Chapter Thirteen. Reunion and Mistrust

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. More appropriately, who he was seeing. She looked as she did so long ago: the pale skin, long curly black hair that reminded him of the midnight sky, dark eyes and still an attractive body.

Mandrake thought she was one of the casualties of Ming's first invasion of Earth years ago. That had saddened him even though he was mad at her for leaving him despite the fact that they had plans for each other only for Cathleen to be the one to pull the rug from underneath him. Knowing how she is, Mandrake was amazed Cathleen was still her typical self and up to her old tricks, but was she on his side?

"Well if it isn't who I think it is." Lothar stated, pulling the magician from his thoughts.

"Cathleen O' Connor." Mandrake added.

"I'm glad that you two recognize me." Cathleen replied with a smug smile on her face.

"What brings you here after all these years?" Lothar asked.

"What does it look like my dears?" Cathleen answered. "I've returned for Mandrake as I promised."

"You never made such promise." Lothar retorted. "The last we heard from you before your apparent death was you left Mandrake with a broken heart without saying a proper goodbye."

"Lothar's right you know." Mandrake added with a calm tone. "You just simply left. The only thing you left was a letter telling me that you were leaving me. You gave no warning that you wanted to leave."

"Which you could have done that instead of leaving him the way you did."

Both Mandrake and Lothar noticed that Cathleen didn't mind them bringing up what had happened that fateful night. The magician sighed, Typical Cathleen. So mysterious.

"I'm sorry for the hurt that I caused you, Mandrake. I was young back then." Cathleen spoke up. "I know there is no excuse for what I have done that day."

"What's there to hear?" Mandrake replied as he crossed his arm. "All that's been done a long time ago. Why tear those wounds back open?"

"I just only want to talk." Cathleen insisted calmly. "Please, just hear me out."

Mandrake didn't really want to hear her out. He looked at Lothar as he wondered about his friend's input. However, it appeared that his friend was willing to give her another chance, provided that they keep a close eye on her this time around. There was no letting their guard down this time. Not this time.

"Very well, Cathleen." Mandrake looked back at his former lover. "We'll hear you out and give you another chance."

"Thank you, Mandrake." Cathleen nodded with relief in her tone.

"Keep in mind," Mandrake added coolly, "we are keeping an eye on you this time around. We're not letting our guard down."

"Understood."

"Since she's now here and going to be staying with us," Lothar stated, "why don't we introduce her to the rest of the Defenders of the Earth as well as the Sailor Guardians?"

-Sailor-Moon-Defenders-

Rei looked around in her room. She had this strange feeling the whole night now. It felt as if something sinister was coming into the mansion. It wasn't as bad as when she had sensed Hadea. Still, it was something she felt she couldn't trust.

"Rei?" she heard Ami call out from behind. "Are you all right?"

She turned around, seeing her friend right in front of her. "Yes. Everything's okay, but I've been having this strange feeling that something sinister has come here."

"What?"

"Are you sure?" Makoto asked.

Rei nodded. "I'm sure. It's not as bad as when we dealt with Hadea but it seems to be pretty sinister and I don't trust whatever it may be."

"If it's as bad as you suspect it might be," Minako replied, "then I say we got to be on our guards."

"That's right." Usagi nodded in agreement.

The girls heard a knock on the door and then it opened, revealing Mamoru.

"Mandrake wants us to meet at Monitor." Mamoru told the girls. "There's someone he wants us to meet."

-Sailor-Moon-Defenders-

Rei joined the Sailor Guardians at Monitor's Headquarters. They met with the Defenders of the Earth as well as a woman who was around the same age as the adult Defenders. She never met this woman before so she assumed this was the person Mandrake wanted them to meet.

At the same time, Rei had that same feeling as she was feeling moments ago. Was this woman the sinister thing, or sinister person she was sensing?

"Defenders of the Earth, Sailor Guardians," Mandrake introduced the woman to everyone, "I would like to introduce you guys to Cathleen O' Connor."

"Cathleen?" Flash asked in surprise. "I thought she had been killed by Ming like you mentioned to me, Mandrake."

"We thought so too." Lothar answered. "However, Cathleen here must be pretty good at escaping Ming since she is here right now."

"Well," Flash replied as he shook the woman's hand, "it's good to see that you survived Ming and it's good to see you again."

Rei looked up as each of the Defenders and the Sailor Guardians were introducing themselves to Cathleen. She looked at her with untrusting glances. She figured this woman had to be the very thing she was sensing.

She couldn't help but to notice Mandrake and Lothar weren't so trusting of Cathleen either. Given their past with her and how she probably had hurt him before. They had every right to not trust her. April didn't trust her either. However, she's typically like that to a stranger. She was like that to the Sailor Guardians at first too.

