2298
Gertok Galaxy
Planet Celestine
The Celestine Kingdom
The Solarium Palace 
______________________

After having bid Malyla farewell, Luna wandered the palace. 

It was as if she was being pulled by an invisible string leading her down a hall of portraits and into a massive room, decorative pillars stood in the middle of the room, a mural of an eclipse was painted across the ceiling, while the floors seemed to sparkle like a thousand stars.

She came to a standstill in the middle of the room and came face to face with a massive painting: the last family portrait that was painted on the day Luna turned 17. 

Her parents, sister, and even herself stood together, decked out in Ciltaroum a ceremonial garb strictly for portraits. 

Empress Suniah and Princess Solana wore a glittering floor-length robe hemmed with a foil-y gold and creamy yellow fabric. Emperor Lumino and Princess Luna wore a similar glittering floor-length robe hemmed with foil-y silver and a midnight black fabric. 

A lump caught in Luna's throat as her eyes slowly wandered up the painting before her. It felt like yesterday she had seen her parents, technically she had, but in reality, it had been 10,000 years and everyone she once knew was gone.

Her knees gave out underneath her, crumbling to the ground with her hand over her mouth. A sharp pain stabbed her heart, the overwhelming feeling of the ache of the loss that was still fresh on her mind. 

A wave of heavy sadness crashed down on her, causing her to feel like she was drowning. With the pressure of the pain that built, like a dam slowly cracking, the emotions came rushing out of her in a gushing waterfall of grieving sobs.

She hunched forward, burying her head on her lap and letting out all the emotions she had bottled up inside her flow out. Tears ran down her cheeks and dripped onto her skirt steadily, her throat felt as tight as her chest had

The final relation came from seeing the paintings, digging the invisible knife deeper into her heart. 

'My planet. My family. My kingdom. Everything I once knew is gone. Gone for good. All because of Emperor Oucxian  and his tyrannical crusade across the cosmos for the Celestial reasons unknown.' 

'I will never get to see my parents again, or my grandparents. Neither will I see the palace staff go about their busy schedule like clockwork or watch the intensive training of the guards. I will never hear about festivals or see one, the glittering lights, splendid food, and joyful laughter.'

'I had so much I could have told them. So many things I wanted to say but could never muster the courage to put into words. I wished I could have deeper conversations with them, though promoting conversations instead of small talk. I could have shared my dreams and wishes with them instead of keeping them locked away inside me.'

'I will never feel their warm embrace. I will never get to listen to my mother's soft voice singing my favorite lullaby when I am sick or upset. I will never hear my father's dramatic voice when reading me a story from the royal library. I will never get to see their warm smiles that brighten any room they walk into.'

'I should have told them I lived with them more often than I had. I should not have acted so childish and been more diligent in my studies and secretly listened to Solana's Imperial lessons to perhaps have a better chance at being a productive princess.'

'I could have proved I am more than just a secondborn child that needs to be protected and carefully handled. I might be the only second-born child of a Lunari and Solari, but I am so much more than that. I never got a chance to prove myself or show I am worthy, despite my parents telling me I already am.'

'I can not even mourn at their graves, for there are none. Whatever happened to their bodies only Emperor Oucxian could know. I do not know how they died or what transpired for the ruin of my planet after Solana and I were sent away.'

'It is impossible to believe they would still be alive. Having faith in such a silly notion is more heartbreaking than healing. Lunari and Solari can never live past 120, sometimes a hair more, others a bit less. There is no way they would have lived for 10,000 years, not without being frozen in time like Solana and I.'

'I do not have the closure I need to move on with so many unanswered questions. I can not dwell on them because they will make me sad -'

Her brain stopped working, all the what-ifs that had tumbled around her head like a tumbleweed across a dry, barren desert. The dull pain sat in the pit of her stomach, causing an uncomfortable knot to form. She felt her stomach churn causing her to dry heave while she tried to catch her breath.

The only thing she could feel was her heart, not even the hoarseness of her throat from the wailing she was doing. Her head pounded in rhythm with her heart, feeling like her brain would explode from her head. 

