1602/Burning Nightmares

Burning Nightmares
Date of Scene:	29 May 2024
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Usagi uses the connection she has with Mamoru to try and connect with Hinoiri. While there is some part of her still there... there's a lot of darkness enveloping her.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Hinoiri Kirara
Tinyplot:	Sunset of Sora

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's afternoon, and Usagi is in Mamoru's hospital room. Kazuo and Naru are here, keeping an eye on things - Kazuo to watch her energy, Naru to watch her for signs of distress, and of course Mamoru is here, though he's sleeping at the moment.

She's been able to feel Hinoiri's location for a week now. She's been able to feel her location, a general sense leading away from Mamoru, a wrongness because it's his golden power in the wrong hands. Today, she's making use of that sense, and the connection that ties her to Mamoru - that ties her to Hinoiri now, instead of Mamoru, because Mamoru doesn't want her confronting Hinoiri alone, but she's not ready to beat her down. Instead, she's hoping that they can talk.

Hopefully.

So she says down, gets comfortable as she can on the floor with a pillow and blanket, and thinks about the golden connection, the tie, the bond from her mind to his, that she's been aware of for months now, from the moment Himeko stopped being a death curse and Mamoru took back what was his in a backlash that rung her like a bell -

And as she gradually sinks into sleep, she thinks of the space she wants to meet Hinoiri in, when Hinoiri sleeps, when their minds touch, through that connection.

Penguin Park. The pond, with the little shrine in the center, peaceful, nowhere where they'd fought...

And then she 'wakes' up, in the dream, sitting in the grass.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
And it would be then, that Usagi would likely realize... something was *wrong*. Oh, she was in Penguin Park, alright. But the grass was covered in... a... well... Everything, especially the equipment, was black. Not as if it was night, though the sky was a dark purple. But as if it had all been burnt or decayed. The ground, though, was all wet. Not with water, though. It was more akin to oil, by touch. Dark. She could see the grass through it. But every step would make her feel as if she was stepping into oily mud. Worse, it felt... wrong. It likely burned, even. Like dark energy often did. Not quite, but if not dark energy, then something that was incredibly similiar.

Off near the pond? She could hear... something. Splashing. Something trying to climb out from the pond... And then she *would* see it. A little hint of orange. And... and it was a tiny unicorn. A small unicorn, only coming to about her waist... with an orange, incredibly burnt coat, and red and orange striped mane. Hair that, if nothing else, Usagi almost *definitely* recognized.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The grass is burned away, the equipment black, the sky a dark purple, an implausible color. Usagi draws in a deep breath, because she succeeded, because she got here, and then she scowls because everything is dark and awful and no thanks, she doesn't like it.

She's had these dreams before. Perfect weather. Cookies that were just right. Lemonade scent filling the air. It takes practice, to get it just right. Overwhelming emotion, intent, feeling, could shape it, but purpose creates how things should be, and she knows what she wants.

So with every step she takes, towards that splashing pool of pond of darkness, grass grew, healthy, patches of life amidst all the burning wreckage.

There's a feeling of wrongness in the area, and she combats it with her own light, her own warmth, the Silver Crystal glowing at her throat.

She walks to the lake, looking at the oily gloom, and wades in - it doesn't burn. It should, but she's thinking about what she wants, and she doesn't want to feel this.

"Hinoiri-chan, just give me you - hoof, already, I'll help you out of there."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Usagi found she was able to do that. To shift it, to make it nicer. But there was something... wrong, none the less. She could feel it pushing in on her, on the 'purity' she was trying to create. And while she could make patches of 'good' amongst the darkness, they weren't lasting. Gresh grass would grow, rising up... only to be covered with the dark film when she passed.

However, when the hand was offered?

Hinoiri touched it.

And then Usagi would feel it. It was... Mamoru's warmth. His light. That golden glow. But there was something else. It wasn't just that golden glow. It was, well... if his glow was golden, this one was rainbow? Something... similiar. Nice. Something...

And then the lake *rose.*

One moment it was up to her knees. The next, it was over her head. And while she might have flailed a little, it didn't matter. Because only a moment later, Usagi was out. She was on grass, on all fours, and--

No. It wasn't on all fours. She was in the woods. And she... was a unicorn? It, like many dreams, decided to not make much sense. Except she could feel things. Confusion. Fear. It might take her a minute or two to realize those weren't *here* feelings. But she could definitely feel them. As she(?) ran through the woods. Shadowy branches reaching out towards her and what sounded like... howling in the distance. Or perhaps chasing her? It was hard to tell, as disoriented as she was in this moment.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi reached out to her because of course she did. Letting Hinoiri drown in darkness just isn't an option. Her friend might be stupid, careless, and cruel, but drowning in darkness is going to make all of those things worse, not better.

But when she touches her? When she feels that golden glow, that familiar warmth? A hot flash of anger boils through her, love and anger intertwined, and the darkness may be recapturing the grass around her but it can't take the spot beneath her feet, can't take her.

"No," she snaps, voice sharp and loud, "You do not get to use his power!"

