Untitled Runaways Project Chapter 3 (I don't own Runaways, yadda, yadda, yadda, BKV and Alphona created it and Marvel owns it. Don't sue, I'm poor)

Xavin put her arm around my shoulders and said, "That suit fits you perfectly. I never thought highly of the clothing on earth. The fabric never seemed strong enough."

"Is it all right if I take off this mask? I'm feeling a little uncomfortable with it on…" How I might look with this suit on reminded me too much of my parents.

"Sure, but I think that it is customary for your people to have that mask on for business occasions."

We walked back to where Xavin's tiny ship was, but instead of the small vehicle we arrived in, there was an enormous vessel in its place. Xavin told me that she decided to name it Ison. Other Skrulls were already boarding the ship. I couldn't help put gaze at the beauty of it. It made the Leapfrog look like a small insect.

"While this ship is my pride and joy, it would be best if we gawked at it once we reached Majesdane." Xavin grinned at me and we both entered the ship. Inside the Skrulls that entered before us bowed down to Xavin and murmured something in another language. She answered back in what I thought was the same language. The other Skrulls then dispersed and went to other parts of the ship.

"Obviously that was the crew if the Ison. These people are the most loyal of all my subjects. I only wish I could say the same for my uncle…" She seemed disturbed at the thought of him. She took a seat near the front of the ship and began to rub her temples.

"I don't think that your uncle thinks lowly of you. He probably shows his concern towards you in a different way." I didn't dare tell her about Ewe's death threat.

"Please, all that man cares about is the family name and how I am ruining it. He loves fighting. Not continuing the conquest of Majesdane was like a slap in the face to him. The fact that I am the heir does not help matters. I cannot help but think that I live in a nest of deadly animals. Ever since the death of my parents, I have been having this feeling that he is out to kill me…."

He isn't going to kill you, genius.

"With me near, I don't think he'll try anything against you. We have Majesdane on our side, right?" I squeezed her shoulder and she looked up at me and smiled weakly.

"I certainly hope so." With that answer, she transformed to her male Skrull form and began issuing orders to the rest of the crew. I took a seat next to him.

"How long will it take for us to reach Majesdane?" I mustered the courage to put on the mask. I felt the ship lift off the ground and pretty soon the windows displayed nothing but space.

"Not long. We purposely situated that station near Majesdane. At most, fifteen minutes," he answered. The screen on our left went to life and Xavin's uncle appeared on it.

"Xavin, are you prepared to speak to your people?" he asked.

"Yes uncle, I am ready," Xavin answered. He stood up and moved closer to the rear of the ship. A larger monitor descended in front of him. On it, the faces of many other Skrulls appeared.

Greetings to all members of the glorious Skrull Empire. As I speak, we are on the way to our soon-to-be allies' home world of Majesdane. It is imperative that we show no weaknesses in our stay. We are here to show them that we are a strong and intelligent race. We are here to demonstrate that the promotion of peace is not a flaw in our being, but crucial to the survival of both our worlds. I am sure that each and every one of you will learn to see this as a fact. I also know that none of you will fail to show the beauty and strength of our people to the inhabitants of Majesdane.

With the end of Xavin's speech there was much applaud in his ship and in the monitors around the ship. The other Skrulls in the larger monitor saluted him. After a short while the monitor went dark and ascended to where it came from. Xavin took his seat next to me and smiled.

"I think that went well, don't you agree?" he asked.

"I guess it did. The other Skrulls seemed to like it. Unfortunately, I didn't understand a word you said," I answered. It was all gibberish to me. I figured that he spoke to the Skrulls in their native language.

"…I forgot to give you a translator. How foolish of me." He took a box out from under his seat and sifted through the contents until he took out a clear plastic sheet the size of my index finger. "Come here to me, I just need to place this behind your ear."

I took off my mask and moved my head closer to his hand. Xavin put the thin plastic sheet behind my right ear. It stung a little, but it quickly went away. Can you understand me?

"Yes, I can," I answered. The technology seemed pretty amazing. I touched the back of my ear, and it seemed like nothing was there.

"Skrull spies across the quadrant use that to help with languages in reconnaissance missions. It's undetectable and extremely convenient. Pretty soon you might be able to speak any language fluently," he said.

