BLEED/HAVEN

TWO

"Hey, I found the entrance right over there."

She felt Eliot's hand on her shoulder along with his voice pulling her from the trance. She turned to face him and his face morphed into one of concern before he crouched in front of her and spoke,

"Are you alright? What happened?"

She was confused about what he was talking about, then she turned to the glass window behind her and saw her reflection. Her black dress was fine and so was her dark brown hair, which she straightened for this formal occasion. She did feel hot and a bit sweaty, but nothing unnatural. Then she saw her eyes, puffy and red. It looked like she had been crying but her makeup did not run, thankfully. She tentatively looked into the crowd and saw nothing,

"I'm fine. Let's go. We don't want to be late."

Eliot paused for a moment to look where her eyes were staring, but the figure had already left. He turned back to her and offered a hand to help her from the slick marble to the carpet again. She took it and followed him, holding tight unto his arm. That figure, that message, was the real reason that she had devoted her life to this. That was the reason why the truth needed to be voiced. The duo neared the stairwell for 'Authorized Personnel Holding' after wading through the now completely filled hallway. Eliot then turned and held Idalamis's gaze.

'God, his eyes get me every time.'

She thought to herself. Eliot then spoke,

"We do this ourselves. Somehow, some way. No matter what. They will listen to reason. We have everything we need. Remember what you told me you saw. What you heard. That is why we are here.."

His voice started to trail off as he opened the door, a few curses slipping out as he began brooding the possibility of something going wrong. The holding room they entered was simple. Dark brown carpeted floors, a few comfortable velvet chairs set around a large round table with water and glasses in the center. There was one other man sitting in the room looking like he was on the verge of falling asleep. Idalamis approached him slowly and cleared her throat to get his attention.

'Is this guy even supposed to be here?'

She thought to herself, as she was formally dressed and so was Eliot, along with every man and woman outside wearing a shirt and tie or dress. However, this man here was dressed in workers jeans, a black leather biker jacket and worn combat boots. The man grunted and his eyes fluttered a bit before he eerily turned to face the woman in the swivel chair. After a few silent moments of him staring she jerked her neck at him, wondering why he was staring so awkwardly. The man's eyes widened and he hopped out of his chair to greet her.

'Yeah he was definitely sleeping, what an ass.'

She thought as he opened his mouth,

"Hey! Jacob Hansen, leader of Capella. Nice to meet you, miss."

He extended a hand out to shake hers and she hesitated a moment, by the time she reached out to return the shake he probably already got the picture of what she thought of him. Nonetheless, she still smiled and replied,

"Nice to meet you, Idalamis Archega. That is my fiancé, Eliot Hunter. We are researchers."

The man raised an inquisitive eyebrow before responding with the question,

"What exactly do you guys research if you don't mind me asking. I'm sort of a researcher myself."

Idalamis normally would have no issue explaining the details of their work, but she really needed some time to herself before the summit kicked off. As if reading her mind, Eliot snapped out of his brooding episode and came to shake the man's hand and spoke,