Rei looked at the other Defenders as they didn't seem to be too bothered by Cathleen. Confused by her story but still. Then she glanced over at the other Sailor Guardians. The Outer Guardians appeared to have their suspicions but then looked at her fellow Inner Guardians, who were also suspicious but not as much.

"Rei?" she looked up as Cathleen was now in front of her.

Rei looked up, facing the newcomer and shook her hand. Both women gave each other respectful nods.

"So what brings you here all of a sudden?" Usagi asked.

"Well hon," Cathleen answered, "I wanted to patch things up with Mandrake. We used to be in a relationship until I called it off."

Rei glanced over at Mandrake and Lothar, who appear to not believe much of what the woman was saying. They definitely had some history with this woman.

"Yes, Cathleen and I were in a relationship," Mandrake explained as he confirmed some of what Cathleen was saying, "but one night she left, leaving behind a note which told me she had left me rather than saying it to my face."

"And Mandrake told me Cathleen was one of Ming's casualties," Flash added, "along with many others."

He looked down, "Including Dale's ex lover, Joe Wylee."

"Well," Makoto spoke up, "Cathleen is alive as we see here. She must have done something to evade this Ming the Merciless."

"Maybe this Joe Wylee might be alive too." Minako added.

"I highly doubt it." Flash replied. "If he was alive somehow, Castra would have had a dream vision about it and Baylin would have told me about it."

"Who are Castra and Baylin?" Michiru asked.

"They both reside in the planet Mongo," Flash answered, "Baylin is my friend who lives in Mongo with Dr. Hans Zarkov and they help the alliance against Ming the Merciless as Ming caused her home world of Verden to be destroyed."

He paused a moment before continuing to speak, "Castra is one of the princesses of Mongo."

"Like Aura and myself." Sheila spoke up. "Castra is my half sister and Ming's youngest daughter."

"Ah, so you're daughter to Ming, huh?" Cathleen asked. "I thought you were from Australia."

"Oh, because of my accent?" Sheila chuckled before proceeding to explain, "I was born on Mongo along with my twin sister Aura but I left Mongo to Earth when I was a girl and spent most of my life in a boarding school in Australia."

"Something like what Castra done except she still resides on Mongo." Flash added.

"I see." Cathleen replied.

"You think that we should call it a day?" Mamoru asked.

"Yes please." Rei answered. "I'd be up for that."

"Good idea." Flash nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow is a new day for us."

Rei sighed as everyone left Monitor's Headquarters. She noted that Cathleen was cleared for now but she knew that this was far from over. Cathleen was the sinister thing, the sinister person in which she was sensing. She has had a past with Mandrake the Magician as he was her former lover and even Lothar knew her in the past. This wasn't quite over and Rei knew this.

Author's Note: This is the most challenging chapter yet as Cathleen didn't have as much to go on as the rest of Marzena's OCs did. Introducing Cathleen O' Connor was the hardest thing to do in this series so far for that very reason. I got a little bit of commentary to share, so let's get that out of the way.

"You never made such promise." Lothar retorted. "The last we heard from you before your apparent death was you left Mandrake with a broken heart without saying a proper goodbye."

"Lothar's right you know." Mandrake added with a calm tone. "You just simply left. The only thing you left was a letter telling me that you were leaving me. You gave no warning that you wanted to leave."

"Which you could have done that instead of leaving him the way you did."

Both Mandrake and Lothar noticed that Cathleen didn't mind them bringing up what had happened that fateful night. The magician sighed, Typical Cathleen. So mysterious.

"I'm sorry for the hurt that I caused you, Mandrake. I was young back then." Cathleen spoke up. "I know there is no excuse for what I have done that day."

"What's there to hear?" Mandrake replied as he crossed his arm. "All that's been done a long time ago. Why tear those wounds back open?"

"I just only want to talk." Cathleen insisted calmly. "Please, just hear me out."

Mandrake didn't really want to hear her out. He looked at Lothar as he wondered about his friend's input. However, it appeared that his friend was willing to give her another chance, provided that they keep a close eye on her this time around. There was no letting their guard down this time. Not this time.

Aside from Cathleen having the least amount of details, I have a hard time writing flashbacks when it comes to certain characters. I once got this advice: either write the description or don't write it at all rather than tell a reader that you suck at such things.

"Like Aura and myself." Sheila spoke up. "Castra is my half sister and Ming's youngest daughter."

"Ah, so you're daughter to Ming, huh?" Cathleen asked. "I thought you were from Australia."

"Oh, because of my accent?" Sheila chuckled before proceeding to explain, "I was born on Mongo along with my twin sister Aura but I left Mongo to Earth when I was a girl and spent most of my life in a boarding school in Australia."

This is something I enjoy about writing others' characters. Those who never got to interact such as Princess Sheila Oceanna Dewindt and Cathleen O' Connor, who never interacted or met in Marzena's version of Defenders of the Earth. There might just be a couple more interactions between Sheila and Cathleen in the future.