The calm, melancholic voice of Junsei Takemine, whom he had come to know through his dreams, flowed through Prince Demande's mind and the words from the page were read to him as if he were in the room as well.
'The course of history was forever changed on that fateful day: On the first day in the Year of our Lord 2026: humanity as a whole would never be the same, and someday thereafter, I too..would never be the same again.'
*knock *knock *knock
The sudden barrage of sounds coming from the door startled Demande enough to lose his grip on the journal and it fell to the floor beside him.
He swiftly picked the tattered book back up and made sure it was safely concealed back inside the nightstand next to his bed before he went to answer.
"I hope I didn't disturb you if you were resting." Sapphir said to Demande.
He shook his head. "No, not really."
"It'll be dark soon, and we'll need wood to build our campfire so we can start cooking dinner. I thought we could look around here and see what we could find."
Demande was relieved that the mood between them seemed to have shifted back to normalcy so he agreed to help.
They both walked outside and were greeted by a gentle breeze as the heat from earlier had lessened and the blue sky turned into its array of pink and orange hues in the arrival of twilight.
The air around them exuded a sense of calm that seemed to melt away the tension felt between them earlier.
As each one began to collect the first of the branches for their fire, Demande decided now was the best time to try and make amends.
"I'm sorry for losing my temper towards you earlier, I was just irritated at the entire situation. Believe me when I say I had no other intentions, than to spend this whole weekend doing whatever you had planned. The last thing I wanted was for you to be angry with me."
Sapphir looked back to him.
"I'm not angry with you. I suppose I was also frustrated with the situation and was quick to blame you for it somehow when, for once...you were completely innocent."
They both grinned.
"We forgive each other then?" Demande asked.
Sapphir gave a nod. "Yes, Nii-san, you know I always do."
They made their way out of the campsite, through the brush of trees into the woods.
"Could you have ever imagined us doing such a thing, camping out in the woods, on a Sunday afternoon? Something so normal and yet to us, so incredibly incomprehensible." Sapphir said aloud as he continued to collect pieces of branches on the ground. "The thought of it almost makes me want to laugh."
Demande smiled to himself as he bent down and helped in picking up branches as well.
"Never in a thousand years." he chuckled.
Sapphir laughed along with him before he grew silent again.
That was when he sheepishly asked,"What do you think Father would say if he knew we were here on Earth right now, doing something like this?"
Demande let out a long, exacerbated sigh.
"I think you and I both know the answer to that. Nothing you and I did was ever good enough in his eyes. There's no doubt he would disapprove, but, a brutish man like that couldn't possibly begin to comprehend something so wonderful such as this. Living a peaceful existance."
Sapphir seemed satisfied at this reply.
"I just wonder how long it'll last.." Demande said quietly to himself.
He lowered himself down to pick up another reasonably sized branch and added it to the already large pile he carried in his arms.
As he straightened back up, he saw in a distance standing halfway concealed behind a tree, the small stature of a little girl who he immediately recognized. It was Chibi Chibi and she was alone, just standing there watching them.
One by one the branches tumbled out of Demande's arms.
Sapphir looked to him questioningly.
"Sorry, I must have lost my balance." he replied and lowered down picking up making sure to keep sight on Chibi Chibi.
Soon he heard the clatter of another set of branches that fell to the ground.
Demand looked over and saw that Sapphir dropped his pile as well and grasped at his head.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he hurried to Sapphir.
"I don't know. I feel tired all of a sudden..really tired." he answered as he placed his fingers around his temples.
"Why don't you go rest for now and I can finish this up?" Demande insisted. "I'll wake you in half an hour."
There was a sense of urgency in his tone as he looked back where he saw the little girl seconds ago, only to find nothing but the breeze swaying the trees in the distance.
"Alright." he answered without any objection. "Don't let me oversleep though."
"I won't, I promise." he quickly answered.
Sapphir turned and headed back in the direction of the cabin, leaving Demande to hurry toward where the little girl disappeared.
As soon as he felt it was safe to do so, he began calling her name.
"Chibi Chibi, are you out there? Did you get lost?"
After about 5 minutes of calling out to her, he finally glimpsed her again, but at such a far distance away, which perplexed him because he had been running this whole time and yet she had managed to get so far ahead of him.
