All rights belong to Marissa Meyer. Only the new characters and plot are mine.
CHAPTER 1
As the gleaming rays of the sun spilled through the window, Nina could only curse at herself. Why had she commed her friends the entire night? Nina rolled away from the sun, unable to stand the persistent bright light any longer. Maybe a few more precious moment of sleep could still be possible... Her hopes were shattered seconds later as her door flew open with a cold breeze following shortly after. The sharp tone of her mother's voice cut through Nina's dreamy state.
"Good morning, darling." Her mother reached out and yanked the blanket from Nina's body, trying to rouse her from sleep completely. "Time to get up now. You have a big day ahead of you and you don't want to be late." She was trying to speak quietly, but was cross all the same. Nina had slept in again.
Slowly, Nina exposed her eyes to the waiting morning sunshine. She snapped them shut again almost instantly, escaping the sun glaring at her. Her mother rattled her shoulder.
"Now, darling."
Nina groaned. She stretched the morning stiffness out of her muscles, her messy hair tickling her nose as she sat up sluggishly. Her body protested at being dragged from its favorite state so soon. Still unable to face the sunlight Nina dug her fists into her eyes to press the sleep from them. It was working until her mother snatched her hands away.
"Don't do that, darling! You could hurt yourself." Nina's hands fell onto her lap. The blinding sunlight was blocked as her mother moved to the other side of the bed. Nina took the opportunity to pry open her eyelids. The room materialized into focus as she blinked a couple times. Standing in front of her was her mother. She was dressed smartly in a black pant suit with needle-like heels on her feet. Her dark hair was twisted up in a professional knot behind her head. The severe expression on her mother's face could have made Luna drop out of the sky. To Nina she looked like an uptight escort droid.
"Hurry up and get dressed. You'll start out with a bad impression if you're late, darling." The protection from the sun that was her mother relocated to the foot of her bed. Nina recoiled as the sun seared her eyes once again.
"It's only Lynn, Mom. She wouldn't leave without me, anyways," Nina murmured. Lynn was a prospering seamstress in New Beijing Market. She also happened to be Nina's older sister. Nina looked up to Lynn like she had hung the stars just for her younger – and only – sister. They adored each other.
"Either way," her mother persisted, "I don't want you to be late. Get dressed." She set her right hand on Nina's shoulder. Even though the hand was soft and warm, Nina knew it was thoroughly false. The doctors had done a good job with the skin grafting and the cyborg parts worked perfectly, but they couldn't erase the memory of the crushed fist it had become. Her hand would never be as graceful as it had been once.
Sensing Nina's discomfort, she drew away the limb, turned stiffly and began to march away, her pointy heels managing to click through the carpeted floor. She stopped and turned back. "Would you like me to take you there, darling?"
Nina shook her head. "No. Lynn already said she would." Her mother stepped out of the room as soon as Nina gave the answer, her head still turned toward Nina. "Don't forget about the shoot later. And please wake your uncle up." The door closed with a croak.
Nina sprung out of bed with another back popping stretch and scanned her room. It was neat, like always. Her bed – just two mattresses stacked on the floor – was in the far right corner of her room, diagonal from her door. The curtains over her windows were just shirts she had hung up to give the illusion she had a closet. The dresser across from the foot of her bed was by far the crown jewel of the room. The white-painted wood was rounded like an orb and the curving designs on each of the six drawers had been filed and smoothed. Her grandfather had given it to her on her tenth birthday. It looked like an antique. On top was a small hand held mirror, a brush that always pulled your hair vigorously, and a brown hair tie.
The small space had never made sense to Nina. Her family had never had a difficult life and they were by no means tight on money – in fact, they had an over abundance of it – but her parents were all about life lessons. You got what you needed and worked for the rest. It seemed a bit mental to Nina, but arguing got you nothing but punishments, so she stayed quiet.
The business that her parents had built up, Shi Industries, was a multi-million univ corporation. They manufactured the ServDroids, ShapingDroids, and, their most recent invention, the Transports. People were calling them the best devices to have ever made an appearance on either Earth or Luna. The media shoot of the newest model of transports was today with the entire family. Nina was dreading it.
She had never been big with publicity. Even at school she shied away from anything that would broadcast her name: School plays, clubs, sports, media photo shoots with her parents... She would much rather work in a dirty market booth with her sister.
Nina was out in the hallway in no time, dressed in a white shirt and her second fanciest bottoms: baggy capri pants. Her fanciest pair would be saved for later in the day. Her small fingers were still in the process of dragging her heavy hair into a long ponytail as Nina stepped into the foyer of their small apartment.
