Book, Staff, and Spirit Productions

Welcomes you to:

Sailor Moon L(ovecraft)

A Fusion with concepts from the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.

Episode 2.3

The King in Yellow, part 2

Friends in Trouble

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.

7

Rei tried to keep from yawning during warm ups. This, of course, was kind of silly, since warming up your voice pretty much triggers yawning. The guys in this class couldn't reach falsetto to save their lives, she thought, glaring over at the tenor section. Her still relatively new house mate, Caduceus Iain, gave her an ingratiating smile. She rolled her eyes at him and made a mental note to chew him out after class.

At this point, Reinard Megumi-sensei ceased warm-ups. "All right, class, today we'll be working on a piece in English."

Everyone groaned, except for Iain, of course. He smiled happily, until he caught Rei's glare. Soon, though, neither one of them had time to smile as the class started learning a choral arrangement of "Stairway to Heaven."

8

Finally, he allowed himself to slow to a walk, but even then, he pushed himself to walk as fast as possible. He knew he was almost there, and soon he'd be able to stop and catch his breath. Even as close as he was, though, he kept glancing over his shoulder, looking around nervously. After all, he didn't know when it would happen. He just knew it would.

When he rounded the final corner, he froze. Standing in front of her house was a woman in a yellow dress. His heart jumped into his throat as he watched her turn and look at him. Then he sighed in relief. It was just Haruna-sensei. What's she doing staring at Ami-chan's house? he wondered idly as he start walking forward again.

Then Haruna turned and started walking away. She was out of sight in a surprisingly short time, well before he'd reached Ami-chan's house. He felt a tiny bit of uneasiness about that. My, she walked quickly.

Then he decided not to worry about it as he reached her porch. It'd been such a long time. He hadn't seen her since they had been in eighth grade. Now they were in tenth grade. In high school. He stared at her door, trying to work up the nerve to knock, to see her again. Why am I so nervous? he thought.

At that point the door opened, and there she was, blinking at him in surprise. He stared back. He couldn't help it; she was so incredibly beautiful.

"Ami-chan?"

She stared at him. "Urawa-kun? What are you doing here?"

As he had so many times, he briefly considered falling to his knees, profusely apologizing for not keeping in touch, not trying to visit her, and telling her how much he loved her, that he wanted to stay with her forever. But if he did that, he knew, he'd lose the nerve to tell her the important part, the reason he'd finally come to see her again. Even though it might be the last straw, the end of their relationship...

Urawa Ryo took a deep breath. "Ami, someone's going to wear my face." Damn, that didn't come out right at all.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and said, "What? Like, impersonate you?"

He shook his head, and finally let the fear show. "No, like, carve my face off, and wear it as a mask."

9

Rei dragged Usagi out of her house by the ear to where Naru, Umino, and Iain were waiting. "Baka-Usagi! What are you doing sleeping in? We have a test in math today and you, of all people, should have been up early to study!"

"But studying's –ow!— no fun, Rei! I'd much –owwie!- rather be sleeping!"

While Naru and Umino giggle a little, Iain very carefully did not watch the seen and kept a straight face. He'd quickly learned the best policy when dealing with Rei. She seemed to have something against guys, which was a real shame, since she was totally hot. Then again, he thought, even if I did try something, Yuiichiro would probably pound me flat.

At this point, the watches that Usagi and Rei always seemed to wear beeped simultaneously. They blinked, then babbled some sort of incomprehensible excuse, and rushed off in different directions, disappearing in moments.

Iain blinked. Naru sighed sadly. "I don't get it, Gurio-chan! I mean, at least Usagi seems to have remembered I exist now that we're in high school, but still... I used to be her best friend, but now I can't even have one of those radio watches she talks to the other girls with! She lies about it being a walkie-talkie type thing! What did I do to push her away?"

"It's okay, Naru-chan," Gurio said, timidly. "I'm sure Usagi doesn't mean any harm. It's some club for dateless... No, that can't be it... Perhaps a club for people with bad grades...? No, of course, not, Ami has one..." Suddenly he laughed. "Maybe they're the Sailor Senshi and are trying to keep their identities secret!"

Naru blinked at him, then burst out laughing. "That's the funniest thing I've ever heard! Imagine, Usagi being Sailor Moon!"

