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Haruka hears the melody echoing through the hallways, hauntingly eerie as it hypnotises the shadows and embraces the darkness. She swiftly lifts her head from her book to peek at the specks of dust dancing to the music and hears the drumming of her heart immediately add its percussion to it.
She'd recognise this song anywhere, the music of stars and supernovas that envelope her soul like a nebula. It speaks to her in a language that no one else understands, a topic of long lives lived throughout galaxies that she recalls from deep within her own soul.
She stands up from the chair, her book abandoned on a random page now and follows the melody's trail, invisible strings of notes carrying her through empty corridors. The sound of the instrument sounds like tears dropping on the sand, a silent cry as the sun sets on the horizon, warm yet the prelude to something melancholic.
She halts briefly just to listen to it still echoing, pulling at her heartstrings as it always does. It's a sad song, one that thrums within Haruka's veins and sings of longing and hope. She's familiar with such emotions, her heartbeat still softly beating accordingly to the bittersweet lingering of the notes without lyrics and voice.
However, they speak. They speak loudly like an opera and it talks about her.
That much was clear to Haruka whose emotions rocketed as her picture flashes through her mind, pristine and pure and only she could be.
Haruka lets her breath out in a long exhale and resumes her walking, approaching a door left ajar that leads to the music room.
As she places her hand on the door, the song builds up to the climax of its crescendo, reverberating through Haruka's body, coiling at her core and spreading those butterfly wings that always flutter with the melody.
She swings the door open and watches with breathless admiration and awe the goddess who plays the violin.
It's almost as if each note illuminates the beauty that eclipses the full moon outside the open window, each stroke of the bow on the strings, an elegant dance of movements that transfixes Haruka.
She always feels as if forever wandering in a musical illusion of perfection whenever Michiru is playing. And she would gladly lose herself in such wanderings as long as she could be with Michiru.
Michiru's music fades slowly, its lingering diminuendo only broken by the blood that pumps loudly at Haruka's ears.
Their eyes meet, the Neptune green of Michiru's gaze a trap in which Haruka finds herself welcomed.
"Haruka," Michiru murmurs, so soft in its adoring cadence Haruka is almost afraid of speaking after such a delicate tone. "Did I wake you?"
"No," Haruka replies as she steps into the music room, the piano and other instruments forgotten in the shadows. "I couldn't sleep so I was reading."
"Another nightmare?" Michiru places her violin carefully on the empty chair beside her.
Haruka watches those fluid movements while worrying her bottom lip, the nightmare that had on previous nights had woken her up startled and scared, shattering the peaceful quietness Michiru's melody had cloaked.
"It's always the nightmares," it's all she mutters.
"I see," Michiru smiles briefly before looking out the window, curtains barely disturbed by the gentle night breeze that whispers its mysterious tales. She looks up at the sky and sighs, tiredly. "The moon looks sad tonight. It's as if it's yearning."
"How so?" Haruka asks, step by step approaching Michiru at the window. She follows her gaze and stares back at the pinnacle of dreams, the silver kingdom that cascades around them in a pristine embrace of light that glows ethereally.
Just like her.
But Michiru's words sink in and she sees it; the yearning that not even distance can disguise. The moon mourns the loss of a past Haruka can barely remember while it dreams of a future they need yet to conquer.
Somehow Haruka can hear the prayer of the moon be silently spoken as it watches over them. Can feel its endless longing palpable in the night, humid air, just like Michiru's melody danced in her blood and beckoned to her.
"It's a beautiful moon," Haruka comments truthfully.
"It is," Michiru agrees, quickly smiling at Haruka. She then returns her gaze back to the moon, eyes suddenly sad.
"What is it?" Haruka asks, wrapping her arms around Michiru's shoulders and bringing her closer to her body, nudging her cheek against her temple. The lovely smell of Michiru's hair fills Haruka's nostrils and she takes a deep breath, letting her lungs heal from the breathlessness Michiru's sight had caused on her just moments before.
"I'm afraid my melodies can't mend a broken heart," Michiru replies, a hand gently caressing Haruka's arm as she leans into the warmth of their silent embrace.
"We'll save her," Haruka says with certainty. If all else falters, she can always turn to the undefiled belief of her innermost belief. Her conviction burns hot deep within her, enhanced by the power of the moon that traces their intertwined bodies with wisps of silvery light. "We'll restore the kingdom and we'll protect our princess."
"I believe you," Michiru replies softly after a gentle chuckle, a whisper breathed only for Haruka to hear.
They remain like that until the yearning of the moon is replaced by the outcries of dawn. Streaks of the upcoming daybreak through the skies and shatter the stars, hiding them with its bright beams.
"A new day is born," Michiru says calmly, turning her head enough to plant a sweet kiss just at the corner of Haruka's lips. "Thank you."
Haruka's cheeks burn lightly yet she holds Michiru's stare for a moment, taking in the deep ocean of her eyes. She brings Michiru's hand up to her face and leans into her soft touch, energy revitalising her body and soul.
"Always."
Now it's Michiru's turn to blush ever so lightly but it's enough to have Haruka pledge her heart to her.
Some kind of commotion disturbs their peace. Doors shutting and footsteps running and Haruka inwardly curses their shattered intimacy. And as the moon begins to retreat in the sky, she takes one last look at its magnificent sight and words a silent prayer.
With Michiru quietly humming as daily life begins to stir with the morning, her gratitude is beyond measure. And every day, as the moon bids her goodnight and rests to fight another day, Haruka basks in the strength she leaves in her wake and keeps her promise.
A promise she made with Michiru, long ago and one she'll never break.
As a soldier. As a guardian. As a sailor.
And deep within her, she also fulfils another promise she once made herself in the quietness of a moonless sky, this one as a lover.