Sorry I haven't updated in forever! I've been kept up on a lot of things, and I have a lot of other stories I'm trying to continue. But never fear! I shall write this story and (hopefully) I will complete it. It's going to be a bit of a long one.

Thank you to all of the people who left supportive comments on this story. It really means a lot to me! And to the one person who asked how old Emily and Trellis are now, the answer is that their ages are still the same for the most part. Trellis is still about seventeen (ish) and Emily is...thirteen? Fourteen? I don't know. She's grown a lot in this series. Either way, their current age is completely unrelated to the title.

But yeah, thanks for all the support. I definitely plan on continuing this. Now, enough of my rambling. Enjoy!

-Lilith

Kanalis didn't remind Emily of any city she had ever been to or heard of. She had lived in a city before, but that had been more of a town than a city. Kanalis didn't remind her of any city she had ever heard of on Earth. She didn't want to leave.

Everywhere she looked, she saw robots of some sort. Robots aiding citizens by helping the elderly cross the street and by carrying items, the large robot houses that loomed over everyone's heads, even advertisements for microbots, which couldn't do much now, but eventually could do things like cure cancer and heal broken bones.

Of course, she was used to seeing things like that by now. She had been in Alledia long enough to know that robot citizens were considered normal. But it never really occurred to her that they were everywhere, and in many shapes and sizes. That they could (somehow) have families.

She began to wonder how that was even possible. How could these metal creatures have emotions and desires? How could they want to settle down and have a family? How could they love someone else?

The redhead guessed it wasn't that weird though. After all, if one were to take out the thing that made humans special, the only things left would be bones, blood, muscles, organs, and nerves. But how the people of Alledia figured out how to transfer a human (Soul? Personality?) into a computer was beyond her.

God, I hope Earth catches up soon, she thought to herself. She sat up, grabbed the bottle of water that was beside her, and took a sip. She was lying on the roof of the hotel her family was currently staying in, the night sky suspended above her. As she set the bottle down and stretched out again, she let her mind wander. She wondered if the stars in Alledia were the same ones on Earth. Probably. Maybe? She didn't know. She wondered how big Alledia really was. There had to be more land than what she saw on the maps, right? But then why did she never hear anything about the world outside of Alledia? Maybe everyone outside of Alledia was dead. Or maybe just really antisocial.

As she stared at the stars, she wondered what Trellis was seeing. Was it past midnight for him? Did Alledia even have time zones? Probably. It still seemed surreal to her that she was looking up at the cloudless night sky while someone else was shielding their eyes from the afternoon sun.

Was Alledia a planet? Or was Alledia a portion of a planet? How long did this planet take to orbit once around the sun? Were Alledian years longer or shorter than Earth years? Is Alledia part of the same galaxy as Earth? The same universe? Probably. But would the humans on Alledia be considered aliens to the humans on Earth? She decided that she would have to ask these questions later.

"Emily?" She heard a voice speak inside of her room. She froze, listening. "Are you in here?" Navin. Of course.

She pushed herself up and over to the window, peering down inside. Sure enough, Navin was cautiously glancing around her bedroom, illuminated by the moonlight that was streaming in from the open window. "I'm here, little dude." She said, and he jumped up in surprise, and then clutched his chest.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," he accused before taking a step closer. "What are you doing up there?"

She grinned. "Come on up," she invited. "The view is great."

Emily pulled away from the window, sitting with her legs crossed as she watched Navin slowly, cautiously, pull himself up onto the roof. Then he scrambled away from the roof's edge, sitting beside her before taking a deep breath. "You weren't kidding about the view." He said, a little breathless.

"Drink some water if you're thirsty," Emily offered him the bottle. He took it and took a few gulps before handing it back. "So, why aren't you in bed?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same question?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Same."

Emily laid down on her back. "I'll tell you why I can't sleep if you tell me why you can't."

"You first."

"No. You're on my roof, remember? I can push you off."

"You wouldn't dare."

"You're right. But I would drag you back into my room and yell for mom."

He sighed, lying down beside her. "Fine. I'll tell you why." He took a deep breath. "I...I don't know what to do about Ally."

"What about her?" Emily asked.

Navin fidgeted beside her. "I'm going to be blunt; I like her. I like her a lot. There are about two people that I want helping me to pilot an airship, and she's one of them."

"Who's the other?"

"Cogsley."

"Ah. Makes sense. So you like her. Did you tell her that?"

Navin shut his eyes, his face pinching up. "No. I was going to, but I never found the right time for it."

Emily paused, thinking. Then she began to speak. "Allow me to give you some sisterly advice. You know how people say that there is a time and a place for everything?"

"Yeah?"

"This is it. I think she likes you, Navin. And unless you get the guts to tell her how you feel, we're going to end up back on Earth, and you're never going to see her again. You're never going to tell her how you feel, and she's never going to know how you really felt. And eventually she's going to move on. Do you want that to happen.

"Well, no, but how am I supposed to-"

"Just go for it. She's going to be here in a day to send us off, right? Just tell her. Don't wait. Just spit it out and tell her that you like her."

Navin sighed deeply. "Thanks, Emily. I needed that."

"No problem."

He shifted, facing her. She looked back at him. "So, what's your issue?"

She smirked. "I'm afraid it's a lot bigger than your love life, little brother."

"Don't patronize me."

"I'm not trying to."

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she turned away, closing her eyes. "Trellis asked me to be queen of Alledia."

