_______________________________________________________________________

Dimando re'Adamant, Nemesis no shiro no oji, stared into the swirling cerise liquid in his glass, looking but not seeing, thinking but not comprehending.

Amethyst ja'Redran watched him from the shadows, wisely staying out of his way. The pair were in the reactor room of the jakokuzuishou, yet neither of them appeared to be doing anything. Amethyst did this because she simply did not know what to do with her hands, where to direct her eyes. The Prince had more or less told to her to shut up and wait for his orders. The manner in which his eyes had flashed when he said this indicated to her very well what would happen if she were to disobey this order.

The Prince himself held a glass of a thick, sanguine-coloured liquid that he had not touched since he had poured it.

"Amethyst," he said finally, causing the slight woman to jump a mile.

"H-hai, Dimando-sama?" she stuttered, moving forward to bow her violet head before him. It was all she could do to avoid sinking to her knees in a gesture of terrified respect.

Dimando ignored her discomfort, seeming to look right through her. "Amethyst, the wards about the time corridor which leads to my brother should soon fall."

"Dimando-sama, how is that possible...?"

"Never mind that," he snapped in reply, his glazed eyes suddenly regaining sharp focus. "It is of no consequence now! What matters is that now we take advantage of that opportunity and retrieve my otootochan!"

Her jaw dropped at the forcefulness of his words, the fire flaming in his eyes as he said this. She had never before seen someone so completely hell-bent on doing something...

"Dimando-sama, I..."

She stopped quite suddenly when she saw the White Prince grimace. It was a complete change in his demeanour; one second, he had been cursory and business-like, this second, he looked as if he were in inexplicable pain.

His dextrous hands had flown to press long fingers to his temples; his face had paled considerably as he clenched his remarkable cool violet eyes shut. A trembling word escaped his throat in a strangled kind of cry, one word that sent Amethyst into a tailspin, for it was not a word she would have thought she would ever hear the Prince say...

"Oniisan," he choked out, in a tone so low and so pained that for a moment, Amethyst believed her mind was playing tricks on her. That comforting thought was not to last; she had her proof that this was very real but a second later.

The White Prince's aura, a beautiful rose-coloured, shimmering shade, rose about him, more strongly concentrated than the archivist had ever had the misfortune to see. In fact, she almost fainted at its sheer intensity -- not that anyone could blame her for it. After all, she was the only one present in the chamber, and she automatically assumed that it was her who had incurred the Prince's wrath... or whatever emotion this display indicated.

Dimando's head suddenly snapped up, his aura fading about him as he looked to the woman with slightly weary eyes. "I fear there isn't much time left to us, Amethyst."

Not used to dealing with the Prince's notorious mood swings, the best Amethyst could manage in the situation was a tiny nod of her head. Her heart was still beating at the speed of light; she had never been so completely terrified as she had been only moments before.

She began to feel very, very sorry for anyone who got on the wrong side of Dimando re'Adamant.

­ ­ ­

Trembling slightly, Esmeraude moved her fan lethargically back and forth as she stared at the two unconscious men before her, one blond and seemingly dead, the other blue-haired and still bearing the trace energy of an aura that was not his own.

She stepped towards them slowly; she nudged the blond man with the tip of one black boot. He didn't respond, and Esmeraude sighed. Even though she felt it was below her dignity to do so, she went down on her knees to cursorily push Jadeite off the Blue Prince of Nemesis. Ignoring the general for a moment, she allowed a frown to grace her features as she stared at her cousin. He was still surrounded by a very pale rose-coloured glow, which was interwoven with strands of the darkest blue; the intertwined colours of his brother's aura and his own.

Curious, Esmeraude placed her gloved hand over one of his; the warmth of it was surprising, not to mention the great concentration of energy she discovered there. "Saffir..." she said quietly, and then decided 'What the Hell.' "SAFFIR!" she screeched, more than slightly puzzled -- and annoyed -- when he did not respond to her voice.

However, there was a soft, almost imperceptible moan from the third party; Esmeraude immediately abandoned her cousin's grudging relief-aid, and moved over to Jadeite. Not wanting to get off on the wrong foot, she stood once more, so that she could tower over his almost motionless form.

Better he understand that she was his superior right from the beginning.

Tapping her foot impatiently, she soon grew tired of staring at his peaceful form. "Jadeite," she said coldly, her eyes flickering once more over his body for a sign of acknowledgement. As there was none, she repeated herself, punctuating her words with a swift kick to his ribs. "JADEITE!"

The king had to respond to this less-than-philanthropic gesture; it was made even more painful by the fact that Esmeraude's choice of footwear had quite severely pointed tips.

