Revamped!

[Would now be a bad time to self-promote? Because I have a new, funny, and witty Lunar Chronicles one-shot titled Color, Cut, and Cress which you should go check out after you're done here.]

Kai-nd of a Legacy: Part Seven

"No…" Kai mutters. "No, you can't be. You're not Selene Blackburn, it's impossible!"

"Kai…" Cinder says, holding her hands out in defence. "I swear, on my life, that I'm Selene Blackburn."

"Swear on whose life? On Cinder's or Selene's?"

Cinder doesn't respond but she doesn't have the patience to tolerate this although she so saw this reaction coming. Kai crosses his arms at her. Cinder continues to shake. She still doesn't understand why Levana said that since it's been years since she slipped up. Levana was never one to make mistakes. At least she would've had time to prepare Kai for a secret she didn't intend to spill.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Kai asks her. "You're Selene - that's your life!"

"I didn't feel the need to. You never asked or told me you were looking for a Selene Blackburn until now."

"Oh, stars, Cinder - or should I say, Selene."

Cinder takes a deep breath, accepting Kai's attitude and anger towards her. She deserves this and doesn't have to yell back.

"I didn't tell anyone because there are still so many things that I don't have the slightest clue about," Cinder confesses. "I've been going by the name of Cinder for longer than I could remember. Most things were forgotten over time because I got so caught up in living as Cinder that Selene was no longer in my mind. There was too much in the present to keep up with. But still, being Selene will always be true to me even when my life keeps on going and I answer to Cinder. In Artemisia, it was for safety and publicity reasons. Having that as a secret means that I've done a lot of lying but it wasn't because I'm a bad person or had the goals to hurt you, it was out of necessity."

Kai nods, unable to find whatever words could be helpful for this. Instead, he pulls Cinder in close and hugs her tightly.

"Artemisia wouldn't have been a safe place for me as a Blackburn, especially as Channary's daughter," Cinder whispers into the crook of Kai's neck where she rested in the hug. "The Blackburn rule in Luna was an authoritarian state. Maybe you've heard stories. She turned fashion to fascism during her time in office. I've heard and read all the stories. People wanted her dead and I think she killed those who -"

"Shh…" Kai says, rubbing her back to silence and calm her down. "You don't have to tell me -"

"No." Cinder pushes back from him. "Call the others. I need to get this out of me now that you opened my Pandora's - or Selene's Box. I'm in Commonwealth, not Artemisia anymore."

-o-

Kai texted the others in advance and said to get ready for a video call. They answered immediately and said they were waiting. Conveniently, Wolf was already with Scarlet, Thorne with Cress, and Jacin with Winter. Once he started the call, he waited for the three screens and six people to appear which eventually happens.

"Hello all," Kai greets, which didn't sound as creepy in his head. "I've found my mystery girl and mother-approved betrothal."

Wolf, Thorne, Jacin, and Winter become shocked (Jacin's and Winter's are more scripted than the others since they're already caught up) whereas Cress and Scarlet are confused.

Cress and Scarlet: What?

Thorne and Wolf: Who is it?

"Meet Selene Blackburn," Kai introduces.

Cinder pops into the screen, taking a seat on Kai's lap. Everyone is silent for a second except Winter who does all the cheering since Jacin naturally looks unamused (he's happy on the inside and Winter knows that). Wolf and Thorne roar with laughter as Cress and Scarlet still have no idea what's going on. Their boys give a quick summary of the whole situation which doesn't help. They still don't get why Cinder is there.

Scarlet: What do you mean?

"My birth name is Selene Blackburn," Cinder admits.

Cress and Wolf's faces currently resemble two deer in headlights as they try to piece this new piece of information together. Despite Kai introducing her with that name, they just processed it. They're Lunars so they know about the legendary Blackburn dynasty. Every Lunar has at least heard about it.

Cress: Wait… Wolf, you'll know what I'm talking about. Cinder's the long-lost Selene Blackburn, daughter of Former Luna President Channary Blackburn?

Wolf: I may not look like it but I'm losing my spades over this.

Cinder smirks wildly. "I'm Selene Blackburn in the flesh."

Wolf: My mom left Luna because of President Blackburn, no offence.

Cinder expected that. "None taken. I've heard every horror and theory. The latter entertained me back in Luna. I have no memories of my mother so I only have those stories to live on. Levana doesn't talk about my mother dearest."

Suddenly, Thorne starts bowing for Cinder. Everyone stares at him weirdly but that doesn't stop him. Sure, it's respectful and Cinder loves it, but she isn't royalty.

Scarlet: Quit bowing.

Thorne: I'm shooketh to the stars, Scarlet! She's a president's daughter!

Scarlet: Aces, never say that first part again.

"Please…" Cinder mutters. "From my origin, bowing would be the nice response. In Luna, I would've been heckled and possibly killed."

"Cinder!" Kai exclaims at her.

"What? It's true. One of the stories that circled about me was that I got killed by a radical Lunar who was against the presidency."

