The Honeyed Hive

Lucina's fingers clamped down on the gun. Pointing it at the door and pulling the trigger. Trying to break the doors while ignoring the guards. "You all are sick... I get it you want the sickness to go away and I'm the 'one' but just NO! Wait until another one comes along! Why not just wait for Marcy's daughter to grow up she should have the same stupid immunities you want OH SO BADLY!" at this point Lucina was just slamming her body against the doors causing them to shake slightly.

One of the bullets ricocheted and a feminine gasp was heard. Turning around Marcy fell to the ground, clutching her now bleeding shoulder. The guards move in slightly more aggressively as the door had a chip from the bullet. Mist was holding Robin while hovering around Marcy worriedly.

Then there was the sound of crunching. Lucina one last time throwing herself into the chipped portion of the door. Breaking through it and falling to the ground on the grass outside sobbing. Her head and heart screaming in both fear and anger at her sister's betrayal of her will. The gun fell out of her hand before being quickly grabbed and taken by one of the guards to be disarmed.

The guards lifted her up before carrying her inside. They would walk past where several bees in nurse's outfits were looking over the wound worriedly and lifting Marcy onto a stretcher. Lucina is soon taken to a room and sealed in with another bee "Why did you come here with a gun?"

Lucina was just shaking quietly before her purple eye shot over to look at the bee. She tried to speak at first only getting chokes out as her body convulsed until she took enough deep breaths to speak again. "BECAUSE I DIDN'T TRUST THIS! Because my sister disappeared after being at my side our entire lives and then started being vague and refusing to even show me a picture of her daughter or mate until I came here! You would be an IDIOT to not notice the signs of a trap. I only even came because I wanted to trust HER to be honest. To see my niece and maybe do a nice piece for the news to help the Bee community with public relations..." She growled at the significantly larger bee. Her shoulder dislocated due to how hard she had thrown herself through the door. "All of this behavior makes me sick..."

"At what point did your sister ever say you had to do something? I was right outside the door and only heard her ask...then you seemed to go full nuclear." The bee frowned "if you had calmed down and not had the gun out, you would have been let out equally calmly. Due to how you reacted, your sister is now injured."

Lucina held her shoulder growling as the bee could hear popping as she put it back in place. "Don't act like you know our relationship... her asking this of me IN THE FIRST PLACE is the issue! She tried to make the concept of me refusing just as bad as killing everyone myself." She slid to sit up across from the bee. Her face bright red from blood flow and tears still leaking down the sides of her face. "I've never asked anything of my sister... I always wanted her to be happy. She could have TOLD ME all of this through mail and DIDN'T. Do you know how that feels when you've built your entire RELATIONSHIP with someone on honesty? I ASKED! I asked if she had made any progress and she LIED TO ME! I might be considered irrational but I'm damn well not a liar."

"But she did make progress, she was just worried about how you would react...and I see now why she was. For someone so devoted to honesty, you have a funny way of showing your support. If you had said no it would not have been out of the picture to begin requesting another wave of testing, there is bound to be at least one other person...but Marcy wanted to share her happiness with you."

"This isn't MY happiness! We both lost our mother to this sickness... I lost chance after chance at relationships because of my eyes!" Lucina looked away at the door. "You all just hear it the way you want to because it is better for you. And you bringing up another wave of testing? Of looking for others? DO YOU MEAN THE IDEAS I HAD DURING THAT CONVERSATION the ones she shot down instantly because she couldn't let me say no!" Lucina pulled the still recording camera out of her satchel before throwing it over to the bee. "Listen to it again if you want so badly to act like she didn't explicitly pressure me instead of apologizing and trying to be on MY level."

The guard rewinds the tape and hits play, going over the conversation once more, from the beginning. Once the tape got to current the guard hands it back to her. "All it sounds like to me, was you asking if you could help, and Marcy mentioned that you had the genetic matches to become a queen...then you blew up at her and barely let her properly explain herself."

