The Spider Queen

(Zrudread University- Main Campus)

(Elite Student Housing Complex- Mansion 456Y)

Sophie opened her eyes slowly and let out a loud yawn. She stretched out her arms and to her relief she discovered that the pain was gone.

Finally, she could move around properly.

"Good morning sleepyhead," a teasing voice came from the front of the hovercar. Sophie glanced in the direction of the sound and saw her girlfriend smiling at her.

"Feeling better?" Cleo asked softly as she got up from her chair and approached Sophie.

The princess stretched out her hand and gently stroked her cheek with careful movements as if she was handling a precious ornament that could break with the slightest touch.

"Yeah… the pain is gone…" Sophie replied with a sincere smile as she nuzzled closer to her girlfriend's palm to feel more of her warmth.

The pair remained in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Cleo turned off the hovercar's engine and then opened the doors.

She didn't want to have this talk tonight especially after what Sophie had gone through but… she could not get those images out her mind.

The logical part of her brain clearly knew that the person in those pictures was most likely a fake and even if it was the real person…

Why would she risk her life for the person who had tried to kill her?

Even if that person was her mother.

Cleo frowned slightly as she walked ahead of Sophie into the apartment with numerous thoughts running through her mind.

Squeak! Squeak!

(Welcome back mom!)

Moon flew through the living room and landed right on top of Sophie's head where he proceeded to nibble gently on loose strands of her hair.

"Get off before I go bald!" Sophie mischievously scolded her pet as she raised up her hand and lightly swatted Moon on his back.

The frostwing bat jumped off her head and landed on her shoulder where he pressed his face against Sophie's cheek.

"Alright… I missed you too," Sophie confessed with a slight smile on her face. She reached into her storage bag and pulled out a few treats.

Moon happily grabbed the treats from her fingers and loud chewing sounds echoed through the living room.

Sophie had attempted to teach her pet proper manners and etiquette but now… well she was just satisfied that there were no crumbs that fell to the ground.

Cleo had disappeared into one of the bedrooms upstairs which made Sophie feel a bit surprised.

Her girlfriend had been acting a bit strange since they left the hovercar and she had no idea what the problem was.

Anyways it was probably nothing that couldn't be solved by some talking or… some 'talking'.

Sophie's lips curved upwards as quite a few plans surfaced in her mind about what she could do tonight.

After napping she was feeling quite refreshed and reenergised so hopefully Cleo didn't have any morning classes tomorrow.

Because she might not be in a state to get out of bed…

The hybrid girl hummed cheerfully as she made her way to the kitchen and started to prepare a simple meal of noodles and some meat.

She turned on the heat and reached into one of the cupboards below the sink to pull out some dried vegetables, dehydrated meat stock and noodles.

It was quite a simple process.

Maybe the meal was a bit too… commoner for members of the nobility but Sophie enjoyed noodles quite a lot.

It helped that in Sui Meng's memories she could recall the cheap taste of store-bought cup noodles.

Most of the time the unhealthiest food… tasted the best.

Moon flew off her shoulder towards the couch in the living room where he plopped his furry body down and lazily stretched out his claw for the remote.

The monitor immediately flickered to life and several animal documentaries appeared on the screen.

Moon selected one of the options and a documentary began to play about one of the only surviving organisms from the ancient Earth era.

Cockroaches.

Honestly Sophie wasn't surprised. Those hardy insects would probably outlast all of humanity especially now since they had spread to other colonies in the milky way and beyond.

Apparently, some alien cultures even raised them as pets or treated them as an important food supply.

Gross…

But hey… protein was protein…

Sophie added the pot of hot water to a large bowl and then dumped in the dried vegetables, the meat and finally the noodles.

She spent the next few minutes gently stirring the contents of the bowl using wooden chopsticks before finally capturing some noodles between the sticks.

Sophie blew softly and white steam softly floated above the bowl. She placed the warm noodles in her mouth and then swallowed.

The crispy fresh taste of the noodles and the rich meaty flavour of the broth combined to form a flavour combination that was utterly delicious.

It didn't take long for Sophie to finish the contents of the bowl and she quickly made herself another batch.

When she checked the time on her wrist communicator, about thirty minutes had passed since she had entered the apartment and Cleo had not come downstairs yet.

Hmm… what was going on?

Sophie absentmindedly finished cleaning up the dishes and then walked upstairs to see where her girlfriend had gone.

There was no need to extend her senses since she could feel Cleo's presence through the bond that connected them together.

It was hard to describe the feeling, but it was similar to a thread or maybe a chain flowing from her heart and into Cleo's body.

The feeling was unnoticeable unless she focused on the link between herself and her girlfriend.

Sophie walked part three doors and then knocked lightly on the one at the end of a long corridor.

She heard some rustling on the other side and then finally the door opened.

Cleo appeared and the expression on her face didn't look good. Sophie noticed that the wrist communicator on her left hand was missing.

"Hey babe… Are you alright?" Sophie with concern.

"Yeah… I'll explain in a bit just give me your wrist communicator for now," Cleo calmly spoke and then held out her hand.

Sophie felt a bit confused, but she still took off her wrist communicator and handed it over to her girlfriend.

Cleo walked back into the room and took out a metalloid box from under the bed. She opened the lid of the box and then placed Sophie's wrist communicator inside.

"Okay… let's go to our bedroom… I have something important to tell you," Cleo whispered in a serious tone.

She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her with a loud thump. Sophie followed the princess as she led her to the master bedroom.

Cleo reached into her storage bag and took out a device that Sophie recognised as an electronic detection machine.

Her girlfriend pressed a button on the side of the sphere and green light swept up and down the interior of the bedroom multiple times.

Only when the machine finished its scan did Cleo let out the silent breath of relief that she had been holding back.

She placed the device back in her storage bag and then walked over to the bed and sat down.

"So… any reason why we're being so cloak and dagger?" Sophie asked with a trace of bemusement in her voice.

"My wrist communicator was compromised so I didn't want to take the chance that yours might have been as well," Cleo explained as she patted the side of the bed.

Sophie sat down next to her, and the princess rested her head against the side of her shoulder.

It took a few seconds for Cleo to gather her thoughts and eventually she opened her mouth to explain what was going on.

"I received a mysterious message a few days ago and in the message were pictures and videos of my mother," Cleo whispered quietly.

"I also saw one of my brothers… well… not just any one… but the crown prince himself. He threatened me that bad things would happen to my mom if I didn't go to a certain location."

"I mean obviously this is a big trap… but… fuck…"

Cleo let out a groan and placed her head in her palms. She hated her mother for what she did to her but…

She didn't want her to die or be tortured.