Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Robert W. Cahmbers.
Chapter 13: Kunzite
It was a Sunday afternoon, and Keisuke and Quinella had gone on a date to the amusement park. Keisuke had never been big on amusement parks, but Quinella was a big fan and insisted they go. Their main objective was to ride the ferris wheel, but before that they decided to have some ice cream. The two of them were sitting on a bench and finishing their respective cones.
"Well darling, in just two more days we'll officially be husband and wife," Quinella stated.
"Yes. I hardly thought the day would come," Keisuke responded, trying to feign excitement.
Quinella frowned a little. "What's wrong, darling? Cold feet?"
"I…suppose that could be it. It's just…Quinella, do you ever feel like the life you're living is wrong? Like you're supposed to be doing something else?"
"Darling, whatever are you talking about? You're not making any sense."
Before Keisuke could respond, he saw a young woman pass by their bench. This young lady had long blonde hair with a red bow on the back. In the instant Keisuke saw this young woman, all of his true memories came flooding back.
Keisuke rose to his feet, glaring at Quinella as he threw his ice cream cone to the ground. "Enough of this farce! Who are you?"
"Darling, what are you saying?" Quinella innocently responded. "What's come over you?"
Keisuke simply put a hand to his chest and became enveloped in a pillar of black star-filled energy. The energy soon dissipated to reveal the silver-haired man in his alternate form of Kunzite.
Kunzite drew his sword and pointed the tip at Quinella's face. "Don't play dumb! I know now that this whole thing is one of One-Eyed Pete's illusions, and that you're one of his pawns."
Quinella frowned and tossed her own ice cream cone away. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a leading man who won't stick to a script!"
Suddenly Quinella jumped off the bench and flipped through the air over Kunzite's head. She landed a few feet behind him and became enveloped in a pillar of sickly yellow light. Seconds later the light faded away to reveal Quinella covered in a black skin-tight bodysuit that also covered her hands, making it appear as though her fingers had claws. Covering her face was a porcelain mask that looked like the face of a beautiful woman, with a black spade covering the left cheek. Atop her head was a tarnished gold four-pointed crown, and she had gained a mass of long silver hair that grew all the way down to the end of her back. Covering her chest was a tarnished silver and black breastplate resembling a bra, and attached beneath it was an equally tarnished piece of gold and red armor that resembled a corset. On her legs was a pair of red knee-high boots with sharp high heels.
"And just who and what are you supposed to be?" Kunzite asked.
A pair of silver daggers appeared in the masked woman's hands. "Call me Razor Queen."
"Just what was the meaning of this whole charade?"
"It was a performance, put on for the enjoyment of His Majesty. You and I were the leads, but you just couldn't stick to your part. For that, you must die!"
The Razor Queen threw the dagger in her right hand at Kunzite. Kunzite was prepared to knock the dagger away with his sword, but suddenly the dagger flashed yellow and turned into a barrage of fifty daggers. The silver-haired knight quickly rolled out of the way to the right and just barely avoided the flying blades. One of the knives grazed the edge of his cape and created a small tear. Kunzite immediately jumped to his feet and continued to run right as Razor Queen threw the dagger in her other hand. Once again, the dagger turned into a barrage of knives that flew for Kunzite.
Kunzite dove behind a nearby concession stand and the knives flew for him, only for them to hit the side of the stand. The knight peaked above the top of the stand and saw two fresh daggers appear in Razor Queen's hands.
"You could at least have the dignity to die properly," Razor Queen remarked as she twirled the dagger in her right hand. "That is the show His Majesty truly wishes to see. If you had stuck to the script, I would've killed you on our wedding night."
Kunzite rose to his feet behind the concession stand. "I spent part of my previous life playing the pawn of a repugnant creature! I will not make the same mistake twice!"
"Hah! You have no idea the opportunity you have squandered. I was going to make you a star! Ours could've been the greatest show ever seen in Carcosa, but you had to throw it all away!"
"I couldn't care less for fame."
Razor Queen shrugged her shoulders. "Be that as it may, I shall still make your death a spectacle for His Majesty's enjoyment!"
The instant Razor Queen threw the dagger in her right hand, Kunzite pulled his sword back and then thrust it forward. "Obsidian Lance!"
A massive cone of black star-filled energy shot from Kunzite's sword and hit the oncoming barrage of knives, creating a blinding flash. When the light faded, Kunzite saw Razor Queen was nowhere to be found.
Razor Queen's laughter rang through the air as Kunzite looked around the park. "I think it's time we take our performance to a different stage."
The sky suddenly darkened, and a large spotlight came down from above onto a small round red and yellow building designed to look like a circus tent. The neon sign above the door indicated the building to be the amusement park's house of mirrors. Kunzite realized he had no choice but to play Razor Queen's game and go inside. He cautiously approached the door to the house of mirrors and stepped inside.
