Pairings: Onesides Demande x Usagi, Mamoru x Usagi
Timeline: Semi-AU
Warnings: Angst, tragedy and a bit of Demande being creepy
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or the cover photo
Authors Note: After the newest episode of crystal, I couldn't help but think about Demande's obsession spawning from before he saw Neo Queen Serenity.
The first time he saw the Moon Palace, his breath was stolen by the stars. With wide violet eyes, he clung to his mother's skirts gaping up at the elaborate decorations and clothes worn by the moon people. He was only seven, far too young for his debut, but his mother wanted him to see the society he would one day live in.
She gently swatted his hands from her flimsy skirts, adjusting her mask over her eyes. She pressed her fingers to Demande's mouth, smiling vacantly. "There might be other children here." With those as her parting words, she swept into the foyer; her skirts balled up in her hands and disappeared in the crowds.
Demande nervously held the edges of his suit jacket, wishing Saphir was older and could have come with him. He wished his mother hadn't abandoned him here, alone. Curiosity eventually got the better of Demande – he was growing tired by the constant ignorance from flighty moon people – and he forced his way through the crowd.
Noble's danced, gliding across the glossy floors without a care in the world, their mouths parted and faces slightly rosy from the moon drink his mother loved so much. Men puffed on long, jewelled pipes, blowing sweet, mint flavoured smoke into the already perfumed air. Women sipped on bubbly pink liquid, peaking at men through the slits in their elaborate masks. Demande's eyes flittered around, making the boy dizzy from all the commotion and smells.
Some of the moon children crowded the glassless archways, stuffing their chubby cheeks with delicacies only served in the palace. A part of Demande wanted to join the children, to enjoy the festivities through the eyes of his peers, but that part was immediately squashed when he discovered the overly extravagant staircase and the beautiful girl floating down it.
Well, she was older than Demande was, with her beautiful, golden blonde hair flowing passed her shoulders, trailing behind her on the stairs, her décolleté dress woven with what looked like stars, she was the prettiest girl Demande had ever seen. Her mask hid her eyes but the slight curve to her pink lips showcased her every emotion.
When Demande caught notice of the golden crescent moon on her forehead did he realize that she was the Princess. He thought his face was rather neutral and composed, until the Princess glanced in his direction and giggled. Demande's cheeks warmed.
She crossed the short distance between them, her every step graceful and somewhat ethereal. Pink dusted her pale skin and she knelt, just a tad, and smiled at him.
Demande gawked at her for a long moment before he remembered just who was before him and scrambled to bow correctly. If his mother saw how sloppy his bow was, she'd be ashamed of him.
"Princess, would you, um, I mean, if you're okay with it, dance with me?" Demande stammered, wringing his wrists, practically burning a hole in the glistening floor. He couldn't believe he asked Princess Serenity to dance with him and he was a fool to think she would accept.
"Of course," she agreed, straightening and holding her slender hand out, waiting for him to offer his arm. Feeling the heat creep up his neck and flood his cheeks, Demande straightened as well and stiffly offered his arm. The tender smile never once left her mouth as Demande marched them to the middle of the dance floor with locked joints.
Princess Serenity laid her hand on Demande's shoulder. He limply held her hand, swaying them from side to side while his other hand just ghosted over her hip. Demande's never felt quite so lost before. With nowhere else to look, he simply let his eyes rest on their feet.
She squeezed his hand, causing him to jump a little. "Relax and just have fun," she soothed, and Demande caught the briefest glimpse of her sparkling blue eyes behind her mask. He processed her words for a minute before relaxing into a genuine smile and took more of a lead.
Despite his short stature, Demande was rather proud of his dancing ability and confidently spun the Princess around the room. She laughed breathlessly and Demande drank in every shift in her expressions. The ones where she appeared to be completely lost in euphoria and the occasionally ones where her lips would press together and what little he did see of her eyes became completely unreadable.
He hoped she didn't notice the way he stared at her, as though her smile could make the moon brighter than the sun. As though her eyes were large enough to carry the universe themselves and her laugh held all the answers to any problem the moon might ever face.
He doesn't know how long they danced for, he just knows that whenever they stopped, his legs wobbled and his small body practically vibrated from excitement. Princess Serenity touched his cheek, an innocent gesture he read more into than was there and excused herself.
He didn't remember swaying over to the wall like a lovesick puppy nor did he recall sinking to the ground with his stomach tied in knots. All he could think about was the smile on the Princess's face when she agreed to dance with him.
When the screaming started, Demande scrambled to his feet, frantically trying to find his mother or the princess or even a noble his mother was friends with – anything to escape from the smell of burning bodies and rubble. A crater sized hole made the castle appear dilapidated and Demande ripped his mask from his face, regretting the decision instantly when black smoke bit at his eyes. Explosions rocked the palace and clangs from colliding weapons filled the air.
Desperately endeavouring to fit the mask back over his eyes and block out the smoke with the crook of his elbow, he staggered back and forth in the smoke.
"DEMANDE!" his mother's shriek pierced through the sounds as she hysterically screamed his name over and over again. Chocking on smoke, he tried to call out to her, a cold sweat breaking out on his skin as he stumbled in the direction of her voice.
He broke through the cloud of smoke coughing and met his mother's wild eyes down the corridor. He rubbed his eyes roughly, nearly tripping over debris as he hurried towards his mother. She broke out into a flat run, tears streaming down her face in thick, black lines, stumbling over her skirts to reach him.
