Warning: Spoilers for the Madoka Magica show and all 3 Movies.
She didn't know why she was destroying everything. It wasn't like there was anything left to break. All she could do was continue to blast what was left of the debris. She did just that, blasting and blasting anything she could get her hands on, because if she stopped destroying things, she'd have to acknowledge there was nothing left to fight.
"WHERE IS SHE?" she yelled, blasting through a lone-standing wall. That's right, she did have someone left to fight, but that someone disappeared ages ago, and left her all alone. Again.
Wait, again?
"Are you done throwing your temper tantrum?" a voice called out. The woman immediately snapped her head up. There, sitting on a broken pillar, as though all this destruction and death surrounding her was a mere inconvenience, was Sailor Cosmos.
The woman grinned. Perfect timing, "Have you come to finally finish what we started?!" she taunted. Her hands began to glow that familiar green, preparing her attack for when Cosmos stood up. However, instead of taking her fighting stance, she was looking at her reflection in a particularly shiny piece of debris. Cosmos was completely ignoring her!
"I almost forgot… what I looked like before." She said, hands hovering over her reflection. Something about the melancholy in her voice all but took the fight out of the other woman. She lowered her hands, and Cosmos finally looked her in the eye, "Speaking of, I never did congratulate you… for gaining a physical form. That's a big accomplishment. So, congratulations, Chaos. We should celebrate, or something. Would cake be appropriate for this kind of celebration? Cake sounds good. Let's make some cake!"
Chaos just stood there, completely speechless. It's been… thousands of years… they've been fighting across the universe for THOUSANDS of years, and Cosmos wants to celebrate her finally gaining a physical form with CAKE? "I… what are you doing?" Was this a psychological attack? This had to be a psychological attack. There was no other explanation. She got back into fighting stance, "If you're trying to throw me off my guard, it's not going to work!"
The relief that Chaos felt was immense when Cosmos's expression turned back to its normal, serious tone. Instead of tensing up for a fight, however, she took a look around at the destruction Chaos had caused. "We can fix this, you know. It won't stay this way. I remembered how to use the power of the Cauldron to revive everyone. The damage isn't permanent."
"And what does that have to do with our battle?" Chaos cried out. Unable to contain her frustration anymore, she blasted the closest structure to her. "What does any of that have to do with me? I CAUSED this destruction, in case you forgot! That's what I do! I'm CHAOS, it's my very nature! Just like it's YOUR nature, COSMOS, to restore balance to the galaxy! WE'VE BEEN FIGHTING THIS SAME FIGHT FOR EONS! But then when I finally get the upper hand, you go and disappear! I've been searching the galaxy for- I don't even remember how long it's been- trying to hunt you down so we can have our final fight, and you were gone! Where were you? What happened to you? WHY AREN'T WE FIGHTING RIGHT NOW?"
Instead of answering Chaos's question, attempting to fight her, or, frankly, doing ANYTHING that would make sense, Cosmos instead looked Chaos in the eye and asked "Do you remember my name?"
Chaos just stood there, like a deer caught in the headlights, dumbfounded. Cosmos took that opportunity to continue, "Sailor Moon- you remember her, right? She fought you for awhile. Her real name was Usagi. Usagi Tsukino. In a previous life, it was Serenity. Every Sailor Soldier, before they awaken, has a birth name- an identity. Even Galaxia had a birth name, though she cast it aside when her planet was destroyed. As far as I know, we're the only ones in the universe who don't have a name. Do you know why that is?"
Chaos didn't know why this question, in particular, was causing her so much rage, but she decided to roll with it, "You're COSMOS. You're the EMBODIMENT OF THE COSMOS. Just like I am the EMBODIMENT OF CHAOS! We don't have birth names because WE WERE BORN WITH THE UNIVERSE!"
"No. No we weren't."
Cosmos was holding her head, pain evident on her face, "We weren't born with the universe… we were REBORN with the universe… we… we existed before this world came to be."
"What are you talking about?" Chaos spat. Cosmos was losing it. She had to be. Which meant that she was going to lose the one person who could match her strength. The thought of finally winning the war should have left her ecstatic, but instead, she was getting angrier, "Nothing existed before the universe!"
