All RIGHT! This is a the FINALE to my Serenity's Legend story. Any loose ends in the other parts are answered in this final part. This story is rated PG, well some slight violence and maybe language, if you call the word damn a bad thing. Well, enough of my babbling! On with the show! Oh yeah, PLEASE email me and tell me what you think of my story. Critiques, compliments, suggestions, anything would be fine. Just FEED MY EMAIL INBOX! I think it will die of starvation soon! Usual disclaimers: Sailor Moon and all its characters and likeliness belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha/Toei. English translation is made possible by DiC. More author's note at bottom! My email address: ml_eclipse@hotmail.com << >> = thoughts [ ] = author's note ====================================================== Serenity's Legend written by Cosmos Part X: As Fate had Ordained "Are you sure you want to fight me?" Chaos asks mockingly. "You know that you can never defeat me. You are weak. You will probably run away again." Cosmos narrows her eyes until they are merely blue slits as she replies in a dangerous and challenging tone, "Do not count on me retreating *this* time, Chaos. This time the Sailor Wars shall end here." "So be it." A strong gust of dark energy suddenly radiates from Chaos smacking into Cosmos causing her to fall onto her knees. Sailor Mars takes in instinctive step forward, but then stops when she remembers the promise she had given. Instead, she clenches her fist and watches in intolerable silence. Strangely enough, Cosmos notices that Chaos appears to be holding back. She has seen Chaos fight before against the other Sailor Soldiers in the future; she was cruel and unrelenting. She never gives any pauses between her attacks. Constantly driving forward with strong blasts, her opponent did not have a chance. Yet, now, Chaos simply stands there before her, looking at her with a mocking smile. <> Cosmos thinks. Nonetheless, this is no time for asking questions; instead Cosmos holds her staff in an upright position with the end touching the ground as she shouts, "Cosmos…Shockwave…Flow!" A sparkle of light shines at the bottom of the rod and a wave of bright energy emanates from the rod, slithering like a snake the energy travels at the speed of light toward Chaos, but she easily dodges it. Again, Chaos only creates a strong gust of dark energy at Cosmos, nothing more, nothing less. Cosmos holds her footing and leans against the strong gust without a problem. <> Cosmos asks again. <> "What are you trying to do?" Cosmos yells in anger and frustration. "Why aren't you fighting?" "I do not need to fight you," Chaos answers, unconcern. "I can defeat you easily, too easily." "What the *hell* are you talking about?" "Don't you understand? I can simply make you falter by a mere wave of my hand." "You *are* a fool if you underestimate me, Sailor Chaos!" "No, Cosmos," Chaos drawls, "*you* are the fool to underestimate *me*! I do not need to fight you. I can simply *make* you loose." Cosmos can feel raging fire burning inside her. <> "Cosmos…White Flame…Rage!" Unbelievably, Cosmos created a large fireball burning at such intensity that it looks white, which she shoots at Chaos. Chaos simply gives a smirk and raises her hand producing a powerful gust of wind which deflects the fireball at a tree resulting in a huge blast that leaves a large black burnt hole several meters wide where the tree once stood. The Sailor Soldiers take in a sharp breath at the incredible destruction before them. Cosmos now looks at Chaos in extreme frustration. "Why aren't you fighting!" She screams. "I told you that this would be the final battle between us. Only one will leave here alive. You hear me! This will be a battle to end this *damn* war!" Chaos smiles evilly, "You have not realized it have you? The war has already ended even before it began. And you have lost." Cosmos looks at her in angry confusion. Chaos gives an exasperated sigh, "Fine, I'll show you what I mean." She begins to glow with a strange light, then half of a crystal darker than night appears before her. Her eyes glow an even brighter red as the crystal begins to turn until only a ball of dark energy looking something like a small black hole is seen. Chaos reaches her hand inside the dark void and grasp onto something that none of them can see. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Darien sees Cosmos grab at her chest in pain. The others saw this too and quickly shout, "Cosmos! What's wrong?" Cosmos was just standing there, staring at the dark void in amazement when she suddenly felt a cold hand grab her heart and seal it in ice. A strange dark energy begins to flow out from the center of her chest and begins to envelop her soul. <> Cosmos looks at Chaos in surprise, fearing glowing brightly in her eyes. "What is she doing to her?" Venus asks in anguish. They see the dark void split into two spheres where Chaos has her hands inside each. Chaos raises her hands and points them at Darien who was watching Cosmos in anguish. Cosmos immediately feel something grip her arms and hands. Slowly, this thing controlling her hands forces her to turn and aim her rod at Darien. Her eyes suddenly widen in horror when her crystal releases a strong energy attack directly at him. <> "NO!" She screams. She sees her attack flying straight at her love. Without a second thought, Cosmos quickly vanished to only reappear between Darien and the oncoming attack. This action is unexpected and Chaos is taken aback when she sees Cosmos standing in front of Darien, her arms wide in order to shield him from the blast. Chaos roars, "NO!" But it is too late for any of them to do anything. The immense energy hits Cosmos squarely in the chest causing her to collapse onto her knees. She is determined not to fall or else the Sailor Soldiers will enter the battle. She does not want them to be hurt. This is something she knows she must do herself. Cosmos looks at the ground that is slowly turning red with her blood. Blood oozes down her hands located on her sides, supporting her. She can feel the metallic taste of her blood in her mouth and feel the warm liquid drip from her mouth onto the ground. She tries to take in a breath but her chest screams in pain. She groans and clutches her chest where a new pain begins to take over her. From the corners of her eyes she sees Chaos also on the ground, clutching her bleeding chest similar to herself. <> Cosmos wondered. Taking a weary glance around her, she sees that none of the other soldiers have made any movements from where they stand locked in time by the horror they had just witnessed. <> Cosmos groans in pain as she attempts to stand up. Every time she feels a strong wave of pain hitting her being like a shock wave from a jet, she can hear Chaos cry out. Once on her feet, Cosmos looks at Chaos whom by now has also regain her feet. She looks at the dark being deep in concentration. She notices that Chaos is oozing a dark liquid, which she assumed to be her blood, in the same location as herself. In addition Chaos is also holding her chest in pain, the very same place where Cosmos received the impact of the blast. <> Chaos notices Cosmos looking at her strangely. She struggles to regain her dominant posture and smiles evilly her at. "I told you Cosmos," she speaks in an attempt to hide her pain. "I told you the war has ended even before it has begun, and I am the victor." "What did you do to me?" Cosmos asks in fear. Chaos now laughs demonically, "What did I do to you? Ha-ha-ha! I made you attack Endymion, that's what." Then lowering her voice to a spine chilling whisper adds, "I control you Cosmos. Everything about you from your powers to your very movement…I control you." Cosmos' eyes widen in horror. "How?" is all she can whisper. "Look at your star seed." Cosmos closes her eyes and commands her star seed to appear before her, "Sparkle of my life…reveal yourself before me." A small glow begins to appear from her chest, then growing stronger. An incredibly clear crystal appears before her. She opens her eyes and look at it, but to her horror she can see that half the crystal is slowly changing color, suddenly glowing dark. Cosmos looks at Chaos questioningly, her gaze asks her <> "Half of my dark star seed is contained within your crystal star seed," Chaos replies bluntly. "What?" Cosmos yells in surprise. "When Eternal Sailor Moon tried to destroy me in the Cauldron of the Stars," Chaos explains, "her star seed melted a long with everything else that falls in there. Somehow something went wrong, so when Eternal Sailor Moon is again reborn, she didn't realize that contained within her star seed is half of mine. And since it is part of my star seed, I control part of you." And Chaos gives an evil smile. Cosmos just simply stand there, her vacant gaze reflects the horror she now feels. Suddenly images of a battle in the future flashes in her mind. She sees Jupiter fighting beside her suddenly falls in a bloody heap, then Uranus nearby…then…Endymion. "Then…," Cosmos breathes, fearing that her assumption is correct. "Then their deaths…their deaths…is caused by me?" "Who?" Chaos asks unconcerned. "Eternal Sailor Jupiter, Uranus, and…and Endymion." Laughing hysterically, Sailor Chaos speaks, "So, I see that you have recovered your memory. I was hoping that I had erased it completely. Tisk…tisk…oh well that was just too bad." "You mean…it is true?" "Indeed." Cosmos drops to her knees clutching her head between her legs, she cries out in a most painful sound as *that* strange feeling of guilt that has been haunting her all this time finally reveals its ugly face. The heart-wrenching cry echoes through the dark park like a lost