Sailor Chibi Hypnos was crying so hard that she could barely hear the apologetic words that Cora told her as she apologized to her over and over. All the child could hear was her own sobs, the sorrow that flew down her cheeks and dropped over her lap. Her thoughts could only think of one thing: the sadness that filled her over watching Mister Birdy disappear into nothing but a pile of feathers in her arms. She could only wonder why they did this. What did Mister Birdy ever do to them? If she had only come a little bit sooner... her arms clung tighter to the feathers, her sobs becoming more and more desperate. Her friend! Her friends, why did they always disappear? Why could she never stop it? She wished, and willed her small bird friend to come back. There were so many worries for the small child that she did not even notice the change in aura that Quail's Realm was facing and soon she was expelled from the realm.
There were so many tears that even when the child woke up after being expelled from Quail's Realm that her pillow was drenched, her face soaked. Any adult would have assumed the child had been having night terrors, nightmares -- which wasn't far from the truth. She didn't want to open her eyes, the tears sliding down her cheeks and onto her pillow. She didn't want to leave Mister Birdy behind! He still needed her! She couldn't let it end like that, she couldn't fail him like that. It took a few minutes, but the child soon realized there was something different. She wasn't on the ground anymore, she was in her bed. She couldn't believe it was just a nightmare though, it was too real. She didn't want to believe her friend wasn't real, and finally after she opened her eyes and seen the pink eyes of Cora staring back at her with such sadness she knew it hadn't been. Cora had been there. She didn't see her but she had heard her.
As Cora nudged her way closer to the small child, Ainsley didn't move. After a moment though she slowly opened her eyes though, her icy blue ones meeting the bright pink ones of Cora. She just stared at Cora with sad and tear-filled eyes. She couldn't manage to get words out, no, it was too difficult to get anything out that was more than a mixed up grumbled of sobs and sounds. Instead she just continued to stare at the cat while she nudged even closer, her mind filled with the same thoughts: Why had they done that to Mister Birdy? What had he ever done to deserve that... She couldn't stop thinking about it, which only made her sob more. All the pain that he had suffered though, all the cries and realization that they weren't going to stop until they got what they wanted. They got what they wanted, but the price had been high. Ainsley just didn't understand but she knew her friend had disappeared, turned into nothing but feathers in the wind. She wanted to believe he was okay, he said everyone would be okay. No one would die. He said so! Why did that happen to him!
"Mister Birdy..." she whimpered, her hands uncurling from the clenched position they had been in earlier and when they did something slipped out from between her two hands. She felt it, it tickled. What was that? The child was distracted for a moment, and her hands began to pat down the bed for the fallen item. Where did it go? Had she been imagining things? It had felt like a feather. She had to be imagining things right? It felt like one of Mister Birdy's feathers. It couldn't be right? She had to make sure. If there was a feather here then maybe Mister Birdy was okay, somewhere! Hope in her face again, she found the feather and lightly grasped it in her hands. She wasn't imagining it!
"Mister Birdy... you're... you're okay somewhere. Right? This is a sign, right?" She whispered to it.
The child smiled a little as hope began to fill back into her. It wasn't all hopeless. Mister Birdy had given her a sign to tell her that he was okay, that it was just like he had said: everyone would be okay. It had kept his word! Smiling for a moment as she thought, she decided. She'd make a necklace out of the feather right away in the morning and wear it so Mister Birdy would be able to find her.
"If you can hear me Mister Birdy... I'll take care of it. I promise. So please, please be okay. I'll find you, I promise!"
She had been talking to a feather, which wasn't entirely unusual for Ainsley. She hoped Mister Birdy could hear her through it. It certainly wasn't unusual logic for the child.
"Everything's okay," she said softly to Cora.
Promises and hope, the child gave a couple more sniffles as she tucked the feather safely away and wrapped her arms around Cora. Everything would be okay and with that the child could dream again: while asleep and awake.
