Chapter 16 Clash

"Celia! Where are you?"

The two girls stared at the Koopaling wandering the streets. Celia in particular couldn't take her eyes off of him. While she couldn't really see his face because they were on the second floor of the hotel, the tone of his voice was enough to make her heart internally bleed. She glanced over at Aqua, not entirely sure what to feel.

"What do we do?"

Aqua glanced back down at Roy. Her eyes were glinting and glittering, her mouth was in a line as sharp as the edge of a piece of paper. Celia could see her gripping the window sill intensely.

"I say we run. No good will come out of interacting with him."

Celia glanced down at Roy again as he continued to call out her name. He sounded like a lost child looking for their mother. He cupped his hands around his mouth so he could scream louder. Celia wondered exactly how many towns he had visited just to find her.

"But he's my boyfriend," she said back to Aqua. She started making her way toward the door. "I can't just leave him be. He's worried about me."

Aqua looked at Celia with a worry in her eyes. However, that wasn't going to change Celia's decision. Roy had been sent on a wild goose chase all over the Mushroom World, trying to find out why his girlfriend would suddenly betray him. He deserved to know what had caused all of this drama. In addition to that, he deserved to know what Bowser did to Aqua's parents. If he didn't know already, that is.

"But what if he hurts you?" Aqua asked.

"Why would he hurt me? He has no reason to."

"Celia…"

"Look, Aqua, it's going to be okay. I know Roy. He'll listen to me."

Aqua's brow started to smoothen out a little bit. She looked back at the Koopa wandering the streets down below. She put her fist to her mouth, trying to cover up a weary sigh.

"Whatever you say." She put one foot after the other and started to make her way toward the door. She stopped in the hallway, looked from left to right, and finally decided to go to the left; the way that was opposite the hotel's exit. Celia watched her retreating back in curiosity and disbelief.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the vending machine to get a water bottle."

Celia's heart seized up. She knew full and well that Aqua did not intend to use the water for drinking.

"Aqua, that won't be necessary."

"Then consider it a precaution," Aqua replied without turning around or stopping. Celia gave the Princess one more look before turning toward the right. Within minutes, she was down in the sandy square of Tostarena. The moonlight was streaming down on Roy, who miraculously hadn't woken up any of the town's denizens.

"Celia!" He called out again.

Celia stopped in her tracks. Dreadful fear started to fall down on her. It entered her stomach, causing it to growl. It was absorbed by her skin and was secreted in the form of sweat. Her hands couldn't decide whether they should remain open or closed. What if this was a mistake?

"Celia, please! If you're here, please come out!"

With that, Celia took in a deep breath. She forced her feet to move forward. Her heart was fluttering like a hummingbird. She tapped Roy on the shoulder.

"Yipe!" Roy screeched, jumping about a foot into the air. He landed with the agility of a cat. His fists were brawled out as he turned toward Celia. Thankfully, they uncurled when he saw his girlfriend.

"Celia!"

Roy smothered Celia in a hug. It was warm and endearing. It brought Celia back to the time when she was a little girl, when her mother would give her extended hugs to comfort her after a hard day at school. Celia felt so many emotions swirling around inside her. Roy's arms wrapped tightly around her skinny body, coupled with his steady breathing rate and laughs of relief, gave her goosebumps. She slowly hugged Roy back.

"Roy." she said softly. Roy let her go and smiled at her. He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders.

"Celia, I've been looking everywhere for you!" He laughed. "Are you a magician or something, because you did a good disappearing act."

Celia let out a small laugh.

"Ha. I assume that one took you a while to think up?"

Roy's smile shifted to an expression of embarrassment.

"Well...yeah." As smooth as water, his face transitioned back to a smile. "But hey! That doesn't matter! I finally found you! Now I will be able to take you back to the Koopa Kingdom where you belong."

"Yeah, about that." Celia pushed her hair behind her right ear. "Roy, I'm not going back to the Koopa Kingdom."

"What?" Roy asked. "Why not?"

In that instant, Celia heard light footsteps marching across the sand. She turned and saw the Princess with a water bottle gripped in her left hand. She looked strong, with a determined expression dominating her face. Roy looked at the Princess and gasped.

"You!"

Aqua gripped the water bottle even tighter. Her facial expression also grew darker as Roy turned back to Celia.

"Celia, don't you realize how crazy this is? We need to take Aqua back to Bowser!"

"Roy…"

"She said that she's not going anywhere," Aqua said as she stood behind Celia. Roy cupped his girlfriend's hands.

"Celia, you don't have to let the Princess force you to do something that you don't want. You can just come back to the Castle with me! We can explain to Bowser that this was all a misunderstanding!"

Celia shook her head. A rare desert cloud passed over the moon, plunging the town into darkness.

"Roy, Aqua isn't forcing me to do anything."

A brief expression of shock flew over Roy's face.

"What?" he squeaked. Celia started to back away from him so that she was about halfway between him and Aqua.

"Aqua is my friend, Roy. I'm not going to let you guys sit back and do whatever you want to her and her family."

A mixture of emotions brewed on Roy's face. He was struggling to choose between anger, confusion, and denial.

"How can you say that, Celia!" Roy yelled. "Aqua's probably has you brainwashed or something like that!"

Aqua approached, her own expression filled with rage.

"I would never brainwash someone, Roy." She spat out that last word. "Although, I wouldn't put it past Bowser to do something like that!"

"Why are you getting involved in this?" Roy demanded. "What did we ever do to you?"

Aqua scoffed.

"Oh really? You want to ask that? Well, let me start with the facts. You kidnapped me and forced me to get involved in your king's petty attraction toward my sister. That is just a short list of what you did to me." Aqua let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, and did I forget to mention that Bowser killed my parents?"

Roy's eyes grew wide.

"What?"

"Yeah. He did. He killed my parents. He straight up murdered them when I was four."

Roy shook his head.

"Th...that's not true! Bowser would never do that!"

Celia looked at Roy sadly.

"Roy, why would she lie?" she asked. Roy looked down at the sand covered floor.

"Bowser would never do that! How can you say that?" he asked, his voice breaking. Celia's breathing started to sharpen.

"Roy, I think you might want to talk with Bowse about this. As for me...I'm going to help out my friend."

"Wait, you're taking her side!" Roy yelled. His eyes were filled with hurt. "What happened to you, Celia! How could you do this; how could you betray us? Betray me?"

Tears started to build in Celia' eyes. Her heart felt like it had shattered.

"Roy…" she looked between the human princess and her Koopa boyfriend. "I can't go with you."

Now Roy's eyes filled with hurt and rage. He gritted his teeth.

"Well then. If you aren't with us, you're against us." He narrowed his eyes and grabbed Celia's hand "You're coming with me whether you like it or not!"

"Roy…!"

Before Celia knew what was going on, a stream of water slashed Roy right across the face. He howled in pain and put his hand to his cheek. Aqua used her water whip to slap him across the head, rendering the Koopaling unconscious. She held out her hand to her friend.

"Celia. We need to go."

Celia looked between the Princess and Roy's knocked out body. She looked at him with tears in her eyes before slowly taking Aqua's hand.