He rolled over slowly, blinking up at her as he tried to focus blurry azure eyes. Esmeraude smiled to see this; he didn't seem to be wanting to immediately get up and challenge her authority. That was good; she liked being in charge.

Now, if she could only get Useless to listen to her every once in a while... well, even once would be nice.

Still ignoring the dimly glowing, unconscious form of her itoko, Esmeraude moved closer to the king, waving her fan languidly before her sharply beautiful features. "Hello, Jadeite," she purred, deliberately lascivious. She still refused to come down to his level, but she almost did in her shock a moment later.

Jadeite managed to sit up slowly, his blond hair dishevelled and sticking up all over his head. There was an audible crunch of crystal beneath his moving form -- not to mention he had slowly moved off the prince, who didn't even react to this -- but he didn't seem to notice any pain as the shards dug into his flesh.

His eyes were wide, dull, but still a dark blue that was several shades lighter than the twilight blue of her cousin. However, in a matter of seconds, they brightened as Jadeite began to sing in a voice made croaky by lack of use.

"See the little goblin, see his tiny feet. See his little nosey-wosey, isn't the goblin sweet?" He paused for a second, as if deeply pondering his own question. He then brightened even further as he answered it. "YES!"

Esmeraude did indeed almost fall over in complete and utter shock.

Jadeite seemed suddenly aware of her presence; he blinked up at her from his cross-legged position on the floor, appearing remarkably child-like. "See the little gob-"

"Yes, yes, whatever," Esmeraude said impatiently, brushing aside these words with an almost angry swipe of her fan. She then gave him a suspicious look, this sentiment echoed in her disbelieving tone of voice. "You are Jadeite, aren't you?"

He merely contented himself to stare at her, seeming somewhat put-out that he hadn't been allowed to finish his song.

"AREN'T you?!" she repeated, her voice rising slightly. "Hello in there?!"

Jadeite surprised her again -- his stoned good humour suddenly erupted into violence. He leapt to his feet with surprising agility for someone who had been trapped in crystal for God only knew how long, and snarled at Esmeraude, "Look, do you want to know about this goblin or not?!"

It was at this point Esmeraude began to wonder if this really had been a good plan or not.

Slowly she inched backward from the heavily breathing king, unintentionally moving them both away from her motionless cousin. "Well, I..."

Jadeite's anger dissipated as abruptly as it had arisen; the king turned away from her and looked about the room in obvious interest. "You know, you never realise how slowly time passes until you spend an eternity in crystal... who are you?"

Once again, she was flabbergasted by the general's change in vocal tone -- now he sounded almost genial, and definitely not in the mood for discussing the existence of goblins. That explained her slightly stuttery reply, as she tried to make head or tail of this peculiar persona. "I am Esmeraude re'Garnet, from-"

"Oh yeah, thatâs right," he said, waving his hand indifferently as he turned away from her. "You're the cleaner's daughter. Well, I don't know what you're doing in here, but do tell me -- how is the King?"

Esmeraude blinked her large brown eyes several times, not quite sure if she had heard that right. "Pardon?"

Jadeite turned back to her, his disgust with having to repeat himself quite obvious. "The King?" he repeated witheringly, his beautiful sapphire eyes narrowed.

"What King?" Esmeraude asked, completely baffled. She was by now moving long fingers over the fan again, having nothing else to do with them.

Jadeite cocked his head to one side, a patronising smile oozing onto his features. When he spoke, he sounded as if he were addressing a particularly stupid three-year-old. "The King of the Potato People, you incompetent idiot."

"Ah," said Esmeraude. Upon reflection, she didn't know what else she could have said.

­ ­ ­

Dimando's mood had taken a turn for the worse after... after...

Actually, when Amethyst though about it, she couldnât honestly say just what she had witnessed. The Prince's erratic behaviour had scared her, however, and she was more or less in the mood to do whatever it was he wished of her.

She understood something of what had induced his current bad mood; Serpentine was currently leading an all-out offensive on the Crystal Palace. After the spectacular failure of the initial April Fool's Day strike (whenever she recalled that day, she couldn't help but remember the ancient film of the human airship, the Hindenburg, except in this case, there had been thousands of the damn things), it wasn't exactly if they could declare this to be a sure victory.

His long fingers were absently tapping the computer desks as Amethyst continued to call up various tables and graphs of the energy output that sustained the wards. These wards were the infamous barriers that kept the time corridor warded against Nemesian intrusion. He seemed oddly calm in his silence, but the nervous twitch of his fingers indicated a mind in turmoil. Amethyst found that curious; Dimando rarely revealed his emotions, and there was something about the manner in which he was doing it now... it reminded her more of his brother than it did of Dimando himself.

Try as she might, she couldn't forget what he had said earlier.

