Potential TW: a description of what could be read as an anxiety attack. [Alternative title: In which Pearl just can't catch a break and in which Cinder wonders how exactly her life has ended up like this].
Ok it has been a hot minute so thank you so much if you're still reading. My bad for taking so long to update...it's been a combination of 1) life has been v busy and 2) this chapter was really difficult to write plotwise (I'll get into why in the notes at the end if you're interested).
Last time: Pearl reported Cinder to Queen Levana as Princess Selene. Sybil Mira manipulates Cinder & Pearl into fighting & Cinder glamours Pearl so they both look the same. Confusion and injury ensues. The Lunars decide to kill off Cinder and Pearl by manipulating their bodies into holding guns (like in Marissa Meyer's world).
Also I'm clearly not Marissa Meyer & am making no profit off this etc etc :)
On with the story (at last)!:D
Book Five:
Blood on the ground, blood in the shoe. This treacherous girl is lying to you.
Bioelectrical manipulation detected. Rebooting in three. Two. One –
Cinder screeched at the top of her lungs as she felt power flood back into her limbs. With a dizzying surge of relief, she wrenched the gun out of its trajectory towards her head and span around. She fired into the cluster of Lunars once, twice – and registered a dark red splatter. Shouts. Some fearful, some angry. The Lunar guard with blazing red hair slumping forward, clutching his shoulder, his face slack with manipulation. The gun clicked. Empty.
Another scream, this time loud enough that Cinder cursed, dialling down her volume controls. A blinding wave of fear crashed across her consciousness, so intense she wanted nothing more than to vanish under a blanket fort until the winter solstice at least. Cinder's gaze flicked to the side, one glance confirming what the emotions swirling around her had already revealed. In her panic, her glamour on Pearl had slipped. Her stepsister's ballgown had returned to gold; Cinder's projection of her own features had vanished. But the Lunars had clearly also lost control of Pearl's bioelectricity – and her stepsister was once again in full possession of her emotions and limbs. "Run!" Cinder snapped. "What are you doing?"
Pearl's eyes were impossibly wide, and she kept taking gigantic shaking breaths. She was staring blankly ahead and this time it was not the will of a thaumaturge which was keeping her feet rooted to the ground. It was Pearl's own mind. Her stepsister wouldn't run, Cinder realised. She couldn't run.
In the end, Cinder didn't really think about it. She had to get out. She needed to run. Two moving targets gave her better odds than one moving target. Pearl had just tried to kill her after all, albeit indirectly. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Pearl."
The manipulation streamed out of her as if it were the most natural thing possible. Two girls with tattered lilac ballgowns, with grease-stained silken gloves and once-white boots pelted towards the doors leading into the palace gardens.
There was the sound of a gunshot. Two gunshots. A red-haired guard jumping in front of the queen. Screams. The feeling of a suddenly too-empty palm. Blood spraying across the marble column.
Pearl froze. There was a sourness on her tongue, and it felt like she was about to choke on all the saliva pooling uncontrollably in her mouth. There were black dots dancing in front of her eyes, and she wondered dimly if she had started swaying on the spot. Her heart felt as though it had started compressing in on itself inside her chest. It felt like there was an iron fist clamped around it, an iron fist that had clawed its fingers around her heart and had started squeezing. She tried sucking in a deeper breath, filling her lungs as much as the slightly-too-tight ballgown would allow. All that happened was an additional sensation of a needle driving into her chest. She gasped in another breath, and it hitched inside her chest. There wasn't enough air.
Cinder was turning to her, was yelling something. Pearl didn't know what. She was probably about to faint. At this point that might be the best alternative. Maybe death when you were passed out hurt less. A girl could dream.
But suddenly Pearl's feet were flying beneath her, screaming out in protest and pain. Sweet fucking stars above but her left foot was in agony, even with the adrenalin thrumming through her. Had that knife sliced her heel clean off when she had kicked it out of Cinder's hand during their thaumaturge-controlled fight? If the pain lancing up her leg was anything to go by it might well have done. Even so, her limbs felt suddenly lighter, alleviated from the iron control of the queen's head thaumaturge. And yet…although there were still dark spots dancing around her vision, they were now primarily the result of overexertion, not her own panic. The confused impressions flying around her head were being replaced with thoughts. Stressed thoughts. But coherent ones.
How had the evening gone so horribly wrong? If only that star-foresaken usher hadn't announced her name to the entire ballroom. If only Adri hadn't caught the plague from her. If only Pearl hadn't been so willing to betray her without a second's thought. If only –
Pearl felt her skin crawl with revulsion. "Stop!" she shrieked, in between ragged gasps to the ballgown-clad figure running beside her. "Stop! Controlling! Me!"
"You'll die if I don't!" Cinder yelled back.
The worst thing was, Pearl honestly didn't know if her stepsister might be right.
Pearl was shrieking at her to stop manipulating her emotions, but they were out of the doors. Cinder spluttered, swiping water out of her eyes. Although pleasantly warm, the pelting rain from their arrival at ball was still in full force, soaking her tulle skirts and turning every pace into a squish. They were half-stumbling, half-splashing down the stone steps. Beautiful shrubs to the left. What was probably elegant topiary to the right. Some sort of gigantic tree with countless branches sweeping down to the ground at the base of the stairs. Cinder's left foot felt like lead beneath her and every time her heel came down, her ankle groaned in protest, but every step brought her and Pearl closer to freedom.