There's something else, too, a power that's not Mamoru's, but isn't anyone else's she knows, that's nice, almost soothing, and she grabs for that, to try and pull that along with the hoof -

And the darkness rises around them both, covers her head, and it doesn't taint her, doesn't touch her, because the Silver Crystal glows and this is a dream, this is a dream that Usagi started, a dream she put her mind and heart into, and no Dumb Energy is going to seep through her in it. But the world is different, and she's on grass. Her face is closer to the ground, like she's on all fours, but she's not, and she's running, branches reaching for her, howling in the distance, fear and confusion racing through and -

She's not a horse. She's not a unicorn. She's Usagi Tsukino, and she isn't here to play games!

"Hinoiri! Get out of your head and talk to me!"

Light, bursting from the horn on her head, silver, of course, and then it's not a horn, it's the Silver Crystal, and she snatches it in her hand and stands up, her feet against the woods, and cries out the name again -

"HINOIRI KIRARA, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
There was a crack. She felt it, when she re-shifted the dream. She could feel something cracking. Trying to maintain control...

Before shattering. Cracks formed in the world around her, and while she stayed behind, she'd see the unicorn she'd been a moment ago keep running.

As the world around her cracked and then began to crumble, like a screen that had been broken and then shattered bit by bit, before it collapsed.

And she was in the park again. It wasn't greasy, at least? It was certainly the park, though. And cold. So very, very cold.

But she'd see Hinoiri. Well. Likely. It was the unicorn, who likely was Hinoiri. Only one girl in school had that hair. That and the burns. Lots of burns...

However, while she was sitting at the base of a tree, seemingly asleep, the ground around her was turning black and decaying. And she was... definitely smaller than she had been, last time.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a crack in the world, everything breaking, and the dark woods, they disappear. The park returns, and Usagi looks around, waiting - but there's no darkness, just cold, and the world is still damaged, but it's not flooded out with oily blackness, anymore -

And there's the unicorn again, with that familiar hair color, covered in burns, even smaller than before, and the grown seemed to be... decaying. Blackening.

Not this shit again.

"Hinoiri!" And she races over to her, shining light as strongly as she can to combat the darkness. "Hinoiri, get up! You can't just - just waste away into nothing, get up already!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara opened her eyes. They were.... cloudy. Unfocused. As if she wasn't seeing her. "Not her... fake..." she muttered. "Always fake. Always. Stop taking it... stop it... I know, okay?! I know! I know I know I know!" And for a moment, there was fire. But then, as fast as that anger flared, the flames on her horn, it died away.

And she closed her eyes again. "I know... I know... I know everything. I know the truth. It was all wrong. Everything I did. Everything I knew. I was wrong. I meant... nothing. I know. I know I meant nothing to you, Sora." The tears welled up in her eyes...

And Usagi could feel the ground getting wet as the darkness was beginning to rise up under them, as if the entire area was flooding.

And despite her will, this time she could feel it. It didn't hurt, but she might have prefered it did. This time she felt despair. She felt hopelessness. She felt the crushing weight of realizing her existence... meant nothing. And even with the silver crystal, she was unable to just shove it away.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Her eyes are cloudy, unfocused. There's no way she's seeing Usagi - she's probably not even seeing herself, feeling any of her burns. Even her harshly muttered words are obviously for herself, not Usagi, and the fact that she's covered in injuries, that she's talking to herself - and to Sora, her distant mentor -

It does strike a chord of sympathy in Usagi. Of course it does. She's always had a soft heart, a weakness for those in danger, for those in need.

"You're wrong," she says anyway, and her voice isn't especially gentle, but it's not harsh either. "I'm here. Your brain is kind of stuck to mine, a little, since you stole Mamochan's power. That means you've gotta try a lot harder to keep me out."

The ground gets softer beneath her feet, and she squats down, at Hinoiri's side, and there's the despair, the hopelessness, the crushing weight of realization, and nothingness, and she sucks in a deep breath, because even with her will and her power she can't shove it away -

And then she flicks Hinoiri on the forehead, not hard, but with the kind of force that would wake up a classmate dozing off in the middle of class. (Not that she's been that classmate.)

"Hinoiri-chan, you're talking to a girl who killed herself and destroyed the world. It's going to take more than all this to make me go away." Never mind the tears beading up in her eyes.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a little when her forehead was flicked. And, for just a moment, it was like her eyes refocused. "W-what?" she asked.

And then she wasn't a unicorn. She was that teenage girl that Usagi knew. In the leather jacket. Kneeling. Staring at her. And she shrieked, crawling back, shaking her head. "No no no no no no... not... not real. Go, go go go before I destroy you, stop, stop taking them away, I get it, I get it, I know, I know I know I know," Hinoiri said, pushing her back against the tree, covering her ears with her hands as if she was trying to block her out. For all the good it did.

"I was wrong, I can't... control it..." And then she was starting to burn. Little bits of fire forming on her body. "I thought I was special, I thought I mattered... I thought I was... anything... I never meant... anything... Just go... stop... showing me these... I don't have friends... people like me don't get happy endings... we're nothing... we just... we're just the stepping stone for other people's story..." She shook her head, closing her eyes and trying to clear it out. Even as she was burning up.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
For a moment, it works. For a moment, Hinoiri is looking at her - and for a moment she's the Hinoiri she knows, instead of a pony half her already itty bitty height, looking at her -

Shrieking, which isn't a point in the have a real conversation column but is a point in Mamochan's 'she's in there still' column.

