2365/The thing that is Cthulhu to Cthulu

The thing that is Cthulhu to Cthulu
Date of Scene:	27 February 2025
Location:	Campus Gardens
Synopsis:	Set the day after 2355/Awaken, oh Mistress 9, Usagi gathers her friends for a quiet sharing of information - just as Madoka comes to share her own wealth of information. Mamoru, Izou, Laura, and Amy have their own insights to offer. Mistress 9 is the threat, but the spectre of Saturn looms large.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Madoka Kaname, Minako Aino, Amanda Faust, Laura La Mer, Mamoru Chiba, Zoisite

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Yesterday, an ordinary afternoon of quirky ice cream flavors and unexpected encounters with friends had turned into a hellish battle, not only against the remnants of the Witches 5, but Mistress 9 herself - or, as Usagi Tsukino had known her, The Monster Inside Hotaru.

But not everyone had known about that monster, or about Hotaru, and while Usagi wasn't against secrets - they certainly had their place! - she does think there are at least a few people who should know, not that the second-or-third worst has happened. So, in the aftermath of the fight, after comforting Setsuna and Haruka, and after giving Zoisite the go ahead to teleport his exhausted prince home, Usagi had promised to answer questions - tomorrow.

The fact that tomorrow (now today) happened to be a school day? Yeah, that had totally slipped her mind.

Having to go to school after that had been a bit of a slap in the face, but she'd managed as well as she ever did (read: not well), and after making doubly sure Chibiusa was with Mamoru, texted her friends that she'd be waiting for them in the rock garden, the one with the flying birds fountain.

When they arrive, they'll find her seated on a bench, Luna in her arms, allowing her charge to bury her face in her fur.

"Hi, everyone," she mumbles, not yet moving.

"Hello, everyone," Luna echoes, managing to project dignity despite her ridiculous situation as only a cat could.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka has had the same nightmare for the past couple of years. Not every night, but every so often, ever since the day of the first Dippin Dots youma, that she didn't remember, and the following day with the attack on the beach, which she did. The dream was odd, mysterious, sad and scary. It was only much later that she would understand that it was a dream of her past timeline where she had turned into a Witch.

    Yet even as she knew more and more of what it meant to be a Puella Magi; and even as Gretchen, now Kamiko, shared more details and memories with her, there were still some mysteries from that exact moment.

    Why did the world just... fall apart, like it did? What power was so great and terrible that could overpower even the world-consuming Kriemhild Gretchen? What was that barely-heard word, Silence, and what did it have to do with anything?

    Madoka met Usagi with these questions in mind. Kamiko followed along, by which we mean she was currently napping on her Bearer's shoulder. The tiny Goddess Chara was still exhausted, but Madoka was dragging her along anyways. It was important, or so she expected.

    With a soft smile, marred by a mortified look in her eyes, she walks up to Usagi and Luna and says, "Hey, Usa-chan. Yesterday was kinda rough on us all, huh?"

Minako Aino has posed:
Minako Aino had missed the issue but she had heard, and she knew that Usagi was going to be updating everyone. She hurries here to join the others looking only partially flustered from having to hurry out of club practice. She could skip though -- She was good enough it wouldn't matter. Her hair is up in a scrunchie as she makes her way inside with a bag slung over her shoulder.
R"Sorry, I'm not late am I?" She asks with a tense tone as her gaze sweeps around. Without really thinking she moves over to join Usagi standing slightly behind her. A hand reaches down to rest on her shoulder giving a concerned look.

Artemis for his part slips in alongside her and leaps up onto the bench to lean in against Usagi's side with a little nod toward Luna in greeting. It seemed the Princess needed comfort right now so he was helping to double it up.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Yesterday sure was a thing. Yokina got taken over by the monster that was apparently inside her and that the Witches 3 Plus That Other One were serving, she felt Madoka's power, and then they all rode back in from the ocean on Final Destination (fox only, no items). Amy no longer has grief seeds to burn, just one partially-used one, which is more normal.

    To Amy, at least, having to go to class after that wasn't as bad as coming back the day after the Juuban middle school attack. She comes to the meetingplace from her last class in her winter uniform -- at least it's finally warming up enough that she doesn't constantly need a heavy coat outside -- still carrying her US army surplus backpack. (She tried to use the messenger bag early on, but classes keep needing textbooks, dammit.)

    "Hi." She answers, giving a brief wave as she finds a place to sit, setting her bag next to her and making sure her skirt ends up under her butt as she sits down.

    She looks a little bit surprised at how strongly this seems to have hit Usagi and Madoka -- clearly they were closer to Yokina than she was.

    She's also surprised to see someone bring an unfamiliar cat! She smiles at Artemis, "Oh, you have a kitty!" And then she sees the moon on his forehead and looks slightly awkwardly embarassed. "Oh, uh, I mean... Hi, I don't think we've met? I'm Amanda. Amanda Faust, Amy for short."

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura was still dealing with a ton of feelings from yesterday, and dragging out to have fun from someone she supposedly didn't even know wasn't even part of the issue. After all, that stranger wasn't actually a stranger, but apparently yet another person she had known from before she lost her memories.

The weirdest part was that when that thing had appeared, she had felt something for Hotaru, a hurry to act, to protect someone extremely important to her, and it's a lot different from what she was feeling mere minutes prior.

The difference was still unsettling her immensely. How could she have forgotten someone she held as dearly as Hotaru? What is going on here, and who else would she be feeling this for if they got into danger?

