A/N  Thank you milady Moria, for the excellent beta.

Chapter 11

Irreconcilable Differences

"Beating up on injured and harmless women now, Skeletor? Does it make you feel like a man?" She spat the blood out and tested her left canine gingerly with her tongue.

"Harmless! You are a lot of things, Evil-Lyn, but harmless is not one of them." He laughed before dragging her by her shirtfront to the bed and dumping her on top of it.

"There. You look like you need some rest." Pieces of plaster and stone from the earlier explosion littered the bed and were poking her mercilessly between her shoulder blades. She swore heavily when Skeletor placed his heavy bulk on top of her. She swore again and tried to push him off in earnest when possible reasons for their new position flooded her mind.

"Keep still, we need to talk."

He groaned and laid his head in her chest, shaking it from side to side as if he had no clue how to go on. "I think I am loosing my mind. And I think you have brought me to this." He looked at her finally.

"I know why you did it. This life we have chosen is not for the weak, it can be a lonely one. I understand your needing …someone." She flinched violently when he caressed her chin with the back of a finger. "I admit there have been a few times when I have felt a similar need myself. Don't you understand Evil-Lyn?" he began eagerly, pulling himself up so that they were now face to face. "We could have easily satisfied each other's needs. Don't look at me like that."

Evil-Lyn was shaking. She had never been more afraid of him than she was at that moment. Before he was violent and vengeful, and she knew what to expect. But now…now he was calm and so close she could smell his sweat. Funny, she couldn't remember Skeletor sweating before.

"What do you want from me?"

"You mean besides seeing you dead? I'm not sure. I believe I want you to understand why I am doing this. Why I had to kill your lover. To be perfectly honest, I did not intend to kill him when I visited his dingy, little hut. His nonchalance to my very sincere promises to claw his guts out with my bare hands if he did not leave the area was annoying. He just irritated me. So I had Beastman and Cyclops hold him down while I made him hold his insolent tongue.

"Pleas stop this. Don't say anymore."

"I am not saying this to hurt you Evil-Lyn," he laughed, "I just want you to understand why I lost my temper so …completely. That had never happened before. He acted as if he had a right to your person." Skeletor reflected. "You see, Evil-Lyn, your situation had gotten out of control. Suddenly my sharpest warrior had been converted into a love-struck, simpering, distracted liability. You had lost my trust and respect."

"You never trusted me in the first place."

"Not completely, no. I admit our relationship has been tenuous, but it was entertaining. I had plans for you." He shifted his body from hers and slowly sat up. His grip never loosened from her shirt so she was forced to sit up with him. "I had chosen you. When I became ruler of Eternia, I had decided that you would be the woman to share it with me. Every king needs a queen. I have never met anyone as conniving or as cunning as you." Evil-Lyn listened, slightly horrified. Never, even at her most devious, had she thought of sharing anything with him. "He diminished you Evil-Lyn," he said gravely.

"What do you know about it? Nothing! Not a damned thing!"

"Well why don't you tell me what was so great about him that you are willing to throw away everything we have worked for," his anger spiked a few notches to match hers.

"Tell me!" he shook her as if she was a naughty child when she refused to respond or even look at him.

"He made me happy."

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"He saved me from all those stupid plans that we've been hatching for years; from the fruitlessness of this stinking life!"

"What utter nonsense. I see that you are more damaged in the head than I previously thought."

"Are you happy Skeletor?"

"What! Happiness has nothing to do with anything."

"You will never win Skeletor. You weren't meant to, and I am tired of loosing with you."

"Then you should rest, my dear." His tone was murderous.

There it was again, the shaking. Despite her brave words she had begun to feel the constriction in her chest that panic always brings. She was suddenly gasping. He was so close, she could hardly breathe.  It seemed as if he was stealing the oxygen from the air before it reached her lungs. He had already stolen so much. It was too much. And she just couldn't stop shaking.

"Please." Her was voice was a shimmering whisper. "Please don't do it. I am going to have a baby…if you kill me you'll kill him too. Please Skeletor. Please let us go." Then she wept. An open mouthed, searing keening that started in her belly and burned its way through her throat. She didn't care that she was putting herself, her weakness, on display for her enemy. It was finally too much. Her helplessness was killing her child. 

Skeletor stared for a long time, unmoving, letting himself adjust to the shock of what he just heard. Her cries were driving him insane. He sighed long and deep after several minutes when she seemed to be finally pulling herself together.

"Well, nothing is going the way I expected today is it." He released her and eased himself slowly off the bed and stepped back. He reached for his sword again. He felt as if he were moving in slow motion; every movement emphasized and deliberate. He realized he must still be in shock. When he spoke again his voice was so low it was as if he were addressing his own demons. "Snuffing out the life of the unborn, a true innocent; now that would be noteworthy. Do I dare? Tales of this deed would ring out throughout history. I would become the most dreaded man in Eternia." He separated the sword into two and held each blade in a steady paw. He heard her gasp as he advanced to the bed. "Now, the time has come for Skeletor, the Overlord of Evil, to prove just how evil he really is."

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It was still fairly early in the morning but the air was already heavy with the heat. Even with the speeder pushed to its limit the artificial wind it created did little to cool Duncan's overheated body. Looking up he could see high clouds stretching from the west.

I'm not going to let him kill her too brother. You hear me! I swear on Father's grave. I'll save your son. Duncan mouthed these promises to the sky before setting down on the roof of the castle. The infirmary was down the stairs, through the hall, second door on the right.

He descended the winding stairs like a thief, peering around every bend and listening closely before moving on. Halfway down the hall he impatiently increased his pace to a cautious jog. He stopped just short of running over the unconscious body of Zodac. Swearing softly he knelt and touched the side of the man's neck. He breathed again when he felt the strong thud of a pulse. Suddenly his head started to spin and he found himself having to use the wall for support. It had been much more than twenty-four hours since he last ate or slept. Adrenaline and anger were his fuel, but now it looked as if his tanks were just about empty. He blinked furiously and rubbed his hand roughly over his face. There was no time to loose it now.

The infirmary was another door down, and even from where he stood he could see that the room no longer sported a door. With his back to the wall he inched his way closer, straining his ears to hear anything that would prepare him for what he would find in there. Apart from the soft whirl of his armor morphing in to a weapon he could discern nothing. He prayed he wasn't too late.

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