“Ceres… Vesta… Juno… Pallas… Helios… No…”

Sailor Moon looked around at the bodies of her fallen comrades and lover, her eyes burning with unshed tears. She dropped to her knees beside Helios and began shaking him by the shoulders.

“Helios, wake up,” she begged. “Please, open your eyes.”

“He will never open his eyes again, Sailor Moon,” the enemy -- a man who called himself the Sandman -- said. “Neither will your friends. I have cursed them to an everlasting slumber, but you shouldn’t grieve for them. They aren’t dead, after all; they will continue to live on forever inside their most precious dreams.”

Fists clenched at her side, she rose back to her feet and turned to confront the Sandman. “That isn’t living!” she said. “Now remove the curse, right now.”

“Of course, I’d be more than happy to awaken your friends from their dreams for the right price. Hand it over, and the curse will be lifted.”

“You will never lay a finger on the Pink Moon Crystal.”

“Such a stubborn girl. Is protecting that crystal more important to you than saving the ones you love?”

“My friends would never forgive me if I let you have it.”

“Then you will doom them to a lifetime of unending dreams?”

“No, if you won’t do it, then I’ll just break it myself!”

Sailor Moon called her wand to her hands. Though she had never tried anything like this before, the words came immediately to her.

“MOON DREAM BEAM!”

Five beams of light emanated from the wand, hitting each of the bodies laying on the floor. At first, it didn’t seem to have any effect, but one-by-one, their eyes fluttered open, and they stood back up, joining Sailor Moon as she prepared to launch her final attack.

“Sweet dreams, Sandman!”

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. Written for the “Sailor Secret Garlic Attack” challenge at the “sailormoonland” community at Livejournal.