xV. undercover mission

  Morning. It was morning again and Chess had somehow held on through the night, once again. For some reason the nightmares came even more vividly, and the whispers louder after the current generation of Gemini had came together. As the years progressed, they only grew stronger. 

   With a sigh, she detached herself from the chair. Chess had decided to start on the paperwork that was piling up - after all, faeries didn't need much sleep - before the whispers gripped hold of her again, forcing her to recall the same nightmare as she plunged into darkness. 

   It wasn't so much of a nightmare than a memory per se, because after recalling it for so long she had gotten used to its contents. It was the same scenery over and over again; a faerie child disowned from the Seelie Court, before being bought by one of the Unseelie. Seemingly, as revenge for their strained relations, they had abused the child and essentially used her as an Unseelie slave. Eventually, she attempted escape when she grew older, but the dream always ended when she reached the entrance of the Unseelie Court, with a high-pitched scream that made her wake up with cold sweat dripping down from her temples. 

   The same dream. Over and over again for more than five centuries. 

  Chess had attempted to find out who the faerie child was. With her abilities and clearance, it wouldn't have been hard, but for some reason there had been no records of faerie children being sold from the Seelie to the Unseelie, either as monetary exchange or a trade of peace. She doubted that it was just a dream as well, because the details were always the same. Without fault. So what was it, precisely? 

   The agent stretched slightly, working the aches from her system. There was one detail that she didn't remember appearing before. A silhouetted figure that had reached out to the child, with surprising kindness. She couldn't determine whether it was a male or female, not even from the voice. It was like a mirage, like the foolish fairytales that humans talk about, except that it was tangible. She had watched the child go hand-in-hand with the figure, and even the child laughing. 

  Chess padded over to her wardrobe, where a floor length mirror stood. She scrutinized her appearance carefully, making sure there wasn't a hair out of place in her silvery grey curtain. The amythest eyes flicked downwards to her neck, where she barely dodged a bullet that interrupted her meeting with the Seelie agent. 

   Honestly, her line of work can be so exhausting sometimes. Being shot at or stabbed wasn't fun, but she could tolerate all of it just for her end goal. At least, her current end goal. To recover her memories of her past. Ever since she had waken up in front of the Gemini chamber of audience, Chess had been curious as to what her past life was. Certainly there was more to her past than that. She had to be born from somewhere. 

  Stretching her neck a little to ease the stiffness and rolling her shoulders, she shook the confusion and thoughts out of her head. Padding over to her closet, she picked out a pair of black pumps from a cabinet that held at least ten similar pairs, before fitting her sheer tights-cladded foot into it. 

    No thoughts now. You have a mission to attend to. Squaring her shoulders one more time, she let the emotionless mask take over her features once more, before marching off to the Gemini lounge. 

  Celeste looked...stunning. As always, she was the perfect model of an actress at her prime, though as far as Chess knew, she had looked as attractive as she had ever since they met each other. Right now, in one of the Gemini drawing rooms, the actress was being fitted and being put the last touches of her appearance by Jineul. When the Queen looked up, his eyes were normal. White Jineul it was, then.

   "Chess." The fashion designer nodded a greeting at her absent-mindedly, before turning back to Celeste. Celeste had on a gold gown, which was modest but showed off her figure strikingly; gold fabric bringing out the slimness of her arms, a sheer fabric decorated with small butterflies in flight, covering the skin above her chest which was well-fitted with scalloped lace. A thick bronze belt acted as some sort of corset that also brought out her waist, and the skirt ended in a waterfall of gold, which resembled changing pillars of light as the fabric shifted. Currently, Jineul was working away at her makeup. 

    At the sound of her name, Celeste's head immediately whipped towards her direction, causing Jineul to jump and trip back, swearing under his breath. "Chess! Thank God you're here. How do I look?" 

