Usually I post a character
profile on the fourth Monday of the month, but this month we’re celebrating
love and romance on the SFF blog so let’s talk about a relationship instead of
a specific character. The most
popular romantic couple out of all the characters in the SFF repertoire
(according to a highly unscientific facebook poll where less than ten people
voted) is Cat and De Carlo from Pandora’s Box. They are played by the fabulous Margaret Olson and Chris
Hutchens.
Catalina Crims and Darion De Carlo
first met while they were both in training at the Cadets Academy. Cat was fifteen and Darion was
sixteen. The Cadets Academy was
basically a prep-school for teenagers who wanted to go into the army and had
either the talent or pedigree (or money) to become officers. They quickly became best friends and
competed with each other for ranks and grades – usually Cat reached an
achievement first but sometimes Darion did.
Darion was the only son of an
extremely elite military family – the De Carlos. For countless generations they
have been one of the two highest ranked Generals and the only hereditary
military position. They have been
personal bodyguards to the Empress in cases where her life was under immediate
threat, and have been fiercely loyal to the Empire and the Empress for
generations. Tradition and the
Army are everything to De Carlo.
Cat, however, was the abused
daughter of a rich merchant who wanted to belong to the Aristocracy and planned
to use Cat to marry into that class.
She ran away when she was fourteen to join the Army and was able to test
into the Cadets Academy after lying about her age and getting a
scholarship. Cat gets annoyed by
traditions and prestige and hates wearing dresses and make up and looking like
a doll.
They’re an unlikely pair in many
ways, but they were drawn to each other from the day they met and became such
good friends that Darion and his family helped Cat get away from her father
when he tried to assert parental rights and take her back. They both became
generals in record time. For years
they were always in each other’s company whenever possible and there were a lot
of rumors that the two of them were in love. They of course denied it, but eventually they both realized
it was true.
There was a rule in the army that
soldiers couldn’t date each – soldiers were all considered to be brothers and
sisters so dating within the ranks was considered something like incest and was
against the law. If Cat and Darion
had started dating while still in the army, than either one or both of them
would be kicked out and put on trial, fined, imprisoned, and possibly even
killed. So they tried to ignore
their feelings for each other.
One night when they were both
seriously depressed about different things, they got roaring drunk and slept
together. Cat decided to leave the
army at the point because she couldn’t stand killing people on the whim of the
Empress or the bratty Princess Zarina.
However, because of the timing, Darion (and everyone else) assumed that
she was leaving the army so that she could marry him. He proposed to her and she refused, then she blew up the
army headquarters and it was a big mess. 
The Empire put a big reward on her head and ordered Darion to hunt her
down and kill her. He was super
mad at being jilted and betrayed so he was more than happy to do it (or at
least try to). Although this whole
incident is brought up in Episode 12, there are a lot of details that you won’t
find in the series. I wrote a
prequel story (fan fiction?) about how they went from being best friends to
bitter enemies. 
They spent years fighting each
other, and after Cat joined the rebels they became ever more bitter
enemies. Their friendship had
turned to love, then turned into hate.
Darion, being the General De Carlo, loved the army and had sworn to
protect Empress Zarina, so when the Civil War began he stayed by her side.
Zarina was verbally and emotionally
abusive to him and he finally had enough.
He wasn’t ready to leave the army yet, so he switched to the other side
– the Army Faction – and got into trouble there. He ended up back with Zarina and bided his time until he
could find the right time to leave her once and for all.
He decided to join the rebels,
since both the army and the Empress had let him down – and there was the
delicious allure of being with Cat if he joined the rebels. So in a dramatic episode he betrayed
Zarina, saved Zarc’s life (Cat’s best friend), and joined the rebels. He and
Cat were finally on the same side again, reunited at last.
However, Cat’s kind of a bitch
and considering everything that had happened between them, it didn’t take long
for the sweet reunion to turn sour.
Cat and Darion started fighting constantly. The situation was made more difficult because Darion was
used to being in control as a general (although being subservient to a woman –
the empress – was ingrained pretty deep as well). When they were both in the army, they were both generals and
were equal. However, Cat was the
leader of the group of rebels he joined and he had to get used to the idea of
taking orders from her like everyone else. 
Eventually they worked things out
and started dating. They dated for
a couple of years, then Darion proposed and Cat accepted. They got married and remained with the
rebels as Commander (Cat) and Second-in-command (Darion). They settled into as nice a life as a rebel could have.
They were deeply in love and would
do anything to protect each other.
Cat, who once thought she would never need anyone, came to depend on him
and trust as much if not more than anyone else (possibly even Zarc). However, they weren’t always mushy and
had a tendency to still argue from time to time. 
When the final battle arrived and
Cat and Darion were fighting for freedom in a massively co-coordinated attack,
they ended up beside each other in the end. Darion saved Cat’s life by taking a bullet that was meant
for her and died in her arms on the battlefield. His death drove her into a mad frenzy and joined him in
death shortly after, killing as many soldiers as she could before she
died. (her death is sad actually
sad and ironic, but we’re not going to go there). In the end she would not have wanted to live without him.
In the TV show they have no
children, however if I ever get the chance to make it a real national TV show
with a budget and multiple seasons, or if I write it as series of books, they
would have a son named Damien, but what happens to him and to Cat and De
Carlo’s marriage after having a child is complicated so I won’t go into it.
