` If That's What It Takes `

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Awakenings never had been something Saffir had been very fond of.

Actually, being asleep had never been something Saffir had enjoyed either, which made his condition as a notorious insomniac quite enjoyable. Saffir had usually had very little sleep on the planet that they called the Nemesis, but it had never bothered him. His physical endowment meant that surviving on very little sleep was an in-built characteristic.

However, the real reason for his insomnia was simple -- he never wanted to go to sleep. The prince had always been a deep sleeper, and subject to terrible nightmares, not to mention sleep-talking and the occasional midnight stroll. When he was asleep, it was next to impossible to awaken him -- only Demando had ever been able to pull Saffir out of nightmares that seemed so desperate to keep him.

However, no brother awoke him from this deep sleep -- and it was not his usual sleep, it was REM sleep. He knew that because the knocking at the door jolted him out of a peculiar dream about crystals, computers and Holly's collection of singing potatoes.

Shaking his head, he sat up in his bed -- and froze.

The polite knocking finally ceased, something of a relief to the prince, given that his headache had been pounding in time to that knocking.

Groaning slightly, he managed to climb out of his bed to stagger over to what he presumed was the bathroom door. Fortunately it was, because he immediately felt incredibly nauseous. However, he did not choose that moment to be violently and physically ill; he somehow managed to keep it in. Instead, he knelt on the carpeted floor for a moment, leaning his head against the cool white porcelain of the large bathtub.

His temporary vertigo passed slowly; his breathing was laboured and heavy for a good deal of time. He felt as if his world were spinning about him, and he was beginning to wonder what on earth had gone on the night before.

Well, judging from the way I feel this morning, I possibly don't, he then thought wryly in reply to his own question. He slowly climbed to his feet, noting with half-hearted curiosity that he was dressed in faded jeans, white socks and a slightly creased silk shirt. He stumbled to the sink to collect a large amount of icy cool water from the faucet, splashing it over his alabaster-pale features. Staring at himself for a moment, he traced the outline of his features on the glass, slightly blearily. His skin looked even paler than usual -- he thought to himself that he really must be ill.

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud, before shaking his aching head delicately and carefully making his way out of the bathroom into what was obviously his bedroom.

Mostly ignoring the messy bed -- though he noted curiously that he seemed to have slept on it rather than in it -- he moved through the room into what was a sitting room, of sorts.

He realised with a jolt where he was -- a hotel. And upon looking outside the picture window above the desk, his shock was complete.

Twentieth century Tokyo lay outside his twentieth storey window.

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Demando stared blankly into space while he thoughtlessly swirled the contents of his glass in one restless hand. Even the hologram projection of the beautiful Neo-Queen failed to hold his wandering attention for very long, not like it once had, anyway.

That was simply because even though he thought he had resolved this matter in his own mind, it still nagged at the back of said mind, reminding him constantly of the situation at hand.

Demando understood explicitly what he had done. In sending his brother -- against his will, under deep hypnosis -- back to the twentieth century, he had ensured that his brother would have a chance at a happier, more peaceful life. Saffir had never been a real part of the Nemesis -- he had always wanted Earth and little else besides that. Saffir had hated Nemesis with a passion -- all he had desired was the Earth that had rejected their forefathers, he had wanted the wind, the sun, the rain and the flowers.

Blinking back tears, Demando could clearly see his little brother in his mind's eye, staring up at the night sky -- though the Nemesian sky was nearly always dark or near enough -- at the distant star that was earth, so longingly -- like a child cooped up on a rainy day, only wanting to go outside.

Demando knew why he had done it just as well as he knew what he had done. He sensed that the end of this godforsaken war was approaching, but something -- some great darkness had haunted his dreams lately, warning him that his brother was in some terrible danger here.

And not knowing if this war would be won, Demando had sent his brother away to anonymity in the past -- in case they lost this war. At least then, Saffir would always have what he wanted -- an Earth with fields and fields of flowers.

Blinking back tears, he raised his glass to the image of Serenity, those same tears blurring the image into a mess of white, gold and azure blue. "To your past future, otootochan."

It wasn't long before he wearily climbed to his feet to keep his next appointment; an appointment arranged by destiny itself.

