Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon (nor do I own The King in Yellow).

Chapter 7: Ace and King

It was fairly early in the morning as Minako made her way back onto the studio lot, heading straight for Mason's office. Not long after she had gotten out of bed, Minako had gotten a call from Mason saying that new pages for the movie's script had finally been completed. Of course Minako now knew very well that the movie was definitely an enemy trap, and that she had apparently fallen straight into it. The night before, Artemis had told Minako everything he learned from Hilda about the King in Yellow, or rather Hastur, and that the entity was somehow using the movie and her dreams to come after her. Yet even though the movie was part of the enemy's trap, and that continuing with its production would only be playing into its hands, Minako felt that the only way to put a stop to everything was to push on and strike at this enemy when it finally revealed itself.

When Minako arrived at the door to Mason's office, she encountered Keisuke and paused. Things were still more than a little awkward between them, and Minako was still a bit mad at Keisuke for following her the previous night. Though she had to admit that she was more than a little moved at the way Keisuke protected her, but the fact that he had even followed her because he thought she couldn't protect herself had been an insult to her as a warrior.

"Um, good morning," Keisuke spoke. "Look, about last night…"

"Save it," Minako told him. "I am grateful to you for looking out for me like that, really. But I'm not some defenseless little girl that you need to watch over."

"I know that very well, and I'm sorry for how I offended you. Still, I think I was justified in following you the way I did. You're not at all yourself, Minako. For the past few days you've seemed exhausted. In fact right now you look almost as pale as a corpse. And it seems like your mind has been light years away since yesterday. What's going on with you?"

Minako sighed. "I'm totally fine, okay? I've just had a little trouble sleeping lately. No big deal."

Keisuke looked at Minako as though he didn't believe her, and her claim about being fine was indeed a lie. Even so, Minako didn't want him to worry about her, especially since there was nothing he could do to put an end to her nightmares. The only way to do that was to find this King in Yellow and defeat him.

"We had better get into the office," Minako told him. "Mason's waiting for us."

Keisuke backed down and the two of them went into the office. Mason was sitting behind his deck with Lyle standing next to his chair.

"Ah! Our two stars have arrived," Mason spoke with a big smile. "Thank you for being so prompt. Please, have a seat."

"So you said this morning that the script for this movie has finally been finished?" Minako asked as he and Keisuke sat down.

"Indeed it has. Well, mostly. We still don't have an ending, but our Maestro assures us that it will be done shortly. In the meantime, go ahead and take a quick look through the new pages."

Minako and Keisuke both took the bundles of pages for them on Mason's desk and skimmed through them. One thing they both noticed right away was that Keisuke's character was to be killed off at the end of the first new scene.

"So, it seems that my role in this movie is nearly at an end," Keisuke observed.

"Sorry about that kid, but that's how it has to be," Lyle told him. "This is a tragedy we're shooting, after all."

"It says that Keisuke will be losing to some envoy for the King in Yellow," Minako noted. "Who'll be playing him?"

"We've already found the perfect actor to be playing the role of our envoy, Lucifer," Mason informed them. "In fact Ms. Aino, it seems that he's an old acquaintance of yours."

At that moment there was a knock at the door. It opened up, and walking in was a handsome white-haired young man that Minako was all too familiar with. The mere sight of him caused what little color there still was in her face to drain away. Keisuke noticed Minako's reaction and raised an eyebrow.

"Ms. Aino, I believe you're already acquainted with the newest member of your cast, Ace Saijyo," Mason spoke.

"It's been too long Minako," Ace spoke. "Glad to see you're doing well."

"Just how is it you and Minako know each other?" Keisuke asked.

"She and I were in another movie together some years ago, but it was never finished because of… production issues. You must be Keisuke Tenju. I understand you and I will be working together in the next scene. Hope you don't take me having to kill you off too hard."

"I'm giving you all the next day off to look over and rehearse the new scenes," Mason informed the three. "We'll begin shooting first thing tomorrow morning. That is all."

With that, Ace smiled at Minako and gave her a little salute before leaving the office. A second after Ace left, Minako rose from her chair and walked out of the office almost mechanically, a look of stark terror still on her face. Keisuke quickly followed Minako out to see what was wrong. He soon found her a few feet away from Mason's office, clutching the wall of a nearby building as she tried to catch her breath.

"Minako!" Keisuke called as he caught up to her. "What's wrong?"

"Mina!" a familiar voice called, breaking Minako from her panicked thoughts. She and Keisuke both saw Artemis dashing up to them. "Are you all right? You look you've seen a ghost."

"I just did," Minako told him as her breathing finally calmed down. "Artemis… Phantom Ace is back!"

"What? That's impossible! He's been dead for years!"

"Are you both talking about Ace Saijyo?" Keisuke asked. "Who is he?"

