(back-dated solo, to happen after "turning your world upside down" and before the Elysion Meta Plot)

Sunlight illuminated the foggy haze that spread just above the ground level of what could only be described as a sparse forest. The air was heavy with moisture and smelled strongly of a passing rain storm, made even more evident by the way scattered water droplets clung to over-grown ivy. The abundant vines were everywhere, leaching the life away of the few trees that stood in the field's wake. They stubbornly continued to grow skyward, limbs only visible and freed from the ivy's dense grip near their height's end. Some even hid inside a span of low-lying clouds.

These were the first impressions of a nameless planet in which Sailor Alcyone, super senshi of storms, received when she opened her eyes. It had been only a week since she'd traveled with Atlas to his own namesake's star. With the help of his gentle goading she had eventually built enough courage to summon her phone and give in to that melody that pulsed within her heart, beckoning her to come back to an ancient home at long last. It only took a push of a button, and she was no longer in the safe confinements of her Sovereign Heights dorm room.

She stood on land that felt much like the grass on Earth, and with an atmosphere just as humid. It was a pleasant surprise to find that she did not reel and fall from a shift in gravity like she had on the upside-down tower of Atlas. Had she not felt the tug of phenomenal cosmic travel, Alcyone might have believed that she was in fact still on the blue planet she had grown so much to love in this life time, had it not been for a few subtle differences.

The air was tinged with the scent of some sort of spice, or perhaps it was some kind of alien flower in bloom. It was similar to the fragrant threads of saffron her father occasionally garnished on rice and soups. It was also warm, and comfortably so. Destiny City was still covered in a thin blanket of snow, and for someone who couldn't change her scanty henshin attire regardless of the season, it was a welcoming change to endure.

Most noticeably, though, was the utter lack of sound. Besides her own steady breathing and the rustling of leaves, the forest carried on without a single trill of a song bird. It caused Alcyone's skin to prickle in nervous goose-bumps. Never before had she stood in a space so silent, and it put her on edge. It didn't help that the branches were so bare of their own leaves or of silken lanterns swinging in the breeze.

Nevermind where that last thought had come from, for that matter.

With a quickening heart beat, the brunette picked a direction at random and began her journey westward. There weren't any defining landmarks that stood out beyond the rolling hills and evergreen before her, which made for a long and uneventful walk. By the time she reached a clearing of sorts, where trees sparsely dotted besides her imaginary pathway, the sun had moved a couple of hours' worth closer to the horizon line. And just below that...

It was a wonder she hadn't been able to see them until that moment, their shadows extending for what seemed like miles beneath her guiding sun. There were five all together, built in the same row with enough space between them to fit the length of a few city commuter buses. As Alcyone trekked towards them, she could distinctly make out the sound and smell of water crashing against an embankment nearby. The waves became louder with each hurried step; there was a desperation pulling at her like a heavy magnet, as though she couldn't get to the colossal structures fast enough.

By the time she finally reached them she was skidding to a stop from a flat out run. She had leaped and maneuvered around fallen wooden beams and dowel rods that littered the ground, the planks just as immense as the platforms they had fallen from. The scene was like the wreckage leftover from a natural disaster, leaving only the bases to stand on their own in proud defiance. Even then, she knew. They were not meant to be easily defeated by weather, as they were sculpted and crafted by only the best hands and with the best materials that could be found in the Cluster.

This was more than just a disaster. This was the fall of a way of life.

Alcyone lifted a hand and touched the stone that created the foundation of the fallen windmill. The base itself was only a few feet taller than her, made of a precious metal that resembled a hardy stone, though she couldn't tell for sure if it was. It had been carved with an all-too familiar decorative flare that her fingers traced over, and looking up, she could see the few planks of sturdy wood leaning against each other like the frame of a teepee. They were now homes of indigenous moss and other algae blown in from the sea.

Whatever fabric used to harness wind with taught sails were long gone, along with the same lanterns she'd thought of before.

Her hand moved away from the designs and-- with a heavy heart --heaved a sigh as she dropped to her knees. There was a lot of wind coming from the ocean tide and it whipped her face with the tendrils of her own curly hair. It stung her cheeks, but that didn't matter. Whatever she had just remembered left her in such a state of anguish, as though she'd just learned the death of a loved one. Only it was much more than that; this used to be a town.

She could see it now, if she thought hard enough: it was small and charming, and mostly made of farmers. They grew aromatic herbs and spices that doused the village in a pleasant and spicy scent, and they cultivated vegetable dyes and cotton to make textiles. It wasn't uncommon to see sheets of colorful fabric rippling in the air as people tested the pigments of their last crop. It was a setting in which she'd always find herself thinking of whenever she traveled away from home.

And just like that, it was gone.

"How could this have happened? How could we possibly have let this happen?" Alcyone questioned aloud. It had been her responsibility to protect, but was she even around for this? Or had she failed? She turned her body and allowed herself to lean against the stone, dropping her hands to her sides and digging her fingers into the earth. Her view was of the ocean in the distance, with the sun just beginning to set. It was her star, her source of power, and larger than the sun of Earth. It was older, too, evident only through her memories, though looking at it then wasn't any different. They were the only things left untouched by...

Well. Whatever had happened.

One of her fingers encountered a slim and solid object that was well on its way to being buried in the ground. Lifting it out and brushing away loose dirt revealed it to be a silver coin, about the size of an American 50 cent. Etched on one side was a simple depiction of the Pleiades star cluster, with emphasize on one of the lower stars. The other side carried a ship of some kind, floating on its own without a single wave to navigate through. While it might not have been intentional, Alcyone related to the image entirely too well.

"Stars, I'll go back home." She said, playing with the coin on the palm of her hand. "Ship, and I'll wander more."

She must have uttered those words before, Alcyone thought, as she flipped the coin and caught it with the back of her hand. Moving her other hand aside, she couldn't help but smile: her streak continued through into this life as well. "She'd be happy to know."

Though who that was, exactly, she didn't know.