Flashback 3
Gem attended Aquarius' coronation. She went with Gina as an excuse to meet Gemini again and get to know him better. Next up was Pisces' coronation.
Gina and Gem were on a dock on Luna, waiting to visit Piscis. Gem wore a tank top, shorts, and sandals along with make up to try to disguise herself. Gina wore a cute sundress, a sun hat, and flip flops. Piscis was underwater, therefore Piscians claimed the entire habitable sea floor as their lands, but most of the major cities were situated directly beneath Luna. Piscis was tricky to visit without the help of Piscians since the waters surrounding Luna were very dangerous.
Luna was a bunch of tiny islands that were near each other. The shallow parts of the water were perfectly fine, and so were the deeper parts around the islands. But if you swam too far away from the islands of Luna, many dangerous waves, currents and sea creatures awaited you. The only way to get all the way to Pisces safely, was to climb aboard the Frigus Train. The Frigus Train was like a submarine, except shaped like a train. Once a week at noon, the Frigus Train would appear on the Frigus Dock and board any passengers who have a pass. The Frigus Dock was a dock that the ruler of Luna gave to the ruler of a Piscis for the Frigus train.
Gina shielded her eyes from the bright sun and pointed to the sea in the distance. "It's hard to imagine how dangerous the ocean is over there. Everything looks so peaceful here."
"Yeah." Gem observed her surroundings. A handful of people waited for the Frigus Train with them. Most of the other royals who wished to attend Pisces' coronation were already in Piscis. Only procrastinators such as Gem and Gina would wait until the day of the coronation to enter the country.
"I wonder how we're going to breathe underwater," gasped Gina. "Like are the buildings full of water? Or is there somehow air in the buildings? Oh no I'm nervous now. What if somehow we can't breathe underwater and we drown?"
"There is a way for you guys to breathe underwater," stated one guy behind her in a matter-of-fact tone. He had black hair and glasses.
Gem's eyes widened. "HOW?"
The guy shrugged. "Only friends of the king get to learn the secret. There's not enough for everyone to know."
"There's not enough of what?" asked Gina.
The guy shrugged again. "It wouldn't be a secret if I told you."
"He doesn't know yet either," chuckled a girl beside Gem.
"You look familiar." Gina looked closely at the girl who had spoken.
The girl smiled. "We met at Capricorn's coronation, remember?"
"I remember now! You're queen Taurus!" Gina bowed. "I'm pleased to meet you again."
Taurus smiled shyly. "You don't need to bow to me."
"Do you know the secret then?" asked Gem.
"Not yet. Pisces told us he'd tell the secret to all the royals that show up to his coronation," Taurus motioned towards the guy who spoke earlier. "Hence why he's going."
Gina gasped. "So he's royal too?"
Taurus nodded. "He's king Virgo. We've become friends since both of our countries are attached to each other, and they're both underground."
Gina turned to face Gem. "You don't seem all that surprised to be in the presence of actual kings and queens."
It's because my brother is a king himself.
"Having a crown handed to you isn't impressive on its own. I'll be impressed when I see that you've got skills of your own."
Gina sighed. "We're so alike, yet so different at the same time."
"Wait, you're both called Gina, right?" asked Taurus.
"Yeah," nodded Gina.
"Then how will you guys know who I'm talking to? One of you needs a nickname."
Gem shrugged. "Well, my last name is Mendez while hers is... uh... Gemelo. So you can use our last names if you need to."
"It's here!" cheered a little boy.
Everyone watched as the Frigus Train popped out of the water, and floated over to the dock. The door opened, and a worker with bright blue hair stepped out to check your pass before letting you on. Eventually Gem and Gina handed in their passes and looked for somewhere to sit.
The Frigus Train was round like a submarine, but it had multiple carts like a train. Gem and Gina were looking for somewhere to sit.
"Let's go somewhere in the middle," suggested Gina.
After finding two seats by a window, Gina nervously kicked her feet while Gem watched the water out the window. The water that they'd soon plunge beneath.
