Chapter Text
Flashback
"Avani, wait."- Phobos grabbed his daughter's wrist. "I know. I know how you feel and I understand you, but things have changed. Leonida and I were granted permission to live freely on Coronia."
"Yes, Avani, and you can stay with us."- Leonida smiled at the girl, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Everything is so much better after so much time."
Avani just looked at the two as if they had totally lost it:
"Better? Granted permission?"- she repeated incredulously. "Since when does Prince Phobos need permission? Since when does he allow himself to be bought by some crazy woman as an exotic pet for her daughter? Is that what you want for yourself, Dad? After everything? Is that what you're settling for?"
Phobos's smile quenched at that. He looked at his daughter as if she had just slapped him in the face:
"No, Avani, what are you saying, remember how we talked about me and your dad? About our love."- Leonida exclaimed.
"Love that you only felt after you contemplated his murder for months."- the ex-rebel spat with repulsion. "He might have forgiven you for it. I won't. You're not fit for my father, in fact. This is what you do, you dull him and his shine down and make him forget who he is. The fearsome Evil Prince of Meridian!"
Leonida was shocked. She blinked at Avani as the girl spat in her shoes.
"You can forget about my father! You're not coming with us. And we are not going to spend another day in this wretched realm."
"No, Avani, this will never happen."- Leonida narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Don't make me hurt you-"
As if to prove her wrong, Avani hit her with a magic attack that threw the blonde to the ground. In pain... She had temporarily blinded her.
"AVANI!"
Phobos grabbed her and shook her hard:
"Come to your senses! What in hell's name are you talking about, I'm not going anywhere! You can stay here; you will stay here! Enough with the tantrums-"
"No, Dad, I finally have you to myself and I will not let you ruin everything and settle for a pathetic life."- Avani insisted and all of a sudden cuffed her father's hand with a magic-blocking bracelet.
"You..."- he hissed, his eyes growing dark. "You can't do this! You have no right-"
"Yes, I do. I learned a lot over the last months, my magic is strong. With time, it can get stronger than Elyon's birthright and definitely stronger than yours. And I came back for you. You're the last thing I need for my perfect kingdom, Dad."
Phobos watched his daughter with growing astonishment and terror. He just couldn't believe it. Leonida was screaming and begging something from the ground as she tugged on the ends of his robe:
"No, don't go, Phobos. Please don't go."
"You have no choice, Dad."- Avani shook her head firmly. "You'll see. Everything will be better when we arrive and you accommodate."
Her father glared at her deathly as she opened a big yellow portal with a magic bean:
"I hate you. You and your mother!"- he hissed. "I wish I never had you."
For the first time since her arrival today, the woman was taken aback. She just stopped and stared at him:
"Take that back!"- she screamed and shook him in her turn. "Take it back!"
But Phobos just broke free from her grip and glared at her, repulsed. Avani's jaw hung for a few seconds and hence she didn't notice the effects of the squid ink wearing off:
"Take him, Elyon! Take the baby and claim your power back, he's not an heir to the thrones!"- Nerissa roared. "It's your right!"
Avani gasped. Cornelia had snatched the infant from her with her telekinesis and now he was in Elyon's arms. And Nerissa's. And as they rightfully claimed their lost powers back, the others transformed and attacked:
"Now you're done, Avani, you really are!"
"I came back for my father, I used my temporary regency well and built everything I wanted to with the magic, even if I couldn't obtain the powers from the baby and now lost the chance to, I have what I wanted. Goodbye forever, bitches!"- Avani just snarled as she dodged their attacks and then vanished through the portal with her father before anyone could get to her.
"Noooo!"- Leonida wailed as she jumped back on her feet, seeing again, but it was too late. Her lover was taken away from her and the portal had closed, leaving the cemetery quiet again. The only thing left to be heard was the honey-haired woman's desperate wails. The rain kept falling. Everything was lost again... Her fort, her tower of happiness was once again in ruins.
Her heart raced fast as she watched him up close.
Phobos.
On top of her.
They had been running before finally losing them all and managing to hide here, in the kitchen. Under one of the long tables, covered with thick cloths that provided cover.
This situation was, by far the most surreal thing she could remember happening to her, in all her years as a guardian, and that had to say something because she had seen a lot.
