Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Augst Derleth.
Chapter 3: When Ice Met Fire
She stood in the doorway again, a child of no more than three or four frozen totally in fear. It was the exact same scene as before; her parents lying dead in the middle of the room, their throats having been savagely cut open. The monster that had cruelly ended their lives stood over them, its black claws still dripping with their blood. It looked at her with those horrible crimson eyes and opened its fang-filled mouth to make the same hate-filled hissing sound it always made during the scene. The thing charged right for her, and just like always she screamed.
Rei was still screaming when she shot up in bed, cold sweat covering her brow. She kept screaming for several moments and was totally oblivious when the door to the adjoining room slid open and Jun burst in, carrying a gun and wearing nothing but a pair of navy blue boxer shorts. When Rei finally came back to reality and she saw the half-nude gunman standing in the room, she shouted something incoherent and threw the clock on the nightstand right at Jun's head.
Jun managed to duck out of the way at the last moment, causing the clock to strike the wall behind him and shatter into three pieces. "Dammit! What the hell is the matter with you?"
"Me! What the hell are you doing in my room?" Rei shouted back.
"I heard you screaming bloody murder and thought there might've been an intruder in the room! As much as neither of us like it, I am your bodyguard, remember?"
It took a moment for Jun's explanation to totally make sense to Rei, and she blushed heavily when she saw his current state of undress. "Well…well why the hell aren't you wearing any clothes?"
Jun let out an exasperated sigh. "This is how I normally sleep, okay?"
It was then when Jun noticed what Rei had been wearing as sleep ware. She had on a black lace nightie with thin straps and a transparent mesh covering her midsection, allowing Jun to see her belly.
The sight of Rei's outfit caused Jun to blush. "You know…I could say a few things about the kind of stuff you like to wear to bed right now."
Rei's face turned an even deeper shade of red when she realized what Jun was talking about, and she quickly covered herself with her blanket and threw the spare pillow on her bed towards his head. "Quit staring, you perv!"
Jun quickly ducked out of the path of the thrown pillow, causing it to hit the wall behind him. "I wasn't ogling you, dammit! I was just making a comment!"
"What I wear to bed isn't any of your damn business! And if you really had to bust in here, couldn't you have transformed first?"
"Don't you think me transforming would've been just a little bit of an overkill?" Jun retorted as he picked the pillow of the floor and threw it back into Rei's bed. "Besides, this was faster."
Rei let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, okay, well…I'm safe so you can go back to your damn room now."
"What the hell were you even screaming about anyway?"
"I…if you must know, I had a nightmare."
"Must've been a pretty bad one for you to be screaming like that. Would you like to talk about it?"
"No!" Rei snapped.
Jun ground his teeth in frustration. "Fine! See if I care! I was just trying to help!"
"…Wait!" Rei called, causing Jun to freeze at the door. She let out a sigh of exhaustion. "I guess it would help to talk about it with someone. I've been having this nightmare for the past few nights now. It's all of me as a little girl, discovering that my parents have been murdered by some kind of monster. Each time the monster sees me and goes to attack me…and that's when I wake up."
Jun was left stunned by the recounting of Rei's nightmare. "Wow! That's…that sounds like a pretty nasty dream. And you've been having it for the past few nights now?"
Rei nodded. "The worst part of it is it always feels so real. In fact I'm not sure if it's just a nightmare. I think it might be a memory."
"But how can that be? Your dad's still alive."
"Not a memory from this life, but from my previous one."
"You mean from Silver Millennium?"
"It's the only thing that makes sense. I don't recall ever knowing my parents from my past life, though I'll admit there are gaps in my memory."
Jun nodded. "I have a few memory gaps from that time myself. Still, it seems a little unbelievable to me, but then I guess I never knew much about your home planet."
"I'll admit I don't entirely believe it myself. If this really is a memory though, I wish I knew why it was coming back to me now."
"Maybe something happened to triggered it. Do you have any idea what it might be?"
Rei thought about it for a few moments and gasped. "That picture Ami and the others showed me! It was a picture of the Cydonia Region of Mars; an old satellite photo of something on the surface that looked like a face. When I saw the picture I…I had some kind of panic attack or something. I don't really know why though."
