[a wisp of a dream]

"And I see you...but you don't see any shade, shadow or tone of me. Do I dissapear in the crowd to you? Maybe something I thought was there, just wasn't meant to be..."

Karei reached over in the darkness of her room to take a look at the alarm clock- 7:04am. Stretching her arm, Karei rolled over in her bed and reached her arm up in the darkness trying to find the cord to pull her window blinds up. Humming to the tune that was on the radio, Karei shut her eyes as the sunlight poured in the window.

"And I seeeeee you..." Karei sung along with the words as she slipped her legs out of bed and sat up, ready for another day. Reaching over to her night stand, Karei patted the table until she came across her glasses. She promptly slipped them on her face, so she could see properly. Next Karei reached over without thinking to grab her necklace off the nightstand, but her fingers slipped across a shiney metal surface instead of the wood grain of the table.

Turning to look, Karei's eyes fell across a small golden brooch. Her eyes widened as Karei gasped. Wasn't that a dream?

After a moment of shock, Karei picked up the brooch and held it gently in her hand as she ran her fingers over the delicate engravings in the top. Karei went through the events of the previous day slowly in her head. Running into Tsukino Usagi, handing in her composition, getting beaten by Yasa at the car racing game, going to the cafe... the fight. Despite the situation, the fight didn't seem to bother Karei. Something was up, but she felt deep in her heart that suddenly a piece of the puzzle had been filled it.

Setting the brooch gently back on the table, Karei jumped up and wandered towards the bathroom humming to herself.



An exasperated growl filled the dark void of a room as Ionite sat on his throne. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the black marble armrest. He was so close to the aura, he could feel her in his bones. Yet his plan had failed, or rather, Topaz had failed. Instead of having the aura near him, Ionite was being tormented by her presense. Closing his eyes, Ionite could recall everything about her - her figure, the soft feel of her hair, the taste of her lips.

"TOPAZ!" Ionite yelled out into the room, making his voice echo against the walls. He slammed his fist down on the armrest of his chair, sending a vibration up his arm to his neck, promptly giving him the start of a headache. He wished he hadn't done it now.

An orange glow filled the room as Topaz slowly materialized infront of her Lord. She knelt low infront of him, fearful of what he had to say. Topaz could feel his eyes boring down onto her with digust.

"Despite your failure, I've decided to give you a second chance this time..." Ionite said as he rubbed his temples.

Topaz raised her eyes slowly when she heard this. He was...giving her a second chance? Topaz had been expecting to get reprimanded for her failure. What had gotten into him?
"However. Because of this chance, the reprimand for failure this time will be extremely severe," Ionite said as he materialized the globe once again. The yellow light had disspeared, but Ionite knew she was still near the same area she had been before. She had not departed, simply awakened.

"This time you were lucky.. it was due to your lack of experience that led to your failure," Ionite said as the image of the globe slowly rotated on an axis above his hand. Topaz raised an eyebrow, unsure of the meaning of the comment. She had trained since that day... thousands of years.

"Your strength has depleated, so in the meantime .." Ionite continued on, as the globe slowly dissolved and he dropped his arm, "...Return to the surface and gather the energy you need to complete the task at hand. Once you've done this, return to me for more instructions."

Topaz bowed low one last time before dissapearing in the familiar orange glow.

"Alright aura... show me your strength.." Ionite said with a smirk.



"No time to eat mom!" Karei's hurried voice called to her mother from the front hall of the two story apartement. Karei had spent longer time getting ready then she had planned and was late to meet up with Yasahii that morning. They were going to run through a duet sequence that they had been given in orchestra.

Her mother came rushing in, handing the redhead a muffin and a homemade lunch that was wrapped tightly and had Karei's name and class number on it. "I'm meeting Yasa this morning.." Karei gave for explination to her mom's questioning look, as Karei had plenty of time to get to class.

"Don't forget to pick up that package from your aunt after class!" Her mother called as Karei ran out the door. Karei gave a quick wave in response as she ran down the hallway towards the stairs.

Pushing the stairwell door closed, Karei turned quickly and started her dash down the stairs to the main floor. Dashed too quickly that is, missed a step and quickly began falling. She let go of whatever was in her hands, covered her face and closed her eyes, bracing for impact.

That, however, was not as hard as she expected. No metal floor met up with her. It was, instead, a warm body and a pair of strong arms and an "Oof" sound.
Blushing, Karei looked up to see who had saved her. It was a tall boy, perhaps the same age as her. He had dark emerald hair and a pair of equally deep coloured blue eyes. He smiled at her with concern. "Are you alright?"

Karei couldn't help but let a deep red blush cross her cheeks. She stood there staring up at him for a moment, before replying. "Y-yes, thank you!"