Winter: Those were the worst ones.

Thorne: Care to explain?

Jacin: President Blackburn was in power for over a little under a decade and her entire rule was more chaotic in Luna than any war. The Blackburns are a dynasty of wealth, status, and eventual dictatorship that ended with Channary. The buzz about it in Luna is still there but not to the same extent.

Wolf: President Blackburn made Luna into a single-party state and ruled with an iron fist that matched her designer outfits. When Channary emerged into power, there was a mass emigration during the first decade of her rule.

Cress: Wolf, you're lucky to have left Luna way before I did. My dad and I immigrated to Commonwealth because of his job which was years after her death. Even then, the last of the "runaways" were fleeing. It was chaos.

Cinder takes a breath. "I know. You all must be wondering how such a cruel woman could've been allowed to rule. Stories and studies exist but according to Levana, the Blackburn beauty and status is what won her everything - power, wealth, men - anything and everything. However, despite all that, Levana says that the only thing my mother was good at, was being my mother even if it wasn't for so long before she died."

Everyone is silent, especially the Lunars. They've lived with all the terrible stories and the aftermath of what President Blackburn has done to Luna. Now hearing that President Blackburn was good to her daughter puts a new light on the situation even if they couldn't see that for herself.

Sensing the climate of the situation, Cinder looks down and feels Kai rubbing her back.

Jacin: You know, nobody back home every pieced together that Cinder was Selene Blackburn and she's a carbon copy of Channary, appearance-wise. And her mother was televised all the time, even after she died.

Winter: Same here and nobody wondered why I had Blackburn attached to my last name. It was for custody reasons, by the way.

Cinder smirks. "Everyone is Artemisia is ignorant. People were always too busy taking selfies to put down their phones and see something right in their face - especially the selfies with me in them. That, and we young people don't care about what happened back then."

Scarlet: Wait, so who else knows about all this?

"Only a handful of people. Just FYI, Levana is my mother's sister and I believe she was in the office with my sister as a senior advisor which is nepotism but my mother only trusted her, or could control her. Winter knows because she's family after Levana married her dad, my few friends back in Luna - Jacin, Iko, and Kinney because as a child I blabbed to them, and now all of you know."

Thorne: I'm so flattered to be in your secret circle now.

"You know, it feels so nice to have it all it there only for you guys now. I didn't want you to like me and hate or pity me because of where I came from. If you're truly my friends, then you'd still be by my side after you know everything."

Thorne: Can we call you Selene?

"As long as we can call you Carswell."

Thorne's defeated by that counter-argument. He thinks it over and wonders if hearing his first name is worth being able to call Cinder as Selene.

Thorne: Cinder it is!

Everyone laughs although they would call Thorne by his birth name when they could. There was just a ring to Carswell that no other name has, not even Selene.

Winter: Wait, did we move here because of that fantasy marriage?!

"I had no idea what that was," Cinder admits. "We moved here because Levana was offered a job and you were losing your spades."

Scarlet: Yeah, what was up with that?

Winter: … that's a story for another time.

"Can we discuss some Selene conspiracies?" Kai questions, pinching Cinder's sides a little just to make her squirm.

Everyone, especially Cinder, agrees. They all look to the Lunars for the Selene conspiracies. Over their years and experiences in Luna, they have heard a lot of interesting ones over time.

-o-

The stories went on for more than an hour and they only scratched the surface of Selene conspiracies. They spoke about the one where Selene supposedly got murdered by a radical Blackburn, the one where Selene got sold on the black market, the one where Selene supposedly died in a fire, and so on and so forth. The stories were endless.

As they kept on going, Kai's phone vibrates in his pocket. With Cinder on the edge of his lap, he awkwardly shifts to get his phone out. When he does, he sees that it's a text from Torin.

Torin: Get to the hospital now.

Kai drops his phone, still trying to process what he read and what it could mean. Cinder turns around to look at him, noticing his alarm.

"What's wrong?" Cinder asks him.

"I have to go," Kai says. "My dad's in the hospital."

Cinder gets up and watches Kai head for the door. When he got up, she slipped out of his lap and onto the couch. She looks back at her friends and says that she'll call them back and keep them updated. Cinder closes her laptop and runs after Kai.

"Kai, wait!" Cinder yells. "I'll drive you!" She looks upstairs. "Levana, I'm heading out!"

Cinder grabs her keys and runs out to her car, unlocking it along the way.

Panic rises like bile in Kai's throat as he gets into Cinder's car. His heart stops as his stomach twists. Cinder starts the engine and they quickly pull out of the driveway and speeds down the road.

"Kai," Cinder says, "I still don't know my way around Commonwealth that well so you'll have to tell me which way to go."

Kai doesn't respond. Cinder isn't sure if he heard her.

"Kai," Cinder encourages, "I know you're scared but I assure you it will all be okay. You need to tell me where to go."

[And you all thought the last cliffhanger was painful…] [2020: Spoilers but it gets worse].