Selenia nearly hit her head on the ground as she fell backwards onto her back and yelled in fright from the appearance of the small fairy. So much so that she had forgotten about the protective properties of the starry circlet she was wearing. The little human girl with glossamar wings, no larger than her hand, had been practically close enough to poke her eye out.

  The tiny human girl, no larger than her hand, was silently hovering in the air with her arms crossed. She had primastic hair and eyes. Her glossmar butterfly wings likewise. She seemed to sparkle, and little motes of primastic light flowed off her wings as she hovered casually. She wore a similarly tiny dark red and black uniform to the others of the Gaia Sphere Federation she had seen.

  Selenia and the tiny human girl stared at each other in quiet silence following her sudden yell. Moments passed as neither said anything to the other. It could be a good time to run. But if the small figure in front of her wanted to hurt her, she probably would have tried already. And something within her told her that the one here wasn’t going to hurt her. And as she got a better view of the one who had surprised her, she couldn’t help but think…

  How small…

  The tiny human girl glowered at Selenia. Her angry expression grew angrier.

  “You idiot! Don’t scream!” the tiny human girl said. Then she flew forward into Selenia’s face until her tiny head was right up to Selenia’s eyeballs again. Selenia yelped in surprise again. “And you were thinking how small I am, weren’t you?!”

  “Are you a fairy?” Selenia muttered as she shrank back. Did the person in front of her have to keep getting so close to her face?

  “What does it look like, smart stuff? No. I’m not. I’m a pixie! Know the difference! And that’s Fafapan to you!” Fafapan hissed at her as she pointed a small arm at her.

  Selenia nodded her head silently as she tried to appease the small, angry human.

  “And don’t compare me to those dimwits fairies!” Fafapan continued. “If you do it again, I’ll punch you in the eye. I’ll poke it out and—”

  Selenia giggled.

  “Why are you laughing!?” Lanfanpan stammered out.

  Selenia knew it was wrong to giggle. And that it was also wrong for a small smile to break out on her face. Yet, she couldn’t help it. Fafapan looked so cute, and her angry attitude just seemed to make it more so.

  “You just look so cute when you're angry,” Selenia said.

  “You! You! You damn moon fly!” Fafapan roared in her face. “Who do you think you’re calling cute!? I’m not cute. I’m terrifying, you hear me. Terrifying.”

  Selenia nodded, smiling while trying to hold in her giggles, despite the insult to her.

  Fafapan punched her on the arm, which hurt and was stronger than it had any right to be.

  Selenia yelped in pain as she rubbed the spot that Fafapan had punched.

  “What? Never seen a pixie like me before?” Fafapan said.

  “Sorry,” Selenia said, nodding, slightly embarrassed.

  Fafapan sighed in defeat as she hovered back away from Selenia. “Well, don’t just lie there on the ground.”

  Selenia rose into a sitting position.

  “Damn moon fly,” Fafapan murmured as she crossed her arms. “Alright, listen here. I’m from SETI. Commander Mechu and Aster’s big sister Fia ordered us to keep you safe, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

  “We?” Selenia said, tilting her head in confusion.

  Fafapan turned her gaze slightly off to her side.

  Selenia turned her head towards where Fafapan looked.

  There was another person there. Mere inch away from her, just like Fafapan had been. This time, someone far bigger. A young human girl with blonde hair and eyes, blank and emotionless, stared into her own. As their eyes stared into one another, Selenia could see that her golden eyes were dead, as if they were fake. It was like she was staring into some false mimicry of an eyeball.

  Selenia’s face blanched white as she scrambled away in the other direction, yelping again in fright, until she was beside Fafapan. Like Fafapan, this person also wore a dark red and black uniform.

  This time, there was no amusement within Selenia. She felt a wrongness about the young human girl.

  The emotionless blank face cracked into a small smile. But this made Selenia shiver. It was like seeing someone who didn’t know how to smile try to mimic the act of smiling.

  The young human girl crawled towards her and sent a hand to reach out for Selenia, which made Selenia recoil away.

  Fafapan sighed. “Saphie. You don’t try and grab people when you first meet them.”

  “Oh,” Saphie said as she stopped. She thought for a moment.

  “Don’t worry, Saphie’s here with me to make sure nothing happens to you,” Fafapan said.

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  Saphie stuck her face in Selenia’s own to get a good look at her, still with a faint smile plastered on her face. Despite her serene and saintly visage, all it did was make Selenia shudder.

  “Uh…” Selenia said.

  “Yes?” Saphie replied.

  “...Do you need to keep looking at me like that?”

  “Like what?” Saphie replied.

  “You know… that strange, creepy face.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Saphie said as she tilted her head.

  “It’s just that your face looks… fake? I guess,” Selenia said.

  “Ah, I’m not very good with faces. Sometimes I’ve been told that it looks like it’s plastered on.”

  “... I see? Are you… not a human too?” Selenia said, feeling nervous and anxiety creeping into her. With Saphie’s face this close to her, she could feel that Saphie hadn’t needed to blink or breathe this entire time—why were these two so happy to stare so closely into people’s faces? Saphie was definitely not a human. She was… something else.

  Saphie nodded with a smile.

  “That’s because Saphie’s a flesh mimic,” Fafapan said.

