He wasn't sure what drew him back to the nightclub late in the evening. No one of his royal ancestry ought to be caught dead in a place like Roulette, where the city's youth was drawn every weekend like so many moths to a flashing, seedy flame. And yet, there he was.
Perhaps it was boredom that drove Dimande out of his base and into the underbelly of youth culture that first time. He was tired of waiting for people to report to him, because what they said never changed. Wiseman seemed full of unending reassurances and Saffir continued to spout off paranoia.
However, something pulled him back again and again. He settled into a routine; during that part of the week when Terrans took their breaks from work and school, he would materialize into an empty corner away from the seething dance floor. He liked to commandeer an out of the way table and quietly enjoy his alcohol while watching the Terran world dance by.
When he was at Roulette, he didn't have to be responsible for the mission to take over the Earth, his family members that had fallen in the fight, the fact that more deaths may come. The fact that his countrymen waited for him to give them the planet of sunshine and flowers. He could just let his mind go blank and enjoy his respite from duty. It was hard to remember that a whole planet of people depended on him when the bass was pounding so hard that Dimande thought his heart was jumping its own rhythm to match.
Dimande leaned back in his chair and took another sip from his drink. He liked to dress simply in Roulette; he had left behind his rich royal clothing, and opted for a plain white shirt and dark trousers. It was enough to make people believe that he belonged there without arousing their curiosity.
Bliss was anonymity, he decided, savoring the burn of alcohol on his tongue. He watched young, gleaming bodies move together with vague interest. The children of twentieth century Earth had turned dance into a sexual expression. They moved together, but disconnected. Strangers moved against strangers, all apparently lost in their own pleasure. Dancing with a partner had become an individual experience.
He toyed with the idea of dancing with one of the many unaccompanied young girls in the club. To be so close to something warm and nubile seemed like a pleasant way to avoid thinking about the reality of his existence. He stood and stretched, casually searching the mass of people for a suitable partner.
His eyes landed on her. The rest of the world dropped away.
Dimande didn't have to think about it; his feet started moving toward her the moment she crossed into his vision. He moved faster as she started attracting the eyes of Roulette's male patrons. He would be damned if someone scored his prize before he even reached her.
She looked a far cry from the virginal queen Dimande had known in the future. She wore a strapless violet silk dress that lovingly followed the curves of her body, before ending scandalously at her upper thighs. Her black high-heeled shoes provocatively reshaped her posture, accentuating the curve of her back and creating delicious tension in her calves. Her hair was out of its typical style, swept up into a knot of the back of her head, exposing a slender swan-neck and delicate shoulders.
She maintained beneath that provocative exterior that innocence that she had carried with her all the way into her future self. She almost looked like a child playing dress-up, unsure of what adult thing she was supposed to do now that she looked like one.
When Dimande was only steps away from her, she turned and started to walk toward the bar. Desperately, Dimande reached through the crowd and caught her hand. She whirled around at his touch. Her sweet blue eyes were rimmed with kohl, making them look doe-like and full of some exotic sadness that wasn't there before.
Surprise melted into recognition. Usagi tilted her head as she considered Dimande, probably wondering how she managed to run into her archenemy in the middle of a packed nightclub. As though she heard Dimande's inner prayers, she did not look afraid, she did not pull away. Her eyes searched his, though what she was looking for, Dimande did not know. The song changed, and Usagi looked past Dimande, toward the dance floor. Something bitter and angry passed over her face. She set her shoulders and stormed out into the center of the floor, Dimande in tow.
Usagi turned deftly and pressed her back to Dimande. They began to move with the bass, joining in the sexual playmaking with the other dancers. His trembling hands went to her hips; was this really happening, he wondered. Did fate send her to him, did fate let him find her in the middle of Roulette?
Dimande lost reality in the midst of the music and the warmth of the body pressed to his. If the entire universe ceased to exist but for the sound system and Usagi, he wouldn't have noticed. His dream was to rule over Earth and the solar system, but he would've given it away for an eternity of moving with Usagi in the middle of Roulette.
"You found me," he murmured into her ear, allowing his fingertips to drift past her hemline and brush against bare flesh.
"I wasn't looking for you," she replied pointedly, looking at Dimande over her shoulder.