The Choices We Make: part seven
By Draegyn
Dragynne2000@yahoo.com.au
There are many perversions of the natural order of things. Chaos was one such, in a manner of speaker Endymion was another and some might even claim my daughter was a third. Each possessed extraordinary power yet that is not what made them unnatural. Their power was perhaps the most natural part of them, of who and what they were. That power was their strength and their weakness for it was what chained them to follow their natures without recourse.
Is it any wonder then that my daughter became Cosmos? Her sense of self would not have permitted otherwise.
Is it any wonder that Endymion became a monster? Deprived of the insulation that my daughter would have provided his soul from his mind he could be nothing but.
Is it any wonder that both of them proved dangerously alluring to Chaos?
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Chaos snarled in fury. Its crippled wings strained as it followed in the Senshi's wake. How dare that human betray it! It would ensure that he felt every agony it could bring to bear. It would rip his starseed from his chest and trap him in servitude for the rest of eternity. It would use the man's own technique to flay Endymion's magic from his soul. And, first last and always, it would hold Sailor Moon over the prince's head.
It grinned in anticipation and garnered a new burst of speed. It would make the miserable worm watch as it tore her being asunder time and time again. It would heap every indignity upon her and it would make him watch. For the rest of eternity Endymion would know that the one thing he had sought to preserve belonged to Chaos and never again would he even be permitted to touch.
It burst through the uppermost level of cloud with these thoughts in mind. Its prey was a small white blob in the distance but it was growing. Almost absently the creature stroked the pitch-black hilt of its sword. Perhaps it would not even bother keeping her alive. It would impale the Senshi on that sword and present her bloody remains to the false prince. Maybe it would make the wretch wear her intestines as a necklace for the next century or two. Never before had a single being roused such anger and hatred within it. Not even Cosmos. No, for Cosmos it felt something entirely different. It would set her above the man and together they would grovel for its attention and Endymion would know that, while Chaos had its Senshi, his was gone forever.
Earth's atmosphere thinned around it and gave way to the vacuum of space. Chaos pulled itself up abruptly. It had forgotten something but what? A white feather drifted in front of it, its prey was close. Its senses reached out, searching; yet the nagging sense of something wrong persisted. Time and time again it dismissed it. It wanted this moon princess who was also a Senshi. It would enjoy her. Perhaps it would exchange Galaxia's body for hers temporarily. It could flaunt her in front of her prince and taunt him with his failure. Perhaps it might even cause Cosmos more pain. The loss of another sister would wound the overly sentimental Senshi. Maybe it would be enough to distract her, or even allow it to approach her unnoticed…
Space.
Feathers.
Eyes of living sapphire.
It turned to flee back to the Earth but the way was barred. Its power and its eyes found her simultaneously. It did not understand how it had failed to know her. Golden hair instead of silver, round buns instead of heart-shaped, a sword instead of a staff, a different uniform. None of these were significant changes. How could it have missed the obvious?
Her velvet voice echoed in its mind. "Endymion kept his promise to you. I was brought low before you." Those indescribable eyes shone strangely with an expression it had never thought to see there. "You had me in your power, chained and bound."
She stood motionless in space, waiting between it and the Earth as she watched it calmly. There was none of the fear she had shown before and none of the indecision, there was only calm calculation and cool determination. How could it have been so blind?
"Cosmos…"
"It ends now," she promised it. Her crystal weapon was raised and Chaos barely managed to bring its own sword up in time. She had not even bothered to dispel whatever illusion she maintained and face it with her true appearance.
"You are so sure?" it taunted with a growl and lashed out but struck nothing and was then forced to scramble to block her counterattack.
Her confident expression did not change. "Yes," she replied evenly, "After all I was born for this."
She swung low and when it moved its sword to defend her foot kicked out and the sharp heal slashed across its cheekbone. "Galaxia would not be appreciative," it sneered but inwardly it was shaken. Something was different about this battle.
"Galaxia will forgive me."
It raised its magic to strike at her in an attempt to do with magic what it could not accomplish with brute force alone. For the first time in memory its power was stopped cold. It regarded her in disbelief. It could not be possible…
"How can you match me? I am Chaos!"
