Sorry this is late! I've got exams coming up, and I'm studying like mad!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Scarlet's POV:

Going to Luna

Can someone please remind me what normal life is like again? You know, just harvesting tomatoes on Grand-mère's farm, making deliveries to Gilles' Tavern, listening to my best friend Émile gossip about boys. Or if you want to go more recent, sitting bored out of my mind in counselling sessions with my dad, trying to make sense of the foreign language known as Old English while studying Shakespeare and going on walks with Wolf. That's normal, right? Well, whatever normal is, it's not discussing whether or not it would be a good idea to go to an alternate dimension.

"We can't just leave Kai there!" Cinder says indignantly.

"By now your friend is probably already dead or the Queen's newest puppet." Dr Erland snaps back.

"But we know how to bring them back to normal now!"

"As shocking as this may seem to you Selene-"

Cinder flinches.

"killing the queen of Luna isn't easy, otherwise someone would have done it already. She's surrounded by werewolf guards 24/7, has plenty of nobility and servants wandering around the castle to use as living shields, the Alpha werewolf is under her thumb, and let's not forget that she is one of the most powerful vampires in history!"

"So am I." Cinder counters.

"But you have far less experience using your powers."

Thorne holds up his hands. "Woah, woah, woah, hold it right there. Did you just say that this lady is one of the most powerful vampires in history?"

Dr Erland glares at him. "Clean your ears young man, of course I did!"

"And Cinder is too?"

Dr Erland doesn't even bother answering.

"Aces," Thorne mutters faintly, "how did I get dragged into this again?"

"You witnessed a vampire nearly make Scarlet kill herself and then the vampire was killed by a werewolf and then Cinder told you everything about Luna." Iko answered helpfully.

"Oh, right."

"You know," Dr Erland says loudly, his gaze travelling over me, Thorne and Cress, "all of you can stay out of all this and be safe if you would just go and pretend this never happened."

I snort and wave my mutilated hand in the air. "Forget this ever happened? I was forced to cut off my own finger!"

"And you're my dad." Cress says, "I can't exactly forget that my own father is part of a rebellion in another dimension!"

"And one of my best friends just got kidnapped by vampires." Thorne adds, "And my other best friend is an actual vampire! Like that guy from Twilight!"

Cinder glared daggers at him. "Don't you dare compare me to Twilight."

"None of you are fully comprehending the situation!" Dr Erland exclaims exasperatedly, "Luna is full of werewolf soldiers who would tear you limb from limb and positively enjoy it, and vampires that would force you to stand still while they bite you and make you their slaves! As humans, Scarlet and Thorne have virtually no way of defending against themselves and I'm not about to let Crescent put herself in that kind of danger. What kind of a father would I be if I did?"

"And what kind of a daughter would I be if a let you?" comes Cress's faint voice.

I stare at the small girl. Her blue eyes have gone huge and she's anxiously winding a lock of her long, blond hair around her wrist. "Dad," she says quietly, "what if you go to Luna, and you die?"

Dr Erland puts his hand on his daughter's shoulder, smiling reassuringly, "I'll be alright Cress. I managed to survive there for decades."

"But you didn't spend those decades actively fighting against the government." Cress retorts, "You just said yourself that they won't hesitate to kill you."

"Which is why you're not coming." Dr Erland says firmly.

"But Dad, what will I do if you die? You're the only family I have."

"One of my workmates will take you in." He tells her, but he doesn't sound very sure.

I scowl. "I'm going to have to side with Cress on this one Doc. As someone who speaks from experience, being raised by someone who doesn't love you really, really sucks."

"My colleagues wouldn't treat my daughter the way your father treats you Scarlet."

"But they wouldn't love her, would they? Sure, they'll keep her healthy and make sure she goes to school and all that, but they won't strive to make her happy."

Dr Erland looks away and says nothing.

Cinder steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Dmitri, I know you don't want any of us to get hurt. But we all know that, to actually pull of a revolution, there's no way we're getting away unscathed."
"I'm not putting my daughter in danger." Dr Erland says stubbornly.

"But I can help!" Cress pipes up, "You've already set me to hacking some of the Lunar's files. Don't pretend, I know that's what you were making me do! And if not for me, you wouldn't know that it was Kai who'd been captured."

Thorne grins cockily. "Hey, if we're staging a rescue mission for Kai, you've got to let me in on it! I seriously doubt that any of you know how to pick locks and can make up a believable excuse for being somewhere you totally shouldn't be in a snap."

Dr Erland gives him a look. "Lunar soldiers aren't schoolteachers."

"Who says I've only lied to schoolteachers? I've sweet-talked the police into looking the other way."

"He's telling the truth actually." Cinder says, "He once stole a taser and he managed to convince the cops that someone else was the thief and he was just trying to return it."

Dr Erland sighs with exasperation but says nothing.

I grin and raise my hand. "Don't think you're leaving me out after I was turned into a puppet."

"And what can you do with one hand out of commission?" Dr Erland demands.

My grin widens. "I've been shooting guns since I was eleven. I've got pretty good aim."

Iko stares at me. "How did you get a gun when you were eleven?"

"My grandmother gave me one for my birthday."

Thorne stares at me enviously. "Spades, wish my granny was that generous."

We all look at Dr Erland expectantly. He's scowling darkly, and his mouth is screwed up with reluctance, but that doesn't keep me from smirking. I can see it. We can all see it. We've won.

The realisation comes as a relief, because honestly, I don't just want to go because a vampire took control of my brain (though that is a pretty big part of it). I want in because of something Iko said before, about how if you're in the wrong dimension, you're put through a ton of pain. Pain, like the attacks Wolf gets?

A/N: I think I speak for all of us when I say: FINALLY, NO MORE TALKING!

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