Title: A Broken Promise

Author's Notes: I have gotten NO sleep for the past few weeks because of school. You guys share my pain, right? Hehe. Any way, I'm trying to remedy my insomniac ways this weekend... I'm dedicating myself to slumber this whole weekend. -sigh- The loveliness of it...

Enjoy! [Usual disclaimers apply]

Chapter Five: Wicked Lady Who? There's a New Chick in Town...

A groan escaped the parted lips of a blonde-haired girl. The girl's eye lids laboriously opened, soon scanning the surroundings in which she was in. Nothing looked familiar: she knew she was not in possession of such jeweled extravagance as the room around her. Everything sparkled around her. Though the furniture gleamed and boasted of wealth, the room possessed a cold, metallic feel to it: hidden behind all that rich mahogany substance lay some misplaced force: and she didn't like it.

Usagi suddenly felt a sudden physical chill gush around her body. Had she not been wearing jeans and a sweater when last conscious? She looked down at her quivering form and found that there was next to nothing covering her small frame. She was simply befitted in a thin layer of black silk. It tightened around her form; so tight it seemed as if she was forever cursed to wear it. The gown extended to her ankles, except the slits on the sides of her hips were high. There were no sleeves included. Black, cuff-like bracelets adorned her wrists. Cuffs... like she was a prisoner...

The Moon Princess let out a sob as she soon recalled her current predicament. Flashes of an everyday youma battle flitted into her mind; slits of light coming through window blinds. And were her friends...? Where was her Mamo-chan...?

"Poor maiden," a voice clucked in mock sympathy, "separated from her court and prince."

Usagi held back the salt-like tears that were ready to cascade down her cheeks. She stared at the corner of the room, from where the voice came. There she saw a familiar sight, a sight that she was hoping never to see. Leaning against the wall, oh so coolly, was Kimitsu.

"Y-You!" Usagi cried in anger.

"M-Me." The wolf girl imitated in a scared voice. The corner of her lips lifted up in a smirk, her slant blue eyes shining menacingly.

"Where am I?!" Usagi ordered, her pride overcoming her fear.

Kimitsu bowed, laughing. "I'm so sorry for the lack of introduction. You are currently on the proud Black Moon Base, in the royal suite. Accommodations generously provided by Prince Demando. Gotta love him, eh?"

The golden-headed girl fell back on the mattress she was laying on in shock. She was in Demando's hold?! Life really, incredibly, sucked.

Once again, a cold from an unknown source brushed against the bunny girl's skin. "Brr... I hate this outfit..." Usagi muttered in a small voice.

Usagi looked up at Kimitsu and saw an strange, soft look pass through Kimitsu's eyes. A gleam so foreign to the Black Moon warrior that Usagi wasn't sure how to respond.

But the look was swept away by reality.

Kimitsu coughed. She strided out of the room, then soon returned with a long coat. Presently, Kimitsu threw it at Usagi. "Just so I won't have to hear your annoying whining," the wolf child mumbled in brief explanation.

Usagi put on the rich fur gladly, not caring for the real hidden reason Kimitsu's sudden kind act.

Maybe she should have speculated. It would soon turn out to be a saving grace.

-A few hours later...-

"The prince wishes to see you."

The words might as well have been morphed into her death sentence. Demando wanted to see her... and Usagi's usual naivete failed her now... and her imagination flared wildly.

"What does that freak want to see me for?" Usagi thought, her high-heeled steps echoing throughout the base's compound. She had considered running off, but Kimitsu had provided the stern warning of, "Try anything stupid, and I will immediately paralyze you: and I've been stressed lately. So don't make me use you for an–what do those 'doctors' on your planet call it? Oh, yes. An outlet for my raw emotions."

Well, so much for that plan.

"Here," Kimitsu ordered, lifting a slender finger towards a door. Usagi stared at the door. Now she knew how Perseus felt when entering that endless maze... or was it that Homer guy...

"Go."

Usagi mustered all her courage she had ever come to possess in her fifteen years on this earth, lightly wrapped her hands around the golden door knob, and...

"Ah–Usagi."

That was the first thing Demando said to her as Usagi entered the room; Kimitsu hastily shutting the door. Demando was sitting on a couch, a wine cup brought to his lips, tilted so the purple liquid could run down his throat. The young man, physically, was an exact duplicate of the dark prince in Usagi's memory. The attire was even the same.

"Don't you people ever change your clothes?!" the moon bunny bit out angrily. In all of her pent up frustration she had found sarcasm was her current best friend.

