Emilia arrived at Unity Academy. The academy was well known all through the land for its immaculate and rigid curriculum. The most powerful families, human and celestials, send their children here to prepare for adulthood. It was known that Unity had the best instructors who pride themselves on being able to handle and deal with all types of creatures. It was an honor to work here as they were given the opportunity to interact with all beings. Apart from that it was known that the curriculum at Unity was so perfect that a Unity graduation diploma was value like no other. Since the program at Unity extended from five years old to eighteen most students were already acquainted with each other, so Emilia had a lot of catching up to do.
As the carriage stopped in front of the academy Emilia poked outside and saw a lot of students going thru the main gate. Their ages differ and she could tell that their uniform color was based on their age. For her, her uniform was blue.
Before stepping out Emilia thought to herself that this was harder than what she had thought. She was nervous, but there was no time to chicken out. This is what she had wanted, and she was not going to retrieve now that she was here. She looked back at her father who was calmy sitting down and smiled.
"See you later father.."
Michael nodded and gave a faint smile.
"This is it, Emilia. You got this." Emilia reassured herself before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the carriage.
Once outside she got lost in the moment. Students of all ages were coming her way and she had no idea how to handle this. She had never been around so many people and her tiny self-felt lost and scared. She tried moving back to the carriage, but to her surprise the moment she turned around the carriage was gone. Her safe heaven was no more. She tried to hide the uneasiness she was feeling, but to no avail. It was clear she was on the brink of crying. This was to much. Her young self was not ready and at that moment she wished she was back home, back inside the familiarity of Elysium.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid" Emilia kept repeating to herself while hitting her forehead with her right palm. She was frustrated with herself because she could not help but feel these awful emotions despite having gone thru so much to finally be here. She never thought that it would feel like this, and she was angry for not being stronger.
Emilia was facing the ground while grunting and she did not notice that a small figure had approached her and was standing in front of her for quite some time now.
"If you keep hitting your forehead you will leave a bruise" the child who had approached Emilia suddenly said. Emilia froze for a second with her palm still on her forehead. Then slowly she looked up and found a young child smiling brightly at her. Her smile was so contagious and pure that Emilia could not help but smile back. This little girl who was not taller than her brought her a sense of calmness and Emilia felt relived. She quickly looked at her hand that was still on her forehead and quickly moved it to her back. It was a nervous action that only made the unknown child laugh.
"Hi!" the unknown child said with a witty tone, still keeping that beautiful smile. "You are Emilia? right?" the child asked and Emilia who found it impossible to find her voice just nodded shily. Gone was the child from last night who had run away from home and instead at this moment Emilia had turned into a lost puppy.
The unknown child extended her right hand and with that signature bright smile of hers introduced herself, "My name is Clementine, but you can call be Clem!" Clementine had dark brown hair with fair skin. Her eyes were light brown, almost golden like the honey, bees work so hard to produce. Thru her demeanor and bouncy attitude, Emilia could conclude that this child was not an enemy but may well be a new friend.
Friend, Emilia thought. Finally.
Fearing that Clementine would pull her hand back and abandoned her, Emilia quickly reached out to her and shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you Clementine, I am Emilia"
"That's what I thought. I have been waiting for you for a while. Honestly, I was afraid I was not going to recognize you, but after spotting that lost look on your face, I knew that it was you."
"Find me?" Emilia enquired
"Oh, yes I am your tour guide for the week." Clementine stated with a sense of pride. "I will be showing you around the academy and I'll basically stick by your side for all that its needed."
Emilia could not be happier to hear those words. She felt relieve and for the first time since she arrived at the academy she was no longer scared.
"Come. It's time to head to class." Emilia followed Clementine like a puppy fearing that at any moment she could be separated from her.
"Okay, so life at the academy is simple," Clementine started to explain, "Classes start at 7:30 and the day ends at 4. We have a 30-minute lunch at around mid-day. Everything is pretty self-explanatory. You don't have to worry."
Emilia was not worried about her classes. She had been training and learning her entire life. That's all that she had done up until this point. What worried her was the social aspect of things. Will she be able to make friends? Clementine was with her right now, but that was only because she was assigned to her. What will happen next week? Will she be alone?
"And don't pay attention to the stares. After a while they will forget about you and go back to their daily life" Clementine casually said.
"Stares?" Emilia had been lost in her thoughts, worrying about her future friends that she had not noticed that everyone was staring at her. As Clementine and her made their way thru the outside entrance that was bordered by six pine trees, three on each side, people stopped to look at her. Their stares were so obvious, and Emilia had no idea why.
"Why are they all staring?" Emilia asked while pulling at Clementine and whispering into her ear.
"It's because they all know who you are" Clementine replied back in a whisper.
"And who am I?" Emilia was confused
"Silly, the daughter if the mighty Archangel Michael of course" Clementine replied in a matter-of-fact way, but with her always witty tone.
