Celeste

Celeste was staring down at her tablet.

She’s been stressed out and anxious, a lot more than she has been in a while. Her numbers were high and she was concerned. They haven’t been like this since she was in school. She told herself she was fine over and over again so she could get herself together.

But she was at the coordinates that were given to her.

It was a shopping district.

This was where they found Zinnia before.

Celeste couldn’t focus with so many people around. They walked passed her, talking loudly with others, on their tablets and devices. There was a lot going on at this time of night. It was midnight but it was so lively here.

Celeste continued walking as she looked around.

She reminded herself not to get distracted every minute. She saw everything that was being presented to people, the luxury items, the drones, the cool devices. She didn’t need to get wrapped up in being in a different nation right now. She was here to do a job and go home.

But it wasn’t that simple.

She has been walking around for an hour, but she didn’t get any hints or clues to why Zinnia was here. She wouldn’t be in hiding if she was here. There were so many people at once. People would be able to see her.

But she would be able to hide among the crowd. No one would be able to shoot her with so many people around.

Celeste tried to listen through all the noise.

There had to be something she could recognize.

She looked at all the sales workers, trying to spot red hair. That would be the most noticeable feature here. Bright red hair.

Then she stopped.

Why would Zinnia keep her red hair when she knows something could happen to her? She would look like everyone else with brunette or black hair. She’d dress like them, too. She’d blend in.

Celeste touched her hat when she felt something tap against it. It was the first drop of rain. She hadn't noticed it was cloudy. Even the weather, it was easy to see a projection of the stars. She tugged at her sweater and moved under an area that would shield her from the rain. It was humid, she felt it, she didn't have clothes for the weather. Other people were taking out their umbrellas, not everyone had clear ones. It would be hard to spot anyone with their umbrellas blocking the view. She sighed quietly to herself. She might as well wait out the rain.

She looked at her tablet again.

She was still stressed, as if she expected her mental health numbers to change so quickly. It wouldn't.

She turned around when a saleswoman offered a sample of something to try. She was hungry, so she might as well. Her eyes widened when she saw her, because she thought her mind was deceiving her. She recognized her voice, but seeing her was different.

“Celeste.” Zinnia didn’t expect to see her.

Celeste didn’t plan out what she would say to Zinnia once she found her. She didn’t plan what she would feel, if she would have to tell herself not to be upset. Her mouth was dry as she stared at Zinnia in front of her.

Her heart jammed in her chest. It was a painful feeling. She was betrayed, and that would linger in her for a long while.

Celeste couldn't find words, she was just staring.

Her hair was pitch black and cut short around her face. She wore glasses that didn’t hide her eyes. She wasn’t confused to see Celeste here, but she was a little surprised.

What happened shouldn’t have happened.

“Zinnia, I-” Celeste stopped herself from saying something stupid.

Like she still loved her.

Like she wanted things to go back to normal. Like she’d pretend none of this happened.

She can’t forget this. There was a war that just broke out because of Zinnia. No one will forget this. Celeste remembered why she was here.

“We have to leave.” Celeste said abruptly and grabbed her.

“Wait-”

“They’re going to kill you for what you did.” Celeste didn’t want to hear her protest or fight leaving. If they weren’t gone now, they’d both be in trouble.

Zinnia almost went with her.

Something hit a drone that was wheeling by a few people. It was convenient that it was in front of Celeste and Zinnia at the exact moment, but a fire sparked immediately as the sound of it being hit and the metal breaking. The fire grew in seconds and panic rose around everyone as they tried to run away from the sudden small explosion.

In the chaos, Celeste lost her grip on Zinnia.

She couldn’t find her in the panic.

People were screaming and yelling, running in different directions. A few people bumped into Celeste, knocking her out of the way just as she looked up towards the sky.

She caught a glimpse of someone standing on the one story building on the other side of the street. It was a shadow of a person, but she knew someone was there. When she looked around some more, she saw more of them.

