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salt-warrior · 3 years

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Alright folks... it’s time for me to forever shame myself, because I’m publishing a crack fic. I’ve NEVER done that before because I usually just write crack fics for my own enjoyment, but this crack fic was inspired by a post that @impossiblesuitcase wrote. So thank you for that, lovely. Also thank you @cosmicnovaflare for pushing me to write this, I love you always.

This crack fic is a crossover of three of my own fanfictions. So if you have not red Unsinkable, The Echo of Silence, and The Time it Takes to Fall, then literally none of this will make any sense. All three play vital roles in this story. Seriously, you’ll be in the dark so don’t read it unless you’ve read all of them.

Again, this is a crack fic so it’s even more wildly unrealistic than my other writing. And I am also going to pretend I never wrote it because I am ashamed. The original endings are the real endings in my mind. You have been warned.

So without further ado, I present you with 6,249 words of crack fic that I wrote in one sitting yesterday instead of doing my homework. Enjoy.

Tags: @shellyseashell @cindersassasin @gingerale2017 @healing-winston-pratt @winterrhayle @just2bubbly @f-r-o-p @idkchatie (I’m only tagging the people who were really angry with Unsinkable because I think a lot of you have read all three of those stories? If not, then sorry for the tag, I love you guys<333)

Until Forever Ends

Before Kai’s father had passed away, he’d told Kai to pursue what he needed to find peace. He’d probably meant something along the lines of falling in love with another girl or switching up his career. Surely he hadn’t intended for his son to look into the mythical sisters of life and death.

It had been a long day, with him first going to his father's funeral, then to see Cinder's gravesite one last time. He hated leaving her there, but he had hope that when they would meet again, he would speak to her and not a marble headstone.

He'd mailed notes to all his friends that morning. To Scarlet and Wolf, Jacin and Winter, and Cress. He'd detailed an adventure across the world that he would be having. After all, his father had left everything he owned to Kai, and he wanted to make the most of living. Of course it was all a fantastic lie; he was traveling the world, and perhaps it would be an adventure, but it was more of a journey than anything else. And he didn't plan on ever coming home.

Because even if he found what he was looking for, he couldn't return to his friends. They wouldn't understand—they couldn't understand.

So he would travel to the ends of the Earth, and he would find her.

***

Kai sat on a sandy beach, the waves lapping up over his legs, his nostrils filling with the scent of salt. The sky was gray and the air cold, but he could not feel its bitter sting. His clothes were torn ragged and his hair grown long and shaggy. If one were to gaze upon him, they would believe him to be insane. But he did not care. He was on the hunt for the sisters of life and death— and he was close.

It had been months since his father’s funeral; months since he’d left Cinder’s grave back in Arizona. He’d flown across the sea and traveled to lands he hadn’t even known existed. He’d slept under the stars and beneath the blanket of darkness. He’d listened to stories of people who lived their lives over and over in search of love and those who had been played for fools. He’d seen much and learned even more.

He’d heard tales of the two sisters: one life and the other death. They began as whispered fairy tales, told to him by drunkards and fools. But as he investigated further, he discovered that the sisters were real.

They existed throughout all the lands of the world, always under different names. In some lands they were simply Life and Death, while in others they were Angel and Demon or creatures of the Earth. He simply knew them as Light and Darkness. He only hoped to call out to the sister of light and life, not the one of darkness and death.

Throughout all his travels, no one had ever been able to tell him how to call each sister, only that they came to the cries of the brokenhearted who claimed, and fervently meant, that they would do anything to bring their love back to them. It had to be a plea for love that consumed one’s entire soul— but his soul was filled with Cinder, and Cinder alone.

He watched the black sea as it foamed about him. There had been conflicting views as to where one had to be when summoning either of the sisters. Some claimed that the person had to be in the place of their lover’s birth, while others explained that you had to be in the exact place of their final breath. One woman had even claimed that without the body of his dead lover still warm in his arms, he could not bring her back. Kai had shivered at that proclamation, with Cinder dead and in the ground for well over a year.

But there had been one account that had remained etched in his mind. A scholar somewhere in Europe, who had quoted the lines of Edgar Allen Poe’s last poem to Kai.

“And neither the angels of Heaven above

Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.”

“The sea would be the best place to call one of the sisters to you,” the scholar had said. “For that is their home. With the Angel above and the Demon below, they will hear your cries.”

So Kai went to the sea.

Slowly the gray sky melded into black, allowing for the stars to dot the emptiness and the moon to shine across the waves with hints of white light. He knew he should have been cold, and perhaps he was, but there was nothing left in him but the aching wish to be with Cinder once more.

“Cinder,” he whispered her name through chapped lips. “My love. I would do anything–” his voice broke off with a sob, tears falling like the spray of the ocean. “Anything,” he reiterated. “To be with you again.”

The waves of the sea began to swirl about him, pulling him off the beach and out into the waves. He screamed as his head dipped below the water, but a bubble of air had formed around him, preventing any wetness from glancing across his skin.

Everything seemed to grow lighter, despite the darkness he had remembered seeing. The waves danced about him in hues of deep purple and foam green. Fish swam around him in a flurry, and even the stars in the sky appeared to stand in closer proximity to himself.

Then everything slowed, and Kai found himself thrown back upon the sandy beach shore. He laid upon the ground, staring at the moon in the sky, which seemed within arms reach. He lifted a hand as if to touch it.

A hand reached out to brush against his fingers, and Kai pulled back. Silhouetted against the moon was the most glorious woman that Kai had ever beheld. There was no beauty comparable to her own. Her skin was dark and lined with gold tracings that resembled the very waves of the sea. She wore a dress of crimson that covered her figure elegantly, and jewelry of gold lined her ears and neck.

“Oh my stars,” she gasped, jumping back from him as she gazed upon his face. “It’s you.”

Kai was too shocked to speak. He dropped his hand back upon his chest as he looked up at her. His eyes mapped the kindness in her face and the confusion in her eyes as she gawked at him. All that he could register was that he was in the presence of an otherworldly being.

At long last her words caught up to his thoughts and puzzlement of his own registered in his mind. “Do we know one another?”

The woman’s face softened, and she shook her head slowly. “No, I suppose we do not. Or at the very least, not in this lifetime; not in this world. I am Light, the sister of life and all things which make life beautiful. For what reason do you weep so?”

Kai’s heart skipped a beat at her words. He pushed himself up so he rested upon his knees before her, looking up at her glorious face. She glowed, as if she were the moon itself, rather than just having it shine behind her.

“My wife,” Kai explained, “Cinder, died. She is gone from this life, and I wish to be with her again. I… I just wish to be with her again.”

“You are a fool to call down a deity on purpose. You could have just as easily received my sister,” Light exclaimed, though there was a certain sorrow hidden behind her gaze. “But you have been shadowed with luck upon this day. I can sense your pain, and the both of us know that you could call upon me only if your very soul screamed for your love and your love alone.

“I do not often grant requests of such a sort, unlike my sister, who joys in tricking lovers to be her slaves for all eternity. I find that traveling into the next world is the best option— that waiting for Darkness to collect you and transfer your soul fresh and new into another world is the best way to go.” She stopped speaking, then fell to her knees so she and Kai were at eye-level with one another. “But I have met your soul in another world— one where it knew only pain. I have met many creatures of the Earth through my eons of serving them. I aid those in all the universes known alongside my sister. But in all that time I have never stumbled upon the same man twice.

“And it is for that reason that I shall grant you your request,” Light said, touching her fingers against Kai’s cheek. She winced as she wiped the tears from his face.

Kai couldn’t breath, unable to process the words she was speaking to him. He would be with Cinder once more— she would be returned to him. All would be right in the world once more.

“However, I cannot reunite you with the girl you knew in this world,” Light explained with a sigh. “With your love gone for over a year, that piece of her soul has already passed into a new universe— it has been wiped of all her joy and all her sorrows. That piece of Cinder now abides somewhere else.”

Within an instant, Kai felt his world crumble into a thousand pieces. He hated himself for believing that it had been possible— that he could be with Cinder once more. But he was too late; he had waited too long. Now he would have to live the rest of this wretched life without her and hope to meet her in another universe.

“Do not fret, dear child,” Light chided, smoothing the hair back from his face in a motherly fashion. “For there is hope yet.”

“There is?” Kai asked.

“Yes; for while that fraction of Cinder that you know has vanished into another world, her soul still resides in other universes. You see, the soul lives thousands of lives, all in different realities. For it is not one solid being, it is an entity that never ceases to exist, and can exist in more than one place at once. The only problem being that the more time it spends in one universe, the more corrupt and destroyed it becomes. If your soul could recall other realities, you would understand of what I speak, for this was the exact circumstance under which we last met.”

Kai nodded along, pretending that he had even the faintest idea of what she was speaking of. She let out a great exasperated sigh, shaking her head. Light dropped her hand from his face and got to her feet.

“Your mortal mind cannot begin to comprehend the meaning of eternity. For while you shall live forever, you will not know it. There is a block upon your soul to cause you to forget; that is why it pains man so much to try and imagine living for forever.

“But that does not matter now. For when you are dead, your soul shall endure cleansing once more and be whisked off into another life in which you shall live and love and die again. Exhausting, isn’t it?”

Kai stared blankly, completely at a loss for words.

Light looked down upon him, stars shining in her eyes. “Dear child, there is another world in which your dearest love lived with you, but you were taken from her. Her soul aches for you in the way that yours aches for hers. I have never before transferred a soul to a different reality without death occurring first, but I have also never stumbled upon the same soul twice. Yours is a soul filled with more love and loss than any other I have come to know. So upon this night I shall reunite you with your love.”

The ocean began to swirl about them once more, pulling Kai into its great depths, but this time he did not scream. Light began to rise into the air, her arms spread wide as if to cup the moon above her hair. The wind howled, twisting the coils of her black hair about her face and the crimson swathes of fabric about her body. She was a glorious arrayment of red and gold and shining light.

Above the wind, Light shouted in a tongue lost to mortals, for it was the language of the first of mankind, and it had been forgotten. The sea continued to spin around Kai, fish of every color swimming about him. He was in the eye of an oceanic tornado.

Still Light rose higher into the air, pulling her crashing waves about her as she ascended toward the moon. All that Kai could see were the many sea creatures and the luminous goddess above him, growing brighter every moment.

A high-pitched scream filled his ears, though it was not a human one. It blocked out the sound of the waves and the echoing chants of Light above him. It filled his very being as the blinding light penetrated his soul.

And just as he wondered if this would be the destruction of his very soul, everything went black.

***

Kai awoke to the roar of the ocean, and felt an instant rush of cold tear through his body. His mind flashed with the memories of calling Light to him and begging her to send him to a life in which Cinder lived. He could recall the overwhelming light that had surrounded him, and the screaming that blocked out all other thoughts as the goddess rose above him in a tornado of the sea.

He pushed himself up and stared out at the waves. It was bright— the middle of the day by his reckoning— and warm. People stood in the ocean waves wearing an odd assortment of clothes rather than bathing suits. Or at least, they weren’t the kind of bathing suits that Kai knew.

A few people stared at him with quizzical looks, though Kai couldn’t deny that he probably deserved them. He wasn’t sure how long he had been laying upon the beach, though he was almost certain it had been some time.

“Are you alright, mister?” A kid asked, looking down at Kai. His cheeks were pink from sunburn, though it wasn’t particularly hot out.

“Yeah,” Kai said, getting to his feet and dusting off his jeans. The boy watched him warily. “Hey kid, what day is it?”

“December second,” the boy replied.

“And,” Kai scratched behind his ear. "What’s the year?”

The boy gawked at him for a moment, as if he thought Kai were either very dumb or very strange. “1912,” he said the year slowly, his slightly syrupy accent not helping. “What year did you reckon it to be?”

“I don’t know.” Kai glanced around, trying to gauge the situation. He didn’t know much about 1912. Actually, he knew nothing about it other than it was a couple years before World War I broke out. “Hey kid, where are we?”

The child, who couldn’t have been older than ten gave him an incredulous stare, then glanced over his shoulder, as if to check for his mother. “Savannah, sir,” he said.

“Savannah…”

“Georgia, sir,” the kid said, taking a couple steps back from Kai.

“Okay.” Kai sucked in a breath between his teeth, trying to think of what to do next. He was beginning to panic, for he did not know where to find Cinder in this different time and place. He didn’t even know if her name was Cinder, or even Selene.

“Hey kid?” Kai asked, glancing back down to talk to the boy, but he was running toward a woman glaring daggers at Kai.

Releasing a sigh, Kai walked away from the beach and toward the bustling town. People shot glares at him as he walked down the streets. He wasn’t exactly dressed in the way a normal twenty-first century guy would be, but his jeans and shredded red t-shirt didn’t fit in with the people surrounding him either. But there wasn’t a thing he could do about it; he had no money and no connections. He was alone in a world that did not belong to him. He couldn’t even be certain that Georgia meant the same thing to these people as it did him.

He was beginning to wonder if perhaps this was all some ridiculous dream, and whether or not he would wake up soon. But he’d thought that a lot over the past year, praying to whatever being that saw over mankind that Cinder wasn’t dead— that he wasn’t alone. That he could be with his wife once more.

And then he saw her.

Her hair was longer than she’d ever worn it in his reality, nearly reaching her waist, and she wore a pale pink dress that fell well past her knees. But if those details were strange, it was nothing in comparison to the buggy she was pushing in front of her. Kai felt his stomach drop. Was she married to another man? Had she chosen Thorne in this reality instead of him?

Panic gripped him, but before he could run and hide in an alleyway, she glanced up and right at his face. Her eyes widened with shock, then joy, then fear. It was that last look that made his heart ache. He had known Cinder for seven years, but never had she looked at him in such a way.

She sunk to her knees, hands gripping the front of the stroller. “Kai,” she breathed, staring at him now with absolute horror. A tear traced down her cheek and fell to the concrete like a single drop of rain. The pain on her face ripped through his body— he could not stand to watch her suffer so.

He rushed to her side, kneeling down upon the ground beside her, much like Light had done with him the night before, or whenever it was that he had spoken with the goddess. She shook as he brushed her hair from her face and cupped her cheek with his hand. “Cinder,” he whispered, voice low. “I know that this is confusing and frightening, but I need to talk with you. I have things to explain.”

“But you’re dead,” she sobbed, turning her face away from his and shutting her eyes tight. “You didn’t make it off the ship alive. They told me you drowned. They told me you were dead. You’re dead. You’re just a figment of my imagination. You can’t be real.”

“Cinder,” Kai hushed, glancing around them. There were people walking past them, staring with curious eyes, but none of them looked nervous for Cinder’s sake. “Cinder, I know that I’m dead here. And I know that my explanation for my being here might not make any sense, but I need to speak with you in private. I can explain everything. I will explain everything. I just need for us to go somewhere where we can’t be overheard.”

She opened her eyes and the look of absolute shame in her eyes caused his heart to stop. Tears traced down her cheeks in abundance; Kai had never known Cinder to cry in such a way. He worried that she would say no— that she had moved on. That his coming here was a burden upon her. But slowly, she nodded her head.

***

They went to a park just down the street from the beach. It was run-down, with a sad swing set of splintering seats and an abandoned jungle gym. There were no children around, or even any people for that matter, a fact that Kai found almost strange. Though at his inquisitive look, Cinder simply looked away from him.

She led him to a park table that sat somewhat lopsided but was sturdy all the same. She parked the buggy beside her, drawing the cover up so it shielded whatever was inside.

Kai took a seat across from her, bouncing his legs with nerves as he watched her and she looked away. He didn’t understand why she was acting in such a way. He hadn’t had much time to think of how he expected her to react to him appearing to her out of nowhere, but it definitely hadn’t been this. Confusion, yes. But this show of shame was frightening.

“Cinder,” Kai said, tilting his head in an attempt to get her to look at him. “Cinder, what’s the matter?”

She inhaled deeply, a great shuddering breath. Then finally, she looked at him. Her eyes were red and her cheeks puffy. But despite the remorse coloring her features, she was still his Cinder. She was the girl that he had met at ASU his Junior year in college. She was the girl he had fallen in love with.

“They told me that you died,” she whispered. “I-I–”

“Alright,” Kai cut in, not wanting her to believe that she had insulted his memory in any way. After all, he was dead in this reality. He did not wish for her to believe that anything she had done after his death was wrong. “Sorry, love, I really don’t mean to cause you any harm. I just– I don’t know how to explain what I’m about to tell you.” Somehow his words came out slow and calm, though he felt rather as if he were about to explode. “But I need to tell you something, and I only ask that you listen to the entirety of my story because it might sound somewhat preposterous.”

She nodded her head slowly, tears wiping at her eyes.

Kai told their story, starting from the day he had met her back when she still lived with her step-sister. He explained that he had loved her for five years in silence before finally proclaiming his love for her when she’d explained that she’d never been in love before. He told her how they had gotten married only three months later and lived two years together happily before she’d died in a dreadful car accident.

She listened silently, her tears drying and her eyes hardening and he explained how Thorne had been in love with her and how Kai had gotten into a fight with both him and her father. She never once interrupted him, even as he explained his months of mourning, then his months of searching for a way to conjure one of the sisters of life and death.

