brow at the motion, "remember those dreams I told you about? With the voice telling me we shouldn't give up and keep searching for the vault?"
"Yeah", Haruka gave back, in the same moment realizing that she hadn't told Michiru yet about how she had heard this voice too and deciding that now was a good time for it, "I heard it too, you know, when you were all powerful back in Fyrestone. It told me that I have to stop you, but it was hard to understand, all interrupted and static-y."
"It was quite clear this time", Michiru let her know, slightly surprised about hearing this, but figuring that it was just another indicator for the voice being benevolent to them, "and the first time it actually contacted me when I was awake. Anyway, after telling me again and again that we have to find the vault, it now told me to not go there."
"That's weird", Haruka said what the sniper was thinking, frowning, "why would whoever is speaking to you… us… like that at first push you towards the vault and then tell you not to open it?"
"I'm not sure", Michiru gave back, pulling the key from her pocket and studying it thoughtfully, "perhaps whoever spoke to us just wanted to make sure that we get the key and not Steele. Maybe the vault doesn't hold treasure, but… locks something up."
She thought back to the vision, to how she had felt the ground tremble and, for some strange reason she couldn't quite name, had been sure that it had been something moving within the vault which had caused that; she imagined all sort of dreadful creatures now, just waiting for an unsuspecting adventurer to open the vault so they could at first feast on the unlucky person, and then break free to terrorize Pandora.
"That sounds terrifying", Haruka commented, her frown deepening, "but let's assume you are right, then it really would be better to not open the vault. Hey, what if, with the key, one can not only open the vault, but control whatever is inside it?"
The idea had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, a thought which had come out of nowhere; Michiru didn't reject it at once though, as others might have, but thought about it, frowning to herself as she considered the implications.
"Let's assume this is true", she murmured, her fingers absent-mindedly playing with the hem of her shirt, "let's assume there's some sort of powerful creature caught in the vault, and with the key, it can be controlled. Nobody in their right mind would want the Crimson Lance to control such a thing."
"They'd run the planet within a week", Haruka grimaced, "so if whoever is behind this mysterious voice doesn't want that, of course they'd try to stop them."
"I don't like it to be used that way, though", Michiru told her, frowning yet again, wishing that whoever had been speaking to Haruka and her would make an appearance so she could glare at them, "and if what we just theorized is correct, well, then this is exactly what happened. They used us to keep Steele from getting the key and from opening the vault, and now, we're not even going to be rewarded for that?"
"Well, you did discover that you're an awesome Siren", Haruka smirked in response, making her smile slightly, as well, "that's something, no? And if there really is no treasure in the vault, aww, too bad, then you won't have money for your poor family and you'll need to continue searching for treasure."
Realizing that this was true, Michiru's smile widened as she thought of all the implications; not only would she have a good reason to not go home right after finding the vault, but she also could spend more time with Haruka, time which they could use to be together and how to figure out what to do for the time after treasure actually had been found.
She didn't know if there were any other vaults on Pandora, but figured that there would be a way to find out; before she could ponder this further though, Haruka asked her if she should continue driving to the vault despite the warning, and she nodded after a moment, deciding that, even if for whatever reason, they couldn't open the vault, they at least could get a good look at it.
"Your wish is my command", Haruka told her with a wink, making her smile yet again; and as the blonde stepped down on the gas pedal, she reached over once more to place her hand on the taller woman's upper leg, curious what they might find at the vault, and if perhaps, they finally would meet the owner of the mysterious voice once they'd arrive there.
"Well, that looks quite unspectacular", Haruka commented as she stopped the car, then got out of it; Michiru did the same, eying the mountain she had seen in her vision, the entrance to the cave leading into the mountain's depths and probably to the vault looking quite ominous and even sinister to her.
"It has some sort of… vibe, though", she voiced these emotions to Haruka; had it been anyone else, she would have kept them to herself, not wanting to appear like a moron, but with Haruka, she found it easy to eve reveal these things, knowing that the blonde would never judge her for them.
"Some Siren thing, perhaps", Haruka replied, eying the cave, as well, but picking up the vibe Michiru had mentioned, "what should we do? Go inside? Maybe whoever has been talking to us will make an appearance then."
"Worth a try", Michiru gave back, already unbuckling her seatbelt; Haruka did the same, and they both got out of the car, the sniper retrieving her rifle from the backseat and strapping it to her back while Haruka made sure that her gun was loaded and ready for use, just in case.
They looked at each other, a quiet reassurance that they both were ready to go; then, Michiru stepped closer to the blonde and pulled her down for a kiss, a short, but tender meeting of their lips – before they, without another word necessary, got moving, entering the mountain which would lead them to the entrance of the vault.