We know what we are, but we know not what we may be

-William Shakespeare-

The torch was illuminating the stonewalls around in its crimson light making the shadows dance in their own silent music in their own surreal dance that only Spirits can fully understand. The walls around were bare, without anything decorating them, the same as the stairs. The slight, dripping sound of droplets falling to the wet mini-puddles that had gathered to the cracks of the stairs was echoing from time to time. Humidity was indeed high and was piercing the bones. No matter how warm it would be outside, inside these underground tunnels things rarely changed; it was usually chilly cold and wet and it was difficult to tell the time or the day. It was as if the mere meaning of time evaporates down here.

The only thing that seemed to be disturbing this wet silence was the sound of footsteps and a fast breathing. The man holding the torch was rushing down the stairs panting heavily as if he was running a marathon. Indeed his heart was racing and hammering against his ribs and the torch seemed to be restless in his hands, as it was moving all the time right and left at every single sound or echo around the stonewalls. The young man's uneasiness seemed to be growing stronger by every passing second.

His clothes were royal robes made of the best and finest silk, while his tunic was of best-quality leather, his boots too. His hair was a river of platinum gold that cascaded freely to his shoulders till his middle back. One of his bangs was braided in a small and loose braid to keep most of his hair from falling to his eyes. Dante the Prince of Meridian was a brave young man. Even his teachers that appeared to be despising him like demons despised incense, had told him how fearless he was in the yard, while practicing the sword or when he rode his horse so fast that even the greater soldiers gasped in fear imagining themselves on the horse doing something similar.

However now Dante the Prince of Meridian was scared; thick droplets of sweat were formed on his forehead or were running cold down his back from inside his shirt. He was constantly jerking up at the slightest sound as he was walking down deeper and deeper underground, leaving behind the world of the surface.

Now some might wonder, why on Earth (or Meridian in his case) would just leave his palace, his castle or anything he had as a familiar environment behind just to descend down the stairway that led down at a place lower even from the palace dungeons. No, it wasn't some crazy bet he had done with his friends or anything. Dante was a tall man with a kind face that looked like he was in his early twenties, with strong body ad muscular arms, bright, blue eyes, liquid in sadness…and he had no friends. Basically that was the reason he was now walking down this narrow, dark stairway. Dante was despised by his people, all his life and no one ever told him the reason. His only friend and companion was his mother the Queen, who truly loved her more than her breath itself. It took him years to find out the true source of their hatred or the greatness in his mother's love. When he found out about it, he just couldn't hold still in his room and do nothing but forget about it. No matter how much his heard was hammering against his ribcage, no matter how much his mind was screaming his stubborn body to do a half-turn and return back to the surface where he belonged, Dante just needed to know…he needed to clarify why he was disputed his entire life…why he was feared his entire life…

For the first time in this very life of his…he just wanted to clear this up once and for all…

Soon the dark hallway gave its place to a faint, greenish light. He descended a few more stairs to find himself in an infinite labyrinth of endless corridors. The entire place seemed to have no end, extending to each direction. The floor and ceiling were entirely made of green marble, completely glossy and shiny like true emerald. Dante stopped to his tracks for a second to admire the view. He had heard of this city but never really, as much he could recall, had come all the way here.

The Infinite City, this was how his people called this place. No one was sure when and by whom this "city" was built or for what reason. The only thing he knew from the books he had read was that the City would extend to every direction and never end, as if it was the entire world of Meridian in size. Dante gulped once. This light around was definitely a change from the dungeon-like hallway he had left behind but instead of relaxing, his nerves tensed even more and his palms got even more sweaty than before. He had a tight knot to his throat and his stomach gave an uneasy twist.

It was as if his body was telling him, he still had time to turn around now. However his spirit had different opinion. He had come this far. He wouldn't back down now. He drew a deep breath and after leaving his torch behind he sprinted into a run down the shiny hallway, following the direction the rumors were leading him towards. He was alone, as it seemed.

After running for a couple of minutes he finally reached a column and touched a specific spot in it. He felt it move inside under his palm and right after the ground making a rumbling sound, dragging itself back to reveal the square hole with the stairs leading even further into the earth. His stomach gave yet another leap but he paid no mind and descended even further into the unknown darkness. Soon the darkness gave its place to light once more, this time a faint blue one and also was accompanied by the sound of falling water.

