FOURTEEN

"Eh?" Phos asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was once a human. Flesh, blood, bone and soul. That was me, from a previous life."

"Is that so?" Ventrico swam forward, looking at me. "Alright, tell me a date. Any date."

"Eh?" I was puzzled "Alright then. Maybe, April 10, AD 2016?"

Ventrico looked stunned.

"Only we Admirabilis knew the old calendar system, but as one that is antique and obsolete. Tell me more, how does this calendar work?"

"One year equals twelve months, which is also 365 days, that's how long it takes for Earth to orbit once around the sun. However, every four years there's a leap year to compensate for the Earth not going one exactly full orbit, that year has 366 days, seen in February 28. Each month has a name, in order, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. After December 31st a new year starts, and the year count increases by one, like, say, 2000 to 2001. BC stands for Before Christ, anything there has its year count in reverse, while AD stands for anno Domini, which means 'the birth of Christ'. Or you can use BCE and CE, Before Common Era and Common Era," I explained to an increasingly-surprised Ventricosus and Aculeatus.+

"No way, no way!" Ventrico gasped. "You're for real, even most of us had trouble remembering everything! And you knew the ancient name for our planet!"

"You were just born days ago," Phos muttered in shock.

"Yeah, but before that, I was from another world, where it's still tens of thousands of years behind this one," I explained. "I ended up here because I was given a second chance in life, and I accepted it. Sorry for keeping this from you, Phos."

"No, don't be. You're amazing, my little kouhai, you know that?" Phos said happily, throwing her arms around me in an embrace.

"Ehehe, it's nothing special, that's common knowledge for me."

"You're an interesting one, Danburite," Ventrico chimed in, "how was it like back then?"

"Well," I thought for a bit, "it's great. Back then the world was much different, we had continents instead of what we have now. We humans have discovered electricity, built machines, constructed buildings that can reach the clouds, improved on medical science so much some people actually can live up to a hundred years, used planes that can fly. That's not the full roster, but it's a really nice place to be."

"Fly?" Phos asked. "Like those insects?"

"Yeah. We even made it to the moon and came back, ya know?"

"Really?" Phos was fascinated. "Is that how the Lunarians got there?"

"I don't know, but it could be possible."

"Huh. Hey Dan, once we get back, you're going to tell me everything you know and I'll put it all into the encyclopedia. Everything," Phos said, staring at me.

I giggled. "Yeah, I will. But keep it a secret for now, please?"

"Alright."

"You humans," Ventrico popped in, "don't you eat other animals too?"

"Ah, that's right too, we're omnivores."

"What's an omnivore?" Phos asked.

"Well, omnivores eat both flesh and plants, certain ones of course. We actually take the meat, cook it over heat and consume, it's warm and tastes good that way."

"Told you, eerie..." Ventrico whispered to Phos.

"Hey, I heard that! Still, yeah, perhaps it takes the life of an animal, but most of us end them with dignity, minimal violence. Also, the way I see it, you only disrespect them when you don't finish your share of meat; that way, you're kinda disrespecting the animal that died for you to eat."

"Hmm..." Aculeatus thought. "Very thoughtful, if any."

"Unlike the Lunarians..." Phos mumbled.

"Speaking of which, I don't believe they represent the spirit of humans, them being that shrewd. If anything, I think they're rejects."

"Bold statement," Ventrico commented while smirking at my statement, "best not to let them hear that."

"Yeah, that's a given. Anyway, enough of me; Ventrico, how are you going to rebuild your civilization?"

"Well, we'll have to get everyone back from the moon first. After that, I'm not too sure actually. That's not a question I'm equipped to answer."

"Ah. Either way, good luck."

"Thank you, Danburite."

"It's nothing. By the way," I added on, "it's almost pitch black here, we're moving blind. Are we going the right way?"

"Of course we are," Ventrico clarified.

"Great, but this is taking a bit too long, everyone else must be worried sick. Plus," I yawned, "I'm getting tired."

Ventrico thought for a moment.

