2298
Gertok Galaxy
Planet Celestine
The Celestine Kingdom
The Castle of Dragons
______________________

"Where does Luna get off thinking we want to become Celestial Guardians when it's not our fight? We don't belong here and yet she thinks we will help take back the universe? I don't think so! We're just children! We aren't meant to be heroes! Asking us that was uncalled for!" Malyla's voice boomed as she walked down the hallway.

Pedro, after having calmed down, nodded his head. "I can understand her reasons, but it's a lot to ask us. We have no experience with anything pertaining to becoming Celestial Guardians. It seems dangerous to have us in the middle of this battle." He agreed, adding his two-sense.

Malyla sighed heavily, crossing her arms over her chest. "There is something wrong with her if she thought we'd say yes in a heartbeat without a second thought! We are not going to put our lives on the line for a universe that isn't our own. It's not our fight." She exclaimed, bitterly through gritted teeth and clenched her fists.

Adel wanted to come from things from a different perspective. "I mean, her intentions were noble," He said, gaining a death glare from Malyla and a curious look from Pedro. He put his hands up defensively in front of him. "Albeit misguided."

Malyla rolled her eyes. Typical of Adel to see the greener side of the grass. "It might've been noble, but at the end of the day, Luna should listen to her sister. Although I'm not too fond of Princess Solana, she has a point. We don't belong here and we shouldn't be butting into their issues. So much could go wrong."

Pedro stretched his arms over his head and then laced his fingers together, resting them on his head. "Should we tell Princess Solana what Luna is planning?" He inquired, wondering if it was something that they should do.

"No, we shouldn't get in the middle of it. It will be brought to light in its own time. We shouldn't interfere. I've had enough conflict that I've instigated for a lifetime." Malyla replied, shaking her head.

Adel hummed softly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Luna wholeheartedly believes in The Celestial Guardians, and it does make me curious as to what she believes they can liberate the universe." He pondered, rubbing his chin.

Malyla whipped her head towards him and gave him the death glare. "Of course you do." She grumbled under her breath. "If you want to learn more you can always go and ask her, Just don't think about becoming one of the Celestial Guardians, or I'll disown you."

Adel gave a nervous laugh, averting his gaze towards the floor. "Nah, I was just playing. I'm sure we'll learn more than we want to from the others." He passively replied, his heart sinking in his chest at the little fib he had just given.

He fell silent, feeling torn on what to do. 'I kinda want to become a Celestial Guardian. I know it's a lot to do, and it certainly doesn't come without risks. They're right, we aren't heroes, but that doesn't mean we can't be, even if it's for a short amount of time. It's been my dream to do something of the sort and here I am, getting the chance to do it and I turned it down? All because I care too much about Malyla's feelings instead of my own? It's not right I sacrifice my happiness just to make Malyla feel better. It's wrong. I know it. But why can't I seem to find my voice and speak up for myself? I should work on that. Oh, maybe I'll get a chance to speak my mind and say I want to become one - or maybe I can do it in secret? No, that would be wrong. I need to decide in my own time.' He thought as he whipped his head towards his friends. "Hmm?"

Malyla continued on her little ranting spree bringing everyone down. "If you look at it, we're kinda useless compared to the Desert Sands Prep Students. So, us sticking around is kinda pointless since we'll never be of any use and I would hate that we could accidentally get in the way of Princess Solana."

"We aren't useless. Don't say that. We just haven't found our job yet - our place here, but I'm sure we will soon. We just need to find what we're good at and contribute." Adel suggested, trying to lift their moods.

Malyla rolled her eyes and then glared over at her friend. "When you say stuff like that it makes me think you enjoy being here and don't mind never getting to go back home to your family." She snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

Adel frowned, puffing out his cheeks. 'Why does she have to do that? I get she's upset but she doesn't have to take it out on us and alienate Pedro and I.' He thought to himself before speaking. "I do want to go home but until then we can't just be lazy and do nothing!"

Malyla scoffed, moving her hands from her chest to her hips. "Oh, you think I'm making us lazy? Ha!" She scoffed once again, throwing her hands in the air. "Making me the bad guy?" She inquired, narrowing her eyes.

Adel took a deep breath. "No, I'm not. I'm just saying that instead of being salty about our circumstances, we should try and find the silver lining like Fletcher always says."

"Fletcher," Malyla snapped, her voice laced with venom. "Where is he now? Probably off doing something with the others and having found his place on this God-forsaken castle-ship as a medic to invisible alien people." She sarcastically commented. "His do-good personality can get on my nerves sometimes."

Pedro, who had been quiet, decided to speak up. "Adel does have a point, Malyla. We should try and figure out our place while we wait until we're able to go home. It won't be that bad and maybe we can pass the time." He suggested with a flash of his pearly whites.