"So, the Frigus Train just... dives underwater?" asked Gina.
Gem nodded. "Yeah. I did a bit of research and it takes so long to travel aboard the Frigus Train since you can't plummet underwater too quickly. It has something to do with the nitrogen in your blood. Therefore, the train simply takes its time while it dives towards Piscis."
"Then how can we breathe? Won't we run out of oxygen? Or is there fans that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen?"
"Probably."
"Attention passengers-"
Gina listened carefully to the captains announcements while Gem completely tuned him out. Not too long later, the doors closed and sealed shut.
Gina yelped when the train started moving across the surface of the water.
"People take this train every week. It'll be fine," reassured Gem.
Gina squeezed her eyes closed. "I know, I'm just so afraid of drowning."
Gem grabbed Gina's hand. "We'll be fine. If something bad happens, I'll give you a million dollars."
"But if something bad happens, we'll all be dead."
"That's why I'm promising a million dollars that I don't have."
"You're not helping."
Gem chuckled. "Read a book or something."
Gina opened her eyes. "Actually, I think I want to watch."
Both girls watched as the train turned downwards and plummeted deeper and deeper underwater.
Suddenly, Gina felt something. The memory was blurry, like looking at something through fog...
***
She was surrounded by water. Gina kicked her feet, trying to swim upwards as her body ached. She had to reach the surface quickly or she'd drown. She opened her eyes and saw the sun shining through the surface, it wasn't far. She got closer and closer...
***
Gina inhaled sharply. Did she just remember something? She was underwater, trying to reach the surface, but why was she there? Why did she remember her body aching and screaming out in pain when she kicked her feet?
She couldn't shake the feeling of dread that came with this memory. Was this memory an important one? If only she could remember more...
"Hey, you alright?" asked Gem.
"I'm fine, just nervous. Look at the fish." Gina pointed to the brightly coloured fish out the window.
"Watch," whispered Gem. "AHHHHHH SHARK!"
A few random passengers screamed in alarm as they looked out the windows for the shark.
Gina laughed. "You're bad."
"Of course. There's nothing fun about being good."
***
Three hours later, the Frigus Train finally reached Dives, the capital of Piscis. Gina shook Gem awake as the Frigus Train landed on the sea floor and entered a tunnel. It was pitch black until the train entered some kind of building. It was like a train station, except instead of train tracks, a current of water flowed from one end to the other.
"But, there's air out there. If the entry to this building is a huge tunnel, shouldn't this building be flooded with water?" asked Gem.
"It's actually quite simple," stated a familiar voice. Gina looked behind her to see the know-it-all from earlier, king Virgo.
"The how does it work?" asked Gem.
"I'll show you when we get out."
Everyone grabbed their bags and exited the Frigus Train. When they stepped out, the air was indeed breathable.
Virgo pointed at the stream of water that served as the "train tracks". "You see how there's a current pushing the water forward, well the water comes out forcefully through the tunnel we just went through, and it pushes out through another tunnel on the other end of this building. Since all water that comes in gets pushed out the other end, it stops the water from flooding the building since there's a constant cycle. Of course down here there's no oxygen, so they use fans that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen."
"I knew it!" cheered Gina.
"Come on," Gem pulled Gina over towards the others who were walking up a set of stairs.
***
Gem and Gina eventually found Taurus and followed her around the building.
After finding a Subway to grab a sub, the three of them sat down in an area with a bunch of seats and a huge glass window to eat their lunch.
"Woah." Gem and Gina ran over to the glass window to look out. Fish and other sea creatures swam around. They could see what seemed to be underwater houses in the distance. Little glass tubes connected the houses to other buildings.
Taurus noticed the two Ginas looking out the window. After swallowing a bite of her sub she said, "there are two methods of transportation down here. If you're walking a short distance, you walk along a glass tunnel. If you're going a far distance, you have a take an underwater train. The underwater trains also travel in glass tunnels."
"So, there's glass tubes that you just, walk through?" asked Gina. "Wouldn't you be scared that the glass will crack?"
