To Dream in the City of Sorrows

“I love Reuisu...”

The words of Astra, the Sailor Titan’s Guardian cat. She had spoken them to another person only once, in a letter to Rita and Andrew in Africa.

“I love Reuisu...”

The words that Astra could never say to anyone else. She didn’t know how she came to love the leader of the Sailor Titans. She thought maybe she was just having a little crush. But the more she thought about it, the more she began to doubt that explanation.

“I love Reuisu...”

Dreams were always part of this. Her dream, of course, was to be with Reuisu. But the problem with that was the fact that Astra was a cat...

*Theme song: Dare, By Stan Bush plays*

Our story does not begin in Crystal Tokyo. It does not take place in present-day Tokyo either. It begins in London, England in 2005. A river slowly moved across the local park, and a small gondola traveled through it with two figures traveling aboard it. The first was the man operating the gondola, Reuisu Lovhaug, or also known as Sailor Angel. He wore a frilled shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He wore a pair of small sunglasses and pushed the boat using a long stick, which came into the water as he operated the direction and speed of their boat.

The other person in the gondola was Michelle Tsuki-Kagayaku, or also known as Sailor Moonshine. She was the secondary keeper of time, to her one idle in the universe, Sailor Pluto. She wore a long dress and a shirt similar to that of women’s from the 19^th century. She was lying down in the gondola reading a romance novel. She smiled, looked up at Reuisu and said, “Isn’t it strange that something so primitive could be so-”

“Relaxing?” Reuisu interrupted, attempting to finish her sentence.

“No, simple. You merely push the stick in one direction, and the boat goes the other.”

“You deserved this. Come to think of it, all the Titans did. We’ve been through a lot, and we never have gotten a vacation from all the years we’ve been Titans. This seemed the ideal spot for it.” Replied Reuisu.

Michelle breathed in and let out a sigh of happiness. “Oh, I do love spring. The smell and sound of peace is so relaxing.”

“It’s October!” Reuisu exclaimed.

Michelle sat up. “I thought you said we were coming here in May week.”

“I did.” Replied Reuisu. “May week’s in June...”

Michelle thought for a moment, trying to contemplate what he was saying, then gave up. “I’m confused.” She said.

“So is your time staff.” Reuisu said, still piloting the gondola.

Michelle sighed and returned to looking around her. “Well, I do love the autumn, as well. All the leaves... The colors...”

Reuisu smiled and looked around, himself. “Yes. And at least with something as simple as a pulley system like this nothing can go wrong.”

Michelle looked at Reuisu, her mouth going to one side of her head in an expression saying that she didn’t want to hear about technology right then. Reuisu ignored it.

“No coordinates, no dimensional stabilizers. Just the water, a strong pair of hands, and a pull-” Reuisu said. After he said pull, however, the pull stick he was using to steer the boat was wedged into some rocks beneath the water, and Reuisu lost hold of it as the gondola floated away from it.

“Oops.”

“I just don’t think it looks right!” shouted Astra from behind the closed changing room door.

“Come on, Astra, it can’t be that bad! I think you’ll look rather cute in it.” Replied Miya.

Miya was also known as Sailor Love. Miya wore designer jeans, and a slip on red shirt with a solid black shirt going over it. Next to her were two others, Anna Ichimei and Lucy Yubiwa. Anna was eight years old, standing next to the changing rooms and bored out of her little head. Her pink hair was arranged in two rings instead of odangos that ended in pigtails. She wore a small uniform for the local Elementary school. Anna was also known as Sailor Life. Lucy wore a tight black mini-skirt and a similar top to Miya. Lucy was also known as Sailor Cephiros.

“I’m bored, couldn’t we do anything besides clothes shopping?” Anna pleaded for the millionth time.

“Anna, we agreed we’d take you to an ice cream shop nearby if you would bear with us during our time trying to find some nice outfits for us.” Lucy said to the young girl.

“Besides, Astra needed to improve her appearance. She looks practically the same as the first day I met her.” Miya said.

“She’s a CAT! She doesn’t need to wear clothes!” Anna exclaimed.

“I totally must go with what our young friend is getting at!” Astra agreed from within the changing room. “And honestly, why did you put me in a changing room? I’m not wearing any clothes to begin with!”

“The store managers would think we were trying to steal stuff if we put them on Astra in plain view of everyone. Chris, is she done yet?” Miya asked.

A male voice from inside the changing room replied, “If she stopped fidgeting this would go a lot faster. And... Done!”

The door opened, and everyone looked down. Astra, slowly walked out, and the only thing on her was a golden ribbon wrapped around her neck into a bow. She seemed to blush, despite a cat’s real inability to do that.

“I look ridiculous.” She said.

“You look great!” said Chris, walking out. Chris Allot was also known as Sailor Asteroid. He wore a pair of sand-colored khakis and an olive green T-shirt and a green and blue plaid flannel shirt over it. “Mainly considering it was me who placed that bow like that. It could’ve been over twenty minutes ago if you had just stopped fidgeting around so much!”

“And I think it looks terrible, please take it off of me.” Astra asked.

“Actually, you look pretty cool with it, Astra.” Anna said, kneeling down to her.

