Celestial Fragments

Good morning

One day, this door will open, the walls will fall and when it happens, you won't be running away anymore, for you'd already be kneeling down in front of me.

"And are you actually even sure she does not do that on purpose?"

"Of course I am, why would she ever try to hide this? Look." Grimes paused his words, as he realised that they had just walked into the same room Angelique was seated. "If Blanche trusts this. I do so too. I am done trying to reason with any of you at this point. You drop it or just go straight to him! Understood?"

Angelique tried her best to ignore the whispering and muttering from the other end of the room, while she tried to regain focus on the book she was reading, but it was useless. She heard them mentioning Blanche, and she could not help but perk her interest at this. Were they talking about her? When they entered the room they were both loud, but as soon as they noticed her, they turned all whispery. For a moment, this seemed to be just another high school scene, where everybody would whisper behind her back everytime she passed by them. It felt unfair, no matter who did and why they did it, whether to protect her feelings or themselves.

"Good morning, Angelique. You're up quite early today. It's quite hard to switch back to a normal sleep schedule, isn't it?" Grimes pulled her out of the dark corners of her mind.

With a puzzled look, Angelique raised her head from the screen of her tablet, looking at the man with her lips slightly parted, as if she was unsure if he was talking to her or not. A silly smile curled the corner of her lips upwards.

"Morning, Grimes, Raine." Angelique replied watching the red haired witch walk away from them slowly, her hips moving gracefully, ignoring the friendly salute.

If there was something obvious about this woman, was that she clearly did not want Angelique around. Not now, not before, nor ever. This made Angelique feel a little insecure. She slowly set the tablet away, straightened her posture and pulled her legs down from the coffee table where she had set them for a more comfortable pose.

"It is a little weird, this new schedule, the new place, the bed... everything." Angelique admitted, pushing herself up and stretching her back.

"I can understand, but that does not mean it's bad, right?"

Grimes made his way to the bar, turning the coffee machine on.

"No.No..It's alright. It just takes time." she followed behind him to get a cup as well, her eyes moving to the woman who started to search the cabinets, slowly growing frustrated.

"That pesky bug got into my stash again!" she hissed, turning to look at Grimes.

"I told you I am not locking anything or anyone up just because of snacks. Just go ahead and order some more, and you're done."

"No matter how many more I'll order she wi-"

"Raine!" insisted Grimes, his green eyes fixing the red haired female who paused, anger rising within her, visibly written all over her face.

With a low huff, the witch turned around and walked to the sofa with her hands empty, her arms crossed on her chest. Grimes turned his gaze back to the short woman beside him, his stern look from before washing away.

"I was wondering what you have planned for today."

"Uh-" Angelique stuttered uneasy, switching her gaze fast from the woman back to Grimes "-I" she swallowed the lump in her throat "Nothing really. I hoped I get to stretch a little, maybe find some new weapons since you seized all my former weapons." her shoulder raised and fell in a shrug.

"Perfect! Just what I wanted to hear."

"Maybe I can get to know the facility better... learn more about what you guys expect of me." Angelique's voice turned a little more serious, her eyes fixing Grimes.

The man could feel her eagerness, her frustration and her childish rushing tendencies.

"Well, from what I've heard, El'is did tell you pretty much the whole story about the Celestial Fragments and the Demigod you've met yesterday." Grimes shrugged his shoulders. "There's nothing more I can give you. We need you here to make sure we can keep him contained-"

"-and how can I help contain something I did not even get to encounter?" Angelique cut off the man.

"But you did encounter him." Grimes spoke a little confused.

"I did meet him, I did not battle him. I have no idea what I am supposed to stand against. How can I help you, if I don't know what you actually need. It's like- like-" a pause set"- like you're just telling me to draw you something, and that if you don't like it, you won't pay me! But you never tell me what you actually want to be drawn! Cats, dolphins, flowers, porn? What do you actually want from me?"

Standing in front of this woman, made Grimes understand that his arguments with Raine where nothing beside what this woman could do. He could feel the atmosphere in the room change completely, from still and silent, to a background buzz of agitation, a static like energy flowing around, pinching his senses, and all because she did not get her answers when she wanted to. Even Raine lowered her arms from her chest, slowly straightening her posture, leaning forward to look at the restless Angelique, who was tapping her foot on the floor. But with all the frustration, the only answer she received from Grimes was a silent amused huff as he sipped from his hot coffee.

"I'll let you know more about him later. Now, grab something to eat, before joining me in my lab." Grimes turned on his heels and walked out of the room, still amused and surprised about the attitude he had just received.

Left behind, Angelique continued to look at the man, pinning her eyes on his back as if she was expecting him to turn around just now and apologise for his rude behaviour. When the man exited the room, he understood that there was no apology coming her way. Bothered, her hips swayed left and right, switching her weight on her legs, before turning her attention on the pouring coffee machine.

"You need to get used to this. Behaving like a child, throwing tantrums like that, won't get you anything at all." Raine's voice shattered the stillness of her body.

The young woman turned her head to the red haired witch, eyes locking for a brief moment into an uneasy stare countdown, which Angelique broke soon, busying herself with the cup of steaming coffee.

Raine pushed herself up from the sofa, trotting proudly towards the younger woman, her arms crossing under her chest. The height difference was considerable, as the witch throned above Angelique with at least 15 inches, making her feel far more superior than an untrained, undisciplined youngling.

"Listen here doll." Raine hissed, her finger cupping Angelique's chin, forcing her to look up. "Your days here are numbered. You do not belong in this team, we would have been fine off without you playing diva around. So if-" But before she could continue, Angelique pulled herself away, a dumb smile on her lips.

"I-" she muffled as she backed away, hurrying towards the door. "Thank you for your advice, but I think Grimes is expecting me to-uhm- do something." the words turned into a very anxious giggle. The door opened, and Angelique exited still facing Raine, bowing awkwardly as an apology, the giggle switching to laughter.

As soon as she was out of the room, the laughter turned into forced gasp for air, to steady her heart and her mind. What just happened? Did Raine just threaten her?! A cold shudder shook her body when she recalled the cold touch of the witch. Did she just try to charm her? Raine clearly had the power to do so, but was she about to use it like this? What did I do to wrong her? To deserve this- her thoughts came to a halt.-inhuman treatment?