The Link
Ida stood on high ground seeing far into the rocky lands of her home. The distant sun was rising. This was the most beautiful time of the day and she wouldn't miss it. It gave her hope. She could hear so many souls crying out for help, but one cry was louder than any other and it made her heart ache. She held her hands in front of her chest as if to embrace her dearest friend and for a while it would help. But in the darkness of a new night that time would come when the defences were low and new shadows would creep into her heart and the cries become louder once more.
Eissa cowered in a corner of her chamber. She was tired but tried not to fall asleep. She knew that this sleep would not bring her recovery. Where had the days gone where she was so full of energy? It was dark outside and it was very late but she knew that on a not so distant asteroid the sun was rising and soon she would feel the conscience of her dearest friend kiss her soul. Eissa knew that she could not stay awake forever. Eventually she would fall asleep and the fears and doubts would take hold of her. And when the cries were the loudest and the pain the strongest she felt a sudden burst of energy stream through her body. It was a warm feeling and it gave her the strength to carry on. She fell back into sleep and although it would not last long, it would be peaceful. Only this time when she woke up she knew that the war was soon going to begin. It had to. And she would be there to fight.
The Awakening
A horrible noise interrupted Eissa's sweet dreams. Half asleep and with her eyes still closed she turned around and hit the alarm clock. It stopped ringing. Then reality suddenly hit her and she opened her eyes staring at the thing that interrupted her dreams. What was that??? Oh wait! She knew this! It is the alarm clock I got for my 9th birthday! Or was it the 10th? Wait! This wasn't right.
She looked around and found herself in a room that was not her own. It was not even in her palace. She knew every single room in her palace and this wasn't one of them. But still, this room seemed strangely familiar. She felt at home. There was her desk with her computer - rarely used for homework purposes - and above that were shelves with various comics and mangas. She liked those. Especially that manga of Sailor-V. WHAT? How could this be??? She jumped off her bed and grabbed the latest Sailor-V manga from her shelf. She had found it at a comic shop in London.
There she was: Sailor-V. Apparently she looked just like that in reality! Eissa had never seen her in person but friends of hers had. So there was this girl fighting evil in the streets of London, with a costume very similar to that of a Sailor Soldier. But wait! She remembered: Sailor-V hadn't been seen anywhere for a long time. Where was she?
"Is that why I'm here? With all these memories that are not my own?" Then she realized something else she had completely forgotten through all this confusion. She stepped backwards away from the comics, then turned around and walked towards the window. She pulled the curtains aside and stared into the sky. It was bright and blue. She had never seen a sky like that before. Well, in theory anyway. Then she closed her eyes and listened out for the voices. They were there, yes. But they were not the same. They were peaceful. And there was the one voice of her dear friend. The friend whom she had never met, but whom she had known all her life. Her voice was loud and clear as if she was standing right next to her. And now Eissa wished she was. Maybe she would help her understand.
A little while later Eissa turned around and got ready for her daily routine of her new found life.
Musings
It took a little while for the confusion to go away but Eissa had soon befriended herself with her newfound life. She was 17 years old and in this life her name was Alice Jones. She had finished college last year but returned to learn Japanese. She loved reading mangas and always wanted to be able to read them in the original language. And an additional language could not be bad! Maybe one day she would get a job travelling around the world?
She had moved out of home to live in London and shared her flat with a girl named Catherine Brooks. Cat, as she called her, could be annoying at times but she was a really nice girl. And she knew the best places to go to! Always a help. Alice liked going out with her and she easily made friends. Her parents paid for the college course and the flat, but Alice still had a job at a local pub, in which she worked twice a week. She was good with people and customers liked her.
When she wasn't working and she wasn't at college or out with friends then she would go to her favourite comic store to look for the latest manga imports. And this is where she was going right now. So far in this life she had been a normal girl. But she wasn't. For a short while after waking up this morning she had been doubting her sanity. Had she imagined her life in the palace? The beautiful robes? The dark but beautiful asteroid she called her home? And the horrible nightmares in the most recent weeks? She hadn't. Alice knew that her gift of feeling the innermost emotions of the people around her was something special. It was not normal in this world. But she had been given this gift because she had been born as Sailor Eissa. She was Sailor Eissa, soldier of conscience, and here to fight the evil that was making the people of her home suffer. What she had to find out now was why she was here, on this Earth. And yes, checking the latest Sailor-V manga for clues was a long shot, but it was the only clue she had.
