Hello, everyone! I know that I have other stories that are in the works (and they will get updated, I promise!) however, this story is fully complete - as in I wrote the entire thing before posting the first chapter! There are some changes that need to be made to the last quarter of the story but I should have the story complete on Fanfiction before I leave for Australia on July 1st. I'm super excited about this story because I've never written a story from start to finish before posting! I've only ever been one or two chapters ahead of posting schedule. Big thanks to my best friend who uploaded the document for me because my computer was not feeling uploading chapters over 4,000 words. Is anyone else having this problem?
This story was inspired by watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and being generally obsessed with Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, I have posted this story under Sailor Moon x Avengers because there are no stories under Sailor Moon x AOS and I didn't want to go through the trouble. This story contains SPOILERS for Episode 7 forward for AOS as well as Captain American: Winter Soldier and both Avengers movies. The Age of Ultron spoilers should not start until the end of the story. This story will be rated M after Act 1!
Lastly, I do not own AOS, Sailor Moon or anything affiliated with these things. If you recognize it, it does not belong to me.
Without further ado: "In Which Agent Grant Douglas Ward Changes Sides For Love"
Act 1.
May 2012
He first saw her when he was called in to handle the New York Incident. A beautiful warrior with long, silver hair stepped from the top of a thirty-story building, landing gracefully on the ground came between a group of children and a particularly vicious Chitauri that he had been trying to defend them from.
"You'll not touch them, vermin," she spat. Her hands were at her hips, and she seemed to radiate a powerful, warm, glow. The alien gaped at her, almost mesmerized. Or maybe it was in terror. Grant didn't know.
"Get out of here, lady, you'll only get hurt," he yelled, firing off three more well aimed shots.
Before he could blink all ten of the nearby Chitauri were incapacitated, on the ground, motionless. She turned back towards him, without emotion and then darted towards Agent Romanov, a blonde woman and Captain America. He watched as she and the one with the bow darted away at an inhuman speed and climbed expertly up the side of a building.
He fancied himself impressed.
July 2013
The second time he met her she took him by surprise. She looked familiar, like he had seen her before, as she stepped into the elevator diplomatically along with a woman with long white blonde hair trailing behind her. Her suit was all white, with a pale rose blouse beneath, an odd color choice for someone who worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. White was not stealthy, and it was not inconspicuous. But no matter that, the white suited her immensely. She settled next to him in the back of the elevator silent with her friend.
He watched as Agent Sitwell the baldheaded one with glasses, greeted her and gave her a sickening smile. Garrett might have been a good man, but Sitwell reminded Ward of the type of guy who kicked children on the roadside.
"Agent Queen, Agent Aino."
"Agent Sitwell," she greeted back. "How is your wife?" she asked in a lilting accent.
Sitwell's smile widened, "As good as she always is, Agent Queen."
He tried not to stare but it was difficult. She was so beautiful that it was almost hard to look at her. Her hair looked as though it was spun from fine silk. Her skin was porcelain, with rosy cheeks and full, blood red lips. Her lashes were thick and long. She had a small frame, he surmised, she was about six feet tall but willowy and thin by his approximation. She cleared her throat lightly.
He hadn't been as good at keeping his looks as secret as he thought.
Agent Queen.
November 2013
The third time they crossed paths was at The Hub. Victoria Hand was a stern woman, one who was beautiful, but cold, similar to Agent Melinda May. Hand was standing in the Command Center, barking orders as they readied for their mission to South Ossetia.
"So there's no extraction plan?" Ward asked. Hand had told him personally, and hadn't told the male of the science twins. Clearly, she didn't think he would be able to deal with the pressure of possible annihilation after the mission.
"Not exactly."
Ward raised an eyebrow.
"We have two agents stationed in South Ossetia already, deep undercover in case something like this happened. They are your extraction plan."
Ward narrowed his eyes, "Really?" he asked skeptically, "There could be hundreds of enemies in that compound, and you're telling me to trust the extraction of myself and my squint to two undercover agents?"
Hand gave him a hard look, "I'm telling you that they are your extraction plan, and they won't fail, so you had better not fail either"
"Well, who is it? Barton? Romanov?" asked Ward sarcastically. Two agents? This must have been why Garrett hated Hand so much. He had been looking for a reason to put a bullet in her brain for years. Right now he certainly couldn't blame his S.O.
