Chapter 25: The Imposter
Ella's POV
"Ella? What're you doing here?"
Serena looked broken beyond belief. Her eyes were red and her face was blotchy with patches of tears, her cheeks flushed and her lips dry. Serena always looked perfect, but now she looked a complete mess.
Well, I wasn't exactly expecting her to look gorgeous in a cell, but still…
"I was coming down here to see you, and I heard you ask the guards for water so I went to get some."
Serena looked down at my hands to find a glass of water. She came up to the door and I carefully slid the glass through the bars as they were wide enough for it to slip through.
"Thank you." She whispered before gulping down the water. It was like she had been stuck in a desert for years and this was the first taste of water she had.
"Better?" I asked, hating to see her in this state as she gripped the glass with her trembling hands.
"Ella, what's going on? Why am I here?"
The look in her eyes were so pitiful, helpless, desperate, that I wanted to believe that Peter was wrong.
But then again, if there was anything I learnt in all my years in Narnia, it was that looks were deceiving.
I took in a deep breath and reminded myself what I really came down here for.
"Serena, could you hold out your left hand."
Serena's eyes widened.
"Why?"
"Serena please, just do it."
I did not want to believe it was true, but her hesitation was loud and clear.
I grabbed her hand through the bars. Serena struggled to take her hand back but I was stronger. I yanked the ring off her middle finger that she always wore and dropped her hand in shock.
"So it's true…"
Serena held her hand to her chest, looking down in shame as she started to sob.
I took a shaky step back, everything I wanted to believe was false turned out to be true.
My visions…Peter…
"You really are the lost princess of Darluga."
Peter's POV
"Serena?"
The girl the guards were holding at the door resembled Serena in every way, yet for some reason it felt like it wasn't actually her. She was wearing a different set of clothes from when she had run away and she also looked much thinner and sicklier. Her hair was a complete mess, her dress tattered and her face tired.
I looked back at Trumpkin and he was frowning heavily.
"Trumpkin, what the hell is going on?"
"I can explain." I looked back at Se…whoever the girl was as she looked intimidatedly but at the same time firmly back at me, refusing to let her gaze waver.
Edmund's POV
"I am so confused."
The girl seated on Peter's bed sighed and rolled her eyes, to which I gave her an offended look.
It was a confusing story, of course I would be confused.
"Look, I've already told you numerous times. I was trapped in the basement you found me in ever since the day after Aslan introduced me to all of you."
"By Serena?"
"No, I'm Serena."
"Then who trapped you in the basement in Serena's room?"
"The girl you think is Serena."
I ran a hand over my face, all of this was giving me a headache and to be honest, I felt like just slapping this girl for not giving us a straight answer. She was even more frustrating than Ella when it came to answering questions, but Ella was endearing in that sense, this girl was just annoying.
"Look, how about you start from the start and tell us what all happened, including who the Serena we know really is." Caspian said.
Peter was sitting in his armchair by the fireplace, deep in thought as he bit his nail. He was watching the ambers of the fire, and he looked spaced out but I knew my brother well enough to know he was actually listening in to the conversation closely.
"Alright, Aslan introduced me to be Peter's fiancé on the day of Edmund and Ella's anniversary right? The next morning, I woke up and this girl attacked me, knocking me out. I woke up to find myself in this dark little room, and the top was opened to reveal this girl. She said that she was going to take my place and destroy Narnia by posing as me. She has magic, and she put a spell on the basement that made it soundproof so no matter how much I screamed, no one would ever hear me. Ever since that day, it wasn't the Serena that Aslan introduced to all of you that you guyrs were interacting with, but my imposter. And today, luckily enough, your guards found the basement door and I am now free."
"Right, and how can we believe anything you say? For all we know, you're an imposter posing as Serena and not the other way around." Ella spoke up.
The girl looked at Peter, and I noticed Peter now had his eyes closed.
"It does not take a genius to put together obvious evidence. I am Serena, ruler of the stars, and alliance of Aslan. He wanted me to marry Peter because our union would make Narnia stronger than ever, but he did not tell you who I was because my identity must be kept secret for my own safety. But clearly, someone found out to have allowed for an imposter to come and take my place to try to destory Narnia instead."
"Look, all that you're saying so far doesn't actually have any concrete proof you know." Lucy replied rather defensively, to be expected as she had grown rather fond of Serena.
"Besides the fact that your guards found a girl trapped in a constructed basement in this myserious girl's room?"
The girl looked at Peter again.
"If none of you believe me, why don't you ask Peter. I'm sure he has figured it out."
We all looked at Peter, who was still in the same position, still watching the fire.
"Pete?"
"Did Peter forget to mention, she has a wardrobe filled with dragon eggs."
"What? Pete! What is she going on about?" I exasperatedly said, wishing everything could just come out clear.
"She's right," He finally spoke, his voice monotonous and dead.
"Serena isn't who we think she is."
We were all frowning, puzzled as ever.
"Then who is she?"
Peter did not have to respond to the question posed by Susan, for that was done by the girl on the bed.
"She's Cathlyn; lost princess of Darluga"
Ella's POV
"Ella you have to listen to me."
I was currently pacing up and down outside the cell of Serena, or whoever this girl was.
"No, no how can I listen to you when you betrayed me? I trusted you! We were going to be family!"
"Ella, yes I know, I haven't been honest with all of you but,"
"Oh that's an understatement!"
"But, it was all part of Aslan's plan!"
"No, don't you dare bring Aslan's name into this, imposter!"
I was still pacing up and down, my mind racing, my blood boiling and my head throbbing. This was way too much to take in at one go, and my emotions were all over the place.
"Imposter?"
I stopped at the confusion in this girl's voice.
"Why did you call me an imposter?"
For a second I was confused at S-Cathlyn's confusion, as confusing as that sounds, and remembered what the real Serena said.
"If you don't believe me, when Serena returns, and she will, go check the middle finger of her left hand. There will be the tattoo of a crescent moon. A tattoo that only Darlugans would have, as any history book would state."
"Aren't you the lost princess of Darluga, Cathlyn?" I asked, looking at her closely.
"Yes, but why does that make me an imposter?"
I had to stop for a moment and process everything, because this was all just too overwhelming.
"You…you are the princess of Darluga. And Darlugans were enemies of Narnia. You came here to take Serena's place, marry Peter and destroy Narnia, to avenge the loss of your own kingdom."
The platinum-haired girl raises her eyebrows, and slowly shook her head.
"Ella, yes I am the lost princess of Darluga, my real name is Cathlyn, yes I came to marry Peter but I'm not here to destroy Narnia."
"What?"
"I'm here to save it."
A/N: And there you go! 4 chapters in a row! That's quite a lot to take in at one shot and I'm sorry if my writing isn't up to the standard, because I'm pretty tired but I did try my best so I hope you guys liked it. The next chapter should hopefully be up in a few days time because I'm working on it currently.
Anyway, please please please review your thoughts on these past 4 chapters because reviews are literally what keep me motivated to keep writing 3
P.S I'm sorry if I confused any of you with these chapters, don't worry all will be revealed soon ;)