"Do you remember anything from that region of Mars during your past life?"
"…Nothing I can immediately recall. But then I spent most of my time on the Moon protecting the princess." Rei thought about it more for a moment and then shook her head. "I just can't remember. I'm probably too tired to think straight right now."
Jun nodded. "It is the middle of the night still. You should try and get some more sleep. Things might be clearer in the morning. I'll be in my room if you need me."
"Um…Jun?" Rei spoke as the blond bodyguard turned again for the door. "Thanks for listening. It did help a little to have someone to talk to about all this."
Jun flashed her that familiar charming smile. "Happy to help. Try and get some sleep, okay?"
Rei nodded and Jun returned to his room. Once he was gone, the raven-haired priestess collapsed back onto her bed and closed her eyes. As she tried to drift off to sleep, Rei couldn't help but think about what a nice guy Jun had been to her just now, and she reluctantly decided he wasn't totally bad. She still didn't trust Jun, but she was willing to admit he wasn't the same man who years ago had once tried to kill her and a bunch of bus hostages. Eventually Rei finally drifted off into a light dreamless sleep.
As Rei slept, Phobos and Deimos were perched on the sill of the open window watching her. They had been there to witness all of Rei and Jun's conversation about her nightmares. The two birds exchanged a look of concern with each other. Somehow they seemed to know much more about the whole matter than Rei and Jun knew.
The next morning Virginia began to take Rei and her two bodyguards on a tour of the Foundation's headquarters. Much to Rei's relief, another security officer was taking Takashi on a separate tour of his own. Rei wanted to deal with her father as little as possible. Much of the tour was restricted to the first floor, apparently because the labs on the lower level dealt with the Foundation's more classified projects. Rei had to admit that much of what she was being shown was interesting, but she felt Ami might've appreciated it a whole lot more.
As the tour came to an end, Virginia took the trio past a door that caught Rei's attention. The sign on the door read, "Past Life Regression Lab". Below it was another smaller sign showing a name, Dr. Megumi Ichinose.
"Excuse me," Rei spoke, getting Virginia's attention. "What exactly does this lab do?"
Virginia looked at the signs written on the door. "Oh that? That's just Dr. Ichinose's office. She's kind of a crackpot, if you ask me. Her thing is using hypnosis to try and help people recall memories from their past lives."
"Why would an organization dedicated to the purpose of colonizing other planets be interested in recovering past life memories?" Grete asked.
Virginia shrugged. "I couldn't begin to tell ya. I think it's just a leftover department from when the Foundation was first founded. Apparently some of their earliest projects had to do with kooky new age crap they thought might be connected to Martians somehow, ESP and all that nonsense. I honestly don't know why they keep funding this kind of project, but then they only pay me to protect the place."
"I think I'd like to check this out," Rei decided.
"Suit yourself. The tour's pretty much done anyway. I trust you can all find your way back to your rooms." After those words, Virginia walked off past them in the opposite direction from whence they came.
"Why so interested in this lab all of a sudden?" Jun asked Rei.
"It's crazy, but…I think maybe this Dr. Ichinose might help me solve the mystery behind my nightmares," Rei answered. "I mean if these nightmares are really some buried memory from my past life, this might help me figure it out."
"I remind you Ms. Hino, we are potentially in enemy territory here," Grete pointed out. "It might be unwise to participate in any of the experiments going on here."
"It might be dangerous, but at this point I'm willing to try anything if it'll get me some answers." Thus, Rei opened the door with her card key.
The room on the other side was a fairly spacious office. In one corner of the room was a fairly large grey cylindrical machine with a green spiral on the front and a set of controls with a monitor on the side. At the far wall of the room was a large window showing more of the island outside, in front of which was a big white desk. Sitting behind the desk was a woman in a white lab coat who appeared to be in her early forties. She had long black hair arranged in a braided ponytail that flowed half way down her back, and pale blue eyes behind a pair of glasses with rectangular frames.
The woman was busy typing something on the laptop sitting before her on the desk as Rei approached, flanked by her two guards. It wasn't until Rei cleared her throat when the woman at the desk finally noticed them.
