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It had only been a few days since Maggie had gotten out of the hospital, but she couldn't stand being in her house another moment. It was suffocating. She was drowning in love. The first time she told her mother that she wanted to go out to lunch with a friend after Meredith's death the woman had nearly cried. Maggie knew that she should feel destroyed by her friend's murder -- and she did -- but she was also a survivor. She had lived a cushy, sheltered life. More than anything, Maggie just wanted to pretend that she still was just that: cushy, sheltered, normal. She mourned Meredith in private, but in public, she twittered and did everything possible to move on. What else could she do?

So after swearing to call every hour and be back before sundown, Maggie had left the house on the auspices of going to pick up some of the required reading for school. She took her time, walking slowly. Her phone had been blowing up since Meredith's death. No one would have known that Maggie was with her, but the newspaper ran a story on the death and mentioned another 14-year-old girl getting caught in the crossfire. Maggie twittered so much that everyone knew she was the one with Meredith before she even woke up in the hospital bed. A part of her liked the attention, and she was ashamed of that part, but mostly the constant texting prevented her from doing the one thing she wanted to do: move on.

Maggie popped into a CD store and picked up The Wanted's album. She usually bought everything on iTunes, but she still had a decent CD collection too. After that, she went to a makeup store and got four new lipglosses, bronzer (which she wasn't entirely sure how to use), and two new neon nail polishes. Two hours had passed, and she still hadn't made it to the book store. Maggie texted her mom to let her know that she was okay, and spotting a bench up ahead in the shade, she took a seat, piling her bags at her feet.

There was something about the bags at her feet that made Maggie begin to cry. The tears were slow silent. She sniffled against the decorative scarf around her neck, trying to hide her face in case anyone walked past. Thankfully, the bench was away from the majority of the foot traffic in the area. Maggie didn't know what to do with the feelings she held. Something like death was too big and scary for her to process. She hadn't even had any grandparents die yet -- both birth and step parents all still had living parents of their own. She had coasted through Destiny City without falling victims to the slings and arrows that took so many others down. And, in a way, she had done it again. Meredith had died in that alley, not her.

The girl's words still echoed in her head. She had not wanted to follow the boys. She had felt nervous. Maggie told herself it was pointless, but she could not stop blaming herself for it.

The rustle of plastic bags caught Maggie's attention. At first, she was afraid there might be a rat hidden inside them, but instead, she found herself meeting eyes with the fuzzy face of a tin fluff of cat. "Oh, kitty," she said instinctively. Maggie had wanted to get a kitten or a puppy for years, but her mom and stepdad told her that she had to prove that she was responsible enough. For the past four years, she continued to mess up just before they told her it was okay.

The tiny mewl it let out was precious, but Maggie hesitated to pick up the kitten. If it was feral, it could bite her. She could hear her mother's voice in her head talking about how street animals were riddled with disease. But this one... was wearing a hat? Before Maggie could process the hat, the tiny kitten began rubbing itself on her legs and -- oh, screw it, she needed a hug!

Reaching down, Maggie scooped the kitten into her arms and brought it to her chest, burying her face in its downy fur. It was obviously someone's pet -- probably a weird old lady who liked dressing up her cat like a little person. It's fur didn't stink at all. In fact, it smelled almost sweet, like warm bread and syrup. "I'll find your owner for you," she said, sobbing on the little kitty. "I just need a hug first." Her tears grew heavier, face hidden by the small merciful kitten.

The soft fluffy warmth of the snuggly kitten helped soothe Maggie's pain. She liked animals, always had. She was endlessly jealous of Miley Cyrus and her ability to adopt as many dogs as she wanted. Her mom and stepdad still wouldn't even let her get a kitten. The sobs racked her body so fiercely that she almost missed the tiny sounds coming from her chest.

Maggie fumbled for her cellphone. It hadn't sounded like her ringtone ("What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction), but sometimes when it was down in her pocket, the song got really muffled. Her left hand kept Derp close to her chest. With her other hand, she glanced to her phone: nothing. No texts, no missed calls.

The words that had been said filtered back to her, something about Derp and hugs. Maggie's sobs slowed. She put her cellphone away, placed one hand under each of Derp's armpits, and then held the kitten at arm's length away from her body. "Kitty, did you say something? If you said something, then I think I might have died in that alley too." She sniffled, eyes still red, but her face was one of confusion now.

---

Somewhere in Destiny City, Parker Damhnait perked up, catching the scent of pancakes on the wind, and smiled.

Maggie's fingers had managed to avoid the sticky patches. It was perhaps her deep need for a cuddle that had her ignoring her usual avoidance of street animals. But now this one was talking. "A cat is talking to me. You're a cat. I am either dead or crazy, and I think I'd rather be..." She didn't finish the statement. Maggie wasn't sure she could say she wanted to be dead, but she really didn't want to be crazy either. She just couldn't fathom how it was possible for a cat to be talking to her.