"That's not true. We did exist before this universe." Cosmos declared. She was no longer holding her head, but she still looked pale. Paler than her usual self, at least, "We did exist. We had normal lives, went to school, and were even friends… before all this came to be."
Chaos just stood there, staring. Nothing that Cosmos was saying made sense. Friends? Their very existence was due to the world's need for good and evil. How would they have EVER been friends in a past life?
Cosmos looked about ready to cry when she didn't see recognition in Chaos's eyes, "It looks like it's my turn to look like I'm crazy. It must have been so hard for you… to be the only one to remember everything, over and over and over again. I'm so sorry… I couldn't help you back then."
"What are you talkin-"
"Did you know, Charlotte had an older sister?"
Charlotte? Who the hell was Charlotte?
"She had long hair and wore pigtails, similar to Mami. I always wondered why she was so attached to Mami. I thought it might have been guilt over her death, but that didn't make much sense, as Mami was still alive in the new timeline…
"….Anyway, Charlotte's mother was sick. Very sick. Charlotte wished to have cake with her mother one last time, and became a witch almost immediately when asked why she didn't just wish her mother better. No emotions or not, they should have known it was cruel to say that."
What was the point of this story? Who the hell was Charlotte? Why should she care? Who were 'they'? Wait, became a witch?
"So imagine being a teenage girl who just lost your mother to illness. That same day, your little sister goes missing. Your precious little sister, whom you adore, and you swore to protect, is nowhere you be found. You and your father practically go mad trying to find her. Days turn into weeks, but you still have hope. She still has to be out there somewhere, right? They haven't found a body yet. She's still alive somewhere.
"And then, one day, they find the body. Other than the bit of decay from being dead for weeks, there appear to be no marks on her. There are no signs of poisoning, nor any injuries. It's as if she had just dropped dead. Suddenly, your life has no meaning. You promised your baby sister that you'd protect her, and you couldn't even do that.
"You try to maintain life as normal for awhile. You go three years before grief claims your father, on your 17th birthday. Now, you are alone. You've lost all your friends, as your grief has changed you to a point that they no longer knew who you were. You have nowhere to go, since your father had spent all his savings by drinking, and you lost your apartment with his passing. Now you're just wandering the streets, and you look up. That building is rather high. You could just jump off that, and be with your family again. Wouldn't that be nice?
"But then, just as you're about to climb the stairs to that roof, a voice calls out, 'What if you could get your little sister back?'"
Something about this story was starting to sound familiar to Chaos, but she couldn't place why. She was still stuck on the mentioning of Witches. Who the hell was this Charlotte? And who was Mami? Wait, didn't Mami have blonde hair? How does she know that name? Did she fight a Sailor Mami? That doesn't make sense. Mami sounded like a personal name. She doesn't bother with that information. Who the hell was MAMI? Chaos's head was beginning to hurt.
"You turned around to the voice, and a creature is standing behind you. It looks like a cat, or maybe a ferret? You're not sure. It doesn't look like anything that existed in this world. The creature tilts its head, and it talks, 'We can get your sister back for you, if you want. You can go back in time, and change her fate. All you have to do is wish for it, and you can have that power.'
"Of course, this sounds like nonsense… but this creature shouldn't exist, either. At this point, you have nothing to lose, so you decide to ask, 'What do you mean, change her fate?'
"The creature immediately tells you about Charlotte's fate. How she made a wish to eat cake with her mom, and became a magical girl. If you go back in time, and stop her from ever becoming a magical girl, then you can change her fate! You can get your whole family back! Although, in her place, you'd have to fight the wraiths."
A voice she didn't recognize echoed in Chaos's ears, "Just make a wish, and you can become a magical girl!" "You kept going back in time, trying to change her fate, that the timelines converged, and centered the universe around—" What was a Magical Girl, though? They were called Sailor Soldiers! They always had been! Her head was beginning to feel like it would split. She fell to her knees. She wanted to beg Cosmos to stop, but for whatever reason, she couldn't find her voice.
