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Crystalline…a miracle construction of red and silver, it is the machination that is the embodiment of one’s deepest desires…spiritual and peaceful, so rarely is it manifested in its truest, most pure form…and the power that emanates from it…the love, the agony…the sweetest crystal that is alone the most precious in existence. Without it, one is nothing more than a mechanical shell. Without it, the purity is lost, and the human is merely something to remember…because their true self is lost without the pure crystal heart linking their spirit to this mortal plane…

I still remember very clearly what happened when I pulled the trigger of Eudial’s lethal bazooka. The gun, which was still fully functional, had released that dark projectile of black energy. Intertwined with threads of silver, it had moved through the air with shocking speed before striking my brother with full force in the middle of his chest. Funny that; I had always had notoriously bad aim.

The ball of invasive energy had burrowed into his chest and temporarily lit up the world with red light. A strange and cold blast of air accompanied the silent explosion as it picked up its cargo and discharged itself through the skin of his back. The energy dissipated a second later, leaving in its wake a single heart crystal.

Even now, I find it difficult to describe my thoughts when I saw it. I had seen my own, surely, but there was something truly terrible about seeing one of those things. Even though I knew very little about them, I knew instinctively that pulling them out of people was not exactly a pleasant hobby to have. Seeing it was both beautiful and horrible; the construction was unspeakably wonderful, but seeing it brought death.

Trembling violently with shock and horror, I dropped the bazooka. It clattered to the concrete; it lay there staring up at me almost accusingly.

I raised my hands to my face; I could feel the wetness of my tears on my cheeks. I was bathed in the soft silver glow of the heart crystal as I fought not to scream the anguish I felt.

I could hear the gasps of those who had silently followed me into the garden. They had been drawn out of the shadows by the explosion that the bazooka had generated; as I knelt before the glowing heart like a fallen angel and wept, they openly gasped and stared at me in horror.

"What have you done?" Amethyst asked finally, her voice trembling. I didn’t need to look at her to know that her lovely green eyes would be wide open in shock, one hand pressed to her tiny mouth.

"Pure no kokoro keishou…" Minako whispered in silent awe. "It is the crystal heart of Prince Dimando-sama…"

"What does it mean?" Serpentine asked in a confused voice, though his tone sounded more resigned than anybody else’s.

Then I heard the click of the bottom of the staff against the concrete as she moved forward to stand beside me. "It means that Saffir has killed his brother."

I nodded slightly, my tears staining the concrete. "I have killed him, yes…I killed him to prove to him that he was not as bad as he thought he was."

The steady click of Minako’s school shoes against the stone was enough to make me want to weep. She walked with a powerful elegance that reminded me of my brother’s strength…my head snapped up. "Don’t touch it!" I shouted harshly, my voice raw and agonised. "Don’t you dare touch it!"

She ignored the crystal heart, however, and moved to the side of my dead brother. He was lying on the cold ground beside the chattering waters of the fountain, his pale, bloodless face shielded by the fall of his hair. Kneeling very quietly at his left, she carefully brushed the hair away from his closed eyes, purposely ignoring the hideous wounds that marred his wrists. I watched in quiet fascination as she took his pulse from his neck – his ruined wrists were no place to look for his pulse – and smiled very faintly. "He hasn’t been through quite enough to kill him yet, Saffir…he still lives. Somehow, he holds on to life…"

I gasped, denial my first response. "He’s dead!"

She shook her head. "He’s alive."

The only other senshi present slowly sank to her own knees beside me, one gloved hand coming to rest on my shoulder. "Saffir, there is only one reason he hangs onto life, and you know what it is."

"He wants me to prove that he has a right to live…like I promised to do," I said softly.

"And are you going to do it?"

I bowed my head; tears leaked out from under my tightly closed lids. "Oh, Sailor Pluto…I don’t think I can do it…"

She pulled me to my unsteady feet, her voice calm and easy. "You started this for a reason, Saffir. You cannot pull out of it now….many people have accused you of being weak, Saffir. However, no matter hoe much you believe that yourself, a single belief can not alter the truth. You are stronger than this – finish what you have begun/"

I raised my eyes to stare unblinkingly at the heart that still hovered in the air before me, accompanied by the shine of silver light and a faint humming noise. The resonant frequency of the heart was sweet, low; the entire crystal heart was infused with a love that I had not realised was so powerful.