Beyond the door, Kunzite found a hallway lined with mirrors that cast his reflection. At first the hall was a straight shot forward, but after a few feet it began to twist and turn. Soon enough, Kunzite found himself traveling through a labyrinth of mirrors. He knew all he could do for the time being was keep going forward and keep his eye out for whatever trick Razor Queen was planning. Several minutes seemed to pass by though, and in that time Kunzite's enemy hadn't made a single move.
Suddenly the image in the mirror directly in front of Kunzite changed. Instead of his own reflection, Kunzite saw an older man who was tall, well-built and looked somewhat like him. The man had short neatly-cut silver hair and a mustache, and wore a bluish-grey suit with a dark-blue tie. His eyes were an iron-grey and filled with disdain. Kunzite recognized who the man was immediately. The man was his father in this lifetime, Yukinobu Tenju.
"I can't believe my own son could be such a stubborn, idiotic fool," the image of Yukinobu declared. "Don't you realize you're throwing away your future?"
The mirror on Kunzite's left shimmered, and his reflection in that mirror was replaced by the image of a somewhat younger Keisuke Tenju.
"No father," the young Keisuke spoke in response to his father's declaration. "I'm throwing away the future you decided for me. I have no desire to be your successor."
"You are forsaking your family's legacy! Did you think for a moment about what will become of our company if you are not there to take the reins when the time comes?"
"Kazuto is more than capable of taking over the company. He has a better head for the business than I do."
Yukinobu shook his head. "Your younger brother is smart, but he does not have the same strength of will that you and I possess. I'm sure he'd be a capable righthand, but he could never run the company on his own."
"You've always underestimated him, Father. Kazuto is a far better successor to you than I am. You just have to have faith in him. As for me, my destiny lies elsewhere."
"And just what sort of grand destiny do you believe is out there for you?"
"I don't know, but I do know that it's something bigger than running some company."
Yukinobu scowled and turned his back to Kunzite and the young Keisuke. "Very well. Go out and search the world for this destiny of yours. But know that the moment you walk out that door, you are no longer my son."
"Enough!" Kunzite shouted as he charged forward and stabbed his sword into the mirror showing Yukinobu's back.
The mirror shattered and revealed a new corridor of mirrors beyond. After taking a breath to calm down, Kunzite stepped into the corridor beyond.
Razor Queen's laughter sounded throughout the house of mirrors. "Oh dear. Did I strike a nerve? Be totally honest. Do you really prefer the truth of your life compared to the illusion the Maestro wrote for you and I? In the story we were in, you had a father who still thought of you as his son."
"Only because I had given up on following my own path in your farce of a world! The man your master, One-Eyed Pete wrote me as is not the kind of man I sought to be! Perhaps my decision caused me to lose my father, but it is still one I am proud of!"
"Really? Even though your choice caused pain to someone else you cared about?"
"Brother!" a familiar voice called from behind.
Kunzite turned around and discovered that the mirror he had broken not only restored itself, it showed the image of a boy in his early teens. He had neatly-cut silver hair and iron-grey eyes like Keisuke's father. The boy was dressed in a powder-blue sweater vest with a white shirt, red tie and tan slacks. Kunzite recognized the boy as his younger brother in this life, Kazuto Tenju.
"How can you just leave like this?" the image of Kazuto asked. "Father is very upset!"
An image of the younger Keisuke appeared in a mirror behind Kunzite's right side. "I'm sorry, Kazuto. But I have to leave in order to find my place in the world. Whatever future is meant for me, it's not the future our father has in mind. Something inside me says that I have a much different purpose in life."
"But...then who will run the company when it's Father's time to step down?"
Young Keisuke smiled. "You're more than capable of running things in my place."
Kazuto shook his head. "No. I just don't have the strength for something like that."
"That's only what Father tells you. You're far stronger than you know. I believe in you, little brother. Take care of things in my steed."
With those words, the image of young Keisuke turned around and began to walk away inside the mirror.
"Come back!" Kazuto called. "Don't go! BROTHERRR!"
Kunzite closed his eyes as the image of Kazuto vanished from the mirror. The silver-haired warrior had seen the tears in his younger brother's eyes.
"Not a very good brother, were you?" Razor Queen's voice remarked. "You dumped all of your responsibilities on the poor boy, all to chase after some unknown destiny. And look where your search took you."
"Kunzite," a familiar voice spoke.
All of the color drained from Kunzite's face the moment he heard the voice. He turned around, and in the mirror in front of him was a young-looking woman with grayish skin and long wavy red hair. She had on a form-fitting grey dress, and a distinctive black ornament in the shape of a V adorned her forehead.
Kunzite recognized the woman immediately. "Queen Beryl!"
"Never forget that the sole reason for your existence is to serve me," the image of Queen Beryl declared. "Now kneel."
