Silently Watching
He watched silently from his hidden perch as she tried to transform once again and failed; yet again her crystal had not responded to her command. She watched from the battle's sidelines as her fellow scouts took on some sort of purple cat lady that had been attacking a little girl; the evil woman was beating the scouts without much trouble. When all four girls were laying defeated upon the broken ground the yoma again went back to extracting something from the young girl's chest, a shining crystal finally appeared and the cat lady snatched it up and mumbled something about two people being pleased with her work. She had only taken a couple of steps from her victim when a strange attack caught her in the back followed closely by another attack which broke the yoma into puzzle pieces; two women walked onto the scene. They carefully looked at the young girl's crystal and declared it was not what they were looking for and let the crystal melt back into its owner's body then they walked off. The puzzle pieces began to come back together to form the cat lady again; the grounded inner scouts cried out for the other two to come back and help them, but they scoffed the plea and left the inners to face the monster alone. Again they found themselves being brought to their knees, Serena tried to go to her friends' aid, but the evil lady just swished her tail and flung the blonde across the room. He wished to go to her side, but knew this was not the time to reveal himself and his new life. Tuxedo Mask jumped in on the battle having just arrived to see the damage done to the group of girls. He broke the yoma's tail that had been set flying at the blonde girl, the cat lady flicked her tail about in interest of this newcomer as he tried to tell Serena to run. The lady's tail again slashed forward, this time Tuxedo Mask took his cane and attacked the oncoming tail like a sword and the tail split into pieces as the cane continued to elongate until it punctured the woman's abdomen. The evil woman looked shocked for only a moment, then her lips curled into something akin to a lustful grin; she snapped the can in half with a powerful swipe of her paw-like hand; with a mighty yell she leaped at Tuxedo Mask with her claws bared and elongated, the sharp claws ripped through his cape and knocked his mask and top hat off. Serena yelled helplessly for him, and again he told her to run away, but she refused to listen and came to grasp his hand begging for him to let her help. Looking over the battlefield he watched as the unmasked hero looked helplessly at the little blonde before him; the spectator could practically see the wheels turning in the young hero's head to the consequences of allowing her to stay on the battlefield without being able to transform into Sailor Moon. Neither of them wanted to see the young blonde get hurt outside of her alter-ego.
Before Tuxedo Mask could answer the cat lady began another attack, but as she got right above them a light erupted from their conjoined hands that threw the cat lady backwards. Both Tuxedo Mask and Serena's outfits warped into their royal robes of the Earth Prince and the Moon Princess; a scepter appeared between them and her broach began to morph into the next form. A voice blew through with the wind announcing that the scepter was named the Pure Heart Scepter; Princess Serena took hold of the new weapon and the broach within her slender hands and wistfully thanked Selene for these gifts before turning her eyes lovingly to the man before her knowing that without his love this gift could not have happened. Finally, she stared coldly at the recovering yoma and with a powerful voice called out her new transformation. A stronger Sailor Moon entered the battlefield with a high level of confidence; calling power to the new moon scepter she released the Moon's energy at the evil lady and she was finally obliterated. For a moment nobody moved, and then Sailor Moon began jumping up in joy. Her scouts stood around her laughing at her antics and congratulating her on figuring her crystal out. The love this small group had for one another amazed him even now, how could he make her see he held such love for her as the Earth Prince and her friends? He watched as they slowly departed from the silent grounds, looking up at the sky he never saw or heard her approach the tree he was hidden in. A small 'ahem' brought his eyes to the ground; she stood before him as Princess Serena, he could see the confusion in her clear blue eyes and knew now was his only moment to explain.
"I knew I recognized your energy, but couldn't understand how it was possible for you to be here. You died in my arms, Prince Diamond, how is it that you are here before me now?"
"Somehow I forgot you and your scouts can feel the energies of others around you. How come no one else came with you to demand the possibility of my appearance?"
"My scouts were barely conscious most of the fight; their focus was not on an idle, unthreatening person just beyond the battlefield. I could only sense it once I transformed. Now, you have avoided my question long enough, Prince Diamond; how is it possible for you to be alive?"
He sighed, knowing there was no way to get out of answering her. "When I died in your arms that day, you freely cried for me, your tears fell on my face during the last moments of my life. And from my understanding the power of the Silver Crystal does not just reside within the crystal itself but also within you as well. Your mother, Queen Selene brought my body up to the Moon Kingdom's palace to recover, for the tears that had fallen on me gave me a new life, but my body was so weak I had no choice but to remain on the Moon until only a few days ago. I came back here because I needed to see you again, Princess."
"Not to be rude, but what did you plan to accomplish by coming back here and seeing me, you should have gone back to Nemesis and changed the way of life on your planet."
"Nemesis was destroyed the moment you killed the Wiseman; that planet was formed as a branch off his power, I have no home to go back to except here on Earth or the ruined Moon Kingdom." He looked at her for a moment then jumped to the ground inches in front of her then took her hand gently in his. "I came back to once again tell you of my love for you, I know the last time I didn't express it properly especially by tearing you away from your friends."
"Prince Diamond, I cannot lie, no matter how you expressed your love to me then would not have changed my mind. I love Darien, Prince of Earth; I have since the glorious days of the Silver Millennium. Now, you witnessed our battle and you know that it was Darien's love for me and my love for him that awakened my new powers and created my new scepter; I still love him with my whole heart, I cannot leave him or my heart shall shatter forever." She saw the man before her start to withdraw within himself, she stepped closer to him and looked into his eyes, "Diamond, I may not love you, but there is someone who will, go build yourself a new life and find her and love her. I will leave you with this parting gift." She pulled his face to hers and kissed him gently for a few moments then released him and walked away forever.