To her shock, the computers suddenly simultaneously erupted into a chorus of wailing, breaking Dimando out of his stupor.

"The wards are breachable!" he cried, and for the first time in her life, Amethyst heard genuine excitement in the voice of the White Prince of Nemesis. To her shock, he grabbed her hand with his own, much larger one, pulling her towards the Door.

She barely had time to check her passport.

­ ­ ­

Esmeraude sighed impatiently, continuing to tap her foot. "Look, Jadeite, I am sure that Queen Beryl did not freeze the King of the Potato People and add him to her paperweight collection. Number one, I don't think Beryl is the type for promoting good nutrition, and two, HE'S NOT REAL."

"Yeah, sure, that's what they said about the bunny who pounded rice cakes on the Moon," muttered Jadeite, continuing to run his gloved fingers over the glass surfaces.

Esmeraude cast a look back in the direction they had left the unconscious Saffir, inexplicably overcome with a feeling of guilt about leaving him alone. "I don't think-"

There was no time to think any further, however. To the shock of Esmeraude -- and only the vague interest of Jadeite -- two forms erupted into existence right in front of them, bearing the unmistakable aura of a time-jump.

"Dimando-sama!" cried Esmeraude, not really taking any notice of the tiny woman at his side, who was looking a little nauseous from having her molecules rearranged in such a brutal manner. Time travel was most definitely not her bag.

"There's no time for this," he said crisply, not really taking his eyes from her own brown. It was curious, but he never seemed to notice how his gaze alone charmed and beguiled his cousin so. "Amethyst, take Saffir's hand and step back into the ward. Quickly now, we have no idea when this fluxing of the timelines will correct itself!" Dimando grabbed Esmeraude's hand and disappeared into the time warp.

Amethyst did the only thing she could do. She grabbed the hand of the nearest living man and disappeared back into the time-warp.

The trip through the centuries took only seconds; the four travellers landed in an ungainly heap on the cold hard floor of Dimando's audience chamber.

It seemed appropriate that Dimando, as the one who always fought to get to the head of the herd, landed on the top of the pile. It also enabled him to climb to his feet with relative ease, saving both face and grace. He then allowed a rare smile to grace his features as he saw a man move beneath the archivist and his cousin.

"Saff-"

His voice faded away in complete and utter shock as a blond head turned blue eyes towards his violet, looking somewhat bored. Without further ado, Jadeite climbed to his feet and gave him a speculative look. "What's the time?" he asked, and Dimando was a surprised at himself. From the tone he took, he had been expecting this blond stranger to end the sentence with "Mister Wolf."

"This is thirtieth century Nemesis," Dimando said, slowly and distinctly, his deep hurt covered by a cool, dark maliciousness that went completely by the king. It seemed Jadeite's mind had been more than a little warped by being canned the way it had been. "And you are...?"

The Dark Kingdom general let out a whistle, looking around in half-hearted amazement. "Whoa, ten thousand years," mused Jadeite thoughtfully. "It's not quite an eternity, but I think that means I've served my sentence. Hey, do you guys have anything to eat around here? And who did overthrow the Potato King, anyway? Boy oh boy, if it was Sir Eggplant, there's going to be HELL to pay... and I never DID finish my song about the goblin, did I? Let me think about this, um, 'See the little goblin...'"

And as Jadeite's peculiar commentary faded out as he wandered into the antechamber of Dimando's throne room, that same White Prince graced Esmeraude with an acidly questioning Look.

Esmeraude, for only the third time in her life, was completely lost for words.

­ ­ ­

Saffir woke up cold, stiff, and hungry.

"Oniisan?" he mumbled, at a loss to figure out why he was lying on a cold hard surface. He had had the most wonderful dream, being cradled in Dimando-oniisan's arms and hearing his brother's beloved cool voice raining down on him, contentedly lying back in the wash of Dimando's love.

There was no answer; Saffir chuffed in annoyance and levered himself into a sitting position. He gazed around in total bewilderment for a moment, then his eyes darkened as he noticed the shards of broken crystal all around him and the empty niche where there had once been a crystal-enclosed man.

"Esmeraude?" he called tentatively. "Esmeraude? Jadeite? Esmeraude, cousin, where are you?"

He bit his lip, trying hard not to weep in sheer frustration and helplessness. Esmeraude was vain and shallow and quite capable of some casual malice in a big way, but he was quite certain that she would not leave him while he was unconscious.... Would she? No, of course not; not even Rubius would have left behind the brother of the White Prince. Bitterly, Saffir thought that probably that would have been the only reason that Esmeraude would have stopped to care about him at all: he was the beloved brother and pet Savant of the White Prince of Nemesis. Saffir had never minded this, or at least had never minded much; he devoted all that he was and had to Dimando, he had always done so, and it seemed only right that he only be identified as the shadow of the person in whom he had sunk all of his energy and talent.