"It is the light of the White Prince whom you loved," Sailor Pluto remarked gently. "It is the light of a prince who only wanted to do right by his people…and even though he was side-tracked, led astray by desire and ambition, that light and his hope for the future was always in his deepest heart."

I carefully moved over to my brother’s side. Kneeling at Minako’s side, I painfully whispered a term I had sworn never to use again, especially not in his actual presence.

"Oniisan…?"

His eyelids fluttered; painfully and slowly he opened them, revealing those gorgeous imperial-purple eyes to me once again. His voice was a thin, reedy whisper that I had to fight to hear and comprehend. "Saffir…?"

I smiled faintly. "I have my proof…your heart has the shine of purity."

He shook his head minutely, his breathing hoarse and almost undetectable. "Don’t lie to me, Saffir."

I laughed bitterly. "Oh, Dimando, really! I am your beloved little brother, your most loved counsellor and most cherished family member! I would never lie to you…and in my hands I can hold your heart…and therefore your life. Be kind to me, Dimando – I am your saviour."

He let his eyes close. "I am to die today, Saffir. Let me die."

His voice was so low that even I, close to him as I was, could barely hear it. Minako was leaning over him as I was, strands of her lovely blonde hair falling over her shoulders. She was still dressed in the orange robes that Amethyst had lent her, her hair tangled and knotted, but still beautiful somehow. That was what struck me most about Minako; her beauty, the beauty that was inner as much as it was outer.

She looked at me; she blinked wide blue eyes. "You’re not going to let him do it, are you?"

I turned my head slightly to meet the cerise eyes of the dark haired woman who stood silently behind me. Like Minako, she too had a beauty that was remarkable, though much more mature than the bubbly girl’s.

"Can you bring her here?" I asked quietly, looking her directly in the eye. I don’t know how I knew, but something deep in my heart assured me that she would remember me, that she had always remembered me, and she would be willing to help.

In some part of me, I had always known who she was even before Sailor Pluto had told me who Tomoe Hotaru was. Even though she was not to let on – ever – that she knew the future, she had always been well aware of the future and what was to happen, my dear Setsuna...

She had then shocked me with a giggle that could only be described as girlish. Apparently, the most difficult thing about knowing the future was having to pretend all the time that she was surprised when something happened.

Nodding, her bangs falling into her eyes, she smiled faintly. "I will bring the healer here, Saffir. Just wait."

Taking her leave of Amethyst and Serpentine, she bowed her head politely and disappeared into the non-space of time.

Minako blinked. "Who is she going to get?"

I cursed very quietly under my breath. Surely Pluto was going to crucify me for this later…she was allowed to know the future, she always knew the future. It was one of the greatest hazards of her occupation. Minako, however, was a senshi from the past. Surely she should not be allowed to meet Saturn before her time.

I bowed my head again, staring at my brother. "She’s going to get someone to help my brother back from the edge of death. She’s…well, she’s someone you will come to know well, I will say that much. However, I don’t think this is quite the right time for you to meet her."

Minako stared at me silently for a moment, then turned back to Dimando. I was rather curious to hear the approaching footsteps of another; when I turned about, I found myself staring into the pale eyes of a woman only vaguely familiar to me. The small figure at her side, however, was intensely familiar.

I covered my nose and mouth immediately, glaring at my Prime Minister. "What are you doing here?"

"Bearing witness," Rudra said indifferently. "I have the feeling there is going to be a rearrangement of the system around here…and I brought my lawyer."

Ignoring Rudra and the blonde woman, I turned back to my brother, who was still leaning into Minako. Tenderly I traced the line of his jaw; his eyes flickered as he looked up at me. "My heart…?"

"Is going nowhere, oniisan," I said softly, sweetly. "It has not been touched since I shot you."

Dimando looked very faint; it was almost as if he were fading away. He seemed so drained of blood it was as if he were an empty shell. I was shocked that he could have lived after losing so much blood. Academically, it was impossible. He should have been dead twice over, and yet he still lived.

