Darkness released him into a world of grey sickly shadows. He felt
a sticky, salty taste in his mouth as if he'd been asleep for a long, long
time. Slowly he blinked his eyes, trying to organize the fuzzy world
he saw before him. Something covered him, transparent and yet
confining. Concentrating his will, he felt something shatter
and free him. Everything grew clearer.

The first object that solidfied formed into a pair of saphire blue
eyes. Awareness followed with recogniton, and he whispered the
nick-name that fit the face leaning over him.

"Phire??!" He whispered, the name slipping out far more
easily than his eyes could focus.

"It's ok. You're safe." The voice seemed raspier than he remembered,
filled with more pain, and yet more comforting than he'd ever
heard before. He was the older one, so why was his younger
brother telling *him* it would be ok! That was Diamond's role,
not Saphire's. "We're both safe."

Ignoring the pressure lodged in his shoulders and neck, Diamond
struggled to sit up. That led him to have a better view of
their surroundings. Silvery cystal gleamed where it was not
dark from lack of light. Tight corridors angled over head from side
to side.

"What is this place?" He asked. "How did I---Sailor Moon!" He
broke off mid-sentence. The last he could remember he'd dived
in front of her to save her from the Wiseman. "I didn't listen
to you Brother, but now I know what you meant. We have to
save her!"

His brother shook his head, shaking the hair off his forehead.
The dark moon sign had vannished. "Its too late, we're back
in the future, and whatever happened, he attacked you in the
past."

"The past!?"

"You almost died, but I woke from where you'd hidden me, and
I transported you here in very bad shape."

"But Wiseman...I must stop him!" Diamond gritted his teeth and
somehow dragged his feet to the ground, despite the pressure of his
brother's hands. "LET ME GO!"

"Brother, are you crazy? Wiseman nearly killed you just like
he nearly killed me! You saved my life, and now I've saved
yours, but if you go back, it'll be for nothing!?"

"We can't stay here. Not til she's safe!"

"Brother, I told you. I think that battle is over. I'm not
even sure we can go back to it." Saphire stood
up, and leaned back against the wall. "You've been asleep
a few days, recovering your strength, and I have too. Surely
if Wiseman had killed her, he would have found us by now...This
old MoonKingdom ship couldn't protect us from him for so long.
And I don't feel his presence anymore...do you?"

Diamond shook his head, but he didn't seem convinced.
"So that is where we are?" He fingered the crystal wall and the
crystaline fabric of the sheet covering him. Looking down,
he noticed he'd been lying in some kind of crystal bed that
seemed broken. The sides rose up into jagged curves now, and
pieces lay smashed along the ground.

His brother nodded. "You don't remember hiding me here after
I was attacked? The ship had some kind of healing crystal
bed in it, and you placed me in it."

The memory surfaced slowly, for he'd hidden it deep within his
own mind to protect his brother from Wiseman's prying. "I remember."

"When I came to, I felt you being attacked, and used my power
to intervene, but I collapsed after I got you in the other
healing unit. I don't know how long I've been out really." Saphire's
voice trailed off. "I just estimated."

Diamond stood, touching a wall which became completely
transparent at his touch. Outside the ship he could see
the wasted rocky desert surface of his planet Nemesis.

"Nothing has changed for my people, except to make
them worse off!" Diamond swore. "Damn Wiseman..."

"Too late for that I think. He's gone. Whatever he
was, as I said, I can't feel that presence anymore."

Diamond nodded. So Wiseman was gone, just like the bitterness
in Diamond's heart. At least, the bitterness aimed at the rulers
of Crystal Tokyo. He couldn't hate *her* anymore. No, the one
to hate was himself.

"And our people?" He asked quietly, as his hand traced the
scratchy stubbled surface of his skin.

Saphire simply shook his head. "We're the only ones left."

Diamond smashed his fist into the wall wishing someone could
be blamed for this besides himself. What sort of leader
had he been to entrust his people's happiness to that evil entity?
He'd let his own ambition and desire for revenge and for the
Neo-Queen trample his duty to improve his people's lives.

"What an irony...I'm the one that should be dead!" Diamond
swore. Angrily he turned to his brother. "You should have
let me die!" He walked away, until his brother swung him around.

The blue eyes met the grey with an almost visible electric
spark. Diamond closed his eyes first, unable to stand seeing
the dissapointment in his brother's eyes that he knew must
be there. He repeated the words. "You should have let me die."

His brother shook him. "How can you say that!? Could I
abbandon you when you needed me, when you wouldn't abbandon
me? And what good would it have done...it was too late for
our people, Wiseman had already destroyed this world. What
was left of it anyway...our society was hanging on by a thread."

Diamond felt himself sink down against the panel, and away
from his brother's hands. No words could express the isolation and
inconsolate feeling of his failure. What possible joy in living could
there be now? "Just leave me alone."

Saphire swallowed, bowed his head and exited the chamber.
They didn't speak for three days of quiet torture. The
dead world around them seemed to have more life than the
inside of their tiny ship. Saphire pretended to be
fixing the ship, restoring its flight, searching for how
it operated. For those days, Diamond searched himself
for some answer as to why he should stay alive.

