Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Six times, this planet has been visited by meteors. Six times, it was broken, and it gave birth to six moons, leaving it an emaciated shadow of its former self. When there was nothing left of the land but a single beach, all life fled to the ocean. On that beach, life suited to the sparse environment appeared. Some creatures who had flourished when was still one were too slow in their escape and sunk into the seas. They were eaten by tiny creatures on the ocean's floor, turned into inanimate objects. Crystalized over the ages. And again, they were thrown back up upon the beach. That is..." The Phosphophyllite gem stopped to catch her breath which she hadn't realized she'd been giving her entire recollection all in one. "Yes, us."

"Well done," The tall, bald-headed figure known as sensei said. He kept at a consistent pace, not stopping to look back behind at Phosphophyllite. "And now, against the endless number of hunters from the moon come to take us and use us as ornaments, we number twenty eight." The other gems who had previously been in the way stepped back to give their master plenty of space to walk as he continued to lecture Phosphophyllite. "Those with skill form groups of two. One of which fights. The other keeps watch. Everyone supports each other by fulfilling the role, or roles they are suited for. However, I had difficulty coming up with a role you could shoulder. Due to your unique constitution, medicine, strategy, tailoring, crafting, smithing, amongst other things, all of these ideas qualied in the face of your matchless, unmovable clumsiness."

Phosphophyllite, who had been hiding her face behind the notepad that Sensei had handed her before the two of them had left their base, lifted the notepad up slightly with one hand, showing a weak smile. "Then... Well... What about fighting?" She asked, her question turning quieter just as she finished.

Sensei stopped where he was and glanced back at Phosphophyllite, raising an eyebrow to her proposition. "Fighting, you say?"

"I-I mean," Phosphophyllite stuttered, slowly raising the notepad up to hide her face once again. "That's the only thing I... I haven't tried a single-" Before Phosphophyllite could finish, Sensei cut her off.

"That is the one thing you must absolutely give up on." Sensei said boldly. Phosphophyllite decided to not argue against it. Sensei's word was final, so she kept silent for the rest of the walk.

Further ahead, the hunters from the moon, the Lunarians, were picking up the literal pieces of their fallen foes, placing them into a small bowl. Sensei, who had stopped not too far away from them, slowly raised his hand and snapped his fingers. All of the Lunarians in the vicinity had vanished, turning into nothing but dust in the wind. All of this seen by Phosphophyllite, who was staring in wonder from under Sensei's cloak.

"Oh!" "Drat..." Came the disgruntled groans from two broken gems laying on the ground, known as Goshe and Morga. Nothing more than torsos with heads, their respective colors from which their arms and legs where severed shone and reflected brightly off the sun. The two of them leaned their heads back to see Sensei and the rest of the gems standing behind him. "Sensei..." They both muttered.

Sensei scoffed and closed his eyes, face down to the ground. "Respect for your elders, hm?" He spoke in a low, serious voice. The Jade gem's eyes widened upon hearing this.

"He's going to do it!" She shouted, holding her arms out while motioning for the other gems to take a step back. "Get back!"

"It's still..." Sensei opened his eyes and let out a loud yell, lashing out as a fierce force of wind came forth from his booming voice. "Too soon for you, fools!" The grass danced wildly, the earth shook, and-

The sound of a glassy material shattering had was heard very shortly after the silence that had followed after Sensei's powerful scolding. "Mm?" He looked down beside him to see Phosphophyllite had been shattered. Broken into dozens of pieces, her true, gem body was now visible without the missing pieces of her face. The notebook she had been holding now laid right beside her. "Oh dear..." Sensei reached into his cloaked and pulled out a pair of white gloves, proceeding to put them on as he got the other gems ready to clean up the mess. "You are unusually brittle."

The gems laid out a large, black piece of cloth on the ground and began to put all of Phosphophyllite's pieces on it. "On top of that, your solidity is three and a half. You shatter easily and you're a mint green, which those 'people from the moon' like... If you want to overcome these three handicaps, you must become stronger than me. Strong enough to destroy even an entire army in a single stroke."

Phosphophyllite, despite being in the state that she was, managed to let out a sigh. "There's nooooo waaaay..."

After the gems had wrapped all of Phosphophyllite's pieces up in the cloth, Sensei pulled a pencil out from his cloak and opened up the cloth where Phos' face was. "That's why, I want to have you put together a natural history encyclopedia." He placed the pencil inside the cloth and stood back up.

"What?!" Phosphophyllite shouted suddenly, managing to move what was left of her body and caused the cloth to shuffle.

"Stop that! You're going to spill!" One of the gems carrying her had said.

"That sounds lame." Phosphophyllite grumbled, looking up at Sensei. Or, what she could vaguely make out to be Sensei through her distorted vision.

"You will preserve the present," Sensei said, still looking down at Phosphophyllite. "And in the process, prepare for the future's uncertanties. It's an important project that require creativity and intelligence."

"You're totally just trying too coax me into this." Phosphophyllite sneered as the cloth got closed. The two gems on each side lifted her up carefully, making sure not to drop or spill her.

Sensei let out a single laugh. "Fine, then. Observation is the base of combat. If you want to fight, first sharpen your observational skills with this."

"You know, you're the only one that has no trouble talking back to sensei like this." The gem from before said to Phosphophyllite as they carried her. "You sure have a lot of nerve, if nothing else."

"Oh, shut up, Benito!" Phosphophyllite's muffled voice shouted through the cloth.

"It is true," Sensei said as the group of gems began to head back to the school. "However, that straightforwardness of yours will serve you well in this work." The notebook still laid on the grass, its pages flapping wildly in the wind. A page broke loose from the notebook and flew by Sensei's head. "I leave it to you." He grabbed the paper, held onto it for a second, then let it fly away once again before he started to make his way back as well.

Chapter Text

Shortly later, after all the gems had returned to the school, Phos, Goshe and Morga had all been taken to Rutile's office to be repaired. The tall columns casted equally large shadows across the blank stone floor, the vast open plains sprawled out across the horizon as the sun shone brightly in the sky. Phos was already up and walking while Morga and Goshe were still in the process of getting fixed. "Can I help?" Phos asked as she walked up to the group, notebook in hand.

"No thanks," Morga said, a hint of annoyance present in her voice as she frowned at Phos. "Last time you tried to help, you put my legs on backwards."

"I was hoping you'd forget that," Phos muttered under her breath as she sat down next to a small, brown wooden bowl that housed dozens of sparkling yellow gems.

"Don't you have an encyclopedia to you should be working on?" Morga asked.

Phos simply shook her head. "What's the point? It's not like it's gonna be useful for anything." She crossed her arms, looking down at the ground. "Working on it would just be a waste of time."

Morga scoffed as a light smirk came across her face. "You sure you're not talking about yourself? Because what you said sounded a lot like you just now."

Phos shot a glare at Morga. "Oh, be quiet!"

"Hey, Rutile," Goshe finally spoke while Phos and Morga continued to bicker. "Right now, Helio's just a pile of shards," She looks down at the bowl beside her, "But... If we get what's left of her, will she come back?"