The despair - breaks. A little. Like with Hinoiri focused on her and then on herself - starting to burn - there's nothing left for her.

"Hinoiri-" and she does not want to see fire, she does not want to see it at all, she's sorry Rei-chan but she doesn't want to see fire anymore, not after all that, and so she reaches out, reckless, patting away the small bits of flame.

"Okay, so you can't control it, that just means you need to accept help - are you serious? Of course you're something! Of course you're something, and you have friends! Even now, you have friends, and people who care about you, and people who wish you'd get your head out of your ass! You're not a stepping stone, you're the dumbest genius I know, and you don't deserve to burn up."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times when Usagi started patting the fires out. "Us... agi?" she asked, looking up at her. She looked so confused. Looking up at her, and for a moment, she looked happy...

Then her eyes seemed to go hazy again and her head lowered. "I won't... I won't... I won't just be forgotten... I don't care if I'm meaningless... I've been forgotten once... but I WON'T BE FORGOTTEN!" she screamed, fire erupting from her. "You all think you're *so special*, don't you?! Don't you?! Well... you... are..." And then, the flames started to die down. The tears in her eyes sizzled, burning away and she lowered again. "I won't... be... forgotten... I may be nothing... I might be meaningless... but I... if I'm going to be meaningless... Sora forgot me... but nobody else ever will... I won't... just... fade away... I refuse..." She hugged her knees to her chest, angry tears flowing down her face, sizzling into steam before they could fully reach her chin. "I won't... I won't... I'm not nothing... I'll be something... just... once..."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yes, it's me - aaaand I lost you," Usagi grumbles, as Hinoiri goes from happy recognition to dazed to - muttering and screaming and lashing out, and Usagi, in typical Usagi fashion, does something reckless.

In this case? She tackle hugs her, squeezing none-too-gently.

"Oh, shut up, you complete asshole," she snaps at the girl she's hugging. "You're already something! You're Sayaka's ex-girlfriend! You're that lizard person's current girlfriend. You had a birthday, you totally dramatic jerk, and you're one of the smartest people in school. Right now, you're just making yourself someone forgettable!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara stared at Usagi, her eyes wide. "Usagi... I... I don't... I just... I thought... she... she said... it was all a lie... everything I did... everything... I just... she said I was special... she said I mattered... I gave her everything..." She leaned into the hug, holding the other girl.

"She told me I'd be something... but it was all a lie... I gave her everything... and... I was nothing..."

"I wasn't... even worth... a single word to her... not... a single one..."

"... In the end... I was nothing... everything I worked for... everything I did... and I was never... anything... to her... I just... I..." And she gave another sob.

Then she let out another scream, before reaching out and just SHOVING Usagi away, clutching her head. And then she wasn't the girl anymore. She was a unicorn.

No. She was an alicorn. Her coat was darker now, though. With flaming wings. Eyes glowing with fire. And she stared at Usagi. "No. I will *not*... I *refuse.* I will be the Sunset of Sora. Soon. Soon the portal will open again. And I will *carve my name into her world*. I will NOT BE NOTHING!" The darkness spread out from her horn, forming dark, harsh metal over her flesh. "If there is no light for me then I will BECOME that light! I won't let... I won't let my ambitions be stopped just because of something like... like you! I WON'T!" she screamed, the tears sizzling from her eyes before she formed fire from her horn and sent it flying at Usagi, lashing out in anger and hurt.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a moment, where Hinoiri is leaning in, where Hinoiri is hugging back and spilling her guts and her soul and Usagi is her friend, Usagi does care about her, Usagi wants to see her be better, get better, do better, because -

Because she wants Hinoiri to come out of this in one piece. She wants her to find her way back to herself, to find the person she wants to be and be that person, like Mamoru did when he was free of Hematite.

She doesn't want her to stay on her current path, so closely paralleled with Beryl's.

"Then she's the worst," she says quietly, letting Hinoiri in. "You're not nothing, Hinoiri. You're someone. You matter. That's why you've got to stop this -"

And maybe that was a word too much, or maybe it was just managing to touch Hinoiri's heart a bit too much, because she's shoved back, goes sprawling on her back in the muck, as the girl becomes a unicorn - no, becomes a winged, horned horse, wings and eyes flaming -

"You're more than just the death of your teacher! You're not a tool for vengeance! You - you can't become a light for anyone, let alone yourself this way!"

She's on her feet, dream logic, shouting at Hinoiri, hoping any of it sticks, and then there's fire blazing at her, and she grasps the Silver Crystal in her hands - it's a dream, it's all a dream, and she needs to wake up -

The world goes shimmery around her, and she screams her parting words:

"This isn't even what you want!"

And then she bolts up from the hospital floor, into the light of the room, into the shelter of Naru and Kazuo and Mamochan's concern, and she drags a hand down her face in exasperation, in frustration, in concern.

"Mamochan was right that she's still in there. But we're definitely going to have to beat those powers out of her."