It was short-lived, for she started to sob again when the thought of her parents being truly gone popped into her head once again. Her heart ached with every sob that wracked her body, she trembled on the floor.

She cried her heart out. All the pain felt like it was rushing out as a floodgate had opened up. She couldn't stop the tears from coming out, she couldn't stop the lump in her throat, she couldn't stop the pain in her chest.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" She suddenly exclaimed, pain evident in her voice. She buried her face into her hands, her sobbing turning to wailing and the tears flowed down her cheeks like a steady stream of water. "It's not . . ." Her voice grew softer and the wailing became a sob.

General Nox searched through the palace for Luna after she had departed from the vault with him and Varian to look for something in her room. 

He stopped in his tracks when he heard muffled sobbing from down the hall. He raised his eyebrows when he realized that was where the royal portrait hall was with the royal family portraits in the domed room at the end of the hall.

He quickened his pace as he jogged down the hall and straight into the room. His eyes laid on the hunched-over Lunari Princess who continued to wail on the floor in front of the portrait of her parents, sister, and herself.

"Oh, Luna," He whispered, walking over and kneeling beside her. "Shh," He soothed her, pulling her into a gentle embrace. 

Luna wrapped her arms around General Nox and buried her head in his chest, her sobbing growing louder once again. "T-they're t-they're gone," She choked out in a distraught voice, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"I know, I know," General Nox softly agreed, stroking her long hair with his fingers in an attempt to calm her down. Hearing her sob like this, caused emotions to bubble up inside him. His eyes began to grow watery, and a lump inched its way up in his throat.

After what felt like an hour, which was only about ten minutes, Luna's tears dried up and she only sniffled. She blew her nose on a handkerchief that General Nox had offered her. She could only muster a nod in thanks for his gesture. 

"You are welcome, Luna," General Nox replied softly, wrapping his arm around her. He felt her snuggle into his arm and smiled gently. "I know this is hard." He gently said, resting his cheek on her head.

"Can I miss them this much even though for me, what happened was only two days ago?" Luna asked, wiping her eyes on her palms whilst taking deep, shaky breaths to collect herself.

General Nox stayed silently for a brief moment, pondering her question. "Of course you can. There is no reason why you can not mourn. There is no law to tell you how to mourn or for how long." He softly explained, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

Luna wiped her eyes once again and blew her nose for the final time. "Do you think that is why Solana is the way she is? She is mourning in her own way over the loss of our parents?" She softly asked, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"I can not say for sure, I am not a Solari," General Nox pursed his lips, unsure how to reply to her. "However, you should try and talk to her. Have a heart-to-heart with her, you know she is quite stubborn and only needs someone to take the first step."

Luna nodded slowly, looking down at her hands in her lap. "I will find time to talk with her." She said, slowly getting to her feet with the help of General Nox. "Phew," She exhaled and placed her hands on her hips.

General Nox reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her into a hug one last time. "Your parents would be proud to see how you have been handling everything." He lightheartedly informed her, a small smile on his lips.

Luna hummed in confirmation, hugging him back tightly. "I want to fulfill Mother and Father's wishes. They believed we could become Celestial Guardians and end Emperor Oucxian's tyrannical reign, and I believe in them." She pulled away and crossed her arms loosely.

"I will be at your side and help aid you in any way I am able." General Nox folded one arm behind his back and the other against his chest at an angle whilst bowing.

Luna twisted the silky fabric draped on her arms around her finger. "Thank you," She bowed her head in thankfulness towards General Nox. "I should finish helping Varian. He must be wondering what happened to the both of us, and I do not wish for him to worry." 

General Nox chuckled with a nod of his head. "Of course," He agreed and watched her walk out of the room while keeping her eyes focused on the floor. 

Luna walked down the hall and towards the royal vault where she had last seen Varian. She carefully stepped over fallen chunks of the ceiling that still littered the floor, which would probably never be cleaned up since, as far as she knew, her sister and General Nox were the only survivors of Planet Celestine. 

