Z13

Defenders of the Earth: This Is Their Story

By Marzena

Plot: Season 3, Episode 20

Chapter 13: Execution

"... my daughter, the princess Sheila Oceanna, will be executed tomorrow for high treason ..."

The silence, the forced cheers, the disbelieve, all from the crowd gathered outside in front of the palace. It hadn't really bothered her. She'd defied destiny before. She surely could do so again. But then again, who'd help her this time? And the minute she'd been thrown in the High Security Prison, with guards by her side day and night, the realization that this was indeed the end had hit.

Then Aura had been brought in, her face even paler than usual, with tears in her eyes, which was a very unusual sight where Aura was concerned.

"This is it, Sheila. You've gone too far this time."

"I had to!"

"No. No, you didn't. Father forgave you and Krotan for faking your death after the five of us defeated the New Gods in the battle arena. Everything was back to normal. But you had to go and play Defender again!"

"I had to help them!"

"No, you didn't! And now you're going to die, Sheila. Where are your precious Defenders now?"

Nowhere in sight. But then again, they didn't really know. And if they'd know, it would be too late anyway. And what could they do? And would they do anything? Shaking her head, she'd concentrated on holding back her tears. Doing that, she'd nearly missed Aura's words who were a mere whisper and so quiet, that the guards didn't even turn around.

"I've paid Krotan to send word to Hadea. She's your best bet right now."

Yeah, right. The flicker of hope she'd allowed herself to have died down instantly. There was nothing Hadea could do, either. The only option for her older sister would be to take a stand against Ming, and that would put her in a similar place Sheila was in right now.

And it hadn't been working, just like she'd known it wouldn't. Krotan's messenger had been caught halfway by Ming's troops and as a result, Aura, Castra and Krotan had been placed under housearrest. The only one left had been Barin, the rebellion leader, who'd decided to travel to Netherworld himself to convince the Golden Queen to help them. But help didn't appear on time.

So Sheila had stepped on the podium, ashen-faced but apparently calmly, bracing herself for the final moments. She'd heard Castra sobbing behind her, but she hadn't turned around. Better to get it over with quickly. That, so she'd decided, would be the best thing to do for everyone.

But cruel as usual, Ming had told his servants to bring forward the prisoners, and to her horror, those had been Flash and Rick, both apparently horrified themselves.

"They shouldn't witness this! Please!" she'd tried to plead with her father, but Ming had just laughed that cruel laugh of his, interrupting her in the process.

"Witness? My dear daughter, your ex-lover is going to be the one to set you in flames, otherwise his beloved son will share the same fate as his wife!"

"No!" Sheila and Flash had exclaimed in unison.

But Ming hadn't changed his evil plan. She hadn't expected him to. She eyed the lasergun he kept pointing at Rick's head, saw the boys scared face, and she hated her father even more than before.

"Do it," she'd whispered in Flash's direction. "Try to save Rick. He's the one worth saving. If I don't die today, I might die tomorrow. But Rick, he's ..."

"Shut up!" he'd screamed at her, but it wasn't hate or anger showing in his eyes, it was panic.

And then the other Defenders had appeared, and in the midst of the confusion Ming had shot Rick in the head. Blood, screams, chaos, confusion. More blood, more screams. She was still tied up at the podium, and to avoid the horrible sight, she'd closed her eyes.

The smell of smoke had forced her to open them again. She'd let out a scream at the sight of not only one but two bodies lying down on the ground. Both Flash and Rick had been killed, and Ming himself had set the podium on fire. She'd tried to scream. Then, the wind turned sightly, and suddenly, the hungry flames got hold of her gown, swallowing it up with an incredible force. Heat, smoke and pain made her scream again, louder than before.

"It's the Queen! The Queen of Netherworld!" she'd heard someone scream.

Too late, Hadea. You are too late …

Then, a deep black nothing.

And then, again, the hopelessness, the despair, the failing of plans. Again, Aura, Castra and Krotan were guarded 24 hours a day. At least this time, the Defenders arrived on time. But again, flames, smoke, heat, pain, panic, chaos. Screams, blood, people dying. A sea of flames. Everyone dying.

And all because of me.

And then, the deep black nothing again. Somehow, it seemed familiar. It greeted her like an old friend. Blackness, but also no more worries, no more fighting, no more death, no more hearing the screams of people burning alive. She closed her eyes in comfort. Silence. Finally. Over. It was all over.

"Something is wrong here," Aura insisted, carefully eying the guard in the corner while whispering in her sister's ear. "But don't worry. I'll find out what's going on here. And I send Barin to notice Hadea of father's plans immediately. I even asked Krotan to make contact with your earthling friends."

