Scorpius 12

To *Wolfsredfalcon* this is dedicated to you and your agreement with me on Staleek, you really moved me with your kind support. And to Omgggg and Scorpillover, thank you too for your kudos.

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As Alyssum and Scorpius are preparing for their first mating, her father, the Great Emperor Staleek sits in his window seat looking out over his empire. The Scarran leader (now garbed only as a regular aristocracy in his comfort soft clothes) settles down to the battered and worn cushions of his favored place feeling anything but regal or great. Today brought up a bucket full of emotions that he thought he had buried away a lifetime ago. The resurfacing has made him very tired and feeling extremely lonely. A broken man…again.
The lightest of knocks to his private door with the Empress' private quarters, lets him know she is asking permission to enter his private time. They have been joined for awhile, but it's a political arrangement, not one of love. Sure they are amicable and maybe even friends, but most assuredly, not mates in their hearts and souls, hence separate living quarters. He never said it, and she asked only once, only to see the deepest pain in his garnet red eyes before turning silently away. It's then that she knew the rumors were true about the lover the Sebaceans had ripped from his very bed and arms.
Today, she saw that pain again in his eyes. Today she saw him more quiet than he should be. Today was their daughter's own marriage. One thing Staleek and Falcrest did differently from their own, is allow her to marry for love. (Didn't hurt that the intended is of an honorable political family as well!) As happy as the Emperor was for his heir, the man's heart is aching for the one love he had stolen from him and all they could have had.

Falcrest knocks again softly when she receives no answer from the first knocks. Without turning his head from the window and barely above his brooding, he gives her soft permission to enter. The regal Empress is also in her relaxed finery as she floats into the dark room with the sad soft instrumental music from a tragic love story playing. As soon as she notices that the chamber is only lit by starlight from the window she knows exactly where he is in the room. The music only seems to illuminate his melancholy mood even more. She did come to check on him, but this was not at all what she expected to see.
"Staleek?" she approaches the dark form against the glass.
"I'm here," he mutters. Then the heavy sigh and she sees the shadow of a mug being lifted to his lips.
"Staleek…," this time her tone is almost pleading as she lays a hand to his shoulder. Sometimes he would lay his own over hers in silent acceptance her compassion, but tonight it takes too much energy to. It's hard enough just to breathe with the sharp pains in his chest with every broken-heartbeat.

Staleek and Falcrest are not lovers, hell he's not even sure if the Empress' two heirs are even his! The children were raised as if they were, loved as if they were, and that is all that really matters in the end. Empress Falcrest is honorable and discreet to her 'personal needs', like wise she does not say anything about his lack of physical attention towards her. Only she knows he has no others and rarely comes to her.
For now, it's not the first time she has found him sitting in the dark like this, but this time is just so much more. She saw that look in his eyes during today's ceremony and truly worried for him. He is an honorable man and devoted leader. Greatly she respects him for both, thus she does her role as companion to the throne to be by his side in times of conquest and woe.
Softly she lets her hand slide from his sagging shoulder to sit at his feet and look out over the view with him. It does surprise her that when he gets like this, he drinks a certain tea not a numbing intoxicating drink like so many others do.
"Will you ever tell me about her?" It's not a harsh question, it's a soft plea into his heart.

Just then the song crescendos with the ballad of the lover's cry for each other as they are torn from each other by warring family members. The Emperor takes in a shaky deep breath and releases it slowly. Falcrest narrows her focus and can see there is moisture on his cheeks. It's not that Scarrans don't cry, or even that male Scarrans don't cry, it's just… she's never seen Staleek (man or Emperor) even close to crying.
She moves to get closer, but his words halt her. "Have you ever been in love, Falcrest?"
That does bring her to pull back and think, "When I was young and childish I suppose."
The great head shakes lightly, "No, not infatuation or even lust, I mean pure love. The kind where you can just sit together and feel it radiating off each other. Where you can't breathe unless the other was in the same room with you?"
Her throat swallows hard on her own intoxicating drink she brought with her. She had no idea Staleek had this much passion for a single person. She thought for sure he only had it for his race, not a single individual. My gosh, he didn't even cry when he held either of his children for the first time and she knows he cares greatly for them.
"No," she whispers her confessional answer, "nothing like that."
"Well…. It hurts when they go away. It kills you when they are taken from you due to your title." He doesn't even wipe his tears (hoping she can't see them in the dark) "I'm sorry I could not love you like you deserved. You are not a bad person, I just…" He buries his head into the corner of the window looking out the empire his heirs will rule.
Her hand reaches out to cup his cheek, "Staleek, I never wanted love and you have given me everything I deserved and more. You have been kind, respectful and even a good lover… even if I wasn't her."
Yes, he was drunk the night their eldest was conceived. Falcrest heard his lover's name choked on as he released his seed into her. The Empress is a practical leader and always knew what her function to the Scarran Empire would be. Honestly, she thought Staleek was going to be brutally aggressive in pollination her womb creating the next dynasty as a simple cold function. She really did not expect him to be tender, teasing, and wonderful. He kissed her, he didn't take her. If anything, ever since, Falcrest has been a tad bit jealous of this rumored woman in his life who could invoke such emotions in the stanch and hard leader.
The second conception had been just a cold injection with nothing like the first one. The one she expected. As soon as he had release, he left her alone and locked himself in his private quarters. Within moments, she heard him tear the place apart. It took three days to repair all the damage he had done to his quarters that night. He did not return back to the Citadel for three weeks. He was leading attacks on any and all Sebacean pirates he could find. Falcrest was worried that he had lost his mind.
When he got the communiqué from the medical staff stating the Empress was impregnated again, he returned to his role as sire and Sire. He never bedded her again. In a way it broke her heart. Not for herself, but for him. Ever the trained and honed diplomat, she did her role as Empress knowing she would never be his lover or emotional confidante.

