NINE

"Dammit, you're this little thing now, aren't you?" I said as I touched the little creature.

It let out a sound of contention as I stroked it.

"Hehe, you like it, don't you? Still, I'd prefer you as a gem. How do we fix this?" I asked, turning to look at Rutile.

"Well, like I've said, if it's truly Phos, it should be fine," Rutile said as they put on black gloves.

"B-but, animals can't be put back together, can they?" Dia asked.

"Animals rot away when they break," Jade replied as "Phos" shook in violent fear. "They are built to replace one another, with the older ones dying off, Sensei once told me."

"I can confirm that," I offered. "When they die, they're gone forever, their bodies decaying and returning back to the soil. The soil becomes fertile, plants grow on it, the plants die and the cycle repeats indefinitely unless plants go extinct. It's a beautiful concept to some people, the circle of life. Just pondering, where do the spirits of those animals go to once they're dead? Some say they're reincarnated as another sentient living thing, others say they go to heaven and stay there for eternity, permanently in bliss. Those that have done bad deeds are said to go too..."

I faltered as I noticed everyone (including "Phos") staring at me in confusion.

"Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing! I'm just talking about useless things!"

I gave myself a mental slap for calling death unimportant.

"Inferior beings nonetheless," Bort added, making me wince as if they were insulting me. "So is this what they've become, is it?"

"How inconvenient," Rutile commented, walking over to her shelf. "We certainly will want to fix this before Sensei awakens.

"It's fine by me as long as that one isn't stolen by the moon," Bort continued. "We've done our part here. Dia, return once your arm is mended," they added as they turned around and walked away.

"Right..."

"Here," Euclase said as they walked up, giving Dia her broken arm back. "Phos dropped this right before getting sucked in. Maybe in hopes that your arm could be saved," they explained as Dia took the arm.

"Huh..." Dia exhaled.

Speaking of exhaling, I've figured out breathing in this form. Apparently we don't need air for anything whatsoever, but the automatic reflex of breathing even when we don't need to (we're all simply just rock-solid gems with completely no internal systems whatsoever) sticks with us. A remnant of an ancient species, Sensei explained to me. Same goes with occasional sweating and tearing when crying.

"We have to take responsibility too, for telling Phos to investigate that shell to begin with," Jade added. "But seeing that we have no means to do anything here, we should just leave that thing with the doctor."

Jade and Euclase walked away.

Dia turned to look at me.

"Don't worry, I'm staying."

Dia looked down at her arm as "Phos" sighed.

------------------------

With a crack, Dia's arm was reattached. They winced.

"Do be sure not to overdo it for a while," Rutile advised.

"Thank you. Open, close, open close," Dia tested.

She's a diamond, both figuratively and literally.

"Okay, bye then," Dia told "Phos".

"I'll look after it for you, don't worry," Rutile assured with a smile.

"Thank you," Dia said as she walked away.

I immediately saw a slasher smile on the doctor.

"Hey, don't go mad," I warned.

"I know, I know," Rutile replied, walking towards the now-jumping "Phos" screeching for help.

They immediately whipped out surgical tools and began to laugh maniacally.

'You quack!" I shouted, getting up and grabbing the bowl, then running away.

Noticing Dia having turned around to look at us, I slowed down.

Motioning me to pass the bowl to them, Dia turned round and ran alongside me.

"Don't worry, we'll get you back to normal!" Dia said.

----------------------------

"Say, you turning out like this... it didn't..."

"Huh?" I looked at Dia, puzzled.

"It had nothing to do with that advice I gave you... did it?"

"Phos" looked at Dia. "Yea," "they" made out as "they" nodded.

Dia squatted down. "Oh, of course it was, wasn't it?"

They looked up.

"Okay then..." Dia said as she stood up, "Let's just go ask everyone for some help!"

--------------------------

"What?! Phos...?"

"Yeah, Phos is..." Dia replied.

"Ah! I know!" Red Beryl exclaimed as they got up from designing some white dresses and looked at "Phos".

"Here, look at that!" The tailor stood back, looking at the ribbon they tied onto the creature's head.

"Phos" only turned around to look at both of us.

"Huh? Phos..."

"Phos" squealed a bit inside "their" bowl.

"Wait," Sphene continued, "before that, I need to finish fixing this desk." They resumed cutting the wood.

The three of us sighed.

"Seriously?!" Morganite shouted as Goshenite covered her mouth in shock.

"Yeah, seriously..." Dia went.

"Yeah, I suppose you're not one for jokes..." Morg said.1

"Hey, why not leave Phos like that? It might be gross, but at least it's quiet. It's definitely gross- UWAAA! GET AWAY, STAY OFF ME! YOU'RE SLIMY! SO SLIMY!"

Dia and I could only sigh as "Phos" continued attacking Morganite, with Goshe trying to pry the supposed ex-gem off.

"What?! Is that even possible?" Benitoite said in shock.

"Yeah..." Dia replied.

"Wow... Phos really can't do anything anymore... So we need to find a way to undo this, huh?

"Phos never did anything before, you know," a dark purple-haired, twintailed gem commented. What's her name again? Ah, right, Neptunite.

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing," Benitoite replied.

"Phos" just buried "their" head into the bowl.

"Woah... You really went all-out, huh? Nice going, Phos," this yellow-haired gem said, approaching to look at "Phos" closer.

This is Yellow Diamond, Sensei told me they're the oldest around. 4 thousand years, is that right? Beside them was Zircon. Second youngest around, I guess? Nah, third, with the arrival of me Phos is no longer the youngest around.

"I don't feel like much has changed, though..." the aforementioned Zircon commented, earning looks from all the other four of us.

"Eeeeeeh?" This green-haired gem looked at Phos with excitement. This one's called Watermelon Tourmaline, and to her right is Hemimorphite.

"But wait," Hemi said, "This means Phos wouldn't have to worry about the Lunarins anymore!"

Hemi sounds like a good nickname for them, I guess. All we have to do is to add, say, some three-digit number, maybe 426, and that'll sound like a car engine's name.

----------------------------

As the sun set, Dia and I watched, seated on the beach, close to the waves.

Dia sighed.

"Phos, you certainly aren't popular with the others, huh... If you don't make efforts to get along with everyone, no one will be there to help you when you're in need."

I sighed. Phos had it better than me, at least. Even after that crying session I'm still haunted by nightmares of everything that happened that day about the killer litter incident, waking up in cold sweat and tears almost every night. I still can't have a good night's sleep, healing will probably take some time.

In my opinion, being simply ignored is much better than being actively hated by everyone.

"Hey, are you listening?" Dia asked, turning around as I followed.

Noticing that the bowl was empty, we turned around and saw "Phos" relieving themself.

By "relieving" I meant defecating.

"No! Stop! If you start eating grass, you'll dirty your insides!" Dia approached "Phos", narrowly missing one of the small stools that "Phos" shot out.

I got beside Dia, holding the bowl and away from the feces, and squatted down.

Dia sighed again.

"Do you not want to be saved? If you've changed that much, maybe you don't have to worry about everyone anymore..."+

"Phos" had already curled up and began sleeping.

We stared at the sleeping creature in silence for a few moments.

"You don't have to compare yourself to anyone," Dia said. "No need to be jealous or put on airs either, is there?"

I looked at Dia. They must be referring to Bort, I guess.

"Are you happier this way?"