"—arting to sound familiar? It wanted to recreate what happened before, so they could research it, and learn how to control it. What it didn't realize, though, was that their hopes actually placed the fate of the universe in the balance. By attempting to recreate another Magical Girl who could rewrite the universe, they were suddenly giving her as much power in her wish as I had in mine, and you had in the end.
"However, instead of doing what it wanted to manipulate her to do, she made a different wish. It always thinks that the logical choice will be the most selfish/selfless one. It never thinks that anyone will blame IT for their troubles right away. The first thing she does is ask, 'Are there more of you?'
"'Yes,' it replied 'We're a whole race of beings on a different planet.'"
"Then I wish none of you ever existed."
Chaos looked up at that, face pale and fear in her eyes. Cosmos continued, "In the end, it granted her wish, and the power all that hope had been placed into making her a new god had given her the power to rewrite the universe. Again."
"Suddenly, Soul Gems never existed. Magical Girls never existed. Witches were never born. A new problem presented itself. Without the Incubators to create Magical Girls, what would be there to balance out the entropy?
"The universe took care of that… in this new universe, every living thing had star seeds. If a soul had a strong enough will power, that star seed could become a Sailor Crystal. In order to stop our world from overloading with powerful girls, however, some souls were moved to different planets, and Earth kept its most powerful guardians in different time periods.
"However, there were three people that the universe COULDN'T completely change: you, myself, and Charlotte's sister, Serenity.
"As far as I could tell, Serenity kept nearly everything from her past life, the only exception was that she was stuck in her Magical Girl form. She even continued to have a Soul Gem, instead of a normal Sailor Crystal. It looked different from what we're used to, which was most likely a result of the universe being rewritten, but her Silver Imperial Crystal stayed outside of her body, and she couldn't be separated from it until she used up her energy. I don't know how it was able to stay intact after her "death" and provide power to her daughter, but I had lost my memories by that point, and anyone who would have the knowledge to even think of researching her gem no longer existed.
"You and I were not involved in this wish, so we were going to be affected by this new universe. However, because of the extent of our abilities, the universe was unable to reincarnate us. Instead, I was transformed to fit into this new universe, with my memories rewritten to fit its new laws, and you lost your form completely, but given the power to control all of the darkness that existed in this new universe.
Chaos said nothing. She was still sitting on the ground, but no longer holding her head. She wouldn't look Cosmos in the eye, however, so the Soldier continued talking, "Kyubey was wrong, though. Earth progressed just fine without them. Sure, technology took much longer to advance without their input, but humans were far from being cavemen. The one thing I never understood, however, was why it granted her wish in the first place. If the Incubators never existed, then all their efforts before the wish was made would have been in vain. Why grant that wish?"
"Because IT no longer wanted to exist."
It seems Chaos found her voice again. Cosmos watched as she stood, shakily, to her feet. Chaos still wouldn't look her in the eye, but she was willing to be a part of the conversation again, "I- I remember. When I- When I changed… the second time. It tried to get away… I didn't let that happen. I… I mean it- it had wanted to control- I was angry… I think… I think I had taught it how to fear."
Cosmos's eyes widened, "You taught it FEAR?"
"Because it wanted to control YOU!" Chaos shouted, finally making eye contact with Cosmos. Her expression looked pained, and irises that were once green in color suddenly changed into a purple shade, "It had trapped me. It turned me into a witch. It stopped us from seeing each other again! It wanted to control you! HE HAD TO PAY!"
She had expected Cosmos to step back. She remembered, her bursts of outrage would always make her step back in fear. Instead, however, Cosmos stepped forward, hand outstretch, "So you DO remember?"
That caused Chaos to pause, "… yes? No? I remember bits, but-"
"Do you remember my name?"
"I- I don't.. I can't"
"Chaos," Cosmos called, voice stern and steeled. Chaos shot her head up to look at the Soldier, "I NEED you to remember my name. I- I remember everything else, but in order to be reincarnated, we NEED to remember our names. I can't remember my own, but I remember yours. I think the universe did this on purpose, and the only one who will know MY name is YOU. It's okay, everything you did will be okay. All of this can be reversed, but I can't fix what happened until you remember my name."
