"Haruka-san... Michiru-san... Setsuna-san... And Hotaru-chan... Yes. We've always depended on you like this." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ ] Act 39 - Dream 6: New Soldier Dream Originally appeared in Nakayoshi, September and October 1995. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.03, 2.97. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The young girl with dark hair lies on the floor, reading from a book. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight; somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "That's my dream... To live in our pretty house among the blooming flowers, with that loving girl and her child. What's your dream? If I asked that, that's what you'd probably answer." A man sits in his car, stopped at a light. He looks over at the blond driver in the sports car next to him. "A blue Ferrari," he thinks. "An F-512M. Twelve cylinders, top output 440 PS, top speed 315 km/h! That high-speed machine can move with the wind. And fitting for the wind, it has a metallic blue body. The Azzuro Hyperion. A deep blue Hyperion." He sees a ring on one of the driver's fingers. "Is that a man, or a woman?" He spots the earring on the driver's ear. "A woman!" He lifts his sunglasses. "Hey," he says. "You alone? If you are, want to run together? And after that, some tea..." The light turns green. She shifts into gear. "You think you could keep up with me?" she says. "Not a chance in hell!" She speeds off down the road, leaving the man in the dust. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A green-haired woman stands in the music store, looking at compact discs, and holding a bouquet of flowers. "Umm..." says a boy. "You're Kaiou Michiru-san, aren't you?" She turns to him. "Oh! It is you! I'm a big fan! I have all your CD's! Please shake my hand! Do you come to this shop often? Oh, maybe you live near here?" He sticks his hand out. Haruka grabs it and shakes hard. "Hey, hey, you bought all her CDs! Thanks, thanks." She walks away with Michiru. "Sorry for the wait," she says. "Pure-white flowers? Nice. Did a fan give them to you?" "No, actually," says Michiru. "I bought them. To celebrate it being exactly half a year since the start of our new life." "Already half a year..." says Haruka. People watch as they walk down the street. "Look! It's the violinist Kaiou Michiru! Is she back in Japan? Weren't they saying she moved to another country?" "That's her hot boyfriend, the F-1 test driver!" "Ten'ou Haruka? Cool! I wonder if it's true they live together." They see them both wearing rings. "Look! Look! On both their left ring fingers!" "No way! Are they married!?" The two get into the car and drive off. "Michiru!" says Haruka, as they pass a store. "A big special on diapers and powdered milk! They're really cheap!" "Haruka, we don't need those anymore." They reach a large house in the woods, surrounded by flowers. "Our princess has been past milk and diapers for a while now, right?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setsuna sits at a computer. The ring on her finger shines in the sunlight. She hears a shattering noise, followed by crying. "The kitchen," she says. "Oh, come on. While I thought she was just quietly reading a book, and I asked her not to get hurt until those two came back." The young girl sits crying in the kitchen, broken dishes around her, with a cut on her arm. The cut slowly disappears. The door opens. "We're back!" Michiru says. "Man, the summer's really hot this year," says Haruka. The girl runs to them. "Haruka-papa! You're home! Let's continue the game we were playing yesterday!" "Today you have violin lessons with Michiru-mama," says Haruka. "Okay!" "No, not okay. You have to get changed!" Michiru sees the dishes. "They're broken. My Lalique and Royal Copenhagen plates, in pieces..." "Sorry," says Setsuna. "Until just a little while ago, she was quietly reading a book." "It's no wonder," Michiru says. "That kid is already reading through study books. She even recites poetry. I was shocked." "Really," says Setsuna. "As an everyday occurrence, Hotaru's growth is proceeding with amazing speed." "Every day is like a dream," says Haruka. "It really is," says Michiru. "It startled me. Hotaru suddenly starts growing terribly fast once she wakes up in the morning. In half a year, she's become this big. Since the start of our new life, it's been exactly half a year. For me too, it's like I'm dreaming." "When we changed her diapers," says Haruka, "she was a calm child, but steadily she got worse, becoming this naughty brat." "Yes," thinks Setsuna. "Every day is really just like I'm dreaming. That