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Saffir stared at the man as if he hadn't heard correctly. "Nannii?!"

"I have a letter for you from your guardian, Hirosada-san," repeated the man patiently, for about the ten thousandth time. The initial problem had been getting Saffir to respond to the Terran name these people obviously knew him by: Hirosada Saburo. The manager's next problem had been getting Saffir to respond to the letter he was calmly holding out to him. He was eyeing it so warily, it was as if he expected it to leap to life and bite his kneecaps off.

"My guardian?"

The man nodded again. "Yes. I was asked to give this to you."

Saffir pointed at the letter being offered to him, his dark eyes suspicious. "That has the return address of a solicitor on it."

He paused perhaps a second before answering; it was increasingly obvious that he was finally beginning to get irritated. "Yes, your guardian works through a solicitor. It helps to keep things legal and less messy than they would be otherwise, you must understand."

Saffir, at long last, accepted the thick letter, and sighed. "Gomen nasai for my rudeness -- I didn't sleep well last night."

The manager nodded in false understanding; it was painfully obvious that he believed Hirosada Saburo to be a complete fruitcake. "I can understand that, Hirosada-san. Now, if you will excuse me..."

"Of course," Saffir replied distractedly, his attention already on the unopened letter. He turned away from the door, half-heartedly pulling it closed behind him. Using his long and nimble fingers, he managed to undo the flap of the envelope fairly quickly, before then slipping the sheet of paper from the case.

Instantly, several other documents toppled out to land on the floor, startling Saffir. However, he ignored it for a moment, instead preferring to scan the letter for any sign of his guardian's name.

He sighed impatiently -- and in disappointment -- when he discovered no name. It was then that he went down to his knees to have a look at the collection of paper at his feet.

There was a Japanese passport amongst the documents; as he sifted through them he quickly realised what it all was. It was the paperwork of life -- everything here declared him to be a citizen of Earth in the twentieth century.

Saffir bit his lip as he belatedly realised what had happened. Someone had sent him here on purpose. And by the look of it, they intended him to be here for a long, long time.

The younger prince moved to the window of his bedroom, and grimaced. Dominating the horizon in the distance was a disgustingly huge black crystal monolith -- one that was all too familiar.

Even though he had no idea how it was that he was here, or who had put him here, for some reason, he felt no great compunction to go out there.

Except to find his brother.

Sighing, Saffir moved over to the telephone to dial the front desk. "Hello? Yes, this is Hirosada Saburo, in room 206 -- I would like to be moved to a room on the other side of the hotel, please."

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As Sailor Moon cradled the dying Prince in her arms, almost in tears. "Why did you do it?" she asked softly, ignoring the fact that the shattered remains of the Wiseman seemed to be pulling themselves back together.

He smiled weakly, and coughed a little in his agony. "I couldn't let him hurt you, Sailor Moon."

She smiled in return, though it was more of a grimace. "What changed your mind, though? Why did you suddenly stop wanting to destroy the past earth?"

Demando's smile grew melancholy; he beckoned to her to come closer. It was a good thing she did it quickly, for when he began to speak, his voice was exceptionally low and husky.

"Because I left him there..."

Sailor Moon's deep blue eyes widened slightly; she leaned her face closer to his, those same eyes searching his desperately. "Who?"

Demando shook his head; he seemed to be smiling. "It doesn't matter, not now..."

She reached over to take his bloodstained hand, clutching it tightly to her chest. "Demando, you can't die, you can't! If we are to change Nemesis for the better, we need your leadership with us --"

"I am dying," he said slowly, clearly. "I cannot last like this for much longer - but Sailor Moon, when this battle is over, you'll come back to me - won't you?"

He eyes widened, then softened in sympathy. "I won't let you die - but Demando, I don't lo-"

"I don't mean that," he coughed weakly, now able to see the Wiseman assuming his form behind them both. "Come and see me again, and if I am still alive, perhaps --"

His voice died away weakly as he fell back, Sailor Moon falling into the clutches of the Wiseman. No doubt the old bastard assumed him to be dead or near enough to it that he was of no concern.

As Demando fell into deep, black unconsciousness, he smiled slightly. He was not worried for the future Neo-Queen, or her safety - she was so bright, so filled with the light of life and the ability to love, that he understood that the Death Phantom -- or whatever the Hell the Wiseman really was -- stood no chance against her.

