Decisions

Decisions.

*

The entire galaxy was falling apart.

Yes, Serenity V nodded to herself quietly, her body-being aged over thousands of years-was withering away slowly, and she knew it. There was no way she could prevent herself from this fact.

The idea of death had been a scary thought in the beginning of her life. Time and time again, when fighting the Shitennou, and Beryl, she was afraid of dying, even though her friends had made the sacrifice. When she discovered the dark tree, she was afraid of dying. When fighting the Dark Moon Kingdom, she was afraid of dying. When fighting the Death busters, she was afraid she would die. When saving Hotaru, she was afraid she would die, and the world would die with her. When fighting the Dream Circus, she was afraid of dying. When fighting the Animates and Galaxia, and even being within the Sailor Cauldron, she had been afraid.

And now, it was time for her to die. Not within a war, or in battle, but rather on a bed of old age with everyone waiting on her. There was a war, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it. But, nothing lasted forever. Everything had to die at some point, and almost everyone had to come to terms with this.

Almost everyone, that is, and Serenity V wasn’t just anyone.

She was this galaxy’s savior. She had to protect everyone. The past seven thousand years she had watched these people age, live, grow, and almost recess. It had disturbed her for so long, and now…

Now, she held the burden of decision. Life and death both rested upon her shoulders, like a burden. Either she could let herself die, and let the people, Crystal Tokyo, this Galaxy…all of it just shatter….

The idea expanded in her mind, and she opened her eyes for a moment, feeling her fatigued body almost reaching its end, and looked around. There, thousands were bowing to their lady, all of them more than willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for her. She closed her eyes again, now letting herself think.

Her seven thousand years on this planet had been wonderful. Being given the gift of Sailor Moon, and yet it was also her true burden. She could never live a normal life, like her childhood friend Naru, and her entire lifespan had been predetermined and told to her millennia before it had happened. She let out a sigh.

And yet, at the same time, this Galaxy was well worth the mass. She had sacrificed a possible nice little life to become the Queen of Neo-Tokyo. She had sacrificed her teenage years to defending her world, her solar system, and this entire galaxy. She knew her fate, and that was fine.

Now, this was the end of her life, every second was drawing to a close, and she was burdened with a decision. She could let her final page be written, and let her body wither away, being remembered as the one who started it all…

Or the legacy could continue. Many had all agreed, that without their dear queen, the galaxy would disintegrate, and there would be no hope. She shook, her breaths becoming shallow and her heart moving at a much slower pace.

This was the end.

She had to make her decision.

“Serenity-sama, we need you!”

The withered Aino Minako, Princess of Venus, had approached, her long hair now almost a silvery white, the red bow still there, though barely holding to the thin hair of the elder woman. She, the senshi that had escaped Neo-Tokyo, was now at her mercy, along with the rest of the galaxy.

Everyone depended on her, now. It wasn’t just her friends, or her enemies, or her comrades. It was a whole Galaxy. Thousands of people depended on Queen Serenity V to save them, or else they knew there would be no hope. Perhaps if she died they would give up the will to live, and then the Galaxy would be in ruins.

She made her decision, as she sat up, and looked upon the court of offerings. Thousands of people stood, all willing to sacrifice their life for her. She took a very shaky breath, and looked upon each person.

Anyone would think that she would have chosen her court of inner senshi. The group had enough power in itself to save the galaxy, and she had known them all well enough. It could be that with the fall of her personal court could be the rise of the savior.

But all of Serenity’s personal court had grown withered with age, just like herself. There would probably be only a scarce few more years added to her lifetime. While this may had seemed wise at one point, since even a few years could do these people a large enough favor, she only wanted to do this once.

That led to either the knights, or the younger of the senshi.

The knights, though powerful, she did not wish to kill. While a senshi could do equally enough damage as an army possibly could, there needed to be much strength in numbers. She let her eyes skim.

The younger of the Outers, Haruka and Michiru’s children. She could had easily asked them, the children of such powerful senshi surely could had given her enough power to save this galaxy.

She shook her head again mentally. No, no. Their power was needed in these wars. They were still strong. Just like Rei was still needed. Though youthful, and possible to add much more to her life, Rei, and her dream division, were still needed for a long time.

Her mind reeled with possibilities. Most of the children of the Inners and Outers she was afraid of letting go. There was the possibility of the children of the Satellite Senshi, and she was about to raise her finger to make her decision, when realization dawned.

There had been five outers, yet even before the fifth outer had been discovered, the senshi had managed to fight off the darkness without the outer. There was much power there, but the amount of senshi there was already was plenty enough.

She made her decision. Getting to her feet, she walked through the crowds, looking carefully for the symbol, though moving slowly. She finally saw the two girls, and beckoned them forth. The two approached, both tall, and only perhaps a thousand years younger. She looked at the two, a smile upon her humble face.

“Your sacrifice will be remembered until the end of time.”

She closed her eyes; the silver glow of her crystal immediately began to pull the life from the two. They very slowly began to wither away, like all the moisture in their body had been stolen, and they were soon turned to dust, and Serenity looked up.

She felt the energy enter her body, and it was as if she had henshined, but once the henshin was finished, she looked far different. There were still the wings from Eternal Sailor Moon, but now they were more like the wings of an angel. Her entire fuku was white; spare the skirt, which had rainbow stripes to it. Upon her chest, where the bow would have normally been, there was a purple orb with a silver star in it, the orb having wings sprouted out. The same was at the top of the skirt, but the wings were more an orange tint to them. She held a staff that had the same symbol upon its top, as the orbs on the ‘bow’ and skirt. Her long silver hair had fallen around her as it normally did.

“Megami-sama!” Pluto gasped, “Its Sailor Cosmos!”

Serenity looked around, as all of those within the court had dropped to their knees. Serenity, though, had a very disgusted feeling. This was what she had tried to prevent when she learned of it. She did not want these wheels of destiny to turn.

And yet, here she was…

The wheels of fate were truly cruel.