"Esmeraude?" he called, without much hope. "Esmeraude, please answer me."

No sound in reply but the whispering of the shadows and the faint humming of the glowglobes.

Saffir tucked himself into a ball and allowed himself to swallow convulsively for a while. He was alone, without Dimando-oniisan, without Esmeraude, without even that remarkable girl Tomoe Hotaru for company. He hadn't minded his self-enforced solitude while serving as the Lord Savant to the Throne back on Nemesis; back then, there had always been at least the option of company, even if he never had exercised that option. Here, he was utterly alone -

Saffir froze as the chilling implications of that phrase set in. Alone. He was alone, surrounded by youma, surrounded by the cold emanations of evil from sleeping Metallia, surrounded by the three remaining Shitennou... And he had mortally offended one of those Shitennou; his only protector was the King who was slated to die next.

Slated to die next -

"Oh, winds," Saffir murmured in rising panic. "What day is it? What time is it? When is Nephrite going to die?"

If Nephrite died, then Saffir would be totally alone -- without Esmeraude, without his host, without Dimando-oniisan. Alone in the Dark Kingdom.

"Oniisan," Saffir whispered, half a prayer and half an incantation against harm. "Oniisan, help me. Help me like you did before. Oniisan, please."

He lay back down and tried to figure out what he was going to do.

Because he was not a magician, because he overlooked even the possibility of sorcery in his logical mathematician's mind, he did not see the traces of a timejump not four feet away from him, did not recognize Dimando's unmistakeable aura.

This, as was proven by later events, was most unwise.

­ ­ ­

Dimando finally spoke. Every word was a vindication of the nearly overpowering urge to grab Esmeraude by the scruff of the neck and shake her until she was silly.

"Where is Saffir?"

Strictly speaking, he knew where his brother was. Saffir was still back in the twentieth century, trapped in the Dark Kingdom of that time. He knew this, of course. That he said it at all was an indication of how upset he was; mouthing rhetorical questions was the only way he could keep his temper under control.

In the background could be heard Jadeite's voice, a startingly rich baritone, upraised in song. He appeared to be running through Julia Ward Howe's immortal "Battle Hymn of the Republic." "For mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord, He's trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored..."

Amethyst, unseen over in the corner, wished desperately that Serpentine was there; he probably couldn't have done anything to avert the disaster almost sure to erupt within the next few minutes, but at least she could snuggle in his arms and pretend that everything was going to be all right. Somehow, Serpentine was one of the few people who could defuse Dimando-sama's wrath, or at least channel it in a different direction.

"I... I think that Saffir's back still in the Dark Kingdom," Esmeraude offered tentatively. She stroked her fan's plumy fuchsia bobbets as she dared raise her gaze to Dimando's smoldering purple orbs. "Um, we must have left him in the twentieth century."

Dimando exhaled deeply, and turned away. "Still in the Dark Kingdom," he said reflectively. "Still in the twentieth century."

Amethyst winced.

Esmeraude shrank away.

Jadeite continued singing.

Dimando turned back around and roared, "Still in the Dark Kingdom?! Still in the twentieth century?! After Serpentine has spent nearly half of our reserves battering at that damned shield for days? After I've nearly drained my personal mana sources and had to tap solidly into the jakokuzuishou? After I've annoyed nearly every major Senshi and probably some idiot minor Senshi I've never even heard of? After Rudra has deigned to come down out of his damned Tower of Law and actually speak with me?

"My brother is STILL IN THE DARK KINGDOM OF A MILLENNIUM AGO? Oh, why not just shoot me?"

Jadeite wandered back in and obliged him. "Bang," said the blonde General happily, aiming his index finger at the extremely outraged White Prince. "Bang, bang, you're dead, fifty bullets in your head," he sing-songed. He wandered back out again, this time warbling "Haba–era" from the opera "Carmen."

Oddly enough, this bizarre episode served to calm Dimando down a bit. He relaxed minutely, allowing his fists to unclench and his breathing to slow. His evening-purple eyes no longer blazed like a pair of twilit stars.

"Amethyst," he said calmly, "you were in charge of grabbing Saffir, were you not?"

The archivist prayed for Serpentine's comforting bulk to hide behind. "Y-y-yes, Serene Highness..."

"But instead you appear to have grabbed a General of the Dark Kingdom," Dimando continued softly.

Amethyst knew that her goose was cooked. "Yes, Serene Highness." At least hers would be a quick death; unlike his cousin Rubius or his uncle Garnet, Dimando was not a sadist of the first order. Besides, his temper was such that his rages literally would not allow him to draw out his summary executions, not even for a crime of the magnitude of forgetting his beloved brother.