At that moment, he almost felt sorry for the treasonous idiot. He had been so shocked, so stunned by his rapid about-face, even though Saffir had always warned him about it, and his own gut feelings had told him there was something not quite right about the counsellor -

Still, it was over -- perhaps for him as well as the Wiseman.

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Saffir screwed up the paper for the twentieth time, hiffing it into the trashcan with characteristically terrible aim. That was only one of the many reasons Saffir didn't use magic -- his sense of direction was surprisingly awful. This also contributed to Saffir's gratefulness in the manner that Demando was Prince and he was not -- Saffir's lack of control over his magical ability -- not to mention his allergy to cat fur -- was one of the reasons he was not terribly respected as a leader. His Savant's abilities were helpful for one who assisted the leaders, but they were not the makings of a political master. Even though Saffir was excellent at almost every other science under the dim sun of Nemesis, political science always had been a little bit beyond him.

Saffir then got out of his chair, retrieved the ball, smoothed it out and placed it back on the desk. As a citizen of Nemesis, he was born to be frugal with such plant-produced materials. Paper was a valuable commodity on the planet; and Saffir never had been one for wasting anything. Especially time.

Starting a new page, Saffir wrote for several minutes without stopping. He then picked it up, and reclining back into his chair, he read it aloud and slowly to himself.

Finally satisfied, he dashed it off with a signature that resembled the one on his passport -- only after some degree of practice had he mastered that ö he put it into an envelope and sealed it with a flourish.

He then looked to the pile of paper still before him and sighed. He now had to write the same letter about twenty more times.

He made a mental note to get himself a computer one of these days; preferably NOT one that drew energy from the jakozuishou.

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As the city's energy threads warped and twisted, returning to normal, five teenagers, one young girl and a young man appeared in the street, looking with astonishment at the area once occupied by a very large, and a very abnormal shard of black crystal.

They merely stared at one another for a second in silence; it was the girl with long blonde hair and baby-blue eyes who suddenly screamed "All RIIIIIIIGHT!" and slapped the more subdued blonde a high five. "Usagi-chaaaaaaaaaaan! We did it! Correction -- YOU did it! You absolutely wasted Wiseman! Uh - Usagi?"

Minako's exuberance began to fade as she saw Usagi's tight features. The other three Senshi, ChibiUsa and Mamoru exchanged worried glances. However, they understood a second later when Usagi stifled a gasp and ran towards the place where the jakozuishou had once been.

The others -- all dressed in civilian form, like Usagi -- joined her as she ran, but unlike Usagi, they did not fall to their knees beside the collapsed form of the Prince of Nemesis. Instead, they stood in silence as the girl began to cry frantically "Demando! Demando, pull yourself together! Demando!"

The violet eyes in the pale face cracked open slightly; a sigh escaped his throat as he raised a shaking hand to touch her cheek. "Ah - Sailor Moon -"

Usagi stifled back a sob, moving her hand to take his. "Demando, I won't let you die."

He smiled painfully, laughing slightly even through his pain. His entire left side was now completely covered in tacky, bright red blood, and his translucent skin was covered in a fine layer of cool sweat. "You know, you told me that before - "

"And I meant it then, too," she said softly, allowing her famous smile to grace her features. Even though her eyes were so filled with tears, she was still radiantly beautiful to the dying Prince.

"Oh, you mean well -- always you mean well, Sailor Moon -- but how do you expect to save me now? You cannot heal the dead."

"You're not dead yet," she murmured softly, her hand releasing his to steal to the henshin brooch attached to her uniform's ribbon. "If I heal you now with the ginzuishou, there is no reason why you should die --"

"Usagi!" cried Rei, aghast. "You can't do that -- it would kill him!"

Usagi shot her a Look. "Did it kill the Ayakashi sisters, Rei-chan?"

Minako's voice was softer, gentler as she knelt down beside Usagi. "Usagi-chan, the sisters wanted to be healed -- how do you know that Demando feels the same way they do?"

"Oh, I do --" he breathed softly, eyes blank and unseeing. "If I can live on, perhaps I will see him again -- I can't waste that opportunity."