A lot.
If she had to be honest, she still couldn't believe this was happening to her. But the more her head cleared, the more real it felt, as real as the Evil Prince's heavy body on top of hers.
After today, nothing was going to be the same. So, she might as well get used to it, yes? Might as well get used to the surreal. Bizarre. Creepy. Is there a word creepier than creepy? Oh, yeah. Avani.
Wilhelmina Vandom suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the fair-haired man making her a sign to remain quiet.
As if I were about to rap ''Anaconda'' for you and your crazy-, Will's string of thoughts was interrupted by a sharp pain in her head.
It was so intrusive, she started fidgeting, forcing a distressed Phobos into keeping her pressed down to the ground with his hands...
"What are you doing?"- Phobos demanded in a low voice so close, right into her ear, she could basically feel his breath in her head.
Of course, he was doing this to stay undetected but Will couldn't help it; she kicked and rebelled, and threw him off herself, making him hit his head in the table above them.
"Do you want to get us captured once more, foolish guardian?!"
"I don't want to, but something's happening! Again!"- Will huffed, trying to calm herself and the pulsing in her head. It was difficult to even keep her eyes open... "She's doing something to me,"
Phobos hissed under his nose and contemplated leaving her behind again. But he couldn't. If the guardian was left behind, the crazy witch was going to use her to get to him again, and if what she had told them had any truth to it, she would keep doing it again and again, as long as she desired to. To toy with them. Own them.
Phobos Escanor did not plan on being anyone's possession or puppet again. For the first time in over twenty years, he had someone to go to. Someone to love. A sanctuary. A life. A future.
If he had to save the guardian leader, who was greatly responsible for many of his defeats, to be back to all that, then he was going to save her.
"Don't resist it,"- he ordered and straddled her again, unabashedly.
If Will wasn't being torn apart by the pressure in her head, she would've definitely protested more.
"She is going to find us, either way. Let her convey whatever message she wants to convey; it's certainly meant to uncover our location faster. By the time she teletransports here, we will swiftly do as we discussed and then flee through the big window. I told you I know where a magic bean is!"
Will clenched her teeth, still fighting with the pain, but in the end, she decided to trust the prince's judgment. That bean he spoke of was their only way out of this hell.
She just couldn't understand how Avani managed to be so persistent in her attempts to invade her mind. She no longer possessed Elyon's power. She was no regent. How was she so strong, or was it because the Heart of Kandrakar was no longer around...
"Breathe and allow it. Allow her parasite mind in,"- Phobos commanded.
He was on top of her the entire time and helped her with her racing heart and sweating by rubbing at her wrists.
Thankfully, he loosened the corset of her dress too, before she could burst like a balloon from the pressure that was now coursing through her entire body.
No, this was definitely not a mere psychic invasion.
Will let out a hoarse cry.
"I said open up to it, allow her in!"- Phobos hissed.
"I'm trying to, it's not that,"- Will cried in her agony. "It's not helping!"
The prince was losing patience. But the minute he tried to tap into the redhead's energy himself, with the magic he had left, he grasped that she was right.
This was indeed no psychic invasion.
Phobos's pale green eyes widened and a thunder echoed somewhere in the distance.
Will's body trembled so hard she almost threw him off again, but this time he was firm; he was the one to push the entire table above them away. Food, fine China, and utensils all scattered around them in character for the mess that they were in. They no longer needed cover anyway, as their problem was no longer wanting to not be heard.
Everyone in a radius of a few miles could probably hear this ruckus.
Their problem now was very much intensified, and Phobos realized it when Will couldn't breathe due to not being in control of her own mouth and nostrils. As if something was closing them with unseen power.
Their problem now was staying alive, the prince realized grimly as he roughly opened the redhead's mouth with his thumbs inside it, letting air in before she could turn blue...
"What the DEVIL,"
Her body jumped up and down with him on top of it, all over the floor. Him desperately trying to get it under control, and into some working order... But she just kept fidgeting, worse than ever since she had first started with those symptoms at dinner. Much worse.
"What is happening t-to me?!"- Will screamed like never before and even the Evil Prince of Meridian was petrified by it.