And then there is Mistress 9, the being who holds Hotaru hostage. To her relief, Mistress 9 made it clear that Hotaru is still in there and reacting strong enough for the evil being to feel it.

But she has to know more about her if she wants to tackle this problem, and so she is there well on time at the fountain.

With a cat speaking japanese. That is new. Fairies don't really speak human languages, no? "Hello, everyone", she bows to the group politely, diverting her gaze from Luna. There is some much needed information she has to get first.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm fine," murmurs Mamoru to Izou as the two of them head through the gardens toward where Mamoru can tell Usagi is. The prince's hands are jammed in his leather jacket pockets, but there's no hoodie under it today, just a dark red t-shirt with white Latin text on it that says 'magma cum laude' with a stylized volcano over it.

"It was only a little impalement, and Usako fixed the whole thing. I've got all ten pints--" he's going, but then there are voices ahead, and he gets even quieter, snagging Izou's arm for a second to slow him down. "We have to behave, okay? This is the friends of that little girl who turned into the monster. Don't be rude, and don't be mean."

Then they slip into the rock garden and Mamoru stalls, looking at Usagi sitting there with her friends, and he feels large and out of place, but -- he didn't explain this well to the boys. He'd told Kazuo but it hadn't been relevant for so long...

"Sorry, can we sit in? Chibiusa-chan is with Kazuo now."

'Zoisite has posed:
"A little impalement?" Izou hissed quietly between his teeth, following along. "Downplaying doesn't suit you, your Highness." Yes, a tiny bit of a nudge. But only just. He'd seen the blood on the ground. Even a toddler could guess how badly the wound should have been for even the Moon Princess to heal Endymion. But there was no real point to argue now. His worries were made loud and clear since yesterday, looking over Mamoru at least a couple of times. And it had been more than twelve hours ago.

A huff.

As for the meeting itself, he had not truly planned to come along until he was invited by the prince himself. In fact, neither of them were supposed to be there. And yet, there they were. Him, being lectured to be kind again. "Fine, I promise I won't be mean." With a sigh, feeling his arm being grabbed for immediate attention before being let go again.

He steps out and is next to Mamoru, wearing his uniform and carrying his bookbag in one hand as he gave a small courteous bow towards Usagi and the rest of the group. Be nice. Fine. Be nice.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Madoka and Minako are among the first to arrive, and Usagi lifts her face from Luna's fur to greet them, her smile a fragile thing. She kind of feels like... well... a monster, if she's honest with herself, because while she is worried for Hotaru, who doesn't deserve what's happened to her at all - her worry and anxiety are for so, so much more than just the fate of the little girl that the Outer Senshi love.

"You're right on time," she reassures Minako, stroking a hand down Luna's fur, even as the feline advisor leans forward to sniff at Artemis in greeting, her ears pricked towards Usagi, still. "Artemis, it's good to see you."

Madoka's words are met with a sigh, an exhale right from her soul. "It really was. You were amazing out there, Madoka-chan, and Kamiko-chan too. It would have been... a lot worse without you."

Amy comes in next, with Laura at her heels, and the sort of amnesiac young mermaid is greeted with a faint smile, and Luna bowing in return.

"Welcome, La Mer-san," Luna mews, "We appreciate your coming. Though you may not remember, you have been a good friend to Tomoe-san."

And then Mamoru is there, and stalled at the entrance, and Usagi beckons him, gesturing to the bench - there are other benches, around, places for people to sit, but she's clearly indicating the space nearest to us.

"Of course you can. I mean - we're all in this thing now, right? And you already had permission, to tell them, from... back then." A more awkward time, when Usagi herself had first learned everything and ranted about it to Mamoru. Now, that time - not the awkward fighting, but the reasoning behind it - is forced back into their faces, and ignorance isn't for anyone's good now.

"Thanks for coming, everyone. This is... well, honestly, a lot of this was stuff that was probably... never supposed to come out. But things change, I think... we all know that best."

She swallows, and then sits up meeting everyone's eyes at least once.

"Before yesterday, nobody knew exactly what was in Hotaru - but me and the Senshi and the Shitennou all knew that there was something in her. Um - you might have been introduced to her as Yokina Meiou, or Sailor Charon... but the truth is her name is Hotaru Tomoe, and before being Charon, she was Firefly, with Obsidian. Her papa is a bigwig there, in charge of a whole subcompany thing? Called Tomoe LifeSciences."

"They are who the Witches 5 report to, with those rifles that take Heart Crystals, and a bunch of other problems they've been causing. Hotaru-chan is... kind of allergic to Dark Energy, and she ran away from home after the... thing inside her, came out and caused a bunch of trouble." That is, indeed, one way to describe trying to kill her and several other people. "Last time though - she was able to... it didn't stay out like this. She ended up with the Outer Senshi, and they were helping her... suppress it, with like... positive vibes and love and no Dark Energy, all that stuff."

Minako Aino has posed:
Artemis looks over toward Amy with a dip of his white head. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Artemis." Of course there were more important things currently than introductions! Spotting Mamoru and Zoisite's arrival he turns to give a forehead bump to Usagi's arm before leaping down to walk to the side so that the spot he'd previously been in is available for Mamoru if needed. He'd also wait to see if Mamoru needed a lap cat, too.

Minako for her part flashes a smile toward Laura, Amy, and Madoka. It's thin as the seriousness of the situation meant there wasn't much cheer to put behind things right now. "I hope you don't mind my being here, too. I need to get caught up on things." A pause, and she offers, "I'm Aino Minako, Sailor Venus. I've been away for awhile." Too long apparently. Her arms cross as she steps away so that there's no crowding around Usagi. Zoisite might get a *little* of an annoyed look but she behaves otherwise!