"I have an idea. Aculeatus, let Phos hold those two," she promptly said, which her brother complied.

"Now grab onto Dan, we're going to swim there. It's faster, we should get there within minutes."

"Alright, sister. Hey, hold onto your friend tight, alright?"

"Yeah, holding onto her well. Phos, hold those two, alright?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Okay," Ventrico said happily, "let's go!"

"Woah!"

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

"We're close now!"

"Damn, that was fast!"

"It is, isn't it? Hey look, that light in the sea. Ah, my Diamond!"

"We can't be spotted. Ventrico, can you try going round them?"

"That's not an issue. Hey, let's drop you two off at that cave, alright?"

"Sure. What about you, Phos?"

"It's fine."

Minutes later, the four of us are still underwater, the Cave of Emptiness just right ahead of us. Phos and I opted to go up ourselves, so here am I, carrying Phos, who was holding onto the two tusk-like things and the bowl with their shards.

"So," I asked, "will I ever see you two again?"

"That is yet another question I am not equipped to answer," Ventrico replied. "That being said, hopefully that will be the case. Ah, I need to pass you this," Ventrico said, handing me the broken portion of Phos' face."

"Ah, you had it all along? Thanks."

"It's nothing. Well, you better start walking before those final rays of sun disappear."

"It's goodbye then, huh. Good luck getting your people back."

"All the best for you two too."

Watching them turn around and swim away, I decided it was time for us to go too. I'm already starting to miss them.

"Alright Phos, let's get back to shore."

"He, Dan."

"Yeah?"

"Your powder finish is gone."

"Ah," I finally noticed, looking at my bare skin, "looks like it did. I didn't come in with the resin, but you look just the same. The multiple layers of resin worked, didn't it?"

Phos chuckled. "Yeah, it sure did."

I walked on in silence.

"Hey, Dan?"

"What is it?"

"When Sensei gets mad... what are you going to do?"

"Stick with you, of course," I replied immediately. "I'm not leaving you alone."

"I got you into this mess, and you saved me. I really need to change myself, don't I?"

"That's entirely your choice, but please don't change too much. I honestly like you the way you are, you know."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You're almost perfect the way you are, Phos, I don't want to see you become someone else."

A bit more silence.

"You know..." Phos began.

"Hm?"

"I turn 300 today."

"Wow, really? Happy birthday!"

"Eheh, thanks. It's nothing we celebrate much though."

"Hey, you're still wearing Red Beryl's prototype," I noticed. "They didn't get you to return it?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess I'll have to return that later."

Just a bit more small talk as I approached the surface.

I'm close to the cave now, just a bit more and I'll be out of the water.

"Alright, I'll try to hold you and these stuff up, it gets harder when you're out of the water. You take your rest, I'll handle this."

"Mmm..."

Breaking the surface, the weight on my arms got heavier the more I stepped out.

"God, this is heavier than I expected. Well, let's see if I can hold this."

I only managed to last to the entrance of the cave before I felt cracking and was forced to put Phos down as gently as I can.

"Damn, I'm not strong enough. Or I'm just too tired..." I managed to mutter before falling down in exhaustion.

Maybe a shut-eye for a while would work...

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

Opening my eyes, I felt myself being dragged on the ground.

"Nhn, huh?"

Before I could react quickly enough, I was pushed to lean against a wall. Looking up, I noticed a few drops of mercury floating around.

"Ah, hello Cinnabar."

All I got was a stare from the red gem.

"Sorry for troubling you. Thanks for dragging me and, ah, Phos back," I thanked, confirming with a glance that Phos was with me.

"Next time... I'll be the one saving you..." Phos muttered as Cinnabar walked away.

"Let's... just rest until someone comes..." I mumbled, making sure that the bowl, two pieces and Phos' face piece are still here.

No reply. Phos must be too tired already.

I sighed, closing my eyes. Somehow I couldn't go back to sleep.

Hearing clanking, I opened my eyes, noticing that I've let the tusk-like piece I was holding roll forward.

I'm tired too, I'll just pick it up later.

