"Sailor Angel and Sailor Phosphora: The Fight Against Catastrophe"
Chapter Thirteen
By Angel Sentier and M'Lila Cronk
Angel sat on the ground while Yuki knelt behind her and tried to heal her broken wing. Her brow was furrowed in thought and she frowned as she tried to come up with a means of escape.
"There's got to be a way out of here," she said as Yuki's warm power washed over her back. "First, I've got to find where he put the Star Wand. He wouldn't have destroyed it, it has too much power."
"It would probably be in the throne room," said Yuki.
She groaned. "And that's probably heavily guarded."
"Maybe not. After all, it's not as though he thinks either one of us can get out of here, and it's pretty much impossible to enter this dimension without utilizing dark power, so he wouldn't be expecting any ambushes. I should know, the Mercaian army tried several times to break in here undetected. However, even if it's not guarded, he might know about it if we got out. He's got this ability to sense living things. He probably knows where everyone in this dimension is all the time."
Her head drooped. "Well, there goes any hope of escape. I guess we'll have to wait to be rescued."
"Head up, please."
She did as he requested.
"But how will the senshi get here? Like I said—"
Angel smiled. "If I know Zara, she won't rest until she's exhausted every effort."
"Alright. Well, rather than talk about escape, how about you tell me about Catastrophe?"
She sighed at his gentle probing. She'd resisted talking about the man who had been her love, but she supposed Yuki deserved an explanation. All of the senshi did, even if they didn't know it yet. "He didn't used to be called that. In fact, Catastrophe was a separate, bodiless entity. Just as dangerous, in fact, more so, because any attack you threw at it would be absorbed, but it couldn't get around very well without a host... I'm getting ahead of myself..."
"Start at the beginning."
"His name was Taka. He was the Knight of Saturn before the current one. My duty as Messenger took me many places, Saturn being one of them. It was there that I met him, that tall warrior with dark hair and eyes the color of a stormy sky. He impressed me with his valor and even more with his kindness. I found myself searching for excuses to visit Saturn more often, just so I could see him. I'd thought he hadn't even noticed me, but he cornered me in a night-blooming garden one night before I was leaving." Angel blushed. "He gave me my first kiss. I realized I was in love. And what a terrible thing that was. The Messenger of Danger is not allowed to love."
"Why?" Yuki interrupted.
"Because they live forever. Well, as long as they are not fatally wounded. Whoever they loved would grow older and die, and they would have to live on. This is done for the Messenger's protection. A senshi with a wounded heart cannot fully do her duty."
"But aren't senshi and knights reborn?"
"Only if they have royal blood, and not all senshi or knights do. Like me, I may rule over the sky, but I have no lineage. Messengers are born of light and energy. Taka was the knight of Saturn, but he was no relation to the royal family. So if we had been able to love each other, eventually, he would die and I would be alone. That's why the Messenger cannot love."
"It sounds like a very lonely existence."
"It was, for a while. But then, you get used to it. After all, you travel all the time, you see many places and meet lots of people, so you're not totally alone. Not like the Guardian of the Time Gate, who is solitary all her life." She sighed. "It wasn't until my heart gave itself away that I realized how very lonely I was."
Yuki finished his work and came to sit down beside Angel. She flexed her wings and found them completely healed.
"So, then what happened?" he asked.
"Before Chaos possessed Sailor Galaxia, his father, Catastrophe, came to threaten the Galaxy Cauldron. The other senshi had been killed. Only myself, Sailor Galaxia, Sailor Phosphora, and Taka remained. We had all been hit hard, and Catastrophe seemed no weaker. As a last resort, Taka came up with the same plan Galaxia would eventually use on Chaos. He said he would allow Catastrophe to possess him and for a moment, he would be defenseless. We were then to use our strongest attacks and kill him. It was the ultimate sacrifice."
"Why didn't it work?"
Angel covered her face with her hands. "I allowed my heart to get in the way. After Taka had been possessed, I struck first, but I aimed my attack low, hitting the rocks beneath his feet. The following up-shower of rock took the brunt of the other attacks and buried him in a crater fifty feet wide. The others thought he was dead..."
"But he wasn't."
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her legs, drawing them up to her chest. "No. I knew it, too. I could feel it. But I left him there. Sleeping, perhaps half-dead, comatose... Who knows what jolted him awake, or when he left to hide in some far-off corner of the galaxy to gain in strength and wait for his chance to seize power again."
"Why didn't you remember him until he made you?"
"When I returned from the battle, I used the Holy Crystal to alter my memories so I could function. I remembered fighting Catastrophe, but not Taka. Everything about him was gone from my mind. It wasn't until we started fighting Catastrophe again that I started to remember bits and pieces."
There was a pause. "Wow," Yuki said finally.
"Yeah. So now, the entire universe has me to thank for their lives being threatened," she said, miserably.
Yuki wrapped an arm around her, a bit awkwardly because of her wings. "It's going to be okay."
"God, I hope so." She tilted her head to look at him. "Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"I promise, we will get out of here."
For the third time, Catastrophe's silk voice cut through. "Now, now," he said in a deceptively gentle, chiding voice. "You know you shouldn't make promises you can't keep, little Angel."
She stiffened and Yuki let his arm drop as the demon stepped out of the shadows. Neither one really cared how long he'd been standing there. It's not as if they'd been talking about things he didn't already know.
"What do you want?" Angel asked him in a low voice, not bothering to look at him.
"Just to talk," he said, but she'd be damned if she believed that. "But I think this time I require a private conversation."
As the door opened for him, Angel and Yuki quickly got up from the floor. Yuki backed up against the far wall and Angel stood before him, arms out, shielding him. She didn't want Yuki to be the subject of the demon's 'play' again.
"Leave him alone!"
"I intend to." A flick of his fingers and Angel was motionless. "The one I want is you, Angel."
Under his control, Angel walked stiffly out of the cell. Catastrophe wrapped one wing of his cloak around her shoulder and sent a smirk back to Yuki as the door closed once again.
When they were out of sight, Yuki knelt on the floor and sighed. Something white on the ground caught his eye, and he reached out to pick up one of Angel's feathers. It glowed softly in his hand. He tucked it safely inside his shirt and leaned back against the wall to wait. He hoped she would come back safe from whatever game that monster intended to play.
To be continued...