As he stepped through the door he saw a blue room. It had a pond in the middle with stepping-stones, obviously for someone to step on, leading towards a magnificent waterfall. He steadily hopped from stone to stone till he reached the wall of water. As if the cataract had felt his presence, the waters pulled back to either side like a water curtain. Dante stepped in trying to calm his racing heart down. He entered yet another narrow tunnel but this was much shorter. At the other side he found two guards. When they saw him coming they gasped.

"Hey!"

"Th-The Prince!"

Dante acted fast. He rushed forward and hit the one person in the stomach and then to the back of his head, making the creature fall to the ground unconscious. Before the other one had time to react, Dante had wrapped his muscular arm around his neck.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered before delivering yet another blow to the guard's nape.

He let his unconscious body to the floor softly. He wasn't a man that liked violence. On the contrary he was a quiet young man who preferred reading and playing music but still he knew he wanted no interruptions and he needed privacy.

He took a glance to the unconscious guards on the floor and then back at the front. It was now or never. He had reached so far. He had come to the Infinite City through the Palace's secret passageways and he had gone through the legendary Ancient Mage's Waterfall. He had even knocked two guards down by force. Now there was no going back.

Taking one last breath he stepped into his destination.

He was greeted by the constant growling of countless desperate creatures. Their nightmarish faces were sending shivers down Dante's spine even if he lived in a kingdom that had plenty of strange creatures. He had only read in books about these creatures. Lurdens, that's what they were called; vicious creatures with hard skins, messy and dirty hair and mouths full of strong teeth or green with very few but the same sharp teeth into their mouths. Their arms and legs were thick like tree branches. They were all inside cells, cells Dante had never seen before. They looked like hives. The bars were not normal either, they were made by some energy source. He couldn't tell what kind of energy that was but for sure he wouldn't want to touch it to find out.

He was feeling his knees shaking, ready to give in but he sure wouldn't show that! The creatures were now growling pitifully and sometimes extending their fat hands and hardened like wood fingers towards him almost as if they wanted to grab him, as if they wanted to beg him set them free. Dante gulped.

"Where are you…?" he whispered.

The growling of the creatures became stronger.

"Where are you?" his voice came louder.

Fingers and hands were waving towards him.

"Where are you!" Dante yelled at top of his lungs.

"How unusual…" he heard a tenor voice that certainly sounded human

And then a man stepped into the light from the dark depths of his cell. And Dante gasped as all color drained from his face in an instant and the pupils of his eyes got so tiny that almost got lost in the sea of blue of the irises. There was standing a lord-like man, tall and he didn't seem older than his early thirties. His hair was a cascade of pure platinum, even paler than his own, so long that reached the hems of his robe and was formed in a couple of braids. He could tell he had a matching of long braids to his back as well while his main hair that were still loose, was falling gracefully a bit above his waistline. His robes were a combination of crimson red and pitch-black, and sure looked royal… His skin was so pale that Dante could have sworn it was sculpted in marble. A small platinum beard (so similar to his own) was decorating his thin chin while his high cheekbones were supporting a pair of the coldest and most dangerous eyes Dante had ever seen. They were oil-green and were looking down at him without giving into any other sensation but contempt and perhaps a hint of amusement.

Dante knew that he was standing before a mirror reflection of his own, something like his dark twin but also he knew that he was standing before the ghost that was haunting his life without even moving. He was no one else but Prince Phobos himself!

"I never get new visitors in this hell" the Prince continued in his mocking tone, "Yet alone someone of royal blood"

Dante couldn't suppress another grimace of shock.

"How…how can he tell?" he thought.

Prince Phobos' lips' ends curled up in an illusion of a mocking smirk.

"I only heard rumors but I never thought it would be true! So my dear sister actually grew up enough to have a son, and someone so much looking like myself, I must add! For sure that was an unexpected turn of events to say the very least!"

Dante's heart was now racing up to maximum speed. He wanted to come here, he wanted to confront him, he wanted to clear this up once and for all but now he was actually there, now that he was actually seeing his face and hearing his voice, was feeling like a five-year-old boy again and wanted nothing more than run into his mother's arms and burry his face in her sweet-smelling bosom till this nightmare would clear from his head like the morning fog. However he pressed himself be brave.

"Why…" he mumbled.

The Dark Prince cocked up his well-formed brow.

"I beg your pardon?"

Dante looked up and this time his voice came out clear.

"Why! You have been ruining my life all this time! Why!"