Once Usagi starts to explain the situation though she calms down with her focus riveting on the conversation.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka gives Usagi a worried look, and then glances at Luna, Minako, Artemis, Laura, Mamoru, and Zoisite. She's sad about what happened to Hotaru, certainly, but that's not quite it. She knew the girl, but only barely. They weren't in the same class, they only met a handful of times off campus. While Madoka thought that the small girl was sweet, and incredibly energetic, the loss of her isn't the thing she's most worried about. "I don't mind, Mamo-kun. This concerns you, too... Probably."

    Closing her eyes for a moment, she says, "I'm sorry but... what I wanted to show you... isn't going to make anyone here happy."

    As she hears the story of Hotaru from Usagi, her thin smile gets yet thinner still, then falls into a frown. "I see. That's how it is. I wish that she could've been kept safe forever, but... that's not what we get to have this time."

    There's a moment of hesitation. Should she drop this on all of them? They're already going through so much, but... But they need to know. They deserve to.    

"Everyone... There's something I don't think I've told people. I didn't want to, because I didn't know what it meant, and I didn't want to worry everyone, but..." She looks down at her feet, which shift for a moment as she grips her uniform's skirt. Then she looks sideways at the fairy sleeping on her shoulder, and gives Kamiko's soft pink fluffy hair a finger pet. "... I think... something like this has happened to me before. Well... 'before'... as in, in a previous timeline. The one right before this one."

    She wakes up the divine Chara. "Wake up, Kamiko."

    "I'm tired," whines the dream-given-life. "Can't I nap a little bit more?"

    "Be good, and I'll get you something nice, okay? I just want to show my friends a scene from your Labyrinth. One of the... sadder ones."

    Kamiko grumpily responds, "I know which one you want. I just don't want to deal with that right now." Then with a sigh, the divine fairy sits up on Madoka's shoulder and says, "... But I guess there's no avoiding this. Everyone, don't panic. What I'm about to show you isn't real... in this timeline. Yet."

    The lacey white mandala that serves as the entrance to Kamiko's Labyrinth radiates out from the tiny Chara and spreads until it encompasses everyone gathered. Soon they are all transported into her own little world, but... this particular location is significantly more tragic, and more terrifying than anything that should ever be contained in a place called Paradise.

    There was once a time when Gretchen's Labyrinth could barely hold the inside of a car. Kamiko clearly has no limitation, as the Labyrinth's scene spreads for miles in every direction, as far as the eye can see. Or at least, it appears to, and that's close enough. Within this sad realm contain three landmarks, three tragedies, all happening at once. It's not exactly timefrozen, but it does loop the same 10 seconds or so, over and over, giving motion to the scene without ever actually resolving.

    Madoka looks up and points out the key landmarks, one at a time. "Over there, where all of the destroyed buildings are, at awkward angles and imbedded into the ground? That's where we fought Walpurgisnacht, where it died by my hand, after I made a Wish and became a Puella Magi. That place... used to be Mitakihara." If one looks closely enough, they can see the fallen bodies of several Mahou scattered on the ground, though one of them looks like it's just about to get up. Her blood-covered face is turned up to the sky, and with a broken hand she reaches for the shield on her arm...

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka points to the next landmark, a towering Witch so tall that it pierces the cloud layer and... just keeps going, and going and... "That up there? That's my Witch. That's what I became, after using all of my magic at once. Kriemhild Gretchen, Kamiko's namesake, before you all helped me purify her. I remember... being her, sometimes. Wanting so badly to make the world better, only to completely ruin everything I touched. I..." she pauses, then shakes her head. "... That's not important anymore. That tragedy has already been prevented. The other tragedy, the third and final one I have to show you, is the one I'm actually worried about. The one I don't yet fully understand."

    Then Madoka turns elsewhere, away from Walpurgisnacht's grave and Kriemhild's throne, towards a solitary figure in the distance, floating in the air, too far away to clearly be seen. Even if one got closer, they would still only see a vague shadow, because this isn't a perfect snapshot of the past. It's a recreation of Madoka's memories.

    More importantly is the ground beneath the shadow. There is a wall of destruction, tearing across the ground, lifting dirt and rocks into the air before they simply dissolve into nothing. The figure is saying something that can't be understood, can't really be known because Madoka didn't fully hear it, but the word 'Silence' can be made out if one listens closely enough.

    "That... right there. When I became a Witch, that awakened, and wiped out... everything. I don't know what it is. This is what I saw, back then..."

    Madoka turns her pink eyes back to Usagi and asks, "When that lady... called herself the Messiah of Silence... I couldn't help but wonder. If she was related to this. If she was the same person as..." The pinkette points at the shadowy figure in the distance. "... them."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    And here's Laura, who's lost her memory. Right, that's another problem they need to deal with... Norie is cursed, psychotic terrorists are after Chibiusa, Veronica is cursed, Laura is also cursed or something, Yokina was cursed and is now possessd by a monster or something, Molly is dead and her body taken over by ANOTHER evil monster, Amy can scarcely keep track of it all! Is this how videogame characters feel when the player runs all over the sandbox and fills their quest log with every quest they can find at once??

    Amy nods to Minako, "Nice to finally have time for a proper introduction." She smiles.

    Madoka gets a curious look. She has something to show too?

