Note: I have nothing to do with Sailor Moon and its characters except to be a fan who enjoys the series and the movies very much. This story is my extrapolation of the storylines as received in North America. I apologize if this story doesn't quite fit into the Japanese series.
Darian strode quickly through the halls of the royal palace, but he ignored the silence that surrounded him. There were more important things to worry about than the absence of other people--or even animals--around him. Things like how and why Rini had disappeared from the palace just before Emerald's final attack. Or how Rini had returned to the past without Sailor Pluto's help. Or how they were going to defeat Prince Diamond and the forces from Nemesis and preserve two times without destroying the world in the process.
He stopped before a glittering door and pressed a panel on its surface. The doors slid open.
Darian braced himself and entered. "You wanted to see me, Your Majesty?"
"Thank you for coming," the King of the Earth said as he turned around.
Darian experienced the same wave of vertigo he always felt whenever he saw the king's face. It was difficult looking into features so very familiar yet so very different. Even accounting for the discrepancies caused by the hologram technology that projected the king's image, they were nearly identical. So the king's hair had lightened towards a purple-gray while his own hair was a deep blue-black. So the king appeared slightly taller, though it might have been the hologram that gave that impression. It was the eyes behind the king's mask that made the entire difference. They were his eyes: Darian's eyes.
And yet they weren't. There was age there, and experience, and a peace that Darian knew he hadn't yet achieved. But that was to be expected, after all. The King of the Earth hadn't yet grown to his full potential. For now he was still Prince Darian of Earth, and there were centuries more to go before he ascended to his throne.
It was still unnerving.
Darian shook himself as the king walked towards him.
"Prince Darian," his future self said softly, "I know you're having trouble dealing with this. It isn't easy to look at someone and realize that the two of you are actually one and the same person."
Darian glared at the king. "How would you know?" he demanded defensively.
The king smiled gently. "Because I felt the same way when I was still you."
Darian winced. He'd forgotten. Everything he knew and remembered, and everything he'd done and would do were memories for the king. He sighed, and allowed himself to smile a little. It made him feel better, somehow, that there was at least someone in the universe who had experienced the same things and understood how he felt. Even if that other person was himself from a future time.
The king nodded at his smile. "I've asked you to come here because there is something I must tell you before you return with the Sailor Soldiers to the past. There is something you must do as soon as possible after you defeat Prince Diamond and the Wiseman."
Darian frowned. "You seem awfully confident in our success. How can you--" He stopped and shook his head. "Never mind."
The king nodded again. "I've never understood Prince Diamond's logic in sending Rubeus and the four sisters back in time to conquer Tokyo. That Crystal Tokyo still stood in the future meant that they wouldn't succeed. Then again, that he sent them back in time was inevitable since the Sailor Scouts had to fight them so they could find the path to Sailor Pluto and the future." The king turned away. "But to business."
The king pressed something on a panel in the wall, causing the illumination level in a darkened corner to increase, revealing a set of closed curtains. Darian watched carefully. Amy had no idea how the king's hologram could possibly interact physically with objects. It was an interesting problem.
The king had turned back to him. "After you save the past," he continued, "and after you send Rini back to the future, there is something that you must do. Only you can do it because only you have the power and the knowledge to carry it out. You can ask Luna and Artemis for assistance if you feel you need it, but ultimately it will be you who must do this. Not even Princess Serena, even with the power of the Imperium Silver Crystal, can help."
Darian felt uneasy. "What? Why me? I don't have any special powers. I'm a dead shot when I'm throwing roses and can usually hold my own with a sword, but that's about it. Rei's better at karate than I am, Amy's smarter, and Lita's stronger. And if even the Imperium Silver Crystal can't help, what good am I to do this?"
"It has to be you," the king said softly, "because it requires the knowledge locked within the memories of Prince Darian, former champion of the Negaverse." He pressed another panel, causing the curtains to withdraw.
Darian gasped, forgeting for the moment the wave of terror that had come from the king's reminder of his--their--former allegiance to the Negaverse. Because lying on a dais not unlike the one Queen Serenity lay upon and like her sealed in crystal, was a person he'd never thought, never wanted to see again.
"What's he doing here?" Darian demanded. "What on Earth is Jedite doing in the future?"
"He's here because you will rescue him," the king said.
"Over my dead body."
"Listen to me," the king said firmly. "Only you know the spells used by Queen Beryl to punish people with eternal sleep. You've locked them away deep inside because you don't want to remember anything about what you did while you served her. You've never forgiven yourself for turning against the Sailor Scouts even if Serena and the others have."
Darian clenched his fists, wanting to lash out at this man who had the gall to state plainly what he himself fought so desperately to deny. It didn't matter that the man was a hologram or that the man was what he would someday become. He'd find a way to hit the king.