By accident, he triggered a hologram of Crystal Tokyo.
The answer rose above him, ghost-like but at the same time more
real than the decaying landscape that surrounded the ship.
Her face, with its sympathetic beautiful eyes gazed
at some far off point, full of hope.
He could see her smile, and though it was not for him,
he felt it held the answer. It didn't matter if he could
forgive himself, as long as she could. His own smile pushed the
tension off his face.

Standing in the doorway, Saphire noticed the change
in his brother's expression. He'd gotten into the habit of watching
his brother quietly, worrying but unable to close the gap between
them. More so than ever, he thought some
stranger had yet again replaced the brother he loved so much.
With quick steps that tapped across the crystal floor, Saphire
crossed to where his brother sat entranced by the hologram.

"Brother!?" Saphire knelt, placing one hand on his brother's
shoulder. "What are you thinking of?"

"We have to go to Crystal Tokyo. I have to see that
I didn't destroy everything...that I didn't destroy her."

Saphire kept any disapproval to himself. He told himself he didn't care what
goal his brother had chosen. He was just happy he had
a purpose once again. "Of course. If that is your wish."
He looked out through
the window, and up at the blue-green planet dominating
the sky, the only sign of life.

"Then when can we leave?" Diamond asked with more animation
than he'd asked about anything since he'd awoken.

"We can leave right away." Saphire replied, sounding much less
enthusiastic. He remembered how the younger versions of
the people of Crystal Tokyo had been willing to help, but
would they really receive their enemies into their home? Saphire
felt sure the ship would only make one trip. If Crystal
Tokyo rejected them, they would never be able to return
to their world. Dead or not, Saphire thought, this was their
planet, and it was their home. "If you want."

*****************************

"A strange ship is approaching." Neflite looked up from the
control panel where he sat, standing in duty for Jupiter.

Since the Black Moon's attack had taken so much out of the
Scouts, the Generals were all working to give their loves and
Mercury a break.

"Guess its our turn this time!" Jaedite grinned.

Malachite merely stood up, his body coiled with tension. The
last attack had happened so quickly that the three generals had
not had a chance to do much. They'd been able to protect Endymion
from further damage, but unlike the Scouts had not been able to
form as complete a barrier over their leader's injured body. The
strange side effect of that meant Endymion's spirit could wander
while his wife's could not. Yet with only three of them, the Generals
had not been able to do anything else. Their wives had been the ones
to generate the shield that protected the city--the ones to
defeat the enemy. Malachite wondered why it bothered him so much
that he'd been so relatively useless in all this, as if he might
as well not have existed. He was a soldier, and a soldier must
understand action and inaction, and love and war as well as peace.

"Establish its landing coordinates." Malachite said, as Neflite
punched the buttons on the screen.

"Just outside of Crystal Nucleus, the garden of fountains." He
responded.

"Then let us go be the welcome party." Malachite said.

"You know...I think it is one of our old ships!" Jaedite muttered
as disbelief colored his face slightly.

"No wonder the new defense mechanisims didn't go off." Neflite
added. "Let's inform the others."

******

Diamond cautiously stepped down the hatch of the crystal ship.
Its transporting ability as well as his own seemed too shaky to
trust, so he and Saphire resorted to old fashioned means of
leaving their home of the last few days.

The first thing that struck him was how bright and sunny this
world was. Everything seemed so clean and pure--crystal gleamed
all around him, encasing a world of flowers and water. The
soft air bathed his senses with scents he'd only imagined.

He'd experienced the past world so briefly, and in such a state
of shock he'd not really been able to experience all the earth
of old offered compared to what surrounded him now. He couldn't
imagine anything better though. This was earth. This was their home.

Saphire experienced a different reaction. Everything glistened with
an almost too perfect beauty. He'd expected something more like
the earth he'd briefly seen somehow--a softly clouded sky, grey
steel buildings towering over parks with grass. The smell of
gasoline and people mixing with that of flowers. That was what he'd
expected, not this almost artificial air that carressed his face. He
remembered the old stories of his people. This was the world they'd fled,
in order to find a world more like the past. He could imagine something
worse--Nemesis, but was this sterile crystal world earth? This was their
home?

"HALT!" A voice shouted as three figures came into view, dressed
in uniforms that were the same style but different colors. Two
blondes, and one man with wavy dark hair stood poised as if for
battle.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" demanded the one with
the short blonde hair.

Diamond tensed. He couldn't feel the powers that Wiseman had
given him anymore. The older strength was there, the one that
had lain dormant inside him while Wiseman had led him. Yet
he didn't know how to use that as effectively.

He felt Saphire edge towards him. "Brother?" He whispered. "This
is not the reception I had in mind!"

Diamond nodded. "TAKE US TO THE QUEEN!" Diamond ordered. He had
no idea who these people were, but he didn't feel like wasting
time.

"Are you crazy!?" the man with short blonde hair laughed. "You
can't just invade and demand that!"

