It wasn't possible. Usagi knew the name like a child recognizes pain. Immediate, unerring, and impossible to refuse. Sailor Cosmos.
A memory flash of Cosmos standing over the Galaxy Cauldron. A hint of sadness. The bliss of nothing and then… renewal.
The soft rain of ash and scent of soot grounded her. She shook the image away and focused on here and now. The crystal was still safely around her neck, the power drained down to a hollow shell. Next to it dangled the time key. She'd made it in one piece.
A blast rocketed over Usagi's head. She ducked, as the swell of energy blew past her. A barrage of noise assaulted her ears. Glancing out, Usagi caught sight of Sailor Uranus running at her with the focus of a predator. Neptune's back was to them, her power erupted from her in aqua waves. A clang of metal. Someone cried out.
"Where have you been!? Get down!" Uranus leaped atop Usagi and drove her to the ground as black lightning arced over them.
"What's happening?"
"You abandoned us." Uranus's sword materialized in her hand. "Space sword, blaster!" A hundred merciless strikes hit a black undulating mass that only seemed to grow in response.
"Where are we?" Usagi saw Venus sweep the Holy Sword against a tentacle of darkness. A stillness settled as the mass retreated. Neptune returned to Uranus's side, Venus on her tail.
"The rubble of our home," Uranus didn't hide the angry hiss in her voice. "You ran away and we were attacked. Metalia found us. She killed Mars and Mercury."
"What? No!" Usagi tried to stand up. Uranus pushed her back down.
"We believed in you. We trusted you."
"Uranus, stop it." Venus moved between them. "Now's not the time. Jupiter… Jupiter is gone."
"No. I came back to save you all. I didn't mean to leave—I can't control the jump between worlds!" The black mass seemed to watch them. Usagi swallowed her fear and pain.
"You were on another world?" Neptune wiped her brow.
"I returned to my world, but I came back. I couldn't let you suffer."
"You're too late." Uranus turned away.
Usagi stood and spun Uranus around. Uranus lunged forward, stopping just before touching her. Usagi knew that anger, knew it wasn't aimed at her, and she knew it was clouding Haruka's judgement. "I am your Queen."
"You could have been, but we are the damned."
A deep rumbling grew to a roar in moments. Venus swore. "Protect the Queen." She hoisted her sword and ran off to the swell of darkness. A shape formed, red eyes, black diamond on her forehead. Metalia.
"V-babe, no!"
Too late. Venus combined her chain with the sword, dealing a blow that would have killed a lesser being, but it had no effect on Metalia. A cascade of jagged black crystals rained down. Neptune and Uranus called their abilities out, sending them out at the curtain of death.
Usagi screamed. Blades pierced though Venus. Blood turned the ground red.
She was gone. Venus was gone. Mars was gone. Jupiter. Mercury.
"Enough!" Usagi screamed. A shockwave burst from her, stunning Uranus, Neptune, and Metalia. Something clinked in her pocket and Usagi pulled out the four stones of Mamoru's most trusted advisors. Lots, but not gone; it wasn't too late.
Usagi yanked out the time key, held it above her and cried out to Pluto, to Chronos, to time itself. A vortex opened as a swirling mass of power. Usagi grabbed Haruka and Michiru, then leaped into the unknown. The roar of Metalia followed them, but was shut off moments later as the gates of time slammed behind them.
They fell in a heap at Sailor Pluto's feet. Her staff was aimed at their heads, ready to attack.
"Don't!" Usagi held out her hands. "By order of your Queen, stand down." Even from the floor, Usagi commanded the space. Pluto hesitated, but glared at them each in turn.
"You're not my queen."
"Then how do I have this?" Usagi held out the lavender key still attached to the chain, the Silver Crystal dangling beside it.
"It's not possible."
"We didn't think so either." Uranus sat back, caressing Neptune's shoulder as she winced.
"This is our Queen from another universe, another version of our world," Neptune explained.
