Hand in hand from the very start of our outing, taking Juna along through the city brings to memory the adventures of our younger years. Running through the streets as mere students on our days away from the academy, playing about in the carnival when its day would come. The years had come and gone and the two of us had become professionals, but today I feel if all of that had been an illusion. Ever since I’d seen her, an overwhelming joy had taken me hostage and brought my heart along for the ride.

Discovering that I hadn’t a single qualm about our clothes or knightly conduct, the two of us run together, making for an unusual scene to the citizens and knights alike. But I can’t help myself. The happiness that fills me even with the simple sensation of Juna’s hand in my own is like having the light and energy of a star shining in my heart.

While I’d told her the broad idea of our date, I’d left out the fact that our appointment would be much later into the day and so we would have plenty of time to spend, just the two of us.

First stop for our big day out is a little trinket shop I’d found while I’d been busy investigating a number of incidences within the area with Saturnus. While we’d both been hard on the trail of a morbid gang, I’d stopped in for a moment’s rest. Gratefully, now I’d be able to enjoy it all the more fully.

Juna’s interest runs high. The way her eyes bounce about as her hips and body sways walking through each aisle is a pleasant view. Not only for the way she moves, but for the fact that she’s already well enamored with the peculiar selection of merchandise it holds.

“This is where you’d picked up that necklace, isn’t it?” Her grin reads like that of a detective that had just solved the case.

“I knew you’d figure it out. I was just wondering how long it’d take. It was faster than I’d expected, color me impressed.”

“Looks like you’ve gotten rusty. Beginning to underestimate me now? If anything, I’ve sharpened up even more lately.”

“My bad. I should have remembered how bright you are. Guess I’ve been a bit shallow since I’ve been thinking more about how cute you are lately.”

Tempted beyond my measure, I take her hand and she brings her eyes to mine. A little, cheesy smile is written on her face, amused at my jesting admission.

“Oh, look who’s trying to send out a decoy. Real sweet of you, but you still lost, didn’t you?”

“You’ve got me there. But don’t mind me if I watch you to confirm my suspicions about how cute you really are.”

“Sure, sure. I won’t stop you.” She chuckles while she lightly sways my arm with her own. “What an interesting place. The aesthetic is a bit avant garde from what you’d usually be interested in. A whole lot of skulls and black.”

“It’s nothing like Ulrique and Xun’s store, but it’s something new. Suppose that it’s some old trend that the foreigners would call ‘gothic.’ Seems that the youth is showing some interest in it now.”

“You say youth like you’re an old man. You’re only 20! Act it!”

“You didn’t seem to have a problem acting like a kid earlier while we were running through the streets. Perhaps it’s time you’d lead by example. Or perhaps you were enjoying yourself too much to try?”

“Oh, shut it! You were the one running with that dumb looking smile on your face!”

“It’s hard not to smile when I know I have all the rest of the day with you.”

“You’re so happy-go-lucky today. Feeling high after putting an end to Wrath?”

“That’s all fine and good and I’m happy about it, of course, but I just feel different today. I’m feeling especially grateful. Like it’s been far too long since I’d been able to play along with you.”

 

✩ ✩ ✩

 

The mystery of my behavior is let to slide as we tour the rest of the store. Juna does manage to find a few items of interest but while she does, I wonder to myself what this entire trend of such grim, deathly imagery is about. When I look at the bones and dark colors, it almost feels like there’s a thought stored away somewhere at the back of my mind. Something I need to do or say. Like I’d forgotten something vitally important.

No matter, I thank my good graces that our first stop is a major success. Without missing a beat, the moment we step outside, my hand clasps hers again and I yank her along like before.

“20 years, huh?” She says to me with a tickling irony.

“20 years young!”

 

✩ ✩ ✩

 

“You’ve really seen another side of this city.” She turns to me and smiles as we continue to watch another performer’s act. “Even after all of our time living here, there’s still so much to see.”

We sit along with the rest of the audience as an illusionist plays his tricks on the lot of us. With sweeps of his hands, he makes us believe he could really make our reality such a joke. Though with the reality of magic, there is something to be said about the magnitude of his actions, but it’s all so quaint and more than anything, an enjoyable show.

“When I’m not called to action or fighting abominations, I’ve had the privilege of seeing a new side of town.”

Even while watching the show, she and I continue holding hands. I look to her and feel a tickling of irony as I peer into her gorgeous eyes.