    Amy mouths 'Tomoe-san' after Usagi says it to Laura. Well, okay, Meiou obviously wasn't Yokina's real surname.

    She nods at the bit about it being stuff that should never have come out, and that things change.

    She listens, and sits up straight at the reveal that she's the one the Witches were looking for, and also that "She's Firefly?! How did I not recognize... oh right," she briefly holds a hand to her head, "Man, Recognition Inhibition is something else, every time..."

    She frowns. "Wait... Wasn't Firefly the one that-- Ahhh." A 'bunch of trouble' indeed.

    And then they're in the Labyrinth. It should be comforting, but... given what Madoka said, Amy has a fair bit of anxiety and trepidation. And when it's explained that this is (the memory of) another timeline, she stands up straight and looks at the landmarks with wide eyes, trying to memorize this.

    Actually, she'll pull out her phone and record, in case she needs to review it later.

    Kriemhild Gretchen.

    Amy can only stare in awe.

    The solitary figure, and the shadow they spread, make her turn and look, and take a step back. "What...?"

    She listens to Madoka's explanation, and lets out a breath, holding a hand to her head and thinking.

    She's looking at a world ended by her friend, who became a godly-powerful Witch, and oh on top of that something else ended the entire world, Kriemhild Gretchen and all.

    It is, most definitely, a lot to take in, and she needs a moment to process.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Your... Highness? If she recalls, that's how humans call their Queens, or their other royal types as well. "You have a kingdom then? What's your position in it?", she asks Mamoru. She still has a lot to learn about how humans function, or to relearn, as may be the case.

"Apparently so", Laura talks back to Luna, still a bit curious at the idea of a fairy like hers. "I only really remember her name, and that she is extremely important to me, but I still have nothing on how we became friends", she shrugs, downplaying her unease at the fact.

Usagi's explanation is followed along with the occasional nod by Laura, though just about all of it comes as news to her. She gets a bit irked that they knew and chose to keep it among themselves. Wouldn't they want as many people as possible trying to solve the problem?

"So basically what we do is bring here such a big attack that she will have no choice but get away from Hotaru", Laura notes, while giving the smile back to Minako. "Laura La Mer, Grand Ocean's Queen candidate and Cure La Mer."

"What kind of place is this?" Laura frowns when the Labyrinth is created. Then attention is brought to Madoka's Witch. "You certainly were tall", she tells the other pinkette casually. "Was there any special way you got defeated we can use against Mistress 9?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru does, in fact, sit where indicated -- and yes, he's down for a lapcat, and absolutely understands the cat body language of offering, so holds out his arms. Once Artemis is in place, he leans against Zoisite a little, but you know is petting the cat, not the knight.

Laura catches Zoisite calling him 'your Highness' and asks him about his kingdom and his position, and he looks a little embarrassed. "Ah -- Endymion, former Crown Prince of Earth, currently just prince of four guys and a locked door. But it's nice to meet you. You can call me Mamoru."

He's quiet for Madoka -- and he remembers the conversation she had with him, about Gretchen, about everything Madoka remembers and what kind of other memories she keeps having filter into her own from this life. Mamoru has enough trouble with one extra life, and it was at least different enough not to be confusing.

He holds still as the labyrinth expands-- he watches, frowning-- he swallows. He keeps watching. The towering Witch who still wanted to make the world better...

And then they get to the last figure, and the landscape beneath her, and Mamoru squeezes Artemis too hard and lets out a gasp. "It is. I dreamt that. I dreamt that, Madoka-chan."

Zoisite has posed:
If the annoyance was meant to be visible, Izou's face did not reflect it back when he stood up from his bow, quietly taking his seat next to Mamoru, placing his bookbag down on the ground as he did. On leg crossed over the other elegantly, an arm draped above the thigh and an elbow on his knee that propped his face up. And of course, he did not mind how Mamoru leaned against him.

In the latest battle, he'd been the last one to arrive, sensing that his prince had suffered from something catastrophic. Thankfully he was around to put in a fighting effort against one of the witches and make sure both Mamoru and Jadeite were safe. Now all he wanted was to listen in to what the group knew, if there were any pertinent updates he should be aware of.

A slight narrowing of green eye when Usagi touched upon Firefly, memories of the battle flooding back in quickly. The provocations and cruel tactics still fresh on the tip of his tongue. But he's been better at keeping back some of the sadism. Biting back his words, and his memories.

As for Madoka... green eyes go wide at the spreading scenery around them, enchanted by the vividness and the story being laid before him. Dreamscaped, cryptic and full of meaning that mostly mattered to the holder of such information. What interested him was the figure in the distance that was lastly pointed out by Madoka. The solitary icon of silence that obliterated everything around it--

Blinks, side glancing at Mamoru revealing the dream.

Minako Aino has posed:
Artemis leaps up to lapcat daintily in Mamoru's lap with only a slight wriggle to set his haunches comfortably on his legs facing out toward the crowd. Though not heavy he leans what weight he has into Mamoru's chest already picking up a steady, low rumbling purr in the hopes that the vibrations would be soothing to the tense prince. All goes well until the too-tight hug at the revelation of the dream, and Artemis brings his paws up to clench down on Mamoru's arm with a bug eyed, "Mahmurrrr!" of air wheezing out. Too tight! Too tight!

Minako opts to stand rather than sit. She COULD but right now she felt like standing. Just slightly behind Usagi with her hand lightly brushing against her arm. Just a light touch to let her know she's there as well and paying attention.