She tried to follow the direction Zinnia went in, but she knew she wasn’t going to find her.

Celeste had to hide for now, until the panic died down. She had to follow the crowd of people to blend in. She had a feeling whoever shot the drone meant to shoot Zinnia. Their mission would’ve been taken care of if Zinnia had taken it instead.

If Celeste was unlucky, she would’ve been shot.

Now everyone knows that Zinnia was here. And they know Celeste is trying to get her first.

She doesn’t have good odds at all.

She stayed around people as things began to settle. There were officials on site to take care of the fire and fix the damages. Celeste hadn’t realized how hard her heart was racing until she sat down on the side of the street. She needed a place to hide. She needed to change her clothes. She couldn’t stay out.

She couldn’t call Dri for help, not after what happened.

It would be too soon.

She took out her tablet to look at her numbers again. They were higher than an hour ago.

She was anxious, the kind that made her hands sweat. She was breathing hard, too. She was about to have a panic attack. She moved her head down and took deep breaths. She couldn’t relax her thoughts so she tried to relax her body instead. No matter what she thought, she took deep breaths until her heart wasn’t beating so hard in her chest.

She almost had Zinnia but she failed.

Now how was she going to find her again?

Celeste was up all night trying to work on the mechanism to turn on the implant. What she had now worked, but she did her best to minimize paralysis.

She got a hold of Clover, who was just about to go to sleep but he figured she had good news.

She didn’t.

“Celeste, you look terrible.” he said to her, more so out of concern.

“I haven’t been able to sleep.” Celeste had her hands to her forehead, keeping her hair back out of her face as she tried to think. “I had four panic attacks in the past three hours, I can’t adjust to the time zone, and this stupid implant doesn’t want to turn off safely.” She was frustrated and upset.

She was about to start crying, and Clover didn’t know what to do about that. He was going to panic because she was going to panic.

He was exhausted, but not as much as her.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“My cousin flew over here from China, so they gave him a place to stay until tomorrow night.” she said. She knew she was lucky with that one, and she was so thankful, but she couldn’t sleep. “I’ve been working on trying to shut off the implant for six hours.”

“I saw what you sent me.” Clover said. “The paralysis can’t be avoided.” he said this to her before, but she was going to try to make it an option instead of inevitable. “This one would be safer, however. The paralysis would only affect the limbs and can be fixed immediately by removing the implant once its turned off.” he explained.

“Thank goodness.” she wasn’t relieved. But at least she minimized the damage.

She began to cry though she got good news. Her tears spilled down her cheeks as she closed her eyes. She was miserable and tired. Clover had no idea what to say to her. He wasn’t near her either so he couldn’t exactly comfort her.

He panicked.

“I didn’t think I’d find her.” Celeste cried. “I mean, I don’t know what to say to her. She just leaves, and now I’m risking my life to go and get her and I can’t do this.”

Clover figured she was crying about Zinnia, but he barely knew her. All he did was do a surgery on her and talk to her for maybe an hour. That was the only contact he had with her. Though, he did know that Celeste was dating her for some time.

Now she was crying her heart out again.

“Celeste-”

“I almost got fucking killed today because they’re trying to kill her.” she said miserably. “I can’t talk to Dri because he’s coming here to kill her, too.”

She couldn’t stop crying.

So Clover waited until she could handle herself. He let her rant and complain and get everything off of her chest because she wouldn’t be able to stop crying until she did. She was holding all of that in for some time now, but at least she was letting it out.

Her chest was hurting.

There was this hole there that made it hard for her to breathe.

It was hard to see her like that, and no one was there to help her. Clover couldn’t hug her. He couldn’t be there to offer support. He was here if she needed him, but right now, that’s not what she needed. As much as she got to ran to him and tell him everything she had to deal with, it wasn’t enough.

She was miserable.

It’s not going to change anything.

She finally couldn’t cry anymore. When she could breathe, she moved to wipe her face with the sleeve of her shirt. There was nothing left to complain about. She said everything she needed to. Now she was numb to the pain.