“Well, despite what everyone else thinks, I believe that I do not look okay. Look, I’m going to head back to Lucy’s mansion and sleep for awhile, this has been quite enough for today.” Said Astra, calmly walking away and taking off the ribbon as she walked with her paws.

Meanwhile, on the other side of London, another Titan was very intently buying items at a store. She was at a jewelry store, and was buying anything made of a crystal. She was Christine Finethy, or more widely known as Sailor Crystal. She wore a longer red skirt than the other girls, and a T-shirt on top. She ran her hand through her hair, first through the bottom portions of the blue hair, and then through the top with her gold hair. She bit her fingernails as well, trying to decide which bracelet was better: One with a crystal of olive green color, or a bracelet exactly the same except with a crystal of forest green color.

“Eerrg, why do they always have to make these decisions so complicated?!!?” She asked herself.

“Um, Madame, maybe you should just randomly pick one, along with all the other crystalline items you’re buying...” said the store clerk.

“Don’t interrupt me while I’m thinking! Now let’s see... Olive green or forest green... Hmmm...” Christine asked herself.

The store clerk sighed.

Astra walked back into the empty mansion and into the library. She collapsed on a chair and sighed.

“It’s a good thing Lucy’s parents were away or else we’d have a hard time explaining how she’s about 4 years older than they last saw her...” Astra said to particularly no one. She looked around, remembering no one was here.

“Well, of course no one’s here. Who wants to talk to me? I’m a cat. No time to talk to a cat.” Astra continued to talk to herself. She stepped down from the chair and walked over to her small bag she had brought along with her. She rummaged through it with her paws and pushed away the catnip and play mouse, and looked at a picture of all the Titans. She was sitting just in front of Reuisu, who had his hand scratching behind Astra’s ears. She smiled, and then her smile quickly faded.

“I can never be with him. Once again, I forget I’m just a cat. If only I were human... If only...”

Astra lied down on her belly, and an odd black aura seemed to encompass her...

Reuisu and Michelle walked down Totter’s Lane on their way to meet the others. Michelle’s clothes were partially wet due to be being splashed when Reuisu finally used his transformation staff to bring them back to land.

“I can’t believe you lost the pull.” Michelle said.

“Look, it’s not my fault! Please stop blaming me.” Reuisu replied.

“Well, where are we going now?”

“We’re going to meet up with the other Titans at an ice cream parlor. Of course, Christine will most likely be late...” Reuisu says.

Suddenly, they saw men and women running from around the corner as fast as they could. A black blast of energy shot out of the other side of the corner and hit two people, and they froze in a black aura instantaneously.

“Why can’t we attract ants like normal people?” Reuisu asked.

“Forget it! MOON CRYSTAL POWER!!!”

A pink glittery silhouette of Michelle appeared, with only her heart necklace showing. Suddenly, crystal showered out of it, wrapping around her torso and forming the shirt and first bow of the outfit. The crystal then shot out more crystals that wrapped around her arms and legs, forming the gloves and boots. Another spray of crystal formed her skirt and back bow. The skirt and bows were colored gold. One last burst of crystal formed a tiara and earrings. The crystal then shot out a beam of energy, forming into a staff. She grabbed the staff, and stood in a pose.

“HEAVENLY ANGEL POWER!!!”

A silhouette of Reuisu appeared, he was holding out his transformation stick, which immediately turned into a long yellow staff. Angel wings came out of his back, with a wingspan of eight feet. The wings had feathers fly out, and the feathers merged into his torso, forming the shirt and gray bow of the outfit. More feathers flew out and wrapped around his arms, forming the sleeves and gloves. Yet again, more feathers flew out and wrapped around his legs and feet, forming white pants and boots. A golden belt with an engraved cross in the center formed around his waste. A coronet of gold formed around his head, which formed two sides on the sides of his head. A jewel formed into a cross on the forehead of the coronet. He stood in a pose of his angel wings extended outwards from his sides, and him aiming his staff outwards.

The two Titans turned around the corner and readied their weapons. The creature before them had no legs; it sat on a black cloud. Its body was made up of black bones. However, it’s arms ended in black scythes.

“Reminds me of Mephisto.” Moonshine said.

“Then let’s do the same as we did to him to this guy!” Angel said.

Sailor Angel extended his angel wings outwards and he flew up into the sky. His fist glowed with white, holy energy, and he aimed it at the creature.

“HAND OF DESTINY!!!” he shouted with an echo attached to it mysteriously.

Sailor Angel flew down as fast as he could at the creature, his body suddenly catching on fire with holy energy. His fist slammed down into the creature, fragging half of the creature’s ribs, and the others began to slowly char away, and Sailor Angel flew back up.

“This thing isn’t as easy as it looks.” He says.

“Allow for a woman’s touch in this matter. MOONSHINE MIRROR!!!” Moonshine shouted.

She held out her time staff into the sky, and it changed into a mirror. A beam of light came down from the moon, and the light from it reflected off the mirror into a focused beam. The beam shot out from the mirror with massive intensity and it collided into the creature, smashing off one of its arms, and two more ribs. The creature roared out loud as the broken pieces of itself suddenly regenerated! It opened it’s skull mouth out wide, and it shot out a black blast of energy out of its mouth at Sailor Moonshine, who quickly ducked, but the beam was aimed low, so it still came towards her. Sailor angel flew down and grabbed her out of the way, bringing her up with him as the beam connected with the ground, exploding, surprisingly, into black flames.

