The Heart of a Princess
After finding out that Ilana's never seen a Disney movie, Kimmy takes it into her own hands to treat the girl to a few of the classics.
The Heart of a Princess
Lunch at Sherman High was always an interesting experience. It had started as the only time in school hours that the Galalunans could convene as one without suspicion, to discuss their day and any ongoing situations. Then, for a brief while, it was sort of a battleground for Ilana, who was horrified at the quality of food that the cafeteria served their young students. Lately though, there had been a drastic change, in the form of one Kimmy Mysner. After Ilana and Lance finally managed to get Octus back (they still didn't completely know G3 did it, but they were grateful nonetheless) and returned to school, Kimmy had immediately attached herself to Newton, refusing to part with him for any amount of time.
Ilana thought it was sweet, how worried the cheerleader clearly was about their friend and comrade. Lance? Not so much… Especially when she started insisting on sitting with them at lunch, which up until then had been his safe haven in school from the annoying humans and their prattle. That Kimmy's friends and fellow cheerleaders took her presence amongst Newton, Ilana and Lance as a sign that they could join their table as well only made things that much more unbearable to the young corporal.
This led to the current lunch time arrangement for the teenaged aliens and their robot; Ilana and Lance crowded down at one corner of their table as Kimmy cuddled against Newton's arm, her friends across from her rambling on about the newest episode of some TV show they were all into as Lance considered stabbing himself in the ear with his plastic spork in the hopes that it would make the noise go away.
"-And then, like, out of nowhere, Marty jumped in and TOTALLY saved Felicia from her creep of a step-father! He, like, fought off all three of the armed men the guy hired, then, like, pinned him against the wall! But just before he hit the guy, Felicia jumped in and stopped him, sayin' that 'He's not worth it!' Or somethin' like that. So Felicia and Marty argue for a second, until Felicia talks him into callin' the cops to take care of the criminals! But just as they were, like, leaving, Felicia's stepdad grabbed one of the guns and aimed it at Marty. Then, like, the camera went black and you hear a gunshot and Felicia screaming, and the words 'To Be Continued' come up!"
"Like, Omigod! No way!" Kimmy squealed, pouting slightly. "Now we gotta wait a week to see what happened! Ugh!"
"Yeah, I knoooow!" Tiffany moaned. "Just when it was getting good, too! I mean, like, Marty busting in and saving Felicia from her dad's plot to kill her and make it look like a botched robbery to collect on her life insurance so he could marry Paulette? It was a TOTAL modern day Cinderella, y'know?"
Ilana, who had been half listening to the cheerleaders' conversation, looked up at that, a confused expression on her face.
"Cinderella? Who's that?" She asked mildly. She hadn't remembered studying such a person in any of her classes… perhaps it was the name of a historical figure here on earth? Amber's comment seemed to suggest something like that…
As one, all three cheerleaders went perfectly still, giving Ilana a look as if she had suddenly turned back into that grotesque Mutraddi creature that Muculox had transformed her into in that swamp. Ilana sagged slightly, taking that as a sign that she had said something the earthlings would consider very, very stupid, which she was about to be ridiculed for.
"You… you've never heard of Cinderella?" Monica gasped out at last, the other two girls too shocked to even speak.
"…Um… Noooo…?" Ilana answered timidly, shrinking back a little at the looks the girls were giving her. Had she done something wrong again? All she did was ask a question!
"No way. It's not possible for someone to, like, not know who Cinderella is. Especially a girl! I mean, didn't you watch any Disney movies growing up?" Tiffany demanded, giving Ilana a baffled look. The alien's confusion only increased at the question.
"What's a Disney?" She asked.
The silence from the cheerleaders after Ilana's innocent question was almost deafening.
"'Disney' most likely refers to Walter 'Walt' Disney, an animator and film producer who lived from 1901 to 1966, although it could also refer to the company he created as well. He and his company are especially well known for making cartoons and movies for children, and their mascot is a bipedal mouse-like creature that goes by the name of 'Mickey.' Cinderella is a movie that Disney made in the 1950's, based on the fairy tale 'Cendrillon' by Charles Perrault." Newton informed the group in his usual monotone.