    How did Celeste look? As the agent surveyed her newly painted face, with Jineul's expert hand (who was still brushing golden dust off his clothes) bringing out the blueness of her eyes and her pale pallor with minimal amount of foundation and gold eyeshadow, Chess found herself struck breathless with the amount of beauty in display in front of her. "You look....amazing." 

  "I sure hope so," Jineul huffed, coughing as another brush-down brought another wave of allergies. "It's my design after all." 

   "Yes, I'm sure the famous Andre Shin would suffer massive embarrassement if one person even attempts to not admire his clothes," Celeste rolled her eyes. Was it Chess' imagination, or did the other feel and look so much more at ease with the Queen's white self? "Anyways, are you done?"

  "Just one moment." Setting down his brush, Jineul brought out a box and a pair of tweezers. Using the tool, he brought out a tiny topaz and started setting them down at the sides of Celeste's eyes. Before long, there was a design similar to sparkles emitting from her eyes, spreading out to the temples. When she blinked, the light being reflected was mesmerising. "There, done. And now, for your shoes..." 

  The fashion designer stooped, and whipped out a pair of heels from a box behind him. It was bronze in colour, with straps fitted and the shortest stilettos Chess had seen so far. "Can't have our dear mermaid princess tripping over herself while she chases our enemies down, can she?" 

  At the mention of 'mermaid princess', Chess physically stiffened. Even though she knew the other meant it as a joke, she couldn't help but feel mild offense on behalf of Celeste. Luckily, the mermaid brushed it off and waved it off dismissively. "Sure, like that'd happen. Besides, Chess is significantly better at combat than I am." 

   "I'm sure that would be a very suitable arrangement," Chess replied stiffly, eliciting a barking laugh from Jineul, who straightened after making sure Celeste's shoes fit her. "Alright, I'll take it over from here. Thank you, Your Majesty." 

  The easygoing expression on Jineul's face morphed into a frown. "Don't call me that. I'm not him. I'm much, much, nicer." 

   "Sure you are," Celeste waved dismissively. "But yes, thanks for the dress. It looks amazing. Now it's girls' time. Shoo!" Such an attitude would probably have earned the speaker a prompt kick in the backside and a permanent spot on the blacklist, but because this was Celeste Perledemer, an A-list actress on the A-list celebrity list, Jineul could only contend himself with a twisted snarl on his face and a middle finger, before he stalked out of the room. 

   Once the Queen disappeared, the strategist immediately turned back to Chess with a brilliant and somewhat bashful smile that she knew was only reserved for her. "Well? How do I look?" Having already went through her list of compliments (which is meagre compared to her list of insults), Chess merely stepped forward and brushed a light kiss on her cheek, their usual way of greeting or praise. "Wonderful, my dear." 

   Though they could've taken the closest exit to the Palace and be there in ten minutes, Celeste had always made it a rule to travel there physically, so as to let oneself calm down and stable one's emotions before being thrown into a mission. And so, she and Chess were currently seated at the back of a limousine zooming through the Egypt streets on a journey that would take no less than thirty minutes...if not for the traffic in front of them. 

   "Relax." Without looking at Chess, who absolutely hated being late for anything, Celeste focused on the bustling streets outside with people wandering around without a care in the world. In that single fleeting moment, she wanted to be anywhere else than in the car right now. "Celebrities have an excuse to be late to virtually everywhere they go." 

   At that, Chess gave a short laugh. "Speaking from experience?" 

  "You get privileges for being so high up," Celeste said jokingly, and a look back at her companion revealed a wan smile on her face, before a sense of sadness manifested itself. The actress knew that she was one of the only people she trusted, probably the only one, because all her expressions were obvious to her. As compared to her daily life, when the emotionless mask was her shield. 

   "And then we have to start over again." It was quiet enough, but in the driverless vehicle (because technology) she could hear it clearly. Celeste bit her lip and turned to hide the overwhelming emotions within her. She knew what Chess meant. Starting over when all of Gemini was wiped out, like before. Yes, underworlders live astonishingly long as compared to human lifespans. But some of them weren't full underworlder. Jineul, for instance. And even if they do live forever, some conflict or another would tear them apart once more. If lucky, it would be some external conflict. If unlucky...

