SM Monthly Fanfic Challenge Theme #115b (25APR06)
Title: Prelude to Silence ~ Awakening
Author: Raya
Theme: Michiru (Optional: Shattered)
Genre: Drama
Version: PGSM (Spoiler Level Juno/Ceres: Up to Final Act)(Do you know what action Serenity repeated in the Final Act? Then you've been spoiled already.)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3118
Disclaimer: All of the characters used below were created by Takeuchi Naoko. I have merely converted them into paper dolls to play with for a little while.
Canon, spelling, grammar, and punctuation corrections are appreciated. So is constructive criticism and general comments. Please let me know if you see something that you like or that should be corrected. Thanks!
The story below refers to events which took place in my stories Unsettled Seas, Protected By the Sea, I Get a Kick Out of You, and Prelude to Silence ~ Deep Current. Knowledge of these stories should not be necessary, but it may add to the enjoyment of this one. - Raya
Prelude to Silence ~ Awakening
Crack
Sailor Neptune floated in limbo, idly watching the life of her other self as she went about her day to day activities. Sometimes she wondered if she would be in this comfortable dark ocean throughout the entire life. While it was boring, she much preferred that to the alternative. Awakening meant battle, pain, and, usually, death. Long, peaceful lives were few and far between.
In her past life, she reflected, she had been awakened so briefly. A fierce battle had raged throughout the Moon Kingdom, and she had been forced to waken to protect herself even though it was not her fight. She had not been awake long, less than a day, before the world and her life had ended in a flash of golden light.
When she had become aware again, it was obvious that much time had passed. She was now on Earth, and the Moon was a dead satellite. There were no signs that a great civilization had once lived there protected by magic and technology brought from beyond the star system. Its shining marble and crystal towers now existed only in her memories.
Her "awake" self was now called Michiru, and attended an elite boarding school in a country known as Japan. She had lived in many countries in this short life, but there was something... special about Japan. She felt it in the air, in the soil, and in the water. Something was here, and Sailor Neptune was not sure if that something was good or bad.
A disturbing nightmare woke Michiru from a deep sleep, and Sailor Neptune frowned. The dream of silence and a towering tsunami was a recurring warning although she could detect nothing to indicate what the warning was for. As far as she could tell from her restricted position, no threats from outside the Sol System had appeared. The second dream however, the dream of a sea of sand, reminded her eerily of the dreams she had had in her former life and of the destruction of the Moon Kingdom.
The reason for this was explained as soon as Michiru set foot on the building roof to paint the sunrise. Sailor Neptune stiffened as she recognized the young woman sitting on the roof above the stairwell. Although she was dressed in a white and blue senshi fuku and had long, golden hair, her face and aura were still the same as in that long lost kingdom.
Michiru closed her eyes, as enraptured by the harp song the powerful princess played as her former self in the Moon Kingdom had been. Sailor Neptune, however, was not so easily distracted. She felt it, the current of power. It was the same current of power she had sensed so long ago: rich and strong... and as golden as the power which had killed her.
Propagation
Sailor Neptune looked around warily. Ever since they had encountered the Princess in the wee hours of the morning, she had felt a strange, draining sensation. Michiru had interpreted this sensation and Sailor Neptune's unease as the memories of the harp song, and the senshi suspected that her other self was not far off.
As Michiru turned her attention to the school project that she and a fellow student were working on, Sailor Neptune continued to scan their surroundings psychically. A short while later, she felt a pool of negative energy begin to build in a corner of the courtyard. Silently, she alerted her other self expecting Michiru to quickly remove herself from the danger zone.
She should have known better. Her other self just looked up and around, trying to pinpoint the source of her unease. While Sailor Neptune often approved of such a levelheaded response, she fretted at the time Michiru was wasting. That level of energy could mean only one thing. Impatiently, she pushed her other self to escape.
"We should go," Michiru said abruptly as she swung her legs out from under the picnic table and stood up. Her classmate, Kawasaki, looked up at her in surprise. "We should leave," she said again, a little more urgently.
