He looked up.
"I don't know who you are, I'm sorry. I can't remember ever seeing you in my life."
"No!" She screamed, pounding her fist on te table. "You Have to remember me. I love you. You said you loved me back! I'm not giving up, Thorne, I'm going to keep looking."
"Looking for what?" With an exasperated sigh, Thorne fan his hands through his hair. "Listen lady, I swear I don't know who you are or where you came from, alright? I've never seen you before today, when you broke into my ship and started throwing yourself at me!" He paused. "Although, gotta admit it's nice having fans again." He winked at her.
Cress' blood boiled. This was Thorne. Her boyfriend, who had helped her through the desert and rescued her from her satellite and found her in farafrah and told her how many girls he said "I love you" to, told her that she was the only one who he was afraid of losing. And now she'd lost him, somehow. Something had happened and he didn't remember her. Her brain began to whir, running through numerous possibilities on how this could have happened.
"Okay. Do you know who Cinder is? Queen Selene of Luna?"
He blinked. "Of course I know who cinder is, I helped her win that revolution."
"How about scarlet? Wolf? Do you remember them?"
"Yes... they got married a couple weeks ago." He laughed. My memory's not that bad, I can remember what happened two weeks ago!"
Cress let out a frustrated scream, feeling tears beginning to leak from her eyes. "But you can't remember me? Carswell! It's me! Cress! Remember the desert? The revolution? Seeing each other in the palace? How I shot your hand?" She pointed at his left hand, where the last two fingers had been replaced with metal cyborg attachments. He and scarlet had even made a 'missing fingers club'. "What about all those months distributing the letumosis antidote? We went everywhere, to Europe, Canada, the Americas, all over the Commonwealth."
Thorne shifted, and for the first time since cress had arrived, he seemed unsettled. "I.. I did do all those things, I got stuck in the desert when my ship crashed, I helped cinder in the revolution, and I've been distributing the letumosis antidote ever since we defeated Levana. But... Cress, was it?" When she nodded, he continued. "It was a guard who shot my hand, under the control of a thaumaturge. Look, I'm really sorry, but I've never met you before."
There was real sympathy in his eyes, a reminder of just how much she missed him. She had been getting their house ready in the commonwealth, the new apartment they had bought together with the money from distributing the cure. Cress had been there all week, going out shopping (on her own), cleaning the place, arranging furniture and decorating. Though it was a small apartment, it was something that cress had always dreamed of. A tastefully decorated suite with tall windows that let in the morning light and kind neighbours and-
Thorne. It would be nothing, as picturesque as it was, the apartment would be worthless to cress without Thorne. And since he didn't seem to know who she was...
"Listen, We can figure this out. I'm good at figuring things out, okay? I'll help you." He had detected her despair and, just like Thorne, he was going to help a damsel in distress.
"Fine. But please know, Thorne, that I am who I say I am, and I swear all the things I've said are true."
He flashed her one of his dazzling smiles, and cress' heart melted. Still. After being together for almost a year, he could still make her turn I to a puddle of goo with one look.
.oOOo.
Cinder, Kai, and Iko were sitting at a table in the royal palace, looking over a pile of binders and swaths of fabric when Thorne brought Cress to see them. Iko was chattering away about the differences between cotton tablecloths and cotton blend tablecloths. Cinder was half heartedly listening while thumbing through a magazine that showed a collection of blushing brides wearing different styles of veils. Kai looked incredibly bored.
Nainsi entered the room, introducing Thorne and his visitor. The three people at the table looked up, surprised at the small girl standing beside Thorne.
"How are the wedding preparations going?" Thorne asked, making his way over to the table. Cress remained by the door.
Cinder sighed. "Oh you know. Everyone keeps telling us we don't have to do this, there's plenty of wedding planners in the city."
"Yeah," Kai cut in. "Honestly, you'd think I would enjoy this more now that I'm marrying someone I actually love, but nope! This is still mind numbing."
"Shame." Thorne paused. "You're probably wondering who I've brought with me."
Iko peered around Thorne to get a better look at the petite figure. "Whew" she said. "When you didn't mention her I thought my processor had gone haywire."
Cress shivered. This was eerie. Her friends were all sitting there staring at her, no recognition whatsoever showing on their faces. She felt that at least Iko and Nainsi should have recognized her, they didn't have normal brains. But no. She was alone.