"You've seriously never seen a Disney movie before?" Kimmy demanded of Ilana, ignoring her boyfriend's dry explanation to focus all her attention on the tiny blonde. "Little Mermaid? Sleeping Beauty? Snow White? Aladdin? Mulan? Pocahontas? Beauty and the Beast?"
"I'm… I'm sorry, I've never heard of any of those before…" Ilana said meekly.
"How have you never seen a Disney movie?" Monica asked. "What, did you spend your childhood under a rock or something?"
"God, no wonder you're such a freak all the time…" Tiffany added with a snicker, making Ilana flush in humiliation.
"Our family had more important concerns then some stupid movies." Lance cut in coldly, making Tiffany and Monica go still. "I've never heard of this Dooney guy either, you know. I guess that makes me a freak, too."
"Disney." Newton corrected automatically, earning a flat look from the solider.
"Oh no, Lance, you're not a freak!" Monica said quickly, flustered at the thought of insulting the silent hottie.
"Yeah totally." Tiffany agreed just as hastily. "Like, they're just dumb kid movies, right? Nothing to get worked up about. A-anyways, getting back to Pretty People… Did you SEE the preview for the next episode?"
"Totally!" Monica gushed. "Ohmigawd was that doctor guy a total hottie!"
"I know, right? He's got, like, the dreamiest blue eyes ever!"
Realizing that the girls had moved on from picking on her, Ilana shot Lance a grateful smile in return for his intervention on her behalf, which Lance returned with a lopsided smirk of his own before he went back to ignoring the three newest additions to their lunch table.
He really can be a nice guy. Ilana realized with a quiet giggle as she turned back to her lunch. …Sometimes, anyways.
Convinced that the drama was over, Ilana and Lance didn't even see that Kimmy wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her friends, her eyes still focused solely on the Lunis girl and a troubled frown on her face. Newton noticed though, and calculated that whatever the look was about, it couldn't mean anything good.
It was a few days later when the repercussions of that innocent conversation struck on a sunny Saturday afternoon, in the form of a ringing doorbell.
"I'll get it!" Ilana sang out, making her way to the door. Paranoid as ever, Lance almost immediately stuck his head out of the kitchen to watch as the girl answered the door, cautious of any attack that could be made on the Princess by an unknown intruder.
Unfortunately, he was forbidden from greeting any strangers to their home himself, after a rather awkward incident not long after they moved in which had involved him more or less interrogating a mailman while holding a kitchen knife to the man's throat. Lance wasn't happy with the decision (as a bodyguard, it was his job to scope out any potential threats), but Ilana and Octus outvoted him and shot down his protests, so there wasn't much he could do about it.
Unsurprisingly, the person at the door an earthly acquaintance, and unthreatening to Ilana. That didn't make her any more welcome in Lance's eyes, though…
"Oh, Kimmy?" Ilana said, looking faintly surprised as the redhead brushed past her. "Newton didn't mention you were coming by today."
"I was unaware of such an arrangement myself until I saw Kimmy coming up the drive from the upstairs window." Octus, in his Newton disguise, informed Ilana and Lance as he came down the stairs, a questioning look on his usually blank face as he looked at his girlfriend, analyzing large canvas bag she held with methodical care.
"Hey, Newton." Kimmy said sweetly, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek. "Sorry sweetie, but I'm not here for you today."
"You're not?" Newton asked, the strange, human feeling he had come to know as 'confusion' coursing through him.
"Nope!" Kimmy chirped, setting her bag down and turning to the three confused aliens with a smile. "I'm here for her." It took a second for Ilana to register that the cheerleader was pointing to her, but once the observation clicked, Ilana's jaw hit the floor.
"Wh-what?" The blonde said, baffled. She had barely blinked before Lance was in between her and the earthling, a thunderous look on his handsome face.