Passing by a mirror, she gazed at her reflection and noticed her eyes were red and puffy, her nose looking a similar red. "Hopefully he does not notice." She prayed, continuing on her way.

She walked straight into the royal vault and brushed past Varian who was too busy focusing on reading some text from a thin codex. "Sorry, I um, had some things to attend." She apologized, keeping her face away from him.

Varian looked up from the book and furrowed his brows. He noticed her attempt to keep her face away from him. "Is everything okay?" He asked, closing the codex and holding it in his hand.

Luna rapidly nodded her head, opening a codex in front of her and faking skimming through it. "Oh, yes, why would I not be?" She inquired, trying to feign that she was alright and hadn't been just sobbing.

Varian walked over, reaching his hand under the book he closed it shut. "No you're not," He said, her head snapping up and her red puffy eyes meeting his brown ones. "Luna, what's wrong?" He asked, his tone as gentle as the spring breeze.

Luna's lower lip trembled at his question, trying to keep herself together. "It seems to have finally dawned on me that my parents are truly gone and I will never see them again." Her voice turned soft and broken as she averted her gaze to the table.

Varian's expression softened as he reached his hand out and gently gripped the Lunari Princess' hand. "I am so sorry Luna," He apologized, truly meaning his words since he could see the pain on her face.

Tears began to pool in Luna's eyes as she sniffled. "Thank you," Her voice trembled as she spoke. She blinked a few times and wiped her eyes with her palms. "I miss them so much and-and I will never see them again, it just hurts." She mumbled, placing her hand on her chest over her heart.

Varian wasn't one to share anything personal about himself to acquaintances and especially to strangers. But, he could see Luna was hurting, especially since she would never see her parents again and, deep down in his cold, cold heart, it ached at seeing her so sad.

He bit his lip softly, his heart flip-flopping in his chest as he debated on telling her something a bit personal about his past. 'No one else is around and Luna needs to know she's not alone . . .' His thoughts trailed off as he took a deep breath.

"I lost someone too, but it was when I was younger." Varian suddenly blurted out, heat rising up his cheeks and towards his ears, which he pushed away by controlling his breathing. 

Luna sniffled, wiping her eyes with her palms as she pulled away from Varian's embrace. "You did?" She asked softly, her voice as cry as the Sahara Desert.

Varian nodded his head and looked down at the floor. "Yes, my mom. Although, she's not dead, or at least I don't think so. I don't really know what happened to her." He clarified, rambling a little and feeling his cheeks grow even hotter.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, inching herself closer to Varian as she hopped up on the table to sit. She patted the spot beside her for Varian to do the same. "Sit,"

Varian placed his hands on the table and hopped up beside Luna. He moved his hands towards his lap and twisted his belt chain around his finger. "It was my fourth birthday. My mom said the store had been super busy and had almost forgotten about making my birthday cake. She had to go pick it up since she could not bake to save her life. I remember she said it was a banana-flavored cake with real banana slices in the middle and banana cream frosting on top and had a little yellow sprinkles on top and a yellow number 4 candle."

"She told my father and I that she loved us and would be back within the hour with the cake. I sat at the window with my little party hat on with anticipation sparkling in my eyes as I waited. I even had a patty horn sticking out of my mouth so every time I breathed it made a nose. But she never came back."

"Dad was nervous and worried when she hadn't come back within the hour like she said. She would always come back at the time she said and if she didn't she'd call. Dad thought the worst and because he was rich he managed to get the police involved." 

"Weeks turned into months and the investigation went nowhere. It was like she just vanished into thin air, which is highly improbable. They couldn't find her car nor use the GPS to locate it, it seemed to have just vanished as well."

"Dad waited for a year. A whole year for her. But she never came back. That was when he decided to move. We left Texas and he enrolled me in Desert Sands Prep Academy for kindergarten. Then he poured himself into his work and philanthropy, neglecting me in the process." He explained, keeping himself calm and collected, not wanting to get worked up over someone who abandoned him.