But she was still alone as he had seen her earlier which could only mean she had gotten separated from the Usagi and the others. She gestured for him to come to her before turning around and running into the trees behind her.
Once he caught up to where he last spotted her, she again, disappeared.
He scanned the area and soon enough he saw her once again.
She was but the size of an ant, skipping casually through another cluster of trees that was hundreds of yards away.
'Is she playing some sort of game with me?' he wondered.
If that was the case, then he would need to get the upperhand in closing their distance in the quickest and most efficient way he knew how.
He transported over just outside of where he saw her, so that he would safely be concealed within the trees, in case there were people around.
"Chibi Chibi!" Demande called out. "You don't have to run from me, I just want to take you back to your sister."
Soon he could hear the patter of footsteps.
Feeling relieved that she must have finally heard his calls, he made his way toward the rustling of trees.
Usagi came through like a gust of wind with a hundred leaves falling behind her as she ran right into him.
He had his hands already out only expecting to receive a 3 year old little girl and yet he was able to withstand her charge.
She grasped onto his sleeves to catch herself.
"Tohru-chan-I'm so sorry-it's just-there's something in the woods...I can't find Chibi Chibi." Usagi breathlessly said to him.
"I saw her just a minute ago, that's what led me over here, but now I'm unable to find her."
"Why does she always run off like this, and of all times...I..I just don't know what to do." she said as she started to break down and cry.
"Don't worry, she can't be that far." he said as he helped her to her feet.
"You don't understand Chibi Chibi is in danger! There's a monster in the woods, it came at us and we all ended up getting separated trying to run away from it."
Demande pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
"I'll do everything in my power to help you find her. I don't know anything about a monster but clearly there's a crazed lunatic trying to scare people. Please, use this to dry your tears."
"Thank you Tohru." she said in a whimper as she quickly dabbed her face.
"Just stay close to me and everything will be okay." he assured her. "I'll protect you."
She felt comforted by his words and dried her eyes.
Usagi held his handkerchief up to him to return it but he shook his head.
"It's okay, keep it. In case you ever need it." he smiled.
She couldn't help but return his smile and suddenly felt better now that he was here to help.
"FAILURE!" a voice suddenly called out.
From the peripheral of his vision, Demande could see something being projected towards the both of them.
In a matter of milliseconds, he swiftly pulled her towards him as the object flew past her where her head was previously and shattered when it collided with a tree.
Usagi's heart pounded rigorously as she turned her head to look at what appeared to be some kind of broken vase that was propelled at her.
They both turned toward the figure that emerged from the dark shadows that were cast down by the various trees.
A grotesque humanoid looking creature angrily approached them. It somewhat resembled the monster from the movie set that he and Sapphir accidentally stumbled onto earlier that morning.
Demande stepped in front of Usagi and yelled, "What in the hell do you think you're doing, you could've killed someone! Make sure there's no one around before you film your idiotic movie!"
The figure suddenly stopped in his tracks. They could see he was carrying a large stone hammer in one hand as he raised it up and pointed directly at Usagi.
"A Failure…" it growled.
Usagi gripped onto Demandes arm tightly as her breathing started to become shaky.
"Don't you dare take one more step, I'm warning you!" he angrily called to him.
The creature slowly took the hammer with his other hand now and brought it behind him in a swinging stance. A spike of Dark Energy suddenly surrounded it and Demande realized that this was not an actor inside a costume at all, but a Phage.
"ELIMINATE!" The creature roared as it charged towards them at an unprecedented speed.
Demande quickly turned and lifted Usagi off of her feet as he was able to dodge out of it's path just in time to where he could feel the gust of wind brought upon the hammer behind his shoulder.
Usagi hadn't enough time to comprehend what was happening as she was being carried off by him. Their surroundings were passing by them so fast it was all a blur to her.
But as fast as they were going, she looked behind Demande's shoulder and could see the Phage was running after them and closing his distance.
The Phage lifted his hammer with one hand now and was getting ready to throw it.
"Tohru, look out!" Usagi called.
The large stone hammer came rapidly spinning right in their direction, but once again, Demande was able to duck at the last second as it came whirling overhead past them, decapitating every tree and other structure in front of them for several feet.
