He would definitely be upset.
Sirus had this idea that Celeste was talking to someone she shouldn’t. He knew it wasn’t Dri. As much as Dri would tell her things, he feels like someone else provoked Celeste to ask.
Something was going to happen.
He had to tell Aurora.
Celeste went back to her place quietly. She was stunned by what she saw earlier. She had no idea how serious the situation was until she saw it. And Sirus had been holding on to that memory for all these years. How could he do that?
It was a warning, a reason, proof.
The implant was no good.
Zinnia heard Celeste come into the bedroom. Celeste immediately dropped everything and started undressing without a word.
Zinnia wasn't sure what happened, but something happened. Celeste wouldn't look that upset if nothing had happened. “How’d everything go?” she was careful to ask the question.
“Sirus showed me what happened with the implant.” She said quietly and got into bed.
She was mentally exhausted. She couldn't do anything.
“It wasn’t good, Zinnia. Everything went to shit apparently.” She said. "Oh, and he really does still have his implant, so there's that. Not that I didn't know, but he just gets to show me how that day went, and it wasn't good."
Celeste was upset with herself. Her hands balled up, the blanket tight in her fists. Her heart had been racing the entire way to her place, and it hadn't stopped. She felt like she was drowning. That's why she was upset with herself.
"I was warned not to do it, but I finished it anyway."
"Trial and error is a real concept." Zinnia said.
"Aurora and Hariette almost got killed, and I..."
She finished the device that did it.
"Hey," Zinnia held Celeste's face in her hands. "There's no reason for you to stress about something that happened years ago." she said. "You said yours worked better, and I believe you."
Celeste could still feel her heart beating hard in her chest.
"You need to believe in yourself, too." Zinnia knew Celeste had that issue when she gets anxious.
There's no reason to doubt herself.
She made her changes, and her implant works much better than the original. It was trial and error, just like Zinnia said. Celeste learned from Aurora and Hariette's mistake.
"Just breathe, okay." Zinnia told Celeste as she moved her hair out of her face.
Celeste calmed down a little more, enough that she couldn't hear her heart beating in her ears.
Her anxiety still lingered. She knew she was going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.
Chapter Eleven
Celeste went to find Sirus again. She had a lot more questions she had to ask, and he could probably show her the answers.
She wanted to know what happened when they left for a year.
But she wanted to know what it was like at the start of the experiment. It couldn't have gone to hell in the first few days.
Sirus would have the answers that she needs, and she planned to pry it out of him.
But she got Aurora instead. As much as he was busy, he seemed to always find time to take a break. He would wander around or talk to people in the lobby. That's where Celeste found him today.
She smiled when she saw her dad.
But her heart ached.
She knew the truth.
She remembered the images she saw, the way Aurora cried and begged for help, how the implant almost killed him. She couldn't imagine what it showed him, what it did to him, what he went through.
So she wanted to be close to Aurora. Knowing what she knows now, she felt like she had to protect him.
"Are you okay? You've been coming over more frequently..." Aurora was concerned. He knew Celeste didn't want anything to do with this department.
"Well, Dri works here." Celeste pushed her hair behind her ears. "And I just wanted to say hi." She added as she stepped closer to Aurora.
"Don't get Dri in trouble." Aurora told her. "He's doing really well despite, you know, Sirus being hard on him."
"Tell him to be nice to Dri." Celeste almost wanted to beg. "Dri's stressed out and terrified."
"Wait till the real fun starts." Aurora scoffed. "The sector leaders are ready for a transition but it's going to take a while." He said.
"And you?" Celeste asked. "I know you've told me it would be hard to leave, but...I would prefer if you stay with Sirus."
"Yeah, I'm not staying with him." Aurora turned away but she saw him roll his eyes before walking away from her.
Celeste smiled to herself as she tagged along side him. She knew what Aurora felt for Sirus. She knew what Sirus felt for him. She wanted to know how they met, what they were like, what they felt before.
She doesn't get a lot of chances to know about the past, well things she's aching to know.
"Can you tell me things...?" She wanted to ask for a few minutes and she finally worked up the courage.
They had stepped out of the elevator on Aurora's floor. They were walking together to his room, and it seemed like he was going to do more work.
He smiled to himself. He wasn't surprised that Celeste was asking, she was nosy but she liked knowing things about her family.
"You get one story today." Aurora looked at her.
"Okay!" She smiled widely as she followed him into his Command room. "I like the stories about when I was little." She wanted to start with something easy.
Aurora doesn't open up too quick, but she figured she might get him loosened up enough that she could start asking questions.
"Your first day of school was an absolute nightmare." Aurora said and laughed to himself, leaning against the desk without turning anything on. "You cried so hard you almost passed out. And that didn't help me since I always cried when you did." He looked at her. He could remember it like it was yesterday. "Sirus got tired of it after a month cause you cried every morning without fail so he started teaching you how to handle your anxiety from being away from home."
Celeste vaguely remembered. It was just a blur of crying and yelling.
"You would scream your frustrations away, wipe your tears, and hold yourself up to get through the day. You did that till you were six."