soul wailing at the moon. The Sailor Soldiers and Tuxedo Mask look on in surprise. They did not understand at all what had just passed between Cosmos and Chaos. <> They can sense her pain and sorrow. Such a magnitude of grief it is almost impossible to believe that anyone can feel such heights of emotions. Her soulful cry tears upon their heart as they watch her helplessly. "The truth is painful, isn't it." <> He quickly stands up and rushes over to her side. He takes her shaking body into his arms and rocks back and forth whispering words of comfort in her ears. "Serena, please don't cry," he pleads. "I can't stand to see you in such pain…in such grief. What has she done to you? I will tear her heart out with my bare hands if she had hurt you like this." "No, Darien," Cosmos whispers between sobs. "It is my heart you should tear out." "What?" Darien holds her so that he can look at her beautiful sad face. "What are you talking about?" "Didn't you hear?" Cosmos asks in a voice that lost all emotions. "I am a murderer! I was the one that killed you. I killed you!" She almost screams in hysteria. For a moment he looks at her in confusion. Then he realizes what she is talking about. <> A tear escapes his eye. He tightens his embrace, pulling her head to lay on his chest as he whispers, "Don't blame yourself. You did not know what you were doing. You were under Chaos' control you had no idea. I know the real you would never willingly do such a thing. Please Serena…my love…listen to me. Forget all that Chaos has made you do. You know deep down that it was not you that did it. It was Chaos. Though she controlled your hands, she cannot control your heart. Please, love, don't do this to yourself. Please, Serena, we need you!" A tear escapes from his eye and drifts down onto her face, landing on her star sigil causing it to glow brightly. She suddenly feels a warmth flow through her, warmth she has long forgotten. This warm energy courses through every vein in her body until it reaches her heart where it shatters the cold grip that seals her heart in ice. "You are right Darien," she whispers, her voice growing stronger. "It was not me who did that. I could never do that. I love you more than life itself." She looks up at him and he notice a small light dancing in her eyes. From a distance, Pluto also saw that brightness return to Cosmos' eyes, too. "I will protect you. This time we will have the peace that we all have waited for so long." She gives him a passionate kiss, a kiss that melts his heart. He doesn't want her kiss to stop. He wants this moment to last forever, caught in time. Yet, she slowly breaks away from him and stands up to confront Chaos. He remains where he is, looking at her through a vision that is blurred both by tears and by love. Chaos laughs at her, "Well that was a touching scene. Don't even bother fighting me Cosmos. You know that you will only lose." Cosmos does not reply; instead she simply looks at Chaos with a mysterious smile. Something in that look seems to cause Chaos to stiffen in fear. Silence falls among them…and apprehension. A strange feeling of mystery suddenly weighs the atmosphere down as everyone looks at Cosmos intensely, watching her every move…wondering what she will do. Chaos has proven to be a powerful opponent, too powerful. There does not seem to be a way to kill her. What will Cosmos do? Cosmos gives Chaos a teasing smile, "You want to know something, Chaos? I, too, know a little secret." Chaos can feel fear grip her dark soul like a cloak. Trying not to show her fear, Chaos questions in a restraint voice, "What secret? Ha! You have nothing over me. You know that you can never defeat me." "Are you sure?" The reply freezes her. She narrows her crimson eyes and replies with a question, "What are you up to Cosmos? Tell me what your little mind is plotting?" Cosmos gives a mocking laughter. "Look at who is frightened now. I now your worse fear, Chaos." "And what could that be?" "You are afraid to die." The answer hits her like a typhoon. Cosmos' smile widens in pleasure as she sees fear reflecting off of Chaos' eyes like a beacon in the dark. "Your attacks cannot kill me. No one can harm me." "I do not have to attack you to kill you. You see Chaos, your little advantage over me also has a little disadvantage…a drawback that I have now figured out. You can't die by an outside attack, because part of your life being flows through me through your half of the dark crystal." Chaos' eyes widen with each truth she speaks. "In order to kill you, that half of the crystal must be destroyed." "But then you would die too because my half has melted with yours." "Exactly," Cosmos whispers in a tone of ice. "You wouldn't dare. You don't have the courage to." "Don't I? Unlike you, my fear does not lie with death." Cosmos raises her hand in the air as her rod disappears. A