Prince Demand stared out over the city of Crystal Tokyo. Once a beautiful pillar of innocence, peace and light, the city had finally fallen under the hand of the Black Moon Clan. It was now fading more and more with each passing day, the bright light of hope slowly giving way to a dark beacon of power and hate. It was one of the most beautiful things that he had ever seen. That is, next to her.
He gritted his teeth as the memory of the past several years played in his head, clenching his hand tightly around the wine glass he held in his fingers, careful not to break it. After his traitor brother, Safir, had come to his death by the hand of Wiseman, the destruction that the Black Moon Clan wrought was more powerful by tenfold, the Prince’s hate for the family and people of the White Moon had grown so much.
Sailor Moon and the Senshi of the past had escaped after the battle had become too difficult for them, hoping that they could save the future by saving the past. With their escape came the destruction of the Time Gate and Sailor Pluto, its guardian. She and the Senshi of the outer rings of the Solar System had put up a great fight as the Guardians of Crystal Tokyo protected their queen, but they all fell in the end, battered, beaten and tired.
After breaking through the defenses of the Senshi of Crystal Tokyo the castle was taken with much more force than was probably necessary. The destruction of the castle came after Neo-Queen Serenity was revived with the combined power of the Evil Black Crystal and the Ginzuishou. When she awoke, she was disoriented and confused but she remembered everything that had happened prior to her slumber. Including the prince and his family; one surprise had been waiting for her though, the addition of Black Lady to the Black Moon Clan. She had glared at him with those blue eyes and his heart had nearly melted, but the feeling was quickly replaced with rage as the memory of watching his brother die clouded his mind. She could hate him if she wanted to, she could feel sorry for him, she could think that there was hope, for herself and for him, but she would be his and until she chose him, she would suffer.
Endymion and Serenity were taken to separate cells, where they were held for a week with no communication from anyone. Their food was brought to them by a masked guard who did not have the ability to speak and there were no windows in the cells for them to see day or night. They each lost track of time, but never did either falter in their hope to see the other. When their food was brought, the guard was bombarded with questions; where was the other, when would they see Demand, when would they be released?
When Demand had finally gone to see his beloved queen, it was after having slain her love. Endymion’s blood had run over his hands, and it was with these hands that Demand had touched Serenity.
“Your husband has abandoned you,” he had told her, his voice just above a whisper.
She had inhaled sharply but had not said a word. She hadn’t moved away from him, though his face was next to hers, his mouth so near her ear that he could have nibbled on its lobe without stretching.
“Your husband has abandoned your kingdom.” He had felt her shiver as his breath caressed her neck.
He had traced her chest with his fingers, over the collar bones and then over the top of her shoulders, savoring the feel of her skin on his tainted flesh, wondering if she could smell the stench of Endymion’s wretched blood. He had gripped the back of her neck lightly as he’d moved from one side of her to the other and whispered her fate into her ear.
“You will be mine. You will live the rest of your life by my side. And until you give me your allegiance, you will rot in this cell.”
She had caught his eyes then, burned a hole deep into his heart as blue as the ocean, “You will never have my love.” Her words had been like acid spewing from her mouth, doused in hate and contempt. “You will never have the love of my people.”
Demand had scoffed at this as he’d continued to play with her soft skin, “It is not your love that I want, m’lady.” He’d stressed the last word causing her to shiver again, “I want your soul,” he paused and looked her up and down, “and your body.”
“You’ve been revived with the power of the Black Crystal and that power is coursing through your veins.” He had smiled then, “It will feed off of your hate, it will grow from that hate. And I will feed it with my presence.” He’d run his hands through her hair, twisting strands around his fingers, “And one day you will come to me.” He had released her hair then, shoving it away from him, and had turned to head out the door; the words he had left her with chilled her to the bone, “And you will be by my side for the rest of your days.”
He had left her then, left her in her cell, to think about the fact that her husband had run but that she could smell his blood on the hands of her captor. To think about the fact that there was no one left to save her. Her beloved Senshi had been killed, the Time Gate had been destroyed, and her daughter had been turned to the side of evil. She was utterly alone, except for the love of the man who held her prisoner. She never wavered, never spoke unless spoken to, never cried in front of anyone, no matter what was said to her, always stayed a pillar of strength for herself. But her sobs could be heard when she thought that no one was around.
No matter how he tried to enjoy her pain, his heart broke a bit every time he heard her muffled sobs echo through the stone rooms. When he felt that he could bear it no more he always left but her cries followed him in his head. Eventually he had broken down and moved her from the cell to a room in the upper levels of the Black Moon Clan’s castle. It is here that she remained for the past year, solitude in her self made prison; able to leave when she wanted on the condition that she would be by his side forever more. Every once in a while Demand would find himself asking what made him sadder, the fact that he had her chained in a solitary world or the fact that she would rather be there than with him.
The white haired prince took a sip of his red wine after swishing it around in the glass. He licked his lips as the liquid ran down his throat, the dry taste of the wine’s spices and fruits mingling on his tongue. As he took another sip he felt a small tingle of pressure on his back, a hand between his shoulder blades. He could smell her perfume dancing on the air, dancing in his nostrils as the sensation of her touch traveled over his shoulder and down his arm until he felt her slender fingers wrapping around his. He looked to his side and saw his love standing beside him, her pale blonde hair shining until the light of the castle and her eyes glistening with the light of the stars from the sky. Her smile was that of a complacent calm as she stared out over the city, its lights dimmer than he believed she’d ever seen them. Yet her expression remained slightly happy, a little blissful.
“Hello, dear queen.” Demand whispered, his voice low and curious, with a slight bow of his head, his eyes never leaving hers.