solar eclipse, too. Several weeks after the four of us starting living together, there was a total solar eclipse. On that day, I was out at the Tokyo Bay Observatory. I had an ominous premonition. The first since the four of us started our life. An evil premonition." Scientists sit at computers in the observatory. "Primary contact... Confirmed." The moon begins to pass before the sun. "It went without incident." "Secondary contact... Confirmed." The sky is black. "The darkness quickly fell." Setsuna sees the people around her blur. "What the-!?" The room spins. She falls to the ground. A hand touches her shoulder. "Setsuna-san?" the man says. "You're drenched with sweat. The total eclipse has ended safely." "Safely!?" Setsuna thinks. "No, just now! Space was distorted for a moment! Didn't anyone feel anything!? Something invaded from outer space! An enemy!? I have to investigate. I have to transform and investigate! Pluto Planet Power, Make Up!" Nothing happens. "I can't transform!?" She feels a hand on her arm. "Setsuna-mama?" Hotaru says. "Sorry. It's nothing." "Already half a year," Setsuna thinks. "I knew it. That time was the end of our battle. We chose a separate path. I can't transform. That must be a sign that our mission is over. But still... Since the day after the eclipse... Hotaru, every day I see you growing so fast. Hotaru, that power of yours. Is it a sign of your awakening? What are you trying to tell us? What's going to happen?" The door opens. "Hi!" a kid says. "Miss Michiru!" says another. "Come in," says Michiru. "You're on time today, everyone." - Michiru listens to one boy play the violin. "All right," she says. "Very good. Okay, next is Hotaru-chan." "Here it comes, here it comes," the kids think. "...three, and go." Hotaru starts to play the violin. Wings arch out behind her. "That's it!" the kids think. The image of a winged horse appears, a horn on its forehead. "It's the Pegasus ghost!" "Miss!" a girl says. "It's here again! The ghost appeared last week too!" "Why does Hotaru-chan draw it out?" says a boy. "Everyone, quiet." The image of a young girl with two pointed balls of hair appears. "It's a girl!" the boy says. Michiru gasps. "Is that... Small Lady!?" The Pegasus runs out down the hall, with the girl chasing it. Hotaru runs after them. "Wait!" she calls. "Hotaru!?" calls Michiru. Hotaru sees the Pegasus cry out in pain, and collapse on the floor. The young girl kneels next to it, crying. "From before," Michiru thinks, "I could hardly imagine that Hotaru would grow up so bright and cheerful. But there are times when, for a moment, her eyes grow cold, like they're frozen. Just like Saturn..." Hotaru stares at the two phantoms as they disappear. "You've seen that girl," says Michiru. "In pictures with us. She was crying, because that Pegasus died. What a pity." Michiru puts her arms around Hotaru. "I wonder..." she thinks. "If this girl will awaken again." - The other kids leave. "Well, time to make dinner," Michiru says. She goes into the kitchen. "If the four of us could always live in this house..." she thinks. "But, our spirits are restless. We'll wake up from our dream. That time is at hand..." - Haruka sits back against the sofa, watching Hotaru playing a game. "Are you doing well in that game where you raise the solar system?" asks Michiru. "What role are you taking, Haruka?" "Hotaru is letting her power go wild, alone," Haruka says. "I'm in the role of 'controller,' and check her power." "Wow," says Michiru. "All those little planets you had yesterday are gone. And the gas is vanishing, too." "It's simulating events from the past at high speed," says Hotaru. "Now it's right at 4.2 billion years, with the complete solar system of the present." "Some small lights are shining." "These? Asteroids. They aren't concerned with my will, the new planets. I'm at a loss as to whether they're supposed to live or die. This white light is the moon. It's like a pretty pearl." "That light looks like it's surrounding the blue glass ball of Earth," says Haruka. "Haruka-saaan!" Usagi said. "The light was always surrounding that girl." "Haruka...!" says Michiru. "You want to see her, don't you." "Those guys... I wonder if they're all okay." "Now," says Hotaru, "it's just past the recent total solar eclipse." They gasp. "The Earth is quickly becoming black!" says Michiru. "Didn't the eclipse end?" says Haruka. "The moon's light..." "It's pitch-black..." "Hotaru!" Haruka says. "Let's stop here for today. Take a bath, then get into bed." "Okay." - Night falls on the house in the woods. "After the eclipse," says Setsuna, "Earth and the moon were surrounded in