I touched his hair delicately, running my fingers through the thick and silken strands of his bangs. "You are very beautiful, oniisan…and you couldn’t be this beautiful on the outside if there wasn’t something this beautiful on the inside, you know? Your heart may not bear the purity of someone like Neo-Queen Serenity, but you are pure in your own way, oniisan. Do it. Forgive yourself and come back. Don’t play the martyr, it doesn’t suit you."

He was surprised by the bitter tone my voice had taken on. "Saffir…?"

Minako was startled by a hand on her shoulder; the tall form of Sailor Pluto stood at her back. Even as I continued to stare with a mixture of love and anger at my only brother, Sailor Pluto sank to her knees at Minako’s side and took her hand in hers. She rose again, pulling the unresisting blonde up with her. "Minako, I’m sorry. I’m going to have to ask you to come with me…I can’t allow you to be here when my guest arrives."

The blonde senshi openly protested now; she attempted to pull her hand away, but Pluto’s strength was quite remarkable. It was obvious that her physical strength did indeed match her strength of character. "But Pluto, I want to stay!"

She shook her head. "Impossible, I’m afraid. I am going to have to take you home, Minako. I really am very sorry, but it’s just the way that it happens."

"Go with her, Minako," I said softly, not raising my eyes from my brother’s. "I thank you for your assistance in this debacle, but…it’s over for you now. This is my problem, and I’ll fix it myself."

Minako blinked; an expression of child-like annoyance crossed her face as she pouted. "I never get to have any fun!" she sighed dramatically, the immature gesture enough to make me smile faintly. She was very lovely, this blonde senshi, and it was somehow tragic that I would never see her again. Like the way it was tragic how I would never see Eudial, Mimete or Tellu again…I had not known those three very well, I had not even liked two of them very much, but…the tragedy lay in not understanding them. I would also never be able to understand Minako and her strange happy-go-lucky outlook on life, and that was enough to depress me. I have often wished I could live my life the same way this bubbly individual obviously did.

Pluto pulled at her sleeve, garnering Minako’s short attention. "I’ll take you back to the twentieth century now," she said carefully, giving me a quick look before turning her attention back to Minako.

The blonde senshi sighed and flicked one strand of her mangled hair over her slender shoulder. "It was nice meeting you all," she said finally, reluctantly. "I want to stay, but…"

"Tell you what, Minako," I said suddenly, looking up from Dimando. "I’ll invite future Venus around for a drink and a re-living of the past next week."

Minako blinked. "My future self…?"

I shrugged. "Sure…besides, at least your future self can legally drink alcohol. You, my dear, are a little too young."

She smiled faintly and then she and the silent Artemis joined Pluto in a time warp. She waved madly at us, before striking a Venus-like pose and singing "Let’s do the time-warp again!"

I shook my head slightly and looked back to my brother. Rudra, his "lawyer," Amethyst and Serpentine were still standing at my back, all of them completely silent. Dimando’s beautiful imperial-purple eyes had fallen shut again, and his breathing was so shallow as to be almost non-existent.

With a tremble that I could not mask from those who watched me, I stood slowly, almost stumbling over my own two feet. With great difficulty I approached the glowing heart crystal and took it into my hands.

I suppose it should have burned me. I wonder why it didn’t…no, no. Erase that. I know exactly why it didn’t burn me. Even if the glow on it was near enough to blinding, even if my brother’s devotion to his people was so strong it was simply astonishing, his heart would never burn me…not his little brother, not the only member of his immediate family remaining to him.

I don’t know why that knowledge made me want to weep.

Quietly I knelt beside Dimando and presented him silently with his own heart. His glazed, imperial purple eyes flickered several times before a lovely, fleeting smile crossed his face.

"It does shine, Saffir…"

"Oh, I told you that it did," I chastised him gently, continuing to hold onto the heart with hands that didn’t even touch it. Oh, it was amazing, the way this heart worked…

With quiet pain, I held it above him with two hands before slowly releasing it and stepping backwards. The gentle hum of the crystal was quite obvious as for a moment it hung suspended in the air; a second later, it moved downwards and entered his chest quietly. A degree of colour came back to my brother’s cheeks, but there was little more besides that. He had lost a lot of blood.

I couldn’t look up when I heard the click of the high heels against the concrete. I didn’t want to look. I knew who she was, and I did not want to see her again, not yet.