How many times was she going to tell herself she couldn’t do this.

“You need to sleep.” Clover finally said to her. “You have to watch your mental health, and not sleeping is not going to help.”

Celeste was exhausted mentally, but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t sleep.

“I’ll try.” she lied. She was going to stay up and worry about everything that bothered her.

Clover was foolish to believe that Celeste could be alone now.

He told her goodbye anyway.

She needed to rest but she wasn’t going to.

Gemini was waiting behind the door to her room. He heard her sobbing and wondered why she wasn’t asleep. Then he heard her explain everything to Clover and he figured she was overwhelmed. She had to sleep. He gave her the room for a reason. She was exhausted.

With everything she was going through, she might as well be.

“Hey,” he walked in the room and turned on the low lighting. “You’re insane, you know that?” He said to her as he sat down at the table next to her.

Celeste wiped her face. Her cousin was watching her.

“I don’t know what kind of crap you got yourself in to, but there’s no way I would risk my life for someone who left me.” He said.

She was about to start crying again.

“Celeste, I’m not saying that to make you cry.” He saw the tears that welded up in her eyes. She was looking down at the table, biting down on her lip to try and hold back her tears.

“I’m not crying.” She wiped her face again. “I’m tired.”

“From what I’ve heard, you can’t sleep.” He said.

She couldn’t. She was stressed and anxious, and her mind was going a mile a minute.

“Look, I...” Gemini didn’t know the kind of advice to give. “I can’t imagine what’s going on, and if I could help, I would.” He said. “But all of this isn’t your fault.”

“You don’t know what I did.”

“What did you do?” He asked.

She sniffed as she pulled on her sleeves, sitting back in her seat. She didn’t want to admit it. Before she would’ve been a little prouder of what she did, but after what’s been going on recently, she can’t be happy. “I made a device that allows people to replay their memories.” She said. “Someone got a hold of the blue prints and now Britain declared war because they can, and are using my device to bring back information.”

Gemini pursed his lips as he looked away, wanting to hide his surprise.

“I still want to find her.” Celeste said. “I can’t let them hurt her.”

Gemini felt bad for her. He knew she had a big heart. It’s terrible when people took advantage of that. He didn’t think the same way she did. He thought whoever did this should get what’s coming to them.

Celeste didn’t want to talk about it. “Thanks for your help, Gemini. This means a lot to me.”

“You’re family.” He said. “I said I would help.”

She just needed a place to stay for the night and she was lucky to have it.

“Please, sleep.” He said as he got up. “No one’s going to come in here, I’ll guard the door.” He said.

Mostly to make her smile. She knew he couldn’t fight to save his life.

“Okay, Celeste, I know I said I would help, but this is different.” Gemini said as he looked around. He was in uniform, his silver badge clipped to his white shirt.

She was wearing her uniform as well. She kept her hair tied up and she was wearing sunglasses, but she looked official.

“I’m supposed to meet up with Dri.” She said. “He has a few things for me, and it won’t seem like he’s helping a fugitive if I don’t look like one.” She said.

“I have one hour to make it to my flight.” He was paranoid.

“Give me ten minutes of your time.” She begged him.

“Fine. Just don’t get me killed.” He sighed.

Well, that seemed easy.

Dri wasn’t in uniform and he was like that on purpose. The last thing he needed was to be tracked. He saw Celeste and the young man she was with. He walked over to them, a little cautious. Where they were, they didn’t need to worry, but Dri was missing and it shouldn’t be like that.

He was staring at Celeste. He was so worried about her. Now she was standing in front of her and she looked okay. That relieved some of his stress, but there was so much going on that he didn’t know what to tell her first.

“Shit’s a mess right now.” Dri said to her.

“Oh, dear God.” Gemini didn’t want to hear that.

“Don’t mind him.” Celeste had enough panicking for the past few days, she needed to do what she’s here for.