"Instead of Saffir, you grabbed Jadeite," Dimando repeated. There was no expression at all on his beautiful, sharp-featured face.

Esmeraude decided just to keep quiet and hope that he would take out all of his temper on the purple-haired woman. Esmeraude couldn't quite remember the girl's name, but it did appear as if the current mess was all her fault. Fine. Better her than Esmeraude.

"Yes, Serene Highness," Amethyst said, somehow keeping the quaver out of her voice. Dimando-sama despised weakness, for he was strong himself. "I reached out for the nearest hand, and I must have grabbed the hand of the man on top, General Jadeite, instead of the hand of Saffir-sama." She knelt, the skirts of her robes pooling around her on the floor. "Forgive me, Serene Highness," she recited the formula of abasement, "forgive this humble one in the name of the mercy and justice of the Throne of the Winds."

Dimando waved her away impatiently. "Oh, go away," he said coldly, "just leave me. I don't believe that I can stand to look at you for much longer without removing you."

Both Esmeraude and Amethyst shuddered at this. Being "removed" by the White Prince only ever meant one thing: death, instant and unappealable.

Amethyst rose from her kneel, shakily bowed, and literally fled from the room, her robes of office billowing around her small form as she got out of Dimando's presence.

Dimando turned to Esmeraude, considering her as he might have considered an unusual bug that he knew he'd seen before but couldn't quite think of the location. She wasn't foolish enough to try to break the silence first; she merely swallowed her discomfort and tried instead to focus on the fact that Dimando was finally paying attention to her. "Esmeraude," he said at last, gently, "why did Saffir go with you?"

She looked at him with wide eyes, and attempted -- not to lie to him, not even any of the Uncanny Sisters had ever been stupid enough to ever lie to Dimando-sama -- but to gloss over her guilt. "Saffir-sama accompanied me because he wished to lend me his remarkable brain in trying to fulfill my mission," she said innocently. Before she could stop it, a nervous giggle escaped from her.

Dimando looked nonplussed. He let this pass, however, and went on. "And why did you go back a year from your objective, before the Rabbit even reached Tokyo?"

At least she could make this completely honest. "I don't know, Dimando-sama. When first I looked at the Gate's parameters, I saw them set as our objective of the Rabbit's flight into the past, but then when Saffir and I passed through the Door, we went elsewhere. I'm sorry, Dimando-sama, I don't know anything more about it."

"That, at least, I can believe wholeheartedly," he snapped. He ran a long slender hand through his hair, glaring at her in a harassed manner. "Esmeraude, what do you know about the wards set around that time period by the Angel of Time?"

"Sailor Pluto?" Esmeraude said in surprise. She began to stroke her fan absently. "I don't know, Dimando-sama. All I know is that Saffir told me she had locked the Door behind us, something that wouldn't allow us to punch back through it and return to this time." She thought about this for a moment, then her face lit up. "Hey! But you managed to get through it, Dimando-sama, and you came to rescue me... I mean us..." She glanced up at him from under lowered lashes.

Dimando ignored this. "Do you know at what cost?" he said heavily. "In order to get the Guardian of Time to let down her wards, I had to order Serpentine to throw everything he had at that damned barrier, to attack the Crystal Palace with everything in our armory. We've lost a lot of manpower just to get you back." From the slightly jaundiced gaze he set at her, it was clear that he didn't consider the price worth it. "And all of the Senshi -- even Saturn -- are at the Palace now..."

Esmeraude covered her mouth with her fan, completely shocked. She understood as well as Dimando did that this all-out attack on the Crystal Palace would never be forgiven. And then she thought over his second-to-last statement.

She stiffened in outrage.

"Serpentine? Serpentine re'Carnelian was appointed in my place?! But Dimando-sama, I am the Lord Marshal of Nemesis!"

Dimando glared at her. This was going to be a long few hours.

Saffir didn't know how long he'd been asleep on the cold floor; all he knew was that when the youma tapped him gingerly on the shoulder and stepped back to wait for him, he jolted out of sleep and screamed in shock.

The youma appeared rather startled at this, as well as more than a bit put out.

"My lord," it said in a gravelly voice, "the Queen would like to see you."

Saffir considered this for a moment. He sat up and tried to work some of the kinks out of his shoulders, keeping a wary eye on the youma. To buy himself some time, he asked, "Did Her Dark Majesty give a reason for this, or do you think she's just fond of me?"

The youma's eyes widened. "I couldn't presume to guess, my lord," it said cautiously. No doubt it thought that he was making fun of it. Saffir was instantly sorry that he'd even said anything.