The two stood for a second staring into each other's eyes, before the man realised he still had his arms around her in a protective embrace.
"Sorry!" He said appoligetically as he released her.
"It's alright! My fault! That's the second time I've had a clutz attack in 24 hours... " Karei laughed at her own error as she quickly turned to gather her things.
"Aren't you a little early to be rushing to school?" He asked her as he handed her the bookbag she had dropped on the fall.
"Meeting someone beforehand," She replied as she zipped up her bookbag and grabbed her lunch from the ground. "Thanks again, but I'm really late now!" With that she continued in a mad sprint down the stairs.

The man stood and staired after her, a sheepish grin on his face and a somewhat squashed muffin in his hand.



Topaz was feeling rather proud of herself as the orange glow around her faded and she appeared just at the edge of a large field of concrete. There was a large building at the opposite corner of the concrete field, and Topaz had apparently discovered that many Terrans congregated to this building -- Terran youth in fact. One youth gave enough energy as two adults, and Topaz figured that taking the energy from the youths would prove to be a simple task.

Crossing the concrete and entering the building, Topaz smirked. The hallways were filled with youth, many more than she had originally expected. In a matter of minutes she would have gathered enough energy to last her another thousand years. Grabbing a small glass sphere from her pocket, Topaz smashed it against the ground. In a huge show of lights and firecrackers, a monster slowly grew from the mist.

Screams filled the hallway at the sight of it to the delight of Topaz. This would be all to easy. Turning to her new creation, which resembled a greek centaur, Topaz commanded it to do her bidding.

"Gather as much energy from these Terrans as you can Juode!!" Topaz wanted to make sure she would succeed this time, and with this monster she surely would.



Classical music filled the air, giving the regularily stark looking room an air of magesty -- it was a piece by Telemann, if one knew their classical. The music stopped abruptly, when a grumble errupted from Karei's stomac.

"I wish I hadn't dropped that muffin..." Karei grumbled as she lowered her flute.
"No breakfast this morning?" Yasahii asked her friend, as she smiled in her knowing way. Karei scratched her head as she shook her head to confirm her friend's suspicions.
"Do you mind if we call it quits today? I'm really starving!" Karei pleaded, as she knew she would have to make it up to Yasa, yet again.
"Sure, but next time you get to buy the quaters so I can kick you butt in the arcade!" Yasahii exlaimed triumphantly as she began to pack her things up. "Besides, we've only got fifteen minutes until class anyway, you'd better eat quickly!"

"Yes yes, I know..." Karei rolled her eyes as she collected her music from the stand and filed it neatly back into it's folder. Yasahii had made it to the door, and turned to wave to her friend. "See you in class!" She called as she leaned again the door to open it.

As she turned to exit, Yasahii stopped dead in her tracks and screamed. "What the hell is that!?!? Yasahii screamed to whomever would listen. Quickly shutting it again, Yasa pressed herself again the door, as if to prevent someone from coming in.
"What's going on??" Karei asked to her panic stricken friend. Karei wandered over to investigate the goings on. Opening the door a crack, she could see the commotion outside. There was a monster attacking the students!!
"We've got to get out of here Yasa!!" Karei yelled to her friend, as she shut the door once more. Slipping her hand into her pocket, Karei made sure her pen was there, which it was. The two girls quickly ran to the fire escape and out the doors where a crowd was quickly leaving the school in a panicked state.

Once Karei was sure Yasa wouldn't be able to follow, she turned quickly and bolted back through the crowd towards the school and back in through the fire exit.

"Astria Galactic Power...Make Up!"



Topaz stepped over a leg. Then a lost backpack, and another arm. Bodies lay unconsious on the floor and Topaz smirked. She had a job well done, and would return to Ionite victorious. She had proved them all wrong.

"My my, first a poor waitress, and now highschoolers. You must be one desperate woman!" A mocking voice yelled from behind Topaz, making her stop dead. How suddenly a thorn grew in her side. Quickly spinning on her heels, Topaz spotted the voice and the headache caused by it, which she had received yesterday.

Topaz sneered. "That will be the last thing you'll ever say. I hope you enjoyed it..." Topaz called Juode forth again.
"Get her energy Juode, and if you -accidentaly- kill her, then so be it..." Topaz sighed as she turned to go down the hall and find more victims, she would let Juode take care of the dirty work.

"Illusionary BEAM!" Juode shouted as a fierce beam of amber shot towards the senshi from his outstretched palms.

With a graceful flip to the right, the senshi dodged the beam with ease and landed gracefully on her feet. "C'mon, surely you can do better than that!" The senshi tauned with smirk.

"As the Astral senshi of light, I defend these people from the likes of you!" The senshi called as she assumed an attack pose, "I am Sailorastria!"
The senshi was clad in a rather skimpy senshi fuku, with a deep cherry red skirt and yellow bows. Her hair was a shiney red which complimented the light fushia of her eyes.

"You think you can hurt me, little girl??" Juode yelled in replied, his tempers flaring and a look that meant to kill in his eyes. He clomped his hoofs against the ground before charging straight for her.
Astria gulped as Juode galloped forward, and it seemed faster than a vehicle could even travel. Astria felt her mind go blank as to what to do. She didn't even have time to react!