“Aurora’s gone.” Dri said. “We now only have two commanders, neither of them want to take his position.”

Celeste couldn’t think of a reason why Aurora would completely step down from his position. It couldn’t be about her. If Aurora wasn’t going to get her, he would use his job as a front.

Dri gave her a box that had clothes in it. “I would say it’s no big deal, but Sirus is gone, too, so that’s a problem.”

Her parents were gone.

She couldn’t think of a valid reason why.

They wouldn’t come get her in the midst of a war.

Why would Aurora leave? Wherever he went, Sirus would always follow. So if Sirus was gone, that really meant Aurora stepped down.

“So you’re sector one’s leader now?” She asked as she opened the box.

“I am.” Dri answered. “This is not how I wanted it to happen.” He said.

Celeste took out a black long sleeved shirt from the box. The fabric was thicker, rougher against her fingers. The pants were the same fabric, and there were multiple latches to hold a few weapons. There were gloves in the box as well.

“No weapon?” She asked.

She did have the uniform, might as well have a few toys to play with.

“Don’t give her anything.” Gemini warned Dri.

“I wasn’t going to.” Dri had the same mindset. “This is just for you to blend in. Most everyone might hesitate before shooting.” He said. “The armor will protect you.”

“I don’t think it will fit-”

“I can’t exactly go shopping for the right size, Celeste.” He wanted her to focus. “Look, we found where Zinnia is again.” He said as he pulled out his tablet. “She changed her look.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You found her?”

“I did, but one of the sectors were watching. I lost her before I could take her with me.” She explained.

“I know it’s none of my business.” Gemini chimed in. “But you should just go home, Celeste. You shouldn’t be doing all this for one person.” He seemed serious. If he thought Celeste was going to listen, he’d suggest she come back with him.

Dri agreed with him.

They both stared at her, hoping she would change her mind but she didn’t.

“I’m already here. I didn’t go through all this bullshit just to go home empty handed.” She might as well do what she came here for.

She was already in a lot of trouble anyway. She might as well continue.

“And, I’ve had a shitty couple of days so I mean-”

She stopped when she saw Dri’s eyes change colors, the blue rings pulsing brightly. It was an abrupt change to have happened, and he seemed just as confused as her. She didn’t think he turned it on himself.

“Gemini, leave.” She said to him.

“Are you-”

“You’ve done a lot for me, but any more and you’re going to get in trouble. Go.” She said abruptly as she grabbed a hold of Dri, moving him out of the way from other people.

Dri didn’t know what was happening. “Celeste-” he sounded worried and panicked. He could feel her holding on to him, but he couldn’t see her.

Something was wrong.

Was the implant malfunctioning?

His arm began to glow a feint red instead of bright blue. The glow pulsed as the implant ran on it’s own.

“What do you see?” She asked.

“Everything.”

All of his memories were flashing before his eyes and he couldn’t make it stop.

Celeste wasn’t sure what was going on, but the red color to his arm was the biggest clue. Celeste knew that instantly. “Aurora knows you found me.” She accessed the system in his arm.

Right at the moment, Aurora had access to everything Dri has seen and he was using a portion of it to find where he was. And it worked. This was why Celeste didn’t want Dri to get an upgrade from another engineer, it’s to prevent this from happening.

She shut it all off and Dri looked blankly at her for a second.

“Dammit!” Celeste was in trouble now.

Dri was going to be in a lot of trouble as well. He was already caught, but for some reason he wasn’t sure if Aurora was going to be the one yelling at him.

Aurora was no longer Head of Defense. So what did he want?

Something wasn’t right.

The wrong people were silent.

“You need to leave.” Celeste picked up the box. “Go back to your sector and behave. You can’t contact me.” She warned him.

“Celeste-”

“If I see you again, it’s because I’m getting arrested.” She was serious. She shouldn’t see him again, especially after what just happened.

She knew where Zinnia was again, and now she’s going to get her. This time she wasn’t going to fail.