Diamond felt a surge of anger. Who were they to stop him, when
he'd been through so much? One more obstacle, and he could overcome
that. Instinctively he let the light flare out unsure
of what it could do. It struck with an explosion, knocking
the short-haired blonde over.

"Star Barrier!" The dark haired man called as prisms of light
enased him in a star-shaped forcefield. The light was too intense
and Diamond and Saphire squinted their eyes shut.

"Idiot, why'd you attack, now we're in trouble!" Saphire swore.

"Golden Rope" Another voice called as a tiny rope woven of metallic
hearts encircled them and pulled them to their feet again.
Saphire moved to counter, but was knocked unconcious by the blast
of something shiny.

"Care to try something else?" He asked Diamond, who merely supported
his brother and stared back meeting the gaze head on.

"ALL I want is to see the Queen!" Diamond repeated evenly.

The short haired blonde stood, dusted off his pants and laughed.
"Well...attacking a General of Crystal Tokyo...that's a good way to get to
see the Queen." He made some motion in the air, and suddenly
they were all standing in an enormous crystal room.

Standing before a giant window, Neo-Queen Selenity stood gazing
out at the undulating mountains of the crystal city
. She turned, somewhat surprised to see the
three Guardians and their two captives.

"These were the ones with the ship." Malachite said bowing.

"Prince Diamond!?" The Queen paled, and then rushed to put her
hands on the shoulders of the two men. "Release them!"

"But Neo-Queen Serenity!" The three men's voices blended as one.

"We just heard what was happening."Jupiter's voice called out as the other
three Scouts appeared behind her. "How can they be alive?!"

The girls who had been his enemy surrounded him. The differences
were hard to tell, except their eyes and uniforms seemed changed.
Youth and inexperience had given way to confidence and maturity.

"Prince Diamond, Saphire?!" Serenity whispered. "You're alive?!"

"Forgive us." He said softly, for only her ears to hear.

She pulled both of the stunned men into a hug as
if they were long lost friends. Diamond could feel the
warmth of her touch and the coolness of her tears on his shoulder.

The touch lasted briefly, but Diamond felt his arm grow warm
where she'd touched him. "You're alive..." She whispered.

"They must be tired. Find rooms for them!" Venus ordered the
three stunned Generals. "Well, don't take all day!"

The three looked as if they'd each swallowed something far too large
for their throats, as their faces contorted in different expressions
of utter disbelief.

"Isn't he the leader of the Dark Moon, the one that nearly destroyed
the city!?" Jaedite asked. "You can't be serious!"

"IDIOT!" The words scorched his neck, almost as if a blast of flame
swept by him with the breath. He felt Mars place a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you questioning Venus's orders at a time like this? You saw the Queen.
They are our guests now! Find a place for them to sleep now..." She
lowered her gaze and her voice, and said softly "or you'll have to find another bed too!"

He winced as he bowed and withdrew. "I'll prepare chambers for them."

Neflite tapped Diamond's shoulder. " I'll take him. He's probably much
too heavy for you right now...you both need to recover from
what you've been through." In a daze, Diamond watched as the
dark haired man carried his brother out of the room.

He wanted to follow, but he also wanted to stay, with her. In
her eyes, if he just looked in her eyes, all this pain would
wash away, he just knew it. He tried to take a step towards
her and felt someone grab his forearms.

Midnight-blue eyes gazed at him, kindness swirling with distrust.
"Come, Prince Diamond. I will help you." Endymion said "Overcoming
possession is not easy, and I should know." The words at least
were gently said, even if the grip indicated a slight supressed
hostility.

"Endymion?" The Queen called after them.

"It's ok." Endymion replied. For a second he felt the old
jealousy and anger flare at what this man had done. But that
to him had been years ago. The attack in this time on Crystal
Tokyo seemed disconnected from the things Diamond had done in
the 20th century, to Sailor Moon. It was that battle that made Endymion
know he held one who'd been his enemey, not the recent attack.
How strange time was, that it played such a twisted tune of destiny.
Why was this man alive, when so many other good people had died?

The King regained his composure. "You are welcome in Crystal
Tokyo, Diamond" If he didn't mean the words, he intended to
grow into believing them.

***************************
"All I want to know is why is he alive. I'm not saying
we should trust or distrust him." Mars explained.

"HE's not evil." Serenity insisted again.

"I know. You insisted as always that we give them a
chance and we will. But we'd be fools not to watch them."
Mercury insisted. " We thought we saw them both die...
I just need to investigate their appearance."

Jupiter hadn't really been paying attention. At this though
her head perked up. "They are sort of cute aren't they, Mercury?"
Jupiter teased, her voice getting a bit too low.

"What sort of investigation,Mercury?" Venus
asked also her voice getting a bit too high, as she winked
not entirely innocently. "Isn't two a bit much for just you!?"

Mercury blushed furiously. "That's not what I meant!"

Venus blinked innocently. "I didn't mean anything--" Her face regained
her sneaky look "So why are you blushing?!"

Mercury blushed straight to her boots. "Its...its..."

