Usagi groggily sat up when she awoke.
Her eyes were very strained and her head pounded so intensely, that she grabbed at her temples and groaned allowed.
She felt around the bed she was laying on and realized that it was much too large and comfortable to be her bed at home, but no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to remember where she was before she had fallen asleep.
Once her vision cleared, she found that the bed was laying on was the only thing that she was able to see in the room she was in.
It was like she was in a stage play where a single spotlight was shining on top of her and everything outside the King sized bed only held darkness, making her feel very vulnerable.
She looked down to find that she was wearing a long, tight fitting gown. She recognized the beautiful white dress and knew it all too well. Although, she had only ever worn it once, she had dreamed about it for many nights, but these weren't pleasant dreams, these were the most realistic nightmares she had ever experienced.
It was a strange thing to be aware that you were inside one of your own nightmares, however, it didn't make it any less frightening. Something about it felt much more ominous than all of the other times.
She placed her hand on her chest to feel for her brooch.
The brooch was missing, but that was too be expected, it usually was.
Her hands navigated every surface of the bed and even under the sheets but the brooch seemed to be truly gone this time around.
She started to panic, becoming more and more aware of the feeling that that something was watching her.
"Is this what you are looking for?" said an anonymous voice in the darkness.
Usagi jerked head up to look towards where the voice was coming from.
The mysterious figure tossed her brooch to where it landed on the foot of the bed.
She crawled towards it and clutched it to her chest before quickly crawling back to the head of the bed, pressing herself against the headboard.
"I know it's you Prince Demande." she called to the voice. "But I also know that this is only a dream and that you can't hurt me. I am not frightened."
She heard laughter in the darkness.
Just then, as if another spotlight came on, Prince Demande suddenly illuminated in the darkness. He shined brightly with his pale features and white suit, appearing almost angelic.
Prince Demande didn't say anything at first and merely looked her up and down with a perverse grin spreading on his face.
"Have I ever told you how much that dress favors you?" he said.
She suddenly became aware of how low cut the front was and immediately grabbed the sheet to cover the area he seemed to fixate his gaze on.
"We both know how this ends Prince Demande, so you might as well give up now." she said sternly.
"Do we?" he replied innocently.
"I know this isn't really what you want, why are you doing this?!" Usagi yelled.
He walked from the foot of the bed around to the head, close to where she was sitting.
Usagi scooted away towards the other end never taking her eyes off of him.
"I don't know what you're talking about. This is exactly what I want." He told her while beginning to climb on to the bed beside her.
He jerked the sheet she used to cover herself out from her grip.
She shrieked in fright when he did this unexpectedly. It was hard to fake bravery at this point, it was apparent that something was different than all the other times she had this dream.
Usagi looked to him pleadingly, "What do you want from me?"
He sat next to her calmly and then laughed with his gaze turning away from her momentarily before he looked back to her dropping the smile from his face looking now as if she had just insulted him.
Then, in what seemed to be only a second, he grabbed her by the arms and threw her underneath him, pinning her down to the bed.
"I've wanted for so long to break that pretty face of yours." he said as he lightly grazed his fingers along her cheek with his animalistic eyes staring intensely into hers.
She was so frightened at this point that she couldn't even choke out a scream. In fact, it felt as if her heart was pounding directly inside her throat.
Tears started to pour out of her eyes.
She looked back up to him in absolute terror before he dipped his head down and
touched his tongue to her collar bone then dragged it up her neck licking away the tears in one swift motion.
"Tuxedo Mask!" she screamed.
"Tuxedo Mask, please help me! Why aren't you coming?! This is where you're supposed to save me!"
He laughed mockingly at her, clearly enjoying her tearful shouts for help.
"My dear, your Tuxedo Mask is dead. I'm afraid he won't be coming to save you this time." he said with a smug grin.
She shook her head violently, "No! That's not true, you're lying to me! Tuxedo Mask is not dead!"
He then cupped her chin forcibly to have her look him in the eye as his face became as close to hers as possible.
He tightened his grip on her and told her with the utmost seriousness, "He's dead."
She tried with all her might to struggle herself free, but it was no use, her body seemed to be paralyzed and refused to move even an inch.
"Now, I have you and the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou all to myself and there's no one left to stand in my way." he said with a deranged grin before beginning to laugh maniacally.
