Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Robert W. Chambers.


Chapter 15: Danburite

Ace began to laugh. "So you came for Kunzite's sake, eh? That's rich. But it's fine. A fight with you might be entertaining. Plus I'm sure it'd cause your precious general even more suffering to watch me kill you."

Tuxedo Mask and Phantom Ace charged one another and swung their swords. The clashing of their two blades rang throughout the church. Meanwhile the only thing Kunzite and Venus could do was watch. Kunzite attempted to stand back up, but his legs still refused to listen.

"I'm surprised you'd fight so hard for the likes of someone like Kunzite," Ace remarked as their blades continued to clash. "After all, your precious general helped bring ruin to the old Moon Kingdom, and even again in this life he was a pawn of the Dark Kingdom."

"Kunzite has made mistakes in the past, but I still trust him with my life!" Tuxedo Mask declared as he parried another of Ace's swings. "He is an honorable man! One I'm proud to have fighting at my side!"

As Tuxedo Mask and Ace continued to trade blows, Kunzite at last managed to get back to his feet. He found his arms were still lacking in strength though. There was no way he could lift his sword, let along swing it. He looked back and saw Ace's left hand starting to crackle with yellow electricity. He realized what move Ace was going to use.

"Your Highness, look out!" Kunzite called.

Just as Ace fired a bolt of yellow lightning from his left hand at Tuxedo Mask, the masked warrior turned to the side and swung his cape as though he were a bull fighter. The lightning bolt brushed past Tuxedo Mask's cape and struck the ornate staff that was being held by Eternal Sailor Moon. The electricity fizzled out to nothing as soon as it hit the staff.

Some of the color drained from Ace's face. "Sailor Moon! I should've guessed you'd be here too. So what now? Are you going to declare that you'll punish me for all my evil acts and blow me away?"

Sailor Moon lowered her staff. "Phantom Ace, I want to know why you're doing all this. Why are you working for someone like the King in Yellow?"

Ace relaxed a little and smirked. "Seriously? Why would you even care what my motives are?"

"Because you were once someone important to Venus. I don't know what exactly happened between the two of you back when she was Sailor V, but from what little I was told, I have to ask…were you in love with Venus?"

Stunned, Ace let out a cold bitter laugh. "Of course I was. In fact I still am. But she and I were never meant to become an item. Back during the days of Silver Millennium I was a nobody, just a low-ranked soldier from Venus who could only gaze at her from afar. Then I was reborn in this modern era, but still the only way to even have a chance of getting close to Venus was for me to become her enemy! I joined the Dark Kingdom and climbed the ranks, all in the hopes of at least getting to face her in battle!"

"Is that why you serve a creature like Hastur?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "All so you could be close to Venus by being her enemy again?"

Ace let out another cold laugh. "I never expected anything like it to happen, you know. Shortly after I had died at Venus's hands in China, I was suddenly summoned to His Majesty's castle in Carcosa. He had pulled me all the way there through time and space at the moment of my death and remade me into what you see now. And then He gave me a mission. I was to bring Venus to Him to become his next queen, and I was glad to do it. It was another chance for me to be close to her. I figured His Majesty might even make me one of Venus's attendants if I served him well enough."

"You twisted fool!" Kunzite responded as he finally rose to his feet. "You've seen the other women Hastur as taken as one of his 'queens'! They're nothing but pitiful broken creatures that would be better off dead! How could you be comfortable with Venus becoming like them?"

Ace shrugged his shoulders. "By that point I was willing to take what I could get." He turned to face Kunzite, glaring at him. "But the one thing I couldn't stand was Venus ending up with you! She wasn't supposed to end up with anyone! I mean His Majesty could have her, yes! He is after all a being higher than any of us! But other than Him, if I can't have Venus then she shouldn't end up with anyone!"

Suddenly a stream of orange hearts struck Ace in the stomach and caused him to fall to his knees. By this point everyone saw that Venus had broken free of her chains. The blond walked up to stand next to Kunzite.

Ace gave Venus a pained smirk. "I didn't think you'd be able to break free so soon. This is what I get for underestimating you."

Venus looked down at the masked warrior. "I really do pity you, Ace. There was a time I thought I loved you, but now I just feel sorry for you."

"Venus, you shouldn't waste your concern on him," Kunzite told her. "This madman doesn't truly love you."

"Oh he really does love me. That's why he's nuts. Love is something that can drive people totally insane, especially if their love can never be returned." She kneeled down to get a closer look at Ace. "I bet when you joined the Dark Kingdom, your plan was to try and whisk me off my feet and have us run away together, leaving our two kingdoms behind. But the thing is, you realized I could never return your love."

Ace nodded. "I knew there was no room for me in your heart. You already have your devotion to your precious princess…and apparently your love for that buffoon of a general."

