Book, Staff, and Spirit Productions
Welcomes you to:
Sailor Moon L(ovecraft)
A Fusion with concepts from the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.
Episode 2
Who is HERZ?
The King in Yellow, Part 1
Note: Understanding this story requires no prior knowledge of H.P. Lovecraft or any of his writings. It does, however require a fair bit of knowledge of the anime series Sailor Moon. Like you'd be here if you didn't already have that.
This story takes place after Sailor Moon S. It can be considered an alternate universe, since it takes the place of Sailor Moon Super S.
1
In a silent room, far underground, at the head of a massive oval oak table, there sat a man. He sat motionlessly, his elbows on the table, his white gloved hands clasped in front of the lower half of his face. The little light that there was in the room glinted ominously off of his tinted glasses. He was a thin man of indeterminate age, with well-groomed brown hair and a thin beard that ran from his sideburns down the edges of his chin. Other than the white gloves, his clothing was dark, though his jacket was open, revealing a red shirt underneath.
Behind the man was absolute darkness. He was facing the only opening in the room; the end of a spiral stair case, the stairs of which quickly disappeared around the corner. In the time taken to describe all this, though, the silence of the room was broken, as voices echoed down from far above.
The voices grew closer, but they also grew softer. As they approached, the man continued his unmoving vigil. Hidden behind his clasped, gloved hands, however, a slight smirk played across his lips.
The approaching conversations stopped as if shut off by a switch when those speaking came into the man's view as they stepped around the final bend in the spiral stair case. Silently, figures descended the last few steps and headed towards their seats. Each nodded to the man at the head of the table as they came, and he returned each with an almost imperceptible nod of his own.
The first figure was a well built woman in her late twenties. She had long, luxuriant, purple hair, and wore a short black skirt and a dark v-neck blouse, with a red jacket over it. Around her neck, she wore a pair of necklaces. On one, there was a silver cross; on the other, there was a strange, star-shaped symbol with what seemed like both a flame and an eye in the center. It was difficult to tell what it was made of.
Behind her came two more women. One was a thin woman with shoulder-length bleached blonde hair, though it was difficult to tell it was bleached without looking closely. She wore a white lab coat with shorts and a t-shirt underneath. The other had short brown hair and an open, almost boyish look around her. She wore tan pants and a matching jacket.
They were followed by a thin, nervous seeming man. He was short, thin, and very pale, wearing slacks and a turtle-neck. The most noticeable thing about him was his eyes behind his spectacles; they were very, very afraid.
At a careful distance from him, as if protecting him, there followed a tall, thickly muscled man with lavender hair, parted in the middle. He was wearing a dark, tight t-shirt without the sleeves and loose cotton pants. A katana was strapped to his back.
Directly behind him was a woman with long teal hair, wearing a headband and dark, serviceable clothing- a turtleneck and jeans. She had a gun in a holster on her hip, and seemed to be carefully observing everything in sight.
For a moment, no more people appeared. Then two young girls and an old, though straight-backed man turned the corner. One girl, with the spiky red hair, and the grey haired man continued their conversation as they moved into view, while a yellow-eyed, silver haired girl beside them watched silently.
"...and Mizuno-san is doing even better than I expected. I think that someday, if we live that long, we may have to offer her a position, for she will have talents we can't afford to let go," the red-headed girl finished saying to the old man as she took the seat opposite the head of the table.
The bleached blonde nodded. "I agree. She shows great promise in both of my classes, and seems to have an amazingly open mind, from what I know of her mother."
The man with the white gloves slowly unclasped his hands and laid them flat on the table. "That," he said, with only a hint of sarcasm, "is good to know. I see that Megumi isn't present?" It was, in fact, a question.
"She said she had something vital to attend to," the purple haired woman said dryly.
"Hmmm," the man replied. "Very well. Fuyutsuki, shall we begin."
The old man smiled calmly. "Certainly, Chairman Ikari."
