Welcome to Gaia! ::

The number had been in Elzo's cellphone since the events of that life changing night, where he'd been given his past and future all at once. Sidra Winters, also known as Sailor Cosmos, someone who could save and purify those corrupted in the grasp of Chaos. Her phone number for the teen help hotline had never been dialed. Elzo figured he'd not need it. He had been cocky enough, sure enough, that nothing would require him to ever need to seek out the other senshi. But, like most times he'd assumed things, his arrogance had proved to be a downfall. His fight with Lina, his struggle to understand just what defined good. What made them human, worth saving-

Elzo had hesitated at first, but he needed to do this. He was a prince of the senshi. Part of his job, his duty, was to save. Save the innocents. Save lives. Save even those who didn't know they had needed to be saved at all. If he had the power to offer them a choice of freedom? To release them from the hold of the negaverse? Then that was part of his job. No two ways about it. First however, he needed to know how, heck, even if he could. There had been only one person he knew with that power.

Elzo's relief that Sidra had been willing to show up and talk at all was just the first step. They'd agreed meeting as senshi was too dangerous, not to mention it would draw the attention of the negaverse. After all, not everyday Cosmos made personal calls. But as civilians? There was nothing abnormal about a young man meeting an acquaintance for coffee. So, foot bouncing in a bit of nervousness, Elzo waited, hoping to not make a fool of himself in front of one person he felt he owed a great deal to.

He'd been nervous a long time ago. Making phone calls risking his name, his identity to other senshi. But soon that had left him as time and time again, he found more risk in talking to an agent of the negaverse then even bothering to fact check another senshi. So why did the girl before him, Sidra Winters, make Elzo fidget and cast glaces off to the side? How did one person sake the foundation of his self confidence? The answer was oddly simple, if primitive.
He just didn't know her like he did other senshi. She was Cosmos, and in her own words had defined herself as both senshi yet unique. It left him unsure of her. Not of what side she was on but...as a person, he didn't know her. As a senshi- Castor was clueless. And with that, so was Elzo.

The girl sliding into the booth however surprised him in a way. Then again, the glamor of the senshi often did that, hiding their civilian faces and identities better then any make up or mask. She was smaller then he remembered, and much less divine looking. But in her own was she looked like someone you could trust, put faith in. Elzo followed his heart and gut insticts. And this girl was doing nothing aside from making him feel reassured about calling and asking for this meet up.

"Well-" he slid a small drink and snack menu over to her, smiling. Perhaps this would not be as difficult as his own mind had made it out to be. "-First why don't we get a drink? I invited you so, I'll be footing the bill. Once drink are ordered I was hoping we could discuss what happened that night." What she'd done and said to him. "After that I would like to discuss a possibility." A dangerous one. One that could likely kill him. "A possibility to save those otherwise trapped and unable to escape."
And there is was. Elzo call for answers, for knowledge. But also more then that, for confirmation. That what he had in the past was not lost. That it could be remastered, relearned. Purification had been taught to him once.

Why not have it taught to him a second time?

Sidra could have ordered all the things on the menu, and Elzo wouldn't have cared. He might have cared a bit for her health, but he'd foot the bill, even if it made him broke. This was worth it. He needed this conversation. He needed answers, and was determined to get them, chocolate bribery or not. While he stuck with just a regular coffee and slice of lemon loaf, Elzo blushed a bit, realizing she was spot on. He'd called her out for this get together and not really introduced himself yet.

"Elzo, Elzo Xanis. You know my other name, so that's moot." He offered her a hand to shake, (his left hand oddly, his right holding onto the slice of lemon loaf). "And ew." Taking a bite of the sweet cake, a few crumbs fell from his mouth as he kept talking, manners apparently not awakening with his prince status. "Nof. Um tawbbing abouf waf ou dib." A finger held up and he finished his bite. "Sorry about that. But no. I'm talking about what you did. About..well." He sighed, not sure where this would go. "I want to know if you might be able to um..teach me that thing you did." This was where it would get tricky.

"Teach me to-you know."
He gave Sidra a weak smile.
"Purify?"

It was not the best answer, but, it was better then the worst, (which for him wouldn't have just been no, but a no plus a hell no. Hell no always made it seem worse.) As she spoke, Elzo listened on, munching away at the last bits of his lemony treat. He jump a bit at the intensity of which she spoke. The sound of metal on ceramic plate didn't help.

"I kind of get the balance thing. I think. And no." He looked into the dark brown of his coffee, and for a second, it reminded him of the color blood made when it dried. "We can't save them all. I'm not that stupid. Maybe we could have saved them once but those like her-" like Tanzanite, "no. I can understand not even trying. Some of them..I don't think they would want to be saved. But others, some of them, some of our own-" He groaned, briefly running a hand down his face. Lyra, corrupted. She had been so kind, and now..she was on their side, with no memory of him or the others.
"Those are the ones I would want to try. If I could save one of them from the darkness, even at the risk of my own life, I'd do it. That's part of why I exist isn't it? I am supposed to save people from the darkness."

He gave a small chuckle, realizing he'd begun to answer her question. "I guess the why part is pretty simple. I want to save them. I thought for a while that once the darkness took them, that was it. But-" A glance to his ring. "I had some sense knocked into me. It took a while, but the thing is- They're human. Just as much as you or me. Some of them might want to be free. Li- My wife did." A smile, a happy one, however small it was. "She wanted to be free. Maybe others do to. If I can do that, If I can purify them and free them from the darkness, then that is what I'll do. And tape has never been a problem for me." A tradition grin of Elzo, full of blind optimism.