A long awaited Moment
It was a beautiful day. The days were getting warmer and the first flowers were breaking through the soil. It had been a normal day for Alice and having finished her lessons for today she was now walking down the road that would eventually lead to her favourite comic store. As she turned around the last corner Alice suddenly felt a shiver crawling all over her body. It was the kind of feeling she had when listening to strong and emotional lyrics or when watching an intense scene in a movie, only this time she couldn't explain where it was coming from. For a moment she just stood still and listened to the voices in her head. They were not speaking with words - they never did - but they were telling her that everything was ok. People were leading their lives not knowing of the dangers that lay ahead.
Alice could feel the presence of her dear friend as she had done all day. It was stronger than she had known it before and she wondered what was different. But she knew that this was no question that she could answer all by herself and so she carried on walking towards the yellow signs that were drawing her attention back to that little comic store.
As she opened the door she heard that familiar sound of the little doorbells ringing. She entered and immediately noticed that everything had been moved around. The shelves had been moved closer together and the place just looked smaller now. "What happened?" she asked the guy behind the counter. He was a little younger than her and she knew that he worked here regularly. She had never asked for his name though. "Dunno." he replied shrugging his shoulders. She wasn't going to bother asking any further and walked in passed the counter. There were several people in this little store - mostly students - and a couple of times the newly arranged walkways between the shelves got a little tight. But she made her way straight to the shelf labelled "latest releases" and started looking for the Sailor-V manga. Things on the shelf had been rearranged too so she didn't find it at first but there it was! Bright yellow letters on blue background. Sailor-V looked as gorgeous as ever! But just as Alice was reaching over to grab it another girl had taken it revealing the wall behind it. It was the last copy.
A little black curly strand that was falling into the girls face caught her attention but Alice forced herself to look back into the girl's eyes. "Do you mind?" she asked. "I really need that!"
The girl looked at her with her deep blue eyes as if she was looking right into her soul and Alice felt uncomfortable. "What?"
"Why would you want it more than me?" the girl replied patiently.
Urgh, she hated people like that, thinking that they knew everything better than her. But she really needed this comic so she forced herself to remain calm. Besides, this girl made her curious.
"Please," she started, "I have been waiting for this issue for a long time!"
"So have I!" the girl replied with a little smile as if she wanted to tease her.
That was enough! For a moment Alice stood in that little walkway between the shelves with this girl - who was obviously several years younger than herself - and she didn't know what to say! She knew that the girl was right. But she needed this manga and so she reached over to those slim hands and having much more strength in her own hands and the surprise on her side she took it off the girl easily. As Alice saw the surprise in the girl's eyes she wondered why she wasn't saying anything. She felt the sudden urge to grab the girl's hands and without any thought she dropped the manga onto the floor. What was happening? What was she doing? She needed this manga! She should just take it, buy it and leave. But she didn't. Slowly she moved her hands towards the girl and held them in front of her with her palms up. Then she waited. That shiver came back crawling all over her body. The girl was still staring at her with interest. The confusion in her eyes was replaced by peace and Alice thought that she looked wise. Her hands moved towards her own and the moment they touched Alice felt overwhelmed by the amount of feelings that were entering her mind. She felt pain and sadness, hope and regret, but above all she felt love and devotion. They withdrew their hands and backed off as far as their surroundings would let them. Then Alice felt all her strength fail and fell to her knees. She was exhausted but she looked up at the girl, who was still standing in front of her. She didn't seem quite as surprised as herself.
After a while they began to smile.
The Mission
The moment when she fell to her knees Alice had feared that maybe she had been the subject to some kind of mental attack. But soon the girl helped her get back up. The moment she grabbed her hands Alice felt the strength return to her body and she recognised the feeling. She quickly took the manga back from the floor. When she looked up again the girl was holding her hand in front of her waiting for Alice to shake it.