Hand sighed before throwing two files at him and crossing her arms, "Show some respect, and maybe I won't shoot you for you insubordination next time."
Ward looked down at the papers in his hand.
CLASSIFIED they read in large red letters. Half of the information was redacted, but some was still legible.
Queen, Serenity. Aino, Mina.
His interest was peaked, but his annoyance was too. Hand was entrusting their extraction to two girls? They didn't look old enough to have even graduated from The Academy!
Name: Aino, Mina.
Height: 5"10'
Weight: 114 lbs
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Birth Date: 22 October 1992
Birth Place: London, England.
Level: 9 Classified
It went on to talk about the strained relationship with her parents, her stellar physical record, and her great ability with languages. But also talked about her less than superior school grades (okay, but not excellent), but her excellent ability for kinesthetic memorization and her ability to solve logic problems on her exams. She'd been educated at Wycombe Abbey School for Young Ladies until she had moved to Japan. She'd been the number one volleyball player in Japan at the High School level, and had apparently declined a position on the Olympic team when she was fifteen. While she had been born in London, it looked like she had spent only two years in Japan. He frowned. She didn't really look Asian. She had never attended S.H.I.E.L.D. academy. She'd gone on to graduate from Dartmouth's music and theater program with honors and had been a member of Delta Gamma. He put down the file and opened the one he really wanted to see.
Name: Queen, Serenity
Height: 5"9'
Weight: 103 lbs
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Grey
Birth Date: 30 June 1993
Birth Place: Johannesburg, South Africa
Level: 9 Classified
It seemed that Agent Queen was an asset to S.H.I.E.L.D. She had been born in South Africa but had only lived there until she was 14, then moved to the Juuban district of Tokyo, Japan. Before that she had attended an undisclosed boarding school in Switzerland before a public school in Japan. So they attended school together. She hadn't excelled in school for most of her life until she had reached high school. She was good at sports, particularly track, field hockey and gymnastics. Her entire family had died in a fire when she was sixteen, which had apparently destroyed half of her district of Tokyo, after which she moved in with the Mizuno family. She'd been engaged, until the guy suddenly disappeared, presumed dead. She'd graduated from Dartmouth the same year as her friend from the Political Science and History program with honors. She'd also been a member of Delta Gamma. It seemed like the two girls did nearly everything together, something he found suspicious. There was nothing particularly special about her. So why was she his extraction plan?
Ward stroked his chin. He was curious. And Garrett probably would be too. He needed to call his former S.O.
When she and the other one had come in to extract he and Fitz, he had been as close to amazed as he had ever been. She and the Aino girl had cleared the floor in under three and a half minutes, something he wasn't even sure Romanov would have been able to do. She was in a white body suit, guns in both hands, guns strapped to both legs, and had her hair (which he had noticed usually was tied back into two balls with streamers nearly as long as her) pulled back into an extremely neat, long, tight braid. She'd seemed to have dropped from a metal bar on the ceiling and took to the ground calmly incapacitating anyone who got in her way. The Aino girl had followed behind her, with her back pressed to agent Queen's. They worked together beautifully. They were clearly partners.
"That was awesome!" the Scottish engineer exclaimed in awe.
The blonde with the red bow shrugged, "Anything a man can do, we can do better. In Heels. Backwards. Ginger Rogers said that."
"Can we catch a ride?" Queen asked as she jumped nearly five feet in the air and pulled Fitz up onto the bus. "Looks like we won't be heading back to this joint anytime soon."
"Too bad," said the other girl, "Boris was quite attractive."
"You're in a relationship, you sloot," said Queen, "What would Steve say?"
"I can look at the menu without touching," exclaimed Aino, "And boy am I looking."
The silver haired one sighed and put her hands on the girl's shoulder, "That's 'look at the menu without ordering', V-babe. You're killing me with your manglement of the English language."
"Who is she?" Skye whispered to Fitz.
"That's classified," said FitzSimmons.
"We don't really even know," said Jemma.
"How can a person be classified?" Skye said in annoyance.
They both shrugged.
