Chapter Text
As much as she already adored her room, Petalite had already spent over 20 hours in there, and there were probably more interesting things to do outside. So, taking the map, she decided to go to one of the common rooms to work, and of course, check on everyone's progress. But just after she took one step out of her room, she left her wrist being seized by something and turned on that direction.
Chromite. She should have expected it.
"Hey, hey, what's this now? Mind telling me where are you going?" she asked, with the usual grin that was starting to irk Petalite.
"Where else could I be going? To work." Petalite replied and tried to pull her arm back, but Chromite didn't let go.
"So you think that just because you're one of the Elementals you can talk to me whatever way you want? That's not how it works. You're a feisty little one." Chromite said, her tone now more akin to a growl than a curious one. "You don't need to do any of that right now. Just come with me."
"I... really have to go. Perhaps after I'm done--"
The grip on her wirst was tightened, making Petalite freeze with fear. For every second that passed, it was turning more and more uncomfortable, and it didn't take much for her to understand she didn't have a choice. Either she went with Chromite peacefully and against her will, or she would have her arm destroyed under her wrath, and either way forced to go, against her will.
"A... alright. I'll go with you..." Petalite gave in, voice shaking. "Can... can I have my hand back now?"
"Of course you can, why not?" she purposely said this in order to affect Petalite. Petalite knew this, Chromite knew that she knew, and Petalite also knew that, and so did Chromite, and the more she thought about it, it became worse. They started walking away. "Makes me glad to see you want to spend some time with me willingly. I'd never force you to do anything you didn't want to."
"Sure you wouldn't."
Chromite led her to a room, an empty one. Both of them sat on the floor, next to each other.
"That fight we had some time ago was a great one. But thinking about it, I realized that you were actually a dirty little cheater back then... you barely actually fought." Chromite started, and Petalite couldn't even tell if she was just mocking her or actually angry. "I wonder what would happen if we had a rematch. Right here, right now, in this empty room, with nothing for you to use against me. I wonder how much time it'd take for you to be crushed."
Petalite glanced at the door and slowly inched away from Chromite. If anything happened, she wanted to make sure she'd have time to bolt out. But then Chromite burst into laughter and slapped the ground, probably making up the fight on her head; Petalite forced herself to giggle in response. She didn't want to be here, but most importantly, she didn't want to get on Chromite's bad side. She had already seen what she had done.
"Look at you, with those glasses... you look like a nerd." Chromite said, and laughed more as Petalite adjusted her protection glasses.
"A 'nerd'? What's a nerd? Please, elaborate." Petalite asked, naive.
"A nerd is you," Chromite replied. Petalite gritted her teeth; that didn't help her to understand. "Come on, pass me those. Let me try them on."
Not giving Petalite time to react, Chromite seized the glasses and put them on herself. She then lifted up three fingers and shoved them on Petalite's face.
"Can you see? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three fingers." Petalite replied, dispiriting Chromite, who probably expected an answer like one, five or eight. "I am perfectly capable of seeing without my glasses. Their only purpose is to protect my eyes, because since I work with assembling and disassembling pieces, there are high chances that something could damage--"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I don't care." Chromite took off the glasses and threw them over her shoulder. "You can have those back, they're stupid anyway."
Petalite ran behind her and grabbed the glasses before they hit the ground, putting them back on.
"Thanks." she mumbled.
"You're... really boring, aren't you? I expected more from you... I don't even know why. You know what... scram, wimp. If you're not gonna entertain me, you have no reason to be here. Leave."
As much as Petalite was glad that was all over, she was still disappointed about how anti-climactic it was. And she didn't appreciate the idea of getting shoved off the room like a servant by Chromite, either. But what really mattered was that she was now free, and started heading to the common room before Chromite changed her mind and made her come back to do whatever.
Anyways, she arrived at the common room and claimed a table for herself with no problems. Everyone around already seemed to know how gifted she was already, and they actually showed her respect! That was all she had always wanted, and even hough she hadn't spent that much time there, she already preferred everything on this new life than in her old life.
