Chapter 14: Escape
The sound of someone running jars my eyes open. I'm more than surprised to see a field of purple and turquoise in front of me, those colors belonging to none other than Phantom Fluorite. I'm further surprised to see their arms outstretched above us, and the axe stopped in mid air between their hands.
The air shimmers, like a net made of shining scales, opalescent and beautiful, holding back the axe like it's solid matter.
But I see Phantom straining to hold it back, like it's taking a physical toll on them. Why are they doing this? Why, when it's such a strain on them? Why, when it was going to keep them safe? Why?
Carnelian pulls back the axe and swings to the side, and Phantom catches that, too, the axe bouncing off shimmering air. She swings it around the other way, and Phantom barely manages to deflect that, but the third strike, another overhead, they nearly miss, and it drives them to their knees in front of me.
Carnelian starts to hammer down on Phantom, their net sparking with the effort of repelling it each time, their form collapsing on top of mine. I realize that I have to do something, or neither of us will survive this. As Carnelian pulls away for another devastating blow, I put my arms around Phantom and roll us out of the way, just in time for Carnelian's axe to implant half a foot into the floor.
I'm not sure what instinct drives me, but I know that now everyone will be attacking us, so I release Phantom and summon not one, but two swords, immediately redirecting myself back at our attackers. I'm not the most skilled, or even very elegant, but I'm fast and skilled enough to keep us alive.
Still, the five coming against me are almost overwhelming, until Phantom joins in again, shoving half of them away with a burst of invisible energy. The two left behind are so startled by the others' disappearance that I have ample time to slice through them. I'm prepared to charge after the others, but Phantom grabs my wrist and pulls me back.
"Run." They say, and pull me toward the exit. I only hesitate a moment before we're dashing down the hallways.
"What's the goal here?" I ask as we run.
"Live, of course!" Phantom answers simply, leading me along. A siren starts to wail and I feel a sense of familiarity. Have I done this before? Will it end any better this time?
"Sure, but how?"
"You escaped once, didn't you? We'll just do it again." If we weren't running, I get the feeling that Phantom would just shrug.
"Okay, but I don't exactly remember how I did that so if you're hoping I can get us out of here-"
"Oh no, I know the way, it's just- Ah!" They're cut off as we run across a group of Amethysts, weapons at the ready. Phantom pulls me down a new hallway, and the Amethysts chase after us, loud and raucous. "It's this way!" They say, but their confidence is gone. The Amethysts are fast, if chaotic, and Phantom is obviously exhausted. Where do I stand in all this, even as we're running for our lives?
There's no time to think, so I don't. I just pay attention to the Amethysts, and run where Phantom leads, ready to fight at any moment. I vowed to keep Phantom safe, didn't I? I'm not done yet. Somehow, we're not done yet. We manage to turn a couple corners quick enough that the Amethysts lose us, but for how long?
Phantom stops abruptly and we nearly run into a large set of closed doors. It looks familiar, but I can't place where I've seen it, and there's no time to ponder.
"No!" Phantom places a hand on the pad next to the doors, but it just honks at them, displaying a locked symbol. "I didn't look to see if it was locked!" They whirl around, apparently hearing the approaching soldiers, but I don't see or hear them yet.
"Can you pry the doors open? The way you pushed the Carnelians?" I ask, tightening my grip on the words.
"No- well.. I might be able to, but I don't know if we have the time.."
"I can take care of the time. I can hold them off long enough, I think." If only long enough for Phantom to get away. That's all that matters. I wonder if Phantom can read minds as well with the look they give me, questioning and hesitant, but they nod and with a grimace set their focus on the doors. There's no movement at first, but then the metal groans and fidgets in place, until the doors start to scrape open, the bottoms and tops sparking.
The progress is slow and loud, and I have no doubt that the Amethysts and whatever other gemcastes are on this ship can all hear it. Luckily the hallway only splits in two places, both just behind us. I take up my position just before the two paths converge, so hopefully I'll see them before they see me, and stand ready and waiting.
I hear them coming from the right before I see them. With a quick look over my shoulder to check on Phantom, I steel myself for the most maddening thing I've probably ever attempted. But Phantom's only opened the door so much, and it's not enough for even their thin form to shove through, nevermind my own, much wider form.
A herd of Amethysts with accompanying Rubies and the remaining Carnelians come barrelling into the hallway. Most of them fail to turn the corner, instead running right past, or seeing me and in an attempt to stop go skidding by. The ones who do manage to stop engage with me quickly.
In a matter of seconds, it's everything I can do to keep the half dozen gem warriors from dematerializing me, to just keep my swords in between myself and them. I quickly become grateful to the narrow hallways that allows at most four of them to converge at one time, even if it limits my own movements. Somehow I'm just slippery enough to keep them from pinning me in any way.