Luna listened to him. It dawned on her that the reason he was the way he was: a loner, was because his mother had left him on his birthday. "Oh, Varian, I'm so sorry." She softly apologized, reaching her hand out and placing it on top of his hands.

Varian's eyes moved from his hands up to Luna's face. "I'm sorry about your parents. It's never easy dealing with the loss of someone, especially with not knowing exactly what happened." He spoke, speaking more about himself than Luna.

Luna sniffled, leaning her head on Varian's shoulder. "Thank you," She took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly. She sat straight up and looked down at her hands in her lap as she dangled her feet around the air.

"Just don't tell anyone about this, I have a reputation to uphold," Varian asked in a playful tone as he nudged Luna's arm with his elbow, hoping to gain some sort of reaction from her. 

Luna cracked a smile and looked over at him. "I promise. I will not tell a single soul. Your secret is safe with me." She held out her pinky finger as he wrapped his own pinky around hers.

"Thanks," Varian withdrew his hand and jumped down off the table. "I think we should get back to the castle-ship. There isn't much more we can gather in the vault. I think we've cleared all the useful stuff out." He explained, tucked his thumbs under his belt, and looked around.

Luna jumped off the table and gathered up some of the smaller books on the table in her arms. "I suppose so," She commented deflatedly as she walked towards the door of the vault. "I just hope we can put the things in the vault to good use."

Varian grabbed a crate off the ground and held it up in his arms. "I'm sure we will. After all, we'll be Celestial Guardians." He commented lightheartedly as he crossed the threshold leaving the vault.

Luna followed after him and used her circlet to close the vault behind her. "Yes, we will, hopefully, that is. We still need the others to agree. Do you think they will come around?" She asked hesitantly albeit innocently.

Varian fell into step with Luna after she had put her circlet back on her head. "They need a reason to fight. They don't understand the need for the Celestial Guardians. So, hopefully, after the intel we get at the outpost will hopefully show them how dire the situation is and they'll agree."

Luna mulled over his words, deeply thinking about them. 'He is right. They have not seen what Emperor Oucxian is capable of. Perhaps I can get Chenoa to share what she finds out with everyone and hopefully, they will see the need to become Celestial Guardians!' Her eyes brightened up as she collected her thoughts. "A splendid idea, Varian, simply splendid. I'll speak with Chenoa about it after dinner tonight."

Varian glanced over at a perky Luna, glad to see she was back to her normal self at his suggestion. 'I just hope what we learn at the outpost does strike a chord with them and they agree.' He silently prayed that things would work out for everyone, not that he cared if they agreed or not.

🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑

A/N: 
Not gonna lie, the beginning of this chapter was a tad bit hard to read. It brought up memories of the loss of my son, my beautiful panther, Toli. I did weave my own grief of his loss into how Luna was feeling since I know what loss feels like. I lost a friend a few years back, and that pain was horrendous, especially the realization that I'd never see him again, or hear his voice, or goof about. The grief and regret was overwhelming. It's sorta therapeutic I suppose, and the pain never goes away, it's always there.

And I'm sorry this is late. Been dealing with
 Zoey who is stressed out which in turn is her to have accidents and not feel well. But otherwise, the vet said she's healthy, and no, she doesn't have a UTI. The vet had no clue what they were talking about. SECOND OPINIONS ALWAYS MATTER MY FRIENDS. So, she's still gotta be watched and taken to the little pan but it's nothing serious or life threatening. We've got to get Feliway to help calm her and relax her, and we've got to make a few changes to help her. We're pretty sure it was a mix of things that happened all at once and we're trying to remedy the situation.

Chapter Talk: 
So, you finally know the reason why Varian is the way he is. He's got ✨Mommy & Daddy issues✨ which, i mean, who doesn't? Heck, I certainly do and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Not everyone has great parents.

Also, I found the little moment between Luna and General Nox so wholesome, like he's defo the teddy bear uncle who can also snap your neck in seconds too. Haha. That's a little scary but also very reassuring and comforting. 

Did you also notice that Luna used informal language? It was purposeful on my part so please don't think it is an error.

Thanks for reading!