This Day Is What We Make It
by lovelunarchron
That night, she dreams she's whisked away but she doesn't know where to or why. Cinder only knows it feels safe and familiar and right. He's there too and his arms are open for her so she runs into them as fast as she can. It feels funny to run for joy and not for fear, and now that they're no longer in danger she's more one to stroll or walk briskly anyway. He spins her and the laugh she lets out warms her soul.
When she wakes, she squeezes the sheets with her fists and muffles her face with her pillow or she'll positively scream out loud for all the nerves riding through her body. She yearns to stay in her dream, in that place where they can be anyone they want to be—a place where they don't have to tone down their emotions. But the screen in the corner of her retina display tells her that the countdown has finally hit zero.
Soon they won't have to hide anything anymore, and Kai can take her away any time he wishes. (They'll probably be going away a lot). She's reluctant to tell anyone—rather, she never tells anyone—but being with him has made her weak for his gestures of romance and affection. He likes to surprise her, and she used to hate that, but four years later, she almost expects it. It's what makes him him, so it's half of what makes her her.
Getting ready doesn't take as long as everyone expected. She's ditched the cargo pants and swapped her grease-stained shirts for a dress, of course, but it's still her: low-maintenance and relatively simple, but still beautiful according to the one she loves. She also wears the locket that Kai gave her. Inside it is a small stone from the Lunar treasury, to remind her of where she came from and that first impressions aren't always what they seem.
The glittering far-too-fancy-for-her-liking rock still beams up at her. When he gave it to her more than a year ago he insisted the ring should go on her titanium hand. No more sarcasm necessary, metal and complex wiring had finally become a turn on after all. The memory of that day makes her smile, when he got down on one knee and they both nearly cried. Cinder, because tear ducts were never a necessity, and Kai, because deep-down he's a die-hard romantic through and through. Today, she'll get a new ring, and though she loves him very much, she hopes it's plain and boring and without any rock at all, because the one she wears now is always snagging on her work gloves.
She leaves the room and right outside is Thorne, his face alight and his sly grin waiting, telling her, "I told you so." She can only nod this time, for once okay with losing that familiar argument, because it means that today is real and this is really going to happen. She's going to marry Kai.
She takes Thorne's arm, and they're walking down the corridor and it's all going so fast, too fast. Iko is in front of her, an android rather than a human, which in any other company would give stares and shakes of disapproval. But since she was eleven it's always been Iko and it's only fair that she should stand beside her even now.
When they're about to round the corner, she stops to take a breath. She knows the aisle isn't long; the spaceship isn't crowded. The Rampion is orbiting halfway between Luna and Earth exactly, a mingling of their two cultures because they wouldn't have it any other way. It's the perfect place for their vows since this ceremony is about them, not the world.
The world isn't invited today. The day for everyone else can wait.