Kawasaki blinked and looked around the peaceful courtyard. "What is the matter, Kaioh-san?" Michiru just shook her head and gathered her books quickly. "Kaioh-san? Wait! What is wrong?"
As her classmate scrambled for her books, still babbling, a shimmer in the far corner of the courtyard caught Michiru's attention. Her eyes snapped to it, and she froze in shock. Sailor Neptune glared angrily at the creature that formed in the pool of negative energy.
'Run,' she ordered her other self. Michiru dropped her book bag and stumbled backwards, searching for a way to define the creature in front of her. It was tall and covered in a black, tattered, hooded robe. It wavered as if it were dancing on the wind or fighting to keep itself in the real world.
Sailor Neptune pushed at her other self once again as the students closest to spectre collapsed. Instinctively, Michiru's hand searched for Kawasaki who was still gathering her books. Clenching her fist tightly in the side of the other girl's uniform top, she began to walk backwards as fast as she could.
"Wha...? Kaioh-san, what are you doing?" Kawasaki sputtered as she felt herself being dragged away from the table. As she turned to look at Michiru, she finally saw the dark creature headed their way. She squealed, and then turned to run. Michiru let her go, but continued to walk backwards rather than turning and running herself.
Sailor Neptune fought against the urge to take over. This was not her fight. If Michiru would just turn around and run, she could cover their tracks and they would escape. Unfortunately, her other self had just enough sensitivity to feel the spectre's destructive call.
'This is not our fight. Run!' Sailor Neptune told her other self demandingly as she tripped over a tree root and tried to scramble back up to her feet. Several more spectres coalesced as Michiru pressed her back against the tree and tried to work her way around it.
When the first spectre reached for her and Sailor Neptune reached to take control, Michiru finally ducked, dodged around the tree, and began to run. Sailor Neptune immediately began to throw out every magical spell she knew to confuse their trail. She frowned in worry when she realized that it was no use. The spectres had latched on to her power signature and were determined to bring her down.
Finally, Michiru made a wrong turn and found herself cornered. No choice, Sailor Neptune realized. It was time to fight. She allowed herself to merge partially with her other self, and her eyes flashed warningly as she stood up away from the wall. The spectres seemed to hesitate. She felt a sense of grim satisfaction when she realized that they recognized her. "Do not mess with me," she said coldly. "Go crawl back into whatever little Hell you came out of." They danced silently in front of her, neither advancing nor retreating.
For a long moment, they stared at one another. And then, they seemed to move as one. As the spectres reached for her a third time, she dashed into the middle of them. With narrowed eyes, she kicked and hit and fought, refusing to succumb to their power.
It was a long battle, but Michiru/Sailor Neptune emerged as the victor. As Michiru leaned against the wooden wall once more, panting and wiping at the blood from a cut lip with the back of her hand, Sailor Neptune delicately separated herself once more. They had won this time. Maybe next time Michiru would listen when she was ordered to run.
Splinter
"Happy New Year!" Michiru replied as she turned and looked up at Haruka with a smile. She froze as the taller girl bent towards her. As she felt soft, warm lips press gently against hers, Michiru's heart skipped a beat, and then began to pound madly. She closed her eyes as the world seemed to spin around her, and leaned into the kiss just a little bit as she looked for balance. Her hands grabbed Haruka's forearms to help her stay upright.
Sailor Neptune closed her eyes and reveled in the feel of Sailor Uranus. It had been so long! She had been so happy when they had met on the school campus. Despite having her memories of the battles against the spectres erased, even Michiru had seemed to recognize and welcome the return of her former ally. Haruka and Michiru had moved slowly, though, much too slowly for Sailor Neptune's impatient heart.
She could not hurry them, though, she knew from past experiences. If she did, it would only cause needless questions and unnecessary pain in the future. Apparently, Sailor Uranus remembered this also. Despite Haruka's obvious attraction to Michiru, it had taken her five months to initiate this first, innocent kiss.
"And many happy returns," Haruka whispered. Her breath was just as warm as the kiss she had just bestowed.