"And what could you possibly want with her?" The bodyguard asked coldly, tense and ready for any sign of an attack from the cheerleader. There hadn't been any action from the Muttradi that had caught their attention, but they had slipped through without setting off Newton's alarms once before, so that didn't necessarily mean anything. Besides, there were other threats on earth to consider as well and, even if Kimmy herself wasn't threatening, that didn't mean that she couldn't be used by someone who was. Kimmy rolled her eyes at Lance's behavior, sighing heavily.
"Chillax, big brother. I just wanna have a Girl's Night with her is all." Kimmy said dismissively. "Movies, make-overs, you know, girl stuff. I get the feeling that Ilana doesn't get that much, and I still need to thank her for saving me from that mud thingy that attacked the school."
"A… Girl's Night? Really?" Ilana repeated, startled. She had seen such rituals in the TV shows that she studied to better assimilate amongst the humans, but never thought of participating in one herself.
"You've never seen any Disney movies, right?" Kimmy reminded Ilana, fishing around in her bag to pull out a DVD and handing it to the alien princess, who studied the picture on the cover of a smiling blonde woman in a poofy blue dress with a man kneeling in front of her to slip a shoe onto her dainty feet. This was the movie the girls were talking about…? "I brought a stash of them from the rental place, so we could watch some of the classics. It's probably, like, ten years too late, but I figured Disney's Disney, no matter how old you get, y'know?"
"Um… I…" Ilana was speechless. This was… this was actually pretty nice of Kimmy to do for her. Sure the two had come to a sort of awkward truce for Octus' sake, but they were still a far cry from being friends. But instead of being mean to her or making fun of her for being different, like her friends did, Kimmy came to help Ilana fit in just a little bit better. "…Thank you, Kimmy. I am most appreciative that you would do this for me."
"Like I said, it's pay back for saving my life at school, y'know?" Kimmy said, dismissing Ilana's gratitude with a careless wave of her hand. "I even got a sweet deal on the movies since the guy who works the rental place wanted Monica's number. After this we're even, got it?"
"I'm still grateful, though." Ilana said, following Kimmy into the living room with a dorky sort of smile. Kimmy rolled her eyes at the girl's childish enthusiasm over something as simple as a bunch of movies, when she realized that Newton and Lance were trailing behind them as well. Stopping dead in her tracks, Kimmy glared dourly at the boys, hand on her hips.
"And what do you two think you're doing?" She demanded with a huff.
"What do you mean?" Newton asked, sharing confused looks with Lance.
"Didn't you hear me? This is a Girl's Night! As in no boys allowed! That includes boyfriends and nosey older brothers!" Kimmy explained, exasperated. "You guys go out and do guy stuff, okay?"
"You can't kick us out of our own home!" Lance protested hotly, scowling at the redhead.
"Oh stop being such a drama queen." Kimmy snorted. "It's only for a couple hours. You guys can come back tonight, but Ilana and I can't have a Girl's Night with you two breathing down our necks!"
"We're NOT leaving." Lance said, finality in his tone.
"Oh come on, guys. It's just a few hours, right?" Ilana broke in, smiling hopefully at her bodyguards.
"I have to agree with Lance on this matter, girls." Newton said with a frown. "There are a lot of safety concerns and unnecessary risks in allowing you two to remain here unprotected."
"Honestly, Newt, you're so paranoid." Kimmy said, though a hint of affection took the bite out of her words. "Look, we'll lock the place up tight until you get back, and won't open the door for anybody but the pizza guy, alright? Please?" Almost immediately, Newton felt himself bending to Kimmy's will at the earnest look she gave him, logic and calculations taking a backseat to the overwhelming urge to make the redhead happy.
"…Well… If it's just a few hours." Newton relented. Squealing in delight, Kimmy threw her arms around his shoulders, gracing him with a kiss.
"Thanks, babe!" The girl said giddily before smirking at Lance. "We~ell?" Grinding his teeth, Lance fumed. He knew he was beaten. By a 108lb cheerleader, at that. How embarrassing…
"Fine." Lance grit out, storming to the door and almost wrenching it off of the hinges when he opened it, Newton following him at a more sedate pace. "A few hours. But that's all you're getting, and we're not going far!" And, with those parting words, Lance left, slamming the door behind him.