"My name is Mina Aino, by the way," said the one with the big red bow. "I'm level 8."
"I'm Serenity Queen," said the other one, "Also level 8."
"Is it nice being level 8?" Skye asked sarcastically.
"Very," smirked Queen.
"Anyone trying to go out tonight?" the one with the bow called, "There's this club in London – Boujis."
Fitz gaped, "We can't get in there!"
Simmons nodded fervently, "No one gets into Boujis."
"You know clubs?" asked Skye in disbelief then added in surprise, "You two are old enough to drink?"
Fitz gave an offended look, "I'm Scottish!" he shouted, as if that explained everything.
"So is that a yes?"
"I get into Boujis," said Aino solidly.
"I could blow off some steam," agreed the silver haired one.
"Remember what happened the last time you blew off steam?" teased Agent Aino.
"Whoa," said Agent Queen, "Let's not discuss that."
"No," smiled Skye, "Let's."
"Have you ever heard of Sorority Crush? S brought the whole SigEp pledge class as dates."
"Stop!" exclaimed Agent Queen, putting her hand over Agent Aino's mouth.
"We should do shots tonight," said Fitz briskly.
Simmons groaned and covered her eyes while Skye gave a shocked look, "You do shots?"
"I'm Scottish!"
"Whiskey!" cheered Agent Aino.
"Whiskey!" agreed Fitz.
"Ugh," groaned Agent Queen.
A few hours later, they walked to the front of the line at Boujis, much to the annoyance of the line, where people cried out in anger. May and Coulson had decided to stay in, but the rest decided to dress up. Jemma was covering her sides uncomfortably. Aino had lent her a very small and very revealing dress.
"Miss Queen," said the bouncer happily, "I heard you were coming. Come on in. Any friend of the boss is a friend of mine!"
Agent Queen smiled and she and Agent Aino danced in and straight to the bar.
"Who wants a shot?" cheered Agent Aino.
"I'll take one, Aino!" said Skye as she opened her wallet.
"It's on the house!" yelled Agent Queen over the bass, "We drink free. And call us Mina and Serenity."
"Who's ready to get fucked up?" screamed Mina as she thrust shots into everyone's hands.
Ward gave her a look of annoyance. "What is this?"
Mina knocked it back and cheered, "It's fucking whiskey. We don't drink pussy shit!"
Ward looked skeptical, but Serenity and Mina cheered and clinked their glasses together.
"Take a shot!" Mina screamed.
"Take a shot!" Serenity screamed.
"Take a goddamn shot!" they yelled together, "Take a shot like only an DG can! If you can't take a shot like a DG can, then get that shot out of your mother-fucking hand!" They both downed them and then raised the second set of glasses and downed them. Both girls cheered.
"You're going to end up on your ass by the end of the night," said Jemma, "drunk, vomiting, possibly dead."
"I'll take a Long Island Iced Tea, and six shots of Fireball."
"I don't like Fireball," said Skye.
"Ha!" barked Serenity, "Those are for me, and I am not sharing."
Suddenly she perked up, "Oh my god! I love this song. Dance with me!" she and Mina grabbed Skye and Simmons and dragged them to the dance floor.
"Wait, I like this song too," yelled Skye over the heavy bass as Serenity and Mina went between taking shots and dancing wildly.
About forty-five minutes later, the members of Coulson's team were watching mesmerized as Serenity and Mina danced, and had coherent conversation with others.
"How many drinks has she had?" asked Skye.
"Er – about ten, by my approximation," said Simmons.
"Bloody hell!" cursed Fitz, "I can't even do that!"
"Maybe it will all catch up to her in like fifteen minutes," suggested Skye.
"Nope," disagreed Ward as they watched her trapeze back to the bar and walk back with a whole bottle of tequila.
"She wouldn't," gaped Jemma.
"She damn well shouldn't," said Ward in annoyance.
"I have to see this," laughed Skye as she ambled over. "Are you going to share that?" she asked with a laugh.
Serenity gave her a look, "Possibly." Then she lifted the bottle and let the liquor fall straight into her open mouth. Around her, people started cheering as she kept gulping.
"Are you human?" asked Skye seriously.
"I went raving in college," yelled Serenity, "This is nothing!"