His fists clenched painfully. He didn't even know why he was openly accusing him for everything he had to endure as a child but he felt like letting go of all his bottled up emotions, like when you scream your nightmare off.

"All my life, my people were despising me! They were afraid of me because of my resemblance to you! No one would tell me a thing, they would only turn their heads elsewhere! They would never even look at me! And it was all your doing!"

However Prince Phobos didn't appear moved at all. He gave out a theatrical sigh of disappointment and spoke as if he was talking to himself.

"Some family re-union we have!" he said his voice dripping with sarcasm, "After of years of being away you came to see your dear uncle and you start screaming nonsense to me. Nice mannerisms you learnt from my sister, my dear nephew"

"Don't call me that!" Dante snapped.

"Deny it all you want!" Prince Phobos retorted, "However you ARE my nephew and I AM your uncle and no matter if you believe it or not my blood runs through your veins the same much as your mother's and father's does. Of course I never met your father or heard much about him, since not much of news come down to these cells. I wouldn't bet he was something special, since my dear sister never had much of sense of style but…"

He rubbed his chin with his index finger and thumb.

"…Now that I see you, I would say that it wouldn't matter since the result is rather…acceptable"

Dante felt all the blood that had left his face, returning back but even hotter than before. He was feeling dizzy. He could see that even after years imprisoned, the Dark Prince hadn't let go even to the least of his sarcasm.

"All…All my life I did nothing wrong!" he croaked out, "And yet I was despised! Because of you!"

"Taking under consideration that I have been in this cell, my beloved sister so kindly offered me, since, hell knows how long, it wouldn't really make sense that I did anything for your life, my nephew. So instead of jumping here out in the blue and screaming at me why don't you do anything for that life of yours!"

His lips formed an amused grin, revealing for the first time his perfect white teeth with slightly sharpened bicuspids.

"However I must admit that even I couldn't expect that. Despite the fact I am imprisoned in this cell for years, people up there are still so afraid of me that they won't approach a baby because of his resemblance to me!"

The throaty sound that followed his tenor, smooth voice, sounded like an amused chuckle.

"You are in this cell because of your crimes, Phobos!"

"I only took what I thought it belonged to me" the older Prince retorted unperturbed, "everything that was rightfully mine and yet denied from me"

"You're wrong! My mother…my mother was the rightful Queen! You didn't respect that at all!"

"Respect a newborn baby? Please!" the Prince caught him off guard, "When I was born, your beloved mother wasn't even an idea inside my Queen Mother's mind at those times. I was the firstborn, I was stronger, I had ideas, ambition, leading abilities… Meridian was rightfully mine no matter how you look at it"

"You're wrong!"

"Or so you think! Why wait for so many years more till my sister to be born instead of making me the rightful ruler of the kingdom?"

"The Old Tradition…"

"…Can be broken" Phobos interrupted him, "There is no law in our kingdom that says the ruler must be a Queen. It is an old tradition followed for thousands of years but the laws also mention that the Queen of Meridian has absolute power. If Queen Mother wanted to, she could break this tradition she would have done it"

"My…my Grandmother was a great Queen!"

"You think? Is this what my dear sister told you? When she didn't even met her?"

Another amused smirk appeared to his face seeing the shocked expression on his nephew's face.

"I'll tell you this; it is true that Queen Mother was a remarkable ruler and everyone in Meridian could sleep assured at nights that they were protected however as a mother, I cannot tell she knew what she signed up for when she took this title. She never loved her children. All she wanted was an heir"

"No!"

"She never loved anyone, trust me on that. She never loved her own son, her own blood! She cast me aside from the very first moment and she never gave me the chance to prove myself. None of them did"

"Stop!"

"You and I are not so different as you think"

"Stop this!" Dante yelled holding his head with both hands

He just couldn't hear anymore, not because he was feeling sorry for the man who got feared by the entire Universe because of his tyranny but because he found truth in his words, truths he never wanted to admit even to himself by the moment he had heard of the true source of his people's hatred.

"I am nothing like you!"

"Are you not?" Phobos continued plainly, "Oh, but I am not the monster you think I am. I just had great ambition that didn't seem acceptable in this world. There was plenty of energy in this planet so I tried to take my share…and perhaps something more. I was never loved to begin with and they denied this world from me using the excuse of tradition. Well the matter…I just took what I deserved myself"

And when Dante remained silent to his words he continued.

