Subject: [FFML] [vignette][SM] Taming a Dragon
From: "Elsa Bibat" <aerolbj@i-next.net>
Date: 7/14/2002, 7:46 AM
To: "FFML" <ffml@anifics.com>


This should have gone out with five other vignettes
but I got lazy and I only have limited net access
for awhile, so here's something.

Larry F was kind enough host the other fics in the 
sequence at his webpage:

The Lost Library of Florestica
http://rakhal.com/florestica/

My stuff's here:

http://rakhal.com/florestica/elsa-bibat/index.html

It's not totally finished. Larry will be adding 
polish to it and he'll make it totally presentable 
in awhile. He's just started uploading.

Anyway, here's the fic.
 


Disclaimer: 

 Sailormoon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi. All licenses
belong to the proper people. This is used without 
permission. 

 This disclaimer also applies to several intellectual 
properties referred to in the text. Please be guided 
accordingly. 

 This file can be freely distributed so long as it 
appears in its complete form and proper credit given. No 
part may be reproduced for monetary gain without permission 
from the author.

Note: Technically, everyone is speaking in Mandarin, unless
so noted.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, 
with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-
shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-
green."

    - A rather colorful description of
       the Si Fan operative, Dr. Fu 
      Manchu.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Taming A Dragon

by Elsa Bibat

A Sailormoon Vignette 

Set in the "Dances Set to the Music of Time" Sequence

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1900:

 The place gave the illusion of infinite darkness in
all directions. The only place for light was the central 
position, a bright shaft that had no source. 

 This was the Council of the Seven, the holy of holies
of one of the most powerful secret organizations on the 
planet, the Si Fan. Chinese in origin, it utilized the 
entire exotic arsenal of the East against the West. Their
greatest weapon, however, was the person standing in that 
circle of light.

 The man known to the world as Doctor Fu Manchu, stood
in obeisance of those he served. The most cunning mastermind
had come to pay his respects and to respond to the summons 
given him.

 He was a tall, skeleton of a man, dressed in black
and blue robes, cut in the Mandarin style. His hair was 
drawn back into a queue, it reached to his hips in a sinuous 
pigtail. He was bare-headed, highlighting his close-shaven
skull and high-forehead. Delicate eyebrows were set over 
two feline eyes that glinted tiger-green with intelligence. 

 "Excellencies, I am here as you have commanded." Green
cat-like eyes shone with a seemingly unearthly light as he
bowed to his unseen masters. "All goes well with my part of 
the project and I have sent my earnings to the Golden Lion 
Hoard."

 Silence met his declaration, and for a moment, the 
Doctor knew fear. The failure to respond could mean many
things in the labyrinthine organization of the Si Fan. It 
could mean a lifetime of torture or a consideration for a 
promotion in the organization. More often than not, it was
the first.

 But the Doctor hid his fear well and straightened
from his bow with utmost dignity. 

 The silence of the room was deafening. A lesser man 
would have started fidgeting or have shown other overt
signs of weakness. 

 The Doctor stood in silence, features schooled into
a mask of respect and projecting an aura of confidence. But
behind the heavy-lidded cat eyes of his, a mind that was 
equalled only by five others in the world was working 
furiously. Questions of failure, betrayal crossed his mind
as well as plans of escape, if his masters had found his
service displeasing. An enigmatic smile played on his lips
as he looked straight ahead, his brain a well-oiled machine
that was working overtime.

 The moment of silence could have lasted for hours in
that dark room. No conscious sign of time was ever seen in
the Council's chambers. In that hallowed sanctum the mind
was played tricks upon, hours became seconds and half-seconds 
became years. 

 Still the Doctor stood, resolute and defiant, at the 
center of the circle of light.

 Then the silence was broken by slight applause.

 "An admirable display, Doctor."

 The cat-green eyes narrowed as the Doctor heard the
voice and the sound of clapping hands. Another pillar of 
light blossomed directly in front of him and his suspicions
were confirmed.

 Two people were clapping their hands. A tall man 
dressed in robes of black with a mask-like face set under
a magistrate's hat. His eyes seemed to burn with a hidden 
purpose. He stood beside a seat where his companion, a
woman was ensconced. The woman, in contrast to her partner,
was dressed in white. From the ribbon that held her hair 
in a bun to the canvas slippers on her feet, she was an
alabaster vision. A delicate face with haunting red eyes
framed by strange hair that changed color depending on how
the light played on it, raven black to auburn to a strange 
viridian green.

 "The Underworld Magistrate Ying Ko. The Death White
Beauty Lao Xiaojie." The Doctor's tone was dangerously low.
"What are you doing here? Where is the Council?"

 "Actually, as of two months ago, we are the Council,
Doctor."

 "Two months? Hmmm... Yes. I see. The strange changes
in the operating patterns of the other departments are
now clear. You have managed to keep the Si Fan operational
but have diverted its abilities to other ends."

 The white-robed woman whom the Doctor had called Lao
Xiaojie arched an eyebrow. "You are not surprised?"

 "I had already determined a change in the power 
structure two weeks ago. I had assumed a new master among 
the Seven... someone who has managed to cow all others 
into submission. Your unified control has managed to make
the Si Fan more powerful, though you have strangely blunted
it in recent months."

 "Then our presence here is no surprise?" Ying Ko's 
dark eyes seemed to blaze with amusement and a peculiar 
smile danced on his lips.

 "Your identities are a surprise. Though I should have
expected that even the most upstanding individuals would 
seek power for themselves."