"My name is Megan Ward." she said. Alice returned the gesture. "Mine is Alice Jones." she replied.
"Come with me!" Megan turned around and walked towards the back of the store.
"What about this?" Alice pointed at the manga in her hands.
"Don't worry about it."
A little surprised she looked at the guy behind the counter. He seemed ok with it so she followed Megan.
She led her into a little room, which seemed to have been part of the store originally. There was a desk with a computer and plenty of newspaper articles about Sailor-V were decorating the walls. Megan explained that she had things moved around in the store to create this study room. Her Dad owned the store and recently she had convinced him of creating this "study" area which people could rent to read their newly purchased comics or to surf the web. And it would be their meeting room, too.
"Please sit down!" She pointed at one of two chairs and smiled softly. Alice accepted the offer gladly. Then Megan sat down in front of her.
"I am sure you have many questions?" Megan said askingly.
"Yes I do," replied Alice, "and I am sure that you can give me all the answers!"
"Surely not all of them but I will try. You know why we are here. You have heard the cries just like I have."
"I don't hear cries. I feel the reasons for them." and for a moment Alice returned to that corner in her chamber remembering all the pain and doubts that were blowing away her senses. "Why have they gone?"
"They have not. They are just further away right now. They will return."
For a moment they stopped talking. Alice had to process this newfound knowledge. She hadn't actually thought that somehow the lurking evil had suddenly disappeared, but now she realised that she had indeed hoped for it. "And how exactly can I be of any use?" she asked not trying to hide her frustration and fear.
"You will be! Don't worry! Your powers work differently now! We are all different here. We are not the same we were."
"What do you mean?"
"Our powers are at a weakened state. The life you remember in this world is yours. It always has been. But the Sailor Soldier in you has been living in a different world on the asteroid that you have been named after. Eissa. As Alice you would say that Eissa is just a dead rock, but in the spiritual world it is your home, your palace, your sanctuary. Just like Ida is mine."
"Ida? So what is your realm? Your source of energy? And how comes you know all this and I don't?"
"I am the soldier of souls. In the spiritual world I am a guide for the living and the dead. It is hard to explain but I just know! I know that you are a good soul and I know that your true home is in the spiritual world. That is why I knew that you are one of us. I just didn't know who exactly until we touched."
"I still don't understand all this about our powers! How DO they work?"
"You are Sailor Eissa, soldier of conscience..."
"I guess you could say that..."
Megan smiled a little before she continued. She sometimes forgot that the girls often wouldn't think about their realms with words. They existed with their powers and the knowledge that there was a higher purpose to their lives, but they didn't have the same kind of understanding of the world that she had and they had probably never tried to describe their roles with words.
"You are the Soldier of conscience. In the spiritual world you feel everything that is moving the hearts of people in the world. The good and the bad. The range is endless. In the real world however most of us don't have any power at all!"
"But I do feel the people around me! And something happened when we touched!"
"These things happen. Some of us are more connected to the spiritual world than others. The reason for us having such a strong reaction to each other I think is because our realms are so closely related. This is probably also why we could touch each other even in the spiritual world.
But let me get back to the basics: In the real world you do not feel what every single being in this world is feeling. You may feel the people around you and that already is something very unusual. Much like psychics - the real ones I mean. They too are most likely Sailor Soldiers - their time simply has not come yet."
"Their time?"
"Yes, we all have a purpose in life. There are many roles and there are usually several soldiers in a group serving the same purpose.
New soldiers are born and awakened all the time all over the universe. I know that there are about 18 Sailor Soldiers on this planet at this time, including us. That is why we are here on this earth. If we are going to fight this new evil then we will need as many of them as possible to join us! But only 10 of the others have been awakened. I believe this Sailor-V may be one of them."
"I too thought that she is one of us. That is why I came here."
"I was hoping you would. But we cannot hope for the other Asteroid Soldiers to come here. They probably don't remember the spiritual world and their role in it. We need to find them."
"How do we do that? Without our powers we are just like any other person on this planet!"