Venus stood back up. "Afraid so. This is goodbye for us, Ace."

Ace picked up his sword and got back to his feet. "So after all this time I've finally been dumped. Fine. But don't call me Ace anymore. Phantom Ace was simply an identity I made up to attract you. My true name is Danburite."

The masked warrior charged at Venus and raised his sword. Kunzite quickly got in front of Venus and blocked Ace's swing. Ace fell back and fired a bolt of yellow lightning at Kunzite and Venus, only for the two of them to jump away.

Sailor Moon raised her staff. "Silver Moon Crystal Therapy Kiss!"

Ace turned around just in time to see the stream of light from Sailor Moon's attack coming right at him. He called out Minako's name as the blast vaporized him with a dazzling flash of light. When the light faded, the only trace of Ace left was a mask on the floor and several playing cards scattered around it.

Sailor Moon rushed over to Venus's side. "Venus, are you okay?"

Venus nodded. "I'm a little ticked about falling into Ace's trap in the first place, but I'm fine." She looked at the mask and playing cards on the church floor. "I do feel kinda bad for Ace though, but I guess this was always how it was meant to be."

Meanwhile Kunzite walked over to Tuxedo Mask. "Your Highness, I thank you for your assistance. Still, I feel I am unworthy to fight at your side."

Tuxedo Mask put a hand on Kunzite's shoulder. "Kunzite, there's no one else I'd rather have at my side, especially during this current crisis. These Great Old Ones we're currently fighting against are an incredibly dangerous foe. I need your help now more than ever."

Kunzite smiled a little and nodded. "I will not let you down, Sire."

Suddenly the entire church began to shake. As Sailor Moon and the others tried to figure out what was happening, the entire floor suddenly crumbled beneath their feet. The four of them fell into a seemingly endless darkness.


Back in the theater lobby, Freyja and the others saw the red sphere Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask had gone into suddenly turn pitch-black. In a matter of seconds the sphere shrank seemingly to nothing.

"What happened?" Luna wondered. "Where are Sailor Moon and the others?"

The five heard a familiar laugh, and they turned to see One-Eyed Pete standing behind the lobby counter. "I'm afraid your friends will not be coming back. His Majesty decided to invite them to his castle in Carcosa. He's decided to settle the score with Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus personally."

Freyja glared at One-Eyed Pete. "Then open the door to Carcosa so we may join them! I have a score of my own to settle with your wretched king!"

Pete chuckled. "I'm afraid you're about to have problems of your own."

Suddenly the theater lobby became filled with a strange green mist. Fryeja and the others began to hear strange moans coming from the darkness of the lobby. With in the mist, the five began to make out the faint outlines of mostly human-shaped figures shambling towards them.

"What in Odin's name are these things?" Sigrun asked as she and Gunnr raised their weapons.

"These are the audience members who had attended the first showing of my great play at this theater," One-Eyed Pete revealed. "As you can see, the play left quite an impression on them."

Freyja raised her staff at One-Eyed Pete and the gemstone at the top began to glow. "Valhalla's Judgement!"

A stream of multicolored light resembling an aurora blasted One-Eyed Pete, causing him to scream as the attack created a blinding flash. When the light cleared, the mist was gone, along with the figured they concealed. The only thing left of One-Eyed Pete was a cracked and misshapen skull with an eyepatch over one of the sockets.

"That takes care of One-Eyed Pete, but how do we get to Sailor Venus and the others?" Artemis asked.

"What now, milady?" Gunnr asked Freyja.

"For now, we should call the other teams and have them join us here immediately," Freyja decided. "We must find some way to reach Carcosa! And if we are traveling to that wretched land, we must go there in full force."


The gargantuan abomination known as the Conqueror Worm buzzed her two wings and let out a horrid shriek through the mouth of her central head. She burrowed upward into the ceiling of the cavern before Khepri or the others could act.

"How the hell are we supposed to stop a monster like that?" Nephrite asked.

"I don't know, but suddenly I wish Hotaru was dating an Ultraman," Jupiter responded. "No offense, Yoko."

"None taken," Khepri responded.

Saturn rolled her eyes. "As if I'd date anyone who was done in three minutes."

Sailor Eir cleared her throat. "We need to do something before that creature destroys all of London."

"Saturn and I will at least try and keep the thing busy!" Khepri declared as she disassembled her sword. "Meanwhile, the rest of you come up with some sort of plan."

Before the others could argue, Khepri and Saturn rushed back into the cavern. A pair of wings made of gold light appeared from the sides of the pack on Khepri's back and she took off into the air towards the hole the Conqueror Worm had broken into the top of the cavern. At the same time, a pair of similar wings made of purple light formed from Saturn's lower back and she flew after Khepri. Jupiter and the others could only watch as Saturn and Khepri flew up into the hole.