He shook his head and tried all he could to sober her up, to stop this, whatever it was, even with the little magic he had left.
The guardian was like a rag doll in a dog's mouth, and he couldn't do anything but hold her down with his entire body weight until his detested daughter decided to halt it.
Avani appeared in the room and Will gradually felt at ease. Like she could breathe again.
Phobos, who lay on top of her, breathing hard as well after this episode, had already felt the young Escanor's presence though he refused to grace her with a glance.
He just breathed like a beaten dog, almost in harmony with the woman under him. The kitchen was an utter mess after them and she looked bad. She was drenched in sweat, but at least she had stopped convulsing.
And if his plan had failed, that could only mean one thing...
"Did you really think I'd let you go that easily, after all the troubles I went through to have you here?"- Avani fired, almost accusingly.
Almost as if they were at fault for trying to escape her tyranny. Her mad kick in the teeth. Her delusion.
"I didn't enjoy hurting you like I did, Will, but hopefully from now on, when you see who's waiting for you back in the dining room, it will not be required!"
The young Escanor woman looked so much like her father, even with her robust frame in the gray-blue royal gown she wore tonight. Her long fair hair, identical to her father's, in a braid, and the sterling blue eyes of her mother.
Avani Escanor had quickly turned her father's opinion of her around for the worst.
"You hijacked someone else?"- he sneered as he stood up, finally looking at her.
With hatred.
"Do tell, Avani, how far do you think this insane game of yours will go on? You're going to be met with a cruel end if you don't come back to your senses, what you're doing is highly delusional! Unheard of, you're going to regret-"
"As if what you initiated even in your teens wasn't highly frowned upon, Dad,"- Avani interrupted her father and just smirked at him bitterly. "Watch your tongue or you might experience what Will just did. No... I wouldn't. You're my dad..."
He was going to learn to love her. To accept her again. That is why she had brought them here. They were going to be a family. A big happy family.
Phobos looked at her with disgust and maybe a little bit of unease too.
"Anything to make you love me again. You will, I know it. And you will stop trying to run. You're going to accept this life,"- Avani kept averring, the lunatic smile on her face going even wider. "You both are,"
Will's mind, however, was still on what she had said about someone waiting for her. Now that she felt better and in control of her body, her brain was working like crazy again.
Who? Who else had this dangerous girl gotten her hands on?
The redhead stood up and zoomed past her abductor, who allowed her with a smile, knowing she got her attention and where she wanted her. Will was going back towards the dining room they had started their dinner in earlier, abandoning all silly ideas of running.
"By the way, there are no beans where you think they are, Dad,"- the blonde told her father with a big grin. Magic beans. A way to travel between parallel realms, such as the one they were in now. "In fact, they're no more beans at all. You see, I did what the Mage and I did to Mom's plantations a couple of months ago. I destroyed them. So, that no one can leave our kingdom,"- she whispered in his face. "Not even I,"
Sullen, Phobos pushed her away and headed back for the dining room they had fled earlier too, upset and angered, but having made amends with the failed plan.
Maybe tonight he'd have to remain here.
Maybe Avani had indeed destroyed a big part of her beans, but he knew even she couldn't have destroyed all of them. Not yet, of course, she was just saying it to...
When he entered the royal dining room, he heard the guardian...weeping?
He entered, followed by Avani, and saw her holding him, upset and completely agitated. Her younger brother William Collins.
Avani had kidnapped William and brought him to her kingdom as well.
"He's just a child, you bitch!"- Will yelled at her, voice shaking. "He's just a child, why did you bring him here, to raise the stakes? You-"
"A child? I was his age when I led my first big troupe against my mother's forces, in the name of my people, and I managed to supply them with a month's worth of provisions! I told you, we're a family now and we are going to be together. All of us. Forever,"- the Escanor descendant declared coldly yet that big loony smile remained glued to her face.
12 hours earlier
Twenty-two years ago, when his favorite concubine had purposely conceived his child without his consent, he had sent them away to protect them. From himself. His subjects. The battles that were to come... Ah, but the harem idea, how he despised Cedric for advising him to have it in the first place... Back then it had been about status, about claiming what was denied to them, demanding Metamoor's respect and fear. All that had come to bite him in the ass.
