[She flies, with those same great, black wings he's seen before. She shows no surprise at being in space or being able to breathe here; she was born here. Sailor senshi are born from stars and planets. Such a grandiose setting suits her, and this is the air of home. She is not awed by it, though she lets herself watch it before she finally turns away.
Mercury doesn't take too long to watch the starscape with that distant, impassively quiet expression before she turns to go towards the man, who she recognizes. She lands gracefully a short distance away. The feathery wings wrap around her as though to keep her warm in the cold of space; but the cold is equally something that doesn't trouble her. She greets Zack blandly.]
I didn't think a human would also make it this far. [Without a ship or spacesuit, at any rate.]
[She doesn't bother turning around. She never has - though she's alert, as always. He can show himself to her. He can come before her. A hand comes to rest at her hip.]
Had your fun with your dramatic entrance yet? [At that, there's the faintly amused lilt that often touches her voice.]
[It wasn't intentional. It's just how the Lifestream works - especially with a soul that hasn't quite immersed with it fully yet. He doesn't have the control that most entities have in this type of underworld, so the world remains disheveled and scattered.
When the new Zack appears, the one in front of her drops to the ground, lifeless.]
And keep things boring? Nah, I can't do that to you.
[Facetious in return for facetious, you better believe it. But a closer look would show a certain tension in her shoulders, a small twitch as she keeps herself from clenching her hand into a fist in the sudden shock of seeing the first Zack fall.]
[He can sense everything about her here, so that twitch does not go unnoticed. Cocking his head to the side, lifeless eyes remain on her form a moment more, before he simply shrugs casually and steps forward.]
Don't worry about that. I'm not even really here. This is just my mind.
[And to further prove his point, the second body is gone as soon as it was there, without any trace that there had been something there at all.]
You'll get used to it after awhile. It's good to know now then when you really do wind up here.
If you keep assuming I'm like you, there's nothing for us to talk about. Don't lump me together with humans.
[Arrogance and superiority aside, she will never enter this place. Her existence is not even remotely like a human's - and even if the galaxy cauldron is similar, its workings also differ greatly.
And she has no intention of returning there until she's finished, either. It may be thousands of years.]
...I couldn't argue with that. But I couldn't agree with it, either. I guess I've still got a lot to learn yet, if that's the dealbreaker, huh?
[To be reborn and lose all memory of his previous life, or to immerse with the Planet and learn so much more, to make it stronger. His own will determined what would happen, in his future.]
[When Mizuno Ami finally dies - as she must, some day - Mercury will have a choice of her own. There will be a chance of starting over completely, with a new incarnation and a new planet, and a new history. There will also be the chance of simply staying inside the cauldron, and fading.
She will still be an immortal senshi. Existences don't change that easily.]
Start a new life. A better one than the last, that doesn't involve ShinRa.
...when I'm older, I mean.
[Such is the cycle of the Planet.
But again, if it happened... it happened. For right now, he had to ensure his friends had a happy life first before he moved on himself. And that meant helping Cloud over his illness.]
[The geostigma. It's crazy, but she's looked for solutions in her waking world. Of course, as the illness doesn't exist there, she hasn't found anything.]
Mercury doesn't take too long to watch the starscape with that distant, impassively quiet expression before she turns to go towards the man, who she recognizes. She lands gracefully a short distance away. The feathery wings wrap around her as though to keep her warm in the cold of space; but the cold is equally something that doesn't trouble her. She greets Zack blandly.]
I didn't think a human would also make it this far. [Without a ship or spacesuit, at any rate.]
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[But first, he has to do his time here, in the Lifestream. He has to learn, before his spirit can be reused and reborn.]
But sometimes, even the Planet can't tell the future.
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[Footsteps emerge from behind Mercury, slow and approaching.]
This is how I exist now.
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Had your fun with your dramatic entrance yet? [At that, there's the faintly amused lilt that often touches her voice.]
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When the new Zack appears, the one in front of her drops to the ground, lifeless.]
And keep things boring? Nah, I can't do that to you.
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[Facetious in return for facetious, you better believe it. But a closer look would show a certain tension in her shoulders, a small twitch as she keeps herself from clenching her hand into a fist in the sudden shock of seeing the first Zack fall.]
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Don't worry about that. I'm not even really here. This is just my mind.
[And to further prove his point, the second body is gone as soon as it was there, without any trace that there had been something there at all.]
You'll get used to it after awhile. It's good to know now then when you really do wind up here.
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[Arrogance and superiority aside, she will never enter this place. Her existence is not even remotely like a human's - and even if the galaxy cauldron is similar, its workings also differ greatly.
And she has no intention of returning there until she's finished, either. It may be thousands of years.]
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I just am.
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[To be reborn and lose all memory of his previous life, or to immerse with the Planet and learn so much more, to make it stronger. His own will determined what would happen, in his future.]
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She will still be an immortal senshi. Existences don't change that easily.]
So what will you do? when you're reborn.
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...when I'm older, I mean.
[Such is the cycle of the Planet.
But again, if it happened... it happened. For right now, he had to ensure his friends had a happy life first before he moved on himself. And that meant helping Cloud over his illness.]
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You regret your involvement with them?
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