"Stop it." Serenity said. "You know what it is to be turned
against your will. To have your freedom lost. We have to be
sympathetic to him, to them. We can't treat them untrustingly.
It's our fault all of this happened!"

"What do you mean?" Mars asked.

"The planet...that ship, its the one we sent those resisters out
on ...that planet Nemesis is the planet we thought of as
Sanctuary."

The women looked at each other. Realization dawned on them slowly
and painfully.

"Why didn't we connect it sooner!" Jupiter wondered as she
thumped a wall with a kick.

"How'd she figure it before us!?" Mars grumbled to herself.
She felt a sudden shove send her crashing with a crystal chime into
the wall.

"I *heard* that." Serenity returned.

"Don't start you two. Not now." Mercury pleaded "How is that
possible...Nemesis is a wasted shell. The planet we chose for
the resisters was beautiful like Earth used to be, I calculated
that myself!"

"When he captured me years ago, Diamond told me what happened
to his people. He said I'd done that to them--put them on
that wasteland. I guess I forgot about it until the attack
happened. I thought it was a lie...some twisted image of
Wiseman...but it was true. That was why they were trying to change
the past-- to prevent their exile, and the living death on Nemesis.
That was why they attacked us."

All four women looked at each other than at the Queen who's soft
voice continued on harshly without reprieve. "All the time
they attacked, Wiseman fed on the fury caused by our actions. We
put them there...no wonder they hated us!....And I was even
warned it would happen!..."

Mars put an arm around her, soothing her.

"But we didn't know!" Venus protested.

"I should have known!" Serenity whispered

Mercury shook her head. This was impossible. That wasted
planet could not be the same one as Sanctuary. It couldn't.
She pulled out her computer, frantically tapping its
keys.

"They wanted to go!" Jupiter argued "It's over with, isn't it?
When it happened, we weren't thinking about the Black Moon.
So long ago, and it comes back to haunt us now...how could
you have thought of it!? It looked safe, you didn't
condemn them."

Mercury felt her fingers slip from around the computer. It
had to be wrong...but it wasn't. She was the one who'd made
the mistake. She tried to swallow but the
constriction in her throat was too much. The computer hit
the ground as she ran out.

"Mercury!?" Mars called, as Jupiter picked up the small device.

"What's wrong? Why'd she run out like that?" Jupiter frowned
as she stared at the computer. The blue light looked eerily
out of place on her skin. "I don't understand a word this
thing says!"

Mars frowned, as she looked at the screen. "She thinks
its her fault, because she misread the signs on the planet."

"You understand this thing?" Jupiter asked in surprise as she
looked at Mars.

Mars shook her head, the dark hair becomming a waterfall hiding
her expression. "No, but I understand her."

Serenity made a small muffled sound, which could have been
Amy or something else. She started to move to the door
then stopped.

Mars turned, her body poised to both comfort the Queen and
to run after Mercury. Both needed her now, but which
first?

"I'll go after her." Venus said as she left. "It'll be ok,
Serena." She squeezed the Queen's hand, and looked up
at Mars, as if to say, she's all yours.
*******************************
"Is this a bad time?" A voice asked as Saphire stuck his
face in the chamber.

"All time is the same to me now." Diamond replied mysteriously.

He was attired in a soft white robes, his uniform lying
uselessly on a chair.

"We're here. Where you wanted to go. Are you happy
now?" Saphire asked softly. He still wore his dark black
shirred uniform.

"How could I really be, when I am a failure?" Diamond thought
but out loud he merely said "What do you think?" and waived a
hand. "This is Crystal Tokyo. Everyone is happy."

Saphire studied him for a minute. "I'm not. I can't
be their prisoner, or guest, or whatever. I don't belong
here in this crystal world! Its everything our ancestors
fought against! We don't have to destroy it, but I
cannot live here, even if that means abbandoning you."

Diamond's eyes snapped fully open. "What do you mean? Where
else would you go--to Nemesis?"

"Not there, never there." Saphire turned and grabbed his
brother's uniform from where it lay. "You're forgetting
who you are, from whom you came...for her, aren't you?
She doesn't love you!"

With one hand, Diamond pinned his brother against the
wall. The other stopped a split second away from
Saphire's face. "Stop it."

"I can't stand it. Seeing you stare at her like that! You're
a Prince...you shouldn't grovel, yes they saved us, but
we can't lose our dignity like this! Its still their
fault for what happened!"

"NO MORE. I don't ever want to discuss that again." Diamond
spat. "That was all that kept us going for so long, but it
took more than it gave and now you want to return to that feeling?"

Saphire slid down the wall. "No. What Wiseman wanted was
wrong...but I can't accept living here. Just because you're not
enemies doesn't mean you'll get along. We don't belong here."

"Then where will you go?" Diamond asked as he squatted down
to take his brother's face in his hands.

"Like that is it?"Saphire said slowly. "I always thought
I'd be one step behind you forever...but our paths
separate now. I want to go to the past."

"What? Why?" Diamond asked.

"Not to change it, but to enjoy it, this world, the
way it used to be. That's where I belong. The few hours I
spent there before I almost died, they seem like a dream
to me. I want to go back."