"Yes, of course," The doctor confirmed as she spread a paste-like substance on where Goshe's missing leg was. "Within our bodies, we carry the creatures said to have created us as 'inclusions.'" Meanwhile, Phos and Morga had stopped arguing with each other, listening to Rutile recount how their bodies worked. "Currently, they eat light and they move us around. Even if we shatter, as long as the pieces can be put together, our wounds will close and we can return to light." Rutile picked up Goshe's leg which had been laying beside her, aligning it very carefully with Goshe's stub of a leg.

"Even if we turn to dust, mix with dirt and sink into the ocean... It is merely a state of suspended animation." She pressed Goshe's leg into the paste and the successful connection is signified by a distinct clicking sound. Goshe winces as her missing limb is placed back onto her body and scrunches her eyes shut. Meanwhile, Ruitle wrapped up her explanation as she dabbed some powder where the cracks in Goshe's leg were visible, covering it up, making it look as if they were never there. "It is a wonderful trait that we alone possess. Though, of course, because of this constitution of ours, we find ourselves unable to give up on just about anything." The doctor stood up as she finished applying the powder. "You're all done."

"Okay," Morga smiled and stood up, picking up her sword and placing it on its hilt on the back of her outfit. "Let's head back to our post." Goshe nodded and stood up as well and they both started walking away. Before they could get far, though, Phos grabbed the both of them by their arms. Morga's expression quickly turned sour as a frown came upon her face. "What do you think you're doing?! You are aware that if you touch us directly, you risk shattering?!"

"Yes, I am well aware, Miss Seven." Phos crossed her arms. "Now, if you don't mind me asking, could you take me-"

Before Phos could finish her question, Goshe and Morga cut her off with a flat "No."

"Oh come on!" Phos whined, taking a step towards the gems. "If I hadn't told sensei, the two of you would've been turned into ammo for The Lunarians to use during their next attack!"

"Hey, Rutile," Morga called, ignoring Phos. "You think you could swap out this girl's solidity, mind, body, and just about everything else?"

Rutile shook her head. "I can do many things, but that is simply beyond my capabilities."

"Please!" Phos continued to whine. "Take me with you! Even if I have to do next to nothing, just get me out of having to write the encyclopedia!"

"You really hate it that much?" Goshe asked, her lips curving upwards slightly.

"Yeah!" Phos nodded furiously. "I wanna do something cooler than," She flipped through a few pages in her notepad and pretended to write in it. "This is grass! Grass is green and it's just about everywhere!"

"Well then, how 'bout we..." She reached her hand behind her and grabbed her sword, holding it out in front of herself. "Make a trade?"

"Hm..." Phos raised an eyebrow, giving Goshe a questioning look. 'She's not actually being serious about this, is she?' She thought to herself, but Goshe was there, holding her sword out for Phos to take. So, Phos reached out her hand to grab the sword, but then pulled it away. "No." She looked to Goshe. "I'm not pathetic enough to take what isn't mine..." After a few seconds of exchanging a few confused glances, Phos tossed her notebook up in the air and quickly grabbed Goshe's sword. "As if I'd actually say something like that!" She ripped the sword away and immediately had trouble balancing herself.

"Phos, be careful!" Goshe shouted in surprise as the sword was ripped for her hand. "It's heavier than it looks!"

Phos, while stumbling around, threw the sword upwards and the sword flew out of its sheath, sending it high into the air. She falled back, knocking the footstool over in the process. Rutile, meanwhile, could only facepalm at Phos' actions. "I just fixed you..." The sword came down fast and Phos braced herself for the impact, but before the sword could do any damage, her notepad landed on her head and the sword stuck itself into it. Shortly after, the notepad and the sword gracelessly slid off her face and onto the floor.

Goshe let out a sigh of relief and went to pull the sword out of the notepad. "That was close. I didn't think you'd actually grab it, Phos."

Rutile shook her head and proceeded to walk out. Morga and Goshe very much did the same, though, Phos looked over to Morga while they were leaving. "You wanted it to hit me just now, didn't you."

Morga looked back at Phos and simply said "Maybe." before continuing on her way.

Phos sighed and lifted her notepad so it was standing upright. "Well... It seems like my only ally in all of this is you."

...

"What is there to even work on?" Phos wondered as she sat down in a chair in the main hall, looking out at the battle-worn landscape in front of her through the window. The majority of the trees had lost their trunks and were nothing more than broken stumps "We already know plenty of things, how to use those things, where to find those things. But..." She sighed, looking down at the small slit in her notepad where the sword had pierced not too earlier. "Where do I even start for the things we don't know?"

"Sure looks like you're making good progress here." Morga said, sarcasm absolutely dripping from her voice. Phos' eyes widened and she looked down to find that her notepad wasn't there anymore. She quickly turned around to see Morga flipping through it's empty pages with a smile on her face. "Keep at this pace and you'll finish in maybe, I don't know, five thousand years?"

"Hey! Give that back!" Phos frowned and stood up as she snatched the notepad away from Morga. "I haven't even started on it yet! I don't even know WHERE to start in the first place!"

Morga chuckled and crossed her arms, showing her usual cheeky smile to Phos. "You made such a big deal about not wanting to do it and you haven't even started it yet? How can you complain about something if you don't even know what it's like?"

Phos stretched her arms out in the air, almost waving them. "That's just it! I don't know what to put in it!"

"You could probably start with the bugs and plants by the beach." Goshe said, walking up from behind the two. "But other than that, the only thing I can really think about for you to start is with what we don't know."

Phos huffed as she sat back down in her chair, placing her notepad down next to her. "Isn't there anything else you can think of?"

Goshe placed a hand on her hip and gave a one armed shrug with her free hand. "We're tasked to watch the sky. Not look for things for you to write down. If you want to, you can always write down what we already know first, just to get it out of the way. Even if it's nothing new, we'll still know where to find it. If you really wanna know what you could write down, you could ask Cinnabar. She might know how to help."

Phos nearly froze at the mention of Cinnabar's name. "Cinnabar?" She repeated. "You mean... THAT Cinnabar?" Goshe nodded. "I-I can't talk to Cinnabar!" Phos stood up once again. "I don't know her! Even if I did, I couldn't even get close to her!"

"Still," Goshe and Morga started walking out of the hallway to begin their patrol. "I think she'd be the best one to ask about something like this, so keep her in mind."

"Regardless," Morganite continued. "Best of luck on your search, Miss Scholar."

"Miss... Scholar... Ugh." Phos sat down on the ground, leaning against the chair. She held her notepad in her lap as she looked up at the ceiling. "Cinnabar... No way. If I have to ask her, I may as well ask Sensei." She looked down at the notepad. "...Then again, that's probably even worse. I'd be stuck listening to his lecturing all day... I don't wanna do this all on my own, though, and I wanna make a big discovery. Hmm... Alright." She stood up, a smile forms on her face as she marches forward, her confidence returning to her. "This scholar needs to be open minded. Time to go get some opinions."

...

"Huh?" Obsidian turned around to look at Phos, still holding the broken leg chair in her hand. "Something new?"

