Chapter Text
“You have to learn to hide.”
Prince Dorrek had been three years old and was imitating the colorful fish his grandfather had brought back from a planet he couldn’t remember the name of, patterns swirling on his skin as he pressed his face against the glass of the tank. He had pulled away from his amusement, his face reverting back to the smooth green it normally was, and tilted his head when his mother spoke. Every Skrull child knew how to change their body from birth; it came to them as easily as breathing.
“You are not like the other children, Dorrek.” she said, picking him up and cradling him in her arms. She tapped his chin with her pointer finger and he smiled and giggled as he shifted his to have ridges like hers. “Your grandfather is starting to notice and I cannot continue making excuses for very much longer. We must teach you to look more like a Skrull.”
“Please? Can’t you tell me something? Anything?”
When he was older, old enough that he was able to stay shifted for long periods of time without easily tiring or accidentally shifting, he begged his mother to tell him about his father. He begged and begged and begged until finally she caved and surrendered one small bit of information. It was to be kept secret always and he was never to tell anyone ever no matter the case, especially his grandfather. His father was a Kree, a man Anelle had met during a negotiation between her father and the Kree, a man who shared her dream of bringing peace to the two races. Dorrek would watch as a dreamy look came over her face as she talked about his father and he couldn’t help but idolize the man he had never known. She would never give him a name, not until he had turned seventeen. And that was when it all began.