TWENTY-EIGHT

I peeked out of the wall and observed the street.

All clear.

Motioning to both Red Dia and Phos behind me, we quietly slipped across the street and into a back alley, leaning against the wall on our left.

"It's nice that this city has back alleys around," Jane commented in a whisper, "or else it'll be much harder for us to do what we're doing right now."

"Hey, Senpai," Phos quietly asked, "where should we go now?"

"Well, the landing pad is behind us," Jane replied, pointing backwards, "but we need to cross another street to more back alleys, then navigate and reach the steps up to the platform. And we have about 12 more minutes left, so we seriously need to go."

"Gotcha," the peppermint gem replied. "I'll cover the rear, with this alloy I can block everything the Lunarians throw at us."

"Sweet! I'll lead; Nicole, stay in the middle, alright?"

"Gotcha," was my answer.

"I haven't used this in an actual fight before," Jane muttered, touching her sword. "Got this from the Lunarians, my original one's back down on Earth. You guys should have seen it, it's hand-crafted for me by Sensei. Ah, let's continue this later, we need to go."

The red diamond peeked out from the alley.

She immediately hid back, looked at us and put a finger to her lips.

"Shh."

Footsteps.

They got louder.

Two Lunarians passed by, both of them not noticing us.

We waited till the footsteps got significantly softer.

Red Dia peeked out again and looked both ways this time.

Motioning to us, we immediately scurried across the street and into another alley. This time, we didn't stop until we took a left turn into yet another alley, this time protected from any Lunarian eyes.

"Phew!" she sighed in relief. "I was lucky they didn't see me. Still, guess they aren't that attentive. Anyway, down here we can run, but let's try to remain quiet still, alright?"

"You got it," Phos answered.

"Gotcha," I replied.

"Nice. Let's go, not much time to waste."

---------

"Hey," I noticed as we quietly sprinted through the alleys, "what's that?"

"Hm?" Phos and Jane stopped, turning to look at me.

I picked up a small blue piece of gem. "What's this?"

"Weird, wonder where that came from," the red diamond commented, taking a look. "Hey, can I take a closer look?"

I passed it over to her.

She proceeded to inspect the random gemstone piece.

"Hey, I know this, it's Lapis Lazuli."

"Lapis Lazuli? Who's that?" the peppermint gem asked.

Red Dia shrugged, giving an apologetic smile. "I don't know myself, but when she came here her head was missing. That day I was walking around with Semi and happened to see the activity on that bridge. The Lunarians dropped a piece of her while moving the rest of her body to the other side, so I think this piece may have chipped off."

She passed the piece of Lapis back to me. "Hey Dan, hold onto that piece tight till we get back, alright?"

"U-uh, gotcha!" I stammered a bit, sliding it into my right back pocket in my shorts.

The red diamond giggled and hugged me. "Man, you've really gotten cuter since the last time we met!"

I felt my face turn red. "W-wha..."

"Heheh, you are cuter! We'll continue this later, though," she replied, releasing me from her grasp. "Gotta get out of here first."1

"Y-yeah."

As we moved on, I felt someone poke my back.

Turning round, I noticed that it was just a frowning Phos.

"Hey, Phos, what's the matter?"

"You're really forgetting me as we go on, aren't you..." she complained softly.

"N-no, it's not like that! I'm sorry for not talking to you that often now!"

The peppermint gem broke into a grin. "I'm just kidding, you're completely fine! Just messing with you, nothing much."

"Phos really is the trickster type, isn't she?" Red Dia commented from ahead. "But Dan's going to be under my care too, so guess it'll be some friendly competition, right?"

"You bet!" the peppermint gem challenged, grinning. "I'm going to be Dan's best senior, and you can't stop me!"

'We'll see, Phos, we'll see!"

"Ehehe..." I uttered between them.

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

"Alright, we're here at last," Red Dia muttered as we all finished the flight of stairs, out of breath. "Hey, there's Semi! Right there!"

She waved as we approached the platform, and Semi waved back.

"Okay guys," he said, checking his watch, "wow, you guys arrived on time! Nice! Anyway, I've got the vessel up, but since there won't be a Lunarian on board the speed you'll travel at would be much slower. If my calculations are correct, you guys would be travelling for 5 hours."

"Woah, that's long!" Jane replied. "But it's bearable, thank you Semi!"

"You're quite welcome, Miss Red."

The both of them hugged.

'I'll miss you, you know?" she commented.

"I know, I know," was the reply from Semi. "But we'll meet again someday, I'm sure!"

