It has been two days ever since Bloodstone had started staying at my house. I had gotten used to it, but my Dad still hasn't. Whenever he sees her, he walks away, or when I'm with her, he would always drag me away and start a random, boring conversation. I just wonder what would happen when I'm at school and she's at home, alone with Dad. Again, though, that is not the concern of what happened earlier.

After shop hours the next day, Bloodstone and I worked on repairing the gems that she brought me. I first spent time examining the black diamond, though. It was the first time I had ever seen one in person, and it looked even better than the movies make it look. Even though I was admiring the epic qualities of one, though it was cracked, it was pissing off Bloodstone.

"Michael..." She said with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, I know" I said as I stopped to look at her. "It's just that I never worked with diamonds and emeralds in the same way I'd have to repair you"
"Well, how do you work with the gems in the shop you own?" She asked with her arms still crossed, "It seems easy"

"Well..." I turned around and began to set up everything. "You see, we usually melt the gems with high enough heat into liquid metal..."

She shuddered.

I placed the tongs onto the steel stool next to the bellows and the forge. "Then we pour it into a mold into the desired shape. I repaired yours by heating your gem up hot enough to where your cracks were shapeable, and then I took a hammer..."

She shuddered again and backed away.

I placed my silver hammer next to the anvil. "And I heavily but gently pushed the cracks together so that they would connect"

She calmed down, but…

"Then you came out of the gem. Nothing bad, right?" Just as I turned around, I saw Bloodstone staring at me strangely. "What?"

"I thought I felt a little hot when my gem was no longer cracked..." She said, "But are you sure it will work?"

"I wouldn't be trying if it wasn't" I said as I placed it on the anvil. "From your memories, I don't want to try breaking them or anything"

"My memories, what do you mean-" Her eyes opened wide, and she looked at me angrily with red eyes. "You! I'll kill you!"

Bloodstone formed her gigantic hammer and walked towards me slowly. I backed away with the special gems in hand, waiting to see if she'd calm down. However, I was backed into the back of my garage with nowhere else to go. I read her mind.

You killed Amber, and I'll avenge her! I will kill all scum like you, Florence!

Bloodstone gripped her hammer and raised it behind her. She was about to swing it, but before the hammer could even touch me, I held the cracked gems in front of where the hammer would land. She paused her strike before it could even near the gems. Her eyes became green again as they were before as she stared at the gems.

"I am not Florence" I said to her, "Know that I am a human. I will repair your friends, so put the hammer away" I said slowly as I placed the diamond on the anvil.

Bloodstone made her hammer disappear. She knelt to the ground and began to sob. I could feel her sorrow because of how I saw her memories. I kind of began to regret mentioning her memories of before that war, whatever it was. I might be emotionless, but I'm not heartless.

"If you want to talk about it..." I said as I turned and scratched the back of my head.

She continued to sob. I reached out a hand to help her up, but she got up on her own. "I'll be outside..." She said softly.

Her crimson armor was instantly replaced with a trench coat and fedora. I couldn't control my psychic powers again, so I followed her. When she walked out of the door of the garage, so did I, but it was as if she just vanished. I looked left and right, but I didn't see any trace of her. I leaned on the wall next to the door and sighed.

'I'll be outside' my ass. I looked down on the grass I was standing on. What's going on with my psychic powers? I thought as I asked myself, I can't control it whenever she's… I don't know. I guess the reparation is just gonna have to wait.

After slightly losing my inspiration to repair the gemstone, I began to walk around the city for inspiration, skipping past the jewelry shop. I looked at the sign at the door: 20% off emerald related merchandise. I began to walk faster. I stared at the cracked, glowing emerald that I didn't leave behind, but I didn't know why the being didn't come out yet. I stared at it even more.

"Umm… hello?" I said to it while walking, "Anyone in there?"

"Mike, what are you doing?" An unfamiliar feminine voice said. She moved the gem out of my face and stared at me as if I had did something wrong. I saw that it was someone I knew, a good customer named Brea who goes to my school. "Have you gone crazy from working with gems and jewelry?"

"Well…" Before I could answer, she continued.

"No wait, maybe you gained all of the emotions and began to go crazy from it!" She blurted out, "Just like some tranquil in the Dragon Age game series!"

