Weight of the World

AN: Well its back to the present for another look at how our favorite princess is doing with the aftermath. I know this chapter is a bit shorter and a little on the bleak side, but that's war. Not all the chapters will be cheerful, and not all of them will be this dark either. If I haven't responded to your reviews yet I ask that you please give me a bit more time. My editor is suffering from a computer virus and other computer woes while I'm dealing with work issues…stupid audit.

I do not own Sym-Bionic Titan, if I did Ilana would have more lines per episode than Octus.

Ilana cringed when she noticed the group approaching her.

Five days had passed since the liberation of Galaluna, five days since she had temporarily assumed control of the throne.

Her father was recovering, and she knew that he would ready to take back his position within a month at the most. To her however, a month seemed to last to eternity.

Taking a deep calming breath she recounted her 'training' and drew from what experience she had gained back on earth.

It was true that Lance had been instrumental in her campaign for Class President, but surprisingly, it had been Kimberly of all people that helped her retain the position of power.

Though it was a great deal of time longer before she was aware of the Luna family's true identities, she had become close friends with them through her relationship with 'Newmen' Octus.

'When you are popular, or when you have any power to your name, all people fall under one of two categories,' Kimmy's voice echoed.

Though their clothing was worn and ragged, the group carried the unmistakable air of nobility to them.

"Your highness," the apparent 'leader' of the group spoke before giving a respectful bow.

'Either they are going to be a complete suck up and brownnose you to get something,' Kimmy continued.

The urge to activate her Corus armor and threaten the (former) Noble's into doing some actual work for a change instead of always coming to her demanding that they be returned to their former positions of power was becoming more difficult to resist with each passing day.

Nodding and giving all the impression that she was deeply intrigued and moved by their comments, she mentally groaned and could almost see herself slamming her face into a wall just to relieve her sanity from dealing with the bigoted morons. It was almost with joyful glee that she turned her attention to the second group who were now approaching her.

'Or they are going to throw bricks at you," Kimmy's golden words of wisdom continued to echo through her mind as Baron coughed to gain the groups attention.

"Your highness, you have still not declared your decision on who it is that will take the Corporal's place on your team should Modula return. Though I am the most qualified, I have done as you requested and gathered the men who received training for operation of the Manus battle armor."

With a mental scoff it took everything Ilana had not to roll her eyes and order the Lieutenant to take a long walk off a short plank.

"Lance doesn't need a replacement because he will be fine," she reminded herself as she shifted her attention to the men gathered and gave them the once over.

Most of them were in pretty bad shape, none of them seemed to have any build of statute to them, Modula had apparently seen fit to starve his prisoners to keep them too weak to cause him any problems. It was the same everywhere she looked, thin, half starved and nearly too weak to even work. How she was expected to begin any restoration with such limited means was become a more apparent problem with each passing day.

"Lance, I know you can hear me…please, I need your help. I can't keep this up much longer."

Feeling a familiar pair of arms circling around her, she could feel her breathing calm and her frazened nerves relax.

"Thank you Lieutenant, your diligence 'in avoiding work' and effort 'to take what never will be yours' to aid our people 'for glory' will not go unnoticed 'enjoy your rank, it's the last promotion you'll ever get', and I will see to it personally that you are properly rewarded once my father returns to power," she replied with an honest smile and polite bow.

The reason her smile was genuine however would never be know to those present.

"Yes, I will see to it that you are placed under Lance's personal command when he awakens. I think he'll find this to be a welcome gift for his aid in freeing our people." An almost ghostly double of the princess grinned but faded into Ilana's mind as she spoke.

"I apologize, but at this time we still lack a sufficiently repaired Manus unit to utilize the Sym-Bionic defense unit," she lied. " It is a…difficult system to operate, and unless both armors are in fully functional condition the system will not work properly-"

"Excuse me your highness, but you have still not informed us of your decision on the matter of security. How much longer are we expected to…dwell with the drabble of the commoners?" one of the nobles spoke up interrupting her.

Keeping her expression calm, despite the many choice words of earthen gutter language flittering across her mind, the princess was cut off by one of 'Baron's Brigade' as she had taken to calling them.

"If there is no possibility of utilizing our skills, why have you bothered bringing us here? Surely you don't expect us to dig in the mud with the fifes?"

'The key, is to keep a protective circle of suck ups to protect you from the ones that want to throw bricks at you,' Kimmy finished as Ilana mentally smirked.

"You will do whatever it is her highness orders you to do, the Royal Guard exists to serve her majesty not question it!" one of the other nobles (that she now disliked slightly less) shouted.

Allowing the group to descend into a near brawling argument, Ilana turned her back to them and raised her communicator.