"You shouldn't have," Sheila slowly said, staring blankly at the dirty and cold walls of her small prison, thinking of comfortable blackness and silence while having no idea why. I'm going crazy. I feel like I've been sleeping. But I haven't. I've been listening to Aura, sick with worry because of tomorrow, haven't I?

Then, suddenly, Castra appeared in the hallway, drawing the attention of the guards and her sister on herself. She looked scared, more like a child than the young woman she'd become.

"They've arrested Krotan," she said, avoiding details because of the guards who were surely listening as well. "I tried to send a warning as well, but I failed. And Aura – I think they're coming for you, too!"

I've heard this before, Sheila thought, but she couldn't have, could she? She'd been brought down here yesterday. She'd slept, and cried a lot. Aura had just come in here. No, it couldn't be something she'd experienced before.

Then her father's troops appeared behind Castra, and one of Sheila's guards escorted Aura out of the cell. Both princesses were put in the middle of the heavy-armed troops.

"We'll find a way to save you, Sheila!" Castra cried, forgetting to be careful. "Please don't give up! We'll find a way to save you!"

"Move!" the leader of the troop said, pushing her forward.

"I'm a princess!" she protested, moving closer to Aura when the troop-leader just glared at her.

"And I have my orders," he calmly stated. "So move now, Princess. I would really hate to hurt you."

The troop marched off, taking her scared sisters with them. Sheila felt the eyes of her guards on her. She didn't bother to move. There was nothing she could do. The cell's structure didn't allow her to use her force field or invisibility, and either way, she was sure the guards were prepared for everything.

Different. It's different this time, she thought as she stepped on the podium hours later, and although it was impossible, everything seemed so familiar. She didn't turn to respond to Castra's sobbing. And she already knew who her father would bring in to display his cruelty. Only then she was surprised – somehow she'd expected to see Rick, not Amy and Jedda. Confusion made it impossible to concentrate on her father's orders and Flash's angry shouts. Why did everything seem like she'd been there before and why did the presence of Amy and Jedda feel so wrong? And why wasn't the fear of getting burned at stake on her mind?

"Do it," she mechanically whispered to Flash when they forced him to stand in front of her, holding a torch in his shaking hands. "They're worth saving, I'm not."

There was more she wanted to say, but she felt like she'd been saying it over and over before, so she remained quiet. And confused. She hadn't been talking to Flash in ages. How could she have told him all of this before?

"I will do it," she heard him saying, and lifting her head, she realized that this was a surprise again. But somehow, it was a good one.

"I will do it because I have to. If I don't, we'll all end up dead."

She didn't ask why and how he knew. She believed him. With tears streaming down her face, she smiled at him sadly. This was it. Now, finally, it felt real.

"Do it," she whispered again.

There were tears in his eyes, too. Slowly, he lowered the torch.

"I love you," he whispered back. Then, the fire of the torch got hold of the dry straw that had been placed all over the podium.

"I never stopped loving you," he added, throwing the torch away, stepping backwards, watching the flames rise, the tears now streaming down his face.

She wanted to say something, but the flames reached her long gown, slowly feeding on the soft fabric.

Then, chaos arose, as the other Defenders stormed the execution place, fighting their way through the guards and troops.

"No!" she screamed as Ming pulled the trigger but thanks to Mandrake's telekinesis, the deadly lasergun flew right through the air, leaving the emperor momentarily defenseless.

Rick and LJ stormed forward, being given coverage by April. Both of them tried to free Amy and Jedda. At the same time, pale creatures stormed forward, joining the fight of the Defenders against Ming.

"It's Hadea!" Castra cheered. "It's her people! Hadea's here!"

And everything will be alright, she thought, slowly closing her eyes while trying not to breath too much. There was smoke everywhere now. They'll be fine. I can rest in peace now.

"Hold on! Don't breathe!" Screaming her name, Flash tried to run through the flames to cut her lose, using his sweater to try to smother the flames.

No, don't! We'll both die! You're not supposed to die!

But she couldn't scream any of this to him, because she had to prevent inhaling too much smoke. She tried to put up a force field, to turn invisible, anything, but the ties that held her in place apparently had been made to prevent any usage of powers.

She felt someone trying to loosen the ties and held still, but the flames were too high. She wasn't even able to look around anymore. A dark cloud of smoke seemed to cover the whole podium. And the flames kept burning through her dress, feeding their everlasting hunger on her naked flesh. She opened her mouth in horror, struggling against the pain, suddenly able to move forward, stumbling through the thick smoke, falling ...

"I got her!" someone shouted.

