It is said, among those who are unfortunate enough to know such things, that one can no more escape the machinations of the Great Old Ones than can one escape entropy itself. It is further said that no man can match the truest Old Ones in combat. Those that try are swept aside like motes of dust, or simply unwoven from the ether, their lives and identities erased at the behest of powers beyond the capacity of any man to resist. There are rumors, though. Rumors that a woman--a girl, really--had faced the King in Yellow in his own court, caught in the web of his own cruel devices and destinies, and somehow escaped. There is a rumor that, before she escaped, she beaned the King in Shreds and Tatters in the head with a teapot. This is her story. * * * They called themselves the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. They were vaguely aware there was a greater Brotherhood, but theirs was private. They had much to their name: a blade once owned, ever so briefly, by a sorcerer in the Dreamlands; a copy of the first-print English run of The King in Yellow; three spells to find and defend their treasure; and the means to find the Lost Door. It was the first spell they left to bait the text, to find their Cassilda. With the morning sky bleeding behind them and Hali's light soon to fade from the sky, the three cast the second spell. Makoto did not wince as he cut through his palm, the twice-cursed blade of the dagger of Eihnth-le-Homn lapping up his blood even as it spilled. He let the wound bleed a moment, then pressed his hand against the sigil he'd traced in the dirt, and uttered the steady meter of the spell. He passed the dagger to Izumi, who cut her left hand the same way, and gave it to Jin, who drew his cut especially quick. Izumi took her turn pressing her bloody palm to the sign; Jin finished the sign. Makoto gazed at the bloody smear and said, "Tell us if we are near Cassilda. Tell us where she is. Tell us her name." The smeared blood drew together, traced in wormlike lines through the dirt. They formed a simple pattern--words. Kanji. Cassilda is here. The worms took themselves apart. They spelled the name of a school--the circle's own. They came apart again, crawled their little paths as though wandering in thought. "Cassilda," Makoto hissed. "What name has she chosen?" The worms squirmed... froze. They formed a meaningless jumble, "Damnation." Makoto took the blade from Jin and stabbed it in the sigul. Cold wind burst from the ground where the dagger impaled it; their blood boiled and evaporated and the wind cast away the sign. He stood, tearing the dagger from the earth. "We know she's here. We know she's at the high school. But what is her name?" Jin looked nervous. "Excuse me, but... how? Exactly how could she throw off our spell? It's never failed on us before." Izumi spat. "It could only be another sorcerer. Who else could scratch a name from the Akashic memory?" They set their way to the school. Dawn was breaking. * * * "Hey!" Yukari bolted up from her seat, leaned over her desk, and waved a test paper at the startled class. "Do we have a, uh, Kasuga in here? Ayumu Kasuga?" A small, shakey hand rose. A slow, careful voice said, "That's ... my name, Miss Yukari." Yukari sprawled over her desk, dismounted it like a gymnast off a pommel horse (sans any measure of grace or training such a comparison implies), and marched over to the raised hand. The girl who owned the hand was a familiar sight: tiny, slender, with droopy brown hair and eyes that, no matter what the lighting, seemed to be drifting slightly down. "Osaka?" Yukari leered at her student for a good minute, then said, "...oh. Yeah, Ayumu's your name. Anyhow, you got a 53." She placed the test on Osaka's desk. Osaka shot Tomo as powerful a glare as she could, which wasn't much, because if she glared too hard she got sleepy, and getting sleepy means she'd have to get out a book to hide behind, although that would be too much work because she was sleepy, and so on. Osaka did not have a train of thought as much an avalanche. Tomo, who gave Osaka her nickname before she even met the girl, returned with a little shrug, then jumped up from the seat not unlike Yukari did a minute ago. "Yukari-baby! I find it highly unfair that you called out Osaka's grade even though you promised you wouldn't call anybody else's out!" Tomo could make