It was only when he told her of how Light had appeared to him on the beach and brought him to her world through an oceanic tornado filled with moonlight that she chose to interrupt.

“What?” She hissed, tilting her head at him in that I-don’t-believe-a-single-word-coming-out-of-your-mouth sort of a way. If she had been the Cinder of his universe, he knew that she would have asked him how high he was.

“I know it sounds ridiculous,” Kai said, “but you have to believe me. I know that I don’t belong here— that I’m not meant to live in this world. But before you died you told me that you believe in soulmates. That you thought that every person had another half. You told me when we got together that you could feel that it was right— that it was a whisper in your ear that it was me. And I didn’t believe in soulmates then, but I do now. My soul loves your soul. It has loved it in universes that I don’t even know of, but it adored you all the same. My love for you will never die, no matter how many times I die myself. You are the only one that I will ever love. I cannot help it. My soul cannot think to love another so long as it knows you.”

“But this doesn’t make any sense,” Cinder whispered, her guards coming down. “Even if you were from another universe and you loved me there, I assure you that you would not care for me in this one. Not after what I’ve done to you.”

“Did you kill me?” Kai asked, half curious and half terrified.

Cinder let out a slight, hiccupping laugh. Kai did not feel at ease.

“Cinder,” Kai said, growing serious once more. “I don’t know what happened here— what happened to me— but I know that no matter where we are in the space-time continuum, my soul will always love yours. But if you wish me to leave you, I will.” His mouth went dry with the words, but he meant them. No matter how much it hurt to be parted from her, he would do what she asked of him.

“I’m married,” Cinder blurted out. “After you died, I married Carswell. We were engaged to be married before I eloped with you in London, but when I came back and you were dead, Kingsley thought that it would be the best option. That it would be better for everyone, especially the–”

She buried her face in her hands, but all Kai could think of was that she had married Carswell Thorne— her best friend in his world. The one who had told her that he was in love with her the day that she died. The Carswell that had fought with him at Scarlet and Wolf’s house. His blood boiled with rage, though not with Cinder. She had done what she had to to survive. But Thorne— he would have gladly hit him again.

Kai sucked in a breath and returned his thoughts to the more pressing matters. He had no clue what had happened to him in this life. For all he knew, Carswell Thorne had killed him and forced Cinder to be his bride. Maybe that’s how things had worked back then. Kai was no history major, but he knew that honor was often important to people. Perhaps there had even been a duel.

“What happened to me?” Kai asked, his voice soft. “How did I die in this life?”

Cinder drew her hands down from her face, but kept her eyes averted from him as she said, “You drowned. We were on the Titanic–”

“The Titanic?” Kai interjected, with a gasp. “Like Jack and Rose?”

“I– I don’t know,” Cinder said, furrowing her brow. “But we were sailing home and the ship– the ship sank. You forced me onto a lifeboat even though I said I wanted to stay with you.” She glared at him. “And you went down with the ship. You drowned. Or froze. I do not know, I wasn’t there with you when you passed from this life and onto the next. But you left me.”

“Oh,” Kai whispered. His body deflated. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be sorry,” Cinder sneered, then she shook her head. “No. No, you were just doing what you thought was the right thing. You saved me. And you saved–” She shut her eyes again, then finally reached out toward the buggy and pulled back the top to uncover what lay inside.

Oh course Kai knew what strollers were for, but before that moment he hadn’t really considered that there would be a child inside— at the very least, not her child. His child.

But it was his child. He could tell just by looking at the small infant that he was both Cinder and Kai mixed together. He was still young, but no longer a newborn. Great black tufts of hair rested on his head, and when he opened his eyes— Kai let out a gasp. They were exactly his own.

Cinder rocked the child back and forth, running his finger over its face in a soft, motherly way that made Kai’s very soul ache. They’d had a child together, and Kai hadn’t gotten to be there. It didn’t even particularly matter to him that it wasn’t exactly his child. He should have been there, but he wasn’t. He hadn’t been there for Cinder or their baby. He had abandoned them.

“I’m so sorry,” Kai blurted, devastation seeming to carve his heart out of his body. “Cinder,” Kai sobbed, his eyes stinging with tears. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I– I did abandon you. I’m so terribly sorry.”

“Shhh,” Cinder hushed, reaching a hand across the table and laying it over Kai’s. She looked startled. “Kai–” she started, then shook her head. “Kai, I’m mad at you, or him, or– I don’t even know. I’m mad that you saved me when you didn’t save yourself. But I will never be mad that you saved him.”

Kai stared down at her hand on his and saw the tracery of an old burn. It wasn’t as severe as the one she had had in his universe, but it was still there.

Cinder seemed to realize herself and pulled back. She bit her lip and stared down at the baby, brow furrowed.

“I named him after you,” she whispered after a time.

Kai opened his mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out.

“Kaito Rikan Prince,” Cinder continued, not looking at him. “I just– I saw him, and I knew who he was. It didn’t matter that my mother thought that he should have my grandfather’s name or that Kingsley thought he should be named after himself.” She made a face at that. “I knew that he should have the name of his father and his grandfather because they had helped to save his life.

“But now that you’re here, I– I don’t really know if that fits. It would be confusing to have two Kai’s around. But Rikan— I don’t know. I think that perhaps he could be a Rikan.”

“Uh-huh,” Kai breathed, still reeling.

Cinder looked up at him, her eyes softening. “I still don’t understand everything that happened, and in all honesty, I don’t believe you understand it all either.”

“But,” Cinder continued, closing one eye as if she were cringing at herself. “I know that every night for the past eight months I have cried for the pain of missing you so. I know that you have never left my thoughts for even an instant, both in waking and in sleep. I know that my soul loves yours, and while I do not know how long it has cared for you, I know that it always will.

“I know you’re not the you that I knew, but you also are. You’re my Kai, and not just because you look and sound like him. You watch me with that same careful way, and your laugh is the same. And strangest of all, you calm my very soul. It’s as if it knows that it’s you.

“I don’t know if you still want me,” Cinder swallowed, “after all that I’ve done. But please believe me when I say that I do not love Carswell— he is my dear friend and nothing more— and he does not love me in return. Not in this life.” She looked down at her child— their child— and smiled wistfully. “But if you do still wish to be with me, if your heart can still love me in spite of my most grievous offenses, then I will run away with you once more.” She grinned at this, the way one did when a happy memory was stirred in their conscience.

“You… You want me?” Kai asked, breathless.

Cinder looked up at him, her eyes wide. “I will always want you, Kai. No matter the time or place, I will always desire you to be by my side. Always.”

Kai watched her, his eyes searching hers for any falsities; he found none. Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

They were staring at one another, eyes that had not gazed upon the other in far too long. They were poisoned souls standing before their long sought-after cure. But now that they had found one another, neither knew what to do.

Hesitantly, Kai stood and walked over to the other side of the table. He sat close enough to touch her, though he did not. He simply stared at her, wordlessly, and she stared back.

“Kai,” Cinder whispered, breathless. She still held the infant in her arms, but he had fallen fast asleep. “Kai, I–”

“I know,” he chuckled, leaning in close to her. They were both inclining toward the other, as if through a magnetic pull. He could feel her breath as their faces rested inches apart. Neither moved in, both too scared of what would happen next.

Then Cinder muttered his name, and Kai closed the gap between them.

She let out a little gasp, as if surprised. But she kissed him back, and it was as if she had never left him— as if the past year had not happened, and they had been together all the while. He brought his hand up to cup her cheek, his fingers brushing back stray strands of hair.

They broke apart, both flushed but smiling all the same. Kai couldn’t stop staring at her, and reveling in the fact that he had found her. They were together once more. She wanted him.

After a time of shared smiles and conversations about the other’s universe, Cinder asked Kai if he wanted to hold the child, and he accepted happily. And when the baby rested in his arms, tears slipped from his eyes as love overtook his soul. He’d thought about him and Cinder having kids many times during their marriage, though they’d never quite been ready for it. It didn’t even matter that this child belonged to the Kai of this world and not to him— he loved him all the same.

They made plans for what they would do— how they would leave this place and start a new life together. Cinder would pack her belongings and they would take a train to the west. She had all her money from her dowry, and the Prince estates had been left in her name after the deaths of both Prince men.

When they parted, it was a sweet farewell, filled with promises to see the other soon, for they would never abandon the other again.

***

Kai leaned back into the couch, careful not to disturb baby Rikan as he slept. He adored the feeling of holding the small child in his arms and his small stirrings in his sleep. Even the little sounds he made caused for his heart to melt.

“Hey Kai,” Cinder called, walking into the room. He shushed her, nodding his head down toward the sleeping baby, though there wasn’t much worry. Rikan was a heavy sleeper. “Oh, sorry, Ri,” she whispered, tip-toeing over to the pair of them and settling herself down beside Kai.

She grabbed a quilt from beside the couch and laid it over hers and Kai’s laps. Then she settled her head on Kai’s shoulder. She reached her hand up to rest under Kai’s, smiling as she looked down at their baby.

They had left Georgia the same day that they had met one another there, randomly deciding to take the train to Colorado. It had been a somewhat frightening journey, with both of them worrying whether or not someone would come after them, but so far, no one had. They’d been settled into their apartment for over three weeks, happy and together at last.

There were still many things that they both didn’t understand, about one another and the situation. But at the end of the day, they were Cinder and Kai— even if Cinder was still confused about the fact that Kai’s last name was Crown and not Prince, though she did claim it was growing on her.

“I love this,” Cinder said, brushing the black tufts of Rikan’s hair. “It feels right, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“For so long I felt a dreadful emptiness within me, and while there’s still a sadness for what I’ve lost, it's not as great. It’s manageable.”

“I know what you mean.” Kai kissed the top of her head. “We’re different, but the same at the same time. It’s different, but it’s also… just us. We’re still us.”

“We’re still us,” Cinder echoed, letting out a sigh.

There were so many things in Kai’s life that didn’t make sense, but it had been that way even before he’d entered into an alternate universe. He hadn’t understood why Thorne had proclaimed his love for Cinder, or why Chandler Blackburn hadn’t been able to love his daughter. Even his own crushing grief had been confusing at times. And while this world was different in customs and manners and the ways in which society functioned, none of that mattered. For so long as he was with Cinder, all of it was okay.

“I love you,” Kai whispered.

“And I love you,” Cinder said. “And I’ll love you so long as my soul survives, for you’re the only one, Kai. You’re the only one I shall ever truly love.”

“And you are the only one for me as well.” Kai grinned. “And I will love you for forever and ever. No," Kai said, his eyes searching hers and seeing only Cinder. "I will love you until forever ends.”

#crack fic #unsinkable au #unsinkable #the echo of silence #the time it takes to fall #salt warrior stories

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dawniebb · 4 years

Text

Thoughts about Renegades

ALRIGHT FOLKS, TAKE A SEAT BC I’M ABOUT TO KICK MYSELF OUT OF THIS FANDOM :’)

Not really

But I’m going to rant for a while so perhaps you can go grab a snack or something :’)

So…I LOVE Renegades and I always will but I’ve been thinking about some of the things that seem…off to me. Not that they’re a big deal ofc (because I love Renegades in a really dumb and blind way) but some of them are quite unpopular opinions among the fandom, so I’m finally going to share them in case someone out there feels the same way X’DDDDD

They’re not in any particular order. Here we go:

- I completely stan the idea of Nova and Oscar and Nova and Callum being brotp material, but I stan Nova and Callum way more, not because I don’t like Nova and Oscar, but because I think it was genuinely good (and healthy) for Nova to have a friend out of Adrian’s circle. I mean, she’s been isolated most of her life now, and when I realized she finally had someone of her own… like, a person she met with whom she connected without Adrian introducing them to her, was a HUGE step. Callum is one of my favorite characters in the whole series, and when the t h i n g happened I was devastated for MYSELF *sobs* but also because MM took him away from Nova. She opened to him more than she ever opened to Oscar throughout the three books. Sorry not sorry :’).

- AS A YOUNG ADULT (I’LL BE 20 IN MAY, YOU GUYS) let me tell you that all these dumbasses act like completely normal teenagers and all their shitty decisions sound like something I would’ve done when I was their age. Actually, the Team Sketch really reminds me of my own circle of friends. I’ve seen you guys complain about Adrian acting extremely dumb for his age but GUYS HE’S FUCKING 17. WHEN I WAS 17 I WAS AS CLUELESS AS HIM. ALL MY FRIENDS WERE. AND IT WAS SO STUPID IT HURT BUT SHIT BE LIKE THAT SOMETIMES. I was the Nova among them. That is: I joined their group hella late and one of the guys became my crush. I was so dumb I told him he was my crush when I was defeated on the floor with a dislocated knee because I was having a breakdown and I legit thought I was D Y I N G. Teenagers.Are.Like.That.

- HOWEVER, EVEN IF I JUST SAID ALL OF THAT….And I want to believe all of you agree with me: I don’t justify Oscar. It’s okay being a dumb teenager, but you can’t just ask your crush to be your girlfriend during a PUBLIC EXECUTION. That wasn’t romantic. At all. If I were Ruby I would’ve been really offended, no joke. (AT LEAST WHEN I TOLD *MY* CRUSH WHILE I THOUGHT MY LEG WAS GOING TO BE AMPUTATED, WE WERE IN CHORUS CLASS. ALL THE GUYS WERE SINGING TO ME BC THEY THOUGHT THAT WOULD CALM ME DOWN. IT WAS A GROSS AND ODDLY SWEET MOMENT, YOU KNOW?).

- I feel like Ruby is…I’m not going to say mistreated, but…Idk. I feel like she’s trying her best and she’s kind to everyone in the group and in some parts of the books they just…forget about her :’). (This may be Marissa’s fault, though). Which makes me really sad, because she’s genuinely sweet and I felt like she was the most welcoming to Nova since the very beginning (Apart from Adrian, of course).

- I’m part of the “Leroy switched sides at some point” squad, but at the same time I believe he’s just very, VERY chaotic neutral and (I’m never giving up on this) since he loved Nova, he would just stick to the side where they promised to keep her safe, even if that meant being jumping back and forth between the Renegades and the Anarchists.

- I ALSO BELIEVE WINSTON MAH BOI SAW A LOT OF HIMSELF IN NOVA. To my particular point of view, his mental state was the most stable when she moved with them. He unconsciously tried to stop her from becoming what he’d become and the Anarchists realized that, so when they found Ace’s little human weapon being threatened, they just teared her away from Winston, which caused his mental health to go downhill again until he ended up all psychotic (which is how we got to meet him during Renegades).

- Honey had way more complicated issues than just being “evil”. Yes. She’s dead. And me defending her won’t make her less dead. And I know she got what she deserved because she was…completely out of control and Marissa tends to kill those who are too far gone (take Levana as an example). But I think that if she hadn’t neglected her own mental health so much she would’ve had a chance; Honey had good in her :’) maybe, before meeting Ace, she was a different person. Like, it’s mentioned she grew up in a small farm. I think she fell in love with him at some point and, by the way he talks to her sometimes, I’m *almost* sure he knew that, so he tried to take advantage of the situation to keep her in line, even though he had no intention to reciprocate her feelings. Sure, Honey is a manipulative brat, but she’s a hundred times worse when she knows Ace is around or when she knows she has a chance to get him back (she goes batshit crazy in the cathedral, you know?). Ace was a power-hungry sociopath/psychopath and she was a depressed, also power-hungry woman who was in love with him. And that’s a BAD combination. Honey Harper was hopeless… and I think she even showed some signs of Stockholm Syndrome.

- Still, Honey and Nova’s relationship reminds me a lot of my relationship with my dad. Theirs was a toxic relationship, but since I’ve been through that (still going through that), I refuse to believe it will be easy for Nova to overcome her death *that* easily. They loved each other in a…violent, weird way, but Honey was Nova’s mother more than Tala ever got the chance to be (because Ace took that opportunity away from her) and if Honey hadn’t been so –like I mentioned before- hopeless, they could’ve fixed their relationship until it was normal and healthy, because Honey showed signs of loving Nova, and Nova showed signs of loving her.

- Every death in Supernova had a very specific narrative purpose but, even if I hate Evander as much as y’all do, I think his death was done for the sake of the shock factor afgshja like, he died in such a sudden, meaningless way :’).

- Tamaya is nothing but wasted potential. You have a savage, feral, badass woman with w i n g s and the only thing she does is getting her fucking face burned and throwing fists with entitled teenagers.

- I LIVE for Simon and Hugh as couple, but (gosh, saying this makes me feel really guilty) the fact that they didn’t share not even ONE kiss throughout the trilogy made me feel really queerbaited :’). Same thing happened with Danna and Narcissa, but I think that was PLAIN half-assed.

