Matthew quickly jabbed Toni in the ribs before he shook his head, "you think that's stopped me?"

Toni's mouth dropped open, "Freya? No!"

Matthew smirked at the memory, baiting Toni with the confession.

"Fuck, why do you get all the fun for?" dropping the cocky attitude, perplexed that after all those months, he finally did it, and he wanted the details, "how did you manage that?"

"With her girlfriend," he offered, "two-for-one deal. Apparently, I was a fantastic birthday present. Kimberly was more into it, so Freya relented."

"Shut up, no, fuck off, I don't believe this shit!" Toni moaned loudly.

As soon as he realized that the two girls before him, one with honey-brown eyes and the other with striking sky-blue ones, were observing Toni with intense curiosity, he hastily regained his composure. Their attention then shifted to the Commander.

"Skarsgard," Eko began the introduction, ignoring Toni briefly, "Madison," she waved to her cousin next to her with a small smile, "she was a servant aswell on the moon."

Madison's facial expression piqued, "excuse me?" then her eyebrow raised at the story that had been constructed.

Eko apologized with an awkward laugh as she elbowed her cousin and shot her bright blue eyes in Madison's direction, silently imploring her to join in on the deception. Afterward, she turned her focus to Matthew and Toni.

"To be precise, I am a servant to the High Queen," she explained, being mindful not to divulge too much information that could compromise their facade. "Mads here can get a little testy when I don't address her by her proper title."

"This is ridiculous," Madison scolded before Eko jumped back in again, her laughter compounding the tension in the air.

"She was a bit more special than the rest of us," she shook her head to Madison, pleading eyes were at her cousin to behave, "wasn't that right Mads?"

Madison regarded her cousin with annoyance before she rolled it to the two men before her. Unfortunately, she knew exactly what her cousin had been doing; no subtle hint was required.

Sera had found interest in the company before her, the same company that made her own blood boil, the kind of company of one particular man she had not been flirting with in her absence.

It appeared the universe wanted to test her patience, Sera was already well versed in that regard.

Exhaling, she gritted her teeth as she held back the resentment, her cousin was safe after all, and were now together.

Once they returned to wherever she had been staying, it would allow them respite before they figured out the next step to get her back safely on the throne.

"Maddy?"

A mask drew itself around her, ever the woman of sophistication, "a pleasure to meet you both. I am told that you found-"

"-Eko," cutting in between her cousin's sentence, before once again laughing awkwardly between the three of them.

Eko swore Matthew was going to think she was some looney floozy with the way she was going.

"She'll use my full name, and it's embarrassing. She's so proper... Anyway...this is Matthew, and this is Toni," addressing the men to her cousin, praying to whatever god there was that Mad's didn't blow her cover.

Three bodies suspiciously stared at Eko, and Madison swore she would be her own undoing with this ridiculous lie.

"Thank you for your hospitality," the cold tone continued. It didn't matter if this soldier in front of her had a hand in saving Seraphina. She wasn't impressed with him, his lifestyle, and his disgusting arrogance.

His presence was a joke to her, and the sooner they could get away from this lifestyle, the better.

"I appreciate that you have reunited us. We are a family, and it is more important than ever that we save and protect every piece of what we have left. As troublesome as they may be."

"Troublesome!" Eko's voice compounded again in their senses, whacking Madison's arm as though what she said had been hilarious. The over-exaggeration allowed both men to simply nod accordingly.

"Anyway, Mad's, Skarsgard, and the entire academy have been most helpful," a smouldering smile was now plastered on her face when she directed her attention to him, something she had been wearing of late in his presence.

Toni swore he wanted to slap his best friend over the back of his head with the way he was ogling her. This idiot was standing there with the same pained, dumb look on his face as the brunette had.

He could cut the sexual tension in the air with a butter knife, and the only person who wasn't amused by the antics was the stern woman that eyed out his Commander in a peculiar and offputting manner.

"Look, any assistance we can offer," his best friend managed to surprisingly answer.

"I'll take you up on the offer."

Toni swore he heard Madison mutter under her breath at the idiocies of these two, standing there in their own little world still. He leered at both of them before he interrupted.

"You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you need. I'm sure Matthew would be happy to help by all means," Toni grinned, "and as always, we are here to help the crown and ensure Princess Seraphina's safe return."

"Good," Madison snapped as she nudged Eko beside her, trying to snap her from her thoughts and ridiculous dumb stare at the Commander.

