Curiosity
Silver wings flapped in the wind, the majestic creature that owned them doing a graceful spin in the air before allowing them to open to their full width. If someone happened to glance skywards, they would admit to having seen an angel or an incredibly large bird. She was neither of these things... In truth, she was the result of sacrifice and death, not from just the planet she had once called home, but across the entire Galaxy. She was the last of a race that had died a long time before the ten thousand year war, long before the formation of Crystal Tokyo, and long before her rebirth in the 20th Century on Earth. Oh yes... the war that she had neither won nor lost.
Scanning the Earth below, she tried to understand why she had returned here, as if she felt obligated to protect the world from further harm while the ten star crystals that inhabited this world made their journey across space. Five years had come and gone since the disappearance of the Sailor Senshi, new warriors having taken up the call to arms. Like the Sailor Senshi, they too had suffered, and it broke her heart to see such strong, youthful minds filled with so much regret, sorrow, and doubt. Yes, they'd always answer the call for battle, but some were less willing than others, only doing so because of the close bond he had with his fellow companions.
If Galaxia had not taken them, would the Sailor Guardians and Ronin Warriors have had an easier time dealing with their enemies. Something felt connected, as if there had been an ulterior motive at keeping them apart. As the Guardian of the Cosmos, she saw traces of the terrible evil that had tried to take over the world, so similar to what Beryl had done during the Silver Millennium and five years previously. Yes, the physical scars might have healed, but she sensed the planet's and her current protectors' pain and fear, the desperation in the select few that had somehow taken up the fight the Sailor Guardians would have continued had Galaxia not taken them. Like Sailor Moon and her friends, they too felt the weariness of the never ending struggle between good and evil.
The warriors, both in the mortal realm and the immortal one, she sensed them and the connection of their armor, their powers and the close resemblance it had to the ten former guardians of the Terran system. The only key difference is that the Sailor Guardian's power came from the planets themselves, while the armor of the Ronin Warriors came from both the planets and the armor. Pausing in mid-air, she froze, suddenly understanding what had happened, and the future that should have never come to pass. No, she didn't understand fully the past memories that had yet to return to the Sailor Guardians, and that had mainly resulted from never encountering the Nine Ronin Warriors and Lady Kayura.
So the real threat had never been Beryl or her master. No, they had been a mere distraction, despite how powerful and difficult they had been for the Sailor Guardians. The five that guarded the mortal realm were like the Inner Senshi of Sailor Moon's court, while the four that guarded the Netherworld were the counterparts to the outer senshi. The two groups should have never met under normal circumstances, but nothing about their lives had ever been normal. And yet she sensed something missing from the warriors, as if one had fallen from their numbers. Her eyes saddened. She knew this level of sacrifice all too well, and she wondered if this would cause a problem with the balance and the future that had resulted as a result of them not being placed with the Sailor Senshi. Was this a mere coincidence, or something far more sinister at work?
A single tear slid down her pale cheeks, and she cursed the fates for what it had created, the enemies that none of them knew or had yet to fight. The Sailor Guardians and Ronin Warriors were destined to fight at each others' sides, not apart. She had traveled in the past in hopes of Sailor Moon ending a war that she failed to complete herself, very much like Suzunaki had done with the Ronin Warriors, and neither had managed to sway them from their path, or their destinies as warriors for the mortal and immortal worlds. Until now, she hadn't understood the sacrifice Sailor Moon had made, why she had chosen to jump into the Cauldron rather than destroying it. How had her past self become so powerful, or was that something that had been altered due to the meddling of her mother and their enemies?
Sailor Moon had become so courageous, so defiant... Sighing, she closed her silver eyes and re-opened them, noting the small and large clouds floating around her. Some were fluffy and harmless, while others contained small amounts of moisture that would later become the thunderstorms she had been so afraid of as Sailor Moon. As Cosmos, she feared next to nothing. Reaching out to touch one, she failed to sense the danger almost too late, turning barely to dodge a powerful arrow. This wasn't a mortal made weapon, but one made of pure star energy.
Aqua blue eyes narrowed in frustration, another arrow already formed in his bow. Fear or anger should have been her reaction to his attack, but she already knew he saw her as an enemy from the darkness. Unlike most mortal males, he didn't allow her inhuman like beauty to distract him... instead it had the opposite effect on him, seeing her as an even greater threat that if she were disfigured, ordinary, or even ugly. His armor seemed like it had come from the older world, an era that had long since passed from the current century they now lived. Why did he feel strangely familiar to her? Would she have been able to remember easier if she wasn't so much older than her past self? Only a thousand years separated them at this particular point in time, but she was from the far, distant future, having seen the rise and fall of Crystal Tokyo, the destruction of Earth and all its inhabitants before her enemy had moved on throughout the Terran System and the Galaxy.