-Why doesn’t Adrian has Simon’s last name as well? :’)

- ADRIAN NEEDS THERAPY AS MUCH AS NOVA DOES. LET’S BREAK THIS DOWN, HERE WE GO:

*So, we know that Marissa Meyer’s male characters are always really sweet and kind and wholesome and omg :’)…and then there’s fucking Jacin (whom I love, but that doesn’t minimize the fact he shall burn in hell X’DDDD) . I mean, he’s kind…to Winter and Winter only…and Cress…sometimes. When it comes to Winter, he’s capable of a lot, A LOT of things. He comes off as rude many times (especially to Cinder, during Cress) and…yeah. He looks like he could kill you and he could ACTUALLY kill you; I feel like the fandom moves Adrian to …whatever category Kai’s in….but I’m not sure that’s the case. Let’s analyze Cinder’s equivalent to Nova’s bracelet: Peony’s chip; Kai was mad at Cinder, FUCKING mad. But once he kinda figured out Cinder was grieving his sister and keeping the only thing she had left from her for emotional reasons, he didn’t, under any circumstance, no matter how much he hated Cinder at the moment, want that chip to be taken away from her. Kai had lost his father. He KNEW what it felt like and he didn’t want anyone to feel the same way, because he SAW Cinder suffer her little sister’s death. Adrian had lost his mother and he knew Nova had lost both her mother and her father AND her little sister; she had opened up enough to tell him that bracelet was the only thing she had left from her father…and when he learned Nova was Nightmare, instead of interrogating her, taking a sample of her blood or things like that, he straight took her bracelet. Because Adrian was hurt and he wanted her to be hurt too, so he took away the one thing that mattered the most to her and THAT WASN’T VERY KAI OF HIM IF YOU ASK ME. My point is, sadly: Adrian is ABSOLUTELY traumatized due to his mother’s death (who wouldn’t?) and now that he knows he indirectly killed her he will only get WORSE. He hated Nova for being Nightmare just because he thought she had something to do with Georgia’s death, so when things went to shit, he did her in the dirtiest way he could, making her feel hated and unwanted, which were Nova’s delicate spots afgshja…like, Adrian’s capable of a lot of things(just like Jacin). He NEEDS therapy. Now.

- The heated kiss scene during Archenemies is both heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time (besides…you know, heated). Nova’s so touch-starved she gets overwhelmed when Adrian suddenly gives her all the physical affection she didn’t have during her childhood. And…I feel it was a very intimate moment between both of them, because they were physically and emotionally invested and omg. This only makes my previous point (about the bracelet) more horrible, because I can’t imagine how she must’ve felt when he took away her bracelet with so.much.hatred.

-WE DESERVED TO KNOW THE CHANGES THAT WERE MADE TO THE SYSTEM BC TBH THE RENEGADES SYSTEM WAS SHITTY AF… It’s like…they claimed to be against what the Anarchists did but then suddenly they were doing the same things themselves. And I don’t think that’s fair. The Renegades acted as messed up as the Anarchists during Supernova. They wanted to EXECUTE a MINOR who committed MINOR CRIMES. I mean, what did Nightmare even do? Right, she tried to assassinate Hugh but she FAILED, and she neutralized Team Frostbite in SELF-DEFENSE and in Max’s defense.

- Besides, the way Anarchists were treated was...really inhuman. As far as I understand, they didn’t have access to public services or anything like that. What if they needed meds? Where did they get their food from? Did they have, like, fucking running water? Electricity? There are also three women among them and they get *periods*, people, and *period stuff* is expensive as fuck. Like, did they have to steal tampons? And if they did…were they chased because of it? Even though they had no way to get income in a legal way because they were Anarchists and being out there like normal people was against the rules for them? Lol?

- JESUS THAT SYSTEM REALLY NEEDED TO BE CHANGED LMAO AFGSHJA

-Also, Cragmoor? Wtf.

- AND, LAST BUT NOT LEAST, NOT BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY BUT BECAUSE THIS IS TOO LONG ALREADY: It think Nova and Evie have been apart for too long and it’s going to be hard for them to create a bond. They’ll have to get used to it, because it’s going to be confusing for Nova and, given the fact Evie’s personality is…like that, I think she’ll go as far to blame Nova like “But you were SUPPOSED to look for me.”

I rest my case.

#salty lmao #renegades trilogy #marissa meyer #nova artino #nightmare #adrian everhart #the sentinel #sketch #honey harper #leroy flinn #winston pratt #alec artino #hugh everhart #simon westwood #mostly unpopular opinions

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bookaromatic · 5 years

Text

The Lunar Chronicles By Marissa Meyer

Well. Many of you know what this series is about. Or at least the booktube hungry people like myself would have already completed this series. Many are probably gushing over Wolf(‘cuz I am).

For those who have no idea what I am talking about, The Lunar Chronicles is a series of fairytale retellings-Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Beauty, and the Beast; in that particular order. But guess what? It's set in the future, where the life of a human has been depicted, eh..,futuristic-ally. Where people can own their own "Hovers" - a mode of transport in Meyer's Earth.I wish I could own one. Not a hoverboard, obviously. Those things don't hover in the air. But people still buy it. What a marketing strategy - Buy a hoverboard and feel the solidity of the earth on your new wheels. But, mind you, there have been promising inventions of the hoverboard(The real ones that hover) coming up.

What I found fascinating was the currency. Univs. I mean, who wouldn't want a Venezuelan dream doll for 12,000 Univs. Or a "respectable" memorial plaque. Jokes aside, I am really in love with the world Meyer has created. If the philosopher's stone hadn't been destroyed, guess what I would have done?...

The Earthen Union, formed after World War IV, is an alliance of 6 nations of Earth, namely,

Eastern Commonwealth

African Union

The American Republic

European Federation

United Kingdom

Australia

Then, there is the Moon or Luna. The capital, Artemisia is on the side that faces the earth. Luna has domes that mimic the 24-hour cycle. Travel between domes is through a subway system, built on existing lava tubes.I'm not going to give the crux of the whole series. Hell No!! The crux itself would be a short story.

Characterization & Plot:

Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter are the protagonists in their respective books. However, they share one enemy, Queen Levena. I like the fact the books weren't male dominant. Sure, each had their love interest, Kaito, Wolf, Thorne, and Jacin respectively. But the female protagonists were portrayed strongly, uniformly throughout the series.

Cinder is this bad-ass cyborg who works as a mechanic. Peony's death scarred Cinder, which comes to show how close they were. I might have shed a tear during that scene. Scarlet is a self-employed farmer, famous for her home-grown tomatoes. Like, Cinder, Scarlet loses her grandmother. Cress is a skilled hacker and a programmer: she can hack through anything and everything. Winter is the princess of Luna, Levena being her stepmother.

However, I found Kai to be a mystery. There were a few chapters from his POV. But I really couldn't figure out why he was the way he was. On the other hand, I could make out Wolf and Thorne. Wolf is this extremely scorching Lunar, genetically modified, and is a part of the Lunar army. Similar to Derek Hale in Teen Wolf. I totally pictured Tyler Hoechlin(The part where Derek is tied up in Season 1.*Sighs).

Thorne is this suave guy, with panty-dropping charms. He likes his women. He is a rogue spaceship cadet who likes to call himself "Captain".Then there is Jacin, a personal guard to the princess. I feel I don't get 100% of who Jacin is. Like Kai, he too is difficult to figure out.

I am in a love-hate relationship with Levana's character. If you have read Fairest, then you would have pitied Levana. The fact that her sister was more conniving than Levana is what surprised me. Otherwise, it's a full-blown hatred towards the Evil Queen.

Parts I didn't like:

Kaito's POV wasn't actually required. Or rather, should I say it lacked character. Things just happened and not much was known about Kai. And it looked like Kai was more effeminate. Even though he was a good orator, he seemed a little stuck up??.

Scarlet and Cress(Books) felt a little bit like fillers. They described the relationships more than the plot. So naturally, the whole story was stuffed into a humongous 870 odd page book, Winter. There were too many events in the last installment. I feel Winter was stretched out just to make us hungry for the climax. Throughout the book, I was like "When will they ever kill the Queen?". The book could have been made a little shorter.

Will I recommend this to a friend?:

Yes.Because I'm in love with the witty dialogue deliveries. And Wolf.

For those who are new to this series, I suggest you read it in this order:

Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Fairest, Winter and Stars Above.

Rating: 4/5 each on Cinder and Winter. 3.5/5 on Scarlet and Cress

#books #book review #bookreview #bookworm #booklover #marissameyer #lunar chronicles #cinder #cress #winter #scarlet

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regolithheart · 6 years

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does 'dear theodosia' from hamilton give you any feels about the TLC dads? do you have any more head canons about the boys as parents????

So. So. Many.

Kai is naturally one of those dads who are crazy enthusiastic about their children’s lives. He’s the Classic Dad™ with an arsenal of dad jokes who makes waffles on the weekend (despite having a slew of chefs on staff at the palace) and is never too busy to help you with homework.

He and Celeste and basically two peas in a pod and Cinder would often find them with their heads together nerding out over a book they found on the history of Japanese silk screening or something equally as dorky precious.

Kaz takes after Cinder more, what with the tinkering and sarcasm, but he’s the spitting image of Kai. So much so that sometimes Kaz will unwittingly walk by a portrait of a younger Kai and have to do a double take himself.

There have been plenty of times when Cinder has accidentally called Kaz, Kai. It also doesn’t help that their names are so similar.

It’s also quite hilarious that Kaz has inherited his mother’s sarcasm and his father’s sassiness. It’s a deadly combo and a good thing he’s not first in line for the throne.

Wolf is unsurprisingly the Sensitive Dad™. He knows exactly when to come running to the rescue when there’s a scrape or cut and he knows when to leave you alone to brood because you’re a hormonal teenager and no one understands you.

Because of his size and speed, it’s perfect that he’s the Abba to the rascals known as the Kesley Triplets. It’s not uncommon to see Logan, Jad, or Max hanging off one of Wolf’s limbs and more often than not, it’s all three of them clamoring on top of him like he’s a walking tree.

His strength also comes in handy when the triplets get old enough to start wrestling with each other and he has to jump in to pull them apart, because well… wolf cubs.

It’s also no surprise that when Addie is born, she’s got him wrapped about her little pudgy fingers. She’s basically like a miniature Scarlet without the red hair, but equally as feisty.

The triplets constantly complain that Abba likes her best, which lets face it, no one can deny.

Thorne is the Cool Dad™, but I mean, are we surprised? He’s constantly doing things like letting the girls stay up past their bedtime and sneaking them treats. It’s a constant struggle for Cress to keep them all in line, but if anyone can do it, it’s her.

Still, she can’t keep an eye on them all the time which means that Thorne’s constantly letting Astra and Este steer the Rampion when they’re sitting in his lap.

It also means that he teaches them how to play Royals as soon as they can count.

“What, Cress?!? Everyone knows you need at least four people to play a proper round of Royals!”

“For heaven’s sake, Essie is only three years old!”

“Well, she cheats like a five year old.”

And even though all the guys think their kids are the best in the whole universe, the title of Doting Dad™ goes to Jacin. It also helps that Ever is the spitting image of Winter. However, the funny thing is, she’s truly a mini-Jacin. She’s just as equally unimpressed with everything/everyone, she can give you a steely look that will send shivers down your spine, and perhaps the thing that Jacin is most proud of, she wants to grow up to be a doctor just like her old man.

Whenever it’s time for bedtime stories, the princess is always the one lending medical help and setting up triage for the villagers who had the misfortune of living near the dragon’s lair.

And it’s Jacin’s proudest moment when he gets to hood his daughter when she graduates from medical school. There’s a darling photo of the two of them in their matching goofy hats and rare grins.

#tlc #the lunar chronicles #headcanons #my headcanons #rampion boys #kai #emperor kaito #wolf #ze’ev kesley #carswell thorne #jacin clay #rampion dads

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they-need-a-revolutionary · 6 years

Text

@snowfallandstars I'm your secret Santa! In the holiday spirit, I wrote you a fic about the Rampion crew celebrating Christmas together (@lunarheadcanons based on a post you made I think). Anyway I hope you like it!

Iko twisted the last piece of tinsel around the tree.

“Perfect!” she squealed. “Oh, I just love the holidays. They make me feel so festive and positive. Except for the part where I don’t get to eat any of the food. That part makes me feel negative.”

The rest of the crew exchanged looks as Iko turned her back on them to straighten the piles of gifts.

A timer beeped in the kitchen. Scarlet got up to turn it off. Cinder and Winter followed, arms linked, matching sweaters donned. Grinning ear to ear, the three girls set out dish after dish on the table.

“Hurry up so we can start opening presents already! It won’t be Christmas forever, slowpokes,” Thorne yelled from the living room.

“We will finish when we finish, Carswell. If you want it to go faster, get in here and help,” Cinder scolded.

Thorne sidled into the kitchen. “You guys know Christmas is my favorite holiday.” He grabbed a plate and positioned it precariously on the edge of the table.

Scarlet pushed it into a safer spot with a glare. “I thought the Fourth of July was your favorite? And Thanksgiving…” She scowled at the memory of what Thorne’s deep-fried turkey had done to her porch.

Thorne shook his head. “No, it’s Christmas. July Fourth and Thanksgiving are my favorite American holidays. There’s a difference.”

Cinder rolled her eyes. “Whatever, flyboy. Grab the latkes.” She gestured to a plate by the fridge. “And save some for Wolf this time.”

Thorne pouted but did as told. “Now can we open presents?”

The three girls walked wordlessly back into the living room.

“Finally!” Iko cried. “I can’t wait for you guys to open everything I got you. Each gift is individually tailored to your personality.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder with a smile.

Cress had fallen asleep by the fire. (“Your fault for taking so long...”) Émilie gently tapped Cress on the shoulder.

“Did we give it to her yet?” Cress asked drowsily. She stretched as Émilie shook her head.

Iko, the self-appointed gift distributor, handed the first package to Wolf. “This one is from Jacin.” Wolf meticulously peeled the tape off every corner. Inside was a metal picture frame with a photograph of Wolf’s mother. It was blurry and grayscale, a screencap from the Lunar security feeds.

Wolf looked up at Jacin. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely. Jacin nodded in acknowledgement with what looked like a hint of a smile. Scarlet put a hand on Wolf’s arm. Cress sniffled.

Iko quietly picked up the next present and passed it to Kai. “From Thorne.” Kai messily unwrapped a new leather jacket. He grinned and draped it over Cinder’s shoulders.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You were going to steal it anyway,” he explained before kissing her forehead. Cinder sighed sarcastically and rested her head on his shoulder.

The next one went to Cress from Scarlet; flameless scented candles to use on the Rampion.

To Cinder from Émilie, a gift card to the hardware store.

Winter from Kai, books on Victorian flower language and embroidery.

Many hours and shreds of wrapping paper later, they had reached the end of the pile.

“That’s all! Let’s- I mean, you all go eat. I’ll clean up here,” Iko said with very little effort to hide her disappointment.

“Actually, Iko, there’s one more present. For you,” Cress said, pulling a microchip from her back pocket.

Iko cocked her head. “There is? But we unwrapped all of them. There are no more under the tree.”

“I didn’t put it under the tree. It’s on this chip.” She held it up for everyone to see. “Iko, I’ve created a program that will allow you to taste.”

“You-you did? But-all the software companies said it was impossible! Are you sure it works?”

“Of course it works! Cress created it,” Thorne said indignantly. Cress stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

“I hate to say this, but he’s right. If she can hack Artemisia, she can definitely let you taste,” Jacin grumbled.

“Exactly. All we have to do is plug the chip into your CPU and wait for your system to reboot. When it reboots, it’ll update and the software will be ready to go. The update should be enough time for us to put together a sampler of all the food we have for you to try,” Cress explained.

“In universal, please?” Thorne pleaded. Cinder stepped on his foot.

Iko considered Cress’s plan for a moment. “Let’s do it.” She popped open the panel on her wrist to expose the empty ports.

Cress brushed off her hands and slid the chip in. She tapped a button and shut the small metal door with a click. Iko’s eyelids drooped and her body folded into a fetal position on the floor, forcing Winter to step backwards. Cress and Cinder stood by Iko to monitor the reboot. Winter held Cinder’s hand. Scarlet, Émilie, and Thorne began piling the smorgasbord of food onto a platter; strawberries, bacon, dumplings, pie, cheese, and of course, tomatoes made up what was to be Iko’s first meal.

At last, the update was complete and Iko was beginning to regain consciousness.

“Did it work?” she asked, smacking her lips tentatively.

“Only one way to find out,” Winter chirped. “Come, Iko-friend. They have chosen the most flavorful things for you to try.”

“Oh, one more thing, Iko. I also programmed it with a basic catalog of common flavors. But mostly it’s a learning program so you’ll have to build your own library, as it were,” Cress instructed.

Iko nodded and followed Winter into the kitchen where their friends stood waiting. Slowly, Iko reached for a tomato slice.

“Only fitting,” she said with a smile before popping the vegetable into her mouth. There was utter silence as she chewed and considered the new sense she had just gained.

“Well?” her companions asked in unison.

“It occurs to me now that there’s no point in me swallowing this,” Iko articulated around a mouthful of food.

Cress snapped her fingers. “That’s the bug I forgot to work out! I knew I was forgetting something.”

Kai handed Iko a napkin and the android spit the tomato into it. “Even if I can’t actually eat, I really appreciate the thought, you guys.” She turned to Scarlet and Wolf. “The tomato tasted great.” She smiled weakly.

Cinder tilted her head. “Well, Iko, tell you what. After the royal labs are done with their current project, I’ll assign a team to make hyper-realistic android bodies, complete with digestive systems and Cress’s taste program. For your early birthday present, ok?”

