Under Your Moon

Missing You

Back to the present. 

Cinder waved goodbye to the Rampion crew, angry. Now all she had to stay sane was an insane princess and-

"SEELEEENE!" blue hair bounced all over the place as an escort droid charged towards the queen. A few guards hopped in front of her, the one in front catching Iko. Iko struggled against him. "I'm not going to hurt her, Kinney. Stars, don't you know me?" She scoffed, looking down at him and kissing his cheek. He retched and dropped her. 

Iko laughed, then jumped back in front of Cinder. 

"Why did no one tell me they were leaving!?" she screamed. 

Cinder waved her arms, trying to get Iko to slow down. "Wow! They're coming back next week to pick up you, Winter and Jacin."

"Oh...Why?"

"Scarlet and Wolf's bachelor and bachelorette parties- ring a bell?"  Cinder flicked Iko's head. 

"Of course I remember!" Iko laughed, swatting away her hand. "But, you didn't say they were picking you up."

"I don't think I can accept that invitation." 

"Who says," Iko asks, taking Cinder's arm as they trudged back up through the castle.  

"I don't know," she sighed, burying her head in her friend's shoulder blade. "I don't know anything about being queen." she whispered. "They probably already hate me, I don't see it being smart to go to a wolf soldier's wedding party..." 

Iko stopped and grabbed Cinder's cheeks. "They are your friends, no matter their past. I don't give a crap about the Lunar court, and neither do Scarlet and Wolf. Think about that." she said before storming away.  

"Iko!" Cinder called, but she didn't look back. "Why does she do that? What did I say?" she yelled into the air, flailing her arms. Pointedly, she glared at Kinney. He scrambled backwards, almost tripping on his pants as he backed away. She hiked up another long dress she had been forced into and went in the opposite direction from Iko, towards her chambers. 

Slamming the door behind her, she basically ripped off the dress and put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Crawling onto her massive bed, she leaned against the headboard and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. A few pieces of paper fell from in between the blankets. She caught them between her fingers, and realized they were photos. There was the crew after her coronation, Iko tackling her and nearly ripping both of their gowns. A few more formal photos of her and several dignitaries and delegates. And the rest were of her and Kai. 

She thumbed through them until she found her favorite. 

After the coronation ceremony, the Earthen Union threw a party in the ballroom. Little star decorations dotted the ceiling and everyone wore the most extravagant outfits they could come up with. It was all very regal, until someone had the wonderful idea of turning on some pop music. 

And that was when Cress had turned on a ton of security cameras in order to get all of the pictures in her hands. Especially the one where Kai had started dancing with her. During a song that sounded like it came from the 1980s he had exaggerated every word and pretended to faint. Except, Thorne was behind him.  The picture ended up with Kai on the ground laughing, Thorne pretending to puke, a bunch of dignitaries sneering, and me holding a hand up to my face, pretending not to know any of them.

Her next favorite was when Kai got up off the ground and slow danced with her, but that was another story. 

Cinder puffed out a breath of air and closed her eyes. 

Stars, she missed him. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed through the window, that the moon was now directly over Earth. Over Asia. Over him. 

She jumped up, pressing her non-cyborg hand against the cool glass. 

Her netscreen all of a sudden started buzzing off the hook. She looked at it quizically, because only a few people knew how to call her privately. When she realized the address was from the Eastern Commonwealth, she answered it as quick as a rabbit. "Kai."

"Selene." he replied. 

"No."

He laughed and Cinder noticed he wasn't wearing anything made of silk, his hair was extremely long, and there were defined bags under his eyes. "How are you?" she asked, sitting down on her bed and trying to tame her hair at least a little bit. 

"Fine."

A little orange light flickered in her vision. "Liar." she whispered. 

"What?"

"Nothin'. Anyways, is there a reason you called, or did you just want me to wonder at the extreme length of your magnificent hair."

"Oh, right. I wanted to show you something." he got up and started walking somewhere. "Hey, did you just call my hair magnificent?" 

"No comment," Cinder laughed. 

Then, as if a door had been opened to a rave, sound exploded in their ears. 

"What is that?" she asked. 

"Oh just a little party." 

Kai swiveled the camera so it faced the streets. Hundreds, if not thousands of people were dancing and laughing, drinking and smiling below them. Paper dragons waltzed through the plazas, and lanterns floated in the skies. "Wow." she whispered. 

"It's for us." he said. 

"You're joking."

"No, check the feeds. Someone said it. they want to thank you and me and the crew." 

He was right. She put her hand against her cheek. It was moments like these, she wished tears of joy were a thing. 

Hours later, she woke up and realized she was still on the line with Kai, who was also asleep in a dark room. 

"Hey....." she murmured, "Kai....Kaito.....Princey poo." 

He woke up disheveled, a bit of drool on his lip. "That's emperor to you." 

"Are you going to the bachelor party?"

"I think so, as long as the press doesn't know. Are you?"

She sighed. "I told Iko I didn't know if it was acceptable and she flipped out. Hasn't talked to me all night."

"So..."

Cinder thought it through. "Yeah, yeah I'm going."

"Good, I guess I'll see you there then." 

"Goodnight." 

"Wanan."