Mina started laughing hysterically as the two girls danced, "We were so bad in college."
"Bad does not even begin to describe how we were in college."
"You wouldn't think it," began Mina, "But Dartmouth has a serious party scene."
"Yeah," Serenity agreed, "Everyone was so rich. There was so much alcohol – and drugs."
Ward rolled his eyes. Of course.
Skye's jaw dropped, "You did drugs? How do you even party at a school like Dartmouth?"
Serenity laughed, "Everyone did drugs. Dartmouth is in New Hampshire – all you can do is drink and do drugs, study for exams and go to raves, so that's what we all did. And we were in the Greek System – we got away with so much shit - Mina once did a line of blow off a toilet seat before an exam and they let her get away with it."
"Shut up! You aren't supposed to tell people that! This bitch was strung out on molly and crashed a boat."
"Oh my god!" laughed Serenity, "You should have seen Victoria that night. She was a crazy bitch for real!"
"Victoria?" asked Ward curiously.
"Hand," Serenity clarified, "She's my big. She was blacklisted from a frat for stealing the president's Range Rover and crashing it into the side of the frat house."
"She couldn't handle her liquor," agreed Mina, "Great at raves though."
Skye and Fitz looked impressed. Ward looked annoyingly stern, as usual.
They left the club at around three in the morning. Jemma was tipsy, Ward was nearing sober (someone had to be responsible), and Skye and Fitz were near to dead as they fell into a cab. Serenity and Mina seemed to be fine, but no one could be sure.
"How do you do it?" slurred Skye as she vomited into the toilet. "This sucks."
"Ha!" Mina laughed, "We're too srat to care!" She cheered and lifted the bottle again to take another shot.
Ward gave a look of disgust, "You're not going to wake up in the morning."
"I will be totally fine," disagreed Mina. "Is there tomato juice in the fridge?"
Fitz and Skye woke at around 1 in the afternoon that day.
"Wakey wakey," she sang quietly next to Fitz.
"Stop shouting," he moaned miserably.
Mina sat there with bloody marys. "Hair of the dog that bit you," she said as she passed them the drinks. "Trust me, it helps."
They left that morning leaving Fitz, Jemma and Skye with new friends and Ward with suspicions.
November 2013
The next time he met her was in London. She had been called to investigate the Beserker staff, and help the team locate its whereabouts. Apparently she was very good at locating alien objects. He didn't quite understand what Coulson had meant by that, but he went along with it. She walked in, white cigarette pants, and white blazer, eyes full of conviction, followed by the blonde who always seemed to have a big, red bow in her hair, and two cats.
Skye crinkled her nose at FitzSimmons' sudden excitement to see a their new friends again and the less apathetic look from May. Ward looked like his normal robotic self.
Phil smiled softly when she took a dainty step onto the bus. "Your Hi-"
She gave him a sharp look, "Phil. We're friends aren't we? I've told you a million and one times to call me Serenity."
Phil smiled a little wider, "Of course. Serenity, Mina; it's good to see you. We need your help."
"I heard," Mina said, "that the pieces of the Beserker staff have been found."
The black cat jumped onto the hood of the black SUV and stretched. "It's a shame –really. I thought they were hidden quite well."
Simmons gaped at the cat.
"That cat," Fitz said.
"It talked!" Simmons said.
"Where's-"
"Sleepy!"
The two ran off to the lab behind them.
Mina cocked her head to the side. "Are they always so….?"
Skye snorted, "And worse, even."
"Let's jump the bandwagon," said Mina as she got ready to climb the stairs.
Serenity sighed, "That's ready to roll, V-babe."
Mina shrugged and followed May up the stairs.
"So have you ever cut your hair?" asked Skye as she followed Serenity up the stairs, "Cause you'd make Locks of Love pretty happy."
"So tell me about the information you have so far," Serenity said in the direction of the group, "But first – do you have any food?"
"So which one is it?" asked Mina
"The tall one," Serenity responded near silently as the two sat in the cargo hold.
"He's handsome."
"Yeah," agreed Serenity, "He's very handsome. But he's cold. We've met several times now and though I can feel him looking at me, he never says anything."
"Maybe he's intimidated," Mina said, "You're very beautiful and he might be a bit nervous."