Iko nodded and threw her arms around her friend. “Have I told you what an amazing person you are lately?”

“Yes, Iko, you told me this morning.”

The android then hugged each of her friends in turn, telling each one her favorite thing about them. The last embrace went to Émilie, who also received a kiss.

“Yuck! You taste like tomato,” Émilie teased.

“I guess until I can actually eat I’ll just have to stick with chewing gum and kissing my girlfriend!”

#tss #tlc secret santa #snowfallandstars #merry chrysler #tlc fanfiction #the lunar chronicles fanfiction

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moon-mirage · 7 years

Text

I know I've talked about the Cresswell age gap a lot. I mentioned that it's not illegal in most parts of the world (seriously, stop imposing American laws and norms to the rest of the world all the time - you don’t have to like the age gap but it just isn’t illegal), that their relationship isn't sexual and hardly will be for a while and if I can suspend my disbelief when it comes to:

- a 16-year-old mechanic who only remembers 5 years of her life to become a capable queen and getting engaged at 18 while having met the guy a handful of times,

- a 23-year-old guy who has been trained to be a child soldier since age 11 with almost no damage to his mind and who falls in love with the first girl he talks to,

- or a 17-year-old girl who never seemed to have any political training of any kind become an equally capable ambassador just because people like her and who also never considered a guy other than her childhood sweetheart for her one relationship,

then ages in TLC, and YA in general, are hardly comparable to ages in our world. The same goes for Cress, despite the uneccessary infantilisation of her character the fandom seems so fond of. (I only picked Cinder, Wolf and Winter as a comparison because along with Cress, those four have the most "YA"-like experiences that makes it harder to compare their maturity to real-life people of the same age.)

[Btw: Most of the main characters didn’t go to school or had any previous relationships. For me, it seems weird to argue that only Cress should to go to school - not even college but a normal high school that would surely not challenge her genius enough - and have her date other people when no one demands the same things from Cinder, Wolf, Jacin, Winter or Kai. If they can meet their one true love during the revolution and marry them later on without taking breaks, then so can Cress. If I apply-real-life standards to a sci-fi YA story then it would have to go for all characters. But either all of them are allowed find their one true love and stay with them forever or they all need to “grow” first.]

But I feel one of the biggest issues with the age gap discourse is that almost no one posts age-appropriate fancasts. It’s obviously easier to find cool images of established actors or models but it definitely distorts the images we have of the characters.

Sure if you put an actress who is around 16-years-old:

(Let’s take Elle Fanning at age 16)

And use 30-year-old Sam Claflin or Garrett Hedlund (33) in the same fancast it of course looks like a super inappropriate age gap:

Or if people use Zac Efron, they usually pick pics where he is at his current age, 29:

(I’ve seen Diego Luna at age 37, Chris Wood (29) or Diego Boneta at age 26 too - hardly anyone who is Thorne’s actual age, +/- one year).

As for Cress, I’ve seen people fancast girls as young as 13-year-old (like AnnaSophia Robb from “Bridge to Terabithia):

When for all intents and purposes Cress should look like Elle Fanning or her:

(That’s some instagram girl which I often see used as a Cress fancast from the year 2014 where she was 15/16 - I've looked through her instagram and only used pictures from 2014 when she was 16 even though she’s 19 or 20 now. You can look up Jacy Jordan/jacykjordan if you want to verify her birthday and dates she posted those pics. But yes, that’s a 16-year-old girl. A teenager, not a child.)

Compared to this guy:

(Froy Gutierrez, age 19. Oh no, a year younger than Thorne. Still a whole lot closer to what Thorne would look like than Claflin, Hedlund, or other fancast who are usually 25+ at least. Could anyone look more like canonThorne? I don’t think so. He’s the age, he has the looks, hey, he is even half-Mexican. My personal favourite for canonThorne.)

Or coming back to Zac Efron (not my pick but I use casts I’ve seen floating around a lot), you would have to back as far as 2008 to have him at the right age for Thorne (and I used a more flattering picture of him where he doesn’t have that weird Justin-Bieber hairstyle):

(That was from a High School Musical press conference in 2008. The same year he made the movie “17 again”. If you envision Thorne as Zac Efron, in “17 Again” he was 21, one year older than Thorne but still, he would be more appropriate than the way he looks now. Even if one likes current Zac Efron more, it just unnecessarily makes the Cresswell age gap seem wider than it is.)

Or you know what? Let’s include “Bieber Efron” too (after all, it’s not my fault he had that hairstyle):

(21-year-old Zac Efron. See how different he looks from his older counterpart? Or from Claflin and Hedlund for that matter? Thorne wouldn’t look like a grown man at 30. That obviously goes for all the characters but picking and older Kai, Wolf or Jacin never causes the same outcry as it does when it comes to Cresswell)

Now, compare this (16-year-old girl with guys almost twice their age):

To this (16-year-old girls with 20-year-old boys, the way it is in canon):

I feel this puts the whole thing into perspective. We’re not talking about a child or pre-teen with a thirty-year-old dude. If you saw Jacy and Froy or Elle and Zac from the lower pic walking down the street, hardly anyone would consider it inappropriate. If you use fancasts where they are the actual ages they have in canon, Cress and Thorne’s age gap doesn’t seem as wide as people make it out to be.

Basically, I feel there’s a distorted image in the fandom of how child-like Cress and how mature Thorne are when that’s just not the case. One doesn’t have to like the age gap or the ship but the reason why it doesn’t matter to so many people is because we don’t see Thorne as a grown-up man, nor Cress as an immature child. Putting the "legality" on it makes it US-centric and TLC is not US- centric. More importantly, for me and many other fans, mutual respect, trust and equality is a given in their relationship, as we have seen time and time again from canon.

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nicolewrites · 7 years

Text

all plans lead to spontaneity

More Kaider fluff. I haven’t been writing a lot lately...

Rating: T Genre: Romance Characters: [Kai, Cinder], Iko, Scarlet Words: 3,267

Kai tries to propose. The world refuses to let him. / kaider modern au

AO3 | FFN

Kai bought the ring a week and a half before Cinder’s twenty-fourth birthday.

It was nothing fancy–just a gold band with a single diamond in the middle, two tiny rubies on either side and an engraving inside. It was expensive, obviously, but nothing compared to what he could have chosen. If he was marrying Cress, he might have gone ostentatious, but Cinder was subdued, so he chose something he knew she could wear.

He wanted to ask on her birthday. He had already planned them a nice dinner out, followed by a romantic walk through the park where he would have fairy lights set up and soft music playing. He would get down on one knee and ask her. It was all perfectly laid out in his head, but something was nagging at him.

If he had his choice, he’d ask her to marry him on the jumbotron in Times Square, but Cinder would probably rather die. So he had decided on something special, but not too extravagant for her. Especially since she hated getting expensive gifts from him. Kai still bought them anyways, and Cinder had never actually made him return anything.

Kai decided not to tell Cinder of his plan for dinner until the day of, so he didn’t rouse suspicion. On the morning of her birthday, he tugged her close, arms around her waist, and pressed a light kiss to the crook of her neck, waking her up. He smiled against her skin.

“Happy birthday,” he whispered.

Cinder’s fingers grazed through his hair. “Oh right, that's today, isn't it?”

“You ready for an exciting day?” he teased her.

Cinder snorted and twisted in his arms so they were nose to nose. “Kai, what difference does a day make? I was twenty-three yesterday, and I'm twenty-four today, but I don't feel any different.”

He kissed her forehead once, and then each of her eyelids, and finally her nose. “Birthday's are special.”

Cinder smiled at him before finally breaking out of his embrace to sit up. He copied her motion and stretched his arms above his head, relishing in the pops of his stiff joints.

Cinder sighed and lifted her phone up for him to see. Her head was shaking affectionately. “Iko is taking me out tonight. She says that it’s non-negotiable. Hope you didn't have anything planned tonight,” she said.

His own stupidity slapped him in the face. Iko took Cinder out every year on her birthday. Of course, Cinder’s twenty-fourth birthday wouldn't be any different. He knew there was something bothering him about his plan, and he felt incredibly dumb for not realising it sooner.

Kai forced a smile. “Nah, this is your guys’ thing. We can go out tomorrow night or something.”

“Or something,” Cinder agreed, kissing him on the cheek before jumping out of the bed.

Kai sat up after her and watched her as she slipped into the adjacent bathroom. “Not tomorrow?”

Cinder glanced at him over her shoulder as she started running the water in the sink. “Got the big work showcase. We’ve got to show off the motor and prove the emissions theorem we made.”

Kai bit his lip, but he made sure that Cinder couldn’t see his frustration as she went back to her morning routine. “Oh yeah, you mentioned that last night.”

Cinder, perceptive as always, turned to look at Kai, her right hand resting on her hip. “I’m ruining some plan of yours, aren’t I?”

He laughed. “I wanted to take you out to dinner. To celebrate.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. He’d get another shot, but for now, maybe he could settle for a slightly less romantic breakfast out and leave the ring at his apartment. “How about we get breakfast today instead?”

Cinder shook her head fondly. “You’re crazy, but breakfast does sound good.”

Kai organised a get together for their group of friends. If he couldn't find a time for Cinder and himself to be alone in the right environment, then he wanted to do it surrounded by their closest friends.

Scarlet and Wolf were coming, and they offered to host, but Kai refused. He did have the largest apartment, even if he barely lived in it anymore. Cress and Thorne were going to be there too, as well as Iko and Scarlet’s friend Emilie. He knew that Winter and Jacin had wanted to come–at least, Winter had–but they were currently vacationing in southern India.

Cinder came to his place sooner than he was expecting and Kai barely managed to shove the little black box in the nearest drawer before she was walking in, carrying their favourite take-out food. Cinder couldn't cook, and Kai didn't want to go through the effort of cooking for eight in his kitchen. They'd settled on the Thai take-out place around the corner and Cinder had picked up their order on her way over.

Kai smiled at his girlfriend and she smiled at him and placed the bags down on the countertops. He had shoved the ring box into the knife drawer off the counter, but he couldn't move it while Cinder was in the kitchen, so he could only hope she wouldn't need a knife.

He walked around the island and hugged Cinder from behind, pressed his nose into her hair. She laughed and twisted in his grasp, kissing the side of his head as a greeting in return. Kai tightened his grip and spun her around, lifting her clean off the ground. Cinder squeaked in surprise, but the tension in her shoulders disappeared when Kai put her back on the ground and released her from his grip.

“Why do you do that?” she asked.

He smiled. “Because your reaction is worth it,” he explained with a wink.

Cinder rolled her eyes. Kai just held out a hand. She stared. “Are we shaking on something?”

Kai paused. “One second.” He stepped into the living room and turned the stereo on, blasting the playlist Iko had insisted he use. He came back into the kitchen and lost all the air in his lungs.

While he had disappeared, Cinder had gathered all of her hair atop her head in a loose bun aside from the spindly locks that drifted rebelliously down her neck. The sleeves of her shirt–one that had once been his–were rolled up to her elbows and she was smiling at him. Kai wanted to melt into a puddle. She was beautiful and he loved her so much.

It took a lot of strength not to run for the knife drawer that instant and ask her right then and there. Instead, he stepped forwards and offered her his hands. Cinder raised an eyebrow.

“You put on Iko’s music because you want to dance?”

Kai shrugged. “That's how we met, isn't it? Why not?”

Cinder slid her hands into his and stepped closer. “You’re insane.”

“I would be worried if I wasn't.”

They danced a few steps clumsily, Kai leading Cinder, but they both had infectious smiles on and Kai couldn't care less how many times that Cinder stepped on his feet. He was going to spend the rest of his life with this woman and there was nothing that filled him with more joy than the idea.

The song faded out before slipping into a new upbeat pop track. Cinder stepped on both of Kai’s feet simultaneously and boosted herself up to his height, pecking his lips. “Love you,” she murmured.

Kai’s lips twitched. “Love you too,” he assured, kissing her once more.

Before anything more could happen, the doorbell rang over the music and Cinder stepped away, walking over to open it. Kai followed her and Cinder stumbled backwards into him as the weight of their first guest nearly sent her toppling to the ground. Cinder’s arms latched around Iko and Kai steadied the two girls, suppressing a smile. After nearly squeezing the life from Cinder, Iko threw herself into Kai.

Having been with Cinder for many years, he was well accustomed to Iko’s eccentric personality. He patted her back as she hugged him and made eye contact with Cinder who looked endlessly amused. Iko finally pulled away and grabbed Cinder by the arm, practically dragging her into the kitchen, chattering on about something.

Kai had nearly closed the door when he heard someone calling his name from in the hallway. He turned and saw more of his friends waving and walking towards him. He opened the door fully again and smiled.

“Emilie, Wolf, Scarlet, it’s great to see you guys,” he greeted as the trio stepped into the apartment.

Emilie smiled at him a little shyly. She was definitely more Scarlet and Iko’s friend than anyone else, but she got along well enough with Cinder and Kai too. “Thanks for having us, Kai.”

He shrugged. “Anytime. It’s great to get everyone together again.”

Scarlet laughed and removed her shoes, depositing them beside Iko’s. “We’re all busy, aren’t we? But still, we should do this more often.”

Wolf placed a hand on Scarlet’s shoulder and helped her out of her coat. Kai was instantly surprised. It wasn’t super obvious, but it was certainly visible enough. The way Scarlet’s hand rested comfortably over the natural swell was indication enough. He blinked and Scarlet and Wolf seemed to realise that it was the first time that anyone in their group of friends had heard about this.

“Scarlet!” Iko exclaimed, sounding incredibly excited.

Kai turned and saw Iko and Cinder standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Iko was bouncing on the balls of her feet and Cinder looked as surprised as he felt. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one who had wanted to announce something special at the gathering of their friends.

“Yeah, we might have wanted to warn you guys about this,” Wolf said sheepishly.

Scarlet smacked his arm. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“We’re surprised,” Kai promised. He then immediately decided against going through with his plan.

Scarlet and Wolf deserved to enjoy their celebration among friends tonight. He had no plans on stealing their thunder.

His next idea involved a romantic, home-cooked dinner with candles set up. It would just be them alone where he wouldn’t have other people to worry about. He had made sure to inform their friends that he and Cinder were having dinner together and Iko had promised to stay away so that it would go off without a hitch.

Kai was just putting the roast in the oven when his phone went off. He frowned and glanced at it. He had an incoming call from Cinder. He turned down the stove so he didn’t burn the vegetables and answered the call.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hi,” Cinder replied. She sounded tired and Kai wanted to restrain her from working. Whenever she sounded like that, it was because she’d been working really hard. “So I feel really terrible because I know tonight is supposed to be date night, but we’re so close to a breakthrough on this subject. Myers wants us to stay for another hour to see if we can finally crack it. Do you think we could push it back another hour or so?”

Kai smothered his disappointment. He was about to tell Cinder that it was fine and he could wait when he got another incoming call. Kai pulled his phone away from his ear and was dismayed at the recognition of the number. It was his father’s work number.

“My dad’s calling, can I put you on hold for a minute?” he asked quickly.

“Sure,” Cinder replied, understanding that it had to be important.

Kai switched calls and wasn’t even given the chance to greet his father before the man started talking.

“I need you to come in,” his father said. “It’s very important. The Lunar Corporation is making a final push and we need a counter-strategy as soon as possible.”

“Dad,” Kai said, letting his frustration seep into his voice. “I’m having dinner with Cinder tonight.”

“She’s your girlfriend and I know how hard she works. She’ll understand how important it is that you come in. Be here in half an hour.” With that said, the line clicked dead and Kai was left listening to the dial tone from Cinder’s call being on hold.

He ran a hand through his hair, agitated and resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room. It was important that Dehaui Industries come up with a plan to counter Levana Blackburn and the Lunar Corporation, but he didn’t understand why it had to be tonight of all nights. Still, his father sounded worried and he knew he had to go help, even if he didn’t want to.

Kai sighed and returned to the call with Cinder. “Hey, you there?

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Do you think we might be able to take a raincheck on dinner completely? My dad just called me and I really need to go into the office tonight. It’s almost cooked already so you’re still welcome to stay over here and I’ll leave you some food out, but I won’t be back until late.”

“Do what you need to do, Kai,” Cinder dismissed. “We can reschedule anytime.”

Kai felt a partially frustrated smile twitch up his lips. “Of course we can. I love you.”

“Love you too,” she hummed in response. “I’ll see you later.”

The line clicked dead and Kai dropped his phone to the counter. He allowed himself one minute of frustration before he set to work cleaning up the romantic atmosphere he had set. She didn’t need to see it if he wasn’t even going to be there. He finished cooking the meal before grabbing his jacket and heading out, the tiny black box still tucked carefully in the pocket of his coat.

He tried for two months. There were simple dates that got crashed by paparazzi trying to get a comment from Kai. There were romantic walks that were ended early by surprise rainstorms. There was a meal out ruined by another couple getting engaged near them. There was a date night at home ruined by Cinder coming down with the flu.

Kai was starting to feel as if the world was conspiring against him.

Finally, he came up with a plan that was supposed to work. He muted all his work calls, ensured Cinder had work off, told their friends that it was a night for the two of them, and brought Iko in to help him plan everything out.

