Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Trials ❯ Fear of Shadows ( Chapter 2 )

BlueDolphin

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She woke in the dead of the night, drenched in sweat and a scream on her lips. Bolt upright in bed, her ragged breath rasped harshly past the held scream and sounded unnaturally loud in the still room. Realizing where she was, she forced herself to unclench the sheet bunched between white-knuckled fists and swallowed the scream. To steady herself, her eyes sought the familiar curves and edges of her tidy room, seeking comfort from its familiarity.

When she felt steadier than before, she swung her legs out of bed and rose, navigating her room in the nearly pitch darkness as effortlessly as if it had been full daylight. She passed from her bedroom into her personal bathroom, reaching out for the switch on the wall and switching it on. Three lamps placed in varying places on the walls cast a soft glow over the whole of the clean bathroom; onto the combination bath and shower against the wall on her left, onto the toilet directly across from her, onto the sink and counter running the length of the wall on her right. After a few moments of blinking owlishly in the sudden light, her eyes readjusted themselves and she could see her reflection in the mirror above the marbled counter without discomfort.

Her face, pale even under normal circumstances, was ghost white and nearly translucent. Her short black hair, tousled from sleep, only made her face look that much paler and made her wide violet eyes look sunken. Overall, she looked a wreck. She ran cold water out of the brass faucet in the sink and splashed her face a few times, as if to wash away the dream still fresh in her mind.

They thought she had forgotten after being reborn, had pursued this hope even after she regained her identity and her power. But she had remembered, a small part of her retaining the memories and waiting for a time when she was of an age to appreciate them. And they all stemmed from who she was.

Even after these five years, remembering still was painful, remembering how her father had used her as his pawn to acquire power. A respected scientist, she didn't realize until it was nearly too late exactly what the so-called 'experiments' in the basement of their largeish residence entailed. All of his experiments centered around bringing to rise the evil being she unknowingly harbored inside of her and gain power beyond his comprehension. The person she most feared: the Dark Messiah, Mistress 9.

It wasn't her father's fault exactly, for she also knew that what he did, he did because he himself was being possessed by evil as well. A rather complicated situation unless you lived it.

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Tomoe Hotaru shuddered as she recalled the inner battle she had waged to right the wrongs her power running unchecked was creating. Finally, in the final struggle between her and Mistress 9, the untaintable power yet inside her was unleashed and Mistress 9 was destroyed, at the cost of her body. Yet Sailormoon, in her infinite kindness and compassion, realized that Hotaru couldn't help what had happened to her under the influence of the evil power inside her and used the power of the ginzuishou to save her before she was totally lost. She was reborn.

After this incident, her father, then cleansed of the evil inside of him, decided it was best to give her up to Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru, otherwise known as Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune, to raise. She was told by the couple that it was because her father didn't feel that he was worthy of raising her any longer, but she had known the truth. Mistress 9 wasn't gone as they all wished she had, for she was as much a part of her as the part of her that is Sailorsaturn was. And she needed to be surrounded by people that could stop her.

Hotaru splashed her face once more then, after a last glance in the mirror, she clicked the light switch off and returned to bed. She hoped there would be no more nightmares that night. To wish for no more nightmares ever would be too much to wish for.

When she woke, the nightmare of the night before had faded some, still there but not as clearly defined as before. Hotaru rose slowly, stretching in the sunlight that streamed onto her bed from the newly risen sun. She was to go to a picnic today with Usagi, Chibiusa, and Mamoru at the botanical gardens she loved. It was nearly the first time since Usagi as Sailormoon had driven away Chaos that she had spent with any of the Inner Senshi, and she was looking forward to the picnic. Glancing at the clock, she saw she only had a little more than an hour to prepare herself, and hurriedly rose.

After a shower, she descended the stairs to the ground level dressed in jeans and a purple shirt. When she had came to live in the mansion, she had thrown out all her old clothes, not only because they reminded her of life before becoming Sailorsaturn, but also because she had matured since then and thought all the dark dresses and clothes she used to own to be old-fashioned.

