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I yawned. Suprise suprise, my sleep had been disrupted by that nightmare again. But what was new? I had had that dream every night for the past three years. At first, it scared the hell out of me. But it wasn't as horrible anymore. Sure, the destruction of the universe is horrible, but it loses a little meaning after you've seen it hundreds of times on end, y'know? Besides, it was all a dream, just a bad dream. It was pretty stupid, actually. How could one woman alone destroy the universe? I laughed out loud at the thought.
My mom spoke up, watching me, slumped over the kitchen table, over her shoulder. "Eh, Ciel?"
"What?" I barely managed. My eyes struggled to stay open. My head began to drift slowly towards the tabletop. Slowly... slowly... "OWWW!!"
Mom watched in concern. "That's what, Ciel... why didn't you get any sleep?"
"Had a nightmare again."
"You always 'had a nightmare again.' I'm beginning to worry about you..."
NOW she was worrying about me? THREE YEARS OF NIGHTMARES AND NOW SHE WORRIES?! (Ahem.) "Well, thanks for your concern. I'm going to go take a nap." For some reason, if I slept during the day, I wouldn't have the dream. But of course, this conflicted with my school schedule. Luckily, today was not a school day, so I could sleep as much as I wanted to.
After a few minutes, I finally lifted myself up from the hard wooden seat, stumbling down the narrow hall into my darkened room.
No sooner than my head hit the pillow I was asleep.
A foreign voice echoed through my dreams. "Ciel."
My eyes snapped open.
A woman in a rainbow sailor senshi fuku stood bent over me. Her wavy, golden blonde hair was swept behind her in a sudden, icy cold wind. She smiled a little, lifting her hands to the air, seeming to almost grasp the wind in her fingertips. "Do you feel that?" she asked me in a peculiar little accent.
I could do nothing else but stare at her in awe. She looked so fragile, yet so powerful. The rainbow crystal in the center of her bow seemed to shine with some sort of inward light... much like a rainbow gem from Gallinore, I realized. My eyes wandered up her uniform and centered on the same beautiful variety of crystal centered in her silver tiara. Finally, my eyes centered on hers. "Who are you?"
She smiled at the question, a peaceful, serene, understanding smile. "My name is Sailor Gallinore. I am your guardian angel," she said. "I am also a warrior of the light, as you are."
"Wait... slow down. I have a guardian angel?"
"Yes, you do."
I watched her with a weary eye. "So, you're saying that you're the one who saved me from cracking my head open on that rock when I was seven?"
"Yes."
"What about when I fell into the fountain in Memorial Square? Huh? Huh?!"
"That was me."
"...that is just too cool." I began to giggle like a madman. I stopped abruptly and took a deep breath. "Okay, so I've confirmed that. What's this warrior thing?"
She was patient. EXTREMELY patient. Knowing what I do now, if I was in her position, I would have been having a nervous breakdown at this point. "I am a warrior of good; I stand against evil. I am the senshi of rainbows and pressure, Sailor Gallinore. And you, my young friend, are the senshi of gravity and ultraviolet light, Sailor Centrali."
It took me a minute to absorb all of the information she had just spouted. "One question... do I get a cool outfit like you?"
"You must take this seriously. Despite the look of this outfit, it is a true soldier's uniform. You are a solider. You must fight the dark forces that threaten to take over the universe, Ciel. Do you realize what that means? You must put your life on the line. You must defeat one of the most evil beings in the universe. Alone."
Soldier. Fight. Alone. The words cemented themselves in my head. I began to realize of implications of what she was telling me. "That evil person... I've been having nightmares about some sort of Dark Jedi woman for a while. Is it the same person?"
She nodded. "Yes. Her name is Vra Vji. She is from the planet Dathomir, and she is a Nightsister. A very powerful Nightsister."
I began to eye her suspiciously again. "Dathomir? I've never heard of it."
"Dathomir is a very obscure planet. Few know of its existence. It is the home of the Nightsisters, a group of utterly evil, Force-wielding witches. Wherever there is darkness, there must be light; there are many clans of good women there, too. One of them is the soldier of Dathomir. Perhaps one day you will meet her." She paused, making sure I was listening. "But not now. You must destroy Vra Vji."
I laughed a little, mainly out of nervousness. "Are you kidding me? I can't kill another person. It goes-"
"Against everything you know. I understand. But if you do not destroy her, the whole universe will be destroyed instead!" Her tone was not of anger, but of urgency. "I speak the truth. I have seen the future. If nothing is done, we will all be destroyed."
I felt like I was sinking. As stupid as this all sounded, somehow I knew that it was, in fact, the truth. "Why do I have to do it? I'm just a kid... I don't know how to defend myself, never mind a universe..."
"You are the chosen one. In time, you'll realize your place. The road ahead is a long, lonely, and dangerous one. But you must do it. You must destroy her. Every living being is counting on you. And I will be watching over you. I will guide you. I will protect you when you cannot protect yourself. You have been trained as a Jedi, correct?"
I nodded.
"Then you have almost everything you need."
I watched, awestruck, as she began to concentrate some sort of intense light in her hands. It was a vibrant purple, similar to the color of a fluorescent black-light. I closed my eyes, not out of wish, but of reflex; the light was much too powerful for my eyes to be able to withstand.
"You can open your eyes now."
I cautiously opened my eyes. What looked like a thick, deep purple pen was held in front of me. A star with a strange, circular symbol decorated the top of it. I reached for the pen out of instinct.
"That is your henshin pen," she continued, "the Centrali Crystal henshin pen. Inside of that star lies the Centrali Crystal, a powerful item that will transform you into the senshi of gravity and ultraviolet light, Sailor Centrali."
I hit the star a few times with my palm. "How do I get it to work?"
She laughed a little. "You must hold the pen to the stars and call out your henshin phrase. But it is not time yet. You will know when you need to transform."
I whined loudly. "That isn't fair. I want to transform now!"
"It is not a toy. As I told you before, this is real life and you must handle your power responsibly."
"C'mon, just one time. I promise I won't do anything..."
"No," she said sternly.
I paused. "You're no fun. How am I supposed to know what to say?"
"You will feel the words in your heart."
I nodded, the bitterness in my voice very apparent. "Well, this is just lovely," I spat childishly.
She frowned. "I must go now. Leave tomorrow. The sooner you complete this mission, the sooner you can return to your normal life." She reached out and gently stroked my cheek with a spectral hand. "I have complete faith in you. Goodbye, Sailor Senshi Centrali..."
I woke from the vision with a sour feeling in my stomach. I stood up and searched my bed for the transformation pen. It was nowhere in sight.
After a few more minutes of searching my room, I gave up and sat on the side of my bed. "Goodbye, normal life," I said, sighing, as I reached under my bed for a suitcase.