She stared at it, unaffected. "And you were never meant to be incarnate. The nature of a physical form is almost a direct contradiction of the basic nature of Chaos."
It flailed at her frantically. Slashes of energy and blade assailed her and were met with an impeccable defence.
"What does that matter?" it demanded.
"It is the reason you experience obsession, malice, vindictiveness and pride. The universe is attempting to balance you out but it cannot, not properly, and it is driving you mad."
It looked at her wildly. Mad? "But I am madness, I am Chaos!"
"You are predictable in your madness. Otherwise how else would Endymion have been able to ensure that you would chase me?"
It flinched back and she suddenly retook the offensive. Besieged by the combination of expert martial skills and a barrage of power it found itself out of its league. Not since before it had possessed Galaxia had it found itself outmatched and it found itself retreating.
"Now it is time," she whispered almost gently.
Chaos was not sure how, but in the blink of an eye it found itself nose to nose with her. It could feel the heat radiate from her skin before dispersing into space. One gloved hand clenched around its forearm, the second, sword hilt still in its grasp, found its way beneath Chaos' helmet and into the mass of hair. Chaos stared into the Senshi's sapphire eyes, transfixed. It fought the spell that crept through its limbs but finally, after a thousand years of hunting, its nemesis had revealed the true depths of her power and Chaos found them to be the match of its own.
Golden radiance limned them both. It attempted to twist away, to quench her power, to do anything, but it was in vain. A spectral hand reached into it and tore it from the body it inhabited. The power exerted was such that reality around them stretched but there was nothing nearby to be harmed by them. Agony invaded its being and with it came pure hatred. Hatred towards Cosmos to match the fascination that had existed for centuries. Hatred towards the universe for allowing it to be hurt this way. Hatred towards the Senshi for opposing it. Hatred towards the prince who had deceived it. Everything began to focus on the last.
As its senses were both decreased and freed, the memory of the not-quite-mortal man dominated its thoughts. The golden light that was Galaxia's soul stirred and Chaos found itself being compelled out of its physical habitat by internal and external forces. Cosmos alone would have been enough but with Galaxia, strengthened by a thousand years worth of hatred, Chaos did not stand a chance. Together they channelled it into the crystal sword. As soon as it realise where they were sending it, Chaos's struggles grew exponentially. It could sense the substance of its nemesis… a substance very like Cosmos and, had it the opportunity to do so, Chaos would have been staggered by the epiphany that hit it. At that moment however it had other concerns, for example the prospect of spending the rest of eternity residing in a prison of order that was anathema to its own nature.
More and more of it was coerced into the blade and more and more Chaos became frenzied trying to escape. As the last of its being was forced into its gaol it sensed a strangeness. It was not a weakness exactly, rather an impurity in the crystal matrix. It pushed against the strangeness, tasting it and learning from it and triumph rushed through it when it realised what it was.
Blood. Crystallised and integrated into the material of the weapon but blood nonetheless and blood was formed in creatures of balance as Cosmos so quaintly phrased it. Where there was balance there was chaos, with order, true, but still present.
Escape beckoned.
It needed a new form. A form that provided more power and more advantages. And perhaps a form that offered other advantages as well. And the path of its escape would take it to the perfect subject.
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Saturn watched as the man painstakingly arranged the corpses of his four friends, for they were his friends, side by side and stepped back. Power thundered through the air and the ground came to life. The very Earth reached up and swallowed the bodies leaving nothing behind to mark their existence. Nothing but a prince whose heart was so dark that even Chaos had believed he was evil.
For a moment the world stood still and complete and utter silence reigned while Endymion paid a private homage to the four who had been at his side for so many centuries. They were gone now and Saturn knew that for them it was finally a true death. Endymion would not resurrect them again. He would not even try.
Wordlessly and in silent respect for the pain of the prince Starfighter and her two fellow Starlights joined their power and struck at their weakened bonds. The power of three Celestial Warriors sang an eerie dirge for the four generals of Earth as their last spell was destroyed. The captured Senshi spilled to the floor. Saturn landed on her feet with only the smallest stumble and called her glaive back to her hand. She was free once more but her mind was still stunned by what had just happened and she was unprepared for Uranus' sudden and violent charge at the prince.