Thorne pulled Cress out from behind him and introduced her to everyone. "Guys, this is Cress. Cress, this is His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Kaito of the eastern commonwealth, his betrothed, Her Royal Majesty Selene Blackburn of Luna, her android sidekick, Iko, and his android sidekick, Nainsi." Thorne bowed, doffing an imaginary hat.
"Um hi," Cress said. "I didn't really need all those introductions, I know who you are already."
Cinder laughed. "Of course you know who we are, everyone does. Thorne just likes to make a ten minute speech anytime he introduces us to somebody."
"No, I mean I know you. Not just who you are. I've met you before. All of you."
Cinder and Kai glanced at each other, then at Iko, then stared at Cress.
"I'm sorry, but this is the first time any of us have met you. You must be mistaken." Kai's words were gentle, his gaze concerned.
"I'm not mistaken! I know you! You're my friends, you rescued me from the satellite, we stopped Levana together, don't any of you remember? I know Winter and Jacin. And I know Scarlet and Wolf too, I was at their wedding, I bought half the supplies..." She trailed off, seeing the looks and her friend's faces.
"Cinder cleared her throat. "Listen, Cress, you seem a little upset. I'm sorry, but all of the things you're saying are things anyone could have looked up on the net, or seen newsfeeds about. Everyone knows we stopped Levana. Scarlet and Wolf's wedding was all over the net, the press were going crazy about the first lunar-earthen wedding." She looked at Thorne, giving him a sharp look. Cress immediately caught the meaning: why'd you bring some crazy girl into the castle?
Cress took a deep breath, looking at the skeptical faces of her friends. Nainsi sat patiently in the corner, no doubt recording everything. She sat down at the table, placing a sheath of golden fabric on the chair next to her.
"I'm not crazy," she began, "I just need help. Please. I'm not some silly fangirl who's in love with the emperor or something," she glanced briefly at Kai, " but I swear I do know you. And I can prove it. Thorne," she turned towards him at his place behind her. "Thorne, Kate Fallow. You had a crush on her when you were thirteen. You had a mechanical cat named boots that you wished could be a real cat. You love your ship more than anything in the world. Her personality chip used to be from an escort droid named Darla."
Thorne stared at her. "How...?"
Cress moved on. "Speaking of that escort droid, Iko. Thorne gambled for that body and gave it to you, so you could finally have a human body. Before that, you were a Serv.9.2, then a spaceship for a while. You hated being a spaceship, it made you feel even less human. Kai," cress turned to him next. "You always wanted to be a good leader. You'd write speeches even though you had a speech writer to do that for you. You love Cinder more that anything, and you asked her to marry you on the night of Scarlet and Wolf's wedding. You guys are doing all the wedding preparations yourself, because you already did one wedding that you hated with a planner, so you had this idea that maybe if you do it yourselves you'll have better luck."
Cress paused for breath, and took in the expressions on the faces around her. "Cinder. You never wanted to be queen, but you started a revolution and became queen anyway. You were abused by your step mother, and your step sister whom you loved does if letumosis four years ago. Her name was Peony."
They gaped at her. Cinder was looking at Cress like she was a ghost, Kai didn't seem to remember how to breathe, and Iko looking back and forth from Cress to Cinder, back to Cress, then to Kai, then to Thorne, before letting her incredulous haze settle on Cress.
Cress gulped."I know it seems far fetched. I have no idea how this happened, but what I do know is who my friends are." Or were, she thought. "Please. You are my friends. My first friends. I need your help. For some reason, none of you know who I am anymore. I think you're the only people that can help me." She stopped, her eyes brimming with the tears that had been trying to escape all day. "I just- I miss you all so much." She met the sympathetic eyes of everyone around the table, turning last to Thorne. "I'm so sorry, I know this isn't what you need right now with the wedding, and-"
Cinder interrupted. "Don't do that. Stars above, we needed a distraction." She looked at her fiancé and smiled back at Cress. "It's going to be okay, Cress. We'll help you."
.oOOo.
"Okay. So. You know who we all are, you know way more about us and the events of the revolution than anyone else does. You know stuff that only someone who was there, at the revolution and at Scarlet and Wolf's wedding."
They were all seated at the table, the binders and magazines shoved aside and forgotten. Thorne was relaying everything they knew about the situation, and Cinder was staring off into the corner of the room, her eyes focused on her internal netscreen.
"Yes that's right," Cress said. "But for some reason, none of you remember me."
"But how come Cinder doesn't remember you? Or me?" Iko asked. "We don't have normal brains. If someone has brainwashed everyone to forget about you, it shouldn't have worked on androids."