The woman smiled at them with a sort of dreamy look in her eyes. "Oh! I'm sorry. Did you have an appointment with me?"
"No actually," Rei answered. "I'm sorry we just barged in like this, but I was wondering if you might be able to help me. Are you Dr. Ichinose?"
The woman nodded. "I am, I am. And there's no need to apologize. I don't have the busiest of schedules here. Please! Sit down." Rei sat in the black chair in front of her desk while Jun and Grete stood behind her at their posts. "Now, how can I help you?"
"My name's Rei Hino, and for the last few nights I've been having this recurring nightmare. In the nightmare I keep walking in on the…on the man who had killed my parents." She had to stop herself from saying monster.
"I see, I see. And you believe this nightmare might actually be a memory form a past life?"
"Exactly. My father is still alive, and the two people who were murdered in my dream are totally different people from the parents I know, or knew in the case of my mother. But this nightmare feels too real to be just some random nightmare."
Dr. Ichinose nodded. "Fascinating. I believe I may just be able to help you, Ms. Hino." She then pointed her hand at the bulky machine in the corner of the room. "The machine you see over there is a device designed for advanced hypnotic regression. With it I have been able to recover a few past life recollections with certain subjects, though I admit the memories I have recovered are only small fragments. Still, I'm quite confident it can be used to solve the mystery behind your nightmare, if it is truly a memory."
"How dangerous is this device of yours, Dr. Ichinose?" Grete asked.
"Oh! Not dangerous at all, really. It simply puts the subject in a deep state of hypnosis, allowing them to access deeply hidden memories from the subconscious that would otherwise remain dormant. I assure you it's all perfectly safe."
"Well, be that as it may, I want Mr. Aragaki to go under this hypnosis with Ms. Hino to make sure it's safe."
"What? Why the hell do I have to be hypnotized too?" Jun protested. "It's not like I can protect Rei while we're both in some kind of trance!"
"True, but if there are any ill effects from this treatment, we should hopefully notice them in you before they show up in Ms. Hino," Grete answered.
"That makes no sense!"
"I've given you an order Mr. Aragaki, and I suggest you carry it out! I don't need you to remind you of the consequences of disobeying me."
Dr. Ichinose simply looked at the three of them and blinked. "This is highly irregular…but interesting. I've never had two subjects go under at the same time before. I'll go ahead and set everything up."
The doctor then went over and turned on her machine. She moved a pair of chairs in the office over in front of the green spiral on the end of the device and had Rei and Jun take a seat down in both of them. Dr. Ichinose then placed two pairs of electrodes wired to the device's controls on the sides of Rei and Jun's heads. With this task complete, the doctor hit a few buttons on the control panel, causing the green spiral to light up and begin spinning.
"I want you both to focus all your attention on the spiral," Dr. Ichinose told her two subjects. "As you do, you will both feel your bodies becoming quite heavy. As I begin to count backwards, you will begin to fall into a deep sleep. In your minds you will recall a time when you were both someone other than the people you are now. You will live those lives as though they are the lives you still possess, and you will recall the memories that you have forgotten."
Dr. Ichinose began to count backwards from ten, and as she did it sounded to Rei and Jun as if her voice was starting to echo. They soon began to fall into a deep slumber, and the green spiral that had been spinning before them suddenly turned into a tunnel of light stretching back into infinity. Their minds were pulled forth into the tunnel back to the lost days of the Silver Millennium they had both long forgotten.
It was midday as Jadeite followed his commander, Kunzite through the halls of the Earth Kingdom's central palace. The silver-haired leader of the Shitennou had just finished telling Jadeite about a new arrangement he had made to allow their prince, Endymion to keep seeing Princess Serenity of the Moon in secret. The plan was to have each Shitennou work with each of the princess's four guardian goddesses to serve as chaperones during Princess Serenity's visits to Earth. Most of the other Shitennou were willing to go along with this arrangement, but Jadeite had been against it and still was. As Kunzite took Jadeite to meet the Sailor Guardian he had been paired with for his first shift as chaperone, Jadeite took the opportunity to voice his objections one last time in the hopes of getting Kunzite to change his mind.
