USAGI IS DEAD II DEAD IS USAGI by DARK DAY FOR ANIME Disclaimer - Sailormoon is owned by Takeuchi Naoko and Bandai, so these characters really belong to them, except ones I made up. This means I'm only using the Sailormoon characters for purposes benign. (And if you believe that, you'd believe anything. ^_^) ------------------------------------------------------------------- S T A R T ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I refuse to accept the fact that I talk to myself." I said to myself, one day, whilst sitting atop the roof of my house, staring at the thirty pound apples that were floating across the sky. In Technicolor, even. -------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE.... Having arrived on the planet Wyccfaer through the astounding process of literary deus ex machina, Usako (the ultimate recipient of the spirits of Usagi and Serenity), Umi (the reincarnation of the Moon Kingdom's twelfth Miko, Naiad Keth Drutein), Natsagi (an Usagi clone who bears an amazing resemblance to Natsuki from Hyper Police), CereCere (one of the four raving psychos known as the Amazoness Quartet) and Mokosagi (another Usagi clone who looks like Mokona from Magic Knight Rayearth and is, in fact, the Kawaii Senshi Sailor PuPuPu, unbeknownst to everyone else) have stumbled upon what appears to be a ghost town on the edge of a lake. With the cold weather closing in, they spy a church, sitting on a hill that overlooks the town and decide to investigate, despite feeling strange and eerie emanations coming from the church.... -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Do you suppose we should knock?" Natsagi sniffed the doorhandle of the church's main entrance. "Eww.... I don't like the smell of that. Kinda gruesome." The catgirl recoiled and rubbed her nose with one of her hands, as if trying to rub the smell away. "What kind of smell do you detect?" Usako asked her, softly, looking up the church's spire. Umi watched her as Natsagi answered, fascinated with the distant look that had entered her eyes. "Smells like old sweat. And blood. And all kinds of icky smells and odours. really icky." "Are they coming from the doorhandle, or from within the church, itself?" Usako still didn't look down from her gaze. Natsagi, noticed her musings and looked up. "What is it? Is there something up there?" "I thought I saw a young woman, sitting on the spire. She seemed somewhat troubled." Usako turned to Natsagi and Umi. "She's not there, anymore. Strange, isn't it?" "I don't like this place." Umi turned and grabbed Mokosagi, who was sitting next to her leg, and held her tightly. "I say we go somewhere else. What do you say, Moko?" "Puu...." The bunny thing looked up at her, then over at Usako, who smiled down at the pair of them. "I don't think this place is as bad as you think." She crossed her hands in front of her. "A building, itself, is never bad, or evil. It merely reflects the memories and emotions of those who have lived there, or are still living there." She turned to the doors, strode forward and grabbed them, heaving them open. Natsagi and Umi stood back, feeling the air from within rush out to greet them. Usako let go of the doors and stood, staring within. Several seconds passed before anyone said anything. "Are we going in or what? It's starting to drizzle, and I'm cold and hungry." CereCere strode up behind her two nervous colleagues, having fallen behind on the way up to the church. They almost leapt a full foot before realising who it was. "Cere-chan! Don't scare us like that!" Umi spun and pointed at her, angrily. CereCere huffed, crossing her arms. "Seems like its everyones' day to criticise me. Well, if you won't go in, I will." And with that, she bustled past Umi and stopped alongside Usako. "I will go in and check the place out before you enter. Is that satisfactory in your eyes?" She leant over, staring Usako in the face, the gaze not being returned. "You can if you wish. There isn't anything in there that can hurt you. At least, nothing that is CAPABLE of hurting you." CereCere huffed, striding in with her fists clenched. Stopping in the middle of the entry hall, she looked around at the stark stonework and deep burgundy furnishings, the staircase and the doors to the main cathedral. Shrugging, she turned back to the others. "Looks like almost every other European church I've visited." "How many have you visited?" Natsagi asked. CereCere chuckled, dryly. "None. Never been to Europe, and there aren't that many old churches left standing, there." And