Moonflower- A Lunar Chronicles Fanfiction

Chapter 39

"Alright Thorne, you heard what Cynthia said, but I'm going to repeat it because I do not trust you," said Cinder, slowly, as if speaking to a child.
The captain rolled his eyes. "If you must."
"I'm going to take this crown off of my head, the Lunar one not the Commonwealth one, and put it on your head. You will then sit on that throne, the one just behind you. You be king of Luna for no more than two seconds. Hopefully the second you sit down the gift will vanish, Cyprus can go on into his afterlife, and this whole ordeal will be over. When I signal that there is indeed no more Lunar gift, you will then hand the crown to Grand Minister Desin, and your rule, and all Lunar monarchy, will be over forever. Got it."
"Of course, Your Majesty, I'm not stupid. However, I was thinking," Thorne began.
"No," said Cinder.
"Come on Cinder, can't we talk about this? I just want to make one little tiny decree. You see I was thinking a Lunar ship would be a really nice addition to my collection. The Rampion could always use some company..."
"No," said the empress again. "No decrees. You get two seconds. No exceptions. Now are you ready?"
He nodded, but even from where she stood a couple yards away, Cynthia could hear Thorne grumbling under his breath.
When Cyprus had left the lights returned and Cynthia found Leo lying unconscious on the floor. She practically dragged him back up the stairs to where her mom and Professor Dianem were waiting. Since then Cynthia had told the story of that tower at least twenty times.
Her father and the rest of the Rampion crew as well as their friends in the palace had flown back to Luna after stabilizing the outbreaks in New Beijing. He looked badly shaken, but he seemed satisfied that they had saved as many people as they possibly could and stopped the disease from spreading in the Commonwealth's capital.
Iko and her crew came back with the best news of all. Thaumaturge Nyx was dead. She could terrorize Luna no more. Cress went immediately through all of her science experiments and files, deleting all of her research on the ways to produce mutated letumosis. She didn't bother deleting the research on reworking the Linh device because hopefully what the first king of Luna said was true, and the Lunar gift was about to be destroyed.
"Carswell Thorne," the empress began. "I, Selene Channary Jannali Blackburn, relinquish my crown to you." Her voice was monotone, almost bored and very sarcastic. IT was weird for Cynthia to hear her mom called Selene. Except for very formal occasions, her mom was just mom or Cinder.
Thorne grinned ridiculously as she placed the crown on his head. Then his face fell. "Wait what do I do now again?"
Kai, standing near as the foreign witness to this coronation, sighed and gestured toward the obsidian throne behind him.
"Ah, right. I knew that." The captain strutted toward the throne, his head held high. He was about to sit down, but then he paused. And smirked.
"Would you look at that," he said, grinning now. "Captain is king."
The rest of the room groaned in unison.
"Alright, alright I'm going." Then he sat.
A physical burst of bioelectricity, something Cynthia was coming to recognize very, very well, burst from the throne. All the old reflectionless windows in the room shattered into tiny pieces. All their Lunar gifted allies: Cinder, Wolf, Jacin, Winter, Solstice, and Kinney all collapsed holding their heads.
It was as if someone had pulled the plug in her spine, because Cynthia felt the crackle of bioelectricity drain out of her through her toes. And then it was gone. She didn't feel any more buzzing in her veins. It was all gone.
"Here you go," said Thorne, pulling off his crown and tossing it to the Grand Minister who was just coming to. "I um, er, King Carswell Thorne give up my crown and declare this place, uh, Luna, a republic. Um, that's it."
The cameras that had been recording the entire "ceremony" switched off. Earlier that day Cinder had released a video explaining that the gift would be destroyed later that day, and explained honestly why it needed to be destroyed. In general, people seemed happy to see it go, but many former thaumaturges and noble families had come to try and stop them. They had all been turned away at the front gates. This was for the good of the people, and unlike Levana's twisted, selfish, manipulative good, Cynthia knew her mother was making the right decision to help all of her people. She was, after all, losing the most out of all this.
Cynthia's dad was rubbing her mom's shoulders as she woke up. She was foggy-eyed, but it didn't take long for her to break into a big smile. "It's gone!" She declared, slowly moving back to her feet. "You're all as blank as shells, and there's no gift for me to call if I wanted a glamour."
"It really is over," Jacin gasped. Winter smiled a warm, bright smile beside him.
"We did it!" Cried Leo, and soon everyone was joining in with their own shouts of joy.
Cynthia was hugging everyone around her, Solstice squealing with happiness, Scarlet congratulating Cynthia on her bravery and courage, Cress gasping between tears how proud she was, Rikan laughing.
Finally she met Leo. His smile was brighter than even hers. She hugged him tight, not saying anything. It was wonderful, but eventually there were things that needed to be said.
"I couldn't have done this without you Leo," Cynthia told him.
"Yeah you could have, but you're welcome Thia. I'd follow you anywhere." He was still holding her.  
She shifted from foot to foot, and smiled at him. There had to be something else she could tell him.
"I should probably tell you that I'm in love with you," Leo said, his tone indicating this was obvious. Cynthia started all the same. "Now that we all lived, I thought you should know."
It was as easy as breathing. "That's a relief," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you too." And she kissed the real Leo this time, not some dream version, but her real Leo.
And all was right with the world.