"Is it possible?" Diamond asked "Without our power, you
cannot do it on your own."

"They travelled through time. They can send me back."
Saphire smiled. "You don't need me anymore, Diamond.
You're near the one you love, and I...." He paused,
his eyes recalling a face peering over his. "Should be
with the one who loves me."

Diamond looked up. "Prisma?"

Saphire nodded "I told her I'd return, but I couldn't until
you were on the right path...and you are, I think. So I should
keep my promise to her shouldn't I?"

"Do you love her?" Diamond asked pushing a wisp of his
brother's hair away. It was hard to picture his kid brother
in love, when they'd both never really experienced much emotion
except revenge.

His brother shut his eyes. "She loves me. And I promised her.
Nothing else matters. I love you brother...but I can't stay
here." I'm not human enough to stay here, he thought. I
can't live with such condemnation. He imagined Prisma's
face, the large eyes shining with love and concern for
him. Not pity, like the Queen's, but something else.

"I know that is the right choice." Saphire concluded.

Diamond nodded, pulling his brother into a hug. "I will
miss you." He whispered. "But I have to stay here."

"I know." Saphire answered. "I'll never be able
to see you again...once I go."

Diamond smiled. "Then I'll just have to find a history
book right, to find that you were happy, right?"

Saphire smiled weakly. "Of course..."

"Then perhaps delaying is no good. We should ask
the Queen right away. We've been denied happiness
long enough...you shouldn't have to wait any longer."
Diamond frowned. "How do we contact anyone anyway?
This place is a maze...."

Saphire grinned slightly. "I know..that's why
I came to ask you, Big brother."

Diamond laughed. "Even some things I don't know!"

Saphire smiled back, wondering how long it had been since
he'd heard such genuine amusement, and whether he would
ever hear his brother's laugh again. But this future wasn't
for him...and the only answer to the displacement and lonliness
he felt had to lie with the past, didn't it?
"Then I guess I'm on my own." He replied as he left.
**************************************************

Endymion sighed as he carressed Serenity's arm. "It's ok.
What is done is done." The two lay against each other,
nominally watching the rising moon in the sky. This was
their semi-private garden, the one used only by the
Generals and the Guardians. It formed an interior
courtyard, in the middle of the oval around which
all the palace bedrooms were. The design of the garden itself
for some reason, imitated the grand garden on the Moon Palace, though
condensed to fit into the smaller space. The Moon Garden had
been more oval shaped, running around the outside of the palace
rather than confined to a circular area inside it.

Around in a ring, tall poles with mirrors reflected the moonlight,
as fountains poured from underneath. The water caught
the scent of the roses growing on the poles (the one
difference from the moon) and carried it to the couple.
"So don't be so sad." Endymion teased, as he tickled her mouth with a rose
petal. "The moon's almost up, our daughter's away,
and we're alone..." His voice slid lower as he leaned
closer to her ears.

"I know. Its just...I can't help feeling this way." She sat
up, her back still to him. He could tell her head had tilted
her gaze up to the moon. He could imagine her expression
just from the slight constriction of her shoulders.

"I don't like to see you sad."He whispered as he kissed her
ear.

A weak smile curved her lips. "Maybe I'm just emotional because
Small Lady is back in the past...and though I know what
happens, I still worry."

"You're a mother, it goes with the territory." He teased, one
finger tracing her slightly pouting mouth. No smile yet,
he'd have to try harder.

"And how would you know!?" She blew a puff of air at his
finger, so he pulled it away. She twisted around at that to
catch his expression.

His face collapsed into a comical expression of ultimate
weariness "I'm a father. Isn't this the trip she met Ellios?"

"Next one I think..." Serenity smiled, the sadness disperesed.
"We are silly. We worry about her being away from us, when she
*is* with us...and that's more security than most parents have, isn't
it. The past can't change."

"No....it can't." He didn't sound convinced, and yet he lowered
his eyebrows and gained a more serious tone. "And as it couldn't
neither could this future..."

"The Black Moon...."She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "
I see. And I agree. Its just that, if I didn't feel this
pain, knowing I can't do anything, I would feel worse. Does that
make sense? All I can do now, is remember and honor what the
battles were for, what they've always been for. To protect--"

He kissed her midword. "I know." He smiled. "I've heard you
give the speech a million times, and its still true. Just like
its still true that I love you because of it."

"So...it is ok, isnt it ...if he, that is they stay here? I didn't
ask you."

"You are the Queen..."

"And you're the King. My partner...its your decision as much
as mine. "

"Then you've made mine already. You know that. There is nothing
to worry about, as far as he's concerned."

"He asked for my forgiveness...I should have asked for his!"
She closed her eyes, against the tears that trickled down. "All
those years...suffering on that planet...how could I have done
it to all those people?!" The transformation slipped from around her,
leaving her in a simple white gown. "And even if I know how...I still feel
sad because of it."

