There was laughter and cheering coming from the bar as the party continued on. It was a holiday after all. A celebration of the downfall of the Dark Kingdom, centuries ago.

The man at the bar laughed loudly and ordered another round to the delight of the patrons. Every year he showed up for the fun and had become a staple of the place. It was a seedy location, but he didn't care.

As the night began to wind down, the people began to stagger out one by one while he stayed behind to pay his tab.

"See you next year?" the bartender asked as he rang the man up. The man nodded and laughed. He then hiccupped which caused him to laugh even more. "Your change."

The man stuffed it down in the pocket of his suit and turned to walk out of the bar. He was dressed rather well for the area he was in and stuck out like a sore thumb. Many patrons commented over the years that he probably belonged to the Royal Court and was here to piss off Mommy and Daddy for some reason or other. He reached up to loosen his tie and kept walking.

He then slowed down and stopped. There was a woman standing in his path, and she didn't seem happy. He never dropped his smile though. It actually seemed to get bigger.

"Well… good to see you again!" he greeted. A loud hiccup punctuated his sentence and he dissolved into a fit of laughter at it. "We should stop meeting like this, people will talk!"

She crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Oh, don't be like that! Where's that smile I love?"

"I never smile for you," the woman spat.

"Maybe you should. You'd be even prettier!" His compliment seemed to do nothing. Neither seemed inclined to leave before the other, and it made the woman even angrier.

"Why are you here?" she demanded. "Your kind doesn't belong here."

The man laughed, still in good spirits from the alcohol. "Where else am I supposed to get a good drink? It's a celebration! Live a little!"

A ball of flame formed in her hand and she threw it at him. He moved aside, stumbling as he did. She threw another and this one singed his arm. He shouted in pain and held the wound, sobering up quickly. In retaliation, he held his hand out and watched as the dark energy began to surround the woman and smother her. He held her like that for several long moments before allowing her to breathe again. She dropped to her knees and gasped for air as he stood back up and over her.

"That will teach you." With a growl, he kicked her in the gut and watched her crash into the wall before turning to walk off.

"Hey, let's meet again sometime. Maybe next time I can get that kiss out of you!" he taunted. With a pulse of energy, Prince Hirokazu left Sailor Mars in the alley.

"You are drunk," Yukio warned as his brother walked through the halls of the palace back to his bedchamber. "The queen warned you to not go to the surface without guards. The humans still believe we were defeated, you will ruin her plans!"

It had been a thousand years since the fateful attack that had cost Ukito his life. The Moon had claimed absolute victory and had settled in to punishment against those who had fought against them. Even today, that still rang throughout the people.

"I'm sober enough." Hirokazu pushed the door open and stumbled in, grabbing the chamber pot and proceeding to vomit in it. "Well… now I am."

Yukio grabbed him by the shoulder and took his arm. "You are injured! What happened?"

"Heh… Pyro has pretty good aim, doesn't she?" Hirokazu asked as he sat in the floor. "She showed up at the bar. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Yukio glared at his little brother. "You are burned! If the queen finds out, there will be hell to pay!"

Hirokazu just laughed and went to stand up. "I have plants to treat burns. Mother never has to find out." With a clumsy hand, he went to pull his tie off. "Help me to bed, brother."

Against his better judgment – he would have much rather taken Hirokazu to the queen at once – Yukio pulled his brother into the bed and threw the blanket over him before walking out. He paused at the door for a moment.

"…Sailor Venus wasn't there too, was she?" His brother's snores were his only answer. "Ah… I suppose not."

Frowning, he walked out of the room and shut the door. A guard passed and he stopped him.

"The prince feels ill. He wishes to not be disturbed by any, including the queen."

The guard nodded and stopped his patrol to remain by the door. Yukio walked on and ran a hand down his face.

In the past thousand years, things had gone back to normal. The town was restored as the queen had promised and had even grown. Under the corrupting rule of Metallia, none were to have children. She had even been in the process of warping the population into monsters to fuel her army. Now, there was a massive boom in the population as children were constantly being born.