"There's no need to play dumb you know!" Artemis told him. "Phantom Ace was a high-ranking soldier of the Dark Kingdom. He ran an organization for the kingdom that operated in Japan and China called the Dark Agency. Mina fought this group back when she started out as Sailor V. But as a general of the Dark Kingdom, I'm sure you knew all about this."

Keisuke sighed. "I do recall the agency you speak of. It was established to help gather life energy from humans in that part of the world, and that it was eliminated, forcing us generals to become personally involved with operations in that region. But I knew nothing of the soldiers running the Dark Agency. Since that organization was based in the east, they would've been under Jadeite's supervision, so I knew nothing specific about their operations."

Artemis glared at Keisuke straight in the eye. "You honestly expect us to believe that you know nothing about Ace?"

"Believe me, I don't. But… as someone who was involved with the Dark Kingdom, I apologize for any of the pain this man may have put you both through, especially to you Minako."

"Thanks," Minako responded with a small smile. "And I do believe you knew nothing about Ace."

"Was he a formidable enemy?"

"He was. I had a difficult time taking him down, but not because he was especially powerful. It's because he was… my first love. Or rather my first love in this life anyway."

"More like your five-thousandth first love," Artemis mumbled, causing Minako to shoot a quick glare down at him.

"Anyway, it turned out Ace was someone from our past lives," Minako continued. "In fact he was a soldier from Venus. But when he was reborn in this world, he joined the Dark Kingdom. He did have feelings for me though… back in our old lives I mean."

"I can understand that. You do have a way of bewitching men's hearts."

"That battle with Ace was the battle where I finally regained my memories from that life, or most of them anyway. It was also a hard battle because I did care about Ace, but I realized that he wasn't my true love. In fact… that battle pretty much helped me get my priorities straight."

"You mean that battle gave you the notion that true love wasn't meant for you? What exactly happened during that fight to make you think that?"

Minako shook her head. "It doesn't matter. What matters now though is that we need to be extra careful, especially you. Ace has to have been brought back by this King in Yellow we're up against, and his character is supposed to kill you off in the movie's next scene."

"In other words he won't be playacting. Well rest assured; I will not go down so easily. If Ace truly intends to kill me, then I will have no choice but to go off script and finish him first."

At that moment, Minako was overcome with a sense of worry for Keisuke's safety. Before she could stop herself, Minako gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Just be careful tomorrow."

With that, Minako walked off towards the gate to her hotel. Artemis glared at Keisuke one last time before dashing off after her. Keisuke was left standing frozen where he was, his cheeks having turned a slight red.

"She's quite the woman, isn't she?" a voice asked. Keisuke turned around to see Ace standing before him with a cocky grin.

"How long have you been standing there?" Keisuke asked as he turned to face him.

"I only just got out here. You know General, you and I have quite a bit in common."

"You mean that we were both once subjects of the Dark Kingdom?"

"Well that, yeah. But I was talking about how we've both fallen for them same woman. I can't blame you. She is a goddess."

"Just what are your intentions towards Minako? Do you plan to try and take her for yourself?"

Ace chuckled and shook his head. "No, no. There's something you need to understand, General. Minako is out of reach for both of us. As much as we both love her, neither of us has a chance of ever being with her. My duty here is to deliver her to my new master, the only being in the galaxy, perhaps the whole universe who is able to possess her."

"I assume you mean this King in Yellow. He's the one who brought you back from the dead."

"His Majesty is both powerful and wise. He looked back into the past and learned about my connection to Minako, and realized that I could bring her to him easily, and that I could easily eliminate the one little obstacle in his plans, you."

"From what little Minako told me of your past, you'll find that I'm more than a match for a lowly warrior like you."

"We shall see. I do have to wonder though, while it was His Majesty who brought me back from the grave, who was it who brought you back?"

"That would be me," a voice cut in. Keisuke looked to see Hilda walking onto the scene. "This is certainly an unexpected move on the King's part, bringing back a fallen warrior to act as a champion just as I did."

"Well whoever you are, you chose poorly."

"I wouldn't be so sure. My guy may be a bit of a screw-up, but he's a worthier champion than you are, and far more worthy of that woman's heart."

"We shall see tomorrow when we have our battle. For now though, I'll leave you to prepare. Until we meet on the battlefield, general."

With that, Ace walked off towards the gate. Keisuke thought for a moment about following him before Ace suddenly vanished with a flash of white light.

"Well, this is kind of a pain," Hilda declared as she put her hands on her hips.

"I'd like to know what happened between Minako and that man all those years ago. What did he do to her that made her think true love couldn't be hers?"

"That guy seems like the possessive type. He probably figured that if he couldn't have Minako, nobody else could. So he planted some idea in her head that she couldn't be happy with anyone else but him. Even with the memories of her former life awakened, she was probably still young and pretty naïve back then, just foolish enough maybe to buy a lie like that."

"Well if you're right, I'm going to prove him wrong," Keisuke declared, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "Minako deserves true love, and I'm going to make her see that. Even if that love ends up being with someone other than me."

