Act 52 - Stars 10

Originally appeared in Nakayoshi, March 1997.
Translated by Kurozuki (manga@kurozuki.com). Version 1.02, 4.97.

Do not link directly to this page. Do not redistribute this translation in any form, such as by posting it on another web site.

This translation is dedicated to my moon princess, and my eternal love, Tamako.

Usagi descends into the Cauldron.

"Save everything... Whether or not I can do it... I don't know... But..."

"We're always with you," say the sailor soldiers.

"Fight without hesitation," says Mamoru.

"There is always hope and rebirth," says Saturn.

"The sailor crystals are our hope," says Kakyuu.

Usagi enters Chaos.

"Our hope."

Her suit peels into feathers blowing away as she flows through the light.

"Sailor soldiers sleeping inside the Cauldron. Sailor crystals. And my many friends across the galaxy. Please. Please give me strength!"

-

The Sailor Quartet awaken outside the palace.

The crystals in their chests glow.

"Calling... Is this power Sailor Moon!? Requesting our strength... Sailor Moon!"

They run inside, to the Cauldron.

"Ohhhh," says Chaos.

A glowing light rises out of the Cauldron.

The Quartet's crystals fly to the light.

A winged figure is bathed in power.

"Sailor Moon!?"

"Silver Moon Crystal Power!!" she calls. "Eternal Power!!"

The sailor crystals shoot out in all directions at Chaos.

"Ohhh! Are you trying to break me apart!? Stop!! Ohhhh!"

Chaos screams as the crystals envelop it.

"I feel all their power..." Usagi thinks. "Throughout my body... Now I can rescue them... From inside here..."

Her body melts away as she drops into the Cauldron.

"Sailor Moon!?" the Quartet cry.

Lights burst into the air.

"Wow!" says Pallas. "This flood of lights!? What on earth!?"

"The sailor crystals of the sailor soldiers scattered in the Cauldron," says a figure, "are returning to their original forms, and going back to their own planets."

They see the woman's face.

"Chibi-Chibi?"

"They are all still just starseeds born from the Cauldron, but as they reach their respective planets, they will grow, and return to their forms of before."

"It can't be," says Ceres. "This... Sailor Moon sacrificed herself, with the power of the Silver Moon Crystal!?"

"No," says the woman. "This power of rebirth is the realization of the power of all the galaxy's sailor crystals as one. This is the Cosmos Crystal's, making everything into the static Cosmos, the ultimate Lambda Power."

"Cosmos Crystal!? Lambda Power!? Who are you...?"

The woman in a sailor suit and cape, two long ponytails flowing over her shoulders, a light sparkling on her forehead, stands before them.

"I am Sailor Cosmos."

"Sailor Cosmos!?" says Ceres. "It can't be... It can't be... Are you the future... The future Sailor Moon's ultimate form!?"

"I am only a coward," the woman says. "I abandoned everything, and ran away from where I should have been. Eternally, I am no match for the final courage and strength of Eternal Sailor Moon."

"Final courage!? Then, is Sailor Moon-!? She can't be..."

"Sailor Cosmos! Our princess...!"

"Do not worry," she says. "Your princess, the same as the other soldiers, was reborn by that Lambda Power. Someday, in that flow of lights, she will arrive safely back in the 30th century. This is the Galaxy Cauldron. Where the galaxy's stars are born, and where they finally return. To engage the source of all the enemies who inhabited here, Chaos, Eternal Sailor Moon melted along with Chaos into the Cauldron's sea of origin. Not the power of Eternal Sailor Moon, but the Cauldron, and the galaxy, were able to return everyone. But in the end, they could not completely eliminate Chaos."

Memories echo in her mind.

"From an overwhelming future, where I lost the war to Sailor Chaos, I gave up everything and ran away. Repeated massacres, a long, painful war... The enemy that appeared, the strong, enormous Sailor Chaos... With the way of fighting we had used, we didn't stand a chance. Even if we defeated it, even if we returned the peace of before, the damage taken, the price we paid, would be too much. Too far-reaching. We couldn't do it. I don't know anymore, why there are wars. What is right. What should I do? When I'm lost, when I'm hurt, I remember. The war here. Back then at the Cauldron. If I had eliminated it, would the pain, would the war have ended? After regretting it so many times, I came here. To make it right this time."

A small girl floats down from above, holding an umbrella over her head.

