Chapter Text
It was a moment of vulnerability, a rare breach! Without waiting any more, Sean ran towards the door, slamming his hand against the detector by its side and then grabbing the doorknob to pull it; but even if it was open, he was just a little boy and didn't possess enough strength to drag a metal door just by himself. Yet, he promised himself unconsciously in his mind.
A warm, gentle hand touched his shoulder, and looking up, he was met with Marine's kind smile and look of pity.
"Come on now, Sean," she said, her voice ever so soft, as she turned him away from the door and leading him more into the room.
She took him to the bed, which was connected to the wall, with its comfy part surrounded by a white "wrapping". Marine sat down, and Sean sat by her side to lie down soon after, his head on her lap. In that position, he could see everything in his room: the many cupboards, all full of spare clothes and reserves of food and water, and also the small pool of water in the corner of the room, designed for him to take his baths (if Gems didn't need to take baths, why did he need to?), along with a comb, a towel and other hygiene-related stuff by its side. There were also a few stacks of books he had never read in some places in the room.
He turned around, his face now towards Marine, and closed his eyes, just appreciating as she stroked his hair gently. Sleeping had never been a problem to him with everything she did to make it even better. In just a few minutes, the boy was sound asleep on Marine's lap, and she still continued to caress him. Later, long after she had lost track of time, the door opened from outside, and Olive came in.
"Hey, Marine, you won't believe--" she started, on her naturally loud tone, before Marine put a finger to her own mouth.
"Shhh... Sean is sleeping." Marine whispered, pointing to the boy.
Olive frowned. Even after 8 years of dealing with Sean, she still hadn't gotten used to human necessities, to the point where sometimes Marine even had to intervene on her way of treating him. Her duty was to make sure he was developing well, right? Olive sat down on the bed next to her.
"So he coincidentally fell 'asleep' just as I was about to come and get him for training... I prepared everything just for him, and now I'll have to wait more." she complained with a sigh.
"Well, it's not his fault... he needs to rest to maintain good health. All humans need to... he may have a gem, but he is also part human, Olive." Marine replied, glancing at Sean for a second. "We can't treat him as something he is not... he isn't a Gem. He isn't Azurite."
"Yeah, guess you're right." Olive ruffled Sean's hair and chuckled. "Poor boy, he's probably sick of all this. I'll try to understand him more."
"I'd say he's more confused. He doesn't quite get many things that happen, related to his mother... and I'm not the best person to actually explain it to him. Neither of us are."
They hadn't actually thought that through when they assigned both of them as Sean's caretakers. Or they simply didn't care, probably.
"But Sean is happy and that's all that matters." Marine completed, receiving a nod of agreement from Olive.
Just then, the door was pushed open from outside, and another Gem came inside the room. Her primary color scheme was a yellowish orange color, and Marine recognized her on the spot.
"It's you." she said to the other Pearl. By instinct, she almost stood up, but was able to hold herself down remembering that Sean's head was on her lap.
The orange Pearl waited a few seconds before grimacing in disapproval, as Olive glanced at both of them, wondering what was happening, and begging Marine to explain who was that other Pearl with her looks; Marine was way too focused on her own thoughts to even realize. Then the newly-arrived Pearl coughed into her fist before speaking with a loud and smug tone:
"I do not think that 'it's you' is an appropriate thing for you to say to me, considering the fact that I'm of a much higher rank than you, and knowing who I serve, I could even--"
"Whatever, Pearly! Who are you? Why are you even here, anyway?" Olive interrupted, and Marine thanked her bluntness for the probably first and last time in her life.
"Commander Tourmaline requested me to come here. She wants you to bring the half-human half-Gem Sean to her presence." the Pearl replied, purposely evading the questions, but getting to the point. That was just how she was; even if she had to give what they wanted, she would not give them the direct satisfaction.
"Wait, Commander Tourmaline?" Olive yelled, turning back to Marine, this time with that familiar "tell me what's going on right now or I'll punch you" expression.