The decrees of the Moon had driven others to them. Those humans who had supported the Dark Kingdom and fought for their own freedom had been condemned. There were outcastes, allowed only to live in permitted slums and almost all work was forbidden to them. Due to that, most of them had tracked down the entrance to their underground kingdom and had been accepted. So many brilliant minds and skilled workers had come.

Yukio had learned quickly to hide his and his brother's heritage from them. It did not matter that they had thrown every ounce of their loyalty to the Dark Kingdom; Yukio realized that the hatred of the people of the Moon was strong. He and his brother had been unfortunate casualties of the war, brought back from the Moon on accident.

He passed the grand hall without so much as looking in it. Ever since that day, he had avoided this room like the plague. That day he had given the queen his loyalty had cost so much. This was the least he could do.

"Yukio!" He stopped and turned to see the queen walking behind him. "Why is Hirokazu locked in his chamber?"

"He does not feel well. The guards would not escort him to the surface, so he drank himself blind," he said with a straight look on his face. She didn't seem to believe him, but she didn't question it. "The boy is a fool, but I believe he will have punished himself enough come the morning."

The queen stood there for long moments before turning. "You are needed in the War Room. At your leisure, good General."

She walked on and left him there. With a heavy sigh he followed after her. He had long since learned 'At your leisure' meant 'Now'.

'I was respected… now look at me,' he thought to himself as he walked into the room as the queen took her seat. He positioned himself across from her and stood. It was their way. His official chair was at her right hand, but they worked better in opposition.

"Our forces are regaining strength. Within the year, we can launch another full-scale operation," the queen explained. "We are ten thousand strong as it stands."

"Yes, a full scale force is just the thing… if you are a fool, that is." Yukio motioned to the estimations on their strength and supplies. "We cannot risk such an endeavor. We do not know how many of the population are loyalists to the Moon up there, nor do we have any idea of the current technologies."

The other generals looked back and forth as the two argued on.

"Then what would you suggest? Do you seek to return to where you came?" the queen demanded.

"What I suggest, My Lady, is subterfuge." Her silence indicated her curiosity. "We send a few soldiers topside and have them integrate to the population. I suggest a hundred, scattered across the more powerful nations."

He motioned to several places and rattled off numbers. "However, as most of their energies are being placed in Japan, I would suggest we make base there. Its technological advances are known from our incoming sources, and those fit to be reborn are doing so here."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the queen sat up straight with a look of hope in her eyes.

"Ukito?"

"Perhaps."

There was no hesitation in her decision. "Do it."

"Why can't I go?" Hirokazu demanded. He and Yukio were walking down the corridor the next morning. Hirokazu was still nursing a hangover. "It's the surface, brother! Who knows the surface better than me?"

"Because, little brother, you would spend far too much time exploring. That, and the queen would never allow it." Yukio continued to walk on, trying to ignore the incessant whining of his sibling.

When word had gotten out that the queen was sending soldiers topside, Hirokazu had been up at once to beg to be allowed to go with them. The idea of getting to explore the surface was something he just couldn't pass up on.

"You can talk mother in to it! She's practically YOUR mother, too, you know!" Hirokazu reminded.

Yukio rubbed the bridge of his nose in agitation. "Just because you do not remember mother and father does not mean that I do not."

"Whatever, come ON! I'm up there all the time! I even talk like them! Most of the soldiers will be spotted a mile off!" Hirokazu held his burned arm as he ran after his brother. "I can defend myself, I can fight… PLEASE!"

Yukio turned and slapped Hirokazu across the face. "You will speak no further of this!" He loomed over his brother who had staggered back and fell to his butt. "Neither the queen nor myself will allow you to go to the surface unattended! You are still young!"

Hirokazu glared at his brother. "You'd be young, too, if you'd just undergone the reversal like I did!" He held his hand out and watched as the very air around them began to contort against Yukio. The Dark Energy tried to smother him, but Yukio backed away quickly. Several guards rushed to the area and two pulled the prince to his feet.