Honestly, this woman.

"Eko?"

"Hmm," she smiled again before she turned her attention back to Madison, who had pinched her upper arm. The small act of violence finally forced the woman to fling her head to the older woman.

"What? What did I do now?"

Madison scoffed, rolling her eyes, "it is not polite how you are behaving."

"Right, well," Matthew offered, shifting his attention from the sexual nature of the goddess before him before he turned to Madison.

He tried his best to honestly behave in his wild thoughts of the said goddess, that now bit her bottom lip at him, "we had wanted to ask about the timeline on the palace and your thoughts on Seraphina's movements?"

The question is what snapped Eko from her thoughts, watching as both men studied Madison before her cousin cocked her head back, almost asking her what to say.

The raven-haired turned her attention hesitantly back to them, unsure how to honestly answer when there had been one question that plagued her mind that she needed answering.

"Where is the Queen?"

"Dead, Maddy," Eko began softly. She didn't want to be the one that broke the news to her cousin, for even if she lost a mother, well, whatever form she held of a mother, Madison lost the closest thing to a parental figure.

"W-wait, what, what?" pale fingers that shook had gripped her collar. It had been tightly pressed to her neck, forcing her airways to constrict under the news.

"Hey, breathe. I know," Eko offered, "but the princess?" desperately, she wanted Madison to understand that she needed her to play along.

"I never saw her board any escape pods, aircraft, or cargo ships. Did you, did you see where Sera went at all?"

Madison wanted to scream at her cousin that she hadn't cared for this ridiculous ruse of hiding her identity.

She had just learned knowledge that her aunt was dead, and now she had been bombarded with questions about the whereabouts of the princess, who, in fact, was alive and well beside her/

"H-how did she.. how... how... did the Q-queen die?"

"Unfortunately," Matthew began sympathetically at the girl's plight, "the Queen's ship was destroyed before take-off. The palace's Eastern Wing had fallen and took her own ship and several others in the fall."

His voice faded out; the chaos of that night had come raging into her thoughts. All she knew in the silence of that moment was that he was now instructing Toni to do something before he looked back to Eko, asking her the same thing.

"Of course." Eko nodded, "understood. Mads?"

"What?" Her world half filtered into place from the blur of washed-out green and white, with the pale grey of the skies. Then there was a soft noise, a hum almost as the voices got louder.

"We will continue our search," Matthew instructed, concern evident as he stared at Madison.

"As I had explained to Eko, for now, we will be escorting all staff associated with her royal highness and Princess Seraphina back to our base for the interim. Would you mind returning with Toni to our ship so our medical team can check you over?"

Eko, worried at Madison's state, softly took her hand, hoping she would eventually return to reality, knowing the shock of what their life looked like.

It would be crippling her cousin.

"It's okay, promise."

The raven-haired woman nodded to Eko's softly spoken words, then stepped toward Toni.

"The team will want to ensure you have no other injuries, and then you will be heading back to base with us."

"And the others?" Madison pointed toward the survivors.

"Being moved to safe houses with other bases. They'll be okay. It's all taken care of." Eko offered.

One of the first things she had made sure of with Matthew was that her people on the moon would be safe and as far away from Ezra as possible.

Nodding again, Toni turned on his heel, ready to leave with Madison, and yet he found that the woman hesitated when she noticed that Eko hadn't budged an inch.

"Come," Madison instead indicated than asked of her cousin, which was a curious trait that Matthew picked up on, especially Eko's response.

"No. I will continue with Commander Skarsgard. I will join you once we are done."

"Eko." Madison's stern voice pressed, "let's go, now. I will not repeat myself."

"And I will be fine," she gritted back, smiling, "go with Toni."

The said man quickly looked at Matthew, whose eyes narrowed between the two, and he could almost hear the exact words coming out of his mouth.

"Fine," and Madison's tone was almost a threat watching how the two men were staring at their bickering ways.

Not wanting to draw further attention, she decided to relent, and Eko won in their small power play.

"Great!" Eko waved sweetly, "be back later!"

Madison's frustration reached its pinnacle, prompting her to follow Toni's lead. The bodies melted into the throng of people before them, leaving Eko alone with Matthew.

His piercing steel-blue gaze scrutinized her intently, clearly seeking an explanation. She scrambled to come up with a plausible story to account for their peculiar behaviour, especially  of what all of that was about.

Oh hellloooo ALONEEE  time .......

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