Celestial Fragments

The reason why you're here...

The hallways were slowly buzzing with life. Well, whatever you can call a handful of guards walking around holding their guns right in sight and another handful of strange aliens babbling in never heard of languages. At first, it was overwhelming and Angelique found herself hurrying down the corridors, trying to remap her way with the few memories of yesterday when Grimes brought her there. Eventually, she did find her way, and when she stopped in front of the metallic doors, they opened with no hesitation and she stepped inside. Sitting behind a rather fancy holographic screen, the man was silently reading over and over the same line, his mind flying away each and every time.

"Quite a strange situation we find ourselves having to deal with." his voice greeted Angelique, who remained close by the door.

With uncertainty on her face, the young woman turned to look at him, raising a brow as a questioning sign.

"A self-called demi-god , arriving on our planet, seeking great power, ready to wipe out an entire species that already worked on its own doom-" started Grimes, getting up from his chair and sighing softly as he made his way to his guest.

Still uncertain of what she was supposed to do or say, she slowly just nodded her head to let him know she was actually listening to him.

Grimes gave her a half-amused smile.

"Figures that, despite how much one would try to explain, you wouldn't quite get it. Still seems rather unreal, doesn't it?"

"Quite so." Angelique agreed, crossing her arms behind her back.

" The truth is, no one knows what's going on or what we're even supposed to do. We have found ourselves with our hands full of things no one has an explanation for, having to act like we know and own everything we do."

"What's this? Pitty talk? Is it a test?" Angelique narrowed her eyes and shifted uncomfortably in her spot.

Grimes laughed almost mockingly.

"Might as well let the bird out, since you're so smart." The smile wiped off his lips. " The reason why you're here is because we don't know how to handle the situation. We have been in custody of Aellioah for over a month now and, truly, we have learned nothing. Uncooperative, unresponsive to any form of interaction besides aggressivity and violence. You were supposed to be here and, well, with your talent at telepathy, we supposed you'd be the key to getting some answers. But it seems you won't need to push yourself to use that. Seems that he is very willing to have a conversation with you." As he spoke, Grimes walked back to sit in his chair, falling heavily like the boulder of a man he was.

A bottomless pit of anxiety opened in Angelique's stomach as she was being instructed of her purpose. Her eyes followed him all the way across the room, and when she wanted to follow after, she found herself pinned in her spot like she had overgrown roots in the meantime. That or maybe just the despair of having to play the diplomat in such a delicate situation.

"And-"the word came out forced and hoarse."- what should I actually talk to him about?"

"I'm most sure that he will find a way to mess you out of any scripted conversation we'd try to come up with-" the man admitted in a low tune, his attention moving to the holographic screen, where the image shifted to a video of the Demi-God pacing in his cell.

With little will left within her body, Angelique moved closer to the screen as well, watching the video.

"Is this live?" she muttered, finding herself standing behind Grimes, as if he'd be the one to protect her if the video would come to life.

"Mhm." he nodded shortly.

Worried, dark blue eyes narrowed on the elegant figure of the An'ekd who slowly came to a stop right in front of the camera, his head moving up and his eyes fixed upon it, as if he could look right at the other end and meet her own gaze. Another wave of pure anxiety washed over Angelique, as she could see it in his eyes, he was specifically waiting for her.

"Right." Grimes muttered, unphased by this behavior, pushing away the tab of the video and shutting the holographic screen off. "He specifically asked for you." he informed her with little to no emotion to show. "More or less, a truce."

"A truce?!" Angelique blurted a little offended. "You're sending me right into his claws for what?" she huffed, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Information." Grimes stated the obvious, giving her a quick glance.

"And yet, you send me down there with no instructions on what to ask or try to talk at least-"

"Because I would be pointlessly wasting energy, Anelique." he seemed to be slowly losing his patience. "He will, anyway, give you the exact information he wants us to know. Nothing more, nothing less."

As the realization of what was happening started to settle down, Angelique understood it was pointless to try and argue this over. She was there to play this role and that was the end of it. No arguing or going around this.

Well, better buckle up then...

***

The heavy doors started to open and before anyone dared to say anything, Angelique stepped inside, her boots clicking against the floor, echoing through the gigantic room. In the middle of it, there was a rather simple, round, see-through cage, one that made her remember about Hannibal and the way he was held prisoner. Not at all original... the thought echoed through her mind as she walked down the slim platform.

With the corner of her eyes she could see that there was nothing beyond the lighted path, but darkness, meaning that a wrong step would send her flying, falling for God knows how long and how hard.

At the end of the path, there he was, standing patiently with his hands together in front of his pelvis, waiting. From what she could see, he was not as formal as yesterday. There was no cape draped behind him, his long hair was pinned into a simple bun and his attire was nothing but humble. Plain white, comfortable clothes, which made her think of oriental fashion, that somehow made him look even more out of this world than those magical eyes and distinct features.

"Indeed, not at all original." Aellioah spoke over the sound of her heels, looking around at the see-through walls. "Quite inefficient too." he added, with such a casualty that made Angelique wonder if he was bluffing or not.

She stopped several feet away, arms moving to cross on her chest, as she took in a deep breath to calm her raging heart and thoughts.

"Good day, to you, Angelique." Aellioah's eyes peeled away from the room and moved over to her figure. "Or is it evening? I seem to lose track of time when I come back here." he leisurely gestured around the room.

"Is that so?" the woman muttered under her breath, before pulling up a forced smile. "I think it's evening, but it wouldn't matter, would it?"

"You think so?" Aellioah's hand paused mid-air, eyes watching her from the corner, a smirk drawing on her lips.

A cold shiver rushed down Angelique's back at the sight of the sudden expression change, making her utterly uncomfortable.

"So it doesn't matter that for the next twenty minutes you'll find yourself completely out of ways to get out of here?" with slow steps, he approached the see-through wall.

"What do you mean?" her eyes narrowed on him, hand moving back slowly, to grab something from her belt, something that used to be there but was no more.

"Well, shifts change at around the evening hours, don't they? So, in order to make I am not getting out, they will completely seal this room and-"

"-And there's no way I can undo that until the next shift comes." Angelique cut him, completing the sentence that came as not so fun news.

"Smart. Figures." Aellioah's smirk slowly turned into a cocky smile as he stopped right behind the wall, hands moving at his sides leisurely, eyes fixed on her figure. "But you don't have to worry. If I were to want to harm you there would be countless ways of doing so, without me needing to lure you here." he sighed, overly dramatic.

"And why did you me here?" a brow rose again with newfound courage as she took a fake comfortable position.

"Because I'm bored out of my mind, and it seems like you'd make an amazing play-partner." the leisure smile turned into a twisted one that once again tugged at Angelique's anxiety.

"Play? hm?" she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Aellioah's eyes followed the movement of her body, scanning her arms with gentle curiosity, moving along the curves of her chest as well, before daring to take her whole figure in better.

"How about you come closer so we can-"

"-Start your pitiful mind games?" She cut him short once again, hoping to infuriate him, just out of spite, but the way his lips curled and his eyes narrowed and gleamed with a hint of madness, told her he was far from infuriated.

Intrigued? Curious? Definitely sick...