Hello, thank you so much for reading this fanfic, I am so helplessly in love with the Lunar Chronicles and am in major denial this takes place after Winter, and there are spoilers. I love all the characters more than life, and I hope you enjoy this, comments would be appreciated and I will update soon, Love you all! I'm aware that this story starts out kind of long and tedious, but don't worry, the action will begin soon.

That being said I do not own any of the characters and this beautiful series was not written by me, but the fabulous Marissa Meyer.

Thanks All of you!

All the Tin Man Ever Wanted was a Heart so he Could Love Again

Cinder pressed her forehead against the glass window that revealed the tips of earth passing below them. Fog began to form on the screen, and she stepped even closer, pressing her body against the wall in an effort to see more of the planet laid out before her. The frame around the window was encased with gold, and carved with intricate designs that sparkled and gleamed in the sunlight that peeked over earth. It really was a beautiful spaceship, none less beautiful on the interior than the rooms back in the palace of Artemisia. Pale salmon wallpaper danced through the room with soft cream colored jewels that patterned the walls. There was a bed in the center of the room that was fitted with so much material, it could be sewn into a hundred dresses each one a different color and design.

Even the floor was dressed up, wearing a thick creamy carpet that cinder had found herself pressing her toes into on numerous occasions. She enjoyed the plush feeling of the soft floor on her skin, but no matter how hard she tried, whenever she found herself surrounded by these luxuries, she couldn't get the picture of slave labor in the outer sectors out of her mind. She imagined hungry men carving a thousand designs into the gold frame around the window. She imagined tired women, sewing the sheets that draped around her pristine bed. She even imagined children washing and scrubbing the carpet of stains. All luxuries she enjoyed, at a high cost. Of course, she knew that slave labor was no longer happening with Levana overthrown, but she still felt a pang of guilt every time she crawled into her bed sheets. Many Laborers were even dead because of the harsh conditions they were put under, and cinder knew from experience that every detail was probably examined and perfected before it had been sent to the palace. If something was wrong, the creator could suffer consequences as harsh as public lashings or suffer the loss of food.

Cinder let her gaze travel around the room, wondering how many people had been physically hurt because they had messed up a single detail in their work.

Off in one corner of her room there was a desk made out of a dark wood that she didn't recognize. It was littered with a thousand drawers, even when she only filled up one of them with a dirty grey hooded sweatshirt and a pair of cargo pants. The only pair she had since they left the rampion so many months ago.

She had practically begged the seamstress to make her a pair of pants along with her exquisite dress that she would wear to the annual peace festival, and she still had yet to wear the pants, but was saving them for a special occasion which included all of her friends and a trip on the rampion. Now she itched to throw off this thick layered prink-frilled dress and slip into something more comfortable, but she knew that many of Luna's most prestigious diplomats were on this ship with her, headed to the eastern commonwealth to represent Luna at the ball, and she didn't want to seem... More casual than she already was. Even if she spent most of the time in her room.

After all, they never ceased to look their best whenever she was in their presence, and the least she could do was repay the favor. After the revolution, people had begun giving her more respect than she had in her entire life, bowing whenever she looked in their direction, giving her gifts, and even, sometimes placing kisses on her cheek while eyes filled with thankfulness. Of course these were the people from the outer sectors who had suffered the wrath of Levana the most, the lunars closest to Artemisia only gave her glares and the occasional glob of spit aimed in her direction. They hadn't taken well to Levana's rule coming to a close. They were used to being spoiled by her majesty, and now, without those luxuries, they were spiteful and rebellious. The worst of them were thrown into prison for treason, and when that happened, a few families from the outer sectors were able to have a permanent change of scenery, but Cinder was working hard to ensure that the pain and suffering was over. For good.

She silently wondered if the people of earth would treat her with the same respect, and once again, Cinder gazed out of the window, willing time to speed up, while at the same time, begging it to slow down. Her heart hiccupped as she noticed the increasing speed of the ship, the growing size of earth beneath her. Her eyes landed on a single spot on the horizon, letting herself imagine what it would be like to step onto soil again. She was almost used to moon rock and dust, but her thoughts were centered on the feeling of the ground, earthen ground. It was even pretty to look at, and she felt envious for a single moment as she memorized the texture of the land. From this far away, it all looked perfect. Cinder noted how the cream colored clouds swirled against the royal blue ocean, and how, the glittering cities twinkled in the dark void of space.

