To say I was shocked by Demando's actions would have been quite an understatement, to put it lightly. One second he had been clinging to my arm so desperately I thought he was going to cut off my circulation; the next he took one good look at his little brother and fainted.

As I knelt by his side, whispering to him softly that it was time to get up, I felt slightly bad about the whole situation. I should have realised that it really was a little much for him to bear, when it came right down to it. After all, he had probably not really believed that he would see Saffir alive again, alternate reality or not.

However, having Saffir kneel beside me was actually giving me the willies, to put not too fine a point on it. I had seen the young man die myself; it was a little weird to have him there beside me, looking over the man as if he were a complete stranger. In some ways, that upset me -- it seemed so completely wrong for Saffir to not know who it was that he knelt beside...

And I thought bleakly, if this upsets me, the one outside time and her consequences, then how is this going to make Demando feel?

It was even more unsettling for me to realise that I cared.

I stirred slightly, managing to open my eyes as I sat up slowly. I felt arms go about my back; two pairs, both of them familiar in their own way. However, I stood up mostly of my own accord. The truth was, I was more embarrassed than hurt... after all, it had been shock that caused my swoon, and I didn't seem to have hit anything when I fell.

I allowed Setsuna to place her hand on my shoulder; somehow, she was a steadying force to me as I then looked towards the brother I had not seen since he had died only metres away from me.

He was giving me a slightly quizzical look, but that was not what killed me inside. No, what hurt me was that there was no shred of recognition in his eyes whatsoever. Nothing in his stance, his voice, his eyes indicated that he remembered me at all.

I swayed on my feet again, this realisation almost causing me to collapse again, this time in pure grief. This was not what I had expected at all... certainly, I hadn't expected Saffir to remember who I was instantly, to fall into my arms and be exactly like the younger brother I had left behind, but this... this was killing me!

"Saffir," I whispered, closing my eyes as I leaned into Setsuna for support. Like a rock, she steadied me, not drawing away from me at all. For a moment, I wondered why, why did she aid me when we were essentially enemies, not allies? Was it because she felt some responsibility for bringing me here in the first place, or was it because of something else...?

"That is me," he replied calmly, standing beside my form, completely unafraid of me. I didn't know if that was simply because he didn't see me as a threat, or because he had finally gotten over the paranoia that I remembered -- so vividly I remembered! -- that he had once had. "Are you feeling all right, gaikoukan?"

I shook my head, slightly dazedly, trying to clear my roiling thoughts into some semblance of sanity. "No, I am not feeling very well, oujisama..."

The word came out slowly, painfully... it wasn't that I didn't want to say it, my hesitation came more from my disbelief. My brother, the Prince of Nemesis...

Saffir seemed to become aware of the stares of Amethyst and Petz upon the three of us; a look that I could not read flickered across his face before he suddenly said "Leave us, Amethyst-san, Petz-san. I wish to speak to our guests alone, if I may."

"That's hardly safe-" began Amethyst, but Saffir shook his head impatiently.

"I am well aware of that, Lady Chancellor, but it seems to me that these people wish to speak with the Prince of Nemesis. Now, unless you would like to assume that throne in under ten seconds by usurping my birthright, I suggest you obey my direct order and leave."

Amethyst looked only slightly chastised; she tossed her head and stormed out of the room. Petz merely bowed and left without a word, leaving Saffir staring contemplatively at the now-empty path. His eyes were less shadowed than I remembered them to be, but they were troubled in exactly the same way as my brother's had been in the days before he died.

However, he broke off his stare, turning back to us, a tiny smile quirking his lips upward. "Now, how can I help you?"

I made to reply when I felt a prickling sensation cover my skin, as if ten thousand ants were making some kind of pilgrimage of my body. I instantly understood the feeling, however; we were being watched. After tentatively probing the immediate vicinity with my own magical powers -- not those of the jakokuzuishou, which I could no longer channel as I once had -- I realised that they were armed guards. Very armed guards at that, too.

It seemed Saffir wasn't quite as stupid as Amethyst had thought.

Setsuna was the first to speak because of my prolonged silence, and I was grateful to her for it. It was peculiar to think it, but her continual presence at my side was beginning to feel almost natural, almost... right.

"I am an agent from the Neo-Queen, Serenity-hime," I replied to Saffir softly, my voice husky and reverent. "This is my husband, Demando-sama, a Citizen of Nemesis who has married a Citizen of the Neo-Silver Millennium, basically branding us both outcasts from modern society. However, we are unhappy by the current political situation, as we have already said to the Neo-Queen."