"The me of here, too, was all alone. Always suffering. So I was always by her side, to support her. I was going to make her choose the right path this time.... But I knew. The chosen path was not a mistake. Nobody can destroy the place where stars are born. Because of this place, we can continue living. Time and time again, we can start over. I won't run away anymore. I'll go ahead to the future. Because I was blessed with great power by Eternal Sailor Moon. All the courage and strength to stand alone, the courage and strength to accept everything! I had forgotten it. The matchless strength!"

"Sailor Cosmos..."

"Now Eternal Sailor Moon, who saved the galaxy, is the true Sailor Cosmos. When, like Eternal Sailor Moon, I can have the courage to stand alone, and the courage to accept everything, at that time I can be the true Sailor Cosmos. Now, you shall return as well! To the place where you must return, to the person you must protect!"

She raises her scepter, and the Sailor Quartet are transformed into lights, joining the others.

Alone, she watches as they go.

"It's warm... This smell is familiar..."

Usagi sits up.

"Me...? I'm alive? I was going to envelop Chaos. At the final moment... I was repelled."

She looks at the light surrounding her.

"This place? Is everyone gone...? Chaos... The Cauldron... Everyone..."

She feels a touch at her back.

"Usa."

She turns, standing up, and takes Mamoru's hands.

"Usagi!!" the girls call.

"Everyone...!!" she says.

Mamoru kisses her hand.

"Thanks to your power, Usa."

"Usagi...!" says Minako. "You were alone... We couldn't protect you. Sorry."

"We wanted to be with you...!" says Haruka.

"You continued to call on us, to draw on our power... Thank you, Usagi."

She feels a hand at her neck. She turns around.

"Usagi. I'll be waiting in the 30th century."

"Chibi-Usa...!"

Chibi-Usa fades into a ball of light, floating away.

"I believed," Usagi says, "that I would be with you. We're all one again. Being as one, our thoughts meshing... Now we are together again."

She hugs them.

A small figure appears.

"Such strong brilliance of stars," it says. "Inside this Cauldron, the stars' forms are fully ready."

"Cauldron?" says Usagi. "Is this place inside the Cauldron?"

"Yes," says the figure.

"And you...?"

"I am Guardian Cosmos. Guardian and holy spirit of the Cosmos Seed. Long ago, there were shining stars that came here like you, as perfect star forms. In my breast I held the cast-off shell of a small star. That star, too, carried strong brilliance like yours, Sailor Moon. Saying it would come here to me, that life was lost to this Cauldron's sea of origin. Saying you want to create a new history of the stars? I wonder if that means you want to leave here in those star forms?"

"We want to go live together, always, like this," says Usagi. "We want to make our future like this. However hard it may be, we want to live these lives!"

They are all enclosed in light, and thrown into the air.

"Guardian Cosmos!" Usagi calls as she flies away. "Is Chaos...!"

They disappear.

"The core of Chaos, the Chaos seed, and Guardian Chaos, are melted into the Cauldron. Now they have become too small to be found. They might be born again. Because this is the place where stars, and possibilities, are born..."

Mamoru lies next to Usagi in bed.

He leans over, and wakes her with a kiss.

"Morning."

"Morning, Mamo-chan..." she says. "It feels like I've been having a long, long dream."

"What kind of dream?"

"I don't remember."

The sun shines over the Crystal Palace.

"Hey, Mamo-chan..."

She touches her hands to his face.

"Say those words one more time."

"I already said them fifty times last night."

"Just once more!"

"Okay. One last time."

He kisses her.

"Marry me, Usa."

The sun shines through the window of the church as they kiss.

A light glows in Usagi's chest.

"Oh..."

"What?"

"I felt something now," she says. "That a star was being born inside of me. That soon, our daughter... a new sailor soldier will be born."

She holds the bouquet of flowers as they walk up the aisle.

"Say... Until our duties end someday, will we always protect this planet together..."

"We will," says Mamoru. "Of course we will."

"Will we always live together?"

"I promise. We will always be together."

They kiss.

"I promise too" she thinks. "I will always protect you."

She runs outside.

"And I will always protect our precious friends."

She joins the other girls.

"Mamo-chan!" she calls.

Mamoru looks at her in the sunlight.

"Even if someday we are gone," he thinks, "and new sailor soldiers, new stars are born... Sailor Moon, you will forever be immortal. For all eternity, you will be the most beautiful, brilliant light."

The end.

Do not link directly to this page. Do not redistribute this translation in any form, such as by posting it on another web site.