“I have a feeling that girl power isn’t what we need in this. Can you get in close enough to restrain him?” Angel asks.

“Are Tyrael and I in love?” Moonshine asks, smiling.

“Good, I’ll bring you down.” Angel says, slowly descending downwards. The creature fired out more black blasts at Sailor Angel’s wings, but he quickly managed to evade each one. Moonshine was dropped down onto the ground as Angel swooped back up, narrowly evading more blasts from the creature. Sailor Moonshine rose up.

“MOONSHINE MIRAGE!!!”

Sailor Moonshine twirled her time staff around herself, and she glowed for a moment, and then disappeared. The creature looked around, confused by this turn of events. Suddenly, Moonshine reappeared behind him, and wrapped her arms around it. The creature roared in disapproval and tried to shove Sailor Moonshine away. However, she held tightly. Sailor Angel then flew up to the sky, his fist beginning to glow with golden energy.

“FIST OF THE HEAVENS!!!”

Suddenly, Angel’s fist touched the sky, and the entire sky turned black. All of a sudden, a blast of white energy shot down from Angel’s fist, and it was sent rocketing down at the creature. Moonshine let go and rolled out of the way. The holy energy collided into the creature, incinerating it as it screamed in horror and pain.

“So what’s with Astra? She seems really depressed lately.” Said Lucy.

Chris, Miya, and Anna were in the ice cream parlor they had spoken about earlier. Lucy had gone out in search of Christine, who was considerably late to show up.

“I don’t know. But with her age, I’d assume she’s realizing she doesn’t have anyone with her.” Miya says.

“What do you mean?” Anna asked.

“When certain guys and girls reach a period in their age, they begin to start noticing one another. Astra is probably love sick.” Miya explains.

“Well, it’s not like she has much option for choosing someone to be with. Let’s look on the qualifications: male, talking cat. Nope, I think only Artemis has those qualifications, and he’s already with Luna.” Chris says.

“And knowing Luna’s feeling towards both Artemis and Astra, I doubt she’ll be in the mood to share, if that even possible for Luna.” Miya says.

A frightened scream suddenly knocked everyone out of their conversation. They looked out a window to see a creature similar to the one that had attacked Michelle and Reuisu, now attacking people on the streets and freezing them within a black aura.

“Great. We get two seconds of peace and then there’s a new youma. NEO CRESCENT POWER!!!”

Out of Miya's heart brooch came three large hearts. One heart descended down her body, and the other two onto her arms. As the hearts passed over her skin, they formed the gloves of her Sailor outfit. As the larger heart passed over her torso and slowly over her legs, forming the mini-skirt and the boots. As the three hearts ended at her feet and hands, they shot up to her head and hit it, forming the tiara and earrings. She stood in a pose with her making a smooching face.

“ASTEROID BLAZING POWER!!!”

A glittery silhouette of Chris appeared. Asteroids shot around him, and several blasted into his chest, forming into the shirt and bow. Asteroids then shot into his arms, exploding on contact, and forming into the sleeves. Finally, the last asteroids shot into his legs, exploding on impact, and forming into the pants and boots. The last asteroid shot into his face, forming into a halo. He stood in a pose with an asteroid shooting at him from behind.

“LIFE PRISM POWER!!!”

A silhouette of Anna appeared, and she twirled her transformation stick around her. Lights shined from the ground underneath where she had twirled the stick, and they surrounded her, forming the gloves, boots, and shirt of the sailor outfit. Five beams shot from around her into her torso, forming the skirt. She ran her hand through her hair and the earrings and tiara formed. She stood in a pose of her just standing there, smiling serenely.

The creature ignored the three Titans and continued to attack civilians, freezing each one with the black aura that shot out of its mouth.

“CRESCENT HEART CRUSH!!!”

Five pink hearts shot out of nowhere, and they surrounded the creature. They then pressed down against the creature on all sides, crushing it. The creature then blasted out of the hearts, roaring with intense fury.

“ROCK CRUMBLE!!!”

The ground beneath the creature began to tremble and crack. It looked down to investigate this, when all of a sudden, the ground beneath rose at an amazing rate, slamming into the creature and forcing it up into the sky. The creature lept off the massive rock and began to float down to the ground.

“ASTEROID SHOT!!!”

Sailor Asteroid aimed his index finger at the creature, and began rapidly shooting out small asteroids that each attempted to hit the creature, but it evaded each one or deflected them away with the scythe arms. The creature lept down at Sailor Asteroid, who jumped and did a back flip to evade the attack as the creature collided into the ground, smashing up the sidewalk Asteroid had just been standing upon.

“SOUL LIFE!!!”

The creature spun around, attempting to tell where the attack was coming from. He suddenly saw a white human shape float towards it and collide into the creature. Instead of incinerating on contact, however, the soul lept inside the creature. The creature just stood there for a moment, bewildered by this. Then the creature roared with pain as it was eaten away from the inside out. It slowly disintegrated into nothingness.

Christine walked down the streets of London with two bags full of crystal jewelry in them. Lucy ran around the street corner and in front of her.

“Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you at the ice cream parlor!” she shouted to Christine.

“I’m really sorry, I had a dilemma over the color of two crystal bracelets.” Christine replied.

Lucy closed her eyes and sighed. She opened them up again and looked at Christine.

“Look, You have to learn to get over this obsession you have with crystals.” Lucy says.

“I know, but it’s just really hard! I mean, crystal glasses, crystal necklaces, crystal rings, crystal-”

“Did you say crystal rings?!!?” Lucy gasped, looking at Lucy.

“Well, yeah...”

“TAKE ME TO THAT STORE RIGHT NOW!!!” Lucy shouted.

Lucy grabbed Christine’s arm and began to run in the opposite direction she had just been walking.

“Um... Do you remember what we just talked about with obsession and all that?” Christine asks.

The two came upon the crystal store again, however, people were running out of it, screaming. “Is the crystal that bad in there?” Lucy asks. A chair being flung through a window answered her, shattering most of it.

“No! There’s trouble! NEO CRYSTAL POWER!!!”

The whole pink glittery thing happened with a silhouette of Christine. She held out her transformation stick in front of her, and then the stick glowed with a silver brightness, and the silhouette slowly became covered in crystal. First her torso was enveloped, then her arms, and finally her legs. The crystal then shattered, forming her shirt, blue bows, gloves, gold mini-skirt, and boots. She then twirled around, and her earrings and tiara with a blue gem formed out of nowhere.

“CEPHIROS TITAN POWER!!!”

Out of her ring came energy bolts, which wrapped around her torso, forming the front of the outfit. Then the ring fired beams at both her arms, wrapping around them to form the white gloves. The ring shout out another beam, which wrapped around her legs and formed the boots. She then twirled around as did the beam from the ring, which wrapped around her hips and formed into the skirt. Her tiara and earrings formed with one last blast from the ring. She stood in a pose of her winking with her ring outstretched in front of her.

The two ran into the crystal store, and saw an identical creature to the ones the other Titans had fought shattering all the crystals in the room. It was using its scythe to do this, and continually fired the black beams from its mouth.

“CEPHIROS VALIANT CHARGE!!!”

Sailor Cephiros aimed her ring beam, and shot out a fiery silhouette of a running woman at the creature. The creature turned around and saw this, but the attack connected, knocking it through the broken wall out onto the street. The creature got back up, and fired a black beam of energy at the two.

“RING OF CEPHIROS!!”

Cephiros aimed her ring again, and a red ring shot out of it, enveloping the beam and vaporizing it. The creature got back up and leapt at the two with its scythes. The two girls jumped out of the way as the creature crashed into the rubble of the wall.

“CRYSTAL CRUSHER BEAM!!!”

Sailor Crystal clapped her hands together, and aimed the joint hands at the creature. The hands shot out a ball of energy at the creature, and when it hit, the creature was slowly enveloped by crystal. When it’s entire body was covered, it fell onto the sidewalk and shattered into millions of pieces. Each piece dissipated into the air.

“Some kind of Mephisto wannabe?” Reuisu asks the Titans. The group was assembled in Lucy’s mansion. It was two hours after all of them had been attacked, and now they were discussing what had happened.

“Seems like it. What I thought was weird is the fact we were all attacked at exactly the same time.” Michelle acknowledges.

“Technically, we weren’t attacked, we saw others who were being attacked.” Chris says.

“Whatever it is, you must track it down to its source. We don’t remember a thing that has happened here today from our own memories, so it means we handled this now.” Astra says.

“Huh?” They all asked.

“Our past selves never were attacked by these creatures, so we handled this by our present selves.” Astra explains.

“Oh, right.” They say.

“Where are we supposed to start from in the first place? All we know is that there were three creatures all the same in appearance. We’ve dealt with that before with the Headless Horseman.” Miya queries.

“Headless Horseman? You mean you guys have fought the Headless Horseman?” Christine asks.

“It’s a long story, and we have no time to explain it. We’ll talk about it another time.” Reuisu explains.

“Let’s just hope Charsi isn’t responsible for this, too.” Lucy says.

“Do you think we should call the Sailors of the future and inform them of what’s going on?” Anna asks.

“No. We’ve handled creeps before, we can handle them again. We don’t need Sailor Mars or the others.” Reuisu says.

Astra suddenly made a slightly disheartened face, and then said, “Excuse me, I have to use the litter box for a moment.”

Astra walked off into another room. She then laid down, thinking of how Reuisu was always the one who wanted to take action. Unfortunately, none of this action related to getting Astra.

“Always talking about his lost love Sailor Mars. Why can’t he just get over her? Why can’t he just notice me for a change? Oh yeah, that’s right: I’m just a cat.” She said to herself.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A CAT.

Astra’s fur lept up and she looked around her. The voice had come out of nowhere. It had been high and low, deep and soft, and male and female.

“Who said that? Where are you?” she asked around herself, spinning around to see if her cat senses could pick up anything. She saw nothing.

“Dear God, I’m delusional now.”

NO YOU ARE NOT.

Astra fur was still standing as she continually looked around her.

“Show yourself!” Astra shouted to the voice. In front of Astra came a figure shrouded in a white cloth. It seemed to have angelic wings that it floated with. Astra gasped as she looked at it.