Phos nodded. "I'm trying to look for a good place to start. You have any good ideas on where I can?"

"Well..." Obsidian thought for a second. "I don't know about anything we don't use. Sorry."

Phos smiled. "It's fine. I can always ask someone else-"

"Actually," Obsidian interrupted Phos. "While you're here, you think you could help me fix this chair before I go out on patrol?"

"Huh?" Phos' eyes widened a little. "W-Well, I... I kinda wanna get started on working but... I guess I can help."

"Great! Could you hold this side of the chair for me?"

...

Phos sighed dejectedly as she left the room, heading back into the hall. "That didn't go anywhere. Just a waste of time. Who else could I ask...? Maybe Red Beryl?"

...

"Phos!" Red Beryl exclaimed happily, wearing some kind of cloth over her body. "Good timing! You think you could model for me?"

"Huh?!" Phos nearly froze. No. She didn't wanna go through this again. She needed to get work done. "A-Actually, I was wondering if-"

"Recently, everyone's clothes have been wearing down fast, so I tried making a more durable kind!"

Phos groaned. She wasn't gonna get out of this. "Sure." She grumbled.

...

"More time wasted," Phos walked out of the room covered in strings and ribbons. "Nothing gained from it. Things aren't looking good for this scholar." If Phos was gonna end up doing more favors, she had to think of who to ask for help carefully, otherwise she'd end up wasting even more time. Suddenly, Phos came to a realization. She knew someone who was familiar with working with all sorts of materials. "Of course." She groaned. "Why didn't I think of this sooner?" She raised the notepad to her face, though, she raised it a little too face and accidentally hit herself on the nose. She let out a short lived yelp and stopped in her tracks, frantically checking her face to make sure she hadn't chipped herself.

"Okay, okay, everything seems to be in its place," Phos thought, then quickly looked back and forth in the hall. "Good, no one saw that." She shook her head, making her way to Rutile's office.

...

"I know about the things we put into paste and powder, but things that no one uses..." Rutile said, picking a disconnected hand up from off her table. "Cinnabar might know. Given she patrols nightly, she's probably seen plenty of things none of us have."

Phos groaned upon hearing Cinnabar's name again. "Oh come on," She brushed some stray string out of her face and looked up at the doc. "Are you telling me that the quack doc who works with all sorts of things doesn't know more than the rest of us do?" She squinted at Rutile. "Or are you just lying to me because you're busy?"

"You know," Rutile motioned the hand she was holding towards Phos. "I could always stitch that mouth of yours shut."

Phos flinched a little and held the notepad up as if to protect herself.. Not from Rutile's comment, but rather the severed hand she was holding. "If you do, don't use that hand. About Cinnabar, though... I know that she always walks along the beach at night, but can she even see anything? I thought we were completely useless when the sun goes down."

Rutile nods. "It is true that since we live off the sunlight, we slow at night. Due to this, taking any sort of action during that time is dangerous. Cinnabar, though... The endless flow of poison from her body collects the faint light of the night, allowing her to walk all night without any problems. Fortunately, yet strangely at the same time, The Lunarians haven't visited at night once."

"They haven't?" Phos asked with a quizzical look on her face. "Then what's the point of having her patrol at night?"

"Even if they haven't visited us at night yet, there's always the possibility that they will. It's her job." Rutile answered. "If you do decide to visit her, do take care. I'm not sure if anyone has told you this, but just in case... If any part of you comes into contact with her poison, light will no longer pass through to those parts. They'll have to be chipped off and you'll lose any memories within those parts."

"O-Oh..." Phos nodded. I'll be careful."

...

Phos, once again, sat in the main hall. She kneeled down in front of a row of flowers, reciting to herself how she imagined her conversation with Cinnabar would go. "You! Yes, you! Stop that pointless job of yours! Come and aid me in making a great discovery!" "Oh?!" Phos' voice went deeper. "I can be of assistance to you, miss?!" Phos laughed quietly to herself. "Maybe if I'm lucky, it'll go exactly like that and I can get Cinnabar to be my assistant. Once that's done, I'll finish up the encyclopedia, make a great discovery, and I'll be praised by everyone and get closer to fighting in the process!" She smiled happily and started having a hard time sitting still. "Yes! This is it!" She had heard footsteps behind her and quickly turned around to see Benito. Good.

"Hey, Benito!" She called out. Benito, upon hearing Phos, stopped to turn around. She didn't get a chance to speak, however, as Phos quickly stood up and walked over to her. "You room is next to Cinnabar's, right?"

"Huh?" Benito seemed bewildered that Phos wanted to seek out Cinnabar. She couldn't imagine why, but it was Phos, after all.She figured it was better to not question her that much. "Yeah."

"Lead the way!" Phos said, and she and Benito began making their way over to the dorms.

Benito's curiosity did get the better of her, however, so she decided to ask what Phos would want with Cinnabar. "So, is there something you need from her or want from her? I don't think she's in."

"She's not in?" Phos asked. "I thought she only patrolled at night. She's not here during the day either?" The two eventually reached Cinnabar's room. Sure enough, Cinnabar wasn't in there, but there were plenty of traces left of her. Black, melted pools of mercury and silver littered the floor. To top it off, the room was almost empty, as if nobody had ever lived in it before.

"That poison of her's isn't exactly something she can control." Benito crossed her arms and turned to Phos. "If I had to guess, she probably feels guilty about it. I haven't seen her around in a while."

"Benito, did you say something bad about my assistant?" Phos narrowed her eyes towards Benito.

"Eh?" Benito shot a confused look at Phos. Assistant? What was she on about? "No, I'm not you. That poison she produces comes as naturally to her as breathing comes to us." She sighed, looking down at the floor. "I get that she's trying not to be a bother, but to be honest... I just don't can't relax with her being next door to me."

"Hmm... I guess I'm off to go look for her." Phos sarted heading towards the exit. "Thanks anyway, Benito." And so, she began her search for Cinnabar. She'd have to be quick, though. There wasn't exactly a whole lot of time left in the day to find her.

Chapter Text

"To think that Cinnabar causes trouble simply by existing..." Phos thought to herself, notepad in hand as she wandered the grassy fields, heading to the beach in hopes of finding Cinnabar. "Nobody expects anything of her and she doesn't expect anything from them. No praise, no worries, no rewards... To top it all off, she does a job that's even more useless than I am." She shook her head. "How could one do something so repetitive every day of the week, every week of the month, every month of the year and not tire of it? Why hasn't she just quit?" She wondered, thinking back to all of the times that Sensei had assigned her a job and failed at it. Next to that, she simply couldn't stop thinking about Cinnabar and her job.

Had Cinnabar picked the job herself? If so, why would she pick something so... Boring? Walking around the beach at night, patrolling the area in search of The Lunarians despite the fact that The Lunarians haven't invaded at night once? Or had she been assigned the job by Sensei, because there was nothing else she could do because of how troublesome she was? "It makes sense... To be such a bother that the only job suitable would be to stay away from anyone. But surely, there are better options, aren't there?" These thoughts continued to plague Phos's mind as she walked to the edge of a cliff, looking out at the other side of the island. The wind blew faintly, causing the pages of Phos's notepad to flap lightly. Phos took a look down and watched as the waves collided with the base of the cliff.

