I have taken half a century to update. And I apologize to everyone who's been excited for a new chapter while I left this here for a year. I haven't been able to get to this at all, mainly because of school. Even so, my irresponsibility is inexcusable and I'm truly sorry to all of you who have supported me through this story. Without you, it would never have gotten as far as it did, and it's because of you that I continue, a whole year and a half later.

Anyway, about the new chapter. There's some background/alternate setting information here, with the view of a few people in Nemesis itself. Not sure if it'll be particularly "interesting", but it's meant to supply more setting information. Since this is a new twist to the story, feedback would be great.

"You see what power is- to hold someone else's fear in your hand and show it to them." –Amy Tan

In an enormous gold-plated citadel in Nemesis itself, the Nemesian Intelligence Center spies were diligently working to amass the planet's greatest weapons for anticipated war against the forces that Pyrite might employ in her savage enmity. Thousands of citizens had been called in to work on creating a superior arsenal and building up supplies. Every family had been ordered to follow certain guidelines issued by the government in the event of war. It was inevitable that Pyrite would strike sooner or later, and Nemesis had taken every precaution for its safety ahead of time.

"Supreme General Topaz has ordered that we should all proceed to the mining caves and stay out of sight if any threat arrives," a sonorous voice spoke from the Center, echoing across the entire land of Nemesis. "We will send out messengers soon to inform citizens of which cave is located the closest to each individual home. It is necessary that we all be prepared."

An ancient woman with frosty white hair and lifeless magenta eyes received this message with a scornful laugh. Sitting on a throne-like seat at the heart of the Intelligence Headquarters, she tossed her disheveled waves of hair back and muttered icily, "What use will any of these silly adjustments be when Pyrite returns? We may as well just wait for death to come to us. There are forces in play beyond our imagination, Supreme General. To have the power to shatter that hundred-year spell that even the reigning sorceress Pyrite could not touch- the last weapon of the seventh king of our line- there is nothing in our kingdom, or perhaps even in the universe, that can oppose such strength. And to think that all of that limitless energy is focused on our tiny planet, with all the malevolence of a century of stored hatred… we have absolutely no hope."

The Supreme General regarded her with a slight frown. He was a tall and dignified man, with wispy brown hair and tawny eyes that were full of life. But now there was a slight darkness, a hint of despair in the liquid depths of those wide eyes. "Perhaps you're right that the power of our enemies is beyond what we can muster here in this drained planet. But you should not say that there is no hope. It may be indeed that these are the last days, and we are destined to die no matter how hard we resist that fate. And maybe we will be saved by some power even beyond that of our enemies. But we cannot sit here and wait for our dooms, giving up without a struggle."

"I've struggled all my life to control everything, to strike at my opponents before they get the chance to strike at me, and to ensure the security of future generations on this planet," the woman replied bitterly. "And look where I am now. Living the same pitiful, unappreciated life that I would have anyway if I had never tried to do anything, never fought to help anyone. I'm old and helpless now, and someday in the near future I will be forgotten. It isn't worth it to try and fail. In the end, you're rewarded only with being remembered as a fool who wasted precious time and energy trying to achieve the impossible. At least if we surrender now, they will acknowledge that we saw the reality, instead of clinging to some pointless and imbecilic dream that we can still win even at the bitter end."

"You are very sensible," the Supreme General told her gently. "And your logic is quite flawless. Yet something in me cannot help but cling to precisely that hopeless dream you have such contempt for. It may be that I am not as wise as you are, that I am still young and idealistic and believe in everything that seems impossible. But I still hold to my words- I will never give up, not until that last precious moment of my life plunges into silence. I know you will try to convince me otherwise, and you are indeed very persuasive, but I will fight on, along with the rest of the people. I cannot accept now a defeat that has not yet come, for its unfulfilled acknowledgement would bring its reality."

"So you choose to give them the satisfaction of watching you squirm futilely to your demise," the aged woman said. "You will not follow my advice and take the dignified way out."

"I wish you would have more faith in your own grandson, Your Grand Majesty Pearline," Topaz replied softly. "Prince Demando is justly the future king of Nemesis. He will do everything in his power to save us all."