Still, the shift into the labrynth earns a little shiver from the blonde as her eyes dart around taking in the various scenarios that are on loop. She doesn't pale so much as blanche at them recalling similar memories of her own. No nightmares here, but she'd seen a kingdom or two fall before.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"She was Firefly, at least, and - yes, exactly."

She had told Molly and Amy and a select number of friends about Firefly, expressed the danger of her being released, the monster that had killed and would likely kill again, and... well.

That monster is out now.

She feels especially bad, to dump this on poor Laura, who doesn't remember any of the good times she's had and thus must especially think everything is terrible all the time, but she doesn't have more time to process it.

Because if Madoka is revealing her other lives, and histories - then this is definitely serious. Usagi sits up all the straighter, Luna mirroring her with upright ears and stiff tail, both of them watching Madoka as she tells them of a previous timeline, and when the little goddess chara is awoken and the Labyrinth replaces their surroundings -

Usagi holds Luna close and thinks to herself that this, was exactly what she was afraid of.

There's the remnants of Mitakihara, destroyed utterly by Walpurgisnacht, the terrifying Witch that had made Halloween an even worse terror than usual. There, is Kriemhild Gretchen, the monster that Madoka's own despair could become, the Witch desperate to fix things and doomed to destroy them.

And there... is a figure that Usagi cannot make out, but knows, must be...

And there's Mamoru, confirming it. His dreams, and the ones that Michiru once told her about, the ones that Rei has had, and the life that Madoka once lived -

All of them featuring this nightmarish event.

The world, dissolving, the organic matter fading, everything stripping away - and Mamoru's already confirmed she dreamed of it too.

"It was... maybe, Mistress 9," Usagi says, slowly, as Luna puts a paw on her hand comfortingly. "But... there's another secret about Hotaru that we've been keeping. One that she doesn't even know, and that - that I honestly, never wanted her to know."

She can admit it. She's admitted it to Mamoru, she's more or less admitted it to the Outer Senshi, she can say it here, now, with her friends.

"There is... almost like, a ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine, a just, a billion nines, percent chance that Hotaru's actual magical identity is... Sailor Saturn. The Soldier of Silence, and Death." She lets the revelation sink for a moment, the title, the heaviness of it. "...in the Silver Millennium, Saturn was - made to sleep. Because with the swing and drop of her glaive, she could end all life in the system."

Her eyes trail to the memory replaying in the Wake Labyrinth, the wall of destruction spreading infinitely.

"I can't say if that is definitely Saturn, but... it fits with what I've learned about her abilities."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy feels so small.

    Conceptually, she knew big things were out there. She's seen the picture, from a probe looking back at Earth from so far away it's not even a whole pixel. Has tried to mathematically conceptualize it. And on the scale of Earth, there's over ten billion humans, and that's a lot, and she has to try and live in a world of massive systems, of governments and organizations and oligarchs that move the world around her like she is but an insect to them.

    She's seen the Earth burn, from the moon, but that wasn't the end of everything.

    And now to actually see it. To see the world with Kriemhild Gretchen towering over it, to Super Beryl what Super Beryl was, Earth's defenders already fallen, Super Beryl squared times Walpurgisnacht poised to end the world and what humans could ever live again then, and to 'see this wave of Nothing consuming everything on the planet that was about to die...

    So, this is cosmic horror. This is what it is to see Cthulu, and know that It is slumbering out there and may one day awaken... has awakened, evidently, if this Messiah of Silence is that thing that ended the world... that ended existence. Or, really, by the looks of it Madoka was almost Cthulhu and this is the thing that is Cthulhu to Cthulu.

    What can you even... say to that?

    Amy drops to her knees and cries over the terrible unfairness of them all being so small and the cosmic horrors so great.

    It's not despair despair, just, like, normal being overwhelmed, she'll be okay, but like. Yikes.

    Oh, and also, Hotaru is Sailor Saturn and that's why there's been no Sailor Saturn and Amy would should that realization out but she's not in the mood.

    But through tears she asks of Usagi, "Her... she was created to destroy everything?! Why?!"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka glances to Laura and shakes her head. "No. It was likely Mistress Nine who defeated me. This right here... this moment... in that other timeline... this was probably the end of the world. I don't know for sure because this is about when the memory ends."

    Kamiko explains to the Queen Candidate. "This place is a part of my Labyrinth. If you know what a Witch is, it's kinda like the secret world that they hide in. It's not a real Labyrinth, because I'm not a real Witch, but it's very similar because my magic involves Witches. Everything here is born either from Madoka's dreams or memories, and this specific nightmare is one of the latter."

    Madoka clasps her hands together and says, "I'll explain that later if you want. I don't want to get sidetracked."

    Then she glances towards Mamoru, and has a solemn moment as her fears are confirmed. "I see. Okay. Well, for better or worse, that solves one mystery I had. Thank you, Mamo-kun." Then she hears Usagi add another detail to it and wonders, "So it could have been Sailor Saturn? I'm not sure how I feel about that..."

    After a pause, she notices Amy's breakdown and says, "Ah... maybe we don't want to stay here too long. It's not a pleasant place. Kami-chan, you can rest now. Thank you. I'll get you something later."

    Kamiko yawns, and the Labyrinth wavers and vanishes. After a moment, they are back at the campus gardens, and the divine fairy's Chara Egg forms around her and seals shut, floating in the air while the minidoka naps within. Madoka holds the egg in both hands as she keeps her eyes on the other mahoujin.