"Hmm... Perhaps I'll ask her once I find her." She thought to herself, then quickly brushed that aside. "Nah, first things first, this scholar needs an assistant to help her make a great discovery. Then, I can ask her why she didn't just quit her job before." She started heading back down the cliff so she could head to the other side of the island. "Then again... That's if I find her. Where could she be-" Phos stopped herself when she swore she had heard something beneath her. She looked down and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just grass. As green as the grass she'd seen just about everywhere else. Still, something seemed off.

That's when she realized something. The very grass she was standing on. Why did the ground beneath her feel so... Light?

Before Phos could move, the ground beneath her collapsed and she fell down into a hole. She let out a scream as she tried to grab onto the cliff, but it was too far away for her to reach at this point. "What's happening?! Agh!" She landed on something, she wasn't sure what, but it was sloped, and Phos kept on sliding down into the darkness. Unable to see anything, Phos held her arms close to her chest to make sure she didn't accidentally lose a part of herself, but the more she slid down, the rougher the slope got. She could feel the back of her uniform tearing off along with part of her back being chipped slightly. She grunted at every little bump she slid over.

"Where am I going?!" She shouted, her voice bouncing everywhere within the darkness. "How far down does this go?!" She hadn't know how long she had been sliding down for at that point, but at one point or another, every hole has its bottom. The slope had finally ended and Phos could feel her body rolling along a hard, bumpy surface until eventually, she had come to a stop. Now that the briefly lived chaos had finally ended, that was when Phos could finally process everything properly. All she could hear what a very faint whooshing sound coming from in front of her. To her surprise, she was still in one piece, but her entire body ached and she didn't wanna get up.

"Ugh... I knew this encyclopedia thing was a bad idea," She grumbled to herself, finally gaining the strength to actually talk, then managed to pull herself up. She stopped suddenly, though, as a sharp pain shot through her back. She inhaled sharply, screwing her eyes shut at the sensation. Though, being in total darkness, she wasn't able to tell that her eyes were closed anyway. When the pain finally subsided, she picked herself up and stood up. "How... How am I going to get out of here?" She wondered aloud, her voice echoing once again. Her very words finally hit her. How WAS she going to get out of here? She couldn't risk climbing back up. She wasn't strong enough and her arms would probably break under the stress. She considered it lucky that was was still whole to begin with. Her structure was probably weakened enough as it was.

Not knowing what else to do, she did the one thing she thought could help her in this scenario. She yelled. "Hello?!" Once again, her voice echoed, though, more loudly from raising her voice. To her disappointment, however, the only voice she could hear was her own. "Sensei?! Benito?! Cinnabar?! ANYONE?! I NEED HELP!" Phos's breathing quicked as the lack of responses further cemented the fact that she was lost, alone, stuck somewhere she knew she didn't belong. "I-I FELL DOWN A HOLE! I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM AND... And..." Further ahead of her, Phos saw something she hadn't noticed during her panic. She saw a bright, blue light. "There's stuff down here..." Phos began making her way over to the light, keeping her hand close to what must have been a wall.

The further Phos walked, the brighter the area got. It was much wider than she had thought at first. She could very fainly make out some sort of texture in the walls. It looked smooth, but it felt very bumpy. She saw... Things on the ceiling that reminded her of the iceicles she saw during winter, only they seemed to be made out of some sort of rock, so it certainly wasn't ice. She saw them on the ground too, some stopping halfway randomly, others just barely reaching up before they stopped.

Finally, Phos had reached the source of the light. Sticking through a very small crack in the wall was an unusually large luminescent mushroom. Much like the light it emitted, its surface was speckled with dozens of light blue spots. It was shocking enough finding a glowing mushroom miles below the surface, but what shocked her more than it should was what was laying beside the mushroom. It was her notepad! Throughout this entire chain of events she had completely forgotten that she had dropped it. Everything started becoming clear as soon as she laid eyes on her notepad. "This tunnel... Nobody seems to know about it." She thought to herself, then turned to the mushroom. "I've never seen anyone talk about a glowing mushroom either."

She had found something all on her own that nobody else knew about. "This... This is the grand discovery I was hoping for! YES!" Phos couldn't be any more proud of herself. She had found this place on complete accident, sure, but she found it! She jumped happily, nearly losing her balance as she briefly forgot about the the uneven terrain. "Okay! Enouugh celebrating! Time to write this stuff down!" She reached down to grab her notepad but stopped when she saw her hand. She hadn't really gotten a good look at it since she fell down, but there were several places where the powder had been scraped away during her fall, revealing the gem structure that all gems hid under their fake skin.

Her entire right hand had lost its powder. The rest of her arm fared a little better, but there were more places that showed her structure than she'd have liked. Nothing major, but she was already dreading the interrogations she'd get from Sensei and Rutile once she got out... If she got out. Still, she didn't want to let this pass by, so she decided to write down whatever she could in the encyclopedia. So, she sat down, pulled her -now snapped in half- pencil out of her pocket and began to write.

...

Phos wrapped up writing in her notepad and stood up. She looked further down into the tunnel, but couldn't see any more light. The mushroom she had been sitting seemed to be the only source of light in the immediate vicinity. She couldn't go back the way she got in, she'd come to that conclusion already. She'd have to find another way out, and the only way left was forward. She wondered... She wondered if she could take the mushroom with her and use it to light the way. But that alone presented its own risks. Would it stop glowing after she pulled it out of the ground? Could she even pull it out of the ground to begin with? What if it was a trap, meant to catch its pray with it alluring light and take them away? If Phos shattered down here and eaten by who knows what, she was done. Nobody would be able to find her down here.

She breathed deeply, closing her eyes. "A scholar has to take many risks in their line of work, and this is one I need to be willing to take." She knelt down and grabbed gripped the mushroom's stem. "Here goes nothing!" She pulled on it hard and it popped right out of the ground. "Uh!" She stumbled back. "W-Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be." She looked down at the mushroom in her hand. It was still glowing to her relief. Now, she could finally try to find a way out with a reliable light source. She picked up her notebook and proceeded to walk further into the tunnel.

"Sensei's gonna be so proud of me!" She thought to herself. "The more I find out about this tunnel, the closer I get to learning how to fight! I just need to get out of here and show him. If there is a way out of here." She hadn't considered the idea that there might not be a way out before. What if this tunnel didn't have an exit? What if it just led to a dead end? Then she'd REALLY be stuck. Would anyone even bother to come and find her, much less try to help her get back to the surface? How big was the hole after she fell down? Would anyone try to investigate it? So many questions bounced back and forth in her mind. On one hand, she was absolutely proud of her discovery. On the other, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to go back and tell everyone about what she had found, but the only way she could be sure of that was to keep walking.