Before she could wrap her arms around him, everything went white.
He glared at the red slip on his door as though the whole thing was a joke and if he glared hard enough, it'd go away. Demande punched the door, hearing the satisfying sound of the old wood groan and creak. He shifted the brown bag of groceries to his other arm and fished his phone from his pocket to notify Saphir they're being evicted. Even though both of them worked two jobs, it didn't seem to be enough to pay for their school, rent and food.
After getting a hold of Saphir and explaining the situation to him, Demande ripped the slip off the door and nearly kicked the door off its hinges. He roughly stuffed the paper bag into the fridge, figuring Saphir would most likely sort through it later when he got home. Demande flopped down on the sofa they'd inherited from their grandparents, a hideous green corduroy sofa embroidered with orange flowers from the seventies.
In this one bedroom apartment, Saphir and Demande shared a whopping nine pieces of furniture. Everything they owned went up in flames six months ago when their house they lived in with their mother caught fire thanks to a really old gas stove. It took their mother with it. Demande slapped the smiling photo of their mother down, unable to look at her face anymore without his stomach curling.
He needed some air and, after deciding he could wait one more day to write his essay, slipped out and shoved his hands deep in his pockets once he got outside. The cool fall wind bit at his exposed skin but he merely pressed his arms closer to his sides and continued on to the bus stop. Demande didn't really have a location in mind, he just figured he'd ride the bus until his phone either died or Saphir called him practically beside himself worrying about Demande.
The bus squealed to a stop and Demande patiently waited and even assisted an elderly woman getting off before jumping on. He barely scraped together enough loose change to pay the bus fare and snatched the ticket before the driver's face could pinch together further. He plopped down on a plastic chair, pressing his flushed face against the cool glass.
For all he knew, he could have been on the bus for hours but time really slowed down when a beautiful girl flounced on the bus, gliding passed him to the back. Demande's eyes followed her, without really meaning too, and felt the breath leave him as soon as he saw her face.
Saphir told him his dreams of a tall, blonde haired princess were nothing more than dreams but seeing this girl's face spurred memories Demande didn't think were possible. He was no longer sitting on a hard blue plastic chair on a bus that smelt like mouldy cheese, rather he was whisked away to a ballroom with intoxicating scents he couldn't place and a Princess in his arms. The smile on the Princess's face was identical to the one the girl was using on her cat.
Quickly, Demande turned away. The rest of the memory ended in fire and brimstone anyways; there was nothing pleasant about it. However, he couldn't shake the feelings stirring in his stomach when he saw the girl.
A few stops later, a boy got on and sat with her. He stole a peak in their direction and something ugly chipped away at his heart. Her cheeks were painted crimson and his cheeks grew pink the longer they talked.
Demande forced himself to look away. He pushed his forehead against the window, pinching the bridge of his nose, hoping to block out their words that flittered though the near empty bus. The ugly thing near his heart began to fester, jabbing repeatedly at his heart until he thought it might break. It grew, shrouding his heart, squeezing it, burrowing deep inside through the small holes it managed to create.
Where ever these feelings stirred from, he shoved them away, seriously considering psychiatric help. He didn't know this girl so why the fuck did he care how she looked at that boy?
Why couldn't he help but feel like he was lying to himself?
This time, when he met the jaded eyes of Sailor Moon, it reaffirmed everything Demande feared. The moon princess from over two thousand years ago was not the same woman as the one glaring hatefully up at him from the chair he'd just forced her in. Then again, he was no longer the same moon boy completely infatuated with the Silver Millennium princess.
He was Prince Demande, leader of Black Moon – and Sailor Moon's swore enemy. He may have retained his memory of dancing with Princess Serenity, but seeing the loathing in Sailor Moon's eyes, the disdain on her pretty little mouth, he ultimately decided he liked this Princess better.
He crossed the short distance between them, reaching out and grasping the hair on the top of her head. Demande tilted her head back.
"I love this expression on you, Serenity," he purred. Her fingers twitched. A fire burned in her brilliant blue eyes – ones he romanticized millennia ago. He'd let the ugly thing near his heart consume him. When he saw her with that boy again, he knew he had to do something.
"Don't ever say my name," she snarled.
A cruel smirk overtook Demande's mouth. "What are you going to do to stop me, Serenity? You're powerless here so long as the malefic black crystal exists." He lowered his face to hers, mildly impressed when she didn't flinch.
"I might be your prisoner here," she began, an edge to her voice, "but you will never win. I will save my friends and Crystal Tokyo."
He kissed her, savouring the feeling of her lips, ones he's craved for such a long time. He was astonished to feel her kiss back, even if it was only just for a moment before he was sent reeling back after she shoved him. With swollen lips and hatred burning in her eyes, she transformed or rather failed to transform.
As she gawked at her broach with a horrified expression, Demande chuckled maliciously. "I told you, Serenity, I have all the power here. We have all the time in the world before I crush Crystal Tokyo under my heel. You will submit to me."
She didn't even grace him with a look as he triumphantly took leave of her room, mockingly throwing his last words over his shoulder. "Feel free to use the castle at your leisure. After all, you won't ever leave these walls."
He did glance back just to see if she was crying. His eyes widened a fraction. She stared straight ahead, her mouth set in a thin line and a fierce look in her eyes.
For a moment, Demande actually believed she might escape his domain.
Sorry for you Demande, she does. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed 'Limerence'.
~Emerald~