Celestial Fragments

Friend?

I don't even know who I am without you! All I've done, every single thing, I've done thinking about you, about us. You can't do that to me! You can't just leave now! I'm begging you - please, don't.

With tears streaming down her face, Angelique woke up. Her eyes scanned the room, her mind trying to process where she was and what was happening. The dreams she had during the past month were so vivid, she would wake up unsure of the reality she lived. Was this a dream? Or was earlier a dream? The woman pushed herself up into a sitting position, supporting her weight on her elbows, as she looked around, scanning the room through the black fabric of the curtain surrounding the bed. The room was empty, there was no one screaming at her, no one crying and begging for anything. Just unopened boxes, and darkness. Her eyes moved to look towards the windows noticing how the sun had still not rise. So why was she up right now? This new schedule would take some time to adjust to.

With a loud groan, she fell back into the pillows, her hand reaching for her phone. When she checked the time, she realised she only slept for four hours, but somehow she did not feel tired. Get some more sleep? She turned on her side, facing the empty pillow beside hers. Who thought about giving her such a big bed? Did they think she would bring anyone here to sleep with her? Was she supposed to take up all the space in her bed? It was not like this was the proper place to meet new people to hook up with. Her eyes closed, and for a brief moment, the image of the An'ekd laying in bed popped in her mind. Her stomach twisted, her eyes snapped open, and she shot out of the bed, a defense pose, as if she had just seen a ghost, the color from her cheeks draining. After a few shaggy breaths she realised the bed was empty, but as her guard lowered, she heard her name called, well, more of a whisper than a clear call, alerting her once again. Angelique turned around, looking frantically around the room expecting to find someone hunting her from the shadows. But the room was empty, just as her bed.

With a racing heart and anxiety levels above the ceiling, it was clear there was no more sleeping for the day, so with large steps and on her tiptoes, she made her way into the bathroom to freshen up and get her day started even if it was this early.

Fragments of yesterday played through her mind relentlessly. She had such little information of what was happening around this place that it made her feel like she was always walking on thin ice and she could mess everything up. Who was this An'ekd and what did it want on Earth? From all the planets out there, from all the solar systems flying around in the endless space, he chose Earth?! Why?! If she could choose right now, Earth would not even be an option in her mind. Yes, it was true Earth was beautiful, but its inhabitants... they made her skin crawl. There was so little she liked about humans and there were so many times when she felt she did not fit here, that at some point she even questioned her origins. So, why would a Demigod choose Earth? What could spark his interest here? And how did they even catch him? Is there some Demigod satellite that just detects God flying around and announces the special forces, like "HEY! Pick this guy up!"?

She scoffed as she looked at herself in the wardrobe mirror. For a second she even started questioning what was she even doing here? She was a very unimportant no one with zero knowledge of how the Universe worked, and even less skill at teamwork. But here she was! Here he was! She was working in a team, and he was supposedly trapped in some cell inside the facility. Pathetic, wasn't it? Her hand reached for one of her new uniforms to put on. She was left a little surprised when she noticed the changes there were on her uniform. The material was not leather anymore, but something lighter and stretchy, similar to synthetic fiber, but with a different texture. It was patterned with matte scales, which made her a little unsure if she wanted to wear this uniform or not. It was still black, but now it had rose gold accents, to match her staff. There were different pockets, belts and hinges for other weapons she used at need, but everything was placed so differently it made her frustrated. But she put on the uniform nevertheless. This one had no sleeves, so her arms were bare, showing off the patterned scales on her skin, slithering on her arm, coiling around it, before disappearing under her uniform. She pinned her hair up into a ponytail and twisted it into a bun on top of her head, before pulling on her flat combat boots and walking off, and out of the room, completely ignoring the unopened boxes that were scattered around the floor.

The door opened and closed swiftly at her command, before she started walking down the hallways to the cafeteria, to grab a coffee before searching for any of the training rooms, or at least somewhere where she could learn some more info about this whole Demigod and Celestial Fragments thing.

As her footsteps carried her towards the only familiar room around, her ears started to pick up noise and weird sounds coming from the room. Her rhythm slowed, as she approached hesitantly. Was any of her teammates sleepwalking?! She reached for one of her back pockets, but it was empty, of course it was empty. They took most of her weapons last night, and she did not really think to refill her pockets at such an hour. Holding her breath, she stopped beside the closed door, trying to understand what was going on behind it. Soon, the noise stopped, and before she knew it, the door opened as well, revealing a peculiar humanoid figure. The figure stopped, sensing someone right beside the door, and turned their head to face Angelique, pausing silently, their mouth opened, before letting out a loud scream, making Angelique do just the same. The human female jumped back, panicked just as well, as she stared at the inhuman humanoid. Their face was long, with way too many eyes. Eight to be more exact, eight black eyes starring all at her, their skin was grey, there was no nose, but two little holes in its place, while the mouth was a little too much to understand. There were no lips, but a wide long line, going from the middle of their cheek to the other all the way, and slit downwards as well to their chin. After this small detail, she realised this was an individual belonging to the arachnoid family. It had three sets of arms, all holding different snacks, from fruits, to salty crackers and chocolate. When the screaming stopped, they both realised the other was not about to attack them. Angelique rose her hands in the air to show she was unarmed, the arachnoid figure following, raising all her hands up, dropping all the snacks to the floor.

