The Crystal Winter

Author: Adins

Rated: PG13

Chapter 2

Diamond sat alone in his luxuriously furnished chambers on the edge of the four post bed. He cradled in his hands a large scrapbook bound in the most elegant of leathers and leafed with gilded pages. The tome held images from across the globe and each one reflecting the radiant face of Serenity. Many newspaper clippings, amateur photographs, hand-drawn images, paintings, doodles, a charcoal sketch; nothing escaped the discerning eyes of the Petran religious leader.

His fingers traced a particularly lavish portrait of the queen. Her hair was set in its familiar pigtails that trailed to the crystal floor. She wore a featureless evening gown of glistening pearl white offset by the magnificent golden brooch on her chest. Her skin was luminescent, radiating a beauty and purity that made Diamond's eyes water. Her eyes were sparkling, endless miles of summer skies; her smile a snow-white landscape of eternal peace.

"Exquisite ..." he said aloud, his fingers resting on her delicate chin.

"Diamond," came a soft voice from outside his door.

The prince quickly became alert, snapping the book shut and quickly replacing it in the secure drawer of his night stand. His face flushed, realizing he had completely lost himself in his fantasy, again. He turned to the door and permitted the voice entrance, still attempting to rein in his passions which had manifested themselves physically below his waist.

A woman stepped through the door wearing a night black, form-fitting jumpsuit that left no trace of her figure to the imagination. Her hair was long and blonde with a hint of dark green. The bright red lips turned up to a seductive smile as she walked to Diamond's side, her eyes echoing her very name.

"Emerald," Diamond greeted flatly, "What can I do for you?"

She reached him and sat down on the bed next to the Prince, nuzzling her nose into the side of his neck, "I think that question is ‘what can I do for you,' my prince."

The temptress latched onto his lips with hers, moaning and cooing as she straddled one of his legs. Her hands reached up to his ears and pressed herself into him harder. Diamond sat motionless, not bothering to return the lavish affection he was receiving. Finally Emerald tired and regarded him with a worried gaze.

"What's wrong, my love?" she asked.

A hateful glare answered her and she realized she overstepped her bounds by calling him that. Timidly she pulled herself away and returned to sitting nearby on the bed. Diamond stood up and reattached his cape in one swift move.

"Has the Wiseman summoned you as well?" Diamond asked the seductive woman, "Or was that kiss your only motive?"

"He has summoned me," Emerald answered, "All of us, actually."

Diamond nodded and motioned to the door. When Emerald joined him he unexpectedly offered his arm to her which she accepted without a moment's hesitation. The couple made their way into the well-guarded hallway and began the descent to the parliament building's lower levels where the Wiseman made his lair.

"Emerald," Diamond began, not taking his eyes off the hallway in front of him, "I am sorry for not returning your affections just now. This situation has me ... disturbed."

For her part the temptress was instantly soothed, "There is no need to apologize, my prince. I understand."

He looked down at the woman clinging to his arm and smiled lightly, "I want you to know how important you are to me, Emerald. There is no other woman I would want to be at my side for this."

She returned his compliment similarly but Diamond's mind was elsewhere.

You may be at my side, Emerald, but only Serenity can fill the void in my heart.

The two ended their long procession and entered a cavernous room in the depths of the parliament building. Four women stood off to their left watching every move that Emerald made and she smirked back defiantly. Near the end of the room stood two other men of similar build. The first wore loose-fitting brown pants and a matching vest that he apparently felt covered enough of his amply built chest as to not require a shirt underneath. His hair was a fiery red and his mouth was twisted into a salutatory grin.

The second man wore a grim expression across his pale features, dark blue hair combed neatly but still managing to intrude on his vision. He wore gloves and a jacket of royal blue adorned with crystal studs and plain white pants. From a distance he could've been mistaken for King Endymion, though if the similarity were ever vocalized that unfortunate man would find himself met with a most gruesome end.

Between these two sat the enigmatic Wiseman, his face shrouded in the folds of a brown robe and cowl. His hands furiously wandered over the glowing crystal ball before him. He made no sound and gave no indication that he knew there were other people present in the room. Suddenly the door behind Diamond slammed shut and the Wiseman's head jerked upward revealing for the briefest of instants the slivers of deep blue eyes.

"Ahh Prince, at last," he said in a raspy, hollow, but powerful voice, "And Green Emerald as well, very good. Gather."

The eight occupants of the room converged around the Wiseman in a semi-circle with Diamond directly before the creature. Emerald sat at his side flanked by the two other men and the four women split on either side. The Wiseman continued gesticulating over the crystal ball.

"The time has come, my children," the voice emanated from the void of a face.

"Where do we strike?" asked Diamond anxiously.

A holographic image sprang to life from the Wiseman's crystal, projecting itself in the center of their odd circle. It showed the Crystal Palace in New Tokyo sprawling out over the landscape.

"The delegates have converged on the Palace as foreseen," the Wiseman explained, "The Queen will not expect an attack on her own kingdom."

The redhead shifted nervously and the Wiseman turned, "This does not suit you, Crimson Rubeus?"

He replied in a Russian-flecked accent, "We all know well the tenacity of Crystal Tokyo's defense force. It is guarded by more than just men. Senshi patrol those streets."

The Wiseman cackled a horrid, ugly laugh. He went so far as to throw his shrouded head back howling with abandon. Diamond noticed the darkness stayed in place over his features no matter how much light intruded under the cowl.