Emilia had no idea that people would pay so much attention to her because of her father. She never thought this would be the reaction of people and it sort of scared her. What if they expected something from her? What if she wasn't able to live up to their expectations? These and more question plague Emilia's mind. The stares were slowly getting to her to the point that she felt herself on the brink of having a panic attack, but before that could happen, she was pulled from her trance.
Emilia felt someone pull her by the wrist. She was being dragged and her feet easily complied. It seems that her body was feeling the same pressure as her mind and was ready to get out of there. When Emilia finally gained her composure, she saw that the one who was pulling her was Clementine. It seems she had noticed her freak out face.
"Don't worry about them. In a few days they'll stop. It's just that you are new news." Clementine stated while smiling. It seemed like this girl had that smile engraved on her face. Since the moment she met her, she has not seen any other emotion come from her, but joy and Emilia loved that about her.
Emilia could only smile back and allow herself to be hauled by her new acquaintance.
After a few moments they finally came to a stop in front of a door. It was Emilia's first class of the day, literature. Emilia was nervous to go in and she started shuffling around toying with her hands. She didn't want to part from Clementine. Clementine brought a sense of comfort to Emilia, and she was honestly afraid to be without her. She still did not quite understand how the world worked.
Clementine could sense that Emilia was nervous, but she could not understand why. "What's wrong?" Clementine finally asked, "Is it because of all the people staring at you?"
Emilia looked down and with her hands on her back she started playing with her feet. This action made her look much younger than she actually was. She looked like a little girl who was nervous of separating from her parents during her first day of school.
"No" Emilia said while looking at the ground, "I'm scare of you leaving me."
Clementine heard her and she could not help but laugh out loud. Emilia was cute.
"Silly, of course I am not leaving you."
"You're not?" Emilia looked up. Her big emerald eyes wide open with joy.
"No, we have the exact same schedule. Your father worked his magic and he managed to get you and me into the same classes."
"Really? But how?" Emilia was truly grateful for this news, but also a bit confused. How did her father manage this?
"Well, by sweet talking to the director of course" Clementine responded with a gitty tone.
Emilia looked puzzled. She had no idea what Clemetine was talking about.
"The director is your father's close friend from like forever and he happens to be my father."
"Ohhh" Emilia replied with obvious happiness in her tone. "Then why are we not going in? Do we have to wait for instructions to walk into the classroom?"
"No, but we are waiting for my friend. We like to sit together."
"Oh what's her name? Do you think she'll like me?" Emilia said sounding both excited and nervous. Could she meet someone else as kind as Clementine. She really hoped so.
"HE is a boy, and his name is Azael, and of course he'll like you." Clementine was sure in her heart of hearts that Azael would be just as fascinated with Emilia as she was. She knew that she had just met Emilia, but she could tell that she was a good being. Her intuition told her this and her intuition was never wrong.
"A boy?!" Emilia was surprised. She had never thought of having a male friend.
"Yes, silly he is a boy. But he is always late." Clementine complained while she looked around for her friend. "Ah, there he is. Finally!" Clementine pointed towards the direction of the main entrance. A lot of students were still coming in, so she wasn't sure who he was, but then she noticed an emerging figure smiling their way and she felt free to assume that it was him.
"Azael I told you to be early today." Clementine bawled as Azael came closer to them.
"I know, I know," Azael said while putting his hands up showing a surrender gesture. "I am sorry."
"It's fine," Clementine replied in a frustrated tone which quickly switched to a happy one as she grabbed Azael by the arm and pulled him to stand next to her facing Emilia "Come, let me introduce you. This is Emilia." Clementine introduced her new friend with a wave of a hand akin to a magician who was reappearing his lost rabbit. "Emilia this is Azael."
Emilia looked up at Azael and she could tell right away that he had the same bubbly personality as Clementine. He was wearing the same color uniform as Clementine and her so Emilia could easily assume that he was their age, but physically he was taller than both of the girls. He had dark, black hair with deep piercing gray, blue eyes. Standing next to Clementine, Emilia thought that they looked perfect together. There was a sense of familiarity between them that Emilia craved for. She could only hope that she would one day have that same familiarity with someone.
"Hi Emilia!" Azael said with a bright smile. "So, you are the angel everyone is talking about huh?"
At hearing his insensitive words Clementine immediately glared at him and elbowed him.
"Hey! What was that for?" Azael complained while massaging his arm feigning that he was really hurt.
"She is already nervous. Don't say things that will freak her our more."
"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. But don't worry you will be just fine if you just stick with us." Azael said ever so proudly while holding Clementine's arm and straitening his back. He lifted his chin to show just how serious he was.
Emilia could not help but chuckle at his exaggerated expression. "You are funny. You both are." Clementine and Azael gave each other a look and they also chuckled.
From an outsider perspective the three of them looked like the perfect group of friends. They laughed and acted as if they had known each other for a long time. It was a perfect moment. Clementine was the first one to break the magic as she stepped forward with Azael still attached to her and she interlocked her arm with Emilia's.
"Let's go before we are late." Clementine said as the trio enter the classroom.