The limited space held a netscreen on one of the brown walls, stiff tufts of thinning rug that were poking at the undersides of Nina's feet, and a year old family portrait. Light filtered through beige curtains, illuminating the intoxicated lump on the drooping sofa.
Nina sent a discarded beer bottle away with a kick of her foot as she crossed the room. It disgusted her to see how many there were. Apparently, extended family didn't apply to the "If you don't need it, you don't get it" rule.
Nina shook her uncle by the arm to wake him as soon as she reached his side. He would be late for work again if he didn't get up soon. It amazed her that he hadn't been fired already. He simply flapped his fat hand in the air, nearly slapping Nina in the face. She moved his arm more forcefully this time. For a second, Nina thought she had actually woken him with her weak, half hearted attempts – he tended to get angry and violent when disturbed – as the head of her overweight uncle swiveled toward her. But, instead of being awoken, he screwed up his face and offered a great, big belch right into her gaping mouth.
Nina gagged as she staggered away from him and pinched her nose shut. The drunken smell still surrounded him even as he closed his mouth and shifted into a more comfortable position. Nina felt she couldn't be any more disgusted while she studied him. His bulging stomach spilled out of his stained shirt onto the floor, his face was blotchy and pale, and his legs were twitching uncontrollably. Nina gagged again.
Just as she was debating taking another attempt or leaving her uncle be, the front door opened. Lynn spotted Nina as she traipsed in, a wide grin forming on her lips. The two siblings looked almost exactly alike with their long, dark hair and heart shaped faces from their mother and their syrupy brown eyes from their father. The two could have passed for twins on a four-year-delay if not for the height difference. Lynn was nearly two whole heads taller than Nina.
"I bought eggs!" She didn't try to be quite for their passed out uncle as she announced this to her sister. "Why don't you help me start them up, Bug?" Nina nodded enthusiastically. She rolled her eyes at the nickname they had picked up a few years back.
A filling breakfast of scrambled cheesy-eggs later, Nina found herself skipping in front of Lynn down two flights of stairs to the elevators. No one could bother putting in donations for them to reach any more floors, so the whole building made do, having to come down seven floors at most sometimes to get to the short transportation system. Nina didn't mind it though. Even if she did, they didn't need it and her parents would put the whole argument aside.
The jolting ride and the squealing doors continued to wake Nina all the way down to the bottom floor. Her jittery stomach propelled her out the front doors of the lobby in anticipation to start the work day. She shakily climbed into the hover Lynn had commed and fastened herself in. Lynn jabbered the whole way to the market about the cloth patterns she had seen earlier and Nina made a mental note to order them as soon as she had enough money as a surprise for her sister.
She had visited the market often before, but the sight still amazed her. Shops were stacked on top of one another with booths crammed between them. Lights were strung back and forth across the street – they were turned on during festivals – and there were people of all kinds: Tall, short, wide, slim. There were big, hairy men (and some big, hairy women) waiting for the market to open for the day and children were dodging their parents. Nina wrinkled her nose. Even thought this was the newer sector of the New Beijing Market, the smells of sticky bun shops and hover repairs still did not mix well. She absolutely loved it.
They weaved in and out of people in the market to get to their booth. Nina couldn't help the stab of envy that stung her chest as she arrived through the held-open door of the booth.
A single mannequin in one of the front corners showed a newly made tea length dress with an empire waist and a jewel neckline. Pink calla lily flowers were embroidered against the white background of the beautiful dress. Bolts of colorful material of all textures and designs lined the shelves on the right wall, while needles and thread lined the left. The wall opposite the customer window had a large tapestry. It depicted Earth with a crescent Luna along the edge like they were guarding each other. Stars and galaxies surrounded them, creating the illusion of a security blanket. The blending colors brought tears of wonder to Nina's eyes. She didn't particularly like Luna, but it was so small compared to everything else that she didn't mind. Turning around, Nina noticed a three foot wall of steel drawers was placed under customer window with a steel counter on top. Outside the large window above the counter, there was a very long line.
Nina blinked harshly to keep the tears at bay. She had been an excellent seamstress since the day she had picked up her first needle. She would have been the best seamstress working in market.
Nina's mother had been a seamstress until she had helped start Shi Industries. Instead of selling the booth off, she decided to give it to one of her daughters. Nina had piped up immediately, wanting to take on the challenge, but her mother absolutely forbid it. She didn't want her baby working in a stinky market with smelly strangers. Nina always argued back. She was fourteen now, after all. Surely that was old enough to work as a seamstress and go to school. Everyone else in her class had jobs, why couldn't she? Her mother ignored the reasoning. So the booth had gone to her sister. Lynn was very talented, but it was nothing compared to her little sister's gift. Lynn had actually taken informal lessons from Nina for a while.
