Soli Deo Gloria
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Lunar Chronicles.
So this series is so thick and rich and all nine main characters are all my precious babies who must be protected at all costs. XD
Also, Iko is TOTALLY AWESOME.
The moment Scarlet landed the Rampion atop the roof of a New Beijing mall, Iko dragged Cinder, startled, out of her seat.
"We're parked, yes, nice, now let's move!" Iko ordered. Cinder could barely find footing against the slanted tile of the main bay. It was all she could do to keep apace with Iko's running. While sweat immediately began to pool at the back of her neck, soaking her brown hair over the metallic notch, heavy breathing echoed into the space. It was all Cinder's; Iko, besides the sounds of her slamming feet, was completely silent.
Over the intercom came Scarlet's sarcastic French accent: "You might want to wait until I've put on the landing gear, Iko." The Rampion slid and jerked into place as Scarlet settled the huge spaceship; Iko and Cinder, in accordance, slipped and slid into a big pile of boxes in the loading bay.
Cinder gasped; her elbow pushed into the lid of a container as she shoved herself up; she threw a look over to Iko, who was detangling her long blue braids from a shipping package covered in curious pipe-like pieces.
"Wow, Iko," Cinder coughed.
Iko's cocked head turned to look at her: "Forgive my enthusiasm. Which I really shouldn't have, as an android." Pulling the last of her braids free, she tucked a freed wire from her collarbone back into its place. "We won't worry about that until later."
"Until later comes, I'm going to worry about it," Cinder said, a little salty, as Iko came to give her a hand up. "Sit down. I can fix it in two minutes."
"No, no! We've been kept from the mall for too long!"
"So another minute or two won't hurt," Cinder said.
"Yes, it will!" Iko said, frustrated. She grabbed handfuls of her blue braids and pulled, sighing. "It's been months since your coronation, and this is the first time we've escaped with you to go clothes shopping. You may live in a palace, Cinder, but you need some real clothes, not all ball gowns." Iko abruptly stopped moving, jarring Cinder, making her grit her teeth. "Not that ball gowns are all that bad. At all. Okay, they are pretty great. I happen to remember one particular silver one that rocked the New Beijing ball last year."
Iko wiggled her beautiful eyebrows and Cinder huffed, blowing a sad lock of hair out of her face. "Can we just get the other girls and go, already?"
Cinder wasn't too keen on going clothes shopping. Iko had been begging her for months to arrange something; just an afternoon out, really, please! Just a normal day out, just the two of them, like the way things used to be. Only now she wasn't a little white android and there was no Adri or Pearl to ruin their lives, and no sad apartment building to return 'home' to, and they had all the credits they could ever spend. Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be like it was before, but it could be great!
But royal duties got into the way. Or, running Luna duties. Often, visitors from the old Rampion crew came popping in, though, to break up the studying days and the painful days and the worrying days. Cinder would look up to see a beaming Scarlet bearing a big basket of bright red tomatoes, pulling Wolf with her, their hands clasped tightly. Winter would pop in with 'friendly' shiny apple candies and gush about Jacin and how hard he studied at the royal medical academy. Thorne would make a dramatic entrance, a now-healed Cress on his back, both grinning. Sometimes Cinder would be on a portscreen call with Kai and he'd come walking in, talking to his portscreen and kissing her.
All those visitors popped in at once yesterday, from all the corners of Earth and Luna, and Iko, gasping, announced that they must go shopping! Scarlet and Cinder exchanged a look, but Cress looked eager (her little wardrobe was so small and lackluster and boring) and Winter stood up: "We must be off at once."
Cinder managed to keep them off an extra day, but that was all. Now Thorne had somehow let the Rampion blast off from Luna with just the five girls in it ("Did I just make a major mistake? That spaceship is kinda my most prized possession," he muttered. "I think I did. I left the person I love most on your ship," Wolf said, poking Thorne in the chest before stomping away. Thorne let out a low whistle: "Remind me to never separate him from Scarlet. Ever again," he said, to a ticked-off Jacin, of all people) and they'd arrived in New Beijing.
Cinder sighed but gritted her teeth as she leaned against Iko. She'd escaped prison; she'd cheated death again and again; she'd defeated the most powerful ruler within their solar system; she could get through this day.
She still hated shopping, though.
Scarlet released the door to the loading bay so it cracked open, allowing the warm sun to pour onto the landing ramp. Iko, to her credit, didn't shriek and pull Cinder by the arm down the ramp; instead, she just swallowed her scream and walked them down at a regular pace; Scarlet, Cress, and Winter were quickly able to catch up to them—Scarlet in her old worn hoodie, whose stains of blood, human filth, and war could never be quite washed out; Cress, in one of her couple of dresses she'd accumulated and worn again and again; and Winter, her dark kinky curls free, wearing, after years and years of hand-sewn palace dresses that were masterpieces and cost more than what her real mother could've made in a year, a blouse and a pair of jeans. She, of course, looked as innocent and gorgeous as ever.
