Despite her young age, Phos was certain this was and would remain one of the worst days of her life. Oh, it hadn't started off so terribly. In fact, she had been hopeful! Sensei had asked to see her, clearly having understood the depth of her strength and power. But no, her pleading was denied yet again, and yet again she felt like a waste of space. Then, getting broken, rebuilt, and nearly broken again. Already then, she knew it was not going to be a good day.

If it had only stayed at that. Hours of sitting around, not knowing what to do, and even more hours of searching for Cinnabar once she decided that's who she was going to to for help. Even then, if she had found Cinnabar, gotten her to help out, and finished the damn encyclopedia so she could move on to greater things, she might have been satisfied. She would have been happy with such a day.

Unfortunately for her, the worst was yet to come. Tripping over rocks and breaking her legs apart, only to find the rocks were actually a metal person, now that was something new. This was going to be her great discovery, which would convince Sensei to let her fight and everyone to respect her. The metal person even agreed to be her helper, saying he was honoured! His voice was a little scary, and for a second she was worried he might crack her with his voice, just like sensei, but she was still happy. He clearly had a good eye, since he noticed her incredible potential. That must have been it, surely! This was going to be a good day after all!

Then she tripped again, over a sleeping Cinnabar this time, and cracked both their legs to the point of almost breaking. She wasn't doing it on purpose, really! It was just that, when excited, she found it hard to focus on other things. Some called her clumsy. Others an airhead. But in truth, the best description would be to call her a little too singleminded.

Oh well, these things happen, she thought. She would still make a great discovery, and Cinnabar could even help out. Low-hardness gems were supposed to help eachother out, weren't they? Things would be fine. Things were fine.

That is, until the metal person screamed at them to look up at the sky, and she saw a Lunarian sunspot appear. Fear quickly filled her, and she looked at Cinnabar, who said something, seemeingly only a little less scared. The words barely reached her ears. She felt like she was drowning, unable to breathe or think. She herself said something else, probably something stupid, and she hoped she didn't sound as scared as she sounded. Babbling and babbling, until she heard Cinnabar speak again, this time clearly.

"...If it comes to it, I'll sacrifice myself"

"NO!"

"NO!"

She immediately screamed out, and the metal person from earlier did the same. She wouldn't let Cinnabar sacrifice herself, no matter what! Perhaps they might not be the best of friends, and Cinnabar might be doing a job no one else really cares about, but that didn't matter. If anything, she should be the one going. That Phos, the youngest one, she would surely be missed the least out of all the gems. Before she had a chance to speak, however, Cinnabar cut her off.

"If I draw attention to myself then you have a chance! You, with your green colour, can hide in the grass, and hopefully they won't be able to notice you!" She desperately pleaded. "I am the eldest. You're only three hundred years old, and he's barely a newborn! I won't let either of you go for me!".

But Cinnabar, you sound so scared too. Just like me. I can see that you're trembling, and your eyes are darting back and forth, and you're panicked and scared of getting taken away. Just like me. But unlike me, you're putting on a brave face for our sake. I'm sorry, just please don't go away. I don't want you to go. I want you to stay. I will -

A missile shot past her, just barely missing her head, but piercing her mind all the same. She didn't want to go either. Even if it meant sacrificing someone else, she was so scared, filled with terror, frozen with dread, at the thought of going away. Cinnabar had already risen to her feet, so she should rise too. I should stand with her, she thought. But her body didn't listen, and so she remained there, in the grass, shaking. She was scared, yes, but in the back of her head, in the deepest parts of her mind, she was relieved, that she wouldn't have to go, and this made her ashamed beyond any words.

From where Phos was laying, she could only faintly make out what happened next. Arrows flew across the sky above her, landing all around in the field of grass, some dangerously close to hitting her. Soon, shards of Cinnabar appeared alongside them, scattered into the air and brought down just as quick. She caught a glance of the worst of it, Cinnabar, with her back turned, missing the majority of her body, barely hanging on. Phos closed her eyes after that. She could still hear high-pitched whistle of the arrows, the unbearable noise of their arrowhead as they crashed into Cinnabar's body, and the soft, sad thuds of her pieces hitting the grass and ground.

It seemed like the barrage would never end, that she would be stuck here forever, always scared and always grieving. But then it did. No more sounds came, except for the gentle sound of Cinnabar's pieces cracking off her body and falling to the ground. Even if the Lunarians were to go disappear, she would still collapse completely at any moment, crumble to dust. Phos opened her eyes, silently hoping that everything would melt away, a bad dream, a nightmare which she could wake up from. As soon as she opened her eyes, however, the nightmare was real.

"So this is how it ends, huh?"

Cinnabar's head flew off her body, which crumbled, both from the damage and the loss of a will forcing it to stand. Phos saw her eyes close while she briefly flew through the air, and then her head itself shattered, large chunks scattered around her broken body.

This...This was the worst day in her life, and would surely remain so for the rest of her days


SAVE HER SAVE HER SAVE HER

His body wasn't responding. He couldn't move, he couldn't help. All the sword could do was watch as she was pummeled by arrows coming from the sky.

