2298
Gertok Galaxy
Planet Celestine
The Celestine Kingdom
The Solarium Palace
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Luna rummaged through the drawers in her dark black dressers in her bedroom. "I know it's somewhere here. I hope no one took it. I did hide it pretty well if I do say so myself." She mumbled to herself, closing the drawer and opening the next one below it. "But where did I hide it?"

She closed the second one and pulled the next open, doing it a fourth time before standing up with a heavy sigh. "Not there," She mumbled, looking around her room, trying not to reminisce and focus on her task at hand.

A whole galaxy was painted on the cracked ceiling that descended the dark walls like creating ivy. Planets hung from parts of the intact ceiling from silver ropes, some were broken and on the floor, whilst others were still hanging, albeit by a thread. 

The obsidian floor was decorated with silver lines creating a complex star design. Broken pieces of furniture scattered the floor, scuff marks and chips were taken out, leaning small craters filled with murky water from the holes in the ceiling.

A bookshelf fixed to the wall with a black wooden desk wedged in the center, and the black, floral-carved chair lay in pieces a few feet away. Books were strewn over the floor, bright blue ink stained the top of the desk and dried, fixing the quill to it.

In the middle of the back wall, wedged between two floor-to-ceiling shattered windows, was a canopy bed. Sparkling blue fabric draped over the top that matched the comforter of the bed, covered in a thin layer of dust.

In the middle of the room was an open space, scuff marks indicated something had been there but had been moved, most likely stolen during the war between the Cerkoik and Planet Celestine.

She huffed and stepped back, putting her hands on her hips as her eyes scanned the room. "Why can I not remember where I put it? I hid it well. No one could have stolen it unless they -" Her voice turned to worry.

She took a deep breath while closing her eyes and let it out slowly. "No, do not think like that." She told herself, opening her eyes. "Why would anyone want it anyway? To me it is sentimental, but to others, it is something one would throw away -" She cut herself off when she heard a loud thump followed by some strained sobbing.

Her body tensed in reflex to the sound, the hairs on her arms raised sending a prickly wave through her body. 'It cannot be Varian, he is with General Nox gathering armor from the barracks.' She thought, walking over to the broken chair on the floor and picking up a wooden leg for a weapon. 

She swallowed harshly as she slowly approached the doorway to the hall. 'Maybe the halls are haunted . . . Solana did warn me a lot about a wailing governess roaming the halls, making sure no children stay up past their bedtimes or she snatches them and puts them into a never-ending sleep.' She thought, chills running down her spine as she shuddered. 'No,' She confidently thought, shaking her head from those worries. 'I do not believe in hauntings. Solana only said that to be mean and make me afraid.'

She sucked in a deep breath and darted into the hallway, holding the leg defensively in front of her. "Ah ha!" She exclaimed, only to be met by an empty hall, but the sound continued. "It must be down the hall and around the corner." She mused to herself, slowly inching her way down the hall and the safety of her bedroom.

She felt her heart bound against her chest, swearing anyone nearby could hear it. She took a shaky, deep breath and rounded another corner while holding the wooden leg like a bat, ready to use. 

"Got you -" She cut herself off and slowly relaxed when she realized it was Malyla, who was hunched over, clutching her hand while sobbing. "Malyla?" She whispered, dropping the leg with a clank as she rushed over and knelt beside her. "Malyla, what happened?"

Malyla, with a tear-stained face and snot bubbles forming from her nose, sniffled. "What do you want?" She snapped, her voice hoarse and nasally from the sobbing, and her nose stuffed up with snot.

Luna could tell she needed to tread carefully with her words. "I heard a noise, followed it, and found you." She simply replied, her expression as soft as her voice. "What happened? You hurt yourself."

Malyla ignored Luna, wiping her nose on her sleeve while blowing it. "Just leave me alone, please, leave me alone." She begged, looking back down at her bleeding knuckles. 

Luna sighed softly, getting to her feet and offering Malyla a hand. "Come here," She beckoned, grabbing the strawberry blonde by the arm and forcing her up. 'This reminds me of the few times Mother did this to me because Solana hurt my feelings.' She thought to herself, carefully stepping over chunks of wall.

Malyla limply allowed Luna to drag her up and leave her down the hallway. She shuffled along, still cradling her hand close to her chest. The dull throwing resonated through her knuckles and down her hand, fading out down her arm.

Luna led her into her bedroom. She let go of Malyla long enough to pull back the dusty, yet plush midnight black comforter to reveal clean and crisp sheets. "Sit," She instructed, putting her hands on Malyla's shoulders and moving her towards the bed, then pushed her down to sit.

"What are you doing?" Malyla asked flatly, using her other sleeve to wipe her teary eyes. "Don't you need permission from Solana to be here or something?" She asked, her voice turning a bit sharper.