"Serenity!" He swallowed with some difficulty. It had been awhile
since he'd seen her in this completely vulnerable state...there
was usually too much danger around for them to be just themselves,
the cares of their kingdom forgotten. Yet the attack of
the Black Moon in some ways had freed them--it was the last
known fear they had...as devastating as it had been, freedom
nestled within it.

"Just hold me, Darien, just you and I tonight, ok?" She pleaded.

He nodded, his own magic wrapping around to return him to an ordinary
man, no longer a king. "Of course, meat-ball head." He teased.

Unable to sleep, Diamond had wandered into the gardens. He'd
not realized how close his quarters were to those of the
Palace residents, since the halls turned so many corridors.
Now he realized that the bedrooms were really all in
the center, around the same garden, though they seemed
so far away around the ring. He'd not meant to spy.

The scene had drawn him, an electric-blue light he couldn't
deny. So that was love, he thought,to be held like that,
cherished, and comforted. Why was he not the one holding
her...but he would never be, and it would be wrong to wish it
really. Forcing someone to be with you who doesn't want to
be there isn't love, he thought...hadn't she told him that.

She'd had enough misery, she didn't need to deal
with how he felt too. Perhaps she didn't know what he
felt. He'd heard her say she wanted to be forgiven. Silly
girl, Diamond thought "Of course I'd forgive you. I love you.
I didn't know what it was til I met you, and now that
I do..." He stopped mid-thought.

He stared at the water glowing with reflected moonlight.
No light of its own, yet it shined he thought. His own
lonliness didn't matter, he thought, if she was happy. Just
watching her be happy made his life seem, if not complete, then
less hollow than it had been.

A step on the stones of the garden broke the spell for
him, as a short gasp brought his eyes up to meet a pair
of dark eyes. He saw the same emotion as his own etched
in those eyes, and for a minute wondered if he saw
a reflection of himself in a prism of sorts. The light's dimness
robbed the world of many colors, and all lay in variations of
silver and blue except those red eyes. He was imagining
things...until she moved.

He could tell it was a woman when she stepped backward and
the fountain light caught her form, just before she
melted in the shadows. The four people formed a triangle,
the couple on the bench, and the two watching them from
opposite sides of the garden. His attention focussed
on where she'd dissappeared, wondering who'd been watching
the Royal couple as he'd been, a voyeur or unrequited lover?

He felt someone grip his arms from behind, as his body
flung itself down to the cold water of a stream. Some
kind of wooden stick was held across his throat, as
someone pushed his face nearer a fountain.

The woman, for he could feel her body press against his
back as she held him down, warned him "This is the Royal Garden...
You will not harm them! WHO ARE YOU!?"

With the staff at his throat, he couldn't quite speak.
He couldn't even really do anything, except watch the
world fade into even less colors.

"PLUTO!? What's going on!? Release him!" Serena's voice
pleaded.

"Why aren't you at the gate!? Is something wrong?" Darien
asked. The two stood, a united team yet focussing
on different aspects of the scene in front of them.

"Who is he?" Pluto asked suspicously "Isn't he.."
She turned him around, as she pushed herself off him to
stare at him contempuously "Prince Diamond!"

She'd never met him of course, being trapped at the Gate
during the battle all those years ago. Yet the others
had told her of those times, and his death. She stared at
him, trying to regain her breath. The most incongrous
thought popped into her head. Was it an accident his name
matched his eyes, because they really did sparkle like diamonds.
He knows...she thought, as she lowered her gaze from his eyes.
Second ago, across the courtyard, their eyes had met and he'd
seen her pain and longing so very like his own. Almost as if
they'd both been stripped of their clothes and pushed into
each other's arms. A sudden intimacy forced by circumstances
that threw her calm away and made her heart beat way too fast.
It wasn't just that he'd seen inside her heart, but it was that
they'd been equally vulnerable in that moment. He knew a
hidden part of her just as she knew that part of him.

"I am...or was...just Diamond now." He replied, trying for
a light hearted tone and failing utterly since he wasn't the
type for jokes. The words stumbled out of his bruised throat
as he stared back into her endless sad eyes.
She knows...he thought. Yet he didn't see any condemnation in her expression,
only sympathy and understanding. She shared the same bitter-sweet kind of
love he had and had resigned herself the same way as he had. He found a
strength in this experience, a sort of bond forming in the space between them
that made his body feel warm and powerful where her arms touched
his.

They stared for a minute like that at each other, til Endymion
coughed.

Pluto became aware of her surroundings, and shook Diamond.
"How did you get here?" She demanded, her hands gripping
tightly in a painful way this time. The moment shattered, and Diamond
no longer felt embraced instead of caught.

"He's in a weakened state Pluto...please..." Serena called.

"Sorry, My Queen. I came here tonight, because a strange young man
entered the Gate to ask to go to the past. I didn't recognize
him...but I couldn't kill him." She nodded behind her
where Saphire's body lay slumped behind her, quite well
tied up in a silvery red cord. "And then I saw this
stranger...watching you, and you'd detransformed..."

Serena smiled, "A night off, Pluto. We weren't in
danger. He's our guest...and so is the other man."

