In the Fell Clutch Of

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Forcing her eyes open again, Usagi choked back a sob. She didn't want to wake her parents so late at night, but she couldn't bear to sleep. Not since…oh dear goddess. She clenched her eyes tightly shut and swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. It didn't matter. They were alive. Her friends, her soldiers, her love, they were all alive and well and completely unharmed. She knew for she had seen to it and still felt the price she paid the Crystal dragging on her bones.

They were fine. Everybody was alright. Even she was perfectly alright, no matter that she hadn't slept in three days. Her eyelids were heavy but she refused to let them fall closed – everything was alright, so long as she didn't dream. They never survived in her dreams.

Eventually her eyes and her exhaustion won the night and she slept. When she woke with a muffled cry to a tearstained pillow and ravaged sheets, all she could do was close her eyes in despair and keep repeating it to herself under her breath, "They're fine. Everyone's alright. Everyone is perfectly alright."

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A/N: Title taken from "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley. It's a very fitting bit of poetry.