Author's Note
I don't OWN Sailor Moon…. Yet the story concept is mine…. Please don't take it without my consent…. PLEASE……….
Today was late…. Man, too much to write today. Well, I hope y'all enjoy!
Serena or Catarina?
Chapter 21: Ice and Fire
Thomas awoke in to find that Catarina and Serena were both sleeping on the bed, the blanket and a comforter covering the two of them. He shook the one to the right awake, praying it was Princess Serenity, since they had covered their heads to keep warm.
"What? Guard Thomas?" she asked, proving to be Serena.
"Hurry up," Thomas whispered. "The walls have been silent for too long. They must be in the castle finally. We have to put our plan in action."
"But Catarina," Serena noted. Thomas cursed silently. Catarina got up, and looked around the room.
"What's up?" she asked them, as they both sighed.
"Mandessa is coming to kill the Imperial Princess," Thomas explained, emphasizing on "princess."
"Okay, so what? We're hiding?" she asked, sounding like a total dimwit.
"Yes, we're hiding!" Serena said. "They're not allowed to find us, remember? That's a bad thing!"
"I don't see why you're so afraid. Mandessa is forbidden to harm a fellow Sailor Scout," Catarina replied. "You have your broach. You can transform. If anything I'm probably the one that needs hidden."
"You have reign over the ice in the palace. You can fight too, you know."
"Gee, let's go back to that interesting conversation we had yesterday," Catarina said, her eyes icy again. "I'm not fighting. Besides, your friends are on their way Serena. They said they were leaving in the morning, so I'm sure they're pretty close by now."
"How could they get here so quickly?" Thomas asked in disbelief.
"There's a portal to the Negaverse they're using. I was supposed to go with them, but it's amazing how being kidnapped then—"
Catarina stopped. She wanted to finish it, but the two were looking at her in a way that said they'd never understand if she told them that Terrance had probably rescued her. She wondered once again what she was forgetting, and why Terrance would tell her she had nothing to do with the Moon Kingdom, and yet her past self said he did? They all heard the crack in the ice before they saw the entryway blow forward.
"Serena!" Catarina said quickly. "Transform."
"Right," Serena whispered, calling out for the first time in weeks her transformation. Quickly, she was the warrior of justice that she had missed. Catarina then hid behind Sailor Moon, as the Sandstonians burst into the room…
Mandessa wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't this. Some strange blue-haired girl was hiding behind a Sailor Scout, and a measly guard stood dumbstruck before them.
"What do we have here?" her mother demanded. "Well, if it isn't Guard Thomas. It's amazing to still see you alive, after you failed so miserably to protect your princess."
The guard said nothing, however, he scowled some as her mother moved towards the scout and the girl.
"Are you the queen?" the Sailor Scout demanded in a hesitant tone. The Sandstonians laughed.
"Well child, I'm certainly not your mother, although I can guess wherever you hail from is quite special, seeing as you bear a crystal to transform," her mother continued, as she looked to the blue-haired one. "My oh my, what a surprise. I thought they had given me a false report! I mean, seriously, no one has seen you in centuries my dear!"
"What is she talking about?" Mandessa whispered.
"Yes, I can see your features all too well. You are the Moon Princess!"
The two girls crashed.
"Hello? I'm Sailor Moon!" the Sailor Scout said.
"Yes, but this one has the face of her mother. She looks just like Queen Selene!"
"She's got to be kidding!" Mandessa thought, enraged. "And I thought Queen Imperia was going senile! That girl is clearly an Imp—oh my Lady! Catarina?"
Mandessa moved ahead of her mother, knocked Sailor Moon aside, and pinned the blue-haired girl to the wall.
"You idiot!" she whispered, as Catarina gave a confused look. "I stalled for ten hours with Knight Samuel and you go and get spotted the moment we set foot in the tunnel? What has happened to you?"
The girl didn't say anything. In fact, it was her lack of words that had Mandessa worried that she had knocked her unconscious. However, to her dismay, she had actually done something horribly wrong. She saw the look in the blue-haired girl's eyes before she dropped her. She swiftly grabbed her mother and ran out of the room.
"What is it?" her mother demanded, as their entourage of guards followed with awe-inspiring speeds.
"I'll explain once we're out of range!" Mandessa cried, as she and her mother cleared the castle and went twenty miles beyond…
"What did you just do?" Sailor Moon asked, as she saw the icy eyes. "Oh, that again."
"I learned how to control when they appear while staying with your friends," Catarina explained. "Whenever they showed up, demons would run away in fear."
"That's your Sailor Power!" Thomas exclaimed. The two looked at him. "Your eyes were always icy when you were angry and transformed. It was a sign that you were tapping into your dormant ice powers to unleash your ultimate attack."
"So that's why they ran!" Catarina said with a big smile.