"You know what I mean, don't you? Feared by anyone from the moment you were born, denied your destiny, not given you the slightest trace of trust, not even given you the chance to prove yourself suitable for a leader, isn't that not? You never had your share of what you deserved"

"I…I…" Dante stammered, "I would never do what you did!"

"No, perhaps not" the Prince said idly, "It is nice to have your sweet mother close to you, right? Perhaps having someone to love you, right?"

Dante gulped. He was feeling his uncle's piercing eyes staring straight into his mere soul!

"Well, I didn't" Phobos said, "Queen Mother was more of a burden and less than a mother to me. She despised me and I despised her back. You must be careful with love. Hatred and dispassion are easy to handle and even easier to understand but love is like a poison that only disappoints you!"

"No! That's not true!"

"Love never helped any leader!" Phobos insisted, "If you want to be a leader, learn to inspire their fear, not their love. Peasants learn to demand. If you want to hold them under your control, then make them fear you"

Dante backed away a few steps, disgusted.

"I don't want to be a tyrant!"

"Then you are an idealistic fool, like my dear sister. Peasants can never love their ruler. They can fear him, they can trust him, perhaps, but never love them. Just try leave your peasants without wheat for a day and you will have riots all over the kingdom, but if you learn to inspire their fear and they will never dare to raise their head against you"

Dante shot him with a glare.

"Yeah…like it happened to you!" he said sarcastically

"Perhaps" Prince Phobos admitted, completely untouched by the young one's sarcasm, "Yes, it is true that I was defeated by a combined rebellion but this rebellion would have ended a hundred times if the Guardians weren't there to stop me. As we say; numbers never lie. All forces of Meridian were needed to take me down, an entire Vail was raised by the all-powerful Kandrakar to keep me away and even now, so many years after my defeat, still locked in this cell and my people still fear me so much that they refuse even to speak my name! So tell me who's going to be remembered in the end, my sister or me"

Dante clenched his stomach with his hand to stop it from leaping yet one more time.

"Mother is…Mother is the Light of Meridian"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know" Phobos interrupted impatiently, "The Light of Meridian, the Messiah of Light who gave an end to the dark age of tyranny! She was a mere toy in my hands and she would never defeat me if her friends weren't there to come for her rescue. Some dark page of the story right?"

Dante opened his mouth to answer but he closed it again. He had never heard this point of view to this story. Could it be that Phobos was telling the truth? No, he was lying! He had to be!

"As it seems…" Phobos took his silence for approval, "I am the only person in the world that can truly understand you!"

"Why you…of all people…?"

"I want to help you" Phobos said with a cat's smirk

"You…you're lying!"

"I'll let you decide that" Phobos said meekly, "I give you choices and you can decide which part you will take, dear nephew…"

Every resistance seemed to be leaving Dante's tired heart. He didn't know what to believe anymore. He took another look around at the hive-like cells with all those nightmarish creatures and then back to the man he called uncle, the lord figure among the demons, smirking almost friendly to him behind the bars. He had only one person to trust in this world and that was his mother but this man appeared to be reading his heart like an open book. He had found himself pushed at the corner, unable to find the right answer to escape when…

BAM!

It was the sound of the doors flicking open with a forceful move or magic and then Queen Elyon appeared, dressed in her royal dresses (today she was dressed in her favorite bluish green) and the crown glowing to her head along with a team of guards that were also accompanied by the couple of guards Dante had knocked out earlier. Elyon's delicate brows were knitted together in anger.

"What are you doing up in your room this late of hour, brother?" she said in clear and loud voice almost sarcastically.

"Mother!" Dante exclaimed looking towards her direction

Phobos didn't seem at all perturbed by her appearance. He only raised his hands up at a fake preparation of an even more fake bow that never came.

"Oh, if this isn't the all powerful Queen of Meridian! What is my little sister doing here among us after all this time? I had started believing I was forgotten. I must be really famous today!"

Elyon's brows knitted even tighter.

"What have you told him, Phobos!" she demanded

"Why, sister, can't I have a simple conversation with my dear nephew? It was about time for you to introduce us!"

"Dante!" Elyon said to her son, calling him close.

Dante had felt the warmth of her presence as he came closer to her and she put him behind her, protectively, still glaring daggers at Phobos.

"You must not listen a single word of what he says, Dante! I won't let him hurt you like he did to so many others!"