“I’d really never imagined how many new places I’d be taken as the Celestial Knight. Suppose that my original impressions were far more narrow than the reality of what it would be.”

“Much more complicated than policing the city and going off to slay some creatures, isn’t it?”

“Far beyond. Nothing could have prepared me for everything that would come my way. But…” I give her hand a squeeze as a wave of sweet nostalgia sweeps over me, “in a sense it had finally brought us together. I’m grateful it ended up that I’d be more than just a knight.”

“We’ve grown so much since all of this had begun, hadn’t we?”

“It’s been a journey, that’s for sure. To think we’d come all the way here from that incident with your admission into the mage knighthood.”

“What incident was that?” She switches her attention back from the illusionist, a speckling of confusion on her face.

“When you were rejected unjustly. I could swear that judge Chamelis had it out for you.”

Pausing for a moment’s thought, Juna’s face soon splits with a wide smile. A bout of laughter leaks out from her mouth and grows in its magnitude.

“One thing that’s certainly changed is that you joke so much more! All that time you’d spent with Mercy really did have an impact on you! Yeah, right. Chamelis being the judge over that case, even.”

Her cheery disposition and disbelief at first catch me off guard and leave me stunned, yet after I give it a thought of my own, I can’t help but wonder just what I was talking about. I’d spoken it all so confidently as if those situations were something that had truly happened. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

I let it go by concluding that I’d so believed my own joke that I’d sold it to myself in a bid to tease Juna.

“You’re right. Things went perfectly and you were picked right up by the mage knights without a moment’s hesitation. I’d expect nothing less from our class’s most skilled magician. Which, by the way, I’d like to hear how your work has been going lately.”

“It’s been going wonderfully. I’ve been focusing on helping out in the labs with Uria. We’ve been making progress on a few studies, but…” unlike the rest of our time we’ve spent together, a hint of blue peeks out from her eyes, “we still haven’t been able to find any leads on our most important research.”

“That’s just fine. It’s not something simple and even the greatest couldn’t find the answers either.” My admission doesn’t help to ease over her worries, so I take it a step further. “I’m doing fine. And I’m not exactly the doubter I was before. Maybe someday there will be something we can do. For now, I’d be fine living as I am.”

A little silence is shared between us while our minds both undoubtedly begin to contemplate the trouble of my condition. Though as I see an audience member fiddling with their phone, one more conversation topic comes to my mind.

“How has that friend of yours, Reilly, been lately?”

“Ah, she’s been the same as ever. Bringing sweets to work when she stops by and mostly focusing on her own research. Still working on those problems her latest experiment has given her.”

That little chat about her friend is enough to return the joy to her eyes.

 

✩ ✩ ✩

 

“Now this place was an interesting one. I’d happened upon it back when during another search.”

I explain my finding to Juna as we wander through its main foyer. A luxurious hotel setting with an open floor and a tall, reaching structure raising high overhead. Each story is visible to view as each floor’s walkways hover above.

“It’s beautiful! I’d only heard about it from others, but it’s amazing to see with your own eyes.”

“Supposedly this hotel was originally built with foreigners in mind. Back when, it was made in anticipation that if any important figures from overseas would come, they would stay here for their business. But of course the embargo and closing of the borders happened and so it’s been left to the upper middle class.”

“We may live close by, but I wouldn’t mind staying here one night, maybe.” Her glee is cutely infectious.

We take to wandering the first floor while the staff and occupants come and go. Most of them being dressed up nicely in business attire, others wearing clothes suited for an easygoing vacation time.

But as I look up to the heights once more and see all the floors in their open view, a strange impulse begins to bloom in my mind.

“Juna, would you call this a tower?”

“A tower? I suppose it could be considered one. It’s incredibly tall, to say the least.”

“…What do you say that we take off and check out the highest room it has?”

“Would we be allowed to? We’re not staying as guests.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll figure it out as we go. But for now, follow me!”

We begin our ascent and all the while, I continue leading her by the hand, never letting her go.

 

✩ ✩ ✩

 

“I’m surprised that we could get in here without a key or anything.” Juna thinks aloud while she steps out from the glossy, well furnished hall and into the large room waiting for us.