Eventually, Phos began to hear a sound that wasn't her footsteps or the whooshing sound. It sounded like... "Is that running water?" She thought as she continued making her way through the tunnel. The sound got louder and louder, and in the distance, Phos saw something that filled her with hope. More light! For the first time since she had fallen down into the tunnel, she was able too see clearly without the need for the mushroom. She had finally found the source of the sound. In the distance, she saw what looked to be a waterfall. There was water, and it was falling from above, so, it was a waterfall. When she had finally gotten to it, though, for the first time since she had fallen, there was a fork in the path. In the middle was something she hadn't expected to see. It was a body of water almost large enough to be considered a subterranean lake.

Up above, there was a hole just large enough for the water to fall through. Phos could see that the sky had turned orange. The sun was setting. Maybe, once she got out, she'd have a better chance of running into Cinnabar, she thought. Cinnabar hadn't crossed her mind for a while, she'd been more focused on trying to find a way out of the tunnel- "Tunnel... This isn't just a tunnel," She said, looking at the few paths she had to choose from. Once again, a smile formed on her face and she got excited. "This is a system of caves! Even better! But which way will lead this scholar back to freedom?" She held her hand to her chin and thought carefully. Would she go to the left path, or the right path? Meanwhile, the sound of the waterfall continued in the background.

Phos became less tense, her body loosened up a little more and she sat down, setting the mushroom down beside her. "Mm, I'm not in any hurry," She pulled out the good end of her pencil and proceeded to write down what she knew about the cave so far down in her notepad. "May as well sit down for a bit. This place seems pretty relaxing-" A footstep that wasn't her own came from one of the pathways. Phos snapped her head in the direction, thinking she'd catch someone walking by, but she saw no one. She was probably hearing things, but to be sure, she called out. "Is someone there?" She asked. No response. "Uh... Cinnabar, is that you? Are you down here?" Still, no response. There couldn't be another person down here, could there?

There wasn't any way to find out other than to check it out herself. Phos put her pencil away and picked the mushroom back up. Before she went to check out where the sound came from, though, she took a second to look at her reflection in the water, laughing slightly. "Probably a mess, may or may not get out of here in one piece, but still cute." She smiled and headed to where she had heard the sound come from. This path seemed much more forgiving than the one she'd come from. There were more glowing mushrooms scattered throughout, but it didn't seem like she was going anywhere.

That was when Phos saw something unlike anything she had seen before.

She had come across what seemed to be some kind of altar, or a meeting room. Stone that rose out of the earth had been carefully chisled into the shape of one big, long chair. There were several rows of them too! Six of them! All surrounding a large slab of stone in the middle. Yet, not a trace of any person sitting in them that could have made the sound earlier. But that wasn't what shook her, though, what made her freeze in place what was she saw on the wall.

It was a painting of... She didn't really know WHAT it was. At its core, it seemed to be a circle painted with multiple shades of blue, but... It had all sorts of things tacked onto it. Many smaller circles, squares seemed scattered all throughout it. Solid shapes cut off in certain places, mostly on its sides. The entire lower right quarter of the circle, however, had been cut out, filled in with a very faded shade of blue. Another circle seemed to be connected to the top and side of it, even more blue paint seemed splattered outside of the circle. Two shapes stuck out of the top right, one bigger than the other.

Phos couldn't make heads or tails of it at first, but what pieced it all together for her was what was below the painting. It was a single, four letter word painted with the same shade of blue the rest of the painting was. "Time." She read the word out loud, staring back up at the painting. This painting... Was a clock. She didn't have much to think about why a clock was painted on the wall, though, as she heard a clattering sound behind her. She quickly turned around, but again, saw no one. But she did see something she DEFINITELY hadn't seen before, though.

On the slab of stone was a necklace that looked almost exactly like the painting on the wall, though, more simplistic looking. The base was made out of silver and the features of the clock were fitted with deep blue indentations. The big hand and little hand poked out of the circle just barely. "I... I should be happy." Phos said aloud, picking up the necklace, tracing her thumb slowly around the edge of the circle. "I've discovered so much in just a single day. But," She turned back around to look at the painting on the wall. "How long has this place just been sitting here, unknown to everyone?... Wait," Something was off about the wall that the painting was on. She walked to the sides to see that there was an exit behind it- An exit! She'd found the way out! "Finally," She breathed a sigh of relief.

There was a big hole in the wall, probably against some sort of cliff, but there was a path just big enough on the cliff for her to walk on. Not wanting to spend any more time in the caves, she stuck to the side of the cliff and started making her way down to the beach. The sky had turned a bit darker than before. It wasn't exactly night yet, so she could probably make it back just in time before anyone started to worry.

...

On the way back, Phos studied the necklace, getting a much closer look at it than she did in the caves. What struck her ass odd was how... Clean it was. It didn't look like something that had been buried underground for thousands of years. It had signs of wear and tear on it, sure, but for the most part, it was fairly untouched. "Now," Phos thought aloud. "I guess it's time to show you to Sensei. Maybe he'll know more about you." She flipped the necklace around. The back of it was mostly flat silver. The only thing that stuck out was the same word that was written below the painting back in the cave. Time. Phos's eyes narrowed and she huffed. "There's gotta be some sort of significance to this." She looked up, noticing that she had finally reached the top of the cliff. Even though she hadn't been looking anymore, she still saw no sign of Cinnabar.

"Hmph, even when I'm not looking for you, I still can't seem find you." She shook her head. "Probably still doing your dumb, pointless job-" A sound. The sound of an a bow and arrow snapping. She looked to her right. Sunspot. Lunarians. Arrows coming right for her. On instinct, she scrunched her eyes shut and she held her arms in front of her face to protect herself from the arrows being fired at her. She heard something come up from behind her, she didn't know, the sound of some sort of liquid being produced if she had to guess. The awaited the sound of her body breaking from the impact of the arrows... But no such sound ever came.

In fact, now that she thought about it, she couldn't hear any sound at all. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and turned all of the sounds in the world off. Not only could she not hear anything, she couldn't even feel the wind! What happened? Did she black out? No, she was still conscious and breathing, so what was the reason for this? Slowly, Phos opened her eyes to see Cinnabar suspended in the air in front of her, producing a large wave of mercury from her hands. The mercury, too, was suspended in mid-air. "What the...?" Was all Phos could say as she lowered her arms and took in her surroundings. All of the arrows that the Lunarians had fired had stopped in mid-air as well. The grass was completely motionless. The water had become completely still. All of the particles that had collided with the cliff, also, were suspended in the air. Everything around Phos was completely frozen.

Phos looked down at the necklace to see that it was emitting a light blue glow from its indentations. She didn't quite know what it was, but she could feel something eminating from it. Some sort of power. Magic, for lack of a better word. Phos almost didn't want to believe it, but the evidence against her was overwhelming and led her to one solid conclusion.

Time had stopped, and that necklace is what caused it.

The glow from the necklace faded and suddenly, life was restored to the world. The flow of time progressed naturally once again. Unfortunately for Phos, there were quite a lot of loud noises happening while time had stopped, and Cinnabar's poison startled her and caused her to fall back to the ground. "Out of all the people that could have been out here!" Cinnabar spoke, her voice growling from the strain of keeping her mercury up and blocking the arrows. "Out of all the people, it just had to be you, three and a half!" She looked back at Phos, who had a shocked expression on her face, though not for the reasons she thought.

