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"Yes, I'm sure it all had to do with her bragging and thinking she was better than you and nothing at all to do with the way that you interrupted her day by leading a mission to kill office workers in broad daylight," she said, the more obvious anger in her tone dropping to a bitter sarcasm.

It was a bit of a concern if Ganymede truly saw her as some kind of trophy, but she knew better than to take Faustite's word for it without asking for the other side of the story.

After that, though, she quieted again, and took a long moment to actually think about his question. She shifted slightly as the rainwater started to build up on the ground and pool dangerously close to where her shoes were.

"It's not Order's fault that I lost the memories, or even the strength," she said, voice still flat and eyes still a bit narrow. "But, yes. The price was worth it, and more."

She'd been prepared to start from nothing again.

"Feeling alive involves choosing your own responsibilities, and wanting them," she said. "It's getting to choose what you're willing to sacrifice, and knowing what you want to protect." She gave a small smile, although her face did not soften completely. "And yes, there's something about friendship in there, and about looking forward to each day instead of just waiting to die." She leaned a bit more heavily onto the awning's support. "And no, the purification alone did not magically get me there. It's a process, but it's a process that I never would have started as a slave to the Negaverse."

She was quiet for another moment, simply listening to the way the raindrops pounded onto the pavement, and then she asked, "What keeps you so committed, anyway, after everything they've taken from you?"

Immediately, Cybele found herself going tense and defensive again. Her fists curled tight at the very notion that the Moon Queen might be the one responsible for Destiny City's youma problem. She wanted to snap something back about how that couldn't be the truth, to press on about the part of the story where Chaos had massacred the better part of the galaxy.

She held her tongue.

There had to be a seed of truth to what he said, however twisted. She knew that. She'd seen it in the way the kitchen youma had always snapped at her, but spared the agents. She could feel a hint of that enmity in her senshi heart now, as her gaze lingered on Faustite's black hands, on the hint of fire in his core.

Order could, of course, be cruel. She'd been murderous before the Chaos had touched her soul.

"Let's say that's exactly how things happened," she said, looking back to his eyes as she stepped forward, away from the support and the rising puddles. "The youma, the Negaverse, they got their revenge. The moon is dead. I doubt their royalty is reincarnating. There's not even any knights. Beyond that, the citizens of Earth are the only citizens at all."

She spoke with the confidence of the girl who had been fighting for ten years, not the woman with no memories. Apparently, this was some of the information that she just intrinsically knew.

"That's not enough for you, is it?" Her jaw set into something tight as things began to click into place. "Hatred is part of the Chaos magic. I know that much." She'd felt it flare up when she'd been corrupted. She could only imagine how much stronger it would be for a youma. "Without the Moon Queen, you turn that hatred to the other senshi and knights. Without them, you turn to the rest of humanity." She shook her head, mouth twisting to one side. "Without humanity, you starve."

She'd seen the amount of starseeds and energy that the Negaverse went through.

Her fist was still curled off to the side, like she was trying to decide what to do with it.

"Your victory is a drawn out death for everyone."

"Wait."

For a full five seconds, Cybele went completely silent, slowly blinking and simply trying to wrap her mind around what Faustite was saying. She'd understood every point that he'd made up until now. She'd even accepted as a valid argument that perhaps she could have tried a bit harder to make a life for herself while she was still in the Negaverse, although it was probably for the best that she had not.

Not if those that were deepest in Metallia's clutches thought like this.

"You're saying that this is my fault because I won't let you eat my asteroid?" she asked, just to make sure, her eyes narrowed and her jaw slightly agape in a scoff.

"First of all, no. Take it up with Metallia. She's the one making you hungry. Or don't, but just know we've been over this. If you try eating anything that belongs to me, I'll break your teeth," she said, voice lowering even farther. It wasn't an empty threat, either. Her eyes flicked to his mouth, and she wondered how many hits it would take for him to walk away from here with a bit less bite to him.

Although his other words caught her before she followed through with any of it. Her shoulders dropped a full inch, and her exhale was heavy. "I don't want to believe that I fought with your side, but here we are."

She looked to the edge of the awning and the slight break in the rain beyond, then back to Faustite. "You should probably leave before I decide we never had anything in common," she said.