Now, he deeply regretted it, even more so after he spent a year free of his cell. Being merciful, having love for someone who had, either way, wanted the Heart of Kandrakar first and him second... He had been just a child himself. Meek in many ways. Just risen to the throne after a successful coup. New to all this...political and royal massacre that awaited him.
He had loved Zorarose, even promised her to one day have her back with him on the throne. Once it was safe...of course, that never happened because his sister and the guardians jailed him for ten years but that was beside the main point. Case and point - Zorarose and Avani. He couldn't have known what she'd turn into and what their daughter would become after that but honestly, he should've expected something along those lines. No one he ever spared and invested trust in ever seemed to be able to justify it.
Including his daughter who had gone bonkers.
A monster. A crazy monster who had apparently killed the concubine in the last act and then kidnapped him. Him! Her own father, the infamous Phobos Escanor, and that when he finally had some sort of promising future.
By his alien princess's side, on a planet where none of his past would've mattered.
A kingdom of gold, a clean slate, a chance at ruling one day with a beautiful girl he had grown to love and their infant baby that he could bravely say he loved.
Once again, Phobos loved his new daughter and her mother.
But his eldest daughter Avani had taken all that away from him when she kidnapped him and declared him her property.
Phobos was full of conflicting emotions and primarily anger. After a year of war, incarcerations, and fighting on so many fronts for a chance at life after his escape from the royal dungeons, he had received it thanks to Leonida and her mother, and even the guardians and Kandrakar couldn't say otherwise.
Just Avani could. And did. She blew his newfound happiness to pieces and he was never going to forgive her.
"What you just did,"- the man found it in himself to turn to her calmly. Reassuringly. After all, he had wanted to accept her and hold her in high regard, as his daughter, until this happened. And she had his magic locked with that cuff she had put on him, so there was that...
"What you just did can still be reversed. I know you are heavily conflicted and fail to understand where I'm coming from, but I was happy with my situation on Coronia. Avani, I was happy. Go back now and I'll convince Leonida and her mother, convince them to pardon you and let you be by my side, it may not sound ideal but it is the most I can get in life, do trust me,"
He stared into her eyes, as convincingly as he could. And he could be very convincing. At least he was sincere. He still was...
His daughter looked back at him, blinking calmly, smiling like a child:
"On the contrary, Dad, you never should've settled for that pitiful situation,"- she argued and took his hand. "You will forget all about them soon, I promise. Soon, you will thank me for stopping you from settling for something so meager,"
Phobos released his hand from hers, overtaken by his anger and irritation for this injustice. It was like trying to talk to a wall. She would never get it. She had been raised like that by her demented mother, who had purposely let her become her enemy for all her life, just because of the stupid changing books of Coronia and setting things in motion for her plan in the far future...
"She made you as daft as a bush like herself,"- Phobos growled, seemingly catching her off guard.
Avani looked confused, so he specified, engulfed by his own inner anger:
"Your mother...an absolute crazed woman. But she's no more, Avani, why are you still letting her be the tailor of your fate!?"
"I'm forging my own fate and future, like I always have, Dad. But enough talk for now. I have some work to do,"- the young woman declared. "I'll let you rest up and I'll see you later, alright?"
"No, it is not alright!"- Phobos seethed after she started walking away. "You expect of me to sit around your palace and wait on you like some lady in the waiting while my family is in a stupor and anguish over my kidnapping?"
"I am your family,"- Avani snapped at the door, looking at him darkly. "If I, who spent months in Aunt Elyon's palace, against my will, while they planned to use me to get all the stolen powers back from you, could find some purpose, then you can certainly feel at home here."
"Are you punishing me, Avani? Is this what this is?"- Phobos asked, ignoring her last remark. He seethed, realizing, just now realizing what being an estranged father could really be like. "Is this you seeking to be avenged because I wasn't by your side growing up, because I sent you away and let you be with your deranged mother, who deluded your brain? Is this why you want the same for your sister?"
Avani didn't retort to that, but the hurt and pain were evident in her eyes as she swallowed down unfallen tears:
"I'll see you later, Dad. And I chose to believe,"- she swallowed again. "I chose to believe that what you said back on Coronia, in the heat of the moment about wishing you never had me, was just that. The heat of the moment and your anger for being subjected to by decision. But in time, everything will change. You will see,"
Phobos let out an angry and desperate sound and attempted to go after his daughter but the doors of the Throne Room were slammed shut in his face, unbudging no matter how hard he pushed.
