Summary: Phosphophyllite and Cinnabar wonder if they will ever be able to touch one other… or is their wish only dust?

A Word on Pronouns: The Lustrous are nonbinary (they lack gender). Any characteristics they have known to us as "male" or "female" are completely arbitrary and coincidental. That being said, I'm going to refrain from using they/them/theirs pronouns for the Lustrous and instead use she/her/hers. My reason is: Land of the Lustrous is a deeply philosophical series primarily influenced by Buddhism. Mindfulness during yogic meditation is important to the daily rituals of Buddhists, and the pronouns she/her/hers are used to address yogi (students of yoga). This is reasoned to be more inclusive of all people, given the flexible properties of the female mind, and since every person started as female in the womb. Thus, referring to each one's "femininity" is meant to remind philosophers, psychologists, and yogi of the idea that we are all equal in birth, and therefore in mind. It seems fitting to think of the Lustrous as extensions of this yogic influence, given how the series seems to be a metaphysical study about what constitutes a human versus a Lustrous, Lunarian, or Admirabilis, which is why I have chosen to use female pronouns. The Lustrous themselves are not canonically gendered in any aspect and should not be thought of as such. Please think of them as a reflection of the self in its most basic form.

Moondust

Rock chinked against rock as a jeweled head lifted, and stony crimson eyes gazed out to sea. Liquid globs of silver oscillated in the air around the lone figure on the empty seashore – but no, it wasn't silver, much to the gem's chagrin. The clouds cleared, giving way to the luminescent moon creating a turquoise halo in the sky, and liquescent crimson hair slid across smooth broad shoulders.

The red gem's hard countenance set back to the ground as heels crunched from the white sand onto patches of dead grass. Wide, open plains passed on either side, those of which the gem had seen a million times. Every now and then, she heard the silvery conversations of the creatures scuttling around her, gawking. Perhaps they whispered about her as the other gems did.

Green grass swayed gently underneath the light of the moon, casting an unearthly sheen. In the distance, tall cliffs extended far into the sky.

No matter how many times that annoying young gem promised otherwise, she knew the truth. She would never be free from this loneliness. It had always followed her, this sense of decay.

Cinnabar sunk down into her position in the cave, beside the moon once again. Resting her head in her lap, stony eyelids slid over those fiery-crimson eyes, overlain with sadness.

That idiot has no idea what she's talking about. Centuries have passed and nothing's changed. Her fingers tightened.

Stupid… stupid…!

Alone in the darkness, she began to dream…

Mint green eyes blinked back at her. Once full of charming naïveté, the eyes staring back at her now were desolate, weighed down by new minerals and years on the battlefield.

They were eyes that reminded her too much of her own.

The other gem looked perplexed by Cinnabar's previous questions: "What happened to 'fun'? Those were… your words, weren't they?"

Phosphophyllite said nothing.

And then she was alone again, in the room she once called home. Dead plants dyed in red-black gunk were covered in heaps of silvery poison that lined the floor and walls. Master Kongo had put them there in hopes of easing her weary soul, but her graceless control over the poison only served to drive her closer to the edge and the others away. She could never cleanse herself of the death that she constantly wreaked – ablution of that caliber wasn't meant for those left forsaken on earth, just waiting to be shattered and stolen away to the sky.

The image of poison stained around the bottom of Phos' eyes, across her legs, torso, shattered arms, and subdued gaze arose. She sat where mercury oozed down the hillside. If Cinnabar had been any slower, the young gem would have been taken into the sky, never to be seen again. It wasn't until the last few decades that Phosphophyllite cared at all for the loneliness surrounding the only other more useless gem… How had Phos been so unchanged despite her uselessness and the others' deprecation?

Could it be, that sense of loneliness followed her too –?

No, impossible. There was no use in such thoughts, not when she had seen what Phos had already become…

~ . . . ~

The bench outside of Rutile's workshop didn't make for a very comfortable bed, but it wasn't as though sleeping in her own room would garner more success. Slowly, Phos' eyes slid open. Can't sleep…

Honing in on the space around her, she saw gold coalescing into a puddle on the ground off either side of the bench. Phos gathered the dripping alloy into the shape of her arms and forced herself up, sluggish in her mental effort. The shiny turquoise moon shone on the water of the pond where jellyfish resided. It must have been past midnight by now.