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

Feeling tremors, I barely came back to consciousness.

Hey... what's going on?

.... Probably nothing, must be a dream...

It was only when the "tremors" got louder, followed by me noticing some light being shone and an increasingly-intense feeling of subconscious fear that prevented me from falling asleep, then I finally got enough of my senses back.

Opening my eyes, the first person I saw was Obsidian staring at something. Or someone. Seems like I'm lying against Rutile's table too. That aside, there was something I was more concerned about.

"Hey..." I muttered, incorrectly deducing in my mind that the jellyfish lights gave me just a bit of energy for me to rouse from my slumber, "why is the ceiling cracking?"

"Sensei..." I heard someone say. Turning my head, I noticed Euclase too, with some cries of fear behind me. Hey, sounds like Jade.

It was also only when said tremors got unnaturally heavy that I felt my adrenaline (or whatever the gem equivalent was) pump.

Quickly turning my head around while I really woke up, I noticed that the origins of everything came from a Sensei that looked pissed off. I mean, really.

"S-sensei?" I heard Rutile stammer.

Yeah, here comes my imminent end.

Katsumi, please live on for me.

"Ugh, I just only applied a layer of glue!" I heard the doctor comment anxiously. "J-jade, can't you do something?!"

"EVERYONE FALL BACK!" I heard the speaker shout.

"Let's hide!" Red Beryl shouted to Euclase as the both of them ran away.

"Always trying to cover your own back, are you?!" Rutile angrily said, grabbing Jade by the tie.

"You can't expect me to just not report this to Sensei!" was the reply. "Go now, get out of here!"

"But..."

"If you crumble out here, who's going to put you back together?"

Rutile walked over to the both of us.

"Alright then, you two. Be ready to face your punishments."

"Haaaaaa..." was the reply from Phos.

As all of the other gems hid behind the nearby pillars, Phos sat up, facing Sensei. I felt myself search for Phos' arm and grab it as I got up into a squat.

Sensei has his eyes closed. Sure, I've seen his anger, but this is the first time it's going to be directed onto me.

Actually, thinking about it, that caning was way worse, I thought as I tried to calm myself down. Why the hell am I this scared?

Sensei slowly opened his eyes. I heard those gems quickly hide behind the pillars for real.

"I'm in this together with you," I muttered to Phos, feeling my grasp on her wrist tighten.

"Why you two..." Sensei began.

Oh great, here it comes. I survived once, I don't have the blessing to survive another.

"INSOLENT FOOLS!"

Phos and I were thrown back. Hard. I swore I felt something crack.

Oh no, Phos' arms shattered.

Looking to my side, I saw Phos blown off the table and heading straight to the floor.

"Phos!"

Fortunately, Sensei held them, along with holding onto their broken arms.

I hit the floor backfirst. I can feel myself crack on impact, but it was fortunate that nothing broke.

That didn't matter, Phos was fine.

"The sea was... frightening..." I heard her told Sensei.

"I will hear your full reports tomorrow," was the reply.

"I'll try harder starting tomor-"

"And with that report..." Sensei interrupted, "I hereby call off the production of your encyclopedia."

"Huh?" I heard from behind us.

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

I got the bare minimum of sleep I needed, but the sun made sure I was up and running early in the morning. Somehow. I spent the whole night sleeping at Rutile's corner while the doctor patched both Phos and I up.

Rutile was glad that I've saved Phos' legs, but as it turns out, I really didn't manage to save all the pieces.

Ah, right. I've gotten back my skin's powder finish as well as my black overshirt, but apparently Rutile was running low on the powder. On Phos' insistence the doctor used the remainder on me, but on my suggestion only the visible sections of my skin were powdered. Roll down my socks or take off my clothes and you'll notice that whatever skin that's covered by cloth has no powder applied on it.

Furthermore, my share of powder ran out before Rutile could apply them on my arms, so here am I with black gloves similar to the ones Phos was wearing some time back.