She knelt beside me as I stared blindly at my brother, and yet she did not choose that moment to heal him. No, she looked at me and smiled. I knew she was smiling; I could feel the familiarity of it, strange as that sounds. I did not have to look at that melancholy beauty to know that she was smiling.

"Saffir-oniichan, why won’t you look at me?"

I swallowed with great difficulty, not wanting to respond, but knowing that I must. Painfully I turned my gaze to match the deep purple of the young woman’s, so much more powerful and more painful than my brother’s.

She was still smiling.

"Hotaru-chan," I breathed finally, my voice nearly breaking. Oh, funny how things turn out…I had come to love this girl so completely, and I had known her almost not at all. I suppose that it is odd, how you can come to understand someone so easily by mere intuition alone…especially if you share in their pain.

The smile faded a little as she turned those wide eyes towards the still form of my older brother. She sighed openly, brushing some of that silken ebony hair behind one ear. For a second I stared, fascinated; Hotaru had an odd sense of humour. She wore drop earrings in the exact shape of the ones my family wore…except the crystal was silver.

Indeed, she was a strange girl. She was not in her senshi form; she had come to us dressed in a simple violet dress that fell to just above her knees, wearing knee-high white socks and laced black heels. A golden necklace from which dangled a silver crystal eagle adorned her long neck; besides this and the earrings, she wore no other jewellery.

I suppose the most peculiar thing was that she didn’t look that much older than she had the last time I had seen her. Sixteen? Seventeen? So young, and so perfect…oh, Hotaru. She was beautiful, and she was untouchable, that little messiah of Silence. Has an angel of Death ever borne such an innocent face, such a lovely and naïve beauty?

"Saffir-oniichan, what have you done?" she stated finally, and I could hear no reproach in her voice. No, it sounded more like she was just asking a simple question, as if she were genuinely curious. It was not an accusation.

"Will you help him?" I asked in a voice that trembled as I used the personal pronoun. I did not want to answer her question; perhaps it was just cowardice. I didn’t want to think about what I had done to my brother by refusing to listen to him when he wanted me.

Hotaru’s entire face was suffused with her quiet joy as she smiled at me. I suppose that was always Hotaru’s special talent; being able to move from sadness to joy with one smile. "Of course I’ll help him – he’s your beloved brother, isn’t he?"

That was all it took – I burst into tears. I couldn’t help myself…I loved my brother, Gods, how I loved him, and I somehow couldn’t deny it anymore. I wanted him to die, I wanted that release from my love for him, but I knew that I could not live without him. Oh, what a contradiction – I couldn’t live with him, yet I couldn’t bear to be the cause of his death! Is there anything in this world that is more cruel?

Her smile was become saddened, but it did not leave her face. "It seems that Dimando is not the only one around here who needs healing," she said finally, her voice low and troubled. Her eyes, however, were nothing less than kind and gentle. Before I could say anything, she reached over to me as we knelt there on the ground, and she wrapped thin arms about me and kissed my forehead. "Saffir-oniichan, please don’t cry…I hate to see you cry. I hate to see you so sad…it makes me sad…"

"I hate him," I sobbed uselessly, my heart hopelessly bound up in the ribbons Dimando had woven for me so many years ago. "How can he be so much to me…I hate him, I hate him!"

She let me go, but I could still feel the soft brush of her lips against my forehead. She was a healer, all right; her mere touch was a comfort, her kiss a balm to my broken emotions. For a moment, she stared into my eyes, and she shook her head slightly.

She turned her peaceful concentration to my motionless brother, and she quietly wrapped her small hands about his wrists. He stiffened slightly as she held them tightly – I can’t blame him, everybody seemed to be getting in on the act of ruining his wounds even more – and closed her beautiful eyes.

The aura that surrounded her is even more indescribable than the mechanics of the pure heart. Hotaru was like a saint, you know – she had a restful aura of wisdom and silent holiness that was frightening. It was almost as terrifying as the aura of infinite knowledge that Sailor Pluto possessed…

Dimando sighed, and he shifted under Hotaru slightly as he did so. Her aura was powerfully violet; it had begun as a pale red, but had quickly become full of purple grace; she was allowing some of her other self to slip in the back door.