Entering the kitchen, she saw Michiru sitting at the far end of the oaken table in the adjoining dining room. She was sipping tea and staring moodily down at a blank piece of paper, her eyes distant. Her blue-green hair was pulled back away from her face, revealing one jagged scar working its way across her forehead just below the hairline, a gift from her terrible accident months previous. There were other scars, but none were in so prominent a place as the one on her head. She was rather self-conscious about it too, though she did her best not to show it. "Good morning, Michiru," Hotaru said warmly, coming to stand before the table. "How are you?"

Michiru looked up from the paper, startlement clear in her aqua eyes. But she regained her composure and responded, "Fine, thanks. How did you sleep?"

"Fine," Hotaru said glibely, effortlessly skipping around the truth. She knew that Michiru, Haruka, and Setsuna all suspected something from the seemingly innocent questions they asked probingly, but even they couldn't know how much she already knew. "Are you planning on drawing something?" she asked, gesturing at the paper before Michiru.

"I don't know," she replied with a sigh. "I haven't done many pencil sketches. Perhaps something for Haruka."

Hotaru nodded solemnly, her head lifting as she heard a car pull up in front of the mansion and honk, the sound floating in through the bank of open windows in the dining room. "There's my ride. Bye Michiru!" Hotaru said hastily, leaving the dining room.

"Be careful, Hotaru!" Michiru's voice said as she departed. There was something in her voice that almost made Hotaru return and ask what she meant, for it sounded almost as if she meant it more than one way. However she didn't and departed out the front door to where Chiba Mamoru was parked in his red sportscar.

"Hotaru!" two sets of voices choroused from inside the car as she approached, and Mamoru smiled a greeting.

Opening the back door, she slid in next to Chibiusa, her best friend since they had met. "Hi Chibiusa!" she said to the girl only a year younger than herself. She had eyes an unusual shade of red and a ready smile, her bubblegum-pink hair done up in odangos. Chibiusa was dressed in her favorite denim overalls and pink striped shirt. After seeing Chibiusa's smile, Hotaru turned to the girl turned around in the front seat and said, "Hi Usagi!" Tsukino Usagi had long butter-blonde hair done up in the same style as Chibiusa, though she was a full sixteen years old. Her eyes were a sparkling blue, and she too was smiling. Finally, Hotaru turned to the man driving and said, "Hi Mamoru!" Chiba Mamoru was nearly twenty, though he and Usagi were all but married. He had short dark hair and a more serious set to his face than the other two, though his sparkling blue eyes conveyed more emotion than his face. He was handsome, but also he was Usagi's.

"Its nice to see you again, Hotaru," Mamoru said as he steered the sportscar down the curving drive. "How is Michiru?"

"She's doing wonderfully," Hotaru replied. "She's just as she was before the accident."

"That's good to hear," Usagi said with a smile. "We've been worried."

With some urging from Hotaru, Chibiusa began speaking of what her life had been like since they had talked. She was hesitant at first, understandably so for none of them wanted to step near that touchy subject of their deaths, but she eventually lost her hesitation and began speaking more freely. Usagi chimed in more than once, and soon the two of them were off on one of their yelling fits while Mamoru drove them all, all while hiding a smile.

Soon Mamoru was parking his car at the gardens they had agreed to hold the picnic at. They all piled out, and while Usagi and Mamoru wrestled the picnic basket out of the trunk, Hotaru and Chibiusa went off to find the perfect spot.

"I love this place," Chibiusa said with a sigh of contentment as the two wandered around the graveled paths. Trees were everywhere, providing shade to people as they walked. Flowers grew in cultivated plots along the paths, bright flowers in blues, greens, and yellows. In the center of it all was a large lake, and one could see several people out on wooden rowboats provided.

"It is pretty," Hotaru agreed, eyes wandering over the whole of the park. "Where should we sit?"

Chibiusa paused and looked around as if getting her bearings, then charged off down the small rise they had crested. "Down here, Hotaru! Come on!" she called as she ran.