Serenity narrowed her eyes in thought. She had considered that of course but had written it away quickly because Ward seemed to be good at schooling his features.
"How strong is the sliver?"
"Very strong," said Serenity. "It's taken him over almost completely. Any later than this, and we would have come in contact with some very real and very serious issues."
"At the end then?" questioned Mina as the two stood.
"At the end," Serenity agreed.
Queen and Aino cracked their knuckles. Agent Ward had taken down a few of the men, but now there was a whole gang of them storming into the church. Queen rolled her neck and back before fist bumping Agent Aino.
"Break," she said. The two girls jumped inhumanly fast to either sides of the pews. Queen jumped into the air, pushing her weight onto the overhead rectory and then finally landing behind the growing group.
"Surprise boys," said Aino, as she punched the first man straight in the eyes. Queen blocked a punch, ducked, rolled, and then stuck her leg out to trip one man, using his weight to grab his collar and then fling him over her head and straight into two other men. She then, without looking shot another man in the leg, ducked and blocked a punch before grabbing a tapestry and using it as a counterbalance to land on another one of the men.
Aino was wielding the golden chain that Ward had seen her using in South Ossetia liberally. She flung it around a man's waist, yanked and flew him into a stone wall before pulling the chain off of him and wrapping it around a beam in the ceiling and jumping up to kick a man straight in the head. She jumped off, landing in a perfect crouch to duck a man's attack. She tripped him, jabbed him in the eyes, and then slammed his head straight into the wall.
In less then thirty seconds, all fifteen of the men that had stormed in were completely unable to attack again. As they stood over the incapacitated young people Agent Queen sighed deeply.
Agent Aino sighed, "That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I still have stress tension in my back."
Both Aino and Queen snapped their necks towards each other.
"Does this mean…?" asked Queen.
"It sure the fuck does," replied Aino.
"Thirty second dance party!" the two cheered simultaneously.
Queen whipped out her phone. "Which-" began Queen.
"Duh," said Aino.
"Of course," agreed Queen as she pressed play on her iPhone.
Jemma and Skye looked at the two girls in confusion.
"What are you-"
"Where do you go with your broken heart in tow?" sang Queen.
"What do you do with the left over you?"
"How do you know when to let go?"
"Look me in the eye and tell me you don't find me attractive!" sang Aino as the two jumped around the church, throwing their hands in the air and shaking their bodies while bobbing their heads.
Fitz furrowed his brows.
"Where does the good go?" asked Aino.
"Where does the good go?" asked Queen.
Then they both abruptly stopped dancing, high fived, straightened their tops and then turned towards the team.
"What in God's name were you doing?" asked Phil.
Queen shrugged, "Thirty second dance party," she answered as they put cuffs on all of the perpetrators.
"It's a tradition we've had since we were younger. Any stress, or tension, or stupid boys – we dance it out," continued Aino.
"Or drink tequila," supplied Queen.
"Or drink tequila," agreed Aino.
"Thirty seconds of dance a day keeps the brain sane," Queen said.
Ward just glared.
They sat in the car silently on the way back from the mission. Mina had insisted on driving in the car with Coulson, May and Skye, claiming that she was getting romantic vibes from every angle. Serenity had rolled her eyes in annoyance and agreed to head to the hotel in a separate vehicle with Agent Grant Ward. He was driving. She was silent. He felt uncomfortable. There was something about her that made him uneasy. Was it her beauty? He had never had a response like this to a woman before. And weakness wasn't allowed. Something inside him flared but it was shoved down before he could even recognize what it was.
"You shouldn't be so angry."
Ward didn't move a muscle.
"I know you're frightened. You don't like the way the Beserker staff made you feel. And you're afraid to hold it again."
"I'm not afraid."
"You should be. You are full of anger, Agent Ward. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to chaos." They walked up the lift and onto the bus and were surrounded by emptiness. The rest had yet to return.
"You don't know anything about me," Grant said in annoyance.
"I know more than you think that I do," she continued with her eyes facing forward, "Grant Douglas Ward. Born in Wayland, Massachusetts. Brother of Christian Ward, Republican Senator of Massachusetts. S.H.I.E.L.D. specialist in combat and espionage trained under John Garrett." Serenity turned to him mechanically, "Sleeper Agent for HYDRA under the command of said John Garrett, alias The Clairvoyant."