Phos's mind was a mess. Everything was happening too fast for her to handle as she tried to process so many things at once. Cinnabar was here? The Lunarians were attacking at this time even though they'd never done it before? She had discovered a necklace that could freeze the very flow of time itself? Was that all the time necklace could do? All of these thoughts raced in her head while all she could do right now was watch as Cinnabar fought against the Lunarians.

Cinnabar grunted as she pushed her hands forward, producing more poison. "Why is it that just by breathing, I make the world die all around me?" SHe strained to say, her legs started shaking from all of the strain she was putting on herself. "I don't want to cause any more damage than I already have! Such a person doesn't even deserve to be seen! I don't want to fight! I don't want- glk!" Copius amounts of mouth flowed from Cinnabar's mouth and she fell to the ground, being sent into a coughing fit. Her poison fell down without her support. Phos had no idea what to do. She didn't know how to help. Could she help? What could she do if she even could?

The Lunarians started making their way off of their ship as they slid down wires to get to the cliff. Cinnabar managed to compose herself and stood back up, conjuring up a hefty amount of poison behind her, forming it all into the shape of a disfigured, personal army. She sent it forward, blocking even more of the arrows the Lunarians fired at her. This gave her enough time to shoot herself up into the sky and unleaash a giant wave of poison, completely covering the cliffside along with the Lunarian ship, which had completely dissipated.

Phos realized that Cinnabar was too far away from the cliff to grab onto it. Even if she could, the surface was too slipperly. She wouldn't be able to get a proper grip on it. Without thinking, Phos ran to the edge of the cliff just as Cinnbar was about too fall past her. Clutching the necklace with one hand, holding out her notebook for Cinnabar to grab onto with the other. And Cinnabar did grab onto it.

But she took Phos's arm with her.

Phos heard a loud cracking sound coupled with the sensation of having her arm ripped off. She stood up on her knees, looking down into the water. "I'm... Im sorry." She said softly, ashamed she couldn't help Cinnabar. Opening her spare hand, she looked down at the necklace. She expected it to have gotten covered a bit by the poison, but to her surprise, it was completely untouched. As if it wasn't exposed to everything around it. "Huh... I-If you stopped time... Could you reverse it too?" She asked, knowing she wouldn't get a response from it anyway. "So I could go back and help Cinnabar?"

"I never asked for help." Cinnabar's voice came from behind Phos and she turned around, seeing Cinnabar too relatively unharmed... That is until she saw Cinnabar's left arm crumble off of her. Phos's other arm and her notepad laying behind her. "Among the twenty eight of us, I'm the weakest." Cinnabar picked her arm up with her gloved hand. "Solidity two."

Chapter Text

"There we go," Rutile said, placing the last of Phos's chipped parts onto a sheet of paper. "I've scraped off all of the tainted sections. Let's make sure you haven't forgotten anything too important, shall we?" Rutile turned her head over to Phos, who was laying on a table on her back. In addition to the places where her powder got chipped off during her slide down into the cave, even more parts had been chipped off on her arms, legs and face. The chain of the necklace dangled out of her pocket, resting on the table too. "Do you remember who I am?"

"A quack doc." Phos simply said as she sat upright.

"Oh dear, it seems like it's worse than I thought," The doc said, a sly smirk on her face. "Are you sure I shouldn't remove some more?"

Phos let out an annyed sigh. "An excellent doctor."

"Anyway," Rutile wrapped the paper Phos's pieces were on, each of them making little clinking sounds as they collided with each other. "Nothing can be done for these pieces anymore."

Phos took a look at the places where she'd been chipped. It felt so surreal to her, seeing where she used to be whole only for her parts to not be there anymore. "This is the first time I've ever had to be scraped off." She said mumbled to herself, hugging her knees tightly to her chest.

"Something I forgot to ask you," Rutile caught Phos's attention and she looked over to her. "There were already parts of you scraped off before you got here. Don't think I didn't notice." She picked up a brush from a shelf and dipped it in the powder. "Your hand gave it away, after all. But what happened? Or did you forget that?"

"I- uh..." Phos stuttered. She didn't wanna recount the whole thing to Rutile. She wanted to save it for Sensei, so she decided to give her the short version and simply said "I fell." She turned away. "I don't know if there's anything I don't remember, but I know I won't forget today... Cinnabar said she didn't wanna fight, but she still saved me."

Rutile nodded as she began to apply the powder to Phos's missing spots. "She is a clever one, but we won't be able to go near the area for a while now that all the grass, plants and animals over there are contaminated." She sighed, shaking her head. "Phos, to tell you the truth, while Cinnabar has outstanding talent and combat capability, she's too much for us to handle. Because of this, we had to lock her away into the night."

"Isn't there anything else we can do for her?" Phos asked, holding out her hand so that Rutile could apply the powder to it. "There's gotta be something better she can do instead of just walking around the beach at night."

Rutile shook her head. "It might not be the best job, but it gives her something to do to keep her from doubting herself. Until we find something else for her, all we can do is wait until that time comes." Phos glanced over to her pocket where the necklace was. "Or perhaps... You'll be able to find a job she can do? After all, you did say you wanted to make a big discovery."

"Well..." Phos thought back to the caves. There was probably more to them and she hadn't even explored maybe a fraction of them yet. Could Cinnabar explore the cave system and map it out? It didn't seem like it would be any better than walking around the beach. She'd still be walking. And what if she got lost in the caves? Then what would happen? Exploring a cave didn't seem a whole lot better than patrolling the beach at night. "If you and Sensei couldn't come up with anything, I doubt I'd be any better at coming up with something."

Rutile finished applying the powder and put the brush back on the shelf. "Where was Cinnabar during the day, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Uh..." Phos held her hand to her chin, trying to remember where the caves were. "I think it was over by the cliffs to the south. She came out of nowhere, but she had good timing, thankfully."

"The Hollow Cape, huh?" Rutile asked. Phos nodded. "The Hollow Cape is an incredibly dangerous place. It's where Heliodor was taken away." The doctor walked over to the window, staring at the multiple moons hanging in the sky. "I can't imagine Cinnabar would be around there for long..."

...

Phos stood outside at the pond. The walls were lit up with a bright blue color that reflected off the water. After everything that happened today, the calming quiet that had fallen over the base was much needed. The crickets chirped in the distance and the water shifted, making its usual sloshing sounds while the jellyfish swam around in it. Still, she couldn't get Cinnabar out of her head. Why would she hang out around one of the most dangerous places on the island? Why did she help her despite saying she didn't wanna fight? Then, Phos's mind wandered back to everything that happened before Cinnabar helped. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the necklace, still as clean as it was when she found it.

She stared at it intently, taking in its every little detail. The small runes sticking out of the blue markings, how the big hand and little hand briefly turned back to silver then back to blue before sticking out of the circular base. As simplistic as its design was, something about it just felt very... Alluring to Phos. Perhaps it was the mystery behind it, the idea that it could do more than simply stop time in its place. Then there was its history, which was also completely shrouded in mystery. Could it be a relic from the life that inhabited the earth before the gems?