Enraged, Kunzite cried out and slashed his sword into the mirror showing Queen Beryl, shattering it to pieces. Kunzite charged forward through shards into a new corridor.
"Enough of this!" Kunzite declared. "I know my true purpose now! The real reason I was reborn into this age was to serve Mamoru and fight at his side!"
"Yes, and from what young Ace told me you've been a miserable failure at your grand destiny," Razor Queen's voice responded. "You ended up essentially betraying the valiant prince you set out to serve. And do you know what setting out on your noble quest for your own destiny cost you? Your father is dead. The added strain of you leaving and spurning your family's legacy sent him to an early grave. And your brother now struggles daily with the burden of running a grand company he wasn't ready to inherit. He is a boy pretending to be a man; a child prince trying to wear a crown that's just a little too big for his head."
"Do you honestly expect me to believe a word of what you're saying? Now enough of this game! Come out and face me at once!"
Razor Queen laughed. "Aren't you forgetting one thing? Aren't you the least bit curious about what's happening yo your lady love, Sailor Venus?"
Kunzite's eyes went wide. "Where is Mina?"
"Starring in her own performance along with one of my fellow troupe members. I believe you know the young man quite well. He's rather talented if I do say so myself."
"Saijyo!"
"Right now the girl is living the life she always wanted. In the world the Maestro created for her, your beloved is a star beloved by millions, and engaged to a lovely young man who is in every way her equal. She's forgotten all about you, and she's better off if you ask me. Of course in the final act of her performance, young Ace is going to kill her, but at least she'll die happy. In fact from what little I've seen of the play she's performing in, she's happy right now. Take a look for yourself."
Suddenly the mirror right in front of Kunzite showed an image of Minako naked and on all fours. Ace was plowing into her from behind. Minako was moaning with pleasure and her tongue was hanging out as Ace pulled her right leg back and buck his hips into her harder. By this point the blonde's eyes had practically rolled to the back of her head. Kunzite looked on at the horrific carnal display in shock, and the grip he had on the handle of his sword had tightened so much that his knuckles were white beneath the glove.
"See? The girl doesn't need you at all," Razor Queen declared. "She's living an existence far better than the kind you could ever give her.
As Razor Queen began to laugh, an outraged Kunzite smashed right through the mirror showing the image of Minako having sex with Ace and passed into an octagonal chamber with more mirrors on all of the walls. Standing in the center of the chamber was Sailor Venus. The blonde had a worried look on her face.
"Kunzite! Are you okay?" Venus asked.
"Mina!" Kunzite responded, stunned. "Razor Queen told me you were trapped in some sort of illusion like the one I've been in."
"I managed to escape and break in here. You are okay, right?"
Kunzite looked Venus right in the eye. "Mina...Razor Queen showed me something that supposedly happened in the illusion you were trapped in. Be honest, did you and Saijyo...have intercourse?"
Venus looked stunned. "Are you kidding?! No! Obviously this woman you're talking about is messing with your head. I don't know what she showed you, but it didn't happen!"
Kunzite smiled and nodded. "I thought as much. I know these so-called actors seem to specialize in trickery, but part of me needed to be sure. Forgive me."
Venus smiled. "Don't worry, Keisuke-darling. You've been through a lot, so I can forgive you for talking crazy. Now let's go, before this Razor Queen you're talking about finds us."
Kunzite nodded and was about to walk over to Venus's side, but then he stopped. Something about the way Venus was acting seemed off to him. The silver-haired warrior then noticed that all of the mirrors in the chamber showed a reflection of Razor Queen. Very calmly, Kunzite approached the woman posing as Sailor Venus, but when he got close enough he charged forward and stabbed his sword right through her gut, all the way through her back.
The blonde looked at Kunzite with a hurt expression as blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. "Keisuke, why?"
"Did you really think I would fall for such a trick?" Kunzite responded. "For one thing, these mirrors of yours reflect your true appearance. Plus you didn't study the role you're trying to play very well. Otherwise you'd know that Mina has taken to calling me by a certain nickname. She would never refer to me as Keisuke-darling!"
A look of rage formed on the fake Venus's face as it morphed into Quinella's. A pillar of sickly yellow light formed around the blonde and threw Kunzite back. The light faded to reveal Quinella back in her alternate form of Razor Queen. A hole had been punctured into the corset-like armor covering her stomach, and large crack had formed down the center of her mask.
"You are the worst leading man I've ever had the displeasure of working with!" Razor Queen declared.
"I am no actor!" Kunzite responded. "And the rest of this performance is canceled!"
Razor Queen threw another one of her silver daggers, which Kunzite easily dodged as he charged for her. When he got close enough, Kunzite swung his sword and cut Razor Queen's head clean off, and both her head and body crumbled into piles of ash. Suddenly cracks of white light formed in the ground under Kunzite's feet, and within seconds there was a blinding flash of white light. When the light faded, Kunzite found himself in the darkened lobby of the theater. Gunnr and Sigrun came up to him immediately.
