Celeste

Celeste continued to explore, Dri was with her.

They traveled to deck four, which was a much different environment than deck two was. She could only imagine what the culture was like, too. Deck four had more nature, more plants, trees, grassy areas. There were fountains and plants that grew around them. Deck two wasn't like that. Celeste remembered all the glass and mirrors, the different colors of the environment. The aesthetic resembled colorful crystals. She almost felt mystical. Here in deck four, she felt like she was part of nature.

After all these years, nothing died.

"Everything's synthetic." she picked up one of the roses. "Imagine tampering with the genetics of plants so it doesn't need a light source." she was looking at the flowers.

Dri just stared at her.

He wasn't into science as much as she was, but he liked to listen. Though, he never understood any of what she said.

She had a background in chemical science. Though it wasn't her strongest background, she was still considered an expert in the field. She tested rather high for it.

She was incredibly smart. No one could doubt her abilities.

"I like it when you speak another language." Dri said and picked up one of the blue flowers, breaking off the stem, and fixing it in her silver hair.

"Chemistry's hot." she said.

"You say that about physics and calculus." he wasn't surprised. "I can't believe I'm in love with a nerd."

"A nerd that can kick your ass."

He couldn't say that was a lie. She was the only person he couldn't go up against, for some reason she always came out on top no matter how many times they fought.

"It's nice knowing you can pin me down." Dri sighed.

"Zinnia says the same thing-"

Dri pushed her aside and she started laughing. Was it cruel of her to tease them both? She knew what she was doing. She was always blunt about it, too.

They sat down on the floor together as the lights dimmed. There was a flashing clock that showed the time for the deck. It was midnight. The lights were low, and it was harder to see the stars from where they were.

"Look at what I found." Celeste placed the small cube on the blanket they were sitting on.

When she pressed the button, the projection of the solar system filled the entire space of the dome. It was much bigger than when she saw it earlier and that's what got her excited.

Dri looked up at it in amazement. He hadn't seen it before so it was definitely a sight for him.

It was beautiful.

"I think it was a gift." Celeste looked up at it with him. "It might be Aurora's."

"It's pretty cool." Dri said as Celeste laid back on the blanket. "I honestly think you belong up here." he said to her.

"I feel like I'd fit in anywhere." she said, staring up at the projection of the planets that rotated around the sun. "I mean, my anxiety would probably keep me from being a Flyer, but other than that I think I could've done both if we were still here."

She always kept herself from getting big dreams. Her anxiety was a weakness and she did her best to never put herself in a position where she'd feel like the world was ending. She didn't like it.

"I guess piloting a fighter ship wouldn't be too bad." Dri laid back on the blanket next to her. "I'm not into all that engineering stuff, I think my girlfriend is into it more than I am." he looked at her.

She smiled. He called her his girlfriend.

"You make me feel like I'm seventeen and young and all that-"

"Uh, we're not old." Dri wasn't sure why she said it like that.

"You play around too much." Celeste said to him. She was hoping Dri would man up and take her. "Stop teasing me and being indecisive."

"It's more taking things slow." he clarified for her. "You have to fall in love with me, not just want to fuck me."

"Trust me, I'm already there." she wasn't joking with him.

But he was sure he wasn't playing around with her. Dri wasn't the careful type, the only reason he took so long was because he wanted to do this the right way. He wasn't much for physical contact, not like Celeste was. It doesn't bother him, but he wanted to know her first until there was one part of her he didn't know yet.

She was in love with him. Very in love. And even though they just went on their first date together, she's had feelings for him for a long while.

He moved up a bit, his hand lifting to her face, and he kissed her gently. She was always happy when he touched her, when he kissed her. She was lucky.

He said he would take it slow.

He meant it.

But he couldn't say he didn't like how Celeste looked under the stars.

His hand left her face. She felt him holding her waist, but he tugged on her shirt to untuck it from her black pants. He didn't know where to touch her first; she would've appreciated his hand in her pants, but he wasn't going to give in to her yet even if she moved her hips to guide him.

His hand lifted her shirt higher to cup her breast. Between his fingers he rubbed her nipple gently before squeezing her. This was the first time he was touching her, he had to be sure not to hurt her.

But she was impatient.