The sound of the blow was sharp and harsh, reflecting the force that had thrown the sandy-haired Senshi to the ground. Saturn whirled in time to see Endymion place his armoured boot on the prone Senshi's throat and sneer down at her. Saturn winced. How could her sister have been so foolish as to attack the prince now of all times? He was never unaware of danger and in grief he was a thousand times more deadly. Then again, she and her fellow Soldiers had misjudged their princess, how could they be expected to understand him?
Uranus looked up at the man with a mixture of hatred and fear. His sneer merely conveyed mild disgust. "I should have waited until you were dead," he murmured he flicked a bright, sparkling object at her and Uranus caught it by reflex. "You should probably heal your friend, the spell that keeps her alive is fading even now."
Even now he was dismissive of them, uncaring and scornful. Saturn watched him for a moment. His actions had maliciously caused the inner Senshi pain and yet she felt no anger for it. He had conspired with the enemy but then, he was the enemy. She found that she no longer hated him, or even resented him… much. In truth there was only one true objection that she had to his recent actions.
With that thought in mind she approached him. He knew she was there without looking. "I have no need to justify myself to you," he drawled as he retrieved the shards of his broken blade.
She agreed; he did not. It was more than obvious to her what his purpose had been this night. Everything he had done had been calculated to anger Chaos and have it take that anger out on the princess. For a thousand years Cosmos had been trying to corner Chaos in space, for ten years the Starlights had been tying to lure it to her and it had taken Endymion only a day to succeed. A single day to provoke it into forgetfulness and recklessness so that it would follow the bait presented unheeding.
"No you do not," she agreed barely audibly. "Everything you did was aimed at protecting Sere… Usagi and helping her to overcome Chaos. None of us could have done what you did, Chaos would have allowed none of us the opportunity. Your sadism was finally an asset and the torture and trap both served a purpose…" Abruptly she swung the blade of her glaive at him. He spun in a blur of motion and caught the haft of the weapon just below the blade. She had expected no less and the palm of her hand met his cheek before he saw through the feint.
For a moment they stood there, the other Senshi looking on expressionlessly. Then Endymion raised an eyebrow. "I though you agreed with me."
"For the most part I did," she re-established with deadly sweetness then her false amity burned away to reveal the true source of her irritation with him. "However mauling Serenity served no goal other than satisfying your own perverted lust."
For a moment she could have sworn that something approximating embarrassment glinted in those dark indigo orbs but it faded to once more be replaced by callousness. For a time it appeared that he would let the blow slide and disdain from responding. He released her glaive and stepped back from her, red handprint on his cheek a startling contrast to his pale skin. "She is mine, to do with as I wish," he eventually informed her and then sneered. "And if what I wish is unacceptable to you then talk to your queen. She made the choice that led us to this moment and it was that choice that denied me my heart a thousand years ago. Therefore it is entirely reasonable to say that everything I am now, monster, murderer, warmonger and abomination, is due to her. Chew on that Senshi." Without another word he turned from her and walked away.
Saturn let him because, at long last, she understood. And she pitied him. Nothing that they could do to him would be worse than what he had known for his whole existence. He was more akin to her than she could have believed and more foreign than her greatest fears. She was death balanced with rebirth but his was a death that had had its life stolen. He had known a thousand years of incompletion, a thousand years of emptiness and no purpose but to make others hurt as he did and a thousand years of somehow knowing that whatever was missing had been denied to him by the actions of the Moon Kingdom. Denied the sanctuary of madness by his own fundamental nature, it was no wonder that he hated them with such passion. The only real question left to Saturn was why had he not completed the destruction he had begun?
"What will happen now?" Saturn turned to find Uranus looking at Starhealer.
The shortest of the Starlights shrugged tightly. "She will exorcise Chaos from Galaxia and confine it in a prison of order. She normally carries around a perfect crystal for the purpose but she used it to store Tin's form until she regained her starseed."
Neptune glanced up from Jupiter's side. "So what will she use now?"