Scarlet walked to the edge of the roof and set her foot atop its metallic railing. "Now, if only there was a way down," she said sarcastically.
"There's bound to be some kind of ladder around here. Or stairs leading up to the roof. Lots of these roofs have solar-paneling now, so the store's power is from the roof. There has to be some kind of access for a maintenance crew up here," Cinder said. She wasn't eager to be of any help right now, considering that their main goal was to go in a New Beijing mall, but her mechanic's eye could only look across the roof with logic and a fixer's brain.
Iko listened to Cinder absentmindedly, as her own information files were searched. "Ah! I've got the building plan!" Iko looked at Cinder strangely. "Don't you?"
"Maybe." Cinder zipped her lips shut.
Iko flung her blue braids over her shoulder and said, "Well, if you're not going to help. . ." Iko walked past Cinder and Cinder threw her hands in the air.
Cress's fingers played with her short blonde hair. She looked between Iko and Cinder deliberating over the possible ways to get off this roof next to the Rampion, and then to Scarlet and Winter. Winter sat on the edge of the railing, which was six stories above the dirty, busy New Beijing market streets. Scarlet kept one hand on her shoulder, determined to not let her loose. If Winter was gone, Jacin would be on Scarlet's tail. With her other hand, she aimed a red-buttoned remote at the Rampion and, pressing the button, sent the bay door rising to seal itself up as the belly of the ship.
Cress decided to approach the railing. "Where did you get that?" she asked tentatively, once within a few feet of Scarlet.
Scarlet pocketed the remote in her hoodie pocket. "Thorne had Cinder whip it up sometime ago. They were arguing over something petty and she had to keep her hands busy or else she would've strangled him."
Cress knew Thorne could be aggravating (always more to everyone else than her, though. Both of them had noticed that running trend), but she also knew Cinder, despite how hard and crusty she could be forced to be, would never hurt Thorne. They were too good friends; they'd gone through too much together.
Just friends, though. Cress never really, truly thought Cinder was any kind of competition with her for Thorne. Cinder could barely stand him sometimes, while Prince Kai made her stutter and not-blush.
"What were they arguing about?" Cress ventured.
"Whether or not Thorne should grow out a French mustache. You can easily guess whose side I was on," Scarlet said dryly.
Cress wondered what side Scarlet really was on (she was French, after all); Scarlet interrupted her thoughts by asking, "Which side are you on?"
Cress thought of the golden-brown stubble that crept along Thorne's jaw as they trekked through the endless desert; she might've been hot and tired and sick and almost on the verge of giving up, but she still had eyes. She'd noticed how it fit him quite nicely. "Well. . ."
Scarlet saw pink blush creep across Cress's cheeks and decided it was a subject best left abandoned. She shook her head and called impatiently, "Any luck yet?"
"We found a fire escape, but Cinder says it's so old it'll crumble right underneath us." Iko sighed as her long legs brought her to the rest of the group. "Why couldn't we have just landed in the parking lot like normal people?" she grumbled.
"'Cause there are no parking lots around here and you know that," Cinder said. "There's barely any room for traffic flow in these streets." Her eyes lingered over her old stomping grounds. It was so thick, so congested, like a throat that could never be cleared. The city was so tight, with every square inch packed with things and people, you couldn't breathe. Unless you were on a roof, of course.
Even this mall, the biggest one in New Beijing, barely had any parking spaces to its name. It was a popular hangout place; below them were packed streets and shoppers heavy-laden with bags showing off clips of commercials on their sides.
"We could jump," Winter said softly suddenly.
Scarlet's head swiveled around to give her a sharp look. "Don't even think about it, Princess."
"It's the perfect idea," Winter continued. "We can land lightly, like acrobats. We can swing down along the building, like monkeys. Nimble, quick." Her big eyes blinked. "Safe."
Scarlet took it upon herself to really explain to Winter why that was such an extraordinarily bad idea as Cinder wandered over the roof. She stopped at a skylight. Raised above the rest of the roof there extended paned glass. She looked through this ceiling into the floor of the mall. She could see the tops of heads, the walking strangers, under all this glass.
That was all she used to do—watch through a window at other people living their lives. How relieved she was to not be like that anymore.
She pulled a hook-ended pulley and a small handheld crowbar from her belt. She wistfully wished she could have such another extension from her finger as she pried the glass from its clear frame, allowing a clear entry.