She pulled away and sighed. "Dri." She was almost irritated with him.

"Okay." He knew.

He pulled his hand out of her shirt and lifted his own up so he could take it off.

Celeste could see the scars that marked his dark skin, the gashes over his chest and abdomen. They were healed now and fading, but there were many. She can't forget that Dri has been working for the army for seven years. He's bound to get marked up.

She even saw the scars on his upper arm, right where his prosthetic met his skin. She never forgot how he told her he lost his arm.

Celeste was staring.

She hadn't noticed Dri unbuttoning her pants.

She let him take the lead. She didn't want to scare him off by pinning him down and going for what she wanted. And it was nice to take it slow once in a while. She liked the way Dri looked at her.

Even as he rubbed over her panties with his fingers, he watched her, seeing her expression when he touched where she liked it. She was warm and getting warmer. Her hand moved his so he could really touch her, his fingers rubbing just inside her; she was dripping already but the thought of him touching her was enough. He teased her gently as he kissed her face, her cheek, her nose.

Celeste didn't hold back her smile when he finally kissed her lips again.

When his fingers moved deeper, he felt her moan around his lips. It was the first time she sounded like that around him. His heart raced at the sound of her voice, but he wanted to hear her again. He was turned on. Now he couldn't hide it. His fingers moved slowly inside her, her warmth squeezing him.

She was wet around his fingers. He didn't know what she liked but he decided to take the time to find out since she was letting him.

Now and again Celeste would moan into him. She was thinking what it would be like to feel him inside her. She was careful, she didn't want Dri to only tempt her.

Would he be okay with having sex here?

No one was around, and it was like they were under the stars.

"Can I...?" Dri breathed against her heavily. Her leg was over his as much as it could've been, and she could feel the front of his pants pressing on her thigh.

He didn't have to ask, or so Celeste thought.

But when he pulled away further, she nodded to him because she couldn't find her voice.

She's never been nervous before.

Well she was nervous with Zinnia, but that was a while ago. She hadn't felt this way again in a long time. She hasn't liked anyone enough to feel nervous, besides Zinnia.

Celeste's cheeks were a bright red.

She laid back on the blanket again, her eyes staring up at the stars. Her silver hair was around her, a mess against the dark blanket she was on. Dri was over her, pulling off her pants for her. At least if he took things slow, he could say he had restraint. Celeste wouldn't rush him, not for their first time.

His fingers pressed inside her again. Her legs spread more when her pants weren't a constraint. Her gaze went to him again, just as he undid the front of his pants to release his cock that was throbbing. Her heart was still racing, but somehow she knew he was nervous too.

As long as they were together, they could figure it out.

It definitely wasn't easy. Celeste tensed up immediately as Dri pushed himself inside her. As slow as he went, it was still slightly painful for her, and she hoped it couldn't show on her face. She didn't want him to stop just because of a little discomfort.

He held on to her as he moved. It was different to feel inside her, different than how his fingers felt. She was pulsing around him, he was throbbing in her.

There was nothing else that could keep the two of them on edge.

It got easier.

It wasn't all just pain.

He could move deeper into her and he found his rhythm easily. Listening to her moan and breathe harder was enough to fuel him. His attraction to her made his heart race even faster, but he was enjoying every second of being with her, especially being inside her.

They stayed close.

Even afterwards, they stayed close together. They had a lot of time left, so it wasn't so bad. Before they started exploring again, they just wanted quiet time to be together. And they got their chance.

Celeste couldn't be happier.

She showed him the room with all the machines and weapons. Someone had to feel her excitement for what she found. She knew Dri couldn't care less about the process of making weapons, but still he would keep interest because she was the one showing him.

She turned on the lights and opened up the second door that would lead to the fighter ships that weren't completed. There were weapons that weren't used, systems that weren't needed, and the fighter ships were old but still shiny.

"This is a lot of fire power in one room." Dri said cautiously. Celeste could pick up the wrong thing and take them both out.

"There's more places like it." Celeste went back to one of the computers. "Aurora has a lot of old blue prints." She went searching for them again.

Dri went to see what she was doing.

"So, I found this one." She pulled it up for him to see. "He used this for the ships that harnessed all that energy to cut off Europe."

