A/N: Holy shit, it has been such a long time since I have written anything in the Sailor Moon universe, and surprisingly, this is not even senshi/shittenou! A Setsuna/Dimando one-shot, dedicated to my friend Dove, for her birthday.

Er, yes. I AM really out of the loop of this fandom¡­

Disclaimer: Am not Naoko Takeuchi. That is all I have to say.

This was the penance, he supposed.

The world wasn't his for the taking, and he was unworthy of an angel.

He remembered a story that he'd heard, once upon a time, of a dark god, ruling a realm of hell, who had kidnapped a daughter of spring for his bride, and the whole world had gone into mourning then.

But he wasn't exactly alone in limbo, and he was fairly sure that she wasn't doomed to stay there, never to see any of her family again as punishment. The brother who had died for him never did get a chance to see the Earth in all its beauty, and Dimando clenched his fists in a mix of anger and guilt.

"I can't take you back, you know," A voice, low and soft and melancholy as a sigh, sounded next to him.

She looked nothing like the angel he'd tried to steal out of utopia. Her eyes were the colour of dark mahogany, not crystalline blue. She was taller, too, than Neo-Queen Serenity was, and the rubious lips, which weren't curved into an ingenuous smile, were set on skin that was olive-toned, not the colour of cream. She stood there by the gate, timeless and seemingly ageless, inky long hair streaming in the winds that seemed to swirl out of nowhere.

"I know you can't take me back," he told her impatiently. "It's the price to pay for me. To try to take over the world, cast a shadow over heaven and steal away an angel... that's my punishment. Your precious king would never allow me back, I know. I'm a danger to him and his queen, and his precocious little brat."

The garnet-coloured eyes narrowed. "Don't speak of Chibi-Usa like that."

The young child-princess had been one of her friends. One of the few.

It wasn't their problem, she supposed, that she wasn't close to them.

Dimando gave her an exasperated look. "Pluto-sama, I'm stuck here with you for... eternity, pretty much. We might as well try to get along."

Her expression was bland and unreadable once more. "I have no intention of picking a fight with you, Dimando-sama. But I will similarly not suffer insults to the royal family from you or anyone else."

He stared broodingly at the nebulous gate of time. "I did love her, you know," he said at last.

"I know," she replied simply. "No one can help but love them."

He gazed at her piercingly-- he'd heard the whispers, of course. Saffir had alluded to her unrequited love for Endymion... and her similarly unswerving devotion to Serenity.

"He's not worth you, you know."

She blinked, her eyes widening for a moment. "I don't know what you mean by that," she said evasively, a bit coldly. "But if you are referring to my king, I am but his servant."

"You're you," a dark look settled over his luminescently beautiful features. "Setsuna. Senshi Pluto. The guardian of the time gate. But mostly the first. You shouldn't define yourself by them."

"You're still resentful of them. Of him," she remarked, something flickering in her expression for the briefest of moments before it settled into enigmatic blankness once more. She was a warrior, disciplined and austere, and even her features were under that same tight control.

"Perhaps," he conceded, his piercing violet eyes fixed upon her face. "I'm just a man, not a god. Villainous would-be-usurper or not, I do feel."

"I know."

"Of course you do," he drawled ironically. "You know most everything, Setsuna."

Her name sounded mellifluous and slightly melancholy on his tongue. "You overestimate me, Dimando." They had somehow resorted to less formal titles. "I'm not omniscent or all-powerful, no more than you are a god."

"Then we're in the same boat, so to speak," he remarked, giving her a sidelong glance. "You should admit it. It might lift a burden off your shoulders."

Her smooth lips actually quirked into a half-smile at that. "Admitting some sort of resemblance to someone who had been a grievous threat to the king and queen I've sworn my loyalty to, making me feel better? An interesting concept, that's for sure."

He reflected that she should smile more, and less cynically. "Well," he said lightly, "I DO have all eternity to spend with you, Setsuna. We might as well try to get along."

She gave him what would almost be considered an arch look-- through sooty eyelashes, eyebrows slightly raised. "Considering that I haven't attacked you yet, Dimando, I'd say we are getting along quite well, all things considered."

"Excellent to hear that you are of that opinion," he smirked, before cocking his head and peering at her curiously. "So... what does one do, when one has all the time in the world?"

"Try to make the most of it," she told him evenly. "I suppose it could be a bit boring, but it could also be far worse."

He gazed at her in silence for a few moments. Solemn and withdrawn and reserved-- yes, she was all that. But she was also wise, and in some indefinable way that he would get her to admit someday, a bit like him.

The price to pay could be far more dire, and with that thought, he broke into a true smile.