Saffir cocked his head to one side, eyes curious. However, he paid no attention to his brother, which I knew must be upsetting for him. Therefore, I moved my hand over to his, clasping it tightly. He instantly squeezed my hand back, and it nearly made me smile. I was unused to such interaction; I had always relied on myself to give myself the strength I needed to carry on, and I suspected that Demando had always been much the same way... though he had always had his brother to fall back on.

Now, it seemed, he had me instead.

"So, you are not actually diplomats then?"

"Not as such, no," I replied evenly. "We are merely wanderers in time who see two kingdoms separated by matters that were forgotten long ago."

He seemed surprised, yet somehow deeply touched by that comment. "What exactly do you mean by that... oh, I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Setsuna," Demando broke in, steadily meeting his brother's dusky blue eyes. "Her name is Setsuna."

Saffir gave Demando the oddest look in that moment; it was as if the Prince thought that the pale-haired man was completely one gumdrop short of a fruitcake. He then turned his attention back to me, temporarily bowing his head in a gesture of respect. "Setsuna-san, what I meant to ask you was simple. Were you meaning to imply that we are separated from the White Moon by matters that are of no consequence to us anymore?"

I shrugged, before flicking a long strand of dark green hair from my eyes. "What has happened cannot be undone, Saffir. Your people were banished from the Earth a thousand years ago... but holding an eternal grudge for it isn't going to change things... is it, Demando-sama?"

Startled, the White Prince jumped, before hurriedly formulating a reply. "N-no, it isn't, Setsuna."

I smiled, beginning to really enjoy baiting Demando. However, I schooled my mind back into seriousness at that moment. "Saffir-sama, trying to live together with the people of Earth would be more beneficial than attempting to exterminate an entire civilisation, would it not?"

The young Prince sighed; it was obvious to both his brother and myself that this was something that had been bugging him for a very long time. "I have never wanted war, Setsuna-san. I have always wanted to return to earth, that is true, but never have I wanted to rule it."

"And why is that?" asked Demando, completely unable to help himself.

Casting him a long look, Saffir then sighed before continuing. "I was born as the first son of the previous ruler of Nemesis, Prince Adamant. However, even though I am an only child and have always been raised as the sole heir to throne, well aware of my responsibilities in this world, it never felt... right to me."

"In what way?" Demando continued, his violet eyes fascinated. Saffir also seemed enchanted by his brother's eyes, if the slightly bewildered expression in his dusky blue eyes was anything to go by.

"I never felt as if I was the one who was going to assume the throne," he said finally. "Even when my father died, I felt as if I was still the lesser prince... and even though they crowned me, made me their Prince and their incarnated God, I never felt... like I was meant to be here."

"It's incredible," breathed Demando, his violet eyes wide and spellbound, not caring how insane he sounded.. "This is the most amazing thing I have ever heard..."

Saffir stepped forward, so that the two men were only separated by only an inch of clear space. I still stood at Demando's side, and I could quite clearly see what was going on between the two. Demando's face had gone even paler than usual, his breathing was shallow and hoarse. Saffir was still perfectly calm, but his dark eyes were troubled and peculiar. "Why do you say that, Demando-sama?"

"Do you have any idea why you don't feel as if you should rule Nemesis, Saffir-sama?" he asked slowly, very distinctly.

The blue-haired sovereign seemed on the verge of snapping "No!" when his expression abruptly changed. He looked... young, almost confused. "When I was young," he began softly, his voice slightly strained, "my father told me that my mother had borne a child before me... a young, silver haired boy whom she had named in the womb..." He seemed to blink back tears. "He was still-born." Before either of us could comment on that, his head snapped up, dusky eyes filled with tears. "And his name was Demando."

At that moment, I was suddenly filled with the fear that I was going to faint again; however, Saffir's pained eyes kept me tied to the physical plane, as did Setsuna's comforting presence, upon which I still leant. "You are telling me you never felt that the rulership of Nemesis was rightly yours because you had an older brother who died at birth?"

Saffir opened his mouth to say something to this; however, I never did hear his reply. It was at that inconvenient that a messenger chose to run in, panting heavily. "Prince Saffir-sama, the Princess has gone into labour!"

His eyes widened, his mouth dropped open as he smiled in amazement. "Thank god, thank god!" He seemed on the verge of running after the messenger when he recalled that he was not alone. To our collective shock, Saffir grabbed my hand and began to pull me along. "Come on, we have to hurry!" he chirped in a ecstatic voice, suddenly sounding so exactly like my poor dead brother that it made me want to cry.

I grabbed Setsuna's hand as Saffir yanked me out of the internal gardens, leaving all three of us running down the hall in a line, Saffir proudly leading the way. We had lost the messenger back in the garden, it seemed.

"Where are we going?!" I shouted to Saffir, as if he wouldn't hear me through his exhilaration. However, he surprised me by instantly calling back "My wife's bedroom! Demando-sama, rejoice with me, because today, I am to be a father!"

