He was consorting with the enemy. Why couldn't Diamond see that? Why couldn't he see that she was everything he needed? Emerald stared down at the couple, her green eyes taking note of how Diamond kept his hand low against Serenity's back, guiding her through the empty gardens. Her lips curled in disgust. Even from this distance she could feel the disturbance in the air that this younger version of Serenity gave off.

She didn't belong here.

Not only that, but the Queen wasn't as helpless as Diamond thought she was. Emerald could feel the steady hum of power, the energy that the Queen radiated. She radiated beauty and good, love and purity. Everything that they weren't. Queen Serenity wasn't what the Prince needed. He needed someone that could stand by his side without fear of shame of what needed to be done. She knew the Queen didn't have what it took to get her hands dirty. All that goodness...

Emerald's lips tightened into a thin line and her fingers left impressions in the railing as she watched the Prince lift Serenity's hand and kiss the back of her delicate little fingers. Pure hatred rose to the surface and jealously stabbed at her. She had never seen Diamond so obssessed, so strongly misguided. He had certainly never given such devotion to her.

Jealousy.

Envy.

She was envious of the shy blonde at his side. The shy blonde who didn't even have to try to be provoactive. She drew attention from anyone she met. She smiled and the room lit up.

The Dark Moon didn't need that kind of light.

More than once Emerald had purposely left herself open to Diamond. She stood there provactively with a hand on her hip, the curve of her breasts on display for him to see in the lowcut dresses she wore...but he didn't so much as give her a second look. And yet there was nothing provactive about the Queen. She was beautiful, yes, but her inner radiance drew his attention.

Emerald grimaced. She hated the Queen with a passion. How dare she? Rage boiled below the surface as she tore her gaze away from the two. She inhaled, and then without looking over her shoulder, spoke. "What do you want?"

"He deserves a Queen such as yourself." Wiseman spoke, his hands cradling the orb that was ever present between his hands.

A stab of jealousy followed his words, stronger than before. She finally looked over her shoulder. "Why are you helping him?" Her tone rang with bitterness. Tell me something I don't know, she thought. His words merely confirmed what she already knew. The Prince would take Serenity for his Queen and when he did that, there would be no going back.

"He's my Prince. I do as he commands."

Emerald turned at the words and stared at the hooded figure of the Wiseman. He sounded sincere. So why didn't she believe him? "You do what benefits you." She wasn't stupid. "What do you gain out of this?"

Foolish woman.

"You would do well to do as you're told, Esmerauld...he is your Prince." Wiseman moved his right hand over the orb and her dark eyes dropped to the glossy surface. Foolish woman. She really thought to lecture him? He could end her here and now and no one would be the wiser. He wouldn't, though, not yet.

"Changing the past will also change the future." She reminded him. The Queen's utopia wouldn't come to be. There would be no peaceful union. Perhaps there wouldn't even be a banishment. But Emerald knew there was more to it than that. There were consequences to changing the past and the Prince was changing the most important one of all. She didn't want to live in the future that Diamond was trying to build. But she didn't want to see him lose himself in Serenity's arms, either.

That bitterness showed on Emerald's face, a true look from the inside out as she stared at Wiseman's crystal ball.

Jealously eats up beauty.

Emerald...she was green with envy. And envy and jealously were incurable diseases.

The Garden was just as cold and lifeless as the towering Castle looking down over them. The Garden's had been full of life at one time, she was sure of that. Roses the color of blood, roses whiter than snow. A crystalized garden...

It may have been void of life, but Serena still found beauty in the coldness. The sky alone was endless, like a whole different galaxy was staring down at them from above in hues of black and purple. The purple matched his eyes. He had the most odd and unique eye color—his eyes were beautiful.

She trailed her fingers over the empty basin of a nearby fountain and then touched the dead stems of what should have been an overabundance of flowers. She remembered some of their life together. At least, she thought she did. Someone should have tended to this garden. It was sad to see it so empty. She could imagine this very Garden set in time, each flower petal, each leaf and every thorn crystalized eternally.

But that didn't seem right. Nothing was forever. Nothing but Diamond's.

She lifted her head. "How old are you?"

That caught him off guard and Diamond looked down at her. He hadn't really thought much to his age in years. When you were eternal, age didn't come to mind. He knew his true age, even if he looked young in human years. But he was no youngling. Far from it. "Old."

He didn't look much older than her nineteen years, but Serena knew that wasn't so. She was human, aside from her abilities as Sailor Moon. He wasn't human by any means other than appearances. "Hundreds?" She questioned.

Diamond smiled. No, then.

"Thousands?" Serena asked, and, oh my. Thousands...thousands...How was he that old? That was a little daunting. What a life he must have lived. "How am I supposed to compare to that?"

The Prince gave a small laugh and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. "You don't." He didn't believe in her future of immortality. While he had lived a long life of what some would call immortality, he could die. He would die. Someday he would welcome his last breath. He hadn't agreed with Neo Queen Serenity's world where she deemed that everyone live eternal. That wasn't natural. He was only alive now because of his anger for her. He wanted revenge for the banishment of his family. He was angry at her for taking everything from him. And what better way than the very woman in his arms? She was the reason why his hatred festered.

"Diamond?" Serena said, feeling the sudden disruption of energy coming from him.

Her voice brought him out of his revery and then he frowned, catching the wayward thought. He wasn't angry with her. He would never hurt her. The woman at his side may have given him hatred and grief in the past, but she wasn't her future self. He could never allow her to become that. He never wanted to see that disdain in her eyes again. He was building their foundation on lies; he felt no regret whatsoever.

He didn't answer her, merely guided her deeper into the maze like garden and away from prying eyes. His arm swept around her waist and he tugged her against him, tall dead hedges on either side of them and leaned down. He kissed her. She stumbled under the sudden change but he caught her, guiding her back two steps until her back came up against one of the hedges. Prince Diamond wasn't a man who asked for permission and now was no different. He swooped in, driven by the sudden anger of her future and kissed her with all of the pent up frusteration he harbored.

His desire. His need. His want. This was what he wanted. HER. This was why had he brought her to the Dark Moon of their Home. He had dreamed of her, but not even his wildest imagine could have conjured up the realization of her. She. Was. His. So why should he refrain from taking what was his?

He wasn't. He tangled his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss.

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