with that, a large axe flew through the air and landed in her skull. ----o Part Fifteen Angels in the Bellfry ----o The Verger leapt from where he was hiding and grabbed the axe out of the fallen and convulsing CereCere's head, bits of blood, bone and flesh spraying up at him as he did so. "Got one." He giggled to himself. "Just a collection of girls, nothing to worry myself over. More bodies to add to the pile." He stood and stared at the figures in the doorway, two of which seemed to be rather shocked at his appearance. The third, the tallest of the trio, with blond hair, just stood there, smiling at him. That smile annoyed him. Just as he was about to pitch the axe at the blond, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Anou...." Said the voice of a rather annoyed young woman. "What would you happen to be doing?" He turned to face CereCere, standing with her head completely intact, as if it had never been struck. He recoiled from her and lifted up the axe, only to find he wasn't holding an axe anymore. He stared at the dishmop for a good minute or so before whipping it behind his back and giggling. "Oh, so sorry about that. I'm not used to greeting visitors, since I don't get many." "Bloody good thing, too." CereCere huffed. "Who the hell are you, anyway?" She pressed her face into the Verger's, threateningly. "And can you answer that without hitting me in the head with a dishmop?" The Verger swallowed nervously as the others stepped in through the door. "Ah, I'm the Verger of this church." He paused. "More sort of a caretaker, really. We don't get many people in here, anymore. Just thieves and bandits and the like. Sorry, I thought you might have been some." "Oh yes, I'm a nasty thief and bandit." CereCere wagged a finger at him. "And I can be scared away by dismops, I don't think." "Well, it was the only thing I could grab at the time." He did his best to look a little hurt, which had the desired effect on the pink-haired girl, the catgirl and the youngster with the small, strange-looking rabbit. The taller blond, however, just retained her annoying, inscrutable smile, and he had to contain himself from shoving the dishmop down her throat. Taking a breath, he crossed his arms, trying to look stern. "Anyway.... Who might you girls be, if you aren't thieves." "We're travelers." The blond answered. "We arrived upon the township below to find nobody there, and decided to come up to the church in the search for shelter." "Travelers?" The Verger shook his head. "This far from Delkoppe? This part of the planet isn't all that well populated, now. You really shouldn't be wandering around on foot, in case anything happened to you." "What about you?" The pink-haired girl sniffed. "What do you live on out here? Dishmops?" "No.... There are monthly flights from Delkoppe and Parshone. This used to be one of the stopoff points for the Pilgrimage Trail of the Fifteen Worlds. But ever since the closure of the processing plants in Delkoppe, work for the passing pilgrims has been scarce and they've moved further north." He paused for effect. "That's why there isn't anyone in the town, nor a proper priest in this church. Everything has been wound back. It is only a matter of time before I take my leave of this place." Just as he ended, a gust of cold wind became a precursor to rain, striking the roof of the church. Umi and Natsagi moved further into the church, shivering with the cold as the Verger clapped his hands together, stepping past them and closing the doors. "Ah, will this weather never end?" He sighed. "Its so cold on this planet, this far south. Go much further and you start to reach steppe." He turned back to them. "I used to like the cold. My hometown was a cold place, snowing for much of the year. But it was a different kind of cold.... It was full of life and visual relief.... Here, it's just stark and plain. Even the snow is can get so ubiquitously bland." "Too much of a good thing." The blond cocked her head to one side, clasping her hands in front of her. "Perhaps you can direct us to a warm room." She gestured to Umi. "And some warm food. My charges, here, are rather hungry." "Your charges...." The Verger shivered for a second. They certainly didn't seem to be ordinary travelers. Their clothing told him that. They certainly weren't dressed for long distance travel, and the clothes, themselves, were either too official, in the case of the catgirl, or too casual. And offworld, too.... A strange form of fashion. For a few seconds, he worried that they