Demando let out a rich laugh, his wine glass quivering with his chuckles. "Same feisty princess, aren't we?" he queried, lifting his wine glass in the air, as if proposing a toast. He gazed at her even as he sipped at the wine, gulping down details of her thirstily, rather than gulping the Chardonnay. She had grown even more beautiful, even more sensual, since the last time they had met. And he wanted her to be his: that desire was timeless.

He got up, taking slow, long strides toward her; taking pleasure at the fear dancing in the maiden's blue orbs. "Don't you know, love, that being in a man's room is a compromising situation?"

Usagi took a step back as Demando immediately took a step forward. "Don't you ever call me 'love'. Only Mamo-chan can call me that."

Demando sighed in exasperation. "That guy always gets in the way. What's it take to erase him from your memory? What's it take for you to hate him?"

The senshi of the moon gave a hollow laugh. "I'll never hate my Mamo-chan. No one, not even you can make me do that."

Demando smirked. "I beg to differ."

And at once, his full weight was on her. She fought back madly, knowing that this was a pivotal fight in deciding whether or not she'd be able to escape alive. Unfortunately, Demando fulfilled his deed, leaving Usagi sprawled on the floor: still breathing, but unconscious, and now tainted.

He victoriously held up a needle, a twitching grin displayed on his face. He wasn't sure whether he should stand there smiling smugly: or laugh at the irony of it all. "My dear Neo Queen, so sorry to have handled you so roughly," he said, his breath still heavy from the previous struggle, "but I had to get that drug in you somehow. Everything will be different once you awaken. You'll see things as they truly are."

The white-haired male took his captive's form in his arms and laid her gently on the couch. Considering he had far more self control over his desires than a certain Black Moon warrior: Mr. Nasty himself, Wakeru, Demando was quite content with just staring at Usagi as she slumbered in a drugged sleep. The very thing Mamoru would be doing if his princess were with him–but the Terran prince was quite busy with other affairs: namely getting his fair moon bunny back into his arms.

Demando smiled to himself: he was assured he had won the game. He knew that that earthling Usagi adored so much was suffering: and he basked in the glory of that knowledge. Yet, the boy would be suffering much more once he found out what Demando's new weapon was...

Waiting for a few minutes, assured that the drug had taken affect, Demando started to whisper into Usagi's ear, "Serenity... it's almost time for you to wake up to your true prince, love."

-In their sleeping quarters...-

Kimitsu, tiredly thrust open the door to her twin brother's sleeping chambers, not at all surprised to see him snuggling up with a fellow female agent. Disgustedly she snapped, "You! Get out!"

The nameless girl dashed at the room, knowing better than to rebel against an official's command. Surprisingly, Wakeru didn't counter his sister's order. "Just have to ruin the fun, don't you, sis?" he asked, rolling his eyes. He got off the bed, and adjusted his clothes, of which were rumpled from the encounter.

"It's not my fault that you always have some bimbo in your room," the girl replied dryly.

Wakeru snorted. "You're sounding like some bitter old hag. Why don't you shack up with one of the other field agents? You can always tell when someone hasn't been laid in a while..."

The wolf girl glared at him. "I'm not some deluded perv. like you. I wouldn't be surprised if you flirted with those sailor whatsits when you went to evaluate them. You're just that low."

"Heh. Like I would. Though, now that you mention it... they weren't all that bad–I remember, back on the moon..."

"DON'T!"

The playboy did not looked shocked at all by his younger sibling's interjection. He knew how much the memories pained her–he knew how much sanity she lost when traveling that road of memory. He did not do it on accident–he did it because he grew tired of the great lengths she took, trying to avoid the past.

"Kimi–get over it."

Wakeru was perhaps the only person alive that could call her that pet name and trounce away without a slash to the throat: Kimitsu's usual trademark.

"I won't get over it until I deal out what they all deserve–for what they did to me: to us!" she cried passionately. The usual cool exterior that masked Kimitsu's true nature melted away for once. She quivered slightly with all the emotion in her soul. "I will not die a nobody–not another nameless criminal they prosecuted so rashly. If I am to be convicted, then I'll actually commit the crime they charge me with!" At this she stormed out of the room, new fervor burning freshly in her very being.

Wakeru stared at the path his sister had taken whilst dashing out the room. "Nine vacant slots will be available on that desolate planet by the time she's through."

-Back in Demando's chamber-

The final words spoken, the spell had been completed. The incantation had been whispered, planting itself within the victim of choice's mind.

"Awaken, princess."

Obliging to the command, the woman in question's eyes slid open. But her usual clear blue gaze was somehow clouded, bemused almost. She had slept Usagi Tsukino, and had awakened–

"Do you remember who you are?"