Many tables topped with fine white cloths and faced with posh chairs fill the space where all the clean and large glass windows look out into Empyrea. A magnificent crystal chandelier hangs overhead from the domed roof. Although it’s currently shut off, its grandeur persists as the drifting sunlight brings its form to glitter.

“We’re fortunate. But if it wasn’t this, I would have just asked them if we could come and see it anyways. The staff likely wouldn’t have much to say if the Celestial Knight himself had some business here, right?”

“Is that you pulling rank? I’d never thought I’d see the day you’d do that without a second thought! You really are a free spirit today!”

She twists and dances about the room as she approaches the windows. There before them she turns back to me with a look that fills my chest with butterflies. The grace and light that she carries with her is a priceless treasure to cherish.

“But I am too. All thanks to you.”

Taking my place alongside her, I look out from the glass with her and let my hand find hers.

“Empyrea really is a beautiful place. I was blessed to be born here of all places.” I speak my wandering thoughts. “But there had been times I’d wondered what it would have been like if I’d have grown up somewhere else. Those thoughts don’t last long since if that was the case, I wouldn’t have spent my life with you.”

“I’ve had similar thoughts and I’d felt the same. I’m just grateful for the present… This moment now.” She squeezes my hand lightly to make her point.

“You know, I did have family off and far away from Empyrea. Though they’d passed on some time ago. I can’t remember where they’d lived and I’d never gotten to meet them. It’s a bit of a shame, but maybe I’ll get the chance to someday. I remember that my father was once thinking of moving to live with them, but he’d ultimately decided to stay in Empyrea.”

Watching the traffic moving about the streets, the daily life of the citizens, that strange thought returns to me with a vengeance.

A tower.

There was something about a tower.

Am I really forgetting something important? Or is it just a quirk of the mind?

It’s strange, the impulse I’d had that had called for me to reach for the heights. It isn’t this building, but I feel that I need to rise high no matter what.

I’m distracted from that line of thinking as I hear a set of footsteps behind us and a voice raising.

“Ah. Excuse me, sir, my lady, this area is off limits but for approved members of a party that have reserved this space. You see, this room is most often used for events like meetings or dances and it’s important that it stays in pristine condition for our guests.”

Turning, I spot a kindly young woman dressed up in the distinct uniform of a staff member. They seem a touch shy but are intent to do as their work requires them to.

“My apologies.” I begin as I turn to face them and draw near, taking Juna along with me. “I promise that I’m here for a good reason. My work as the Celestial Knight has brought me here and I have a fellow knight to assist me through the day. I’m making sure to survey something that is of the utmost importance, I hope you can understand.”

Her eyes go wide and they’re quick to find the armband that I have pinned to my sleeve. At once she bows deeply to me.

“Y-Yes, of course. I understand, Sir Celestial Knight. I have followed behind your many exploits and I am so very grateful for all that you’ve done for Celestia! I have family in Skyline and they’re safe thanks to your work!”

“Don’t worry about formality. I appreciate casualness very much. I’m a citizen just as you are and I’m really just doing my job.”

“A-Ah. Sorry, I can be a little nervous when it comes to famous visitors. Plenty come to stay here, but I wasn’t expecting I’d see the Celestial Knight himself today.” She rights her posture and takes a deep breath. “Is there anything that I can do for you while you’re conducting your duties?”

“I’m fine. What about you, Juna? Do you need anything?”

“Oh, no. I’m good for now as well.” She answers after she quickly throws away the shock she’d taken.

“I’m glad. If there’s something you need, please, just let us know and we’ll be happy to help.” Though she at first thinks to bow again, she awkwardly catches herself in a shallow nod before picking herself up and continuing her talk. “Oh, but… if you wouldn’t mind… could I have your autograph? You must be asked that so often, I…

“An autograph? I can’t say I’ve done many at all. Usually I prefer to stay undetected, but today is one of those days where I have to go around like this. Sure, I’d be glad to do that for you. What can I sign?”

“This, if you’d please.”

The shy employee brandishes a small, leather bound book from the satchel she wears on her hip along with a pen. Taking it, the front cover reveals that it’s a book titled ‘Sanctuary’. An image of a tower stands below that name.

“Sanctuary? For some reason I can faintly recall seeing this book before. But why this? I’m not its author.”

“Well, that’s because it’s about another kind of Celestial Knight. The story goes by a few different names, but this is how the publisher titled this copy. It’s the story of a knight from another kingdom.”