might be some kind of official party.... Investigators and the like, looking into those who had gone missing whilst passing this way. Interruption with his plans by officials.... That was all he needed. Officialdom never understood people like he. Those who saw past the minor distractions of life to higher causes and planes of thought. He could see, in the blond, the very essence of officialdom. That annoyingly calm exterior, reading his every word and action. Yes, what with the catgirl in the uniform, they had to be some kind of investigative party. He clasped the side of his head and laughed out loud, with a hint of the maniacal, before he realised that everyone was staring at him, oddly. "Um, sorry about that." He cleared his throat. "All these years of living alone can make you a little bit dotty, if you aren't careful. Anyway, come along.... The kitchen is this way. I'll start up the fire and make you something warm and poisonous. I mean, delicious...." He turned and started making for the kitchen, clasping his chest with his hand. What the hell was he doing? Trying to give everything away by acting with the utmost suspicion? Swallowing, he let go of his chest and looked over his shoulder. The girls had not followed him, but were huddling around each other, whispering. He clapped his hands together. "Come on now, chop chop." Chop chop indeed! He shivered and wondered if he could get to the knife rack quickly enough to find an implement worth dispatching them with. "....You want to know what I think?" CereCere mumbled to the others. "I say we leave, right now. This person, whomever he might be, is quite clearly deranged, and not the kind of person we should associate ourselves with." "But it's raining. And it's cold." Natsagi looked at CereCere, imploringly. "I don't like rain. It's bad for my hair. Makes it all go frizzy and stuff." "Well, you can stay here." CereCere glowered at her. "I dunno about this place, but the guy living here is creep enough for my tastes." "I said this was a bad place." Umi curled up her bottom lip. "I wanna go home. This is all too scary for me." Mokosagi puu-ed in agreement. Usako placed a gentle hand on Umi's shoulder. "Don't worry. He won't be of concern to us for much longer. And there isn't a thing he can do to us that would actually lead to any harm." She looked over at where the Verger was waiting for them. "He doesn't really understand what is going on around here. "He's not the only one." CereCere crossed her arms. "How can he NOT be a threat to us. He's way weirdo." "That he might be. But his perceptions of his surroundings are bent by this domain. No matter what he tries, he cannot harm us." Usako stepped away from the huddle and around them, towards the Verger. "How old is this church?" She asked as the others followed her, nervously. The Verger smiled. "I'm not entirely sure." He gestured down a small hallway, pointing at a simple white door at the far end, moving along ahead of them as he spoke. "The church has been here since long before I was born. At least, that is what I'm lead to believe. The last priest to serve here told me that his great grandfather mentioned the existence of this place, and that there are records of repair and maintenance in the Delkoppe Administration Office, going back a good seven hundred years. There are no records of who built it." Reaching the door, he opened it and looked back at them, smiling. Another opportunity was now raising its head. "If you would just step through here, we can warm ourselves up and then get into contact with the authorities. I have a transceiver in my private room. Turning, he stepped into the kitchen and looked around for a sufficiently vicious-looking object. Eventually, he spotted a rolling pin, sitting in the corner of the sink counter. He took a breath and looked back at where the counter stopped, about a two feet from the door, enough room for him to hide in wait. Quickly, he grabbed the pin and dashed over to the space beside the door, waiting and listening. Outside, Natsagi was sniffing by the double doors that lead to the pulpits. Umi and Mokosagi were standing beside and watching her. "What are you doing, Neko-oneechan?" Umi scratched her head, wondering why there was such an intense expression on the catgirl's face. Natsagi looked up at her, shrugged, then lowered herself onto all fours, sniffing the carpet before the doors. "Blood. I can smell blood and the scent of death." "This is a bad place." Umi looked up at the doors. "There is something here that is being sullied. It is evil, but not the intention...." She paused, then placed Mokosagi on the floor, the small bunny thing bounding around her to get a better view as she placed her hands on the doorhandles. Natsagi stood and stepped back, looking nervous. "You're not going to open them?" She swallowed as Umi turned her head slowly and nodded. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I really wouldn't." She grabbed Umi's shoulders. "It's too scary. It'll be better if we follow the man to the kitchen." She paused. "Well, maybe not, but maybe so.... I forgot what I was talking about." "Run off to the kitchen, then." Umi shrugged off her grip. "Whatever it is, it has to be looked into.... It has to be faced, and cleansed." And with that, she leaned back, putting all of her weight into opening the big, heavy doors. Natsagi's hair stood on end as they started to give, and fell on all fours, running towards the kitchen, brushing by Usako and CereCere, who had been waiting and watching for the others to follow. The Verger was surprised when Natsagi's figure flew past him, far lower than he'd expected. The catgirl ran into the opposite wall and collapsed, dazed, for a few seconds. Summoning up all of his energy, he charged across the kitchen, just as Natsagi came to and registered his presence. She let out a short screech just before he brought the rolling pin down upon her head. With a sickening crunch, her skull was shattered. She slid down the wall as he repeatedly struck her, again and again and again, sending a shower of blood, flesh, hair and bone fragments across the kitchen. Eventually he stood, looking down at his handiwork, shivering with exhaustion. One down, four to go. "What would you happen to be doing?" He heard the voice of the blonde, in the doorway behind him. With a cry of rage, he spun around, swinging the rolling pin in an effort to collect her across the head. And succeeded, to a degree, since the rolling pin had suddenly turned itself into a bunch of flowers.... The flowers he'd kept on the windowsill. Usako stood back and stared at the flowers, placing a hand on her chest. "For me?" She appeared delighted. "Why, thankyou." And with that, she took the flowers from the hand of the rather crestfallen verger, sniffing them. "They're very nice. Snow Daisies, aren't they? Hmm...." She looked back up at him. "That still doesn't explain what you thought you were doing, beating poor Natsagi-chan over the head with these." "With the flowers?" He swallowed and turned back to where Natsagi's body should have been, only to find a rather cross-looking catgirl ranging up on him, hands on her hips. "He was trying to kill me with them, from my point of view." She prodded him in the side with an accusatory finger. "KILL ME, I tell you. He was mad. INSANE!" "Oh really...." Usako said, also ranging up on the verger, but with a rather calmer expression on her face. "Just because his practices seem unusual doesn't mean he was trying to kill you. I mean...." She held up the flowers. "....He was highly unlikely to succeed by using these. Although I may not be quite up to date on studies into human physiology, I still believe that the skull is a great deal stronger than you are giving it credit for." "It wasn't a bunch of flowers I saw before he was going to hit me!" Natsagi pushed the stunned verger out of the way to argue with Usako. "It was a rolling pin. A big, heavy, wooden rolling pin. That's why I let out that cry. I thought he was going to smash my skull in, but...." "But...?" Usako smiled, staring directly into the catgirl's eyes. Natsagi opened her mouth to speak, but then thought things over. "But it turned into a bunch of flowers.... How?" Natsagi scratched her head, sweatdropping. "I mean, it WAS a rolling pin. I could SEE a rolling pin. It was big and solid and didn't look a thing like a bunch of flowers. I mean.... I don't know what I mean. I mean...." She paused, then put a hand over her mouth. "Umi! That's it! That's why I ran in here! Umi was going to open up the doors to the pulpit!" "WHAT?" The verger was drawn out of his state of catatonia, reaching over to grab the collar of Natsagi's uniform jacket. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Natsagi cringed back from the larger man. "I said.... she was going.... to open the door.... to the pulpit...." She frowned, then threw off the man's grip. "OI! Why am I explaining things to you?" But the verger ignored her, turning away as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I think...." Usako placed a protective arm around Natsagi. "I think he has things on his mind." And she nodded with some satisfaction as a cry of shock echoed down from the corridor. Umi and Mokosagi stared in horror at the sight that befell them. Instead of rows of pews, leading up to the altar of the church, there was a massive pile of human bodies, as fresh as if they had all just been killed, reaching almost all the way up to the ceiling, where they could see a small and innocuous looking door. More like a hatch than a door. And from that door she could hear what sounded like inhuman voices, a chorus, singing a tune that was singularly seductive and threatening. Umi slowly started forward, Mokosagi hopping alongside her foot, trying to warn her from going any further forward. "Puu! Pu pupu pupupu pu pupu puupuu!" "What's going on?" They heard a voice behind them and turned. CereCere stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. She looked around the chamber of the church, blinking. "Oh dear.... This place appears to be empty." "Empty!?!" Umi's jaw dropped to the floor. "Can't you see it?" Mokosagi nodded in agreement. CereCere merely stared at them, nonplused. "See what?" "The bodies. They're everywhere, piled up to the ceiling!" Umi pointed into the chamber, sweat running down her forehead. "Its horrible, Cere-oneechan...." CereCere looked around the empty chamber. "I'm sorry. I really have no idea what you're talking about." She stepped forward, placing a hand on Umi's head. "There aren't any bodies in here, I'm afraid. Maybe you're a little stressed out." "BUT THERE ARE!" Umi turned and stared with sickened eyes at the horror that befell her. Pulling herself away from CereCere, she stepped up alongside the bottom of the pile, clenching her fists as she stared down at the body of a young girl, whose bloodless, pale body was thin and had been, obviously, malnourished. "He kept her here. Held her until he was sure all traces of her trail to this place were cold, then slaughtered her like an animal." She looked up from body to body. "The same with all the others. This is where the township's real population disappeared. Killed, one by one, by that man." "Umi, are you feeling alright?" CereCere looked at her with concern. "I can promise you, this room is empty. Completely empty. There are no seats, no altar, no bodies. There is nothing here." CereCere swallowed. The young girl looked like she was angry, and about to break into tears. "Are you trying to deny their deaths? Why can't you see them when I can?" She looked down at Mokosagi, who was shivering like her. "Moko-chan can see them, too, can't you, Moko?" The bunny- thing nodded. "See!" She looked back up at CereCere, who was looking back and forth between her and the corridor to the kitchen. "You CAN'T see them, can you...? Your mind has been clouded by other things...." "What are you saying?" CereCere suddenly turned on Umi. "What are you saying? That you can see things that I don't? That you can feel things that I don't? That you can know things that I don't? Eh?" Umi was surprised by CereCere's anger. A cold look entered the eyes of the lone Asteroid Senshi. "I wasn't saying that. Please believe me, Cere-oneechan.... Believe me when I say this.... It is horrible, too horrible to look at.... Be thankful that you CANNOT see it." Umi had hoped that this would quell CereCere's odd anger, but it didn't. "Usako was saying that. She was telling me, earlier, that there was something wrong with me, blocking innate senses that I had, and making me feel as if there was something WRONG with me. Don't you start, young lady. I've had about all I can take of peoples' criticism...." "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!!!" CereCere was bundled aside as the verger charged into the chamber, his face a mask of anger. He grabbed Umi by the collar and lifted her up to his face. "You.... You little wench! Why did you have to go and expose my secret?" "You...." Umi stared, half-frightened, half-sad, into the man's eyes. "Why? Why did you do this?" "You know why. You know, because you're one of them. One of those weird girls who run things in this universe." He then let out a cry and dropped Umi as Mokosagi bit hard into his leg. Umi scrabbled to her feet and started to run around the pile of corpses, turning back as she reached a safe distance. "Moko-chan.... QUICK!" She reached out to the bunny-thing, whose mouth was still firmly wrapped around the verger's calf. "Let goof him, Moko-chan, he'll hurt