"That only happened because— no wait, that's not what you asked, was it? Either way, I'm nothing like those… husks" I looked back at the gem. "Just curious about this particular Beryl emerald. It glows"

"Then sell it or something" Brea suggested, "It's probably ten times the cost for the regular kind"

"As true as that is, it's for repair, and I would probably get my ass kicked if I do" I said as I shivered from thinking about a large, crimson hammer. "And besides, 20% sale is still up for emeralds"

"True, true…" She looked away and held her hands together behind her back. "Think we can… hang out?"

I looked at the gemstone, and thought about it. Now that I think about it, emerald is going to be tricky to fix, isn't it? Glass can't be heated without melting and solidifying, so I can't just put the cracks back together, I could just heat one side… Dammit, I have to focus!

"I guess I have time to spare" I said with a blank expression.

"Great!" She said as she clapped and smiled. She even tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes. Typical anime chick…

"Then where are we going?" I asked as I looked around the city from where I was.

"We can go to the arcade! I hear that they illegally brought a game from Japan all the way to America!"

"Really?" I ask as if I were slightly interested, "Is it for beta testing?"

"It's for the gold star members, like me, but I can bring a single guest…" She nudged my shoulder. "We can play it as long as we like!"

"Sounds like a plan, doesn't it?" I said as I stared at the direction of the arcade.

She puffed up her cheeks and glared at me. "Man, you have to be more excited about it if I'm gonna take you to play games that gold members only can play, so try to act like it!"

"No thanks," I said as I reached into my pockets, "I just don't"

"I won't take you if you don't!" She shouted as she crossed her arms.

I was finally able to control my psychic powers again, so I read her mind. Do it or I will never buy from your store again, you freaking robot! Otherwise, I will take a video!

"You don't have to call me a robot, you know…" I said as I looked away.

Brea was shocked, and she slightly backed away. "How did you read my mind?"

"It's a gift" I said, "But do I really have to act excited?"

"I'm not telling you to act. I'm telling you to be excited" She said with a smile.

Damn it, I'm not acting excited for anything, even if it's for the best videogames illegally brought to America. What if… "Hey, did you hear about the new side-scrolling they made for the Spirit Morph Saga?" I asked, lying about it, "You know, Lisa and Archimicarus searching for the Father?"

"What!?" Her ears actually raised like a dog's would, "No way! Let's go!"

We began to walk to the arcade that was really only a few yards around the corner. However, when we arrived, there were police cars flashing blue lights, police interrogating people, and police tape covering the door. There were ambulances carrying away people in wheelchairs and in body bags. Highly curious, I walked over to see what was going on. Brea stayed close to me.

I first walked over to a wounded witness hobbling away. "Who did this?"

"I don't know what thing that did this was, but either way, I'm never coming back until it's gone forever!" He hobbled faster than I thought he could.

I was about to move to ask the next person what the deal was, but then Brea pulled me back around the corner. She pinned me onto the wall and commanded me, "Dude, don't try to fix problems that aren't worth fixing!"

"There's a reward to this kind of thing, you know" I replied, "And I like rewards"

She let go of me and still followed as I played detective. I didn't mind, but I guessed that she would become a burden later on. I then walked over to a police officer. "Did anyone draw a picture of who or what did this?"

"That's not what a police officer should show to any citizen, kid, move along" He said.

Shaking my head, I read his mind. I'm open to bribes, but you don't know that…

Glancing left and right quickly to see if anyone saw me, I pulled out my wallet and handed the cop 10 100 dollar bills rolled up. The officer's eyes opened wide as he unrolled the money. He immediately placed it in his pocket and pulled out a clipboard with a description of the cause/attacker and handed it to me. I looked closer into the picture and saw that it was the most unrealistic description I have ever seen.

The picture was of a monster with eight legs, multiple eyes, and a natural arachnid look to it. The size written on the far side of the paper said it was 6'7 in height. I pulled out my phone and took a picture of it.

"Kid, no photos of it allowed" The officer said, "There are rules allowed"

"Say, what did you put in your pocket a few minutes ago…?" I asked as I took several pictures.