"Probably her sword," Starhealer commented, "It's made of crystal right? Of Ginzuishou, which is even better."
Saturn froze. The sword was indeed formed from Imperium Silver Crystal but there was a slight addition that the Starlights obviously had not thought about. "Perfect?" she asked with steadily rising anxiety, "But what about the rubies?"
The Starlight looked at her, perplexed. "What rubies?"
Venus, though still traumatized, understood immediately but then, like Saturn, the events of a thousand years ago were engraved in her mind. She gasped and her blue eyes met Saturn's with horrified awareness. "The bastard's blood, the sword absorbed the bastard's blood!"
As if on cue, a tortured scream came from nearby. Without discussion the Senshi that were able abandoned their fellows and ran to the source of the cry. When they found it Saturn flinched back in fear. Endymion lay crouched on the ground, snarling like an animal. Flames of dark and evil magic licked at his form and once pale skin had become a sinister violet in the light of that ominous power. The amalgamation of man and force of creation reared back and another terrible cry ripped itself loose from an already raw throat. The back of Endymion's armour buckled and bulged outward. The excruciating sound of metal tearing joined in a dreadful harmony with the unholy screams. The armour burst in a rush of power and darkness as two feathered wings of ebon-black unfurled.
Saturn levelled her blade soundlessly and gathered her power but as fast as she raised it so did the strength of that which invaded the very being of Earth's prince grow. The strength of the attack she sent against the agonised man was enough to incinerate worlds yet he shrugged it off, unnoticed. The Senshi of death knew it to be in vain but she gathered her power for a second attempt but before she could loose the spell a ruthless hand found a crushing grip at her throat and the tip of an obsidian blade pregnant with chaotic power rested just under her chin.
Eyes that had no iris or whites but were solely black stared at her and she trembled. "We will be back for you later Senshi."
As if she were no more than a rag doll, she was tossed into Pluto and Starmaker. They scrambled back to their feet but by then it was too late. The new Chaos was gone.
Saturn looked to the sky, suddenly empty of emotion. Not far from her she knew she had friends that needed her help and the worst possible combination of enemies was now hunting queen Serenity's daughter but she could not bring herself to care any longer. She had felt the power of Chaos as it ran through Endymion. It was merging with the man's completely and seamlessly and turning two already awesome powers into something beyond nightmares.
Chaos and Endymion.
Endymion and Chaos.
Both battled for dominance in a war that would eventually herald the end of everything Saturn loved.
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Moon gently laid her exhausted and soul-wounded friend on the even ground. Under all of the dust was the smooth platform that held the prayer pillar and she could feel the almost warm presence of the stone monument behind her. She took no notice of this or of the steadily growing apprehension that was building in her as she tended to her friend.
She met Galaxia's weary eyes with a gently smile. "We won," she murmured, "It took us a while but Chaos is contained."
"I knew you would free me," the golden Senshi whispered, "I knew it."
"We did it together."
Galaxia weakly shook her head. "Without you…" She trailed off as unconsciousness claimed her.
Moon straightened and for a short while just watched her sleeping friend. They were together again, at last, so why did she still feel so… empty? Memories of a pair of indigo eyes entered her thoughts and with a smile she looked up where the Earth hung in the sky. He was her prince, it was a fundamental truth of her universe and a part of her had always known that it was so.
Suddenly she frowned. Something was wrong, very wrong. The golden warmth that had resided in her ever since she had allowed Endymion to kidnap her was gone… No, not gone exactly… just changed. It had been twisted and warped until it was barely recognisable. What had been a warm and tender power now scorched her with its insistency. It was darker and, in a way, more potent yet still so very brilliant. It was almost as if someone had thrown something on the bright hearth fire of Endymion's soul and caused it to grow into an inferno where the light was obscured by its own brilliance.
Absently her hand caressed the hilt of her sword and then stilled as a heart-breaking realisation came to her. Slowly she drew the sword and held it up before her eyes. The crimson streaks flickered with a mocking evidence of her over-confidence.
