The Princess and Her Captain

The Return

Cinder wandered through the hallways, past all of the rooms of the Rampion. She got to Wolf's room, and hesitated. She passed it rapidly and quietly, so as not to alert him of her presence. It was different there, because she couldn't hear any noises coming from Wolf's room. It was completely silent. Silence, everywhere in the Rampion. Without Thorne or Cress's presence. Where could they possibly be? She continued to make her way through the corridor, towards their suites. She reached Cress's, which was just a few doors across from Wolf's. She took a deep breath, hoping that she would be in there, and knocked.

"Cress!"

No answer. She continued to knock, calling Cress's name. After some time, Cinder decided to try the doorknob. Locked. What was going on? Cinder started to panic. She barely knew how to control the ship. How was she supposed to do anything without anyone there to help her? She ran further down to Thorne's room, and began pounding on the door, calling his name. Again, not a sound. She continued to travel across the spaceship in a flurry, calling out their names, just when an ear-splitting alarm noise began blaring through the speakers. 

"Iko!" cried Cinder, clamping her hands over her ears, "Stop that noise, this instant!"

"Warning" spoke Iko, "Dangerously low levels of oxygen detected on the aircraft. Complete oxygen depletion in T Minus 5 hours."

"What?!" cried Cinder, "What nonsense is this! Iko, turn off the alarms and explain!"

The alarms stopped, and Iko's voice chimed in once more.

"Cinder, this is serious. There must have been a breach in the spaceship, because we have dangerously low amounts of oxygen left. If we don't make it to Earth in five hours, everyone on the spacecraft will no doubt die of oxygen deprivation!"

She hesitated, taking this in. "This is unbelievable. This can't be true" said Cinder. Her eyes were wide, and she put her face in her palms for a few seconds, thinking. She raised her head. "We must find Thorne. Now. I have to search the lower decks. We need to get to Earth as soon as possible."

She began heading towards the stairwell leading towards the lower entry deck. She descended the stairs, and the lower she got the more difficult it was becoming to breathe. This must be where the breach was. She thought that at this point she would need to wear a space helmet and an oxygen tank just to stay alive. She got to the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner. And before her, she saw a young man, covered in blood, his skin beginning to take on a bluish tint. Cinder gasped, and rushed to his side. 

"THORNE!" she yelled.

As she got closer to him, she began to realize. The man was blonde, but he was definitely not Thorne. She noticed the Lunar emblem on the front of his guard's uniform, along with the name tag that read: Jacin Clay. This was mistress Sybil's guard! This must have meant that he knew how to drive a spaceship! She placed two fingers on his neck, and felt a faint flutter of a pulse. At her touch, she saw his eyes twitch open. He groaned instantly, he was in a terrible condition. She had to save his life, she was sure that they could take him hostage and force him to navigate their ship to Erland. 

"Wh- wh..." He tried to speak.

"Don't talk." said Cinder, more harshly than she had meant. He couldn't drain his strength. She hoisted him up, using her entire body weight to balance him on his feet. After a lot of effort, she managed to sling his arm over her shoulder. At this point, she too was breathing heavily, due to the poor air pressure. She had to get out of there, or there would be two dead victims. She continued to drag him towards the stairwell, and then it hit her hazy mind. How would she ever get him up the stairs, if it drained her so much to even drag him on flat ground? Just then, her mind began to shut down, and her eyes fluttered shut. She felt herself fall back onto the ground, on top of the Lunar guard. She heard him groan in pain. She winced. But she couldn't think anymore. She felt like she was fading farther, farther away from consciousness. She couldn't... Not right now... She forced her eyes to open up once again, but black dots clouded her vision. She had to let herself go. Her eyes began to shut once again, but before they closed fully, she saw a glimpse of dark hair and a scar-filled face...