"You're brother's really cute, but he's got serious issues." Kimmy commented dryly.
You have no idea… Ilana thought, flashbacks of the epic robot fight that destroyed half of the Military Academy years and years ago running through her mind. She wondered for a moment what Kimmy would say if she brought that particular memory up, but then thought better of it.
"Don't let him bother you, he's always like that." She suggested instead, pawing through the movies Kimmy brought. "So where do you think we should start? There's so many choices!"
"How about The Little Mermaid first? That seems to be everyone's favorite…" Kimmy suggested, selecting a movie that had a redhead girl with a fish tail instead of feet on the cover. "I used to run around my house for days singing 'Part of your World' when I was a kid. I'll put the movie in, you go make us some popcorn, okay?"
"Got it!" Ilana said happily, grabbing the popcorn box to do as she was told. Kimmy, in the meantime, got to work on pulling the curtains close to darken the room, oblivious to the incensed bodyguard lurking in a tree three houses away watching her every move until the curtain was drawn tight, blocking off his view.
"That girl is the worst kind of security risk." Lance announce bitterly, jumping to the ground to join Newton now that he couldn't watch from his spot anymore.
"She doesn't mean any harm, and Ilana seems pleased with her actions." Newton said, a touch on the defensive side. "I'll keep a close monitor on our security system, so don't worry." Lance grumbled a bit, but made no further protest, allowing the robot to relax a bit. After all, where was the harm in allowing Ilana and Kimmy a little time alone, if it made the girls happy?
Ilana was livid.
That little… how could she… oooh! Grinding her teeth, Ilana glared furiously at the redhead, unable to bring herself to forgive the girl's actions. Of all the selfish-!
"Um… Ilana? Are you okay?" Kimmy asked, examining the blonde with an arched eyebrow. Jumping, Ilana realized that she'd let her emotions get the better of her, and offered the other teen a sheepish laugh.
"Who, me? I'm fine!" she said brightly.
"…Ooookaaay?" Kimmy said slowly, clearly still skeptical despite the girl's reassurances. Standing up, the cheerleader ejected the DVD, cutting off the beginning of the credits. "So? What did you think of your first Disney movie?"
"It was… nice." Ilana said forcefully. Kimmy raised an eyebrow at the girl, not buying her act for a second.
"Is that why you almost tore your pillow in half when King Trident sacrificed himself for Ariel?" She asked drolly, making the blonde blush.
"It's not that the movie was bad." Ilana explained hastily. "I mean, the music was pretty nice, and the creatures were adorable, but…"
"Buuuut…" Kimmy pressed.
"…I don't think I like Princess Ariel." Ilana confessed, shamefaced.
"Seriously?" Kimmy said, clearly surprised.
"She was just so… selfish!" Ilana exploded, fuming. "I mean, she didn't care about her friends, or her subjects, or her father or sisters or anything but herself and that Prince! She disobeyed the rules time and again for her own, petty reasons and she didn't care that her actions were so clearly hurting her friends and family! And for what? A boy she saw once? A boy she had never spoken to, who didn't even recognize the face of the girl who saved him from drowning? Her kingdom was almost DESTROYED because she was stupid and did something completely unnecessary and dangerous!" Kimmy stared at Ilana, dumbshocked at the girl's passionate reaction to the movie's heroine.
"…Oh…" Kimmy managed to find her voice again at last. "I… uh… never thought of it that way before…" Ilana certainly had an… interesting viewpoint, to say the least. Still, she had a point. If Ariel hadn't done all of that, then her father's people wouldn't have been in danger of the evil sea witch. "But… didn't you think it was romantic? That she fell so insanely in love with a man who was from a completely different world then her?"
"…But is it really love? To look at someone once, and feel attracted to them?" Ilana countered. "My father taught me that love- real love- is something to be nurtured and grown. It's not something that can be decided in just one glance, is it? And is one person's love really worth sacrificing so much? Risking the safety of so many people?"
"You're really mad about that, huh?" Kimmy observed.
