Bittersweet Victories
This story follows The Butterfly Effect.
Cosmos stood alone amongst the charred ruins of the land. Tears of anger, defeat, and frustration marred her cheeks, along with one last emotion that she was afraid to confess to - loneliness. A long white staff was gripped tightly in her hands, still warm to the touch after the devastating attack she had released. The Dark Kingdom was relentless in their attacks and she was now past the point where she could be concerned with saving the innocent lives of those of the planet Earth. This was not supposed to be her life, not according to Pluto anyway.
Years ago the timeline became entangled so severely that Pluto could not find any way to remove the snares. The situation had become so uncontrollable that Pluto had no choice but to abandon the time gate and fight alongside of her Princess. Pluto was never able to decipher who or what caused the rift, but she was able to trace the source of their problems to the one night where Venus had unknowingly stepped off her destined course and somehow into Endymion’s arms. The two had become lovers, unknowingly betraying those around them. After many lost battles, some resulting in personal losses to the Senshi, they all began to fight which caused weaknesses in their defenses.
The day arrived when Serenity was destined to fight Metallia, but without the awakening of the Silver Crystal was easily defeated. Metallia’s forces began to overrun the Earth’s surface, claiming the lives of innocent victims. There was no way for them to win this battle which resulted in a final sacrifice on behalf of the Senshi. Each Senshi surrendered their lives and their Sailor Crystals to Sailor Moon - this final sacrifice evolved Sailor Moon to her current form - Sailor Cosmos. She wore a multi-colored swath of material over her white skirt to symbolize and memorialize the women who gave their lives for a better future.
This was the legacy of Sailor Cosmos, to fight for a planet that had long since died. She was alone on this planet save for the small populace of humans who may have found temporary sanctuary from the war - assuming there was any sanctuary remaining. It had been almost a year since she had found any survivors of this war. Now it was her against the remaining youma that still haunted this planet. The destruction to Earth’s surface would take lifetimes to repair - that is if anyone surviving still had that small glimmer of hope to hold on to. Sadly, if she truly was the last person on this dying planet than it meant that there was no hope at all.
Almost as if it were a dream, she recalled her encounter with Sailor Moon at the Galaxy Cauldron. That Sailor Moon still had hope even when she was alone and without love. She had the strength to continue on and so convinced Sailor Cosmos to continue in her battle. Sailor Cosmos returned to her own reality and successfully defeated Chaos, who fought under the guise of Metallia. That final confrontation had nearly stripped Cosmos of her powers and her life, but left her no better off than she was before.
So now here Sailor Cosmos stood, alone, staring out along the charred ruins of the land, asking herself once again why she continued to fight for a future that has proved itself to be non-existent. The people of Earth paid the most severe price of all by placing their hope in her, and now she paid the price of being the sole survivor who was reminded every moment of everyday of her failure. So she cried for the people of this planet, and she cried for the Senshi who sacrificed themselves for her, most of all she cried for the love that she was denied and for the future that she would never have.