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The Elephant In The Room... [REG39]

Brownies Are The Best Medicine [REG40]

Maybe, ultimately, none of this mattered.

The thought came to him very suddenly, the night after his patrol with Taranis – and the odd bit of information the both of them have figured out in the process. That night, he was laying in his bed, doing his best to pretend sleeping while actually staring up at the ceiling of his room.

Maybe none of this mattered.

The world wasn't black and white. But hadn't it always been that way ? Nothing was truly black or white. It was only endless expenses of gray. Both sides would always believe that they were right, that they were justified in their actions. It was always that way in a war – both sides committed atrocities in the name of what they believed was right. He remembered his high school history classes well. He'd been okay in history, unlike bio.

Which only brought back the knowledge of a certain Doctor Perry Westerman moonlighting as a very confusing space entity, but he shoved that thought aside for a moment. It still kind of broke his mind when he throught about it.

Maybe none of that mattered, too.

The base thing was that they were all soldiers in a war. Soldiers fighting for their survival and the survival of those they loved. Would the Negaverse stop if the Senshi stopped ? Would they accept peace if the senshi offered it ?

He'd seen Elysion. He'd seen the two sides crash into each other with the strength of 10 wheelers reaming into walls. He'd seen all the hate both side harboured for each other, and how intent they were on ripping into each other until there was nothing left.

No, he was quite certain peace was impossible at this point. There would be no convincing the senshi to stop. There would be no convincing the Negaverse to stop.

Both sides would continue, with the consequences they all knew. Sure, the Negaverse felt 'wrong' to them... But who could say if they didn't feel 'wrong' to the Negaverse ?

But ultimately even that didn't matter.

Ultimately... They were all in too deep, the moment they even awakened. The moment the Negaverse... did whatever they did to bolster their numbers. Xavier still wasn't quite sure if it was something like them, if they were predestined to be what they were, or if they were picked and brought in through different means. But the second they learned the truth of the war that ravaged their city and killed so many, they were already in too deep.

He could shove his pen away, sure. Nothing stopped him. He could do that, and live a normal life. But he was human, with very human needs and very human desires. Things like survival. And the survival of those he loved.

Just because they did not power up, just because they did not fight, didn't mean that they would be safe. It wouldn't keep then safe from youma. It wouldn't keep them safe from the Negaverse. Forgetting all about right or wrong, forgetting about all he knew, it was still the base line that civilians died. That civilian could be his father. Could be his mother. Could be Tallulah's parents. Could be Ainsley. It could be his co-workers, his teachers.

Hell, it could very well be him if he didn't fight.

If peace was impossible, and if the only way to end it was fight...

Then he could fight for that. He was already in too deep.

No matter who was wrong, or who was right – or maybe neither are wrong, or neither were right. Itb was possible. No matter all that, through, the dice had been thrown, he'd been picked by his side, and he was already in too deep to stop.

Here he had sat, still at the base of that same tree - the large tree in the courtyard - still surrounded by flowers and odd glowing lights that danced in and out of his vision, a young boy sitting cross-legged, listening to his mentor.

The guardian cat, endlessly patient, smiled as the questions and the worries and the denial continued, on and on. Never once did she frown, never once did her voice raise. It was alright, she said. She was used to it. All of them, male or female, old or young, reacted in similar ways to learning the fact that they were senshi.

She let out a warm chuckle when he asked about what she meant, tail swinging back and forth, kind eyes on him. Of course she had met him before, she answered him. Nearly every Sailor Themis had been awakened by her, much like she had done to him mere days ago. They were all the same and yet at the same time completely different, and she would look forward to learning to know him all anew.

The vision faded, and Themis pursed his lips in thought. He rose from the sitting position he had unknowingly taken when the vision had started, brushing leftover frost from his coat. The same yet completely different... Well, that didn't help much, didn't it ? But he'd seen himself once in this foreign man, and now he was determined to see more of it.