Kai had decided to just go casual and bring her out onto the balcony after dinner and ask her under the stars. So far, everything had gone according to plan. They had just finished the dishes and Kai had flicked soap into Cinder’s hair playfully which she responded to by flicking water back at him.

Now they were sitting on the balcony, curled together on the chaise lounge staring out at the city. The ring box was in his jacket and he was just waiting for the right moment. Cinder’s hands were currently curled in his and they were warm and comfortable and it didn’t quite feel perfect yet.

Cinder laid her head against his chest and detangled their fingers, letting her hands rest in her lap. Kai’s hand dug into his pocket and closed around the tiny black box. He pulled it out and turned it over slowly. Cinder breathed deeply and evenly, but she wasn’t asleep.

“Cinder,” he began slowly and she twisted in his arms, staring at him.

Suddenly, a pop song began playing out of nowhere and they both flinched as it cut through the silence. It was Cinder’s ringtone. In her defence, Iko had set the song and insisted that Cinder kept her phone on at all times in case something went wrong.

Cinder let out a long sigh and answered her phone. She was quiet for a minute before Kai watched her eyes blow wide in surprise and her lips curl up.

“Winter! You’re in town?”

Kai felt his own eyebrows rise. Winter and her boyfriend Jacin had been out of the country for nearly a year. They weren’t expected back for another month, so it was probably important if Winter was calling them and in the same city.

“I’m with Kai right now and we’ve already eaten.” She paused and glanced at him. He cocked his head and she mouthed ‘busy?’ to him. He shook his head. Winter was her cousin. Cinder was allowed to choose her. “We can meet you guys someplace though if you’d like.

Kai slid the box back into his pocket and bit down a laugh. It was a damn conspiracy.

Cinder’s hands were cold, especially her metal one, as she traced patterns along his side. Kai didn’t shiver and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. Her fingers slid up his chest and over his collarbone until they pressed gently into the hollow of his throat as she hummed contently. He adjusted his grip around her waist and pulled her even closer. He held her silently and just focused on breathing.

This was what he wanted. He wanted this peacefulness for the rest of his life. He wanted to love Cinder just like this.

The couch was clearly two small for two bodies, but they lay across it anyways, as always. They were at Cinder’s apartment because it was closer to her work which she had gotten off of only a couple of hours ago. Cinder was exhausted, as she always was after work, and Kai was tired enough too. She was lying on top of him and neither of them were wearing very many clothes.

Kai traced his fingers over the back of her shoulders and Cinder shivered lightly. “You okay?” he asked, his voice sleepy.

“Yeah, just tired,” she replied softly.

The way her voice sounded, tired but content, made him happy. They were good together, everyone told him so, and he knew that Cinder was his family and he was hers. He just needed to make it official.

“Marry me,” he said suddenly. It slipped out without warning and Kai himself was startled.

Cinder tensed and lifted her head from his chest to look at him. Her dark eyes were wide in surprise. “What did you say?”

“Nothing!” he said quickly.

Cinder sat up. “Don’t,” she rebuked firmly. “You just…” she trailed off.

He laughed through his desperation. “Yeah.” He sat up and they sat there staring at each other for a moment in silence.

He ran a hand through his hair and let out a long sigh. “I’ve been trying to ask you since your birthday, but something always came up. This time I don’t even have the stupid ring with me. It’s in the drawer of my nightstand at home and this was completely not planned.”

“Kai,” Cinder interrupted, “I love you. I wouldn’t have wanted this to happen any other way.”

He blinked at her. “I just-”

“Shut up and ask me again properly,” she instructed.

Kai laughed and took her hands in his own. “Cinder Linh, will you marry me?”

Cinder slid forwards so she was sitting in his lap. She pecked his lips and brushed her metal fingers along the side of his face.

“You know, you never really needed to ask, right?”

“You were the one who asked me to,” he reminded breathily.

She laughed. “Alright. In that case, I say yes.”

Kai kissed her deeply. He pulled away and pressed their foreheads together unable to stop smiling. “Good.”

#the writing section #tlc #tlc fic #all plans lead to spontaneity fic #kaider #kaider fic #the lunar chronicles #rating: t #genre: romance #fluff #characters #character: kai #ship: kaider #words: 3.2K+#writing #nicole writes #nicolewrites

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cresswellvaneck · 7 years

Note

Can you write No. 1 AKA soulmates AU for either Cresswell or Wolflet because your writing is honestly so beautiful and makes me cry tears of joy!

Okay so this has been sitting in my inbox for forever now (I’m so sorry) but as it’s summer now and I don’t have school for a few months, I’ll be doing fic requests again! So here is the long awaited (at least by me anyways haha) Cresswell Soulmates AU!

Thorne dragged a towel through his damp hair and wiped down the foggy mirror. He smirked at his reflection and pointed finger guns at himself in the mirror. He turned slightly to catch a glimpse of his soulmate tattoo on his right shoulder blade and sighed. Of course the fates had to give him and his soulmate a silhouette of a naked woman as their matching tattoos. While he wasn’t exactly complaining about the tattoo itself (I mean what guy doesn’t want to wake up to a hot, naked woman every day? He’d asked himself) but rather complaining about its repercussions. Everyone had made fun of him in school, and his parents were absolutely mortified. They’d even tried to have it removed, knowing full well that soulmate tattoos were permanent, no matter what.

He figured that the girl with the matching tattoo wasn’t too pleased to have a naked woman as a permanent fixture on her body. “I guess I’ll find out when I meet her,” he told himself with a sigh.

“Gah! Why can’t I just have a normal tattoo like you, Cinder?” Cress groaned. “I mean come on! You and Kai have a cute crown on your wrists, and then Scar has the moon and stars on her ankle! That’s not fair!”

“Okay, Cress, if you’d just tell us what yours was, then maybe we’d know if it was actually that bad,” Cinder replied.

“No. It’s too embarrassing.”

Cinder put her head in her hand, “Okay, well at least tell us where it is. I mean how are you supposed to find this guy, if you won’t tell anyone what--or where--it is?”

“Yeah, come on Cress.” Scarlet chimed in. “Please?”

Cress hesitated. “Alright, fine. But you aren’t allowed to push me anymore. I’m going to tell you where it is. And only where it is.”

Scarlet and Cinder shot each other a look. “Fine.” They agreed.

“Well…it’s on my shoulder blade…” she Cress admitted.

There was a moment of silence as the other girls processed this new information.

“…pleeeeeease!” they begged. “We won’t tell anyone! We promise! Just tell us what it is!”

“Tell you what what is?” Thorne interrupted, as he strode in the door.

“Nothing!” Cress practically yelled. She blushed as the other three in the room shot her weird looks. “We were talking about nothing,” she stated more calmly.

Her crush on Carswell Thorne was absolutely massive, and he’d made it apparent that he’d had a thing for her as well. But as they lived in a world dictated by a stupid, starsforsaken tattoo, they couldn’t do anything about their mutual feelings. She hoped that whoever was lucky enough to have a matching mark with Thorne would be good for him, and she hoped against hope, that whoever was stuck with the same wretched tattoo as her, wasn’t a total creep.

She snapped out of her reverie, realizing that she’d been staring at Thorne. He wore a sad smile on his face, and shrugged as if he knew what she was thinking about.

Cinder and Scarlet shared a knowing look and decided to change the subject, recognizing the hard feelings that had come with the topic of tattoos and soulmates. “So what’s for lunch, Thorne?”

“I know I was supposed to cook, but is take-out cool for everyone?” he grinned sheepishly.

Scarlet glared at him, while Cinder let out a relieved sigh, “thank the stars. You are a terrible cook anyway Captain.”

Cress giggled.

Thorne turned to Cinder, “I’ll have you know that I am fully aware of my lack of skills in the kitchen, but,” he grinned, “I make up for that with my exceeding skills in the bedroom.”

Cress felt the sudden rise of heat to her cheeks and itched to turn away. Cinder on the other hand, decked him, with her cyborg hand no less.

“OW!”

“Shut up, it didn’t hurt that much.”

Before Thorne could get in another word, or Cinder another blow, Scarlet stepped in and handed each of them a plate of food. “Stop bickering, or I’ll have to put you on time out.”

“We’re not children,” Thorne protested.

Scarlet gave him The Look and he immediately apologized.

Cress turned to Cinder and spoke, “Can you believe tomorrow is you and Kai’s fifth anniversary? Are you ready for tonight?”

“I know. It feels like it’s been way shorter than that,” she sighed dreamily, “I guess time flies when you’re having fun. And yeah, we’re ready for the party tonight. I really hope no one comes though. Except for the Rampion Crew, of course.” The last part she said with a grin.

“Oh my stars, Cress you look fantastic!” Iko squealed.

Cress let out a slight giggle, and replied, “stop it Iko. You always look wonderful!” She looked over at Emilie and said with a wink, “you’re one lucky lady.”

They all shared a few minutes of catching up, then Cress let the other two girls go meet everyone else at the party.

Cress was always in awe of Iko because of the choice that she’d made. The law dictated that your soulmate was also to be your future spouse, but Iko had fallen in love with Emilie before she’d met her soulmate and decided to remain a fugitive in order to stay with her girlfriend. The two of them had been dating for three years, and getting over the hurdle that they’d never be able to marry had been a huge ordeal for a time, then they realized that as long as they were together, that would be enough.

Cress glanced over at Thorne who was laughing it up with Winter and Scarlet (Jacin’s scowl indicated that he didn’t find Thorne’s joke that funny) and sighed. She wished that she could have the guts to tell the government to screw it, and be with who she wanted to be with—that being Thorne.

Kai’s arm around her shoulder snapped her out of her self-deprecating train of thought. “Hey, Cress! How’s it going?” His smile was practically blinding he was so happy. Cress plastered a fake one to match on her own face.

“Kai! Happy anniversary!”

“Thanks! I can’t believe it’s been five years!” he sighed happily. “So what’s new with you? Any luck finding your soulmate?”

She winced, eliciting a regretful look from Kai. “I’m sorry, Cress. I didn’t mean to bring it up. I’m an idiot.”“No! No, you’re not, Kai,” she said with that once-again-forced smile. “It’s perfectly fine. I’m just glad to be here celebrating with you and yours.”

Kai laughed uncomfortably, scratching the back of his neck. “Yeah. Sorry again.”

Cress brushed it off and changed the subject (a skill she was getting increasingly better at these days). “I thought Cinder said she didn’t want that many guests?”

“Well, with me being the emperor and all, I’m obligated to invite all of New Beijing’s aristocrats to events like this. The job does have its perks though,” he said gazing lovingly at his wife.

“Go on, Kai,” Cress said with a nudge to his shoulder, “I’ll be fine.”

Kai thanked her with a parting hug and walked over to where many of the guests were listening to Cinder telling the epic story of how the ‘Royal Lovebirds’ had met.

Cress grabbed a flute of champagne from one of the circling wait staff, and sipped as she watched everyone. She watched as all of the couples began dancing as the music grew louder. She watched as Iko and Emilie started feeding each other strawberries and giggled. Winter and Jacin were doing a sort of square dance, Winter taking the lead, and Jacin actually seeming to be enjoying it. Scarlet was barefoot and standing on Wolf’s feet as he led her awkwardly across the dance floor. Cress saw Thorne standing at the side chatting—and possibly flirting—with a few other people, and lost her nerve.

She drained her glass and quickly set it on the nearest table, and ran to the bathroom.

As soon as the door clicked behind her, she dropped to her knees sobbing.

Thorne was sick to death of listening to all these people gush about Cinder and Kai. Of course he loved the two of them, they were two of his best friends. But he couldn’t stand it when other people, especially these aristocrats, thought they knew the royal couple better than he did. And when they talked about how the two had met—as if they had anything to do with it!

He rubbed his hand angrily through his hair and politely excused himself, before he started yelling at anyone.

He scanned the crowd, looking for his favorite blond, but no luck. He asked Emilie and Iko if either of them had seen Cress, but no they had not. Maybe she went home? He checked his watch but it was only 7 o’clock, so she mustn’t have left yet.

A member of the wait staff approached him and said, “are you looking for that small blond woman?”

“Yes!” He said with a bit too much enthusiasm. He schooled his features and replied, “yes. Did you see where she went?”

“She ran off towards the washroom. She looked quite upset.”

Thorne realized how hard tonight would have been for her, especially with him there. He thanked the waiter and hurried off to find Cress.

Cress was backed up against the door, hugging her knees to her chest. The tears just wouldn’t stop coming.

She wiped her nose and her thoughts tumbled through her brain, never ceasing. She thought how silly she was behaving by locking herself in a bathroom and crying over a boy. A boy she had never even met no less! She was still young—twenty-four years old—so she had plenty of time to meet her soulmate. Her soulmate with a ridiculous tattoo of a naked woman on his shoulder blade. That then spiraled her thoughts to whether or not she would even like her soulmate. Would she luck out like most of her friends? Or would she end up with someone who was a complete jerk to her? Like Liam was to Iko.

That idea brought on a fresh wave of tears.

Cress then heard a soft knock on the door behind her.

She leapt to her feet, sniffed, and called out as cheerily as possible, “I’ll be out in a minute!”

She began to wash her face at the sink when Thorne’s voice came through the door “Cress? Are you alright?”

She gulped, her eyes brimming with tears yet again. She inched towards the door and unlocked it, then took a few steps back, leaving plenty of space in the room.

The door opened slowly, and Thorne came into view. Worry painted his features.

She couldn’t help as the tears slid down her face. “Thorne,” she sniffed, “I know it’s stupid but—”

Before she could finish, his arms were wrapped tightly around her. Cress choked back a sob and gripped the front of Thorne’s shirt, as he stroked her hair and murmured, “it’s not stupid at all, Cress.”

She let her tears fall freely.

By the time Cress had finished crying, the two of them were both on the floor. Thorne’s arms were still wrapped around her, and she clung to his shirt like a life line.

She tilted her head up. “Thorne?” she asked, her voice raw from all the weeping.

“Mhmm?”

“Thank you. Thank you for being here.”

He kissed the top of her head, “of course Darlin’. I don’t like seeing my favorite girl upset.”

Cress sniffled. “But I shouldn’t be your favorite girl. I’m not your soulmate…”

He looked down at her, sadness in his eyes. He breathed, “I wish you were.”

If Cress had had any tears left, she would have started again. Instead she asked, “what do you think they’re like? Our soulmates?”

He shrugged. “If yours is anything like how Liam is to Iko, I might have to engage in some fisticuffs.”

She giggled.

“No, I’m serious. You don’t deserve anyone but the best,” he insisted.

“And you’re the best, Carswell?” she said through another giggle.

He flashed her a grin, “of course I am. I did save the world, after all.”

Cress shoved him playfully, and they both laughed.

They sat in silence for a while, smiling, remembering all the good times they’d had together, with the Rampion Crew.

Thorne broke the silence, “so where is it?”

“Where is what?”

“Your tattoo.”

Her face warmed, thinking about how embarrassing it would be to have Thorne, the guy she was crazy about, learn of her provocative tattoo. “It’s on my back,” she muttered, telling a half-truth. “What about yours?”

“Shoulder.”

She hummed. “I don’t think you’ve ever told me what it was.”

Thorne laughed. “I’ve never actually told anyone what it is. The only people who know are my parents…and the doctors that they had to try and remove it.”

“Is it that bad?” she asked, knowing full well it couldn’t be as bad as her own.

He paused. Then asked, “Do you want to see it?”

She nodded hesitantly.

“But you have to promise not to laugh.”

“I promise,” she murmured. Her mind racing a mile a minute, as Thorne unbuttoned his shirt. He slipped out of it, and was left in a white undershirt. She tried to stop her eyes from roving over his where the thin material covered his well-sculpted torso, but she couldn’t help it. She flicked her eyes back up to his face, and saw his wry grin.

“You ready?” he asked.

She nodded again, biting her lip.

He turned, easily sliding on the tiled floor.

Her hand flew to her mouth as she saw the shape that she was so familiar with, that she detested so much. The silhouette of the woman’s head and torso were clear on his skin, and she could see the outline of the legs through the white of his undershirt.

He slid back around to face her, still smiling, but more sadly this time. He looked worried when he saw the expression on Cress’s face. “Is everything al—”

Cress was on him in an instant, knocking him onto his back. She crashed her lips onto his, and he let out a sound of half-surprise and half-delight. He placed his hands on her shoulders and moved them back into a sitting position, breaking his mouth away from hers.

She looked at him slightly confused, then giddily, and started “Thorne, IamsosorryImeanttosaysomethingbutIwas--”

“Slow down there, Darlin’” he laughed.

Her face was on fire, but she was so happy, she could care less. “Thorne—Carswell,” he blushed when she called him by his first name, “I—we—you’re my soulmate!” she cried out, stammering.

He laughed, unsure of what to say, or how to feel.

Cress turned her back to him, “Carswell, unzip my dress.”

He thanked the stars she couldn’t see his face, because it was tomato-red. “Uh…” his voice cracked, “Cress, I—”

“Not all the way, just the top part. Go on, it’s alright.”

He got to his knees and leaned forward, placed one hand on her shoulder, and the other on the zipper. Thorne swallowed. He pulled the zipper to about midway down her back, revealing her freckled skin underneath.