the most banal of observations sound like the hero's monologue before the final battle with some villian's true demonic form. Yukari answered with a simple "33." Tomo blanched. "You... cruelest of fiends!" Yukari cackled, "Oh ho ho! Never should a student meddle in the affairs of the teacher!" She got that look on her face, the one that wouldn't be out of place on a super-evolved praying mantis looming over its prey. "For it is most assuredly the path to death and ruin!" Osaka glanced at Chiyo from behind her book. Chiyo, not knowing what else to do, shrugged a little and said, barely audible under Yukari's ominous cackle, "It's just one of those days." Osaka nodded, then resumed her nap. * * * Makoto, Jin, and Izumi slipped in at lunchtime, the third spell thrumming between them. "Split up and follow the waves," Makoto said. "If you find Cassilda, tell her to meet us at the Lost Door." They each took a floor; Izumi the first, Jin the second, Makoto the third. Jin was the lucky one, so to speak, passing by Class 2-3 just as the name was spoken by the reawakened Cassilda. * * * Osaka woke back up a little before lunchtime. She picked at a small box lunch while reading her book. The rest of the crew hung out around the class, amidst the rest of their classmates: Kagura and Tomo discussed the newest Square/Enix game (Tomo: "I wan' borrow it." Kagura: "I just got it yesterday! I'm not even two hours in!" Tomo: "I still wan' borrow it!"), Yomi and Sakaki discussed the reading assignment while Kaorin sat close to Sakaki and tried to both be noticed by Sakaki and blended in with the background, and Chiyo flitted from one conversation to the next, fleeing when it seemed pertinent. She came around to Osaka, who was busy chewing on chopsticks long stripped of rice. "What're you reading today, Osaka?" Chiyo asked, peeking around Osaka's shoulder. Osaka jolted, the chopsticks clattering out of her mouth, off her desk, and onto the floor. "Oh... Chiyo-chan, you scared me!" She shook her head, rubbed an eye. "I thought you were a boogin." "Nah, it's just..." Chiyo paused. "A 'boogin'?" "You know, a spooky-bean. A..." She tilted her head. "A..." "Monster?" Chiyo offered. "Yeah! A one-of-them. This part of the book is pretty scary." Chiyo looked at the cover and saw Osaka had taped paper taken from a paper bag over it. The spine read, in English, The King in Yellow. "That sounds pretty neat, Osaka. What's it about? Is it a fantasy story?" Osaka said, "Not... really. It's kind of weird. There's this girl named Cassilda--" * * * Jin twitched at the mention of her name. He turned down the hall and inched towards the gentle harpstring twinge that came from Class 2-3. * * * "--and there's these other guys. They're in a town called Carcosa--" * * * The Divine Land. It sounded like home. * * * "--and they're waiting on this guy. There's a ... a prom or somethin'. And that's how the first act is, and it sounds kinda boring but it isn't, sort of like how rice crackers don't sound all that great. But then you put some seaweed on them. I had seaweed on my--" "Tell me more about the book, please," Chiyo said. "Why do you have the cover taped up?" Osaka peeked at the front cover. "Oh. There was a somethin' there the librarian said made her feel nervous. I haven't looked under it. She said I could borrow it 'til somebody came looking for it, and nobody has for about a month or so. Anyway, it's a play, see, and it gets real neat in part two. It's all spooky and it's got monsters." "Like?" Chiyo scooted closer. She frightened easy as a mouse, but couldn't resist a cool monster. "Well, there's this one thing, and they say it just appears when you do this thing in the middle of part 2, but I bet there's a costume, but I bet it's hard. Cuz it looks like, uh..." She pulled it to the middle. "Kind of like a, uh... They call it the... 