He could almost reach out and feel it; to caress the cool blue-lavender silence between his fingertips. There was something comforting about it, the soft milky-blue aura half-hidden by its own shadow. He wanted to gather it with his two hands and spin it into a cloak to wrap around his shoulders, the sensation of brightly burning rain. The weight of it was familiar; flowing between his hands as he twisted it, pulling it about his shoulders. It... It felt right. But there was something missing, something –

The loud shriek of silence was deafening. Carter slowly opened his eyes and blinked once, twice. Where was he? He closed his eyes and tried to orient himself, first twisting to the left before twisting to the right, freeing himself from the twisted mire of blankets. He shivered, reaching down to snatch at the blankets he carelessly threw aside to bunch them again at his neck, waiting for... what?

Carter closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again. Why was it so bright? The green numbers on his clock announced that it was well into the second hour of the morning. A keen lack of the droning light proved that his ceiling light was off. He risked the chill the rub at his eyes and peer about the room. Where was the source of silence? The source of the light?

He twisted in his seat upon his bed, turning towards the window. His hand was risked again as it slipped out from under the covers to twitch the curtain aside, prompting the boy to inhale sharply between his teeth. The world outside his window had changed. Where the city was dark in brooding, its maleficent yellow-orange lights made to glare harsher by the sudden prin-prinks of senshi attacks was now... Different. Softly, without even the sound of a whisper flakes of snow were rapidly falling in the early morning, covering the city with a glow. The full winter solstice moon only served to bask everything in a near purifying light. His heart ached – was this what the Moon Kingdom looked like? A white city bathed in silver light, with a silence as soft as silk?

Carter shifted the blankets around his shoulders to a more comfortable position. How was he to know? He... The boy turned away from the window, wiggling out of the safety of warm blankets to slip out of bed. He shivered, shifting to walk on the balls of his feet in an attempt to stealthily pad over to a pile of clothes on the floor. Was it here? No. Here? He turned away from the pile of clothes to his closet, digging there before leaving that for his backpack. Here! Prize in hand, Carter retreated to his bed and once more settled himself in, clenching the cold object tightly. Soon it would warm up.

But... He shifted his blankets yet again and looked at his henshin pen. There was always a sensation of being cold with it: the metal itself always seemed to have its own chill. When he called upon his power to transform, to attack... Both were cold. But was it wrong to be cold? He twisted his henshin pen in his hands, staring at the gold doubloon emblem that adorned the top of it. His emblem. A doubloon, a pirate's coin.

It was funny, in a way. Carter wasn't fond of pirates. He grew up with Saturday morning superheros, cheering on the forces of Justice and Good as they Triumphed over Evil. Pirates... Where did pirates fit in? Certainly there were more villains than heros of that lot – plunder what you can, burn what you can't. More often then not their personalities were just as cold as the sea they sailed on.

No, wait – didn't pirates sail in the Caribbean where it was warm? Carter closed his eyes, pressing the doubloon against his forehead. Why was everything so complicated?! Why couldn't things be like they were before?

He opened his eyes and stared outside at the falling snow, sighing. There were too many questions that were unanswered. Too many questions that struck his being, too many questions that confused him.

The boy lowered himself back into a reclining position, curling himself as best as he could around his henshin pen. In all honesty, he felt... lost. He ached for the feeling of comfort and safety that sleep brought him, as fleeting as it came and left. One day he would find what he sought, be it answers or himself. He just needed to keep looking.