Hotaru followed more slowly, picking her way carefully down the hill instead of running down after the pink-haired girl. Even now she wasn't very strong physically, and she was susceptible to dizzy spells and weakness. She knew it worried her friends when she had these sudden attacks, so she did her best not to over-exert herself. It was quite ironic, really, considering her senshi powers.

When she reached the botton of the hill, Chibiusa was waiting at the grassy shore of the large lake. Looking around, Hotaru saw that the place Chibiusa had picked felt strongly familiar. "This is near where we met, Chibiusa," she said, all at once remembering why it seemed familiar.

"You DO remember!" Chibiusa said happily, clapping her hands. "Stay here while I get the others." With that, she raced away back the way they had come, leaving Hotaru to watch her go with fond affection. Chibiusa had befriended her at a time when she desperately needed a friend. She had been an outcast, called a freak by her classmates for her natural (but not necessarily wanted) ability to heal with merely a touch. But Chibiusa had seen past that and insisted on being her friend. Really, Chibiusa was very much like Usagi. The girl meant everything to her.

Just then, Hotaru heard laughter float over beyond the rise, male laughter that sounded oddly familiar. She began climbing the hill again, drawn by the voice she knew but could not place. At the top, she looked a short distance away at two figures, her breath catching in her throat. She gripped the trunk of the tree she stood under tightly.

It was a man and a woman. The man drew her attention first, for his short, shaggy, white hair and glasses sent waves of emotion washing over her. It was Professor Tomoe, her father. She studied him carefully as he and the woman drew closer to her, seeing with a pang of sadness that he was as unchanged as ever. She then turned her attention to the woman. The woman wore a long, black dress and had incredibly long, black hair. She walked with her head lowered, preventing Hotaru from glimpsing her face, yet somehow she didn't need to. Her breath stopped as she viewed what could not be. It was the woman in each of her nightmares, the object of her worst fears. Mistress 9. And she was walking arm-in-arm with her father.

Impossible. Yet she was seeing it with her own eyes.

As the couple passed just below her, she saw her father suddenly look up to where she was standing. Sudden recognition flashed in his eyes, followed by intense sadness and....fear.

"Hotaru!" Chibiusa's voice rang out, mercifully distracting her from the awful sight she was beholding. She looked to her left where Chibiusa was leading Usagi and Mamoru, the picnic basket between them. As Chibiusa neared, her expression changed from one of happiness to one of concern. "Hotaru, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I - " Hotaru started, automatically looking back to where her father had been walking with that awful woman. They were no longer in sight, though she had only looked away for a few seconds. "Nothing," she finished, trying her best to sound convincing. "It was all your imagination. It was all your imagination. It was..." her mind repeated over and over again, a mantra to right her disoriented senses.

"Are you sure?" Usagi asked concernedly. "You look awfully pale."

"I'm fine," Hotaru said with a fair approximation of a reassuring smile. I just climbed this hill too fast." She forced herself to unclench the treetrunk.

"Shall we eat then?" Mamoru asked, successfully diverting the attention from Hotaru. He could see that something had spooked the girl, but if she didn't want to speak of it, it was her own decision.

"Yes! Lets eat!" Usagi crowed enthusiastically, joined by Chibiusa a moment later. "I had mom make the most delicious..." Usagi went on, describing in excruciating detail nearly every dish in the basket, missing the knowing wink Mamoru gave Hotaru who smiled gratefully in return.

Lunch was a happy affair, even for Hotaru who forced herself to focus on the conversation around her. The food was delicious, the weather was lovely, and even Usagi and Chibiusa seemed to be acting on some unspoken truce. With the conversation going on around her, it was easy to forget the destinies of Mamoru, Usagi, and Chibiusa in the future. Usagi, fighter of justice and leader of the sailor senshi Sailormoon, was to become Neo-Queen Serenity, ruler of Crystal Tokyo. Setsuna claimed the time of Crystal Tokyo was fast approaching, but Hotaru couldn't see anything that would indicate a change of that magnitude. Mamoru, betrothed to Usagi and protector of the sailor senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, would become King Endymion. And, proof of all this, Chibiusa (rather, Princess Usagi) and her kitten Diana came directly from the 30th Century, sent back by her mother Neo-Queen Serenity and her father King Endymion as the sailor senshi in training, Sailorchibimoon. Hotaru was eating in the presence of future royalty, though it was hard to tell from the way Usagi and Chibiusa went at each other occasionally.