"This is Commander Tourmaline's Pearl, Sol," Marine breathed out, sweat dropping, and turned back to Sol, who now had a grin on her face. "But what does the Commander want with Sean?"
"Good to see you are still sane enough to remember who I am." Sol replied, dragging out everything to leave the two of them curious. "And I don't know what my Commander wants with him, but she told me it was important, so if I were you, I'd bring the boy there as soon as possible. I'm simply doing what she asked me to do."
Marine glanced down at Sean, who was still asleep, even drooling now, and looked back up.
"We can't. Not now. Sean is sleeping." she announced, and seeing the confusion on Sol's face, added, "It's something humans need to do to replenish energies. He won't be able to respond to anything in this state, and waking him up can damage his health." Alright, maybe she was exaggerating, but she never really liked to wake Sean up.
"Alright... I hope you're telling me the truth. And when will he be done with his 'sleeping' duties?"
"In a few hours. It's impossible to calculate the exact time."
"In this case..." Sol turned around and placed her hand on the detector, using the other one to pull the door. She then turned her head to them. "As soon as he is done, come to meet Commander Tourmaline right away. My Commander doesn't like waiting."
With that, she left, and Marine let out a sigh she didn't know she had been holding for so long. Olive got up and walked in front of her, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her head up to stare at her.
"Okay, what just happened? Why would Commander Tourmaline want to see Sean?" she blurted out, bewildered, and started roaming around the room, further worrying Marine.
"I... don't know. But they do want to study Sean, don't they? I mean, he's unique..." Marine eyes Olive, who was still stomping in circles around the room. "O-Olive, please, stop, calm down... you're going to break the floor just like last time..."
Olive grunted and stood still, and then came to sit down on the bed again.
"Okay. Okay, I'm calmer now." she said, as she clenched her trembling hands into fists. "But when we go to take Sean to see her, I want to be there to see everything."
Marine just nodded.
She wanted to be there and protect Sean, too.
***
"Marine?"
She looked down, where the voice had come from. Sean was now laying on her lap with his entire back down, staring directly at her with a neutral expression. She smiled at him, and he returned it with the beam he wore all the time.
"Good morning, Sean," she said.
"I fell asleep on your legs!" he remarked laughing, and hugged her waist.
"Sure you did," Marine bit her lip and slowly pushed him away from her. With her hands under his arms, she lifted him in front of her and stood up.
Marine carried him all the way to the pool of water on the corner of the room and placed him back on the ground, before kneeling and starting to take his clothes off.
"Aww, man, I'll have to take a bath?" Sean pouted, his voice muffled by the shirt covering his mouth.
"I know you don't really enjoy it, but we have to get you as presentable as possible. You'll have an important event today, Sean." she explained, folding his shirt, and then taking out his pants.
"Oh, really, I do? What is it, is it something really cool?"
"It's... we don't know yet. You're going to meet Commander Tourmaline and we'll see what she wants."
Helping Sean get inside the water now, she knelt closer to where he was and started pouring the water all over his body, even his hair, which triggered a small yelp of surprise out of him. By now she already knew that Sean wasn't the biggest fan of cold water, so she made sure that his bath water was always heated to be warm.
"Meeting the Commander herself? That's amazing! When can we go, when?" he asked eagerly, hitting the water with his small, chubby hands and splashing it everywhere around.
"Well, first we need to get you ready." Marine took the soap bar and started scrubbing it against his back first.
"I want a bubble bomb," Sean said out of the blue soon after, looking at the bombs with his eyes shining.
Marine chuckled.
"I'm sorry, Sean, we can't this time. This is supposed to be a very quick bath... the Commander has already been waiting for too long."
The boy furrowed a brow, but shrugged and continued letting himself be scrubbed by the soap. The rest of the bath was pretty much silent and as soon as they were done, Marine helped Sean get out and dried him with a towel before dressing him in brand new clothes (gray like always, like the other Elementals) and brushing his hair. Like they always did after he woke up, Sean ate a snack (he usually ate a full meal, and as much as Marine felt guilty, she wanted to get all that over with already), tended to his other physiological needs and got his teeth brushed by Marine.