Soon both were rolling on the ground in stitches, while Iain shook his head. "I'm sure something must have been funny there, but I totally missed it. I wish my Japanese was better."

10

Haruka wandered aimlessly around during lunch. Michiru was preparing for the string ensemble course she taught. They'd both been surprised when Vice-Principle Fuyutsuki asked her to teach it for both credit and pay; she'd gladly accepted, though. Not that she'd need the money, but she was always happy to spread her artistic and musical talents around.

This, however, left poor Haruka without her soul mate for an entire lunch. She would have gone running, except she had calculus after lunch, and had already been mercilessly mocked by Habuki-sensei (Haruka refused to call her Washu-chan in her own mind) for coming in sweaty once already. Habuki-sensei had quite the wit. Not to mention having a tanuki statue dropped on your head was painful and heavy.

So, she wandered aimlessly around during lunch. After a while, she decided to wander over and see what the Inners were doing.

When she emerged into the area in which lay the Inners' usual picnic table lay, she was in for a surprise. Instead of them sitting there and wasting their time with idle talk and gossip with those non-Senshi friends of Usagi's and that silly little exchange student, Usagi, Ami, and a boy she didn't recognize were standing near the table, looking serious and worried. The boy especially, was looking around nervously. None of the others were in sight.

With a little smirk, she strolled over to behind Usagi (motioning to Ami and the boy to be quiet) and clapped her hands over Usagi's eyes. "Guess who?" she asked mischievously.

Usagi slumped back against her. Haruka staggered slightly, not expecting the girl's sudden weight, and she quickly moved her hands to keep Usagi standing. She craned her head around to look at Usagi's face, and blinked in surprise. "She fainted."

"Now I know why I saw myself waking her up with smelling salts..." the boy murmured to himself, then said quietly to Haruka. "I'm not surprised she fainted, considering what we've been talking about."

He pulled out a bottle of smelling salts and wafted it under Usagi's nose while Haruka stared at him. "Who are you, and what are you babbling about?" she asked.

Usagi moaned and shook her head. Then she looked back at Haruka. "Geez, Haruka," she whispered. "Don't do that..." She stepped away shakily, and Ami put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm Urawa Ryo," the boy said. He glanced at Ami. "I knew Ami back in middle school." He paused, and waited politely for her to introduce this person to him.

Ami said quietly to Urawa, "This is Ten'ou Haruka, also known as Sailor Uranus." Haruka blinked in shock. Ami spoke again before she could object. "He knows. He was one of the Rainbow Crystal bearers back when we were fighting Beryl, and because of that he can see the future. Which is why he's here; he saw someone cutting off his face and wearing it like a mask."

Haruka stared at him. "That doesn't sound too healthy. Right. You can count on the Sailor Senshi. We'll talk to Pluto; she'll know how to keep you healthy."

If she's willing to help...

11

Rei walked home with Iain. Usagi, Michiru, Haruka, and Ami were accompanying Urawa to Setsuna's house, while Minako and Makoto looked around for any suspicious characters.

Iain, Rei noticed, seemed glum. "So, Iain..." she said. She still wasn't entirely comfortable around him. He was very strange at times. "You seem down. Anything wrong?"

He looked at her and blinked. "Hmm? Oh, no, I'm fine." He flashed her a bright, frequently practiced smile, and returned to staring off into space as he walked.

Nuts... Uhhh... "How's Umino? Talked to him lately?"

"No, but he's talked to me a lot." She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't.

She made a face at him when he couldn't see, and gave up. To her surprise, though, he spoke again after a couple of minutes. "Who... where did... how do you guys know Urawa?"

She looked at him. Could he...? Naw, no way. "Why?"

He shrugged, clearly uneasy. "Well, he just kind of showed up, and you guys all talked a bit, and then everyone got real worried... except Naru and Umino, of course. They were as confused as I was." He shrugged. "I shouldn't really expect to be friends with all of you, but I'd think you could at least tell Naru and Umino what's going on. Naru's complained a lot about always being in the dark."

Rei sighed. There was a problem that had no solution. Usagi had asked several times if she could tell those two about everything, but the rest of the Senshi (a.k.a. Rei) had voted her down. Rei just didn't think that Naru could handle keeping the secret from Umino, and she was sure that Umino wouldn't be able to keep the secret from anyone. However, if they didn't tell them soon, Naru could very well get fed up with all the secrecy and just quit associating with them. That, of course, would devastate Usagi and set back the little emotional progress she had made towards maturity.