“Who... What are you?!!?” she demanded.

“I have come to give you a chance at happiness.” The angelic form explained.

“What are you talking about?” Astra demanded.

“I will make you human, and have Reuisu be in love with you. Your dreams will come true.” The shrouded figure explained.

“But what are you?”

“I am a being punished to make beings happy. I will make you happy.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch. By making you happy, it makes me happy.”

Astra looked at the creature for a moment, and then back to the door that led back to the room she had been in previously. She returned her gaze back to the angelic figure.

“Please do so.” She said, closing her eyes. Because her eyes were closed, she didn’t see the figure smile not with happiness, but of pure demonic pleasure.

“So what are you currently doing in your past life, anyway?” Michelle asks Reuisu.

“I thought you people were following me around everywhere while I was kicked out.” Reuisu says.

“We were angry at first. We didn’t want to be near you for about four or five years, so we lost track of you. What did you do?” Chris asks.

“Well, after I was kicked out, I slowly began to realize what I had done. I put myself in a dark cave, brooding and trying to figure out what to do then. That lasted for about two years. Then, I decided that brooding was going to get me nowhere, so I traveled to America and wrote a book. “The Tale of a Titan.” I didn’t use actual names, and I made it sound like it was going on in medieval times, but still, it was the true thing. After that, I realized again what I had done, and placed myself in self-imposed exile. And you know the rest of the story from there.” Reuisu explained.

“Brooding for a thousand years until the Neo senshi sought refuge from the youma who had attacked them. And you fell back into our good graces.” Miya laughs.

“And because I’m back, I’m never gonna leave again!” Reuisu said, smiling.

All of a sudden, a golden light shined down from the ceiling and enveloped Reuisu. Everyone gasped and asked what was going on, and finally Michelle took action, leaping at the beam. She slammed her head against the beam, and was knocked back to the ground, a nasty bruise on her head. Reuisu then floated upwards and disappeared.

“What the hell?!!?” Lucy asked.

No one had the answer, but their wrist communicators beeped a second later. They all switched them on, seeing the face of Sailor Uranus.

“Return to the future immediately!” she demanded.

“But Reuisu was just-” Christine began.

“NOW!” she shouted. “This concerns Reuisu!”

The others looked at each other and nodded.

“MOON CRYSTAL POWER!!!”

“NEO CRESCENT POWER!!!”

“ASTEROID BLAZING POWER!!!”

“LIFE PRISM POWER!!!”

“NEO CRYSTAL POWER!!!”

“CEPHIROS TITAN POWER!!!”

Sailor Moonshine aimed her time staff at a nearby wall.

“By the strings that define fate, by the strands of time itself, by the name of Chronos, Guardian of time, I command that a portal be made that return us to the time that we belong to!” she shouted.

The time staff sparked with electrical energy, and shot out a green beam of energy at the wall. The wall curved and bent for a moment, then formed into a green portal that shimmered with energy. The Titans stepped through it.

Reuisu awoke. He gasped for breath, trying to remember how. He then slowed his breathings, forgetting for a moment where he was. He looked around him. He was in a large king-size bed, and the room around him was large and had pictures of he and a woman with tan-brown hair and green eyes with him.

“Oh right. Why do I always wake up forgetting where I am?” he asks himself.

He got out of bed and put on a sweatshirt and sweat pants. He opened the door to the room, seeing the woman from the pictures in a nearby kitchen, preparing some type of breakfast.

“Good morning, my little kitten.” He said to her.

She turned around from her cooking, and Reuisu saw her. Her height was 5’8, and looked around 21. Her hair was in a straight style down to her shoulders. It was colored tannish gold. She had green eyes that would remind someone of a cat. She was wearing a cooking apron, and smiled at Reuisu. She walked over to him and the two embraced and kissed.

“We were in Reuisu’s void to contact him for some problems we were having with his terraforming technology for Alpha Centauri. When we entered, we found a distress call from Helios.” Sailor Mercury explained to the group.

The Sailor Soldiers and Titans were walking into Reuisu’s void.

“Who’s Helios?” Asteroid asked.

“Helios is the guardian of the dream world Elusion. It’s a long story. We’ll tell it to you when we have the opportunity.” Sailor Neo Moon replied.

“Let’s see this distress call.” Cephiros says.

Mercury tapped a few buttons on Reuisu’s console, and an image of Helios appeared on the screen.

“Help... Rini... It’s Reuisu... Astra... Come soon!” it said, and the image fazed out.

“Astra? What happened to my cat?!?!” Michelle demanded.

“We don’t know. Our only option is to travel to Elusion and talk to Helios about the matter.” Sailor Venus replies.

“And how do we do that, exactly?” Crystal asks.

“Reuisu’s technology in this void is far more sophisticated than anything we have. We’ve discovered a way to manipulate Sailor Moonshine’s time staff to create a portal into Elusion.” Mercury explains.

Moonshine looked at her time staff, and then handed it over to Mercury. She placed a small, round device at the base of the staff, and then aimed it at a random area of the void. A small beam fired out of the staff and formed into a green portal.

“With any luck, we’ll be in Elusion in no time.” Sailor Mars said, entering the gateway. The other Titans looked at one another, and stepped through along with all the other Sailors.