Ward reacted quickly, leaping to incapacitate her in order to save his cover.
He never reached his target.
"Do you know why I took this mission, Agent Ward?" Serenity said as she held his throat in a chokehold. "I don't give a damn about the Beserker staff. Humans always burn out when they get their hands on it. It would have passed – but you… I knew about you the moment I met you in New York all those months ago. I came for you," she whispered in his ear.
Suddenly May and Coulson followed by Skye, and FitzSimmons were on the bus and staring at them with gaping mouths. Mina looked undeterred.
"Serenity, why are you trying to kill my Agent?" Coulson said with his hand on his weapon.
"Chaos," she spat, "a sliver of Chaos resides in this mortal."
"Mortal?" Skye asked in confusion, "I'm confused."
"What's a Chaos?" asked May.
Phil looked at Serenity in alarm, "But Ward is-"
Serenity threw him to the ground with a foot to his throat. He could barely breathe. And she was too heavy to throw. How could he be held down by a hundred-pound slip of a girl?
"Ward is HYDRA." Serenity said evenly.
"That's ridiculous-" began Skye.
"But none the less, it is true," said Mina, as she held a pen in her hand. "Venus Eternal Power!" Suddenly, in Mina's place was a woman with a short orange skirt and a golden belt with hearts. A chain appeared in her hands and wrapped Ward entirely. Ward gasped for air as the weight on his throat disappeared.
"You could have killed him!" yelled Simmons rushing over, only to be swiftly stopped by Mina.
Ward's eyes turned red and his voice became almost demonic as a violet spirit rose around him.
"Cosmic Moon Power!"
It all seemed to happen in a hurry. One second, Grant was nearly demonic with a violet colored form of evil curling around his form, and the next he was lying on the ground panting, and near death in exhaustion.
"I need an explanation of why I shouldn't shoot you between the eyes right now," May said dangerously with a gun cocked and pointed at his face.
Ward looked confused before the one they knew was Serenity stopped her. "Put him on a bed and start him on an IV and a banana bag. He needs rest and fluids. I can explain."
Once Ward was on the bed Serenity turned to them. He was asleep as soon as he hit the sheets.
"I'm sorry for the deception. I assume you know of me."
Fitz looked at her in wonder, "You're Sailor Cosmos. You helped in the New York incident."
"Sailor Mercury is the reason I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. officially!" Simmons cried excitedly. Then she relaxed, "But what about Ward?"
The one they now called Cosmos looked into the sleeping eyes of Agent Grant Ward. "He is a good man at heart, only mislead. What you all may not know is that eight years ago the world nearly ended."
Phil knew this story and stayed quiet.
"I am Cosmos, Queen of the Stars, Guardian of Light, Keeper of the Balance, Archduchess of the Holy Lunarian Empire, Crowned Princess of the Silver Millennium," she continued without inflection, "Ten years ago I came into my powers, a clumsy and unremarkable fourteen year old child. When I was sixteen-"
"You're only twenty-four?" asked Fitz.
"I am as old as the Universe itself." Cosmos responded, "When I was sixteen, I finally met Chaos, the one I had been unknowingly fighting against for my entire existence. Chaos is the ultimate evil. Whereas I am the purest form of Light, the strongest being of purity, innocence and good, Chaos, is pure Darkness, evil to the core. Chaos is my archenemy, although only because of the way that he goes about his actions. He hunts me, day and night trying to acquire my strength, and for that I do not necessarily blame him. Because you see, where there is light, there is darkness, and darkness will always crave the light. Chaos has possessed many to lure me in. Chaos wants to bring me pain. He kills my friends, my family… my lover. Because all he wants, all he has ever wanted, was me."
"What do you mean, wanted you?" asked Skye, "Like to kill you?"
Cosmos smiled sadly, "I wish he wanted to kill me. No – Chaos wants to own me, possess me, control me. He wants to tie me to him, and acquire the light. Just as he has wanted my mother, and her mother before her. He is obsessed with me."
"But what does this have to do with Ward?" asked Skye.
Simmons sighed, having already figured it out.
