[R] Old and New [Hypnos x Goretti]

[Appeal]

It was hard to take a month off when you had a destiny to fulfill. However, there was simply no way to fight in a war when you were unconscious in a hospital with pneumonia and then under strict bed rest orders. Sure, the bed rest orders might have been easy enough to ignore but having the energy to power up and run around the city was a whole other story. She had decided to regain her health since it was important to all of the hopes and dreams she had even if they had been mostly shattered.

Somewhere.

Somewhere out there was a dream for the senshi of sleep.

"Salutations," she replied gently as she came into view from out behind a tree.

Kyuseisha no Hikari

 

[Appeal]

A young boy and girl sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet up alone in the park? Yeah, that was totally better.

Icy blue eyes followed Goretti as he trotted toward her with his barely contained excitement. Uncertainty covered her face as a question crossed her mind. When was the last time she felt that sort of excitement? She couldn't rememer but it must have been a long time ago. Her uncertainty settled to a slight frown that spread across her lips, her hands crossing over each other over her lap.

"I am Hypnos and I am entrusted with the gift of sleep," she said, introducing herself with an emotional certainty that suggested she had rehearsed those very words for a long time. "I am nearing the end of my third year but alas, Goretti of Glue, I am not nearly as strong as the dreams that led me here."  

[Appeal]

Three years was more than enough time to witness her share of misery and then some. Three years was more than enough time to gain many regrets at such a young age. Three years was enough time to become lost in a world that fought so hard to crush all of your hopes and dreams. It was enough time to begin questioning herself and her journey as a senshi. She couldn't deny herself but how could she bear it all?

"Thank you," she said softly. It seemed that she was running on manners and nothing more.

Hypnos wondered if she even knew how to get stronger. She wondered if these buttwings were just an illusion of cruelty. She didn't feel stronger and she didn't seem to have any stronger magic. Was she even capable of giving this sort of answer? Pity seemed to cause the child to chuckle, her arms wrapping around her torso. Do the strongest bear of pain or know when to walk away?

"The stronger you get the deeper down the rabbit hole you will end up. Is it worth it? Is it worth all the pain? The misery? For a goal you may never reach? If you leave, no one will notice or think ill of you. If you stay, will your actions even mean anything? Will you be able to change the world? Protect anyone?" She said, her eyes forming tears at this rate that she quickly brushed away, trying not to shy her glance away from the boy.

"You cannot force growth upon yourself, and believe me I have tried. It will happen when you're ready for it and not a moment before. Is that unknown worth the price? You could die before that chance even arrives. Is it worth leaving behind a loved one in tears? It isn't just youma that go bump in the night, and they might leave you for worse wear."

And some youma will just take your dreams to the grave.  

[Appeal]

Hypnos shifted uneasily as Goretti replied to her questions. He said that he usually went out with other people but did that really make it any better? It had taken quite a few senshi, a leopard and a guardian cat to save her from the from Negaverse Agent that had ever attacked her and even then General-Queen Laurelite survived to kill another day. Sometimes she still had nightmares about it.

"It's not always enough, and it you are putting yourself in danger simply to deal with the youma of the city then you are fighting a lost cause. Civilians can dust youma to protect themselves if the youma is weak enough and if the youma is strong enough you might not be able to do anything. In the end, you are just scratching the surface. We're not the pest control of the city, and behind the youma is a stronger force that commands them."

She once believed she was helping top, even if just a little bit but just like that another senshi had come and destroyed what she believed in. Maybe that was just the tile that knocked over the rest but currently thy was the freshest memory. She couldn't forget all the pain she held within her small body though, and if she could she wanted to stop him from following in her footsteps because she wasn't all right. She looked up at the stars on the sky and the hope that once twinkles seemed to be shadowed by the darkness of the night. She tried to fight it but in response she was given pneumonia.

She forced a smile onto her face, "Everything is fine."

Nothing was really fine though.  

[Appeal]

Hypnos' eyes felt hazy but hearing Goretti say he was happy to fight youma caused her eyes to shoot directly at him. How could he say that? How could he go from not wanting to fight to being happy about fighting youma? Hypnos didn't understand and her expression shifted to a different kind of pain. She was a little upset and equally confused.

"I thought you said you didn't want to fight and yet you are happy to kill youma? That shouldn't make you happy... It shouldn't make you happy at all." she said, her voice a mixture of displeasure and sorrow.

"I have been in the war too long to leave now. I have tried to escape before but I was unsuccessful. I have things I need to do, and lost friends who still have things to ask of me. If you value your friends and family, you still have time to put it all behind you before you fall too deep into the rabbit hole, and before you too lose things important to you that you can not walk away from. There will always be more senshi, and I can take care of things. It's not too late for you," she replied softly, kicking her rabbit foot into the ground softly.  

[Appeal]

Hypnos listened, and tried to understand, but her face fell and she bit down on her lower lip as she looked away from Goretti. Arms wrapped around her body, she looked at the ground with sorrow. Shaking her head a bit, she wasn't sure what she was going to say. She felt so alone, and the closer she tried to get to people the further away from them she felt. She was hesitant but open to meeting Goretti earlier but now she felt distanced by their opposite beliefs and her worry for his safety.

Sometimes you just couldn't save people. Sometimes it felt like she never could. She had these gifts but what good did they do? She was unable to save anyone and only got hurt in the process. She couldn't even use her experience to help someone else escape this life. She didn't want anyone to have this life but Goretti didn't seem to care. It was fine to spare a bug's life but a youma or his life was something else? Hypnos didn't understand. Why were boys so complicated?

She didn't have anything to say.

"Do what you must then, and so will I."

Kyuseisha no Hikari

 

[Appeal]

Wasn't that what every little boy wanted? To be a superhero? It was probably like arguing with a wall and in the end Hypnos would only make a fool out of herself. It wouldn't go anywhere and with a sigh Hypnos simply said nothing in reply to his speech. At least, not until he made a promise he couldn't possibly keep.

"You... can't promise that..." she said softly. "You can't promise you'll be safe."

She crossed her arms, and shifted her weight. She didn't say anything else but her expression lowered and it spoke the words she couldn't. She wanted to save youma, to put them into a situation where they wouldn't be hurt or hurt anyone but was that possible? She had been making progress with Bazzite but he had died, turned to dust in front of her very eyes.

Kyuseisha no Hikari