Journey Through The Starry Sky

Third-person POV:

"Ughh…" a girl softly groaned while stretching on her chair. She just finished her last assignment for the year. There was still around a month before the school year would end. However, most students were able to have quite a bit of free time already.

That was possible due to all the necessary preparations before the award ceremony taking the focus of the faculty members and the fact that they managed to go through the compulsory material relatively fast.

The only thing they had to do now was help with preparations for the award ceremony, but that was it.

"Finally, I am done…" Emily muttered to herself while falling face-first on her bed, causing the last part to come out slightly muffled. She was a teenager with blond hair reaching the small of her back and a pair of stunning green eyes. Her height was nothing special, around 170 cm tall. Despite her age, she also possessed a lean, albeit well-developed figure. This, in addition to her bright personality, made her pretty popular with the opposite sex.

*ping*

Hearing a notification resounding from her mobile phone, she turned over and, while laying face-up on her bed, proceeded to check what it was.

'Who sends a friend request at this hour…?' she thought, realizing it was already 11 pm.

'Let's see… Is this a joke? Arteziar Vidite? I cannot think of anyone with such a strange… name…' she thought, seeing the information of the person that sent the friend request. However, she paused for a moment at the end, all the memories of the past replaying in her mind.

Those were the memories of a black-haired and blue-eyed boy. He was her friend back in the 2nd grade when she was still only eight years old and before her family decided to move to another city.

Despite his strange name, they got along well when they were still small, but one day he just disappeared. Later she found out that his house burnt down along with his parents, and an uncle took him in.

She has nearly forgotten about him until today.

After checking the profile picture that depicted a handsome young man with features matching her childhood friend, she decided to accept. Worst case, it was a mistake, and she would simply block them.

[Hello sweetie], was the first message she got, which caused a cramped smile to appear on her face.

On one hand, the message gave her an almost unstoppable urge to block the person that sent it, but at the same time, it almost confirmed that the person sending it was her friend. Why? Because the only people that would ever refer to her as such were the elderly, her parents, and people that knew it annoyed her.

[The first message after so many years, and you send something like THIS? It seems that even if you got a bit more good-looking, you are still the same annoying asshat.], she replied.

[Oh sweet, sweet Emily. You are hurting my feelings. It was just a friendly greeting :) ], Arteziar responded, causing Emily to get even more annoyed.

[You, of all people, do not have the right to make fun of my name… Who calls their child Arteziar?], she said, wanting to get back at him a bit, but the moment she hit the sent button, she felt a chill run on her back.

[ :) ], the smiley face was his only response, but that smile was the one you would see only on a devil or a psychopath. It simply did not bode well...

[That was just a joke ok...? Do you think you are the only person that can make fun of someone else's name?], she said, trying to defend herself.

[If we weren't friends, I would go and kick your butt right this moment. But... You are right. I started it so let's just talk about something more pleasant. How are you doing?], he replied, causing Emily quite a bit of surprise. In the past, he was stubborn and would rarely acknowledge his fault. Him apologizing to her this fast, even if in a roundabout way, was something new.

She smiled and replied, [I am fine. You have no idea how many things have changed after you disappeared. For example...].

She proceeded to explain how things unfolded after he disappeared. In such a manner, they continued to converse about what they were up to during the past few years. Before any of them realized the sun was already getting up, causing Emily a headache after realizing how tired she was.

***

"Emily~! Can you come over here?", called a blond-haired woman with brown eyes. She seemed to be in her thirties and her features closely resembled those of Emily's. She was her mother, a woman named Amelia Sweet.

"I am coming!", replied Emily while going downstairs, as her room was on the first floor of their house.

"What is it?" she asked while entering the living room where both of her parents sat on the sofa.

The two of them exchanged a look.

"Together with your mom, we have concluded that we should reward you for all the hard work over the past few years. I know we didn't travel anywhere during the last few summer holidays. This is the reason why. We were gathering funds for a big trip to surprise you." Emily's father explained. He was a bit older than his wife, already approaching 40 years of age. His hair was a light shade of brown while his eyes were the same green as Emily's. To Joseph's chagrin, it was their only resemblance as Emily got most of her beauty from her mother's side.

"Yes. We wanted to take you on a trip around the world or to be more precise a voyage. We will be departing one week before the summer break starts. Are you happy?" she continued after her husband with a warm motherly smile.

"Yes! Thank you!" she exclaimed while jumping at her parents and hugging them. It was one of her dreams to one day go on such a trip. Her parents organizing it meant a lot to her.

"Although, we hope you will continue to study as well as you do now even after the trip. Otherwise, this would be a total loss of money in my book." her father said breaking the happy atmosphere, making his wife sigh in exasperation and his daughter exhibit a cramped smile.

"Darling... Why do you always have to be like that?" Amelia, Emily's mom said, not expecting an answer.

"Be like what?", he replied confused, but the two women knew from experience it was pointless to explain it to him.

After that, they chatted a bit more, ate a family dinner, and the day ended without any further surprises. At least for them...

***

On the same day that Emily received the good news from her parents, someone else had a serious talk with his cousin and son of the man that took him in after his parents' death all these years ago. That person was Arteziar, Emily's childhood friend.

"Did you consider my proposition?" Bruce Wise asked. He wore a mostly white form-fitting uniform, with some gold and black accents here and there. That tightness was something that made Arteziar swear to himself that he will never wear it. It was honestly worse than if he was half-naked as due to how the strange material reflected light it made the body seem even more pronounced. The uniform also consisted of an overcoat with a gold-colored star with a libra at its center, the symbol of the organization. Following the overcoat were a belt for the weapon and other necessary equipment, a pair of boots reaching the middle of the calf, that adapted to the changes in the surface making it always easy and comfortable to move, and a pair of something that appeared to be a mix of gloves and gauntlets. Usually, there was also a helmet that allowed the wearer to communicate with his allies and scan the surroundings but Bruce didn't have it on right now.

"Yeah, but I think I have to decline. I can't join the Atlantis Law Enforcement Agency.", Arteziar said with an awkward albeit apologetic smile.

"*Sigh* It's not like I didn't expect this but are you certain? Strong people like you are something we would always accept with open arms." he asked with a resigned expression once again.

"I am more than sure of it. If I join you I won't be able to travel freely in the future. I know that the ALEA is just one of the branches of the Star Law Enforcement Agency and if I got promoted I could travel but I wouldn't be able to go everywhere I want to. I would always be tied to the organization. Also… I would be too embarrassed to wear a uniform like this." he explained in a serious tone, only averting his gaze and showing a wry smile at the end.

"You will get used to it." Bruce rebuked calmly.

"I don't think tha-" Artezier tried to counter but someone didn't allow it.

"You get used to it…" Bruce interrupted him with a straight face but his eyes lost the light for a moment.

He knew that thanks to the way there were, the uniforms made it easy to move about in them. Alas knowing it and accepting the way they looked were two different things. In the end, he and most of his colleagues decided to not think about it and forget. Unfortunately, people didn't allow them to forget it completely…