"I know you're angry, Darian," the king said softly. "I was angry when I was in your place and the king told me what I'm now telling you. But you have to understand. Queen Beryl had to use her deepest, darkest powers to twist you and turn you against the Sailor Scouts because the light of goodness was so strong within you. In the end she could only suppress and bury the love you felt for Princess Serenity, not destroy it, and it is through that love that you became yourself once more. And even through that time you hated involving ordinary humans in the struggle. You constantly undermined Malachite's plans because you wanted to protect the humans, and you continually rescued Sailor Moon from Malachite's schemes because deep within your love struggled against Beryl's darkness. So take comfort in knowing that you were never evil."
Darian relaxed, some of the tension draining from him. The king's words made sense. Of course, the king had long since come to terms with it all, right? "Okay, but why would I want to rescue Jedite?"
"Before I answer that, you need to understand something. Jedite and the other generals weren't always evil. There was a time before the coming of the Negaverse that they were good and noble, allies to the Moon Kingdom. It was only when Queen Beryl used her dark magics that they fell from grace and sought the destruction of Queen Serenity's empire."
Darian sniffed. "They were good? Malachite and Zoicite? Never."
"Do you think they could love each other if they were wholly evil?" the king asked. "Do you think Nephlyte could fall in love with Molly if there weren't some remnant of goodness within him? Ask Serena about the time she encountered Jedite during that romance cruise scheme he'd concocted. She'll tell you that he was nice and even charming to her. Could he be nice and considerate if he were completely evil?"
"He might have been a good actor," Darian said, unwilling to concede anything but feeling his resistance starting to slip away. The truth was, he knew everything the king was saying was true.
"Darian, I shared your doubts. I remember how Jedite nearly drowned me at the airport, how Nephlyte's trap nearly cost me my life as well as Serena's, how Zoicite's ice shard and Malachite's scheme with the ice skaters nearly killed me. But while Zoicite and Malachite died without a chance at redemption, Nephlyte did find goodness and peace in the end. I think Jedite deserves to have at least that much of a chance, don't you?"
Darian sighed. "All right. I'll try to free him. But what is he doing here?"
The king crossed to the dais and rested his hand atop the crystal. The whole thing seemed to glow briefly. "He's one of my most trusted aides and one of my closest friends. Despite everything, he's always been a good planner--even you can attest to that." The king waited for Darian's reluctant nod. "I owe my life to him several times over. During the struggle that resulted in the banishment of Prince Diamond's forebears to Nemesis Jedite was my second-in-command, and only his bravery kept me from an early grave. As a matter of fact, I'm awake and moving around only because Jedite shielded me from the blast that put everyone else to sleep. I sealed him in crystal the same way the Sailor Soldiers sealed my queen in quartz. I've been lonely too often to let death snatch away even one of my friends without a fight."
Darian started. He knew exactly what the king meant. Growing up in the orphanage, seeing his friends leave one by one had been a painful time in his life. It was probably why he'd been so brusque and harsh with Serena when they first met. It was also why he maintained such a strong friendship with Andrew.
The king turned around. "But the only way he can protect me is if you are able to release him from his prison and free him from the guilt he carries in his heart."
"His guilt?"
"He did not serve Queen Beryl by choice," the king said, "anymore than you did. With the Negaverse gone his soul and his life are his own once more, and he will remember all that he did while serving her, much as you still do. You must help him to recover. The fate of the world rests upon your success."
Darian stared at the king, confused. "I thought we couldn't affect the future by changing the past. Doesn't that mean that I'll succeed and Jedite will be there to protect you...protect me from danger?"
The king shook his head. "What I've told you is what the king told me when I was you. Nothing less, nothing more." He turned back to the crystal-covered dais. "It's almost time for you to go. Sailor Pluto has other instructions for you. You might consider asking her about the paradox of time travel. No one understands more about it than she does."
Darian started to object, but changed his mind. "I won't fail," he said confidently. "It's for my own good anyway, isn't it? I suppose Jedite and I will have to be good friends if he's going to come to my rescue."
The king nodded but didn't turn around. "Please, Darian, no matter what happens, always remember that you are not and have never been evil at heart. And for what I did to you and Serena, I hope you'll forgive me."
Darian felt a momentary spark of resentment as he recalled the torture the king had put him through, nightmares about Serena getting hurt and ominous warnings to stay away from her. In the end it all worked out, though. Now he and Serena were closer than ever, reassured by the depth of their committment to one another. "I do forgive you, Your Majesty," he said. "I know I'll have to do the same thing one day myself."
Darian turned and started out the door. "I also know how hard it is for you to say good-bye to those you care about, especially since you know you won't ever see them again."
As Darian exited, he was rewarded with the king's soft but honest laughter.
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