"Falcrest…," he whispers her name and turns his cheek into her soft touch. She's never heard him say her name so tenderly. "I'm not good company for you…," he leaves her to fill in 'tonight' or 'ever'.
Lightly, he removes her hand from his cheek to rest it back against herself. "Please go and live your life. Take care of them."
"Staleek, this isn't over." With a sad heart for her leader and a good man, she rises to leave. "I am going to search for her for you."
"Don't bother, it doesn't matter any more."
Falcrest leans pressing a kiss to the top of his brooding head, "It matters to me." Ever so softly she leaves the dark tomb leaving him to weep in solitude.

The guards who had known how much he enjoyed Midge's private company had died trying to protect them both. The documentation to her transfer had been found out to be falsified. He never knew who she legally was. The last image of her he had was fuzzy at best and she looked like a Sebacean pleading and screaming out for him. Not just any kind of scream, but the same one his own heart had been screaming for her.
Three short weeks they had shared and only a day and a half of intimate love making. All the other nights had been caresses and comfort. All their conversations had been as if they were companions, friends and ….mates. He had a mate for three weeks. A lifetime in a short amount of time. Maybe it's stupid, but right now, he feels like a widower all over again.
The great and powerful Emperor Staleek brought to a crumbling mess by an unknown woman who told him over and over again not to trust him and he did more than that. Not only did he trust her, he loved her with everything thing he had.
The clawed fist bangs on the reinforced protective glass which he knows he can not break, just as he can not find a way out of this pain.
"I love you Midge. I always will no matter how much time passes."

~~00~~
This time Empress Falcrest only gives two knocks to the main doors of his quarters (not the door joining their's) and barges in. Swiftly she shuts the door behind herself and locks it. The surprised leader lifts his wide eyes from the confidential documents before him to see the Empress striding -near charging- right at him. With a slap she plunks a file on top of the important ones before him.
"She was a soldier. She was a spy. She was a traitor to her own kind."
Staleek looks between the document and then back up to his mate. "What are you talking about?"
Falcrest smiles broadly tapping the file then she leans her glittering face into his. "Her name really was Midge."
Staleek gasps to hearing the name from another's lips for the first time in eons. He slumps back in the chair. "What are you saying?"
Falcrest picks up the document and comes round the side to settle her hip on the desk. "Staleek, you need to read this. I think it would be best that you read it rather than I tell you. But I want you to keep something in mind, she told you the truth when she said she was a traitor, but she didn't betray you. She loved you completely."
With that, she takes his hand and forces the document into it. Whipping off the desk in delight, she takes three steps and then sways. "Oh frill….," collapsing to the ground.
In a second, he is out of his chair and at her side. As he turns her head lifting it into his lap, he sees the blood coming out of her nose and mouth. "Falcrest?!" And he bellows for a guard.
One of hers and one of his guards burst down the door and gape in shock. "Get a medic! She's sick or something. Hurry!"
Hoisting her up, he tugs her to his chest and rocks her. "Stay with me please, Falcrest. You can't leave me too!"
She smiles, "Ah Staleek, you sweet man. So powerful, so brave…so damn sexy. Have you any clue how damned sexy you are!" And she starts choking up more blood staining his royal robes.
"Falcrest-"
"No, you listen to me. You have done so much for your people. Find them-" she motions to the fallen data pad. "You deserve to find them, don't worry about me. I've known for some time my time was coming."
Viciously he shakes his head as pounding foot steps can be heard approaching. "No, no, no! Falcrest, stay with me! PLEASE!"
"Go find your children…," her eyes close and leans heavier into his arms as her breathing begins to slow. "She was lucky to have your love…."
Staleek roars for them to hurry, but it's too late by the time they arrive. They whisk her away to the medical wing with her own guard at her side, but in his heart he already knows she is gone. He's had too many guards die protecting him that he knows a dead Scarran when he feels it. The proud arms slump to the side taking in the fact Falcrest has died for him as well. Instead of saving her strength for her people or her children, she gave her last breath for him. Too much personal weight for him to take in right now.