Celeste could've sworn she kept doing that.
"Your teachers frustrated you and you would scream at them so I told Sirus he had to fix that."
Celeste began laughing.
"It's surprising since he's the one with anger issues." Aurora laughed with her. "He had such a bad temper before you were around."
"What about you?"
"Me? Well, where do you think you get your anxiety from?" He asked her. It was no surprise. Sometimes Celeste had her bad days.
But what she goes through will never compare to what Aurora went through just on a normal day.
Celeste knew.
She knew more than Aurora thought she did.
"If Sirus wasn't..." Aurora took a breath. "I never told you what it was like way before, did I?"
"Is that happening today?"
He thought it might as well. "Sirus and I were partners on the force way back when." Aurora didn't want to give away his age, but Celeste wouldn't forget. "We...didn't necessarily get along for a long while, but I can't say that he hasn't had his trust in me since day one." Aurora was confident in that statement. "He saved me, I saved him. That's how it was."
Celeste figured that it continued like that.
They were together this long.
"That's so cute." Celeste smiled. "It's almost like you two love each other." She joked around.
"He's lucky I tolerate him." Aurora rolled his eyes.
Celeste hoped that she could be with someone for so long. She wanted what her parents had. The way they were together, she couldn't always describe it. Sirus always followed Aurora wherever he went. He never listened, but Celeste had that feeling like Sirus put his life on the line for Aurora if he needed to. And Aurora always sa
ys his mood never changes when he sees Sirus, but it's kind of hard to not notice how he becomes more talkative or how he emotes more.
Maybe that's Aurora just being more at ease.
She didn't need to hear either of them say that. She just knew. She's lived with them for most of her life, of course she would know how her parents feel for each other.
It was just hard to describe.
"The way he was with you was..." Aurora looked away and smiled to himself again. He hasn't really talked about it with anyone, but he was glad that he raised Celeste with Sirus. There was no way he could do it alone.
Sirus protected them both with everything he had. Celeste was lucky to have both of them.
"Can I...ask for something?" She was cautious. Aurora looked at her. "Hariette offered to take me up to the Mother Ship..."
Aurora's expression changed. He didn't want to show his disdain and disapproval but he wasn't good at hiding it. It was clear he didn't want Celeste up there.
"I can't stop you from going up there." Aurora said as he stood up straighter, turning away mostly to hide his disapproval. "I just hope you don't." He said.
"What was so bad about it?" Celeste asked. Maybe she could get some insight. But Aurora didn't answer. "I won't say anything."
"No." he took a breath and tried to think. "It's just that some things should stay hidden." Aurora admitted. "Things up on the Mother ship wasn't great, at least from my point of view."
Right. Hariette had told her before.
"You could say I learned a lot about how things worked after a few years of dedicating my life to..." Aurora didn't want to think about it. "It's not what I thought it was, I can say that." He said.
Everything that happened up there shaped the events that happened on the new planet. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like if he wasn't so stubborn about wanting to become Commander. He was sure everything that happened wouldn't have happened.
"I won't touch anything when I go." Celeste assured him.
"I never liked you doing that." Aurora crossed his arms. "You got that from Sirus, and I told him you did. You used to watch him put his hands on everything then all of a sudden you started doing it." He complained. "You can't do that."
"That's why I said I wasn't going to do it." Celeste placed her hands behind her back as she rolled on her heels. "So it's okay if I go?" She just wanted to be clear that she was going and that Aurora at least knows and approves.
"You can go." Aurora said.
Before he could add something else, Sirus came into the room and it looked like he was going to say something but he stopped when he saw them both.
"Oh, and Sirus will be going, too. Hariette knows I'm looking for a specific resource, so he's going to get it." Aurora said to her.
"What am I doing?" Sirus didn't know and no one told him until now.
"Hariette is taking her to the Mother Ship." Aurora said.
"And...you want me to babysit?-"
"Why is taking care of your kid babysitting?" Celeste asked Sirus, and he looked at her quickly. She wasn't a kid and for some reason Sirus always had to remind her. "You don't have to watch me, I'll just play with some neat toys and be on my way." She said.
Aurora was the one that sighed and rubbed his forehead. Just like Sirus. He didn't know what to do with that. He shouldn't be surprised that Celeste was going to play with everything.
Sirus didn't even respond. He tried to fight back a smile but he couldn't hold it. He used to annoy Aurora like that, now it was Celeste's turn.
"Thank God I'm not going up there." Aurora got off the desk and turned away to turn everything on.
"You sure?" Sirus asked. "We could give a good history lesson."
Celeste was excited. She couldn't wait to hear more about them.
"I'm not going up there just for you to point out where we-" Aurora stopped his comment abruptly and turned away. That's when Sirus started laughing.
He knew what Aurora was going to say. The "kid" was in the room so he stopped.
Celeste wanted to know.
"I don't care." Aurora said to them. "Both of you get out. I have stuff to do." He said.
Celeste frowned but she turned the other way on her heels so she could leave the room. Sirus left with her, too. Clearly whatever he was going to do wasn't worth getting yelled at for today.