This was such an odd feeling, such an odd situation, one he had never though he would be in. He hadn't believed in past life and reincarnation, before. But being awakened by a talking cat suddenly made a whole lot of things more believable.

A part of him couldn't help but wonder if the man he saw through these visions could be related to him in this way – had he also seen the flashes of memories, the echoes of the one that had preceded him ?

He still hadn't come here enough not to bat an eye at the concept, through. And yet, in spite of all that, he found himself drawn here, a little dead rock that had once housed a civilization all of it's own. It called to him, and he answered it. In some way, this place felt like home, even through all logic would dictate that it shouldn't.

The same yet completely different... The cat had a point, he had to concede. Even if he did not find anything useful, he couldn't help but think the time spent here wouldn't be in vain. The asteroid had a way to calm him, in spite of the other stresses and surprise it could throw at him at the blink of an eye. It made him forget, if only for a little while, that there was a war waiting for him back on Earth. A war that he knew next to nothing about, but that he had to fight for the sake of his own survival, and for the survival of those he loved.

That was asking a whole ******** lot of a bunch of teenagers. Because, ultimately, it was what they were. It made it easier to accept his own failings, his own insecurity, when put in that light. He was 18. He was in no way a seasoned fighter.

Would he ever be, in this life, or even in the previous one ? This wouldn't be for today, through. Themis knew all too well that if he overloaded himself with information, he would probably freak out again.

Baby steps. Just like nearly anything right now.

In a flash of light, he went back to Earth, when his loved ones awaited him.

The Temple Of Elysion - Senshi Side [REG43]

For the rest of his stay in Elysion, Themis could only watch the scene that unfolded in front of him, from where he stood near the young princess. The tension was thick enough to cut through with a knife – and that before Endymion made his way toward the crystal, before the priestess of Elysion made her move toward it herself. Then it all went downhill, like a card castle, or a string of dominoes where the first one finally tumbled down. Multiple senshi launched themselves at the prince – he had not been one of them, because no matter how hard he tried, it was like his legs completely refused to obey him, or like his body refused to move completely.

He count only watch as demands were ignored, as attacks of all sorts – magical and otherwise – started to fly by. He could only watch, still standing near Chibimoon, as Helios went for the crystal.

And then, suddenly, all of it melted away – and Xavier Avery woke up, finding himself sitting in his bed before he could really comprend that he was sitting, with Tempo meowing at her master.

He'd been explused from Elysion. Had all of them were ? He was tempted to call Bell, but then he caught a look at his alarm clock. Probably a bad idea. The sun wasn't quite up, through, which proved that this wasn't what had kicked them out.

He was certain that laying back down to sleep wouldn't do him much good, so he got up instead, dodging his cat the best as he could before reaching the kitchen and giving her her dry food, which assured that he wasn't going to trip on a cat for the next few minutes. Then, Xavier plugged in his kettle and pulled up a cup for coffee.

He couldn't help but think about what he had just seen – Endymion, his actions. He frowned. That was not the kind of actions he expected a prince to take – a prince like this wasn't going to be Themis' prince. It might have made him a traitor, and he wouldn't have cared, but it looked like the sentiment was shared. He shook his head, running an hand through his long, loose hair in an attempt to work out the tangles that had formed as he had probably tossed around in his sleep.

At least Chronos had seemed to come out fine, as had Chibimoon. He knew neither well, but Chronos was Virgo's princess, and Europa seemed quite close to Chibimoon. That was all the rationale he needed. He really wished he could call someone. Bell, Tallulah, or even Virgo came to mind, through he had no idea who she was, or how to truly reach her. But he reminded himself that it was much too early.

Protect yourself, protect those you love, protect the ones who cannot protect themselves. This was no longer about truth and justice – who could judge on these points who was right ? Maybe it had never truly been about justice.

Still, he so dearly wished that something could actually be nice and simple, for once.

Rooftop Shenanigans [REG45]

Please Teach Me [BAT22]