I promise this one ends up happier!

The world was shrouded in a cold, white mist that clung to her skin like tiny fingers. She hung in it, letting the cool mist hold her. The pain that had filled her world for so, so long, was finally gone. Her mind was empty, and the only sound was the steady beat of her heart. She was free of the heavy metal that had plagued her for so long, the cold steel that weighed her down. She was whole again.

Then the fingers turned sharp and hot, tearing through her skin and bone like wet tissue paper. She thrashed, screaming in pain as her body burned. She felt their rough, calloused hands and sharp knives that cut her skin, that took her bones. A match they said, a perfect match. She was supposed to die, she knew deep down she was supposed to die. They threw her in a ditch, bleeding out in the hot sun. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. The darkness took her and she thought she died. But she woke up with a million scars and spine of steel.

She was almost crushed under the weight of the metal, but she learned to stand on her own. Her body grew strong, and her spine straightened. She raised her face to the sky and screamed, screamed for the girl she'd been, for the body she'd lost, and for the girl she had become. She fought for herself, for the children like her, and for the steel in her spine. And there was a girl, a girl with metal in her body and fire in her soul.

Then there was fire that tore through her, that melted the metal and burned her bones. She didn't cry, she didn't scream, she stood in the inferno and protected the girl with what little she had left. For a while she was weightless, free.

The weight returned slowly, starting in her chest and spreading to the rest of her body. She was heavier than she'd been, stronger than she ever thought she could be. Her body returned in pieces, until she was finally whole.

So she opened her eyes.

When Cinder finally came to the nurse was checking her pulse. The woman gasped in relief and rushed off to find a doctor before Cinder could gasp anything out. She dragged herself into a sitting position and groaned, popping her neck.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor appeared by her bed, along with one of the few medroids used on Luna.

"Stiff...what's wrong with my heart?"

The doctor paused and glanced at the medroid. "No abnormalities detected."

"Can I talk to a biomechanic? My heart-"

"There's nothing wrong with your heart, Miss Linh." The doctor waved his hand dismissively. "It's just shoddy workmanship on your internal hardware."

"I would like to talk to a biomechanic," Cinder snapped.

"Well he's not completely wrong," a gray-haired man in grease-stained overalls walked in, escorted by a pair of guards. "Though I wouldn't blame Ror's work. Truth is, he only had time to modify a pre-existing internal control system, and most models aren't built with women in mind. False alarms like these are fairly common among female cyborgs."

"You just had an anxiety attack," the doctor was starting to look bored. "After your last few…adventurous days, it's not particularly surprising. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have several patients to check on."

Cinder wasn't sorry to see him go, but the older man didn't seem to be finished. "Well he's a bundle of joy."

"You get used to the luddites after a while, though they're usually a bit more respectful when they know who I am."

"Now you know how my patients feel," he sat down in the chair next to her. "Ror tells me you're a friend of Elena's. How is she?"

Cinder swallowed, grimacing as she answered. "She's stable, but her condition hasn't changed much."

"Mm. She always was a fighter, that one. She started out with one of the worst metal spines I've ever seen, but you wouldn't have known it by what she's done. She ever tell you how she got that?"

Cinder shook her head. "I only knew her for a few days."

"The American organ donation system is spotty at best, and it's usually cheaper and much faster to go through the black market. Some drug lord's wife got in a hover accident, ruining her spine and hand. She didn't want to be a cyborg, imagine that, and matching spine donors are nearly impossible to find. Elena was a social service worker, and they found her information in the government database. Harvesters cut her up, took what they wanted and left her to die. She barely survived, and only had enough money for the most rudimentary spine, and she went without a hand for years. I don't think I've seen anyone bounce back like her."

"I never knew," Cinder whispered, looking down at her hands. "I just thought she was in a hover accident."

"That's what she told people for years, most don't know the real story."

"I don't know what we'll do without her. I don't know what I'll do without her."

"She'll live. If anyone could, it's Elena. She's a fighter, that woman," the man smiled sadly. "And if she doesn't…we'll find our way. I've watched three queens rise and fall, and I've always ended up fine. Well, as fine as a biomechanic on Luna can be."

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "How did a born Lunar manage to become a biomechanic?"

"I have a knack for making terrible employment decisions. Being a surveillance professional on Luna doesn't make much money, and it tends to get you in a bit of trouble," he chuckled at that. "Might as well step it up a notch and become a biomechanic. There's a bit more money in it, and it's a nice feeling to actually help people."

"So…you're sure there's nothing wrong with my heart?"

"Like the luddite said, it was just an anxiety attack. I'll have to make a few adjustments to your interface, but other than that you're good to go. If you could just lean forward so I can get a look at your control panel…"

Cinder was still squeamish about people going anywhere near her control panel, but the biomechanic made quick work of whatever it was that needed tweaking. It was strangely intimate, and only a handful of people had actually seen inside her head, a fact that Thorne was weirdly proud of. "I feel like I should at least know your name," she joked as he made another quick fix.