"Looks like a bunch of letters and numbers to me." Dri didn't understand any of it.

"Well, I wanted to show this to someone." She pulled up a few codes for the system. "Aurora's very smart, but I realized that sometimes he wants to get caught." She said.

She made the codes bigger for Dri to see and bracketed a few letters.

He didn't know what he was looking at.

She did.

"This portion is always inactive in his other systems." She pointed to the few letters. "It's like..." She didn't know how to describe it. "...consider it how he signs everything." She said and scrolled down further. "Now this is the same code that allows the ships to release the energy," she pointed to another bracketed section that looked slightly different. "He made his signature active."

"I still don't get it." Dri said.

"The lights were a bright red on purpose." She smiled widely as she told him.

He wanted to be excited with her but he still didn't get it, which wasn't a surprise to her.

She picked up her tablet it and showed one of the news reports from twenty-seven years ago.

The Blood Aurora, and Red Northern Lights, and Incredibly Rare Aurora Borealis were just a few titles of the news reports shown that night.

It lasted just fifteen minutes, but it was enough time for billions of people to see. No one could forget a day like that. They might not know what happened, but it was a sight to see.

"Natural aurora borealis is mostly a green color. It's incredibly rare to have red because there's not enough energy to produce the color." She explained.

"So he ends up harnessing a ton of energy, why not show something rare." Dri got it.

"He wanted people to know it was him." She got excited again.

Celeste hasn't seen anything cooler. Now she understood what the inactive code meant. When it's active, there will always be a color change to red. If she had known this before, she would've started signing her blue prints like this.

That's how she finds anything Aurora has worked on. That code identifies him.

"I can't imagine how many times he's been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to." She shook her head but she was amazed.

"You know, people said the system turned red when he messed with it." Dri said to her.

"Exactly!" She wasn't surprised at all. "If he's going to rewrite a societal system, might as well, right?"

"That must be how they found out it was him." Dri said. After all, there was no way that someone wouldn't get caught when tampering with a societal system.

That was a big deal.

Because of that, there were other questions to ask. Dri was looking at Celeste, curious, and he hoped that she might've had answers. "But why keep his charges pending though?"

"That I don't know." She said. "There had to be something else to it if Justice didn't get him."

She could ask Sirus, but she was already on thin ice because of the implant. Should she ask to know more?

She wanted to.

She was going to.

"I wish he had taught me...." She said quietly to herself.

There were things he showed her, all the tricks he used to use, what it was like back when he was working on his systems. But she had to find out things as serious as this. She didn't code like he did and she wanted to. It will always be a language of its own, but she liked how Aurora did it.

"He doesn't make things anymore." She said just as quietly as before. "I haven't found a blue print of his recently." She was almost sad about it.

"I know you hate this conversation, but why don't you just work for the department?" Dri could always see the look in her eyes when she was working on something.

Even engineering the implant gave her this excitement for two years that's been lingering on.

Why not do something she loves?

"Celeste, you know what you should be doing." Dri said to her. "And I know you get anxious sometimes but is it really that bad that you can't actually put what you know to good use?"

No one would support her like Dri does. He would always have her back. He knew how smart Celeste was. Anyone that knew her didn't doubt her, but they questioned why she chose not to work with her expertise. Doing part time work is not cutting it as an answer for some people.

"I..." Celeste looked down, playing with her fingers. "I don't want to be overshadowed...or compared...I just..."

Her heart was racing, and not in a good way.

"I don't need people telling me that I should be like Aurora when I'm not measuring up."

People had high standards. What if she can't meet them?

Dri didn't mean to upset her, and he knew it was going to happen, but he felt like this was the one thing he didn't understand about her.

His hand moved to her face, and he pushed back strands of her hair gently behind her ear so he could see her face. "You hate being asked why you're not working for the department-"

"I can't work for him, Dri." That's what scared her.

She's never told anyone about the lingering disdain and disapproval Aurora had for her being an engineer. He never said it to her, but she saw the sad look in his eyes that day she told him what she wanted to do.

And it's never changed.

She became more anxious trying to prove herself. She loved learning and she wanted to be the best at what she was doing. She showed her true potential and she was at the top of her field with every exam. But the anxiety ate away at her. Knowing that Aurora disapproved, even without him telling her, that made it worse.

