Sailor Moon does not belong to me.


Kiyomi stared at Mamoru and the woman; obviously something was going on between those two. She could not decide between running away or seeking Mamoru's warm arms for protects. The woman does not look that dangerous; she was thin, frail and pale.

While Kiyomi sized the woman up, Serenity was doing the exact same thing. Mamoru's new fling was much more beautiful outside of her memories; a china doll's face with the geisha-red lips; skin aglow with healthy beauty; and the soft hands of a wealthy woman. Serenity could see why mature Mamoru would leave her for this woman, but still, it hurt.

"So this is your newest woman?" Serenity drawled lightly. In the world that Wiseman made for her, Mamoru already had Chibi-Usa and Rei as lovers; as disturbing as that may be.

Mamoru kept his eyes glued to Serenity; he was still wary of an attack and a sleeping ChibiUsa was still in the next room. He vaguely remembered a poem's passage in his raisin-wrinkled book; "Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd."

"Usagi, please, come to your senses!"

Kiyomi gawked at the ghost-woman. This is Usagi? Impossible! Mamoru said that Usagi was a child.

"Usagi? You're Usagi?"

Serenity smirked. "More or less. Did you know he had a girlfriend?"

Kiyomi's eyes were harsh in the dim, romantic lighting. "Yes, but that doesn't matter! I love Mamoru and Mamoru loves me!"

Black Moon's princess snorted. "I thought he loved me. I thought he loved Rei. I thought he loved ChibiUsa."

Mamoru grimaced at the mention of him being in love with his own daughter. "Usagi, understand this; I never loved you like Endymion did. That was in the past, this is present-time," he said, "and I won't love you in the future."

Kiyomi was horribly confused; they were talking about the past, present and future as if they had lived through it.

Serenity's features twisted into an ugly mask of betrayal. "Fine! I don't care that you don't love me! I have Demando!"

She smiled slyly. "You still have to die, though," she said as she gathered the Jakokuzuishou's stifling powers.

Mamoru barely leapt out of the way, but the china-face woman was not as lucky; with a shuttering and surprised gasp, Kiyomi was knocked into the white-washed wall.

"Get up and fight,"Serenity said coldly.

Earth's prince glared at Moon's princess as he produced a single red rose. He will fight if he had to.

"No!" a voice yelled, "don't fight!"

A tousled, sleepy and flushed with fright ChibiUsa threw herself in front of her disheveled father; her red eyes met her mother's blue eyes challengingly.

"I can't let you hurt him," she said.

"Thank you, ChibiUsa," Mamoru whispered.

The still-frightened ChibiUsa found her wayward voice. "I'm not doing this for you! I am doing this for Usagi!"

"Why?" Serenity asked, genuinely curious.

"Because Mama told me that Sailor Moon's heat is pure and good," ChibiUsa whispered.

The Jakokuzuishou's powers faded away as Serenity tried to quench the frightening feelings rising up within her; the rabbit princess was trying to confuse her.

"We will settle this later, Mamoru," Serenity promised as Nemesis' shadows engulfed her.

"Mama..." ChibiUsa whispered.

The little girl watched bitterly as her gentle-eyed father consoled the newly awakened woman; the woman who stole her mother's place. She fumbled with her pajama top as she sought out the Ginzuishou's cold comfort; her tiny hand just found the time key.

The Ginzuishou was gone.

Usagi!


As soon as she materialized in one Demando's room, Serenity sought out the comfort of a warm blanket. Her Serenity persona was deserting her in favor of Usagi's and it scared her; Usagi was young; so young and bright and easily hurt. She was strong, like a princess should always be.

"Mamoru never loved me..." Usagi whispered.

"I know, Serenity, I know," Demando said with gentle eyes.

Usagi, without thinking, threw herself at the almost-transparent prince as she let herself cry. The prince was as cold as a corpse, but he was soft. He was human; humans gave comfort. She needed comfort.

Prince Demando, being the concerned husband, failed to notice his wife's features at first, but he took notice of her corn-spun hair and younger frame after the initial shock of seeing her cry.

"You're not Serenity. You're Usagi," he said as he took in her young, tender-maiden features.

"Yup, I'm plain ol' Usagi," the young girl whispered.

"Why are you sad?"

Usagi's features crumpled under his concerned gaze and she broke down; the dam that Serenity had kept at bay broke. "Mamoru has another woman!"

Demando was not surprised in the slightest. Poor girl; she still thought that Mamoru loved her like Endymion loved Serenity.

"Endymion doesn't realize what a beautiful soul you have."

"What?"she asked.

He sighed. "When I first saw Neo-Queen Serenity, the first thing I recognized was her beautiful, shining light. You have the same light."

Usagi's pale face turned a peachy-pink shade as he continued to flatter her. "But Mamoru doesn't love me. It's our destiny to be in love."

"You can't force a person to love you and destiny is always meant to be broken," he said.

He burst into awkward laughter; in Nemesis, nobody laughed freely, but his words struck him as bitterly amusing.

Usagi just stared at him.

"That's what I've been trying to do! I've been trying to make you fall in love with me by hypnotizing you; by forcing you," he whispered.

The golden-haired girl smiled softly. "At least you admitted it."

Nemesis' White Prince stayed silent; she was right; she was always right and how he hated it still.

"Demando. Can you tell if Mamoru loved me in your time?"

He hesitated. He knew the answer, but Usagi's heart was still tender; a little girl with little girl dreams.

"I don't know."

She bit her lip. "Alright."

He stood up abruptly. Usagi squeaked ungracefully as the pale sovereign hauled her to her feet.

"It's dinnertime," he said awkwardly. Usagi was in control of herself; the mind-control had shattered; the Black Moon Serenity was not there to drape herself all over him, but he told himself that this slip of a girl was still his wife.

Usagi smiled shyly as she nodded. This man was her husband, but she did not want to face those facts just yet.


"Hello, brother," Saphir greeted as they walked into the dimly-lit room.

Demando nodded as he took his place at the head of the table. It was just the three of them; the beautiful, cackling Esmeraude and the cool-red Rubeus missed the chance to jeer at the princess.

Saphir turned his attention to the girl as she sat to the right of his brother; his cold eyes still rejected her. "Hello, Princess Serenity."

Usagi shifted under the Blue Prince's indifferent glance as she stammered out a suitable reply.

Demando glanced wryly at his younger brother. "Play nice, Saphir."

Nemesis' lesser prince nodded, but it was clear that fair play was the furthest thing from his mind.

During dinner, Usagi noticed something with a sovereign's understanding; the Black Moon clan was human. they were like her Ginzuishou; cold to the touch, but warm to the core. They were not evil, like Queen Beryl, but puppets, like the Shitennou; but the question was whose puppets they were.

Neo-Queen Serenity's puppets? She hoped not.

"Serenity?"

Usagi glanced shyly at her husband through her pale rabbit lashes. "Yes?"

"Would you like to take a walk with me in the garden?"he asked.

"You have a garden?" Usagi exclaimed girlishly; from what she had seen, Nemesis was horribly barren.

"Yes, but only one kind of flower grows on Nemesis," Saphir unexpectedly answered.

"I would love to," Usagi said, eager to see the dark planet's garden.

Demando uneasily took her hand in his; he was still unsure of the younger princess. He did not have her heart sealed up in protective glass. The glass was not there to protect her, but rather himself. Usagi was still a little girl; foolish and in love with another; she was capable of breaking his not-all-there heart.

Blue Saphir watched the shining-white monarchs go with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. The princess was not to be trusted with his brother's paper-glass heart.

Fearsome girl.