"That's what I thought too." Cress looked at her hands. "I thought that maybe if I came here, you and Cinder would recognize me. Apparently not."
Cinder finished her staring and refocused on Cress. "There's no mention of a Crescent Moon Darnel in any database. I checked both lunar and earthen. You say you're a shell?" Cinder asked, then immediately blushed. "Sorry. I mean, are you an ungifted lunar?"
"It's okay." Cress replied. "And yeah, I am."
"Then you should be in the database somewhere. How old are you? I know some Sybil Mira only started rescuing shells about 20 years ago..." She trailed off, her eyes unfocusing again.
"I'm 18. My birthday is July 18, 110 TE. So..." she paused, not sure if she wanted to ask the question. "I want to know what you guys think... what actually happened with the revolution. How did Scarlet and Winter escape the palace? And the maglev tunnels... who disabled them?" All the things I did, she thought. Who do they think did them? How much of a difference did my presence really make?
"Well..." Kai said, "That, we don't actually know. We assume there was a supporter of ours in the castle, someone on the inside helping us. But we've never met them, never found out who they were." He laughed. "You could say we had a guardian angel, of sorts."
Cress' soared. Everything still happened the same way, they just didn't know it was her. She still helped, they just... forgot.
An idea popped into her head. "Oh! What about the satellite?"
Thorne, Iko, and Kai looked at her. Cinder looked at the wall.
"The satellite," Thorne said, his eyes darkening, "is something I would love to forget."
So he did remember. But why...
"What do you mean, you would love to forget it?" Cress asked, confused.
"I mean," said Thorne, "that it was a dumb mistake that nearly cost me my life. I never should have boarded that thing."
After her brief moment of hope, she was back down to holding back tears. "What happened?" It was all she could say. He didn't remember. Thorne didn't remember the desert, the blindness, the hotel...
"We came across an empty satellite that looked like it had had someone living in it. I wanted to check it out." Thorne glanced uncomfortably at Cinder, then down at the table. "Cinder told me not to, that it was a trap, but I went in with a podship anyway. Sybil Mira, Levana's lackey, was there. It was a trap. She bound and gagged me, then sent the satellite back to earth. The hard way." He sighed. "I was stuck in the desert for days. I'm lucky I survived."
This time, Cress didn't try to stop the tears. They poured down her face, running in ugly streams that dripped onto her shirt. Thorne put his arm around her and Cinder snapped out of her daze to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, but neither gesture made her feel better. Knowing that they remembered her would make her feel better. Seeing their faces light up when walked into a room, glad she had been able to come in for a visit. Thorne's arm around her waist as he kissed her. Iko taking her shopping for a dress that was short enough to fit her.
Cress sniffled, then sat up. "That was my satellite. I lived there for seven years, hacking into the earthen leaders databases and news feeds. I even scrambled the signals on earthen radars so that lunar ships could land on earth undetected, or even just be there ready to attack. Like the ones holding all the mutant soldiers. I also programmed and built surveillance devices, microphones, cameras, stuff like that, so that Levana could spy on the union leaders." She was still crying, but she was feeling more hopeless now. As far as her friends were concerned, she was an emotional, short little girl who believed herself to be a part of their rebellion, of their lives. She was nobody.
"I remember when they found some of those," Kai mused. "One of them was in the light fixture. They found another in a vase."
"But..." Cinder looked quizzically at Cress. "I always thought it was my gift that made me able to make the ship disappear. I would sit in my bunk for hours just to keep us hidden."
"You didn't do any good." Cress looked apologetically at Cinder, "It was all me. I scrambled the signals on the earthen radars for all the lunar ships that didn't want to be noticed. I did it for years." She felt a pang of guilt at all the things she had helped the false queen and her cronies get away with.
There was a long silence; nobody really seemed to know what to say. Cress had just told them that everything they had believed for years wasn't true, that some of them weren't as powerful as they thought, and others had pieces of their past missing.
"It's getting late," Kai said. "Perhaps we should all turn in and think about this more in the morning? Thorne, you're welcome to stay at the palace tonight, and you as well, Cress."
"Thanks, but I'd rather stay with my ship." Thorne replied, and Cress almost smiled. Just like that captain to always want to be near his ship.
"Cress?"
She finally mustered a weak and watery smile. "Sure, thank you. Your hospitality is very much appreciated."
"Great!" Iko perked up for the first time in what felt like hours. "I'll show you to the guest suite!" She looped her arm through Cress' and dragged her through the doorway, without another word to anyone remaining in the room.