Z16

Defenders of the Earth: This Is Their Story

By Marzena

Plot: Season 4, Episode 47

Chapter 16: Forbidden Feelings

She'd kissed Krotan. She'd kissed the prince of Mongo and had nearly been laid by the prince of Mongo, too. She told Prince Krotan her secrets, she'd confided in him, she'd been hanging around with him, cuddling with him, making out in her car with him. Oh, gross. This was just gross!

Dan, her sensitive, perfectly nice and very handsome boyfriend was in fact Krotan, prince of Mongo, a green and ugly alien, who'd only disguised himself as an earthling. Bloody shapeshifting powers. But she'd never have suspected … well, he'd probably been too perfect anyway but she'd hoped that just this once, this would turn out to be something real and true. She'd even defended Dan countless times when April had her constant suspicions about him. But April had suspicions about everyone, so naturally, Jedda hadn't given it much thought. Well, maybe she should have. Now she was locked in a secured room in the palace on Mongo, wearing a beautiful royal gown and Krotan was talking about making her his queen, his wife. It was crazy. The past few days had been nothing but crazy.

Well, she wanted out. Of course she wanted out. She'd even tried to get out, but the windows had bars in front of them and there were armed guards outside of the locked door. But she needed to get out, to warn the others, to get away from Krotan. But Krotan had made it seem like Jedda had come willingly, and since everyone knew how crazy she'd been about Dan, they might really believe that she'd known it had been Krotan the whole time, playing a role. And if they thought she'd run off with Krotan to become Queen Jedda, well, would they come to rescue her? And if they did … there was a reason Jedda had come here with Krotan – to save her friends' lives. If they did come, the mind bombs Krotan had placed on them might get activated by the angry prince. She needed to warn them, to tell them not to come, and she also wanted her father to know that she did not have feelings for the prince of Mongo.

Oh, who was she kidding? If anything Dan had said and done these past few months hadn't been an act, if the true Krotan had been there all along, then there were feelings, whether she liked that or not. And come to think of it, there was a lot about Dan that described Krotan perfectly as well.

"Wake up!" she snapped at herself, angry at even having those thoughts. "He's an alien, he's green, he's disgusting, disloyal, he's an idiot, he's rude, he's arrogant, he's violent and mean, he tried to kill you and your friends on more than one occasion, he's the enemy, he's ..."

She walked across the soft white carpet and threw herself on the queen-sized bed in frustration. Krotan's features were Dan's features, only a little altered and less, well, green. And he hadn't been rude to her. And she'd actually liked his arrogance. It was that thing for bad boys that probably all young girls had. Dan hadn't been violent, mean or stupid either, and his kisses and his touch had made her …

Stop it! she snapped again, this time only in her thoughts. You're about to have to marry that guy, which is so not good. Yes, there might be some attraction left, but certainly not enough to agree to this! Don't go crazy now. Keep it together. Think. Save your father, save your friends. You own them that. You're a Defender, the future Phantom. You're better than this. Don't let him lure you into this. Stay away from him.

Getting restless again, she climbed out of the bed and walked over to the windows, nearly tumbling over her long skirts. She wasn't used to wearing dresses like these. Swearing, she kept walking, and looking out of the window she saw snow and ice everywhere. She knew the planet had other areas too, deep swamps where monsters lurked, high hills and even some sort of jungles as well as mysterious lakes, sandy deserts and an actual ocean. To her, the jungle-born princess, this lifeless cold winter outside was the worst. No matter which window she looked out, the sight that greeted her was always the same. Snow and ice and not one person or animal to be seen.

"I just want to go home," the young girl sighed, leaning her head against the cold window frame. She desperately wanted to be back in the mansion with the others, getting a hug from her father and help from her friends to get over Dan. And she had to get over Dan. There was absolutely no way she'd start anything with Krotan just because his Earthling-self had been so good looking and charming.

Well, technically, she already had something going with him, but this would end now. And the whole marriage and coronation thing was just plain crazy. A Defender on the throne of Mongo – if Ming ever came back from wherever he was right now, he'd surely kill Krotan for trying something like this.

"Besides, who wants to be Queen anyway," Jedda muttered, picturing Hadea as an example for being a Queen and shuddering at the thought.

Still, not so long ago she'd defended Dan against April, calling him the love of her life. Oh, April would never let her live this one down.

And yet ...

NO. Big, fat, no. There was absolutely no way she'd even try to think about this. She needed to get a message to her friends and she needed to get out of here, and if she'd ever see Krotan again, she's tell him to go to hell. And the same for Dan who'd lied to her all the time and pretended to be someone he was not.

But there was the problem of her being a prisoner here, and even if her friends came, Krotan would just kill them off, so they were better off as far away from Mongo as possible. Which means she'd have to go through with the wedding to save them. Which means Krotan would win.

Furiously, she walked over to the bed again and threw herself on the sheets, not bothering to hold back her tears. How had everything gotten so damn complicated?

"I hate you, you stupid, selfish and arrogant bastard!" she cried, hugging her pillow, picturing Dan's face. Slowly, it turned into Krotan's, and it wasn't a welcome sight.

And as for the hate, despite everything she wasn't even entirely sure it was true. For which she tried to hate him all the more and still couldn't.

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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