Taurus shook her head. "At first it makes you nervous, but afterwards you get used to it. Now come sit down and eat your subs."
What caught Gem's eye was people swimming around in the water. "Will we get to swim at some point? Virgo said there's a way for us to breathe underwater."
Taurus offered an apologetic smile. "All water signs can breath underwater since their lungs are made to take in water and air. There is a way for everyone else to breathe underwater, but very few get to. You have to be a friend of king Pisces, so you basically have to be a royal."
Gina glanced at Gem. She knew that Gem was king Gemini's sister, but she was warned not to tell anyone.
Taurus used her phone to check the time. "We still have a few hours until the castle opens. What are you guys going to do until then?"
Gina and Gem looked at each other and shrugged.
"Well, I have plans to meet Scorpio, but I can lead you guys to the nearest mall if you want."
Gem nodded. "That sounds good to me."
***
After showing Gem and Gina where to go to take a train to the castle, Taurus led them over to a circular door. "You just open the door and walk through. Eventually you'll reach an intersection where the tubes branch off in multiple directions. All you have to do is go through the door that says Mall."
"Thank you!" smiled Gina.
"You're welcome." Taurus waved goodbye before going elsewhere.
Gem opened the circular door. On the other side, was a glass tunnel large enough to walk through.
Gem carefully stepped onto the glass. It was clear enough to see all her surroundings. Gina hesitantly followed. They walked through the glass tunnel, sometimes stopping to look at fish swimming past, and they eventually reached the intersection Taurus told them about.
The intersection was a cube made of glass, with circular doors in all kinds of directions. The name of the place that the tunnel led to was written on each door. A group of Piscians judged Gem and Gina, and snickered as they looked around, clearly lost.
"Are all Piscians stuck up and snobby?" asked Gem, well aware that they were within earshot.
"Shhhhh! Here, this door says Mall." Gina motioned Gem over to the door.
***
Gem and Gina entered a shopping mall that rested on the sea floor. All kinds of people from different countries were everywhere.
"It's not too hard to tell the Piscians apart from the people from the other countries," whispered Gina.
Indeed. The Piscian hair colours varied from any shade of blue or teal, white like pearls, dirty blond like the sand on the sea floor, green like seaweed, or red like coral, and their hair was almost always either curly or wavy. The Piscian eye colours were almost all blue or green. A brown eyed Piscian was very rare. It was also the way they dressed that made them stand out. Piscians tended to wear typical beach clothes. The most common outfit was either shorts and a shirt, or shorts and a tank top. Their clothes often had designs like pearls, shells, starfish, etc.
"Yeah," agreed Gem. "You have some countries like Pertinax, Capra, the air countries, and Ingenio that have massive amounts of diversity, then you get to the other countries like Fortis, Serenum, Cibus, Sub Terra, Luna and Pisces where there's a few certain looks that the majority of people fall under."
"It's cool how you know so much about the other countries. I want to travel a lot like you did, maybe someday I'll be able to learn about each country too."
"Yeah. Now come on, I want to buy some souvenirs and maybe some new clothes." Gem dragged Gina over to the shops.
***
After buying a jumbo pretzel from the food court, Gem and Gina headed back to the train station with a few shopping bags in each hand. They went to where Taurus showed the, earlier, and walked into another part of the train station. This time, there wasn't water instead of train tracks. There was actual train tracks.
After a few minutes of waiting, the train finally arrived. When the doors opened, people started pushing through to get a seat. The castle was going to open its doors to the public any minute now, whoever didn't catch this ride would likely miss part of the coronation.
Gem grabbed Gina's hand so that they wouldn't be separated as they pushed through the crowd. They managed to get on in time to find two seats.
When the train took off, it traveled along a clear tunnel. The tunnel wasn't made of glass, but a stronger material that looked like glass.
"What are you going to do after today?" asked Gina. "This is the last coronation. What's next?"
Gem shrugged. "I want to build a bond with my brother before introducing myself to him, that way he'll be more inclined to believe me. I think I'll travel around to the other countries a bit, then I'll go back to Geminus and work on befriending my brother."