"But we are not. Our powers are not lost! We can awaken them if we need to! Close your eyes."
So Alice did.
She felt that Megan was holding her hands again and then she heard her whisper.
"Feel the power inside yourself. It is there. In your heart. Reach for it. Touch it. Awaken it. Be one with it."
Suddenly Alice felt like she was floating and through her eye lids she saw that light was surrounding them. "Open your eyes!" She heard Megan say.
When she did she realised that she had not imagined it. They were indeed floating and blue lights were surrounding them dancing as if they were celebrating. Megan was wearing a Sailor suit. Alice remembered her own Sailor suit and it looked very similar to hers. The colour was the main difference. Where her own dress was magenta, Sailor Ida's was blue. While she was looking down on herself, realising that she was still wearing her everyday clothes, a bright ball of white light started to appear slowly in front of her. As Alice instinctively held her hand underneath it, a little wand appeared floating above her hand. It almost looked like a pen. The decorations were similar to ones she remembered from her home palace and her own Sailor suit and she thought it looked pretty.
"This is what you will need to regain your powers temporarily. They will not be the same as if you were in the spiritual world but they will be stronger than what you have been experiencing so far. Be careful when you take it. I don't know how strong your powers really are and it may hurt at first."
So Alice took hold of the wand and the moment she did lights were surrounding her, dancing around her and she suddenly felt powerful. And just as she felt like she was one with her powers and the world around her, the voices returned. They brought her down to earth, literally. She shielded her head with her hands as if it could keep the voices away from her. She heard Megan's voice breaking through the noise telling her that she needed to concentrate, go back to that place in her heart where all was one. She did. The voices faded but they didn't disappear entirely. She was still aware of them and all the pain and doubts she was feeling made her angry. She wanted to do something about it, fight what was causing it and suddenly she felt helpless. She looked up at Sailor Ida as she took her into her arms and she heard her whisper:
"It will be ok. We will find what is causing this and we will fight it."
Sailor Eissa didn't understand why but she believed her.
The Asteroid Senshi
After Alice had left, Megan returned to that little room in the back of her Dad's comic store and thought about the situation at hand.
Alice had only been awakened this very morning but Megan had been awakened several weeks ago. She had been here on this Earth in this reality, aware and looking for the other Asteroid Senshi to join her. She had especially been waiting for the moment when she would meet the soul that she had been so close to in the spiritual world, and she had expected Alice to feel the same way. But Alice didn't seem to give a great deal about their connection in the spiritual world. They were strangers now. They didn't know a thing about each other and this disappointed Megan.
But they had one thing in common - they both knew that something was wrong, that something was hurting people all over the world and that they had to stop it. Alice was certainly committed. But once they had agreed to meeting here every day from now on to discuss further strategies, Alice had nothing more to say and left. No girl talk afterwards, nothing.
But Megan couldn't let this affect her. She had a mission - she had to find the other Asteroid Senshi. One found, two more to go. But there was something else...
There were eight Asteroid Senshi in total. Megan could feel the presence of all their souls, but she had only heard the call for three of them: Sailor Eissa - Senshi of Conscience, Sailor Gastra - Senshi of the Mind and Sailor Keele - Senshi of Energy. Together they defended this solar system against psychic attacks.
The other four Asteroid Senshi were the protectors of the future queen of Crystal Tokyo. They hadn't been called yet. It wasn't their time and the very fact that they were here worried Megan. But she could only deal with one problem at a time.
Sailor Eissa's soul had only been awakened in Alice this very morning. And because her connection to the spiritual world was so strong she could remember everything. That made finding her easy. But Megan had been feeling the presence of Sailor Gastra and Sailor Keele ever since she herself had been on this Earth, and the fact that they hadn't found each other yet indicated that they couldn't remember anything. They were probably still living their normal lives perfectly unaware of their destinies. Finding them would be tricky but now that Megan wasn't alone anymore she had regained confidence. She would find them. It was only a matter of time.