Michiru straightened up slowly, blinking in confusion. She raised her right hand to her lips as she took a step back, and stared blankly at the tall blonde. Sailor Neptune frowned as she felt the turmoil of confusion, attraction, fear, and uncertainty in her other self, and then cursed as the girl turned and ran back inside the hotel.
Michiru came to a stop in the atrium that Haruka had led her to, and then leaned weakly against the wall as she tried to process the events and understand her emotions. Sailor Neptune tried to give her the space and time that she needed, but Michiru's chaotic thoughts and her own impatience finally made her act.
Delicately, she merged herself with Michiru, going deeper than before. They were not quite one, but when she spoke, Michiru heard Sailor Neptune's voice as her own mind voice. 'Breathe, Michiru. Think. Haruka has implied several times that she might be a lesbian. You never worried about it then. What is the problem now? Is it because she...'
Michiru took the thought from there. '...she kissed me? Maybe she didn't mean anything by it. Maybe it was just a New Year's greeting between friends.' Sailor Neptune wanted to shake her other self for thinking such a thing, but Michiru's heart was already punishing her for it. 'And now I've hurt her. She was just being friendly, and I read too much into it and panicked, and now she's hurt because she thinks I don't like her any more. But I do! I do like her!'
Finally, Sailor Neptune wanted to say. Finally her other self was coming to recognize the red thread of love and fate that bound her together with Haruka/Sailor Uranus. It was painfully slow, but at least it was progress. She decided to push her luck and plant another thought in Michiru's mind as she began to walk back outside.
'But what if she did mean... What if she likes me as more than a friend? What if she wants to... kiss me again? A real kiss?'
The words made Michiru freeze again, the confusion returning. Grimly, Sailor Neptune tried to beat it back and away. Michiru, too, fought against it, trying to understand what it was that she truly wanted. Finally, she gave up. Unintentionally, she pushed Sailor Neptune away from her along with the confusion, and the senshi could only watch, helpless, as her other self decided to think about it later.
Michiru walked back outside, and as she stopped and apologized to Haruka, Sailor Neptune tried to apologize to Sailor Uranus. She got the feeling that her mate was impatient with the turn of events, but resigned to waiting longer. There was nothing else that they could do.
Shatter
Several years later, the dreams of silence and a towering tsunami returned. Sailor Neptune stirred restlessly in her limbo. She still could not confirm that a threat from outside the Sol System was present, but the dreams were coming more strongly and frequently than before. Never in this life had she longed for her Aqua Mirror as much as she did now.
She had not seen her powerful Talisman since the day the Moon Kingdom had been destroyed, and she feared that it was lost to her for good. She had looked for it ever since the day Michiru had first seen a silver mirror and reminded her of its existence. No matter where she looked, however, in art, treasure or song, she could not find a hint as to where it might be hidden.
Go
Sailor Neptune stiffened at the familiar voice. The order seemed to echo through her soul as Michiru turned to look at Haruka in confusion. "What?" she heard her other self ask.
Haruka turned her head and gave her a puzzled look. "Hmmm?"
"You said 'Go'," Michiru replied looking just as puzzled. "Go what? Stop him? I was just joking."
"I didn't say anything," Haruka answered, shaking her head innocently.
Wake and go.
Only one being had a voice that echoed like a rock falling into a deep canyon. 'Saturn,' Sailor Neptune whispered in shock.
Michiru blinked. Haruka definitely had not said that. She had been looking directly into her lover's face that time, and her lips had never moved. With a frown, Michiru began to look around the dark apartment. "Who's there?"
Silence is coming. Wake and go.
Sailor Neptune stiffened. This was bad. Sailor Saturn had not uttered any warning either time the Princess had destroyed the world. If she felt the need to use those words to summon Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus, the situation was dire indeed. Sailor Neptune shuddered as she remembered Michiru's recurring dream.
"Silence?" Michiru shuddered, suddenly afraid as Sailor Neptune's fear reached her.