How could she have been so stupid? So completely and utterly oblivious to the obvious? She had known what the red in the blade meant and still she had rashly used the blade to imprison Chaos! But it had seemed like such a perfect solution…
Silently she rose to her feet. It was her own fault but it was not only she who would pay for that mistake. She could feel the power that was approaching and already it was more than the sum of Chaos and Endymion alone. The sword hung from her fingers loosely and slowly she drifted towards the pillar. Even covered with the accumulation of a millennium of neglect it still offered her a little strength. Perhaps the part of her that was the moon princess was finally stirring? Or perhaps it was just that taking up her role as Sailor Moon had reaffirmed her bonds to her people, no matter how distant they were. She listlessly circled the column of stone. Within she could feel her staff awaiting her call and she considered retrieving it. Perhaps it would be better to face this as Cosmos but…
To face what came as Cosmos, was to begin the hunt again and to once more become the law keeper of the universe… For a moment she rested her forehead against the cool rock. She could not repeat the last thousand years, not even with Galaxia at her side. And she could not face Mamoru as her enemy.
There was soft noise behind her and without looking she knew what it was. "I should have known better than to hope that it was over at last. It will never be over will it? No matter what I do you will always escape and I will be forced to hunt you down again."
"You are wrong." "You are wrong."
She blinked at the strange duality of the voice. It was almost as if… The golden inferno in her soul that linked her to Endymion roared. She spun, sword raised by instinct, and found herself face to face with something that might either be her worst nightmare or most precious dream.
Not quite daring to hope she gradually lifted her eyes. He/it/they was adorned by the same black armour he had been in when he had told her to flee but instead of a black cloak, feathery black wings held themselves a little behind him/it/them. Bathed in power that made his/its/their skin seem purple, he/it/they looked almost alien to her but could it be… was it possible? Then she looked into the bottomless black pits that were his/its/their eyes and her heart sank. No.
With a heavy heart she lifted her sword and prepared to strike. "I will not give in to you," she told it sadly.
"We did not expect you to." "We are not stupid."
She froze in realisation and the hand that held her sword slowly dropped to her side. It was not like it had been with Galaxia they were joining in truth! There would be no miraculous rescue of Endymion's soul. She felt tears beginning to gather in her eyes. She could not fight them. It was too much for anyone to ask this of her, even for the future of the universe. She could feel those black orbs staring at her hungrily. There was no sense of Mamoru in them at all. It was as if everything time had done to scar his soul was causing his true self to retreat behind the protective covering that was his persona of Endymion. All that she could sense was the dark prince and Chaos as they became one and the same.
"Daughter of Serenity…" "Daughter of Order…"
Moon closed her eyes. So it had discovered the same knowledge that she had when she had communed with the Ginzuishou for the first time. Now as both Chaos and Endymion it saw her as the daughter of their enemy, not as herself. They were close enough to her now that she could feel their combined breath on her cheek. She refused to open her eyes again. Perhaps if she did not it would all prove to be a horrible dream… but it would not. She knew that.
He/it/they started to force her backwards and she acceded to his/its/their wordless demand without argument. She no longer could find the will to argue. Step by step his/its/their terrible presence forced her back and her heart began to die. Her spine hit the pillar and she stopped, unable to go back further. She felt herself surrounded by warmth and her eyes drifted open reluctantly to find herself in a cocoon of feathers as her wings tangled with his/its/theirs. She knew what the strange duality intended. She had known from the moment that she had seen the hunger it those pitiless black depths.
His mouth ruthlessly covered her own and his hands began to tear at her uniform. For a moment she tensed. It was still not too late, she could refuse to submit and she could kill he/it/them. All that she needed to do was to raise her sword. Her arm began to lift. She flinched as the last of the cloth was ripped from her slender form and of its own will her hand positioned the sword to strike. He chose that moment to pull his lips from hers and smirk down at her.
There was no hint of blue in the lightless black and nothing that was human either. Endymion and Chaos were combining and that should have forced her hand. She knew the stories of Endymion and had lived the stories of Chaos. She would be remiss as a Senshi to allow an amalgamation of the two exist but the crystal blade slipped from her fingers to impale the rocky ground. She clenched her now-empty fist. She could not kill him, no more than she could have killed Galaxia.