"Will he really?" Pearline asked testily, with a look of pure derision in her faintly violet eyes. "I wonder about that, General Topaz. Have you considered that he has the Silver Crystal in his grasp at this moment, and fails to use it? The future Neo Queen Serenity, perhaps the most powerful entity currently in the universe, is residing in his palace this very instant. And he watches over her and pampers her like a princess, letting her roam freely about his crystal castle while we are all here, waiting for death on this doomed planet. If he truly cared for our futures, then why has he not snatched the Silver Crystal from her and used it for our cause?"

"I wondered that myself," Topaz said honestly. "But I trust Demando. On the occasions that I've met with him, I found that he cares for nothing but the fate of Nemesis. It is in his blood, perhaps." He shot a meaningful glance at the former queen, who looked away quickly.

"He is no grandson of mine," she whispered angrily. "He's lost his head and allowed himself to grow soft like a complete fool, all because of that worthless girl."

Topaz smiled in slight amusement before responding earnestly, "I cannot judge him for that. He may be using her so he can slowly extract her powers and the Silver Crystal from her, over time. And even if he does not plan to absorb her powers for our dark energy, I'm certain that he has a plan. He's given me many orders over the past few days about building up our defensive forces and maintaining calm within Nemesian civilization."

"All in vain," the old woman muttered argumentatively, her hoarse voice launching a series of chills down Topaz's vertical spine. "Demando has no sense. Despite everything I taught him, everything his parents drilled into him, he still remains soft and weak at heart. He refused to accept Esmeraude as his wife at the age of 15 according to tradition, though he knew how the alliance between the imperial family and the most powerful noble family would unite the planet and strengthen our power. He allows his selfish, senseless emotions to get in the way of the greater good."

Topaz sighed heavily as he lowered his amber eyes away from those icy violet spheres of Pearline, wondering if any effort could convince such an unwaveringly pessimistic woman to change her mind. She had striven for decades to live as she believed was necessary- cold and calculating, devoid of all emotion, holding her authority over Nemesis like an iron fist hovering above a structure of destructible talc. But she had held that fist out for too long, and the iron became rusted until it was no stronger than the powdery stone it once held the power to bring to ruin. And so the wielder herself had crumbled, wasting away as she surrounded herself in a whirlwind of frozen hail, unwilling to recapture the warmth and light of the fire she had thrown away.

The four girls came to a breathless halt in front of Usagi's home. Casting hesitant glances at each other, they slowly shifted toward the front steps.

"Something feels wrong," Makoto said cautiously, pausing in front of the door. "We've looked around here before. We couldn't get into the house because we had no keys, but… don't you think it's strange that after Usagi's disappearance, Luna has never contacted us?"

"You're right!" Rei gasped, biting a glossy lip. "Do you think something happened to her as well?"

"We have to find out, though," Minako said suddenly, with more bravery than she felt. "It's not possible that both Usagi and Luna could have disappeared without a trace. We should go in and at least try to find some evidence of an intrusion, and use it to lead us to whoever we have to face."

"Minako's right," Ami agreed. "It's our only option, and the best chance we have to find a way to reach Usagi. I don't understand the forces used in these interplanetary bonding devices well enough to work out a method to generate the energy we would need to head into space. If we don't find Luna, we have no way to help Usagi. We've been searching aimlessly and waiting around for days. This time, we have to do something. For Usagi's sake."

"Okay, let's do it," Makoto replied, a look of determination creeping back into her grassy-green eyes. "We should break in. I happen to remember those loose window screen screws in her basement that we can use to our advantage. We'll loosen them more until the screen falls out."

"And we won't even have to break the window glass, because Usagi never remembers to shut the window in the evening," Rei reminded her, a fond smile playing across her oriental features.

"Lucky us," Ami laughed. The girls shuffled to the back of Usagi's house and quickly manipulated the wobbling screws until the screen toppled over, and then climbed into the house systematically. After they all entered the basement, Rei flicked one of the lights on and the Senshi stood, surveying their surroundings.

The first thing that drew the attention of each of them simultaneously was the slightly puffy shape of a feline figure lying motionless in an iron cage at the foot of the descending stairs. The still form was covered in unusual navy-blue fur, and though the animal's face was tilted to the side, the Senshi could make out the faint golden mark of a sliver of crescent moon on its forehead.

"Oh, my God," Minako whispered in awe and recognition. "It's Luna."

