A/N: There is alcohol involved in this chapter! Caution if you are sensitive to that kind of stuff. Thanks!
In the morning, Amber walked back into the house. Her tinkering was successful and she had fixed the blender. She placed it on the counter and found an outlet. When it turned on, it woke up the whole house, the caretaker leaving his room to check out the noise.
Minutes later, Luca arrived groggily in the kitchen, "Amber it's five thirty in the morning!"
"I fixed the blender," the tan gem replied snootily.
"I can see that, but why are you turning it on now?" Luca yawned, "School doesn't start till nine."
"I just wanted to see if it worked or not…" Amber said, "Why do you need to sleep?"
"Thanks for fixing the blender, Amber," the caretaker smiled making the gem blush bright blue.
"I am going to make breakfast for you," the tan gem decided.
She was about to put a hamburger bun in, but Luca stopped her, "That is bread, you never put bread in smoothies."
"I knew that!" Amber responded, grabbing a slice of bread from the fridge.
"That is bread too…" Luca frowned, "Here, let me show you the types of food in the fridge. This is meat, bread, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, milk, water, and orange juice."
"Oh, for a smoothie I need orange juice, yogurt, and fruits…" Amber thought out loud.
"Yes, I think you got this," Luca smiled, "We are going back to bed, let us know when breakfast is ready."
"Okay," Amber said as the guys walked back to their rooms.
An hour later, Amber had made a pinkish smoothie. She proportioned it so that the caretaker had the most and Luca the least.
"Breakfast is ready!" she called out.
Luca and his uncle sat at the table and drank their smoothies. The caretaker smiled after he took the first sip, but Luca spat his out. Amber tilted her head; did the "special ingredient" work? Once again, the one-armed boy wiped his mouth and took another sip.
"I poisoned his drink," Amber whispered into the caretaker's ear as his eyes widened, "He is going to have digestive system problems."
"No, you can't do this, he is family," the uncle frowned at her, causing the gem to wince, "Luca, stop drinking the smoothie."
The one-armed boy put down the glass, "What's wrong with my drink?"
"It's got some weird ingredient in it," the uncle narrowed his eyes at Amber, "What did you put in it?"
"I put in this…" the tan gem brought a tall bottle with clear liquid in it.
"Alcohol?" Luca hiccupped, "I can't get drunk, I'm a minor."
"Amber!" the caretaker said sharply, making the gem suddenly down the whole bottle.
"Sorry- hic, now we are even, right caretaker?" the tan gem struggling to stay balanced.
"You know what?" the uncle said angrily, "I am making you stay home today!"
Amber ran outside far away from the caretaker until she couldn't see him anymore. She crawled into a cave and through to its deepest tunnel. The tan gem had hurt the only thing she cared for at the moment and it made her feel small. He had done so much for her and here she was ruining his kindness. Hours passed by, Luca was bound to be home from work by now, but Amber didn't want to talk to him. Clouds had started to cover the sky by the time she heard approaching footsteps. As rain started to pour, she couldn't understand why all of these feelings floated into her head. They mixed, positive with negative, things she had never experienced before. Perhaps it was the human substance, or maybe it was just her thinking too much about it. Rain had soaked her body, turning it into a dripping dark orange as the footsteps came closer. The one-armed boy sat in front of the tunnel.
"What's got you so upset?" Luca asked, "Was it my uncle's anger? Did I do something?"
"No…" Amber put her hands to her face, "I just want to get home, back to Yellow Diamond but she won't take me back. She tried to kill me and called me a failure, but I still want to be with her."
"That's not a good idea to still like her after all she did to you," Luca placed his hand on the cool rock, "Amber, you are worth much more than you think. I just don't know what you are trying to prove by attacking me."
"You cracked my gem…" Amber frowned, lightly stroking her core; "I need this to be whole so that I can have my full strength back. I guess I just wanted to get revenge on you…"
"I am sorry that I broke something precious to you. We had a misunderstanding and I get that, you are from another planet and didn't know where you were," Luca noticed the gem getting slightly closer to him as the rain thinned out, "The least I could have done was negotiate."
Amber crawled out of the tunnel she was in and sat next to Luca, he was soaking wet. The one-armed boy got a good look at her face; cheeks flushed blue and tears streaming slowly. She leaned onto his right side and felt herself being held by his strong arm.