There was suddenly a great sweep of motion as a flash of light crossed Juode's path and Sailorastria was pulled aside. Not being able to react in time, Juode plowed through the side of the school and into the schoolyard.
Looking up, Astria saw who had pushed her aside. It was a man, much taller then her, but who appeared to be around the same age. He had very light blond hair, and deep orange eyes that shone despite the horrible florescent lighting above. He was wearing silver armour, that looked like it could have come from midevil times.
Astria felt as though she knew this man, from where she couldn't remember, but there was a glint in his eyes that seemed to tug in her memory.

Suddenly there was a crash as Juode camed roaring back through another section of the school's wall. Spotted the two, he started to charge again.

With quick reflexes, the armoured man placed his palm on the ground and yelled out with meaning and fury, "Force of GRAVITY!"
A white light seemed to illuminated underneathe him, and another light of the same colour appeared underneathe the centaur. Juode suddenly found himself to be immobilized in place.
"Grrr, How dare you!" He roared, straining to move his face, "RELEASE ME!"
Astria slowly rose to her feet as she concentrated on powering up her attack and focusing her energy. Astria pointed her right hand's index and middle fingers towards the ground to create a focal point of the gathered energy. In a few seconds there was a crackle of static electricity and lightning flowing from her fingers to the ground and back again.
Astria brought her fingers up to point them towards Juode.
The look of serenity dissapeared from Astria's face, and was replaced with the look of anger and focus. "Sonic LIGHTNING!" She cried as the lightning arced from her fingers at Juode. When it struck the centaur yelled in agony, and after a few seconds of being bombarded, it turned to stone.
The man lifted his palm from the ground, and the glow dissapeared from beneathe him and the centaur statue. The man got up and made his way to stand next to Astria, and the two watched as an indigo coloured light flowed from the statue and returned to the students and the faculty lying on the floor.

There were footsteps from down the hall, and the two fighters turned to see Topaz approaching.
Upon arrival at the scene, Topaz blinked several times in shock. Her monster was.... defeated? Turning towards the senshi, Topaz' eyes widened even further. There was a knight standing next to her.
"You may have defeated me this time..." Topaz screamed as she slowly faded in an orange glow, "But I'll get you next time bitch!"

"Wow," the man said as he scratched the back of his head, "She was a pleasant person."
Astria giggled, when something caught her eye. The statue of Juode was slowly evaporating into thin air. "Well, this certainly has been interesting.."



"You're crazy, you know that?" Her voice was light and playful as she sat on the bench next to him. Her dress was long and was like liquid velvet over her figure. It shone it's golden yellow colour, accenting her slightly tanned skin.

"I have to let her know.."
"So how long are you going to be gone for this time? Your father always seems to be calling you away for one thing or another!" She said as she jabbed him in the side.
"Hopefully only a few days this time, at least I hope... they're wanting to train me in tactics this time," He replied as he rubbed his eyes.

"I can't though! I've already missed my chance!"

She cocked her head to the right and raised an eyebrow as a glint of mischief flittered in her eyes.
"Have you ever met Usei?" She asked him out of the blue. He thought for a second as he went over that name in his mind.
"I think so yeah.." He replied as he stared at the ring on one of her fingers, causing a twinge of pain in his heart. "Why do you ask?"
"Hrm... no reason in particular..." She replied, and he could tell from the years of knowing her that she was plotting.

'I have to tell her... I have to!' His heart screamed out at him, but his mind was being wary.

A bell rang from within the palace, and she stood up to leave. "That's Reina calling for my dress fitting... I'll talk to you later, Eio!" She smiled at him and turned to head down the trail. He quickly stood up and grabbed her rist, stopping her.

"asdlfkjPrim.adkfRose"

"Eio? What's wrong?" She asked as she turned back around, worried for her friend. In place of an answer, he slide his free hand behind her neck and pulled her in for a passionate kiss, expressing his emotions that had been hidden within his heart over the years.
She stood there wide eyed, in shock.

"akPrime Roselakjd to alkdjf Ionite"

After she over came her shock, she started to struggle against him and broke away from the kiss. She stood there, still in shock as she stared at him, her hand over her lips.

"Prim Rose to Ionite"

The bell rang out again and she turned and dashed off down the path, leaving him with the pain of rejection.

"PrimRose to Ionite" The call rang through his mind, waking Ionite from a dream. A dream that he suffered through many night since the event happened. Ionite lay in his bed, hearing Prim Rose call him over and over again over the communications system. The dream wouldn't shake from his mind, but he finally gathered the strength to reach from his black satin sheets and hit a button that lay on the wall near the bed.

"What is it Prim Rose?" Ionite asked, with more agitation in his voice then he had intended. But that dream, THAT dream, always left him irritated and in a bad mood.
"Topaz has failed," Came the reply, "Again."



[Astral Specter]
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