The rest of his day was a blur. The Prince couldn't believe that just a few hours ago, he had been attending the royal funeral of his sister's husband, the end of a saga that he had been a pivotal part of. (The Dark Descendant)
Today had been the official start of his new life.
His new life had ended as fast as it had begun.
But he wasn't willing to let go of the idea of it just yet. He was going to find a way. A way to escape. A way back to Leonida and Opal.
Of course, his first thought was to leave the castle somehow but he was quick to rule it out; one of Avani's commanders reminded him that, without a magical bean, he couldn't leave the parallel realm of Beta-Meridian. A place that resembled his homeland but not completely.
It had Zorarose's touch all over. Even this palace; many things reminded him of her. From the colors and materials used in the interior to the artwork and books on the shelves.
Phobos didn't have much of a choice, he had to busy himself with walking around and looking around the palace, otherwise, he'd lose it. At least that much he could do.
It was all a cruel joke, really. He had spent a week as Zorarose's captive in his palace before managing to escape to the Coronian, then another week later this was happening...
He was a captive again. Of their daughter.
Phobos frowned and returned to the chambers he had been shown to by her people; he was finally inclined to freshen up and change.
He had to admit his chambers looked mighty; worthy of a King, as did most of the clothes left in the closet space and jewelry, and personal library space, but that wouldn't get to his head.
Avani was the respected and celebrated Light of Beta-Meridian and her word around here was the law. The least she could've done was provide him with luxury.
Once he got the dreadful dark robes from Andan's funeral service off and showered, he chose a more practical set of a navy-blue tunic and pants, all cotton and linen. His long fair hair - secured in a low ponytail.
Phobos frowned at his reflection in the big mirrors. He hadn't seen himself in such attire for years. During his reign on Meridian, especially, he always chose his black and red robes, the symbols of his power, the royal tattoos, and makeup...
After the last year rich and heavy on fate-changing milestones, however, he no longer felt like he needed them.
He didn't need to be here as well but that was obviously not going to get resolved overnight.
A few hours had passed since Avani left and he was too neurotic to keep still. He abandoned the book he had picked up and started roaming the castle again. Strangely enough, even though Avani's staff paid no attention to him, he felt like he was being watched.
The prince turned around a few times, expecting to see someone following him as he took a journey down a part of the west wing he hadn't noticed was there before. Again, no one was behind him. Phobos scowled and headed for that smaller corridor that had evaded him the first time he was taking his tour around the palace.
He had to be wary of his whereabouts and the layout of the palace for his future escape. So, he was on a mission again, just like when he had been a young boy.
A mission of exploring. Taking notes. Waiting for a felicitous moment. Nothing could evade him if he wanted to have success, and Phobos had to note for himself that success didn't just come to him unless he planned, thought, and waited patiently. Patience was not among his strengths.
The corridor led him to what appeared to be a small apartment. Not like his chambers, for sure. This place was more secluded, almost hidden between the walls.
Phobos was at the door of this strange premises he had discovered when he felt it again. Someone's eyes on himself. Like a cold presence. A cold breath, almost in his neck...
"Who's there?"- he turned around sharply, determined to come face to face but again, found himself alone in the narrow corridor.
If someone was watching or following him with magic that would explain not being able to detect them. Right now, he had no way of dispelling even the smallest spell, so he gave up and just tried the door.
It was unlocked and he entered.
He had indeed been right. It was exactly like a small apartment. Phobos hadn't spent much time on Earth, but it did remind him a lot of an architectural layout one could see there.
The space had two main rooms and a narrow spiral staircase leading to more space on the upper floor. Phobos was currently in the vestibule. There was a small privy on his left. He closed the door leading back to the palace itself and was just about to go up the spiral staircase when something caught his attention in the bigger room on the down floor.
It was a beautiful room, with a sitting area and a table. It was still furnished and decorated like the main parts of the palace, but Phobos could swear there were foreign elements here and there.
