Close your eyes; I know what you see

Chariklo sat in the rooftop garden where she and Ida had conversed not that long ago. The shadows created by the moonlight and starlight against the leafy bushes dappled her skin, giving her an odd, almost ephemeral appearance. At any other time, she might have paused to admire the effect. Now though… now she only had eyes for the tiny, crystal gently resting in her cupped palm.

The darkness is high, and you're in ten feet deep

A starseed. Bianca’s starseed. It seemed incredible that such a tiny thing could be so valuable. Every few minutes, she would tilt her hand just so to see the starseed reflect the moonlight. Huh, reflections. A mirrored starseed, a monstrous thing if one believed Zirconia. Do I believe her, Chariklo wondered to herself.

But we've survived more terrible monsters than sleep

There was no arguing with the fact that Chariklo had done terrible things in the name of her Court. And terrible things for the sake of the Court. She had murdered. She had hurt people. Those were facts. Irrefutable. However, that she wasn’t an evil, depraved thing was also a fact. She thought about what she did, what she had to do. She didn’t blindly follow orders. Or at least, she tried not to anymore. Funny how 5 years worth of memories that hadn’t happened yet could change a girl…

And you know I will be here to tell you to breathe

Though if she were to be truthful with herself, the tiny and subtle changes in thought had started even before then. Really, if she thought hard about it, they began with Bianca. Darling, sweet Bianca who hadn’t deserved the horror that had befallen her. Bianca who’d been attacked on a whim by one who was supposedly an ally. And then the attack against Leto and the Court in general. Granted, the people of the White Moon had had a reason. Sort of. But the officers of the Negaverse who’d joined in the hunt hadn’t.

“Some allies,” she muttered bitterly. But that future. That awful future that she could see every time she closed her eyes. No, she wouldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t let the Biancas of the world be hurt like that.

Tu sei il mio soldatino

She’d told Zirconia the truth when she’d said that Bianca had deserved better. A better death, a pure starseed. It would have been better for her if she’d never awakened to the Court. The very thought was borderline treasonous. But where was Ares when Bianca had needed her? Ares had abandoned the Court. Left them to fend for themselves. Chariklo still didn’t understand everything that Zirconia had told her. But she remembered that vividly red brand on the Mauvian’s chest. The mirrorcoat is Ares brand upon our souls. ”She just got better at branding people”. Well, an altered starseed was certainly one hell of a brand. And if what Zirconia had said about Ares was true…

La ragione per cui vivo

“What am I gonna do, Bianca,” she addressed the starseed in a soft, sad voice. “I can’t bring you back, I can’t make what happened any different. That damned cat said you might not even go to the Cauldron, whatever that even is. You deserve a chance though. You deserved to be whole.”

Non ti scordar di me

Eyes focused on the stars above, Chariklo wondered what the Cauldron was and where it might be. She’d rashly promised Zirconia that she’d shove Bianca’s starseed down it’s throat if she had to. Brash words and ballsy moves. She was good at those. She was a fighter. Her memories were proof that she was that much, at least.

Io veglierò su di te

“I helped people there, Biana. I saved lives instead of taking them. I had a wife and babies and so many good and dear friends. And I lost them all… Just like I lost you. The darkness took them away.”

Sighing deeply, the tall senshi looked back down at the starseed, moving it about in the starlight and imagining that the faint, reflective twinkles spoke to her with Bianca’s voice, reassuring her.

“I want to be more than this, honey. I want to keep my friends safe. The Court can’t do that. But maybe I can after I make this up to you. I’ll find a way to that damned Cauldron and prove that lilac haired b***h wrong. We’re not monsters, Bianca. We’re not. And I’ll prove it.”

Somehow.