The pressure was too much, and the memories that came rushing back to her caused her so much pain. Chaos screamed, energy bursting from her body in one sudden motion. Cosmos was thrown back, and that sight just caused Chaos to freak out more. She couldn't remember her name. She was supposed to know her name! She was her BEST FRIEND. She LOVED her. How could she not know her name?!
Arms embraced her, and Chaos's head shot up. Cosmos looked beat to hell, but her smile was warm and forgiving. Her arms felt like home, "It's okay," She whispered, "I'm sorry. I did this wrong. I tried to force you to remember everything right away. I shouldn't have done that."
Chaos shook her head. Why was Cosmos sorry? Chaos was the one who did all this, who messed everything up. She couldn't even remember the name of the woman she LOVED! She swore she would protect her, and now she couldn't even save her?
"You fought for me for so long, and even in the end, you tried to protect me. Your methods were… well, they were wrong. You went about this in the worse way possible," she giggled at the thought, "but your wish was ALWAYS to protect me.
"So I'm going to save you this time. It's time you found a new life, one that will allow you to be happy, Homura Akemi."
Homura. Her name was Homura! She smiled, and her eyes began to close, when she suddenly realized she was glowing. She couldn't reincarnate NOW! She had to remember her name! How dare Cosmos just sit there, smiling like everything's okay! Selfless idiot! She couldn't leave her to suffer that burden alone! Stupid, stupid M-
"MADOKA!" She shouted. She had to hurry. Her legs had vanished into dust. She knew that if she didn't say it now, Madoka would be alone all over again, "YOUR NAME IS MADOKA KANAME!"
Cosmos's eyes widened, and she also began to glow. Her Sailor uniform transformed into a long, flowing white dress. Her hairstyle came loose, white hair changing to pink, and blue eyes turned yellow. Tears flowed from her eyes, and she reached out for Homura's hand. Their fingers interlocked.
"Thank you" Madoka whispered, placing her forehead on Homura's. "Thank you for remembering me. For always remembering me. Let's meet again in the next life, when we don't have to worry about incubators or magical powers separating us anymore."
"Yes," Homura cried. She was back into her old school uniform. Her long hair braided in pigtails and glasses adorned her face, "We will see each other again, and I will never let you go again."
Madoka smiled, and then closed her eyes. The duo finally vanished into dust, their Sailor Crystals returning to the Galaxy Cauldron to be reincarnated for a new life. The dust that was left behind fell down on the planet, using its power to restore all the damage that Chaos had caused earlier. Buildings were suddenly erect again, and bodies regained their former form, coming back to life.
"What happened?" A young woman asked, her pink hair in a rather crazy style of loops and a bun. She turned her head to another woman, who wore a long, white dress, hair in twin pink buns which also contained ponytails that fell down to her ankles.
"I'm not sure," The second woman said. She held out her hand, and one of the dust particles fell into it, "But, it feels like a long, tired battle has passed. I feel like there's a huge weight lifted from my shoulders that I've never noticed before. Hopefully, it's a sign of good things to come."
Years have passed, and Crystal Tokyo has opened a new academy for promising students. The teacher, a not-quite-middle-aged woman in glasses, is ranting to her students to never judge a woman by how she cooks her eggs. A young girl with pink hair, a similar shade to the queen's, is offering her a suffering smile, indicating that this type of discussion is normal for the classroom. The teacher pauses her rant, however, to relay some news:
"Class, as you all know, we have a new student joining us today!"
A young girl enters the classroom. Her hair is very long, styled by pigtail braids. She's wearing red-rimmed glasses, and she shuffles into the classroom as if she's shy. When the teacher finishes introducing her, she bows to the class, and then looks up. She makes eye contact with the pink-haired girl in the back row.
The two of them smile.
Notes:
This has been a fan theory of mine for the Madoka Magica series since the series ended, and it was reaffirmed even more with the Rebellion Movie. Though this is not my official theory of Cosmos's identity in the Sailor Moon manga canon (I may eventually finish THAT story one day and post it), I thought it was a fun theory that deserved a one shot.
Critiques are welcome in the comments!