She grabbed the right sleeve of her dress and shoved it down. His heart caught in his throat. He saw the silhouette stark against Cress’s pale skin. He grinned from ear to ear. He leaned forward, and kissed her shoulder blade, all along the tattoo. He relished in the fact that Cress was shivering from his touch. He moved back slightly, allowing her to pull her sleeve back on, and he zipped up her dress without being asked.

She turned back around, shyly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

Thorne couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he looked at her. He moved a bit closer to Cress—to his soulmate—and whispered, “it’s you.”

After an hour or so of kissing, of making up for lost time, and many ‘we were so stupid for not knowing’s, the two finally emerged from the bathroom. Holding hands. They walked back into the main party room, and got more than a few curious looks, from their friends and strangers alike. They had plenty of time to explain later, but they just wanted to be together in that moment.

They made their way to the dance floor, their smiles never receding, and danced. Thorne’s arms wrapped around Cress’s waist, and hers around his shoulders.

Thorne looked into Cress’s clear blue eyes, and asked, “remember when you asked me if destiny had brought us together?”

Cress giggled, and said “yeah.”

“Well, maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was destiny.”

“No, Captain,” she winked at him, “’I’m pretty sure it was Cinder.’”

Hope y’all enjoy! Please let me know what you think!

#my writing #cresswell #the lunar chronicles #fanfic #soulmates #soulmates au #give me a prompt and ship to write for!

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nerdishfeels · 7 years

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Home at last

@the-reading-flower

Hey guys! So recently, I had seen this post by @prncesselene about winter and Cinder rekindling their relationship. And since this prompt is ‘home’, it inspired me to write this fic! Hope you guys enjoy it and sorry for the late post lol.

—–

Winter suppressed a giggle and the urge to skip as she strolled with Selene (she should really call her Cinder) through the chambers.

They were finally going to properly catch up.

Of course they had exchanged their childhood memories but Winter never had a chance to give Selene a full tour of the palace- not with her reclaiming her throne and duties and Winter with her new duty of distributing letumosis antidotes and having the device installed to stop her lunar madness.

It had felt uncomfortable at first, but now she felt a sigh of relief when she could no longer see any more blood on the walls of the palace. After all, like Jacin said, it was a token of her profound resistance against her lunar gift.

Winter had imagined this moment all her life- even before she had reunited with her cousin. Whenever Jacin was busy with his duties, she would often imagine playing again with Selene. How they would plait each other’s hair, paint portraits of the Artemisia palace, talk about their crushes whilst they ate away at candies. Winter’s heart swelled with nostalgia.

It may not have cured her loneliness but it was a sweet, temporary delight.

Winter had first showed Selene the secret gardens (only permitted for royals). She told Selene how they used to play there together. Then she showed her the kitchen where she used to sneak some candies from one of the jars - which they reenacted.

Winter then finally showed Selene her favourite place of the palace. The menagerie. She showcased the animals and told Selene their names. She had also showed the cage where she had first met Scarlet- which felt awkward when Winter thought about it.

Selene had noticed an empty cage and asked about it. Winter told her with a heavy heart that it used to hold Ryu, her favourite white Wolf. Even though her hallucinations had gone, she could still imagine that pool of blood.

‘Winter?‘

Winter shook out of her reverie. Selene stared at her, a concerned look across her face.

‘Are you ok?’ She asked.

Winter smiled and nodded.

'Of course. I just got a bit distracted. Nothing to worry about. What were we talking about?’ Winter asked, her gaze focused on her cousin.

Selene smiled warmly.

'Don’t worry about it. I can understand why talking about Luna politics would drift anyone away.'

Selene gathered her beige dress awkwardly from the sides, her shoes showing below. Winter stifled a giggle.

Selene glanced up and laughed. She loosed her grip on her dress and shrugged.

'Sorry, I’m not really a dress person. The material just goes all static against my cyborg leg. I guess you can add 'lack of etiquette’ to my list of things the people would disapprove of,’ Selene muttered the last part under her breath.

Winter placed a gentle hand on her cousin’s arm.

'You are too hard on yourself. You are doing a great job as the queen. The people are just still a bit bitter about Levana and the monarchy. And since you are the queen, who’s to tell you to wear dresses? But if you want, shall I adjust your dresses for you?’ Winter asked.

The thought of stitching dresses filled her with bubbles of joy.

'That is really sweet of you, Winter. But you don’t-’

'Nonsense! Consider it as gifts for the times we’ve had apart,’ Winter exclaimed.

Selene’s eyes softened. She nodded.

'Thank you.'

As they passed through another corridor, Winter gulped. She had taken her cousin through an abandoned corridor.

It was abandoned for a reason.

She would have to hurry Selene through.

Winter curved her arm around her cousin’s and quickened her pace.

'Winter?’

'Sorry. I am feeling a bit unwell after all. We should probably hurry to the-'

Selene’s eyes lingered on a door with a sealed lock.

Winter gulped again.

She pulled at Selene’s arm again, but Selene held still.

She squinted her eyes- which winter knew was a sign that she was using her cyborgic vision.

Her eyes widened.

She clicked open her cyborg hand compartment and took out her tools. She started to pick at the lock, her forehead creased with concentration.

This was bad.

'Selene. Please. Let’s just go. You don’t want to go in there. Selene!’ Winter argued.

Selene stared at her, her body tensing at her real name. Winter shrugged her apology. A click sounded.

Selene pushed open the door.

As the door creaked heavily, they were both met by a stale and smoky smell. The door shone a beam of light into the room.

Winter peeked in.

The room was the same as she had last remembered it- the pale pink walls, the squiggly drawings and the beautiful tapestry of Luna to the side of them. Nothing had been moved either, even the bed where that fatal accident had happened.

But what was most striking was the stark black burn marks that masked the bed and crawled up part of the wall and the floor.

Winter rubbed her arms, feeling the coldness seep into her. She stared at her cousin, whose eyes were wide.

'This was it, wasn’t it? This was where I was burnt?’ Selene glanced at Winter, a haunted look on her face.

Unable to dispute it, Winter nodded.

Selene turned back to the room. Taking a silent, deep breath, she entered.

Winter reluctantly followed. She watched as her cousin studied the room.

'I’m so sorry. I…I used to walk along this corridor to feel close to you… I’m such a fool,’ Winter muttered.

Selene turned to Winter, a sympathetic smile on her face.

'It’s ok, Winter. Sooner or later, I would have discovered this room anyway.'

Selene glanced down at her hands. Her jaw clenched.

'Do you remember what happened?’

Winter shook her head.

'I was too young to remember. All I gathered from the rumours was that a maid had entered the room with a lit candle and caused a fire that had… I do remember asking my father where you were. But my father would not tell me. No one would. They all just stared at me with such sadness in their eyes,’ Winter replied.

She thought back to those times when she sat in her room, silence her only companion until Jacin came along. She knew death had taken her cousin. Her father had that same look he always did whenever she asked about her real mother.

After an awkward silence, Selene walked up to Winter and stood beside her, taking in the room. She crossed her arms across her chest.

'Why was this room never renovated? I would have thought Levana wanted to get rid of every memory of me,’ Selene asked, her words bitter.

Winter sighed.

'She was actually against the idea, to everyone’s surprise. Though I doubt it was because she was mourning.’

Selene snorted with agreement.

Winter side-glanced at her and planted a hand on her cousin’s folded arm.

'You know, Levana had made no arrangement to mourn you but people did. Did you know that people used to leave many gifts here for you?-’

'Really?'

'Yes. There was enough toys to fill nurseries. There were flowers, ribbons, embroideries made of you, even letters - I used to sneak into the room and read them. The people of luna truly cherished you. You were their hope for a better future.'

Selene stared at the bed, her face glowing with warmth and life.

Winter continued on.

'Soon, Levana had found out and banned everyone from entering the room. She even gathered all the palace servants and publicly locked the door to get her point across. From there, it became abandoned. But rumours were that many maids on different nights had seen Levana unlock the door and linger in the room. They said it was like she savoured it. It always sent a shiver down my spine.'

'To be honest, I’m not surprised,’ Selene said through gritted teeth.

Winter squeezed on her arm.

Selene’s tense arms relaxed under her grip. She let out a small sigh.

'I can never get over the fact that my own aunt wanted me dead for the crown. Who thinks like that? And then, there’s my own mother who was as cruel, burning her own sister. I don’t know what’s worse, living with them or with adri and pearl.’

Winter remembered Selene mentioning her step family. It broke her heart to think her cousin also felt lonely and mistreated. She was grateful for Peony and Iko though, being there for her cousin. Her heart sank as her wish to meet Peony would never be fulfilled.

She wondered for a moment how her cousin’s life would have been if she remained in Luna.

A thought came to mind.

'Even though your mother was horrible, I heard she changed when she was pregnant with you. She was always stroking her bump wherever she went and a radiant glow made her face more beautiful than before. They had never seen her more gentle and happy in their life. If you ask me, I think she would have loved you dearly, despite who she was,’ Winter persuaded.

Selene’s eyelashes glittered. She wiped at the tears escaping down her cheeks.

After a moment of silence, Selene swallowed.

'i’ve never told Iko or Peony this, but sometimes, when I felt at my lowest, I used to think about finding my real family.

'Every night I used to imagine making my very own spaceship and flying across the world, in search of my family. It would give me hope, you know. Until I started thinking about why they had left me.’

Selene opened and closed her pocket compartment in her cyborg hand. Winter tried not to let it distract her.

'When Dr Erland told me I was the lost heir of Luna, I was terrified. I had always dreamed of my real family, but this was totally different than what I expected. It disheartened me because I had heard so many things about Levana and the thought of having her as an aunt made me lose hope of belonging. Of course, I heard about you and your generosity but I had lost so many years with you and I was worried that our relationship had faded because of it.’

Winter pulled a small smile. She cupped her cousin’s face in her hands.

'There was never a day when I did not wish for you to come back to me,’ She whispered, her eyes growing blurry with tears.

Selene gently held Winter’s hands in hers.

'And I never doubted it when I first met you. I am grateful I have you as my cousin. You gave me hope that there is good in Luna.’ She tucked a strand of Winter’s hair behind her ear, revealing her scars. Selene cupped her cheek in her hand

'I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. I wish I was. I know it’s been awkward between us, but I promise you that will change. I promise that I will be a sister to you and whenever you need me, I will be there for you. I promise I won’t let anyone separate us again,’ Selene whispered, her voice choking with tears.

They both embraced. Winter stroked Selene’s hair. She leaned towards her ear and said,

'Never be sorry. I am just glad that you had people there for you when we were apart. Oh, I have missed you so dearly, Selene,’ Winter whispered.

Her mind alerted her of her minor mistake.

They pulled apart.

'Sorry. I should stop calling you Selene. Your name is Cinder now.'

Selene shook her head.

'Don’t. It is my real name after all and you make it sound cool.'

Winter grinned.

She realised that the void she had felt for so many years inside her heart, was once again filled with warmth and excitement at rekindling their relationship.

Winter savoured the feeling like her candies.

As they both came out of the room, Selene stopped Winter.

'I’ve been meaning to hold some inspirational events for the people about embracing who they really are. So I thought I would use all the rooms in this chamber for different activities. And I wanted to get this room redecorated back into a nursery where some of the mothers can let their children play.

Her cousin pointed at the door.

'I want people to know we can move on from what Levana had done. That it is safe now. So what do you think? Will you help me?’ Selene asked with a one-sided grin.

Winter stared at the door and then at her cousin.

A wide smile spread across her face.

'I’m with you, Cousin. I think that is a wonderful idea!’ She beamed.

Grinning, Selene held onto the padlock tightly.

As they both continued their stroll down the corridor, Winter thanked the stars once again for bringing her cousin safely back home to her.

#tlcshipweeks #home #winter #cinder #sorry it's late lol #life got in the way #now i am gonna sleep

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tony-in-a-tin-can · 7 years

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TLC Shipweeks Day Three Pirates Kaider AU

So here ‘s well the first AU I’ve ever written, it’s a simple Pirate AU most of the backstory is explained. I tried to make it authentic like for the dinner scene turtle soup, hard tack biscuits were things pirates ate since they had little access to fresh food. I’m less sure about the cheesecake being authentic but shhh.

Kai leaned across the ship’s railing and focused on the horizon. He didn’t get seasick often but knew enough to fake it well. He faked another groan, and stared more determinedly at the horizon. The truth was he was waiting for something- someone. As he finally began to hear shouts rise from the crew a grin swept its way across his face. She certainly knew how to make an entrance.

Soon enough he was gathered with the rest of the crew on the main deck. Part of him felt bad for scaring the poor people, but usually he was too distracted by what was about to happen. And there she was, standing beside Thorne, who was still wearing that ridiculous hat.

Torin stepped forward, his hands raised in surrender, “we will peacefully follow your instructions” he spoke tiredly.

Out of the whole crew he was the only one who knew the real reason behind all the frequent pirate raids. Kai knew he had to tell him, Torin had gotten suspicious after the first couple of times. “Of course” Cinder spoke calmly her hand on her sword hilt prepared for trouble. “We will be taking your cargo” she said her face apologetic. Most of the crew didn’t care, after all it was shipments going to Luna going to Levana the horrifying queen of a nearby country.

“Food will be served in the dining hall disperse.” She spoke authoritatively as Thorne nodded the feathers on his hat bouncing with every movement. Kai breathed out a sigh of relief as the crew left the main deck. Cinder usually gave them a meal from their supplies, she said it was because she already felt bad for stealing the cargo. Truthfully Kai didn’t mind because it gave them more time together.

He followed her as she walked to her Captain’s quarters. As soon as the door closed she threw herself in his arms. “whoa” he chuckled “someone missed me.” He could practically feel her glare from where her face was buried in his chest. Disentangling herself from him she leaned against her desk, and tiredly ran a hand through her messy brown hair. “Don’t even ask, Levana seems to be catching on to our raids,” she bit her lip “but so far she doesn’t know it’s me leading them.”

Cinder’s big secret of course was that she was the true heir to Luna, and Levana’s niece Selene. Levana of course wasn’t too happy with the idea of eventually having to give up her throne. So, she’d plotted her murder when she was just a little baby. Cinder had escaped thanks to the help of some kindly doctors, who’d help heal her body, replacing some parts with prosthetics. Cinder had soon been sent to an orphanage run by the Linh family. Garan had died soon after of the plague, and she was left under Adri’s cruel thumb. The children had been forced to earn their keep, all so Adri could lounge around for most of the day.

Still she’d been fine with another orphan Iko, and Adri’s daughter Peony. Then another tragedy struck and Peony caught the plague. This caused mandatory blood testing for the whole orphanage, and her secret heritage was discovered. Thankfully the kindly Dr. Erland had helped her escape. Soon she’d recruited her crew Scarlet the girl who was the granddaughter of one of the doctors who’d helped her, Wolf or Ze’ev who was an ex-soldier from Levana’s army and head ocher heels for Scarlet, Thorne who had assisted her in her daring escape from the town and owned their current ship the Rampion, Cress who’d been a spy locked up by the queen for whenever she needed and itching for a chance to escape, Winter the queen’s stepdaughter who had longed to escape her cruel stepmother, Jacin the sarcastic guard who’d escaped for Winter more than anything, and of course Iko had been with her all along.

Kai was so grateful for them all, he knew without them Cinder and him would never have met. He drew her back into a hug and stroked her hair. “You know I feel my parents are starting to get suspicious.” She raised an eyebrow “yeah why’s that?” He grinned “well so many sudden pirate raids and I happen to be one the ship every time,” he paused “maybe it’s time to stop hiding in the shadows and attack directly.” She frowned, “I don’t know we don’t have the manpower to defeat Levana.” “Ah but people have been spreading rumors of the return of the missing princess, I think you could convince the peasants to rise against her.”

She nodded “maybe it’s time, ill discuss it with the crew after” she grinned at him “for now it’s our time.” And soon they were lost in each other again. In fact, they almost didn’t hear Cress, and Thorne knocking to call them to dinner. They jumped apart as the door opened breathing hard, faces flushed, and lips swollen.

Cress stood there scandalized, and Thorne looked like he was trying his hardest not to laugh. “Dinner is served” Cress finally spoke before dragging Thorne back with her. Cinder groaned “he’s not goanna let that go for weeks.” They walked together to the dining room.

Everyone else was seated and they too quickly took their seats. For dinner, they were having turtle soup, hard tack biscuit, and lemon cheesecake for dessert. Scarlet as usual had outdone herself and soon enough the food was gone. Everyone disappeared to spend their free time left and once again Kai found himself with Cinder. They stayed together for an hour or so, but soon even Cinder knew it was time for them to go.

It already looked suspicious enough. “Maybe you could visit” he suggested.

She snorted “with the several wanted posters I’m sure no one will recognize me.” He gently gripped her hands “those posters are no good you could wear a scarf and no one would recognize” sensing her hesitancy he pleaded “come on just once, we could visit the city and get proper food, not ship food like those pork buns you always told me about.” She relented "fine I suppose I could make it but give me some time to make arrangements” he nodded.

Soon he was back on his ship. Too soon he thought to himself. He couldn’t wait till all the secrecy was over. He’d seen the way her eyes lit up when he talked about a revolution again Levana, perhaps she’d go through with it. Sure, there was plenty of time left till anything could be executed, but hey a guy could dream.