'Dim Gu-ray Mo... Mount.'" "What's it do?" "It kills this guy, see, and it cuts him all up and then the characters go and spread 'em to the people watchin' the play. They don't say what to use for his guts 'n stuff, though." Chiyo blanched. "Really, it says that?" Osaka nodded. "Right now they're calling ... I think his name is ..." She flipped back to her place and squinted at it. "It's in English, so I have to go a little slow, but I get it pretty good. But that name is kinna hard." The door to the classroom opened up a bit. A man peeked through. Yukari looked up from her coffee--her second cup--and said, "Hoi, kid! You lookin' for someone?" The kid on the other side, a flimsy slip of a teenaged boy, nodded. "Just need to come in a second." "Alright, but keep it quiet. Class picks up in 40 minutes, so be out by then." She turned back to the newspaper, or rather the romance comic magazine she was reading behind the newspaper in an inept attempt to conceal it. The kid came in, stayed near the doorway, and locked his eyes on Osaka. Osaka shrugged and went back to the book. "They're calling this guy. And it's all bloody and cool and stuff. It'd make a great movie, and I bet it really should be, cuz I don't think a play would do that good. It's reall bloody and stuff and there's all these big monsters that don't sound like they'd fit on an auditorium. But the first act, sure." Chiyo read some of the play. Being stripped entirely of color looked cute on her, but lots of things did. Shaking like a pager, she said, "Let's go to the first act. You said it didn't have the, uh..." "Oh! There's a pretty song in the first act, and I think I can sing it, too." The kid in the corner watched, slack-jawed, as Osaka found the song and sang a quavery, quiet rendition, hidden under Tomo trying to steal Kagura's strategy guide (Tomo: "It's not sporting!" Kagura: "But I'll be done quicker if I have it!" Tomo: "Oh, the indecision!"). "Along the shore the cloud waves break, The twin suns sink beneath the lake, The shadows lengthen In Carcosa." * * * Jin let the poem wash over him. Its notes were pitch-perfect. He'd never seen a more perfect Cassilda--the dreamy eyes, the gentle face, the soft and wavering voice... * * * "Strange is the night where black stars rise, And strange moons circle through the skies But stranger still is Lost Carcosa." * * * Makoto sensed it, strong, and below his feet. It figures that Jin's the one that finds her, stupid bastard... He ran, chasing the feeling. * * * "Songs that the Hyades shall sing, Where flap the tatters of the King, Must die unheard in Dim Carcosa." * * * Izumi stood beneath the ceiling where the song of Cassilda crept through, letting it fill her, charge through her like knives. She wished for the sweet notes to ruin her, for the song of the King to destroy her. * * * "Song of my soul, my voice is dead; Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed Shall dry and die in Lost Carcosa." The din of chases and conversations were lost as Osaka's song drew to a close. Yukari's coffee mug hovered near her lips, almost tilted enough to spill. Kaorin took a long sip from her milk. All the students' eyes were on her. After a moment, Osaka went back to her place and kept reading. Chiyo, nearest to her and second-most-floored (besides the kid lurking near the back), shook her head 'til she was sensate again, vigorously clapped, and said, "Osaka, that was great! How--" Yukari interrupted, "How the balls are you singing English like that and making a D?" Osaka gazed at the text, then suddenly perked. "Oh! I guess you say his name as--" Jin snapped, started to run, tried to yell "No!"-- "--Hastur." There was a moment of dead silence. There was a crushing weight, as though some vast, unseen demon constricted their chests. Then Kaorin spit out her milk, gagged, and screamed. She'd spat out a mouthful of blood. Coughed up more. Dropped her milk carton and sent bright red blood everywhere. Sakaki screamed, the most high-pitched and childish scream in the class, matching Chiyo's own. Yukari spat out her coffee, now thick and coagulated. Cries of horror, dry heaves, and vomiting were loud in the hallway. Osaka blinked, tried to catch up with the sudden flurry of motion. "Was it something I did?" she asked no one in particular, the others scrambling to get out of the classroom. Yukari was the first to escape. When the flurry was done, it was just her and the kid that walked in. "Uh... you're not running?" Osaka asked. She stood up and got her supplies together. "Cuz I guess it'd be smart, cuz of the blood." She paused. "Why'd you come in here?" "I'm looking for you. You found the book, you see." "Oh... it's yours? Do you want it back?" She looked at the cover, then hugged it close. "I'm not done yet, an' I wanna see how it ends." "We need you to finish that book. You're very precious to us... Tell