SAVE HER SAVE HER

He had to save her. No matter if it took his life, he just had to do something. Something inside him was awoken. There was a dull pain, vague memories of a red-hot steel rod pushed into his spine. It didn't matter. As long as he could save someone, he didn't care what kind of pain he went through. In his mind there was static. It buzzed and hummed. Innumerable blades pierced his mind and flesh, and went even deeper. There was something wrong with his soul. There weren't supposed to be swords inside his soul. Was there? He was losing something. Something important. It didn't matter. He would lose anything, if only others wouldn't lose theirs. He could feel SWORD.

That's right. That's what I am. I am a sword. I have to, I must, I will-

He saw her head fall to the ground. Her legs and torso collapsed soon after.

SAVE HER

A very loud noise drew the attention of everyone in the area. Both Phos and, surprisingly, the Lunarians momentarily shifted their attention to its source. The lump of metal from earlier, dismissed as some passing curiosity, or perhaps never noticed at all, was standing. Strong, tall, it gave the appearance of someone ready to spring into action, but there was also something wrong. Its steely, metallic surface was pulsating. Small ripples at first, which quickly became violent thrashing. There were…Swords, coming out of it. It looked like someone had stabbed it with thousands of blades from the inside. Jutting out at odd angles, blades of all shapes and sizes seemed to appear inside the metal thing.

Arrows were fired. Warning shots, perhaps, or maybe an attempt to test the waters. They flew true, straight to their target. None penetrated the metal, and merely broke or bounced off upon contact. Worry began to appear within the minds of the Lunarian warriors. Living metal was uncommon. Living gems, yes, but metal? Then, it came to them. Some began to realise, and began moving quickly to collect the pieces of Cinnabar which lay upon the ground. Could this really be? Was this thing another broken machi-

The Lunarians which moved to collect the pieces of Cinnabar were skewered by countless swords, turning to a thin mist upon their "deaths". The lump of metal raised its arm, and yet more nameless swords appeared in the air behind it. Aimed at the enemies still high up in the air, another volley of swords followed. Large numbers of the invading fleet, if one could call it that, were quickly culled. It was as if the amount of blades was endless. Limitless. Unlimited.

A swift decision to retreat was made, and as it had arrived, so left the strange air-ship of the Lunarians. Its colour drained completely, turning into an inky black, and it repeated the series of complex shapes, growing smaller with each one. Not for a moment did the storm of swords stop, and more Lunarians disappeared without a trace. Only when the ship was gone for good, as if sinking into the sun, did he let go. His consciousness was leaving him, along with a good portion of his memories. It didn't matter. He had saved someone. So immensely happy was he, that even as he crumpled onto the coarse sand beneath him, he smiled.

"I just hope that she's okay," he thought, and darkness overtook him.

Across the former battlefield, endless swords were embedded deep into the ground all around. The dirt had been pulled up completely from the force of their strikes, and the scene resmbled th aftermath of some bombing, rather than a battle of swords and arrows. Some of the trees in the distance, lonely and small, were missing branches, and some were even cleaved in two, or had swords embedded deep into their trunks. Slowly, the blades disappeared. In a way not dissimilar to the Lunarians, they vanished, momentarily leaving faint blue particles in their wake, before those too vanished, and no trace of what had caused the damage could be seen.

The swords inside the lump of metal faded too, receding and leaving him as if nothing had happened. He slept there, with a smile on his face, like a happy child basking in the sun. Phos stood over him, looking like someone about to cry, a stark contrast to his elated expression. Her mind was resolute, she had to make it all up to him, and maybe instead of him being her helper, she could be his. He was clearly more fit on the battlefield then her. She silently thanked him, more sincere and mindful than she remembered being in the past hundred years. Really, just what had she been doing all tihs time? Was this how the others felt every time the Lunarians came? It was absurd, all of it.

"I have to change"

She turned to Cinnabar. Someone would have to carry the pieces to Rutile, and she would have to thank her too. Cinnabar had sacrificed herself for her, and so she deserved as much praise as the metal person.

...

She didn't even know his name, she realised. Someone who she had never met, someone whose name she didn't even know, had saved her from being taken to the moon, maybe forever. Phos sat down by the edge of the grass, conflicting emotions raging inside her. Above all, she was grateful. Grateful that she was still here, and grateful to those who saved her. She decided to hold onto this sense of gratitude, and it masked the fear that was still etched into her body well. She wasn't even shaking anymore when the others, Bort and Dia, quickly followed by the rest of the patrols, arrived. Today had been the worst day of her life, and would remain so. She knew that very well.

But it could have gone worse.


Author's Note:

Took a little longer than I wanted, since I'm not sure how to write action yet. Please do tell if you liked/dislike it. I'll also expand on Phos's reaction to the fight, which some might view it as OOC. While we don't really see Phos become traumatised by battle, nor do we really see any serious fear while faced with Lunarians, we do see that Phos is very emotional and expressive, especially this early on. So, I decided I'd add a little bit about her feeling. I mean, cut her some slack, this is her first battle in the three hundred years she's lived, and a "friend" sacrifices herself during it. Hope you can see this as an extension of her character, rather than trying to make her some kind of OC. If you have any criticism about this, or other things, feel free to review or pm.

Anyway, next chapter should come out fairly faster, so look forward to that. Thank you for reading, see you next time