you...." Before she could finish the sentence, the Verger struck Mokosagi over the head, knocking her to the ground, then booted her over the pile of corpses like a football. Umi watched concernedly, running around to find where her friend/pet had landed as the Verger knelt down, rubbing his sore leg. "Damned bitch, I'll kill you both and add you to the pile." He snarled. "So, are you to blame for this?" He heard the blonde's voice behind him, and turned to find Usako, CereCere and Natsagi bearing down on him. "How dare you hurt Umi-chan and Moko-chan like that!" CereCere held a fist in the Verger's face. "I knew it. You ARE a weirdo." Natsagi held out her hands, her nails glimmering like claws. The Verger didn't pay attention to either of them. He was more interested in the calm, sad expression on the face of Usako. "So what if I did?" He answered her initial question. "So what? People like you NEVER understand what it is like for normal people like us. You have everything your way, and have the power to maintain the status-quo. We have to do your bidding, and pretend to be happy at the same time." "Like the people who are piled behind you?" Usako crossed her arms, her voice as soft but silkily biting at the same time. The Verger stood, leering in her direction. "Some had to sacrifice their lives for my goal, yes, but in the end their sacrifice shall be worth it. Heaven awaits my arrival, through that door in the ceiling." He pointed to the door, both CereCere and Natsagi staring up at it gawkily. "And the only way to reach it is on the backs of the dead. That is what the last Priest told me.... You can only reach true heaven on the backs of the dead.... And I have been following his example ever since." He smiled, eerily. "He had the fortune to be the first to help me achieve this goal, and now you shall help me complete it." "What is he talking about?" CereCere huffed. "I keep telling you, I can't see any bodies in here." Natsagi grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her back. "I don't think this is the time to argue semantics." She shouted, just as the Verger charged them, grabbing Usako around the throat.... END OF PART 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------- S T O P ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry this one took so long. I've been rather distracted, lately. Now, what was I talking about? Oh yes, I've been a bit distracted, lately, usually by the smallest things. Is that a black house spider crawling up the wall? Next thing I know, I'll be having white tailed spiders after them. White tailed spiders hunt the black house ones, you know. They're natural enemies. Dunno what branches of the spider family they come from. All spiders have eight legs and bite as far as I'm concerned, good enough reason to stay away from the beggars. I had a pet garden spider, once. Stayed in the same spot for months. Ugly as sin, it was.... One of those crab spiders, the sort that make webs across the garden path on warm summer nights.... You know, the ones you end up walking through before you perform the little, panicky dance because you think the spider is now sitting somewhere on you. I often wonder about those cross-path webs. I mean, do the spiders sit there, rubbing their little legs together, evilly hoping that they will catch a human being in the hope of being set up for life? Now, what was I talking about? Oh yes, distractions.... I've been distracted a lot, lately, mostly by real-life events. I actually DO have a real life, as strange as that may seem. Well, I have a strange real life, but that's another story. Now my cat is trying to eat my toes. I think I included her in a chapter of "Waiting for Minako". her name is Jing-Jing, and she is a tiny little silver tabby with a vicious streak a mile wide. I usually set her upon anyone who annoys me, so she can lick them to death. Although she isn't as vicious as my parent's cat, Bronson, who chases dogs off their property. Bron is somewhat territorial, I have to say. I think there is a picture of Bron on my brother's website.... The address is http://www.merlin.net.au/~rapage/ but you're gonna hafta search for it, yerself. Aren't I nice? (hur hur hur) ^_^ Next Chapter - Mindfully Remindless _________ / @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) / / ^ ^ \ \ aka MAPPY darkdayforanime@hotmail.com /\ D Y S F U N C T I O N A L R U S ^_^ \/ \/ \___________/ "Ooh.... What does this button do.....?" /_/ \_\ PU " K A B L A M " Version 1.0 - 2.49am Tuesday, 31st August 1999