"The prince forgets himself," Yukio warned. "Please escort him to his chambers. I will send for the queen."

"You little fool!" the queen shouted for the fifth time. Hirokazu sat on the floor against his bed and kept his head bowed as the queen yelled at him. She paced back and forth and had had to restrain herself three separate times from trying to strike him in her anger.

To his credit, he never trembled or showed fear. He simply kept his head down and let her scream as she pleased.

"Yukio is a General! He is a more experienced fighter than you! If he had been anyone else, you would be a stain on the floor!" She continued to yell at him for several long moments before winding down in her tirade. She inhaled sharply and went to leave the room.

"So… that's a 'maybe'?" he asked against his better judgment.

"You are confined to this wing of the castle!" she roared as she turned around to look at him. "The guards will return you to this room and SEAL IT if you are caught one STEP beyond the corridor!"

She stormed out of the room, and the heavy door crashed shut behind her. He sat there for a long time and stared at the door. Upon deciding she was well and truly gone, he got up and went to his wardrobe. He was going to the surface, it didn't matter to him what anyone else said or thought. He began to stuff clothing into a bag hurriedly. By the end of several long minutes, he had everything he needed and wanted from his room. He then began the long and precise process of climbing from his bedchamber window to the ground below.

They would find he was gone by supper. He had to make one of those transports before then. They would look for him in full force on the surface.

He had money, earned from a brief stint gambling. He could find a place to stay.

Once his feet touched the ground, he took off running. The transport was on the other side of the castle walls. As he rushed forward he caught movement out the corner of his eye and skid to a halt. Several guards were walking towards him. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the trunk of the nearest tree and climbed up it as quickly as he could. The guards would move past him, and…

They weren't moving past him.

They stopped beneath the tree and began talking.

Hirokazu realized in that moment that they were on break and he didn't know if they knew he was supposed to be confined or not. If they didn't leave soon, he would miss his only chance to get to the surface.

'Damn!'

Yukio walked the corridor several times and knocked once more on his brother's door.

"Brother, answer me!" he demanded. There was still no answer. Was Hirokazu truly that upset at the prospect of not being allowed on the mission? The little fool didn't understand, then. If he was captured by the Moon, then he would be used as a bargaining chip against the queen. She would give up anything to get him back, and even then, that was no guarantee that the prince would be returned alive.

The guards stood alongside the door and said nothing as the General tried to make the prince speak to him. It was a family matter and they would not intrude on it.

"Brother, if you do not open this door, I will break it down!" Yukio roared. There was still silence, and Yukio was getting very worried. It wasn't like his brother to be this quiet for this long. He pushed and pulled at the door to try and force it to open before slamming his entire weight against it.

General Yukio stood at six feet tall and was entirely muscle. He hit the door three times before it gave way and dumped him in the empty room.

He looked around frantically and the sight of the overturned room filled him with dread. The guards looked in and when they saw that the prince was not in there they sent an alarm throughout the castle in fear that he'd been taken.

It was then that Yukio noticed exactly what all was missing from the room. Clothing, books, money…

"That little bastard," he growled. He went to the window and looked out towards the grounds. His brother's footprints gave his intentions away.

"Prince Hirokazu has escaped the castle! FIND HIM!"

The guards below the tree heard the alarm and went running back inside. Hirokazu should have been happy over it, but he realized it meant he was found out.

He landed on the ground with a grunt and took off running again for the transport. He had seconds to get through one of the portals before they found him.

As he ran, he held a small, black crystal out that began to siphon energy out of the very air around him. He would need it on the surface. The warp came in view and he realized only three were still active. The warp for England had already closed, and that was the one he was counting on. He cursed and skid to a halt. He didn't know where the remaining ones would deposit him.

"This way!" came a voice. He recognized his brother's angry tone and gulped. Tightening his grip on his bag, he ran through the warp closest to the voices and closed his eyes as he went through. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for the severe disorientation that assaulted him the moment he crossed the threshold and blacked out.