It scared me – and everybody else present – for a very good reason. Sailor Saturn was not the kind of person you invited around for tea and biscuits…not unless you could be perfectly sure that Hotaru was indeed still a part of that beautiful, silent senshi.

She carefully let unmarred, ivory wrists slip from her hands, her visage pale and covered with a pale sheen of sweat. As she swayed, I moved to her side to catch her before she passed out completely.

"Hotaru-chan!" I cried in blind panic, hating to see her so completely vulnerable. It was peculiar, but I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, not now…

She smiled vaguely, her purple, void-like eyes glazed and blind. "Oniichan…it’s just a seizure…I expended too much of my own energy…I’ll be fine…"

Her voice trailed off as she slipped into unconscious, and I’ll admit it to you now…I hated that she had spent so much of her own life-force on my brother, no matter how desperately I still loved him.

Sailor Pluto knelt beside me to collect the frail woman into her arms with practised ease. "Look to your brother, Saffir-san," she told me seriously, her tone indicating that No Was Not A Viable Option.

I shuffled to his form on my knees…and I did not take him into my arms as I might have done with anybody else. No, I lay myself beside him, and I burrowed into his arms as I had done as a lost and lonely child…I pressed my face to his comforting, broad chest, and I wept. I wept for a lot of things…the death of our parents, our subsequent separation, my lost childhood, our bittersweet reunion, the mistrust brought by one counsellor, the misunderstandings…the arguments, the shouted words, the bitter resentment…the beginning of a war that left me with nightmares ever worse than before, because they predicted the downfall of my beloved…the painful relationship with a woman who I barely remembered when I saw my brother, the confused termination of said relationship…the war, the war comes to mind again…the betrayal of the sisters, the death of an Admiral, the wilful murder of a Lady Marshal, and finally…his final betrayal of me…and my stubborn nature that could not forgive…

I sobbed. I sobbed and sobbed…I cry rarely, it is not an easy task for me. But then, I wept and wept, for all I had lost…

And all I had yet to lose.

His arms tightened about me as my sobbing finally wore down; it was he who pulled us up into a sitting position, and it was Dimando alone who pushed me away.

"Saffir…what is with all these tears?" He paused. "Are they not a weakness?"

"So, they suit me well, don’t they?" I told him with sudden bitterness, watching him resentfully as he stood on slightly unsteady feet. Dimando had always played the king, you know…he had almost just killed himself in shame at not being able to serve anybody, but suddenly he was back in control again.

Day-dreaming Dimando…so partial to such flights of fancy. I hated him.

He proffered me a hand, as if to help me up, but I slapped it away. Ignoring the silent faces of Marcasite, Rudra, Amethyst and Serpentine, I moved to where a weak Hotaru stood, supported by that ever-mysterious senshi of the time corridor. I moved to her, and I took Hotaru’s hand silently before turning to regard all five of them. My gaze, however, rested specifically on those imperial purple eyes.

"I’m leaving you," I said finally. "You are the rightful heir to Nemesis, and Nemesis has its Prince back…and I have no reason to stay."

If he was shocked, he didn’t show it. "You have to do as you see fit, I suppose."

I snorted. "Yeah…I suppose."

Hotaru blinked at me. She wasn’t the only completely shocked by the sudden changes in our demeanour. "What are you planning to do, oniichan?"

I smiled vaguely, but the bitterness was there. "I am giving myself the Earth…I am going to move to Crystal Tokyo, no matter what anybody says to me…of course, it would be nice if you would help me."

She smiled at me, that angel of the planet of ruin. "I would deny you nothing, oniichan."

I winced. How often had I said that…?

I turned back to Dimando, my eyes cold. "Dimando…this is the end, here…I do believe I’ve failed you as a younger brother. I can’t be that anymore…I’m trying so hard to love you in my old way, but I can’t…"

He stared at me, his imperial eyes detached, though I suppose he hurt inside. If he hurt half as much as I did, then he had to be in agony. "How can you walk away, just like that? I haven’t even spoken to you…how can you just walk away?"

I held Hotaru’s hand even tighter. "It’s easy…let it go."

Hotaru nodded to Sailor Pluto, and that was it. I was leaving…I was finally leaving my brother…and it was killing me. My heart was in tatters…

"Yes," I mumbled as the teleport spun me away into the depths of the inner solar system. "But does it really matter…?"