Luna sighed softly, opened the doors to her wardrobe, and knelt on the ground. "I am looking for something to wrap your hand so it does not bleed everywhere before you can see Fletcher." She informed her, pulling out a rolled-up ball of crisp white fabric. "Heh," She softly laughed. "After all this time, no one knew I took this from the infirmary."

"You stole from the infirmary? You? Miss Goodie-Goodie stole something?" Malyla asked, her eyes wide with bewilderment at Luna's admission. 

Luna stood up and held the ball between her hands. "I did not steal. I was going to return it after I used a wee bit for something I was working on." She hesitantly clarified, unrolling some of the fabric. "It was simply borrowing."

Malyla cracked a tiny smile at Luna trying to downplay her actions. "Uh huh," She mused, not for a second believing Luna was simply borrowing something. "What is your deal?"

Luna paused after stopping in front of Malyla. "My deal?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "What do you mean?" She asked, confused about what Malyla had meant. "Could you hold out your hand, please?"

Malyla obliged, holding her injured hand out to Luna. "I mean, you seem like a manic pixie dream girl, it's irritating. You can't be this sweet and quirky all the time, can you?" She asked, resting her other hand on her leg.

Luna slowly wrapped up her knuckles while keeping her brows furrowed and her eyes confused. "I am not sure what you mean. Lunari is generally soft-spoken, kind, compassionate, and easygoing. It is just how we are. We are like the night. Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, no, it's not." Malyla began to reply, brushing her pigtail to her back. "It's just, you're so different from Solana, in both appearance and personality-wise." She pointed out, resting her hand back on her leg. 

Luna ripped the fabric off and tucked it under one of the wraps. "She's a Solari." She replied, "You see, our appearance tends to be random, although, sometimes, we may resemble them but it is simply coincidence. Lunari's skin tends to lean towards pale, blue, purple, and sometimes black hues, and our blood is blue. Solari on the other hand, their blood is golden and their skin leans towards the golden, bronze, brown, and tan."

Malyla's brain stopped working for a moment while she tried to process what she learned. "Oh," She slowly nodded her head when she was able to comprehend what she had been told.

Luna opened the bag on the floor and stuffed the roll of fabric into it. "It must be a lot to take in." She smiled softly, walking back over to her closet and rummaging through some of her shimmering shawl pockets.

"Understatement." Malyla huffed under her breath, getting off the bed and putting the comforter back over the bed. "What are you looking for?" She inquired, holding her hand against her chest as she approached Luna.

Luna glanced over at Malyla for a brief moment. "It may sound idiotic," She began, hesitating about telling Malyla. "However, I am trying to find a small egg-shaped music box."

"And it's in your closet?" Malyla asked, pursing her lips together. She shook her head and knelt, opening up some shoe boxes at the bottom of the closet. "For a princess, you don't have many outfits."

Luna was pleased that Malyla chose to move on to another subject. She didn't feel comfortable sharing much about the object she was looking for. "I had much more than this, not as much as Solana, though. I am sure they were stolen." She replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Malyla pulled out a sparkly, deep purple floor-length dress with a halter top decked out in small beads. "Why is everything in your closet so sparkly? Why is it so sparkly?" She inquired, glancing up at Luna.

"Stardust," Luna nonchalantly replied, rummaging through the pockets of a pale blue shawl. "Lunari, like myself, loves sparkly things."

Malyla's eyes widened. "Like, actual stardust from real stars?" She asked, her voice coming out a little pitchy at the sheer surprise of Luna's words.

"Yes," Luna nodded, her tone dead serious. "Special outfits were made with it. This dress," She motioned to the dress she was wearing. "Was a birthday present, an early birthday present," She replied, running her hands over the silky fabric.

Malyla was taken aback by Luna saying the dress she was wearing was an early birthday present "How old are you?" He inquired, her curiosity getting the better of her

"Um, seventeen. I was to be eighteen in two naky, which is two months." Luna replied, reaching into a coat pocket. "However, it seems I had missed that birthday - many birthdays that is." Her tone grew solemn at the thought.

"So, you're like our age, minus the 10,000 years you've been asleep, which is pretty much equal to immortality so, therefore, you're physically seventeen, not over 10,000 years old." Malyla pondered, figuring up the simple math. 

"Yes, that would be right. Solana is four years older than me, she's twenty-one." Luna confirmed, reaching into the other pocket as her fingers brushed a cold, bumpy object. "I found it!" She pulled out a beautiful polished blue opal egg, little silver raised moons decorated it with a complicated, mini-dial lock on the bottom.

Malyla stood up and looked at the palm-side egg. "It's cute." She mused, watching Luna quickly turn around and hold it against her chest. "For a Russian egg type thingy a doomy."

"Um, yes, it is," Luna agreed, walking over to the bag on the floor and picking it up. She opened a padded pocket on the inside and slipped the egg inside. 

Malyla was typically a nosy person, she grinned deviously as she approached Luna. "So, Luna," She began but then recoiled, letting the grin fade. "I'm going to have Fletcher look at my hand." She informed the Lunari Princess, walking towards the door.

