Disclaimer: Sailor Moon does not belong to me.
A/N: Anime-verse, takes place before the time-travel.
Blue Prince Saphir was as blue as his title. He always seemed a little sad, but while nobody could exactly guess why, everyone assumed he was little boy blue over his brother. Saphir was nothing without his burning-bright brother; he could not plan anything out without thinking of his brother's welfare. To function, he needed encouragement from his brother, but his brother was so distracted with plans of Crystal Tokyo's destruction that he hardly had time to talk to him. To make his longing vanish, Saphir surrounded himself with droids. He called them friends. They never argued; they never ignored him; he liked them. But they did not love him, so he had to look for his brother, despite the sadness that would follow. When he found him, he would bask in his brother's light while looking down upon his cousins.
Green Esmeraude was as vivid as her namesake, but really it was her mass of green hair that made her so vivid. Her skin was white-washed and her lips were colorless. If it were not for her hair, Esmeraude would have looked like a ghost, like Saphir who haunted the halls of Nemesis Castle. She took to painting her lips a vivid red because she heard that Demando liked red lips. She heard it from Saphir and did not regard it as a lie because he hardly ever lied. She was lucky that Petz never does not have any feelings, save for loyalty, for the White Prince because she had natural red lips underneath that black lipstick.
Petz's mouth was an angry line because her sisters were young and stupid; the second oldest was ambitious, but in a stupid way. She was afraid that her sisters might end up being killed by some general. She was the oldest, so it was her job to protect her stupid sisters from everything, even unrequited love.
Little Koan with her too-big eyes had fallen in love at the tender age of fifteen. It would have been fine if the man had been a low-brow citizen, but the affectionate Koan had fallen in love with the Prince's cousin. If the cousin had been Lady Esmeraude, Petz would have laughed hysterically, but it was Lord Rubeus who held Koan's affections. She could see why; the man was so charismatic and slick.
Crimson Rubeus saw them as soldiers. His ambition was high, as high as the stars. He was so eager to prove himself, so he set out to achieve rank on his own when he had been young and gawky. After many years, he became a general to the Prince's army. He would become greater still. His perfect soldiers would see to that, but they were ultimately expendable. He just focused on his definitive goal. He, like all others, wanted to see and feel the Prince's unusual brightness and the only way to do that was to be a Saphir.
Their Prince was an absurdly charismatic man, even more so than Rubeus, but he was so cold. He had to be for Nemesis was unforgiving, even to her chosen prince, but despite that, Prince Demando had the unconditional love and support of his people. He could do no wrong in their eyes.
The people were in awe of him because he had an indomitable will. Demando was the people's favored son; the apple of their eye. They clamored for his attention; they praised him; they loved him. Yet, they feared him for he was a son from vicious dynasty who wanted nothing but warfare and power; they could see that desire in his eyes. They realized that it might destroy them in the end, but, they loved him as they had never loved another. Nemesis' people long ago accepted the fact that they were strange and complicated.
But as strange as they were, they were not as strange or as complicated as the House of Nemesis.
Saphir had been all alone after his parents died because nobody cared for second-born spares. He haunted the halls, in search of the golden son of Nemesis; hoping to see a glimpse of his face. When he could not find it, he told himself that his brother was too busy being the new Prince and had no time for disliked half-brothers.
Demando, being the noble prince he had to be, took him under his wing. At first, it had been just to show the people that he had some, but not much, generosity, but eventually the two of them became inseparable.
At the age of fifteen, Saphir turned his attention to the most ruthless of his Cousin Rubeus' soldiers; a fling to ease his curious teenage mind.
Beruche smiled at him indulgently, but had no intention of being involved with the Prince's brother. Her head was not that far up in the clouds. She wanted to keep on dominating every obstacle that Lord Rubeus threw at her, but if she got involved with Saphir, she could kiss her ambitions goodbye. She told her sister. Petz threw a fit. She managed to coax him out of it, but soon she faced another problem. Lord Saphir had grown to like her instead.
Eventually, when the Lord Saphir's affection did not go away, she went to Lord Rubeus.
She told Lord Rubeus that it was not proper for Lord Saphir to be involved with her. He agreed with her and off he went to tell Prince Demando. She hesitantly followed him, wanting to hear the outcome. She overheard Prince Demando telling his brother to put an end to his foolish actions. Somewhere during the lecture, Prince Demando slyly suggested marriage to a girl from his mother's side of the family.
He thought it would be nice if his brother brought about a spare heir instead of him. His council urged him to marry, but he refused, saying that he had yet to find a woman who was worthy of him.
Saphir gave into his brother's demand; he denied his brother nothing. Petz was devastated when she heard him say yes of course to the Prince's proposal. In the end, she had fallen in love with Lord Saphir. She knew what silly-hearted Koan felt.
She still did not like her being in love with Lord Rubeus; it was dangerous and improper. Calaveras agreed with her. So far, Calaveras was the best one out of her sisters. Stupid Beruche was too flirty and crazy; stupid Koan was too busy being in love with Lord Rubeus.
If only Calaveras was not so ambitious. That girl could land herself in serious trouble someday if she went on like that. Calaveras challenged anybody and anything without backing down, but not in the crazy way that Beruche did. Beruche did it for laughs and sadistic pleasure while she did it for experience. She wanted to take on a higher-up. That higher-up turned out to be Lady Esmeraude.
Petz shuddered whenever she heard Lady Esmeraude's name; the woman had given Calaveras a swift beating. Even if Lady Esmeraude was of high-class, the woman had no right to call her sister a filthy rat. She was a sneaky and filthy rat herself.
So, she took joy in Rubeus's merciless taunts. He took every opportunity to tease his cousin, even in front of Prince Demando. The Prince chided him, but did nothing else to help. Everyone assumed that he would favor Esmeraude because she idolized him whereas Rubeus was a power-hungry bastard. Such was not the case.
Petz also hated that Esmeruade had the attention of Lord Saphir. Lord Saphir, in agreement with his brother, had sought out a high-class lady. He did not like the girl that Prince Demando had suggested, so he turned his half-hearted attention towards Lady Esmeraude.
Petz was jealous, but without reason. She knew that Lord Saphir did not have any love for his cousin and that Lady Esmeraude did not want the second-fiddle cousin.
Esmeraude wanted the cousin who was the ruler of their world. She made eyes at him whenever they met; she painted her lips red before meeting him; she swung her hips whenever she walked about in his presence. She loved that black little dress because it showed off her perfect legs.
Everyone knew that she wanted the Prince; they were not exactly fine with it, but it was better then Prince Demando's choice for a wife. They would rather have Esmeraude as Prince Demando's princess rather than that woman.
Nineteen-year old Demando had set his sights on the much older Serenity, Queen of Silver Millennium. Everybody felt the blow; their perfect Prince ensnared by the wicked Queen of Earth. Everybody hoped that the Prince would break the spell, but Saphir knew that Demando had truly found the woman he had been waiting for. Serenity was as powerful as she was beautiful; as charismatic as he; the jewel of his soon-to-be Earth. It did not matter to Demando if the Queen already had a husband and child; he wanted her.
Saphir could deny his brother nothing, so if Demando wanted Serenity, then he will give him the Neo-Queen Serenity. He knew that the kingdom would follow suit.
They argued. Esmeraude said she will call them all fools if they accept Prince Demando's foolishness; everybody else said they will call her traitor if she interfered with Prince Demando's plans. They loudly argued for hours on end.
All Demando had to do was knit his eyebrows in frustration in order to make them quiet down. Fools or traitors they may be, but they were Prince Demando's subjects first.
United under his rule. United as the Black Moon.