"I defeated Chaos when I was 16. I sacrificed my life in order to drive him back to The Galaxy Cauldron, where all life is born. While Chaos is defeated, and he is weak and has very little power, he managed to keep himself alive. For the last eight years I have been hunting down the missing pieces of Chaos that were already within human souls when he was defeated. Those pieces were not part of him when I defeated him. Thus they were not driven to the bottom of The Galaxy Cauldron. They lived on."
"So you're saying that Chaos lived inside of Ward?" May asked, making sure she had followed Cosmos correctly.
Serenity nodded. "Yes. Chaos was within Agent Ward, shaping his life for more than fifteen years." Serenity continued on, "Everything that Chaos knows, I know, in order to keep the balance. But everything I know, Chaos knows. Chaos knew of… my lover, Prince Endymion. He killed him. And since that day, he has successfully killed him over and over again."
"I say it now with great reluctance. Each being in this universe has a star seed, a life force that gives them their soul, makes their character, and makes them fall in love. Normal humans have normal star seeds. They have small shadows but are usually unlivable to Chaos, as they have high quantities of light. Humans by nature are creatures of light – of happiness. Chaos can only possess people that have equal amounts of both darkness and light, or almost all darkness. He prefers to take control of those who have almost no light in their star seeds, because it gives him more control. As the purest form of light, he cannot possess me at all. I have no darkness within my star seed. That is why he wants me so desperately – I am the only thing he cannot have. It drives him to near insanity. In order to make me feel the pain he has been feeling for millions of years he hunts down Potentials."
Even FitzSimmons looked confused.
Cosmos looked at Agent Ward, who was still fast asleep.
"He's a Potential, isn't he?" asked May.
"He is the Potential," corrected Cosmos, "He is the last one. The only one left." Sensing questions were about to be asked she continued swiftly, "Rebirth is real, but different than you expect. There is a constant amount of star seeds. When a person dies, their star seed returns to The Galaxy Cauldron at Sagittarius Zero Star for cleansing in order to go into another being. Anything – Chitauri, Mauin, Lunarian – Human, or even a plant. This cycle repeats infinitely and constantly.
However, there are some star seeds that are different than others. The Scouts, and many others across the universe have different star seeds than normal humans. They come with powers, the ability to wield divine weapons meant to defend against Chaos. We are Sailor Soldiers, the guardians that stand between Chaos and life itself. There are many of us. Each planet in this solar system has a guardian."
"The Sailor Scouts right?" asked Skye, "All female, short skirts, pretty kick ass?"
Sailor Venus smiled, "That's right. V-babe here!"
"Yes. But Earth does not have a Sailor Scout. Instead of a Planetary power, the Earth was gifted the Golden Crystal, a powerful star seed that gave the one who wielded it complete control of the Earth. Thousands of years ago, this crystal, like all others of its kind, was hereditarily passed on from father to son. That is why there is no Sailor Scout. This crystal could only be controlled by a man in line for the Throne of Earth with a pure heart. Those who are in-line for these divine star seeds are Potentials."
Cosmos quickly explained that a thousand years ago Earth had been united, and the destruction of the Silver Millennium before continuing.
"But what does this have to do with Ward and why I can't shoot him?" asked Phil impatiently.
"My lover…" Cosmos explained, "Prince Endymion, born as Mamoru Chiba, was the Prince of Earth. He was the holder of the Golden Crystal, and first in line to be King. Our love has been written in the stars since the beginning of time. But when I defeated Chaos, the Powers That Be, the ones who are above, who make the rules that I must follow, gave me a choice. They told me I could pick duty or love. My choice was that the Golden Crystal could stay within the man that I had loved for a thousand years and he would be brought back to life, but the Scouts would stay dead, or I could allow my Sailor Scouts to live and let my lover die, with the Golden Crystal going to a Potential."
Jemma started to tear up, "Oh my god," she gasped, "No!"
