So, as I mentioned before the whole King being a flesh eating alien was not part of the original story, it just warped into that after I lost the data stick that I had the original on :-) Luckily I did find a copy of the final scene of the original and this is the Alternate Ending for those of you who want to read it. This would probably take place between Chapters 21 and 23. There were other scenes that ended up with a great escape, Iason did not go into the great sleep in this version, but everyone was taken prisoner again. I lost those scenes when I lost my data stick and had to rework the story so sorry I cannot offer those as well.

In this chapter the King has given Riki the choice of staying and taking his place as Prince or watching his friends die. I have already begun the Sequel to this story and hope to have it up around Christmas or just after. If you would like to make any suggestions of what you would like to see happen in the next story, please feel free to review or send me a message at animefaemoon at gmail dot com and I will see what I can make fit, but no promises.

:-)

ALTERNATE ENDING FOR MASTER

"I'll stay," Riki stated quietly, since it was really the only option open to him. He couldn't let the others be killed or have Iason destroyed and since their escape attempt failed he would have to make do. He also didn't want Jupiter arriving and destroying the planet.

"I will remain here with Riki," Iason stated suddenly.

Riki's eyes widened in shock, he had intended to find a way to escape once everyone else was safely away, and he expected Iason to protest his decision, but no way did he think the Blondie would offer to stay on a planet where people despised and disrespected him.

"I…Iason,"

Riki flinched at how his voice echoed in the throne room, and he suddenly remembered all the people watching them. He stepped forward into Iason's embrace, more to hide from the spectators than because he needed physical support. "You'd hate it. You know you would and then you would hate me."

Iason lifted Riki's chin so their eyes could meet. "As you have hated being a pet?" Riki bit his lip and nodded. "Do you hate me?"

"No, no but…"

Iason smiled then, and lightly kissed Riki on the lips, causing a collective gasp to sound through the chamber. "Then I will stay."

"Your request is denied!" Nathaniel decreed. "My son will stay here and you, monster, will return where you belong."

Iason stepped around Riki to face the King again. "You cannot keep us apart. If you force him to stay, so too will I."

"No!" The King refused again then felt the mild touch of his wife's hand on his arm. Her eyes beseeched him remember his place as a benevolent ruler."

"Kneel," Nathaniel demanded, regally. "If you truly wish my favor, discard your Blondie pride and pledge allegiance to me."

"No." Shiao stepped forward. "He cannot renounce Jupiter, it would be a death sentence."

"Your God has no power here."

"You have no idea what true power is. He will die if he were to adhere to such a request."

Nathaniel turned his mocking gaze back to Iason. "Is that true, Android? Can you die?"

"Yes," Iason's response held no trace of emotion. "We are not immortal."

"Do you not fear death?"

Iason's gaze flickered toward Riki then back to the King. "I have faced death before. It is not something to fear."

"As expected of a machine."

"I am more than a machine," Iason stated. "Far more than your dull mind could ever comprehend."

"How dare you!"

"You wish to humiliate me, a common recourse when Humans feels defensive, however the gesture is wasted."

"Because you are an android and do not feel humiliation?" Nathaniel sneered.

"No. Because it is illogical to feel disgrace for an act that is beyond my control and is caused by another's insecurity." Again, Iason's gaze moved to Riki, and this time held. "Feeling shame for such things only gives power to the person who is causing the effect. The more shame you feel the more power you relinquish. It does not diminish your pride or your strength unless you allow it to."

Riki's mouth opened in a silent gasp as he suddenly realized what Iason had been trying to tell him for years. All the rage and humiliation that Riki had suffered over the years did not make him a lesser person, a weaker person. It was not a judgement against him, or his behavior, but a cry of desperation from Iason. Iason who needed to break Riki in order to prove he was worthy to keep him. Iason who humiliated Riki not because he thought Riki deserved it, but because Iason was insecure about their relationship.

When he thought about it, he had been told that no other Elite had ever done the things that Iason had done with him. It had been new territory, a taboo area and Iason had breached it because he wanted Riki so badly, wanted it to work so badly, but Iason had been out of his depth on how to successfully bridge the gap, and so he had been harsh at times and cruel. He'd needed to have power over Riki to be in control because he felt so out of control.

Oh God, it made so much sense now. Iason wasn't taking power from Riki, he'd actually been giving him power, the power to rule Iason's heart. The power to bring down a Blondie with a single word or touch.

Nathaniel rose from his throne. "If you wish to stay here, you will kneel."

Iason held Riki's gaze as he started to lower to one leg.