"Is she…?" A look of horror crossed Rei's face as she spoke, and she could not bring herself to finish the sentence. Minako put her finger over her lips sternly, and inched slowly towards the ambiguous blob that was trapped inside the metal walls. She moved the exterior walls around slightly, trying to rouse the small cat inside.

"Luna!" Makoto blurted in anxious desperation. "Please, wake up already!"

To the shock of the four girls, the cat rose from its fetal position and lifted its head towards them. The large red eyes widened at the sight of the frightened Senshi, and an expression of mingled shock and joy soon swept over its face. "Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter… you're all here!"

"Are you all right?" Minako cried. The relief that had filled her face was rapidly becoming a look of despair. "How will we get you out of this thing?"

"I don't know," Luna admitted unhappily, recognizing the degradation of the mood. "I've been in here for the past two weeks."

"What happened?" Ami asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Luna replied again. "For a brief moment I saw someone approach me, but now my memory is too fuzzy for me to recall any features. I was struck with some kind of energy beam, and suddenly fell out of consciousness. The next thing I knew, I was locked up in here with no possible method of escaping. It appears that whoever imprisoned me provided nourishment, but left immediately afterwards. I was running low on food for the past few days, and I thought it very likely that I would die in here."

"That's awful," Makoto muttered, shaking her head. "And to think we might not have found you here at all."

"I'm sorry, Luna," Ami said gently. "I feel terrible about what you've been through, and I really regret that we didn't look in here earlier. Usagi has vanished, and we were hoping that you would be able to help us get to her. We've located her in a floating object near the Earth's orbit, but we haven't been able to design any kind of mechanism that would enable us to reach it. You're our last hope to find Usagi while she's still alive, because at least we know that for sure now. We'll try our best to free you, although it might take some time."

"That's all right," Luna said, her face falling a bit. "It's natural that you wouldn't be able to unlock this cage easily. I've tried everything I could possibly imagine, and used every power I could draw up. Nothing worked."

Demando sat uncomfortably on his immaculate white sheets, attempting to summon up the courage to finally tell Usagi how he felt for her. He wanted to apologize in the best, most sincere possible way and make Usagi understand that he no longer wanted to intrude into her past and alter those parts of her being, making them fade and die before his desire for empty glory. He knew better now than to impose himself on someone he loved.

She was probably still angry, he thought miserably. After those subtle and disgusting comments he had made about something he had no right to pry into, he was certain that she would have a hard time forgiving him. If the situation were reversed and she had made those remarks about such a sensitive matter with him, he would probably have ordered her thrown out and made sure he never saw her again. But all the same, there was something about Usagi that made him believe that he could still apologize, genuinely and humbly, and that she would let go of all her anger and resentment and simply let what they had been slide forward again.

In truth, it was the idea of this faceless figure, Mamoru, that still made his stomach clench and forced minuscule beads of instantaneously evaporating sweat from his cold face. As long as he never gazed upon the now-dead man's form and had no sense of who Mamoru truly was, he would continue to fear him with an instinctive dread that could not be quelled. Even the way Usagi spoke the name, with such a nostalgic, endearing tone to her voice, intimidated him beyond all reason. It was almost laughable- what did he, future king of Nemesis and lord over all he surveyed, have to fear from a dead man?

But he did fear that preeminent prince. And the answer to that question thrived on, buried somewhere deep in his once untouchable heart. Perhaps it was his pride that brought out the onslaught of anxiety that taunted him each time the name was spoken. He was afraid that he would meet his match in the memory of an earthly prince, a man who might have been infinitely more regal and handsome and desirable than he ever would be. And he wondered, too, if he could ever measure up to such a man.

If, in some kinder scenario of life, he ever were in the position to give Usagi a gift, and she showed him her gratitude, he would always be left wondering if she had wished it Mamoru who was endowing her with his thoughtful generosity behind that delicate smile. Anytime he spoke to her, he would be ceaselessly tormented by the idea of another young man, speaking to her in an unimaginably charming and charismatic voice that was full of the life and emotion he was so lacking in. If he saw her gaze longingly upon his face, he could only imagine that perhaps she was not seeing him at all, but rather envisioning the form of another in his place, and the adoration that lit her eyes would be an illusion which captured both of them with hope-spawned lies. He would never be able to know how much of the love he received truly belonged to him, and how much of it was a distorted version of a passion lost in an unrepeatable past.