"Jadeite, we have been through this again and again now," Kunzite told him as they walked. "The matter is closed."
"I just think this will only hurt the Prince in the long run!" Jadeite insisted. "A romance with someone from the Moon Kingdom is the ultimate taboo. Do you seriously see a future between the Prince and Princess Serenity that won't end badly?"
Kunzite sighed. "No, I do not. But Prince Endymion is determined to keep seeing Princess Serenity, and nothing we do can stop him. Meanwhile Princess Serenity is equally determined to keep sneaking down from the Moon to see the Prince, and her efforts have been driving Sailor Venus and her comrades to near madness. The best we can do is supervise their visits and keep their relationship from being discovered for as long as possible."
"I still can't believe you came up with this ridiculous arrangement!"
"Well…truth be told, the idea was partly Nephrite's."
This revelation caused Jadeite to stop walking for a moment. "That explains a lot."
"I sense there are other reasons behind your opposition to this arrangement besides how it may harm the Prince in the long run, Jadeite," Kunzite deduced as he turned back to face him.
Jadeite crossed his arms. "Well…if you must know, I just don't like the Moon Kingdom. It seems like its people are always looking down on us like we're animals."
"Princess Serenity doesn't seem to have that opinion of our Prince."
"Yeah, well…she's only a child. I'm certain the other members of her kingdom think differently."
"Well, in a few moments you shall learn whether or not you are right."
With the debate clearly at an end, Kunzite continued to escort Jadeite out to the palace grounds. Right outside the door was the blonde Sailor Guardian that Jadeite recognized as Sailor Venus. With Venus was another Sailor Guardian with long raven hair, who had a crow perched on each of her shoulders. Upon seeing the new Sailor Guardian, Jadeite was instantly captivated by her. She was the most beautiful and elegant woman he had ever laid eyes upon.
"Good day to you, General Kunzite," Venus greeted. "Princess Serenity is already off enjoying her visit with your prince."
Kunzite nodded. "Sailor Venus, I'd like you to meet Jadeite, the man I've selected to work with your comrade for as long as this arrangement of ours holds."
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, General Jadeite," Venus responded. "And this is Sailor Mars. I have every hope you and she will make a great team."
Jadeite put on his most charming smile, waltzed over to Mars, and put her gloved hand in his. "It is both a privilege and a pleasure to meet such a dazzling creature as yourself, Sailor Mars. I believe you and I truly will make great partners for one another."
Sailor Mars gritted her teeth. "Remove your hand this instant or else I will burn your whole arm to ash."
Jadeite flinched and did as the raven-haired beauty commanded. He could now see it in Mars's eyes that she disliked him intensely, and this dislike caused his own anger to flare up.
"Oh boy! Not off to a great start, are we?" Venus observed. "Well, we'll give it some time and see if things get better."
"You know, Jadeite was just telling me again about how he objects to this little arrangement we've come up with," Kunzite interjected. "Would I be presuming too much to say Sailor Mars feels about the same way?"
Venus smirked. "She's been making the same sort of complaints all the way down here. I guess that's one thing she and Jadeite have in common." She then grinned and clapped her hands. "Well, I have duties to attend to up on the Moon. Mars make sure the Princess is back in five hours, no more."
Mars nodded. "Understood."
Venus then turned and vanished with a flash of gold light. Kunzite said his farewells and went back off into the palace to tend to his own duties. This left Jadeite and Mars to go off and watch after Endymion and Serenity. They found the couple down by the lake looking out over the water and talking. Once Jadeite and Mars found a good place to watch them from, Mars said something to the two crows perched on her shoulders, causing them to fly off into the sky.
"So…what's with the birds?" Jadeite asked.
"Phobos and Deimos are my most trusted companions," Mars told him coldly. "I've sent them to fly over the palace and keep watch the ground from above. They'll let me know the instant any danger appears."
"Seems pointless if you ask me. The palace grounds are the most secure spot on Earth. Only a fool or one with a death wish would dare trespass on them."