"Sire?" his own personal guard asks.
"I'm coming." The guard picks up the data pad that had fallen from the Emperor's lap and sets it on the table. When his leader still has not stood up, he offers his hand. Staleek looks down to the blood on his hands and then back up at his guard who saw it as well, but doesn't care. Reluctantly, he accepts the hand and allows himself to be pulled up. Silently they head towards the medical wing.
What keeps playing through Staleek's mind is the fact she searched for his Midge. Falcrest cared enough for him to search out an old rumor. With all her other responsibilities and failing health, she took the time to look for something so personal for him. The mother of his children, the Empress of his race and she cared about his heart.
His clawed hand grips at his chest with a new pain. Instantly his guard grips his bicep in preparation for his leader to stumble. Staleek doesn't shake him off or stumble either. Instead, takes a pained breath and continues on.

By the time the Emperor and his guard make it to the medical wing, her guard is outside the door looking forlorn. It was just as Staleek had perceived; she's gone. The guard tries to pull up to his full height and take his post, but the expression can not be hidden. Staleek lays a firm hard grip to the shoulder that can be felt even through the shoulder guards.
"Your duty is done, go rest."
The guard's head shakes and his voice fails, "Na-no Sire, I will-"
The red garbed leader turns to his own guard, "Get him home and to his family, it is my order. All of them."
With a snap of his fingers, the Emperor's guard has two of his lieutenants at his side in a click. While he is giving them instructions, Staleek does his duty as mate and highest ranking dignitary of the Scarran race overseeing the death of their honored Empress.

~~00~~
The funeral was spectacular and all that Falcrest deserved. Staleek honestly mourned for her at the services and wake. Maybe differently than when Midge was torn from his life, but certainly Falcrest is a loss to him as well. They had a good life and she had been good to him. He can't help but smile a little bit at how he had balked to marrying her. Likewise, she wasn't too thrilled about the arranged marriage but for the sake of the Empire they did so and were quite successful, he must say.
Their children are well on their way to running the Empire when his time comes. They respect and love each other and will serve well beside each other. His son is currently excelling at his military academy training and his daughter has married to a fine and shrewd diplomat. Those two alone are a fine leadership team he has enjoyed training with Falcrest.
It will be up to him alone to finish their training now.

Tonight he returns home not to his suite but to his mate's, yes he is finally accepting the title into his heart even if it's too late. Tonight he will finally look at the last gift she gave him. Falcrest's gift of love for him. Swiftly casting aside his regal attire, he slips into his soft robe. Grabbing the data pad and his cup of warm tea, he settles into her window seat.
With a sip, he pulls up the first stolen file from the Peace Keeper's Records. Here is their plan to breed a Scarran-Sebacean hybrid and plant him as a spy within the Scarran political ranks.
"Bastards and they called us primitive beasts!"
With disgust he flicks to the next file. Midge. There's her face at the top of the file. The other half of the flickering image he saw dragged from his royal suite that night. The cup tumbles from his hand spilling into the carpet as he stares at the image of his lover. As hard as it is, he tears his eyes from the picture and begins reading.
With each line he reads, he sees the truth to the words Midge told him. With each word written, he sees that she not only came in and accidentally met him, but she succeeded in her mission to collect the sample.
His clawed hand covers his gaping sharp maw that had bitten and marked her as his own as he filled her with her mission. His other hand drops the pad to cover his eyes as he remembers those sweet sounds she made as they made love. The nostrils flare as he remembers that scent she gave off and the joke he made about her being in heat. She was.
"Oh….no…"
His heart begins racing as he scrambles for the pad. Searching through all the frivolous details and science talk, he finds what Falcrest was telling him:
'Go find your children.'
Panting, he dives for the comline: "Get me a cartographer RIGHT NOW! Then WAKE him!"
Staleek runs his hands over his racing chest once more and continues to read while waiting for his orders to be followed. To his horror he finds that when Scorpius was accepted by the Peace Keepers, his children and mate were to be extinguished. The war cost him personally.
The next line leaves him sinking to the chair…Midge died helping her children escape the execution orders. It is unknown if they survived or perished. The information brings bile up into his throat on the verge of purging.
The pad falls from his hands once again. Today has been one HELL of a day. Leader or not, he is a twice widowed man and a father twice over as well. It's a lot to take in and his head is more than throbbing in time to the pain in his chest.

A knock at the door brings his head up. "Enter." Just as the professional comes to his side, he notices there is a wealth of more data on this pad. Swiftly he flicks through it and a smile begins to spread across his face to the scattering of notes and rumors.
"I do so love you, Falcrest," he smiles up to the confused and blurry eyed map maker.
"You called, Sire. It was urgent?"
Staleek grins widely for the first time in years. "What I am about to show you does not leave these quarters. If you tell anyone, I will have you beheaded."
The poor man is no longer blurry-eyed. "Of-of course, Sire!"
Staleek yanks the man into a chair beside him and shows him the rumored notes of a strange young couple on a distant agriculture planet.