Where to begin! Well, I love and appreciate the reviews I received. I kept all of your comments in mind while writing this next chapter because you're totally right. Thorne was coming on waaaay too strong and I didn't like it either. Thank you all for helping me remember the true characteristics of our characters :) I hope you enjoy this next one. I've come up with a little bit more of a real story, so this chapter has very little romance BUT starts to give some plot. Let me know what you think, and don't forget to review!
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As Cress wandered the corridors of the Rampion, she couldn't help but remember her satellite. This ship was so big in comparison to it and the company was good. Cress ran her hands along the metal of the wall, memorizing every detail. There was so much to think about. The attack of the Lunars on Earth were her fault. She had cloaked Lunar ships knowing what was on them. The deaths were her fault.
Right then, the Rampion was on its way to Luna. Technically her home planet though it had never really been home to her. They were hurtling toward the moon in order to defeat Levana, put Cinder on the throne as the true Queen, stop any wars that may come about, and save Scarlet. No pressure.
If that wasn't bad enough, she had to be on constant surveillance for both Lunar and Earthen radars to protect them from detection and then there was the thing with Thorne-
No. There was nothing with Thorne. She was resigned to feel nothing. Nothing was going to happen between them. Remember?
But he was so dreamy.
Stop it, she told herself. There were more pressing matters. Yet it was very difficult to forget. Not just for romance's sake. They had been through so much together. They needed each other in the desert and survived only because they had each other. He'd held her as she cried over her father and kept every promise he had made. After everything he had done for her, it was impossible to think of him as anything other than a true hero.
Then why couldn't he see it? Why did he INSIST that he wasn't what she knew he was?
"Hey Cress."
Cress jumped what felt like a couple feet into the air.
"Cinder! You startled me!" she cried shrilly. Cinder barely managed a small smile while there was great pain in her eyes. It seemed she was still shaken from all that had happened on Earth. She walked past Cress and retrieved a small cup of water from the storage unit behind her. Cress realized that she hadn't be aware of where she had walked to. Her thoughts were too muddled and clouded to be aware of her surroundings.
"Are you alright?" Cinder asked, sitting across from Cress at the little table in the kitchen. She looked tired and dirty, like she'd been working with machines or something. Cress could understand needing a distraction.
"I should be asking you that. There has been so much going on in so little time. It's all so...overwhelming," Cress replied with emotion. "Although I imagine it's worse for you,"
Cinder sighed in frustration, but then just shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm...fine. I just...need to figure out what to do once we reach Luna. We have to get Scarlet back. After so much death... I can't have that on me too."
Cress furrowed her brow and tried to tug at her hair, which to her dismay, was too short to accommodate her old habit.
"It's not your fault you know. Scarlet. Or the attack on Earth. It wasn't your fault and there was nothing you could do anyway." Cress found herself extremely uncomfortable. "At least not from what I heard."
Cinder had banged her head on the table and laid there with her eyes closed. Cress didn't know what to do.
"If it wasn't my fault," said Cinder, after a long silence. "Then whose is it?"
Cress gulped, guilt flooding to her cheeks.
"It's my fault," she murmured. Cinder's cyborg hearing picked up the small whisper, and without picking up her head, she turned and stared at Cress in bewilderment.
"How could it be your fault?" she inquired.
"The satellite work I did for Mistress," she squeaked. Cinder was silent as if processing. Then she shook her head and turned back to the table.
"You know that there was nothing YOU could've done, right? You had to do what you were told or else she would've killed you. Then we wouldn't have been able to find you and you wouldn't have been able to help us get Kai. No matter what you think, none of this is your fault." Cinder to her credit was trying to make Cress feel better, but she sounded so dead inside.
"If none of it could be my fault," thought Cress aloud. "Then none of it can be your fault."
Cinder snorted. Then Wolf entered the small kitchen silently, with a permanent scowl etched into his scarred face.
Cinder still hadn't lifted her head from the table but she let out a harsh, humorless laugh.
"You know Cress, maybe we're not in so much trouble as I thought! Maybe we won't die. Maybe we'll just be sent out in a little ship to live out our last days in exile. THEN we die."
Wolf looked at her with a questioning stare, eyes flicking to Cress in a silent question. Cress shook her head and shrugged, unsure how to react. Between her own uncomfortable feelings and twisted nerves, Cinder's dead hopelessness, to Wolf's commanding and intimidating presence, she just wanted to melt into the floor.
Wolf reached into the storage unit, retrieved some food, then sat at the table, careful to keep space between himself and the two women. The awkward silence between the three of them was thicker than pea soup.
"You know, I really thought this was possible!" cried Cinder, head still slightly banging on the table.
"Stop the wedding, stop the war, kill Levana, take the throne. Ludicrous. Absolutely mad. How could we do it? That's easy! We can't. We're doomed and we're all going to die. And you know what? It'll be my fault. I am all to blame. Because I can't control a single thing. I can't even use my Lunar powers all that well. Earth will fall, and we will all be killed, but I'm expected to stop that. I can't. There's nothing I can do." Cinder had started whispering at this point, staring into the wood of the table, mindlessly rambling. Her hands were trembling.