He levered himself up off the ground and bit his lip to keep from groaning as he worked his shoulders, trying to pummel out the stiffness and the crick in his neck. That was the thing about falling asleep on a stone floor; it just took the gumption right out of you.

"Lead the way," Saffir said. He thought of something absurd he'd read in the Greater Underwing of the archives, back in Breccia University, and added, "Lay on, MacDuff."

The youma eyed him suspiciously. It obviously thought him quite mad.

"If you will follow me, my lord," the youma said at last, "I will take you to Her Majesty."

Saffir nodded, and followed the youma as it turned to drift slowly out of the Hall of Sleepers.

On the way through the tortuously dim, enmazed corridors of Beryl's Palace, Saffir thought.

Of course, Esmeraude was gone, but then, so was Jadeite. This puzzled him. What were the odds of both deserting him at the same time? He tried half-heartedly to figure the odds, but gave up after a few moments. He just -- didn't want to deal with it.

The numbers held no allure for him. It was too much trouble to think, too much damned painful trouble. All of his life, he had been a Savant, ever since he was six years old and had been trained to play with numbers by the order of Lord Alabaster, as a way to divert the six-year-old Saffir's affections from his brother to the entrancing magic of the numbers. The numbers and the mathematics and the graphs and the endlessly diverting play with the language of the gods was intended solely to provide Saffir with an outlet for his emotions, emotions which would then never interfere with Lord Alabaster's plans to use Saffir as a political tool.

And ever since that time, the numbers had always been there for Saffir to fall back upon, when even Dimando-oniisan, his first and only love, was too busy.

And now they had deserted him. Or, rather, he had deserted them; they didn't matter.

Saffir didn't want to be bothered to think. It was far too much pain to realize that everything he had ever cared for had left him in the Dark Kingdom, alone and afraid and unprotected 'gainst any depredations of the Queen or her Shitennou.

"Oniisan," he whispered to himself, "oniisan, I'm going to give up."

Saffir didn't realize that he was weeping until the youma turned to him and looked shocked. He had the presence of mind to wipe away his tears with his sleeve and to glare at the youma. "You may carry on," he said, cold adamant in his voice.

"Y-yes, my lord," it said, and hurriedly turned back to lead him.

He refrained from thinking all the way to Beryl's audience chamber.

­ ­ ­

Serpentine's eyes were permanently dazzled by the specter of coruscant fire spreading over the Palace shield. For almost an entire day the ships had bombarded the imperturbable Palace and its covering shield, with good results. A runner had just come from Lord Savant Lychnite and his observing magicians, reporting that the shield was fluctuating dangerously; a half-hour ago, a record low had been reached.

A new runner came in. "Lord Marshal," the girl panted, "Lord Savant Lychnite reports that four new auras have joined the shield --"

"Four?" Serpentine repeated, understandably a bit startled. That was unexpected. That could not possibly be good.

He remembered to present an immovable front for his subordinatesâ benefits: "Thank you, small one, you may go," he said, patting the runner's head and opening the small note she had pressed into his hands. He scrutinized the neat block printing within -- only a Savant could write so hellishly neatly all the time -- and almost bit his lip completely through.

The four new auras were those of the Outer Senshi: Uranus and Neptune had been expected, for those pesty Senshi had been thorns in the side of Nemesis for almost the entire campaign -- but Saturn? She was the most mysterious Senshi, and hardly the most welcome. She was the soldier of life and death, and Serpentine did not think that her presence boded well for the Armies of the White Prince.

And Pluto... That could not be good. Not at all. The Angel of Time supposedly never left her post at all --

At which point in his thoughts a dark green whirlwind slammed into the room.

"Serpentine re'Carnelian Seven Stars," hissed a cold and unexpectedly familiar voice, "you have ten seconds to hand over those marshals' chevrons."

Serpentine smiled. This he could deal with.

He turned to her, enjoying his superior height, and said quite politely, "I am afraid I can't do that, Esmeraude re'Garnet Black Moon."

Now this was a battle he knew he could win.

­ ­ ­

Dimando sighed, sinking back into his brother's chair and staring up at the Door.

"All I want," he began,

"is for Saffir-otootochan to come home,"

"for Serpentine to take down that shield,"

"and for Neo-Queen Serenity to awaken and realize that her destiny is with me."

Dimando paused, reiterated his small prayer.

"All I want is my brother. That is all. That is it. Only my brother, and I swear to Rudra or to whichever gods and kamis might be listening that I will be content."

Almost absently, he removed the hooks of the black drop earrings from his ears. And as the shards of the jakokuzuishou left his person, he murmured forlornly, "Only my brother."

The Door stayed quiscient.