Reuisu and the girl walked out to the hill overlooking the stone temples that made up Elusion.

“Isn’t it beautiful, Astra? Don’t you think some time we should go down there and check it out?” Reuisu asked the girl, now identified as Astra.

Astra half winced for a moment, but managed to cover the deception.

“Now why would we want to go down there when we have each other?” she asked him, smiling.

Reuisu smiled and put her arm around her waist. The two sat down on the hill, and then slowly lied down.

“You’re right.” He said.

The Sailors landed atop one another as they came out through the other end of the portal into Elusion. Helios looked down at them.

“Good. You’ve arrived.” He said.

Neo Moon pushed everyone off her and hugged Helios.

“It’s wonderful to see you again,” she said, almost beginning to cry.

“And I you. You’ve grown up a little since last we met.” He said.

“And you haven’t aged a bit. Now, why did you call for us?” she asks.

The other Sailors got off one another and slowly got up, brushing themselves off.

“Very well. A short time ago, a dark force invaded Elusion. However, I could not stop this dark force because it was protected by a beautiful dream.” Helios said, now looking at the hill in which Reuisu and Astra resided.

“I managed to sense two presences within the dream: Reuisu and Astra.” He explained further.

“But who would’ve kidnapped the two?” Crystal asks.

“Well, that’s the thing: Only Reuisu was being kidnapped. Astra’s beautiful dream was the one protecting the dark force.” Helios replied.

“But that’s impossible! She would never go along with any dark force!” Moonshine shouted at Helios.

“Do you know what Astra’s dream is?” Helios asks, turning to Moonshine.

“Well, not really...”

“Her dream,” he said softly. “Is to be with Reuisu.”

The others gasped at this shocking revelation.

“You can’t be serious! Astra’s just a cat!” Mars shouts.

“A cat that is sentient enough to have dreams. And her dream is to be in a perfect life with Reuisu. She loves him.”

“I don’t believe this for a second. Why didn’t she tell us? We’re a family.”

“And she’s a cat. She didn’t think it would be appropriate to tell anyone.”

“It is said that to dream in the city of sorrows is to dream of a better future.” Crystal states.

“So now that we have this information, what are we supposed to do, anyway? Do you know where the two are right now?”

“Actually, yes. They’re over on that hill over there.” Helios says, pointing to the hill that the two were lying upon.

“So, do you think we should get married?” Reuisu asks Astra, sitting up. Astra got up as well and replied, “I don’t know... Getting married would require someone to do the ceremony, then it would require witnesses...”

Reuisu smiled. “You’re right, let’s just keep things as they are. After all, we wouldn’t want anyone to intrude on our life together.”

“ASTEROID SHOT!!!”

Reuisu instinctively pulled Astra out of the way as three mini-asteroids hit the ground where she had been sitting. Reuisu and Astra looked up to see the Sailor Titans falling down towards them. They landed softly on the ground in front of them.

“Alright, who are you?!!? Reuisu, get over here!” Life shouted.

“Who are you people?!!? What do you want?!!?” Reuisu demanded.

“Reuisu, it’s us! Your family!” Love shouted.

“SHE is my family!” Reuisu shouted, pointing to Astra.

“He doesn’t remember us. Most likely that girl has something to do with it!” Moonshine implies.

“Stay away from my Astra!” Reuisu shouts, stepping in front of Astra.

“Oh God... Oh God...” Astra kept saying over and over again. Her pupils were dilated, as she looked at the Titans. Her mouth was slightly open, and she slowly began to cry.

“You’re making my little kitten cry.” Reuisu snarled.

“Did you say Astra?” Asteroid asked.

“‘Little kitten?’” Crystal asked.

“You asked for it! HEAVENLY ANGEL POWER!!!”

Sailor Angel aimed his staff at the Titans. “I’m warning you: stay away.”

“We’re sorry about this, Reuisu, but this has to be done! CRYSTAL CRUSHER BEAM!!!”

Sailor Crystal clapped her hands together, and aimed the joint hands at Sailor Angel. The hands shot out a ball of energy at him, but Reuisu flew up into the sky and the energy ball collided into the ground, crystallizing the grass.

“HAND OF DESTINY!!!”

Sailor Angel’s hand glowed bright white, and shot out a beam of gold energy out of it at the Titans, who quickly lept away from the blast as it collided into the ground, annihilating the cliff that the Titans had been standing upon. The Titans looked around the dust around them, trying to discern where Sailor Angel was. Asteroid snapped around to see Sailor Angel flying towards him with his staff ready. Asteroid made a blocking move, but the staff connected into his stomach, shooting Asteroid away from the ground and into the ground ten feet away. The other Titans immediately made a run for it, except for Sailor Love and Sailor Moonshine, and Love ran over to help Asteroid, while Moonshine went over to Astra, who was still weeping her eyes out. Astra was sprawled on the ground, and Moonshine was trying to get her up. Angel flew out to attack the other Titans, and Sailor Mars came running up towards Moonshine and Astra. Astra slowly stopped crying because of her tear ducts drying up. She looked up at Moonshine and hugged her.

“I just wanted to be happy...” she kept repeating over and over again.

“What happened?” Mars asks.

“Reuisu was brainwashed. This is Astra.” Moonshine explains.