"Silence?" Haruka asked uneasily. "Of course. There's no one else here. What're you talking about? Michiru?"
WAKE!
Sailor Neptune could not resist that order. The bubble which held her separate from her other self shattered, and her soul began to merge once more.
Haruka stumbled away as her lover stiffened and was surrounded by a pulsing aqua light. Michiru's brown eyes widened, and then their color began to fluctuate between light aqua and caramel. Her clothes also began to fluctuate, changing from her night set to what appeared to be a miniskirt set and back again.
"We must go..." Sailor Neptune said faintly. "We must stop the Silence. We cannot let her wake."
"Who? Michiru, what's going on? What're you talking about?"
"Uranus," the brunette replied as her aqua colored eyes suddenly steadied and focused on her lover. "Waken. It is time!" Haruka just stared blankly at Michiru trying to assimilate the strange clothes, light, and behavior. "Uranus..."
'You cannot just take me over,' Michiru growled at Sailor Neptune as she fought to free herself from the merge. 'I will not allow it. I do not know who you are, but you will never possess me!'
Sailor Neptune gave her a look of surprise, and let her arms loosen. Michiru took advantage of the hesitation, and freed herself. As the light died away, and their body collapsed unconscious to the apartment carpet, the two pieces of the soul of Neptune floated in the ocean of limbo and stared at each other silently.
"I know you..." Michiru finally said quietly.
Sailor Neptune nodded. "I am you," she said just as quietly.
Michiru's eyes widened. "The voice. You are the voice. The one that was in my head the time I fought against those spectres..." Her voice trailed off, and she looked uncertain.
"Yes, that happened," Sailor Neptune confirmed. "You did not dream it. After the last battle, time was reset and your memory blocked."
"By you?" Michiru asked as her caramel brown eyes narrowed.
"No, by someone else. I was against it, and helped you to regain those memories." Sailor Neptune waited patiently while Michiru considered her words.
"Thank you," her other self finally said as she bobbed her head.
"You are welcome," she replied, bobbing her own.
"So, why are you trying to take me over now?" Michiru asked, more inclined to trust the strangely dressed woman.
"I am you," Sailor Neptune replied as if that should explain everything.
Michiru's lips twitched. "Just because you claim to be a part of me, that does not give you the right to... to... possess me."
Sailor Neptune's lips twitched as well. "It was not a hostile takeover. It was a merge." Her expression became cold and determined. "Silence is coming. I must stop it."
"It did not feel like a merge," Michiru replied. "It felt as if you were trying to smother me or to force me out." Her eyes narrowed. "This is my body. I will not yield it so easily."
Sailor Neptune studied her face. She knew how stubborn Michiru could be. She had learned long ago that her other self was just that, another part of her. Whatever strength, weakness, or trait she had, Michiru had also. Their different experiences just made them respond differently to the same situation.
Which meant that Michiru would not willingly submit to a complete merge. Slowly, Sailor Neptune lowered her head. If she tried to force this merge, she would waste precious time and energy. It would be much better if Michiru accepted it on her own. One day, she would be whole again. But for now... She raised her head and looked into her other self's eyes. Slowly, she held out her gloved hand and waited patiently.
Michiru studied the hand, and then Sailor Neptune's aqua colored eyes. The light colored orbs seemed as deep and mysterious as the ocean that she loved to play in. There was no reassurance there. No promise. But somehow, Michiru knew that her other self was offering a truce. Slowly, she raised her own hand and accepted the gloved one.
She felt power flow into her, surging up from deep within like a powerful ocean wave. Michiru gasped, and woke up.
"Michiru?" Haruka asked anxiously as she quickly bent over her lover. She stilled when she saw that Michiru's eyes were still a light aqua color.
Michiru stared up at Haruka's worried face, and tried to assimilate all of the new information that was flooding through her. Sailor Neptune and Michiru were still their own entities, but now they were joined at every level. Michiru absently thought that it felt more like a joint venture with herself as the senior partner than a merge, but she was relieved to still feel herself as her own separate person.