Lucina rolled her eyes shoving the recorder back in the satchel before curling up and starting to sob. "It's because she KNOWS it's a trauma trigger for me! I never said my behavior was ok... but if anything your selective hearing is just being proven here." Once she finished she just curled up continuing to sob into her legs feeling guilty for accidentally hurting her sister while still holding firm.

The guard sighed "I get avoidant trauma and all, but she did say she wanted to face this demon from your past together...just stay there while we wait to hear the medical report." The guard leans against the wall, closing their eyes and relaxing. The longer they waited, a strange sweet scent kept getting stronger...or was it there the whole time? Who knows.

"Then why was the door closed... you've managed to ignore the biggest reason my panic went into overload. Why were the front pair of doors that I KNOW are meant to be open until 3 hours from now constantly to allow visits closed... if they were open I would have just run outside and collected myself and returned when I was ready." Lucina sniffled a few times only barely able to notice the smell due to how runny her nose still was.

"We open and close the doors for all visitors, it helps us monitor movement in and out of the hive. Given recent attempts by a pharmaceutical corporation to break in and steal your sister's work, we have been a bit on edge, I do apologize for our guard forces actions making your reaction worse on that front."

"Can you just send me to town now? I'll go to jail for accidentally hurting my sister. I just can't stay here anymore and all my medication is at home." Lucina stood up while taking deep breaths, pulling her phone out to check the time noticing the lack of data in the hive. "I'm also gonna be late on feeding my cat..."

The guard bee sighs and goes to the door, opening it and talking with the guard outside. After a minute the guard turns back "We can go take care of your cat and bring you meds, we need to wait for word from above before we just let you go. May we have your house key to do this?"

Lucina raised her eyebrow noticing how they ignored the mention of her being arrested. "Can I talk to said higher up about going with an escort? My kitten is very skittish around new people and I really don't want her getting out." She smiled softly before making wide pleading eyes that almost resembled how a bee would start sucking up.

The guard sighed "Fine, please come with and stay close, everyone is on guard currently." Something just felt comforting about this bee as they walked over and held out their hand. "The queen will judge if that is ok, please take my hand and I will escort you."

Lucina nodded, taking the bee's hand and following them out of the room. "Sooo... if you're gonna be guarding me what's your name? It would feel a little dehumanizing to just call you 'bee guard'." She was gripping the guard's hand rather tightly while trying to get a feel for the person that would apparently be in charge of her for the foreseeable future. Noticing the very androgynous figure as opposed to the more extreme male and female variants of bees.

"My name is Celica, as for my appearance, I was an attempt at growing into a queen...it failed, though I turned out rather...well you can see. I have all the parts so to say, but my more feminine qualities did not come through as strong. I also retain our lower fertility issues...though I at least have that instead of being sterile thanks to Marcy's work. I've never really decided on male or female...though with my name feminine pronouns would fit well...use whichever you wish."

Lucina blushed a bit before nodding and following behind Celica finding herself edging closer and closer to the bees back wanting to hide from all the bees who were peaking out of windows and behind doors to watch the 'crazy lady' be brought to their queen. "Well if that's how you want to be addressed then it's how you will be. I've always found myself floating more in the middle in terms of identification but after trying masc pronouns that one time... yeah she/they would be my preferred set." Through her blush, she couldn't place why she was being so open with the bee as they reached a pair of massive doors nearly twice the size of the entrance doors. "Sooo... I assume we are there."

Celica nods "Edel can be very understanding, just focus on keeping calm, the other high guards are likely to be on edge after earlier." She pushes the doors open and leads Lucina inside. She then stops and gives a bow before moving to rest a hand on Lucina's shoulder as in front of them was a larger bee, easily 9 feet tall, though she sat in a throne, wrinkles around her eyes, paired with her long silver hair and specks of grey in her striped fur. The elder bee smiled kindly "So, you must be Marcy's sister, I understand you must be feeling stressed, but we currently have to remain on guard. What is it that you wish to ask?"