Mars rises up an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah. Astra, please calm down.” Moonshine pleaded.

Astra finally stopped hugging Astra and turned away. “You probably hate me for what I’ve done. All I ever wanted was to be happy. And now, you guys are going to stop my happiness.”

Moonshine smiled and replied, “Astra, you’re part of the family.”

Astra slowly turned to look at her and asked, “What?”

“The Titans are a family, remember? You’re part of that family. We never would be the same without you.”

“But I’m your pet. I’m a cat.”

“You’re more than a cat to us. Remember just a few hours ago when we were trying to dress you up? Would we do that for any cat?”

“I guess you’re right. But Reuisu doesn’t love me.”

“It sure as hell seems to me he does.”

“But how will he love me now that everything’s happened?”

“Reuisu will forgive you. Isn’t that enough?”

Astra paused and thought for a moment. “Yes, I guess you’re right. Come on, let’s go get him.”

“HAND OF DESTINY!!!”

The gold beam fired out of Angel’s fist once again, blasting into Sailor Cephiros, knocking her away and onto the ground.

“SOUL LIFE!!!”

The white soul blasted out at Sailor Life, but he fired another Hand of Destiny, dissipating the attack. Angel charged up his fist and extended his angel wings, preparing to fly into the sky and use Fist of the Heavens, when all of a sudden, Astra, Moonshine, and the others ran up to him.

“Reuisu, please stop!” Astra shouted.

Angel stopped for a moment. “But kitten, they tried to hurt us...”

“Can’t you remember? They’re our family!” Astra pleaded.

“YOU’RE my family! They can’t-”

“Please don’t, Reuisu.” Mars shouted, running up.

Angel gasped and stared at Mars for a moment. “Rei...”

Memories flooded into Angel’s mind like a hurricane.

Beryl.

Webmaster.

Clones.

Diablo.

Technis.

Prime Evils.

Beryl again.

Doomsday.

Crystal.

Life.

Dark Titans.

REI.

Angel grabbed his head in utter pain, screaming at the top of his lungs out into the dream world. He collapsed onto the ground, sobbing.

“Dear God, what have I done?!” he shouted.

Astra began to cry once more, and Angel stopped crying. He ran over to Astra and hugged her.

“Hey, wait a second, I thought you remembered us...” Sailor Love asked.

Angel glared at her. “Do you really think that I also forgot the time I spent with Astra? I have three years worth of memories in my mind. All of them were utter joy. Just because I have my memories back doesn’t mean I don’t still love her.”

Astra stopped crying and looked up at Reuisu. “I love you, Reuisu.”

“And I you.” Reuisu said.

The two embraced and kissed passionately. All of a sudden, a harsh wind blew upon them all, and they looked and saw the angelic figure appear before them.

“I have made happiness. And with that, I am happy.” It said, smiling.

Reuisu raised an eyebrow. “‘And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as though it was the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.’ Revelations, 10:1. Yes, now please leave. We’re happier if you leave.”

“Very well, oh but one request. Your angelic staff intrigues me. I have seen nothing like it in all the eons of my existence. May I hold it for a moment?” it asked.

“Very well.” Angel said, holding it out.

“My masters told me I could not hold an object of angelic power without it being commanded by the power’s master.” The figure said.

Angel smiled, and let go of it. The staff floated, still vertical.

“Angel staff, I command...”

Angel looked at the angelic figure one more time.

“THAT YOU STAY EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE!”

Angel grabbed the staff back and aimed it at the figure. The figure gasped and floated back a little. “Sailor Angel, you have activated the staff’s defensive measures!” it informed them.

“Reuisu, what are you doing?!?!” Astra demanded.

“We can’t be too careful, can we? You see, it would be a terrible tragedy on the universe if it suddenly turned out THAT I WAS COLORBLIND!”

“What are you talking about?!!?” Life shouted.

“LOOK!” Angel shouted, pointing at the angelic figure again.

The angelic smile had faded away, and only a look of pure hatred was on its face. Slowly, the entire holy look of the being melted away, revealing a being looking similar to Reuisu, but with black hair, and wearing an armor similar to that of Sailor Centauri’s, but black instead of silver. A black cape appeared behind him and demonic wings sprung from his back.

“Davros!” Mars shouted, walking back.

“Who?” Cephiros asks.

“A being totally opposite to my own. Let me explain, during the time of the Moon Kingdom and the Alliance Alpha Centauri, there was a star system known as Omega Centauri. Davros was its ruler. It was always second best to Alpha Centauri, and Davros declared all out war against Alpha Centauri. However, with the combined help of the Moon Kingdom, the Omega Centauri Empire collapsed, but Davros survived. I had to seal his very being within a dark corner of my own mind. A few years ago, before I met with the Titans, I encountered Davros during the Clone Wars. We defeated him once again, but I never bothered to check if he had returned to the dark corner of my mind.” Angel explained.

“How did you know it was him?” Mars asks.

“I didn’t know for sure it was him, but I knew he wasn’t as he appeared. Any angelic being of holy energy, or humans who fight on the side of light, can hold angelic powers. I am living proof of it. No true angelic being needs to be told he can by any master. Only beings of evil.” Angel explains.

Davros merely glared at Angel.