If they could just reach the end of the garden and the relative sanctuary of the city. If they could just find a place where they could hide! They could get a hover back to the Phoenix Tower Apartments. They could get the orange car and run. They could get out of New Beijing. They could somehow rescue Peony. They –
She felt the snapping sensation before she heard it. There was a split second where her balance knew what had happened before her mind caught on. Cinder pitched forwards on the slick steps, grunting painfully. She barely managed to catch herself, hand bracing in front of her. She suspected the impact would hurt a lot more than it already did once the adrenalin wore off. And it already hurt a ton.
Two steps lower, at the base of the stairs, Pearl froze at the sight of the foot which had rolled to a stop next to her. "Cinder?"
"Run," Cinder hissed at her. "What are you waiting for? Get to Peony and Dr Erland!" There were noises coming from the palace. People were following already. The seconds gained by the shock they had created were already lost. Kai was yelling angrily. Trying to buy them time? She didn't know.
Rainwater was running down Pearl's face. Her cheeks were unnaturally pale. She had one hand braced against the balustrade as she raised the other to swipe away some of the water. All her weight seemed to be balanced towards one foot. "I can't," she groaned, swaying dangerously. "I think 'm going to faint. M' left foot feels. Black dots…I…"
"Wait – can't you hold on?" Cinder asked. "You can't! Not now!"
"You – hide," Pearl slurred. "I can't…blood" And then she gently crumbled onto the stairs, still a perfect illusion of Cinder.
Cinder cursed and dragged herself down the final two steps, crawling into the tree, hiding as best she could within its dense foliage. People were already running down the stairs after her. After them.
"It's her!" someone shouted. Cinder jolted. One of the thaumaturges, in a red coat this time. "We have the shell!"
Behind the covering of leaves, Cinder curled into a ball, one hand in front of her mouth to mask her breathing. I am invisible. You do not see me. You cannot see me. Would they detect her bioelectricity like in the ballroom, or would they be unable to sense and control her, like the very first time Levana had seen her in the crowd of protestors outside the palace?
The thaumaturge gestured at Pearl's body, her mouth curled in disgust. "It's her. Her bioelectricity is non-existent. But as for the other…the Earthen, she must have run a good deal further. I suppose she was not impeded by any similar…extremities." Her gaze flickered to Cinder's metal foot and the rain hitting it with sharp plinks.
The Lunar guards had now also made it to the bottom of the stairs and were flanking Pearl's unconscious body. Levana and the other two thaumaturges remained at the top of the stairs, perhaps unwilling to venture further out into the rain. Cinder blinked and Kai also skidded to a stop at the bottom of the steps, rain rapidly drenching his formal attire as he bent over Pearl's body, a stricken glance at Cinder's detached foot. Another blink and Konn Torin was beside him, glancing at Pearl with an expression of horrified resignation. Cinder suspected he was desperately trying to brainstorm a way of solving the diplomatic crisis she and Pearl had just kicked off.
"Where are the other robot recording-device journalist things?" the thaumaturge snapped at the advisor. "I thought there would be more of them! Locating the Earthen is of the utmost priority!" She gestured at the single droid whose blue sensor appeared to be active and the others which appeared to have been powered down.
Konn Torin pursed his lips as Kai began waving his hands at the android, muttering at it. "As we can see, the weather is somewhat inclement. As such, there are no guests in the gardens to be recorded. For this reason, it seems that the other android journalists have reverted naturally to standby mode to reduce unnecessary power consumption, with just one android remaining alert to fulfil the task of recording events."
"Well, then order the others to reboot and find the other wretched girl!"
The advisor pursed his lips. "As you wish. Nevertheless, she is an Earthen citizen and must be treated as such." He turned on his heel and began to recite the reboot instructions for the other droids. "I will instruct them to locate the other girl as quickly as possible. Remind me of her name?"
"I-" for the first time, the thaumaturge seemed unsure. "I must confirm with Her Majesty." As though to cover up the moment, she clicked her fingers and the blond-haired guard hoisted Pearl's body onto his shoulders as though she weighed little more than a rag doll.
"No." Kai's voice was strained. "She needs medical attention. Criminal or not, she has just lost a foot. A med-hover is on the point of arriving. You may board too if you wish, and it will take her straight to New Beijing prison. But, for the time being at least, she is a prisoner of Earth, and she shall be given the necessary medical care."
The thaumaturge glared but did not argue. Cinder swallowed and pulled up her comm feed. Comm to Dr Dmitri Erland: Palace gardens. Help.
Man, I really struggled with this chapter. They have to be filmed coming out of the palace because that's how Wolf falls for Scarlet (she yells at the men making fun of Cinder's foot falling off) but Lunar glamour doesn't trick cameras so the switcheroo becomes super hard to write. Hopefully I solved it alright, even if it did take two years…oops. (And even if my 'solution' was 'it was still raining and so the only droid still active had other priorities – aka recording the best footage possible in terrible weather conditions – than a situation analysis of who's who.' Also – I think this is canon – if you're unconscious you have no/next to no detectable bioelectricity).