"That's awesome. If I only had this in my foreign language class…"

I put the mask back on and listened to the chatter going on. Much of the crew only spoke of the status of the ship and what they had for breakfast that morning. After a short while one of the crewmembers spoke up to Xavin.

Young master, one of our battleships that left ahead of us is sending a distress signal. I'm putting it though.

TO ANYONE WHO RECIEVES THIS MESSAGE. WE ARE TAKING FIRE FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE. MAJESDANE LIGHT BRIGADE IS SENDING SUPPORT. MORE AID IS NEEDED.

"I can't believe this. Everything was going smoothly…" Xavin muttered. All right, have the other ships received this signal? If so, tell my uncle to go directly to the Majesdane capital. I'll take the Ison and several other of the battle ships and try to see what is going on…

Xavin's uncle appeared on one of the monitors. "Xavin, I cannot allow that. I'll go to the attacked ship myself. You are the one that needs to visit with the Majesdane parliament and prime minister. Without you, the situation with Majesdane is lost. My wife and I will take our ships and investigate the attack. We will brief you once we are finished."

It was obvious that Xavin was taken aback by his uncle's suggestion. "If you insist, uncle…"

The pilots of the Ison looked at Xavin and he simply nodded his head. Majesdane was in full view of the windows of the Ison.

As we landed closer to the planet, the ship began to get hot. As I looked around, the Skrulls were all sweating and cursing the heat under their breath. The heat didn't bother me as much as it did them. I gripped the armrests of my seat tightly as we finally landed on the landing field. I looked out the window and I saw that the sky was a brilliant mixture of colors.

"This looks so great…it's like being inside thousands of stars…" I muttered. I felt Xavin's hand on my back.

"Let's be amazed together Karolina. This is my first visit here without having to worry of being killed," he said. My heart sank when I heard him say this.

"I am so sorry Xavin…" I turned around wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "I'm so, so sorry…"

"There is nothing to apologize for, Karolina." He said. He looked at me and smiled. "Let's go. I'm sure my crew can look after the ship without too much trouble." He took my arm and led us out of the ship. Three of the crewmembers followed us. They stayed a few steps behind us as we walked. Near the Ison other Skrull ships were in the process of landing.

We were greeted by Majasdanian guards. They wore suits similar to mine, but they were dark green in color and none of them wore masks. Instead, they wore helmets with the same burning scales design in the walls of Xavin's outpost. One of the guards walked up to us and saluted Xavin. Xavin bowed back to him.

"On behalf of the Majesdane Parliament and the Prime Minister, I welcome you. Please follow me." We moved up a flight of stairs. Behind us, other guards were also leading the Skrulls from the other ships in our direction. The building we were being led to was several stories high. The windows were arrow shaped and several flags with the burning scale design were flying from them. The building itself was a haze of gray and black. It was strange because there was a huge contrast with it and they sky. When we finally reached the top Xavin gripped my hand so tightly that I lost feeling in it.

"We'll be fine," I whispered to him. He seemed to relax a little, but his grip was still pretty strong.

" To the heir of the Empire, the daughter of the Exiles, and their respective guards: you all must surrender any weapons at this point," the guard declare. Xavin raised his hands to show that he was unarmed. I did the same. The crewmen behind us removed the guns from their holsters and surrendered them to the guards. We were then lead inside the building. We entered an elevator with the guards and after a short while we were inside a large room with a circular table on it. Sitting on the table were ten masked people. Xavin's uncle and his wife were sitting by them as well.

" Presenting to your excellency, the heir to the Empire and his bride-to-be…" The guard then bowed and moved back towards the elevator.

Xavin bowed to the crowd and finally say Ewe and his wife. Ewe winked at Xavin and Xavin replied with a confused look on his face. One of the masked figures stood up and floated towards the both of us. He was quite tall and the fact that he drifted to us instead of walking made him seem even grander. He removed his mask. As he did this, there were a few muffled gasps in the crowd. He had a dark, thick scar that ran across his forehead. He seemed to be in his mid forties. He smiled warmly at both of us. His face glowed a mixture of blue and green.

"If we are meeting as equal individuals, I don't feel a need to have to hide my face to my guests. I am the prime minister, Hyle Etia." His feet reached the ground and he shook Xavin's hand. The other people sitting at the table removed their masks and nodded their heads to us. I removed my mask and bowed back to him.