"General Kunzite, I trust you are unharmed?" Gunnr asked.
Kunzite nodded. "What happened to you two?"
"Well I almost got tricked into marrying a guy, and Gunnr nearly let some creeps execute her in a fake trial," Sigrun answered. "I'm guessing you were put through the same kind of show?"
Kunzite nodded. "Where's Mina?"
"Our guess is in there," Sigrun answered, pointing her tumb at the last remaining sphere inside the lobby.
"We were able to contact the base," Gunnr revealed. "Reinforcements should be here within the hour."
Kunzite glared at the sphere. "I'm not going to wait."
Before Sigrun or Gunnr could stop him, Kunzite charged into the sphere. The two valkyries attempted to follow him, but were repelled by some sort of electrical wall. Soon after, the sphere turned to a shade of brilliant crimson.
"What the hell?" Sigrun exclaimed.
"It would seem the energy barrier of the sphere has intensified," Gunnr deduced. "General Kunzite must've triggered some sort of defensive measure when he entered it."
"Funny. You'd think a feature like that would trigger before someone could get inside."
"Unless this was by design," Gunnr suggested. "It could be that General Kunzite was always meant to charge in and attempt to rescue Sailor Venus."
"The last of One-Eyed Pete's 'actors' must be that Phantom Ace guy. He was probably expecting Kunzite to break out of his own illusion and charge in to rescue Venus from the beginning."
Gunnr nodded. "This will be the last showdown Sailor Venus and General Kunzite will have with Phantom Ace. And unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll be able to do anything to interfere."
It was midmorning as Constance rang the doorbell of the property on Baker Street once known as 221B. The young police officer found she was a bit nervous as she waited for someone to answer. A thick file folder was tucked under her left arm. After a few seconds the door opened and Hotaru was standing in the doorway.
"Oh! Good morning, Officer Marbury," Hotaru greeted.
"Hi. Mind if I come in?" Constance requested.
"Not at all. We're kind of on standby right now," Hotaru answered as she stepped aside.
Once Constance came in, Hotaru led her to the sitting room. Upon their arrival, Constance found Yoko, Makoto and Nao all watching T.V.
"Look who decided to pay us a visit," Hotaru spoke as she went and sat down next to Yoko on the couch.
"What brings you here, Officer Constance?" Yoko asked.
"Well, first of all I wanted to thank you for saving my life twice now," Constance began. She looked around and noticed Erica was absent. "Where's your little friend?"
"She's in her little computer room trying to pin down Patchwork Wiley's hideout," Makoto answered. "FYI, Erica's a little sensitive about her height, so if I were you I wouldn't call her our 'little friend' while she might be in earshot."
Constance nodded. "Right, well the second reason I'm here is because I brought something that I think should help your search." She set down the thick file folder she had tucked under her arm on the coffee table. "Mind you, I had to sneak this out of headquarters. I decided to do some digging to find out what I could about the cases concerning those poison brooches and the massacres, and I found that the strange symbol from both the brooches and the crime scenes popped up in another case. Several weeks ago a public sanitation worker was down in the old London sewer tunnels and ran across a tunnel that shouldn't be there.
"The juncture he found wasn't part of the original network of tunnels. In fact it looked like something like a gigantic worm had dug this new tunnel out of the earth. The worker decided to investigate and went down the new tunnel. According to the statement he gave the inspector assigned to the case, he found some sort of massive chamber at the end of the tunnel, which went several feet under the ground. He wouldn't say exactly what he saw in the chamber though. All he kept saying was, 'They were coming'. The poor bloke was totally out of his mind."
"Was there any follow-up?" Yoko asked.
Constance shook her head. "Afraid not. The worker was thrown in the nuthouse. He killed himself a few days later. He slit his throat with a piece of broken glass he managed to sneak into his room. But right before he died, he managed to smear this symbol on the wall with his own blood."
Constance opened the folder on the coffee table, and on top of the stack of papers was a large printed photo of a familiar glyph in dried blood.
"The Yellow Sign," Yoko identified. "The worker must've found Wyld's hideout."
"I was actually one of the officers on the scene of the suicide," Constance revealed. "I didn't make the connection until very early this morning while I was secretly reviewing the case files for the brooches and the massacres and looked at one of the crime scene photos of the massacres again."
"Does anyone else at Scotland Yard know about this?" Makoto asked.
"No, and honestly I think that's for the best," Constance answered. "It may cost me my job in the end, but honestly I think you people are the best ones to handle all of this."
Yoko closed the folder. "You made the right call. Hopefully Erica can use this to find out the exact location of Wyld's hideout. As soon as she does, we'll move in and stop Wyld before he has a chance to finish his big project."
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