2.0-1

DoE 2.0

By Marzena

He knew he shouldn't get involved. He knew he should keep his distance. Queen Hadea was most certainly trouble. He had known that the minute she had taken him prisoner and had forced him to stay in the Netherworld to become her king in exchange for Kit's life. Still. He just couldn't seem to stay away from her. And now that she was somewhat of an ally to the Defenders of the Earth, well… 

But of course the Phantom knew that overall, Queen Hadea was only on one side — her own. She aided others when it benefited her or the Netherworld, but she most certainly didn't do it out of the goodness of her heart. But she was fascinating. And on some level, he even understood where she was coming from. After all, he also had the duty to always place the Bandar first. 

He watched her pace back and forth across the room, a tall, beautiful woman with long, golden hair and bright blue eyes, a crown on her head and dressed in the finest of gowns. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. "It will be fine," he assured her, walking towards her. 

"Fine?" she echoed. "They have my daughter! I should be going after them, burning their useless planet to the ground!"

"There are people on this planet that have nothing to do with all of this," he reminded her. "Just wait for them to contact us. Once we know what they want, we can figure out our next move. We're going to get the Princess back, I promise you. She's their leverage. They're not going to hurt her."

"She's also my child!" she replied in a rare moment of emotion. She usually always kept her cool. Her mask never slipped, just like his own also never slipped. But he could see it in her eyes. She was barely keeping it together at this point. 

"Hadea," he said, coming to a stop in front of her. He left the formalities aside for now. The woman had once tried to seduce him and force him to marry her. He usually still adressed her properly, but right now, he could sense that she really needed a friend, not an ally. "I'm going to do whatever I possibly can to help you get Princess Eloise back," he told her. "But you need to calm yourself." 

He was standing so close now, he could smell her perfume. His gaze dropped to her mouth and he had to remind himself what she was dealing with right now. No way this was going to happen. 

She seemed to feel it too. They looked at each other. She closed her eyes. 

"Thank you," she quietly said. "For everything." 

They were interrupted by a message coming through. Quickly, he stepped away from her, out of view, into the shadows while she faced the computer screen. Gone was the worried mother, replaced with the Queen of the Netherworld. 

But she was still beautiful.

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