The pain shot through me like no other, inch by agonizing inch I crawled towards the ship, the pain in my side felt like I was constantly being stabbed. I paid no attention to the blood I was trailing; it was no longer important to me. I finally reached the ship, I scanned it's small interior until I found the panel that seemed like the controls. I hoisted myself up and tried to activate the panel but there was no response, I tried a couple more times out of desperation but there was nothing.

"Please, no." I grunted through the pain

I softly slid to the ground, clutching onto Sarah's gem. Was all this for nothing?

From a distance I heard the sound of cracking and then footsteps, their echoes coming closer and closer. I tried to reach for my weapon, but I realized I had discarded it after the fight. With each agonizing breath the footsteps got closer and closer, I shut my eyes to avoid what came next. When the footsteps stopped, I waited, there was nothing.

I opened my eyes again, there was no troop of guards, no giant gem to take me back, instead leaning against the ship's doorway was the mossy green gem from before, with a wicked grin spread across her lips.

"So, this is the emergency, that 7KB told me about." She said studying me

I said nothing, my labored breathing filling the silence

"To think a human and a peridot could shatter a quartz soldier." She said adjusting herself

I looked at her confused, before I could even say anything, she tossed a shattered gem into the room, it clanked against the cold metaling floor and scattered. It was colored like that lime green gem from before, my eyes widened.

"I don't understand." I said slowly

"Tell me human, which sounds better, killing you and returning the gem for partial credit with SV64?" she said coming closer to me

I sat deeper into the corner as she came face to face with me

"Or letting you escape, and turning in SV64 for her failure of leadership, prisoner management, and reckless use of infantry?" She said with a smile

I stared at her in disbelief, she didn't let me respond as she walked back to the door and activated a panel, she fiddled around with the controls and the ship came to life. Before she left out the door, she stopped and turned to me

"Don't stray too far human, when SV64 is executed I'll return for you and that gem, Dead or alive." She said with a smile

As she stepped off the ship the door shut behind her and we took off, the shuttle shaking and rattling as stars passed us by. I sat up and looked solemnly down onto Sarah's gem, but I knew that what I was holding just wasn't the girl I carried in my arms so long ago. A small pool of blood started to form underneath me, and the ship rattled harder and harder, my eyes getting heavier and heavier until I could no longer keep them open.

My eyes began to blur and when I opened them, I was no longer on a cold metallic spaceship, I was sitting on a small hill underneath an old pine tree. The air was crisp and warm, I could hear the sound of birdsong in the distance as I stood up. Beside the hill sat a cramped dirt road with a small stone wall to mark the borders of the farm, I followed the familiar wall until my old family farmhouse came into view.

I stopped near the driveway and examined my once old childhood home, but the figure sitting on the porch steps drew my attention more. I silently walked closer, and saw my father, his skinny appearance a dead giveaway

"You never were a talker, where you kiddo?" He said with his voice as smooth as sandpaper

"I don't understand." I said quietly down to him

"I think you understand quite well." He said rubbing his chin

"So, what? I'm just gone?" I said sadly to him

"Who said that? You really like jumping to conclusions son." He stood up and stretched

Before I could question him further, he slowly pulled me into a hug and patted my back

"We both know you didn't come here looking for me, you've came for Sarah." He said pulling back

"She's here?" I said to him quietly, he smiled in response

"She never left." He said with a smile and walked back into the house

I tried to follow after him but when I opened the farmhouse door, it led me into my kitchen. Snow billowed in from the open back door, and a box sat on the kitchen counter. I pulled out the VHS of Sarah's party, put it into the player in the living room and pressed the button.

- PLAY -

The screen was black, I tried messing with the tv but to no use. I looked up and the snow in my kitchen was gone and the door was closed. I got up and looked out of it, surprised to find that it was now a summer day and the party was out in the backyard, the guests stood around frozen like statues. I walked around the party, noting the guests that I could remember but at the same time I could not find my family anywhere.

My eyes caught the sight of and old swing set that we got rid of when Sarah turned fourteen, I could not explain it, but it beckoned for me to come closer. I sat down and watched the party from a distance, trying to figure out what this all meant.

"Sad people shouldn't swing alone." Came a gentle voice to my side

Sitting on the free swing to my side was Sarah, she was gently rocking back and forth on the swing. I sat there trying to gather my thoughts.

"There's so much I need to tell you, I- " I said softly before I was cut off

"I already know, dad." She said with a smile as she swung back and forth

"I tried to replace you, I'm so sorry. When you died everything was gone for me, I couldn't face the world in your shadow". I said solemnly

"Everything?" She said questionably

She was right and I knew it, I let my sadness lead my life and shut myself out of the world. I looked over to her but the sight of the small inflatable pool overflowing and flooding the back yard caught my attention. I stood up but the water was rising to quickly, it was already up to my waist, we needed to get out of here. I looked over to Sarah, but she was already standing up and her arms were outstretched in a hug

"Hold me Dad, I'm scared that when you wake up, all I will be is just another Sad and painful memory. I don't want you to be alone." She said with tears in her eyes

I ignored the rushing water and held my daughter one last time. Even as the water went over our heads, I could still feel her warmth even when water started entering my lungs.

I sputtered out sea water as I opened my eyes. The ship had wrecked and was gaining water quickly, I looked around and plucked the sea glass gem from the water and crawled to a broken opening in the hull. I landed with a dull thud onto the sand below, my eyes blurry, I looked up to the sky above, it was real. The sound of my heavy breathing mixing with the sound of the burning ship and, screams? I held the gem up to my face and smiled to myself seeing as there was no damage.

The sky grew dim as shapes crowded around me. With a smile I thought to myself

everything that I have been given

Is what I deserved

Authors Note: Thanks for reading my first Fanfic, I've had a couple in the works but this one alone took me two years to make. (I procrastinate too much)

Please, feel free to leave a review. I always appreciate feedback, even if it just says my story sucks.

Hope you enjoyed it and I wish you all well in this soon to be new year!