"Stop!"

The command did not come from Riki, who was too shocked and spellbound by Iason's actions to do anything but stare. Instead a tall mongrel stepped forward, moved between Iason and the King and Queen.

"You can't do this," Guy insisted heatedly. "If you force him to do thus he'll be destroyed and so will any hope you have of Riki accepting you."

"G…Guy," Riki managed, shocked, when his old pairing shot him a longing glance before returning his attention to the Royals.

"I get how easy it is to hate this guy, I hatted him so much I tried to kill him, just so Riki could be free of him, but Riki wasn't free, he couldn't let go. He walked back into the fire after Iason. He was gonna die with Iason, would rather die with him than live without him."

Riki wanted to correct Guy, to explain the reason he had gone back after Iason was because Iason had saved him and so he owed him a debt, but he decided to keep quiet and see if his old friend's argument might sway the King.

"I thought I was doing what was best for him too," Guy continued. "I was sure of it, so sure that I couldn't see anything else but getting him away from Mink. He was my best friend, he was more than that, and I ruined it. I made him hate me, and if you force this issue he'll hate you too."

"This is all very touching," Nathaniel began. "But I cannot…"

Guy dropped down on both knees. "I'm begging you, on behalf of Riki who can't. He can't because of his pride, and I tried to destroy that pride once, I won't ever do it again. If you rob him of that you'll kill him!"

"Preposterous!"

"Let them stay together. If you love him, you have to let him be with Iason. I don't like it either but we can't control who we fall in love with. Please. Let them be together."

Shiao moved forward suddenly and went down on one knee next to Guy, putting his hand on the mongrel's shoulder before facing the king. "You are a great and benevolent ruler. Would you truly sentence someone to death out of prejudice? I too humbly request that you allow Iason to stay."

Nathaniel opened his mouth in outraged protest again, only to watch the cat woman and the red-headed human stepped up to Iason and also kneel. When Riki stepped down from the platform, turned to them and also kneeled, the King flushed in shame.

Then, like a wave breaking across the shore, nobles and commoners alike slowly started to kneel before the king from where they stood at their stations, until finally only Iason, and the King were left on their feet.

"W…what is this?" Nathaniel demanded. "You would all lower yourselves to protect this…this machine? He is not one of us! He is an alien and a monster and he has cruelly enslaved and subjugated your prince!"

The Queen rose. "As one who has experienced slavery, you do not understand the scope of what was done to your Prince," she told her subjects in a strong firm voice. "I do understand such grievous crimes and it is unforgiveable. Would you truly risk your honor in favor of such a being?

You could have heard a pin drop as everyone exchanged looks of shame and uncertainty, but no one rose to their feet.

"Your majesty."

The Queen turned her attention to an old woman who had risen, with some difficulty because of her age, to her feet and stepped forward.

"You are the greatest and most generous Queen Avalon has ever had."

The Queen nodded regally, she did treat her people well and was often praised for it.

"You were raised in filth and debauchery."

"How dare…" The King began, furious.

"Forgive me, my Lord, I wish no disrespect, but the truth of it is that she was a foreign barbarian when she came to live among us. We accepted her because you told us she was a good and kind soul, and we soon began to see that for ourselves. Now she is loved by all, because she took that risk of exposing all her faults and secrets to a new and strange people."

The Queen stepped forward. "Miranda," she began. "My situation cannot be compared to…"

"Can it not? His majesty was but a simple trader and merchant back then, yet he believed in you so strongly that he risked his own place in our society to speak for you. He risked everything because he loved you. Is your son not the same? Has the Prince not expressed his belief in the very being you would have us condemn? Does his love for this creature not hold as much meaning and strength as the King's love for you?"

Celestia was stunned silent as Miranda stepped closer and looked up at Iason.

"You are a foreigner. You are very different from all of us, and I will not forget the hardships you have placed on Maku, but…" She reached forward and tentatively touched Iason's chest., then took his hand. "You are warm and solid, not like a machine at all, and you seem to love our Prince quite dearly and he you, so I will forgive you for your transgressions. I will accept you to make Maku happy."

"Thank you, Miranda," Iason offered kindly and watched the old woman actually blush. "I promise to do just that."

Miranda turned to the King and Queen again, besotted in an instant. "He is not a bad person. Please do not sit in judgement on what we do not fully understand. Allow this man to stay with Maku, if Maku so chooses."

