The morning of the wedding day arrived. At this point, every day was starting to blend together. Kai could hardly tell the days from the nights. He'd slept a total of twelve fitful hours in the last six days, and it was starting to take a toll on him.
There was still no word on his brother, and he couldn't get Levana to give him any information about Cinder. It was all too much. It was all so unfair.
Iko had been a huge help, at the very least. Even with all of the speeches he'd had to give and press conferences he'd had to attend, she was the one constant. In his more vulnerable moments, she pulled out a new anecdote about Cinder that always made him laugh, rather than making it hurt worse.
"Your Highness," said Nainsi from the door, ripping him from his thoughts.
He blinked a few times, trying to dispel the constant exhaustion that existed just past his eyelids. "Yes?"
"I have brought you breakfast," she said, entering with a tray. "Your stylists will be up in one hour to start getting you ready for the wedding this afternoon."
Kai paled. "Of course. Thank you."
She set the tray down on his desk and rolled out of the office.
He dragged his palms down his face.
He was just so tired.
Kai felt more and more hopeless as the days passed. There was no way Cinder was still alive wherever Levana had taken her. Iko was still certain that Cinder wasn't dead, but that was a lot more likely to be her not wanting to short her programming. Or maybe it was to keep Kai sane. He couldn't decide which. He tried not to let her in on the fact that he felt he already knew the answer.
He picked at his breakfast and thought about Cinder–it was becoming habit at this point. The day had only really just begun, and already she was all he could think about. They'd virtually planned the entire wedding together–well, maybe not really, but he'd helped make a lot of the decisions. It was perhaps the most unfair that she wouldn't be there to see all of her hard work in action.
Hikaru was always at the back of his mind, too. They didn't even so much as have a lead on where he was. It was like he'd vanished.
Time was really starting to blur together. He didn't realize an hour had passed until the speaker on his desk announced the arrival of his stylists.
They dressed him in the suit made for his brother. They made him up like an emperor should look.
He was not this person.
This was not meant to be him.
How selfish a thought.
"Your Majesty, we must begin your preparations for the wedding. Please follow me."
The queen, her thaumaturge, and two guards followed after the palace employee. Sir Clay stayed behind to guard the prisoner, as instructed by Queen Levana herself. He kept his eyes pinned to the wall of the spaceship, waited fifteen minutes to assure that they were truly gone, unclipped the port from his belt.
"On our way."
Succinct and to the point, as he was accustomed to.
He swiped his ID card to unlock the door to the holding cell.
She looked pathetic lying on the floor in a heap of bruised skin, bones, and half-broken cyborg parts.
"Wake up, cyborg girl," he said, nudging her human leg with his foot.
She whimpered. "Leave me alone. Please."
"Oh, but don't you know I'm here to save you?" He laughed to himself before bending down and flashed the card across the cuffs holding her to the floor. They blinked open and fell away from her wrists.
She cried out in pain as he stooped down to pick her up. She was heavier than she looked, thanks to the damned titanium limbs, but she had clearly lost weight over the last few days.
"This might be a little painful," he warned, jostling her in her arms. She let out a small cry again, but her head mostly lolled about. She was too weak to do anything. It was almost tragic. "You'll be okay soon," he muttered, stepping out of the cell and making his way to the back of the ship.
The small, silver podship was tucked discretely beneath the royal spaceship, the side door open, the pilot clearly ready for takeoff at any time.
There were two Lunar guards lying on the ground, bullets in their chests, but likely not dead. "Nice aim," said Jacin. "They were pretty good guys. I hope you didn't hit anything vital."
"I only hit what I intend to."
He gently draped Cinder across one of the seats before sliding into the copilot seat, buckling in.
"Perfect timing," Scarlet said with a pleased smile.
He looked at her. "Let's go. She's practically starving to death and I have a time limit here."
"Yeah, I know."
She was in so much pain. Why were they transporting her? Everything came in flashes. The Lunar guard said he was saving her… but from what? Her memory was too hazy, her control panel in desperate need of replacing. She was just so tired and so, so hungry. The sound of the podship had lulled her to sleep, which had seemed to help a bit.
When she woke again, she was being dragged from the podship. Unfamiliar hands, unfamiliar, kind voices. What was going on? Was she being taken to her death? Did these people know–did they pity her?
She felt someone tapping the pads of their fingers against her face.
"C'mon, cyborg girl. Wake up."
"I'm awake. My name's Cinder," she muttered, her words slurred together, her eyelids too heavy to open. "If someone calls me 'cyborg girl' one more time, I'll–" Her words disappeared, and the empty threat hung just behind her lips.
It was the same voice. "C'mon, you've gotta meet the squad. Then we'll get you some food and medical help."
Cinder finally mustered up enough energy to open her eyes. There were three people standing before her. She chafed her human fingers against her brow, her metal hand draped over someone's shoulder. They were helping her stand, whoever they were.
"So tired." Her head was pounding against her eyes and her temples and probably her entire skull, too.
Someone cleared their throat. "We'll make this quick, then. I'm Ze'ev."
She was blinking a lot, but by the time her eyes found his, stark and green and beautiful, someone else was speaking. The redhead next to him. "I'm Scarlet. I piloted the podship that brought you here."
The girl next to her spoke now. She was blonde. "I'm Cress!"
She wet her lips. "I… I know you. Both of you. You… my office… wedding."
Scarlet nodded. "We planted microphones and cameras in your office when we came to visit. It was necessary to assure you weren't working for Levana. Don't worry, we'll send you directions on where they all are when this is over."