Setsuna and Ami were standing by in the mansion's control room, waiting for some sort of word from the other teams. Neither of them liked just sitting around, but it was something they had to do. It didn't help though that things were still a little awkward between Ami and Setsuna. Suddenly the door to the control room slid open, and Hilda walked in with Haruka and Michiru. Rei and Jun followed them in shortly after.

"Welcome back," Ami greeted. "How'd things go?"

Hilda sighed and crossed her arms. "Well, the good news is we stopped the play from being released worldwide. There were way too many damn casualties though."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone at that publishing company is dead," Haruka explained. "It's a long story."

"What's happening with the other teams?" Jun asked.

"Usagi and Mamoru went off with Frieda to help Minako's team," Ami answered. "Apparently something went wrong."

Suddenly one of the consoles began to beep, alerting Setsuna. "Frieda's contacting us now."

An image of Sailor Freyja appeared on the main screen. "There's a serious problem. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask have been spirited away to Carcosa, along with Sailor Venus and Kunzite. We need all teams to come to our location at once!"

"Dammit!" Hilda cursed. "We'll be there as soon as we can, milady!"

"I'll contact Hotaru and Yoko's team," Ami told them as she sat back down at her console.

Setsuna turned her attention to another screen as a second alert began to beep. "It may be a while before they can assist us. Look."

The main screen changed to an image of the Conqueror Worm rampaging through London. The footage was coming from the camera on a new helicopter covering the scene.

"What the hell's going on over there?" Haruka exclaimed. "Looks like the dung beetle screwed things up royal!"

"Dung beetle?" Jun repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"I think she means Yoko," Rei quietly responded.

"Haruka, we should go over and help them," Michiru decided.

"No way! Lady Freyja needs our assistance more right now," Hilda told them. "Whatever the hell's going on, I'm sure Lord Khepri can handle the situation."


Khepri and Saturn made it out through the hole and flew up into the sky to find the Conqueror Worm already tearing apart the city. The couple could only watch as the beast scooped up a double-decker bus with one of her talons and threw it into the side of a building. Suddenly, The Conqueror Worm fired a beam of sickly yellow-green light from the mouth of her central head and cut a swath into the street below, obliterating two oncoming police cars in the process. Down on the ground below, people everywhere were running for their lives.

Saturn and Khepri flew straight for the abomination's back. Khepri assembled her blaster and fired a few shots of gold light. The projectiles exploded on contact but did little to no damage. Khepri's attack did get the Conqueror Worm's attention though, because she turned around to face the two heroes. It was then Saturn and Khepri noticed a detail about the creature they had failed to notice down in the cavern. The Conqueror Worm's stomach was covered in normal-sized human faces. Some of these faces were laughing madly, while others were screaming in agony or crying in endless sorrow. The two heroes had little time to dwell on this new detail of Patchwork Wiley's masterpiece however, because the large central head of the Conqueror Worm fired a beam of light right at them.

Both heroes flew out of the beam's path and narrowly avoided getting hit. Khepri and Saturn landed on the roof of a nearby building. Meanwhile the Conqueror Worm seemed to forget about them, if she was totally aware of them at all, and went back to her mindless rampage.

"Should we try our finishers?" Khepri asked as she disassembled her blaster.

"Might as well," Saturn responded.

Khepri opened the scarab on her belt and pressed the three buttons within from bottom to top, while at the same time Saturn pressed the head of the scarab on her bracelet.

An electronic voice spoke from Saturn's bracelet. "EVERY END IS A NEW BEGINNING!"

At the same time, another electronic voice spoke from Khepri's belt. "RISE OF THE FINAL DAWN!"

The blade of Saturn's Silence Glaive began to glow with a golden right as she pointed it straight in the air. Meanwhile the two pairs of front legs belonging to the scarab jetpack on Khepri's back extended upward and rotated to rest on her shoulders. The ends of the legs opened to reveal cannon barrels hidden within.

Saturn swing her glaive downward. "Silent Dawn!"

Meanwhile, Khepri pressed the head of the scarab on her belt. "Final Sunrise!"

A ring-shaped blade of gold light flew from Saturn's glaive, and at the same time four powerful beams of gold light like the sun's rays fired from Khepri's shoulder cannons. Both attacks hit the Conqueror Worm and caused her to freeze in her rampage. When the attack ended, a small part of the beast had been burned, but otherwise the creature was unfazed. The Conqueror Worm turned towards them and screeched at the heroes with all three of her heads.

"I think this time we made it mad at us," Saturn remarked.

Khepri's hands balled into fists at her sides as her shoulder cannons retracted. "Dammit! How the hell can this sort of thing still be happening? We finally beat Tsathoggua, but once again we're up against some horror we're not strong enough to beat! And this time it's just something from my past alone! How could I have dragged you into something like this?"

