By: Tuxedo Rainbow

Era: Butlerian Era, 10000 AD

Summary: A search amongst the ruins finds interesting things…

July 2, 2005

Some say the world will end by fire and others by ice… but from where I stand, it ends by invasion.

She has been with me for over eight thousand years, my Terra, my love, my wife. We have been through fire and brimstone, through good and bad, but now, we stand at the end of what you would call humanity, or maybe it is the beginning of something else…

This used to be California… This used to be Crystal Tokyo… neither exists anymore. Both are legends, like Sailor Moon, drifting in the history that is time.

She stands with me that day in California, she stands with me that day in the ruins of Crystal Tokyo, in the ruins of two ages, so that we can gather the past and move one.

She once told me that she was neither Inner nor Outer Senshi, but both. From the battles we have had, both together and apart, I know she is correct. She is her own warrior in her own right.

We have sifted through data, through artifacts. W eare looking for signs of an age long past…

We know we have little time before the ships destroy what little is left, like they have destroyed what once was Crystal Tokyo.

“Five Minutes,” Terra tells me.

To many, it would seem like just that, to us, it was like an eternity. We had all the data, all the designs. What was left here would be taken to Eltar, and preserved, the rest, destroyed like Crystal Tokyo beforehand. We knew that those that were once like us would have wanted it this way.

“Almost done,” I stated. Soon, this place would be like Crystal Tokyo, nothing more than a memory, nothing more than dust.

We had to take a last look at the greatness that once was, to search the ruins that still exist, to find anything that was left. Kousagi took something, what, we do not know. All we know is that she and bear ar eof fthe planet, and safe.

“Three minutes,” Terra replied.

Time is one thing I know about. Setsuna taught us how to control it, hold to stop it, but we did not use it. No, we keep that power secret. We do not use what can be abused for evil.

“Got it,” I replied. We were done here. Our next stop was Crystal Tokyo, before Eltar, before we continued our life.

“Tux-chan,” Terra responded, “where will we go?”

“Not home, not here, just somewhere,” I replied to her. She nodded, hugging me.

It was a simple matter of using our Chronoskimmer to transport us to Crystal Tokyo, just before the Butlerian ships attacked. What was once there was no more. Humanity was on its own, once again…

We landed in what was the courtyard, where Chibi-Usa once swung, before the Death Phantom got to her.

We saw nothing that reminded us of the once grand palace, of the world that once was, of the park that once was, and we were glad for that, but we were sad that Setsuna was not here. She, too, was with Kousagi. The other child of Usagi, the nice child, and her Bear. We kept looking, through what once was the grand palace of Crystal Tokyo, and I thought I saw something.

It couldn’t be… I thought. I looked again… and it was… the same flower-shape that Neo-Queen Serenity… no, make that Sailor Cosmos, once wore, the same one that once belonged to Sailor Moon, left behind like so much junk.

“The ginzuishou…” Terra whispered, in awe.

Something awoke… someone awoke, crying.

“Terra, Tux?” The voice responded. It was not like Usagi, but it was. It was not like Sailor Moon, but it was. It was not like the Queen, but it was. It was not like Sailor Cosmos, but it was.

“Cosmos-sama?” I responded.

“No, just Usagi-chan,” the voice responded. A hologram appeared, it was indeed her, Usagi, Sailor Moon, Neo-Queen Serenity, Sailor Cosmos.

Terra kneeled.

“Arise, Terra, arise, Tux,” she responded.

“We thought you left for the past, to change it,” I responded.

“Alas, I failed, but I found it that I should have not tried, Tuxedo Rainbow,” Usagi responded, “I was the one. I was to be Cosmos. I was to be Neo-Queen Serenity, I was to be the legend.”

She paused. She was weak from battle, weak from running.

“With Mamo-chan gone, with my friends gone, I didn’t know what to do. I beat Sailor Chaos, but lost it all.

I thought I could change it, but I didn’t. I failed, but I found out I should not have tried. I returned here, and battled Chaos again. I made the same mistakes, and lost it all, but knew that I had to. I was too weak to assume the form of Sailor Cosmos, too weak to assume the form of Usagi Tsukino, too weak to be Sailor Moon.. I had to choose a form. With what little I had, I receded into the ginzuishou. I am still recovering. It will take time.”

Time. Man’s most famous enemy. While we had the power to control it, we could not use it to change the way things had to be. That was the Temporal Time Directive, and we follow it to the letter, even when we visit the past.

“What of the others?” Terra asked, “Tux said that Kousagi took them.”

The name stirred hope in Usagi.

“She did?” Usagi responded, “that girl saved them. She will give them a future, away from my interference. Away from Sailor Cosmos.”

“I take it you wish to stay here.” I responded.

“Even though it may mean death, I have lived a long life. The spirit in me is still willing, but I have no flesh.” Usagi responded, “ I choose to live here, and face my fate than to die in some unknown place.”

I nodded.

Terra nodded.

“Goodbye, Sailor Moon. Goodbye, Sailor Cosmos, goodbye, Usagi,” Terra replied.

“I will never forget them, nor can I never forget you.” Usagi responded.

Sighing, we left her there. Our place was not to interfere, but to gather information. We had to go.

When we arrived on Eltar, I checked the future. Call it curiosity. Years, decades, centuries, millennia… I could check to the end of time and see what would happen… and I did.

Although I knew the fate of the others, it was Usagi, no Sailor Moon, I was most curious about. Her staying on Earth, our Earth, would result in her downfall, or so I thoughr.

“Tell me she’ll be okay,” Terra responded, as we were about to leave.

“She is the last remnant of a long-forgotten war, a long forgotten time, my dear,” I responded, “she will be fine.”

“Tell me she will be safe,” Terra told me.

“She will be safe.” I responded.

Terra could look into my eyes and tell me that I was or was not telling the truth. But she didn’t.

“I believe you.” She replied, softly.

“She is immortal, Terra, Sailor Moon will live forever,” I responded, “as long as people believe she exists.”

“But she chose death,” Terra responded.

“She chose life and good, over evil and death. She chose a future. Alone, over a future with her friends. That is all that matters,” I responded.

Terra sighed.