Demande could sense the creature had started to slow down and couldn't help but make the mistake in turning to look behind him.
The creature who came to a complete stop lifted a hand out in his direction. Usagi was looking behind them as well and noticed this.
Unbeknownst to them, the hammer started to whirl itself around like a boomerang and it came pummeling back towards them.
Demande and Usagi turned back around to see this and she screamed out as Demande leapt them up high enough in the air to avoid it.
The hammer missed them and spiraled back into the hands of the creature giving them enough time to gain some distance.
He stumbled through a cluster of bushes and into an abandoned campsite.
Demande let Usagi on the ground as he tried to catch his breath.
"Are you okay, Tohru, are you hurt?' she asked.
He shook his head. "No. Don't worry, he didn't get me. But we need to find Chibi Chibi , it's not safe out here."
Just then, another piece of pottery came flying towards them and he pushed Usagi away as he leapt back avoiding it as it smashed to the ground.
Soon a large brown plate came at him, and again he leapt back.
Then a bowl. Then another vase.
Unfortunately, when he lept back this time, he collapsed into a tent.
That was when the creature walked into the campsite from the cluster of trees all hunched over with its hardened brown skin, red eyes and other grotesque, inhuman features and pointed his finger at Usagi once again before shouting.
"A Failure!"
It brought it's hands and hovered them where his abdomen was and they could see that a shape began to form in it. Another vase.
As the vase was quickly taking shape, it shot out from his stomach and toward Usagi. But, luckily she was able to roll over in time and it missed.
However another shape was already starting to take form in his abdomen again, so Demande used these short precious moments to get back on his feet and charge at the Phage.
Then, before the next vase could fully take form and shoot out, the creature's hands lifted up to defend itself against Demandes attack and the vase soon disappeared.
Demande used all his strength to keep a tight grip on the monster's hands so it wouldn't be able to use more of it's projectiles.
"Usagi, get out of here while you have the chance!" Demande called to her through gritted teeth as he struggled with the Phage.
"No, I can't just leave you here!" she responded.
"You must go find help! Hurry!" he shouted back.
As soon as he said that, the Phage broke free of him and charged full speed at Usagi who was still helplessly on the ground.
Demande grabbed a cast iron pan nearby and threw it as hard as he could as if it was a baseball and it hit the creature in the back of its head before it collapsed to the ground.
As the creature roared in pain, Usagi quickly got to her feet and looked to Tohru who was breathing heavily.
As she looked around, evaluating the entire situation, she knew in the moment what she had to do.
Usagi looked in his eyes, and gave him a determined nod before she turned and ran from the area as fast as her legs would take her.
'He risked his life to save me just now.' she thought to herself as she ran through the woods.
'Not once, not twice, but several times today. Please, Tohru-chan, hold on until Sailor Moon comes. It's now my turn to save you.'
Usagi stopped running and felt it was now safe to transform.
'Don't let it be too late.'
"Moon Prism Power..Make up!"
Sapphir had been sleeping in his room this entire time since he had parted ways with his brother earlier.
But apparently it was not deep enough as he heard the front door to their cabin open and then close. It wasn't loud, but enough to wake him a little, however, he soon drifted back into sleep as he knew it was probably his brother. Just 5 more minutes and he would get up to help get the fire going.
That was when he began to have a dream.
He was back on the cold and dark home planet of Nemesis and Demande was standing beside him. They were both children again.
"Look Sapphir, it's a real flower. I found it the other day and knew I had to sneak you away to show it to you, but whatever you do, don't tell Father." he smiled as he placed a finger over his mouth.
"Nii-san, it's beautiful! I promise I won't."
As they both began to look upon the bright purple flower, a melody began to play softly in the distance
"Nii-san, what's that?" Sapphir asked him.
"What's, what?" he replied.
"That singing, can't you hear it?" he pressed.
"I don't hear anything of the sort." Demande answered.
The singing started to grow louder.
Sapphir soon completely lost interest in the lone flower and wandered off toward where the singing was coming from.
As he got closer, he noticed that it led into an entire field full of flowers.
Sapphir grew excited at the sight of the bright blue sky and green grass that surrounded that area and he ran to it.
The singing surrounded him now as did the warmth of the sun that shined down on his face.
