What colorful butterfly will fly next?

[waterfell]

Cold fog swirls, and makes the darkness even deeper, shrouding everything in a damp, cloying mist. There's a smell of ash in the air. To the side, a single golden pin impales a blue butterfly with black markings, just above the thorax. It struggles with a vain flurry of its tired wings, but for all the writhing desperation, there is little life left in the spasming body. It rests weakly between fits of frantic activity.

Beneath the butterfly, a picture of a blue-haired girl in a tiara and sailor-style collar has been clearly marked 'Mercury'. Nearby, similar displays bear the names of other planets. In some, the butterfly's wings have been pulled off or its body has been singed and scorched or bent to sickening angles; others are fresh and empty, but labeled in anticipation. They stretch into the distance as far as the eye can see in all directions.

Comments

[mooneternal]

"But that's..." Usagi can only shake her head in disbelief. She doesn't want to accept something like that. She can't. Even if the message from the Ami-chan from before confirmed it... Even though the aching in her chest was telling her otherwise -- she just couldn't...

"There has to be a way to save you!"

[waterfell]

"Without the sailor crystal," Mercury refutes the hopeful words, "there won't be a 'next time'."

Strange, that a part of her feels at peace with that. She's tired from carrying too heavy of a burden for too long. Surely she's earned this respite, this ending instead of endlessly reliving a tragic fate.

In the end, for all her talk about power, and for all her chasing it, she was still too weak.

[mooneternal]

"S-sailor crystal?! Then where... Where can I find it?!" there are tears in her eyes. Years ago, they would have been falling freely by now, but it's obvious that she's trying her best to hold them back as long as she can. She's supposed to be stronger... act stronger! "Who did this, Ami-chan, tell me!"

[waterfell]

Tired from speaking, Mercury sags against the ground, muscles finally able to untense with the pin gone, but fatigued and hurt and useless. There's a feeling of helplessness to simply laying there, instead of meeting the threat with an angry word and her sword; but she's beyond caring about that right now. Unfocused eyes drift to try to meet Usagi's.

[mooneternal]

She can't hold them back anymore. The suffering of the girl in front of her, the loss of her young life -- it's too much. "Ami-chan," Usagi pleads as she starts to gently shake the shoulders of her friend. "Ami-chan!" as her cries become more desperate, so does her shaking become more vigorous. "Don't leave... Don't leave me again!"

[waterfell]

For once, there's no accusation of insincerity, no wary look of mistrust. True, false, none of that matters right now, and the only chance she has to make a change now is by the words she has all too little time to speak.

"Even so," it's the same warning as before, only emphasized by the repetition in this dream, too, "become stronger, and find a new path."

If loss breaks the princess, everything will be broken and lost.

As if the effort of these words had been too much for her, Mercury's body starts to fade; the form of the butterfly had been the last flare of her soul and being. It fades a little more, and then is gone, with nothing to mark its passing.