As they descended closer, she could make out details in the brown earth, and she began to see mountains, hints of vegetation, and the snake of a line, slithering through the eastern commonwealth. She examined it once more, and realized, with a start, that it was the Great Wall of China. She smiled, and a wave of giddiness crashed over her. She was going home. And this time, without Pearl, or Adri, who were busy selling prototypes for bio electrical spine implants to world leaders. Cinder would finally face this planet, this earth as not a dejected, lonely cyborg, but as a queen, the queen of Luna. This news sent a new wave of anticipation and adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Of course there was going to be pain at seeing her own home, where she had spent her life being tortured by Adri and Pearl, and a single thought of Peony made her gasp with the reopening of an old wound. Yes this was a place full of hatred and misery, but every time she thought of the Eastern commonwealth, it brought- not thoughts of revenge- but of a new start, a rebirth of memories and adventures. She was eager to visit again, excited.

She looked at earth again, but something nagged her in the back of her mind. A small detail that always made her stomach churn, and her heart flip. Sure, she was more than ecstatic to be returning, but going back meant facing someone that she was not ready to face again. His face began to slice through her thoughts and claw at her insides, until she was forced to think about him (much against her will). His messy brown hair. His chocolate brown eyes. His lips that had been admired by every girl in the commonwealth a thousand times.

Him. Kai.

And she had not talked to him in over 3 months. Of course there had been the occasional comm, but even they had fizzled to a stop, and their conversations were usually arguments, stirred by their disagreements on how both of them ruled their countries. Their last fight had been about getting married. It had been on her birthday, her seventeenth birthday.

He had called her on her port seven times before she had time to take a break from the party Iko had thrown for her and look at her messages. She glanced at the clock in her chambers, and then regretted it. She had set the clock to Eastern Commonwealth time to feel more like home, and even though she felt bad calling him back at three in the morning, she soon got over her guilt and rested the pad of her finger on the contact that read his name.

Calling His Majesticness who I am very much in love with

Her screen echoed at her. She made a mental note to keep her port screen far away from Thorne the next time he visited. He had also changed his own contact to "The sexiest man alive and you know it Cinder". Yep, she thought to herself, he's never touching my stuff again. Jumping onto her messy, rustled bed, she lay with her chest hugging the mattress, and propped her face up with her elbows. She then rested the port on the pillows in front of her and awaited her emperor.

The screen stayed blank for the count of seventeen seconds as the tiny world icon spun in the right corner of the port. When his face finally appeared on the screen, she gasped for air, unaware that she had been holding her breath. The room around him was black and his face was illuminated with an unearthly pallor that made exhaustion even more apparent in his face. Cinder giggled as she examined his messy, messy hair that seemed even more frazzled since he had just woken up.

"Good morning," she tried, laughing at his sudden yawn that made his cheeks wrinkle in the cutest places. He fell back into his pillow with a sigh, and rolled his eyes.

"Good morning Cinder," he finally said, smiling groggily at her.

"I'm sorry it's early," she gushed "I finally got a break from being held hostage at Iko's party, and… I wanted to talk to you," she smiled again, not wanting his face to disappear before she could memorize it. His eyes suddenly flashed open and a look of guilt spread across his face.

"Oh, stars Cinder, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to your birthday, I'm sorry, Iko tried to get me to come but I had a meeting that had been planned for a long time, and I just couldn't miss it," He seemed frustrated with his own words, and suddenly she felt bad for calling him when he wasn't even able to collect his thoughts. She played with a loose string from the quilt on her bed, twisting it around her fingers.

"It's ok," she said, even though she was not ok with his absence. "Iko told me that you couldn't come and I… I understand." She tried to smile to cover her sadness, but it turned into more of a cringe. He suddenly perked up, startling her.

"You got my present right? I know it was short notice, but I discovered it somewhere hidden where Torin thought I couldn't find it, espionage is obviously my specialty." His grin turned lopsided and Cinder found it hard to stay mad at him for not coming.

"Yes," she said "I was waiting to open it so you could be there, but I guess this is good enough," she pushed herself up from the bed and walked to where Kai's present sat unopened in her room, smiling at the lumpy wrapping paper that made her thoughts flicker to a certain pair of gloves she had once received. The box she now held in front of her was big, and heavier than she expected, causing her to lean to push it onto her bed. She maneuvered around it and then sat cross legged behind the box so he could still see her, then she began to gently remove the paper that glittered in the dim light of her chambers. Kai's confidence grew with each of the piece of wrapping paper that landed on her bed until she reached a box in the center. It fell apart easily, and then she was reaching her hand in and pulling out an all too familiar grey sweat shirt. Her heart hiccupped and she smiled mischievously at the port screen that was full of relief and a bit of cockiness. She pressed it to her face, smelling his soap that had once made her dizzy with euphoria. It still did.