"You've grown to look a lot like your parents, Ms. Dean," Etia said. That comment took me by surprise. "You knew my parents, sir?" I stood up and looked at him.

"Yes, I did know them, but we are not hear to talk about them, we are here to discuss the union of the Skrull Empire and Majesdane." He gestured his hand to follow him and he sat down at the table. Xavin sat next to him, while I sat between Xavin and Ewe.

"But what happened just now, with one of my battleships being attacked. What was that all about?" Xavin asked.

It looked like Ewe was going to answer, but before he could say anything, Etia answered instead. "There are some factions on Majesdane that don't agree with the truce between our peoples. The majority of them have been dealt with." He answered quickly.

"From what General Fareek has told me, you were able to convince Ms. Dean to come with you here. Exactly how much does she know?" Etia asked.

"She knows that her parents were behind the deal that led my father to Majesdane. Other than that, I don't think her parents told her much about their past. She is here because she genuinely wants the war to end." Xavin answered. He looked gratefully towards my direction.

"I want to make up for all the mistakes my parents made. I want to prove…that I am not like them…" I said. I really wanted to make up for their crimes. I wanted to know that I am a good person. I needed some sort of conformation…I needed to know if I really am a good person.

Hyle Etia and the rest of the parliament members simply stared at me. The prime minister broke the silence by clearing his throat and said, " You simply coming here shows us that you are not like them. You may resemble them, but your demeanor shows us other wise."

" But Young Master, do tell us how you were able to convince her to be with you. I am sure it took more than your story to make her come here," a female voice said. I looked to where it came from. It was Ewe Fareek's wife. Up to that point, I didn't know her name. The other Parliament members nodded in agreement. Words like 'do tell,' and 'tell us' could be heard. Good gracious I didn't even know her and I already hated her.

" I don't think that is important right now, Miseo. What we need to focus on is how we are going to make this union work in the long run. We also have to find a way to weed out all the factions and groups against us," Xavin answered. Miseo smiled smugly at the answer and nodded.

" I have prepared a speech for Ms. Dean," one of the parliament members said. " I think that it will bring people who aren't quite clear on what to think on to our side. If a person from the Majesdane race sees someone who isn't a part of the government or the upper class of the Skrull Empire as the bride, I think, the average person just may think that this route is the way to go."

"I'm sure that it will take –" before Etia could finish his sentence a loud explosion went through the room. I was separated from Xavin and thrown across the room. Large pieces of the table were jabbed into my left leg and I could hear nothing except for a loud ringing in my ears. Next to me the Prime Minister was lying face down. I tried my best to move toward him and turned him over. His eyes were open and from what I could tell he was still breathing. He looked at me in horror but didn't do anything. His lips were moving, but I couldn't hear him.

Looking around, the room was in complete disarray. Parts of the ceiling were collapsed. I could see the next floor from where I was situated. Someone grabbed me from behind. I turned and I saw Xavin. His left arm hung limp and a side of his face was bleeding. He was telling me something, but the ringing in my ears wouldn't go away. I began to panic and started to sob.

"Xavin, I, I can't hear you, b-but we have to help the prime minister. He's still alive but he c-can't move…a-at least I don't think he can!" He looked over behind me and nodded his head "yes." He helped me stand up and I saw his right arm stretch. He wrapped his arm around Etia's body several times. With some effort he was able to lift him up and place him over his shoulder. Xavin looked toward me and mouthed 'Can you fly?'

I forced my feet to lift the ground and I grabbed Xavin's arm and lifted both of them.

I have to show everyone I am a good person.

I flew as fast as I could out of the room, but since they were heavy 'as fast as I could' wasn't very fast.

Now is not the time to second-guess myself.

I finally placed the pair of them on the entrance stairs and collapsed next to them in exhaustion.

I saved them…

The ringing in my ears began to go away and I could hear the Etia's voice repeating the words 'I can't move' over and over again. The guards surrounded us, and I could see other guards flying out of the room with the other parliament members. I saw a guard pick up the prime minister carted him off to an ambulance. I was so tired. I began to close my eyes. Before I fell asleep, I could feel myself being placed on a stretcher.

I am a good person.