Shut Up, Cinderella

At the Crossroads

The magic of the holiday passed, and suddenly Gem was left back in reality with a lot of strange feelings.

Today had been a fairytale. The past days, too, had been amazing. He had never been so free before, so completely able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, talk to whomever he wanted. If he could, he would keep doing this for much longer, maybe forever. If there weren't so many things he wanted to accomplish as a prince, he would already have ditched his royal status and started a new life as a civilian.

Except, now that the daydream faded back into normality, he realized that wasn't at all what he had set out for.

He still hadn't found the stranger from the ball. Somewhere on the way he had strayed from the path, caring more about the wellbeing of the people than his love—and that part he didn't regret. He had saved lives out there. He would still save more as soon as he figured out a way how to do it.

But he hadn't left it at that. He had gone on to stay at Cinder's place for several days, not to help anyone, just because he wanted to. Almost like his friendship with Cinder mattered more to him than his love for the masked stranger. Almost like spending this time with him—staying under the same roof, sleeping in the same room, eating at the same table and minding the same workshop, talking and laughing and playing around—was more important to him than finding the person he loved.

And then...there had been that moment at the fire.

Or I could just stay here. With everyone...with you.

Cinder had been so close there. His face had been so close, those dark, intense eyes reflecting the orange light of the fire, his cheeks flushed from the cold. His serious features had softened somehow, and despite the darkness he seemed to have been glowing.

He had been beautiful, right there. There was no denying it. And there was also no denying that, just for the moment, Gem had been tempted to close the distance and kiss him.

Gem squirmed inwardly. Kiss Cinder—what an idea! It had only been a spur-of-the-moment thought, of course, but he still felt like he had cheated on his beloved. No more of this. He needed to find the masked stranger, get his happily ever after and banish all traitorous thoughts of kissing Cinder from his mind for good.

He knew what that meant, of course. He needed to get moving.

The problem was that he still didn't want to leave Cinder behind.

~ ~ ~

Early the next morning Cinder awoke to something brushing lightly over his face.

Grunting and shifting, he swatted for the disturbance, but his hand didn't catch anything. For a good moment he considered going back to sleep now that it was gone; but his curiosity was greater. He rolled over and squinted his eyes.

"Hey," Gem whispered, stooping over him.

Cinder rolled onto his back, squinting his eyes. "What do you want?" he muttered blearily.

Gem sat down on the edge of the bed. His hands were notably hidden behind his back. "Midwinter's over," he said, not looking at Cinder. "You know what that means."

Coming to his senses, Cinder suppressed the sinking feeling in his chest as the realization kicked in. "You're leaving," he said.

He already missed him.

Gem gave a nod. "Yeah."

"Where to?"

"Ask around the nobles." Gem raked a hand through his hair. "Maybe they know who that godmother is and then we can go from there."