Ikari nodded back. "Very well. This meeting of HERZ is now in session."
2
"YOU DID WHAT?" Ms. Mizuno said in shock, staring at her daughter. Ami smiled nervously and ducked her head in respect to her mother.
She held the bird in her arms a little tighter, and she repeated, "I offered to take care of Katsuragi-sensei's pet penguin while she finds an apartment that will let her keep it. His name is Pen-pen, and he's very intelligent. He won't be any trouble."
Behind her, Ami's friend Hino Rei and the American exchange student, Caduceus Iain, who was staying at her temple, spoke in unison: "I can't believe Grandpa wouldn't let us take care of him!" Rei wanted to take care of Pen-pen because she was a huge fan of her teacher, a renowned scholar of military and religious history. Iain wanted to take care of Pen-pen because he thought the penguin was totally cool.
Between the two, they supported a small box which proclaimed, "Amazing refrigerator in a 3X3X3 box! Put it together yourself, and it's the biggest one you've ever seen!"
With all the marvels of modern technology, you'd think they could find something more intelligent sounding to put on the box, Ms. Mizuno thought. Then she sighed and said, "Very well. Kasuragi-san seemed like a very together woman, and if she needs a little help, it is only fitting that her best student should do so."
Ami beamed, while Rei and Iain glared daggers at Ms. Mizuno.
3
"I wish I had a beer," Katsuragi Misato said with a sigh as she slumped on the table.
Ikari gave her a cold look. "Must you say that at the beginning of every meeting, Kasuragi-san?"
"Yes."
He sighed. "Fine. How has your research been going?"
She instantly straightened up, suddenly all business. "Well, it would probably be better if anyone had ever fought a Great Old One and lived to tell the tale. As it is, it is pretty difficult to figure out strategies to use against them that will be effective, but I managing to make a fairly comprehensive history, without all the mumbo-jumbo and "The Great Old Ones are all mighty, all powerful, will rule the world, yadda-yadda-yadda, etcetera, etcetera," that every other maniac who's written about them included." She, like every other person in the room, had brought a brief case, and now she opened it and took out a number of thick packets of paper.
After pausing for a moment to stare longingly at the beer which she did, in fact, have, but knew she couldn't drink during the meeting, she passed out the packets to those at the table. "These are the histories of Cthulhu from what I can get out of the traditional histories, and of Hastur. Hastur's is, unfortunately, incomplete, because my primary source, the data Maya-san and Ruri-chan were hacking from those idiot cultists at KiY Inc., disappeared right before their company went belly up and the executives all disappeared." She frowned at her packets, as if she could bring the data back with her glare.
Chairman Ikari nodded. "Excellent. Everyone, make sure you read these."
"Definitely," the bleached blonde woman suddenly said. "Because we don't have very long to learn about Hastur before he kills us all."
All attention quickly turned to her. "What are you saying, sempai?" the short haired woman next to her whispered.
"I'm saying, Maya-chan, that the avatar of Hastur known as the King in Yellow is here this very instant, planning to bring Hastur himself as soon as possible, through the very simple process of killing people to gain more power, until his body has enough power to contain his entire essence. At which point Tokyo will become the new dread Carcosa, and Tokyo Bay will be the new Lake of Hali. Oh yes, and humanity will be extinct."
The room was silent for a moment.
4
Haruna-sensei yawned and put aside the papers she'd been grading when the doorbell ring. It is such a relief to not have to grade any of Usagi's work anymore, she thought for about the thousandth time since school started. She chuckled as she headed toward the door. You'd almost think I missed the girl.
She opened the door and said, "Yes? Hello?"
There was a man standing there. He was dressed in bright yellow, slightly archaic garb, though how it was archaic she couldn't quite say. What she was more concerned about, though, was his face. It was extremely pallid, and didn't quite seem to be on right. Almost like a mask... she thought distractedly.
"Are you Haruna-sensei?" the man asked. His voice sounded strangely hollow.