"Michiru?" Haruka asked tentatively. "What happened?"
Author: Raya
Theme: Michiru (Optional: Shattered)
Genre: Drama
Version: PGSM (Spoiler Level Juno/Ceres: Up to Final Act)(Do you know what action Serenity repeated in the Final Act? Then you've been spoiled already.)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3118
Disclaimer: All of the characters used below were created by Takeuchi Naoko. I have merely converted them into paper dolls to play with for a little while.
Canon, spelling, grammar, and punctuation corrections are appreciated. So is constructive criticism and general comments. Please let me know if you see something that you like or that should be corrected. Thanks!
The story below refers to events which took place in my stories Unsettled Seas, Protected By the Sea, I Get a Kick Out of You, and Prelude to Silence ~ Deep Current. Knowledge of these stories should not be necessary, but it may add to the enjoyment of this one. - Raya
Prelude to Silence ~ Awakening
Crack
Sailor Neptune floated in limbo, idly watching the life of her other self as she went about her day to day activities. Sometimes she wondered if she would be in this comfortable dark ocean throughout the entire life. While it was boring, she much preferred that to the alternative. Awakening meant battle, pain, and, usually, death. Long, peaceful lives were few and far between.
In her past life, she reflected, she had been awakened so briefly. A fierce battle had raged throughout the Moon Kingdom, and she had been forced to waken to protect herself even though it was not her fight. She had not been awake long, less than a day, before the world and her life had ended in a flash of golden light.
When she had become aware again, it was obvious that much time had passed. She was now on Earth, and the Moon was a dead satellite. There were no signs that a great civilization had once lived there protected by magic and technology brought from beyond the star system. Its shining marble and crystal towers now existed only in her memories.
Her "awake" self was now called Michiru, and attended an elite boarding school in a country known as Japan. She had lived in many countries in this short life, but there was something... special about Japan. She felt it in the air, in the soil, and in the water. Something was here, and Sailor Neptune was not sure if that something was good or bad.
A disturbing nightmare woke Michiru from a deep sleep, and Sailor Neptune frowned. The dream of silence and a towering tsunami was a recurring warning although she could detect nothing to indicate what the warning was for. As far as she could tell from her restricted position, no threats from outside the Sol System had appeared. The second dream however, the dream of a sea of sand, reminded her eerily of the dreams she had had in her former life and of the destruction of the Moon Kingdom.
The reason for this was explained as soon as Michiru set foot on the building roof to paint the sunrise. Sailor Neptune stiffened as she recognized the young woman sitting on the roof above the stairwell. Although she was dressed in a white and blue senshi fuku and had long, golden hair, her face and aura were still the same as in that long lost kingdom.
Michiru closed her eyes, as enraptured by the harp song the powerful princess played as her former self in the Moon Kingdom had been. Sailor Neptune, however, was not so easily distracted. She felt it, the current of power. It was the same current of power she had sensed so long ago: rich and strong... and as golden as the power which had killed her.
Propagation
Sailor Neptune looked around warily. Ever since they had encountered the Princess in the wee hours of the morning, she had felt a strange, draining sensation. Michiru had interpreted this sensation and Sailor Neptune's unease as the memories of the harp song, and the senshi suspected that her other self was not far off.
As Michiru turned her attention to the school project that she and a fellow student were working on, Sailor Neptune continued to scan their surroundings psychically. A short while later, she felt a pool of negative energy begin to build in a corner of the courtyard. Silently, she alerted her other self expecting Michiru to quickly remove herself from the danger zone.
She should have known better. Her other self just looked up and around, trying to pinpoint the source of her unease. While Sailor Neptune often approved of such a levelheaded response, she fretted at the time Michiru was wasting. That level of energy could mean only one thing. Impatiently, she pushed her other self to escape.
"We should go," Michiru said abruptly as she swung her legs out from under the picnic table and stood up. Her classmate, Kawasaki, looked up at her in surprise. "We should leave," she said again, a little more urgently.