"There's something else in there too," Kai said, his nerves were evident on every angle of his face, making Cinder suspicious. Her hand landed on a small square box, and the smile vanished from her face, panic coursing through her body. Her hands were shaking as she slowly brought the box from the darkness of its cardboard prison.

It was a simple box, one that was made of wood and had small gold hinges that shined slowly when she twisted it around. Her eyes finally reached the latch, and her eyebrows drew together in concern because she knew exactly what was in this box, exactly what this meant. It felt like ages as she sat there examining the box, twisting it around in her fingers, such a small little box she thought, for such a big thing, her mind turned back to when Levana was on the other side of this box, when Levana was going to be married soon, back when Cinder was still a helpless and vulnerable cyborg. She pressed the pad of her finger on the indent in the wood, and popped it open.

The ring was sleeping in a dark velvet that made it even more beautiful, though like the box, it was simple. Just a band of gold that would slip perfectly around her cyborg finger. A voice cut through her thoughts, ripping her attention away from the box.

"Queen Selene Channary Blackburn, I, Emperor Kaito of the Eastern commonwealth, would like to ask your hand in marriage," his face was pressed with so much confidence that her heart flipped a hundred times. Cinder just sat there with her face frozen in shock and her mind went blank with a million thoughts racing through her head.

She remembered that moment now as she stared out sadly into the void of space, pretending that nothing was wrong, that nothing had dissolved in their relationship that day that she had not said no. But she had. And now every nerve inside of her sizzled in worry.

Now he was worried, and furious, and heartbroken, and she had no other reason than her own selfishness and worry to blame.

Selfishness because she wanted their relationship to be something other than a diplomatic agreement, a sign of alliance. She wanted it to be what they had on the rampion, but she knew that once she began plotting out a marriage alliance, it would have to be displayed that way, as a symbolic wedding, and not one out of love. She wasn't sure she was ready for that. For the press conferences that displayed their marriage for the whole world to see. She wanted their relationship private, confined, but the lunar queen getting married to the emperor of the eastern commonwealth would draw a lot of unwanted attention.

Her worry also held her back. She wasn't exactly sure that what they had had on the rampion was real. She had long forgotten the conversations that they had on the ship, and though she could recall their kisses, it felt like a dream, too fragile to shatter. She had often asked herself what Kai found attractive in her, and someday, if he would ask himself the same question.

She was scared that if she talked to him, she would say something that would make their relationship unravel, so she found it easier to let the days slip by without answering his comms. Found it easier to forget him.

But now she couldn't, because she was going to face him in exactly

Four hours and thirty seven minutes

The clock in her brain told her. She was going to see him -talk to him, dance with him at the annual peace festival. She wasn't sure that she could handle that when the very thought of him made her central processor fizzle and pop with nerves.

She wrung her hands and tried to push into them all of the building energy that plagued her.

Someone cleared their throat behind her, shattering her peace and quiet. She whirled around, facing her personal guard; Kinney who, with evident disdain told her that her "android friend" was waiting outside her room.

Cinder smiled with relief, glad for the distraction, and glad that it was Iko. She slowly backed away from the wall and composed her features, hiding her worried expressions with a smile reserved only for her android.

A second later she burst into the room, batting away Kinney who had been standing in the doorway moments earlier. "Cinder!" She said rushing over to the window where Cinder was still positioned.

"I have decided that it would be appropriate, and also very cute, if you wore this when we arrived." Iko held up a short sun dress that cinder noticed for the first time. She guessed it would only come down to about mid-thigh, and reveal everything underneath, including her metal leg. "Kai will probably think it's a bit flashy, but sexy none the less," Iko continued, and cinder ran her metal hand through her hair.

"Iko, that's sweet and all, but..." She paused, rewording her excuses in her mind. "It's a little... Revealing, I mean, the people of the world are going to have to get used to this whole cyborg/queen of the moon thing, I'm not sure that showing up on one of the most prejudice country's doorstep and flashing a metal leg will be the greatest way to create acceptance towards this whole cyborg laws movement thing," Iko blinked once and said,

"Trust me, the people will love it," before getting to work and throwing the dress over cinder's head. She groaned, fighting the instinct to shrug Iko off of her, but despite her struggles, she moved quickly and had soon stepped back to examine her work.

Cinder glanced down at the dress and realized that it was prettier than she had originally thought. It was white with little pale pink flowers that bloomed around the bodice. The bottom was hemmed with a white lace that fell around her like water. The neckline fell at just the right length. Cinder smiled and then glanced at Iko.

"I like this much better that the gowns in Artemisia."

"And here you are complaining about cyborg opposition." Iko refuted. Cinder rolled her eyes. "Now, we have about two hours left, so we should probably start working on your hair."