She had long forgotten the name she'd been born with, this time around.
It was in some beautiful language she no longer knew, long and strange 
and fluid. It was in the language of her people, a thriving civilization 
that spread far across the stars, strong and compassionate and wise.

But she had lived for so very long and, in a universe absent of all but 
two individuals, the knowledge slipped far into the recesses of her 
memory, sluggish and reticent as it was invaded by war and blood. All 
she could remember was battle, her adversary, and her title.

And so Cosmos floated among the stars as the ever creeping darkness 
of Chaos threatened to swallow her as it did her people. Its inky black 
tendrils crawled their way into her heart, dimming her light with despair. 
This war seemed neverending and she questioned the point of it all. 
There was no one left, Chaos' domination over the galaxies like a 
blitzkrieg, destroying everything in its path.

Just as she began to give up hope, she remembered how it all began. 
She remembered the turning point, lifetimes ago, in another world. Far 
into the past, she'd made the wrong decision and now the universe paid 
for her transgression. Summoning her immense power, she flung herself 
backwards in time, fueled with a new, burning determination to change 
history.

The trip took more energy than she had imagined and, weakened nearly 
to the point of death, her body also went back in time, to the child body 
she'd once had. She looked at her tiny hands, pink and new, and almost 
cried at the loss. Still, she set off to find herself, searching among the 
sea of souls for the one that would be hers.

Fate on her side for once, it had taken far less time than she'd feared to 
find the girl named Usagi, who spoke a strange tongue she couldn't 
remember. There was only one word, written on a mug, that she could 
make out - "chibi," for "small" in her native language. But with no other 
means of communication, her own language mostly lost to her, that word 
became her only way to converse.

Her past self seemed surprised, but not to the degree she felt the 
younger girl should have expressed. Later, she would find a hidden picture 
of a small girl with candy-pink hair and, in the very last box of memories, 
she remembered the girl who would become - had been - her daughter.

Life with Usagi was strange. She slowly remembered living that life, all the 
loss and grief and pain. She comforted herself when the man she would 
always love died at the hands of Chaos, the first victim of Earth. The ease 
of the old language returned to her with great relief even as the ones she
had loved long ago fell to Chaos' avatar. Through it all, she stayed with 
herself, using whatever magic she could spare when needed as she continued 
to recharge from the forceful rip through the fabric of time.

Before long, Usagi was alone, and fled the small planet for Sagittarius Zero 
Star with the daughter, the incense princess, and her stars. Even then, it was 
ultimately Usagi herself who stood bravely at the mouth of the birthplace of 
stars, the Galaxy Cauldron. And Cosmos saw her chance as Galaxia spoke, 
pleading with Usagi to destroy the Cauldron, to save the future.

But, as she had before, she refused herself, even as her enemy begged for 
the same thing.

The strength of her conviction, the power of her belief, filled Cosmos with more 
hope than she'd felt in longer than she knew. Usagi cried that as long as stars 
are born, everything would be okay, and it sparked a fire within Cosmos, 
understanding and remembering why she'd made the decision in the first place. 
Brimming with emotion, she grew to who she once had been, white and shining 
and strong.

Placing a kiss on her past self's cheek, she remembered everything - every 
moment, every sorrow, every happiness in the lives of Tsukino Usagi and 
Serenity. She smiled at her own shock, supressing the laughter from the new 
lightness in her heart. As Usagi flew over the edge, Cosmos only wished there 
was more she could do for the girl she'd been.

When the Cauldron began to glow brighter as Usagi's wish was granted, Cosmos 
took her leave of the past, no longer hindered by cowardice and shame. Chaos 
would be pushed back once more and the galaxy would thrive once more, even 
though she would spend eternity to keep it so.

But she was determined to become the true Sailor Cosmos that she had been, 
that beacon of light, like the life of the young woman she once lived.