"What is he talking about?" asked Ami softly, looking startled at his words.

Usagi shook her head softly, seemingly as confused as the rest of them were. "I don't know -- he said a similar thing back in the jakozuishou to me, too -- something about not wanting to destroy the past Earth because he is here."

Demando's violet eyes had fallen shut; he did not react to the confusion of the girls at all. Chiba Mamoru was the only who did not seem overly disturbed by the words, but none of the others picked up on that. Usagi was too engrossed in the dying Prince to pay much attention to her beloved "Mamo-chan." Instead, she carefully disengaged the locket from her bow, and indicated that Minako and Ami should join her on the ground. Rei and Makoto stood back from this action somewhat, Rei looking a little apprehensive, Makoto with her arms crossed over her chest, her brow furrowed. Mamoru stood silently at their backs; it was Rei who craned her neck around to regard him silently for a moment. She then whispered quietly "Do you really think this is a good idea, Mamoru-san?"

He nodded very slowly. "I see no real danger -- even though Demando is in love with Usagi, Sailor Moon, Neo-Queen Serenity -- I think there is something about him that honestly wants to change, wants to live on."

Rei merely looked at him for a moment. It was Makoto who finally spoke up again, looking slightly confused. "Do you think that it has anything to do with the person he was talking about?"

"Hai," murmured Mamoru quietly, but he didn't deign to say anything further. Even though this confused both of the Senshi, they did not say anything. ChibiUsa seemed to understand, however; she also did not speak. She only held Luna-P closer to her chest and quietly watched as her future mother climbed to her feet, leaving the unconscious Prince in the arms of the other blonde and the blue-haired genius.

Quickly, she transformed back into Sailor Moon. Mamoru seemed on the verge of protesting that after the fight with the Wiseman, she was too weak to use the ginzuishou. However, he felt a small hand tighten reassuringly about his own. In surprise, he looked down to meet the wide cerise eyes of his future daughter.

"Daijoobu yo," she said with a small smile. Even though she was only a child, actually hearing that it was okay from her seemed to make him feel much better. Odd.

Sailor Moon called on the powers of the ginzuishou for the last time this evening; when she was finished, Rei and Makoto instantly ran to catch her before she hit the pavement. Mamoru and ChibiUsa went to them after a delay; they had to look at the Prince for themselves first.

Minako and Ami were both awed as they watched the calm cross his face. The hard lines of the fascist's face seemed to fade as the pink light drained into his body; and even though his wound did not heal much, his face regained colour, his lack-lustre complexion looking healthier. As the light about him faded, his violet eyes flickered open, seeing only blue hair and eyes.

"Saf-" His voice trailed off as his hand touched Ami's soft skin; he drew his hand back and seemed to laugh at himself as he smiled weakly. "Gomen nasai, Senshi, I thought you to be someone else --"

"Someone else?" asked Minako softly, meeting his slightly glazed eyes with her own. "Who?"

Demando coughed slightly, his hands moving to press the grievous wound to his side. "Someone I once knew."

Usagi stumbled to her feet, now back in her civilian form. She staggered over to the Prince -- much to the dismay of Makoto and Rei -- and fell to her knees at his side. Her tired blue eyes took in his form; he was dressed the same, but his earrings and negative aura had vanished. He still bore the mark of the Black Moon on his forehead, but she doubted if that signified anything particularly important. Now it was just the sigil of the planet Nemesis.

Her shaking hands gently moved to touch his blood-soaked side; he grimaced under the touch, and Usagi recoiled, looking horrified. "Did I hurt you? Gomen ne, but --"

He chuckled through his agony, meeting her beautiful eyes with his own. "It's all right, Sailor Moon -- or do they call you Usagi?"

She nodded slightly, and laughed with him when he shook his head in what appeared to be disbelief. "Rabbit -- how could we have missed that?"

"So what happens now?" asked Ami finally, casting a critical eye over his wounds. "We need to get him to a doctor, quickly -- but how do we explain this?"

"I think that perhaps, you should leave both matters in my hands."

Everyone instantly turned in shock; only ChibiUsa reacted in a manner that seemed happy. "Puu!"

