After Stars Above Kai and Cinder's wedding is just around the corner when something nobody saw coming happens. The rampion crew get caught up in a mission to save their friend from the unseen kidnapper.
kaider, wolfet, cresswell, wincin and kiko
Thorne and the girl at the desk just stared at each other. Normally he would say some sort of flirtatious comment. She forced words out of her mouth before her shyness could take over.
"Umm... hello? We have the luminous antidotes." The girl seemed to snap out of whatever trans she was in.
"Right." She seemed to press something but Cress couldn't see what.
"Could you start unloading the antidote and transferring it to the hospital pharmacy." Most COO's said some variation of that line when they arrived.
"Cool, we'll leave these here and be on are way." Thorne said and couldn't get into the hall fast enough.
Was the girl that good looking or something? Never run into that problem before. He was acting super strange. She closed the door behind her as she left the room.
"What was that about?"
"Huh? What? Did something happen?"
"You stared at her for a solid three minutes before I interrupted. Then left that room so fast you'd think you were never there."
"Ummmm." This was not like Thorne. He always knew what to say.
"Ok, this isn't like you. What's going on."
"We both went to the same school for years. I guess I just froze as the memories came flooding back."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Oh no no no no no, I'm fine really. Let's just steer away from old school friends." Odd, she would have thought a reunion would be nice but it definitely didn't bother her. She got to keep him to herself.
"Ok." She pulled him into a kiss.
"Why don't we go drive around for a bit and I can give you a tour." Thorne asked. They were so close she didn't want to break away but they were in the middle of a hallway.
"Sounds great."
"And are final stop on this week long tour, Hotel del Coronado. As you requested."
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"It's beautiful. To think they could build stuff like this in the second era. It's like a smaller American version of kai's palace."
"Wait till you see the inside. There's even an ice cream shop. That was always the best part of the field trips." She ran inside dragging Thorne behind her by the fingertips. The change of lighting blinded her for a few seconds after being in the bright sun for so long. When her vision cleared it was beautiful. The walls, pillars and second floor balcony were made of a polished wood. Intricate chandeliers hung from the ceiling creating the dim lighting. The rugs were simple diamond shapes with detailed gold flowers blooming from between. Nothing she had seen compared to this.
"This is the entrance Cress. How impressive can it be?" Thorne said. Just the entrance! It was beautiful.
"Very impressive. They made this in the second era, look how well preserved it is. It's beautiful."
"You say that about everything. You know they weren't stupid back then." He came up and hugged her from behind. She loved when he did that. It made her feel safe wrapped in his arms even when there was no danger.
"They weren't smart either." She tilted her head so she could kiss him while still being wrapped up in his arms.
"I love you." Thorne whispered in her ear. She smiled.
"I love you to." She kissed him one last time.
"Ok you have to show me the rest of this place now."
"I'll go buy us a tour." She wanted him to give the tour but she also wanted the facts so she agreed to the audible one. They went all around the old hotel. Saw rooms that tripled the entrance in size, rooms that famous people stayed at and so much more. She learned all about what it was like to live then. How people who couldn't afford to stay there would still come to see it. It was amazing but she could tell Thorne was just exited to get to the ice cream shop, which in itself was a cool experience. The floors were black and white checkered. There was tubes full of sprinkles and other candies. The workers pretended they were from the second era. They had flavors she never knew existed. She managed to narrow it down to three flavors but then couldn't decide what one to pick so she got them all. Thorne on the other hand had no problem picking out his flavors. They went and sat on the beach to eat their ice cream and see the sunset. It had become a bit of a tradition to see the sunset on the last day in the place they were visiting.
"San Diego is beautiful."
"You get used to it." She could only imagine growing up in a place like this.
"Did you ever just watch this sunset as a kid."
"Sometimes, I wasn't the type to sit still and watch the sun disappear. My parents loved to though."
"Your parents, do they still live here?"
"No clue, they always used to talk about moving to a smaller town when I moved out. Who knows what happened when I took the rampion. Probably couldn't handle the judgment from the other families and left."
"I could find them. I could also probably find any of your old friends if you wanted to meet up."
"Oh no no no, it's fine." Thorne instantly deflected the idea.
"You sure... not even say... Kate Follow." He sighed in response.
"When did you find out?" What?
"Find out what?" Was he hiding something.
"Did I say find out I meant find... the... rout."
"Carswell Pierce Thorne." He looked away.
"Find! Out! What!"
"I may have had a little more then a crush on her." He said. She took a deep breath but it didn't help . There must be a misunderstanding. He would have told her if it was that important.
"What's a little."
"Before I left for the academy we were dating, it was going good until—"
"Until what."
"She got pregnant. Told me the day before I left for the academy. I was nineteen and having a kid scared me so I took off in the rampion when I had the chance."
"You have a kid!!! That you abandoned!!! And you never thought you should tell me."
"I don't know if I have a kid. I haven't talked to her sense."
"Your saying that you might have a child but you don't know because you never thought to ask her if she actually had the baby. Never thought about what it would be like for that child to live without a dad. And worse you didn't even think to tell me anything."
"Well when you put it like that it sounds really bad."
"How would you put it?"
"I made a mistake when I was nineteen and didn't want to hurt anyone."
"Yet somehow I think you hurt everyone." He just sat there in silence witch only served to make her more angry.
"I need to go." She stood up to leave. She would get real answers. A hand pulled her back around.
"Cress Wait. We can talk about this."
"No I want answers and not from you."
"Why not. I can answer any question you want. I was there."
"I can't trust you to answer them honestly."
"I would never lie to you. I love you Cress. You. I know I don't deserve you, you deserve so much more then me. But I didn't want to break what we had." She shook him off and was glad when he didn't follow because she was going to have a chat with Kate.