Rei had had a lot of practice thinking these thoughts, and it didn't take her very long. She was about to open her mouth to reply when it hit her. All her arm hair stood on end as the wave of... not so much evil, as the sense of something totally alien... washed over her. Beside her, Iain gasped and whispered. "By the pricking of my thumbs..."

12

When the door finally opened, everyone there stared in shock. Setsuna—smooth, mysterious, always in control Setsuna—looked like she'd been through hell and back three or four times. Her hair was a mess, tangled, knotted, and he clothes clearly hadn't been changed in a long time. There were huge dark circles under her eyes, which were so bloodshot that the whites of her eyes couldn't even be seen.

"Setsuna?" Michiru asked, shocked.

She stared back at them, wide eyed. "I'm trapped..." she whispered. "Completely trapped..."

Then her eyes rolled up and she quietly began to collapse. Haruka and Michiru were able to catch only barely in time.

Everyone looked at Ami, who blinked back. "Uh, let's, uh, get her inside, put her on the couch."

Once inside, Ami looked her over. "I think she's just suffering from exhaustion. Maybe malnutrition and dehydration too. Just in case, someone should make her some broth, something nutritious..." She shrugged. "Then we wait."

13

C-kun: [walks out onto the stage] Well, due to the overwhelming support for our last scene thirteen break, I've decided it will be a regular feature of Sailor Moon L. [flashback to the sounds of crickets and Chibi-Cultist Rei screaming in unidentifiable languages, then slightly, but not all the way forward, to the almost total lack of reviews of any sort, and no comments at all about the scene thirteen break] Ahem. Anyway, today, we have Ryo-Ohki, the true star of Tenchi Muyo and an, err, incredibly adorable spaceship.

Ryo-ohki: [hops out onto the stage next to C-kun with a carrot strapped to her back] Miya! [removes carrot and starts eating]

C-kun: Err, so, Ryo-ohki, how are you?

Ryo-ohki: *Crunch-crunch-crunch*

C-kun: O-kay. Well, uh, what are your opinions about all the lemons out there starring you or your friend Sasami? I'm sure those must upset you.

Ryo-ohki: *Crunch-crunch-crunch*

C-kun: Riiiight. Anyway, Ryo-ohki doesn't seem very talkative today, so I guess we'll just get back-

[The stage explodes as Ryoko blows the living snot out of the entire area, then proceeds to fly away carrying a perfectly unharmed Ryo-ohki, still eating]

14

While Michiru was busy fixing broth for Setsuna, the others stood around and talked quietly, discussing how best to protect Urawa, considering that Setsuna seemed to have problems of her own. Ami, however, stayed out of the conversation, staring out the front window. Urawa, being who he was, noticed and managed to inch his way out of the discussion and over to her.

"Ami-chan?" he asked hesitantly as he approached. When she didn't respond, he came up closer behind her. As he slowly tried to wrap his arms around her, he said, "Ami-chan, I'm sorry-"

She quickly pulled away and looked at her feet. "Sorry? Sure you're sorry. You're sorry 'cause you had to come ask me to protect you again, that's all!"

He shook his head desperately. "No, that's not it! I... You know my father. I just had no chances to-"

"Phoning and writing don't take that long, Urawa," she said softly...sadly. "I know you got at least some of my letters. I asked for receipts from the postal service, when you got the letters. You!" she suddenly hissed, glaring at him. I know that you, yourself, were handed not one, but several of those letters, because the receipts had your signature on them!"

He blinked in shock. That explained why they'd been in those weird packages. Shit. "I, I-"

"I thought we had something special, Urawa!" she said, almost pleadingly. "I thought I meant something to you! But you never even tried to call..."

At this point she started to weep softly, and Urawa suddenly felt the glares of the other Senshi on his back. He felt like crying himself. "Ami... I... I was too scared, Ami... I just..."

She turned away from him. He tried to step closer, but she moved away again and said, "Urawa-kun, I, I just can't be with someone who only talks to me when his life is in danger. I may be a Senshi, but, I need comfort sometimes too..." Her weeping increased into sobbing, then she spun and stumbled away from him.