He sighed gently, trying to relieve himself of these dark thoughts floating around his mind. He had never been in love before, and he had no idea how to handle these rampant emotions that flew in at him from every direction. He could never sort his feelings for Usagi out the way he could logically determine everything else, with detached and analytical calm. But no matter which way they spiraled around and struck him, or how confused and happy and miserable they made him feel all at once, they centered around her. She held his heart in her hand.

His eyes shifted inevitably towards the portrait of Neo Queen Serenity that he had placed on his bedside bureau, and he fingered his soft white hair self-consciously as he faced her graceful smile. It was sweet, as she always was, but almost cold. Not cold in the sense of emanating unhappiness or anger, but cold in a sort of taunting way, almost as if she were saying through that brilliant smile I'm perfectly happy here because I have everything I could ever want, and I don't need you. The angelic queen didn't belong here in his frigid white room, nor even in his hard crystal palace. She belonged in some perfect, Demando-free world of her own, with a garden of endless flowers and a flawless palace and pretty prince attached to her side.

He didn't know how to come to terms with his own inability to understand his place in her heart, no matter which lovely and enigmatic form she took. Usagi had spent practically her entire life loving one person, and now that one person was gone. How much of her soul had Mamoru occupied when he was alive? And how much of him still lingered in her hidden grief, trapped by her fears of disloyalty and guilt? He could never know. And yet he had to know. He needed to sense the depth of the pit in order to fill the hole. He could never replace Mamoru, he knew. But he had to try to erase the gaping black hole of Mamoru's absence that crushed her happiness like a merciless stone impinging upon the fragile petals of a golden flower. That was all he wanted to do.

Because she had done that much for him, and more. Her presence in his crystal palace seemed to cast a light over it that could not die. It was like that earthly fable of a cave in wild regions that ensnared with stone cascades and breathed despair into those who entered, a prison whose darkness knew no bounds. But there was a single point of light from the azure sky that descended straight into the immeasurable terrors of death without purpose, and at its brilliant zenith was everything that such a miserable existence could hope for. There was a heaven to aspire to, and it lay in her eyes.

There was something in the crystal depths of her eyes that defied the monstrosities of both mankind and nature; somehow, their unerringly serene beauty evoked an unnamable emotion in him. They were, he realized, almost like a painting of the scenery of deep cerulean oceans on the lifeless moon, an impossible sight that could be beheld only in unspeakable wonder. Her eyes conveyed everything that was not, and yet one day could be. They were the ray of light in a world of darkness, and through them shone the deathless image of hope.

As he came out of this wondrous, almost reverent fantasy of the present Usagi, it occurred to him that things might be different for him. Perhaps that rare shot of Neo Queen Serenity in an alternate reality was stiff and her smile elusive, but in this dying world of the present that he had stumbled across she was another person. So it was Serenity's effortless grandeur that he had worshipped and obsessed over for years in secret desire, but it was Usagi's untainted innocence and compassion that he had truly fallen in love with.

It was strange, he mused. With Mamoru as her king, Usagi had slowly shaped into that dainty and unapproachable woman whose likeness he had admired for so long. And Serenity, in her radiant gowns and perfect makeup, possessed an unfading glory that had made him covet her. But even when he had witnessed her as her future self, the frosty queen with paradise beneath her feet, he saw that something in her was missing. And now, as he compared the two phases of the moon princess against his will, he realized what that was. What he perceived in Serenity lacked the heart that Usagi seemed to pour out into everything she did or felt. Her face was empty, a too-perfect painting stripped of all the emotions that made Usagi so appealing to him now. For Serenity had lived her entire life knowing her precise fate, and at times her imprisoned heart might have wished for something more. But she was always forced to shut the thought away out of loyalty and love, and her heart collapsed just a little more into itself until it was too small to care any longer. She had the face of someone who had submitted to her own destiny with such resignation that she had lost her ability to think for herself, and could now muster only the willpower to float along through life, feigning her aloof happiness. The resplendent queen, monarch of everything in her view, had given herself up to her kingdom and her fate, leaving little trace of the remarkable human being she had once been herself.

Demando finally realized his motivation for being with Usagi with a sudden jolt of passion. He had already seen the queen she was destined to become with Mamoru, the result of living through decades of knowing that everything was predetermined and believing that it was futile to struggle against the tides of Fate. He could understand her pain and bleak desperation to escape the elaborate cage that time had fashioned against her, and he could see that Mamoru's presence seemed to capture those bitter emotions and bind her to that destiny, whether or not he willed it. He knew all of these things about Usagi's future self, and as he pushed deeper and deeper into the tragedy of her life one overpowering emotion seemed to grow increasingly urgent: a desire to protect her.