She closed her eyes and waited for he/it/they to finish as they sought to vanquish their demons by conquering her. To him/it/them she became her sire, she became her mother, she became the Senshi and everyone who had caused hatred within him/it/them. When his/its/their careless touch caused her pain she gave no sign. When her heart cried out at the treatment she silenced it. This was her penance and reparation. For a thousand years she had fallen short of what her duties had required of her and now she had failed completely.
In a union that began with no tenderness and no love came the culmination of one thousand years of enmity. In an epitome of hatred Chaos debased the daughter of its enemy, Order, and subjugated the Senshi it had feared while Endymion gained the ultimate victory against the silver queen. Yet in the moment that the man and woman truly joined a connection that had existed in potential for a millennium and yet had been known of for only a single day came to life.
Golden power lit two souls and entwined them firmly and irrevocably. For the first time in his life Endymion felt complete and in the attainment of balance came and inner peace that neither prince nor Chaos had known possible. For a moment the universe paused and the two minds in a single body hesitated on the brink of an unknown future. Then sapphire eyes opened and the choice was made.
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He lay on his side, leaning on one elbow, while his free hand tenderly traced the line of his lover's collarbone. He felt different but how much of that difference could be attributed to integrating Chaos into himself and how much should be accredited to finally having laid claim to his princess was unknown. He was now the cage the contained Chaos, the supremely rational mind that had been his curse was now balanced by the entity that had merged with him and the echoing vaults of his mind had been filled with her… his Usako.
Her gorgeous sapphire eyes fluttered open and an unpractised smile found its way to his lips. "Greetings sleepy head."
For a moment she stared at him blankly and his heart clenched. If she did not feel as he did… Then she smiled brilliantly and he felt his worries melt away. How could he have doubted?
"Your eyes are blue again," she told him softly.
"We discussed it while you slept," he replied with a hint of teasing as he referred to his fragmentation before she had healed him. That was how he thought of it, for without her he would have been devoured by Chaos. "As it appears that you like blue eyes more than black we thought we might oblige you in this."
Her nose wrinkled. "We? Should I be concerned about possible multiple personality problems?"
His amusement vanished as he regarded the treasure that had finally brought to him. When his mind had been separate shards he had hurt her. He knew that and it would haunt him forevermore. "No," he promised her, "Never again."
"So who are you then?" He blinked in surprise at the question and she smiled at him again but her eyes were serious. "You are not Endymion anymore. He was passionless you most definitely are not." A pang of guilt shot through him, a novel emotion for him in any case, as he considered exactly how she had come to experience his passion.
"No I'm not," he agreed quietly.
She nodded calmly. "And you are not Chaos. They lacked balance, you do not."
"Because of you."
"Partly," she agreed, "But not all. Most you did yourself. So who is this man you have created that holds me so tightly. Who is it that my heart beats in tandem with? Whose soul is mine tied to so utterly? Who is this man with me that I do not know and yet is my dearest companion?"
Her eyes held his openly and unafraid and so he answered the same way. "He is not a nice man, he's not even a good one. There is a beautiful angel who is his match. She is the daughter of Order while he is the host of Chaos. She is the Moon's princess while he is Earth's prince. She is a healer while he has been a murderer. She is life while he is death. The first real emotion that he ever felt was towards her. He has a soul and it lives because of her. That soul is now and always will be hers to command. He is Mamoru."
"Mamo-chan…" she smiled at him. He leaned towards her and kissed her with the tenderness and gentleness that had been lacking before.
"Usako…" he murmured and drew back before he lost the ability to think. "Let's leave. This moon brings out the worst in me and its queen is no better. Earth does not need a prince, especially not one such as I. Your duties as Cosmos will lead you into parts unknown and I will follow. Let's go far away and never return."
"I cannot," she answered and he frowned.
She glanced to the side. When he followed her gaze he saw her sword stuck in the ground not far away and understood instantly what he had forgotten. She was doubly destined in the worst possible way. He stroked her taunt skin gently as he thought.
