Takes place several years in the future.
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It wasn't supposed to end like this. That's what they all say, at the climax of those movies Earthlings love to watch. Of course, the hero rises, saying it's not, and the movie continues to the real ending. Where they all live happily ever after.
Ilana wonders if this is what it is.
She doesn't know quite when it happened, but one day, she woke up and felt a sharp pang in her chest. Like the air had been pulled out of her lungs and it hurt to breathe. Octus assured her it was just a painful movement of her rib muscles, normal in adolescents - this didn't help quell the sick feeling that had started to churn in her stomach.
Weeks passed without any Mutraddi creatures. Months. The Titan wouldn't form in practice runs. It just wouldn't, and for once, Octus was speechless.
They weren't coming. The Mutraddi had given up? No, they wouldn't just give up. They had won. They had won and it didn't matter if she was still alive on some no name rock in the middle of some no name galaxy.
It's some sort of life, she justifies. Her father would want her to be happy. She guesses she is. Her son is almost three, with dark eyes behind equally dark hair, almost a mirror image of his father, albeit the pale freckles. A marriage of convenience, Octus had called it, in his monotone voice that now seemed to always grate her nerves. As long as Lance was always with her, no matter how old she got, she would be safe.
It did raise questions. Kimmy looked about ready to vomit when "Newton" casually mentioned their wedding over dinner, the four of them together after only four years, attending the same college by what Octus placates Kimmy to be "luck."
"W-what?" sputtered Kimmy, the expensive salad now flying out of her mouth and nearly landing on Ilana's plate. Some of the lettuce dripped down her chin as she gaped at the pair across the table. Neither looked too happy, Ilana because of the current accident nearly touching her dinner and Lance because, well, Lance never really looked happy.
"B-but, you're, you're related." She spat out the last word like it was some sort of fungus-like disease, her nose crinkling in revulsion.
"Lance is adopted," explained Ilana, just as Octus had told her to say, as if that made their arrangement any more appropriate. Lance was always the one out of place. The intruder in her life. Kimmy just continued staring.
"Meaning we're not blood related," stressed Ilana, hoping Kimmy would just shut her mouth and clean up the mess off her face. Ilana had a lot of patience but now was not the best time. The redhead scowled.
"I know what that means." Ever since meeting Newton, she had an issue (meaning her words were quick to bite and fists quick to launch) with anyone assuming she was too dumb to live. Nevertheless, Lance always did believe so while Ilana did her best to give the redhead the benefit of the doubt. But, she was married to a robot after all. And didn't even know it. A darn shame.
Everything went down as planned. Like her life. Organized by Octus and Lance, both looking over the entirely too small guest list and discussing the security of the chapel. On Galaluna, her wedding would be grand. Amazing, the entire country would be there, everything would be just as she dreamed. She would be marrying a nobleman, someone from a family second only to her own. Here she is nothing but a small girl marrying a quiet boy. She doesn't get the chance to even fight it; her home is dead and the only thing she can do is mourn the loss.
She wonders why it matters, rolling the bouncing ball to her toddler on the living room floor of the tiny adobe. The Mutraddi were never coming back, and without Titan, she was never going home. They were trapped on this planet –their real home was already too far gone.
Lance lists off the reasons, Octus substantiates them with perfect memory, and they all go on living like normal Americans. Not the ones who work, oh no, because even though the two continue to whisper about the destruction of their planet, they still work on fixing the watches, attempting to reboot Titan after its impromptu death.
She doesn't want to admit it's okay. Because it's not. She's not suppose to be here, nearly 25 in Earth years, she's not suppose to be married to a common soldier (not that there's anything common about Lance), and she's definitely not suppose to be living as a housewife. It's a cruel joke the universe plays on her.
Sometimes, sometimes she's so mad at her father, and hates him, hates him for sending her away. She should have died on Galaluna, at her father's side. But she ran, like a coward. Lance can relate, she supposes. They don't really talk, not like normal spouses do on those stupid televisions shows that Ilana can barely stomach. Lance was never the one to share and Ilana has given up trying. Lance's own father left, Ilana was at the funeral, and abandoned his son. Lance has never quite gotten over it but Ilana thinks it makes him stronger. The only thing that she will ever admit she loves anymore is seeing Lance and their son, sitting on the carpet and playing, like they were a normal family.
She wonders if this is what it is. The Earthlings' idea of a happy ending.
Kimmy's an Earthling, and she seems happy enough, coddling over the expressionless Newton and dragging him to parties when he insists he should check up on the Lunis family. Ilana has asked why Octus bothered marrying the former cheerleader, but all she got was half-assed responses about covers and logistics and pretending to be normal. Bullshit. It's not fair. It's not fair that Lance and him always share these secrets, keep things from the Princess because it's not of her concern. Everything is her concern. But pulling the "I'm your wife, we should not keep secrets from each other" card doesn't work on Corporal Lance, and Octus stays conspicuously far from her whenever he visits to check up the security. Kimmy is completely useless; if Octus wasn't going to tell the redhead the truth, Ilana was about to. She didn't want to compromise Kimmy's safety (weren't they already safe?) but she had had just about enough of the secrets.
No, it wasn't a happy ending for her. She likes to think her child is worth it, and in a way, he is. He's her entire life now. She's not a princess, heir to a throne, and has given up pretending otherwise while Lance plays soldier and Octus remains faithful to his programming.
It's an odd little planet, she muses one Saturday afternoon, bouncing her son in her arms as she stares out the landscape window. You can be the most important person to an entire race, and the world keeps on spinning as if you don't exist.
:::
Where's Ilana's fighting spirit? Her optimism? It got thrown under a bus with her dad and planet. :] Some things are left vague for a reason. Make what you want of it.