Pluto nodded and released her captive slowly.
Diamond flushed, looking away at his brother. He
knelt, even as he rubbed his throat from where she'd
caught him. He knew he'd lost his powers, but he
still felt odly embarrased that she'd overpowered him so easily.
And the shift from that sudden intimacy to this animosity didn't
help.

"How did he find the hidden door!?" Pluto tapped
Saphire with the staff, which Diamond caught rather
angrily, his expression indicating his displeasure. Was she
human? He thought glaring up at her.

Darien frowned "Strange, it shouldn't be visible to those
who aren't connected to the crystal. In any case, we should
have warned you about their appearance. Though we never guessed
they'd encounter you."

"We want to make them feel welcome here, Pluto. They are our
friends now." Serena added. Her face underwent a strange
change..."Can you send him there...I think
I remember why he wants to go." Prisma's face flashed through
her mind. She never could remember what had happened with her,
since they'd lost touch which all the four sisters except Catsy,
who'd long since died. "He wants to be with the one he loves..."
Had she married another, or had she waited for him to come?
Had he come, or? Her mind tilted around the paradox.

Pluto frowned. "I cannot use the Gate for that."

Serena's eyes grew larger, the fountains light reflecting
in them. "Pluto, you've just sent our Daughter there!"

"Not to stay..." She repeated a little harshly.

"Are you refusing me?" Serena asked surprised.

Pluto stubbornly gripped her staff. "I cannot disturb time.
I only came to ask about this man, who he was. Now that I know
HE's not a danger, I can go back to my duty." Her eyes darted
to Diamond briefly, as if to imply she wasn't sure whether he
was dangerous or not and the staff glowed and she dissappeared.

Diamond swore under his breath, staring at where she'd vannished.

***************
At the Gate, Pluto leaned her head against the staff. The
man, Saphire, had emerged and startled her. She'd almost forgotten
how guarding the Gate felt, and her reactions were slowed.

Luckily he hadn't come to attack, or he might have
blown past her. Since he'd only tried to beg, she'd
been able to catch him with the staff. Yet she'd hesitated
killing him, though she knew that was her duty. All those
who sought to break the taboo and use the door were to be
killed, weren't they? That was her duty, charged by
Queen Selenity long ago.

Yet in the dim light, she'd hesitated. His hair and eyes and
features reminded her too much of Endymion. For that half second,
she'd hesitated that it was not just her fantasy that he stood
before her. She decided to just stun the intruder and return
him to the palace.

She would have simply pushed him there, but a strange half buried memory
stirred in her brain, of another Endymion, and it burned under her skin. In
the end she'd decided to use the event as an excuse to
leave her post, and seek out Endymion. She needed to
talk this over with him. Only a few days ago he'd asked her
if she ever recalled meeting another version of him.

Yet it was night in Crystal Tokyo, and she'd entered just
in time to find herself intruding on a most private
moment of her rulers. She knew what they meant to each other,
but it was still as hard to see as it was wrong to
watch. She'd dropped her captive, and it was then she'd spotted
the intruder. Diamond's face came unbidden before her, more
distinct than that of his brother. Both should have
disturbed her equally, but somehow her encounter with Diamond
lingered.

Perhaps she should speak with him, and explain...explain
what? If she were explaining anything, it should be to Endymion
about why she'd left. Why'd she'd been in the garden at all.

She pushed the events from her mind.
"I've grown soft." She told herself. "The Gate is
too important for me to think up excuses to leave." Closing
her eyes she tried to stabalize her thoughts. Whatever
she felt troubling her about the memory, it could wait til
Endymion visited her next. She moved her hand over the Gate
trying to absorb some strength from the very familiarity of
its feel.

Something was wrong. She fingered its surface, noticing for the first
time a strange crack. Had it been there before? Surely
it seemed much too large not to have been noticed by her.

***************************************************
"What do you mean he cannot go!" Diamond asked
as Selenity held a cup of water to Saphire's lips.

They were in Saphire's room, with the younger man lying
on his bed. Endymion had gone to wake Mercury so she could
look at him to make sure Saphire was ok, since he had not
regained conciousness.

"I'll have to speak to her...I don't know why
he doesn't wake up...she might have been too rough." She whispered.
She couldn't see any signs of injury though.

"I'd say it was likely." He rubbed his throat which still
felt a bit rough. "As powerful as she is beautiful...
Who is she exactly...she wore a Sailor uniform, so doesn't she serve you?" Diamond asked.

"Serve? In a sense, but I do not know everything about her. She's
Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of the Gate of Time... If she tells
me that it would make time too unstable to send him
to live in the past, I believe her. Even if I don't understand,
I have to believe her." She looked up. "Trust is very important, Diamond.
Its part of the bond between my Scouts and I. That is how we beat
Wiseman...trust and love."

Diamond waived the unwanted lecture away with a hand.
"Trust and love is one thing, but, he cannot live here.
He would rather die!" Diamond explained. "He probably heard what she said,
and he doesn't want to recover. Mentally, I think it was
more than he could handle....he's chosen to stay in some dream
world of his..."