darkness. That's the vision Hotaru saw. The rift in space-time that appeared over Tokyo. The abnormal temperature rise. The strange increase in plants everywhere. The city ruin of unknown cause. I know all those things are ruled by the new moon. Those incidents have all started after the day of the total solar eclipse. Enemies have invaded!" "We know that, Setsuna!" says Michiru. "But... On that day, you were at the Tokyo Bay Observatory. I was in the middle of a performance in Vienna. Haruka was racing in Africa. The gathering of darkness, the ruin of the city and people, we had to assume it was because of enemies. "But we couldn't transform..." "We can't transform anymore!" Michiru says. "We have no power as soldiers of the outer solar system anymore." "So they don't need us anymore," says Haruka. "So we've been abandoned by our Princess. Now they can go fight as wonderful soldiers, without us. They can go protect the Princess. We can't transform. We aren't needed anymore. Is it a sign of that?" - The young Hotaru gets undressed for her bath. Sailor Saturn appears in the mirror next to her. They reach toward each other, and their hands touch. "Don't be frightened." "Who are you?" says Hotaru. "Who are you?" "I am the sleeping you, inside of you." "The sleeping me?" "The time of awakening has come. The time of the beginning of your new mission." The image fades away. "Awaken. My sleeping spirit, protected by our planet, Saturn." - Hotaru lies back in the bath. "Awaken." Images of the other soldiers fill her head. "What is this?" she thinks. "I see them... These images." The mark of the planet Saturn appears on her forehead. "I must hurry." She gets out of the bath, now much taller. She faces Sailor Saturn in the mirror. The darkness drops again; but now I know that Twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle... She opens the door, facing the others. "Hotaru?" Haruka says. "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself," says Hotaru. "That's what Albert Einstein said." "That body...!" "The time has come," she says. "The time of our new awakening. Whenever we are reincarnated, who we live for is decided." "Hotaru..." says Haruka. "That's..." "Do you remember?" says Michiru. "A memory of your previous life...!" says Setsuna. "We are no longer the people we were before," Hotaru says. "We don't need to fight from a distance, alone, anymore. We were reborn together with our Princess. And now the time has finally reached us. Thank you for raising me until now, Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama, Setsuna-mama. Now it's my turn to lead you! To everyone!" She holds out three heart-shaped crystals. "New signs of our being soldiers," she says. "Our crystals." The jeweled grail appears before them. "The holy chalice!?" The lid opens, and an image of Usagi and Mamoru appears. "Prince! Princess!?" "They look strange!" says Michiru. "What on earth..." says Haruka. "What's going on!?" Hotaru picks a flower from a vase. The petals turn black. "The rose...!" It wilts, the petals falling to the floor. "A crisis is approaching our Prince and Princess," says Hotaru. "We must go!" The sign of the planet Saturn shines on her forehead. The signs of Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune appear on the others' foreheads. The three look at their rings. "The raising of Hotaru is nearly over. We don't need our promise rings anymore." "Let's go! To the place where we're supposed to gather! Always, that place is the true place of our dreams." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minako hangs from the tower, high over the ground. A boulder rests on the floor next to her hand. Blood runs down her arm. "Artemis!" she cries. Tears stream from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Artemis!" she thinks. "I always only said unfair things to you. I was only cruel to you. Now I know. Now there's this pain all through my body. Artemis! You and I were of one mind. You were my other self!" The boulder is lifted up. A hand grabs Minako's, and a man holds her in the air. "Now I know," he says. "That you couldn't transform, Mina. It's because as your partner, I lacked power." Minako sees the yellow crescent moon on the man's forehead. "Artemis...?" He smiles. "Power is spreading all through my body," she thinks. "Even more than before, such strength. Artemis and I are linked together." Artemis holds out a heart-shaped crystal. "Your Venus Crystal, Mina," he says. She takes it. "Now, transform!" "Venus Crystal Power! Make Up!!" She appears in a super sailor suit, and leaps back onto the top of the tower. "Venus!" "Artemis!" "Damnit!!" says