"How about we go back home, my uncle is worried about you," Luca stood up, but slouched.
"I can't the weather is strange…" Amber had never seen rain, but she didn't seem willing to find out what it was.
"It's just a little rain, it's not toxic at all," Luca smiled, "See?"
Amber tried to stop him from walking into the rain, but noticed that Luca wasn't getting melted at all. She followed him into the pouring rain and the two walked back to the house. Luca opened the doors to where the caretaker sat on the couch, watching some strange show.
Amber walked in soaking wet and stood by his side, "I am sorry for what I did earlier, it was wrong of me…"
The uncle stood up and wrapped his hands around the small gem, "Don't ever scare me like that again, I care about you too much…"
"I won't," the gem promised embracing the caretaker with her wet body.
Luca smiled, even though he was soaking wet, he was glad things worked out the way they did. However, one thing stuck out to him from earlier in school, Alex had asked him whether or not Amber was human. He said that she wasn't however, now he was regretting giving up the information. The gem hiccupped, but the uncle patted her back. Luca wondered how it felt to hold such a small being in both of his arms but pushed the thought aside.
"Hey, at school, she was being bullied for her outfit," Luca said, breaking the hug apart gently, "Do we have any clothes for her here?"
"Yeah, I still have some of your mother's clothes from when she was your age," the uncle smiled at Amber, "What is your favorite color?"
"It's blue…" Amber replied thoughtfully, "How do I wear human clothes."
"You can figure it out," Luca said, "It's not that hard."
The uncle searched in Luca's mother's old room for the articles of clothing and found several small blouses and pairs of pants, skirts, and shorts, "You can stay in this room, I haven't been in in ages but we can help you dust it."
"I think I can work in here and you two can sleep," Amber said, "Thank you for this room."
When the two left, the tan gem made her garments disappear and put on the new clothes. She liked the small cut-off blouse with blue stripes and jeans the most. The gem wandered about the room, discovering things about Luca's mother that intrigued her. Old photos of her and another human littered the shelves. She saw pictures of a smaller Luca with two arms running around with an earth creature. Amber walked out of the room and received smiles from Luca and the caretaker.
"Lookin' good!" the uncle said.
"You look pretty good, Amber," Luca said, as the gem adjusted her sleeves.
"Thank you," Amber replied, "Is it time for you to sleep yet again?"
"Yes," Luca smiled, "Good night."
The caretaker said good night and the two walked off to their respective bedrooms leaving Amber to stand in the hallway. She walked back to her room and looked at herself in the mirror. Her body shape was ideal for an amber, but it didn't satisfy her completely. The gem attempted to shape shift and became as skinny as a peridot. When she finished, she remarked on the perfect shape. She felt as strong and as good as the peridots on Homeworld, but felt slightly sick when she lay in bed. Amber pushed away the thoughts and closed her eyes, falling asleep within minutes.
In the morning, the gem struggled to sit up; Luca had arrived to wake her up. She hurriedly ran out the door after greeting him to discover the caretaker eating an egg.
"Hey you, did you sleep well?" the uncle asked.
"I think I slept, I don't know how it felt," the gem sat down the chair next to the caretaker, "How was uh… your sleep?"
"Oh, I slept pretty fine," the uncle took another bite, "Something about you looks different…"
"I lost a lot of weight last night by… doing a lot of jumping," Amber smiled, "Don't I look great?"
"Whatever you feel good with," the caretaker went back to his breakfast.
A week had passed with her having this form and she was feeling sorer each day. Occasionally she shifted back only to be disgusted with how she looked. The gem shifted back and went to school sweaty one day.
"Are you going to be okay?" Luca asked, "That weight loss program you have been doing looks like it hurts…"
"Yeah, it doesn't hurt at all!" Amber smiled reassuringly.
She sat down in her seat and wiped the sweat off her face, thankfully not being asked to answer any questions. After first period, Amber left Luca and sat in her next class.
Rita stared at her, "Why are you looking so uncomfortable, have you finally looked into a mirror?"
"No, I finally realized that you are fatter than me, look at this," Amber shifted her body even thinner, "Measure, please."
The girl measured Amber, she was a foot around her waist. Rita pushed up her glasses and shook her head.
