The Cosmic Princess

His Satisfaction

"How am I an idiot!" I snapped.

"Because you're pushing every button he has, fool! You can't walk around here high and mighty like you won't be dealt with because you will! Your luck is going to run out at some point, so I would be kissing the ground he walks on but instead you push him!"

My mouth dropped not believing what I was hearing? "I should be kissing the ground he walks on! What the hell type of logic is that? Why would I kiss someone's ass who finds joy in murder and hurting me? Unlike you all, I'm not going to bow down to some lunatic!" I slammed my hand on the vanity in frustration.

"It's called survival, Av, that's how we make it here." Marjani tried to soothe the increasing tension in the air as Niet and I went back and forth. Our voices were beginning to raise, and I knew yelling was probably a bad idea in a place like here where we could be heard, but I couldn't help it. I was hanging on by a thin thread.

Not too long ago, I was dragged out of Ivy's cell and ushered back to my room to get ready to dine with the leader, Zeddicus. The broken mental state of Ivy had worn on me. Now, I had to come here and argue on why I should just give up and allow the leader to treat me how ever he wanted.

"Well I don't want to just make it." I seethed. "I'm going to get out of here, and I'm going to save my planet on the way." My conviction was strong.

Niet snorted, her lips curled as I stared at her through the mirror. "You can't beat him, stupid girl! Everybody knows that. Give up. Sometimes the good guy doesn't win. That hope you have, it'll get you killed. This place isn't meant for people like you and I, Avril. The fight in you excites them all, it challenges them. They'll break you, they always do." My fury simmered down watching shadows dance across her face. "Sometimes it's better to just follow the rules then to fight. Everybody knows this, but you."

"That's not living, that's surviving." My tone had softened seeing the broken expression glide onto her face before she recovered and began to put extra attention into my hair.

"What's your plan to save the day?" Marjani questioned, her styling momentarily pausing as our eyes connected in the mirror.

I opened my mouth to answer, but then closed it. I didn't have a plan.

A wiry smile stretched across Niet's face, her canines extended over her full bottom lip. "You don't even have a plan."

"Not yet." I defended heatedly, but I couldn't hide the worry. There it was. The first seed of doubt.

A small gasp came from Marjani. Niet and my attention both turned to her. "What?" We said in unison.

"Her hair!"

"My hair? What's wrong with my hair?" I squealed, body jumping, mind going to the worst scenarios. He had put a hoax on me and all my hair was falling out!

"It's changing colors." Marjani gasped once more, raising one of the few platinum streaks that ran randomly through my hair.

Instead of pure platinum strands that I awaken up to and fell asleep to, the platinum strands began at the root of my head and then began to transition into black the farther you went down until you reach the tips, which were midnight black.

"Looks like you been kissed by death himself." Niet crossed her arms, my hands grabbing a strand staring at it warily and bewildered.

"That's very peculiar." Marjani contemplated.

Abruptly, standing up, I sighed taking a deep breath. Something bad or weird was happening every couple of seconds here. I was barely keeping up.

My eyes connected to the mermaid in the farthest part of the room who silently watched me every time I walked into the room. After our first encountered, her constant staring put me on edge, but I had slowly got used to it.