“Oh! So you mean it’s the story of that knight that started becoming popular in Celestia more than a decade ago? The one about that man, Hakan?” Juna perks up, more than happy to know this trivia.

“Hakan? Oh, that story.” I say with a laugh as I finally catch up with the two. “It’s a bit of a stretch, but I suppose I wouldn’t mind signing this.”

“It’s an amazing story. And… well, that man was like a Celestial Knight, so…”

I open the cover of the book and find a blank page near the front. So I sweep the pen across it and sign it with a small, special message for her included.

“Here you are.”

I hand it back to her and she immediately takes to inspecting it. “Thank you! Thank you so much! I’ll treasure it!”

“I’m grateful you like it. But say…” A curiosity had come to me and I find myself impulsively asking an odd question. “Do you know of any towers around here?”

“Towers? I can’t say I do. This building would be the closest thing, but, that’d be all that I can think of. The last tower that appeared, you’d taken down yourself.” She says to me with a giggle.

“You’re right. Forgive the odd question. I was just… informed of something peculiar so I’d come here to check.”

“I surely hope that that tower doesn’t come back. But by the looks of it, maybe you’d been given a false call?”

“That tower? Which do you mean to say?”

“Well, there was Pride, but that wouldn’t have been visible from this building given how far away it was.”

“Yes, of course. Pride was a tower, but you don’t have to worry about that; it’s gone for good.”

“All thanks to you, Mr. Celestial Knight.” She smiles adorably before preparing to be on her business again. “Thank you for your time. I wish I could stay for longer, but I should get moving before I may end up in trouble. Truth be told, I shouldn’t have this book with me on my job, but it helps to fill the boring hours when there’s nothing much to do. Keep it a secret, okay?”

“Promise I will.”

So departs that kind staff member. When she’s well out of hearing range, Juna turns to me with a smirk.

“Your fan club just keeps growing. Soon enough you won’t be able to outrun them.”

“I hope not. That would be so weird. I just want everyone to be safe and happy.”

“Of course. And that’s why they all love and adore you.” She pauses before a slier look overcomes her. “You know, you used to be such a bad liar. Your knightly morals would never allow for it. You’d probably end up hunched over in pain for even saying a little white lie.”

“Well, I didn’t lie. I’m here to do my work as the Celestial Knight. That is, to spend time with my maiden.”

“Oh, really?”

“And I do have something important to keep my eye on.”

I give her a little pull and bring her into my body where I meet my lips to her forehead. “And that something is actually someone important: you.”

A moment of peaceful silence comes to that ballroom as we hold each other near at its heights. I look into her crimson colored eyes but soon glance out and return to wondering.

“But it’s odd… I could have sworn there was another…”

The thought of a tower forces its way back to my mind. Seeing the city beneath and the sky before us, I wonder to myself if there was something there for me to see. A tall, sky scraping building that could pierce clouds.

The thought alone causes my head to begin to ache, but before that discomfort can grow too sharp, I suddenly lose the reason for my concern. Unable to recall why I’d been so perplexed in the first place.

“So? Have you any other places to take me or was this nice room the big finish? I wouldn’t mind at all. I’m here with you.”

“Oh, right.” I look out to the distance again and see the sun beginning to set. “We’d better hurry on along. There is one last stop in store for us.”

 

✩ ✩ ✩

 

When the golden radiance of the sunset masters the city, the time has at last arrived. I’d taken her along with me into the more affluent district of Empyrea nearby the hotel. And there before the grand front of the building, I turn to her and give her a smile.

“Here we are.”

“W-Wow. I wasn’t expecting anything so… lofty. I’m really not dressed the part, am I? And I’ve been sweating…”

“I’m a paying customer with an RSVP, so who cares about all of that?”

“Usually you’d be the one to be so critical of professionalism.” She speaks with a sweet, merry laugh.

“None of that matters to me right now. All I want is to be with you, Juna.”

The sheer surprise that touches her soft features heralds the flushing of her face. Even after all of the time we’d spent together so near, so openly, her eyes leave my own in cute embarrassment.

“You’re… too much of a sweet talker now, I swear.” Say that as she may, the delicate sensation of her thumb running against my fingers is the preface to her true feelings coming forth. “And all I want… is to be with you.”

Not even caring to ponder if we’d stick out from the rich customers we’d be joining, our date moves on and we remain together, holding hands.