Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Cress sat up and focused her eyes on the TV over her bed. She'd had the med droid restrict visitors for the time being, wanting some peace from the doctors and frequent visitors. Commanding the netscreen to turn on to the world news, she settled in with her small breakfast and caught up on current events, to see if anything would jog her memory.

She massaged her temples as she watched the anchor give an animated interview to a dark-skinned woman on the television. The caption beneath the woman's live vid-feed said she was Queen Winter Hayle of Luna, though Cress was pretty certain that they did not allow cameras on Luna, especially not cameras for the queen.

Cress did, however, remember Winter. She was Queen Levana's step-daughter, without a drop of royal blood, and still Luna had allegedly fully accepted her as their new queen. Cress was utterly taken by how gorgeous the queen was, with ebony skin and caramel eyes and the reddest of lips, the cloud of black hair surrounding her head in twists with the tiara placed atop.

"…all of the remaining thaumaturges loyal to Levana have completed their trials and are now serving the time for the atrocities they committed while the former queen was in power."

The anchor nodded. "Can you tell us why Her Highness, Princess Selene, abdicated the throne to you, Your Majesty?"

"Luna is not a world that Selene knows. She is unaware of our politics and of our government's inner workings. Though I believe the Lunar people would have gladly accepted her as their queen, she feared that she would not be able to fix the problems we are facing, and because I was raised in the royal family, I have thought much of what we can do. Though I offered to be her advisor, she declined."

The anchor's eyes seemed to glow. "Do you believe it could be because of her alleged affair with Emperor Kai of the Eastern Commonwealth?"

Something in the queen's eyes softened. "I cannot be sure." She quickly changed the subject. "I do hope she finds time to visit me. Selene was my cousin and my best friend when we were children, and I would love to rekindle that friendship. My familial love for her has not disappeared, though now she goes by Linh Cinder."

Linh Cinder. Cinder.

Cress's mouth fell open. Cinder was Princess Selene? Selene was alive, and she had rescued Cress, and Cress had fought on her side. All of this new information about the life she'd been living was nothing short of painfully overwhelming.

Why was this happening? When would she finally get peace?

Apparently not any time soon.

A girl with brown skin and blue braids entered the room. As soon as she processed the girl, and the fact that someone had come in when she wasn't supposed to have visitors, Cress immediately hated her, though not for that reason.

She wasn't sure how she recognized her or from where, just that she did and she loathed her.

Her hackles were rising with the shrillness of the girl's voice.

"Oh, Cress! I'm so glad that you're okay!"

Why was she glad? If Cress hated her, there was probably a reason.

She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?" The question came out much ruder than it had been when she posed it to the others. She felt only a little guilty. "You're not supposed to be in here."

"I know you said you didn't want visitors right now, but I wanted to see you! Cinder, Scarlet, and Thorne got to see you!"

Cress sighed, accepted that she may never be alone again. Instead, she asked again, "Who are you?"

"Oh, right, you can't remember anyone." She tapped her perfectly shaped lips with her perfectly manicured finger. "Let's see…. I'm Iko! The last time you saw me, I had a huge hole in my neck!" She gestured to an area of her skin that was just as flawless as the rest of her. "Luckily, Cinder fixed it right up! She's such a good friend, isn't she? Oh-well, I suppose you wouldn't know, but trust me, she's great!"

Then, Cress realized that this emotion was jealousy. She remembered experiencing it and being frightened with herself when she first heard that the net drama actor she had a crush on was married.

If she recalled correctly, it was a normal emotion. Huh. Well, it certainly wasn't one of Cress's favorites, that's for sure.

She pulled the blankets up to her chin. Net drama, net drama. It's all scripted. "Do I… do we like each other, Iko? Were we friends?"

"Oh yes!" the girl exclaimed. "Though, I think you were a little jealous of me when I first got this body. At least, that's what Cinder said. But it was only because you didn't know I was an android! And then–"

"–wait," Cress interrupted. "You're an android?"

Iko clasped her hands together and did a spin in utter glee. "Oh, you didn't notice?! That's so exciting!"

Cress chewed her lip. "Look, Iko, it was nice to meet you, but I'd really like to be alone right now."

Iko's cheeriness withered. "You don't want me in here?"

Cress felt small, and more importantly, mean. She wrapped her arms around herself, the IV in her arm tugging uncomfortably at her vein. "Not at the moment, no. I don't. I haven't been alone since I woke up and I just… I really would like to be, please."