#tlc ship weeks #pirates #kaider #au #fanfic

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rhysthehighlord · 7 years

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Review: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer

4 Stars for Cinder, Kai, Thorne and Cress

You can also read this review on my goodreads.

You shouldn't read this review, if you haven't read Cress yet.

"I'm going to make it a law that the correct way to address your sovereign is by giving a high five."

After the amazingness of 'Cress' this book was kinda a letdown. It was way too long and even tho so much happens in this book, it felt as if nothing at all happened. It almost felt like a chore reading this book. I was expecting some major conflict/showdown happening in this book, but instead I only got many but short conflicts, that didn't make me excited at all. Especially because they got repetitive after a while. There was always some person who used their power to turn people against their friends or themselves. The conflicts almost all ended in our protagonists having to start more or less at the beginning again. The 'big' showdown near the end of the book was sadly anticlimatic and I really didn't enjoy it.

I understand that the plans of the Rampion crew couldn't just be done in a few days and that obstacles are bound to happen, but the book stretched on too long and had too many repetitions. And sadly there weren't many surprises, the book was pretty predictable.

Overall the book was still a decent ending to this series. Tho if it wasn't for my love for the characters I would have been bored out of my mind.

It's kinda obvious that this book is a 'Snow White' retelling. I liked it how Marissa inserted the different amd typical elements of the original story into this one. Levana is for example 100% Winter's evil and jealous stepmother, who doesn't like her because of her beauty.

I loved it to see Cinder's character development troughout this series. She started off as a girl hating parts of herself and now she's a brave and confident young woman accepting all parts of herself and being determined to take back her throne. It would have been better tho if she didn't do some pretty stupid things. Without her ernormous luck Cinder would have been dead a long time ago.

Kai was a delight to read about. I loved it that he always wants to help and that the people in need come before anything else. He definitively got braver and more daring, telling the people around him what he really thought in that sarcastic way of him. Also he so damn selfless.

Kai and Cinder are still the perfect couple for me in this book. They fit so well together and everything they do is lovely and wonderful.

Cress sadly didn't had that much character development. She is still the same sweet girl, who is in love with Thorne and has amazing hacker skills. I love her for who she is, but it would have been nice to see her actually doing something else. She does get a bit braver tho and I'm glad about it.

Thorne is also the same old sarcastic and over-confident idiot, who I loved despite all his flaws. But I can forgive Marissa for not giving him anything to do that made me excited. He did get to be a hero, but it sadly failed to make me feel anything.

Cress and Thorne were still super cute together.

Scarlet and Wolf were unfortunately my least favorite characters of the Rampion crew in this book again. I still like them of course, but it didn't really interest me what happened to them and tbh none of their storylines were exciting to me.

It was interesting to see Winter's storyline. I was torn between admiring her for her strength and screaming at her to just use her powers again. I thought she was strong because she saw that manipulating people with her powers wasn't right and decided to never use them again. And when the consequences in form of hallucinations came she faced them all and never once faltered. It would have been so easy for her to just use one little glamour just to make the hallucinations go away or at least lessen, but she never did it. I wouldn't have been as strong as her. And while I totally admire her for it and I understand that she had a very legit reason, since she knows firsthand how bad manipulations can be, I didn't understand why she couldn't just use some harmless manipulations, like making a person just feel a tiny bit better, if they had a bad day or changing her hair color just for fun.

It was cool that Marissa created a dark skinned character who was suffering from hallucinations because she has a mental illness, even tho it wasn't an illness that exists in real life. I can't say if it was a good or accurate representation of similar mental illnesses, since I don't suffer from one, but it was refreshing to see it being represented in a YA book. Not sure if it was good tho, that everyone including herself, called her 'crazy'. She showed tho that under all the'craziness' she was a very lovely and intelligent girl. But sometimes her 'crazy' ramblings confused me.

Jacin is still 'Mr. Iceblock' for me. The only times he was nice/showed any emotion was when it was about Winter. He is too emotionally detached and rational for me to truly like him, but his nicknames were gold.

Jacin and Winter were cute. Normally I'm totally into rather rude characters falling for literal sunshines and only showing their feelings for them, but sadly I didn't enjoy it in this case. It was nice however to see someone supporting Winter in everything she does.

Iko was amazing. She was funny and brave and she always knew how to look good. The most human and adorable android ever.

Levana was definitively a scary and powerful antagonist. I just wanted her to die already. While reading Fairest

I did pity her a bit, since she had a very horrible life, but by the end of that story and especially in this book all my pity was gone.

I honestly thought that Sybil was already cruel and sardonic, but Aimery was even worse. At least he got what he deserved.

Tbh I wasn't expecting to see Adri and Pearl ever again. I guess it was good that Marissa didn't want any loose ends, but their parts were way too long imo.

The ending of the book was what really saved it. It was perfect. Otherwise I might have given this book just 3.5 Stars.

You guys should totally check out Stars Above which is the short story collection to this series. The last story was my favorite.

Overall I liked the ending to this series and I'm very glas that I picked up this series.

#my review #winter #the lunar chronicles

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nicolewrites · 7 years

Text

of closets and meddlers

Kaider College AU. This fandom needs more fics.

Rating: T Genre: Romance Characters: [Kai and Cinder], Scarlet, Iko Words: 5,953

In which Cinder and Kai are both really bad at feelings and Scarlet is more than a little frustrated by it. College AU / kaider

FFN | AO3

Cinder swirled her drink and studied the movement of the ice cubes as they bobbed in the clear liquid. Despite Thorne’s best efforts, she had warded off the alcohol that her friends were consuming and stuck to water. They needed someone to drive them home after all. Besides, liquor was bitter and had too strong of an aftertaste for her. She left the heavy drinking to Iko and Thorne.

She downed the rest of her water in one gulp and placed the glass back down on the counter with enough force to draw the eyes of several people around her. Cinder felt a blush crawl up the back of her neck and she withdrew her hands into her lap. She flexed her left hand, testing its grip, and sighed. The metal wasn’t creaking, but it didn’t feel as calibrated as it probably should. She would have to tweak it the next time she got into the shop.

“Cinder!” Iko called, stumbled over. Cinder’s best friend tripped into the chair next to her and giggled uncontrollably. Iko had definitely had a few too many drinks, and though her giggling was nothing new, it was more pronounced drunk. “Thorne’s hitting on another pretty girl!”

Cinder’s eyebrow raised. Carswell Thorne was a huge flirt. They’d met when he came into the shop where she worked part time to get an oil change and had flirted hard with her. She’d warded him off easily enough, and they had settled into a mutually abusive relationship. Of course, there was no real abuse involved, just some scathing teasing. Whenever they went out, which was far more often than Cinder liked, Thorne always found some pretty girl to flirt with.

Tonight he was talking to a small blonde girl who Cinder actually recognised. Her name was Crescent and she was in one of Cinder’s classes, programming if she recalled correctly. Crescent was a brilliant student and a really nice girl, and she really didn’t need Thorne hitting on her. Cinder patted Iko’s shoulder and stood to go drag her drunk friend away from the nice girl. However, just as she was standing up, Crescent rolled her eyes at Thorne and pushed him away by the nose. She also didn’t appear to be drinking, so Cinder took that as a sign that she could handle Thorne by herself.

Cinder sunk back into her seat and looked at Iko. Her friend was draped awkwardly on the bar, only half sitting in her chair, still giggling. She sighed. Iko was going to be very hungover tomorrow, and she knew Thorne would be the same. There were reasons that Cinder didn’t like going out on school nights, but on the rare occasion she did, she never drank.

Still, Iko wouldn’t have too hard of a time hiding her hangover. Her friend was very adept at using make-up to cover things up, and being dark-skinned as she was, her dark circles never stood out like they would have on someone with paler skin. Iko turned her head to look at Cinder and abruptly stopped giggling.

“Cinder,” she said, sounding drunk and very serious. “Why is my hair blue?” She lifted a lock of it in front of her face for emphasis.

Cinder sighed. “Iko, you dyed it yourself last week. It looks great.”

Her friend sat up quickly. “It does!” Iko turned to look back at the bar. “I love this song!” she exclaimed and Cinder rubbed her forehead in frustration. “I’m going to go dance! Bye Cinder!” Iko said cheerfully, leaping off the barstool with far too much grace considering how much alcohol she’d consumed.

Cinder watched her disappear into the throng of people before turning to the bartender and ordering another glass of water. He gave her a friendly smile and poured her the glass. She returned the smile and turned back to the crowd, scanning for Iko. The girl had disappeared completely and Cinder sighed heavily. She glanced at her watch. It was only eleven forty which meant she still had an hour and twenty minutes before she might be able to drag her friends home.

The door to the club banged open and a new crowd of people entered. Cinder wasn’t going to cast them a second glance until she caught sight of a mane of curly red hair. She blinked in surprise and zeroed her gaze in on the group. Her initial surprise faded as she recognised a friend. The girl with the red hair caught sight of her quickly and waved.

Cinder returned the wave hesitantly. Scarlet Benoit was a year above her, but they’d had a run-in at a few of Thorne’s parties and had become pretty comfortable as friends. Scarlet’s hulking boyfriend Ze’ev Kesley, nicknamed Wolf by Thorne, was just over her shoulder and they had three others with them. At first, Cinder didn’t recognise any of them, but then the other girl in the group turned at looked right at Cinder.

The girl’s expression lit up and Cinder felt a smile twitch her lips. Winter Hayle Blackburn was more than a little excitable, but she was endearing and sweet and incredibly pretty. She was also Cinder’s step-cousin and the only member of her family who she actually liked. Winter instantly began pushing through the crowd to reach Cinder.

Cinder stood up and met her part way. She smiled in greeting and Winter threw her arms around her, hugging her tightly. She pulled back and smiled. “It’s so good to see you, Cinder! I wasn’t expecting to see you here on a school night, though.”

Cinder shrugged. “Thorne and Iko can be very persuasive when they both want the same thing.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” Scarlet agreed as she reached the other two. Cinder let her lips twitch in greeting to her friend.

“Scarlet,” another voice cut in, and all three turned to see Wolf’s huge form hulking behind his girlfriend. “Let me take your coat to the coat check.”

Scarlet beamed and removed her black coat. She passed it to her boyfriend and kissed his cheek. Wolf nodded to Cinder once before wading back through the crowd to coat check where the last two members of the entourage were. Cinder followed Wolf with her eyes, and Winter picked up on her gaze quickly.

“Oh! Cinder, have you met Jacin?” she asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” she said, wracking her brain for the name. Winter had never introduced her to a guy before, so she was pretty sure she’d never met him.

“He’s Winter’s boyfriend now,” Scarlet said. “He has the emotions of a brick unless it’s related to Winter,” she whispered to Cinder.

Cinder smothered a laugh as Winter beckoned excitedly to her boyfriend and the other two guys. Led by Wolf, the boys made their way over to the bar. Cinder studied the two newcomers she’d never met. The first boy had longish blonde hair that was tied back and sharp eyes. He was attractive and well-muscled, but his face was set in a hard, neutral expression. From the way Winter grabbed his arm as he approached, she reasoned that he was Jacin.

The other boy was an inch shorter than Jacin and built in a leaner fashion than both his companions. He had black hair that was tousled like he ran his hands through it often, and sharp eyes that made Cinder’s heart flutter. He was smiling and Cinder felt her mind go blank. He was gorgeous. The way he was dressed, a black button-down shirt and jeans, lead her to the conclusion that he knew exactly how attractive he was and she wanted to hate him for it, but he seemed like a nice guy too.

“Cinder, this is my boyfriend, Jacin. Jacin, this is my cousin, Cinder,” Winter introduced, waving a hand between her boyfriend and her cousin.

“And,” Scarlet added, a sly smile edging up on her lips, “this is Kai Dehaui.”

Cinder tucked her metal hand behind her back tentatively and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you,” she offered.

Kai smiled at her and Cinder wondered how she wasn’t currently combusting. “Scarlet’s told me a lot about you.”

Cinder whipped her head to look at the redhead, but Scarlet just winked and took Wolf’s arm. “We’re going to go get some drinks,” she said before dragging her boyfriend away.

“And we’re going to dance!” Winter exclaimed, pulling on Jacin’s hand. Cinder watched the blonde’s hard expression soften as he caved to go with his girlfriend.

With that, Cinder was left alone with an attractive guy she knew nothing about. Kai shifted a little uncomfortably, but he looked better than she felt.

“What are you studying?” she asked finally.

“Business,” Kai replied. He ran a hand through his hair and Cinder felt herself blush. He had a few strands of hair sticking up now, but somehow it only added to his attractiveness. “I’m in my fourth year of my degree now, thank God, and my father wants me to move into working for him.”

Suddenly puzzle pieces clicked in Cinder’s head. Dehaui. Dehaui Corporation. Also known as one of the biggest companies in the country. Kai was Rikan Dehaui’s son which meant he was absolutely loaded and definitely did not need to be out at a tiny local club with friends. He probably could have bought the whole club if he wanted to.

“Cinder?” Kai asked cautiously and she realised that she’d been staring into space just over his shoulder.

“Oh sorry, I just thought I saw my friend. It’s nothing.”

He smiled at her reassuringly. “Of course, don’t worry.” His gaze flickered to the bar behind her. “Would you like a drink?”

She blinked once in surprise before she shook herself out of it and shook her head. “Not drinking tonight, unfortunately,” she replied. “Thank you for offering.”

Kai shrugged. “Guys are supposed to buy beautiful girls drinks, aren’t they?” Cinder flushed instantly at his words, and it took Kai another second to realise what he’d said, but she noticed his ears turned pink quickly afterwards. “I’m going to grab a drink,” he said quickly, trying to brush away the embarrassment. “You don’t mind if I disappear quickly?”

Cinder shook her head quickly. “Of course not.” Kai grinned at her one last time before he slipped past her to the bar. She was still flustered when Scarlet appeared suddenly, curling an arm through hers.

“I knew you two would get along,” she teased.

“Scarlet, we just met. Besides, he’s Rikan Dehaui’s son!”

Scarlet waved a hand dismissively. “Cinder, he’s not like that. He wouldn’t be friends with us if he was. He’s a super nice guy. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by him.”

Cinder brought her hands to her temples and massaged them. “Then I’d have to explain this,” she grumbled, gesturing to her metal hand, “and I really don’t feel like telling this story.”

Scarlet’s eyes softened, but she didn’t relent. “He wouldn’t question it. He might be a little curious, but he definitely won’t think any less of you, I promise.”

Cinder was about to reply when Iko and Thorne appeared on the edge of the dance floor, both staggering along. Iko was walking by herself, albeit unsteadily, but Thorne was being assisted by a girl nearly half his size. Cinder quickly broke away from Scarlet, moving to take Thorne’s weight from the girl. She gladly relinquished him, but there was a glimmer of affection in her eyes.

“Thanks, Crescent,” Cinder said, pulling Thorne’s arm around her shoulder.

“Cress,” the blonde corrected. “Call me Cress.” She glanced at Thorne again and Cinder saw heat rise in her face. “When he’s sober, if he asks, he did give me his number.” Without another word, she turned and disappeared.

Scarlet wandered over and inspected the very drunk Thorne and Iko. “It’s not even midnight,” she laughed.

Cinder snorted. “When has that ever stopped Thorne before.” She stole a glance towards the bar, where she picked out Kai chatting with Wolf. As if feeling her gaze, he looked towards her, but Cinder snapped her gaze away, flushing again.

Iko let out a loud giggle, gripping onto Cinder’s side that wasn’t supporting Thorne. Scarlet laughed again and Cinder shook her head affectionately.

“I should get these two home safely,” she said.

“Alright,” Scarlet consented. “But, Cinder, Kai’s a great guy. I think you’d really like him if you got to know him more.”

Thorne mumbled something unintelligible and Cinder took that as her cue to leave, guiding her very drunk friends to the coat check. Iko and Cinder retrieved their coats and then they headed for the parking lot.

Cinder found herself invited to hang out with Scarlet far more often than usual and was getting to know the members of Scarlet’s friend group very well. Jacin was still pretty stiff, but that wasn’t anything new according to Scarlet. Wolf and Winter she already knew, but Cinder was starting to really, really, like Kai.

He was humble and very smart and yet he still had a scathing, sarcastic sense of humour that appeared at the best times. He knew how to make everyone laugh and he was very well liked. Cinder found she had a lot in common with Kai and enjoyed the time they spent together. They didn’t necessarily hang out along, but she’d stumbled across him in the library a couple times and they’d studied together.

Iko was thrilled. She had wanted Cinder to get a boyfriend for a very long time, and though her initial reaction was jealousy upon seeing how handsome Kai was, especially considering who his father was. She’d quickly gotten over it though and had gone into full shipping mode, trying to get Cinder to call Kai constantly.

Cinder herself was unsure. She still had not confided in Kai about her prosthetics and her accident. Whenever she found the opportunity was right, there was always an interruption of some sort to prevent her from doing so. It felt a little like she wasn’t meant to tell him. For the time being, it wasn’t a huge problem, but when Scarlet seemed so insistent that Kai liked her, it filled her chest will doubt and an anxious nervousness.

Friendship was safe and friendship was what she knew how to deal with. She could be friends with Kai. That much was proving to be easy.