  Then mere inches away from Selenia’s face, Saphie’s face split apart at the middle, down from her forehead, and down her neck to her uniform’s collar.

  Selenia went white as she saw what was within. The numerous inhuman eyes. Sharp fangs and teeth that looked like they could chew up metal. Tendrils of flesh that looked like they could suddenly burst out and slice her apart.

  Selenia stilled as if frozen. And in this moment, she recalled the words of her mother. Some of the many that her mother had happily given her. When she was young and had trouble sleeping because she feared there could be monsters hiding under the bed, her mother had told her that the monsters were more scared of you than you were of them. After all, her mother had laughed, how scary could they be if they had to hide under your bed?

  The really scary monsters, her mother had said, were hiding in plain sight, and to never judge others by their appearances. The really strong ones who could do so. Those were the monsters to watch out for. That… hadn’t comforted her. If anything, that had made her even more scared. Though it did stop making her worried about the monsters under her bed when she was a child.

  Her mother was always funny like that.

  Selenia yelled as Fafapan tried to get her to stop screaming by trying to forcefully shut her mouth. She kept yelling as she punched Saphie in her nose.

  Something else that her mother had told her was that when a monster appeared before you, and if you were in a situation where running wasn’t an option, then you had to punch it in the nose. Or whatever counted for its nose.

  Saphie’s fake eyes blinked as her face quickly reformed itself, the crack in her face closing up. She giggled in amusement, and Selenia could feel that this time, it wasn’t just something fake but genuine.

  Selenia stopped yelling.

  Fafapan sighed, annoyed at both of them as she stopped her futile actions of trying to shut Selenia’s mouth. “Idiots.”

  Fafapan glared at Saphie. “Saphie always does that to people who have never encountered a flesh mimic like her before. Always gets a kick out of scaring them.”

  Saphie playfully stuck out her tongue, though her tongue unfurled and unraveled far longer than any human’s should. Selenia shivered in response.

  “Must be nice being such a strong, terrifying monster,” Fafapan grumbled. “You should be more careful.”

  Saphie nodded enthusiastically, the creepy fake smile returning to her face. “It sure is! What’s the problem? You shouldn’t be so worried about everything.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, Saphie. Not all of us get to be born so strong and terrifying like you,” Fafapan said. “And me? I have to be worried about getting squished by a rock if I’m not careful.” She turned her gaze to Selenia. “And getting called cute all the time, no matter what I do.”

  Selenia went slightly red in embarrassment.

  Then, Fafapan’s and Saphie’s heads perked up as they sensed movement. They all went quiet. Not long afterwards, they heard the rustling of bushes. And the footsteps of people approaching.

  From their concealment, they could see multiple parties of AXIS soldiers looking for them. They all wore the typical dark red and black uniform of the Gaia Sphere Federation, of the Despar military. They looked a bit worse for wear but energetic and focused in their search. Then, one of them turned their head right towards where they lay, and the entire group turned their attentions towards them.

  Both Saphie and Fafapan readied themselves to defend Selenia. A look of concern on Fafapan’s face. And a happy smile on Saphie’s.

  As the AXIS soldiers approached them, they suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious.

  Selenia blinked. What had happened? She hadn’t seen anything.

  “Hold it there, pikspeak,” said someone behind them. “You too, sunshine.”

  Selenia turned her head behind her. What was with people and trying to pop right behind her?

  The man was eye-catching. He had long silver hair and purple eyes. A regal demeanor that was reinforced by his dark red and black uniform. From a mere glance, Selenia could tell that he was someone of noble lineage. He carried himself with an elegant grace that reminded her of some others she had met back on the lunar colonies. Of the way that others from the noble houses of the Selenar Union carried themselves.

  Selenia’s eyes widened as their eyes met. Was he someone from the Selenar Union? From the orbital colonies?

  “Garrod! Stop calling me a pipspeak!” Fafapan said.

  Garrod chuckled, and the noble image Selenia had of him broke apart as a gentle and lazy smile appeared on his face, and his posture relaxed.

  “Relax, pipspeak,” Garrod said. “And that’s Lieutenant Garrod to you.”

  Garrod turned his attention towards her. “Hey, moonshine, you stay close to sunshine next to you.”

  “M-Moonshine!?” Selenia stammered out as she looked at Saphie.

  “And sunshine, you stay by moonshine at all times.” Garrod continued as Saphie nodded happily in response to her nickname, sunshine.

  “Garrod, act a little bit more worried, would you?” Fafapan said as she hovered up to him.

  Garrod gave Fafapan an amused sigh as he waved her off. “You worry too much. Relax. The worst that can happen is that we all die anyhow.”

  “That’s not reassuring in the slightest,” Fafapan replied.

  Garrod ignored her as he closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them. “Well, worrying about it won’t change anything.” He looked at them all. “So don't get too worried when I say that a lot of them are coming after us as we speak.”

  Selenia and Fafapan stilled at his words, while Saphie just looked at them all happily.

  In the distance, they could all hear masses of movement coming through the forest and the words of AXIS soldiers in the air.

  “That princess from the moon is this way.”

  “Circle around them and cut off their escape.”

  “Kill that damn moon fly!”

  Garrod put his hands on his hips as the easy-going smile never left his face. He sighed. “This is going to be a bit troublesome.”