Anymore… it was becoming hard to tell what was an actual night patrol and what was a figment. For the figments were beginning to feel just almost indistinguishable from the nights she patrolled for real. There were bruises she’d stare at some afternoons while sitting through lecture, ones she’d try to remember which they’d come from. Actual battle or late night flailing. She’d started to make a note of them.. the real battles, on a piece of paper in her dresser. Shorthand symbols just so she knew it was real.

It was getting hard to know what was real. She was just so tired all the time. Even school seemed like a dream.. the normal life seeming so mundane that she could barely believe it was tangible.

All she knew was that she dreaded falling asleep anymore.. dreaded laying down in those once familiar and soft sheets. It hurt in her sleep. It hurt when she was awake. Sometimes it was just that… the realization mid dream that she couldn’t possibly be getting a** so constantly and violently handed to her that stirred her from her nightmare, lifting her from the bed with fingers dug deep into the sweat covered sheets. Other times, she could only wish she’d wake up.

****

The night air was cold and crisp on her lungs, a stark difference from the warm weather the budding spring days were beginning to bring. She could feel the tingle in her chest as she moved through the night, trying to ignore thoughts about how cold her stomach should be. Or any other thoughts about her new fuku. She still felt the need to pull her hands over her exposed torso whenever male or even seemingly curious eyes were in the area. Polaris had become dreadfully aware of just how see through the rest of her outfit was once that protective swatch of white had disappeared.

The sound of rustling caused the senshi to pivot, and then she was fighting. If she’d had to chase it down she could not or did not remember. There was just blackness, blackness that stretched lengths far taller than her, that bellowed sounds loud enough to make her clench her teeth, blackness that carried black claws like knives slashing through the air towards her. She was quick, thank god, quick enough to dodge the first couple of swipes. She could hear her heartbeats, her breathes, the other sounds of the night falling out of focus as she focused on the task at hand.

WHAM.

The air violently fled her lungs as she careened into wall, having only noticed that she’d been hit seconds before her flung body crashed against the unforgiving brick. If there had been air she would have screamed as the pain screamed through her shoulder, racing through her ribs and spine like a shockwave. As it was, she simply tried to suck in air, making horrible squeaks as she tried to decide which pain was worse. The screaming lungs begging for air or the ribs that throbbed with each expansion.

She didn’t have long to think however, as knife like claws pierced her ankle, her body being ripped from the sidewalk as if she were a paper doll, before being promptly introduced to the asphalt. Atleast both sides ached evenly now.

The blood was warm on her leg, seeping through the ivory boots that usually protected her. Warm on her lips too, she realized as she curled up to try and protect herself from the next blow. It needed to stop… she needed it to stop. Metal began to fly around her and the dark thing. She hadn’t even realized she’d said the words that’d make that happen.

Metal creaked and groaned, it tinked and crashed as it hit each other. The monster bellowed as a stop sign impaled it. Polaris peeked. Something huge crashed into the monster.. a iron bench was it..? She closed her eyes as she recognized the path it was taking after it’s richocet, body pulling instinctively move into it’s ball, flinching only when her back screamed again in protest. Her eyes flew open along with her mouth as the solid piece of furniture crushed her, limbs loosening.

The monster was nothing but dust, a sight that almost brought tears to her eyes. She lay, not caring for the moment that her body was pinned beneath the heavy metal, not noticing until she looked down a moment later that one pain was far greater than the rest. The leg of the bench wasn’t laying on her chest as she’d originally assumed. It was laying through it, warm red seeping up around the leg as the cold night crept up her fingers and toes.

She struggled a little, stopping when the searing pain ripped through her. She tried to lift a hand to help in the task, letting it fall back to the side in exhaustion after a few seconds. She could feel the blood bubbling from her mouth again, the warmth spreading across her chest as her limbs grew cold, eyes losing focus. Her fuku had disappeared, leaving nothing but a dying girl in her nightie behind in the cold street. She was watching herself from above now, or rather the image of her father and youngest brother standing over her body. One tiny hand wrapped in a large one. Grief she could only remember seeing at her mother’s funeral etched on the faces of the shattered figures.

Her eyes burned.

Strange that she’d notice that, with everything else that ached through her body.

****

Even when she awoke and the pains of the night terror began to fade, she could feel that. The burning of her eyes.