Despite the fact that he had engaged her in combat, she didn't bother to fight back, having easily twirled out of the way, her wings creating a flurry of cold air, which pushed him back. His second arrow prepped and ready to fire, he hesitated. If she were truly from the Dynasty, shouldn't she have already done something to stop him? Was she underestimating him as an opponent and his abilities? Growling, star energy already began to form around the arrow, "Lady, the first shot was a warning."
If he thought to anger or provoke her, she simply tilted her head in annoyed amusement, a small uplift of her lips the only indication that she felt anything at all. "A second or third will not find their mark any more than the first," she foretold. She was probably right, her wings making her incredibly fast and impossible for his friends to contend with, even Ryo. Her tone didn't seem at all disturbed that he had an arrow pointed at her chest, sparking a sense of fear inside of him. To her knowledge, humans had never gained the ability to fly, confirming her theory that the Ronin Warriors were not human at all, but something more. Only one had been human, and he had died, that knowledge tugging at the back of her mind.
This particular warrior was different than his other companions. How was it that he was the only one of the nine that had the ability to fly? Gritting his teeth, he fought against her compulsion to lower his weapon, and retreated, her silver eyes flashed with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity. Any other mortal would have fled at the thought of her, let alone engaging in combat with her. However, he not only ignored her strong compulsion to leave, gifted to her by Sailor Mars, but he was struggling against the dark aura that belonged to Sailor Saturn, the one that had triggered his instinct to fight in the first place.
"The Dynasty never gives up," he snarled, his entire body trembling at the effort it took to keep his weapon raised and aimed at her. Why wasn't he firing at her already? The first shot had been so easy, but that had been before she had turned to face him, her silver eyes regarding him as if she knew his every thought, hope, dream, fear, and sorrow. "Why can't the lot of you just leave Earth and us alone?" he shouted.
Suddenly she was behind him, her words whispering like a breeze against his right ear. "If I so desired, all of humanity would vanish without me so much as lifting a finger, both the mortal and immortal one. The explosion this planet would make upon her destruction, would take out all of the Terran System and more. You seem to think you know who or what I am, but in reality you have absolutely no concept of what it had taken, the sacrifices made, the destruction and death across the Galaxy required for me to exist. I am the last warrior, the living proof of the hatred and greed that created a ten thousand year war that will have no victor," she hissed with a cold rage. "Are you so willing to risk the total annihilation of this timeline, the human race, and the existence of those that currently protect this world because of a false and reckless assumption?"
He tried to turn his head, struggling to meet her gaze, and when he finally succeeded, he found himself immobilized with terror, despair, and hate. On the surface, she seemed calm, but Tulpa compared to this woman, was child's play. She wasn't boasting or bragging about her power; this woman had stated a simple fact, a warning in her message. He knew then that she did have the ability to destroy his world, and the fact that she had not, had him filled with confusion and frustration, his fingers losing their grip on the energy arrow and allowing it to dissipate.
Her body shifted, moving until she hovered directly in front of him. White wings gently brushed against his face and neck, a contrast to the cold fury that swirled in her silver gaze. She was his enemy... wasn't she? Why couldn't he pull away from her? Some of the anger faded from her eyes, as if she were trying to figure something out. "You intrigue me, Rowen of the Strata? What are you and why do I feel as if the future that I wish to stop was nothing more than a cruel joke? No human would continuously try to fight my compulsion to fight and withdraw... even now I feel you struggling to take back up your weapon."
He felt the wave of compulsion wash over him... it hurt to fight her, but he was not so weak minded that he'd give in to her. Rowen sensed her need for answers, and as stupid or petty as it was, he refused to give them. Rowen hated the Dynasty and everything that it had taken from him, his innocence, his youth, his hopes and dreams as a normal boy. He had no delusions that he'd forever exist as a guardian for the mortal realm, but that didn't make his choice any easier to accept on an emotional level. Lady Kayura and the three remaining warlords were supposed to be watching over the Netherworld, so how had she gotten out and why had they not tried to take responsibility if she truly was an enemy?
Rowen, at that moment, knew that his friends had no way of fighting this woman, and he'd rather die than expose them to the danger she represented. Blue eyes, blazing with defiance, stared back at her silver eyes... once again he found himself hesitating. He saw neither good or evil, but something close to how the Warlords and the Ronin Warriors felt.
"I have existed for a long time, have traveled back through time in hopes of ending a ten thousand year war... How have we never crossed paths? Why were we separated from the nine of you? I don't understand." He heard the sadness in her voice, and he almost relented, barely clinging to his resolve to keep his mouth shut. You are stronger than you realize, Rowen of the Strata, different from the others. Why do you hide it from them? You are 'not' a follower, but a leader in your own right. Why did you place yourself in such a position, to allow Ryo of the Wildfire to shoulder the full weight and responsibility of the Nine Warriors?"
