Chapter Seven: What More Can I Possibly Do?

It was one thing to be a prisoner; captured against your will and not considered a threat to where you weren't even restrained. But then, someone had to come rescue you in exchanged for themselves. Once again, Tom felt like a failure of a father. He was suppose to protect Abigael from these gems. That's why he left the Great North and continued to move to as many place as he could. He should have known better. He should have known they would catch up to Abigael sooner or later.

He looked up at the moon lit sky. It was a full moon accompanied by smaller stars around it. It reminded him of the days when he and Abi would sit out at night to look at the black sky above. Whenever she was sad or if either one of them was having a bad day, they would go onto of a roof or lie in the grass just to see what was there.

To think that somewhere among those stars there is another world of intelligent life that Turquoise came from. Turquoise. Just the thought of Tom's second love's name brought a great pang of sadness to him, and it was made worse when he thought that his only daughter could be next. He fixed his sights to ground. The weight of loss laid so heavy on his chest that tears began to roll out his eyes.

Tom began to think back on how he meet Turquoise. He had recently got off of work and was on his way home. Because he stayed longer than scheduled, the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. He made an effort to move as quickly as he could to get to his house but was not in any hurry. Abigael was in good hands of one of the neighbors and was a good friend of Tom's. It wasn't until he was more than halfway to his house that a woman sitting on the ground caught his eye. She was still as a statue as she stared at the setting sun. She looked like she wearing some kind of long sleeved kurtis and skinny pants with light brown lines following were the seams would be and giving the outline for the design of the would be dress. Her "skin" was a lighter blue compared to her attire with her long hair having an opposite color palette oppes to her dress: brown with blue highlights. Curious to why anyone would be sitting out-alone no less-at this time of hour, he approached the strange woman and a wind began to pick up blowing her hair in its direction.

Just then, a shadow cloaked the man in darkness which interrupted his flashback. Annoyed, realizing who could have made the shadow, Tom whipped his face clean of any sign of sadness. He didn't want anyone to see him like that.

"Still awake, I see." It was Obsidian's voice. It was friendly and gentle, but Tom knew better to think it was anything but. "Well, since you are awake, you won't mind eating this with me."

Tom turned around to see Obsidian holding two bags of what could only be food. It was fresh and warm indicated by the smell of cooked meat. It wasn't from anywhere in Beach City based on the logo, but with her speed, it wasn't hard to believe Obsidian got it from any of the nearby towns.

Begrudgingly, he turned his body to face her and took a bag she gave him. She sat down in front of him and then took out a box from her bag. He did the same with his own and open his box to find a sandwich with sesame seeds on the bun. Lifting the top bun, he found that the sandwich consisted of well cooked meat, lettuce, tomato, pickles, three different sauces, but no onions. It was exactly how he liked it. With a scowl, Tom closed the box and put it back into the bag. He would eat it later.

Obsidian had already taken a bit of the sandwich and looked like she was enjoying it.

"Why are you doing this?" Tom said in a gruff voice. Obsidian stopped "eating" and looked at him, confused. "You don't need to eat. In fact, I don't think gem's can taste anything. So what do you have to gain from doing all of this."

Obsidian swallowed what she had in her mouth and smiled. "Oh Tom, does this infuriates you that much?" she said, lifting the sandwich when she said "this".

"There are a lot of things you have done to me and my family that is unforgivable. I want to know why you've gone this far. You took away the only mother Abigael has ever known, you turned her into-what ever she is now-, waited a few years just to kidnap me so you could get to her, and now this. Why!? Why can't you just leave her alone?"

Years of running, years of fearing what would happen if Abigael was taken, had boiled into rage as with each word that was being said. So many unanswered questions, some of his greatest heartaches and it was caused by her. But what could he do about it other than scream?

Obsidian's smile had faded as she listened to the man's rant. "To answer your first question: I thought that if I ate with you, we would be able to talk as equals. It's true, I get no benefits or disadvantages when I eat, but it makes me feel human. As for little Abi: I didn't "take" Turqouise by force as you would like to believe. I gave her a choice."

"But did you tell her what she was giving up!? Did you even know that if she went through with it, she would never see her daughter again? Be able to talk to her or hold her even!" It sounded selfish, but Tom didn't care. He was angry, and rightfully so. After losing his first wife to childbirth and another to Obsidian, he had all reason to be hateful towards the black gem.

Obsidian was quiet and calm giving Tom nothing more that a blank stare. The sandwich she had in her hand was placed in the box and was now getting cold. She look at the half eaten material and said, "You were right when you said that gems can't taste. We, as gems, could never comprehend the need to consume anything in order to produce energy. To create multiples of different products with different properties and quality of 'taste'. I could never understand that."

For a moment, she seemed sadden by her own statement. However, she changed her tone as she resumed. "But just as a gem can't understand taste, humans can never understand corruption." Tom was taken aback as she said the word "corruption". Obsidian continued. "Don't preach to me about being a human when you yourself have no idea what it's like to be a gem. Everything I did then was based on the will of Turquoise. Everything I'm doing now is for Abi. I took you, because I know she won't come with me willingly. The reason I let her go is because now she has a reason to get stronger; to train her powers. Unfortunately, she is training with humans. When she come back, I will show her how far just being a human will take her, and she will have no choice but to come with me. I made a promise, Tom, I plan to keep it."

In the background, behind Obsidian, there came sounds of agony that were slowly turning into grunts and growls. Obsidian turned around and sighed. "Excuse me." she said sounding polite and sarcastic. She got up and walked towards the sound as she took out her black flute from her gem. She began to play a soothing melody and as she did, the sounds became calm and quiet. The song continued to play, leaving Tom bye himself; speechless. Once again, he had failed to even stand up against this gem. What more can he possibly do?