Unless... "This is a dream," she said, pulling Derp back to chest as the kitten adorably pawed the air. "That makes perfect sense. I never went shopping. My parents said no so I went upstairs to pout and fell asleep. It wouldn't be the first time. And then I had this dream where I got what I wanted, which is why an adorable cat showed up wearing an adorable hat and talked to me. I have been wanting a pet. This is just how my brain is working it out." As she spoke, she stroke Derp's fluffy kitten back, nodding along. What else was she supposed to think?

But what was senshi? Her mind had invented the word. "If I know it's a dream, that means I can control it now, right?" Right! Lucid dreaming. She had read an article about it.

Squeezing her eyes tightly, Maggie began to chant: "Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. He is my boyfriend. He is coming to see me. We are going to totally make out. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber." That was how it worked, right?

Maggie did not stop her gentle petting down Derp's soft fur. It was an unthinking gesture, a creature comfort. The fact that the kitten was cooing the name of Justin Bieber was only further validation that she was, in fact, dreaming. Still, no matter how hard she wished for it, Maggie didn't see Justin Bieber's tour bus breaking down in front of her bench.

That was usually how it went in her dreams. His tour bus would break down. A crowd would form. He would look helplessly out for rescue as girls pulled and clawed at him. Maggie, standing several feet away, would lock eyes with him. Her hair was always longer in these dreams, her breasts bigger. Justin would give her a sultry, helpless glance, and she would go to his side, somehow managing to free him from the onslaught of fans. Hand in hand, the two would run through the streets, looking for safety.

Finally, they would make it back to her house, just as it started to rain. Drenched and panting, he would help her up into her bedroom window, him tumbling in after her. Somehow he would end up landing on top of her. Eye contact again and then -- bam! -- intense make out session. It had happened in her dreams a hundred times. So why wasn't it happening now?

The kitten in her arms began to struggle free, eventually tumbling off the bench. "Oh no, kitty!" Maggie said, flailing forward to try and catch the fluff ball. The thump of something on the bench caught her attention. It was... a pen? And a phone?

Instinctively, Maggie picked up the phone, flipped it open, and said, "Hello, Justin? Justin?" There was no response, not even a dial tone. And the cat had said that word again.

"Why do you keep calling me that word -- why am I a "senshi" in this dream?"

Maggie didn't even know what the hell it meant. Was it dream gibberish?

A cool warrior? That was a dream scenario she had gone through before, but usually, she was wearing something a lot cooler than what she had on now. And was it just her... or did the tiny talking dream kitten seemed annoyed with her? The strange pen bumped against her side. Maybe it was the look in the lazy eyes of the kitten, or the confusion of the situation, but Maggie picked up the strange green and brown pen in her hand, rolling it around.

"This looks like a moldy pen," she said, wrinkling her nose at the colors. There was some kind of white marking on it, golden wings too -- what the hell kind of trippy pen was this? "Make up? Huh?"

"Auriga Power, MAAAAAKE UP~" Derp chirruped.

Huh. Maggie looked back down at the pen. Was this some sort of dream logic thing? She just had to listen to the talking cat, say the nonsense, and then she would become a superhero who Justin Bieber was in love with? WIth a shrug, Maggie got to her feet. She clutched the pen to her chest, closed her eyes, and said: "Auriga Power... maaaaaaaake up!"

A sudden gust of wind blew her hair out of her face. The world around her moved. She felt her arms twist and end -- had she spun in a circle? Teal eyes flashed open. Yes, it was true. She was standing in a totally different position, with one leg swept out to the side, a hand above her head, the other making a weird sign. Her eyes fell to her foot. It was no longer in a simple sandal, but was... a boot. A boot with a bug on the ankle. Maggie did not own these boots.

Straightening up, Maggie looked next to her hands, covered in gloves. Was she wearing a hood? Yes. And there was something over her mouth -- a gauzy mouth-veil? None of this was making sense. Usually she was Wonder Woman or Hermione Granger or Katniss Everdeen or Selena Gomez. It was a whole new costume this time around... and it was kind of in bad condition with rips. There was a bounce in her step as she sprinted over to the nearby playground -- empty of children but possessing a large full-body mirror.

This was what she saw:



Her eyes were wide, mouth open. Suddenly, with a feverish passion, Sailor Auriga turned to face the empty street and said, "JUSTIN? JUSTIN, WHERE ARE YOU?" Dream-boyfriend would clearly be around in no time at all!

It took Derpraline two hours to convince Maggie that this was not a dream. Part of the convincing had come when Maggie's mother called her, wondering where-the-hell she was. That was definitely not part of her dreams. In that time, Derp manage to -- somewhat clumsily -- explain that Auriga was the Senshi of Pestilence, that there were people called the Negaverse that would hurt her, people called the Dark Mirror Court that would hurt her, people called corrupted senshi that would hurt her, things called youma that would hurt her. It sounded like a lot of pain and suffering, actually.

After all of that, Maggie asked: "So, I'm, like, a superhero, right?"

Derp smiled (could cats smile?) and nodded: "Yup, yup!"

A triumphant look crossed the teenager's features. "Sweet." Now what would she do with these powers? Only time would tell.