A/N: So, it's been a painfully long time since I actually did any writing. Anyway! I've been lurking around quite a bit and finally decided to change that with an upload yey /claps. Please do comment and review and stuff they make me happy.
"The stars are beautiful today, aren't they?"
The purple-haired kid murmured as she laid her face against the cold windows of the space station, her palms right next to her face. A soft chuckle sounded out from behind, and footsteps announced the arrival of her friend.
"The stars are beautiful everyday, silly. We see them all the time."
The purple-haired girl pouted before turning around to face her blonde companion. "No! It's even more beautiful today, Erichii!" Eli merely laughed and sat down on the metallic platform next to her friend with a blasé smile on her face. Her eyes trailed out to the dark expanse outside the window, dotted by numerous glowing stars.
"You say that everyday, Nozomi."
"I have to —"
"Eli, I —"
An awkward pause. The two stared at each other silently before Eli cleared her throat.
"Um, you first, I guess?"
Hesitation flickered in the green-hued eyes before it glanced away from the other's piercing blues. Nozomi's hands were wrung together, and her brows furrowed. She took a deep breath before deciding to speak.
"Well, my parents… They decided that this Station isn't bringing in enough space truckers, pilots and all that. So, we'll be jumping to the next system. Around a few light years away. I'll be moving with them — but it's still nearby! So maybe I can visit you still…"
Eli simply smiled before shaking her head.
"It's fine, really. I understand. This area isn't really safe nowadays, with the space pirates lingering outside the safe zone of the station. Actually, what I wanted to say was that I'm moving to another system too. My father signed me up for cadet school. You know how he's like when it comes to law enforcement, always wanting me to work as an enforcer. He said that it was a good future for me," Eli said as she reached out to grasp onto her dear friend's hands. "We'll still keep in touch, right? I'd miss you terribly if we didn't."
Nozomi's cheeks coloured slightly. Eli was hardly someone so forward and brazen with her actions, but she didn't comment anything, settling on rubbing her thumbs across the knuckles of the blonde's and a reassuring nod to answer her question.
Eli left a few days later. Nozomi, a week after.
News spread of yet another attack outside Artemis Station. The other cadets all huddled together in the bunkers in front of the holographic screens, murmuring amongst themselves. Eli, however, was too busy nestling up in her bunk to bring herself to care. Her head ached with all the shouting and drilling her instructor had inflicted on her. Her physical body didn't fair much better, but it was all part of the job.
Blue eyes peered at her comms device. No notification, as per normal. Bitterly, she closed it.
Liar.
On the day Eli graduated, top of her class, she had to make a speech. She spoke of her dreams of a safer place, of her passion and her goals. Of her past.
A certain girl was never mentioned.
Her parents looked up at her with pride in their eyes. Eli returned the look with a firm nod. After the party, she looked out of the windows. The familiar expanse stared back at her. Nothing caught her eyes, and with that, she decided to rest.
"Officer Ayase, we require you to liaison with this certain pilot. A bounty hunter, of sorts. The pilot of Urania happens to know the area a lot better than we do, and the headquarters believe that cooperating with said bounty hunter would be the best way to eliminate the pirate threats near the Hermes Station."
The officer looked at her handler through the holographic screen before nodding in turn. "A sound plan. Send the bounty hunter a correspondence and arrange a meeting for us, then."
Of course a bounty hunter wanted to meet up in some intergalactic bar. It was tacky and cliché, but alas, the other pilot wouldn't agree to meet her unless it was in this location.
Eli warily looked around, her hands kept close to the holster of her plasma pistol. Suddenly, a hand rested on her shoulder, almost causing the blonde officer to jump.
"Would you like a fortune telling, free of charge?"
An eyebrow was raised but Eli turned around. Perhaps she could get some information out of this… Fortune teller. With a low hum, she nodded, only to find herself being pulled into a small covered booth.
The hooded figure before her leant forward and rested her arms on the cool metallic table. "I've never seen you around before, are you here on business? Or perhaps, to forget someone?"
"Business, of sorts. I'm waiting for somebody, actually."
A deck of tarot cards was pushed in front of her. Somehow, Eli couldn't help but to think that the design of the deck was familiar. As if she had seen it countless of times before.
When she looked up, she found herself looking into painfully familiar green eyes.
"You know, your eyes had always reminded me of the stars."