"NANII?!" I screeched back, causing Saffir to laugh loudly. "Your wife didn't look pregnant this morning!"

"It was a glamour spell; she didn't like looking so 'fat,' so she kept it cast about her all that time!" Saffir called back in reply, still pulling Setsuna and I down the maze of corridors. "Besides, it meant that no-one from the Earth knew about it, and we preferred it that way..."

"Why?" I asked, but Saffir halted then, causing Setsuna and I to crash into his back. "Why are we stopping?"

"We're here!" he crowed triumphantly, indicating two guards that stood outside the double doors. "Welcome to our visions of the future -- my heir!"

Saffir had left us in the inner sitting room when he went in to see how his wife was; Demando didn't appear to care too much about it, however. I swiftly garnered the impression that he was considering what his brother had said earlier about not feeling as if the throne belonged to him.

This was confirmed to me rather quickly. "Setsuna, that was me who was stillborn, wasn't it?" he asked finally, turning those violet eyes on me. "My mother's dead baby was me."

I nodded, trying to look slightly sympathetic. After all, hearing about one's own death -- even in an alternate reality -- was enough to drive even the most stable of us completely bonkers. "Yes, he was you, Demando."

He sighed, looking away from my piercing cerise eyes. "Even though I understand that this was necessary -- I mean, if my brother is ruler, something had to have happened to me -- it's still... weird..."

I placed one of my hands on his shoulder, I allowed my gaze to meet his eyes slowly and thoughtfully. "I'm sorry that it hurts you so much to hear about your own death. I should have told you before..."

"Oh, it's all right; I guess I just didn't expect it," he laughed, but it was shaky laughter. "I mean, I guess I always thought that it would just be that I was never born at all... I didn't think that it would mean I was born dead or something..."

I sighed shallowly. "You always had to have been born, Demando; it's the way of the timelines. Nemesis will always have its Prince Demando in some shape or form...."

He looked down at his hands, his violet eyes troubled. A small, melancholy smile crossed his features as he continued to look down, before suddenly raising his head and looking back to me. His smile was as watery as his eyes were at that point. "You know, Setsuna, that's my niece or nephew being born in there."

I smiled back at him, almost on the verge of tears myself. "I know..."

Demando looked down, and I saw that his eyes had overflowed as the tears hit his gloved hands. "I never thought I would see this day..."

To my horror, Demando then buried his alabaster visage in his gloved hands, and began to cry, silently and to himself. I understood where his grief was coming from -- in his reality, he would never have any nieces or nephews, not anymore -- and realising that I was partly the cause of it made my heart twist painfully in my chest.

My own tears spilt as I leant over to wrap my arms about his shaking shoulders, leaning my dark head against his fair, closing my eyes and I breathed in the musky scent of the White Prince of Nemesis.

He looked up slightly, pushing me away a little as he searched my eyes with the violet that seemed to suddenly fill the world. These same eyes were incredulous as a slightly shaking finger moved up to trace the track of my tears on my dark skin. "You are crying, Senshi...?"

"I know how you feel," I whispered, almost huskily. "Though it is slightly different for you... you see Saffir's child and know that in your world, you will never see them again... I look at Saffir's child and know that in my world, I will never have any children..."

"Setsuna..." he whispered, looking confused. "I can't see why..."

"I love a man who doesn't love me... why do you think I am so attached to his child? I see the Small Lady and I sometimes believe that she is my own child... but she isn't, she isn't...."

My heart was aching in my chest as Demando looked into my eyes, his eyes grave and serious. "I know you love the Neo-King, Setsuna, but can't you love someone else? Someone else who will give you all that you need, and want so badly?"

I looked into his eyes; my hands were shaking just as badly as my voice did on my next words. "Demando, I-"

It was at that precise second the door to the internal chambers was opened, revealing a Prince dressed in a long white coat, coming out of the rooms with a tiny bundle in his arms. However, Saffir looked far from ecstatic; his skin was so pale it looked more like he had seen a ghost.

A moment later, I understood that he almost had.

I tore my gaze away from Setsuna's enchanting eyes to have them shocked with the sight that I beheld before me. My little brother, the man who had been my greatest friend and most trusted confidant back on my own Nemesis, he stared at me as if he was seeing someone else, someone much younger, yet someone much older, an eternal paradox...

He looked at me and he recognised me.

"I would like you to meet my son," he said to me in a shaky voice, his skin so deathly pale that I thought he was going to faint. However, I knew that he was trying to desperately hold his ground, given that he had a tiny infant in his arms.