"You admitted it!" Thomas shouted.
"Admitted what?" Catarina asked innocently, the icy eyes were gone as she looked almost angelic.
"You admitted you were the princess!" Thomas exclaimed.
"I admitted to no such thing. You might find it hard to believe, but my powers don't work unless my eyes are icy."
"Wow, really?" Sailor Moon exclaimed, excited. "We should clear the castle now. We have to get out of here. The last thing I want now is to run into Aspera."
Imagine a GIANT mallet. Now imagine Catarina's shocked face as it came falling down on her. That's the general idea of the facial expression as she heard that name. In fact, she scared both of them.
"Catarina?" they both asked.
"A—Asp—A—Aspera," Catarina whispered. "That machine—it all makes sense—I remember now—oh Galileo, I wish I didn't, but—"
Catarina suddenly collapsed to her knees, and began to cry…
"This place is freezing," Sailor Chibi Moon pointed out. The group was walking towards the tracker, when they saw Mandessa and Jennifer talking, and Jennifer seemed to be laughing her head off over something. The group remained in shadows, until Sailor Jupiter got fed up and walked out to greet them.
"So we meet again," she said, startling Mandessa.
"How did you get here? Jennifer didn't give you a ride, did she?" Mandessa asked accusingly.
"No, we traveled through the Negaverse to get here," Sailor Jupiter explained. "We want our princess back."
The group in the shadows looked at her audacity with shock.
"We?" Mandessa questioned. The group sighed and came out of the shadows, shocking the few people that were there, including an older, frazzled-looking woman.
"You can't enter that castle right now!" Mandessa exclaimed. "It's dangerous!"
"She thinks Catarina's in there, and is gonna call forth her ice wave, which is her ultimate attack," Jennifer said through laughter. "She said her eyes were icy and ever'thin'!"
The girls looked at one another.
"CATARINA IS HERE?" they exclaimed. It blew back a few armored men and women, the level of their voices.
"That means she must have somehow been kidnapped to here, but by who?"
"I put a vote for Terrance," Sailor Mars said dryly.
"I wonder if she found Serenity then?" Sailor Venus mused, careful to use Serena's princess name.
"If your princess is a Sailor Scout, then yes," Mandessa said, as Jennifer stopped laughing and her face became serious. Dark clouds started to show over the Imperial sky, as the group shivered.
"Rowan's coming," Sailor Mars said. "I can sense him."
"You would be correct," a feminine voice said. "The palace and its royalty will fall, and then I shall claim the throne."
The group saw the Imperial woman come out of the shadows, as Sailor Mars' face contorted to that of rage.
"YOU," she hissed. "You're the one that held me back!"
"Oh, you're that little raven-child who thought she could stop me from taking your precious princess. How sad," the woman laughed.
"Aspera! So you kidnapped their princess?" Mandessa said, angry.
"You're the reason that everything's falling apart at the hinges here, aren't you?" Jennifer asked, scowling.
"Actually, if Terrance hadn't done what he had to the Moon Kingdom, I'm sure it wouldn't have been as easy as it had been. Without a princess in the picture, it was so much easier to destroy what remained of the royalty. Even the queen has been put under my spell."
"You monster!" Jennifer shouted, charging at her, only to be repelled by a shield.
"Come now, you think I wasn't prepared to fight you, Princess Jennifer? I have been waiting for this moment for too long," the woman, Aspera, laughed. "Terrance! We have guests! Take care of them!"
"Of course," Terrance said, appearing at her side. He drew his sword, as his features seemed to be dark. He was nothing like the man they had seen on the school rooftop a few weeks ago. He was more demonic than they would ever see him. However, what had remained were his eyes. They appeared to be teal in color. He charged, swinging madly at whoever was close.
"Scouts! We have to fight back!" Sailor Mars shouted. Sailor Jupiter was focused on his eyes.
"Catarina could see the good in people," she whispered. "Because she thought Terrance was good. Because she was in love with him."
"Jupiter! Look out!" Sailor Uranus shouted.
"Jupiter! Move!" Sailor Chibi Moon cried. Sailor Jupiter saw the blade coming at her from above.
"Because Catarina saw that you were good Terrance," she whispered so that he could hear her. "She cried after that fight. She fell in love with you in the past. Are you going to prove her wrong?"
The blade stopped inches from Sailor Jupiter's head. It seemed he was shaken by her saying.
"Jupiter?" Mandessa asked. "Sailor Jupiter? That means the rumors were true. You really are of the Moon Kingdom."
"The Moon Kingdom?" Aspera squeaked. "Terrance? You deal with the job you didn't finish! I'm going to deal with that princess!"
And with that Aspera was gone…
Author's Note
Next time…
"Is that natural?"
Let's hope not! Hehehe! Later!