"Breaking into palaces has taught you a few things," Iko said delightedly.
"Besides entering a mall from the roof, yes," Cinder agreed. She attached the pulley's hook on a metal loop on the roof, securing it. She attached the other end of the pulley into her belt and, holding the cord taut, looked up at Iko and said, "Get the others."
"I love how we could definitely find easier and more legal ways to do this but we're doing it this way instead," Iko grinned.
Cinder smiled as she jumped. Iko's waving hand disappeared as she loosened the cord and, bit by bit, landed softly on her feet in the middle of the New Beijing Mall concourse. She detached the pulley and sent it reeling back up to Scarlet, Cress, Winter, and Iko; one look around made her immediately regret her decision.
Every face was on her. Eyes widened, taking in her cyborg hand and her messy demeanor, besides her big entrance; but what really sent a ripple through the crowd as each whispered to their neighbor, was the fact that this was the Queen of Luna.
New Beijing citizens stepped back, frightened, even as others eagerly ran forward, their cameras flashing on their portscreens. Cinder squinted; the world dimmed around her as her eyes adjusted for the brightness. Was this another invasion, even more upfront and scary than anything Levana poised against the Earth?
Iko dropped down by Cinder. She grinned—Cinder shied away from the idea of being the center of attention while Iko glowed in the spotlight. "Look at the crowds here to greet us!" Iko waved back at them, like she'd practiced being accepted like a celebrity for years (which she had. It was easier to do in this android body rather than the short stout body she initially had). "Hi, Earthens! What's up?" She struck model poises, to Cinder's sighs and annoyances, and called, "Ohh, get my good side! My left side's my good side!"
If Cinder was embarrassed by the attention, Cress was practically scared of it. She was totally fine with the free-falling propelling six stories—it was quite another thing to look up and have every customer and shop owner in the biggest mall in New Beijing staring at you. Luckily Winter landed gracefully next to her and said, waving gently at them, "Welcome, friends. We have come in peace in search of Earthen goods—where is your finest shoe store?"
Scarlet brought up the rear; obviously, she felt responsible for them all, and made sure everyone made it down safely before taking off after them. She whistled at the size of the crowd. "Does this happen every time you step out of the walls of your palace, Cinder?"
All of them—including the absent boys—were recognizable faces on every country on Earth—and Luna, besides. Still, even ex-outlaw captains and genetically-engineered wolf-human hybrid super-soldiers couldn't hold a candle to the celebrity of Linh Cinder—outlaw, featured of the tabloids, long-lost Lunar princess. No, all flames blew out in front of her bonfire.
"Yeah," Cinder said. Which was why she preferred hanging out with her friends when she went outside the paalce. They'd all seen her at her best and at her very worst. They knew she didn't have it all together all the time. They knew the human behind the titles. They weren't impressed by her celebrity or who she was supposed to be. They were impressed by who she was. "Um . . ." She cleared her throat. Obviously she was the leader here; she had to dispel the fear in people's eyes. "Sorry for the big entrance. My spaceship won't fit in the parking lot. I come in peace; so do my friends, who are all Earthens, actually. Well, except for Princess Winter—'
"I'm Lunar, too, Cinder," Cress whispered.
"I'm really an android but what the heck—I'm an Earthen too!" Iko shouted proudly.
While Cinder was all for recognizing proper rights, she also wasn't doing a good job here. "We're just here to go clothes shopping." She sighed. She was never going to the mall ever again, no matter how much Iko pled. "Can someone just point us to a good store?"
A teenager stepped forward. She blinked, studying the group before her. She seemed fashionably conscious. "Gijanto's, on the third floor. They have some really good pieces right now."
"Thank you," Cinder said gratefully.
The girl smiled. They reached across the cultural and interplanetary lines standing up tall between them and saw each other as they were—a girl.
Iko clapped her hands excitedly. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Cinder hid behind a big glass display of shoes (not the greatest of hiding spots), sighing at her portscreen. Kai couldn't stop laughing in emojis in their comms. She'd told him about the near break of the interplanetary peace the girls' descent from the roof had caused; he thought the entire thing was hilarious, which she found annoying, which he found hilarious.
She was hiding because it was nicer chatting with Kai about funny topics instead of letting Iko push her around into dressing rooms with her arms laden with a dozen outfits. The moment she entered the store, Iko threw her arms up and shouted, "I'm home!" She then became everyone's personal stylist, bounding breathlessly to different racks to accumulate outfits, oohing and ahhing and talking aloud as she divvied out the appropriate outfits to everyone. "Cress, I want you to try on these dresses. You'll look so pretty! You are meant for dresses! Scarlet, come on, just try on one hoodie! Just one! I even picked out a red one! Winter, I could spend my entire day picking out outfits for you. You look like a dream in anything! And Cinder. . ." She tsked sympathetically just looking Cinder over. "I could spend a day in here for you, too. Maybe a whole week."
