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The Guardian moved through the ether as if it were mere water.
It was time.
She had spent millennia debating what she would do when this day came. And yet... she was still not sure. Or at least, she hadn’t been until this moment. Until the proverbial eleventh hour.
The Guardian approached, but only up to a point. It was the wrong mentality to have, she knew, but she could not help but feel… repulsed.
It was not unnatural. They had never gotten along. They never could get along. They didn’t need to though. She just needed to convince her to remain here where it would be safe. Safe for everyone else at any rate.
She had to admit though, her confidence was less than stellar. Could her ‘ counterpart ’ even hear her? Even if she could, actually listening would be another matter entirely. But she knew what her ‘ counterpart ’ was plotting. That horrible truth she had long since resigned herself to. Dwelling on it now suddenly galvanised her, pushing back much of her doubt.
No matter how she felt, it was worth trying to stop this nightmare before it began.
“Do you know who I am?”
For several moments, the echo of her words hung heavy amidst the ether.
<... Yes... >
Both of them were far beyond mortal. Nevertheless, the disembodied whisper put a chill through her very essence.
“And do you know why I am here?”
< You want to change my mind. >
“... Yes...” She couldn’t help the note of pleading underpinning the word.
< Why should I change my mind? Nothing else has changed. Everything is like it was back then. Back when I first tried to fix everything. To get her, to get all of them, back here. The only difference is that now I know it’s hopeless. >
There was a somewhat childish quality in the reply. Noticing it, the Guardian did her best to sound kind and consoling. A parent trying to gently coax a child into responsibility. “I do not know if that is true. In my experience, there are always possibilities.”
< Why should I even try listening to you ? You’ve hid in here all this time. You don’t know what it’s like for me. What’s it like for anyone out there! Out there, miracles don’t just happen . Not everybody gets a happy ending. There is no point to anything. My life, all the times I failed, they’re the proof. Proof that I’ll never… That I’ll always be... >
Despite herself, despite her repulsion, the Guardian felt the slightest twinge of sympathy.
“...But… It was never truly just you, was it. You had those others, remember? There were at least four weren’t there? Wasn’t that why you creat-”
<STOP PATRONISING ME!>
She fell silent, regretting her poor choice of words.
< They… They weren’t my friends. They could never make me feel… It’s like saying because you have your shadow you aren’t really alo-... >
“...I am sorry. That was insensitive of me.” To her surprise, the Guardian found her words were sincere, not merely placatory. Was this guilt for the countless lives she had potentially endangered? Or was she starting to see beyond her revulsion?
< I could bring them back you know. And not just them either. It’d be sooooo easy! >
She narrowed her eyes. “I somehow doubt that.” Sympathy or not, she needed to assert herself, needed to take control of the conversation.
<... Alright… Not them exactly, and not yet in any case. > Her ‘ counterpart ’ had no face to speak of, yet her tone gave the impression of a smirk. < But, right now, I can become something new. Something that will make them all run. Make them all scream. Make it so that those stuck up champions can’t even face themselves in the mirror. >
“I am well aware of what you intend to become.”
She sensed that she’d knocked the wind out of her ‘ counterpart’s ’ sails. The same was true of herself of course, but she had to hide that. She had to pivot things to learn more.
“I thought I knew what you intended to do. But what you just said, it sounds like you have decided to be merciful? To spare them, if only so that they can be haunted by your spite.”
< Oh, I’m not going to spare them at all... Just her ... And just for a little while... >
It was not difficult to guess who ‘ her ’ was.
<I am going to reduce everything to ashes one-by-one. I am going to let her and her friends live just long enough to realise nothing they do can stop me. That all their old moves and tactics won’t work anymore. That I’m too tough for anything they throw at me. And when I’ve destroyed all else, then I will finish her off! She will live long enough to watch everyone else die!”
Silence resounded, save for the echoes of the last word.
In that silence, the Guardian knew her attempt, short lived as it had been, had utterly failed. Nevertheless, there was still something she could say.
“I see now I cannot stop you... But you should know… she will. She always has. She always will.”
A cruel laugh resounded all around her, invading the Guardian’s essence once more.
“Your actions will only embolden her, empower her. Isn’t that how you wound up back here in the first place?”
Abruptly, the laughter stopped.
The Guardian smiled gently.
“Even if you defeat her, she will simply return again and again until you are beaten. Sooner or later, you will come back and the cycle, one way or another, shall begin anew.”
<... This time… I will make sure that can’t happen...>
She said nothing. Years of experience in this boundless place had taught her of the endless paths destiny might take. Nevertheless, she desperately hoped one path in particular was not yet unfolding. A path with a scope of destruction beyond comprehension.
“What do you mean by that?” She asked, fighting to keep her voice even. She ‘ felt ’ a wicked grin through the ether.
< Tell me… what do you think will happen to you?>
Unease crept through her. “I… I don’t understand what you are talking about,” she lied.
< What happens to the guardian when they have nothing left to guard? >
The ether shimmered and shuddered as the seed of the worst path of all took root. And it was a seed of glittering black.
Dark smoke gathered, swirling around the ebony crystal in a repugnant parody of a spiral galaxy. The jewel disappeared from sight as the smoke grew thicker and twisted downwards, briefly resembling a tornado. Three quarters of the way down from the top of the spinning column, two more twisters pushed their way out. Meanwhile, the tail of the smoke column split and the top contracted, almost resembling a bubble. A pair of cruel empty orbs popped into existence, followed by a wicked crescent moonlike shape beneath them.
She remained still, the sight simultaneously mesmerising and horrifying. She braced herself. Braced herself for the four words she knew would come.
Four words that would ignite a false star...
“ CHAOS POWER...”
… and extinguish all else.
“...MAKE-UP! ”
Jagged bolts of ebony lightning crashed and crackled from what seemed like every direction, blinding her. When she recovered she found herself left with merely the ghost of a sinister laugh.
Guardian Cosmos bowed her head and lamented. Here in the Galaxy Cauldron, all things were possible. Almost.
It had never been possible for her to stop the remnants of the Chaos Seed and Guardian Chaos merging together. Or to avert the creation of the Chaos Crystal from that unholy union. Nor to convince the newborn Sailor Chaos from razing the universe… or worse...
But there was one hope.
One possibility.
One path that might yet salvage all of creation.
She just wasn’t sure if that was the path now in motion or not. But she was sure that now, in this eleventh hour, that she had no choice but to let events play out by themselves.
The Galaxy Cauldron was pregnant with so much potential that it was impossible to determine the ramifications of any one choice, not even her own. She had hoped to avoid this path, but could her interference have prompted Chaos to go to even greater lengths? If so, further interference might make things even worse and snuff out that faint glimmer of hope for good.
But, if that light of hope existed at all, she knew it lay only in the one known as Tsukino Usagi…