He didn't forget what he showed Celeste.
He figured she learned her lesson, then again he had a feeling someone had Celeste's implant, he just had to find out who.
Celeste was occupied with other things. She was so happy that she was going to space. It was even better to not keep that from Aurora. A small weight was lifted off her shoulders.
And Sirus was going with her. She couldn't even imagine everything she was going to learn because he was finally going to tell her things.
Or so she believes.
"Are you really going to tell me things?" She asked him, mostly to just confirm. She'd follow him all day and night till he did tell her.
"Might as well filter everything I want you to know."
"That's not fair." Celeste continued to frown. She was about to complain but Sirus put his finger on her forehead, right between her eyebrows, and pressed on her to get her to loosen up.
"You're going to look ugly for the rest of your life if you keep making that face." He said to her.
She gasped. "That's not something you say to your daughter." She moved his hand from her face. "I don't say anything about how old you look."
"Wow." Sirus didn't think she would go there. "I can still wipe the floor with you."
She would always be beat no matter how hard she trained or fought. "It's not gonna be like that for long and you know it." Celeste pointed out.
"As long as I'm still alive, you're still second." Sirus didn't have to tell her, but for some reason she never got the idea.
She could never win.
Maybe it's because he taught her everything she knows.
"I can go right now." Celeste was ready to show she wasn't the baby anymore.
Sirus started laughing as he looked at her. "I'm going to make you cry."
Celeste wasn't scared. She could take him.
"Celeste, you're grinding your teeth." Zinnia said to her. She thought she could hear Celeste doing it.
"Sirus kicked my ass today." She said angrily.
It was a close fight, too. That's what angered her. It doesn't get any easier to beat him.
"How is he that old but can still get me in a choke hold?"
"Yeah, because you can totally beat someone who's been, I don't know, training for decades." Zinnia said sarcastically. Celeste didn't like the comment. "Calling parents old is what fuels them." Zinnia shrugged. "Plus, my mom practically smacked me when I asked her what she wanted for her fiftieth." She sighed. "I'm trying to get her to retire, too."
"I don't know what's up with everyone still wanting to work."
"The system doesn't force people to stop unless injured or dead so I mean..." Zinnia spun around in her chair.
"Aurora says he can't leave, and I want to try and find a way to give him that option." Celeste straightened up in her seat. "But I feel like the Department of Justice is just waiting for their chance to prosecute him." She said.
"Yeah, I would, too, if it leads to a career changer. Getting the person who rewrote the system would give you contributions for life."
Imagine how many people are waiting for the case to open up. Celeste didn't want to.
Instead Celeste wanted to ask where Zinnia got that from. She couldn't remember if she heard it from Dri first and she repeated it in a conversation or if Zinnia found out from someone else.
Not everyone knows what happened.
Zinnia said she knew people from Europe. Celeste wanted to ask how. Was a family of hers part of British military? Zinnia would say something if she was from Europe. That's a hard secret to hide.
Celeste was putting too much faith in her though. Th
ey've had this conversation before, people keep secrets. Everyone isn't entitled to find out the truth.
She wanted to change the subject. She didn't have time to plot ways to find out where Zinnia was getting her information.
"Did Dri tell you about our date?" Celeste asked.
"Oh!" Zinnia stopped everything she was doing and looked at her. "He finally took you out?" She was surprised. "You didn't even tell me-"
"Yeah I did." Celeste glanced towards her. "That's why I was wearing that revealing yellow dress." She moved her hands to her breasts. The dress she wore was rather revealing.
Zinnia narrowed her eyes. She doesn't remember anything about Celeste telling her she had a date with Dri. If she had said something, Zinnia was sure they would have celebrated. If Celeste was wearing a revealing dress, Zinnia would be the first to know.
"You went out on the night I had to work, Celeste." Zinnia said. They hadn't see each other that day. "You didn't even let me do your hair-"
"I looked fine." Celeste blew it off. She wore a revealing dress, that's good enough.
"Well?" Zinnia urged for details. "What happened?"
Celeste smiled to herself. She finally got to go on a date with Dri, the only man she had eyes for. "It was amazing."
That's not what Zinnia was looking. Clearly there was an important event she had to know about. She continued to stare at Celeste, hoping she understood not to keep secrets.
"He didn't put out." She said.
Was Zinnia surprised? No. Dri actually giving in to Celeste's behavior on the first date? Not going to happen. She was not surprised. "He's one of those guys who waits for the perfect moment. You're lucky." Zinnia wasn't disappointed.
Celeste was. Though she smiled, she was hoping for more, begging for more.
"I like that about him, I do." Celeste took a breath. "But... I'm here for a good time." She added.
She wasn't shy about her sexuality and she made that known. She knows what she wants and she doesn't wait. Zinnia had a hard time in the beginning with controlling her so it was no surprise.
"Dri's good to you. Let him show you a little romance once in a while." Zinnia said. "He seems like the type to take you to foreign places." she was almost dreaming about it.
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