Still, it's a blinding blur of instinct, near-misses, near-hits, and fear. So much fear. Fear that I'll lose. Fear I'll miss, that someone will slip by me, that they'll get to Phantom, that I'll fail my promise, even if it's been a silent one. There's no words for all the terror of the moment that feels it could last a lifetime.
Except it ends. I've managed to take out the Rubies before they could fuse, and a couple of the Carnelians, but someone lands a punch to my face that sends me sprawling backwards. It hurts- stars does it hurt- but the lull won't last long. They're rabid, and I can't let my guard down, I've got to stop them, got to-
"Aaah!" I squeak as two hands on my shoulders pull me backwards. I flail my hands out, and get caught on the doors, just barely open enough for me to slip through, if I were to let go.
"Come on!" Phantom tugs, but I can't explain why I don't just let them pull me through. They pull again, glaring, "You damn fool, come on!"
Looking in front of me, I can see the remaining Amethysts and Carnelians coming for me. Part of me wants to stay and confront them, but Phantom's hands on my shoulders tugs at something nameless. It's a familiar feeling, but I can't remember where I've felt it before.
I drop my swords and let Phantom pull me through, though I have to twist to get my hips by, the two of us tumbling to the floor on the other side. The Amethysts and Carnelians collide into the doors, a couple of them dematerializing from the collision and the weight of their sisters behind them. I watch in bemusement as the rest claw and push and pry at the door, but it doesn't so much as wiggle. For Phantom, then, to have done what they can't..
"Get up, we've got to go before they realize they can open it." The gem in question rolls to their feet, though they're obviously more worn than before. Silently I follow them. I've got to see this through, after all.
"Oh!" I blurt, realizing where we are. It's the hangar. There's ships all around us, and not just escape pods. These are the kinds that are meant for long-distance, independent space travel, and can land safely on planets and planetoids without having to dock on a larger ship first. It makes sense that someone would lock the doors to this place.
"Yes, yes, come on, Sardonyx. There's not much time." Phantom looks back at me. I didn't realize I'd stopped. With an embarrassed frown I catch up to them. I'm not sure why they're being so patient with me, or why I'm so.. dazed and distracted. It's probably-
I almost let out a sob as the image of death replays in my mind, but I suppress it. There'll be time for that later. If there is a later. Later.
I hear a groan and a grunt and the sound of running- one of the Amethysts forced her way through the door, and is coming for us with her longsword drawn. I summon my own short sword with a snarl and charge at her as well. I hear Phantom briefly protest, but our swords are clashing before they can start and finish a sentence.
This Amethyst is brutal, but calculatingly so. She's much more experienced with fighting than I am, and without her sisters in the way and a narrow hallway to fight in, she's doing significantly better than I am. Where before I had people I could play off each other and tangle together, I am alone with her now, and it shows. She's bigger, she's more experienced, she's stronger, and the weapon she's using dwarfs me. The fact I'm holding my own at all is nothing short of a miracle, or she's just showing off. I'm not sure which option I'd prefer.
It must be showing off, I realize, as she ramps up her attacks such that I have no opportunity to do anything but defend. A rumbling calm flows through me- just put your sword in the way of hers- but it feels mostly like my mind is leaving my body. Everything is moving of its own accord. Is this instinct? Fear? Something else?
A different kind of rumbling interrupts the Amethysts attacks- Phantom must have started up the ship. She hesitates for just a second- but whatever's been driving me thrusts my sword through her chest, and her form disappears in a puff of glittering dust. Her gem- located on her hand- falls harmlessly to the ground with a soft clink.
I fall to my knees, exhausted. My whole body is shaking. What's happening?
"Sardonyx!" Phantom calls from the entry ramp of the ship. "Let's go." I just blink at them. Go? What, together?
Phantom answers the unspoken question by coming over and pulling me to my feet. They seem to notice my trembling hands, but they don't say anything about it, just push me up the ramp, into the ship.
"It's ready to go, so let's get ourselves gone!"
"Why?" My mouth says without me. "Why are you taking me with you?"
"What does it matter that I am? I am, and it's time to go!" They grumble. They sit me down in a chair and take their place at the console of the ship. The ramp closes and I feel our ship start to fight the artificial gravity inside the much larger cruiser. Phantom guides the ship back, out of its docking station, and then turns it to face the exit. I watch mutely as they fiddle with some screens on the console, unsure how they mean to proceed.
Suddenly they whip their head around to the back, face wide with panic. I turn my head to look as well, but the entry ramp is shut. I don't get to ask what's wrong before something runs into the back of the ship, jostling us. The other gems must've made their way through the door, then. I look back to Phantom, unsure what to do.
They look at me with their one, wide eye, then turn away with a determined grimace. They press a few buttons on the console, and I hear the whirling and firing of a turret and the front of the ship lights up with the light of an explosion before the ship is torn out into space. I shriek from the turbulence of the ejection, but it dies quickly in the emptiness.