"Why doesn't your brother know who you are? Were you separated at birth?"
"Well, we got sent down from the sky," whispered Gem. "So for some unknown reason there was a delay and I didn't get sent down with the others. By the time I did, they were already gone. I later found out that someone named Andromeda found them, explained everything to them, and took them to their own countries to adapt before becoming the ruler of that country. Meanwhile, I was all alone. But then..."
"Then?"
"I just knew that Gemini was my brother, so I went on an adventure to find him. I'd ask what's your story, but you have amnesia and don't remember anything."
"I don't." Gina didn't want to tell Gem about her new memory until she figured out what it meant.
"Maybe something could trigger a memory."
"Hopefully."
***
After the coronation, Gem and Gina explored a bit before the after party. They went back to the mall to find an outfit for the after party. Much to Gem's dislike, Piscians dressed up for every occasion. That meant she had to wear a dress.
After picking out dresses to wear and changing at their hotel, Gem and Gina arrived at the castle for the after party. Gem wore a black dress with silver sparkles, while Gina embraced the Piscian culture by wearing a blue layered dress with seashells stuck on it. She even wore seashell earrings.
The ballroom had gold walls that sparkled under the lights, and the floor looked like it was made from sapphires. One of the walls was made completely of glass. A water fountain sat in the middle of the ballroom, with food tables placed against the walls.
Gem and Gina started dancing and making up their own funny moves in the middle of the ballroom.
"What's up with the fountain?" asked Gina.
Gem turned to look at the fountain. The water stopped.
King Pisces stepped towards the fountain "I swear to god if you-"
He got interrupted by the fountain suddenly working again and squirting water in his face. He turned to see Scorpio and Sagittarius giving each other a high five.
"Come on. Maybe he'll know where Gemini is!" Gem pulled Gina over to Pisces. "Hey. Have you seen king Gemini anywhere?"
Pisces looked at Gem and shook his head. "Nope. But I need to get revenge on those brats, so if you help me, I'll help you find him."
Gem shook his hand. "Deal."
"Now, how are we going to get them back?" asked Pisces.
"We could dump liquid chocolate over them," suggested Gem.
Pisces shook his head. "Too messy."
"We could soak them in water."
"Scorpy is a water sign. It won't bother her much."
"Well," suggested Gina. "We could use our air powers to makes them fly around the room. It will scare them."
Gem and Pisces both looked at Gina with wide eyes.
"That's brilliant!" smirked Pisces. "But are you able to lift an actual constellation with your powers? I understand that some humans can train to strengthen their powers, but it's still difficult for humans to use their powers against a constellation."
Oh. Thought Gem. He thinks I'm a human. It may be difficult for Gina but not for me.
"Well, we should at least try," shrugged Gina. Then she focused on Sagittarius.
Gem and Pisces looked at Gina in shock when mysterious air currents blew Sagittarius around the room. Sagittarius screamed, not knowing what was going on.
Gem then focused on Scorpio. It didn't cause much of a strain to make Scorpio fly around the room like Sagittarius.
After a minute or two of playing around, Gem and Gina made Scorpio and Sagittarius crash into each other before gently lowering them to the ground.
"AGAIN! AGAIN!" cheered Sagittarius while Scorpio looked around the room for the culprit that did that to her.
Pisces looked at Gem and Gina. "You're... awfully strong for humans. You two must have been born with a rare gift for power. Yes, I guess that happens sometimes, but It's like you guys had the powers of a constellation."
"I had the power to flip tables over since I was two," lied Gem. "I'm just very talented. Same for her."
"So you two are twins?" asked Pisces.
Gina nodded. "Yeah."
"Cool-"
"WHO WAS BEHIND THAT?" Scorpio grabbed Pisces by the collar and dragged him over to Sagittarius for questioning.
As Pisces was being dragged away, Gem felt a pair of eyes on her. She scanned her surroundings until she saw someone looking at her. She had golden curly hair and a cute, innocent smile.
But she wasn't starting at Gem. Her eyes were focused on Gina.