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Pluto stared at the group silently from several metres away, her Time Key tightly held in one gloved hand. It was Minako, as the actual leader of the Inner Senshi, who relinquished her place at Demando's side to move to address the tall and solitary soldier. Usagi was incapable of standing, and everyone but ChibiUsa seemed wary of the green-haired woman.

"Sailor Pluto, you have come to help us?"

She smiled slightly; it looked as if she were enjoying some personal joke. "Yes, I know a very good healer in the future who can tend to Prince Demando. I will also return him to his seat of power -- even though the war is over, Nemesis will still need a ruler. After he negotiates a suitable treaty with the rest of the solar system, I daresay Demando's Nemesis will be perfectly capable of existing in alliance with the other planets."

Minako cast her eyes over the Prince for a moment. She then turned back to Pluto, straightening herself to her full height, trying to look respectable and important. It didn't succeed for two reasons. One, she was wearing a school uniform; two, said uniform was covered in blood. "You are here to take him away?"

She inclined her head slightly, her eyes both grim and reasonable. "Yes."

Usagi looked up, her cornflower blue eyes wide. "Can't he stay here, like the sisters?"

Pluto shook her head, the gesture very final. "No. He has to assume his place as the ruler irrevocable of Nemesis."

"But what about this person he was referring to earlier?" asked Minako slowly, giving the others a brief, anxious look. "Won't he want to see this person before he leaves?"

Pluto looked vaguely amused. "If Demando wants to come back here to see both you and this person, he can bring it up with me later. However, I have to take him to a very good nurse right about now."

"Do we know this nurse?" blurted out Minako suddenly, wondering at the same time why she was so loathe to leave the Prince in somebody else's hands. It wasn't as if she actually liked the man -- but she supposed it was because Usagi seemed so desperate to give him a chance.

Sailor Pluto smiled a little wider. "Oh, you'll meet her one of these days, I'm sure." With that, she moved her hand forward, the orb of her staff glowing slightly ominously. The figure of the Prince disappeared from Usagi and Ami's grasp; the solitary soldier was gone in the same instant.

"She's awfully -- cursory, isn't she?" said Ami finally, her eyes falling to the hands covered in the blood of the Nemesian Prince. "I should go wash this off, I suppose, before I go home --" She frowned slightly as she brushed at the stiffening humour on her uniform. "Oh, this is never going to come out --" Minako's distinctive laughter caused her to look up, slightly confused. "Nani?"

"Oh, nothing --" she said, waving one hand as she covered her mouth with the other. She didn't seem at all perturbed by the presence of the blood all over her own uniform. "It's just so typical that it would be you who worries about your uniform after we've just spent the afternoon saving the world."

"The past and the future worlds," added Rei, flicking a strand of her hair behind one ear.

Usagi suddenly perked up, even though her blue eyes still looked troubled. "Hey, didn't someone promise to buy me dessert or cakes or something if we lived through this?"

Minako laughed; the four Senshi instantly turned and pointed at Mamoru. "He did!"

Mamoru looked overwhelmed -- and more than slightly confused -- as he held up his hands defensively. "I don't remember saying that!"

"Oh, but we do," remarked Minako, surreptitiously thrusting an elbow into his side. "Remember, minna?"

"Yeah, but Usagi-chan will remember anything about chocolate, cakes and ice-cream, ne?" giggled Ami, earning herself a glare from said odango atama.

"Chotto chotto chotto! I can remember things other than food!" However, she waited for no reply to this and turned to Mamoru, deliberately enlarging her eyes to puppy-dog status. "Onegai, Mamo-chan?"

"What are we talking about?" asked a familiar voice as two cats hopped down from a wall, joining the group in the middle of the street. Artemis immediately cast Minako's blood-soaked shirt a Look, but Luna was looking at Mamoru, with an additional Usagi hanging on his arm.

"Oh, Usagi just wanted Mamoru-san to take us all out for ice-cream," Rei said dismissively, preparing to walk away from where the jakozuishou had once been.

Luna smiled slightly. "I suppose some things never change --" However, when Usagi turned from Mamoru, her eyes widened. Her eyes were more troubled than Luna could account for, not to mention her uniform was stained slightly with blood. It was then that Luna realised that something really had changed. And possibly not for the better.