"Abbott."

"Just Abbott?"

"That's all you need to know," he closed her control panel and stepped back. "You shouldn't have any more problems."

"What was it picking up?" she rubbed her neck.

"It probably misread the second heart beat as a hurt murmur. Now, if you don't need anything else…"

"Second heartbeat?" Cinder asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did Ror install a new pacemaker?"

Abbott paused. "Did no one tell you?"

Her stomach dropped. "Tell me what?"

"I- I think I ought to get a nurse. This isn't exactly my area of expertise…" he looked around frantically.

"What do you mean?"

"I knew I shouldn't have gotten mixed up with royalty again, I knew it." He sat down again and dropped his head into his hands. "Okay, here goes-"

The door to the infirmary flew open and Winter rushed in, still dressed for her meeting with the EU leaders. "Cinder! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?!" she snapped. "What's going on?"
"How could you not tell me? Who-"

"Winter-"

"It's Kai, right? It's gotta be Kai-"

"Winter."

"I mean who else would it be? Honestly I don't think you've talked to anyone else-"

"I swear to god if someone doesn't tell me what's going on I am going to shoot someone!" Cinder shouted, finally losing her temper.

"You don't know? Well I guess you wouldn't, it's still pretty early-"

"Winter."

She bit her lip, caught between a smile and an awkward shrug. "You're pregnant."

Pregnant.

"You're going to have a baby!"

"Baby." Cinder repeated, running the conversation through her head again and again to make sure she'd heard her right. Her stomach was now firmly lodged in her throat, and she thought she might vomit.

Baby.

"Oh this is wonderful! I mean it's not the best timing, but after all this time, thinking you couldn't-"

Baby.

"No. No. Nononononono," Cinder shook her head hard. "The test is wrong, it's wrong Winter, it has to be! I- I can't be-"

"Did you..."

"Yes! Yes, that's not the problem! But I cannot physically be pregnant! It's not possible!"

"If I may," Abbott still looked painfully awkward. "Doctors who aren't trained for cyborg and lunar anatomy often misread that sort of thing, have you had a second opinion?"

"Dozens. Every single one said the same thing. Well, except Erland, but he said a lot of questionable things-"

"But he had training in both Lunar and cyborg anatomical structures," Winter pointed out. "I told you to look into it-"

"I did! I looked into every possibility-"

"Well obviously not, because you are definitely-"

"No I'm not, Winter!" Cinder snapped. "I can't be!"

The cousins glared at each other for several seconds until a nurse appeared. "If I may, this might help."
She placed a display on Cinder's stomach and pressed a few buttons, it glowed white for a moment and then suddenly a grainy image appeared. "It'll be clearer in a minute," the nurse kept pressing buttons.

Then Cinder heard it. It was quiet and slow, but the heartbeat rang in her ears like a drum. The image cleared, and there wasn't much to see, but the heartbeat was enough for her.

"You're about two weeks along," the nurse said, rattling off a few facts.

"Stop," Cinder whispered. "I…I need to be alone for a bit. Just for a bit."

Lizbeta kept a tight grip on Beatrice as they rushed down the hallway. A few people stared as they ran past, and many had to physically jump out of the way.

"It's going to be okay," Lizbeta murmured.

Beatrice didn't breathe until she saw Elena's brown eye staring back at her. She fell to her knees by the bed and grabbed the older woman's hand, tears coming to her eyes. "Thank you," she sobbed, dropping her head onto the bed. "Thank you so much. Thank you."

Lizbeta sat beside her, keeping her arm around her shoulders. Elena smiled, or at least tried to, her destroyed features didn't quite work right. "Hello," her voice sounded too metallic, but it still made Beatrice feel so much better.

"You're okay. You're okay."

"I wouldn't say that," Henson nudged her with his foot to get her out of the way so he could get another look at Elena's chest cavity. "But she's alive."

"Mm…" Elena sighed as he gave her a dose of pain meds. "Thank you."

"Beatrice," Lizbeta nudged the girl out of her stupor.

The politician swiped at her eyes. "There's something I need to ask you, before you go back to sleep."

"Go ahead."

"Did Cinder make you protect her?" she choked out.

Elena paused. "No."

Beatrice collapsed, the tension in her body finally flowed away. Elena rested a hand on her head, and Lizbeta pulled her into her arms.

"It's okay," she sobbed, smiling through the tears. "We're going to be okay."

(I apologize for the scientific inaccuracies, I couldn't find any agreeing articles on when a heartbeat starts, so I went for the shortest time, which turned out to be waaaayyy off)

But look! Happiness! I just have a few more chapters to go to wrap up this monstrosity of a plot! Reviews are appreciated!

-Circe King