As they ate, Hotaru put behind her the events of before, counting them as merely a product of her strenuous night. She left it at that.

"This was very good, Usagi," Hotaru said as she finished up her piece of cake. "Give your mother my compliments."

Usagi smiled and said she would, and the group of four lapsed into a contented silence. Birds chirped in the trees above and around them, and the waters of the lake lapped quietly on the nearby shore. Hotaru looked about her appreciatively at the serenity. But suddenly, a cold, crawling feeling crept across her skin, and her throat dried. She was the senshi of Death and Destruction, and if she had to put a name to the feeling she was experiencing, she would say it was like brushing up against Death itself. She disregarded her companions who were talking with each other and looked around sharply. There, coming down the hill she had been standing upon earlier, was Mistress 9, walking towards them, her black dress fluttering about her slim frame.

Hotaru closed her eyes, telling herself it was her imagination again, her friends still talking around her. After a hurried ten-count, Hotaru opened her violet eyes again. Mistress 9 still bore down on her, a twisted smile playing across her face. She was no more than ten feet away and was closing fast.

With a strangled cry, Hotaru stumbled to her feet and began running away, her breath harsh in her dry throat. This was too much like her nightmares. Behind her, she heard the others cry out in suprise, but still she kept running, blind panic blanketing her senses. She looked back only once, only to see Mistress 9 only a few steps behind her. Her friends were nowhere in sight.

Still looking back as she ran across the grassy shore of the lake, she fought down the panic and clenched her hand. "Saturn Planet Pow-" she began, feeling the energy begin to swirl around her. But then, pain exploded in her mind and she knew no more.

"Ooo ooh," she moaned as she slowly came to, her head throbbing in time to her racing heart. She opened her eyes, the bright sunlight sending white-hot flashes of pain through her head. Hotaru forced herself to keep her eyes open as she slowly got to her feet, wishing all the while that her healing powers worked on herself.

When she achieved her feet with nothing more than a queasy feeling deep in her stomach, she looked wryly at the treelimb she had crashed into during her panicked flight. Remembering her flight, she froze and glanced wildly around. Nearly within arms reach of her was Mistress 9, her neatly manicured hands drawn into claws that reached out for her. Her face was twisted into a grimace of delight. Hotaru gasped and took a step back.

"Greetings, warrior of Death," a voice said.

Hotaru wheeled around, startled at the voice and responded automatically, "Don't call me that!" As she looked around for the voice's source, she added, "Where are you?"

"Is that not who you are?" the voice asked, ignoring her second question. A small cloud of sparkles appeared before her, swirling lazily in the air.

"Not by choice," Hotaru said firmly. "I abhor that dark part of myself that houses my power. I cannot trust it." "Where'd THAT come from?" She wondered.

"Yet Death is as necessary as Life. Life without Death is Life without meaning. Death provides motivation with the knowledge that one's Life is not forever," the voice explained, then it sighed. "You are too young yet to look at any part of yourself in such a way."

Hotaru eyed the glitter with skepticism, then asked, "Who are you? And why is SHE here?"

"I am what you are," it replied. "And as for that woman, you tell me."

"I...don't understand..." Hotaru said, looking to the frozen Mistress 9 again, then around at the surrounding park. "Am I still in Tokyo?"

The voice laughed. "It is not an easy question you ask. You are where your mind wishes you to be. I have no part in the location."

"Then are you something from my mind as well?" Hotaru asked, frowning in puzzlement.

"I -" the voice started, then hesitated. After a moment of thought it continued, "I am what you are. I am many things tied together into nothing. Minds do not hold me, yet I am bound to them as surely as you are bound to your power and destiny."