­ ­ ­

Uranus took one moment away from her energyweaving to look at her lover.

"Michiru, this isn't going to work for much longer."

Neptune glanced back at her.

"Probably not," noted the soldier of the self. "Ironically, eight of us united isn't quite as good as the eight of us as individuals attacking."

Saturn looked sleepy, as she had every right to be; she was not only fighting the blasts against the shield, but her own dark power as it strove to get free and Silence everything. For certain forces, there is no half way: the power that slumbered inside Sailorsaturn and was manifested by the Silence Glaive was one such force.

"So what if I left the united front and let everything loose against those ships, with an Imperial Earthquake?" Uranus asked, naming her ultimate attack.

Neptune shook her head. "No, my love, that won't work. Now that the attack by the Nemesians is full-blown, the lack of one of us may cause the shield to completely let down. Although I believe that Imperial Earthquake or Eternal Watery Vortex would completely incapacitate the fleets, the defenders of the Palace can't spare us for the while it would take us to charge up for such an attack."

Uranus contemplated this for a moment in silence, which was broken at last by a muffled growl: "Goddamn the Nemesians anyway."

Saturn sleepily nodded her head. "Yeah," she said, staring blindly at the shield. "Damn them."

Sailorpluto, characteristically enough, said nothing, but instead stood immobile, head cocked to one side as if listening to something that only she could hear.

And then, as if she hadn't been paying any attention at all to her counterpartsâ discussion, the Angel of Time said calmly, "I have something to attend to. I'm very much afraid that I'm going to have to break the Rules again."

She vanished, with a swirl of long black-green hair.

Uranus threw herself headlong into maintaining the shield, after another muffled curse.

"Goddamn the Nemesians and crazy friggin' Senshi who abandon their posts!"

­ ­ ­

Serpentine and Esmeraude both looked up as a runner skidded to a halt in front of them.

"Lord Marshal," the girl said, bowing, "the Lord Savants say that the shield is fluctuating wildly, and one of the auras is lost!"

"Oh good," Serpentine said, stepping adroitly in front of Esmeraude. "Tell the Lord Savants I appreciate the information -- " He raised his voice in the general direction of his lieutenant. "And concentrate fire on the rose garden; that point is getting weaker all the time." He addressed himself to the runner again. "Go back to the Lord Savants and attend them, small one." She bowed and took off running again. Serpentine smiled; good kid, that one was. He'd have to remember to request her for his own staff after this mess was taken care of.

Esmeraude, seething, stepped around him and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Look, Seven Stars, you completely screwed up on April Fool's Day, and if I don't take command back this fleet will be lost as well!"

Serpentine delicately plucked her hand off his chest and frowned down at her. "Esmeraude. I was appointed by Prince Dimando-sama. Take it up with His Serene Highness if you like. And for your information, April Fool's Day was lost by your father, not by me. I salvaged it. I got the army to safety. I gave Rubius his orders to withdraw the fleet. In short, Madame, it is I who have the only claim to these chevrons, and try to take them from me again without due orders and I'll shave your head. Clear?"

Esmeraude boggled at him. "Shave my head?"

His annoyance vented, he was free to smile benevolently and say, "Yes. I doubt you'll be able to show yourself around court with a shaved head, like a Judeccan commoner..."

She shrieked, and went for his face with her fan.

Serpentine was of two opinions about this; finally he just grabbed both of her wrists in one hand, twisted, and handed the whole bundle off to one of his officers who hadn't dared to interfere until his commander gave the word. "Take her off to --"

His order was cut off as a blinding explosion issued from below the great flagship.

"The Palace?" Serpentine said in disbelief.

"The Palace?" Esmeraude squeaked, giving up her struggles and staring at Serpentine in outraged resentment. "Why should you get the Palace shield to drop?"

Serpentine laughed, and chucked her under the chin, ignoring her curse of outrage. "Because, dear, I'm better than you are."

He glanced around, finally spotting Oligoclase, his lieutenant. "'Clase, tell them to stop firing. Send in the ground troops and 'ware of the Senshi still inside. Do not take any steps to destroy the Palace itself until my order, hear me?"

Oligoclase saluted. "Yes, Excellency."

'Excellency,' Serpentine noted proudly, an address heretowith reserved for Rudra-sama or for Lord Garnet himself. Good to know that he was making a mark upon the Army; Dimando-sama would be pleased to know that his choice as Field Marshal was being accorded full legitimacy by the soldiers themselves. He smiled as he thought of something else; surely now he would be able to convince Amethyst to finally marry him, after putting him off for three years ever since his first wife had been assassinated. He would ask for Dimando-sama's blessing right after this mess was cleaned up.