The cold darkness of Nemesis began to grow bright as there were flowers, grass and trees all around him as the beautiful melody continued to play.
"Nii-san, this is incredible, do you see all this?!" he called to him.
But his brother was far away now still enthralled with the single flower.
"Nii-san come over here!" he laughed then waved to him.
His brother was unresponsive, and as Sapphir looked closer at the scene, he realized that it wasn't the flower anymore he was looking at.
It was a projectional image of a woman. It started to grow larger, maybe two or three times larger than his brother's size and was the only source of light in that entire area.
The woman looked familiar but for some reason he couldn't remember who she was. All he knew is that she was beautiful, wore a long gown and was adorned with many pieces of fine jewelry, including the tiara she wore on her head.
She wore her hair in a strange way though. Two large buns that held up her silver hair as it was so long, it fell past her feet.
"Nii-san, please, come over here where it's warm. It's still cold and dark where you are."
His brother was now no more a boy of 11, but a grown man, and that woman…
Who was she and why was it, he felt uneasy looking at her image...no..the way his brother looked at this image.
"Neo-Queen Serenity." he finally heard him say.
Prince Demande and the projection started to fade into the darkness that surrounded them.
Sapphir immediately got up and ran back toward his brother, leaving the warmth and greenery.
"No, Nii-san! Get away from her, hurry, before it's too late! Please...don't leave me!"
Soon he completely disappeared, as did the garden behind him. He was completely alone and surrounded by nothing but darkness.
Sapphir drew in a sharp breath as he opened his eyes.
'Just a dream…' he sighed.
He lifted his arm up to check his watch.
It was well past the time his brother was supposed to wake him.
Sapphir ran his fingers through his hair. He was a bit groggy but felt much more energized than he had earlier.
Why was it he had felt that way? It was strange..
Suddenly he began to hear it.
A soft humming of a familiar melody.
This triggered him to bolt upright as he instantly recognized it from the dream woken from.
'It can't be…'
A young girl's voice, so sweet and calming could clearly be heard outside his door.
He jumped out of bed and walked over to open his bedroom door.
There was no one there but that was because the voice carried to where the living area of the cabin was.
When he walked down the hall, and over to the sitting room, he was surprised to discover that same little girl that was with Sailor Moon and the rest of her senshi earlier was now inside their cabin.
The little girl who couldn't have been more than two or three years old sat with her legs crossed and appeared to be coloring a picture, as there were many pieces of paper scattered all over the floor.
But as he continued to look on, the pictures were not laid about in a random disarray as it first appeared.
On each page, a planet was drawn. The drawings were crude, yes, but eerily much too advanced for someone of this age to have knowledge of for they were accurate in both their scale size and detail.
In the center of the room, a large picture representing the sun lay there. Closest to it, a significantly smaller structure that represented the planet Mercury. Slightly farther from it was Venus, then Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn with it's large ring, Uranus, Neptune and finally the furthest out and smallest of all the planets-Pluto.
The different planets surrounded the sun and were positioned accordingly based on their gravitational pull and rotational speed, including all their moons, and even some star constellations were thrown in.
As he walked about and examined it all, the little girl continued to hum her song and concentrate on the final picture she was working on, paying no mind to him.
Soon however, her humming finally stopped which brought his attention back onto her.
She uncrossed her legs and stood up, walking over to around where he was standing which happened to be where Pluto was located and set down her final drawing.
"Chibi Chibi." she said cheerfully to him and stood aside.
He bent down to examine what this drawing could possibly be because as far as he could tell, all the planets seemed to already be there.
The first thing he noticed about this particular drawing was the paper it was drawn on.
While the rest of the drawings were drawn on fresh sheets of white construction paper, this paper appeared to be yellowed, wrinkled and delicate. It's edge was torn at the side as if it were ripped from something.
The structure located in the center of it was smaller than Pluto's. It was an uneven jagged circle with two large rings of gas revolving horizontally around it.
All the other planets had various bright colors that represented each one but this sad structure only needed one color for it to accurately portray it: Black.
Sapphir gasped and looked to the little girl who continued to smile innocently.
This structure was Nemesis.
Everytime Demande attempted to grab onto the Phage to restrain him, it would always manage to have enough time to shoot out another pottery artifact that he would have to avoid.