"A princess' duty is to her people first, and herself second." Ilana said definitively. "Actions like the ones that girl took… I can't forgive something like that."
"You are so weird, you know." Kimmy sighed, putting the DVD in its case. "But whatever, it's your opinion. But you know, being the sort of person who always puts other people first means that you will never find happiness for yourself."
"…That… That's fine with me. I accept that, after all, if it means that my people are happy in my stead." Ilana replied softly, her eyes getting a far away look in them.
…Wait, what?
"What?" Kimmy asked, confused. Ilana's eyes widened for a moment at the question before she offered Kimmy a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, I guess I got caught up in the mood. I meant to say 'the' people." Ilana explained. "A-anyways, so what's the next movie?"
"Right…" Kimmy said skeptically, not sure if she should continue after Ilana's reaction to The Little Mermaid. Deciding to give it a shot, Kimmy grabbed Snow White, certain that the goody-two shoes Princess of that movie would make a better impression then Ariel apparently had.
They weren't even ten minutes into the film when Kimmy noticed Ilana was shaking. It had started off well, if Ilana's raptured interest was anything to go by. She even giggled loudly at the part where Snow White was singing into the wishing well, and when Kimmy asked what was so funny, Ilana grinned at her with watery eyes and replied "There's always a well." which made absolutely no sense to the cheerleader.
But once they got to the scene where the Evil Queen ordered the Huntsman to bring her Snow White's heart in a box, all of Ilana's cheer and good humor faded fast. Kimmy watched Ilana's strange behavior get even weirder after the Huntsman chased Snow White away to save her life, forcing the princess to run into the forest. With every terror that jumped out at Snow White as she tore her way through the dark, dangerous woodlands around her, Ilana's face went more pale and drawn, until Kimmy was worried that the girl would faint.
"Ilana?" Kimmy said, baffled at the girl's reaction. There was NO way that the cheap animation was actually scaring the teenage girl, was there? She had fought off mutant mud monsters at their school, for crying out loud. "Ilana, are you… Are you okay?"
"Turn it off." Ilana said quietly, not answering Kimmy's question as she drew her knees up to her chest and buried her head in her arms.
"…What?" Kimmy frowned, not understanding what the other girl's deal was.
"I beg of you, turn it off right now!" Ilana's voice was louder this time, but broken, as if she was trying to keep herself from crying. Kimmy immediately obeyed the girl's command, though she didn't fully understand why she was letting the small blonde boss her around.
"What is your problem all of a sudden?" Kimmy demanded. Ilana ignored her again though, jumping up to race up the stairs with the same unnatural grace and speed she had shown when she tried out for cheerleading. Kimmy faltered for a moment before giving chase, following the girl to find her collapsed onto a bed, clutching a pillow to her face. Huffing, Kimmy scowled at the girl, who was apparently even weirder then she had always thought.
"Okay seriously, I'm, like trying to do you a favor here and this is how you repay me? What gives, Ilana?" The redhead asked irritably. She had never been a patient girl, and Ilana's current freak streak was too much for her to pretend to be nice.
"I… I can't watch that. I just can't!" Ilana sobbed. "It's just like… and I can't even… There was no point!"
"Okaaay… no point to what exactly?" Kimmy asked, sitting down at the foot of Ilana's bed when all she really wanted to do was call the men with the white coats to take the girl away, because clearly she had lost it. Lance and Newton probably wouldn't appreciate that though, so the best she could do was try and calm the girl down a bit. Luckily, she was pretty used to drama like this from her friends, so she could probably get to the bottom of things if she kept the girl talking.
"The attack!" Ilana cried, clutching her pillow tighter. Kimmy blinked. The attack on Snow White? That's what this was about?
"Weren't you watching the movie? The Queen attacked Snow White because she was, like, totally jealous and stuff, cause Snow White was prettier than her. I mean, jealous might not be the greatest reason to rip out a girl's heart, but the Queen wasn't a nice person to begin with, so it's no surprise she'd do something like that."