Without warning the four women in the room swooned and fainted to the ground with a crash. Diamond and the other occupants jumped in alarm. The Wiseman raised a hand and they obediently sat back down.

"Sisters, awake," spoke the creature.

Immediately the four women roused again, looking around the room in confusion and attempting with little success to distance themselves from the Wiseman's imposing figure, his quick spell frightening them to the core.

"As you can see I will be dispensing with the police presence," the Wiseman said, "Once the power of our Dark Crystal is charged to full I will cast such a spell that every man, woman, child and senshi on the planet is rendered helpless."

"You're going to put them all to sleep?" Diamond asked urgently.

"An Eternal Sleep," corrected the creature with an icy tone, "No man shall ever walk the Earth again unless I will it."

The blue haired man finally made his voice heard, revealing it to be nearly identical to Diamond's in accent and inflection. It would have been immediately apparent to anyone that the two were related.

"The Dark Crystal is nearly ready Wiseman."

The creature turned to him and offered a gesture which could have been interpreted as a salute, "I commend you, Blue Sapphire. Your timely efforts will be well rewarded."

Sapphire shook his head, "I only ask that we refrain from bloodletting," he turned to Diamond and offered a somber look, "We want diplomacy, not death."

The Wiseman interrupted, "Yes, yes, yes ... words before wounds Sapphire, but we all must be prepared for battle."

"Let us proceed then," Diamond said, standing up and ordering everyone else to do the same, "We have been delayed long enough."

"Agreed." The Wiseman snarled in approval

Diamond turned to his subordinates, "Rubeus, take the Sisters and ready your ship. Sapphire, accompany the Wiseman to the Dark Crystal control chamber and prepare for the attack. Emerald and I will make for Crystal Tokyo."

All present bowed and went their separate ways leaving Sapphire and the Wiseman alone on the shadows. The hunched figure began to levitate from his perch in the room and moved eerily across the floor with Sapphire following close behind. They reached an unseen door and were whisked away to a large underground cavern adorned with complex machinery. In the center was suspended a massive, skyscraper-sized crystal of jet black obsidian suspended in midair and pulsating like a heart.

"You have done well Sapphire," the Wiseman complimented again.

He only nodded in reply, preferring to keep his dealings with this ancient creature short and to the point. The reached a balcony overlooking the massive crystal and its seemingly endless cavern and the Wiseman stretched out his hands, chanting in a long forgotten language. A wind swept up and Sapphire turned away, busying himself at one of the many flickering control panels to monitor the Dark Crystal's energy output.

In another part of the palace Diamond and Emerald boarded a strange vehicle reminiscent of a space shuttle. It whisked them away at an impressive speed toward the east while Diamond watched the world fly past.

"At last Nemesis will have her revenge," Emerald said, stroking Diamond's leg.

"The poor Crystal Alliance has no idea," Diamond spoke with mock sympathy, "Traitors, infidels ... bah. We are the children of criminals, not the criminals themselves."

He looked to the sky and saw a veritable armada of star-shaped vessels descending through the atmosphere, their pointed hulls like daggers aimed towards the Earth; His army, his brethren from the dead, icy world known as Nemesis beyond the rim of the galaxy.

He recalled the bleak history of that barren planet and his early years growing up there. Nemesis was a desolate world beyond Pluto where in ages past the beatific Serenity had exiled scores of enemies of the state who refused to be "purified" by her mystical Silver Crystal. They were labeled traitors and usurpers and condemned to a life of unrest on the worthless chunk of rock.

Diamond's fists tightened. He was of the third generation of Nemesis and had committed no crimes. His foremost goal was to negotiate with Serenity for his people's return to the Earth. His long dead ancestors could not hold him to their fate, it was simply wrong. He found himself obsessing over the queen, planning out their meeting in detail years before it even occurred. The more he thought the deeper in love he fell until he could see nothing in his dreams but her radiant, sparkling eyes.

If the Wiseman had not found him Diamond would have simply lapsed into obsessive insanity. He cursed himself for thinking of the queen in such a way but he could not put her out of his mind. No. The Wiseman's plan must come to fruition before Diamond could claim her as his queen. There would be no negotiations with the Crystal Alliance. Only a royal marriage could readmit Nemesis and her people.

Diamond recalled how he first learned of Lua Petra and the connection to Nemesis: loved ones, distant relatives, friends of the exiled criminals. They attempted to stay in contact through magical means and eventually transformed itself into something of a religious cult that worshipped the dark planet. Diamond came to them as a Prince and the Wiseman as his prophet, promising to reunite Nemesis with the Earth. The viel of Lua Petra was about to be lifted and the Black Moon Clan revealed once again.

The flight was over before it had even begun and Diamond found himself looking down on Crystal Tokyo through the night sky. The city was awash with twinkling lights and the Crystal Palace itself stood reflecting moonlight and bathing the entire kingdom in an ethereal glow. The glow reminded him of Serenity's luminescent skin and his mind wandered as his shuttle began its descent amidst a hail of anti-aircraft gunfire.

NOTES:

--This is going to end up being a shorter story than I had originally planned, most likely concluding in one or two more chapters.

--To answer Loki's question (thanks for the amazing review) No, I don't have plans to introduce the felines to the story in any form. This narrative deals primarily with Diamond's obsession, Serenity's nostalgia and the Wiseman's motive for aiding the Black Moon Clan.