"But still, you have that ugly gem on your belly, do you even have a belly button?" Rita was nitpicky, "Don't you know that your blush is ugly too? Why is it blue? Why is a non human allowed in this school?"
Amber's eyes widened, "I am perfectly human."
"Uh, Alex says he knows you aren't human," Rita snobbishly shook her head, "Pity you weren't a better person, here's a note."
"Thanks," Amber read it, "Oh so I go behind the F building after school for a special reward?"
"Um, yeah…" Rita felt pity for a few seconds, but went back to her studies.
Amber sat down as class started. She felt at the top of her game today for this class, she had already gotten a nice note.
After class, she excitedly went straight to Luca's lunch table. The gem sat next to her friend and watched him eat, both wanting to tell him and not wanting to tell him about her note. She decided not to and walked off after lunch to her classroom with Luca. When Alex walked in, Amber greeted him, but became worried after he constantly stared at her. Luca watched the two interact, he usually found Alex staring at Amber but today it was different. Rita was the school gossip so later he wanted to talk to her about the events unfolding before his eyes.
"Hey, um Rita told me I wasn't human, did you have anything to do with spreading that lie?" Amber said nervously.
"Oh, Luca told me about it," Alex frowned, "Is it true?"
"No, it's a lie," Amber said reassuringly, however Alex didn't look convinced.
After class, Amber looked at the note and ran to the F building. She walked behind it and didn't see anyone there. The gem was about to leave, but was pushed against a wall. Amber saw the person's face as she tried to focus her eyes. It was a heavily breathing Alex whose hands lightly touched her body.
"Hey, Alex, can you let me go?" Amber didn't like the strange feeling of his sweaty fingers on her neck as blows landed on her face and chest.
But Alex didn't answer and continued to punch her form as it wavered in exhaustion. His fingers clenched harder as she tried to escape.
"Guh! Alex let me go this instant before I kill you!" Amber squirmed as she was knocked to the ground and blows landed on her stomach, one hitting her gem.
Her form wavered, but reverted to its scrawny form as she gave in. All of a sudden, Luca ran around the building and kicked Alex in the face. Amber still lay on the ground, panting and staring at the sky. Alex stood up and started to wrestle with Luca. Minutes passed as the two tussled, Luca eventually taking down Alex and shoving him into the alleyway.
Luca ran over to the fallen gem, "Hey! Keep yourself together! Amber, look at me!"
The gem looked at Luca, "Humans… are horrible…"
He smoothed her hair out, "Calm yourself, your form looks like it's been messed up."
"I have to stay skinny, I look best that way," Amber struggled to say.
"You are already skinny, look, your body is about done with keeping this up," Luca touched her gem, "See, it's stressed out."
Amber looked at her gem, it was glowing angrily at the stress, "But I look so ugly…"
"No, you look pretty. Now focus on what you used to look like," Luca said encouragingly.
The gem closed her eyes and steadily relieved the stress on her body, returning it to its normal state. She then passed out on Luca's lap, but he picked her up with one arm.
"I am so proud of you," Luca whispered as he walked home carrying the gem.
He placed her in her bedroom, walking to the kitchen; he was going to take the day off of work. The caretaker and him talked for several hours, but he decided to go be with Amber. While she slept Amber tossed and turned, occasionally kicking the covers off the bed. When she finally woke up, Amber felt like nothing had happened until memories flooded back into her head.
"Luca, he was horrible, I thought I was going to get a reward, but he just punched me!" Amber shivered, fighting back her tears, "Thanks for… rescuing me…"
"Anyone who is in trouble deserves to be rescued," Luca smiled as Amber wrapped her arms around him.
"What is this warm feeling that I get whenever I am near you?" the curious gem asked.
"It might be love," Luca said.
"But I hate you…" Amber said, her arms still around him.
"Doesn't look like it," Luca hugged her back, "I guess that this is a hate-love relationship."
"Maybe…" the gem fazed on her regular uniform, "I am going to be myself."
"Understandable," Luca smiled, "You look great in that outfit."
"Thank you," Amber kissed Luca's hand, "That is because you saved me."
"Wow, thanks!" Luca responded, "Is that the highest form of honor on Homeworld?"
"No, I read it in a book," Amber made a toothy grin.