Kawasaki blinked and looked around the peaceful courtyard. "What is the matter, Kaioh-san?" Michiru just shook her head and gathered her books quickly. "Kaioh-san? Wait! What is wrong?"
As her classmate scrambled for her books, still babbling, a shimmer in the far corner of the courtyard caught Michiru's attention. Her eyes snapped to it, and she froze in shock. Sailor Neptune glared angrily at the creature that formed in the pool of negative energy.
'Run,' she ordered her other self. Michiru dropped her book bag and stumbled backwards, searching for a way to define the creature in front of her. It was tall and covered in a black, tattered, hooded robe. It wavered as if it were dancing on the wind or fighting to keep itself in the real world.
Sailor Neptune pushed at her other self once again as the students closest to spectre collapsed. Instinctively, Michiru's hand searched for Kawasaki who was still gathering her books. Clenching her fist tightly in the side of the other girl's uniform top, she began to walk backwards as fast as she could.
"Wha...? Kaioh-san, what are you doing?" Kawasaki sputtered as she felt herself being dragged away from the table. As she turned to look at Michiru, she finally saw the dark creature headed their way. She squealed, and then turned to run. Michiru let her go, but continued to walk backwards rather than turning and running herself.
Sailor Neptune fought against the urge to take over. This was not her fight. If Michiru would just turn around and run, she could cover their tracks and they would escape. Unfortunately, her other self had just enough sensitivity to feel the spectre's destructive call.
'This is not our fight. Run!' Sailor Neptune told her other self demandingly as she tripped over a tree root and tried to scramble back up to her feet. Several more spectres coalesced as Michiru pressed her back against the tree and tried to work her way around it.
When the first spectre reached for her and Sailor Neptune reached to take control, Michiru finally ducked, dodged around the tree, and began to run. Sailor Neptune immediately began to throw out every magical spell she knew to confuse their trail. She frowned in worry when she realized that it was no use. The spectres had latched on to her power signature and were determined to bring her down.
Finally, Michiru made a wrong turn and found herself cornered. No choice, Sailor Neptune realized. It was time to fight. She allowed herself to merge partially with her other self, and her eyes flashed warningly as she stood up away from the wall. The spectres seemed to hesitate. She felt a sense of grim satisfaction when she realized that they recognized her. "Do not mess with me," she said coldly. "Go crawl back into whatever little Hell you came out of." They danced silently in front of her, neither advancing nor retreating.
For a long moment, they stared at one another. And then, they seemed to move as one. As the spectres reached for her a third time, she dashed into the middle of them. With narrowed eyes, she kicked and hit and fought, refusing to succumb to their power.
It was a long battle, but Michiru/Sailor Neptune emerged as the victor. As Michiru leaned against the wooden wall once more, panting and wiping at the blood from a cut lip with the back of her hand, Sailor Neptune delicately separated herself once more. They had won this time. Maybe next time Michiru would listen when she was ordered to run.
Splinter
"Happy New Year!" Michiru replied as she turned and looked up at Haruka with a smile. She froze as the taller girl bent towards her. As she felt soft, warm lips press gently against hers, Michiru's heart skipped a beat, and then began to pound madly. She closed her eyes as the world seemed to spin around her, and leaned into the kiss just a little bit as she looked for balance. Her hands grabbed Haruka's forearms to help her stay upright.
Sailor Neptune closed her eyes and reveled in the feel of Sailor Uranus. It had been so long! She had been so happy when they had met on the school campus. Despite having her memories of the battles against the spectres erased, even Michiru had seemed to recognize and welcome the return of her former ally. Haruka and Michiru had moved slowly, though, much too slowly for Sailor Neptune's impatient heart.
She could not hurry them, though, she knew from past experiences. If she did, it would only cause needless questions and unnecessary pain in the future. Apparently, Sailor Uranus remembered this also. Despite Haruka's obvious attraction to Michiru, it had taken her five months to initiate this first, innocent kiss.
"And many happy returns," Haruka whispered. Her breath was just as warm as the kiss she had just bestowed.
