Chapter 3: Confrontation

The next day,

Ilana was looking through the yearbook she had received on Earth. She turned the page and sighed at the picture of Titan. The Mega-Manus would never fly again if she had anything to say about it. She refused to merge with anyone else other than Lance and Octus

KNOCK KNOCK

"Go away!" she snapped

"Princess. It's me" Octus' voice came

"Come in Octus" she sighed

The robot entered the chambers

"Still upset over Lance?" Octus observed

Ilana nodded

"You should talk to him" Octus recommended

"And tell him what?" Ilana asked. "That he should come back because I miss him? He'd laugh"

"Have you given it any thought as to WHY he left?" the robot asked

"Every day, but no valid reason comes to mind" Ilana said

"You should tell him the truth" Octus recommended "About your feelings"

"What?" she asked mortified. "I CAN'T!"

"Try. He may surprise you" Octus said

0000

Three days later,

Ilana was laying on her bed daydreaming about life on Earth when there was a knock on her door

"Go away" she said

However the door opened to reveal Katelyn, a private in the Royal Army who had graduated with Lance.

"I'm sorry your highness" the guard said. "But you have a visitor who's insisting he have a word with you. He's promised that after this, you won't have to see him again"

"Katelyn. I REALLY don't want to see anyone right now" Ilana said

"You're sure. Lance seemed…"

Katelyn wasn't able to say anything else as she had been pushed aside as Ilana went running to the throne room

When Ilana got to the door, she stopped and composed herself. Opening the door a crack, she peeked in.

Sure enough, there was Lance. To most Galalunians, he would be unrecognizable out of uniform, but Ilana knew the look he was sporting.

He was wearing the outfit he had worn on Earth

Ilana closed the door and composed herself. Once she was calm, she stood tall and walked into the throne room and cleared her throat

Lance turned his head towards her and gave her a bow

Ilana couldn't do it. She smiled broadly and ran to him before throwing her arms around him

"Princess?" Lance asked

The title brought her back to reality forcing her to break the embrace and recompose herself

"Sorry." She apologized "Just…it's been so long"

"I took early retirement" he explained

"You left without saying goodbye" she informed him

Lance made to make a retort, but a voice in his head stopped him

Talk to her. Tell her your feelings. Octus' voice rang in his head

Lance sighed figuring that since he wasn't going to see her again, he might as well come clean.

"It was already painful. I didn't need the goodbye to add to it" he told her

"Father said that your leaving was your choice" Ilana accused wondering if her father betrayed her

"It was" he confirmed

"Then why leave?" she asked

Lance took a deep breath

"Because there was no way I can serve you and your father under the norm, even if I took the promotion" Lance explained "It was one thing on Earth…with the prospect that there was a chance the only two Galalunians were the two of us. But the war is over and there were survivors. As happy as I am for them… We can't live like we did on Earth Ilana. There, we were equals. Here, you're a princess and I'm just the orphaned son of a scientist….You…You deserve better now that you have the choice"

"Lance?" she asked wondering if she was reading him correctly. Could her feelings for him be requited?

"I have feelings for you Ilana. Something deeper than the sibling relation we strove to have on Earth. Protecting you became more than my mission assigned by your father. It became my life and even if your father told me to stop protecting you I still would" Lance admitted

"Really?" she asked with hope in her voice as he had vocally stated what she had wanted to hear out of his mouth for seven Earth months and almost two Galalunian months

"Yes." Lance said. "But because of social status, I can not act on these feelings and because of this, I left the Royal Guard."

"W-Why are you just now telling me?" she asked wondering why he hadn't said anything before

"Because Octus said that you haven't been yourself since I left and I figured that perhaps if you knew the reason, you would understand better and go back to yourself" Lance said misinterpreting the question

"That explains why you fessed up" she mused, "But what I meant was why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because you are a princess. I was a corporal. We're not socially equal on Galaluna" Lance said "And…I didn't want to tell you before on Earth when I fell because, even if you did learn to love me back once you learned there was more to me than a cold-hearted corporal, we would only be pulled apart when we got back"

"Lance" she sighed with a smile as she shook her head "I've felt the same way. For seven months before we left Earth"

"Really?" Lance asked with hope starting to shine in his eyes

"Really" she confirmed. "I had hoped you could see me as more than the spoiled princess. I never told you because I feared that there was no hope it would be requited"

"Seven months before we left Earth?" Lance repeated

"Yes"

"You only needed to give me one month" Lance informed her. "I fell for you six months before we came back"

Ilana smiled and walked a bit closer to Lance. She then placed her arms around his neck and placed her lips on his. Slowly she felt his arms wrap around her waist.

The two were completely oblivious to the three spies consisting of her father, Katelyn, and Octus who were finally seeing the two the happiest they've ever been.

They were finally home.

The End