"Like I did to you, you mean?" Phobos smirked but realizing that he wasn't really in position to pick a fight with his little sister, he raised his hands in the air in a surrendering move, "Rest assured sister, I didn't do anything to your beloved son. He came here in his own free will, and I just told him what he asked me. I answered to his questions"

"Stop poisoning my son's mind!"

"I can see now why he was so convinced about you!" Phobos said looking at Dante behind her, "You sure make a fine job as a mother, sister. Perhaps a little too fine for my tastes. So be it though. Your precious son has a mind of his own, Elyon"

It has been years since he last spoke her name like this, Dante could tell. He could feel the shiver at his mother's back.

"He will choose the path he wants on his own. As for me…I will sit behaved in the luxurious room you were so kind at giving me. I don't really have a choice, but remember this, your son is also my blood and not only yours, and from what I heard and saw we two have more things in common than you will ever admit! If I were you I would be careful. Perhaps he will come to me one day when he will need help!"

The young Queen didn't answer. She only wrapped her arm around her son's shoulders and said;

"Let's go, Dante. Let's get out of here…"

Dante, for billionth time, obeyed his mother without muttering any kind of complain.

Back at the illuminated palace walls, Elyon stopped and looked at her son.

"What you did was absolutely reckless!"

"I'm sorry, mother…"

"You could have got hurt! The cell absorbs Phobos' powers but what could have happened if he…?"

"I'm sorry, mother…"

"Dante!"

Her white hand cupped his cheek.

"If anything happened to you, I don't know what I would do!"

"I'm-I'm sorry, mother… I won't do this again I promise…"

Elyon sighed softly.

"It's alright. What it matters is that you are fine now"

"Mother…"

She stopped in her tracks, for she had started to walk away, and looked at him.

"He…" he hesitated, "He said…that…that you were a toy in his hands… It was a lie, right? You are strong, aren't you, mother?"

However his mother's face darkened.

"Dante…" she said heavily, "You must understand, Phobos was a master of deception and intrigue. He lied to me, he had been lying to me all the time. That's why I wanted to protect you… I wouldn't want anything happen to you like it happened to me"

Dante was taken aback by this confession so he fixed his gaze to the carpet-dressed floor.

"Phobos is your blood indeed. He is your uncle" Elyon continued, "But I want you to remember that there is no person in the world that can love you more than me or understand you more than me"

Dante nodded obediently again but didn't answer. Elyon looked at him worriedly, almost pleadingly.

"Dante, please promise me to be careful, not go there ever again or listen to your uncle's lies ever again! Please…"

Dante remained silent for a little while and then nodded his head weakly.

"Yes mother…I promise…" he said

Back at the prisons under the earth, Phobos was chuckling alone in his cell. Even the Lurdens were looking worriedly towards the direction his laughter was heard, cringing away from the source. Phobos' eyes seemed to give a small shine in the dark.

"You'll come to me, my nephew" he whispered, "Eventually…"

And he stepped back into the darkness of his cell once more.

"You'll come to me…"

Uneasy lies the head that wears crown

-William Shakespeare-

Hello. Valentine's Day today but instead of making some couple story, I prefered make this one-shot Nothing romantic about it huh? Perhaps a little darcky... Anyway this is dedicated to YarArtsCalebCornelia (DA) who of course owns the character Dante.
It was yet another surprise I kind of had promised to her some weeks ago, or better...hinted it.

Here we have Dante confronting his worst nightmare, his uncle Prince Phobos. I know my friend prefers the comics issues than the anime but I just couldn't help it but imagine the conversation taking place in the dark cells of Infinite City instead of Phobos travelling to the Universe. I know I do not mention how Dante finds out about Phobos' existance and stuff because my friend sure has already plans about it so I left it hanging for her to do whatever she wants with it! ;)
I know the ending too reminds kind of a thriller, leaving the statement hanging and letting this like a non-finished story but...bear with it and sorry if you expected something better ;)

The preview image is a small part from YarArtsCalebCornelia's picture (On DA) and the background is a close-up shot from Meridian's prisons where Phobos was held according to the anime.
It was edited from a screenshot. I did the editing to make this surprise for my friend.
I hope you liked it despite the poor plot. It doesn't have any plot. Just a small...conversation bwteeen Phobos and his nephew Dante.

W.I.T.C.H belongs to Disney and to the other rightful owners
Dante belongs to YarArtsCalebCornelia (Da)

Please comment/review me.
Enjoy