This would've been over in a matter of seconds if only he was able to use his powers, but he knew Sailor Moon and the others would be here soon.
It was starting to become difficult to hold the creature off, dodging object after object while simultaneously avoiding all the tents and other camp amenities.
He was losing his energy and didn't know how much longer he could go on like this.
"FAILURE! FAILURE! FAILURE!" it cried out.
The Phage, however, never seemed to grow tired and his hard, clay skin made it impossible for him to retain any damage.
Demandes foot got caught in a bundle of rope that was behing him and it entangled around his ankle causing him to fall back onto the ground.
He tried desperately to tear the rope away but he hardly had the strength left.
The Phage, realizing his opportunity, formed his largest vase yet from his abdomen and yelled out one final, "FAILURE! MUST ELIMINATE!"
A bright disc of light shot through the pottery.
The Phage looked up in confusion as it traveled back into the trees.
A winged silhouette appeared before them.
"People made big plans to enjoy their summer vacation in this place away from the heat and stress of exams. You're just a fiend who ruined everyone's fun at camp!"
She walked closer, finally coming inside the grounds.
"I am the pretty guardian, who fights for love and justice, I am Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"
"Another Failure!" the Phage said and began to form and shoot out a bowl.
She avoided it by jumping and ran over to Demande's direction.
Sailor Moon grabbed onto her tiara, threw it towards him and it cut through the rope before it flew back into her possession.
Demande quickly got back on his feet to try and help her as the monster chased her.
The Phage while running, formed a bottle and shot it at her from behind.
She ducked down before he shot another quickly after and started shooting off tiny sake cups as if they were bullets.
One by one she swayed and jumped, avoiding each and every one.
But eventually one managed to land on the back of her shoulder and she screamed before another one hit her other shoulder.
The pain from it caused her to fall down to the ground.
The Phage took out the stone hammer again and when close enough, stuck it down to hit her.
Usagi closed her eyes in fear.
"Aggghhh" Demande let out a blood curdling scream.
When she opened them she was shocked to find Tohru above her now, taking the brunt force of the hammer.
He dropped down on his knees and was barely able to catch himself before collapsing on top of her.
"Tourhu!" she cried.
Without a second thought, she grabbed her tiara again and threw it at the monster as hard as she could, right into his abdomen causing it to crack and crumble pieces of shattered clay.
The Phage howled in pain before it turned away and ran back into the woods.
Sailor Moon, once she retrieved her tiara, held onto Demande who winced in pain as she wrapped his arm around her shoulder so she could attempt to lift him.
"Tourhu, please hang in there!"
"Sailor Moon…" he started to say. "You came. I knew you would…"
The entire campsite was destroyed, including the tents and wooden tables in the area, so she led him over to a large tree and helped him sit back against it.
"How badly are you hurt? What can I do for you?" she anxiously asked as she kneeled down next to him.
"Fire Soul!" could be heard in a distance which was followed by an explosion that jolted Usagi's nerves even more.
He said through gritted teeth. "Please..don't worry about me, I'm fine. You must go after it."
It was a lie to make her feel better of course. With every breath he took, every word he spoke, it yielded a sharp pain afterwards.
"I can't just leave you here like this!" she yelled.
He strained a smile, "He just knocked the wind out of me, is all. Besides, there's a dear friend of mine in there who's possibly in danger right now, I worry for her safety. I know you are our only hope of stopping that creature."
As he started to look at her closer, he noticed that her eyes were starting to tear.
"You are here on the ground, after having saved my life and almost losing your own, and yet you can still say those words to me?"
Her tears started to flow down freely and she let out a light sob.
Demande placed his hand to her cheek and his thumb wiped aside her tears.
The next set of words she said, were spoken so quietly that it was seemingly meant only for herself to hear, but nonetheless, he did.
"How can I ever thank you.."
She now placed her gloved hand over his and closed her eyes.
"Forgive me." he said before he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.
Her eyes shot open as she froze in place.
When he pulled away, he leaned into her left side and whispered something in her ear before he finally ran out of any strength he had left and collapsed against the tree.
"Tourhu-chan." a voice sang sweetly to him.
"Tourhu-chan, it's time to wake up now." she called again.
Demande opened his eyes.
His vision was out of focus and everything around him seemed to be spinning.