"But… but what was there to gain? Killing people just because you're jealous? That won't solve anything!" Ilana pointed out, looking up at Kimmy with tear filled eyes. Something about that look made Kimmy hesitate before answering.
She didn't really understand why but somehow… somehow she felt that this wasn't just about a stupid kid's movie anymore…
"Yeah, you're right, it doesn't solve anything." Kimmy agreed, smirking at the surprised look that got her from the blonde. "But y'know, some people just don't get stuff like that. I mean, the Evil Queen was pretty messed up, and Snow White suffers because of it, but it wasn't all bad for her. She got some cool friends outta all the Queen did to her, and they protect her from the Queen. That's pretty sweet, right?" Ilana considered Kimmy's words silently for a moment with wide eyes, her tears subsiding.
"…I just don't understand why people feel like they have to be cruel to one another." Ilana confided quietly at last, closing her eyes. "It's such a senseless reason for people to die, and dragging innocent people through that… If I… If Snow White hadn't run away… If she stayed and fought, wouldn't that be better than hiding? Waiting around, not knowing when the next attack would come? Worried that innocent people… if her friends, would be hurt or killed because of her?"
"I dunno." Kimmy shrugged. "I mean, Snow White isn't much of a fighter. Especially when you put her next to someone like the Queen. Maybe she could have thought of something, but honestly? I think if she stayed, she would have been toast. And then, all those people in her kingdom would, like, totally suffer because of the Evil Queen, right? If you ask me, leaving was definitely the best choice."
"…I… I suppose you're right…" Ilana said, looking depressed at the thought.
"Hey, don't look so down!" Kimmy sighed, rolling her eyes. "You don't know how the movie ends yet, right? Why don't we go back downstairs and finish watching it, then you can decide if Snow White made the right choice."
"I don't think it that decision will be quite that easy for me…" Ilana mumbled, looking mournfully at the snow globe sitting on her bedside table. Kimmy stared at the other girl for a moment, before narrowing her eyes at her suspiciously.
"…Okay, there's definitely no way that all this is about some stupid movie." She declared, making Ilana freeze up. "Does this have something to do with whatever's going on with you and your family?"
"W-what?" Ilana said, her voice pitching higher in her panic. "What are you talking about? There's nothing going on with any of us! We're completely normal, really!"
"Yeah, right." Kimmy scoffed, irritated. "Normal people don't disappear for days without a word like you guys did. Or do that weird 'Bathroom' thing you guys are always doing." Ilana gulped loudly as Kimmy gave her a flat look. "I know there's something going on with you guys, even if I can't figure out what. The whole school could see there was something weird about you from day one, and if it wasn't for those robots-!" Ilana stiffened as Kimmy stopped talking mid-sentence, a look of dawning on her face. "You… you guys came to school the same day those Titan robot things showed up for the first time. And… and there's three robots, and three of you. And when the robots disappeared, you guys went AWOL, too."
"That's just a coincidence!" Ilana insisted loudly, though for some reason she moved to hide her wrist watch behind her. "I mean, do any of us look like robots to you, Kimmy?"
No, they didn't… but Kimmy had heard that the robots had caused a big scene in the mall not long after they showed up, when two of them had transformed from a pair of teenagers into their robots forms.
Omigod… The bathroom thing… Kimmy realized, her eyes going wide. Every time Newton ditched her with that lame bathroom excuse, she heard later that day there had been a robot attack. It all made perfect sense… the weird timing, the sudden disappearance, the odd ways that Ilana and her family acted… For a moment, Kimmy couldn't breathe. She knew Newton was keeping something from her, but this… this was nuts. Teenaged aliens that turned into giant fighting robots, living in a place like Sherman? Crazy as it was though, it made perfect sense, and it explained everything…
…Especially why Ilana looked so freaked out that she still hadn't said anything.
A part of Kimmy wanted to press the girl for answers. If she cornered Ilana with her suspicions and threatened to find proof and go public, the blonde would probably break. Especially with how vulnerable she was being just a few seconds ago. Lance and Newton weren't here to stop her, and she could finally have the answers that she wanted… but…
…but…
Newton's face, the heartbreakingly guilty expression he'd give her after she broke up with him that she pretended not to see, flashed through her mind right then, making Kimmy's gut twist unpleasantly.