"I don't understand," Hotaru repeated helplessly with a little sigh. "I wish Setsuna were here."

"It is not required that you understand, nor is it expected," the voice said. "Sailorpluto is not here for you now; you must think for yourself."

"Think for myself about what?" she asked herself sourly. Aloud, she asked, "Answer me this, then. Why is Mistress 9 here before me? She is...she is me. I keep her contained inside myself."

"You forget that she is a product of your mind. She is here BECAUSE she is you," the voice said patiently.

"Can I will her away then? If she's from my mind, I must be able to control her," Hotaru said slowly, her eyes swinging momentarily back to the frozen woman. Shivering, she averted her eyes once again.

"You may try, but things are never that easy. Besides, that would not serve the point," the voice replied. It sounded as if it were giving a lecture.

"Then what is the point?" Hotaru asked, very near anger.

The voice said nothing for a moment, then asked abruptly, "What do you fear?"

Thrown by the odd question, Hotaru stared at the cloud of sparkles before her. Then, after the question had registered, she replied, "I fear that I will lose control of my power again and Mistress 9 will possess me again. I fear that she will force me to use my forbidden power."

"Do you fear for the lives of your fellow senshi?" the voice asked probingly. "Would you stand aside and watch them die?"

"Never. I could never stand aside and watch them die," Hotaru replied harshly. "What sort of question is that?"

"What if it were necessary?" it persisted, the voice so low it was nearly a whisper. "What if, to save the planet from evil, you must decide between your friends' lives and your duty?"

Struck dumb by the unfairness of the question and unable to comprehend having to choose, Hotaru could only stare. Decide? Why should she have to?

"We shall see, then. Choose wisely, warrior of Death," the voice said, sounding satisfied. A ripple went through the air around her as the sparkles before her disappeared, Hotaru turning just in time to see Mistress 9 resume her charge. She just barely managed to lunge to one side as the lady flew past laughing evily.

"Saturn Planet Power.....MAKE UP!" Hotaru shouted, throwing a clenched hand into the air. Utter silence descended over her as unimaginable power washed over her. Sweet, inviting power, yet the taint of what it was capable of twisted her stomach and made her skin crawl as if she had touched something unpleasant. Her Silence Glaive appeared before her, and she reached out and grabbed it with one hand.

The moment of silence passed, and the split-second transformation revealed Sailorsaturn standing where Hotaru had been. "The ringed planet Saturn is my guardian deity, Silent Soldier of Death and Destruction, I am Sailorsaturn!" She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt.

"I know what you are," Mistress 9 rasped, her voice sounding like dry leaves rustling together. She circled around Sailorsaturn and her raised glaive. "I've come for your power, Sailorsaturn." She spoke her title mockingly. "I...have need of it."

"Never," Sailorsaturn said flatly. "I would rather turn this glaive upon myself than give my body to you again."

"Would you really...?" Mistress 9 returned, eyeing the glaive in Sailorsaturn's hands speculatively.

"Stop right there!" A voice demanded from above. Within moments, the source of the voice leaped down from the tree she had been hiding in, followed by five others. The speaker was Usagi -- no, Sailormoon. "We are the agents of love and justice..."

"...pretty Sailor Soldiers..." Here, one of her companions, pink-haired Sailorchibimoon chimed in, none other than Chibiusa.

"Sailormoon!"

"Sailorchibimoon!"

"In the name of the moon, we'll punish you!" Sailormoon finished their speech with her usual gestures, copied nearly exactly by Sailorchibimoon. The other four introduced themselves as well, the blue-haired Sailormercury, the raven-haired Sailormars, the tall brunette with the ponytail Sailorjupiter, and the blonde Sailorvenus. Mistress 9 just laughed.

"Pathetic! Just as before!" she said, still laughing. "Leave Sailorsaturn and I be. This is between her and I."

"I cannot allow that!" Sailormoon shot back angrily. "Let her be!"