   Well, it was sufficient to say that Celeste had lived through enough of her share of civil wars. 

   "I wonder," The mermaid articulated carefully, trying to make it seem like she wasn't ignoring Chess' statement entirey. "Why exactly I was kept alive after all of the bloodshed. I mean, it is likely due to the punishment I was bestowed, but..."

    "Likely as a witness to all of the ugliness Gemini has on offer."

   "They have you for that," She pointed out, resting her carefully manicured hands (with ten perfect golden nails with a flame design that again flickered like candlelight whenever she moved them) on top of each other. "I am just a spare piece. Rather unncessary, I would think. Why bother letting another ghost live?"

   At that, Chess fell silently contemplative. Celeste could think of some thoughts that were running in her head, but sometimes even she couldn't grasp the sheer magnitude of her brain. Sometimes, her thoughts seemed superficial, but at times like these, Celeste would undoubtedly look to her for advice. "Well, if I'm looking at it in a gratituous way, I suppose it was to offer me a companion for the solitary mission I had to uphold." 

  "Then I'm your , in a way?" 

  "You could put it like that." 

  If anyone else said that to Celeste, she would have flown into a haughty rage. But not when Chess did. If anything, the countless millenium they had spent together so far only made her more appreciative of the dry humour typical of the faery, and merely chuckled. "Well, I suppose it could've been much worse. If Minwoo was your , it would've been much more terrible." 

  "It would be highly unfanthomable and utter blasphemy." Chess' shudder revealed itself in her tone. "He would likely have disappeared off the face of the earth after a century, if the Concilo permitted it." 

  Despite the light-hearted meaning behind her words, the last sentence hung in the air like a silent threat. The Concilo. The group of so-called 'Elders' who, on the surface seemed to merely supervise their progress and offer well-meaning advice to them, as well as decide their main aim and motto, which was to ensure the balance of human-underworlder relations, as well as to protect the justice between humans and underworlders, in reality had much, much darker motives than such. For one, Celeste was quite positive that the mission they were currently on definitely had some hidden meaning behind. From her experience, the Concilo members weren't as generos as that. 

   Her punishment revealed as much. 

  "Yes, if only." A shared grin was the extent of their mutual communication without verbally and explicitly stating dislike of the Elders. Celeste thought it unlikely they bugged the car, but at this point, who knew. Soon enough, the vehicle skitted to a halt in front of the hotel. "Now, don't forget your cover." 

 "I'm but a lowly manager of the celebrity goddess Celeste Perldemer," Chess replied, the complete deadpan on her face adding to the humour. "And naturally, I'm here to make sure you don't flirt with world leaders and cause complete global chaos with your utter beauty." 

   "The Trojan War was enough catastrophe over a singular woman," She agreed, and let the other pull her out of the car. Thank God the heels Jineul chose were short enough that she didn't need to wobble precariously on the sidewalk for a few minutes before she secured her footing. With that thought in mind, the pair entered the building.

   The socialising was more tiring than ever, but that was to be expected. Celeste wasn't wandering around a gaggle of fools who pretended they knew stuff; she was in the midst of highly educated world leaders and diplomats who easily had more than a hundred masters' under their belts and more than enough braincells to spare, except maybe the American persident. Thankfully, her some-thousand-years of living on earth had equipped her with vastly more knowledge than the average human, but it was still exhausting. By the time the cocktail reception rolled by, she was exhausted.

   Celeste blamed some of the exhaustion on her choice of dress. She should've gone for a more business-like look, instead of the shimmery and sheer fabric that made her look like she was attending a red-carpet event rather than an official international discussion forum. Even though what came out of was strictly business-related, she felt ridiculously shallow. Luckily, Chess in her business attire made her more secure.