How the hell had she figured the out? It wasn't that he didn't want to lead, but everyone always looked to Ryo for answers, and his recklessness and quick temper had him leaping without looking first... so he had always supported his decisions rather than try to stop or force him to submit to logic. It was true, that when the Warlords had captured his friends, he alone had evaded the Dynasty to regroup with Ryo, and he could have easily taken charge then, but instead he simply supported his friend and followed him in combat. When he did make a decision, he rarely even asked for permission, he simply made it.
He was aware that he had a dormant power inside of him, and feared releasing it. That is why he chose not to lead, to remain calm and level headed rather than allowing his emotions to guide him. Who or what the hell was she? A small part of him almost knew, but this wasn't her original state of being, as if something horrible had created her. He saw the suffering in the gaze staring back at him, the hate and regret, the guilt and pain... so much emotion, and one wouldn't have realized she was feeling it at all unless they had a direct encounter with her.
"I will not destroy you or this world, Rowen of the Strata. Rather, you intrigue me, presenting more questions than answers to the why our lives had somehow not crossed paths. The destiny presented to us was a false one, and I'm very close to restoring it to the path it should have been from the very beginning." As quickly as she had appeared before him, she was gone, white feathers floating around him like snowflakes.
She appeared beside the ten star crystals, knowing it would be several centuries before their return to Earth. With Sailor Pluto's power, she had the ability to alter time and the destinies that had somehow been chosen for them. Something had changed it, an enemy that the time guardian had not seen. Perhaps she had been too young at the time to have sensed the threat, or was it the silver crystal and the wish her mother had made? It was too late for herself... she had already lived that future, and despite the possibility that Endymion shouldn't have been her husband, or the King of Crystal Tokyo, she had still loved him.
The pain of losing him and the Sailor Guardians was suffocating her, and she released a strangled cry, one that she had vowed to never release after their sacrifices. As she had faced off against Rowen of the Strata, she knew that those sacrifices would have never occurred if they had been in the same timeline as the Ronin Warriors. The awakening of the Sailor Senshi shouldn't have happened as earlier as it had, and something had sent Beryl and her master back into the mortal world prematurely.
If she reset the timeline to the way it should have been, will the future of Crystal Tokyo still happen? She wouldn't know unless she returned to the time gates, and she refused to go back there. Perhaps if she made decisions without knowing the result, another path would open before them. Sailor Moon of the past had yet to fully choose Endymion, and she wouldn't have even considered the option if she had not become the Moon Warrior so soon after her resurrection on Earth. If she had met the Ronin Warriors, would she have had a stronger connection to one of them? How much of Sailor Moon's decisions were the result of duty and obligation? Did she really want the future of Crystal Tokyo, or was that the decision made because she had seen a future that shouldn't have made its way to her? Did Sailor Moon have a free will of her own? Did any of them? Other than a thousand year old 'story' of fated lovers, none of them had ever really had had a chance to find love, or if there even was a possibility for something deeper.
The Warlords and Ronin Warriors were the same. Ryo of the Wildfire had briefly tried to open his heart for affection and love, to simply lose her to the evil that he often had to face. He had not tried again, relying on his connection to the other four entirely. They were all he had, and he was desperate to hold on to them. The moment the Sailor Guardians had seen 'that' future, they had not once considered another possibility. As a result, Crystal Tokyo had become an 'absolute' rather than a possibility.
Another fact that had Sailor Cosmos doubt the future she came from... So many times Endymion had been compelled to turn away from Serenity, to turn against her by their enemies. If he had 'truly' loved her, that should have never happened. Endymion had considered breaking up with her prior to seeing that future, but his sense of honor and responsibility had given him a false sense of obligation to Serenity when he had seen Chibi-Usagi of Crystal Tokyo. They had grown attached to her, and it only strengthened their resolve to accept the future presented to them in order not to lose her. Endymion might very well choose to break up with her again if he had another alternative, one that didn't involve killing her, and for the first time, Sailor Cosmos doubted that Endymion loved her as much as he should at this current point in their lives.
The fact that Sailor Pluto had allowed that child to slip into the past enraged Sailor Cosmos. However, was she not guilty of the same crime, trying to influence her past self to destroy the Cauldron and the future she had come from? Shaking her head, she knew she wasn't the same. She had never asked Sailor Moon to travel forward in time to fight her battles; an enemy that shouldn't have existed in the first place. Even if she had existed, they might have actually stood a chance as a unified force with the Ronin Warriors and Warlords. Her eyes widened. That was it! Somehow Chaos had gone back in time, to the point of the Silver Alliance, altering the flow of time as her mother pushed them into the future for a second chance.
