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Nine nights out of ten, Tara Kavanaugh had nightmares. Nightmares of totally made-up scenarios were bad enough, but those were almost peaceful compared to the ones that were memories of actual events. The fire that killed the Zodiacs. Defending the Surrounding. Fighting youma. Becoming a youma. And, most terrifying and therefore most frequent, that day in the science lab. Her dreams were so full of flames and guns and monsters that being awake was often more restful than sleeping was.

Birds did not often appear in her dreams, so when one did, she was interested. Especially when chasing it yielded nothing. There was no way that she was making conscious decisions in these dreams- if she could, she would choose not to dream at all- but it seemed like she was trying very hard to catch it, or at least follow it, even though that didn't accomplish anything. Except for the nightmare ending abruptly, which was always welcome and possibly the reason she continued in her futile chase. After a while, she could identify the bird as a quail, and even get close to it, and that was enough. Her dreams had become interesting, and the quail provided a Get Out Of Nightmares Free card that was greatly appreciated. Actually catching the bird had become secondary.

Until she actually did it, and everything changed. Sailor Aquarius looked around the field with a strange feeling of déjà vu. She had been there before, or someplace very similar, but she couldn't remember where or when. The surroundings, despite their tranquility, inspired a faint feeling of fear in the back of her mind, though that might have been her reflex reaction to dreams of any sort. As nightmares went, this was downright charming. She looked for the quail, eyes widening as she saw a young man instead. She blinked, and the quail was there again. "Thank you," she whispered, trying to enjoy the scenery and the serenity. If only every night could be like this.

Still, something was still making her uneasy. At first she thought it was a mental thing. Only once her back started throbbing did she realize that it was physical. "Ow. Ow ow ow ow owwwwwwwwwwww!" Her initial thoughts about this being charming were retracted as she bent over, trying to reach her back to feel what was going on, to make it stop somehow. By the time she had figured it out, it was far too late to do anything about it. Something burst free, and for one horrific moment Aquarius thought that she was turning into a youma again. It was the only thing she could think of that would hurt like that, and change her so drastically.

Her fingers were still inching towards her spine, but instead of meeting scales or spikes as she had feared, they brushed against soft feathers. Something twitched in her back, and the tip of a wing came into view. That was much nicer than what she had been expecting, but it was still possible that she was turning into a youma. A very human youma with wings, but a youma nonetheless. She tried to catch the visible wing, but it stayed just out of reach, and for several moments she looked like a dog chasing its tail as she spun around, grabbing for the end and missing by an inch or two. Her back twitched again, and when the other wing came into view, it occurred to her that she was going about this the wrong way.

Actually thinking about what her body was doing was hard for Aquarius, but she focused on the muscles in her back. They twitched, and one of the wings obligingly came within reach. She stroked the white feathers, which seemed to glow with opalescent colors in the light, and a shiver ran down her spine as she felt the sensation not only in her fingers, but in the the wings themselves. They felt real. Experimentally, she tugged on a single feather and winced as a stab of pain shot through the new appendage. She could feel the wings, and control them (sort of), and it hurt when she hurt them. Did that make them real? And if so, how? Was she a youma, or was something else going on?

Stroking the wing that she'd accidentally hurt, Aquarius sat down in the grass, letting the tall blades tickle her shins and stomach. As usual, she suffered from a lack of information on which to base a hypothesis. As she looked around, she remembered the quail and pointed wildly, though after everything that had happened she had lost track of where it was. "Wait, where did you go? I want to ask you something!" Not that asking a bird questions made any sense, but neither did randomly sprouting wings, so she decided to just go with her instincts on this one.

With all the recent encounters with monsters in the city, it was starting to affect her dreams. Each night her imagination would come up with a new creature to attack her. However, unlike how things worked in everyday, the girl was able to run about and flee. It didn't really help, seeing as these monsters were able to catch up to her with little effort.

It was odd though. Each time she'd notice an odd chubby bird. At first she couldn't even tell what it was, but felt the need to protect it from the monsters.

It was a wonderful reprieve, since each time she'd wake up.

However, she soon enough found herself able to get closer. And closer. One evening the chubby bird was close enough for her to touch before she woke up.

Tonight probably wasn't going to be any different. A large white beast with deep red eyes and a large tail was chasing her, lashing its long tail at her almost like a lion tamer would crack a whip. The chubby little bird was there, seeming to beg for her to cradle it in her arms.

"I-i'll... I'll save you, birdy..." With that squeaky battle cry, she reached out. She would be waking up...

...but she didn't. Her fingers barely even grazed the little animal's body before her own nightmarish dreams seemed to melt away. Instead, everything had faded into a beautiful field.

No chubby bird at hand, but rather it had shuffled forward before it seemed to vanish.

In its place was a boy.

Timidly she attempted to approach him. "...um... e-excuse me... um... c-could... could I ask you something?"

A couple steps and soon enough she fell to her knees after a very sudden burst of pain shot through her back.

And then the pain was gone. Though, there was an odd feeling. It almost felt like an itch. She didn't even bother to stand up, but soon enough something soft brushed up against her arm.

Hmmm?

Turning to look, she soon enough found a pair of wings that were white flecked in black, just like a budgerigar.

"...whaaaaaaaat?" she almost whimpered out as she experimentally attempted to move the wing carefully.

Open

Her wings fanned out.

Close

Her wings awkwardly trembled shut.