Saturn took Khepri's hand. "Don't talk like that. All of our past lives together may have been one battle against Tsathoggua after another, but like you just said, we're free of Tsathoggua now. I don't know how, but we can beat this thing too. This monster may have been created by an enemy from your past, but I'm with you now. We'll find a way to beat this thing, together."

Suddenly Saturn's brooch and the scarab on Khepri's belt began to glow. There was a brilliant flash of gold light, and appearing in the air before the couple was a large gun-shaped cannon. The weapon was of a futuristic design, colored purple and gold with silver trim. On top of the weapon were two black open clamps. Acting on instinct, Saturn placed the handle of her Silence Glaive into the clamps.

The clamps closed around the glaive's handle and an electronic voice sounded from the weapon. "SUN RIZER CANNON!"

Khepri and Saturn both took hold of the cannon. They aimed the barrel of the weapon up at the Conqueror Worm as the beast began to raise one of her talons towards them.

Saturn and Khepri pulled the cannon's trigger together. "Night's End Requiem!"

A powerful blast of gold light fired from the cannon. Rings of purple light radiated from the ray as it struck the Conqueror Worm. Cracks of light formed all over the creature's body, and it shrieked for one before exploding with a blinding flash. When the light cleared, the only thing left of the Conqueror Worm was a cloud of silvery ash that blew away in the breeze. The Sun Rizer Cannon vanished once its task was complete, leaving Saturn's Silence Glaive behind.

Saturn smiled at Khepri. "I told you we could do it."

Khepri pulled Saturn close. "I shouldn't have doubted you for a second."

A news chopper was flying around the building Khepri and Saturn were standing on top of as they shared this moment. They were totally unaware as a camera zoomed in for a closeup as Saturn planted a kiss on the faceplate of Khepri's mask.


Jupiter and Nephrite were down on the ground and had seen Khepri and Saturn's final attack on the Conqueror Worm. All around them were people using their phones to film the scene or watch the ongoing news footage of the incident. On the screen of one woman's phone, Jupiter could see footage of Saturn kissing Khepri with the caption, "Mystery Heroes Save London."

Nephrite saw the same picture and smirked. "Guess we need to hire a press agent or something."

Jupiter nodded. "It's not the first time something like this has happened to us. Then again, we've never been in the news on this scale before. I mean this is the first time any of us have ever fought a kaiju."

"What was the cannon Khepri and Saturn used to defeat that thing anyway? Where did it come from?"

"Dunno, but I have a theory. It could be the two of them somehow created that cannon using their love for each other. Something similar happened to Usagi and Mamoru back when we were fighting Black Moon."

Sailor Eir rushed up to the couple. "I was just on the phone with Officer Marbury. After what just happened, she's decided to tell her superiors about the incidents she was involved in with us, but has promised to leave our civilian identities out of her reports. Hopefully she'll be able to help get public opinion on our side."

Nephrite nodded. "After all of this, I think the public should definitely know a little more about us."

Suddenly Eir's communicator began to beep. She pressed a button, and a small holographic screen showing Hilda appeared above her wrist.

"There's an emergency," Hilda stated. "We need your team to rendezvous with us at the location Sailor Venus's team was scouting."

"What's happened?" Eir asked.

"I don't know all the details, but it looks like Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask rushed in to save Venus and General Kunzite from some sort of trap, only for the four of them to get dragged to Carcosa."

"Then...they're likely fighting Hastur as we speak."

"Say what!?" Jupiter exclaimed.

"We're heading off to join Lady Freyja right now," Hilda continued. "As soon as you get things wrapped up over there in London, we need you to come straight over."

Eir nodded. "Understood. We'll be there shortly." She shut off her communicator and turned to the others. "We must get in touch with Lord Khepri and Lady Saturn at once."

"They should be joining us soon," Nephrite assumed.

Jupiter nodded. "I just hope Usagi and the others are okay."


Sailor Moon awoke to discover she was laying on the cold hard ground. She saw Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Venus standing above her. The two of them helped the blond guardian to her feet, and Sailor Moon saw Kunzite standing alert nearby, as if on guard for some unseen danger.

"Are you okay?" Tuxedo Mask asked.

Sailor Moon nodded. "Where are we?"

"The last place we want to be," Venus answered, turning her head towards the landscape before them.

Sailor Moon looked and saw what she initially took to be a huge mountain with twin peaks. This mountain was so massive that the peaks towered behind a large yellow moon. It was night, and the stars above looked like black pin holes had been poked into the sky. Soon enough, Sailor Moon realized she wasn't looking at a mountain, but a cyclopian castle of immeasurable scale. She also realized she had seen the place before.

"This is the same place from the dream we all had," Sailor Moon identified.

Venus nodded. "We're in Carcosa, and that's Hastur's castle. Right now we may as well be standing in the palm of Hastur's hand."


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