Air, fresh air. Coolness. Water. Castra's soft voice. Someone sobbing. A lot of people talking. Blinking, she tried to turn, but her older sister firmly held her in place. Looking up, she saw the blue, cloudless sky over her and to her right the burnt-down ruins of the former podium. On her left, the Defenders had gathered around something or someone.

"What ... where ..."

"You're going to be okay," Castra said, kneeling down next to Hadea, taking Sheila's hand. "You've been burnt badly, but surely, a good healer can help with that."

"Please, keep lying down," Hadea said.

"Flash ... is Flash ..."

She just had to know that. She'd seen him through the smoke, desperately trying to get through to her, to save her. She'd been freed, so apparently, he'd succeed. But where was he?

Hadea remained silent, and fearing the worst, Sheila forced herself up, ignoring the pain in her body.

"Where is he!" she demanded to know, trying to get on her feet, grabbing hold of Castra and forcing herself to stand, despite the pain she was in.

"He's ... Aura's with him ..." Castra bit her lip, but the answer had been enough to confirm Sheila's worst fears. Aura wasn't the world's most social or caring person. But she had healing powers. And since she hadn't healed Sheila yet, Flash injuries were probably more crucial than hers.

"No!"

With Hadea and Castra at her sides, she slowly made her way to where the Defenders were gathered. The whole place was a battlefield and not exactly nice to look at. Shuddering, Sheila kept her gaze focused on the group of people they were slowly approaching.

"Father survived," Hadea quietly answered the unspoken question. "The only casualties were guards, troops and some of my people, as well as one or two of Barin's rebels. Other than that, mostly injuries."

She knew she should care, but right now, Flash was the only thing on her mind. Stumbling forward, she saw Flash's lifeless body down in the dirt, badly burnt, his eyes closed. Aura was kneeling at his side, her pale hands resting on his chest, her eyes closed in concentration. Krotan and Barin were present as well, standing behind Aura, apparently ready to guard her if necessary. The Defenders were forming a circle around them. Rick and April held each other tightly. Both of them were bleeding as well, but their injuries didn't look too bad compared with what some of the others were showing.

Slowly, the three sisters came to a stand next to Aura just as she opened her eyes. Exhausted, she looked up, meeting Sheila's eyes.

"He's going to be alright," Aura promised. "He's just going to have to rest a lot during the next days. And see an earth doctor, as well."

"We'll see to that," Lothar said, nodding. "Thank you very much, Princess. We won't forget this."

Tuning their talking out, Sheila got down on her knees. In the same moment, Flash opened his eyes. His gaze fell upon her, and he seemed relieved.

"It's going to be fine," she managed to say before both April and Rick came to hug and comfort their father. Feeling out of place, she allowed Hadea to help her up again. Tiredly, she rested her head against Hadea's shoulders.

"Time was repeating itself, wasn't it?" Amy shyly asked in Hadea's direction. "I guess this was your doing?"

"Yes, in agreement with all of you, I suppose. Although I don't remember any of it," Hadea answered, and she, too, sounded very tired.

"Why did the future turn out differently each time?" Jedda wanted to know. "When Amy and I noticed time repeating itself, it seemed like we'd been there not only once before, but at least twice. It was too familiar. We tried to save Rick and got captured instead of him. But it didn't seem to matter which one of us got captured. And yet, this time, we're apparently all safe and well. It's confusing."

"Well, time is confusing," Hadea admitted, allowing a slow smile on her lips. "I can't say much about how time works because nobody really knows. But what I do know is this, and it's not about time, it's about the future. Sometimes a single small gesture, an apparently insignificant word or some seemingly trivial deed is all it takes to set a whole new future into motion. It's not always the grand gestures that matter."

Her explanation was greeted with silence. Everyone stood there, thinking about what Hadea just had said, realizing the truth behind her words.

"Why did you save me?" Flash suddenly asked with a rather hoarse voice.

Silence again, and this time, curious glances from the rest of his teammates. Yes, it was a good question. One Sheila had been asking herself as well.

"We did it for our sister," Aura finally said, stepping away from the Defenders and was instantly flanked by Barin and Krotan.

Everyone looked over to Sheila who managed a weak smile, clinging closer to Castra and Hadea. Everything had been so weird today. And she still felt tired. And maybe Aura could start using her healing powers on Sheila now as well. It was either that or some good old painkillers.

"We also did it for the future," Hadea quietly added before turning and leading both Sheila and Castra away.

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Article

Author

Chapters

1: Death

April and the other Gordons face a tragedy.

2: Beautiful

Mandrake is reunited with a romantic interest.

3: Peace and Quiet

Flash is thrown into an unexpected struggle.

4: Nightfall