Sinking, sinking.

The Senshi of Sunflowers slowly sunk to the bottom of the shallow fountain, blood tainting the cool waters. Her mouth was filled with her own blood as she took every iota of energy she had to seal the wound on her stabbed heart with her hand. Her neck was bleeding rapidly.

They say a human can survive up to a minute without breathing underwater. But those were skilled, trained, healthy people. And Sailor Aster was none of those things.

What she was, and what she realized in that moment, was a coward. It was amazing how many thoughts – how many profound epiphanies - could rush through one’s mind as they slowly approach their death. All of her regrets rushed toward her, but most significant of all her regrets were the events that led her into this fountain.

Her pacifism; her reluctance to fight back – that is what got her into this situation. That was going to be the death of Sailor Aster. The death of Haley Jones.

But what was wrong with pacifism? What was wrong with peace? What was wrong with non-violence?

The answer was simple: She was in a war.

There was no room for diplomacy.

There was no room for love.

There was no room for pacifists.

There was no room for cowards.

No. If she were only able to live longer, she would do things differently, she promised. She would learn to fight back. She would learn to defend herself from the evils of the city. The evils that broke her, stabbed her, threw her into the pool to die.

She would not hunt. She would not kill. But she would defend. She would protect those who are unable to defend themselves.

But it was all too late. It was too late to make any changes as the Senshi of Sunflowers continued to sink to the bottom of the fountain, plunging to her inevitable death.

No. She wanted to live.
She wanted to survive.

But she couldn’t turn herself around as she lied faced down at the bottom of the fountain, colliding with its base with a silent thud. She gasped for air in desperation. Blood streamed out of her mouth as if it were being pumped out of her until bloody waters rushed in. She tried to breathe again, but choked as the water entered her lungs.

Her body flailed at the bottom of the pool, desperate for air. Desperate to live. The reddened waters rippled with every flailing thrust of the yellow-skirted Senshi in her final moments until…

…she stopped. There was no use fighting it. She was going to die. Her body was still as the death embraced her, eyes rolling to the back of her skull, consciousness lost. She had only a matter of seconds left before her life would expire, no more than five.







Five.








Four.








Three.








Two.





A hand gripped onto the back of the Senshi’s collar, the limp body emerging from the pool of her blood.

Sailor Aster would live another day.