"Well, you see I've got a kitten and medication schedule I need to upkeep so I came here to ask you to let me go out with my new friend? Celica here to go feed my kitten and get my medication." Lucina chuckled a bit nervously while looking to the side and pressing more against Celica. "The meds they've got me on for BPD aren't the type that skipping a day is an option. Unless ya really wanna see me worse than earlier today."

Edel quietly nodded and looked closely at Lucina, her gold eyes taking in her details before nodding "That is fine, Celica will stay with you, but just know that with what happened earlier, I consider this all a hive issue that I would like solved within the hive. If things would be easier, you may take your cat and their food back here with you and Celica. My solution shouldn't take too long, perhaps no longer than a week...Your sister will recover, by the way, her transition has been accelerated in order to take advantage of the process to patch her up."

Lucina looked up at the massive woman. Her eyes locking with the bees for a moment before clenching her free hand. "And why do you want me to stay here? Wouldn't it be more 'logical' to just ban me from interacting with your hive after my episode?" She took a deep breath trying not to be intimidated by the woman. "There's just a few things today that... haven't fully added up in my mind against my prior research... if I do need to stay here instead of being monitored at my home I would like to at least have some straight answers." At this point, Lucina was almost fully behind Celcia except for her head poking out.

Edel nodded "Of course, and I wouldn't want to ban you from interacting with your sister or niece on either end. I hear you are a reporter, so how about we have tea and an interview...tomorrow or the next day at noon? Whichever would be better for you, if you feel you need a little time to adjust. Celica...I'll be assigning you as Lucina's personal guard for the duration of her...temporary detainment. You will also accompany her out of the hive to run any errands until this is over." The high guard bee nods. "Of course Queen Edel." The queen smiles "Is this a suitable arrangement, Miss Lucina?"

Lucina nodded before slinking fully behind Celica. "I will admit that I've always had a bit of apiphobia... it's not a big deal just figured it would be important to know. I'm good to set up an interview with some questions for tomorrow." At this point, she just went quiet pressing fully into Celica's back next to the large stinger that was almost wrapped around her side at this point.

Edel smiled "Very well, tomorrow at noon then. You two better get on your way." Celica gives a short bow before turning, wrapping an arm around Lucina's shoulders "There we go, and I apologize for earlier, I think Marcy was always so excited to talk about you, your apiphobia did not come up. How are you feeling?"

"Queasy and hungry." Lucina was rather stiff as they walked this time. Not used to being held this possessively by anyone let alone someone that she didn't trust and that was currently imprisoning her. "Also whatever smell is going on is not helping the whole hunger situation. It's like candy is in my nose but I can't eat it! It feels like dissociating without losing my sense of reality! IT IS THE WORST."

Celica giggles a little bit "Sorry, just trying to be comforting...how about we stop somewhere for some fast food on the way to or from your house, I haven't gotten take out in a while." She smiles kindly and loosens her grip on Lucina. "As for the smell...well we do produce honey and other sweets, a few of the workers have even been looking into the production of other candies. They have been thinking of bringing them to the local farmers market."

"Yeah... I don't really... do honey... for obvious reasons." Lucina chuckled a bit trying to ignore the small amount of drool that had dripped out the side of her mouth as they passed one of the honey production rooms. "Well, maybe not that obvious... It's like eternally conflicting. I have a fear of honey but also every time I look at it I feel STARVED for it!" As she continued the rant they passed through the now still open front doors to the hive. Only barely managing to notice that as they headed down the path towards town again.

Some workers who were working on the doors to fix them nervously waved as the pair passed. "Honey is pretty great, though that sounds like the fear stems from the apiphobia. I'll try to get some more food for you, but we can figure that out down the line. Do you avoid all honey altogether, or if it is an ingredient in something larger are you fine with it?"

"It's an ingredient that if baked into something and I don't notice I won't mind it's just the whole... well my mother was killed by a bad batch thing that leads to paranoia despite my supposed 'immunity'." Lucina led Celica to the Interspecies Breeding Program building before walking over to a small electric car. "I'm... unsure if you're gonna fit in my car unless you hunch... a lot."