Pluto lowered her staff, then brushed her fingers over the key. Her eyes dulled as she absorbed the essence of power. Usagi could feel the key warm. When she let go, Pluto righted her staff and stepped back.
"Why have you come here? You know I cannot abandon my duties."
Usagi let out a breath and got to her feet. "I need the three of you to unite the talismans. We need to summon Saturn."
"It won't work." Neptune cradled a wound on her arm and leaned on Uranus as they stood.
"Trust me," Usagi knew Saturn may not be an option, but she had to know what happened to Hotaru. She still hoped there was a chance at resetting this version of her world.
Pluto met Uranus and Neptune's gaze, then nodded. Pluto summoned the orb atop her staff to her hand, while Neptune produced the mirror and Uranus her blade. United, the three of them began to hum. Light sprang between them, but nothing more.
"Then she's already here," Usagi said.
"That's not possible. She'd have torn this world apart."
"Unless she was already taken by Metalia." Usagi bit her lip in thought. "I have to find her. Thank you, Pluto. Send us back."
"It's taboo to open the gates of time, even for you." Pluto shook her head.
Usagi looked far off into the fogs of time and smiled. "I seem to exist to break everything, and make it anew." Usagi refocused on Pluto, the well of power stirring within her. The crescent mark warmed her forehead, but her eyes clouded as her father's power flared as well.
"I command you to return with me to the heart of Metalia." Usagi's voice magnified as shards of her from all eras spoke as one. All versions of Usagi knew what she must do. The senshi before her bowed. Pluto extracted a key from her belt and muttered words of prayer to Chronos. A vortex opened behind Pluto, and as Usagi stepped by she beckoned for them to follow.
None of them disobeyed.
Usagi fell fast and far. The vortex screamed around her. Pluto raised her staff and they hit solid ground, but as the vortex faded, an oppressive swarm of dark power rose over the four of them.
This was the center of Metalia. A wasteland of death. The ground was stripped of plants and dirt, leaving cracked rock and nothing else. Like the eye of a storm, the air was still, but heavy and hard to breathe.
"Idiot kitten, why here?" Uranus kept her voice low. Usagi could hear her hopelessness hidden beneath the annoyance.
"Because this is the end."
Above them, Metalia's formed and smiled down. "You've surrendered to my power. Come to me," a black cylinder of power shot down, but Usagi felt for her light and let it shield them. The plasma rolled over her skin as the memory of the sun's warmth washed over her. The Silver Crystal twitched.
"I've come to set things right."
"What are you doing?" Uranus tried to shout.
Usagi turned back to the three of them and smiled. "Becoming who I've always meant to be." She waited a beat, then focused on the glimmer of the Silver Crystal and the blinding heat of the sun. She let the words bubble up on their own, the instinct to transform pulling at her soul. "Cosmos, Make Up!"
Sunlight and moonlight braided together, weaving a rainbow as the light graced her crystal. A new senshi uniform formed around her. Her hair fluttered, her cresent mark heated. The Silver Crystal became a starburst, and settled atop a staff that elongated at her fingertips. She was ready again to give everything… to save everything.
Uranus swore. Pluto stared and said, "Senshi of the universe, unburdened by the laws of time and space—a myth."
Usagi, now as Sailor Cosmos, had never felt something as endless as the power thrumming through her body. There was so much potential, yet it was trapped in her flesh. She needed to be free, she needed to remove Metalia, restore her senshi, and seek forgiveness for abandoning her family.
Usagi opened her palm to the stones of the four generals. She could keep them safe from Metalia in the next life, if there was a next life. Even with as much power from the sun and the moon as she had, Usagi was not a senshi of death. Usagi couldn't end it, not without help. With a flash of starlight from her fingertips, she encased the four generals as pure light inside her staff for safe keeping. Next time, for sure, she'd give them a life they deserved.
Then Usagi separated the hilt of her staff from the rod, and revealed a thin rapier, sharp as a needle.
"Give me strength." Usagi thrust the blade at her heart.
Haruka screamed.