Ves-Ves. Minako turns to her. "How dare you treat the goddess of love and beauty, Venus, with such terrible disdain! I'll beat you with my matchless love whip of the goddess of Venus! Venus Love and Beauty Shock!!" Ves-Ves disappears. The attack flies past her, destroying Xenotime. "Why you!!" yells Zeolite. He throws knives at Minako. She swings her whip at him from the tower, destroying him. She runs down to join the others. "Mercury! Mars! Jupiter!" "Venus!" "Venus!! You transformed!?" "I'm sorry, everyone," Minako says. "But I'm fine now." "Artemis," she thinks. "Thanks to you." He looks down at her from the tower, smiling. "Mina!" "Damn!" says Ves-Ves. She joins her sisters. "After all that effort!" "We, the Amazoness Quartet, will get them for that!" "Palla-Palla!" "I know, Cere-Cere!" She tosses an orb into the air. "Vine Ball!!" Vines erupt from the ground, wrapping around the four sailor soldiers. "We are the strongest soldiers of Amazon legend!" says Jun-Jun. "We carry Amazoness blood! We are the Amazoness Quartet!" "The Amazon Jungle, the Amazon Tropics." "And the cursed Amazon Stone, passed down by to us by the Amazoness." "The source of the darkness of the new moon. Now we will show you our true power." Lemures attack the trapped soldiers. "No!" "The Amazoness Quartet!?" "Everyone!?" Minako says. "Hold on! Everyone! Artemis!!" "Mina!" says Artemis. "Can't I do it with my power alone, after all?" she thinks. "Is my power still not enough? If we had more, more strength! To defeat the enemies, to protect the ones important to us! Power! Gather!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chibi-Usa stares out the window, at the dark sky. "I feel uneasy..." she thinks. "Tonight again, I can't even see one star." "That dark place is the city you were in until now," said the Pegasus. "Is this the enemies' doing too?" she thinks. "The darkness spreading, so I can't see the stars? Elios..." "I am confined," he said. "I want to go see him. I want to go help him right now. Where is Elios? Where is Elysion!?" She hears a noise in the hallway. "Usagi?" She sees Usagi coughing. "You're late," she says. "How's Mamo-chan feeling?" "He looked fine," says Usagi. She continues to cough. "Usagi...?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Sailor Moon!" the four girls cry, held by the vines. The entrance to the circus tent bursts open. "It's hot," says Michiru. "Have we actually wandered to the Amazon?" "Don't be silly," says Haruka. "Compared to the 50 degree inferno it gets to during a race, this jungle is pathetic." "Yes," says Setsuna. "There's nothing like this place in the world." "Nothing but ruin," says Hotaru. "Who's there!?" call the Amazoness Quartet. "Neptune Crystal Power!" "Uranus Crystal Power!" "Pluto Crystal Power!" "Saturn Crystal Power!" "Make Up!" "It can't be..." Minako thinks. "I am the soldier of embrace, and I carry the protection of the planet of deep water, Neptune. I am Sailor Neptune!" "I am the soldier of flight, and I carry the protection of the planet of the sky, Uranus. I am Sailor Uranus!" "I am the soldier of change, and I carry the protection of the planet of time and space, Pluto. I am Sailor Pluto!" "I am the soldier of ruin and birth, and I carry the protection of the planet of silence, Saturn. I am Sailor Saturn!" "World Shaking!" Haruka yells. The vines are destroyed, freeing the others. Setsuna lifts her garnet rod. "Dead Scream!!" The four enemies vanish, missing her attack. "They dodged it!?" "Damn you sailor soldiers!" they say. The four soldiers stare at the other four. "Uranus, Neptune, Pluto...! Saturn...!" "Why...!?" Minako says. "Saturn...!" says Makoto. "You've grown...!?" "Mina!" calls the white cat. He runs to her. "Artemis!" She bends down. "You've returned to the form of a cat..." "Mina! Let Sailor Moon know!" "Right! Call Sailor Moon!" "She..." says Haruka. "She might not hear your voices now." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Usagi!" Chibi-Usa says. "Usagi!?" Usagi lies in bed, coughing. "I'm okay. I'll get better if I get some rest..." "Since you came back from Mamo-chan's, you've been in pain, Usagi." She runs out of the room. "I'm going to call the others!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hailstone Ball!" yells Palla-Palla. Boulders fall at them from the sky. "Deep Submerge!" shouts Michiru. The boulders break apart, scattering around them. "Why won't Sailor Moon hear our voices!?" says Minako. "Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn," says Rei. "Why did you come back to us?" "A crisis is approaching our Prince and Princess," says Michiru. "We've gathered for that," says Setsuna. "We can't avoid that destiny. So we'll protect those two with all our strength. We must face and overcome that destiny. We'll cut our way through our new destiny. That is the true mission of us ten soldiers." "Steel Ball!" shouts Ves-Ves. "But for now, that's a conversation for after we beat these enemies!" says Haruka. "Space Sword Blaster!" Hotaru kneels on the ground. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Small Lady." Chibi-Usa halts. "Small Lady." "That voice...! It can't be..." "Small Lady." "But that voice!" "Small Lady." "That voice!" Usagi sits up in bed. "I feel it!" she thinks. "Those three are fighting! Everyone is gathering!" Chibi-Usa runs to her room and grabs the mirror from her dresser. "Neptune's hand mirror!" She sees the four outer soldiers in it. "Everyone!?" "Small princess..." Michiru said. "We will return to you again. A sign of our promise." "Just like they promised!" Chibi-Usa thinks. "Those four! They came back!?" She runs to Usagi's room. "Usagi!" "I know...!" says Usagi, coughing. "I saw them too! Everyone! I'll follow right after you! So go on ahead, Chibi-Usa!" "Moon Crisis!! Make Up!!" Chibi-Usa holds up the mirror. "Submarine Mirror! Take me to Neptune!" "I'm going right after you!" says Usagi. Chibi-Usa vanishes with the mirror. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The hand mirror appears before Michiru. She sees the image of Chibi-Usa in it. "Small Lady!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I have to go too!" Usagi says. She runs out of the house. "Usagi-chan, wait!" calls Luna. As Usagi runs through the street, she sees Mamoru running toward her. "Mamo-chan...!" "Usa!" he says. "I heard your voice, calling me..." "I'm all right." "Usa!?" Her knees buckle, and she falls down. "Usa!!" Mamoru catches her. "It can't be... Your body... Have your lungs been attacked too!?" "We have to go," Usagi says. "Everyone's gathering. Something is going to happen. We have to go. I'm the one who has to defeat the enemies." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Prince and Princess in crisis!?" says Minako. "For that, all the soldiers are gathering...!" She grabs Haruka. "What's going to happen!? What'll happen to those two!?" She screams as knives fly past her. "We don't have time for this nonsense!" says Michiru. She holds out her mirror. "Look! Submarine Reflection!!" The power blasts a giant hole in the top of the circus tent. A dark moon looms in the sky overhead. "It's appeared over the circus! That huge new moon-- no, inside the darkness of the new moon, a wide mouth is spreading in outer space! The nightmares are rapidly spouting out from there, to the planet's surface." "But...!" thinks Minako. "There was nothing when we entered the tent! No, from previous lives, the outside was already spreading strange air and darkness. "People throughout the world, cities, engulfed in the nightmares of their creation. Around this planet, since long ago, it has been covered by a strange barrier of darkness. They plan to conquer this planet, and make it a planet of death." The girls of the Amazoness Quartet laugh. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chibi-Usa runs through the city in darkness. "The darkness is getting thicker!" she thinks. "Was the world this dark?" The decrepit streets are covered in trash. People everywhere are fighting. "What did you say, punk!" "Die!" "Haha! Kill him!" "Since when has the city been this enraged!?" thinks Chibi-Usa. "This isn't Juuban!" She sees the dark moon in the sky, clouds all around it. "What's that? A pitch-black moon...? No, it's just like a black hole...!" A hand touches her shoulder. She turns around. "Sailor Moon!" She runs after Usagi and Mamoru to the circus tent. "Uranus, Neptune, Pluto!" Usagi calls. "Saturn!" Zirconia appears in the air. "Damn girls!" she says. "You're a lot of trouble. This is the end of your play." She sees Usagi. "Heh heh heh. You come here often, sailor soldiers. I am the guiding soul serving Queen Nehalennia, Zirconia. Ones of the White Moon Kingdom! You were reborn on this planet! But it is too late, this city is already ours. This planet, too, is practically under our rule." "Such a fragile planet," says Queen Nehalennia, appearing above him. "The humans accept our nightmares defenselessly. This planet is protected by weak ones who accept the nightmares themselves! Just like twisting a baby's neck!" Usagi and Mamoru start to cough hard. "Sailor Moon!" calls Haruka. "Tuxedo Kamen!" "I won't let you!" says Usagi. "Preying on weakness, doing as you please!" "The White Moon Kingdom was gone long ago," Zirconia says. "You should be eliminated! Cursed ones!" The winged eyeball flies from his staff. "Look out!" Haruka calls. It shoots a beam at Usagi and Mamoru. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Pegasus lies on the floor, in his cage. "Oh no! The Prince and the Princess!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Pegasus appears. "Elios!" calls Chibi-Usa. Usagi and Mamoru begin to shrink under the beam, becoming younger and younger. "Prince!? Princess!?" The two lie on the ground, as children, coughing. "You are slowly suffering and losing your breath," says Zirconia. "Good. Heh heh. Ahahaha!" "Oh no!" says Makoto. "Is this the second stage of the curse Elios was talking about!?" "My body now is also being changed into a Pegasus by the curse," he said. "This... isn't fair!" says Chibi-Usa. "I won't let you!" "Now you can't protect this planet anymore!" say the girls of the Amazoness Quartet. "Heh heh. Ahaha!" They run away. Chibi-Usa and Hotaru run after them. "Chibi-Moon!?" calls Ami. "Saturn!" The Pegasus approaches the two coughing children. "Their resistance is rapidly diminishing," he says. "If it continues like this, their lives will...!" Light begins to shine from the jewel on his forehead. "Elios!?" A light flashes, and Usagi, Mamoru, and the Pegasus are gone. "Prince! Princess!?" Chibi-Usa follows after Hotaru. "Hotaru-chan... No, Sailor Saturn. You've gotten big." "To fulfill my destiny," says Hotaru. "And, Super Sailor Chibi-Moon, so I can fight together with you!" They run into a circus tent. "Welcome!" says Ves-Ves, standing atop three horses. "Welcome!" says Jun-Jun, standing on her head and breathing fire. "Welcome!" says Palla-Palla, riding a unicycle on a cord stretched through the air. Cere-Cere swings from a trapeze. "The biggest event of the century!" she says. "From the Amazon, the mysterious Dead Moon Circus! The show of the star Amazoness Quartet begins!" "Natto Ball!" shouts Palla-Palla. Fermented soybean flies at Chibi-Usa and Hotaru, covering them. "N- Natto!?" says Chibi-Usa. "Ahaha!" says Cere-Cere. "That's fitting. The carrier of the power of the new moon's darkness, the Amazon Stone, is your invitation to hell!" "That power of the darkness of evil will bind you to hell!" says Hotaru. "Open your eyes!" "Medicine Ball!!" shouts Jun-Jun. Hotaru thrusts out her glaive. "Silence Wall!!" A force field forms around her and Chibi-Usa, shielding them. "Your spirits are also ruled by those nightmares!" Hotaru says. "Don't you see it!?" "What are you talking about!? Since we were born on the Dead Moon, with the power of the sacred new moon's darkness, we are capable of controlling the nightmares!" "You're only using that power as a perverted form of the power inside you! Wake up! Silence Glaive Surprise!!" A haze appears around the four girls. "Hated ones of the Silver Millennium! Our plot is to take the white moon and the blue planet! Rattan Ball!" Broken glass falls at them. Chibi-Usa hears voices in her head. "Beautiful dreams are garbage!" "In darkness, in the circus, dreaming wasn't allowed." "Hate! It's all the fault of the ones of the White Moon!" "Nightmares are flowing in," she thinks. "But these nightmares are a little familiar. Aren't they enemies!?" "Wake up," says Hotaru, holding out her glaive. "Otherwise, there is only death. You are only being manipulated by the dead." The four girls stare at her in silence. Jun-Jun slowly reaches her hand toward Hotaru. A barrier appears between them, and the four jerk back in pain. "Immature brats!" Zirconia says. "Grandma!" "Forgive us, grandma!" Zirconia holds out four balls, and the four girls are sucked into them. "They've forgotten the kindness with which I lovingly raised them," she says. "Now they're only disruptions." The winged eyeball returns to her. "Oh, Zircon," she says. "Punish the invaders over there." The eyeball glows. Two shards of glass are raised from the ground. Chibi-Usa grabs her kaleidoscope rod. "Moon Gorgeous Medita--" The two shards fly at Chibi-Usa and Hotaru, and they are sucked into the glass. Zirconia picks up the balls and glass. "Heh heh." She puts them through the black mirror, dropping them on the other side. "Heh heh heh." Queen Nehalennia smiles as she sees the four balls and two shards of glass drop to the ground before her. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hotaru's two poetry readings are from The Second Coming, by W.B. Yeats. Original manga copyright © 1995 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1997 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sailor Moon Translations | Sailor Moon Volume 14