Michiru straightened up slowly, blinking in confusion. She raised her right hand to her lips as she took a step back, and stared blankly at the tall blonde. Sailor Neptune frowned as she felt the turmoil of confusion, attraction, fear, and uncertainty in her other self, and then cursed as the girl turned and ran back inside the hotel.
Michiru came to a stop in the atrium that Haruka had led her to, and then leaned weakly against the wall as she tried to process the events and understand her emotions. Sailor Neptune tried to give her the space and time that she needed, but Michiru's chaotic thoughts and her own impatience finally made her act.
Delicately, she merged herself with Michiru, going deeper than before. They were not quite one, but when she spoke, Michiru heard Sailor Neptune's voice as her own mind voice. 'Breathe, Michiru. Think. Haruka has implied several times that she might be a lesbian. You never worried about it then. What is the problem now? Is it because she...'
Michiru took the thought from there. '...she kissed me? Maybe she didn't mean anything by it. Maybe it was just a New Year's greeting between friends.' Sailor Neptune wanted to shake her other self for thinking such a thing, but Michiru's heart was already punishing her for it. 'And now I've hurt her. She was just being friendly, and I read too much into it and panicked, and now she's hurt because she thinks I don't like her any more. But I do! I do like her!'
Finally, Sailor Neptune wanted to say. Finally her other self was coming to recognize the red thread of love and fate that bound her together with Haruka/Sailor Uranus. It was painfully slow, but at least it was progress. She decided to push her luck and plant another thought in Michiru's mind as she began to walk back outside.
'But what if she did mean... What if she likes me as more than a friend? What if she wants to... kiss me again? A real kiss?'
The words made Michiru freeze again, the confusion returning. Grimly, Sailor Neptune tried to beat it back and away. Michiru, too, fought against it, trying to understand what it was that she truly wanted. Finally, she gave up. Unintentionally, she pushed Sailor Neptune away from her along with the confusion, and the senshi could only watch, helpless, as her other self decided to think about it later.
Michiru walked back outside, and as she stopped and apologized to Haruka, Sailor Neptune tried to apologize to Sailor Uranus. She got the feeling that her mate was impatient with the turn of events, but resigned to waiting longer. There was nothing else that they could do.
Shatter
Several years later, the dreams of silence and a towering tsunami returned. Sailor Neptune stirred restlessly in her limbo. She still could not confirm that a threat from outside the Sol System was present, but the dreams were coming more strongly and frequently than before. Never in this life had she longed for her Aqua Mirror as much as she did now.
She had not seen her powerful Talisman since the day the Moon Kingdom had been destroyed, and she feared that it was lost to her for good. She had looked for it ever since the day Michiru had first seen a silver mirror and reminded her of its existence. No matter where she looked, however, in art, treasure or song, she could not find a hint as to where it might be hidden.
Go
Sailor Neptune stiffened at the familiar voice. The order seemed to echo through her soul as Michiru turned to look at Haruka in confusion. "What?" she heard her other self ask.
Haruka turned her head and gave her a puzzled look. "Hmmm?"
"You said 'Go'," Michiru replied looking just as puzzled. "Go what? Stop him? I was just joking."
"I didn't say anything," Haruka answered, shaking her head innocently.
Wake and go.
Only one being had a voice that echoed like a rock falling into a deep canyon. 'Saturn,' Sailor Neptune whispered in shock.
Michiru blinked. Haruka definitely had not said that. She had been looking directly into her lover's face that time, and her lips had never moved. With a frown, Michiru began to look around the dark apartment. "Who's there?"
Silence is coming. Wake and go.
Sailor Neptune stiffened. This was bad. Sailor Saturn had not uttered any warning either time the Princess had destroyed the world. If she felt the need to use those words to summon Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus, the situation was dire indeed. Sailor Neptune shuddered as she remembered Michiru's recurring dream.
"Silence?" Michiru shuddered, suddenly afraid as Sailor Neptune's fear reached her.
"Silence?" Haruka asked uneasily. "Of course. There's no one else here. What're you talking about? Michiru?"