"You certainly are arrogant, not that I'm surprised."
Mars's remark caused Jadeite's anger to flare up again. "You're the one who's arrogant! You just proved I was right about how you Moon Kingdom people look down on us!"
"I can't speak for all of the Moon Kingdom, but I certainly look down on barbarians like you!"
"Hah! So you admit it! Sailor Venus mentioned you objected to your princess continuing to see Prince Endymion! It's because you think our prince isn't good enough for your precious princess, isn't it?"
"That's not it at all!" Mars took a breath to calm down. "Your Prince Endymion is a good and honorable man, of this much I am certain. Such men are very hard to come by on any world. Our princess chose her lover quite well."
Jadeite's anger lightened on hearing this. "Then why did you object so strongly to the arrangement your commander and mine came up with?"
"Because this romance is doomed. I'm certain it'll only end with Serenity getting hurt, and I can't bare to see something like that happen."
Jadeite nodded. "I can't bare to see Prince Endymion hurt either. But…as Kunzite pointed out to me, just as I'm sure Sailor Venus pointed out to you, even the gods themselves don't seem to have the power to keep those two from seeing each other. The best we can do is watch over them both and try to keep them from getting hurt."
Mars sighed. "Which means you and I are stuck with one another for a while, doesn't it."
"Yeah…pretty much. Guess all we can do is try and make the best of it."
The recollection ended and Jun and Rei suddenly found themselves back in Dr. Ichinose's lab. The green spiral from the doctor's machine was no longer spinning.
"So? Did either of you recall anything?" Grete asked.
"I…I remembered when Jun and I first met back during Silver Millennium," Rei answered.
"I remembered the same thing," Jun revealed. "It's weird though. From what I saw, it seemed like you and I had started working pretty closely together to protect the Prince and Princess, but I don't remember us working together beyond that point."
"Me neither. Of course…it's probably best if I don't remember, given how our first meeting went. You were a real jerk, you know that?"
"Me? You were a total ice-cold bitch!"
"You hit on me at the first opportunity!"
"Yeah! And I don't know what the hell I was thinking! I must've been temporarily insane to have come on to a flaming shrew like you!"
"Flaming shrew?" an outraged Rei repeated as she stood from her chair, pulling off the electrodes attached to her head. "I should rip your tongue out for calling me that!"
"Just try!" Jun responded as he rose from his own chair.
Grete removed her sunglasses and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "Thor, give me strength!"
"Fascinating!" Dr. Ichinose declared, getting the attention of the other three. The dark-haired doctor was at that moment hastily jotting down some notes on a clipboard. "It seems you both shared a significant relationship in a previous life. I've waited years to come across a case like this! And such vivid recall too! You simply both must agree to take part in another session!"
"Wait a minute…I just remembered why I wanted to try doing this in the first place!" Rei spoke. "I was trying to find out something about the nightmare I've been having."
"Oh yeah," Jun recalled. "What's the deal, doc? How come Rei remembered something about her past relationship with me instead of this nightmare of hers?"
"Hmm…well, you must understand this is far from an exact science," Dr. Ichinose answered. "The human mind is a vast labyrinth filled with many chambers, some more accessible than others. It could simply be the memories the two of you recalled are simply more accessible than Ms. Hino's so-called nightmare. I do feel though that with more sessions, we might eventually uncover the mystery."
"Well…it's worth a try, I guess," Rei agreed.
"Splendid! Come back tomorrow afternoon and we'll try for a longer session. I believe we may be onto something great, Ms. Hino. Very great indeed."
Night had fallen and Rei had since retired to her room for the night. Jun meanwhile had left his room and had gone across the hall to Grete's. He had buzzed the door only once when it opened to reveal Grete wearing a pair of long black pants and a grey tank-top that showed off more of her bust than Jun had expected. Grete's normal sunglasses had also been removed to reveal her iron-grey eyes.
"What is it, Mr. Aragaki?" Grete asked.
"I wanted to talk to you about the little visit Rei and I had with that flaky doctor," Jun answered. "Why did you have me undergo that regression thing with Rei? And don't tell me it was for her protection because I know that's full of crap."
