Author's Note: I'm sorry, Shenny, I keep forgetting, but yes, I'm Catholic. *smiles* Anyway, here's the second to the last chapter... we're getting very close to the end! Unfortunately, even with the new plot going around in my mind, I don't think I'll be able to write it very soon, as I'm having difficult times in the university. We're already having pre-midterm exams this week, and to think we just started around a month ago. It's not fair. *pouts* So... here's the new chapter! I promise you'll love this! =P

Don't Play With Fire

Chapter Fifteen - Narrow Escape

"NO! This cannot be!" the Devil howled, loud enough that the stone walls that surrounded the area began to disintegrate and fall apart. "You will not get away! I won't let you get away! You shall die, you shall die here, and you will all suffer from my wrath! I won't let you get away! I won't let you get away!"

The flames from the sea of fire that was beneath them began to seep through the ground, causing cracks and shooting out geysers of pyre. Sanosuke, by reflex, pulled Sayo close to him and yelled, "Okay, how do we get out of this blasted place?!"

Without a word the angel lifted his hand, and a tunnel filled with white light appeared from one of the walls. As he hovered into the air, he motioned that the young woman take his hand, but she shook her hand in refusal. "Shouzo!" she exclaimed, making her voice as loud as possible for her message to be heard despite of the roaring flames. "I'm not leaving without Shouzo! He's alive, I know he is!"

Not wanting to put his beloved in jeopardy, Sanosuke lifted her with both his arms and handed the Christian woman to the waiting angel. "I'm going to get him," he said, not listening to Sayo's cries of protest. He looked at her squarely in the eye, brown meeting green. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. There's nothing I can't handle --- with God's help, of course."

And he sprinted towards the fortress of rocks, where his friend was buried under.

Upon landing on the entrance of the portal, Sayo turned to the angel with pleading eyes. "I beg of you, please help Sanosuke," she implored, not wanting to lose two of the most important men in her life. She was at the verge of tears as she followed the man he loved with her eyes as he tried to get to Shouzo as fast as he could while fountains of fire appeared from everywhere. "I know he'll be able to get Shouzo out, but I'm not sure that he'll make it back here in time. Please."

In response, the heavenly being stretched his hand towards the battlefield, and a beam of light shot out from it, hitting the rock fortress right in the middle. The impact sent the boulders away, exposing the unconscious form of Shouzo Rorenzo in the midst of the rubble, which made the young Christian woman sigh in relief. "Sanosuke, be careful!" she called out as the former atheist dodged a large piece of rock that came cascading from the wall.

Hoisting the unconscious warrior over his shoulder, Sanosuke struggled to get back. Seeing that the young man was having troubles, the angel flew towards them for assistance. However, Sanosuke refused to be carried towards the portal; he insisted that their new friend transport Shouzo instead. Not wanting to argue, the angel gave in, and the young man tried to keep up with the other's pace, which was very fast as he was flying.

"Sanosuke!"

"I'm coming!"

Landing on the portal, Sayo rushed to their rescuer and assisted in pulling Shouzo's unconscious form towards the other end of the portal. However, she immediately realized that Sanosuke had not arrived, and so she rushed back to where they came from, leaving the celestial being to drag the inanimate warrior back to the surface. Upon reaching the edge of the tunnel, she found her lover trying to jump up into it, but to no avail.

She bent down and extended her arm for him to take. "Sanosuke, hurry!" she called out upon seeing that the ground on which the young man stood on was falling apart, falling into the sea of fire that the Devil created to torment those who dared to defy him. Taking a deep breath, Sanosuke jumped up, and finally, managed to grab the portal's ledge with one hand, and Sayo's arm with the other.

The struggle then began as the Christian woman did her best to pull him up, knowing that she could not possibly fail. There was nothing under Sanosuke for him to safely land on in case her grasp on him would slip; the flame swallowed the ground whole. "You've got to hold on"

"Let go!" Sanosuke screamed at the top of his lungs instead as he felt himself slipping towards the bubbling source of all the heat, looking at his beloved's beautiful face intently as if sensing that it would be the last thing he would be able to see. "You're going to fall too if you keep this up! Sayo, I don't want to lose you again! Let go! Please!"

Her answer was plain, but firm and direct. "Have faith in me!"

Faith.

Using the last ounce of his strength, Sanosuke pulled himself up, landing on his belly as Sayo fell on her back, the force she exerted in yanking him towards the portal sending her backwards. They looked into each other's eyes, different emotions running through them inexplicably, before a blinding light engulfed them. He could not forget, however, the last thing he saw and heard just before the light took them --- the delighted face of his beloved, the tears of joy that streamed out of her emerald eyes, and the words, "I love you."