"Ciel…" The King began

"Riki," Riki reminded and slowly rose to his feet beside Iason. "My name is Riki. I know you think of me as someone else but that isn't who I am. I can't be who you want me to be. I'll stay here if it means saving their lives, but I won't be who you lost. I can only be who I am."

The Queen stepped down and took Riki's hands in both of hers. "Do you truly choose life as a slave over life as a Prince?"

"I won't let you hurt…"

She waved her hand. "We will not hurt anyone." She glanced back as the King growled quietly, glared at him, then turned back to her son. "I offer you the choice again. You may go or you may stay, without consequences. What would be your decision?"

Riki pulled his hands away from hers, glanced at Iason and Guy, then at all the people who were still on the knees. "Can you please ask them to get up?" he asked, quietly.

"You are their Prince, why don't you ask them?"

Riki shuffled, uncomfortably. "Can you just do it?"

The Queen made a gesture and everyone in the room rose to their feet. "Now, what is your decision, my son?"

Riki was curious about Avalon, and these people who the Queen claimed he should rule some day, but he knew nothing about such things. He wanted to get to know her more, and maybe his father as well, but did that mean never seeing Iason again? He wasn't sure if he could do that.

"If I have to choose," he began. "I chose to go with Iason."

The Queen sighed, disappointed. "Why?"

"I don't have to explain it, you said make a choice and I made it. Now, are you gonna keep your word and let us leave or not?"

"You cannot leave." The King rose and moved down beside his Queen, throwing a sparkle of magic around them so that a shadowed dome fell over the monarchs, Riki and Iason, blocking the sight and sound from the court. The public had heard enough of their personal matters. "Ci…Riki, please. We are your family. I understand that this is all strange and foreign to you, and while I accept that you are angry with me can you not allow me the chance to make things right again? If you go with this…with the others we cannot see you, we cannot teach you. It will be as though you have died all over again. How can you do this to us, your parents?"

Riki met the King's gaze boldly. "I don't know you. I don't owe you anything."

"You do know us," Celestia insisted. "You do remember us you are just refusing to admit it. You demand that we be honest with you now you must be honest with us."

"Okay, yeah I have some memories, but it's not like they tell me who you are or that I can trust you. They're just pieces of the past that have no meaning."

"Oh for the love of Arthur!"

"May I make a suggestion?"

All three glanced at Iason, surprised.

"Riki will return to Amoï with me…"

"Now see here…"

Iason lifted a finger at the King and continued. "If you wish to reconnect with him, you may do so over subspace communications. If and when Riki feels comfortable enough with both of you, we will both come for a visit to see you in person."

"That is reasonable…" The Queen began, eager to have at least some contact with her son.

"How can we groom him to be King when he remains a slave?" the King snapped.

"I don't want to be King!" Riki retorted. "Look, if you want to get to know me as a person fine, but I have no interest in ruling by your side."

Iason nodded. "You have a choice," he said. "You can demand he fulfill his duties as Prince and lose all contact with him, or you can treat him as what he is now and have a possible future with him in it."

"That is hardly a fair choice!"

"Which do you want more? A son or an Heir?"

When the King refused to answer, the Queen made the decision for them. "A son." She turned to Riki again. "I cannot lose you again, so I will accept this compromise, however…" She turned a firm gaze to Iason. "If Riki ever changes his mind and decides that he does wish to return here and take his place beside us, you must not stop him."

Iason's eyes turned an icy blue. "Unacceptable."

"Agreed," Riki said, simultaneously and watched Iason's icy stare turn on him. "It's fair, Iason. And it's not like it will ever happen anyway."

After a long moment Iason nodded. "The terms are acceptable, but only if we may leave immediately."

The Queen's regal features fell into despair. "Immediately? We've had almost no time with him!"

"Yes, at least give us another day or two so we may…" The King began, but Iason shook his head.

"Already Jupiter may be on Her way and if She arrives your planet will not survive the carnage that will be delivered. It is better for us to leave now."

The Queen pulled Riki against her and hugged him tight. "Do you promise to answer all my calls and send me updates of your daily life?"

"No." Riki's arms remained at their sides. "But I'll respond to any messages you send me."

She nodded, squeezed him tighter then kissed both his cheeks. "That will have to do." She stepped back and Riki allowed himself to be embraced by the King, even as the Queen removed the dome around them.

"You have our leave to go," the King said, stepping back and then speaking to the Court. "The Prince had made his choice, but he will not be lost to us again. One day he will return and we in turn will convince him that life on Avalon is good and free."

Applause sounded as Riki turned to Iason. "Let's go home."

"Absolutely."