me, what is your name?" "My name? It's Ayumu. But everybody calls me Osaka." He nodded. "Why's that." "'Cause I moved here from Osaka." "I... see." "My friend Tomo gave it to me. She's not good at names." "Does your friend read any ... strange books?" The new kid wandered closer to her. "Uh... I once saw her read an American magazine for some reason. Is that weird? I think it's weird. It's not like she could read it.' "I meant, like, old books, books on forbid..." She raised her hand and thought her words over carefully. "I... don't think she likes to read books that are..." She gestured. "Big." "Oh." "Or medium sized." "Uh... huh." "Or about yea big." "Is that..." "I could go on, but I think I'd be getting rude." "No offense, but you kind of crossed the line a little ways back." "Oh. Sorry." "...Anyhow. We need you, Osaka." "If you could... could you call me--" "Cassilda? But, of course." He kneeled before her. "We've been hunting for you. Waiting for you to find the text. You can find it much easier to read than others, correct? Even though it's in a language you're not familiar with?" Osaka nodded. "It's not just because the subject interests you... But because you feel a connection to it. To the character of Cassilda." Osaka looked at the book. "She is kind of cool." She smiled her strange, open-mouthed smile. "She gets to use the big scythe. I bet it's fun, like finally gettin' able to get back at people." She mimicked a scythe in slow, careful pretend-swings. "Snicker-snack! Take that, Yuki. Kaboom! You so copied my homework, Tsukiko! I'll give you good for that... kapow!" Jin pushed himself up, and realized he had his knee planted in a growing pool of milk-blood. "Meet us behind the 24-hour ice house next to the 333rd lot. At midnight. Tonight." Osaka nodded. "That's a good time for me. I'm a bit of a night owl. But one that likes chocolate, not mice. Also... I don't vomit too much." A janitor kicked in the door. There was a sound in the halls like some kind of improvised janitor-shanty about cleaning up biological waste, although a good shade catchier and livelier than such a description would imply. "Come on, lets' go... name's Jin, by the way." Osaka picked up her bag, book, and box lunch, and-- "Uuaagh!" she gibbered. "What? What's hap--" "My chopsticks..." She pointed at them, lying on the dusty floor. "I dropped them. Now I need to get more..." "We can get some outside. Come on." "I liked those, though... they were a great vintage. For wood, you know." * * * When Chiyo was coming down from near-catatonia--as the case was here, as she was still shaking and huddled up next to her--it fell on Yomi's shoulders to be the sane and reasonable backbone for their team, as Sakaki was too aloof to bear the burden effectively. Tomo quietly waited under the wall, tapping her toes and watching the students flood out. Apparently all the milk in the school had, for reasons inscrutable, transmuted into blood. Conspiracy theories abounded. News groups showed up. Kagura sat next to Tomo, counting off people she knew from the crowd. "Man, I thought she gave up milk," Kagura said, pointing at a crying girl spattered in coughed-up blood. "Too fattening. Heh, bet she wished she'd kept it up." "Hey, Kagura," Tomo said, "check out those guys. Gaijin. So totally. And they're goin' around just asking anybody. Wonder who they are? Hey, Yomi!" Yomi gave Tomo a sidelong glance. "What kind of bizarre scheme do you have in mind?" Tomo shrugged and said, "Nothin'. Just, you know, goin' to check things out. I bet there's all kinds of fun things happening. Hell... one sec." Tomo popped up and ran towards the gaijin. * * * Ed Rich buzzed the nearest students. He didn't know a lot of Japanese--but enough to get that this was going to be a huge freakin' story for the Red Hound. Biggest tabloid/fortean news since the Chupacabra-on-Batboy duel of '03, biggest scoop ever for the Red Hound, easy. And all he needed was the right angle-- A schoolgirl with shoulder-length hair in a sweeping style came up to him. She said, "You English?" He nodded. "Yes, me english." She pointed at the crowds of panicking, horrified, or stunned students, then made a dismissive gesture. "No good." "Not very," Ed agreed. She pointed at herself. "Me drink you blood." A burst of inspiration. "Drink you blood?" She nodded. "Pic?" he asked. She nodded