Alkaios returned to his palace, the towering and brilliant Moon Palace shimmering brightly, a grand display of its former glory that had taken years to rebuild. He marched into the throne room and dropped onto the large, crystal quartz throne, tense and contemplative. He had done what he had intended, but really, there was no way he could have lost. If the senshi trusted him, than they would hand him over without question; if they did not, they would keep him from getting killed. Regardless, Alkaios won, but he was still angered by the turn of events. The senshi had held their resolve, headed by a proud and noble Sailor Moon. The death of the boy was out of the question; they would fight to defend him, no matter what the cost. This was not what he had planned, and it would be impossible to take the boy so long as he was with them.

The course was clear: the senshi needed to die.

With an irritated sigh, he lightly tapped the brilliant crystal on the arm of the chair. In a strong, harsh voice, he snapped, "Where is the Tenth?"

The stone lit up a moment afterwards, and a coy, sultry female voice answered, "He's studying up on the Dark Kingdom with the Third. Shall I summon him for you?"

"No, I will go to him," he sighed, his irritation lessening slightly. "Where are they?"

"In the debriefing room, my lord."

"Thank you. If you will, inform the others to be ready to be summoned, if necessary."

"I shall make sure of it."

Alkaios once again tapped the crystal, cutting off communication and he stood, swift and delicate feet falling nearly silently on the cold white floor as he quickly moved through the corridors of the palace. He only stopped once, looking out over a large balcony toward a towering black temple that stood on the hill overlooking the palace. It had taken decades to build it because of a strong resistance from the people, but increased assaults on their home by the Nemian armies eventually wore down the resolve and hope of the defenseless people, and Alkaios managed to push for the acquisition of the Dark Crystal, both to cripple the invading force and to defend the land abandoned by the Silver Crystal. The temple was built as the plan was formulated, and it now stood as a reminder of their objective and the promise of power they would soon come to possess.

With a sigh, he tore himself away, his gait a bit slower, more relaxed and confident as he strolled down the corridors toward the debriefing room. The door opened and let a single shaft of light into the darkened room lit only by the glow of humming computers and crystals. At the far end of the room, huddled around a blinking screen, were two men, one a small, scholarly man who looked absolutely diminutive next to his large, demonic comrade.

Upon seeing the white haired man enter the room, the demon quickly stood, wincing slightly and gripping his side, tender with bruising from his conflict with Jadeite. Alkaios waived his hand, pointing back at the chair.

"Sit down, Geryon." The behemoth sat down slowly, his lithe companion eyeing the green eyed man as he came closer.

"I've run the analysis on the data you sent me," the pale man said intelligently. "It's definitely our boy. The Dark Crystal is in him."

Alkaios nodded, crossing his arms. "How much time do we have?"

The brown eyed man shook his head, sighing heavily as he lay back. "Not much. The crystal has been completely fused with him. We might have two weeks before he is dead and the crystal overtakes him. We'll all be destroyed if that happens."

The white haired man frowned, eyes narrowing in severe displeasure. "Is there any way we could hold him off if this happens? Surely he cannot last long in that body. Can we retrieve the crystal when the body wastes away?"

The intelligent man chuckled at this. "We would never be able to survive. And even if we did, it will fuse with the first person that touches it. It's far too dangerous."

Alkaios groaned in frustration, rubbing his temples to stave off an oncoming headache. "So we have two weeks?"

"At maximum."

"Humph. I expected a bit more time. We need to act quickly."

"I found a few other things." With a wave of his hand, one of the crystals lit up, and the screen of the computer was projected in the air before their white haired leader. The brown eyed man stood up and came to stand next to Alkaios, and with a few quick flicks of his wrist, the faces of Minako, Raye and Makoto were displayed. "It appears as though these girls have identical energy signatures to our lost senshi, rest their souls."

"Interesting…" he said softly, eyes quickly running over the hologram. "Is it possible that our senshi were reincarnated?"

"It seems to be a fair assumption, yes." Moving his hand swiftly through the air, he selected the image of Usagi and brought it to the center, enlarging it as the other images minimized to the corner of the projection. "Given that assumption, this is our Moon Princess."

