Epilogue-

From a far distant place, though still very near, a young woman in a lavender and grey sailor fuku observed the festivities that were being shouted in the hospital room. This young woman was very confused, yet at the same time, very content. In one hand, she held a naginata, the silvery metal of the blade gleaming in the reflected flourescent light from the room she watched. A small smile would have been seen on her lips, if any of the bustling figures she watched had turned to look at the room's tiny mirror on the wall. There were many people there, talking and laughing, and food from a basket was being passed around by the tall cook. From where she stood, the Soldier of Dreams felt a little lonely, but she knew well enough that they were happy for the life of their future Queen.

So, I am forgotten again. Maybe. I feel so different, since Hotaru struck me with her Glaive. I...I have a heartbeat. I can feel it, under the bow of this strange uniform. It's warm, like a star. Sister, you say your power is death. I wonder, maybe, your power is also life, ne? Such strange things, these people do, for each other. So, then, do I return to the realm of the waking dreams?

"...will be dangerous to perform...."

Nani?

"...I'm afraid...."

What is this?

"...told me it would be black, like a night without stars...."

Whose thoughts are these, for me to hear them?

From inside the mirror, Sailor Dreamweaver turned, and saw though yet another mirror the image of a young man, in a hospital gown. An IV ran into his arm, and oxygen through tubes into his nose. His eyes were closed, and the lids fluttered as he dreamed of darkness, and of the medical procedure and surgery he would soon be undergoing.

"...can't be scared.... But it hurts...."

He is to have something done to him...and soon.

She turned her head from the boy to the happy senshi, still talking loudly as they filled each other in on what had happened, Usagi's waking, and Ami and Hotaru's adventure in the strange land of death.

They don't need me. But...he does. This place must be full of people filled with fears. Is that, then, my duty? No, I am not beholden to anyone, save myself. But if I help these people fight their fears, then that will be my duty. I will make that my karma. It is not living above the clouds, but at the same time, I can give them the lives I never had. And maybe, with this strange heartbeat in my chest, I can have a family again. The sister of Death is Sleep. And each of us to our realms.

And it was with these thoughts that a new senshi stepped out of her mirror, and for the first time in many centuries, drew in air, and breathed it out again. Then her eyes, the color of murasaki, lavender, turned to the sick form of the boy in the bed, and the one named Sailor Dreamweaver entered his mind.

The Soldier of Beautiful Dreams had Awakened at last.

Well, I've gone and done it.

I've made up my own senshi.

You will not believe, for such a quiet character, how persistent Kami is! This fic practically wrote itself.... Do you like Kami, and her story? Would you like any more stories about her? I'm working on a non-Kami fic now, but if she proves to be popular, I'll be happy to try out some more stories for her.

As for Kami's symbol, it's called the 'World Triad.' And according to Barbara G. Walker's 'Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects' it is:

"…an emblem of cosmic creativity, the threefold nature of reality or fate, and the eternally spiraling cycles of time, it was of Oriental provenance. In Japan, it was maga-tama or, mitsu tomoe, the world soul or any individual offshoot of it. …Like the twofold yin and yang it resembles, the World Triad symbol was usually understood as a graphic image of eternity."

It does look like a yin-yang. Add one more of the swirls…like teardrops. Tomoe, too. Hotaru's family name. Odd, ne?

Well, how'd you like it all?

Let me know! ^_^ I appriciate it.

Until next storytime!

-Queen