The Battle Begins
Some might have thought that she had had enough excitement for the day but this was Alice and she couldn't wait to get onto the nearest dance floor! She had just got home and while she was getting dressed for the night she thought about Megan/Sailor Ida. How could someone who had protected her and given her strength over such a distance be so young? She had imagined her to be a lot older. But Megan was just a child and she talked to her like she was her mother or something! Alice realised that things weren't necessarily the way they seemed when it came to the mysterious world of the Sailor Soldiers, but she found it hard to keep an open mind.
Then her eyes fell onto that little pen, her transformation device. It was beautiful and she remembered the words that she would need to speak in order to gain her powers and be disguised as "Sailor Eissa". In a way she was curious to know what she could do with those powers and felt like trying them out right now! But she honoured her duty so she packed the pen into her little black handbag. That way it would be in reach should she actually need it. She probably wouldn't need it for a while.
She phoned some people from college and made her way to their usual meeting point. Her friends Sandra and Kate had agreed to meet up and promised to phone as many friends as they could think of! Her housemate Cat would join them later.
When Alice arrived at the Green in the middle of a big roundabout, about a dozen of people were already waiting. They started whispering and pointing fingers at Alice as she was approaching and she wondered whether a bird had dropped something onto her without her noticing. She didn't realise how attractive she looked. She was wearing a tight pink sleeveless shirt, which was partially transparent without revealing too much, tight black trousers, high-heeled boots and that elegant leather jacket blowing in the light breeze.
She greeted all her friends and soon everyone continued with their conversations. The night was still young and they intended on staying here chatting whilst waiting for more friends to arrive. Then they would go into a nightclub not far from here.
A little while later Alice sensed something very disturbing and she looked around trying to find the person it was coming from. It wasn't anyone in the group so she looked further. Just in this moment Cat turned around the corner. She looked fine and in no way unusual but Alice could feel her emotions going into overdrive. Cat was close to panic. Alice ran across the road towards her housemate as fast as she could and drawing all the attention to her once again she shouted
"Cat! What happened to you?"
The group went silent and everyone was now staring at Cat and Alice.
Cat looked confused. " What are you talking about?"
"Are you ok?" Alice asked suddenly very self-aware.
"Sure I am! What should be wrong with me?" Cat answered with a genuine smile.
At this point people in the group went back to their conversations and some were making jokes about Alice in a friendly way. But Alice could still feel the emotional roller coaster in Cat.
"It's just..." replied Alice, "you've been a little on edge lately and... well... I don't know. I'm sorry."
"I'm fine! Honestly!" and while she said these words she put her arm over Alice' shoulder and walked her over to the rest of the group.
Soon this little show had been forgotten and people started talking about going to the club. Cat had been talking to everyone like nothing was wrong at all but Alice knew better. Or were her senses betraying her? Just as she thought about letting it go and having some fun she saw Cat's eyes suddenly widening. Alice didn't react at first because she didn't want to draw the attention to her again for nothing. But soon Cat retreated away from the group and she looked like she was in pain. This time everyone noticed it and everybody was now looking at Cat. People surrounded her trying to help but Cat suddenly grew bigger. And stronger. Her skin turned dirty grey, her legs and arms grew longer and wiry and scaringly muscular. Her face was a mask of horror, her eyes gleamed red and her screams got unnatural, uglier and louder - Alice realised that this was her chance to transform without being noticed. She got her little pen out of her handbag and shouted:
"Eissa Asteroid Power! Make Up!"
In real time this transformation only took split seconds, but in her mind it was an experience that would prepare her for battle. The park and the people disappeared leaving her in endless space. Dancing lights in white and in shades of magenta surrounded her. She felt being lifted off the ground by something like a little whirl storm that was concentrated just around her. Her clothes disappeared and as she was there in her purest form she felt the power enter her body. It made her feel stronger than ever before. Her skin was glowing. Now she was enclosed by transparent ribbons and as they tightened around her body they turned into her Sailor outfit.
As she found herself back in the park people were running away from the one who they once knew as their friend Cat. Sailor Eissa looked at the thing that had taken her place. "Now what?"