Grete nodded and crossed her arms. "You are correct. The reason I had you undergo hypnosis with Ms. Hino was the hope you might recover the shared memories you have from your past lives."
"Are you serious? Why the hell are those memories so important?"
"You were chosen for this mission because of your connection to Ms. Hino, or rather Sailor Mars. You don't know it now, but the two of you once had a very significant relationship. That relationship may be the key to her ultimate safety during this critical time. If I am right, your relationship will provide protection from an entity known as Hastur the Unspeakable."
"Is that the enemy we're here to fight?"
Grete shook her head. "Hastur is but one enemy which is a threat right now, and another comrade of mine is dealing with him. We're here to prevent the rise of another of Hastur's kind, Cthugha the Burning One. I do not know how yet, but I'm certain Cthugha is connected to the Cydonia Foundation."
"But…what about Rei's nightmares? The session with Dr. Ichinose was to find out about them."
"I feel sorry for Ms. Hino's recent troubles, but her nightmares are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is preventing the rise of Cthugha, and for you to recover the missing parts of your past with Sailor Mars. Therefore I order you Mr. Aragaki to keep undergoing Dr. Ichinose's sessions with Ms. Hino until you both recall all which has passed between you."
With those words, Grete pressed the switch for her door. The door slid shut so fast that Jun felt like she had slammed it in her face. As Jun headed back to his room, he couldn't help but think about how wrong Grete was about Rei's nightmares. He didn't know why, but Jun had a hunch those nightmares were somehow connected with what was happening now.
At about the same time Jun was having his little talk with Grete, Dr. Ichinose had entered Kaidou's office. When she entered, Kaidou – or rather the thing controlling him – sat behind the desk.
"I have news, Master," Dr. Ichinose reported. "The girl you're interested in, Rei Hino, she came to see me to try out my regression techniques. I was successful in retrieving memories of a previous life, and at the moment I'm certain she really is the one you seek."
Kaidou nodded. "I'm well aware of your visit from Rei, Doctor. In fact I witnessed those memories myself. You forget I am connected to your machine, and it is my psychic abilities that make your marvelous device work. You have done well, Doctor. Rei Hino does indeed seem to be the Princess of Mars reborn in this modern age."
"Ms. Hino and the other subject, Jun Aragaki might be returning to me tomorrow for another session. Do you think it unnecessary now though? Now that we seem to have confirmed Ms. Hino is the Princess?"
"Not at all. This relationship the two of them apparently had back during Silver Millennium intrigues me. In fact it may be another weakness I can exploit."
"There is something else though, Master. Ms. Hino came to me in the first place because she thought a nightmare she's been having recently might actually be a memory from her previous life. According to her, in the nightmare she's witnessing the murder of her parents as a little girl."
Kaidou seemed stunned for a moment, but then suddenly broke into a maniacal laugh that surprised Dr. Ichinose. "So she remembers that, does she? Well, I guess this only further confirms she's the princess."
"How exactly?"
"I remember the day she's been dreaming about very well, because I was the one who had murdered her parents. I would've killed her too, and in doing so would've succeeded in avenging my people." His expression then darkened. "But then I was thwarted by that wretched Queen of the Moon, who is responsible for reducing me to my current pathetic state!"
"Forgive me, Master. I seem to have brought up a sensitive topic."
Kaidou calmed down and tented his fingers on his desk. "It doesn't matter now. The past is set in stone, and little is achieved by spitting at what's carved upon it. Besides, now that I have that pathetic little girl of a princess nearly in my grasp, my resurrection will soon be at hand. And once I have revived, I will release Great Cthugha from his prison and burn what remains of the Moon Kingdom to ash!"
Author's Note: The hardest part of this story was figuring out how Rei and Jun were going to awaken their shared past life memories. I couldn't figure out any natural triggers like the kind I used in the previous two stories, so I had to come up with a mechanical means to awaken the memories. I was initially afraid the idea might be just a little too out there, but my current Beta Reader, masterray5 assured me the idea worked quite well, so my thanks goes out to him for that.
I'll be back next week with yet another update to this story. Until then, please review and let me know what you think.