WAKE!
Sailor Neptune could not resist that order. The bubble which held her separate from her other self shattered, and her soul began to merge once more.
Haruka stumbled away as her lover stiffened and was surrounded by a pulsing aqua light. Michiru's brown eyes widened, and then their color began to fluctuate between light aqua and caramel. Her clothes also began to fluctuate, changing from her night set to what appeared to be a miniskirt set and back again.
"We must go..." Sailor Neptune said faintly. "We must stop the Silence. We cannot let her wake."
"Who? Michiru, what's going on? What're you talking about?"
"Uranus," the brunette replied as her aqua colored eyes suddenly steadied and focused on her lover. "Waken. It is time!" Haruka just stared blankly at Michiru trying to assimilate the strange clothes, light, and behavior. "Uranus..."
'You cannot just take me over,' Michiru growled at Sailor Neptune as she fought to free herself from the merge. 'I will not allow it. I do not know who you are, but you will never possess me!'
Sailor Neptune gave her a look of surprise, and let her arms loosen. Michiru took advantage of the hesitation, and freed herself. As the light died away, and their body collapsed unconscious to the apartment carpet, the two pieces of the soul of Neptune floated in the ocean of limbo and stared at each other silently.
"I know you..." Michiru finally said quietly.
Sailor Neptune nodded. "I am you," she said just as quietly.
Michiru's eyes widened. "The voice. You are the voice. The one that was in my head the time I fought against those spectres..." Her voice trailed off, and she looked uncertain.
"Yes, that happened," Sailor Neptune confirmed. "You did not dream it. After the last battle, time was reset and your memory blocked."
"By you?" Michiru asked as her caramel brown eyes narrowed.
"No, by someone else. I was against it, and helped you to regain those memories." Sailor Neptune waited patiently while Michiru considered her words.
"Thank you," her other self finally said as she bobbed her head.
"You are welcome," she replied, bobbing her own.
"So, why are you trying to take me over now?" Michiru asked, more inclined to trust the strangely dressed woman.
"I am you," Sailor Neptune replied as if that should explain everything.
Michiru's lips twitched. "Just because you claim to be a part of me, that does not give you the right to... to... possess me."
Sailor Neptune's lips twitched as well. "It was not a hostile takeover. It was a merge." Her expression became cold and determined. "Silence is coming. I must stop it."
"It did not feel like a merge," Michiru replied. "It felt as if you were trying to smother me or to force me out." Her eyes narrowed. "This is my body. I will not yield it so easily."
Sailor Neptune studied her face. She knew how stubborn Michiru could be. She had learned long ago that her other self was just that, another part of her. Whatever strength, weakness, or trait she had, Michiru had also. Their different experiences just made them respond differently to the same situation.
Which meant that Michiru would not willingly submit to a complete merge. Slowly, Sailor Neptune lowered her head. If she tried to force this merge, she would waste precious time and energy. It would be much better if Michiru accepted it on her own. One day, she would be whole again. But for now... She raised her head and looked into her other self's eyes. Slowly, she held out her gloved hand and waited patiently.
Michiru studied the hand, and then Sailor Neptune's aqua colored eyes. The light colored orbs seemed as deep and mysterious as the ocean that she loved to play in. There was no reassurance there. No promise. But somehow, Michiru knew that her other self was offering a truce. Slowly, she raised her own hand and accepted the gloved one.
She felt power flow into her, surging up from deep within like a powerful ocean wave. Michiru gasped, and woke up.
"Michiru?" Haruka asked anxiously as she quickly bent over her lover. She stilled when she saw that Michiru's eyes were still a light aqua color.
Michiru stared up at Haruka's worried face, and tried to assimilate all of the new information that was flooding through her. Sailor Neptune and Michiru were still their own entities, but now they were joined at every level. Michiru absently thought that it felt more like a joint venture with herself as the senior partner than a merge, but she was relieved to still feel herself as her own separate person.
"Michiru?" Haruka asked tentatively. "What happened?"