She wasn't really processing their words. Some part of her knew she should be at least a little irritated about that intrusion, but at the moment, she had other things to worry about. "Oh… okay."
Whoever was supporting her chimed in this time. "Glad we got that cleared up. Carswell Thorne, at your service."
Cress tipped her head to Cinder. "Hello, Miss Linh, and welcome to ALAS Headquarters."
"ALAS?" she croaked, her voice breaking halfway through the question.
"Anti-Lunar Attack Squad." His tone was thick with pride. Thorne? She couldn't remember. The Cress girl was looking at him now. The same way Cinder looked at Kai. She wondered briefly if there was anything between them, but the thought escaped her as quickly as it had come. "Came up with it myself!"
Scarlet scoffed. "Not like anyone voted on it."
She heard someone approach, hating how attuned her senses were to footsteps now. "Well, look who it is. Welcome to ALAS."
Cinder, her veins filling with adrenaline at the sound of the familiar voice, snapped her head around and her heart rose into her throat. "Hikaru? You're-you're alive?" She didn't know if she wanted to hug him or kill him. If she even had the energy necessary to do either.
"Of course I'm alive." He scratched his ear. "It was, uh, necessary to do this to extend my whole 'being alive' thing. You know, to prevent Levana from killing me."
Despite feeling as weak as she did, she stomped over to him, detaching herself from Thorne's side. It was all she could do to keep from stumbling. "Do you have any idea what you've done to Kai? She's going to kill him now! And you're trying to say you had to just leave before she got the chance to do it to you?"
"You have to understand, Cinder. This is the only way this could've worked. We didn't think she would punish you–we didn't. I didn't even know you were a godforsaken cyborg. But there was no other way."
Cinder bit back an insult. "He thinks I'm dead, Hikaru."
He squinted his eyes at her, his tone even. "Imagine his surprise when he finds out you aren't. He'll be absolutely elated."
It took everything in her not to lunge at him, not to claw his eyes out with her mostly-functional metal hand. How could he be so selfish? So heartless? A shudder wracked her body as she stifled any reaction past her glare. "You disgust me, Prince Hikaru."
"Well, at least it's mutual."
Her lip twitched and she almost thought to let herself get one good punch in–
A sharp pain shot through Cinder's head and she stumbled backwards. Thorne grabbed her around the shoulders just before she fell.
Someone cleared their throat. "Well, this has been fun, but we have things to hash out. Cinder needs food and sleep for now."
She glanced over at the girl named Cress. "Thank you."
"Come on, I'll show you to our kitchen. Thorne?"
"Got it, Crescent."
With Thorne's help, Cinder and Cress walked to the kitchen.
It wasn't much of a kitchen, really. A portable stove and a small fridge tucked into a crevice. There was even a table and chairs–all plastic–in the center of the small alcove, holographic candles strung about.
Thorne settled her down at a seat at the small table and brushed his fingers across Cress's shoulder. "Take care of her." He gave her a wink before leaving.
The girl turned back to Cinder. "Uh, um–anyway, it's not much, but it is home," said Cress, her cheeks slightly pink, moving to pull something out of a freezer that sat on top of the fridge. "I hope you don't mind frozen food."
Cinder fixed her pony tail. "N-no, not at all. Thank you."
Cress set about getting the food prepared and Cinder slumped down in her chair, feeling only exhaustion. "How long has it been since you've eaten?" Cress asked.
"They fed me once every two days. So, not since yesterday." As Cinder spoke, the hunger started to set in again. She felt weak, sick, perhaps like she was dying. "Enough to keep me alive, but not enough to make it possible for me to put up a fight."
The girl's voice grew quiet. "That's terrible."
Not wanting to go through the last few days again, Cinder changed the subject and hoped her mind could hold onto it. "So, what's up with you and that Thorne guy?"
Cress handed her a glass of water. "I don't–what do you mean?"
Cinder downed the glass in one gulp and then grinned slightly. "I've seen the way you look at him." She dropped her eyes to the table and her smile faded. "That's how I look at Kai."
"What do you mean?" she repeated.
"Like he's the only thing that matters."
She reddened just as the oven beeped. "I don't–I don't know what you're talking about."
She stood up and rushed to the stove, grabbing the food out from the oven. Cinder rested her forearms on the table. "He looks at you like that, too, you know."
"I hope you like pasta. We've been surviving on it for the last month."
"Don't change the subject," said Cinder, slightly amused, though her hunger overtook her genuine curiosity when Cress placed the small plastic bowl of food in front of her and cautioned that it was hot.
"Don't eat too quickly, it'll make you sick," Cress cautioned. She took a seat at the table again, looking anywhere but at Cinder. "He wants me to come to the American Republic with him once all of this is over. 'Just friends'." She stared hard at the table, tracing her fingers over scratches in the surface. "I don't think it's like that."
Cinder risked a laugh. "You don't think it's like 'that'? You've got him wrapped around your finger."
"You got that from a two minute interaction?" Cress was openly glaring at Cinder now. She'd probably struck a nerve–the girl seemed insecure enough.
She shrugged. "Maybe I'm stupid enough to think that I know what love looks like." She dropped her head and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "For the record, I don't mind if you say no… but is there any way I can shower? I haven't in a week and I'm sure I smell terrible. I feel disgusting."
Cress seemed to relax at the change of subject that she didn't have to make herself. "Of course. I'll get you another glass of water and then I'll go grab Scarlet. She can take you to the ship."