Minako was back once again at the masquerade ball in full costume. As she looked around, it seemed like there were even more guests than before, and all of them seemed more decayed than the first time she had arrived at that wretched party.

"Surprised that so many people have turned out for you, Princess?" an all too familiar voice spoke from behind. Minako turned around to see One-Eyed Pete looking at her with his usual oversized bestial smile. "This is a big night after all. It's not every day that the King takes a new bride."

"I know what you are now," Minako told him. "And I don't know what sort of game you're playing, but it's not going to work on me. I'm going beat both you and this king of yours."

At this, Pete chuckled. "My, how spirited you are. You are indeed a fitting bride for His Majesty. However, I think you will find that no matter how hard you struggle, you cannot oppose the will of the King."

Suddenly the large doors in the ballroom opened and a thick mist poured out from the doorway, covering the floor. The mark on Minako's arm had started to burn like it was on fire. Minako knew instantly that something was wrong, and not just because of the pain in her arm. More time in the dream usually passed before the door would open. This was usually the point where she woke up, but not this time. This dream was clearly different.

Minako was frozen in place as she watched something emerge from the mist pouring out of the door. In a few moments a humanoid figure emerged into full view. His whole body was clad in tarnished silver armor, and painted on the front of his chest was a yellow glyph like the now throbbing burn mark on Minako's arm. A tattered yellow mantle hung from his back, and a yellow hood covered most of his head. He wore a thorny black crown atop his head over the hood, and covering the figure's face was pallid mask made to look like a smiling handsome male face.

The figure that Minako quickly deduced to be the King in Yellow walked down the steps from the doorway in a mechanical fashion like some sort of marionette, as if it didn't quite know how to move like an actual human. Minako didn't know how, but she knew on some instinctual level that what she was seeing was not the King's true form, that what she was seeing was merely an elaborate costume. Its true form was some non-humanoid creature crammed into a human-shaped shell, and Minako did not want to see what its true form looked like.

"Tell me something, Princess," Pete spoke as he came close. "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

The guests had spread out away from Minako as the King stopped a few feet away from where she was standing. The armored figure's right arm jerked up to point at Minako and it held out its hand to her. Suddenly Minako began to walk towards the King, her legs moving of their own will.

"Let the dance begin!" Pete called.

Suddenly the room was filled with the sound of strange music being played by an organ somehow. As soon as the music started the other guests had begun a sort of waltz. Minako and the King had soon joined the waltz as well, her body moving on autopilot as the King led. The King was not at all a graceful dancer. His movements were jerky and mechanical; at times he even stepped on her feet. It was clear that whatever was in that suit of armor did not actually have two legs.

As the dance continued though, Minako couldn't help but stare into the King's eyes. Behind that pale mask's eyeholes were what appeared to be burning black stars. They were stars that were the total opposite of light, a darkness blacker than anything that Minako had seen before. It was not a gentle darkness like the kind produced by Kunzite's power, but a darkness that was of the void, a total absence of life. And while normal stars burned hot, these stars were cold.

At long last the music ended, and Minako was finally able to pull away from the King. Being so close to such a strange an unnatural entity made her want to literally crawl out of her skin.

"The dance is over!" Pete declared. "And now… unmask!"

All of the guests began to cackle as they removed their masks. Some of them went so far as to also peel off the desiccated skin of their faces to also reveal their yellowed skulls. Minako removed her own mask as well, though it was because her arm was moving of its own accord. There was a pause and all eyes in the room fell on Minako and the King.

The King began to chuckle and spoke in a chorus of inhuman croaking voices, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Slowly the King's hand began to reach up towards his face, and Minako was totally frozen in terror. She didn't want to see what sort of face the King actually had, for it had to be a face a million times more hideous than any monster she and her friends had faced in the past. Seeing a face like that would mean the end of all light and goodness in the world, a sort of innocence forever lost. Minako wanted to flee but her body was totally frozen in place. Then the King started to pull off his mask.

Minako shot up in bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her nightshirt was totally drenched in a cold sweat. Artemis had instantly woken up and dashed onto her lap. He called her name several times but the blond just kept on screaming.

As a last resort, Artemis slashed Minako in the face with his claws, bringing her screams to a stop. "Mina! Snap out of it! You're okay!"

Slowly Minako began to realize she was back in her hotel room. It was only another nightmare, but something told her that the nightmare would become real soon enough. Her eyes still wide with terror, Minako trembled as she pulled Artemis close.

"I can't take it, Art. I can't have that dream again," Minako whispered. "I can't have that dream again, because if I do… I'll be right back at that ball and I'll see the King remove that mask of his. And I know that if I ever see whatever's behind that mask… I'll go totally insane."

Author's Note: Well, I hope everyone enjoyed this latest chapter, brief as it was. I confess, I do feel like I could've done a better job with the dream sequence at the end. It feels... I don't know, sort of like it's missing something. Anyway, next time we have the showdown between Keisuke and Ace, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.