-------------------
It was roughly 8.30 in the evening and the sun was just setting. The evenings were still cold and yet you could see young women showing off their bare skin and cuddling up to their partners to keep warm. Hardly anyone saw the little figure, walking slowly and stopping occasionally to admire the beauty of some flowers that were glowing in the evening sunlight.
Megan Ward had told her father that she was visiting friends but the truth was that ever since her memory and powers as Sailor Ida had been awakened, she had been so occupied with her new responsibility that she had no time or energy left for her friends. They still called from time to time but most of them had given up on her.
And so it happened that she found herself walking through the street of London all by herself, keeping warm with her winter coat, watching the lights go on as the sun set behind the tall buildings.
From time to time she would sense danger around a corner. This was a gift she had brought back from the spiritual world and it allowed her to walk through the large city without the fear of being the victim of a horrible crime one day. But things had changed. Before she had been awakened as a Sailor Soldier she had always turned away from these locations. After all she was only 14 years old. But now she had a responsibility towards the people in this world. These days she would always take a look around that corner just to be sure that it was nothing abnormal... unnatural.
Tonight the city was quiet. Unnaturally quiet. It felt like the calm before a storm. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Maybe there weren't quite as many people on the street as usual. But there seemed to be a feel of panic in the air and nobody seemed to be able to explain it. People were walking along the streets as they always did, but as they walked passed you some of them would look at you out of the corner of their eye and you wouldn't know whether it was anger, fear or pure paranoia in their eyes.
As Megan was walking along some shopping windows she suddenly felt like she was being observed. She stopped and looked at the reflections of the shop window in the hope of seeing someone without being noticed, but there was noone there. Only some people rushing home with their polished shoes and their suitcase in one hand and maybe a newspaper in the other. They were paying no attention to her at all. Then all of a sudden it happened. The event that she had been waiting for. The enemy revealed itself.
She felt a source of pure evil appear and grow and it overwhelmed her. She leaned against the shop window. She couldn't breathe. It was like this evil thing was strangling her from a distance. But she knew it wasn't real. It was just in her mind, so she closed her eyes and attempted to control her senses. A lady stopped and asked whether she was ok. Megan just nodded and turned away. She disappeared into a little gap between two buildings and leaned against a wall. Slowly she managed to recover from the shock and just as she took the first deep breath she felt another presence awake. She recognised this soul immediately. It was Sailor Eissa.
Megan got out her transformation pen, held it up in the air and shouted "Ida Asteroid Power! Make up!"
The buildings and the noise disappeared. She found herself in endless space and blue lights and white lights were dancing around her. She was lifted off the ground, her clothes disappeared and she received the power of the Sailor Soldier. Her skin began to glow and transparent ribbons enclosed her. As they tightened around her body they transformed into her Sailor outfit.
And as she was standing there in that narrow alleyway the confusion was gone. She had full control over her senses and she knew exactly where to find Sailor Eissa.
The Enemy
Most of the people who had been in the group had now reached the other side of the road. Some carried on running, others turned around and watched with horror what was happening before their eyes. The aberration which had once been Alice' housemate Cat was unrecognisable. She had turned into a creature nearly twice her size and its screams made everyone recoil in fear. The only thing that reminded Sailor Eissa of what this beast really was, was the short blond hair, which made the look even more grotesque.
Sailor Eissa stood frozen in shock. She saw a long wiry and muscular arm swing at one of her friends and whirl her into the crowd on the other side of the road when she realised that she had to do something. She was now the last one left on this roundabout and the monster gazed at her with its glowing red eyes. They were filled with rage but at the same time, revealed pain.
Sailor Eissa felt her own aggression awake inside herself and suddenly felt that she could beat this thing. While she was running towards it she screamed, "What have you done to my friend!?!" She prepared a kick and was surprised how easy it seemed when it swung at her mid air and threw her into a nearby tree. She felt the wood pierce through her suit and tear at her back as she came tumbling down among branches. In her moment of helplessness she expected the creature to finish her off. But instead it just stood still and looked around. It seemed confused. Desperate Eissa grabbed one end of a branch down by her feet. Her vision was suddenly blurred by tears and as she swung the branch at the creature she shouted "Bring her back!!" The impact made the creature shriek and it looked back at Eissa with horror in its eyes. It hardly seemed hurt at all and Eissa realised that this was a good time to run. So she did.