"No!" she called out while shaking her head.
He wrapped both his hand around her neck and began to squeeze.
As she attempted to shout Tuxedo Mask's name for a final time, Demande forced his mouth to hers silencing anymore calls for help she would make.
Usagi opened her eyes back to the world of reality as she bolted upright from the bed she was laying on.
The cold sweat dripped from her temples and she found herself hyperventilating in a panic, feeling as if she was about to have a heart attack.
She noticed the bed she was on, was almost similar to the dream, although, not quite as large and another similarity was that the room she was in was completely dark as well other than the dim light of a lamp that sat on a night stand.
Her hand, like in the dream, immediately grasped at her chest to find her brooch was missing and proceeded to search all around the bed, tearing loose the neatly placed comforter and sheets.
It was then, that a door started to creak open ever so slowly.
The person that entered, turned on a light switch revealing to be the man whom she had just dreamed about.
She winced at the light's brightness, but could see in that brightness how much it accentuated the man's white hair.
"Oh good, you're awake. I just came to tell you that the storm has passed and it's only drizzling outside now." he said cheerfully as he started to walk towards her.
She grabbed at all the pillows on the bed and began to throw each one at him as he either dodged them or patted them away while looking to her in utter confusion.
"You stay away from me!" she shouted to him.
He stopped in his tracks, "Usagi, I hope you're not mad that I moved you to the bed, you looked like were in such an uncomfortable position on the couch. I swear I was in the living room this whole time."
"What did you do with my brooch?" she asked angrily, continuing to raise her voice.
Demande pointed to the nightstand.
She looked next to her and found it lying there.
Usagi snatched it as if it were about to go missing again.
"I don't understand." he told her.
He started to walk towards her again to try and calm her down but she moved away as if he was about to do something horrible her.
"I won't fall for this trick of yours, Prince Demande, he's not dead!" she said to him in disgust.
"Whose not dead? And why are you calling me that?" he said starting to walk towards her again.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" she screamed hysterically.
She backed herself into a wall, where there was nowhere left to run.
He grabbed ahold of her arms as she struggled wildly.
"Please, don't hurt me!" she called out while shutting her eyes tight.
"Usagi, I'm not going to hurt you, look at me!" he told her, giving her a slight shake.
She she stopped trying to struggle out of his grip and slowly opened her eyes to look at him.
His hair was blonde once again and when she stared into his green eyes, she knew that it was Tohru, not Prince Demande. The white hair he appeared to have she guessed was nothing more than the trick of the light or perhaps a hallucination carried over from her nightmare.
She sank down in disbelief against the wall as he let go of her.
"It really was just a dream." Usagi said dumbfoundedly to herself.
"Is that what all this is about?" he replied.
She nodded but did so without looking him in the eye.
"I'm so sorry, Tohru. I feel as though I'm losing my mind." she said, trying her hardest not to cry.
"You've been having dreams about that man whom I resemble?"
She nodded again.
"For months now, shortly before you started working at the school."
"Did this man ever hurt you?" he asked her.
She shook her head.
"No, but in my dreams, he tries to. I was so scared, it seemed so real." Usagi said.
"I can still feel his hands around me." she said as she rubbed the base of her neck.
He gathered her in his arms and tried to comfort her, "It's okay you're safe with me now. I would never even think of hurting you."
"I know you wouldn't and I hope you can forgive me for this. I feel like such an idiot." she said as she buried her face in his chest.
"Who were you talking about when you said 'He's not dead'?"
"He told me…" she started to say, but then was unable to hold back her tears anymore.
"He told me that Mamo-chan is dead." Usagi could barely choke out.
"Shhh." he said in a low voice as he lightly stroked the top of head. "It was only a dream, everything is alright."
"I tell myself that every other time but it just...seemed so painfully real this time. I just wish I could talk to him, without him here with me, I feel so helpless and alone."
He felt a pang of jealousy at her words, but had to do the best he could to suppress any signs of it.
"I know that I could hardly substitute the comfort your boyfriend could provide you, however, I hope you know that as long as I'm around, you're never alone." he assured her.
She wiped her tears away and smiled, "Thank you."
He returned her smile, "Let's get you home before it gets too late."
She nodded back at him in agreement.