"Free me," she whispered. He knew without words what she was asking. His fingers stilled and he looked down at her. It was the first time in a thousand years that he had worked the magic of life and now she asked this of him? "Please…"
"I…"
"Please…" she begged again. Her eyes were desperate and revealed more than a measure of the burden that a double destiny laid on her. Mamoru did not want to do this. He was a cruel man but not that cruel, still he could not refuse her this.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
She smiled and nodded. "I am impulsive but I do think my actions through. This is the best way."
He sighed. "So be it." He leaned forward and pressed his frame to hers. White feathers and black danced in the nothingness around them as they celebrated their union openly beneath the sky for all the stars to witness. Golden lengths of hair tangled around them and bound them closer tighter. His lips and hands wordlessly worshipped her and this time she responded in kind. Their second joining was one of love and purpose. When the heights had been attained and surpassed and their bodies once more began to calm, Mamoru reached into her being with power and twisted. At first there was only the slightest of discomfit but that would not hold true for long.
The ebon-haired man's eyes were filled with apology as they met his lover's living sapphire gaze. Then he roused his power fully to action. His eyes were dry yet and he hardened his heart as her body began to contort in pain; still he persisted in his mission to grant her request.
He succeeded and she screamed.
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Galaxia stirred slowly. For a moment the freedom she enjoyed disorientated her and then she stretched, glorying in her control of her body. Her silent, semi-conscious movements halted instantly when a scream reached her ears. Her rust coloured eyes snapped opened and she jerked upright. Her body protested but she ignored its complaints. She might be back to normal but it would take time for her body to recover from the abuse and changes that Chaos had forced upon her.
Another scream came and she rolled to her feet. Stumbling slightly she hurried in the direction from which the screams came. She passed a tall column of rock, absently noticing that the staff of Cosmos had been hidden within, but as soon as she passed the rock she froze.
The crystal sword, whose bearer's dedication she had witnessed, stood like a solitary, weary sentinel. It rested in the ground crookedly, as if it had been discarded in haste but what could cause her friend to disregard the blade so Galaxia did not know. It reflected the starlight that illuminated the colourless lunar surface and on the blade crimson flashed in stark contrast with the silver blade. Slowly the fresh blood snaked its way down the blade along the path marked by another's blood a millennium before.
Her gaze needed to seek little further to find the source of the crimson liquid. Golden hair spilled across the ground, the gilded strands becoming scarlet where they tangled in dark puddles.
Secretive indigo orbs caught her gaze within their vicelike grip. A presence that she had believed she would never again sense transfixed her and rendered her incapable of action. Unshatterable will echoed throughout the crater-pocked landscape and its demands were met. Magic rolled over her and she unwillingly stood by as nature was distorted.
A dark eyebrow rose in an expressionless face as a wordless question was asked and she regarded him, appalled. Was there nothing that he was not capable of? Was there no depth to which he would not sink? Was there no height to which he could not scale? The scene before her revealed enough for her to judge.
Power. Blood. Chaos.
And so was she answered. Her hesitation vanished. Weak as she was, she stepped forward and raised her own power. A cacophony of magic resulted as they fought for supremacy but within the disharmony a symphony of strength was born and, almost by accident, the terrible spell was completed.
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The moment the abhorrent mixture of man and concept invaded my daughter's being I knew. It was not difficult to discern, indeed it was anything but, for the Ginzuishou also knew and it was not pleased.
It was not for this that it had taken mortal form.
It was not for its daughter's pain that it had created said daughter.
When it's opposite had so vilely attacked the avatar it had brought into being, the Ginzuishou… Order… knew rage.
In a moment between rape and lovemaking the universe trembled on the edge of destruction and none was aware but I that my lover of long ago prepared to destroy existence on the behalf of our child. Needless to say, I was more than slightly bemused when it calmed in an instant, though it did not return to its normal state of dormancy. How was I to know then that it had sensed the strange crossroads Endymion and Chaos had reached? How was I to know that it was not only contented, but also intrigued, by the turn of events?
At that time in my life I had believed myself wise. It is only now that my vast ignorance has become blindingly obvious to me. I am but a single speck of dust in this immense reality and my perception of this reality is that of a speck of dust: limited.
It is not and never has been for me to judge.