Disclaimer: Rally doesn't own Sailor Moon or any of its characters. Naoko Takeuchi, TOEI, Kodansha & Pioneer do. Rally also doesn't own Sailor Ra\Reina Makobi. Reina is a creation of Ladybug Oblivion (used with permission). Rally also (also) doesn't own Kia Toshi. He's a product of Bubby (also used with permission). Rally does own (finally) Tomo, Nightshade, Hemlock, Belladonna, Tia Cleonia, Osaka and the whole concept of MISQ.
Note: Based loosely on a game that my sisters and brother played through. Hence all the do-not-belong-to-Rally OCs.
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Jupiter's attack slammed the thing back less than two feet. It rose up through the smoke, found Tomo's eyes and smiled.
It meant to kill Yuuichirou. "Osaka!" Tomo's guardian, a sleek silver python, broke off his gaping to slink up to Tomo's shoulders. "Ready?"
"Yes! Just go!"
"Alright. Raze of the Serpent!" Osaka vibrated until he became flame and shot off at the creature. Osaka caught it in the stomach, exploded and scattered to ash.
Before it regained it's footing, Mercury attacked. "Shine Aqua Illusion!"
Fire shatters ice! Fire shatters ice! "Searing Rage!" Faces of fire, filled with agony hurled toward the ice encased creature. The ice cracked, then blew apart. "Yes!"
"Yuuichirou! Yuuichirou, wake up! Yuui!" Rei had Yuuichirou in her arms, weeping.
Tomo's sense of victory vanished at the sight of his father. Yuui wasn't breathing and Rei's cries had become broken whimpering. Tomo went blind with tears. "Somebody get Saturn!"
Sailor Moon stepped in front of the young Knight. "We can't Raven. Mother sent her on a mission. She's unreachable."
"Then get the Queen!" Tears gouged the skin from his cheeks. "She can use her crystal."
Pity covered Sailor Moon's face. "We can't."
We can't? Can't or won't?
That was the only dream he had anymore. There is only so much one can take of the same dream over and over again.
If only Saturn had been there. If only the Queen hadn't sent her daughter in her stead. If only mom had protected dad.
If. If. If. What you really mean is, "why?" It was their fault. Neo Queen Serenity, with all her supposed powers, didn't prevent dad's death. And mom... Dad would still be alive if she'd loved him more.
"Can't sleep?" The bell clear, female voice came from the doorway.
Tomo hadn't heard the door open. "Who are you?" He quickly swiped the tears from his face.
"I'm... from Princess Reina's Kingdom. My name is Aurora."
"What do you want?" It wasn't particularly chic, but it got the message across.
"You, sir, have been keeping me awake for the past week with your nightmares. So, I decided to come over and see what I could do. Oh, I forgot. I'm a Dream Seeker." Dream Seeker? A Solarian. No wonder he'd never heard the term. "Do you want to talk to me about it? It might help."
"That's okay," he said turning on a lamp. "I don't need- Uh... Any..." Suddenly he was caught in a cyclone of endless silver eyes. Inside the whirlwind was something warm. Understanding. She, if no one else, would understand everything he was feeling. Everything.
"Are you sure?"
"Uh..."
She swept in, hair blossoming around her perfect face like a pink halo. She gingerly sat on the edge of the mattress and frowned at him. Before he had a chance to stop her, she collected a tear from his cheek. "I'll take this as a 'no.' " That's the general consensus anyway, so don't try to tell me to leave."
Tomo could only stare at the fat dewdrop tear on her pale finger. Make her leave? Would he if he could?
"You know, I wake up weeping from your dream and cannot imagine the pain you must be feeling. The meaning is lost to me and yet... I still feel the loss. The anger as well."
"It... was. He was my father. Yuuichirou, I mean. The one who died."
"I'm sorry."
"The thing I don't understand is that out of all the Sailor Soldiers there that day, out of all the people who could defend him, he was the one who died. Why him?"
"He was the only one without defense?" Aurora hazarded.
"That should only have made him safer. He had all the Senior Soldiers and his wife to protect him. She should've protected him."
Aurora wiped the tears gently from his face again and asked the most frightening question Tomo had ever heard. "Would it be any better if it had been your mother who died?"
Would it? Tomo's stomach heaved. "Yes." He braced himself for the accusation to come. He braced for "the lecture" on behavior of the Queen's Knights.
The accusation never came. "Why?" It was simple, free from scorn.
"Because... Because she should have protected him with her life. She is expected to give her life for the greater good, but dad... Dad was a musician. He was a creator and she was a fighter. She should have loved him enough." Tomo looked up just in time to catch Aurora wiping tears from her own face. "Those aren't sympathy tears for me, are they?"
"No." She smiled a little. "These are completely self-pity tears."
"Self-pity? Why?"
She took his hand. "You just echoed my feelings from when my mother died. I wished it had been my father, not her."
"Oh."
"I think I've dealt with it though."
"Have you?"
"In my own way."
Taking the hint, Tomo changed the subject. "Aurora?"
"Yes?"
"Please don't leave me alone. The darkness brings the dream. Please stay until dawn."
"If you wish."
He wished. "Please."
She gave him a sweet smile. "It is my pleasure."
The bottom fell out of her sanity. Never let it get personal. Your mother? Great Floribunda's Lakes and Streams! What are you doing?
And it really was her pleasure. Everything was going better than planned, but... but that just wasn't what was making her unveil her true self. And it certainly wasn't what was making her tingle with, well, happiness and sadness altogether.
"Thank you." It was way too endearing, especially when she was just getting a firm hold on the situation. It was too sweet, the way he had a lock of inky hair fallen over one eye and the tear trails couldn't disturb the innocence on his face.
"Shh. Don't speak." She covered his affection-starved eyes with her left hand. "Just listen." Covering face, step one to regaining the sanity you lost. Being in his gaze was like being in father's throne room. No air.
Taking a slow breath, she prayed her heart didn't sound that different from a human's. If it did, Tomo didn't notice, he fell asleep with merely a suggestion of a spell. Nightshade helped him to lie down, remembering to keep his face covered. Should he wake up, she knew she'd loose the brain cells she managed to regain. She only had one thing left to do tonight.
The amber and hemp necklace slid out of her sleeve into a waiting hand. Nightshade tied it around his neck and opened a channel of energy through her bracelet, Meinohana, into the amber. It glowed like a miniature sun until she stemmed the energy flow.
"Sleep well, sweet Tomo. You've got a big day ahead of you." With that, she blew him a kiss and teleported to the edge of the crown city.