Because he didn't want her to change into a hopeless, restricted woman over the ages, nor did he ever want to see her forfeit the greatest part of herself for her family and kingdom. It was evident that she was already bound in the tangled strings of fate, and her inability to fully recover and find herself after Mamoru's death was indicative of a problem that would wax with time. Unless he found a way to hold her hand and take her away from the imperfect utopia of her future, she would gradually fade away into the idea that there was a grand scheme of things which was worth sacrificing herself for. She would not die for it, but give away the most beautiful part of herself to it. And he could not stand and let that happen.

For she was the one who had showed him what it meant to care for other people. She had given him her sympathy, and not the empty, passive kind that lasted for a few moments before lifting out of memory forever. With it came a promise to make his tragic world a better place. Even with her own troubles, with the sudden introduction of entropy in an ideal universe through her lover's death, she had cared that much for her own captor and his degenerate society of long-banished criminals. If that part of her could be snatched away, then he felt certain that there would be nothing left in the future world that would be important enough to fight for. There was no "greater cause" in existence great enough to be allowed to diminish the beauty of the purest of all hearts.

Despite his apprehension and self-loathing and all the fears that he would pale in comparison to Usagi's former lover, he knew he could not back away and hide under his purposeless pretense forever. He was terrified of all those imagined phantoms coming to life, but he finally understood that there was something far more important waiting for him. No matter how pitifully he might be rejected, it did not matter in light of his love for Usagi. Even if she could not accept his feelings, he could still provide her with the small comfort that despite all the turmoil that had tumbled her old ordered world from its peaks, she was still loved. He cared for her more than he feared for himself. It was time.

Fire.

A smoldering white inferno flickered all around her in an ever-narrowing circle, and the incredible heat and light cast near-tangible shadows of death into her terrified eyes.

What had happened? Usagi's azure eyes flashed to the ceiling, drawn to the frescoes of ancient progenitors that were now being seared mercilessly by irreverent flames. She shuddered in spite of the intense heat, for the blaze seemed impenetrable. She was completely surrounded.

Tears filled her eyes as she watched helplessly, the ring of fire flickering closer toward her with each second passing by. There was no escape, and she was forced to accept that in her smoldering desperation. How she had slumbered through the rapid dance of flames she did not know, but as her wide eyes gazed at the high, unreachable ceiling above she knew it was too late to save herself. There was no gap; the flames seemed to have fused together for the common cause of her undoing.

And now as the heat rippled through the very air, beating cruelly on her skin and lungs, her consciousness began to waver like the dizzying motion of a pendulum, swayed by forces stronger than itself. Her thoughts slowly seemed to fade, and the surroundings became less real, until finally she could see only darkness, though her eyes were open clearly.

And then a figure emerged from that darkness, and it was Demando's body, but his head was turned from her and she could not see his face. She reached for that shape, somewhere above her, but it disappeared as suddenly as it came, and this time she could only a mask. It was the mask that Mamoru had worn as Tuxedo Mask, but there were no friendly cobalt-colored eyes waiting behind the black cloth. It came down towards her, covering her, smothering her. And as they came close enough to touch her, she could suddenly see eyes within the gaping holes carved out by the mask. But they were violet eyes.

She slumped to the floor, no longer conscious, and a triumphant Pyrite lifted her into the burning air and carried her away.

His agonized, unearthly scream made echoes in the palace chambers. At the heart of the flames he'd seen a sight he never wanted to see- Usagi unconscious, her gown scorched into ribbons, in the cold hands of that sorceress Pyrite. As she floated into the sky, fading away, Demando had screamed for her to release Usagi, slamming his fists into empty air. At this Pyrite gave him a vicious smile, relishing the torment of her abuser.

"Everything you once had is mine," she murmured, the wicked smile lingering on her amused face.

And she left in a whirlwind of flame, taking away the one person he truly loved and leaving behind the smoke of ghosts.

I hope people still enjoy this story, despite the extremely long lapse in writing. Reviews would also be lovely after all this time. Once again, my deepest apologies for the wait.