"Very well, then I -" she started, breaking into a short scream as a purple globe of energy slammed into her side. Three more senshi dropped into the growing group, completeing the semi-circle that had formed before Mistress 9 and Sailorsaturn. Sailorneptune, Sailoruranus, and Sailorpluto had arrived. The dark woman glared daggers at the new arrivals. "Fools! You will pay for that! I'll not be gentle now!" she screeched. She made a sweeping gesture with her hands, dark energy gathering in an arc above her. The energy collapsed inward over Mistress 9 and burst outwards into the senshi.

The black power was like nothing Sailorsaturn had felt before. It burned through her veins like liquid fire, and at the same time was so cold that it seared her skin and lungs. Her scream joined those of her fellow senshi as she thought wildly, "She's so powerful..."

She must have blacked out for a moment or two, for when she realized that the agony was gone, she found herself lying facedown in the grass. Sailorsaturn raised her head weakly, her spinning mind suddenly clearing in horror. She saw her fellow senshi all lying on the ground unmoving, too still to determine whether they still lived. What drew her attention was the realization that Sailorchibimoon was being held captive by...herself. An exact copy of Sailorsaturn stood where Mistress 9 had been, the blade of the glaive she held pressed up against the pink-haired girl's throat.

"What's the matter, Hotaru?" the copy asked mockingly. It was Mistress 9's voice. "Not liking what you're seeing?"

"Let her go!" Sailorsaturn demanded as she scrambled to her feet, hoping she had successfully kept the fear from her voice. "I must save Chibiusa..."

Her evil copy moved the glaive she held fractionally against Sailorchibimoon's throat, a drop of blood welling out from where the skin had been pricked. "You know what I want."

"Don't give it to her, Hotaru!" Sailorchibimoon burst out, the movement of her throat drawing more blood. "I'm not important!"

Sailorsaturn licked her lips in indecision and shifted her hands on the haft of her glaive to achieve a better grip. Three words, that was all it would take to end Mistress 9. Even thinking the three word brought tendrils of power to gather before her, waiting for the words to be spoken and made real. "But Chibiusa..."

"Would you risk the life of a fellow senshi?" Mistress 9 sneered, thinking she had won.

"Don't listen to her!" Chibimoon cried.

"Remember your duty. Remember what you swore..." Hotaru's inner voice whispered. After she had seen what her power was capable of, Hotaru swore to herself that she would never let it into anyone else's hands, nor would she ever use its full power. "So this is what the sparkles meant..." she thought absently to herself. Sailorsaturn swallowed and raised her glaive. "Silence..."

The copy's eyes widened in disbelief. Chibiusa grew still, knowing what was coming.

"...Glaive..."

"Would you sacrifice the future princess so easily?" the copy asked hastily. "How would your queen think of you then?"

Sailorsaturn, her glaive glowing dark purple with witheld energy and the final word on her lips, paused. "That's right...she's the future princess...would I create a problem in time if Chibiusa died here? Setsuna would know..." Confused and undecided, Hotaru let the glowing glaive fall. "But Setsuna always speaks of multiple futures...what if this decision leads to one of them?" The glow encompassing the blade of the glaive abruptly winked out. Her head lowered, Sailorsaturn said lowly, "I can't..."

The imposter Sailorsaturn smiled ferally.

"No! Hotaru! I'm not worth it!" Chibimoon screamed frantically. "I'm not -!" Her cry turned into a gurgle. Hotaru raised her head in time to see the copy drag the blade across her friend's throat. Blood beaded along the cut, then all at once turned into a rush. The imposter threw the girl's limp body away, laughing cruelly. Hotaru just stared in shock and incomprehension.