"Thanks, Iko," Cinder said sarcastically. She'd tried on a couple of the tanks Iko gave her, but she disliked them. They weren't her tanks. And she yearned for cargo pants—she made no effort to put on the form-fitting maroon pants slumped on the bottom of the dressing room floor. She knew the metal joints at her knee would show off in those.
While employees clambered to dress royalty, Iko politely but firmly denied their help. This was her dream and no one was about to steal it away from her. Cinder took the chance to hide away as Iko and Scarlet fought over a hoodie—Scarlet was vehement against trying it on, while Iko tried to argue reason with her. "It's clean and not war-torn! And it's so in right now!"
Cinder saw Cress glancing in a mirror past some shirt racks wearing a new yellow dress. She looked so excited. Winter, meanwhile, was traipsing about in a magnificent cape. It framed her kinky curls perfectly. She was happy they were happy, and wished she was more like them. She imagined Peony trying on one of these dresses—what she'd give for that.
She sent a final comm to Kai telling him she'd talk to him later as she let her portscreen slid into her pants' pocket. She really needed to try—for Peony, for all the times she wished she was like everyone else, for Iko and her friends.
"Cinder!" Iko searched her hands. "Where are the clothes I gave you?" Cinder opened her mouth but Iko beat her to it. "Bet you a credit that they're slumped in a pile on the dressing room floor."
"Iko, I'm sorry—" Cinder was ready to fully apologize and make it up to her, to just suck it up and let Iko make her over the way she'd often talked of doing during their long hours alone in the mechanic's shop, but Iko said, "It's okay, Cinder. I thought of an idea that can include all of us." Jutting a finger past her shoulder at a sulking Scarlet, Iko said, "Some of us are more happy to be here than others."
Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter sat cross-legged on the less-than-clean carpet of Gijanto's. Scarlet's face was overshadowed by her old weathered red hoodie, in protest. Iko stepped around them and deposited a shoe box in each of their laps. She squealed to herself as she sat down and said, "Everyone, dive in!"
Iko threw sheets of tissue paper; Scarlet pretended to not be interested as she reluctantly opened her box; Winter undug its contents carefully, gently. Cinder lifted out boots—but these weren't heavy cargo boots. Yes, they were firm and brown, but they were made of faux-leather; their heel, to Cinder's relief, was only an inch, instead of the feared three. They had brown shoelaces. They came only halfway up the leg instead of to the knee.
Cinder knew Iko picked them out especially for her. They were feminine, but they were practical. That was all Cinder was, and wanted.
Cress had a pair of dainty white slippers. The tips were topped with tiny bows and peppered with tiny painted flowers. They were pretty and good, just like her. Then, Winter had a pair of sneakers. Cinder was sure Iko knew Winter needed a girl's pair of shoes, besides all her princess's shoes. Winter's fingertips traveled the shoes, from the eyelets to the aglets. "I love them," she said. Scarlet had a pair of faux-fur-lined boots. "Har har har," she said. But she smiled. Iko knew Scarlet had forgiven her.
Iko, meanwhile, giddily danced in a pair of knee-length sleek black boots. "I've always wanted to do this," she said. She giggled and waved her hands in an urgent manner at her stupid friends still all sitting staring up at her. "Come on! Put on the shoes!"
So they did. Cress, who never wore shoes, felt foreign in them, but liked them. Iko knew form-fitting boots was too big of a first step for her, so slippers worked out great. Scarlet wore her shoes like she'd worn them every day up until now. Winter ran. "I am usually not allowed to run. Everybody stops me. But these shoes let me."
"So, Cinder, what do you think?" Iko asked, dancing on her tiptoes in anticipation.
The shoes felt weird but perfect on Cinder's feet (Iko had a knack for finding the perfect size). She remembered her too-tiny foot, and how she limped. How she was made to feel like less of a person because of her cybernetic limbs. Now she had a new pair of shoes, just like any other teenage girl. "Were they out of the glass ones?" she wondered. This caused the both of them to laugh.
"I'll keep an eye out and snatch the first pair I can find in your size," Iko reassured her. She squeezed Cinder's arm and said, "You really like your new shoes?"
Cinder smiled. She felt weird, like she had tears in her eyes because of this ordinary but beautiful moment. "Yeah, I really do."
For one afternoon, Cinder could forget the past—forget being a fugitive, a cyborg, a celebrity, and a princess. For one afternoon, she got to go to the mall and go shopping with her girl friends.
Thanks for reading! Review?