Understanding Nina's disappointment, Lynn hired her on the weekends, when school wouldn't get in the way. Their mother accepted the compromise with reluctance and tight lips. Nina was grateful, of course, but being an employee wasn't the same as owning.
Determined not to let her sister down, Nina smiled up at her. This was only the beginning. Her very first day. She would make the best of it in hopes that she could shine her talent, even if she only got partial credit...
Lynn clasped her hands together. "I'm so glad you're here! I've had this order that needs finishing on the embroidery." She reached into the top left drawer under the window and drew out a small, red shirt collar made from silk. Gleaming thread the same color as the collar had been delicately applied to make it shimmer like jewels in the sunlight, and golden lace patterns had been added to the top. It was beautiful.
"After that, " Lynn continued, "we need to connect it back onto the blouse. Think you can do it?" Then Lynn shook her head at herself. "Of course you can! Come here."
Lynn led her to a tiny table made of plastic that was squashed between two shelves. Nina hadn't even noticed it before. On one corner of the table, a red, silk blouse was spread out. Under the table there were two backless, plastic stools and a ShapingDroid. "Help yourself to supplies and I'll finish the cuffs." Lynn left to fetch them from the drawers. Nina pulled one of the stools from under the table. She had to hop a little, but she managed to sit as comfortably as she could atop the rigid plastic.
Customers peered curiously through the window as they worked. Nina briefly wondered why Lynn had opened it so soon. Maybe she just liked sunlight better than the artificial light they were provided. Shrugging off the distraction of the many curious eyes, Nina took a closer look at Lynn's work. The swooping designs weren't terribly complicated and Nina decided she could easily copy and complete it.
Not thirty minutes had yet passed when Nina finally noticed the noise. She shook her head. Of course there was noise. This was a popular market and more people were flooding in. She bent over her work once more. The piece was nearly done and she needed to focus. She completed two more stitches before her head snapped up. This was more than regular market commotion. People were shouting – screaming, almost. Her brow furrowed and she wished to window had the roller pulled down over it. That would block out some of the noise.
Suddenly, a deep voice was heard above the rest. "Stop!" Nina jumped, startled.
"What...?" she started.
"Queen's Studio," Lynn answered quickly in attempt to ease her sister's confusion. Really, 'Queen's Studio' was just a glorified name for the booth Queen Selene had worked in for years. Lynn stood and crossed the room. Reaching up, she grasped the handle on the roller door and pulled it down over the window. It reduced some of the noise, but also left them with only a single, dim bulb dangling from the ceiling. "You'd think that eventually everyone would have seen it and get bored by a mechanic booth, but no!" Lynn drew out the last word. "The flood of tourists never seems to end!" She dug her fist into her forehead like she was trying to rid herself of the plague that was more commonly known as obnoxious people. "Now, we need to get this done. Have you finished yet?"
Nina nodded. "Yes."
Lynn took the finished collar from Nina and started attaching the collar and cuffs to the blouse while Nina sat in her stiff, plastic stool, listening to the outside commotion.
Someone had tried to climb inside Queen's Studio for a picture, from the sounds of it, and it hadn't gone too well.
Nina couldn't understand why anyone would want to get anywhere near it. Every time Nina absolutely had to walk past it, she would shrink away as far as possible. Some of the prejudice against Lunars had faded in the past couple decades, but most of it still lingered, and the rumors Nina had heard didn't help.
Rumors that the booth that once belonged to her was cursed with her magic. That she had used it to trick the Emperor into making her Empress.
She'd heard that her magic was strong enough to bypass the safeguards in net feeds and bioelectric locks. That no one, not shells or even androids, could ever be safe near her.
People made the news when they disappeared right after openly opposing her. Nina could hardly imagine what she did to them.
No one had seen her shed a single tear in over thirty years. Not even for the aunt she shot after refusing an attempt to make peace.
Nina didn't doubt that she was lying in wait to abuse her power as Empress Selene to harm innocent Earthens.
The most bone chilling rumor was one with enough evidence that Nina doubted it was a rumor at all. The vile woman had poisoned her step-sister years ago simply because she found the child annoying.
A shiver ran up Nina's back and she cut her thoughts off from the powerful Lunar. She didn't want to get caught thinking about her, and she didn't want to die.
WHOO! First chapter on my first fanfic! I hope you liked it!