    She walks over to Amy and places a hand on her shoulder. "Even against something like this... we can't give up hope."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru lets go of Artemis hurriedly and apologetically, totally understanding if Artemis would rather not risk squish again. "Sorry," he whispers.

Then the fluffy-haired upperclassman goes quiet again, folded in on himself a little; he's listening to Usagi, then nods to both her and Madoka, and he just--

--the inside of his head is quiet, compared to the thunder of his heart, and then he hears Amy crying and Madoka comforting her, and his gaze focuses on the Puella and briefly on Kamiko's egg. But then Amy again, and her understanding of cosmic horror.

He saw his world ending once, of course he'd rather not see it again. But seeing the sky purple and roiling and alive with specific vicious hatred, seeing the burning Earth in the sky above whenever there was a break in the demon's writhing energy field? He feels like he understands Amy's distress.

Madoka puts a hand on her shoulder, and Mamoru reaches out, offering his own hand to Amy for a shortcut to calming down. "Because sometimes everyone's already dead, or as good as. Sometimes there's no way to get the viruses off the computer. Sometimes the cancer's grown too swiftly and too thoroughly. I don't know about you, but I'd rather try again if everything were lost again."

Minako Aino has posed:
Artemis sucks in a breath with all the might of his kitty lungs. He doesn't leap off of Mamoru though. No, he had suffered worse treatment at Mina's hands before. A paw pat-pats against Mamoru's arm around him lightly. "It's fine." He tries much as he can to radiate calm and soothing as a cat can but he did have all that fur in the way so there was no telling if it got through for Mamoru's special talent or not. Either way his presence is there.

Minako reacts by letting her head hang forward so that her bangs obscure her eyes casting her face in shadows. A deep breath is drawn as she finds herself slipping into memories. "Like last time. If you can't win then, start over. Except," she looks up again still a bit disturbed by the information. "It wasn't Sailor Saturn that ended it last time. Would... Would we *get* to try again if something like that happened?"

It was her question but she answers it almost immediately with a quick shake of her head. "Nevermind, I'd rather not find out the answer to that. We need to stop this, somehow." A pause, and she adds, "We will," with as much confidence as she can muster. "We're all here this time, and on the same side."

Zoisite has posed:
"Hope is the last thing that dies in a man." Or so the saying goes. Humans had the capacity to fool themselves, or believe in the impossible with mere dreams. And so many times they were proven to be possible. Why not now, this time? As the labyrinth was gone and they were back in golden gardens, Izou sits up a little more, hand lifting and fingers disappearing in the locks of caramel hair just to fish out a strand to fidget with.

Amy's reaction was, in truth, the correct one, in his opinion. And he sympathized with her as he watched on. Humans, even when magical, had a hard time dealing with happenings of such magnitude, and in these times, Mamoru was the biggest comfort to be found. Even in words of encouragement, echoed on my Usagi's when she found it in herself do be such a light.

"Relax into the touch. It will calm you down."

Then his gaze shifts over to Usagi, a curious twinkle in his eyes. "Princess, if you suspect she is Sailor Saturn, do you think she could be reasoned with by you, despite her purpose for existing?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's a scale of destruction and death that's difficult to imagine, except for the fact that - well - Usagi Tsukino has a psychic fiancé, who was once a psychic boyfriend. They like sleeping in the same bed. His powers work by touch. To make 1 + 1 = 2... she's seen his nightmares before.

She's seen something like this, before. The terrible wall of endless destruction, that in a fell swoop, a terrible moment, wipes away all that was and had been and would be.

And for the last year, she's known how real it is. After all - this, Saturn - happened, once already. She dropped her glaive, when Beryl and Serenity and Endymion and all they once loved was gone, and the world of fire and ruin and monstrous death was wiped clean and empty, without true memory of them.

Still, there are sympathetic tears, when Amy sinks to her knees and begins to cry, and if not for Madoka asking Kamiko to return them to the garden - from the sight of the horrors - and walking to Amy's side to comfort her, she'd probably be doing the same...

Except then she's asking a question that Usagi can't answer -

And at least Mamoru, has an answer. She has no idea if it's the right one. Clearly life had happened again - clearly they had done it, again, because...

"In addition to being the Solier of Death... Saturn is the Soldier of Rebirth. Last year - after that time portal that Beryl threw us in... Sailor Pluto told me that she and the Outer Senshi... they saw her. Saturn. And she did drop her glaive, and what was the rest of the world ended, and eventually, it was all - we were all - reborn."

She looks down at Amy, and there's sympathy, and sorrow, but also a sense of how should I know?

"Senshi are born, not created, I mean, as far as I know. It's not like - someone went out and said, oh, this one will purify, and this one will control lightning and that one will be able to destroy the star system at the swing of her glaive -"

Yes, her voice break a bit there. She's a little anxious about it! Afraid, even! No one likes the idea of dying, and she definitely doesn't like the idea, that at any time, someone could just - make it all happen, everything, everywhere, all at once -

But she sucks in a deep breath, holds it, lets it out. Almost chokes when Zoisite tells Amy to relax into the touch, biting back a deeply inappropriate, but don't relax too much! because at her core she is still a teenaged girl who is deeply possessive and jealous about the love of her life!

"...I don't think she's evil or anything, but I... don't know what she would think of as reason? Hotaru, I don't think she's the sort of person who would end the world on a whim. But I also... don't know if Mistress 9 can like... access her power, when Hotaru herself couldn't... and I don't know if Hotaru-as-Saturn would feel the same way about things that we do."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka smiles softly at Mamoru as he mentions trying again, and nods as she says, "Thats right... over and over again, if we have to, no matter how many times it takes."