"Phos." All of those thoughts fled Phos's mind as she heard someone call her name. She turned to her right to see Diamond. A gem with sparkling, almost rainbow-like hair which illuminated where she stood more than the actual lights did. It wasn't hard for Phos, or anyone else for that matter, to recognize her. She gave a soft smile to Phos and spoke. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Oh, Dia," Phos said. "I was about to report to Sensei for tonight."

"For the encyclopedia you're working on, right?" Dia asked.

Phos nodded and started to head to Sensei's office. "I just had to take a breather. To say a lot happened today would be putting it very lightly." She laughed to herself. "I guess a scholar's work can be pretty dangerous from time to time. Once in a while, you get your hands dirtier than you'd like... And your legs, and your arms, sometimes you rip the back of your shirt open, but it's all in a day's work, I suppose?"

"Sounds like you've been busy." Diamond said as she walked along with Phos. "Bort and I patrolled all day, but other than that, it got pretty quiet after you, Goshe and Morga got brought back to be fixed."

"That was today?" Phos asked suddenly. Didn't take long for her mind to go back to when Rutile asked her if she had forgotten anything. "I-I, uh... Ah, shoot."

Diamond smiled, then noticed something faintly reflecting from Phos's hand. "Hey, Phos, what are you holding?" She asked as she tried to get a better look at the object.

"Huh?" Phos tilted her head a little. She hadn't realized she was still clutching the necklace to her chest. "Oh! You mean this?" Phos held her hand out to Diamond and opened it up, allowing for Diamond to see.

"Ohh, it's a necklace!" Diamond picked it up, examining it. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it while I was looking for Cinnabar." Phos rubbed the back of her neck, looking away in embarassment. "I... Sorta fell down a hole that led to a cave. I found it underground by complete accident."

Diamond giggled. "You'd better keep this away from Red Beryl. I'm sure she'd shatter herself a million times to get ahold of something like this."

Phos smiled lightly. "Yeah, you're right." She leaned her back against the wall, looking up at the stars in the sky. "She'd probably make a dress out of it, or find a way to incorporate it into our outfits somehow." Phos made a mental note to do her best to hide the necklace from Beryl at all times. "It'd be hard getting it back, that's for sure. I doubt she'd understand how important it is-" Phos's eyes widened as she realized what she was saying. Diamond had no idea what the necklace was capable of either. Nobody but her knew that the necklace could stop time. She wanted to stop the conversation right then and there, but she didn't want to hide anything from Diamond.

Diamond had already turned to Phos after she noticed that Phos had stopped talking so abruptly. "What was that, Phos?" She asked.

"Uh..." Phos sighed, holding her head with her hand. "Okay, get it together, Miss Scholar. Just tell her what the necklace does, she'll probably think you're crazy, and that'll be the end of it." She mumbled to herself before looking back up at Diamond. "Dia, I think that necklace is more important than we realize."

"Oh?" Diamond said, sounding legitimately interested. "Why do you think so, Phos?" She asked, handing the necklace back over to Phos.

Phos took the necklace from Diamond's hand and looked down at it for what was probably the hundreth time since she'd found it. "Diamond, this may sound crazy," She laughed weakly. "I know that doesn't mean much coming from me, but," She looked up at her. "I think this necklace has the power to control time." The two of them shared what felt like an achingly long silence. Both of them stared at each other with blank expressions on each others faces. "I..." Phos looked back and forth nervously as if to see if anyone had overheard their conversation. "I shouldn't have said anything. I think I'm just gonna go report to Sensei."

Phos started walking away, and Diamond finally said something after what felt like forever. "Is such a thing even possible?" She asked. Phos stopped and glanced back at her. "To stop time completely?"

"I don't know." Phos said and turned around to face Diamond. "That's what I'm hoping to find out when I show this to Sensei." She pulled the necklace back out of her pocket, staring at it once again. "I don't even know if that's all this thing can do. It must have been important to someone, or something, in the past. I found a painting in the cave that looked exactly like the it in the same room as where I found it." She sighed, closing her eyes. "I don't even know how I'd make it happen again. The first time it happened, everything was going by so fast. The Lunarians attacked, the arrows were coming straight towards me, I move my arms up and before I know it," She looked out over to the pond. "Everything went quiet. Everything froze in place. Cinnabar, the arrows, even the water. I don't know if there's a reasonable explanation for that."

"Well... Whatever the case may be, I hope you find your answer." Diamond yawned, stretching her arms up. "I think I'm gonna go." She smiled and turned the other way, heading to the dorms. "Do be careful out there, Phos."

Phos looked over to Diamond, watching as she got smaller the more she walked into the distance. "You too, Dia." When Diamond was gone, Phos looked back down at the necklace, narrowing her eyes at it. "I know you're important somehow." She went back to walking to Sensei's office. "I found you in a cave. Nobody leaves things like you in a cave for no reason. But it won't be long now." She closed her fist around the necklace. She started to pick up her pace, staring straight ahead. "I'm gonna show you to Sensei and I'm gonna get my answers... Hopefully."

...

As empty as Sensei's office was, there was always something about it that intimidated Phos. A lone, wooden table sat near the end of the room. Sensei stood behind it, his back turned to it as he looked up through the windows halfway up the wall. A small chair also sat against the wall, presumably for the gems to pull out for when they wanted to sit and talk with Sensei. Phos wasn't gonna be sitting down, though. She needed to be standing up for this one. "Sensei." She called, walking up to the table. "I'm here to give my report for today." Sensei turned around, but remained silent. Phos laid her notepad out on the table, its pages flipped to the information she had written down regarding the caves. "There's a system of caves underneath the island. Right now, they seem to lead from the beach up north all the way to The Hollow Cape. It's illuminated by small, blue mushrooms that glow in the dark. I haven't come up with a name for them yet, though. I'll think of something later."

Sensei flipped through the pages of the notepad one by one, taking the time to read each one carefully. "I am impressed, Phosphophyllite." He said, letting the pages fall back down. "You were so hesitant to do this job when you found out you had to write an encyclopedia, yet look at how much you've discovered on your first day. Tell me, do you plan on making a return trip to the caves?"

Phos shook her head. "Not for a while, Sensei. I didn't exactly find it under the best circumstances..." Phos played with her hair a little, looking down at the ground. "I kinda stood in one spot too long and the ground fell apart beneath me. It all just happened so fast, and honestly," Phos took a look at her hand, the image of it being completely powderless still burned into her mind. "I'm surprised I even made it out all in one piece."

Sensei nodded. "Understandable. You may return to the caves whenever you are ready. I assume you're going to keep to the hills until then?"

"I'll try to, as long as I don't fall into anymore holes." Phos laughed nervously. "I-I don't know if I'll be able to avoid it next time, but I'll be on the lookout for any loose soil." She took the notepad back, sliding it off the desk as she picked it up. "There's still one more thing left that I forgot to write down. At first, I thought it was the grand discovery I'd been looking for, but the more I think about it, the more confused I get." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the necklace. She placed it on Sensei's desk, the little chains clinking as they collided with each other. "I found this when I was down in the caves. There was a painting on the wall that looked exactly like it."