"Yes... I think so... but who are you...? You look so familiar..."

Demando's facial features feigned a hurt expression. "You don't remember your own fiance, love?"

The young woman blushed out of embarrassment. She went along with the charade and shook her head, denying any lapse in memory, "Of course I remember you–'love'," the young girl hesitated on the title, but let it fumble from her mouth any way.

"Nice to see that you remember me Serenity. Being stuck in that dingy moon palace must be boring, isn't?" Demando mused.

The girl smiled, "Yes. Mother won't let me out that much," the princess bubbled.

The black moon prince smiled slowly. "How it the great Queen Serenity lately?"

"Energetic–she's planning a ball; set for next week." was the chipper reply.

Indeed, the drug and words had done their deed. For Usagi had now assumed the identity the late Princess Serenity.

[Subsection {1}: Chapter Five– Joining the Guard]

Sailor Pluto paced around, the mist that hovered around the ground curled around her ankles. For the past two days she had all but resisted the urge to abandon her post, and transport herself to where she was sure she was needed. Her connection with th other senshi was as keen as ever, but she was no mind reader. All she sensed was the equal turbulence her fellow defenders of justice were feeling. She had taken a peek into the time stream; an old bad habit–but she had seen nothing. Nothing odd: all was as they should be.

She twirled around her enlarged time key, resembling some teenaged cheerleader twirling a baton. She grew bored in this grey place, with no one to talk to.

What she really needed was a pet. Something to cherish, to take care of her own... [to experiment extreme mutilation with when extremely bored...]

BEEP! BEEP!

Setsuna, oh so vigil guardian of time, thanked God for disasters!

She flipped the communicator watch open, greeted by the face of Sailor Uranus.

"What's up Haruka?"

"Sets–we need you to meet us at Pier Number Nine at the Warehouse in Downtown Tokyo."

Setsuna blinked quizzically. She could understand the park.... that's where all the action was at.... she could understand some party of the decade: those youma were all about energy or whatnot... but the warehouse? That was a first...

"Warehouse. Gotcha. Anything else?"

"Get Hotaru from the house."

"Things have gotten that bad?"

"Yeah."

The image of Haruka's face faded out after that melancholy statement; the screen left to be inhabited by dots of static.

The green-haired woman muttered a few choice words whilst touching the Gates of Time. The simplest of protection spells... hopefully this new villain would not target the Time Hole she presided over. They always did, but maybe with a stroke of luck, it would be different this time.

With a slight hindrance, Pluto looked at the Time Gates, and before re-thinking the whole plan, she disappeared in a flash of light, appearing at the bedside of a sleeping ten year old girl.

"Hotaru... let Saturn awaken."

And purple eyes flickered: a void, dead violet.

Setsuna smiled. "Time to go my dear daughter of destruction."

Another of flash of light before the room was left empty.

[Subsection {1}: Chapter Five–A Daughter's Longing]

"Mama." the two syllables fell clumsily from the lips of the neo-princess of Crystal Tokyo. The pink-haired girl put up a tough front, leaving many to forget that she had the heart of a ten year old girl. A kid forced to grow up way too soon.

The young girl felt salty teardrops fall perilously from the edge of her astounding ruby eyes: eyes closed, her physical being forcing sleep upon the girl.

A twisted slide show played through her mind, as if her inner self were tied to a chair, eyes duck-taped open, forced to watch. Still frames of a beautiful odango-wearing girl played back and forth. The face of one who may have been lost forever.

"MAMA!!!"

"Chibi Usa?"

Chibi Usa felt groggy but looked up to the voice, and found the concerned-looking face of Makoto, staring down at her.

"Mako-chan... ? Where are we?"

Makoto smiled softly and murmured, "We're on our way to the ware house."

Chibi Usa felt a light ruffling of her hair, and she averted her gaze to rest thankfully on the face of a smiling Minako Aino. "You ok, Chibi-chan?"

"Hai... yes, fine, Mina-chan. Gomen, I was just having a nightmare."

Ami smiled at her in a knowing way, but said nothing and continued to type away on her mini-blue laptop.

"Where's Haruka-san? And Michiru-san?"

"They're riding behind us on Haruka's morotcycle."

Indeed, for Chibi Usa soon heard the revving of a vehicle, following closely behind. She smiled slightly... a smile inherited from her mother, destined to become more and more like the captured female's throughout the years to come. She allowed her eyes to shut... for it should be easy sailing from here.

... Or, at least, that was the assumption.

Author's [Concluding] Notes: Wow. So anti-climatic! Mwaha! Any way, review... 'till next time! :)