"Now then..." Rutile said. "You're lucky Danburite managed to save most of your legs, but you're still missing at least a quarter of each. What are we going to do?"1

I looked at where there were supposed to be the rest of Phos' legs as the peppermint gem stared blankly into the ceiling, now dressed in her sleeping robes. At the sides, Euclase and Jade sat there slumped, sleeping.

"Well," the doctor continued as she walked, "if I'm being honest here, our only choice is to make use of these things here."

Ah, they was referring to the tusk-like objects. "What are those anyway?" I asked.

"When we lose a portion of our bodies," Rutile explained, "we must replace it with a similar material with no microorganisms, no inclusions, living inside of it. But," she stopped as she grabbed the two "tusks" up, "I was unable to procure enough of such material for two legs' worth. These here, outside it's weak, even weaker than Phos. But the inside is made up of a quartz called agate. It has a hardness of seven, while Phos is only a three-and-a-half."

"Oooooh," I replied, fascinated. "Does that mean Phos' legs will become stronger?"

"That'll be a bit crude, but if we break it down and mix it with pieces of Phos, it'll roughly match their level. That'll be a no, since we don't want the new material to be too taxing."

"Hey," the doctor looked at Phos, "are you listening? Phos!"

Phos' eyes closed a little.

"I hear you, but the whole losing my job thing kinda makes it hard to focus."

Phos has a point, even I want to continue working on that encyclopedia.

"Now you listen to me. The reason your work has been put on hold is because Sensei is worried about you two as the youngest ones amongst us," Rutile consoled as she walked towards the table.

The doctor sighed.

"Plus, everytime you go off to do something it really wears down on the others. In truth, that is probably the main reason."

"Probably, yeah," was the reply from Phos.

"You're now a senior for a younger gem too," Rutile continued, turning to look at me, "what will happen if they turn out like you?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing," I replied cheekily.

"Come on Danburite, please don't."

"I guess I'll better just break into bits again to apologize," Phos muttered, turning her head towards Rutile.

"Come on now!" was the reply as the doctor pushed the agate towards Phos' view. "Think of this as your last task on the job. Tell me what exactly this thing you washed up with is, I'm hesitant to try attaching this to you."

Phos leaned up and looked at the agate.

"Ki..."

"Ki?"

"Kin..."

"Kin?!"

"Kind of like a shell?" Phos finished.

"Oh," Rutile realized while they relaxed back, "now that you mentioned it, shells are known to sometimes transform into agate. In that case..."

"Are those things really fit to be legs?" Phos sat up. "Will they even move?"

"Whether they can be attached and whether they will move are two different things. Whether or not they will move will depend on how the inclusions living inside you take to to their new home."

"So, what do we do now?" I chimed in.

"Judging from the missing sections, we will probably only need one of these pieces, the other can be kept here. We will break down Phos' remaining legs and mix in these inclusions with the pieces. Would probably need to completely redo everything as far as the legs are concerned."

"I see. Can I help?"

Rutile looked at me.

"Sure thing, I'm about to start now. Alright, get here, I'll tell you what to do."

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

"Take it easy," Rutile said as Phos began to get up.

"Good, just like that."

"Woah!"

With me supporting her, Phos attempted to stand up, but fell forward. Had it not been for Red Beryl and Jade she would have hit the floor.

Phos sat down.

"Th-they're just sticks!"

It's afternoon now, and Phos' new legs are done. Rutile and I cut off Phos' remaining sections of legs, broke them up completely and completely remade them piece by piece. The new legs have brown swirls moving downwards, something like the lights of a barber shop, only thinner and consisting of only white and brown.

"I feel like I've just have fancy twigs for legs!" Phos muttered, clearly in shock.

"Well, rocks, perhaps." Rutile answered, resting her head on her hands. "No good?"

"Well," Red Beryl comforted, "let's just take our time with rehabilitation, shall we? They'll start moving sooner or later, no worries!" she answered with a smile.+

"I'll help out between shifts," Euclase offered.

"No sense in getting worried just yet," Jade said.

"Thanks, Red Beryl, Euclase, Jade..." Phos said.