"Shoot." the figure whispered, immediately dropping to the floor as well to gather them all back.

Still in shock, Angelique watched, her arms shaking lightly. Who was this now? The arachnoid gathered all the snacks and hoarded them in their arms, a cheeky smile triumphing on their face as it switched their attention on Angelique again.

"Are you midnight snacking too?" they asked in a rather playful voice. "I think there is not too much left, and just as a heads-up, I am not sharing anything. I found them, they are all mine!"

The accent was quite musical for Angelique's ears. Almost like this being spoke just for her ears to hear. Her posture slowly softened, as she straightened her back and crossed her arms on her chest, leaning her head to the side, as her eyes scanned the peculiar being in front of her. Their skin was grey, covered with tiny fur like spikes that shone dimly under the light, their eyes were set quite harmonically on that small round face, their hair was just as grey as their skin, slicked back, cut short to the chin level. They were tall, and slim, resembling a shadow. Their body was curved in all the right places, with a tiny waist to accentuate the curve of her hips, and plumpness of her legs. It wore a grey and crimson uniform, with no inscription, clearly setting them apart from any of the people working here. So they were not part of the team, right? Then who was this?

"Did the spider get your tongue, sweetheart? Let me search for it..." the figure muffled and started to look through the snacks. "I'm sorry, but it appears I don't have it. So how about stop starring at me like that and speak!?"

"Who are you?" Angelique spat out without too much hesitation. "And how did you get inside that room?"

"Oh, so you do speak! What a relief! I thought these weirdos hired another weirdo to top up their team. What a bunch of -"

"-weirdos, I get it." Angelique interrupted her, switching her weight on one of her legs, fixing the creature with her eyes once again. "Your blabber does not answer my questions."

"Quite impatient, are we?" The being giggled and rolled all of their eyes, before grinning creepily showing off a pair of extending fangs. The figure leaned down to get their face closer to the black haired woman, sniffing her scent curiously, as she took a step closer as well, making Angelique raise a brow and one of the corner of her lips in disgust. "Oh, so you are supposed to be the new team member indeed." the figure straightened back to their original pose, leaning from a side to the other on their legs. Their eyes squinted lightly, while extending an arm forward trying to appreciate her height. "Never really expected you to be this-" there was a pause "-small." the arachnoid giggled.

Angelique rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, raising one of her hands up to her forehead rubbing it lightly as the arachnoid mocked her. She felt her ears redden and her cheeks heathen up as well. Her eyes gazed back at the laughing creature, scanning for any weapon. They were seemingly unarmed, but that did not mean they were not harmful. Usually arachnoid specimens were highly poisonous and they rarely needed weapons to harm their opponents, so going against them was not always a smart idea. With clear tension between them, Angelique still decided to do this her way. She pressed her lips together, and blinked rapidly, visibly annoyed, as she turned to face her target again.

"Mocking me might not be the best idea, spider." Her lips curled into a thin smile, her eyes widening, making her look like a psychopath in this moment, her arms extending in front of her ready to conjure her staff.

At this sight, the arachnoid paused, with her mouth slightly opened, her eyes scanning the person in front of them, a little skeptic, uneasy and unsure. Who was this dumbass and what was she planning to do?

Before anyone was injured, any snacks dropped to the floor and any weapons summoned, a voice broke the tension between the two.

"Having insomnia and other mental issues, does not qualify either of you to wake the whole facility up." the voice was stern, low, almost annoyed.

Distracted, Angelique dropped her arms down, and turned her head. Kai was walking down the hall in their direction, with his hands in his pockets. He clearly had just woken up from the look on his face, his voice and his bed hair.

"Well, there is the man with your answer, princess. I'm off." the arachnoid muttered for Angelique, turning around and hurrying away.

"You're not going anywhere, El'is." the man commanded, making them stop and lower their head. "Now, show Angel here, how did you get inside." Kai stopped beside Angelique and gestured to the door with his head.

El'is cussed under their breath and turned around, walking back to the door, searching their pockets. Now, up close, Angelique understood how tall this creature actually was. It was as tall as Grimes, slender, with interesting body features. She looked at Kai with the corner of her eyes, noticing his eyes on the arachnoid figure as well, scanning them too. Something twisted inside her as she turned her attention to the sound of the opening door. She looked up at El'is who held up a white pass card. When their eyes locked, Angelique smiled a little embarrassed, as a silent apology.

With a yawn, Kai gestured for them to enter, as he followed after them as well, the door closing behind him.

"Happy now?"

"Why does -" Angelique paused her hand midair as she gestured to El'is.

"Why does she have a pass?" Kai completed the question, finally clearing the confusion of the pronoun to use for El'is in her mind. "Go on, tell her El'is." He simply muttered, as he walked to the bar, to pour himself something to drink.

El'is walked to the coffee table and spilled all the snacks she had stolen on it, falling into the couch as well, setting her feet on the table in front of her. A grin settled on her face once again.

"Because they just can't keep me locked up in a cell." she mocked, grabbing one of the cracker bags, opening it, while resting her other arms on the sofa. She held the bag with one hand opened it with another, while a third reached inside to grab a bite. "They just can't get enough of me, you know. Me, my charming presence." When she noticed the confusion on Angelique's face she snorted amused. "Come on! Not even you could take your eyes off of me earlier!" the amused smile turned into a sneaky grin, as she leaned forward, stroking the side of her own face with a finger as she stared Angelique down.