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Padparadscha awoke with the holes in their body filled, and a strange doctor’s face hovering above them. They also had memories of…something. A past life where they were made of soft flesh rather than stone. Where they were surrounded by friends and…
They needed to get back to Rutile, back to Jun.
They sprang up, startling the unfamiliar doctor. “You shouldn’t be moving so fast just yet.”
Tatsuya looked at them and then down to their chest. “I’m…whole,” they said.
“Indeed. It was a rather simple operation,” the strange doctor said. “Though I would recommend avoiding strenuous activity for the next two to three days.”
Tatsuya hadn’t heard them. Instead they were thinking about how Jun didn’t have to worry about repairing them anymore. They gave a small smile.
The doctor continued to explain to them the various aspects of the operation, but Tatsuya still wasn’t listening. They were too busy thinking about all the things they could do with Jun now that they wouldn’t be sleeping for centuries on end.
But then they finally realized. “I’m on the moon.”
The doctor stopped in their explanation. “Yes, you are.”
“…how did I get here?”
“Well, you were brought in by—“
A gem who had Lapis’s head (but was most likely Phosphophyllite based on the gold alloy arms) entered the office.
“Phosphophyllite.”
“I see,” Tatsuya said before standing up and walking up to Phos.
“Padparadscha!” Phos exclaimed, surprised. “You’re already awake.”
“Please call me Tatsuya,” Tatsuya corrected.
“You too—?”
“I assume you’ll be returning home at some point,” they interrupted. Given what little they understood of the Lunarians and what little they knew about Phos’s motivations, Tatsuya figured that it was better to play along for now. “I would like to accompany you.”
“You would…?” Phos seemed surprised.
“I owe you too much,” they said truthfully. “It would be wrong of me to not pay it back,” they lied.
——
The trip back to Earth was quiet and incredibly dark. The only thing keeping it from feeling entirely suffocating was the glow emitted by Phos’s synthetic pearl eye.
Yellow and Tatsuya were dropped off first before the sunspot moved above the school to drop off Phos.
As soon as they landed, Tatsuya tossed their weapon aside and began walking towards the school.
“What’re you doing?” Yellow called after them. “This isn’t the plan!” They started following behind.
“Yellow,” Tatsuya said, looking back briefly. “I’m not going to fight.”
“That’s…good. That’s good I don’t want to fight either.”
“I mean,” Tatsuya amended. “That I’m not going back to the moon. I was only playing along so that I could get back here.”
“Why…” Yellow seemed confused more than anything. “Why’re you telling me this?”
“You said you didn’t want to fight Sensei,” Tatsuya said. “And I don’t want to fight Jun,” they added quietly. They were getting close to the school now.
“…Jun?”
Oh…they had messed up. “I mean Rutile.”
“You—!”
A surgical tool grazed Tatsuya’s cheek, stopping them in their tracks.
“I don’t wish to fight you, Padparascha,” a voice rang out from the school. “But I will defend this school and Sensei with my life.”
There stood Jun in the entrance of the school, messed up hair blowing faintly in the wind, aiming a chilling glare their way, grasping at a handful of surgical tools ready to throw.
Looking as beautiful as ever.
Tatsuya wanted to run over to them, embrace them and never let go ever again.
But that would be perceived as a threat.
So they raised their arms in surrender instead. “I didn’t come here to fight,” they said as calmly as they could. Tatsuya could hear a couple other gems approaching them from behind, but they didn’t dare look. “Phos took me to the moon unwillingly.”
Jun’s glare softened for a moment.
“I was only playing along in order to come back—“ Tatsuya became choked up on the last part, suddenly feeling flustered. “To…come back to you Jun.” They smiled warmly.
The surgical tools all clanked to the floor. “…Tatsuya,” Jun breathed.
“I remembered.”
Jun rushed at Tatsuya and held them in a tight embrace. Tatsuya held them back just as fiercely.
“Padpa– I mean Tatsuya!” Phos yelled as they ran from the school, several other gems chasing them. “Why aren’t you–?”
Tatsuya cut them off by kicking their torso in half. Tatsuya’s guess was right, their body was still made of brittle phosphophyllite, even if every other part of them was sturdier now.
They kneeled by Phos’s upper half, and Phos stared at them with wide eyes. “I apologize,” Tatsuya said. “I lied. At least partially.”
Phos’s mouth opened and closed as if they were grasping for words to say.
“I truly do appreciate that you’ve helped me make my body whole,” Tatsuya explained. “But I care too much for Jun to betray them for your sake.” With that they stood. “We need to take shelter in the school.” They made direct eye contact with Yellow. “The Lunarians are going to inevitably come to retrieve us.”
“We won’t let them take you,” Jun assured them.
“And I won’t go willingly if they try.”
Phos was taken back, as was Yellow.
——