"I tend to bust through that s**t pretty fast"

It was all heavy handed and rather morbid they was she described purification. Not only that but it was a pretty big buzz kill in terms of how he wanted to see purification; A way to save the world as he saw it. With Sidra's words that view was pretty much shot and buried in the ditch that was Elzo's ideals. That some things in the world he just couldn't be change, not that easily. Then again, when had anything he'd wanted to do been easy? Her hand was gripped and Elzo didn't look away.
"Do you think I want them to suffer?" He knew the cost Lina had paid. He had seen the signs of it when they had returned home, when she would touch him chest with that haunted look in her eyes. She'd lost some of herself to the darkness. He'd let her have her time alone but that didn't mean he didn't watch over her, check up on her. Though they talked now and saw each other, he saw that pain of the past still. Those rare moments when he sometimes felt like nothing he could do could help her.

"I know only part of what Lina suffered through, hell, I still don't know how much it pains her. Tanz wants us both dead, ******** maybe more than dead. Lina left behind those she loved, she may have me, but I can't fill all the void that was left. I may be rash and damn reckless at times but I'm not that stupid." His coffee was abandoned, pushed to the side.

"I've had my starseed touched before. I've felt that darkness. I've watched countless people grow in that same darkness. Just the same, I've watched senshi grow in the light. At first I thought Lina's purification was it, that life would be simple and happy. That I could give her part of that world, free of darkness. But that was when I was stupid. It took me a ******** long time to realize things are not that simple. Even free of the negaverse, and she's still suffering for it. She gave everything up. Her whole life. You warn me about the balance? I see the balance each time I hold my wife in my arms." Elzo was an adult, didn't make him the best adult.
"I don't need to think about the balance if I do this. I just need to think about Lina, and how she still craves the power that starseeds gave her. About ******** Tanzanite, and her damn eyes looking at me while the youma part of her consumes that tiny spark of humanity left." He shook his head and took a breath. He was getting upset, and it was showing with his curse words, almost getting the attention of others in the cafe.
"Even if I may want to purify them all, it's not a damn option. Not everyone could survive it. Both the process as you've not told me but just survive after wards. Being free of Chaos let me and Lina have our love, but it also means we're forever bound to it. While our human lives get to live without fear, our true selves will always be on the chopping block. It's been months, and people still don't trust her. Some might never. I learned that because I got so close, some don't completely trust me. I watch the woman I love suffer because of what we did to be free."

"I am not stupid Cosmos. If I purify someone I'm not saving them, not completely. I save part of them, but I'd just as well condemn them. I sometimes wonder if Lina hadn't been purified, would Tanz have fallen like she did? Become that monster? I still remember her when she wasn't so dark, when we ran around the city half drunk and laughing. I remember her being human. It haunts me when I see her now. Lina purified saved her from death, but it left it's mark on another. So to make a ******** point, I'm not stupid. I wouldn't purify just anyone. Not because I might not survive it, but the fact is, they might not."

A sigh, and Elzo pulled back. "Lina has me, but some of those in the negaverse aren't so lucky to have someone on the other side waiting for them. They would be worse then newborn senshi. They would be targets of the highest order. Purification just so they can die. I wish I could say that one day free would be worth it but-" It wasn't. "Even so, the scenario you paint isn't a pretty one. And it's a very damn likely thing to happen if I went around trying to purify everyone. Me and Lina are already favorites of the General Queen of creepy. If I save someone, I am going to make sure they can survive it. If it means the balance will shift, then that is what will happen. And each it happens I will do what I have always done."

"I'll fight it back."

Elzo gave his own smile right back. "Don't be sorry about it. You gave us the chance to be together. Hated or hunted, we're still together. I can live, even if it means fighting for my life, so long as she's there. She's the woman I love. Kind of hard to regret that you know?" Maybe she didn't maybe she did. Hands clapped together and a bit of seriousness was lost.

"Well, personally I kind of hate losing. So in my opinion that just means it's time to fight harder." While it seemed he was being mocking the look in his eyes was of grim determination. He knew the weight of this war, and the cost. "If they want the cosmic war, then I think it's only right we bring the all the powers of the galaxies to the table. I've already begun to practice calling and using my crystal. It's been slow, but my control is growing. Chronos has been training with me as well. Come the next battle, the risk might still be there, but we'll be able to make a stand." his hand curled into a fist. "I can deal with a lost battle, but I will be dead before I see use lose the war. Come to think of it I did some senshi training a while back." Curl fist opened up as he rubbed his chin. "Might be good to start it back up. I've got some old connections, and a few new. Might be good to make some house calls."

His smile was less comical, and more of a mask. A mask hiding the grim facts they faced. "And It's alright. You've...taught me more then you might realize. His expression softened, as the determined smile became more melancholy. "Thank you Sidra. Maybe it will be like training with the crystal. More feeling than knowing. I am not sure but- thank you. When the time comes that I'll have to make the choice, if I want to try..." Placing money on the table, it was about time for him to go.

"I'll know just what that choice will mean. Not just for them, but for everyone."