"Exactly!" Adel quipped quickly. "It might be a fun way to pass the time. Don't you miss the fun times we had? Before everything went to hell in a handbasket? We can do things our parents would never allow us to do! And the best thing is we don't have to tell them." He persisted in appeasing her ego.

Pedro nodded, continuing to add to Adel's words before Malyla could get a word in edgewise. "Don't you want to learn how to do all the stuff you wouldn't be able to do in SERA? Take this opportunity! This is your chance to fulfill your dream that was -"

Adel nudged Pedro in the side. "What he means is; take this as a chance to do what you can't do back home. For once, find your true happiness," He hoped his words stuck something inside Malyla and she'd let go of her bitter feelings. "Seeing you like this hurts, I miss the happy-go-lucky Malyla you used to be."

Malyla tipped her head back and groaned, putting her hands on her face and drawing them down. "I hate to admit it, but you're right." She sneered, crossing her arms over her chest with a frown. "I'm probably going to regret not doing anything when I get back home and that will make my mood worse. But I'm not doing anything I don't wanna do."

Adel shared an inaudible sigh of relief at how Malyla reacted. "Understood." He turned to Pedro and flashed a smile before looking back at Malyla. "Should we check up on Fletcher and Sammy?" He inquired, moving on to a different subject.

"Nah," Malyla shook her head and twisted her hair around her finger. "They're busy and I think we'd just get in their way. The kitchen is off-limits back home when Sammy is in it."

Pedro chewed on the bottom of his lip as he waited for her to finish. "Should we snoop around? There are so many rooms and I have to know what's in all of them." He asked, his words hanging on a hopeful tone and his eyes lighting up.

Malyla shook her head. "You can. I just want to get settled into my room. I will find you later but there are a few things I need to do first." She reached out and pressed a triangle button on the side of two doors as they slid open. "I'll see you guys later." With that said the doors closed.

Adel turned to Pedro as soon as the door to Malyla's room closed. "Phew," He exhaled heavily as he began to walk down the hall, Pedro at his heels. "So, where should we go first?"

Pedro walked beside Adel, running his hand along the wall. "Let's see where this hallway takes us, first!" He beamed brightly as his eyes trailed along the ceiling, which for the most part was assembled.

Adel silently followed beside Pedro as he came to the end of the hallway. "So, this floor only had bedrooms on it. How disappointing." He frowned, pressing the button for the elevator to open. "But there are other floors and they are listed," He pointed to the foreign words next to the buttons.

Pedro hummed as he rubbed his chin and his eyes darted between the buttons. "I don't remember what the map said but, if I would say we could go to the floor above the bedrooms?"

Adel nodded and pressed the bottom to the floor above them. The doors closed seconds later and they started to go up which also only took a few seconds and the doors opened again.

He stepped out and looked down the left side, hearing a commotion. "Huh?" He questioned, walking down the hall.

Pedro followed after Adel, hearing the strange noises coming from down the hall. "What do you think it is? A ghost?" He inquired, feeling a mix of excitement and anxiety mixing in his chest.

Adel shrugged his shoulders as they silently inched their way to the end of the hall. He peaked around the corner and his eyes landed on Hara who was on a ladder with a beautiful yet big-looking wolf-like creature.

Pedro didn't take heed to what Adel was doing, instead rounded the corner and almost slammed right into the ladder. "Ah!" He exclaimed, stumbling back and falling right on his butt.

Hara jumped at the sudden yell, losing her balance and falling to the floor harshly on her butt. "Ow!" She groaned, looking over at Pedro and Adel. "What was that for!" She exclaimed, slowly getting to her feet.

Pedro stammered, a bunch of random noises escaped his lips as he, with a shaky finger, pointed to Lune who was beside Hara. "W-wolf!" He defensively moved back on the floor.

Hara looked over at Lune, who had his head tilted in confusion. "Oh, it's not a wolf, it's a Lunmera, a wolf-like creature of the Lunari. This is Lune, he's Luna's friend since childhood." She introduced, rubbing behind Lune's ear which caused him to wag his tail.

Adel offered a hand out to Pedro who took it and got to his feet. "A Lunmera? It looks just like a wolf and a big wolf at that but I'm glad he's the least harmless," He questioned, looking at how Lune was reacting to Hara's touch. "Right?"

Hara slightly smirked as she nodded her head. "Yes, Lunmera's are harmless, according to Luna. He's also a great helper since he can float." She replied, picking up the tools she dropped and putting them back in her belt. "You know, manipulate the gravity around them."

Pedro hesitantly reached out his hand to Lune, feeling very scared about how he'd react. "Nice Lune," He softly said as Lune sniffed his hand and then rolled his head against it, letting out a cute little grunt. "Oh, you are harmless." He chuckled, scratching under his chin.