"Now you are mine!" The copy crowed in Mistress 9's voice. All at once, it dove at the stunned Sailorsaturn. (...Chibiusa...) When it came into contact with Hotaru, it vanished. Into her. (...NO! NOT AGAIN!...)
(...your power is mine, as it should have been from the beginning!...) Hotaru, shoved back into a small corner of her mind by Mistress 9, could only watch in horror as what was once her body threw its head back and laughed with Mistress 9's voice. She would not let this happen. COULD not let this happen. She could feel the mental barriers and walls she had built within her begin to crumble one by one. She began to struggle, striking out at he prison with mental hands. "If only I could control my arms...one strike with the glaive would be all it would take..." she thought grimly. But her efforts gave her no control, and seemed not to bother Mistress 9.

"I have waited a long time for this moment," Mistress 9 whispered. "For the time to test my power!"

Hotaru felt the last mental wall crumble. Power swept unchecked through her body. Dark power. Power to end the world. (...NO! Musn't...) "Death..." (...let her...) "Reborn..." (...do this!...) "REVOLUTION!" (...NO!...) Power ripped through her body and immolated it. For a brief instant, Hotaru glimpsed the bodies of her friends ripped apart by a purple-black light. Then everything went dark. (...you have failed...)
(...failed what? where am I?...)
(...you have failed. I cannot answer your questions...)
(...what are you talking about?...)
(...seek out the warrior of Oceans if you wish answers. Though, she has more questions herself...)
(..wai -) "...taru? Hotaru!"

She groaned and opened her eyes, the bright sunlight sending bolts of pain into her aching skull. Her sun-dazzled eyes cleared, and she found Chibiusa, Usagi, and Mamoru all around her and peering down at her in some concern. "What...what happened?" she managed to ask, struggling to a sitting position. Something didn't add up.

"You got up and bolted," Mamoru replied slowly. "We followed you until you ran into this tree..." He trailed off, looking at Hotaru questioningly.

"You looked like you were running from someone," Chibiusa commented, looking into Hotaru's face searchingly.

It all came back to Hotaru then. "It was a dream..." she thought with some relief. But then, she recalled Mistress 9 chasing her away from the picnic and looked at the three curiously. "Nobody was there? But...I thought..."

Mamoru and Usagi exchanged concerned glances. "Maybe we should get you home, Hotaru," Usagi said finally. "You've got a nasty bump on your forehead."

Hotaru accepted Mamoru's help up, following him and Usagi back to the sportscar with Chibiusa beside her. She felt disoriented, as if somebody had shaken her mind and had scattered her thoughts. Several times Chibiusa had asked if she were fine, Hotaru responding automatically every time. "Was it a dream? Or something real?"

The group of three brought Hotaru back to the mansion and to the front door, where they insisted on bringing her into the house. Michiru met them in the hall. "Hotaru! What happened?" Michiru asked, touching the raised bump on the girl's forehead.

"I..." Hotaru started, not sure what to say. "I ran into a tree," she finished lamely.

"She was out for a few minutes," Usagi added, concern in her voice. "We thought we should bring her back."

"Thank you, Usagi," Michiru said with a smile, though her face was clouded with thought.

"Goodbye everyone," Hotaru said with a small smile. "I had a wonderful time, even if things didn't turn out well in the end."

The others said their farewells quickly, son leaving Hotaru and Michiru in the hall. "Is Setsuna here?" Hotaru finally asked, unable to wait any longer.

"No, she's gone right now, Hotaru. Why do you ask?" Michiru responded, a suspicion forming in her mind.

"Seek out the warrior of Oceans..." The voice's words ran through her head.

"Something...happened to me...I didn't tell the others..." she said finally, looking down.

All at once, Michiru said briskly, "Lets get you to your room before we speak more. I think I know what you're going to tell me."

Hours later after Michiru was sure Hotaru was asleep (she wanted to take no chances; the bump on her forehead still looked pretty ugly), she finally collapsed into a chair in the den feeling drained. Hotaru had told her what she had been preparing herself to hear, though she hadn't expected the outcome. "One passed and one failed...what does this mean?" she wondered, her head propped in her hand. "And she fought Mistress 9....will she have to fight against herself?" And, on the heels of that thought, "What will Haruka face? What will I do if she fails?" As she sat in the chair alone in the den, she realized suddenly that their future was no longer as certain as it had been before.