Phos stood on tall, golden heels, and stepped to the edge of the pond. Heartless eyes glowered up at the sky.

Visions of Antarcticite were far tonight – but the thought only made Phos weary. The only comfort was in knowing Antarcticite was nearby, however real or fake the visions might be. But tonight there was nothing.

Only the island, illuminated by the omnipresent, turquoise moon…

Cinnabar…

Ah, so it was a different vision that night.

Gold scraped against the rare material that remained as her head as she clutched her hair with both hands. You aren't the only person I haven't kept my promise to… I'm sorry, Cinnabar…

Falling back against the bench, gradually, so as not to break, Phos attempted to elude the darkness – stifling thoughts of shattered gems, of gems screaming. Phos' mind slinked into the shadows.

I'm sorry, she kept saying. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…

The young gem stayed that way, trying to calm the thoughts swirling inside her until alloy seeped from her eyes and trailed down onto the concrete ground.

~ . . . ~

Balled up helplessly before her in the room weeping with poison and despair was Cinnabar. The lonely figure spun to face the standing gem.

"What are you doing here?" Mercury oozed from the corners of Cinnabar's eyes, directed accusatorily at the younger gem.

Phos took a step forward – realizing that she wasn't quite as tall as before. On the edge of her vision, she could see long bangs swishing forward. She no longer possessed the speed nor power of her current body, and almost didn't notice that her motion caused Cinnabar to cringe back. Phos hesitated, but then the soles of her shoes touched the mercury, and she felt no pain – nothing, but a sense of longing.

"Wh-what are you doing?" demanded Cinnabar, moving back on her hands and feet. It wasn't far enough to ward off Phos though. Crouching to Cinnabar's height, Phos reached out both hands, fingers outstretched. She wanted to touch the red gem, but Cinnabar wouldn't allow it. Scuttling back on all fours, Cinnabar kept both arms drawn in, afraid.

After only a moment of comprehension, eyes wide, Phos shimmied forward and tried again. She took hold of Cinnabar's wrists.

"Hey –!" Expecting Phos to retreat with a cry of pain, Cinnabar tried to push her back, but there was no such thing. Unlike when the other gems brushed against her before, there was only wonder in Phos' eyes as she studied Cinnabar's red nails and slender arms. The closeness of another gem was something Cinnabar was unaccustomed to, and Cinnabar was going to ask how it could be possible that Phos was unharmed – until she understood.

"This is a dream…" she mouthed, watching the other gem in fascination.

After a moment, Phos paused. She nodded slowly. "I guess so."

Cinnabar couldn't bear these feelings going unnoticed, but the surreality of their current situation would only make it more painful.

~ . . . ~

The gem gasped as she came to, breathing hard from the shock, being absent in the way of lungs.

Ocean waves behind her. Moonlight. Oscillating mercury…

Cinnabar turned to look toward the other side of the island.

On the first floor of the school, Phos did the same.

It had been a dream. And yet… it felt so real.

After listening to the waves crashing against the cliffside for a time – and the water of the pond lapping against the school – stony eyelids closed again. Both surrendered to the images that soon followed…

~ . . . ~

The space was dark, but tentatively warm. Phos was there, though Cinnabar only knew because she felt a presence behind her – welcoming, and soft.

But she could not turn, for that would break the spell. She could only stand there, entrusting Phos to her back.

A beat passed. Gilded arms reached out in the darkness, blind. Upon coming into contact, the crimson-colored gem flinched. Cinnabar quickly realized her body was bare, even the guise of white powder gone. When Cinnabar looked down at herself and paused, Phos did the same, and found her body sparkling in bright, mint-green.

There was nothing to hide from each other.

In spite of the darkness, Phos could see Cinnabar clearly. Light refracted from some unknown source within, for Cinnabar's surface was a dazzling scarlet-charcoal: cinnabar intermixed with cubular shards of mercury, pores carrying silvery poison. Hands on Cinnabar's mid-back, Phos cast aside all thoughts of treading carefully. She wanted to feel Cinnabar in her entirety, even if it meant sacrificing more parts of her body. The closeness of the other gem made Cinnabar's inclusions ignite, alive, wishing to couple – but then Phos pulled briefly away, feeling a difference in her alloy arms.