When Demande returned home from walking Usagi to her bus stop, he immediately walked over to the top of the fireplace that held the Ruby and Emerald. He picked them up in one hand and sat on his couch so that he could watch them closely waiting for something to happen, although, he didn't know what.
He placed the black crystal earrings in his ears and concentrated with all his might into the red and green gems, so much so that the colors bled into his vision
A half an hour passed with only the sounds of the ticking of the clock and still, there was no change.
The phone began to rang, startling Demande slightly.
"Satoshi speaking." Demande answered.
"Nii-san, It's me." Sapphir told him on the other end of the line.
"Is everything alright?" he asked.
"Yes, I was just calling to let you know I was held up from the storm while I was at school but I'm on my way home now and happened to find a payphone so I thought I'd let you know in case you were worried."
"Oh, that's good. Please make it home safely." Demande replied.
"Will do, bye, Nii-san." Sapphir said before hanging up.
Demande hung up the receiver and went back where the gems were.
He found himself growing tired and decided that he would try his luck on another day, but he was definitely more hopeful about reviving his fallen comrades than he had been in a while.
When he placed each one back on it's satin pillow, he retired to his room where he plopped down on his bed that was now in disarray due to Usagi tearing it apart.
He lied back and wondered about the nightmares Usagi had been having about him. It all made sense as to why she reacted so badly when she saw him for the first time. But why now? Why would she all of a sudden start having these dreams when he came back to Earth?
'He told me Mamo-chan was dead."
If only that were true.
Demande turned over on his side and let out a grunt of frustration before his thoughts carried him into sleep.
Unbeknownst to him, the panel that allowed access to the extra room that held the black crystal activated and the door began to open on its own. A dark aura exited the room, that would be invisible to those who were unable to sense such things, and traveled under the cracks of Demandes bedroom door.
The black crystal earrings that Demande had forgotten to remove began to glow an intense purple, inducing him into a deep, deep slumber.
The doors to the 'other room' then closed again.
"Sire, Sire?" someone called to him as they jerked on his sleeve.
He opened his eyes to find none other than Rubeus sitting next to him.
This caused Demande to jolt into an awakened state.
"Rubeus, you're here, you're alive!" Demande said grabbing onto Rubeus's arms.
Rubeus looked at him as if he were a madman before chuckling slightly, "Isn't it I who should be saying that?"
Demande noticed Rubeus was dressed differently than he usually did. He outfit looked to be more like what an official general would wear rather than the rebellious attire he would always have on.
"Are we on Nemesis?" Demande asked him.
"Why no, we left there 3 days ago but, I'm afraid Prince Sapphir made some miscalculations so our landing was rather rough and you seemed to have bumped your head and have been out of consciousness ever since. Don't you remember?" he asked him.
"No..I..did you say Prince...Sapphir?" Demande asked.
Rubeus had never called him that before. Although Sapphir was technically a prince as well, he was never referred to in that way by anyone, especially Rubeus, who hardly even recognised him as his official title as Demande's first in command.
"Yes, I'm afraid we got a bit behind schedule because of it, but we should be home shortly so it's good that you're finally awake." he said.
"And where is home if we are not on Nemesis?" Demande asked hesitantly.
Rubeus looked to him again as if he were crazy, "Man, that really must have been a nasty bump to the head to make you forget such a thing. Did you forget that you're king too?" he said with a chuckle.
Demande's eyes widened.
Rubeus noticed this reaction and now looked concerned. "We really should get you looked at once we arrive back at the palace. Do you even know where you are right now?"
Demande finally looked around at his surroundings. It appeared as if they were sitting in some kind of luxury car, but when he looked out the window it wasn't a car at all but rather a large, white carriage that was being pulled by a dozen white horses. The curious thing about it was that the carriage didn't have any wheels and simply hovered which is why he hadn't felt even the slightest bump in the rode and wouldn't have even known the carriage was moving, yet it was moving faster than any car would.
The road they were taking had large bodies of water on either side of them and as he looked further, he saw that they were nearing a large city.
Demande looked back to Rubeus.
"Where is it we are going?" he asked.
Rubeus replied, "We are going home, sire, to Crystal Tokyo."
Author's Note: I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope you are looking forward to the next chapter, which will be longer btw. Be sure to review and...here's to 2018!