The tears welled up in Cosmos's eyes as she spoke again, her voice nearly cracking, "I am fated to choose duty over love. Mamoru told me – he," she paused to control the tears, "He told me to protect his planet by allowing the Scouts to live, to keep Chaos in The Galaxy Cauldron. He made my choice for me. And since then, Chaos has been hunting Potentials fiercely, ending their lives in the most gruesome ways possible. He has left their heads for me to find. He has left their blood strewn across my home. He leaves their mutilated bodies in places that he knows that I will find them. He promised to me, in blood, that he would kill every chance of happiness I had until he had broken me beyond repair. He hunts my scouts, and he hunts the Potentials. To this date he has killed every potential I have tried to save." She paused before elaborating, "Chaos has slaughtered six hundred and sixteen innocent men who did nothing but exist." She turned to Agent Ward, "Grant Douglas Ward is the last Potential holder of the Golden Crystal. As the last, he is the only. Thus he is now the King of Elysian, Prince of Earth and wielder of the Golden Crystal."
"But he's HYDRA!" exclaimed Fitz angrily.
"No," Cosmos disagreed, "Chaos took him. He burrowed into Ward's heart when he was young, and in a time of great anger and sadness, when his normally pure heart was weak, and took hold of his star seed, poisoning his mind from the inside out. It was strong enough to cloud his soul, to make him make decisions that he would normally not have made. His soul is pure. He did not do the things he did. Chaos wanted to ruin everything for me. So he took the last of the Potentials for himself."
Phil looked at her with an open mouth and looked as though he was about to speak.
Cosmos explained Grant's childhood and then went on to explain Ward's role as a sleeper agent, and his unhealthy loyalty to Garrett enforced by the sliver of Chaos.
"So what you're saying is that Grant is actually the reincarnated version of your lover, he's a Prince, he was HYDRA only because he had a sliver of the ultimate evil inside of him, he's actually a good guy, but basically was brainwashed?" asked the half Chinese girl.
Cosmos smiled lightly, "Essentially yes."
"My head hurts," Skye complained.
Venus shrugged, "It can be a lot to handle."
At that moment, Ward awoke with a pained groan.
"On that note," Venus stated, "We should leave them to talk. Everyone out," she commanded with finality as she detransformed. Cosmos gave her a small smile as the group left to the upstairs of the bus. She quickly detransformed herself.
"Serenity," whispered Grant.
"Agent Ward."
"Grant," he corrected, as he took her hand into his. "You of anyone have the right to call me Grant."
Serenity sighed at the instant pleasure of his touch. "Do you feel that?"
"Yes. But I didn't feel it earlier," he admitted.
"Because of Chaos," Serenity whispered, tears falling from her eyes. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. Your life has been terrible, and it's all because of me. He only went after you because of me. And now your life will never be the same again."
They were both silent for a few minutes before Grant spoke, "When I was asleep I dreamed about you, about us. About how we loved each other before."
Serenity was openly crying now, "Please don't. I can't handle to have this said to me."
Ward was looking at her as though he had seen the secrets of the stars in her eyes. "I have never felt this feeling before."
"No!" whispered Serenity.
"It's love. I know it."
She shook her head in denial.
"It is. I will never have a complete life without you in it. Wherever you go, I will go with you. I will follow you. I promise you this now, as I breathe. You are my soul mate."
"No!" cried Serenity, "He will kill you. He'll kill you just like he's killed you a hundred times before. He wants me and he will kill you to get it."
"No," disagreed Grant.
"He will!" insisted Serenity.
"You're afraid," Grant said, using Serenity's earlier words against her.
"I'm not afraid!" she whispered.
"You are afraid that you'll be alone again. But I'll never leave you. Never," he said with conviction, "you are my reason for being. I have always known it. Since I was a child I have dreamed of you, dreamed of your hair," he whispered, as he pulled her onto the bed, "and your skin and your beautiful eyes," he said as he brushed her bangs from her forehead, "and how happy you made me, even if I didn't understand the dreams. I would wake up happy, so elated I could barely breathe. I've half loved you for half my life. I choose you, Serenity. I am yours, forever."
And then he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. It was sweet, but passionate and filled with the love that she hadn't felt in five years.
They fell asleep looking into each other's eyes.
So, what did you think? Let me know below. I love hearing from you guys because I feel like it improves my writing. When I first joined Fanfiction I had no clue what I was doing but now I feel like a village elder. On another note, how is everyone enjoying their summer? Let me know! I will post the next chapter very soon! Love you all!