“So, Davros, I see you’ve destroyed the last vestige of your humanoid form,” said Angel. “And still no improvement.”

“Save your insults for the weak-minded, Reuisu.” Davros said.

“I assume you’re responsible for those creatures we encountered back in London.” Life says.

“Correct, young fool. After the unfortunate defeat of my master by Sailor Centauri and those other prattling fools, I wandered the earth for years, trying to find a way to make my revenge. And my revenge came in the form of a small, depressed cat.” Davros explains, looking at Astra.

“Every time Astra became depressed, I entered her body and released a physical manifestation of that depression. Her depression fed me, coursed through my veins and increased my dark energy beyond comprehension. But of course, a true peak of power came from Reuisu’s angel staff. And with it, I will transform this planet’s sun into a source of unimaginable power! I will use that power to recreate the Omega Centauri Empire! WE SHALL BECOME ALL-”

“Powerful?!!?” Angel interrupts. “Crush the lesser races?!!? Conquer the galaxy?!?! Unimaginable power?!?! Unlimited rice pudding!?!?! ETC., ETC.?!?!”

Angel’s staff glowed even more intensely, and aimed it at Davros.

“Do not anger me, Reuisu! I can destroy you! AND THIS MISERABLE, INSIGNIFICANT PLANET!!!” Davros shouted.

“HAND OF DESTINY!!!”

The gold beam fired out of Angel’s hand, and it collided into Davros’ stomach, burned through the black armor, and sent him sprawling onto the ground. Davros slowly got up as the pain reeled into him. He felt his chest, and it was still smoking. The attack had nearly cut through Davros’ stomach completely. Angel then ran over and hit Davros’ head with the head of his staff. Davros was sent flying back, and a small, smoking hole appeared on Davros’ forehead.

“How can you expect to destroy my ‘insignificant’ planet if you can’t even stand up to my holy staff?” Angel asks.

“Leave, Davros. Why don’t you crawl back under the rock you came out of?” Mars smiles.

Davros slowly got up, still in pain, and looked at them. “I will have my revenge, FORMER prince of Alpha Centauri. Oh, and one last thing.”

Davros aimed his arm at Astra, and a beam shot out of it, colliding into Astra. She screamed in pain as she slowly began to shrink and grow fur. A tail appeared, and she returned back to her cat state. Davros smiled and teleported away.

Astra lied on the ground, her eyes bloodshot from all her crying. She just stared out into space as she continued to just lie in the pile of clothes that was hers when she was human.

“I was dreaming. My dreams don’t matter anymore.” She said.

“You’re wrong.” Said a male voice from behind her.

Astra got up and turned around. She saw the Titans approaching with Helios. Helios had the golden crystal outstretched in his hand. They stopped right in front of her.

“What is that?” Astra asked.

“It is the golden crystal. It is the power source of Elusion, and the power that makes all dreams possible for people. Only people who have a truly good dream can use it.” Helios explains.

“What do you mean?” Astra asks, still befuddled by this.

“If you truly believe in your dreams, you can use the crystal to make yourself human.” Helios explained.

Astra’s face lit up into a smile. “Are you serious?!?!”

“Would we trick family?” Reuisu asks, smiling.

Astra lept up and touched her paw to the golden crystal. It shined a golden light over Astra, and she slowly grew larger, her fur and tail slowly disappeared. The hair on her head grew out and covered over her pointed ears. She finally returned to her human state. She looked over her body and exclaimed, “It worked! I’m human again!”

She then turned and smiled at the others, who were actually all covering their faces.

“What’s the matter?” Astra asked. She then suddenly looked down at herself again, and squealed. She grabbed the clothes she was standing on and covered the front of her naked body.

“Congrats, my little kitten.” Reuisu says, still covering his eyes.

EPILOGUE

The year is 2005 in London, England. On a river going through this city, two figures were on a gondola. The first was Astra Koneko, lying down on the gondola and reading a romance novel. She wore a long dress and a shirt similar for women of the 19^th century. The other was Reuisu Lovhaug, also known as Sailor Angel. He wore a frilled white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and blue jeans. He wore black sunglasses just small enough to go around his eyes. He was pushing the gondola with a long stick.

Astra put down her book and began to say, “Isn’t it wonderful that something so primitive can be so-”

“Simple?” Reuisu interrupts.

“No, relaxing. The air, the smell, it’s so intoxicating. I do love the spring.”

“It’s October!”

“I thought you said we were coming in May week.”

“I did. May week is in June...”

“I’m confused.”

“So is Michelle’s time staff.”

“Well, I do love the autumn, as well. All the leaves... The colors...”

Reuisu smiled and looked around, himself. “Yes. And at least with something as simple as a pulley system like this nothing can go wrong.”

Astra looked at Reuisu, her mouth going to one side of her head in an expression saying that she didn’t want to hear about technology right then. Reuisu ignored it.

“Oops.”

As the scene backs up from the two on the gondola, a voice over of Astra says, “My name is Astra Koneko. I’ve lived since the beginnings of the Titans themselves. I’m sort of the jealous, depressed type when it comes to my love, Reuisu. But I’m also a guardian of the agents of love and justice, the handsome and pretty soldiers, the Sailor Titans.”

TO BE CONTINUED