There was a pause. After a few beats, she opened her eyes, turning to find that Navin was choking on his own spit. "Woah, Navin, don't die on me," she said as she pushed him up into sitting position, thumping on his back. He coughed, and then whirled around to face her, his eyes wild.

"He asked you to marry him?!" He asked, his voice squeaky and distraught.

She recoiled at the question. "What? No! I never said anything about marriage!"

"You just said that he proposed to you!"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "No, I said that he asked me to be queen of Alledia. There's a difference."

"No there isn't!"

"Sure there is. For example, no one is getting married!" She snapped, and he calmed down, taking deep breaths.

She folded her arms across her chest as she waited for him to finally chill. After about fifteen seconds, he spoke. "Why did he ask you to be a freaking queen?"

"I dunno," she said with a shrug. "I mean, I have a few theories, but other than that, I've got nothing."

"Theories?"

"Yeah. Like he wants Alledia to be united and the best way to do that is to rule along side of someone who shares the same goals."

"That can be anyone."

"Okay yeah but anyone can lie and pretend. He doesn't know how someone really feels about a topic. He's just trying to play it safe."

Navin laid back down beside Emily. "Doesn't he have any friends?"

"You're forgetting that he's a prince, so he probably doesn't have many."

Her brother was silent for a few minutes. "I don't like it," he said after he thought things through.

"I know you don't. It seems sudden and unrealistic, right?" She guessed. He nodded. "But he has a point. He wants someone that he can trust and who wants to help reunite Alledia."

"Emily, you don't trust him, remember? He kidnapped mom!"

She sighed. "He was confused."

"That's a pathetic excuse and you know it."

She took a deep breath, beginning to lose her cool. "He isn't confused now."

Navin opened his mouth to argue, and then shut it. "Do you want to be queen of Alledia?" He asked after another pause.

Emily blinked, her face twisting into a look of concentration. "I don't know," she said. "I'm not opposed to being queen, but I'm not for it either."

"What you're saying is that you don't mind it?"

"Yeah."

He sighed. "Emily, being queen is a big deal, which you already know. You can't just accept a role like that without having some type of goal in mind, or else you'll fail."

"I do have a goal in mind. My goal is to fix up this mess." She sneered. "And I don't need you to tell me what to do."

He protested for a few more seconds, but she cut him short. "Listen, you're commander of the Resistance, right? It's kind of like that, but I'm not alone and it's bigger than the Resistance."

Navin let out a defeated sigh. "Are you seriously considering this?"

"Yes."

"Does mom know?"

"Not yet."

"You need to tell her,"

"I know."

They lapsed into silence again. After a few minutes, Navin broke it. "Queen Emily of Alledia," he said slowly, trying the words out on his tongue. "I like it."

"Technically I won't be the Queen of Alledia," Emily corrected. "Just Lufen and Windsor. Trellis is going to handle Gulfen."

"Ah. That makes a lot more sense."

They gazed up at the stars, lost in their own thoughts.

"What do you think Trellis is doing now?"

"What?" Emily asked.

"What do you think he's doing?"

"Sleeping, probably."

Navin snorted. "Obviously. Do you think he's going to take the throne?"

"Probably. If he does it in the next few days I can't help him." She closed her eyes. "Shame, too. I definitely want to help him reclaim the throne from the awful man."

"You've met Trellis' father?"

"Not really. I've seen him before, but I haven't spoken to him."

"Oh."

"You don't want to meet him. That man belongs in a toolbox." She opened an eye when she felt Navin's confused eyes on her. "When you're older you'll understand."

"Oh." He turned back to look at the sky. "Thanks for talking to me."

"No problem. It's what big sisters are for."

He smiled. "Have you realized that we are probably one of the coolest people out there?"

"What do you mean?"

"For starters, we're in an alternate universe. Secondly, we've led a successful revolution and killed a monarch. Thirdly, I've flown an air ship and you could very well become a queen. Do you know anyone from Earth who could top that?"

"No. Then again, I haven't really expanded my horizons."

"Really? I think I've expanded my horizons enough for a lifetime."

"Don't say that: you're jinxing yourself."

"True. Speaking of Earth, I guess we're not going back, right?"

"I can't, if I want to be Queen of Alledia."

"Yeah. Mom already knows that I want to be a pilot here. But I don't think that she wants to stay here forever. She's too used to Earth to want to stay."

Emily opened her eyes. "Yeah, that's an issue. Maybe she'll move in with me."

Navin snorted. "You want to live with mom for the rest of your life?"

"No. Just until I turn eighteen though. Then she can live with you."

"I don't think that they'll allow her to live at the academy."

"Maybe she'll leave after we both turn eighteen."

"Maybe."

"Probably."

They both knew that was definitely not going to happen.

"Ugh," Navin said after a few seconds."

"What?"

"I'm tired."

"Then go to bed."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to get up."

"Too bad." Emily sat up. "I'm not leaving you here on the roof."

"Fine," Navin said, groaning as he sat up as well. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Listening to me. And for the water."

"No problem. Now go to bed."

He sighed dramatically and slid down to the window, landing on the ledge. She followed after him, hopping from the ledge of her window down to the carpet. She stumbled, regaining her balance, and then gestured to the door. "There's the door."

"Yeah, I can see that, genius."

She smirked. "Love you."

"Love you too. G'night."

"Goodnight."

She watched him as he slowly walked out the door, yawning, and then shut it behind him.

I think that all fanfictions need to have more stupid sibling arguments in them.

-Lilith