Like those odd posters on the wall. Like the old TV... he furrowed his brows, a TV? An even more antique looking than those in the Earth Knight Matt's basement, where he had slept over 11 years ago?
Some more electronics too. Significantly fewer books and art and, in addition, thick bars on the only window.
Electronics, Phobos thought to himself. Quaint... What does Avani have to do with something like that, something a part of Earth's culture and era, something that barely functions in a magical-based realm?
Avani hadn't even been on Earth, had she? Was there someone else residing here that...
And then the prince finally saw it; he hadn't paid attention at first, because of the bed curtains hiding the bed itself from sight, but there was someone in it. Someone was in that bed.
A fair of female feet peeked at him from under the curtains.
Phobos slowly approached and then pulled them swiftly. The curtains, not the feet.
But the person in that bed, asleep over instead of under the soft lavender sheets, was someone he had least expected to see here.
Phobos could only stare at the familiar figure of the redheaded leader of the guardians, uncertain of what to make of this all.
Was she...living here?
No, she was abducted. By Avani? He could recall her missing when he escaped Zorarose and managed to get to the Coronian palace. He recalled her friends being worried about her and looking for her, but in the end, they hadn't found her at all, had they?
Because she was here?
Phobos stared at the young woman, calculating the situation, trying to make sense of it.
It was too bizarre. Quaint. Unlikely.
Then his thoughts suddenly took him to the Heart of Kandrakar. Of course... she was the keeper, Zorarose had wanted her to give her the Heart more than anything.
But the Heart... he had seen it with the blonde guardian. So, it wasn't on the redhead. So, then why did Avani need her?!
How had she pulled it off in the first place...
"I knew you'd find your way to this room, Dad,"
Avani's sudden appearance from the upper floor almost gave her father a stroke.
He turned around to glare at her, but there was more confusion in his glare than resentment right now.
His mind still couldn't get over the randomness of seeing the leader of the guardians here just like that.
"That's right, Dad, you found her. Did you feel a pull of any sort? Dad, you'll see, soon everything will become clear to you, just like it is to me,"
"Why and how did you take the Head Guardian of Kandrakar and that without the Heart?"- Phobos asked pointedly. "You were in the Aureate Edifice on Coronia with all of us and she has disappeared after the power transfer on Arkhanta,"- Phobos's brain quickly sorted all events chronologically as it kept struggling to understand what was going on. "When Zorarose pulled the trick on us and took all the power into herself... that was almost three weeks ago and the guardian has been missing ever since. How? What is the purpose-"
Avani came closer to her father and just snuggled in his chest like a child.
Phobos was too taken aback to react or even push her away.
"You'll get it, Dad. Soon,"- the girl repeated.
She was seriously starting to get on his nerves with the cryptic talk. Then she threw something that looked like a flower of pure light blue energy at the Keeper.
It immediately made her jump up in that bed, awake.
Phobos met her eyes just when his daughter said:
"Now."- she dusted her hands. "Get ready, both of you. We'll be having dinner together in the northern dining zone; it's mandatory you come! You'll learn more about what you're both doing here during that dinner,"- the young Escanor added almost slyly before leaving them alone. "We eat in 30 minutes, don't be late!"
"Phobos,"- Will immediately growled once she made sense of her surroundings.
She still looked dazed. Beat. Phobos looked her up and down, still too perplexed to say anything.
"You're in on this, aren't you? What happened to my friends!? WHERE'S... "- she coughed and had to reach for the water glass on her nightstand before going on. "What the fuck is going on-"
"How am I supposed to know, you're the one who's been living here over the last weeks,"- Phobos replied coldly and watched her wrap herself in her matching night robe.
A white nightgown with puff sleeves and a robe made from silk and satin, obviously given to her by Avani.
"Weeks,"- Will interrupted him, standing up, staggering on her feet. "How much time has passed? Zorarose-"
Usually, Phobos wouldn't waste his time explaining anything but given they were both in this odd situation together, he updated her on everything.
He told her about Zorarose's defeat and death, his pardon, her friends searching for her, and Andan dying. Then Avani's role in it all.
He even sat on her bed, a plan already forming in his head.
An escape plan. And since the Head Guardian was here, lost track of time and her life, unable to fully explain why, she obviously had no choice but to assist him.