No, that wasn't right. Whatever was going on, it involved all three members of the Lunis family, and it wouldn't be fair of her to force the secret out of one without thinking about the others. They trusted one another, the same way that she trusted Tiffany and Monica as her best friends. That's why Newton wouldn't tell her, even if it broke both of their hearts, and why Ilana would probably continue to deny everything even if the evidence against her piled up to the moon.
Besides, the reason they were here didn't really matter. They were here, and that was most important to Kimmy. If she hadn't met Newton, she may never have learned her true potential, and how good it felt to be smart. She would have spent her entire life just playing a part that other people had written out for her. As hurt as she had been about not knowing his secret, never meeting Newton to find out what a wonderful, brilliant, funny and supportive person he was would have been a far worse fate, so she figured that it was better not to question their presence and just be grateful they were there.
"…Yeah, you're right. It's just a weird coincidence." Kimmy finally decided, which made Ilana let out a gusty sigh of relief.
"Yes! Exactly!" Ilana agreed, smiling so widely that she was in danger of splitting her face into two.
"I mean, how could someone as dorky as you possibly be a cool alien superhero, right?" Kimmy added with a wicked grin. Ilana's smile became a little more forced after those words.
"…Right." The blonde grit out, trying to reign in her irritation.
"Besides, everyone knows aliens are little green men with big heads and funny looking bodies." Kimmy continued. "You guys look… well, I wouldn't say normal, but you look pretty human, at the very least. At least your brother does. But your clothes-!"
"Okay, I get it! We're weird!" Ilana fumed. "Can we please just move on already?"
"Whoa… Chill, princess." Kimmy snickered. "I was just teasing. You're… you. And I think Lance and Newton like you that way, so you shouldn't go changing that." Kimmy smiled at Ilana's surprised face at those words as the blonde's mouth open and closed silently for a moment.
"Um… Thank you?" Ilana finally said uncertainly.
"No prob." Kimmy said, standing up to stretch.
"…Not to sound ungrateful or anything but… why are you being so nice to me?" Ilana asked, not suspicious but clearly confused.
"Well, I don't really have a reason to be mean to you now, do I?" Kimmy pointed out shrugging.
"That didn't stop you when we met." Ilana reminded the girl dryly.
"You were a threat to me then." Kimmy explained, wincing slightly. "I mean, you were really, really good at gymnastics, and even if you're weird, you're pretty and nice. I was scared that you'd come in and take over. Cheerleading was the only thing I had to define myself and… I guess that turned me into a major witch."
"You really thought that?" Ilana said, looking honestly surprise. There wasn't a hint of gloating or ego anywhere in her expression. "But… I didn't want to take anything from anybody. I just wanted to try and fit in."
"Don't." Kimmy suggested. "Fitting in is overrated. Look at Newton, he doesn't come anywhere close to fitting in, but he's the best guy I've ever met."
"I'll keep that in mind." Ilana said with a smile, which Kimmy returned.
Kimmy Mysner knew when to attack, and when to wait. If she was too aggressive now, she could end up losing Newton again, and put the Lunis' on guard. But if she backed off and put herself into a supportive role, she had a better chance of learning what she wanted to know. She would show the three that they could trust her with whatever was going on in their lives, and hopefully that would encourage them to let her in. Because there was no way Kimmy was going to be on the outside looking in at something as big as this was turning out to be.
"Now, are we done with this little drama? I want to get back to the movie, if you don't mind!" Kimmy huffed, giving Ilana a mock glare.
"Alright." Ilana laughed, raising to follow Kimmy back down the stairs, feeling much better after her talk with the redhead. She still didn't feel right about running away, but she was fighting the Mutraddi in her own way, until she could rejoin her father and return to her people. After all, despite all their efforts, none of them had been able to cut out the heart of the princess… Titan's heart. As long as she kept that safe, then Galaluna would still have a chance.
Her kingdom would not fall, not if Ilana could help it.