She blinked, and answered, "Yes. May I help you?"
"I believe so," the man said with a smile.
Had anyone been watching from the hall, they simply would have seen the man step into the apartment and close the door behind him. Unfortunately for Haruna, no one was.
5
After a moment, Chairman Ikari spoke, "I assume you make this statement based on readings from the Magi, Dr. Akagi."
She smiled slightly. "Of course, Gendo. It detected him the same day KiY went down. I've been monitoring him, making sure. It definitely is him, though."
Fuyutsuki sighed tiredly. "Than we have very little time. What can we do?"
The teal haired woman spoke up. "We have to contact the Sailor Senshi. They are the only ones that have any chance of dealing with him. We don't know enough."
"No, Kiyone-san," the red-haired girl responded. "They won't stand a chance against him. Not yet. The Song of Hastur is too dangerous, and cast by the King in Yellow himself, he could affect them all in one fell swoop. They have to be taught the counter-song before they might be able to face him."
"Yeah, well, too bad Megumi hasn't finished researching it yet, Washu!" Kiyone snapped back.
Washu stood angrily. "You, of all people, should know to call me Washu-chan, Kiyone!"
"ENOUGH!" Ikari Gendo shouted. Silence fell. "Squabbling won't help us." He turned to the lavender haired man. "Trunks, when is your mission planned for?"
The big man sighed. "Soon. Very soon, I will attempt to walk the corners and enter the Dark Kingdom. With any luck, I'll be able to retrieve him."
Gendo nodded. Then he turned to Washu and the silver haired girl. "Washu-chan, Ruri-chan..." The honorifics sounded odd coming from his lips. He sighed. "Continue your research. Kiyone..."
The teal haired woman nodded back to him, and he continued, "You're on clean up."
She sighed. "Teach me to go into forensics."
He turned to the remaining women. "Ritsuko-san, Maya-san, please continue monitoring him. We need—"
A beeping interrupted him. Ritsuko pulled a palm pilot from her pocket and glanced at it, then hit a button and shook her head. "He just got stronger. I hope he doesn't realize we are detecting his energy signature."
Misato frowned. "Doesn't he only grow stronger when he gets a new mask? Whatever that means."
The others blinked at her. After a moment, Ruri spoke up. "There is a reason he is called the Stranger in the Pallid Mask. He does, in fact, wear one."
"Yeah, so?"
Ruri sighed. "Adults no baka. 'Pallid, adj. One: Having an abnormally pale or wan complexion: the pallid face of the invalid. Two: Lacking intensity of color or luminousness. Three: Lacking in radiance or vitality; dull. Synonyms: pale, pasty, ghostly, deathlike..."
Misato blinked. "Ooooh. Oh, shit."
6
The King in Yellow smiled at her appearance in the mirror. The dress certainly looked better in yellow than in red. Too bad about the make-up. She'd just have to go without.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes
Well, here is the first revision of the first part of Episode 2. I briefly considered putting all three parts back together, but that would make another huge file, and I'm not sure how to do it, anyway. This is easier. Of course, before I put this up, I'm going revise the other two parts anyway, so, whatever. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. With any luck, I can attract more people by openly stating it is a story with the elements of Lovecraft's writings, since heaven knows, I'm not attracting readers now.
To any Haruna fans out there, I'm sorry. This is a horror story, after all, and things are probably only going to get darker. Also, here is the run down on the HERZ council/school faculty. Ikari Gendo, Fuyutsuki Kozou, Katsuragi Misato, Akagi Ritsuko, and Ibuki Maya are from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Habuki Washu and Kiyone are from Tenchi Universe. Trunks is from Dragon Ball Z. Ruri is from Martian Successor Nadesico.
Anyway, he's my disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fic besides Iain Caduceus. I hope he hasn't offended you too much so far.
This story is Copyright 2002 by C-kun and Book, Staff, and Spirit Productions.
