(A/N: I do not own Duck Dodgers or Looney Tunes. That right belongs to Warner Bros.)
X-2 had to admit: This was indeed worse than the last time he was Dodger's slave. Not because Dodgers was a harsh master, rather it was that Dodgers was now becoming everything he had hoped to be and now he had a front seat to it all.
He saw see Dodgers be fitted for his wedding robes, he saw him pose for an official royal portrait as he would be crowned King soon(And looking rather cocky throughout the whole pose), he saw ice sculptures designed of Dodgers embracing the Queen in a sweeping kiss, pretty much being given the royal treatment over the past two weeks he had been his slave.
It was pretty much what all his innermost nightmares consisted of. However, this wasn't a nightmare; it was the real thing and there was no waking up from it.
Right now, he was inside Dodger's bedroom (Or at least his bedroom for now until he and the Queen would officially share a room, another reason for his ongoing depression), sweeping up the large amounts of junk food that Dodgers ever so humbly helped himself to from the Palace kitchen. Never had he seen one organic being eat so much. The thing that confused the former Commander the most was that he was so thin for his eating habits. Where in the name of the gods did he hide it all? While puzzling, he thought it would probably be best not to know.
The slave continued to do his duty as the future King of Mars himself came in the room, chomping on a vine of grapes.
"Howdy doo there, ol' pal" Dodgers said as he threw the now empty vine on the ground. X-2 looked between the vine to the floor and his master. He gave an ever so slight glare to the duck.
"With all due respect, Master, this is what the garbage chute is for" X-2 said as he walked to the vine, picked it up and threw it down the said chute.
"Yeah, well...the King can't be expected to do everything, now can he?" Dodgers asked with a smug look as he looked at himself in the mirror. He had to admit, Martian wardrobe was starting to grow on him.
X-2 rolled his eyes. "Of course not but need I remind you Master, you're not the King, yet"
"Ah, yeah, about that. Tyr'ahnee and I need to look over shome seating arrangementsh for the recheption. She shaid you were allowed to come along, buddy" Dodgers said.
"Really?" X-2 asked hopefully, thinking that some tension between them may be resolved.
"Yeah, only she wantsh you to siht at the back of the room sho she doeshn't have to see you. She'sh still kinda mad at you" Dodgers said.
The momentary hope that filled X-2 for a short while evaporated and his face turned gloomy again.
"But don't worry though. The Cadet will be around sho he can be some company to you. Anyway, I better be off. You can take the resht of the day off when you're done here" Dodgers said.
X-2 gave a slight glare. "Yes...thank you...Master"
He said the last word with a bit of a sneer but thankfully, Dodgers wasn't paying attention at the moment.
"See you around, bud" Dodgers said and left the room, the door banging behind him.
X-2's rage was nothing like he'd ever felt before. He was so angry. Never had he thought he could ever stoop so low, cleaning up after this mongrel and daring to call him master...again.
After a few minutes of self pity, X-2 decided that this wasn't solving anything and got back to work. It took him about an hour and a half to clean up the rest of the mess. The former Commander turned slave figured Dodgers got his eating habits from his former cadet, given his origin species.
After making sure everything was clean and sparkling, he left. He honestly wondered if he should even have tried so hard. The duck was only going to mess the room up again, it's not like it even mattered if he put in the extra effort.
Then again though, what else did he have going for him at that point? He didn't have anything else to do. He was at that point a slave, the lowest class a Martian citizen could be (If he could even be counted as a citizen anymore). People hardly gave him the time of day anymore and the Centurions only acknowledged him out of respect for his former position. At that moment, his only friend in the world was the one person in the whole universe he couldn't stand: Dodgers.
He walked out of the Royal bedroom and started walking toward his room.
"Room" X-2 thought sarcastically. It wasn't anything like the sort.
Since he had become a slave, he had been removed from his imperial suite and relocated to a room far different than his usual surroundings. He'd seen janitors closets with more luxuries. It was pretty much just a lumpy old mattress with no coverings, a thin and dirty blanket, a sink that spit out dirty water and a toilet in which he didn't know what contents it held. The very least he knew was that it was not water (At least not anymore).
He, with great depression, walked to the small door that lead to his room and plopped down on the mattress and sighed. Just where and when did he go wrong in his life?
Maybe this was the sign that Dodgers was always meant to be the winner and he was always supposed to be the loser. It's kind of a morbid view on his life but given how the duck had seemed to almost always get the better of him, there was practically no debate over it.
He had been sorely tempted to come up with another lie to tell to Dodgers to stop this wedding like the lie about the phantom methane farms but he decided against it. It was too risky and he almost faced certain death because of it.
Besides, what good would it do? The Queen wasn't interested in him anymore. He understood that now. She thought she loved him because he saved her from Z-9. That was all. Her heart still belonged to Dodgers and it always had.
Well X-2 decided to stop letting life slap him in the face and get over it because this was his life from now on and he would accept it with as little dignity as he had left.
He lied down on the mattress, head facing the ceiling and covered himself with his blanket. The mattress felt hard as a rock but it was something you had to get used to. After about 15 minutes, he fell into a deep sleep.
*Around Midnight*
There was a strange noise that woke the former Commander from his slumber. He had been dreaming that him being a slave to Dodgers was all a dream and that he and the Queen were still happily in a relationship. Oh, how irony could be cruel in its ways.
The noise sounded like something soft being scraped across the floor and X-2 could swear he heard footsteps quickly patting on a floorboard nearby.
X-2 rubbed his eyes and got up from his 'bed'. He looked around to see if something could have fallen somewhere. At first, he saw nothing and then he saw something at the bottom of the door to the room. It...was a letter...and it was addressed to him.
He unfolded the letter and read what the contents had to say.
"Hello, X-2,
I don't wish to reveal who I am at the moment. However, you and I know each other quite well. Granted, the last time we saw each other, we could have left on a better note but I digress.
I've heard of your situation and let me be the first to tell you that I am completely sympathetic with you. To be forced to serve that duck his every whim and to see him marry such a fine specimen as the Queen. I tell you, it should be illegal!
I have a proposition for you that will benefit the both of us and we both can get what we want. Meet me in the throne room 3 nights from now at around midnight. No one will be there to disturb us.
I swear to you, it'll be worth your while for you to go through with this
Sincerely,
An old friend"
X-2 looked down confused at the letter. He opened the door to his room and looked down both sides of the hallway. No one was there. They had run off some time ago.
After closing the door again, he looked down at the letter for almost a half hour. He didn't know what this meant but for whatever reason, it intrigued him. It was almost too good to be true...and that's what worried him.
Whatever the purpose was for this mysterious stranger to be so interested in helping a slave is beyond him but he figured he just might entertain this idea just for the purpose of seeing what it was all about. He ripped the letter into shreds and put it into a bucket that he used as a trash bin, just to make sure no one would find it if they came into his room for whatever reason.
He crawled back into bed and fell asleep. The former Commander felt unnaturally chipper about his situation, thinking that it may yet turn the other way around.