The Prison of Luna

Cinder

"Are you still sure you want to do this, Cinder?" Cinder nodded slowly.

Although she wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Winter and Cinder made their way inside one of the gloomy, dark rooms of the hallway of the dead.

The hairs on Cinder's arms stood up and goosebumps crawled up her skin. It was a small room, dark, a glass case on a purple bed was placed in the middle of the room.

As Cinder walked closer, the more perplexed she came.

Winter didn't seem to notice something was wrong, and she placed a hand gingerly on Cinder's shoulder.

Cinder approached the glass case, and placed the pads of her hot fingers against the cool glass.

He was inside, and he looked exactly like Kai, except -

"Winter..." Cinder began cautiously. "This isn't Kai." Winter looked at her, sincere sympathy sprawled from her eyes to the scars on her cheek.

"I understand what it's like to lose -"

"No, no. I'm serious," Cinder cut her off. "This isn't Kai." She caught something in the corner of her eye. There was a small mechanism at the end of the glass case, Cinder recognized it as a preserver. They kept organic material fresh for very, very long periods of time - hundreds and hundreds of years. Usually, a
preserver was used for food, but it could keep anything organic fresh, including bodies.

Cinder crossed to it, and ran her fingers along a black plaque at he top. In carved white letters, it did not say "Kai," or "Emperor Kai," which Cinder had wholly expected, it read:

Emperor Rikan

And underneath in smaller scrawl:

Long live the Emperor

"Winter, Winter c'mere." Cinder beckoned her, and she came over, approaching her cautiously like she was a wild animal.

"Look." She pointed to the plaque, and Winter's eyes widened from sympathy to complete shock.

"I don't... understand," she muttered, dumbfounded.

"You must have not seen it." Cinder stood, forgetting about her missing limbs and almost tripping before Winter caught her.

She was overcome with such relief, that she didn't even care. She wanted to sprint out the hall and search for him, she wanted to not stop until she found him.

She thought for a moment. Could she glamour herself an arm and a leg? But, no, a glamour was not real, just a trick, it could never be real.

Still, worth a try.

She pushed from Winter, wobbling on one foot. She had to stabilize herself on the glass case before finally reaping what little balance she had.

"What are you..." Winter trailed off as she understood. "Cinder, that's impossible, you couldn't -"

Cinder held up a hand to her. "Just let me try." Winter opened her mouth like she was about to say something, her lips parted, before she clamped her mouth shut and nodded.

First, Cinder would have to crack the bioelectricity lock on her neck. This wouldn't be so hard. She reached behind and felt around, stopping when she bumped something hard.

She tightened pressed the pads of her thumb and forefinger against it, and began to jar it lose. After what felt like an eternity, it cracked, an Cinder felt white hot pain shoot through her limbs. It was not nearly as bad as when her first lock broke, probably because it had not been on nearly as long.

She called up her gift.

Cinder shook herself out, and felt the telltale tingle at the base of her spine, the warmth. It spread to her fingertips, then stopped before hitting the gnarled metal at the end of her left wrist.

Metal...

Or flesh.

The warmth continued. She shut her eyes, craning her head back. She hoped against hope that this would work.

The humming feeling faded. She opened her eyes and looked to Winter.

"I - I see them," she said hesitantly. Slowly, Cinder raised her left hand.

She had never been so happy to see metal in her life.

In the corner of her vision, an orange dot began to blink. This signified that someone was lying. It also assisted Cinder in resisting bioelectrical manipulation. She could see through glamours.

Even as she stared at her cyborg hand, white lines began to chip away at it, leaving an outline of the jutting metal and wires that were really there.

But Cinder blinked them away, and she fisted the cyborg hand. For some reason, she had chosen her old cyborg hand. She felt giddy with the familiarity, the joints caked in grease, the stainless steel not so stainless anymore.

Then she casted her eyes to her leg. The end of her tied cargo pants were ripped through, and the metal winked up at her. The foot, for some reason, was her new one she had received from Dr. Erland, all the titanium plates and polished metal there.

She wiggled the toes in the carpet, and leaned all her weight onto the cyborg leg. How was this possible? Before, she knew her bioelectricity was powerful, but she didn't understand how she could create limbs out of thin air.

But she had no time to think of that.

"Let's go." Winter nodded, still aghast. She was still at a loss for words the next time Cinder spoke to her, when they had emerged from the darkness back into the bright halls, Cinder stopped. She couldn't believe her luck.

"Scarlet? Cress?"

"Cinder!" They ran together and met in the middle, flustered and exasperated.

"Wolf went to look for you," Scarlet began.

"Then we need to find him, he went to look for you," Cinder replied.

"And I found you." A sudden deep voice surprised them, and Wolf came prowling up. Success was becoming a less and less crazier notion by the second.

"You know where Jacin is?" Cinder turned to Winter, who nodded. "What about Kai?"

"I - I have an idea," Winter replied hesitantly. "Perhaps the royal chambers?"

"That's good enough for me."

"Hold on, Cinder, where did you get those." Cress, who was standing off to the side, spoke up in her quiet tone. She pointed to Cinder's metal leg and arm.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," the cyborg replied. "But I'm not complaining." She gestured for them all to follow. Hearing Cress talk, she remembered something, and stopped, the group stopping with her. "Winter, do you know where the laboratories are?"

"Of course, it's deserted now, except for a few guards watching over the vault of the Leutemosis antidote." Cinder grinned, turning to Cress.

"We'll get Jacin, go to the laboratories, get the antidote, get Thorne, and then look for Kai." She scanned the group of perplexed faces. "We'll need to split up. Wolf, Scarlet, you go get the antidote, and Winter, Cress, and myself will get Jacin. Once we have them, we'll meet back here, get Thorne, then look for Kai, alright?"

"Who died and made you alpha," Scarlet said sarcastically. Cinder shot her a glare. "Kidding! I'm kidding, let's go Wolf." They walked their separate ways, each cautiously optimistic.

None of them had the slightest idea they were being watched.