When the alloy made contact with the mercury, it mixed and solidified, forming a new compound on Phos' golden arms – bits of material that was sickly bronze in color, and unable to be manipulated. Glancing back, Cinnabar saw what she had done and backed away, too ashamed of the now-solid pieces congealed on Phos' hands to take in her brilliant mint-green luster. Phos grabbed her arm before she could run away, and Cinnabar flinched again, feeling the fragility of her arm – it fractured slightly from the quick motion.

"Wait, I won't chip you," Phos assured, as if that's what Cinnabar was worried about.

Cinnabar looked at Phos' pearly and iridescent legs and avoided her, not understanding how she was so unfazed by the alloy now mixed with poison. Phos drew her closer, forcing Cinnabar to look up. Suddenly, Phos' hands were on her shoulders, and Cinnabar held her breath. Gently, Phos pushed her down. Cinnabar could hardly move with Phos' weight on top of her. Those slithering golden arms and hard agate legs pinned her against the floor. Cinnabar's eyes widened. She felt her torso fissure from the pressure, being of lower hardness. Her inclusions squirmed more than ever.

Phos was surprised by her actions as well. She wasn't sure what she was doing… and yet, she didn't question it. Dark spots appeared on Phos' surface where Cinnabar's body rubbed against her, but Phos didn't seem to mind at all. Beneath her hold, small sensations had already made Cinnabar crazy, her inclusions alight with shock and delight. Slowly, Cinnabar turned over, baring her back to the other gem once again. Phos' arms found their way to Cinnabar's shoulders, fingers kneading beneath long hair to reach her lower neck. Deft fingers trailed down where a spine would be if Cinnabar was flesh – to gems, it was a sensation of smoothing out, a massage that heightened the inclusions within them, scattering them and waking them up, no one place more sensitive than the rest, but a cascade of pleasure the more contact there was. Cinnabar cringed every time she felt mercury mix with alloy, but Phos seemed to give no obvious reaction. She took Cinnabar by the shoulder and turned her over again.

Both surprised at the closeness of their faces, Phos pressed even closer. It was awkward and clinky; dark splashes of mercury colored the gem's cheeks and lips, scraping slightly, causing Cinnabar to jolt, but neither pulled away. Phos was more careful this time as she angled her neck.

The longer they touched, the less Phos' beautiful mint color remained visible, and the more phosphophyllite congealed into a dark copper. Alloy hardened to be useless, fracturing the glued-together pieces of her body, pearl and agate obscured – yet it was all Phos could do to stop.

Finally, Cinnabar stopped fighting herself, and wrapped her arms around the gem above her. She held Phos close as she dragged her hands down Phos' back and shoulders, coating her in dark poison. Their bodies linked and their faces rubbed, and Phos was sure to take care in her movements so as not to shatter the gem below her, though the presence of their close bodies only rendered her inclusions desiring more, and she was already breaking apart herself.

"I won't stop searching for a job for you," she said, sitting up on both arms as she looked down at Cinnabar – her arms could hardly bear her weight. Her body crumbled above the brittle gem with every word.

The ghost of a smile played across Cinnabar's crimson lips. Phos was so covered in dark spots now that it nearly completely concealed any view of her former color. Cinnabar bowed her head sadly, and Phos thought it strange they were now bathed in moonlight. Unable to question it before the memory skewed, coming to an abrupt end, all she remembered was Cinnabar's final whisper, ephemeral.

"Look at you. You're a wreck."

~ . . . ~

Stony eyes opened again.

This time, one white, and one blue.

Home was far, far away now…

Surrounded by stars, phantoms, and moondust, she regarded the blue celestial sphere millions of miles in the spacey distance below.

"Well? Are you ready?" came the cool voice of the Lunarian prince.

On one pearly heel, Phos turned back toward the platform ready to bring her back to the place she once thought of as her home. The sides of the platform closed like a large parachute overhead, blocking out all light, and the corners of her lips tightened.

It was hard to tell dream from reality.

I've suddenly become passionate about a new series. Wow! It's been years since that happened. This is a very experimental piece for me that I used to take a short break from my other on-going fics. I know this fandom is really small as of right now, but I really hope to write more random ideas/one-shots for Land of the Lustrous (probably under this story).

I hope you'll leave your opinion below!