I stood from the chairs, and I made my way to where my brother stood in the doorway to the other rooms. It seemed to take me an eternity to reach him; the whole way, he watched me with sick fascination, like I both frightened and intrigued him. It was like he knew what I was, but he did not -- or perhaps could not -- admit it to himself, not until I proved it.

And as I walked to him, I desperately wished I could turn around and run away... but that was what I had been doing all my life. Running away.

And that's what had gotten them all killed in the first place... their revered shiro no oji running away from his responsibilities.

I made an oath that this was the one thing I would see through to the bitter end.

Saffir's eyes were filled with tears as he looked from the child to me, a twisted smile on his face. I say twisted because it was far from happy; as the moments passed, as he looked repeatedly from the infant to me, it changed so slowly that I couldn't give the exact moment it became a grimace.

I looked to the infant and I felt as if my world were spinning about my mind. This tiny infant looked exactly like me... exactly like me... with pale silver hair and alabaster skin...

"This is my son... Demando..." he whispered hoarsely, looking me directly in the eyes. However, my gaze dropped down as the child stirred at the sound of his name, opening violet eyes that screamed at me "I am you! And I will destroy Saffir just as well as you did!"

A jolt of pain shot through my body as I stared into the wise eyes of that child, the eyes that I alone could read so explicitly because they were my own.

"Kill it."

"Nanii?!" Saffir said, looking up at me with startled eyes. Setsuna's hand found my own, squeezing it so tightly that it hurt.

"Demando-sama," she murmured, but I shook her words off.

"Kill that child now, Saffir! Kill it before it kills you!"

Saffir was bewildered; several guards came from outside the sitting room, brought by my hysterical yelling. I have to admit, it certainly sounded pretty bad. They eyed me suspiciously as I continued to rail at Saffir, who seemed to shrink beneath my hysteria.

"How can you say that?" he whispered, looking both saddened and terrified. His grip about the child had tightened somewhat, but he still looked pale and sick. I was struck by the impression that if I touched him, he would fall to the ground and shatter, like a porcelein figure.

The tone of my voice dropped; my shoulders slumped for a second before I looked up at him with dead, empty eyes. "Because I am that child, Saffir, and I know my own mind."

I donât know what allowed Saffir the leeway into my mind at that next moment; I supposed later that it was due to my hypnotic powers. But whatever it was, in the next second, I saw my brother's past reflected in Saffir's eyes... he was seeing my brother's life vicariously through mine. Everything I had seen, Saffir was now seeing for the first time...

Setsuna had moved forward somewhat to take the baby from his unresisting arms; the guards had uncomfortably observed this, but as Saffir did not react, they held back from restraining either of us.

Saffir broke his gaze away from mine, turning eyes to the floor for a second. I knew that look -- often, my brother had looked like that after I had told him off for something. Suddenly doubling over in agony, a cry of pure pain escaping his throat, he turned away from me as he clutched his abdomen. Tears poured down his cheeks as he fought for breath, sounding asthmatic in his laboured breathing.

However, he then startled us both by turning back to me with dead eyes, wide and staring as his tears ceased as suddenly as they had begun. "Oniisan," he whispered, and for a second, the entire world stilled. That was before his entire face contorted in pain and he buried his face in his hands. A second more of complete silence reigned before a choked sob escaped his throat, and he turned, running blindly from the room.

"What have I done?" I whispered, raising shaking hands to my face. I stared at them as if I could once again see the blood of innocents on my hands... like my nightmares of the death and destruction of my family. "Oh God, what have I done?!"

"Demando!" I heard her cry after me as I stumbled out of the room in the same direction the hysterical sovereign had taken, lurching into the hallway past two surprised guards. Setsuna, dressed in her long black dress, followed me, her long green hair bannering out behind her as she ran to my side. She didn't have to run far; my legs gave out beneath me only metres down the corridor.

"I've ruined his life," I whispered through shuddering breaths, as Setsuna came down beside me. To my surprise, she put her long arms about me, leaning her cheek against my shoulder. "I am so sorry for this, Demando... I never intended for this to happen..."

"I've ruined his life too," I replied dully. "I wasn't satisfied with ruining my brother's life in one lifetime... I had to ruin his life in another reality, too..."

Setsuna brushed long fingers against my forehead. "Gomen nasai," she whispered, and I could see the tears behind her eyes. "I was unprofessional, Demando... and I knew better! I knew that terrible things happen when one messes about in the time stream, but I ignored it because I was bored and you were an easy target..."

Her fingers brushed over my forehead again... but before I blacked out, I thought I heard his voice one last time as dusky blue eyes looked over my face. The voice was broken, sad; it was just as shattered as those twilight-coloured eyes.

"Oniisan..."

As written by Celeste Goodchild.

Sailor Moon is the property of Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha Comics, and Toei Animation.

To Part Five