    That phrase has a slightly different meaning for her than it does for Mamoru, but the spirit is there. Even in the face of total loss; we can, and should, and must, get up and try again.

    "I guess it makes sense. There's not really any way for me to tell if that was Saturn fixing things, or Mistress Nine ruining everything. I'm sorry but there really were only a few seconds before the end. Though... if ever there was a good reason to reset the world..."

    She pauses, then looks down at the ground, frowning pensively. "... This is a dangerous power to have in the hands of the enemy. Thanks for confirming my suspicions. I almost didn't say anything but... that would have felt irresponsible."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Hope isn't dead in Amy Faust. Just momentarily overwhelmed. Her mind is not broken. ...Maybe a little warped, but in other ways, not from this.

    Madoka, part-time goddess of Puella Magi, offers hope, and Amy looks up at her through tears, and Mamoru holds out a hand and she takes it quickly, wrapping her hand around his fingers and trusting whatever telepathy stuff he's going to do.

    If everyone's already dead what can you do? With a virus you can still extract the files-- oh you mean it already wiped them. If the cancer's already--

    'Don't relax too much!' Prompts a barely-formed jumble of thoughts parsing the context of that, analyzing the relationship between the three of them and what must Usagi be thinking now, (and the thing Amy said when she was first healed...) but Amy stops that train of thought. Not important right now and also something to avoid telepathically sharing!

    And that feeling of a safe and welcoming Home presses gently at her awareness, and she leans into it -- and stopping to respond to his words already loosened the grip of overhelming-ness on her mind, and maybe her mind's natural psychological defenses are starting to kick in anyway, but Home is here, Friends are here, and Kriemhild Gretchen and the Messiah of Silence are far away, abstract and not visceral.

    ...But she saw them, she witnessed them, even in a memory... So that feeling might come back if she dwells on it... but she decides to leave that mental door shut for now. She doesn't want to feel bad!

    A bit of the mental meta-process bleeds through the telepathy as she observes how this episode was different from when teenage hormones are throwing her into a mood swing, and then she realizes that thought bled through and lets go before Mamoru has to share in more unfiltered Amybrain.

    She smiles up at them, "Thank you." She gets a tissue from her pocket, dabs her face, blows her nose, and stuffs it back in the pocket 'till she next passes a trash can.

    Right, where were they... She glances at Mamoru, "Like you said... this is another timeline. This is a new chance." That might not be what he meant. She looks around to the others. "It... hasn't happened yet. If... This 'Messiah of Silence' were ready to end the world, she already would have."

    Usagi explains some things. "So it's not the end of everything. It's a Moonlight Butterfly," ah, she's making anime references, she must be feeling better! "Ending a dying civilization and starting a new one. And it happened once already..."

    Amy lets out a breath. "...Small help to us, but honestly I feel a little better? Knowing that at least if we fail here, it isn't... the end of humanity or Earth in this universe."

    "...Oh." Amy blinks at Mamoru. "That's what you meant."

Zoisite has posed:
"True,we don't know what Sailor Saturn feels, what motivates her to do what she does, but we certainly won't know if there is no attempt in learning what it is. This includes Mistress 9 and Hotaru. And you're rather convincing when you want to be, Princess." It wasn't as much a compliment as it was a fact for him.

The mention of this being a new timeline did interest him personally. How many more were there, and what results did they carry? He'd have to think about it.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru nods to Minako. "And we have so many allies now, we have so many friends, and we already beat our past -- now we're going to save the future." A beat. "Twice over, actually, the second time literally."

He gives Izou a smirk -- calling Usagi 'princess' isn't generally the best way to get an answer, and his hand brushes over the back of his guardian's hand to give the other boy that particular impression.

He's listening to Usagi, and then Amy's taking his proffered hand, and Amy's literally always a rollercoaster. Mamoru just-- is open to 'listen' and 'listen' he does, his attention briefly focused on Amy wholly. He agrees silently.

And then Amy lets go, and the corner of Mamoru's mouth turns up. "Yes, that's what I meant."

Then he reaches for Usagi's hand, just to hold it, just to be calm next to her. "Yeah, Doka-chan," he says quietly wryly. He does know what she means by it.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura knows good things must have been happening, and she just happened to lose her memories at a really bad time, but even so she can't help but think terribly of that shared moniker between Hotaru being the Sailor Soldier of this 'Silver Millennium', and the fact Mistress 9 is the Mistress of Silence.

"The thing that is possessing Hotaru then, she had targeted her because of Sailor Saturn, and the only reason Mistress 9 hasn't been nearly as effective is due to Hotaru's resistance, right? Will she still be able to keep being Sailor Charon after we kick Mistress 9 out of her?"

Laura really wants the reassurance that Hotaru is going to be able to defend herself, even as the problem of Hotaru's invasive vermin looms over their head. And there is a dissatisfaction with her best friend being fashioned into a weapon to drop at convenience, but otherwise kept away.

She can see that Usagi is equally tense at the situation, and that 'Sailor Saturn' is equally as responsible. Someone made purely for destruction and rebirth, potentially resurfacing together with Mistress 9, a weapon in the hand of their enemies. Or maybe not, and that's probably just as bad. "Are we in a hurry to take out Mistress 9 before Sailor Saturn does, along with the everything else?"