Hara pulled out her wrench and went back to tightening up some bolts on the ceiling. "So, what are you guys doing? Where is your friend, Malyla, was it?" She asked, glancing down at them for a brief moment.

Adel leaned against the wall, looking up at Hara. "We were exploring and trying to be useful, which we still don't know our place and as for Malyla she's in her room." He replied, smiling as he watched Pedro start to play fetch with Lune with a small metal pole.

Hara slipped her wrench back into her tool belt and moved her hand along the lines of the panel she had just screwed. "Oh, I see," She nodded, walking back down the ladder. "This must be quite a change for you, isn't it?"

Adel watched Hara pull the ladder down a few inches before grabbing another panel from the floor. "Yeah, it's very much a change. It's a mixture of excitement and nervousness since we are completely out of our element here and especially not knowing our places yet." He replied, running a hand through his hair.

Hara nodded as she rested the panel against the ceiling with one hand and screwed in a screw with her other hand. "I see," She mused, grabbing another screw from her pocket and putting it on the other corner of the panel. "I do know we'll need a person who is an astronomer and navigation, mapping out the stars, stuff like that."

Adel nodded, taking in what she had just said. "You know, I've applied for Desert Sands Prep College . . . I haven't told Malyla that yet though. I applied to be an astrophysicist, and was hoping to get accepted since I've always loved astronomy." He sheepishly said, playing with his fingers.

Hara glanced down as she screwed in another bolt. "Really? That is cool. I think you might've just found your place, Adel. You can ask Luna for books and maps for this galaxy and even my sister to download some maps at the outpost we will be gathering information at." She suggested with a smile, screwing in the last screw.

Adel's eyes lit up and at last, he had finally found his purpose, sooner than he expected. "Yeah! That's a good idea! Thanks Hara! I'm going to go find her now!" He exclaimed, waving to her and dashing off in the direction he came.

Hara giggled as she realized he might not know where Luna was. "She's with Varian in the common room, that's the last place I heard she was at." She called, smiling as he threw her a hasty thumbs up. She turned to Pedro. "What about you? Do you have an idea of what position you want?"

Pedro sat down on the floor and crossed his legs as Lune sat down and put his paws on his leg. "I don't know yet. I'm not exactly good at many things other than throwing the best parties. It's in my blood." He joked with a laugh.

Hara climbed down the ladder and squatted down next to the toolbox. "You know, if anything were to happen to my sister and I, we'd need someone to take our spot - you know, have another person to code or fix stuff that breaks. It also applies to Fletcher and Sammy." She pointed out, looking for a tool she needed.

"You're right." Pedro looked up and around at all the work that needed to be fixed. It was a lot for one person, said person being Hara. "I can help you if you want. I used to help my dad fix stuff around the house. He's a real handyman." He offered with a smile.

Hara returned his smile with one of her own, straightening up. "Thanks. I could sure use the help. Who knew this castle-ship was in such disrepair." She mumbled the last part under her breath. "Probably the Cerkoik attack."

Pedro got to his feet and put his hands on his lips. "I wonder what the Cerkoik look like and if they're still around." He mused, watching Hara put on a welding mask and pick up a blowtorch. "Uh, is that safe to do? Should I move back?"

Hara turned towards Pedro's direction and laughed. "Yeah, it's totally safe. I've been doing it since I was ten - seven secretly - and you probably should move back and cover your eyes or look away. I would hate for the sparks to get you." She explained and quickly added.

Pedro, with Lune at his side, stepped back towards the window and leaned against it. "You don't think Emperor Oucxian is still around? It's hard to believe someone could live over 10,000 years." He inquired, twisting Lune's fur around his finger. "Without how Luna and Princess Solana were."

Hara tipped up the welding mask and sighed, leaning on the ladder. "It's hard to believe but anything is possible. If an immortal creature like Lune is real then I have no doubt that a semi-immortal alien is real."

Pedro nodded, turning his back towards Hara the moment she put the mask back on her face and started up the blow torch. 'It is quite scary. I don't like the idea of possibly coming face-to-face with him. I wish we could go back home now but that won't happen any time soon. I just hope we don't find ourselves in trouble because we'll be doomed.'

🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑

A/N:
Sorry this took a bit. I've been super busy but I've got two more chapters mapped out and I just gotta write them. Check out my other books while you wait!

Chapter Talk:
Malyla is a little turd. I gotta say, she isn't very nice, especially to her friends but hey, she's just a ball of anger issues lol. Adel and Pedro have gotten so used to walking on eggshells around her that they have yet to find their voice and clash with Malyla's opinions. It actually mirrors my mother's relationship with me, my mom being Malyla and I being Pedro and Adel. That's a little fun fact. XD

Also, I've been doing a ton of research for other jobs in a spaceship and it's super hard to figure out everyone's place. It's going slowly but I'm getting there. Bear with me.

Thanks for reading!