"There's nothing I can do about that." She said the words sincerely
as she layed a hand on his shoulder. "Couldn't he be happy
here?"

"No. He must go to the past."Diamond responded sternly. "We
came here because I wanted it. He hated the thought, but for
me he did this. Now it is my turn to see he can live where
he belongs. What is the purpose of living in torture?"

Serenity winced. Was this Crystal world so abhorrent to
Saphire? "I cannot change her mind, and she is the one to make
that decision." She replied.

"Her?! But you are the Queen...there is nothing you can do?" The arrogant tone
faded a bit, the hopelessness and concern edging out the Prince, leaving the
man. "Surely, she'd listen to you. If you told her what it means
to him, explained it, surely she'd listen....she couldn't be that
cruel..she must not have understood." Diamond frowned, his eyes recalling
the lonliness and sadness he'd seen in her eyes, as well as the happiness as
she'd stared at the King and Queen. Surely someone who could deny her own
happiness, for that of another, would understand Saphire's situation.

"There's nothing I can do. " She repeated the words.
She shook her head, the blue worried eyes meeting his own.
"But there could be something you could do. Ask her yourself."

He looked into her eyes, trying to read her expression. There
was something glimmering there he couldn't understand, but
he trusted she meant well. " Would it change her mind?"

Selenity turned so he couldn't see her face. "I thought it
might change yours and his."

"His? About going?" He said a little angrily. "I don't understand."

"Right now, you don't believe its impossible, because
you don't trust her. It seems unfair to deny him what
he wants...and I sense he doesn't really trust us yet...he was
raised to think we are the enemy. He's lost hope.
So if you believe and understand, then maybe
you can help him do the same...so he can recover his hope
and stay here. We aren't denying him what he wants because
of cruelty...but somethings aren't to be."

Diamond paused. "You think that will help? Getting an explanation
of why she refused?"

"Its worth a shot isn't it? And who knows, maybe she'll change
her mind!" Serenity winked. "The door is that way--"

Diamond paused staring at her. His look was intent and filled
with longing and yet, her gaze returned so innocently and unaware
of his own. Despite all that had happened, she was treating
him exactly as she would any friend. It was too much, and
too little all at once. Serenity grinned a little "Go on, don't
be scared of her. She's really very nice, but serious....her duty
is the most important thing to her."

Next to you and Endymion, Diamond realized. He could understand
duty though, and he could understand being misled in pursuit of it.
Perhaps talking to her was the best way to get her to understand
his brother's situation, and to help.

"Thank you." He said to Serenity.

"For what?" She smiled. "It'll be ok. You'll see. I think you
two will be able to resolve the situation much better than I
could for you."

Diamond bowed, touched his brother's head, and left the room

Serenity was alone staring bemusedly after him for barely a minute when
Endymion entered the room with Mercury.

"We just passed Diamond. Where is he heading off to at this
hour?" Mercury asked as she bent to examine the sleeping
Saphire.

"Oh..." Selenity smiled the way she used to smile when she'd just
passed one over on her teachers, or learned a juicy secret about
a friend's crush. "Nothing, nothing..." She looked at Mercury
and winked. "In all this mess, I think something good is going
to happen, and you're next!"

Mercury and Endymion exchanged baffled glances. "He's fine,
let me examine her!" Mercury said turning her scanner on Selenity.

"Hey!!! I'm fine, I"m fine..." She protested, then gasped "Oh
dear..." And ran out of the room.
**************************************************************

Diamond touched the door which opened at his touch automatically.
Briefly, around his head a blue moon shone, and then dissappeared.

What a place! He thought as he glanced over the never-ending nothingness.
Nemesis, for all its darkeness at least was somewhere, unlike this.

He suddenly felt pity for the one condemmed to stay here. That
is until she nearly took his arm off.

"Say your Prayers!" She shouted seconds from bringing the Staff
down on him.

"PLUTO WAIT!" Selenity screamed. "I sent him here so you could
explain yourself..."

Pluto paused, and Diamond's hands closed over the staff.

Endymion ran in after Selenity. "What's going on!?"

Selenity turned "Not now" She nudged him and gave him a sneaky
wink.

"So you two talk it over, ok?" She said. Her tone had a poorly concealed
, but goofy, sugestiveness to it. "We'll just leave you alone."

Pluto wasn't sure if she heard her Queen right, and blushed.
Was she imagining that tone--it seemed so odd, so innappropriate,
so like...Serena..."What do you..."

Angrily Diamond tugged the staff from Pluto's distracted grasp. His
pride wouldn't allow her to trap him twice, favor or no favor.

Her reaction came too late.

"NO!" She screamed as the doors burst open, creating a vortex
which drew in the King and Queen, and everything in the space
not connected to the Staff. She felt herself going in as well
til Diamond's hand grasped hers. She swung her body forward,
catching the Staff he'd stolen, as the whole gateway area
disintegrated into nothingness.

The keyhole fell with a clink to the ground, leaving them in
the garden beneath the prayer tower, just outside the center
of the Palace itself. The door of Time, along with Serenity and
Endymion, had vannished completely.

***********************************************