Just as they were about to turn to the door and leave, it was slammed against the wall from the other side, and a hurried and worried Olive burst into the room.
"Olive!" Sean exclaimed, running towards her and jumping for a hug.
"Oh, Sean, there you are! I'm so glad I got here in time before you left!" Olive said, as she pressed him against her chest in an almost literal bone-crushing hug.
"O... Olive?! Can you explain what was this now?!" Marine screamed, grabbing the sides of her head in shock and fear.
"Oh... sorry, Marine. I got caught up in my duties, and I didn't want to miss taking Sean to see the Commander when he woke up. So just I was training some soldiers, I suddenly remembered it and immediately came here to catch you on time." the Agate explained with an awkward smile, finally putting Sean down.
"You left in the middle of training with no explanation?"
"Kind of... yeah, I did. But it's fine, this time I didn't break anything important or poof anyone by accident!" Olive said, proud of herself.
"And you broke the door." Marine deadpanned.
Olive turned around and looked at the open door; whatever was holding it to the wall had been broken on the upper part, making it almost fall. She blinked.
"That was an accident. Dammit, door... ah, it doesn't matter. Next time, I'll definitely be able to beat my record and come here without breaking anything or anyone."
"Oh, man! Olive, you left in the middle of training with no explanation and you broke the door! For me!" Sean said smiling even more, with his eyes shining again. "You're amazing, Olive!"
"I know that, little buddy, but thanks anyway." A fist bump and Sean laughing was what followed, and Marine rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Ugh, anyway... Sean is ready to go, so let's not waste any more time." she said, going towards them. "And we should probably contact someone to fix this door..." she added in a whisper as they went through the hole.
***
There they were, in front of the door of Tourmaline's office. They were nervous like any other Gem would be if called there, but not for the same reasons; if they had simply been called to talk to her, they wouldn't be half as nervous as they were, but it involved Sean. And just that was enough to make them sweat.
"Ready?" Marine asked.
"Yeah! I'm always ready!" Sean replied, jumping.
"Let's do this." Olive agreed.
With her body shaking, Marine placed her hand on the detector by the door and pushed it, allowing all three of them to pass. As they entered the room, the first thing on their view was the long table some meters away from the door with chairs in front of it; Sean was the only one to actually see what was on the other sides (if there was anything), because unlike Olive and Marine, he actually didn't mind looking all around the place. Behind the table was a chair, with Tourmaline sitting there; her elbows were over the table, and her fingers were intertwined over her face. She didn't move, but another chair, which was facing away from them, turned towards them, and they caught the sight of Sol looking at them perplexed before she turned to Tourmaline.
"My Commander, they're here, they've finally arrived!" she shrieked, pointing at them as if they had committed the gravest offense possible. "Like I told you, I attempted to get them to come much earlier, but they kept refusing and creating excuses, so--"
"I can see they are here, Sol. I'm not blind, let alone stupid." Tourmaline spoke, her voice as cold as ice, and as effective as it too, as everyone in the room froze, except Sean, who continued to turn his head around.
"O-of course! I-I never meant to insinuate a-any of t-those, I... my Commander, y-you know I have the utmost r-respect for y-you, and I--" Sol stammered, her entire body shaking and her eyes wide, contrasting with everything Marine had ever seen her do; her desperate sentences barely made any sense anymore.
"Enough. When you make such a foolish mistake, the best you can do is shut your mouth and not repeat it again, not pester me further with your stupid apologies." the Commander retorted once again, her tone now louder. It sounded like a threat not just for Sol, but for everyone else in the room.
"Marine, your grip is too tight! You're hurting my hand!" Sean whimpered, and Marine released his hand instantly, shooting him an apologetic look.