Relationships -
Allies & Enemies
Although there are several people around them that have a
huge impact on their lives, there are three that have a profound impact on
their relationship itself.
Diyara De Quoi is a druid who is believed to be the Chosen One
and destined to fulfill a prophesy.
She does have some psychic talent including empathy and some telepathy
(but only on certain days of the year).
When De Carlo kidnaps her and seriously pisses her off one day she
invades his mind and forces him to feel the fear, terror, and pain of the
people he’s killed, specifically the druids she helplessly watched him
slaughter under orders from Zarina.
In the end, rather then drive him completely insane, she removes the
memories and leaves him with only a faint impression of the pain he has
caused. This is a huge,
life-changing moment for him because now he finally understands why Cat left the
army, and is able to forgive her in a way because now he knows what she meant
when she said she couldn’t stay with the army and had to fight against the
Empire. 
Zarina is a very important part of what stands in their way and ironically she ultimately is responsible for them having a chance to get together by being such a bitch to Darion that he finally leaves her and joins the rebels. As Princess, then later Empress, she commands De Carlo’s loyalty. He swore to protect her and when they’re on the run from the Army Faction after Zarina has been kicked out of power, he tries to help her become a better person and be the kind of leader someone could respect instead of the bratty, bitchy, selfish child she is. If she didn’t insist on blaming every single failure on Darion and constantly abusing him verbally then he might never have left. She pushed him too far and (in an episode that was written but sadly never filmed) she even orders his death. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to her that he leaves.
In the end, she’s grateful to him for leaving because she would never have gone through her own metamorphosis, met her mentor, or become a stronger and more powerful person (and somewhat more likeable…somewhat) without his leaving her. Of course then she declares she loves him and tries to come between him and Cat and that just doesn’t end well. Also, she wins in the end because she orders the death of all the rebels. (and in the books she kidnaps their son and raises him as her own **shudder**)
Zarconia Gold is by far the most important ally for their relationship and has the greatest impact on both their lives. Cat first met Zarc when she was running from Darion who had actually succeed in almost killing her. She was close to death when she crawled into a cave to die. Zarc, then only eight years old, risked her own life to keep Cat hidden and throw De Carlo off her sent. She sent Darion on a wild goose chase and found a druid who helped heal Cat’s wounds. Zarc literally saved Cat’s life – if it hadn’t been for her Cat and Darion would never have had the chance to work things out and be together. Zarc also helped Cat join the rebels and stayed by her side for the rest of their lives.
In public, Cat treated Zarc somewhat harshly and they pretended to get on each other’s nerves because Cat didn’t want the Empire or Darion to find out they were best friends, fearing for Zarc’s safety if they did. Eventually, of course, Darion found out and kidnapped Zarc in order to lure Cat into a trap. He ended up falling back on that plan numerous times, kidnapping Zarc to trap cat, or make her do something she didn’t want to do. 
In the show he kidnaps her twice, but it’s implied in Episode 11 that he’s done it more than that, and in the fan-fiction? stories it happens about three other times. Zarc got tired of it (everyone got tired of it), and the last time he kidnaps her, he ends up saving her life and was only able to join the rebels because Zarc vouched for him. If Zarc hadn’t forgiven Darion for everything he did, then Cat would never have forgiven him. Darion earned her trust and Zarc’s trust in him enables Cat to trust him again too.
Darion was Cat’s best friend for several years, and when they turned their backs on each other then Zarc became Cat’s best friend. It made Darion jealous, seeing Cat do anything to protect Zarc, but it also gave Darion and Zarc something in common – they both loved Cat, just in different ways. So Zarc was able to understand Darion better then Cat could in some ways.
Once Cat and Darion started fighting and arguing all the time after he joined the rebels, Zarc was the only one who could put a stop to it. Darion respected her and Cat actually listened to her. This resulted in her playing mediator to their fighting and she finally got so tired of being in the middle and trying to calm them down that she went to drastic measures to put a stop to it.
She held them at gunpoint and locked them in a room, telling them to either work things out or kill each other, and not really carrying which one they decided to do at that point. After several hours they fought, talked, then kissed and made up. Zarc locking them in the room directly led to their being able to date each other.
Zarc is like a little sister to Cat and Darion becomes a sort of big brother to her (brother-in-law by default I guess). They are both over protective of her and would do anything for her. She continues to be a major player in their relationship after Darion proposes, because Cat would never marry him if Zarc didn’t want them to get married. Zarc is actually a little worried at first, not sure if Darion is quite good enough for Cat (she’s over protective of Cat too), but she gives them her blessing and is Cat’s maid-of-honor at their wedding.
Even in the last episode, Zarc is the one who interrupts their final snuggly moment with an annoyed “break it up!”. And it’s Zarc’s death that drives Cat into a fit of rage born of grief that leads Cat into a position where she doesn’t realize how much danger she’s in and results in Darion saving her life by throwing her out of the line of fire and taking the bullet for her.
Cat and Darion are definitely my favorite couple and I’ve had fun over the years drawing some “fan art” of them, so I figured I’d share it here.
I also recently commissioned a drawing of Cat and De Carlo on fiverr.com and purchased this fantastic drawing from Paulo J. Hernandez.
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