vigorously. "Cool. Pose like..." * * * Chiyo was coming down just as Tomo darted around, striking poses and getting her picture taken by the gaijin. Sakaki came around with a nervous Kaorin grappling onto her arm. She was still in her bloodied school uniform, although it was lightened considerably. "I'm walking Kaorin home," Sakaki said, as casually in-command as usual. "If you want me to take Chiyo..." Chiyo looked up and nodded, mutely. Sakaki gave her a warm, motherly smile and picked the little spirte up. The cameraman came by and snapped a few pictures of the startled trio, along with some of Kagura and Tomo. Sakaki left in a huff, more irritated than offended. Yomi hiked herself up. "Why, thanks for pimping us out to some--" Tomo lept on her, grappled her, and gave her a gentle bite on the side of the neck. Click. "Thanks, an' bye," the cameraman said, and disappeared into the crowd, looking for more photo oppertunities. Yomi blinked and stammered. "Wha... what the hell was that about?" "That was a guy named Rich Ed or something like that. He's gonna do a news article on us in an English newspaper! In' that cool?" "Did he ask you anything about yourself?" "Huh? Just my name." "Didn't it occur to you that he's really just a pervert who likes horrified Japanese girls? Or that he's using this for a vaguely sinister reason?" "Oh, come on! He had a camera and spoke very good English. I just told 'em we wer freaked out cuz of the blood drinkin' thing, but that we rebounded right quick 'cause we're Japanese and we do stuff like that. Come back from stuff. And that Osaka made all this happen with magic, cuz, mighty hell, did you SEE her?" "I'm sure it'll be a resepctful article," Yomi said, rolling her eyes. "Don't be like that!" Tomo said, mock-punching her bespectacled companion. "Just watch, it'll get us famous stateside." * * * Ed knew the title of the article already. Japanese Schools Gripped by Plague of Lesbian Vampires! * * * "Anyway--" "Hey, it's Osaka!" Yomi said, trying to throw off the line of thought ASAP. Osaka stumbled at them, dizzy from a camera flash. "Heyyyyy," she said. "That new guy's name is Jin and he wants to see me somewhere tonight." "What guy? That one that came in right before things went straight to bloodsville?" Tomo asked. "Yeah. That one. There are stars everywhere, but it's afternoon!" "What was his deal? Stalker?" Yomi asked. "No.. just this guy, you know? He thinks I'm some girl named... Cassilda. Like in the book I'm reading, have I told you about it? It's pretty good--" "The guy, Osaka, the guy." "He's this guy. He's got some friends, and he wants to see me tonight, outside that little ice shop near lot 333, you know?" "That's two hours on the bus from your house, Osaka! You really wanna risk it?" "Well... sure." Yomi said, "Can't we at least come with you?" * * * Five minutes ago, Jin stared her straight in the eye and whispered, "Come alone." * * * Osaka considered. Come alone. The finality of those words. Alone. The deathly finality, the grave seriousness. Alone. "Sure! Call everybody, ask who wants to come." Yomi nodded. "Thanks. Makes me feel better about you. Oh, and, uh, school is pretty damn cancelled, so head out." "Sure," Osaka said, and set out. * * * Behind the school, Jin clustered with Izumi and Makoto. "She knows?" Makoto asked. Jin nodded. "I've told her about His name, of course. No need for a repeat incident." Izumi smirked. "The time is coming to fruition." The three whispered in natural synchronicity, "The world will know the embrace of madness." * * * If they had known what was to come, they would have cut the middle man and banged their head against a large brick wall for several minutes, then thrown themselves off a building while on fire. To be continued... Bonus 4-Koma: She's Got Standards Panel 1: Yukari and Nyamo stare at the off-panel madness. Yukari nurses a cup of coffee. Nyamo: "My God. It's horrible. It's like something out of..." Panel 2: Nyamo gawks at Yukari, who's drinking the coffee. Nyamo: "Are you drinking coffee with milk? Are you STILL drinking your blood coffee?!!" Panel 3: Yukari looks huffy, Nyamo looks mildly frightened. Yukari: "Yeah." Nyamo: "What is wrong with you? That coffee has BLOOD in it!" Yukari: "Yes. But it also has caffiene." Panel 4: Yukari chugs, Nyamo blanches.
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