Panic broke out among the people who had been watching, as the creature ran after Eissa while swinging at everything and everyone along the way. Eissa ran across many roads for many blocks and thought about what she could do. She felt embarrassed and angry as she heard herself screaming for help. Wasn't she supposed to be some kind of super hero? She looked back and realised that the creature was falling behind. It seemed exhausted. Eissa slowed down not wanting to loose sight of it. Just when she thought she couldn't run any further she heard a strong voice shout "Ida Light Encasement!"
She turned around and saw that the monster was glowing with bright light. It was illuminating the street and the buildings nearby. Just behind it appeared Sailor Ida, now running past it and soon joining Sailor Eissa just as she collapsed onto her knees.
"What did you do to her?" she heard Eissa ask nervously.
"I enclosed it with light. It is one of my powers..." Ida answered but before she could carry on she was interrupted by Eissa:
"Well I can see that! But how is that supposed to help???"
Just as Eissa was thinking about all the swear words that could possibly express how confused and angry she was, she realised that the monster had stopped running and seemed disorientated.
"What did you do to her?" she asked again, this time with more interest in hearing the answer.
Ida explained calmly: "Have you ever been inside a lit room and looked outside a window? Have you ever noticed how everything outside that room seemed so much darker than it actually was? That's what it is like for that... her. How do you know it's a she?" she asked Eissa with interest.
"It's Cat! My flat mate! She turned into this thing from one moment to the next. I tried to fight her but she is so strong! I couldn't fight her. It's still Cat in there!" Eissa looked back at the monster. To her surprise it had stopped wandering around and sat down in the middle of the street, seemingly to catch it's breath.
"How do you know that it's still Cat?" Ida asked.
Eissa looked back at her with surprise. "I don't know. I just know."
"Then maybe you know how to turn her back?"
"Me? Why me? How?"
"I don't know how. But there is a reason for both of us being here. And this may be yours!"
She paused as they saw the beast slowly getting back onto its feet. It started screaming again and seemed to look right at them. "Hurry", Ida continued. "It's eyes must have adjusted. Just give it a try. I am sure you can figure it out!"
Eissa got back onto her feet. She closed her eyes and tried to somehow connect to Catherine's conscience slumbering inside the beast. She felt Ida's nervousness and the beast's rage. As she kept on concentrating she could even feel the fear of the people looking down onto the street from their windows above the shops. But she couldn't get through to Cat. She realised that she herself was limiting her skills. Her own defense mechanism that was protecing her from the screaming voices she had heard in the first moment of her transformation back in the little computer room - It was now working against her.
She knew what she had to do and she was scared of it. She didn't want to go back to that dark place that she had escaped from only so recently. And just as she was ready to turn around and run away she felt Ida embracing her as she had done so many times before. Conscience and Soul seems to merge and this young girl of only 14 had enough strength for both of them.
Sailor Eissa let her guard down.
The noise in her head almost knocked her out. Her senses were betraying her. She was seeing a firework of blinding and flashing lights in front of her eyes. She could only hear the screaming cries and feel pain and sadness. She just wanted to go home - Her home as she knew it before the voices reached her. Out of her desire to be alone again she screamed: "Eissa! Solitary conscience!"
Suddenly she found herself in darkness. There was an absolut silence. The only thing reminding her of the real world was the feel of Ida's hands on her shoulders. She seemed to try and drag her away. Eissa resisted. She wanted to stay. Then she heard a faint noise in the distance. She focused all her attention to it and realised that she was listening to Cat's thoughts.