bright clear crystal appears between her palms, she has summoned the Cosmos Crystal. The other soldiers heard all that has passed between them and they are now screaming to her to stop, but their screams of anguish went unheard. The Cosmos Crystal glows brighter between her hands as Cosmos' gaze lock onto Chaos'. She smiles challengingly. "And so the war ends here," Cosmos speaks. Then looking up to the moon above her, she shouts, "Cosmos…Lambda…Eternity…Power!" An incredible beam of intense energy shoots out from the crystal straight toward her star crystal floating between them. The beam of light smashes into the crystal like a torpedo shooting through water. The crystal shatters in a magnitude of light scattering shards as Chaos screams in the background. Everyone look to see that Chaos has also shattered into stardust much like the crystal and disappears forever. Cosmos can sense a sharp stab going through her heart when the crystal shattered. Her vision immediately darkens and she falls into oblivion. The scream coming from Chaos echoes through the night air like that of banshees. Slowly the night swallows the horrible sound and silence rides in on his horse. Silence…that is all they hear and all they know. The silence that darkens the night even further is preventing any light from shining through. Silence…a silence that none of them want to hear…that none want to experience. Never can it be thought that mere silence, neither a real object nor a force, can inflict such a heavy blow on the soul. Suddenly they all hear a scream, a heart breaking scream somewhere in the distance. No…not far in the distance…nearby. <> Darien wonders. <> Suddenly he realizes that it was him who had emitted the mournful cry. He looks in front of him, his body frozen in shock and horror. His gaze never leaves her…not even when Chaos screamed her last, when her eyes went lifeless, when his angel fell from the sky. There she is, lying before him so pure….so innocent. A small smile still plays on those pale pink lips. If he hadn't seen all that had happened he would have sworn that she is sleeping, living in a wonderful peaceful dream that she had always wanted to have. Quietly, without a sound, he slowly crawls toward her motionless body, picks her up in his arms and buries his head in her silver hair crying in wracking sobs that tear at his soul. He wants to scream, to run, to strangle himself with his bare hands. Yet all he could do is cry…cry until he feels that he will go blind with sorrow. Suddenly, through the tears a flash of light appears. They all turn to look at the light, tears blurring their vision. They can see that it is a door. A beautiful door with various phases of the moon carefully curved into its shiny surface. The door had appeared out of thin air. The female soldiers turn to look at Pluto questioningly, but she simply shakes her head. She did not summon the Space-Time Gate. They turn their attention back to the door, confusion and pain flood their eyes. Slowly the door opens to reveal eight tall shadows standing behind it. They squint their eyes in an attempt to see pass the blinding light that is hiding these strangers. Again, as if time has suddenly slowed down, these shadow slowly steps through the door and into the pale moonlight that floats down to them like a silk curtain. They all gasp in surprise as an awesome vision behold their gazes. Standing before them in a semi-circle are eight powerful beings that remarkably resemble themselves, except each being has small white wings protruding from their backs. It is they, the Eternal Sailor Soldiers and their King. No one move. No one spoke. I don't think anyone even dared to breathe as each being look at their past and future reflections. Finally, King Endymion walks over toward where Darien is on the ground holding the lifeless body of Cosmos. King Endymion kneels down and looks at her, his eyes slowly fill with tears. Taking her body from Darien's arms, he holds her in a tight embrace, burying his head in her flowing silver hair. Darien didn't move, nor did he make any attempt to stop his future self from taking her. He simply sat there staring at them both in sorrow. "Oh my love," Endymion whispers into her hair. "How I wish I could have prevented you from going through all that you had gone through. But now my angel you will no longer suffer…none of us will have to suffer this again. The future you have fought so hard since the old Silver Millenium has finally come. Peace is finally here my love. The world you have promised us, and have longed so dearly for, is finally a reality." Endymion closes his eyes as tears of joy drift down his face. He begins to glow in a strange golden light which spreads to envelop Cosmos as well. A sparkle of gold catches Darien's attention and looking up he sees the Golden Crystal appear. Floating above the