"Octus, anything to report?"

The tiny screen came to life and revealed a familiar transparent blue android.

"Not at this time, communications are still down and it will take some time to restore them. Short range communications should be restored before sundown but anything capable of reaching another planet will take at least another week."

"Excuse me, your highness?"

Turning and offering a fake blush, Ilana covered her mouth apologetically.

"M-my apologies, but I must go, Octus has informed me that they are experiencing difficulties with restoring communications. I will be sure to address your concerns as quickly as possible, I thank you for your patience gentlemen but I must see to this at once," she replied before activating her Corus armor and taking off.

Once she had sufficiently distanced herself from the squabbling nobles and former Royal Guard she sighed.

"They're getting harder and harder to evade with each passing day," she grumbled.

"Then might I suggest you stop avoiding them and simply deal with them?"

"Ah! Octus, how did you-"

"You never turned off your communicator remember?"

This time the princess's blush was genuine, she had been caught and she knew it.

"I must say that your skill at deception is…frightening."

Ilana smirked at the androids comment.

"Well, you can thank Kimberly for that, she was the one who taught and trained me after all," she replied.

"I seem to recall your stating that she was only assisting you in politics, I fail to see what lying has to do with your duties as princess."

Ilana nodded but her smirk remained.

"True, but unfortunately Kimberly only knew about earth politics, not our own."

"But lying to the people doesn't get anything done," Octus pointed out.

"No, but it keeps them off my back at least," Ilana muttered.

Though his face showed no emotion, Ilana could almost see the disapproving glow of his large yellow eye.

"I'm doing the best that I can Octus, I'm not my father," she defended.

"No your not, but do you think Lance would approve of this?" Octus asked.

Several moments of silence passed before the android spoke again.

"Ok, that was a bad example, but you know full well that Lance never approves of running away from a fight," he pushed.

Sighing, Ilana's form sagged within her Corus armor.

"I know…but…what else can I do? We have no food, no supplies, and no material. The people are too emaciated and weak to even start reconstruction, the nobles are only interested in getting back their former power and half the military is kissing up to Baron. At this rate Madula won't need to send an Ultra Beast to finish us off because we'll do it ourselves."

Taking another deep breath, the princess felt her stomach spasm and throat tighten.

"What am I supposed to do Octus?"

"You know that I cannot answer that question Ilana, but I will help you any way that I can. I'll see if I can get long range communications up sooner than my estimates predict," he offered.

Giving a rueful smile, the princess nodded.

"Thank you Octus, please, if there is anything you need or that I can do, let me know."

With that the line went dead, and the young ruler found herself alone within the cold blackness of her armor. The soft golden glow of her instruments illuminating only enough to be read, her face lowered, eyes hidden beneath a growing shadow.

"I just want to run away from here, I want to go back to earth, I want to be Ilana the high school student, not Ilana the princess," part of her mind cried.

For so long her only dream had been to return to Galaluna, free her father and her people, and pick things back up where they had been before the war. That notion and desire however had quickly died upon their return. The weight of her responsibilities was choking her, crushing her, and at this point was threatening to kill her.

She had been trained in how to rule by her father, she had been taught how to fight by his Master at Arms, and had learned every form of dance, music, and song by the royal courts most talented minstrels. She had the finest trainers, the best tutors her people had to offer in nearly every field imaginable. Even Lance had taken to training her during their exile, from leadership and command, to more advanced combat techniques.

But none of that had prepared her for what she was dealing with now. There was nothing that could prepare a person for what she was dealing with now. A physical, tangible enemy was something she could deal with, but this was simply too much.

People saw her as the light of their hope, the guiding beacon of salvation that would deliver them from Modula.

What they failed to see however, was that she was only a seventeen year old girl, alone, and lost trying to fill in a role much larger than she could hope to fill.

"Ilana, you're stronger than this, come on girl, suck it up and deal with it! This problem isn't going to fix itself!" she shouted mentally.

"I just have to keep things together for now. If I can keep everything from falling apart, father will be able to fix this, I know he can," she repeated to herself, praying that it was true.

End chapter 3

AN: Sorry if this one seems a bit dark, but you have to understand that Ilana is dealing with A LOT right now. She's not weak, but right now she's in unfamiliar territory and has far more on her plate than she has for the last year or was trained for. How things will turn out you'll have to wait and see, I can't just tell you or you'd have no reason to come back would you lol. Next chapter will of course be yet another starring Lance, and be yet another 'flashback' chapter of sorts. Expect the unexpected, and look forward to learning a bit more about our favorite Princess.

Till next time, Ja Ne!