***
10,000 years ago, a demon murdered a man named Khrono Mathers. There was nothing very special about this--demons kill, it's a fact of life--save for Mr. Mathers' identity; he was the beloved of Eris, Princess of Saturn and the Soldier of Destruction. Blinded by her grief and rage, Eris pursued her lover's murderer back to his home netherworld and unleashed her wrath on the entire population before rampaging across several more netherworlds, slaughtering millions of (relatively) innocent demons before she was finally subdued and placed under seal, where she would remain until the fall of the Silver Millennium. For their part, the surviving demons would come to call Saturn "The Violet Death."
Fast forward 10,000 years.
Mistress Nine has been defeated by the will of a child, now that same child is about to put an end to Nine's master. But as Hotaru pierces Pharaoh Ninety's defenses and prepares to deal the final blow, she is caught off guard by an unexpected development; at the heart of the great beast is a demon, not the Pharaoh's core. Indeed, Pharaoh Ninety never appeared on Earth; he's been dead for quite some time now, unknown to Germatoid and Mistress Nine, and his killer now stands before Saturn. Before Hotaru can even blink, the demon has a hand wrapped around her throat and begins to drain her energy; not her lifeforce, but Saturn's powers of destruction. With her strength fading fast and the sign of Saturn beginning to draw itself on her attacker's forhead, Saturn pours everything she has into a Silence Glaive Surprise that disrupts the drain and sends the demon back to the netherworld.
Problem: Saturn has disappeared into the netherworlds along with him.
***
Hotaru awakens in a barren wasteland somewhere in one of the netherworlds. She's aching everywhere and her balance is completely off, and a glance at her reflection in a nearby oasis reveals why.
When Saturn interrupted her assailant's attack, the spell he had cast to drain Saturn's powers went awry and resulted in a power transfer instead of a drain; Saturn has enough of her own magic left to cast Silent Wall and that's it, but she has also obtained an incredible amount of yoki--the demonic equivilant of ki--and her body has changed to accomodate the foreign power.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Tomoe Hotaru: Succubus.
***
Things have been relatively quiet in the netherworlds for the past few centuries; only about half of the various netherworlds are at war with each other and the assassination business is suffering. One netherworld in particular, however, is in the midst of political upheaval. The throne of the mighty King Krichevskoy has been claimed by his son, Prince Laharl, who is making short work of his many rivals for the title of Overlord.
One day about a week after Laharl's awakening from his two-year nap, a great light appears in the sky and plummets to earth not far from Laharl's castle. Upon investigation, Laharl and Etna come across a young succubus fighting for her life against a dragon near said dragon's watering hole.
Laharl and Etna have two very different reactions upon seeing her. Laharl feels a sharp tug in his chest for reasons that he can't identify (even as his sexiness allergy mysteriously fails to trigger). Etna, on the other hand, is overcome by a sensation of pure dread; she can't figure out why either, though this probably has something to do with Maderas' theft of her memories. Eventually the two of them decide to assist the girl, but by this point Hotaru has taken a nasty blow to the head and is out cold. Laharl and Etna finish off the dragon and get the Prinnies to carry her back to the castle.
Hotaru awakens in Laharl's castle and reacts appropriately (hey, if *you* woke up in a demon's fortress, you'd panic and start blasting things too!) before being subdued by Laharl. The ensuing interrogation ends with Hotaru becoming one of Laharl's vassals; she has nowhere else to go and no way to survive in the netherworld; heck, she doesn't even know how to take care of her new body's needs (lemon content optional
), something Etna will need to teach her.
***
Back on Earth the Senshi are having a bittersweet victory party/funeral for Saturn, whom they are certain is dead; even Usagi can no longer sense Hotaru's presence. The angst-fest is interrupted when the Mercury Computer finds a faint match for Saturn's energy signature. Clinging to that one thread of hope, the Inner Senshi, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Chibi Moon set off on a quest to infiltrate the netherworlds and rescue Hotaru. First stop: D-Point.
But even as the Senshi embark on their rescue mission, Hotaru is already adapting to her new role as one of Laharl's vassals, making friends among demons, mastering the powers of a succubus and learning to enjoy her new-found freedom from moral constraints (and gravity, thanks to her wings), even as she learns what she was responsible for in the Silver Millennium. Knowing what she does about her former self, even if the Senshi *do* manage to reach Hotaru, will the former Senshi take up the mantle of "The Violet Death" once more? What of her assailant? What are his plans? And what do Lamington and Vulcanus think of all this?
All this and more in Sailor Moon: Hearts of Darkness.
Alright, appropriately dramatic summary aside, it's basically a retelling of Disgaea with Hotaru taking Flonne's place (though everyone's favorite love freak will probably show up at some point) and overcoming the prejudice towards demons she picked up from her experience with Mistress Nine. As near as I can figure, the demons in Disgaea are essentially cultural demons; that is, they have no real moral values but they're not hostile to other forms of life unless suitably provoked.