couple, the crystal lets out a warm pulse of energy and light. The light increases in intensity until the entire park is surrounded by it as if the sun has awakened and is shining down on them at this moment. The warm energy flows like ribbons toward Cosmos wrapping her body in golden ribbons of energy. The star sigil on her forehead, which was dark and lifeless, now begins to glow gently with silver light. Darien's eyes widen in surprise…and hope. Suddenly from within the Golden Crystal a bright silver light shines out. They all look to see that a clear silver crystal has been formed inside Endymion's crystal. Slowly, this silver crystal flows out from the other one and solidifies before their eyes. Darien takes in a sharp breath. <> Indeed, Endymion's Golden Crystal has brought her star seed back to life, but it also did more. It had separated the dark half of Chaos' crystal from hers so now Cosmos' star crystal shines in all its brilliance…true and pure. Slowly, her star crystal dissolves back into her being. Endymion looks down at his love bathed in gold light; she looks more beautiful than he can ever imagine. He bends down and presses his lips onto hers. Immediately, a bright light of silver and gold emanates from their closed lips blinding all those that is now watching them in amazement and awe. When the bright light disappears, they all turn to look at the lovely couple. The past Sailor Soldiers gasp in surprise when they see that the star sigil on Cosmos is now shining brightly, just as it had before. Observing her with greater care, they can see that she is breathing again. She is alive! Tears of joy drift down all their faces, past and future alike. Cosmos slowly opens her eyes and looks into a pair of the most beautiful azure colored eyes. "Darien," she whispers weakly. "Is that really you? Please tell me this isn't a dream." He smiles down at her warmly, "This is not a dream, my lovely Queen. Welcome back my love." A tear drifts down her beautiful clear blue eyes. She reaches up and holds him in a tight embrace as if fearing that he might disappear any moment only to reveal that this is a dream. Fortunately, it is not. He embraces her with all the love he feels for her and all the years of separation only made his love for her increase hundreds fold. He whispers softly into her ears, his voice ringing with the sound of great passion and love, "You will never leave my arms again, dear Serena, my lovely Meatball Head." "Darien," she cries. "Has it all truly ended?" "Yes, my heart. The war is now over. The future is as peaceful as it can ever be. We have finally reached our destiny." "I am so glad," she whispers tiredly as she slowly let sleep overtake her body. Endymion looks down at the lovely angel in his arms, his love through so many lifetimes. He brushes his lips against her soft rosy cheeks resulting in her smiling warmly in her sleep. He picks her up in his arms and stands up. Darien, whom has been sitting near them the whole time, also stands up. Endymion looks at him with great compassion and understanding. "Do not worry about what is to come," he says solemnly. "Just live each day as you want to live it and know that peace will eventually arrive. And this is proof of that." He turns around and walks through the Space-Time Gate with his love in his protective embrace without a glance back. The Eternal Sailor Soldiers turn and look back at their past selves. Then they all take a bow of gratitude and also turn and leave through the gate. Silver mists slowly dissolve the gate and the entire object disappears all together, leaving the onlookers to watch in silence. Endymion's strong and gentle voice drifts back into their minds, <> Darien smiles, turns around and picks up *his* love in his arms. Leading the way, he walks into the darkness of the night with eight Sailor Soldiers following behind him. From a distance, they can all see a bright light shine brilliantly down at them. They all smile warmly with the knowledge that things will eventually turn out well, as fate had ordained. THE END! ~ To all the dreamers out there, may your dreams come true. ~ * Cosmos * ===================================================== [PHEW! I have finally finished this story! When I started out I only thought of making it a five part story, but as things began rolling it turned out that I doubled it. Well, what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Email me and tell me! My address is at the top. By the way, I'd just like to take the time to thank all of you who have emailed me. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. And to those who haven't emailed me (Please do so), but thanks also for reading my story. Anyone who has read my story and wants me to read theirs, just email me. Hey, a good turn deserves another, right? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this!]