Cress sighed as she shouldered her bag while walking across the sidewalk. Yesterday was an amazing day. She and Jacin had so much fun! And the dinner was pretty amazing too. Afterwards, she told Thorne everything. From Winter's crazy friend idea to the silly shopping game she and Jacin played. Thorne was surprisingly good humoured about it. Thorne had smiled down at Cress and replied, "I've had so many lady friends. More than most people would have in ten lifetimes. I guess I shouldn't have been jealous of you and Jacin. Besides, he's smitten with Winter, and you're obviously smitten with me."
Cress smacked Thorne in the stomach, and was slightly relieved that Thorne was okay with her being friends with Jacin. After all, Jacin and Thorne had hated each other. Maybe now would be different that Jacin was making an effort to become more friendly with the crew.
Cress had also showed Thorne her and Jacin's shopping pictures. Thorne nearly laughed himself to death watching the video of pictures that Cress put together. It was of her and Jacin in their most ridiculous outfits. Through tears, Thorne turned towards Cress.
"Cress, thank you for this heartfelt gift. It has given me so much joy one could possibly feel. You and Jacin look of amaing, this could be a future bargaining chip," Thorne had said mischievously.
"Captain!" Cress had started, shaking her head.
A stumble in the sidewalk jolted Cress back to reality. Shaking her head, she checked her bearings again. Yes, this was the right way. She took a left in the street and stopped in front of a white house with red trimmings. Cress took out a key and let herself in.
"Dad? Cress called out. Dr. Sage Erland, or Sage Darnel, as he was acknowledged nowadays, stepped into the kitchen. Seeing Cress, he let out a smile, and wrapped Cress into a bear hug. Cress snuggled into her father, sighing with happiness.
When Cress left Dr. Darnel in the quarantine lab in the palace, she was sure that it would be the first and last time she would ever see her father. But miraculously, Dr. Sage Darnel was one of the 700 Lunars that showed resistance to Lunar letumosis. Lunar letumosis was what everybody had started calling the plague that could affect Lunars too.
Cress felt so lucky to have her father, and Dr. Darnel had agreed to stay on Luna and become Queen Cinder's head research scientist. During the past two weeks, Cress had stopped by almost everyday to catch up with her long lost father.
"Hey dad." Cress was almost getting used to calling this man her father. That's how much time she had spent with him in her past time.
"Hey honey, how is palace life as Cinder's hacker?" Dr. Darnel raised an eyebrow. He had been outraged that Sybil Mira had kept Cress on a lone satellite for 7 years, but he had appreciated her hacking skills and knowledge of technology.
Cress grinned and replied, "It's great. Cinder doesn't really have much need for a hacker right now. Or a technology genius at that. Right now, I have a vacation."
"That's great. Are you making any friends at the palace? Besides Thorne?" Dr. Darnel had approved of Thorne after having a long talk with him one day, when Thorne had decided to accompany Cress in visiting her father.
"I've made a friend. The palace guard, Jacin. He's really sweet, but before I got to know him, he was really emotionless. Winter, the princess had persuaded him to make friends." Cress smiled. Jacin was really sweet. He and Winter were just adorable. And he was actually really nice.
"So dad," Cress inquired. "Can you tell me about my mom? I mean, I never knew about her. What happened to her?" Dr. Darnel sighed, and looked at Cress with watery blue eyes. Vivid blue ones came up to meet with the tired old ones. Dr. Darnel sighed again, and motioned for Cress to sit down at the wood table.
Cress, curious, sat down, and listened as the old man began his story.
"I loved your mother very much. She loved me very much too. She could be the gentlest person in the world. But my wife was a vivid follower of Levana. Sometimes, I think that's the whole reason of what happened with you, Crecent. She would do anything to please the late queen of the moon, even kill, if she was asked to do so. We were both scientists in the palace, your mother and I." Dr. Darnel paused, and looked up at Cress.
"Cress, what I am about to tell you is, well, an interesting story." Cress gulped, and nodded, motioning for her father to continue. Dr. Darnel cleared his throat, and began.
"One day, I met Cylia. She was part of my science team, so sweet, smart, and she had your personality, and big, blue eyes. Long story short, we fell in love, married, and worked side by side in the lab. One day, your mother, Cylia, broke the news to me. She was pregnant. I was overjoyed, of course. But being a royal scientist under Levana's rule was a hard job. It was only because of Cylia's close friendship with Sybil Mira that allowed us to be married.
"Normally, royal scientists are not permitted to marry, let alone have children. Levana thought letting us have families would distract us from our work. Our "work" at the time was creating the blue disease. Yes Cress, I was part of that project." Dr. Darnel replied to Cress's shocked look.
"So, anyways, I was ecstatic at having a child, and was even more excited to learn that I would be having a daughter, but, she would be have to be given to a different family. That was when I started to have second thoughts about Levana and her rule.
"Well, 5 months passed, and during Cylia's ultrasound, there was another surprise waiting for me. Cylia was pregnant with twins. A baby boy and girl." Here Dr. Erland held his hand up stopping Cress from intervening, and continued.
"Well, I was beside myself with grief. I was blessed to have two beautiful children, only to have Levana take them away from me.
"That night, something inside me broke. I confronted my wife, and we agreed to an idea of mine. I would be in charge of naming, and finding my daughter a loving home, and she would be in charge of the twin boy. It sounds pretty silly, but I couldn't stand the idea of having to give up two children in the same day. I told Cylia, in a fit of anger, that I didn't want to see my son, or know his name. I didn't want to know which family would be adopting him. Now though, I see how stupid I was. I was just so angry at Levana, and I felt that the best way to bear through it was to deal with only one child. Yes, I know Cress. I blame myself for that decision every day.
"Anyways, I tried to forget about my son, and focused on what I should name my daughter," Dr. Darnel's eyes glazed over, obviously thinking about the past. Cress sat in shock, she was still trying to process this information, and she sat there until her father continued.
"Well, I decided to name my daughter Crescent Moon. My wife, decided the name of my son, and we never told each other. 9 months passed, and my wife gave birth to a healthy pair of twins. I held you, Crescent, and you were so tiny! It was the happiest day of my life. Or, wait, I should say, moment, because a minute later, I noticed a lack of bioelectricity around you. I realized you were a shell, and the nurse realized it too.
"My wife, she was disappointed, and busied herself with filling out our son's birth certificate instead. A day later, Sybil Mira came, that witch. She stalked in, congratulated Cylia for having a healthy baby boy, and just took you, Crescent. She said to me, 'what an embarrassment. What filth. Don't worry Sage, her death will be painless.' It was so fast, I didn't even know what was happening. At that time, I made up my mind to leave Luna, and run away to Earth. I thought I would never see you again. I thought to myself, better live a life of sorrow in freedom than in chains.
"Cylia, well, she never really cared for having children of her own. It was easy for her to give up our son. She gave him away to a guard's family. That's all I know. And that, is what I've been living with for 16 years, Crescent."