She turned to him and, while keeping her fingers locked with his empty hand, reached out and plucked the wine glass from his other. “I’ve made a decision,” she said as she sipped from the drink.
He chuckled a bit as she handed the glass back to him, “Well then let’s skip the pleasantries and hear it.”
She smiled and sighed, taking a step back from him and lowering herself into a deep bow, “I would be honored to be by your side, for the rest of my days.” She paused and glanced up, catching his eyes with hers, “As your queen.”
Demand was beside himself with joy, he had finally gotten what he wanted, however he did not give away this happiness; cool and calm as ever he walked over to her and placed his fingers lightly below her chin.
“A queen,” he whispered applying light pressure to her skin, “never bows to her king.”
She grinned as she stared at him, her eyes slightly narrowing, “With me by your side and Black Lady at your knee there will be no stopping the Black Moon Clan from thriving on this world and conquering the next.”
Something inside Demand’s head snapped and his hand twitched a bit upon hearing Black Lady’s name come from Serenity’s lips. She never referred to the pink haired temptress as Black Lady; always Chibi-Usa, always Small Lady; her child could never be that woman. Had his beloved really come to accept the situation to the enormity? Demand thought it was possible but remained on his guard never the less.
While his thoughts had rushed through his head, Demand had watched Serenity move; as she walked across the room; as she poured herself a glass of wine; as she sauntered toward him, the train of her dress dragging behind her. Her movements, he noticed, were a bit less graceful and much more sexual. They lacked the fluidity Demand had come to know of the studious woman. One didn’t lead into the next, they merely followed one another.
“Dearest Serenity,” Demand cleared his throat and placed his and her glasses on the table next to him. He took her hands in his and pulled them close to his chest in such a way that allowed her body to follow. “What caused you to change your mind about me, about us?”
She smiled a pretty smile and gripped his hands with hers, drinking in his intense gaze with her ocean eyes. “My dear prince, do you question my motives?”
“Of course not,” he smiled and squeezed her hands in his as he took a closer look at her eyes, “just curious.”
She began to speak, explaining her change of heart, curling every word on her tongue in a way that Demand could never imagine Serenity would do. The sound of her voice became a lull in his head as her eyes became clearer in his mind. The same eyes that he’s been staring into for years, the eyes that he’s looked at, studied, tried to understand; the most beautiful blue eyes that he’s ever seen. Only these weren’t the same. These were a bit harsher, a bit more menacing and there was a hidden anger behind them. These eyes, that he so longingly gazed into, were the blue that he had come to love and adore, but the green and gold flecks that had become his favorite part of them, that had set them apart from all the other eyes that he had seen, were not there. Instead, pink and red ran rampant through the sea of blue.
As the realization of what he knew to be true spread over him he remained calm, keeping the precious information from being read on his face; he refused to give away the upper hand. He noticed that she had finished talking and he took the opportunity to keep her silent. He thrust his lips upon her, drinking in her taste, intoxicating himself on her smell. She fell into him, her lips spreading wide, allowing his tongue entry to her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and lifted herself onto him, wrapping her legs around his torso. She dug her fingernails into the back of his neck, exciting him further as he moved from their position by the window, across the room and over to the bed.
He stood by the edge of bed, continuing to ravage her with his lips, enjoying the feel of her legs wrapped around him so tightly that he was beginning to have trouble breathing. He felt her with his hands, all of her; sliding them up and down her bare legs, feeling her skin against his skin.
Then he stopped and pulled away. She looked at him with excitement in her eyes, craving his taste again. She curled the hair at the nape of his neck around her finger as she licked her lips and begged for him to take her with her eyes. He felt her pleading gaze down into his soul, but he resisted. Her smell seared into his memory, but he stood his ground. He stared into her eyes with a love that would never diminish and watched as her calm and animalistic expression changed into wide-eyed fear and pain.
Demand could feel her blood dripping over his hand as the knife penetrated her abdomen, and he watched as her eyes filled with red as if bleeding from the inside. Her skin paled and her hair blushed, transforming from pale blonde to deep pink. Her white dressed melted into black silk, red satin and pink lace. Her legs relaxed and fell from around his waist but he didn’t let her fall. He removed the knife from her stomach slowly, gently laying her on the bed, and then he drank in the sight of the pained woman that lay helplessly in front of him.
“There is no excuse for deceiving me,” he said slowly, as he plucked a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and began cleaning the blood from his blade. “However, I must thank you,” he caught her wide eyed expression with his steely glare, “for curing me of my infatuation.”
Black Lady stared at him with wide eyes, shock and pain written all over her face as she gripped the wound in her stomach, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.
“Demand, forgive me please?” Her speech was breathy as she put more pressure on the wound, “My prince, please call for Wiseman. Please forgive me.”
Demand ignored her and turned away, tossing the bloody tissue over his shoulder at the desperate woman.
“Demand!” She cried her voice stretching as she came to realize that she was going to die this night, “Where are you going?” Panic gripped her voice and dripped from her words.
Prince Demand turned to her with a smug look and calm expression on his face and, with a glance at the shiny blade in his hand, he replied, “To kill a distraction.”
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“Black Diamond” © 2007 by Bella Luna (beautifulmoon29@aol.com)
Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, its associated characters and canon, as well as all that is afflilated with the creation, distribution, and promotion of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon belong to Naoko Takeuchi and Kodansha. And it is extremely kind of them to allow all of us to use their characters in our own fun ways.
The text of this work was created by Bella Luna (beautifulmoon29@aol.com) and is her exclusive property. Not to be used without her personal permission.