"Hello, Petalite, it's nice to see you here," someone said, and Petalite turned around to see Albite standing by her side. "But there isn't anything wrong with your room, is there?"
"No, certainly not. Everything's perfect! I just wanted to explore the ship and decided to start working here... but the privacy of my room is better for working indeed."
"I see. It's my duty to make sure everything is going on smoothly here, so it makes me glad to see you've adapted well. If you ever need anything, just tell me." Petalite nodded, and Albite stared at her for a while before letting out a small chuckle. "So you're officially one of us now." She pointed to Petalite's new uniform.
Petalite simply nodded and started going back to her work, but saw something blurry on the top of her vision. Lifting her head, she took sight of a rather peculiar scene going on outside, through the glass; two large Gems, around the same height as Chromite, were restraining and transporting another Gem, one holding each of her arms. The prisoner was trying her best to struggle and break free from her captors, but it was clear she was too weak for that. For one second, the prisoner and Petalite locked eyes, and startled and blushing, Petalite looked down.
"Umm... excuse me!" Petalite exclaimed and jumped out of her chair, running to the exit door and going outside to where the guards were carrying the Gem. "H-hey! What's going on here?!" she screamed with a voice crack, spreading her arms for more emphasis.
"We were taking this prisoner to evaluation, but she just refuses to do as she is told." one of the guards said with a frown, watching as the Gem fought more. "It's a real shame, but guess she'll become just another power source."
"I-I already told you to let me go! Why are you doing this? You've already ruined so many lives, just stop!" the prisoner said with clear anger, but a bit of desperation on her voice.
That scene, of that miserable Gem trying to fight for her life, aroused something in Petalite, something coming from inside. She didn't know that Gem, and considering what was happening, she never would. Her living, dying or being an energy source wouldn't change anything on her life; that was what the Elementals did, wasn't it? And she was an Elemental now. She needed to get used to seeing, and even doing that kind of thing, or else she would just be marked as defective and useless and would suffer from it herself. Now, it was either her or others. She didn't have a choice...
"A-ah, u-um... w-wait!" Petalite yelled out before the guards had a chance to leave, and they turned to her waiting for an answer. She didn't know what to say, she didn't even know why she had said that! She just didn't want them to go and take that Gem! "I... uh..."
"Petalite. Is everything alright?" asked Albite as she approached her. Suddenly an idea struck Petalite; the perfect idea!
"No! But it'll be soon!" she replied, smiling. "You told me I could choose an assistant for myself, yes? Well, here we have the perfect subject!" Petalite pointed at the prisoner Gem, and was surprised to see a hint of shock and betrayal on her eyes instead of gratitude, but that didn't stop her. "Her stubborness and refusal to take the evaluation tests makes her virtually useless to us. But she could be my servant! We don't need to waste a Pearl for that or anything!"
Albite glanced at her and then at the prisoner. She then sighed and nodded.
"I don't see why would you want such a thing, but I don't see any harm on it either. Do as you please."
"Hahaha, yes!" Petalite cheered, while the guards sighed and left in disappointment. She approached the now-free prisoner. "So, what's your name, servant?"
"Copal." she responded through gritted teeth.
"Copal? Nice! Sounds kinda fitting, for a servant, don't you think? Hahaha!" Petalite laughed, while Copal clenched her hands into fists.
"Anyway. If she gives you trouble, Petalite, don't hesitate to contact me about it and I'll take the matters into my own hands." Albite glared at Copal. "I'll leave you alone now."
And so, Albite left, and the two of them were now alone.
"Okay... now come on. I'll take you to my room. This is the place you'll stay at the most from now on, so you better get to know it, don't you think? Hehe!" Petalite said, and starting going on the direction of her room, with Copal reluctantly following behind her.
As Petalite walked, she concluded: life was now good. Now she had everything she wished for and deserved, and finally others had recognized who she truly was.
She wasn't willing to let anyone or anything take that away from her too.