Serenity had known something was off when she had started to develop feelings for one of the Star Lights. That meant that Endymion wasn't her 'true' soul mate! Their decisions had all been made around that one future, a future created because of Sailor Chaos's interference and manipulations. That future would only lead to death, and she was the 'end' result of that path. She was tired of being alone, she was tired of an impossible battle that had no future regardless if she won wrapping her long wings around her body, she released a cry of pure despair, unaware that it would reach through to the sleeping Moon Guardian.
A change had begun, the hints of silver at the tips of her long, golden hair. Her wings were still broken and covered in blood, Sailor Cosmos staring back at her with anguish and regret. The tears slid down her cheeks; "Why... why do you fight so hard for an impossible future?"
"I fight for a future; it just hasn't necessarily been the right one." Sailor Cosmos stilled, startled at her past selves realization and acceptance of the truth that she had just learned with her encounter on Earth. Sailor Moon's eyes closed, and for a moment, Cosmos thought that she might have fallen back asleep. She shouldn't have even awakened yet, not until they arrived in 30th Century Tokyo. However, when she spoke, Cosmos knew Serenity was fighting her own battle, her voice filled with sorrow and regret. During her journey across space, she had come to understand that if she continued on their current path; her friends would die, and she'd become the woman that now stood before them.
"I had my doubts about Endymion and myself for some time now... I love Chibi-Usagi, even if she was a troublesome child at times. I kept asking myself if we would have stayed together if we hadn't seen Crystal Tokyo or her. We were so different, he was so much older, and our energies do not align with one another. My enemies always went after him, and it was always too easy for them to corrupt his heart and mind. Maybe he couldn't have fought it, but I want to believe that if he had truly loved me, that his heart would not have so easily turned away to the darkness. No... I know that he doesn't hate me, but his strong sense of honor, duty, and obligation will over write anything he might truly desire for himself. The enemies from the future... from your future... Would they exist if I find an alternative path, one without Endymion as my husband, or as the King of Crystal Tokyo? I never found the answers to my questions, nor do I know if changing the future is the right choice or if I even have the right. I do know that if we choose that path, the future is nothing but darkness and I'd rather have them hate my selfish desire to see them happy and walking another path, than to self-sacrifice themselves so they can give me the power I need to fight a never-ending battle. My soul existence is for them; I cannot fight to fullest potential without them, nor should I ever have to face that option."
Despite the spell that bound the Sailor Guardians, Sailor Moon reached for the lonely warrior before her, their fingers intertwining; "I'm tired... and I don't want them to die anymore.. I will consider another path... I might not have always gotten along with my adoptive family, but they once told me that what we need is not always in alignment with what we want. And as for Sailor Chibi Usagi; she's not mine..."
Cosmos stilled, her silver eyes going wide in shock. "How..."
"I'm not angry; I think I knew from the beginning, and I'm tired of destiny deciding our fates and never giving us a choice on who we wish to marry or love. I don't even think we have our full memories of the past, and until we are free of conflict, and our emotions are not confused and influenced by the 'heat of the moment,' I will not allow any of us to fight again."
When had her past self become so powerful, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well? "I..." she replied, her energy quickly fading. She couldn't fight the compulsion to sleep for much longer; "...will not allow the Sailor Guardians to tie themselves to me for century after century, always protecting me and never finding someone for themselves. I want them happy, and I want them free to choose the life they truly want. If it is to fight as a Sailor Guardian, then I will accept their help with gratitude and honor; if they wish to stand down, I will embrace their choice and support their responsibilities with everything that I am and forever keep the memories we have shared close to my heart. They are my friends, and I love them, and I think I've confused my love for the Prince of Earth. It is no different than how I feel towards the other Sailor Guardians and that is not fair to my friends, Endymion, or you."
"Sailor Moon..."
"It's okay; I trust you. Let us change 'our' dark future..."
"Stop protecting everyone!" Cosmos screamed, her tears now a torrent of rage and anguish. "Why can't you simply protect yourself?"
"That's not who I am and who knows that better than you," she whispered. "My mother should have never wished upon the silver crystal... Chibi-Usagi should have never come back from the future... I should have never based my hopes and dreams on a future that I shouldn't have seen. I had different dreams once... and I almost forgot them... I promise... I will become stronger, not just for them, but for myself as well... That future will not happen..."
And in a flash, the ten Sailor Guardians shot forwards, appearing in a time that was much sooner than the 30th century; to the same timeline as the Ronin Warriors. Sailor Cosmos knew then that if the future was to change and all of them were to have a chance, it would be with the help of the Warlords and Ronin Warriors.
To protect them, Sailor Moon placed a barrier that matched their elements around them, to be broken only when their true soul mate found and freed them. At that time, they would have a choice to find each other, or forge a new destiny free of obligation and loneliness. Cosmos made a vow, watching them vanish, that she'd find their soul mates and protect them. If Sailor Chaos ever discovered that Sailor Moon had discovered the truth behind their dark futures, she'd destroy them long before they ever crossed paths.