Luna looked up from the bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Oh, yes, it is best to get it checked out and treated." She flashed a smile as she watched Malyla disappear through the doorway and down the hall.

Malyla walked down the hall, passing the door to where Adel was. She stopped and glanced back at it. 'I should go and apologize, try and try to mean it this time so I can keep the peace.' She thought to herself, pushing her pride down as she opened the door and walked up the stairs.

She stepped into the room, and there was Adel, on the floor studying the maps. She noticed him wipe his eyes, which tugged at her heartstrings. "Adel," She said, approaching him only to be met by silence.

She took a deep breath and mustered as much courage as she could find. "I know you're ignoring me and I deserve it." She began. "Before you ask me to leave, I wanted to genuinely apologize. I've been a terrible friend. I will try to do better, be less selfish, and try to be supportive of my dreams even if I may not be completely happy with them. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, I know I must earn it back after what I said. I took it too far and I hurt you, for that, I'm sorry." She poured her heart out, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable. 

Adel turned his body around towards Malyla. He remained silent as he listened to her long-winded apology. "I do accept your apology." He replied as soon as she ended, after watching her tease her body to brace for impact from his words.

"You do?" Malyla asked, relaxing her body with wide eyes. 'He accepted my apology. I didn't think he'd do it so quickly. I thought he'd have some colorful words to say to me.' She thought, having trouble processing what happened. 

Adel nodded, pressing his lips together. "I'm still mad at you for what you said." He point blankly said, his tone dead serious and void of any other emotion. "It was uncalled for and it was very selfish of you to say."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Malyla nodded, feeling a bit better about the whole ordeal. "It was selfish, and I've been nothing but selfish since what happened to my parents. It's not fair to you or Pedro, neither Fletcher nor Sammy."

"It's good you've owned up. But you should deal with your anger and learn how to overcome it. One day your anger is gonna be your demise, as grim as it sounds, you're a loose cannon, Malyla." Adel informed his friend, crossing his arms over his chest.

Malyla looked down at her shoes, her hands behind her back. "I know. You're right. I'm not going to make excuses for why I haven't been able to control myself yet. I know I'm flawed and have failed, but this time, I'm going to try and do better. Despite how I feel about not going home yet and our current predicament."

Adel pressed his lips together to suppress a chuckle. "Well," He began after composing himself. "As long as you try your best, that's good enough for me." He flashed her a smile, one of his eyes mirrored.

Malyla felt uncomfortable. "I don't deserve you both. You've been here the whole time, no matter how awful I was to you, you still stuck with me. I don't deserve that." She reached her good hand and pushed her hair behind her ear.

Adel stood up and walked over to Malyla, resting his hand on her shoulder. "You were going through a hard time, we couldn't just abandon you. Real friends stick together through thick and thin. Pedro and I didn't always agree with what you said, but we respected you. If only you had shown us the same courtesy."

"If only I had," Malyla echoed, moving her eyes from the floor up to Adel's. "I will try to be more respectful even if I don't agree with something you say or do. It's what friends are for." She vowed as she reached her injured hand to brush some hair from her face but flinched and lowered it. "I will get going and leave you to your dream job."

"What happened to your hand?" Adel asked, noticing she began to clutch it against her chest before she turned to leave. "It's hurt and -"

Malyla looked down at her hand, she felt the heat rush to her cheeks. "Oh, it's my fault. I let my anger get the better of me again, and instead of punching someone's face I hit a wall." She admitted, a bit awkwardly. 

Adel's expression softened, knowing she was trying to downplay things for the sake of her pride. "You should get that checked out. How are you going to explain that to Fletcher?" 

"I'm going to tell him exactly what happened." Malyla confidently replied after taking a deep breath. "I'll tell him I lost my temper and punched a wall, all because we fought and the first time, I didn't mean my apology."

Adel was speechless, his eyes wide and his jaw slack. 'She's never owned up to her mistakes of her own volition. She's only ever owned up because Fletcher gave her an ultimatum and she didn't like the punishment. She's never seen it before."

Malyla took his silence as all the confirmation she needed. "So, I'll see you later, okay? It's time for me to face the music before I wimp out and go back to my old, angsty, anger issues self." She laughed, walking out the door while throwing him away.

Adel stood there, watching her leave the room. "That's progress." He mused, walking back over and kneeling on the floor. "But, I hate to be a pessimist because I wonder how long it will last with her track records." He turned back to the maps and picked up his pencil, he started to sketch some pictures into his open notebook.

🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑

A/N: 
Hi, I actually got this chapter done pretty quickly. I finished it in two days which is quite impressive. The ideas just simply flowed through my fingers and on my keyboard.

Chapter Talk: 
I wanted to continue on from the previous chapter. I threw in some more lore and world building. Also, don't get your hopes up for Malyla, with her track record, she'll be back to her normal self soon. Lol.

Thanks for reading!