He reached out a hand as if to pull her back as Usagi threw her arms around the poor girls shoulder and gave him a glare. "Ami..."

15

Makoto sighed in irritation as Minako ran off after a butterfly. "Is it me?" she muttered, "Or is Minako acting awfully flighty today?"

Suddenly Minako froze, and pointed. Makoto blinked and peered down the street. The only think she saw was some woman in a really ugly yellow dress that didn't match her red hair at all...

Then she blinked. "Is that Haruna-sensei?" she asked, puzzled.

Minako shrugged. "I think so. Whoever it is, she can't be up to any good. Anyone with that fashion sense... I mean, I'm all for yellow, but that shade, and when your hair's that color? Gross!"

Makoto nodded sagely. "Definitely. It can't be Haruna-sensei. She had good fashion sense. She never wore anything that clashed with her hair. Come on, we better follow."

And off they went, as the woman turned down another street.

16

Rei stared at the woman. She looked familiar, but whoever she was, she definitely was the origin of the feeling of wrongness that she was getting. She glanced at Iain. He was pale as paste, but at the same time looked very determined. As she looked, he seemed to whisper something.

"What?" she asked him softly.

He jumped a little, and looked at her. Scratching his head sheepishly, he said, "Uh, just a prayer. D-do you know any, like, banishment spells or something?" He looked doubtful. "Because whatever that woman is, it isn't good, and I'm not much of a spiritualist..."

She grinned and pulled out a spirit ward, privately wondering if she should send him to get her grandfather and take the opportunity to transform. The sense of wrongness felt overwhelming. "I've got all I need right here," she said with more confidence then she felt. The woman was grinning unpleasantly at them.

To her surprise, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver cross the length of his palm. He smiled nervously, and said, "I'll do my best." Closing his eyes, "May my faith be enough..."

She nodded solemnly. She had no issues with lack of faith, but she knew many people who tried to be religious did. She respected the effort.

They stood their ground as the woman approached them. Glancing past her, Rei saw Minako and Makoto pop their head around the corner. She mouthed, "Transform," at them.

Then the woman spoke, and Rei realized that it was Usagi's old Jr. High teacher even as she knew that it was wrong, wrong, wrong! With a strangely empty voice, it said, "You're little symbols aren't going to help you against me. And you little friends aren't going to be able to help, either."

Rei's eyes narrow. "You're not that big yourself, lady."

Beside her, Iain whimpered. Rei resisted the impulse to roll her eyes, keeping them glued to the thing wearing Haruna-sensei's face.

"Whatever you are, you're going to be punished for doing... whatever it is you've done with my friends' old teacher!"

When it grinned, she realized that along with everything else, the skin of the face just wasn't right. It was almost like it'd been stuck on...

And when it opened its mouth, the most horrible sound Rei had ever heard in her life came out. It was a horrible, ghastly ululation, and it seemed to have multiple, dissonant melody lines occurring at the same time. Her first impulse was to clap her hands over her ears, scream; anything to drown out that noise. Iain did exactly that.

She gritted her teeth, and with one fluid motion, charged and launched half a dozen spirit wards. The being slapped them aside without pausing in the song.

Pain washed over her body, and she looked at her arm in horror as her flesh began to blister and boil. Now, it was time to scream...

To be continued...

Again.

Author's notes: Here's the second revision of Episode 2.3. I'm still not going to put them together. Besides, that, IMHO, is one heckava cliff hanger. It has finally been edited, so if there are any mistakes left, someone needs to mail me an N^2 mine.

To any Urawa fans, I'm also sorry. He always struck me as rather wishy-washy, and him avoid contact with Ami because he's scared of commitment, or of being hurt, or whatever, seemed entirely plausible. [grin] And he's convenient. I'm a little shaky on canon, whether he's actually able to remember them or not after the whole beat Beryl, set time back a year thing, but I made a judgment call that because of his powers, he remembers. I'm sure someone out there will hate me for breaking canon, too...

By the way, Reinard Megumi is the communication's officer from the wonderful show Martian Successor Nadesico. Before she was the comm. officer, she was an anime voice actress, and since most anime voice actresses (sorry, can't remember the spelling of the Japanese word) tend to sing, I thought she'd make a good choir instructor. In case you hadn't noticed by now, I love using cameos for semi-major roles.

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.