Gem tapped Gina on the shoulder. "Hey, there's this girl staring at you-"
Gina turned and saw her. As she looked into the girl's deep blue eyes, she started to remember...
***
Falling... Gina didn't know where she was, or what was happening, but she knew she was falling. The air whipped around her as she opened her eyes.
Gina was falling from looked like a cliff, and standing on top of the cliff, was a Piscian with blonde curly hair and the bluest eyes Gina had ever seen.
The girl watched as Gina continued to plummet and plummet downwards.
Gina became aware that she was falling too late. She didn't have time to use her powers before she hit the water.
After falling from such a high cliff, the water felt like concrete against Gina's skin. Her vision started going black as Gina kicked her feet. She was underwater, but she had to reach the surface. She felt dizzy, but she had to hold onto consciousness. Otherwise she'd drown.
Gina managed to reach the surface, and float on her back before she passed out.
***
Gina grabbed Gem's wrist and pulled her out of the ballroom.
"Where are we going?" asked Gem.
Gina didn't reply and continued pulling her until she found another door. She opened it, and dragged Gem into what looked like a room used for meetings. The room had a large table and chairs surrounding it.
Gina sat in one of the chairs, Gem did the same.
"I had a memory."
Gem gasped and her eyes softened as they looked at Gina. "What did you see?"
"I was falling off a cliff. That girl was watching me as I fell and hit the water below. I swam to the surface but that's where it cut off."
"So... she tried to kill you?"
"I'm not sure if she tried to kill me, or tried to rescue me, or if she was just watching. I have no idea who she is!" Gina crossed her arms to try to hide her shaking hands. She buried her head in her arms and started crying. "I don't know what any if it means. What even happened to me?"
"It'll be okay," Gem stroked Gina's hair. "You'll find out more later, I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm here for you." She wrapped her arms around her friend.
"Pisces told me you were looking for me."
Gem looked up to see Gemini walking over to her.
"How did you find me?"
"I was walking around the hallways when I heard someone crying. That's why I peeped in and saw you."
"She's just having a hard time, it's personal."
Gina stood up. "I need to go somewhere. I just want to think this through but I can't have any peace with the music blaring from the ballroom."
Gemini looked at Gina with sympathy. "You can go and come back if you want. After everyone else leaves, Pisces is going to show all of the constellations how to breathe underwater. I can convince him to let you two tag along as well, especially after that performance you two put on with Sagittarius and Scorpio."
"I can't... I just have to get out of here." Gina started walking towards the door.
"What about you?" asked Gemini.
Gem sighed. She was super excited at the thought of getting to breathe underwater, and she finally had the chance to get to know her brother, but...
"Maybe some other time. I'm going with Gina to make sure she'll be alright." Gem walked over to Gina.
"I can find the hotel on my own if you want to stay with him," suggested Gina.
"No, I'll come with you." Gem turned around and waved to Gemini. "Sorry to leave you when I've finally found you, but I'm sure I'll see you again."
"But, you finally found him. Are you just going to leave your brother like that? And you seemed so excited to breathe underwater," asked Gina as they walked out of the castle and waited for the train.
"You're shaking, making sure you're alright is more important than all of that."
When the train finally arrived, they sat down and checked a map that Taurus had given them earlier.
"The train will get to our hotel in... seven stops," announced Gem.
"Okay," Gina went back to looking out the window.
Meanwhile Gem started to get lost in thought.
I thought Gina was a regular human, but after showing her powers like that, I'm not quite sure. There's no way a human could use air powers so easily against a constellation like that.
Then there's her memory. Who was that girl and why was she so interested in Gina? Why was she in her memory? What even happened before and after that memory? I admit, I didn't tell Gina the full story of what happened when I came to earth, but after that performance with Sagittarius, I think she has a secret that she's keeping from me.
I shouldn't press her to tell me though. I'll keep my secret, and she'll keep hers. Maybe Gina is a constellation too, maybe she doesn't even know it. She looks a lot like me, but she can't be my twin.
Then who is she?
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