He shimmered in the throes of a teleport, having decided to take this news to Dimando-sama himself, then paused and held his hand out to Esmeraude. "Would you like to come with me to present the news of my army's triumph?"

Esmeraude sputtered and glared and waved her fan, but in the end said sullenly, "Yes."

Serpentine grabbed her hand and they went.

­ ­ ­

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Pluto appeared behind the White Prince, reaching out one gloved hand to him.

However, she failed to take into account Dimando's own nature, the natural skills picked up by living in a paranoid society like Nemesis, and the acoustics of the Door-chamber: Dimando whirled around, fixed her with a scorching purple glare, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What do you want, O Senshi of the Timestream?" he said coldly.

Unspoken between them was Dimando's accusation: Because of you my brother is trapped out of his own time. Because of you I will never see my beloved small brother again.

The Senshi ignored this, gazing at him calmly. "Prince Dimando, what will happen if your brother is returned to you?"

He didn't hesitate a moment. "I will hold fast to what I have and leave everything else alone."

Pluto recognized that this was a pure lie, but not from Dimando's viewpoint: he possessed the remarkable gift of believing whatever he propounded at the moment he said it. Truly a demagogue's greatest gift, and an undeniable asset to a politician. Yes, right now he believed that he would cease his attacks, but what would he say once Saffir stood at his side again and he learned that the Crystal Palace had fallen to the forces of Serpentine?

She made a decision. This future was so unlike anything else she had ever seen that she doubted anything she did would restore it to what should truly happen. And, after all, Saffir back in this time was part of the prime timeribbon....

The Angel of Time extended her hand to him, just as the doors opened and Serpentine and Esmeraude walked through.

"Dimando-sama, the Palace has fallen -- " Serpentine began. He interrupted himself as he saw his prince being reached for by one of the Senshi, an enemy. His training took over him and he lunged for the person who intended his lord harm.

The White Prince turned to him in annoyance and exasperation. "No, Serpentine, you fool --"

Esmeraude nicked a knife out of her glove-sheath and hefted it, looking thoughtfully at Sailor Pluto. "Hmm..."

"Come, Prince Dimando," Pluto said calmly, "for the sake of the end, I will take you to your brother."

" -- she's going to help me!" Dimando finished, just as Serpentine hit Pluto full-on and Esmeraude threw her knife.

That was just before all of them vanished in the Time vortex, of course. Some people simply never learn to forsake drama in favor of expediency.

­ ­ ­

The Wiseman watched them go, silently cursing to himself. This must not be allowed to happen!

That the Palace had fallen was good, of course; now it would be only too easy to take out those miserable Senshi brats.

But the Prince must not have his brother back. Saffir was the key to the Wiseman's downfall.

­ ­ ­

Saffir stood before the throne dais of the dark queen, looking up at her calmly, with a heart of ice.

"Saffir re'Adamant, Prince of Nemesis," the dark queen said reflectively, waving a slender hand over her crystal globe. Vaguely, Saffir realized why that action disturbed him so; it was all too reminiscent of the Wiseman and his crystal sphere. Was it some sort of cosmic law that all truly insane sorcerors had to have some sort of crystal spheroid? He would have to look into that.

"Yes, Your dark Majesty," Saffir said. Behind him, there were two teleports. He resisted his curiosity, and was rewarded when he heard Zoisite's light sweet voice in conjunction with Kunzite's deep rolling bass.

"Majesty," chirped the sakura, "I regret to inform you that the traitorous General Nephrite has turned completely." Zoisite sounded anything but regretful. "In the interests of Your Majesty, I took the liberty of executing him. After all, the Dark Kingdom does not stand for traitors." He giggled, the sound light and enchanting.

Out of the corner of his eye, Saffir saw Kunzite come and stand beside him, executing a swift graceful bow. Kunzite did not deign to acknowledge the prince's presence.

"Majesty," Kunzite said calmly, "we offer our allegiance to Your Majesty, in order to show you that not all of your Generals are traitors; in fact, General Zoisite and I have a gift for Your dark Majesty to counteract Nephrite's painful treason."

Not a sound betrayed what the dark queen felt. Her lovely/hideous face remained calm.

Saffir twitched. So Nephrite was dead, then. He was in the presence of the dark queen of the Dark Kingdom, and her two remaining Shitennou: the King who queens it, and the King who lords it over everyone else. He tried to remember what happened presaging Zoisite's death -- and waitaminute, just how did Zoisite die, anyway? The Nemesian histories never quite figured that out, that or how Kunzite met his end.

"Our gift," continued Kunzite calmly, "is the prince of Nemesis to be the third General, under Zoisite's training."

You could have heard a pin drop.

Or, as an alternative, Saffir fainting, which was exactly what happened.