What if she wasn't good enough?

What if she wasn't smart enough?

She'd be out-shined immediately. People would tell her what her father did and why she couldn't do it like him. She could just anticipate the comments.

Then she could only imagine what Aurora might say if she asked.

What if she turns out like him?

She couldn't do it.

"Okay." Dri cut the conversation short because he saw the fear in her eyes.

He didn't want to make her more upset. She did say she had a lot of things to show him, and he wanted to see them with her, so he chose to drop the conversation.

Celeste never liked thinking about it, but it seemed lately she was drawn to what was making her anxious.

She had to calm down before things got worse.

Celeste was quiet as they stared out the glass window. From where they were standing, they could see Earth, but that's not what she was looking at.

"Over there is Europe's Mother Ship." She could see it in space.

"Think Hariette will let us go?"

"Yeah, like Europe's going to let us on that." She didn't think they'd be able to. "I hate that all of this history is watered down just so we can tolerate it." She wasn't too happy that she didn't know much.

"Should've done a background in history or something-"

"Don't tempt me." She looked at him sharply. She was dissatisfied with what she knew, and eager to figure it out on her own.

"You think they tell those people the truth?"

"No." She wasn't hopeful.

Neither was Dri.

She turned to him abruptly and looked at him. "Dri, what did you focus on in school?" She never asked him, and for some reason it was the first time it's occurred to her.

She only knew him to work for the Department of Defense, but people don't make a decision to go into that until they're at least seventeen. School is still mandatory.

She wanted to know what his focus is.

"Don't laugh." Dri prepared her.

"Oh, no." She knew it had to be ridiculous. She even covered her mouth just so nothing insensitive would come out.

"My main focus was in statistics." He said. "But my applied focus was in quantitative psychology." He added.

"You're kidding me." Celeste was shocked. "So you do understand numbers-"

"Statistics isn't calculus, Celeste." He didn't think he had to clarify that for her but he said it.

"But still." she was surprised. "So how did you end up in Defense?" she asked.

"I was working for both Human Resources and Health and Medicine at the time but with Defense." He said. "Most of my work was here."

Something must've happened for him to change occupations.

"There was this colleague of mine who wanted to play with the sparring system, which was a bad idea." He added because he thought she was going to say that sneaking around and doing things they shouldn't was a good idea. "So, we messed around with the system and we got caught."

"Who found you?" Celeste asked.

"All five of the first five sector leaders." Dri answered. "I was fucking terrified cause they had all their weapons on them and everything. But Sirus was the one to suggest I test for the department."

"And if Sirus hasn't scrapped you by now, that means you're doing a hell of a job." Celeste knew it wasn't a coincidence.

Dri only worked in his field for a year before switching. Since then, he's been part of his sector and hasn't changed. He just didn't know he'd become a sector leader. He should've though. He'd think back to all the times he's gotten in trouble but never demoted, never tossed to the bigger sectors where all the general work happens.

"You know, I wasn't a fighter back then." Dri looked away. "That simulation was just fun to play with. Then I went through training and I was somehow better than ninety-nine percent of people."

Celeste looked at him and wondered what he really thought about becoming a sector leader. Of course he was stressed out, and he complained about it all the time, but for some reason he continued every day. He had to like it if he was enduring it.

"It's been seven years." Dri said to himself.

Celeste moved her hands to his face. His eyes were so far away, even as he looked at her. But he was fine.

Physically, mentally, emotionally, he was handling it better than a good chunk of people who's seen what he's seen.

"You're a good leader." Celeste believed in him. She's been saying that for a while now. She thought he was getting what he deserved.

He smiled at her. He didn't need to hear anyone else say it. He trusted Celeste.

"Come on, you said you had a ton of stuff to show me." He took one of her hands, holding it.

"Well, now I'm thinking about playing with one of the fight simulations."

"I'm...not." Dri said truthfully.

"Don't want to beat me?" She asked.

"You're going to kill me one day, Celeste." He said as she pulled him on with her.

She doesn't know her own strength sometimes. But he couldn't say no to fighting with her. There was something oddly satisfying about having the girl he likes keep him on the ground.