 "Not for ourselves, Doctor. This is but a stepping 
stone." Lao Xiaojie shared her companion's amusement. The
Doctor only arched an eyebrow in response. It was Ying Ko
who continued for her.

 "Doctor, you are privileged to be one of the ten 
people capable enough to stop us. You are skilled enough,
I think, to guess who the others are."

 Jade eyes flashed in understanding. 

 "The Professor of Mathematics," the Doctor said as
stroked his chin, "Has been eliminated by the Great
Detective. The Italian has gone off to a lamasery in 
Tibet. The Hound of Shanghai is occupied with the Fox.
The Mongol is sleeping in Xanadu. The Cherry Blossom of 
Nihon has fallen. The Monk is contemplating eternity in 
the Himalayas. The Undying One from the Carpathians has 
been ... inconvenienced. The Masked One and his 
organization have disappeared since the Paris incident. 
The Russian is a deranged lunatic from what he has 
encountered. Nine have been accounted for, leaving me.
All in a single decade. Impressive." The viridian eyes 
of the Doctor gave the two before him an admiring glance. 
"I would have never thought I would owe much to champions 
of justice and truth. They would have all been 
inconveniences for my long-term plans."

 "Not your long-term plans, Doctor. Ours. You are 
incorrect on one or two points, but you have managed the 
gist of it. A new century has begun and the time has come
for some plans to come to fruition." 

 "And for that, Lao Xiaojie, you need me? I would 
think that I would be eliminated next. As you have 
eliminated the Seven."

 The couple before him smiled. They were not nice 
smiles. It was a sight that would have made an ordinary 
mortal cringe. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead as
the Doctor endured the look that the duo gave him.
 
 "Lord of Strange Deaths, we know who you are." 
The Doctor could hear the power resonating in the voice 
of Ying Ko, feeling the irresistible will behind it. 

 "We know what you want." Lao Xiaojie's voice had 
the same ring of power. The hint of indescribable age 
in the tone, that note of agelessness the Doctor had
heard only once before, in Shangri-la, from the mouth 
of a being who had seen millenia. But the voice was older 
than that.   

 "We know why you are here." Two voices of power,
mingling, twisting with each other to create a seamless
whole. A vision of something infinitely horrifrying 
beautiful exploded into the Doctor's mind, a sight that
reminded him of the things he had read of, from books 
that no ordinary mind could bear. The book of Eibon.
The Codex of the White Queen hidden in the vaults of
Shangri-la. Of the Book of the Four Gods of Heaven and 
Earth. Knowledge both sacred and profane, flooded his 
mind, then suddenly it cleared and he saw the two before
him for what they were.

 "What are you?" Sweating heavily, yet still 
dignified in his own way, the Doctor stood his ground.

 "Voices in the wilderness." Lao Xiaojie's tone was
playfully serious, her eyes burning red with an eldritch 
light. "Heralds of what is to come."

 "The East has been chosen for something very special,
Doctor. This century heralds an age of accelerated 
development and accelerated history. Before the century 
ends, someone will be born that is destined to rule the 
world."
 
 "And what is my part in this?"

 "Our Queen will rule, but the road to the throne is 
a long one. We seek to shorten it. That is where the Si 
Fan comes in, Doctor."

 "As of this moment, all criminal activities of the 
Si Fan will stop. We have no need of them anyway. Our 
legitimate holdings are enough for our needs. The Si Fan 
is to begin paving the way for Her coming." 

 "And you, Doctor, will be the steward of this 
organization. You will shepherd it to the path that we 
need it to be set down. You will be our face to the Si 
Fan, but you will also be our assistant in this great 
endeavor. Doctor, you will be setting the foundations 
of your dream. An Empire of the East, though not ruled
by you." 

 "You will not live to see it, Doctor. But your 
children's children will see the day that an Empire of
the East rules the world over and even the worlds beyond."

 The Doctor considered this, his eyes oddly shaded 
like that of a lounging cat. Then he bowed.

 "Then I will serve you. For the sake of the future."

 Then, remembering his momentary vision, he added.  

 "For the sake of the White Queen."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Afterword:
 
I've always been a fan of the Doctor. In actuality, I cheer
him on more often than the idiotic pair of Smith and Petrie.
Probably because I'd be one of the rulers of the world if
the Doctor ever won. ^_^

Anyway, it was inevitable that I include the good Doctor in 
the Dance sequence as a ... heroic character. Always did want 
to rewrite Rohmer like the way Saberhagen did with Stoker's
Dracula. The good Doctor will next be seen in the Dance 
sequence in "The Three Doctors", a good-sized tale featuring 
the Doctor Fu-Manchu (I hate that name, why didn't Rohmer
give the Great One a decent name damnit!) , the Doctor 
Sun-Yat-Sen and the Doctor Wong Fei Hung! Chop-socky 
revolutionary action! ^_^

As always one or two of the Senshi are related to/descended 
from the Doctor, make a wild guess. ^_^ As for the other 
references that pepper the work...well, part of the mystery, 
ne? ^_^

BTW, the monickers "Underworld Magistrate" and "Death 
White Beauty" are in the tradition of the martial arts 
epics of the Far East, with nicknames like "One-Eyebrow 
Priest", "Humpback Club", "Fire-hand Judge", etc. etc.
They hint at the other crossover with Chinese characters
of the wuxia genre as depicted in another Dance vignette
"Hong Kong Tea". 



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