The both of them stopped and Semi came over to Phos and me.

"You two, too," he said, hugging us.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too," the peppermint gem replied.

"Likewise," I agreed. "I hope we meet again someday soon."

"Hopefully, Dan," Semi agreed as he released us. "Now, you guys should get going before anyone else sees us."

"Yeah, we'll be off then," the red diamond replied as we all climbed on board the cloud-like vessel.

She gave the male Lunarian a thumbs-up. "We're ready!"

"Farewell it is, then," Semi bade as the vessel began to drift away.

As we all waved back, the black veil began to close up, quickly covering the vessel.

Semi, who was waving back at us too, disappeared as our view was covered with the black layer.

And just like that, the black dome was sealed.

"Phew!" Jane sighed in relief as she sat down on the fluffy floor. "For a moment I thought we were going to be caught."

"Same here," I agreed. "Odd nothing interesting happened. Was expecting something like Aechmea popping out or all the guards noticing us at the same time."

"Well, Dan, not every escape plan comes with all that action. Most of the time, it's really just slipping away unnoticed. It's better this way, right?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"So," Phos chimed in, "5 hours, was it? How long would that really be?"

"Very long," Red Dia replied, "but at least we can't keep track of time. Just don't think about it, it'll pass quickly enough."

"True. It's funny though, how we all think it has been a short time when it's been pretty long and the other way round," Phos commented as she sat down.

"Well, it's a natural mental occurence for us," the red diamond replied, "something carried down from humans."

'Why does it happen, Senpai?"

She shrugged. "Beats me, I'm not a scientist. Well, either way it's going to be a long time. So how do we spend it?"

"I don't know," Phos replied.

"Me neither," I agreed.

We went silent for a while.

"Yeah," the red diamond concluded, "this may be a long trip."

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

"Goddammit, I can't take it anymore!" Jane cried out and startling me. "Hey, Dan."

"Y-yeah?"

"How's this life been for you?"

"Well, it's been really fun. I like it!"

She smiled. "Good to hear! Tell me about it from the beginning!"

"Huh?" I puzzled. "Why?"

"Well, if we're going to pass time quickly for us, we'd need to do something."

"A-alright. So, um, well..."

Phos decided to get up and listen too.

"Uh... um..."

"Heheh, take your time!" the red diamond comforted. "No pressure!"

"Sure... Well, I woke up on the beach around the cave..."

"That's unusual," Jane commented, "not the Chord Shore?"

"Nope," the peppermint gem replied. "It puzzled all of us too, but I guess everyone has silently decided that it doesn't really matter."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement. 'Well, the first minutes after my birth, I was attacked by Lunarians."

"Wow, that's a bit too soon, Nicole. What happened next?"

"Well, Morg and Goshe came to my rescue. Morganite and Goshenite. But they broke too, and that's when everyone else came in. Then I met Phos, she broke and got put in a black bodybag."

"Ehehe..." the peppermint gem laughed sheepishly. "Hey, I'm just a three-half, can't blame me."

"Hehe, yeah!" Red Dia giggled. "Anything interesting so far, Dan?"

"Well, other than the sea adventure? Right, I met Katsumi before that."

"Hmm. You haven't told me much about her, tell me more!"

"Well, she just kinda flew in one night, gave me a confidence boost. Right now she just lazes around in the school. Well, not really laze around, she flies round to observe everyone and everything. Except for winter, she stayed huddled in my room. Ah, winter! Antarc's a good senior."

"Antarc?"

"Yeah, Antarcticite. She only solidifies under cold temperatures. Gets stronger the colder it gets."

"And we nearly lost them," Phos added on. "I lost these two arms and we went to the Chord Shore to look for replacements. Found this alloy, fitted it on, and right when I was trapped the Lunarians attacked. Dan was broken and nearly taken away, too. I'm glad Sensei came at the right time and prevented everything from happening."

"Well, you also fought before Sensei arrived, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did, but I probably wouldn't hold them off for long anyway."

She looked down.

"Regrets, Phos?" the red diamond asked.

"No, not really. Just remembering that time, is all. Wouldn't want to repeat that ever again."

"Yeah, I understand. Anything else, Nicole?"

"Eh, I think that's it. Hey, what about you?"

"Me? Bah, I've spent my past 3 thousand years on the moon, that's boring as hell."+

"What about before you ended up on the moon?"

Red Dia thought for a while. "Well, I suppose I can tell you guys that. This will be a long story though."

I smiled. "I love long stories."

She smiled too. "Heh, that didn't change, did it? Well then, let's begin."