The android looked positively crestfallen for, well, an android. "Oh, okay. I understand. I'll come visit you later, okay?!"

As Iko pranced out of the room, Cress hoped that she just wouldn't.

Wishing she had the energy to get up and lock the door, Cress turned the netscreen to one of her favorite dramas and tried catching up on what she missed. That was much more preferable to the information overload given to her when she learned anything new about the past few weeks, about her own past few months.

All of the memories missing from her mind were frustrating. She was sure there was something, just a little inkling of something that would bring her memory back. Some sort of golden ticket that would clear everything up and make it a little less terrifying, to make her her old self again, the self that she couldn't remember.

What she wouldn't give to be exactly who these people, her friends, were telling her she was.

The next episode of the net drama had just begun when there was a soft knock at the door, and then it was pushed open to reveal her doctor. Ugh, Cress hated talking to him. He was really intimidating.

Not even looking up at her from his port, the doctor began his spiel.

"How are you feeling today, Crescent?"

"The same as yesterday and the day before," she replied, deadpan.

The doctor didn't acknowledge the lack of emotion in her statement. "I see. Now, I don't think being holed up in this room is going to help you get your memory back, and it appears that the swelling in your brain has reduced enough for it to no longer pose a risk, so I think we'll go ahead and release you tomorrow. What do you think?"

Cress wanted to be excited, felt that she was probably supposed to be, but instead, she felt panicked. "But where would I go?"

"I imagine your friends would be happy to help you," he told her, smiling. "A few of them are hoping to see you right now. Are you still restricting visitors?"

With every bit of guilt her chest could muster, Cress nodded. "Yeah, I'd like to be alone."

The doctor smiled. "Understandable."

As he turned to leave, Cress sat up a bit more. "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Is there any way I can get access to a port screen?"

The doctor blinked, considering. "I'll see what I can do."

Within an hour and a half, Cress had hacked into the Commonwealth's private government files. She had originally wanted the port screen just so she could touch amd see something familiar and take her mind off everything. Eventually, though, the curiosity had overtaken her and she just couldn't resist.

She discovered that Mistress Sybil had died in the very palace she was in, having thrown herself off of the roof into the gardens after being tortured with Linh Cinder's lunar gift (this information made Cress shudder). Thaumaturge Aimery, whom Cress had never met but knew to fear, had been promoted to Head Thaumaturge. However, the record indicated that he had been killed by a Lunar guard not two months after Sybil had died.

Though the information was scaring her, she continued reading. Reading about the Lupine soldiers being eradicated–either through rehabilitation or death for those who could not be saved. Reading about Queen Winter almost succumbing to Letumosis after it mutated and was able to spread to Lunars, and how the subsequent release of the antidote after Levana's defeat had saved her and countless others. Reading about how, rather than killing her, Cinder, Princess Selene, had chosen to have Levana exiled to an outer sector on Luna to serve a life sentence of solitude in an underground jail cell, much like the kind she had condemned shell children to.

The revolution had saved Luna, and while they were still adjusting to the changes, things had vastly improved, including trade relations with Earth. And Cress had been a part of all of it. An integral part, according to her friends.

Stars, she couldn't help but call them friends, even if they were nothing more than strangers to her.

They had made her feel important in the three days she had been out of her coma. They had made her feel worthy of love and attention, even though she had already royally screwed things up with one of them.

She felt awful about that last one, though. The guilt ate away at her, for her inability to remember her feelings for Thorne, for how hard it was to remember how and why she loved him when he could so clearly recall it.

At the same time, she could not reconcile her current self with a girl who had been strong, who had fallen in love with a corporeal human being. Stars above, she couldn't even remember anything but lava tubes and that stars-forsaken satellite.

She had lived an entirely new life, and she couldn't remember any of it.

But maybe Scarlet was right. Maybe she shouldn't focus on her relationship with Thorne right now.

Starting tomorrow, she would be free from this room, and she would pick herself up. She would start picking up the pieces of the self she had lost.

She had friends. A support system. Freedom.

Now she just needed herself.

Author's Note: Chapter 3! So, fun facts: I have been watching Steven Universe or reading Snow Like Ashes during my free time this last week (both of which I just love so much) and have,, like 100 words of chapter 4 written. Whoops. This is what I get for being too impatient to write more before posting the prequel. Therefore, I can't promise that chapter 4 will be out next Sunday, but I will try! You guys are amazing! xo