Meanwhile some of the more basic concepts have been covered by Luna.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Talk her out of doing her duty," Usagi says, dubiously, and then offers Zoisite a look that's... probably hard to decipher, because they don't know each other well. It's a little bit fond, a little bit exasperated, and the exasperation is mostly for being called Princess.

(At least it's not Queen. She would like, still, desperately, to be a housewife. She doesn't think she'll... get to be Just a housewife. But she would like it.)

And then her lips quirk a little. "Yeah. But.... considering it was thousands and thousands of years later that things were back... still would like to avoid that."

She scrubs the back of her neck.

"I'm glad you told us, Madoka-chan. I wasn't sure... if I should say anything about Saturn, either. The fact that you knew, and showed us - I couldn't just keep you all worrying, you know?"

And Laura, meanwhile, has some good questions, some good points, a new perspective from being so utterly disconnected with things.

"I'd love to say it was like, total coincidence... but Laura-chan, I honestly can't buy it. So I think... I don't think they know Hotaru-chan's one of us, but I think... it's probably too much to hope for, you know? So that's one more reason why we have to get Mistress 9 out, and Hotaru-chan back."

Laura asks another, deep question, insightful -

"I hope so. I wasn't... always supportive of Sailor Charon," she confesses, "As like, an idea. Because I was worried it would maybe - spark something from Saturn, and she'd wake up - but I would love, if Hotaru-chan could come back and be Sailor Charon again."

"And yes. We are definitely in a hurry. Because, if Saturn has to take her out? ...it will probably be game over, for all of us."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    (Amy stood up after blowing her nose.)

    "So... this Messiah of Silence... is something that's taken over Sailor Saturn, to use her power to end the world and start a new Cycle?" Amy sighs. "I'd ask why, but I guess villains don't need a logical reason to end the world."

    "...I'd argue against having a Sailor Saturn in the first place, but beyond having no say in the matter, obviously it already came in handy once... I just... wish Yokina -- err, Hotaru? Could have a life instead of being the orphan locked away in Omelas."

    She smiles to the others, "Well, we've done the impossible before, right?"

    She considers what the others said. "Well. If the world's not doomed, it's not her duty, right? So... Saturn should have no reason to end the world."

    She looks to Usagi, "Are you technically her queen? I imagine she doesn't take orders, per se -- since we didn't see her being called in the time bubble -- but would she maybe be more positively disposed to listen to you...? If we can make a case that she doesn't need to Moonlight Butterfly us all...?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is quiet for a few moments, holding Kamiko's egg in her hand and looking down at it for a moment. She has to take time to mentally process everything that's happened here.

    Kamiko is still tired from the fight with Mistress Nine yesterday, but she was still able to show them all a scene from her Labyrinth, from her nightmares, of a timeline where things did not go in a way they'd prefer. Is it hypocritical of her to hope, to spread hope, when she knows that failure is almost a certainty?

    No, she decides. Not at all. It's the context of Despair that gives Hope its virtue. They are still here. Their will is not broken. They are still fighting. Still shining.

    "I understood that reference!" squeaks Kamiko, from within her eggshell. Madoka smiles. Kamiko must still be kinda paying attention, even as she rests.

    "So even if Saturn resets us... that's not great but it's not as bad... but... even so I'm not sure that we'd want Mistress Nine in charge of our Rebirth." Which is a hell of an understatement. "Either way... I'm glad we talked about this. We'll have to figure out some way to save Hotaru... and the rest of us, too."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Leaning a little toward Zoisite, Mamoru shoulder-bumps him and says softly, "If you want to go play with Kazuo and Chibiusa, go--"

The boy next to him, the lovely sharp one with the caramel hair and the no-longer-actual-poison green eyes, starts to teleport away, and is not in henshin; Mamoru covers his mouth as Zoisite actually legitimately henshins just to--

Sakura petals.

Zoisite is gone.

"Sorry he's rude," Mamoru says cheerfully.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We don't know Mistress 9 took over Hotaru-chan for that, so we definitely shouldn't tell her. It could be she just wanted a - body, to use poor Hotaru like, some kind of meat suit, while she does whatever her other goals are. We don't really... know what they want."

The Witches 5. Tomoe LifeSciences. Clearly, they don't actually want to help Hotaru, like she and Riventon thought, and if they just wanted to destroy the world, there are easier ways... ugh, Mamoru will get a feeling of how much she hates that she has opinions on people's strategies to end the world. That sucks. That really sucks.

"I don't know what an Omelas is," she's wondering if it's a state, "But I also am not in favor of a Sailor Saturn, but since she's real and we definitely cannot, will not, and should not try to change that," not that she thinks anyone will but it needs to be said, "We have to like... think about it. Because... I also can't say I love the idea of anyone having the power to end everything whenever they want. We all have the power to do awful things... but none quite... that awful."

Case in point? Zoisite.

(That's mean, and also she doesn't think that. He's sharp as broken glass, but just as lovely, and she's sure he'll rebuild himself into something even more brilliant -)

"No need to apologize for the person he is," she sighs, and squeezes Mamoru's hand fondly. "Just like there's no apologizing for Hotaru being what she is. I am - technically - maybe not... technically... oh no, it's just literally... I'm her queen."

The five stages of grief just happened right before their eyes.

"Well... if nothing else, it doesn't hurt to try and talk her down. And I mean, we've fought every odd before, and this time - we'd just need to play keep away with the Ctrl-Alt-Delete of the System. I think we can do that."

She's underselling it. She's putting it lightly.

But she does think they have a chance. No giving up hope, here.