Cress recoiled at her words. Surely Cinder couldn't be talking like this, could she? Had she really lost all hope in them?
Worse, were they really doomed? That was a difficult thought. After all they'd sacrificed and suffered...
"Cinder, you need to sleep," stated Wolf bluntly and irritated. His gruff voice and deadpanned expression made it clear that no argument should be made.
Cinder started, having not noticed his presence. Her head came off the table and she had a giant red mark on her forehead from the wood. It would have been funny if not for the seriousness of their situation.
"I'm...f-fine. Just...just stressed. That's all," Cinder stuttered until his relentless gaze.
"We're going to do it a-and we're going to get Scarlet. I... we just have to figure out how." Cinder rubbed each of her eyes with her human hand, then stood up and stretched. Wolf stood up with her then effortlessly grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. Cress was so startled she pressed herself against the wall, knocking over her own chair.
Cinder howled, "Put me down! What in stars are you doing!"
"You are going to sleep now. You have done too much thinking and need rest. I am tired of hearing you speak like we are doomed," Wolf growled. He was forceful but was careful not to hurt her. Cinder thrashed against him.
"I'm not a child! Put me down!" she screeched.
Wolf tossed her down but not so rough that she could get hurt.
Cinder fell hard on her butt to the ground and sat there in a stunned silence.
"Princess," Wolf enunciated, teeth bared. "You have too much responsibility to be acting like a child. Working yourself to exhaustion will make everything worse for all of us. We are here to put you on the throne and to help you stop Levana. Nothing less. If you continue to talk this way and tell the people who look up to you," He said pointedly, gesturing at Cress.
"Then we will lose hope and fail. You are going to STOP being a whiny child and start acting like the ruler that Luna will need you to be."
Cinder looked as if he slapped her. She said nothing. Wolf knelt down to her level on one knee and looked her dead in the eye.
"You have a lot on your shoulders. More than is fair. But we can't afford to lose focus of what we need to do. You have to be strong. Indestructible. Because that is what is needed. Can you be what you have to be?" he asked firmly.
She trembled under his gaze. But then, by some force of resolve, she nodded silently. Satisfied, Wolf stood up, held out his hand to her and said, "Good. Then you will sleep, and we will work more tomorrow on your training. You can be more powerful than Levana, but at this rate, you wouldn't be able to stop a butterfly." Cinder just nodded numbly, then took his hand to stand up. They both made their way out of the kitchen and were gone.
Cress realized she hadn't breathed for many moments, and exhaled a hard breath. Wolf had taken good control of the situation, but Cress still didn't know how to react.
"Spades, what was that about!" said Thorne from behind Cress. Cress whirled around, smacking her shin on her fallen chair.
"C-Captain! You startled me!" Cress squeaked, nerves on edge. His cocky grin was gone and was replaced with a light frown.
He inclined his head to her voice, surprised to hear her.
"Cress? Is everything okay? What's going on?" He started toward Cress until he bumped into her chair. She reached for Thorne to help steady him, then picked up her chair and led him to Wolf's now empty seat.
"Everything is fine. Cinder is... well she's still in shock from Levana's attack on Earth. And we haven't been able to come up with a solid plan yet which is making her on edge. I guess too many late nights and early mornings will make anyone a little crazy." Cress tried to distract herself from his sleep-tousled hair and soft looking lips.
"She's a cyborg. Doesn't she just need to plug herself in and recharge her batteries a little bit?" Thorne grinned. Cress made a face.
"That's not kind," she frowned. His smile faltered a bit. Her tone was not happy.
"Ah Cress, I'm just teasing her. Just having a little fun, that's all."
"Aren't you worried?"
Now it was his turn to frown. "Of course I'm worried. I have a lot to lose. I could lose my ship and all the money I had stocked up. Plus any hope I had to get rich and buy my own island. Although, at least I'd be famous. But what good is being famous if you're dead!" He tried to joke.
"Captain!" Cress cried. Needless to say, he was quite taken aback. She took in a quick breath. Thorne knew that sound. It was the sound she made when she was about to cry.
"Cress," he said gently. When she didn't reply, he sighed.
"I would also lose my crew. Though they aren't much of a crew, they are the best I've had. And I've become quite fond of all of them. Even the large hairy one."
Cress hiccuped a laugh. She knew he meant Wolf. Thorne was very quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to make her happy.
"But I'd especially be upset to lose a pretty young Lunar that I met in a satellite." Cress took a quick breath in, surprised to hear him say that.
Thorne was equally surprised to find that he meant it. Then she laughed a little bit.
"How do you know I'm pretty? You can't see," she demanded lightly. Thorne laughed a real laugh this time.
"I have a fantastic imagination."
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