Celica giggled and curled up in the seat surprisingly easily. "We are used to tight spaces, don't worry. I haven't ridden in a car before though. As for the batch and what I know of your discussion with your sister, that must be why you have such pretty purple eyes."

Lucina blushed more before looking away and getting into the front seat. "Yes it is... no one ever could really explain why me and my sister got them alongside our blond hair because our parent's hair was hazel and eyes were brown." She sighed, turning the car on some light musical songs starting to play. "Needless to say I wasn't the most popular girl in school thanks to the eyes. Getting rejected because I'm a 'bug freak' was my first experience with 'love'. Gave up on that." She then pulled out of the parking lot heading into town towards her apartment.

Celica huffed "They are very pretty eyes and anyone who can't see that doesn't deserve to be with you." She smiles "The queen used to have a different shade of purple with specs of gold, but when she got sick, that started fading and her gold took over...don't tell anyone this, but Queen Edel's eyesight is not quite what it used to be. I suspect that within a few years she...may go blind."

Lucina rubbed her eyes trying not to get distracted while driving. "That is alarming... I will admit it's surprising to hear given me and sis have always had excellent vision. It's always just been the little 'changes' that happened due to mom's sickness when she was carrying us that has driven us away from most of 'normal' society." She sighed as they moved through the town and parked in front of a rundown apartment complex. "We are here... you might wanna take my umbrella out from the back seats... People around these parts are the less accepting folk and I don't want you getting hit with something from above if I can help it."

Celica nodded "Thanks for the warning" She grabs the umbrella and opens it once she is out of the car. "Do you live here? This place feels very...unwelcoming and mean if you don't mind me saying." She carefully looks around, keeping her wings tucked to her back. "Also is the air supposed to smell...not bad but not fresh?"

"You try living on a reporter's salary and see how nice of a place you end up living... especially while paying off college loans for yourself and your now disappeared sister." Lucina grumbled a bit walking to the gate and punching in the code to let herself and Celica into the complex. Walking up a few sets of stairs before reaching Apt 201. "Here we are." She unlocked the door to the sound of meowing as a small black kitten with purple eyes was curled up right inside the front door. "Apparently the sickness spread to cats and no one wanted them out of fear of the infection... this is how I got little Amy here."

Celica kneels down and smiles at the cat "She is so cute though, her eyes are as striking and beautiful as yours. As for the college debt...well, Mist has been saving up what money she has gotten to put towards Marcy's...sorry if we didn't have your info to get it to you in some way...I know she was trying to surprise Marcy...which made asking a little difficult. Perhaps that is something we could work out...though if you don't mind me saying, it seems really inefficient of the human regulations and systems to charge for school...especially enough to where such debt can become a thing...wouldn't that reduce the number of people that enter into your education system on the higher end in the first place?"

"That's depressingly exactly the point. At the end of the day, humans kinda suck and treat each other and anyone else they can get their hands on horribly just for the sake of their own gains." Lucina sighed, picking up Amy and gently petting the kitten. Heading deeper into the apartment it was mostly barren the only notable thing aside from the essentials being massive amounts of notebooks piled all around the house. "It's a reductive state of things and I became a reporter because I wanted to expose the unhealthy way humans have been handling... well existence. Like my sister said the sickness that killed our mother was human-made and mutated to become deadly to non-entomorphs... I don't like humans but I also am not particularly partial to any non-human species... I'm starting to think I just don't like society in the way it functions because I know the pieces, the people are good... it's just everything does its best to break them down and turn them into more monsters for lack of a better term."

Celica sighs "Part of why we stayed hidden so long in our history was fear of human leadership and the things they would do to take advantage of nature...While we have met so many kind humans since coming out...I fear what I hear from society scares me even more...I understand the success of the individual and all...but by raising everyone up as a society to do what they want, you could construct a system where nobody suffers like that...it's just sad to see the state that people can even be forced to live in. I won't say that things haven't been in cramped conditions here or there in the hive, but that is when we expand." She moves around, gradually helping where asked as Lucina does her own thing.