I was drenched from head-to-toe.

I had no idea how long I had been sitting on that bench, thinking back on his words. My wet clothes clung to my body like a second skin, and as I reached up to wipe my face of the rain -- or was it tears? -- my fingers became inked with black from the mascara running down my cheeks.

I let out a bitter laugh, wondering what Hawkseye and Tigerseye would say if they could see me now, but I wasn’t ready to face them yet, knowing I had let them down after promising I would find the Golden Crystal that could prevent us from returning to our animal forms. Zirconia was going to be furious when she found out that I had failed once again to find the beautiful dream where Pegasus had taken refuge.

Dreams. Hrmph.

What was so special about dreams anyway? They were only figments of humans’ overactive imaginations, foolish wishes that more than likely would never come true.

Dreams were important to Mamo-chan, though. I fought back another round of tears as I remembered him telling me that he couldn’t love somebody who didn’t possess a beautiful dream like that blonde girlfriend of his did.

If I did possess the ability to dream, I knew what mine would be. Tigerseye, Hawkseye, and I would all be human, really human, and Mamo-chan would be my boyfriend. It wasn’t much, but I knew I would be happy if I had that kind of life.

But who was I kidding? That was never going to happen. We were going to be transformed back into our original forms by night’s end, and Mamo-chan would soon forget he had ever met me. Nobody would miss me when I was gone.

DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Any comments or criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com. First place winner of the “Speechless” challenge at the “sailormoonland” community at Livejournal.