Chapter 13
A second chance. That's the last thing Catherine remembers wanting. A chance to prove she hadn't done anything wrong. A chance to prove she deserved to live. A chance to live with Anne. Her lover. The one who had changed her life. Who had her head chopped off as well.
Her soulmate.
The thought of Anne being her soulmate still shocks the Spaniard. She only wishes they could've spent more time together.
Catherine's eyes blink open. Wasn't she just getting beheaded? Where was she? Confused, the gold woman takes a look around.
The clothes she's wearing a significantly different than what she remembers wearing. Her top is a yellow sweater, paired with a scarf that's slightly a slightly darker shade than her shirt, and black pants that wrap around her legs tightly. Pants, of all things.
She's sitting in a slightly smaller bed than her own, covered in golden sheets and pillows. In fact, most of the decor in the entire bedroom was a shade of her Glow color, having some black accents here and there. In terms of furniture itself, it's not much different from her chambers--dresser, mirror, closet, etc. The design and shape of everything is a lot different, however.
The room also has what Catherine can describe as a window seat, with two pillows set off to the side. A string of small lights hangs from the walls. Catherine can't help but notice the room is lit up by something other than candles. The idea that something other than fire could create light is something that shocks the Spaniard. Just exactly where was she that this is possible?
She figures she should probably see what's outside the room if she really was....well, she still isn't quite sure if she's dead or alive quite yet.
Exiting the room, she sees there are five other doors like hers. Could there be others here? Perhaps they know what's going on. Though, it'd probably be best to let them come out on their own. She shuts the door, and sees that it's labeled with her name. Catherine of Aragon.
Actually, each door has a name on the front of it. Catherine Parr. Katherine Howard. Anna of Cleves. Jane Seymour. Seeing the blonde's name gives Catherine a sense of relief, but also pain. Why, she doesn't know, but it doesn't hurt as much as seeing her lover's name. Anne Boleyn.
Before she can go too deep into her thoughts, another door opens. This woman is wearing a baggy, blue, long sleeved shirt with a pocket in the front and a hood attached to the back of the neck line, plus the same black pants that Catherine is wearing. Her eyes are colored like sapphires, and her curly brown hair is significant enough that Catherine can identify her as her own goddaughter.
The next door to open is the one labelled Anna of Cleves. Her skin is darker and her black hair is a lot shorter than she's used to seeing, but it doesn't bother her at all. She just looks a bit different, that's all. She's wearing a bright red shirt with short sleeves and just barely covers her stomach. Her white bottoms are a bit strange, as they look like pants, but the end of them barely goes down her legs. The amount of skin that's showing on all of them is a bit uncomfortable.
After her, a young girl who can't be over 20 enters the hallway. Katherine Howard. The bottom half of her otherwise dark brown hair seems to be a bright pink, which confuses Catherine for a second. Though, everything about this situation is quite puzzling. The young girl is the only one wearing a (significantly short) skirt, a black one, but under it she's wearing pants similar to the other two Catherines, though hers is more see through. Her top looks like a bright pink dress shirt.
Shortly after, Jane joins the rest of them. She's wearing a gray sweater, but it seems to cover up most of her neck as well, as well as a black skirt that goes down to her knees. Other than that, nothing much has changed about Catherine's most trusted lady in waiting.
This is when Anne Boleyn opens her door and walks out. She's just as beautiful as I remember. Her black hair is done up like she always does, half of her hair done up in two buns, the rest falling smoothly. Her makeup is done like usual, complimenting her ever so sparkling emerald eyes so well. Rather than the dresses she wore before, Anne is wearing a green short sleeved shirt, the same bottoms as Anna, only black, plus a belt weaved into the waistband. It all makes Anne look so alluring. All Catherine wants to do is wrap the younger girl in her arms and hold her, but her fear stops her.
What if she doesn't remember her? What if her feelings had gone away? Does she remember their shared Glow? That they're soulmates?
"...Hello." The blue Catherine is the first one to speak up, the other five women slowly saying their greetings after. "...Does anyone know what's going on?"
"I think I see something downstairs. Perhaps we should go take a look?" Jane is the one who suggests this, followed by various agreements from the others. Slowly making their way down the steps, they start to look around.
To their left is a sofa with a smaller table in front of it, and a rather large....something hanging from the wall. To their right is a kitchen and a table which can be inferred to be the dining table. It's pretty spacious, but still smaller than what Catherine is used to, having grown up in palaces and such. As the gold woman looks around, she makes eye contact with her lover. The two stare at each other for a few seconds, expressions unreadable, before Anne turns away.
"Hey guys, there's a note." Anna calls out to everyone. Once everyone is hovered around the table they all read the note left out for them.
To the six of you,
You're probably wondering why none of you are dead. I mean, that's the last thing you guys remember anyway. But however I put it it's gonna be a lot to take in, so let me just throw it out there.
The six of you have been reincarnated. YAY! Good for you! Chances like this don't come often you know. But I recommend not thinking about it too much. And if you're wondering why.... Each of you have been married to the king, Henry VIII for a period of time throughout his life.
It is not my place to go into specifics, but I highly recommend you all talk about it and share your stories together. It'll help you all understand each other and (hopefully) get along better.
Until you can all get jobs, I have given you something called a credit card, that you can use to pay for food, clothes, rent, etc. It'll take some getting used to, and that's going to take a long time, but I'm sure you can all handle living in the 21st century.
On the back of this paper are some names and some numbers. If you type the sequence of numbers that I've listed under the names into a phone (don't worry, I've labelled these things) you'll be able to talk to them. I'm sure you'll recognize the names ;)
Best of luck to you all,
The Helper.
Well, it was a lot of information to take in, but the queens silently thank 'The Helper' for telling them straightforward. Though, Anne is slightly confused at the wording. She hadn't been married to the king. She was beheaded before it happened officially. It is then that the first two 'queens' notice an envelope with their names on it.
When Anne gestures for Catherine to pick it up, she opens it, the former moving to her side to read over her shoulder.
Hey Catherine (of Aragon) and Anne!
The two of you are a special case....
See, after Henry had the two of you beheaded, he told all of his courtiers to cover everything up. So in his records (and eventually the history books of today) it says that he divorced Catherine to marry Anne. Not long after he had Anne beheaded because he claimed she was cheating on him. Which, let's be honest, in your case it's kind of true.... BUT ENOUGH OF THAT!
Although this is what most people believe, some historians found some documents that claim the two of you were soulmates, and that both of you were beheaded because of it (an example of this would be a certain 12 year old's diary....).
I'm sure the two of you don't want to mention your Glow right away, so on the back I put in some information on what the history books say. Though keep in mind, history books got stuff wrong about ALL the queens, so don't follow the story too well. But you should still tell them the truth eventually. I'm only allowing lying for the two of you because I'm nice and your story is the only one that got changed so much.
Your welcome :3
The Helper
This second note doesn't help their case too much. But the task of altering their story a little bit doesn't seem too hard to do. Even so, they don't want to say too much that it contradicts whatever the others know of them. If anything, they most likely person to call them out is Jane, though neither of them remember the blonde being anywhere near them when it was announced.
"Well, I hope I'm not the only one extremely confused." This comment comes from the red queen, which causes a couple of giggles.
"But since 'The Helper' or whoever that is, suggests we talk about our stories, I think we should do it. They clearly know more about this than we do." Though Catherine would prefer not telling her story, especially since it had been changed, she can't help her leadership instincts tugging at her. The rest of the queens agree with the proclamation, including Anne, though the Spaniard wonders what her past lover is really thinking.
And whether she still loves her.