Cinder had cracked open her physics book and was staring down a particularly tricky problem when someone pulled out the chair across from her. She glanced up and saw Kai smiling at her. He had his computer in one hand and his economics book in the other as he sat. Cinder returned his smile before turning back to her textbook.

Kai and Cinder had been studying together for three months now. Naturally, as Cinder was in Mechanical Engineering and Kai in Business, and the fact that he was a fourth year while she was in her second year, meant they never studied the same thing, but it was never hard to focus when he was there, and it felt just a little less stressful with a friend nearby.

She tapped her pencil against the page, frustrated. This particular problem was giving her grief. Her usual methods of muscling through with reason had failed, and none of her theory notes were helping her at all. She let out a grumble in frustration and ran her other hand through her hair. She didn’t even realise what she’d done until a piece of hair got stuck in one of the joints by her index finger.

Cinder paled instantly. Kai’s eyes were locked on her hand in surprise and Cinder cursed herself. Usually, she knew when she’d be around Kai and she wore gloves to disguise her hand, but she hadn’t expected to see him today and had removed her gloves in the warmth of the library. She lowered her hand slowly to the table and met Kai’s eyes tentatively. His gaze was surprised, but not disgusted, and was flickering between her hand and her eyes.

Cinder took a deep breath. Now had to be as good a time as any. “I was in a fire as a young child. My nanny died in it. It took my hand and my ankle and gave me terrible scars.”

Kai blinked in surprise. “I’m so sorry, Cinder. That’s horrible.”

She wet her lips. “When they pulled me out, they thought I was going to die. They managed to save me and I received skin grafts to disguise most of the scarring, but the nerves in my leg and hand were too damaged to save. I’ve had prosthetics for as long as I can remember.”

Kai gently reached out and covered her metal hand with both of his. “Did you think I would think less of you if you told me?”

She raised her chin a little. “I didn’t want your pity.”

He studied her. “Then I won’t give it. If it’s not too much, which leg?”

“Left,” she replied carefully.

Kai nodded and slowly removed his hands. “I don’t think less of you, Cinder. After all, it doesn’t change what kind of person you are,” he said confidently.

She stared. No one had ever accepted the story so smoothly and easily. Scarlet was right when she said that Kai wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. It was so strange to think that someone knew about her accident and how scarred it had left her and didn’t treat her any differently. She broke eye contact with Kai and looked down at her page again, feeling heat blossom in her cheeks.

After a second, Kai said something again. “It doesn’t make you any less beautiful either.”

Cinder snapped her head up to look at him, but he was looking at his computer now, his ears bright red.

Scarlet was turning twenty-one, and she was throwing a birthday party. Cinder and all her friends had been invited, and currently, Iko was twisting Cinder’s hair up, trying to tame it into something presentable. Cinder watched in the mirror as Iko’s tongue poked out the corner of her mouth as she inserted the final pin. Her friend stepped away, finally satisfied, and Cinder reached up to touch her hair.

Iko gasped and lunged forwards, knocking her hand away. “Cinder, don’t touch it!”

Scolded, Cinder dropped her hand into her lap. Iko stepped to her side and pulled down a single piece of hair on each side. Then she sprayed what felt like an entire can of hairspray to get the style to stay. Cinder loved it. Usually, her hair was thrown into a ponytail as it never seemed to cooperate when being styled, and he didn’t really know much about styling hair anyways.

Iko, on the other hand, had eagerly embraced the opportunity to dress up Cinder, having picked out her outfit and now doing her hair and make-up. “You’ll knock Kai dead for sure,” she said in a teasing tone.

Cinder flushed and Iko laughed. “Iko,” she grumbled, “I’m not trying to impress Kai.”

“Nonsense,” her friend scolded. “Of course you’re trying to impress Kai. You are in love with him.”

Cinder glared at her friend in the mirror and Iko just grinned. The blue-haired girl spun away from the chair, disappearing into her closet. Iko had been storing Cinder’s outfit for her to ensure that Cinder didn’t see it before the day of Scarlet’s party.

When Iko emerged from the closet holding the clothes she was to wear, Cinder felt all the blood in her body drain into her feet.

Scarlet was answering the door to her apartment that she shared with Wolf and she beamed upon seeing Cinder and Iko. “Cinder, Iko, you both look gorgeous!”

Scarlet was wearing a dress that came to just above her knees with long sleeves, and it was the perfect shade of burgundy that it didn’t clash with her hair and glittering under the lights. She looked stunning, and Cinder wasn’t sure that she deserved the compliment. Iko grinned at Scarlet, stepping around Cinder to hug the birthday girl. Iko was wearing a strapless blue crop top and a white skirt and it matched her perfectly.

Iko’s choice for Cinder’s outfit had been surprisingly tame, but also far more extravagant than she could have wanted. Cinder was wearing a sparkling silver dress that was just a little longer than Scarlet’s. It was equally as form fitting, but it had one thick strap that wrapped around her left shoulder. Iko had forbidden her from wearing gloves since everyone at the party already knew about her accident so Cinder was bearing her metal hand for all to see. Iko had been fortunate enough to choose boots for her too, boots that covered her artificial foot.

Iko shimmied past Scarlet into the party, heading straight for the dance floor and Cinder finally entered the apartment. Almost as soon as she was inside, someone whistled. Cinder scanned across the room and caught Thorne’s eye. He wiggled his eyebrows at her, but she glared and he turned back to his date, Cress, who he had been seeing since the night Cinder met Kai.

Scarlet shut the door behind them and linked her arm through Cinder’s. Cinder let Scarlet guide her into the party, ignoring most of the looks that people cast her.

“Happy birthday Scarlet,” Cinder said after a moment.

The redhead smiled. “I don’t suppose you’ll consider marrying Kai tonight as my present?”

Cinder flushed. “Scarlet, we’re not together!”

The birthday girl gave an exaggerated sigh. “I know, and it is a crime. He’s head over heels for you,” she said, her voice teasing. Cinder stayed quiet and fiddled with the neckline of her dress with her free hand. Scarlet stared at her. “You don’t believe me. Unbelievable. You two are the most hopeless people in the world when it comes to feelings.”

“I don’t want to ruin anything,” Cinder rebuffed stubbornly.

“Oh honey,” Scarlet teased, “you would make his whole life by telling him.”

Someone called Scarlet’s name and she turned, releasing Cinder’s arm. She gave Cinder one last smile. “Talk to him tonight, okay? Consider it an order!”

With that, Scarlet spun on her heel and flounced away. Cinder was only alone for a couple moments before someone appeared at her side. A hand landed on her arm and she jumped before realising it was only Kai. Her heart thumped as she took in his outfit. He was wearing an ice blue button down and nice jeans and looked very similar to how he had when she had first met him.

“Drink?” he offered, holding out a cup.

Cinder smelled alcohol, but she took it anyways. She and Kai had similar tolerance and taste in drinks so she expected to not be completely disgusted. Thankfully, it was a coke with the tiniest bit of rum mixed in. Very tolerable. “Thanks,” she said.

“You look beautiful,” Kai offered, smiling brightly.

Cinder forced herself to keep her rollercoaster of emotions under control. “Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.”

Kai gave her a sideways grin. “That’s the idea.” He reached up and popped his collar, wiggling his eyebrows and looking completely ridiculous.

Cinder laughed and reached out to fix his collar. She smoothed it out carefully. Then she realised how close they were standing. They were definitely in each other’s personal space and Cinder’s hand was still resting on Kai’s collar, just above his collarbone. He wasn’t moving away and neither was she. His eyes were locked on hers and Cinder felt electricity spark in her veins. Kai’s free hand began to drift upwards and it was hovering near her cheek. She realised with a start, that he was going to kiss her.

His fingers brushed lightly against her skin and his face gently dipped down towards her, but before anything could really happen, Cinder heard someone call her name. She spun quickly, breaking out of Kai’s grip. She nearly dropped her drink as her cousin appeared out of nowhere throwing her arms around her. Cinder stumbled and barely caught Winter, nearly backing into Kai.

Jacin was right behind Winter and raised an eyebrow at both Kai and Cinder. Cinder knew she was bright red, and she figured Kai was a little flustered too. “Are we interrupting something?” Jacin asked dryly.

Kai laughed. “Of course not. I was just giving Cinder her drink.”

Winter pulled away from Cinder finally and smiled broadly. Her eyes were twinkling and despite her usual obliviousness, Cinder had a feeling Winter knew exactly what was going on. “Come dance with me, Cinder! I love your dress by the way,” she said. She plucked the drink from Cinder’s hand and placed it on a nearby table.

Winter’s hand curled around Cinder’s arm and she tugged her towards the designated dance floor. Cinder cast one last helpless look towards Kai, but he had tucked his free hand into his pocket and was watching her with something warm glittering in his eyes. Cinder turned away quickly, going willingly with Winter.

A couple of dances later, Winter finally released Cinder to leave the dance floor, stealing Jacin to keep her company. Cinder made her way to the edge of the room, desiring to leave the spotlight. Several strands of her fancy hairdo were falling out, and Cinder had decided to avoid Iko on the chance that her friend would blame her for her hair’s uncooperativeness.

Cinder found the drink table in the other room and, assuming she wasn’t getting the drink Winter took back, poured herself a new rum and coke. Her human hand trembled slightly as she held the cup, thinking back to when Kai had handed her the drink, so she slid the cup into her metal hand. She took a long sip and frowned through the burn of the alcohol.

“Drinking to forget your problems?” Wolf asked, appearing from almost nowhere.

Cinder scowled. “I don’t have a problem.”

Wolf’s expression flattened. “Cinder, I’m bad with relationships. I honestly have no idea what Scarlet sees in me, but come on! You have one very big problem and he’s about three inches shorter than me, a major nerd, and his name has three letters.”

Cinder sighed, taking another drink. “What is it with everyone assuming that I like Kai?”

“Because it’s the truth,” Wolf replied. “Just do something about it before Scarlet does. You know how she is when she’s meddling.” Without another word, Wolf filled two cups with drinks and walked away.

Cinder couldn’t help it as she glared bitterly after Wolf. What did he know? Apparently, as much as everyone else did. She groaned. She liked Kai a lot and it was honestly such a big headache. Especially now that she was considering whether Kai was actually going to kiss her or if she was making it up in her head.

Cinder didn’t look for Kai. She stayed relatively close to the drinks table, but after her first drink, didn’t have any more. Iko had filled up her cup a while ago and had tried to persuade Cinder to look for Kai, but had really just made her want to hide in a hole. She hadn’t seen Scarlet or Wolf since Wolf was getting them drinks, but she knew that she should probably avoid Scarlet less the birthday girl took things into her own hands.

She was fiddling with a joint on her hand when Cress wandered out of the kitchen and caught sight of her. The blonde lit up and scurried over.

“Oh Cinder! I need your help! I lost my earring when Thorne and I were hanging out and I can’t see it well enough without my glasses to find it!” Cress thumbed her ear to prove her earring was missing.

“Where did you last have it?” Cinder asked carefully.

“I think it was in Scarlet’s room,” Cress replied.

“Why were you there?”

Cress flushed. “Okay maybe we weren’t talking, but I still need to find it!”

Cinder laughed. “It’s okay Cress, I’m not judging. Let’s go find your earring.”

Cress led Cinder down a hallway towards a bedroom that she assumed was Scarlet’s. Cress pushed open the door and was surprised to see Scarlet, still dressed in her finery, on her hands and knees on the carpet. Cress quickly moved to join her and the two girls combed over the carpet.

“Cinder,” Scarlet said, “can you check in the closet? We can handle out here.”

Cinder blinked. She had no clue why the earring would be in the closet, but she moved towards it anyways. She stepped inside and knelt down. Scarlet’s closet was a walk-in, but small. Two people could fit inside if it was a little squishy, and Cinder was just more confused. How on earth could Cress have lost her earring in the closet?

She couldn’t have. That was the answer. Suddenly Cinder realised:

Scarlet. Meddling.

She stood up quickly and turned to see the door of the closet closing in her face. Cinder pounded on it. “Scarlet!”

“Sorry Cinder, but this really does need to happen,” Scarlet sang, her voice muffled on the other side of the door.

Cinder jostled the doorknob, but it was locked. She let out a long low groan and cursed herself for being so predictable. Honestly, she had not been expecting Cress to be in on it, so she supposed Scarlet’s plan was good, but it was frustrating anyways. Plus, she had no idea how they planned to get Kai in the closet it with her.

If they wanted to trick him they’d have to unlock the door so that he could wander in and then Cinder would be able to escape.

What she wasn’t expecting was to hear four sets of footsteps enter the room. Cinder tensed.

“Wolf, Thorne, what are you doing?” That was Kai’s voice. He sounded confused and Cinder realised that Wolf and Thorne had probably just grabbed him and dragged him there.

“Solving your problem,” Scarlet replied happily.

Cinder prepared to shove out of the closet as soon as they opened the door. When it open, she sprung forwards only to collide with Kai who had been firmly shoved in and they both toppled backwards thanks to Kai’s greater weight. They landed awkwardly on the floor, Kai on top of Cinder, and Cinder bashed her elbow on the wall behind her and cursed.

The door slammed shut again and the lock clicked.

“We’ll be back in a bit!” Scarlet called through the door and Cinder heard the three sets of footsteps retreat.

The closet was pitch dark aside from the strip of lights that snuck in through the sides of the closet door. Kai was balanced precariously above Cinder, his arms on either side of her to brace himself. Their legs were entangled too and in the dim light, Cinder could vaguely see the redness in Kai’s cheeks.

Kai tried to move off of her, but there was something attaching their legs together and Cinder realised that his pant leg must have caught on her prosthetic. She blushed and cursed under her breath.

“Do you think you could lift yourself just a little higher?” she asked awkwardly.

Kai laughed with equal awkwardness and did as she asked. Cinder slid down between his arms until her face was underneath his chest. Her fingers reached for the prosthetic and she habitually removed it, subsequently freeing Kai from its trap. As soon as he was free he rolled off of her so that he was sitting beside her. They were still basically pressed next to each other because of the lack of space, but at least they weren’t actually attached.

Cinder slid forwards some more and spun so that she and Kai were facing each other and leaning against opposite walls. She deftly reattached her foot and looked up at him. He was studying her face in the gloom, and she could still pick out the faint pink of a fading blush. Cinder felt the heat of her own cheeks and she wanted to disappear.

She was locked in a closet. With a boy she liked.

Cinder wanted to strangle Scarlet. What part of her friend had thought this would be a good idea?

“Are you okay?” Kai asked suddenly.

Cinder blinked at him. He was squinting to try and see her face. “I’m fine. I wasn’t the one dragged up here and thrown in a closet.”

Kai laughed. “Yeah, that was awkward. Thorne told me that he needed to show me something in the kitchen so I walked in and then Kesley’s there and they’re both grabbing me. Next thing I know I’m being dragged and shoved in here. How’d they get you in here?”

“Cress said she lost an earring in here. I realised too late that this was a stupid decision of mine to trust her, especially since Scarlet was in the room too.”

“Ah, well at least you weren’t manhandled.”

Awkwardness fell across the closet and she watched Kai nudge the door with his toe. They were sitting, facing each other, with Cinder’s bent legs in the middle and Kai’s knees on either side of hers.

“This wouldn’t be happening if I wasn’t such a coward earlier,” he mumbled.

Cinder blinked. “A coward?”

He laughed. “I was going to kiss you before Winter showed up. I was also going to ask you out last week at the library and bring you roses when we went out for lunch that one time. I had all these great, grandiose ideas planned and yet we ended up here, in a closet, because Scarlet’s done with my cowardice.”

Cinder felt all the blood in her body rush to her face. “She wasn’t lying?”

Kai stared at her. “Cinder, I think I’ve been in love with you since the day we met. Whatever Scarlet said, I’m sure she wasn’t lying. I just thought that it was too soon to ask, and then after you showed me your hand, I thought I had been reading into your nervousness all wrong.”

Cinder could barely breathe. All this time, she had been so sure that she was the one reading too much into it.

“I’m sorry I’ve screwed this all up. I wanted it to be romantic and sweet and completely the opposite of whatever this is,” Kai rambled, his hands waving dramatically.

He was adorable. He was rambling and it was endearing and Cinder’s heart couldn’t take much more of it. She leant forwards and shifted onto her knees. Kai stopped talking and just watched her. Cinder gently rested her hands on his shins and practically crawled between his legs towards him. In the dark, Cinder leant forward and her hands found Kai’s chest. They slid along his shirt until she found his collar.

The light was just illuminating their faces so Cinder could take in the surprise etched across Kai’s expression. She laughed at him. “Please, shut up. You’re adorable, but please stop talking.”

Kai did as she asked and he leant forwards and kissed her, his hands coming to cup her face. Cinder kissed him back eagerly, her right hand sliding around to twist in the hair at the back of his neck. Kai broke the kiss because he was smiling too hard.

“I’ve been waiting too long to do that.”

“Shut up and kiss me again.”

When Scarlet unlocked the closet an hour later, Cinder was curled into Kai’s chest and he was playing with her hair, having released it from Iko’s deathtrap. The redhead had smirked at the expressions on her friends' faces.

“Happy birthday to me, indeed.”

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