Disclaimer: I don't own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of their affiliates. I do however own Sasha, her Token, Aadrano, and the storyline.
XVI
Sasha moaned softly as she opened her eyes. Her head and stomach felt funny, as if she had eaten something that had gone bad, or as if she had drunk too much the night before.
She could hear the turtles in the living room, talking. Sasha glanced at the clock. Good Lord, it was 9:30! How had she managed to sleep so much?
She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and stood up. It was cold in the infirmary—the kerosene heater was out again. Just her luck. She stepped into her boots and went out into the living room.
Something was wrong. Leonardo was very angry, and he was glaring at Raphael. Raph didn't look too happy either.
"I don't get it, Leo!" Raph was saying. "It's not like I was seen!"
"That's not the point, Raph, and you know it," Leonardo replied crossing his hands over his chest. "The point is you deliberately disobeyed me."
"If I remember correctly, you said 'we' weren't going to go. You never said anything about only one of us going." He opened his mouth to say something else, but he caught sight of Sasha standing by the infirmary door. "Hey kid," he said. "I got something for you." He reached over the couch and pulled up a large bag. Sasha's eyes went wide as he tossed it to her.
Sasha caught it, and immediately a flood of memory came rushing back. Gabriel handing it to her. Her wearing it over her shoulder. Her placing the items she received from people inside. Her leaving it different places with food in it.
She dropped to her knees and flung the bag open. The argument between Leonardo and Raphael continued, but Sasha paid no attention. Michelangelo came over and crouched down beside her, watching as she took things out of the bag, one by one.
First, she pulled out a small teddy bear. It was worn and looked well loved.
"Is that yours?" Mikey asked.
The memory came to Sasha. A small boy, cancer coursing through his body, lying on the bed beside Sasha as she read him one last bed time story. "No," she said. "It was Danny Catone's. He died from leukemia a little while ago."
"Oh." He watched as she pulled out a string of sea shells. "What about that?"
She shook her head. "Another kid gave me this. She...she was wearing it when the car hit her on her bike." Sasha shook her head again, trying to bring more of the memory back. She looked into the bag: more faces, mostly children, close to death. The memories partly horrified her, partly confused her. She didn't pull anymore of their gifts out of the bag. Instead, she pulled out her saber.
It was long, the blade being about thirty inches and the hilt about eight inches. It was in a silver scabbard. She took the hilt in one hand and drew the blade, making a ringing sound fill the air of the room. One edge of the shining silver sword had been sharpened to perfection. Along the blade there were words written in Seraphimian. Sasha held the blade closer and moved her mouth, trying to remember what the words said. She couldn't make it out.
"Damnation!" she hissed. "Damnation and Hell Fire! If I could only read what this says, then I would know who I am!"
"What about this?" Michelangelo handed her the silver cylinder. "It looks like a larger version of your Token, but with more writing."
"You're right," she said, taking the cylinder in her free hand. She stared at the writing on the outside. While she stared, the symbols began to do funny things. They began to glow and seemed to move all around on the surface of the container until they no longer were words, but seemed to form two pictures in her mind. One picture was of her cutting down winged demons left and right with her sword. The other picture was of her praying over a dead body, releasing the person's soul into Judgment and the Afterlife beyond it.
She slowly raised her eyes up to Raphael and Leonardo, who were still in the full swing of their argument. She cleared her throat loudly and they turned to her.
"I've remembered something major," she told them. "When the myth says Sashitaka was a 'Releaser of Souls', that didn't mean she was a warrior who killed people. She was the Angel of Death, and she guided the souls to the Afterlife."
"That's great, Sasha," Raph sneered. "But can we have Ancient Literature class a little later when we're not so busy?"
"That's not all I remember," Sasha went on. "I also remember...those myths are about me."
Donatello's eyes widened. "What are you telling us, Sasha?"
She looked up into his eyes. "My name is Sashitaka. I am the Angel of Death."
Oooo! Cliff hanger ending! Don't worry, the next chapter should be up no later than tomorrow. Review please, or my ego will be hurt.--EBTS