Sensei picked up the necklace, examining it. "Hmm... Certainly a most interesting object." He flipped it over, reading the engraving of the word Time on the back. "Would you happen to have any idea what it is?"

Phos's expression faltered. "I guess that means you don't know anything about it, do you?

"My apologies, Phosphophyllite." Sensei put the necklace back on the table. "I appreciate your faith in my knowledge, but I'm unfamiliar with the nature of this necklace." He looked back to Phos. "Do tell me, though, why this necklace leaves you confused."

Phos sighed. No beating around the bush here. She had to be forward and honest with Sensei, no matter how ridiculous the idea sounded. She took a deep breath and readied herself to say what would probably be the dumbest thing Sensei had ever heard come out of her mouth. "I think this necklace has the power to stop time."

Sensei's eyes widened a little. He attention turned back to the clock shaped necklace. The idea of a an ancient artifact that came before the gems didn't seem all too strange to him, but one that had special powers? He looked back up to Phos. "That's a very bold claim, Phosphophyllite." He said. "Do you have any evidence to support it?"

Phos picked the necklace up off the table. "I don't know. All I know is that when I tried to protect myself, time just stopped all around me." She looked back down at the necklace. It was emitting that light blue glow again, and from the necklace she could feel... Something resonating within her. She had no idea what it was, but at the same time, it felt so familiar to her. And it was coming from that necklace. "Maybe... Maybe I could try to stop time again."

"I don't doubt you, Phosphophyllite." Sensei crossed his arms. "If I had, I would not have tasked you with writing an encyclopedia. If you truly believe that necklace can stop time, then you're welcome to try by all means. However, I must ask, were you still able to walk around while time is frozen?"

Phos thought back to when everything stopped around her. She hadn't tried walking, sure, but she was still completely aware of her surroundings. She could recall looking around, moving her body, living and breathing, so she knew that she could move. "I'm pretty sure, yeah." She nodded. "Why?"

"I have a theory that I want you to test. If you are able to move around while time is stopped, then it will appear to everyone that you have vanished and appeared in another area." Sensei motioned his arm over to the chair sitting against the wall. "Once, and if, you freeze time, I want you to sit in that chair. If my theory is correct, then I will perceive you disappearing before my eyes then find you sitting in a chair all within the span of a second."

Phos nodded and stared back down at the necklace. "I can do this." She thought, and closed her eyes, trying to focus on that energy she felt surging through her. "Gotta go back to how I felt at that time." She clutched the necklace tightly, squeezing her hand shut as hard as she could. Don't let the necklace fall, don't let the necklace slip, don't let the necklace move. "Allow everything around me to stop. Allow everything around me to freeze." She could feel the energy getting stronger. Pulsing, rippling, flowing, coursing all throughout her entire being, mind and body, until suddenly, it all dissipated. Vanished just as quickly as it had come.

Silence fell all around Phos once again. No crickets chirping, no water shifting, no wind, nothing. Just like before. Phos opened her eyes to see Sensei standing completely still. More still than he usually had, as if he was a statue. "Sen... Sensei?" Phos called to him, but was quickly taken aback by how odd it felt to talk when time was frozen. She didn't hear any echoing off the walls of the room. Her voice was the only sound produced, and it left existence just as quickly as it came. A brief flicker of light in the darkness before it went away, completely forgotten by the world around it.

Phos walked up to Sensei and waved her hand in his face. Once again, she received no response. She looked down at the necklace. It was still glowing, its light fading and illuminating at even intervals. Her gaze then slowly turned to the chair as another idea popped into her mind. Could she move objects while time was frozen? Would the objects be affected if she interfered with them? Phos remembered that whenever she sat down in that chair, it would let out a creaking sound. Phos decided to test this out and walked over to the chair.

First, she decided to try and push it. She put her hands on the back rest and paid close attention to everything that happened while she pushed it forward. She could still hear the legs scraping against the floor, but like her voice, once she stopped moving the chair, the sound stopped just as fast. She looked down to see that the glow of the necklace had faded and wasn't as bright as it was earlier. "Time's probably gonna start up again soon." She thought to herself. She purposefully chose not to say it out loud. Hearing her own voice disappear into nothingness creeped her out too much to wanna hear it again. She sat down in the chair and heard that oh so familiar creaking sound. Although, she didn't know whether or not to be happy to hear it, only for it to just suddenly stop.

The glow of the necklace had finally vanished and Phos's ears were graced with the sounds of time flowing as it should. Crickets, water, wind, everything returned. But the chair had stayed in the place to where Phos had pushed it to. She looked over to Sensei, who was staring at her with his eyes slightly wide and his mouth open, also slightly. "Uh..." Phos looked back and forth nervously, then down to the chair. "Objects can be affected while time is frozen." She said, her voice quiet. "I don't know how much they can get affected, but objects can moved if provoked, and will stay where they are even after time starts flowing again."

Sensei regained his composure and walked over to Phos, kneeling down to match her line of sight. "Phosphophyllite, are you comfortable with taking on another task along with your encyclopedia?" He asked.

Phos tilted her head, curious. "A second task?" She asked. Sensei nodded. She looked down at the necklace, then back to Sensei. "It has something to do with this, doesn't it?"

Sensei nodded again. "If you want to go into combat, you're going to need to learn the importance of responsibility." He pulled his gloves out of his robe and slipped him on. "From this point on, the necklace is your responsibility." He took the necklace from Phos's hand, undoing the clasp of the chain. "You'll be tasked with discovering what its capable of, what it isn't capable of, but most importantly, keeping it safe and being aware of where it is at all times." Sensei walked behind Phos, reaching the two chains around her and closing the clasp. "However, you must not abuse its power, as with great power, comes great responsibility."

Phos looked down at the necklace as it laid against her tie. "You're going to let me keep this?" She asked. "But why?"

Sensei walked back in front of Phos and looked down at her. "There are others I could give this to and see if they can make use of it. Bort, Yellow Diamond, Goshe, but I know you want to improve, Phosphophyllite, and I want you to take those steps to improving yourself, no matter how small they are. Keeping that necklace safe and using its power responsibly." Sensei walked back over to his desk. "Depending on how extensive the power of the necklace is," He looked back at her. "Then perhaps you could aid us in combat once you know how to use it properly."

Combat. Phos shot up out of her chair at the word. "I won't let you down, Sensei!" She said, raising her voice as it became filled with confidence. "I'll protect this necklace every step of the way!"

"I'm proud that you're willing to see this through, Phosphophyllite." Sensei looked out the window. "You may return to your room and get some rest. If the necklace causes you discomfort while you sleep, feel free to take it off, but put it in a safe place that's easy for you to remember. I'm not suggesting that there is anyone here who would steal it, but if the Lunarians were to get ahold of it," He looked down. "There's no knowing what they could do with that sort of power."

"Thank you, Sensei." Phos nodded and bowed. "I'll be sure to not disappoint you like all the other times." Phos turned and started walking back to her room. Today was a long day, and she needed to get some well deserved rest.