Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 29

Cynthia rushed to her mother, grabbing her hand. Leo came right behind her, a protective hand on her shoulder.
Thaumaturge Nyx laughed a deep rolling laugh full of malice. "Oh my dear Cynthia! I cannot believe you thought you could walk down the hall and somehow escape me. Really, it's hilarious. Truly, that was a great idea of mine, to place your love in the room down the hall. It's been very entertaining for me to see you get your hopes up."
Leo's reassuring hand gripped her shoulder harder, not backing away, but there was no time to discuss what they were, or even to think about it. The princess was prepared to bolt at the sign of lunar soldiers, but none came.
"So princess, I've decided that since you've caused such a hard time for me I'm going to abide by an old motto, or rather, you will."
She looked expectantly at the group of them, waiting patiently. Cynthia's face remained hard. She wasn't going to give the woman the satisfaction of asking what she meant.
"I mean, of course," Nyx finally said after Cynthia, Leo, and Cinder neglected to ask, "If you can't beat them, join them."
Cynthia blinked, waiting for the ultimatum and debating whether or not to risk using her bioelectricty.
"You have two options princess. Let us implant you with a new Linh device which, thanks to the other half lunar in the room," she looked pointedly at Leo, "is newly improved so that I will be able to control you and your strange power. Or I will kill your mother right here, right now."
Another choice that wasn't really a choice. Another option that was not really an option.
Before she could even submit to the ridiculous claim, Leo spoke up. "Take me instead."
Nyx laughed again. "That's not the point young pilot! You'll stay here too, but only so we. Can use you for the very first victory in a movement that our fair queen here will start herself."
"I'm not doing anything else for you Nyx, not with my daughter here," Cinder growled.
The thaumaturge waved her arm as if she was brushing off the words. "You know the most powerful mover, motivator really, in this world is fear. People fear what they cannot understand, and they fear what people they love tell them to fear. Fear drives people to do things that seemed completely immoral before they had that fear. I've been using it with you Cynthia. You fear losing the lives of those you love more than anything else, and so I've been able to get you to do whatever I ask. Now I'm going to use fear on everyone on Luna, and no one will be able to wiggle Luna from my grip ever again.
"And I thought to myself, what would be the most powerful way to strike fear into the hearts of every Lunar. Hurting them, perhaps, but I don't really need them to fear the government. I already have Queen Selene and they adore her. What I need is to get rid of all half-Lunars. Make them like shells, but even more terrifying so that vigilantes will be out int he streets doing my work for me. And then I put my three greatest prizes together and realized this:
"What you be more powerful than the queen sentencing her closest friends' son and her own daughter to death?"
Cynthia's eyes widened. She couldn't imagine how painful that would be for her mother, the one who always, always tried to save those she loved first. The one who would never lift a finger against an innocent life. One look at her and the princess could see the fire blazing in her mother's eyes.
"It will be perfect," Nyx continued, getting more animated and practically giddy with every breath. "We'll stage a destruction of a poor sector of Artemisia. The princess and her pilot, under my control, will become monsters and so will every other half-lunar. They will be begging for your head on a platter by the time your executions come."
That was when the soldiers flooded in from the door behind Nyx, and Cynthia felt more helpless than she ever had before.
"I never made any promises to that witch," came Leo's voice softly in the princess's ear. Then, in the empress's, "Close your eyes Your Majesty."
He took a breath and then the room dissolved in blinding light. The screams of agony from the wolfen soldiers echoed louder than thunder in the room. The thaumaturge crumpled to the ground, and Cynthia was the only other conscious person in the room.
The light faded, and Leo heaved, but he was smiling. "I've only ever done little bursts in their labs," he admitted.
Cynthia rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand. "We have to get out of here. Maybe if we're lucky the spindle or the rampion are still here."
"What about the letumosis?" The empress croaked from her seat, ands finally removed from her eyes. She wore a kind of calculating expression, as if she was trying to make sense of this abnormality that her daughter and Leo possessed. Still, she had always been good at multitasking. "She threatened me with it too."
"If we can get back to earth fast enough we might be able to assemble  the Earthen Union and take back Luna. Then we can have all the old letumosis factories pumping out antidotes just in case we can't stop her from releasing it on the world," Cynthia suggested. Surely Nyx and her band of rogue lunar soldiers wouldn't be able to take on the entire Earthen Union.
Cinder nodded. "It's worth a shot I think." She climbed down from her chair, and Cynthia took her arm helping her walk toward the door. With each step the empress gained more strength, and by the time all three were at the door she could walk on her own.
"Wait! One more thing." She said and rushed back to the still unconscious thaumaturge. She reached inside the woman's inky black sleeves and pulled out the needle and vial. "We'll be able to use this to make the antidote" she noted, smirking. "And it feels nice to take something from her for once."
No sooner had she caught up with Leo and Cynthia again that they were dashing down the hall, Cynthia in front. She scanned every wall, searching desperately.
"What are you looking for? Where are the ships?" Leo asked as. He ran behind her, but Cynthia was too focused to answer. Finally, she spotted it, a metallic rectangle in the wall just big enough for a person to fit through.
"This way!" She called to her mother and Leo. When she had their attention she flung open the garbage chute and slid into the darkness.