A figure was sitting before him.
A woman's frame started to come into view who was dressed in sailor fuku. Her hair was held up in two buns with long hair flowing down over him.
'Sailor Moon, she came back.' was his original thought.
But there was something different about her.
The sun was beginning to set at this moment so it was already becoming increasingly difficult to see details in his field of vision, but he couldn't help and feel that this wasn't Sailor Moon that was in front him of him.
The colors of her fuku, her hair.. it looked too light to be blonde…
Before his vision could fully clear, he lost consciousness again, but this time only for a few minutes.
His eyes crept open once again.
This time, his vision cleared immediately even though the sun was setting.
"Chibi Chibi?"
The little girl was standing next to him.
He felt so weak that he could barely lift his head from against the tree to observe his surroundings.
Before he could collect any of his thoughts there was a rustling in the trees.
Usagi came into view.
"Chibi Chibi, thank goodness!" she exclaimed.
She ran over to where they were and wrapped her arms around the small girl and looked up to see Tourhu was still visibly injured.
"I'm so happy both of you are safe." she let go of Chibi Chibi and then went to his side.
His face grimaced as she helped him sit up in a straightened position.
"I'm sorry, I know it still hurts but I'm going to do whatever I can to get you to a medic." she asked.
He shook his head.
"Tell me, was she able to defeat it?" he asked, his voice cracking.
They locked eyes as she was taken aback at first but then she reassured him with a smile as she answered, "She did."
He returned her smile, "I knew she would."
Usagi blushed and cleared her throat before she turned her attention back to Chibi Chibi.
"Wherever did you find her?" she asked.
"I didn't," he answered. "She found me."
"I'm afraid, I'll have to take credit for that." A voice said in the distance.
Sapphir emerged from the trees and walked towards the two.
"Shinjiro!" Demande called out to him.
"Yes, brother it's me, and please, no need to thank me for babysitting this child while you were so very hard at work collecting the firewood."
"Chibi Chibi was with you this whole time?" Usagi asked.
Sapphir's eye began to twitch. Just the sight of her made him angry, but he had to try to hold it back and worry about getting his brother away from her.
"Tell me," he started to say instead of answering her question. "Is it normal for you to be this incompetant that you lose a small child out in the middle of the woods like this?"
"That's completely uncalled for, Shinjiro!" Demande said and he took a step towards Sapphir before he started limping.
Usagi came to his side to try and had her lean on to her.
"Please, this is all my fault. We were attacked outside our cabin and Chibi Chibi got lost in the commotion. He was just trying to help me find her..but please, he's really hurt and needs to see a doctor!" She cried out.
Sapphir could see the seriousness of his injury and while he started to grow concerned, it didn't negate the fact that he may never be able to trust his brother in anything he says or does ever again.
He calmly walked over to them, and took his arm from her and laid it over his shoulder to hold him up.
"Don't worry, I'll take it from here." he told her.
"And by the way you were right about something. This is your fault, just remember that."
Sapphir spoke this so quietly to her that Demande hadn't heard it, but Usagi wouldn't be able to forget the glare of unmistakable hatred as he said the words to her.
"Be sure to get the little one, back to your cabin safely, Miss Tsukino." Demande told her in his tone of unfamiliarity that they had to use around others.
"I will. Thank you for everything." She said as they turned their backs to her.
Usagi sighed and thought about his words. He was right, Tourhu could've possibly shattered his shoulder blade because he had chosen to help her and in the end, she failed to defend him or Chibi Chibi.
Feeling guilty now, she picked the little girl up and held onto her for comfort.
"Let's head back, I'm sure everyone must be worried."
She turned her back one more time in the direction they dissappeared from and suddenly she remembered the words he whispered to her when he had kissed her.
'No matter what may happen, I will always believe in you.'
Her cheeks grew warm and she placed her her fingers up to her lips and touched them lightly.
Chibi Chibi looked curiously to Usagi, before she interrupted her thoughts by tugging onto her sleeve.
Usagi couldn't help but feel the guilt from eariler slip away and smiled with a newfound confidence as he made her way back to her friends.
Author's Note: Thank you for those still following this story. I never thought I'd be continuing to expand this concept 5 years down the line, yet here we are lol. Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!