At this, Alkaios frowned, crossing his arms in displeasure. "I thought she looked like her. That explains why we could not find the Silver Crystal with Serenity's body. She used it to bring the senshi back to life. But why send the crystal away? Did Serenity find us so unworthy that she would deprive us of what is rightfully ours?"

"So what do we do? If she is, in fact, the Moon Princess, then we need to relinquish control to her. With the Moon Princess back on the throne, the Silver Crystal will be returned to us."

"She is no Moon Princess," the white haired man growled, tapping his foot on the ground. "It does not seem that she will lend us her aid. And let us not forget why we seek the Dark Crystal in the first place."

The response that came back was a monotonous mantra, the two men speaking in perfect unison. "Because the Silver Crystal abandoned us in our time of need. Because the Dark Crystal is not an enemy of the people of Light. Because to crush our enemies, we must fight darkness with darkness."

"May the God of Darkness give us the power we need to eradicate those who oppose us, and may the soul of our grand Serenity VIII shine upon us and guide our actions," the leader said regally, and the two other men reverently touched the crescent moon on their foreheads. "We will return the Silver Crystal back to its rightful place in due time. If Earth's Sailor Moon is unwilling to aid us in the destruction of those Nemian barbarians, then she is nothing more than a traitor and must be eradicated. The Silver Crystal has no business in the possession of some little girl. Regardless, we cannot touch it as it is now anyway. We can seize it when the Dark Crystal is ours."

"Well, we need to move quickly," the brown eyed man said softly, his hand moving through the air and putting away the picture of Sailor Moon, replacing it instead with the image of Sailor Mercury. "This one here is going to ruin our plans if we do not act now."

Alkaios cocked his head to the side, examining her features and swiftly reading the analysis and statistics in the text that scrolled in the margin. "Her?"

"Do not be fooled. She is deceptively strong, and if we allow it, she will come into her own." With a flick of his wrist, he cleared the bottom of the screen of the images of the other senshi and opened a series of files. Quickly flipping through them, he pulled up one marked with a black crescent moon, and sifting through it quickly, he selected a single image and with a swift flick of his wrist, he placed the image next to the Mercury senshi. The sharp green eyes of their militaristic leader quickly darted from one face to the other, glaring intently at the two.

"I have to ask, Cerynitis," he asked the man softly. "Is this girl here," he indicated at Ami, "just one of those randomly selected to be a senshi? Mercury has not had a senshi for a very long time."

"I'm afraid not," Cerynitis said solemnly. "My analysis shows that this girl, Ami Mizuno, is the reincarnation of…that," he sneered, pointing at the other image.

"Sailor Nemesis," Alkaios growled, face darkening considerably.

"The senshi's father was of Mercury. It seems that side of her is what is being expressed now."

"I had thought we killed her…" the white haired man said dangerously. "Why would the Silver Crystal resurrect that devil, and not our fair queen? We have truly been abandoned." He paused, breath held as he intently gazed at the image of the senshi emblazoned with the insignia of the Black Moon Clan. "Is it possible that we have killed her Nemian lineage? Did we destroy the dark side of her when we struck her down? Could the Mercurian be free now that the demon side is dead?"

The brown eyed man chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I doubt it. We picked up dark energy readings from her. She may be Mercury now, but it is only a matter of time before the Dark Crystal awakens and transforms her."

"Are you certain she is the other half?"

"On my life, it is so."

"Geryon, come here," Alkaios said sternly, and the towering man came before his master, yellow eyes on fire with loyalty. "Look here, closely. Examine this girl here, this senshi," he firmly directed, pointing at the image of Ami, and his yellow eyes raked over her delicate form. "Do you have her memorized?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. I need you to lure the senshi away from the boy, you understand? I will collect him when they are away. Go now, do this."

"It is as good as done, my lord," the demonic man said, his voice tense with excitement.

He turned to leave, his long stride carrying him quickly to the door, but he was stopped suddenly when Alkaios, his voice sweet but cruel, said, "Oh, and Geryon? This senshi, Mercury. When you see her, make sure this fight is her last."

With a quick flash of his razor sharp fangs, the demon departed for Earth.