  "You must be Madamoiselle Perledemer." An Irish-accented voice floated towards her, and she saw the Irish prime minister walking towards her, immediately forcing a smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chess slip away discreetly amongst the crowd. "A pleasure to meet a representative of Gemini, I must say." 

   Instantly, the connection made itself clear. Ireland. Faeries. "Of course," She replied smoothly, plucking a cocktail from a passing waiter. "We have to show our faces sometime, after all." 

   "Oh, no doubt they decided to pick the most glamorous person to dazzle such a boring event." At the blatant shower of compliments, her smile became a little strained. "But no. I actually have a serious agenda to take care of."

    "That is?" 

   "Child kidnapping." The originally amiable expression slipped off, replaced by a scowl. "You lot seemed to be replenishing your numbers too desperately. We had a deal on maintaining a fair number. Now that normal children are being taken as well, it seemed to be overstepping the line, no?" 

    "I - " For once, words failed her. Child kidnapping of normal children rather than taking the orphans and foster children? That was news to her. Luckily, just before she could blurt out something incomprehensible, Chess appeared by her side. "I'm afraid that is the CARDS organisation's duty, sir." The crisp and business tone she took with clients. "As the key Underworlder organisation, we deal with punishments only. We are the law courts, not the police. Any complaints should be lodged with a lawyer or prosecutor with evidence. And now, if you would excuse me." 

   Gently but firmly, she steered Celeste away from the spluttering man and towards the backstage. "Are you alright?" 

   "Just caught off-guard." She took a deep breath while Chess busied herself with plucking the cocktail out of her hand and replacing it with a microphone. "Chess, about that child-kidnapping business..." 

   "I'll look into it," She promised, though Celeste could hear her voice somewhat wavering. "It's definitely unusual. I wonder what caused it to be. But leave that to me. Right now you need to concentrate." 

    "Right." The celebrity took a deep breath, calming herself. Never had she felt such nervousness before, because she was a professional. But this was different. Using magic in such a large crowd required mental and emotional stability. And right now, her mind was still whirling with the information about the kidnapping.

    "If you feel unease, just think about me." Chess gripped her shoulders firmly, forcing her to look into the faery's amythest eyes. "I'm always here for you." Yes, Chess is the only reliable element in this turbulent and ugly world. 

    After her nod, Celeste was then into the crazy undergoings of the backstage world, with everything going by in a whirl. Only when she was standing in front of her audience on the stage did she snap back into focus, and by that time nervousness meant nothing as she lifted the microphone to her lips, and poured all her emotions into the song. 

   The organisers of the event probably decided that her attending the event would waive all of her hiring fees when they asked her to perform, because were they wrong. At any rate, she grasped at the opportunity to sing - which she had done once or twice in the performance industry - because it would make for an excellent distraction. While she was expelled from the mermaid realm, she was still first and foremost a mermaid, and a member of court, as well as one of the fifty princesses to boot. The siren's ability to charm through song was a natural gift already running through her veins. The stronger the emotions, the stronger the charm.

    Of course, she didn't need to charm everyone in the venue. The original plan was to distract all the humans so Chess would have free rein to search for their agent, and because humans succumb more easily to siren song, she only needed to exort about one-tenth of her power. Which was lucky, because she had to adjust the power in accordance to any changing elements. 

   Celeste quickly scanned the crowd, and ignoring the thousands of humans with their eyes glazed over, she spotted Chess weaving skilfully through, making her way to a lone figure leaning on the staircase, somewhat unamused by her performance. Found you. 

Did I manage to crank out another chapter before school? I did, y'all! I'm amazing so praise me ((no don't

But yes I'll be heading back to the UK precisely tomorrow, and my flight is...about twenty four hours from now. Wish me safe flight pls ;w; 

On an additional note I went to my cousin's house today and his golden retriever was pouncing and lunging at me thank god I'm not afraid of dogs, that thing managed to reach my face when it stood up in full height