"Ah. There we go." Phantom sighs. "Free at last!" They give a little smile, but it's directed out into space, so I wonder who they're talking for. I just nod, not sure what to say or how. Suddenly words seem so hard to form, to understand. How do I put thoughts into the context of language and then into sound? Everything is just a feeling, but perhaps even that much is an over exaggeration of what this is. I feel.. numb.
There's a banging at the back of the ship again, and Phantom turns their chair around slowly, looking between me and the closed exit ramp. I don't know what to do, so I opt to do nothing. Truthfully, it feels like that's the only thing I can do, so there's not very much choice in the matter.
"8NP is on the ship.." Phantom says, surprised. "How did she..?
The banging picks up, some part of the ship creaking, and Phantom stands nervously, ready to do something, but I don't know what. As they near the ramp, though, the banging stops, and the creaking intensifies. They look at me nervously, but I've no idea what to do still. I feel disconnected from everything. I should be scared. I should be angry. I should be doing something- but I can't seem to do anything at all.
Suddenly, the ramp is forced open, a little at first and then enough for an arm to reach through, the suction pulling at my hair. Sirens blare, the lights turn red and yellow, the ship trying to compensate for the depressurization and failing. The arm becomes a torso, and the furious eyes of the large Carnelian meet mine, almost shocking me back to reality and thought and action.
But it isn't until Phantom Fluorite is pulled to their knees by the suction and an inability to fight it that I'm really jarred back to my senses.
And suddenly my sword is drawn and buried in the flooring, and my other hand is around Phantom's, and it feels like everything I've ever known and cared for is being ripped away from me again by the gnawing, hungry emptiness and a snarling, clawing monster of a gem. I try to pull Phantom back, but the Carnelian has a hand around their ankle, trying to use their form like a length of rope. I can barely hold onto Phantom with her trying to steal them away, and I can feel our collective weight and struggles unbalancing my sword, hand and weapon both, and our fragile hold on the ship.
Phantom tries to kick the Carnelian off, but she only pulls on them all the more. If we pull any harder, Phantom will surely destabilize, and their gem will be lost to space. I can see it on their face that it hurts, that they're to their limit, but I can't let them go. I won't lose them, not after everything else!
They open their eye, looking at me just like they did when they asked me not to reveal their name. Desperate, afraid, and I'm somehow, wildly and incomprehensibly, their hope. 'Please don't let go' they seem to be saying. How can I refuse to try, seeing this?
So I pull with all my might, a vague plan forming in my mind. The Carnelian comes with, still latched firmly onto Phantom's ankle, but her hips get caught on the ramp's edge, its automatic processes trying to shut around her and failing, screaming. She lets go of Phantom with one hand to push it down, but it doesn't do her much good at all. It does make it easier to pull them up, though. I've almost got Phantom away from her, and from the dangers of open space.
"Phantom!" I yell over the torrential winds. They seem to hear me, so I continue, "Grab onto my shoulders!" They nod, and I heave them up, until they're close enough to loop their long arms around my neck. It's a strain on us both, and my sword cuts through the metal plating of the floor, bringing us closer back to Carnelian, but we manage it. Once my right hand is free, I summon a sword, and aim its point at Carnelian.
She realizes my gambit immediately, and tries to shrink down or move out of the way, but she's pinned too tightly by the ramp to go very far. Phantom understands as well, and does what little they can to keep still and out of the way, but it helps that they're very close.
The ship rumbles and Carnelian flinches, and I release my sword. With a shink my sword cuts through her head, and my sword and her dust and gem are swept out and away. The ramp closes angrily, and Phantom and I relax, all the pressure of space suddenly gone.
We're both shaking terribly, just lying on the floor as the ship hurtles away, off to wherever. I let my sword disappear in a small flash of light and a ping from above my head, and bring my stretched and sore arm back down. Without thinking, I put my hands around Phantom, glad to have them safely inside with me, but they flinch and go stiff, no longer trembling.
"I'm sorry!" I sit up, remembering- or realizing?- that I've never made so much form-to-form contact with them before, and that they probably don't like it. How many times have they shied away from me before? I try to push away, to give them their space but their arms remain latched around my neck.
"N-no, don't. D-don't let go. Not yet. I- I just- I can't stand up y-yet." They stutter.
"Okay. I won't let go." It's a strange request, but it's a simple one. Truth be told, it's nice to be this close to someone after something as terrifying as the previous moments were. And after-
It hits me again. My sister is dead, and I couldn't save her. All my sisters are dead, and there was nothing I could ever do about it. I can suddenly remember exactly how it happened, how she looked, the way she pull against the chains that kept her on her knees- everything. The tears on her face, the way the galaxy-shaped freckles warped, the way she looked directly at the camera, looking at me- everything.