--
Ida could hardly imagine what was going on in her friend's mind. Eissa was just standing there, staring at the beast as it was regaining its strength to launch a new attack. It wasn't in Ida's power to reverse whatever had happened to Catherine. If anyone had any chance of figuring out what was wrong with her then it was Sailor Eissa. She knew what Eissa would have to do to reach her true powers and she could see her resisting the thought of it. In the hope of giving Eissa the strength she needed, Ida embraced her friend as she had done so many times before. She felt soul and conscience merge and after the initial surprise she felt Eissa relax in her arms. A moment later Eissa's eyes suddenly widened and terrible cries followed. She felt Eissa's legs give in and Ida held on to her even stronger. She helped her gently to the ground and held her in her arms. She was trembling. It hurt Ida to see her friend in so much pain and her eyes filled with tears. Then suddenly, among of all the cries Ida heard a phrase that sounded familiar:
"Eissa! Solitary Conscience!"
As soon as Eissa had said the words she stopped crying. She still had her eyes closed and she was breathing heavily. Ida looked up suddenly aware that the source of light was closing in. The beast had launched it's attack.
"Eissa! Wake up! We need to go!!" She tried pulling her away from the approaching beast and after an initial moment of resistance Eissa opened her eyes. She didn't seem to be able to see and her eyes appeared empty. Finally Eissa got to her feet and Ida supported her as they ran off the main road into the nearest alleyway. They kept running, intending to keep the attacker away from the busiest areas of the city, shouting out warnings to any innocents walking the streets. But eventually the beast lost interest in them as it saw a crowd of people sitting at a little group of tables outside a restaurant.
Panic broke out as people saw the furious creature run towards them with it's gaping mouth, eyes wide open and full of rage. Tables and chairs were flying as people tripped and fell. As they heard the screams Ida stopped and turned around with Eissa resting on her shoulder. "Oh no! We need to do something!"
As Eissa signaled her to let her stand alone, Ida noticed that her friend was almost back to full strength. But she still seemed to be in trance. "We need to do something." she heard Eissa repeat and she started walking towards the end of the alleyway out onto the main road with the restaurant. Ida followed carefully at first, but Eissa seemed to have some kind of purpose and quickly picked up in speed.
--
Eissa was vaguely aware of Sailor Ida running after her. She didn't hear the screams of the innocent people. She couldn't feel their fear in her heart. The only thing Sailor Eissa could feel was the sadness of Catherine Brooks.
Words were forming in her mind as she started running towards the beast. It didn't move her heart to see it grabbing a table nearby, holding it up above it's head, screaming it's bad breath down onto the little boy who had been cowering beneath the table. Eissa just kept running, held her left palm towards the creature and just as it was moving the table down towards the innocent she screamed "Eissa Burning Contemplation!"
Magenta Flames appeared out of her hand, whirling around an invisible line originating in her hand and moving towards the beast. This fiery whirlstorm increased in size and whirled faster and faster as it was closing in on the target. A beautiful pelican appeared out of the centre of the whirlstorm with its wings wide spread. It looked transparent and shimmered in sgades of blue, purple and magenta. It was a thing of beauty, Eissa thought as she fell onto her knees. As the pelican reached it's target it enclosed it with its wings and then disappeared into thin air, only leaving the flames behind. The beast instantly dropped the table from its hands and held its head. It was now fully surrounded by flames and seemed to be distorted and stretched in all directions. The screams could be heard for miles, but soon they would go over in little sobs and as the flames disappeared up in the air the beast had disappeared with them and left poor Catherine lying in its place.
Alice didn't see her. She was lying on the ground herself, in her everyday clothes, exhausted. She felt Ida take her in her arms and mumble some words: "Its not supposed to be like this. Its not supposed to be like this..."
Failure
She wasn't happy. That's for sure. But this intense sadness and despair was better than nothing. Because nothing is what she felt most of the time.
She didn't have a voice. She didn't have a body. She had never felt physical pleasures, and in her understanding even pain counted as one of them. Because pain was better than nothing. Because nothing is what she felt most of the time.
Then something happened that she had not forseen; something that had not happened before. The source dried out. And what an excellent source it had been. But something had stopped the flow of emotions. Her minion reported what had happened. It was a minor obstacle. It wasn't a problem. If she couldn't drain one source over a longer period of time then a higher number of sources would have to make up for it.
She enjoyed the human's emotions as long as they lasted, but once they were used up she was left with the one emotion that she could call her own. Greed.