"Please, take a seat." Tourmaline said, pointing to the unoccupied chairs with her hand with disinterest.
After bowing in respect, Marine and Olive sat down, and Olive placed Sean on his seat too. It didn't take long for him to discover that the chair was a swivel chair, and he started spinning around himself nonstop.
"Greetings, my Commander... we would have come even quicker, but Sean was asleep, and we couldn't wake him up abruptly. I hope you can understand..."
Tourmaline said no words, just stared at Sean while he spun on his chair. Marine and Olive glanced at each other before the former placed her own hand on Sean's, causing him to pause and look at her, while she spun him to face forwards.
"Sean, please... this is important, mind your manners." she whispered, before letting go of him.
"Alright, sorry!" he said in a failed attempt of a whisper, and grinned to Tourmaline, raising his hand to wave. "Hi Commander!"
At his overly enthusiastic response, Marine bit her lip and Olive facepalmed. Though, to their surprise, Tourmaline did nothing; she didn't reply, but she didn't punish him either, which was a good and confusing reaction. Could the no-nonsense Commander of ship 9Z5 be willing to tolerate Sean's behavior? Why?
"Doesn't matter you're late. What matters is that you're here." Tourmaline sighed, eyes closed.
"So, Commander," Olive coughed, then started. "Why did you call us and Sean here?"
"I wanted to see how he was developing." she replied, now looking at Sean, who jumped in surprise and glee hearing that.
"Oh, I'm doing great, thanks!" he chirped speaking like it was a normal conversation.
"Y... yes, that's right. Sean has been growing healthily... we followed all the advice that his father, Finn, told us. And he's satisfied with all of it." Marine said.
"And he's also a talented young boy... he learns fast, and we're on our way to awaken his Gem powers fully. It should take only a few more years before he masters it all." Olive also said.
Tourmaline got up from her chair all of a sudden, and Marine and Olive turned their chairs towards her without missing a beat; on her chair, Sol let out a tiny gasp and retreated until her body was buried deep on the chair's back, her hands gripping the chair's arms. Only Sean remained unfazed, and when Tourmaline stood behind him, he spun the chair to face her.
"Is there anything you would like to say?" the Commander asked.
"Oh, yeah, I think so!" Sean said. "Okay, so... my room is really nice and I like having Marine take care of me in there, and I also really enjoy going to train my magic powers with Olive! But I'd like to do other things too, like exploration. I know the ship is really big, I saw the map. So I want to see everything!" Sean spread his arms after the last sentence for more impact.
"I'll see what I can do." Tourmaline said after some seconds, and went back to her seat. "This will be all, I appreciate you coming here. Feel free to leave now."
"Y-yes, my Commander. Thank you."
Both Marine and Olive left their seats and helped Sean get down from his, and left the room quickly and silently. As soon as the door was closed, Marine let out a loud sigh and staggered backwards, slumping against the wall.
"Marine, are you okay?" Sean asked.
"Yes, I'm fine... I'm just glad this is all over and you're going to be alright, Sean."
Olive chuckled and ruffled Sean's hair.
"Yeah, I'm also glad to be free from the creepy emotionless Commander and her haughty Pearl! Aren't we all, Sean?"
"Why were you all so scared? She's not so bad! She even said she'd think about letting me explore the ship!"
"It's... complicated, kiddo. But anyway, it's over... and now, we can finally go to our training! I prepared it all for you, but you were sleeping before!" Olive said, pretending to be offended to tease Sean.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I want to train with you now, can we go? I love training!" he replied, jumping with excitement.
"Well, take care, you two... don't push yourselves, please." Marine said, then ruffled Sean's hair and started to leave.
"Yeah, we'll behave, we promise! Bye-bye, Marine!" Sean waved goodbye to her.
When Marine was gone, Sean turned back to Olive, and both of them shared mischievous grins.
"So, ready to see some swords, little buddy?" Olive asked.
"I'm always ready!" Sean laughed. This was going to be fun.