"Never mind, do as you will, citizen" The officer said as he looked away.

After taking the pictures, I then handed the clipboard to the officer. He walked away and continued to ask witnesses. I took a closer look at the photo and saw a circle in it with a pattern of a hexagon inscribed in it. There was a line pointing to it that labelled it "Label, stone, symbol, gem, or something else"

"Why would there be a gem of all things in something like that?" Brea asked, "And why would there be a gigantic monster? I mean, that's pretty ridiculous"

"I might know…" I said as I dialed a number to my phone.

I placed the phone to my ear. – Ring, ring, "Hello?" - The voice through the phone was Bloodstone's.

"Bloodstone? Where's Dad?" I asked.

"Why are you in a cellular device?" She asked.

I waited a few seconds for Bloodstone to catch her mistake. I knew she was still adapting to society after being in recovery for a few thousand years, but I already told her about how phones work. 3 minutes later…

"Oh, you called the device, and you're not in the device" Bloodstone said.

"Correct. Anyway, you said something about 'The Corrupted' while ago?" I asked.

"Yeah, they are gems who are corrupted that mostly take the forms of monsters" She said, "Why?"

"There might be one by the arcade, and I don't think humans can really stand up to it"

"Mike, I...can't go right now" She said.

I stopped walking immediately. "What do you mean that you can't go?" I said.

"I have things on mind, things I'd prefer to not talk about"

"Bloodstone, I know you can stop this, and if you don't, more innocents would get hurt. Is that what you want?"

She didn't answer. I called her name several times, but then she hung up. She was on the roof of my house, looking at the ground in front of her, but I didn't know at the time. She recognized the ground she was on because those were the same grounds that she saw Amber die. Tears began to flow down her eyes.

More innocents will get hurt. Is that what you want? She couldn't stop hearing those words, even though she tried. The more and more those words repeated, she then remembered a conversation she had with Amber.

Bloodstone and Amber walking the deep forests 5000 years ago.

Bloodstone still had the same armor, but she had black hair instead of white. Amber had orange long clothes and golden eyes. She was dressed as a healing priestess from any video game.

"Hey Amber, you could have had stronger weapons, but you chose an Amber staff. Why?" She asked.

"Because I don't plan on hurting" She answered.

"You don't plan on hurting?" Bloodstone punched the tree next to her, splitting it in half. "We're exiles, and what's more, we're gonna be forced to fight"

"If I chose a strong weapon, I could hurt the aliens that didn't hurt us" She examined the end of the staff, and she tapped the end of it with the gem on her upper left chest. A circular amber was placed on the end of it. "I want to help, not hurt"

"What if they pissed me off and I smashed their skulls in?" Bloodstone said as she punched another tree, shattering it into multiple pieces of bark, "And then more people came in and got in my way"

Before she could punch the last on, Amber took her staff and held it between Bloodstone's arm and shoulder to keep it from straightening into a punch. She extended the staff through the oak tree in front of her and made Bloodstone stuck.

"Violence isn't always the answer, love, you know?" Amber said as she let go of the staff and leaned on the tree, "I'm a healer"

"It makes me feel more dominant, Amber" Bloodstone said as she still couldn't move her arm, "I never really cared if it was with innocents or not; I'm on no one's side"

"But then people who are innocent, probably just minding their own business, would get hurt. Is that what you want?"

Bloodstone leaped down from the roof. She headed for the city with speed, faster than any human could. By the arcade, however, I snuck inside along with Brea. She didn't seem so happy about it, but she decided to.

"I didn't decide to do anything!" She shouted, "I like to live"

"If no one's going to stop the monster, you might as well say goodbye to the game and the arcades, can't you" I said as I stared at her, "And with the way we met when you walked into the store, I know you can't live without it"

"Well… you're right" She said with a sigh.

I'm horribly wrong about this choice if anything. I thought to myself.

We looked around. We saw multiple spider webs made with red thread. They were sparkling a bright red color. Brea got closer to me and embraced my arm with fear as I squinted my eyes at the webs. I took a picture of it and moved on.

There were torn up arcade games with more webs inside each machine. Brea knelt down to each and embraced each as if they were her own children. "Why wasn't it me!?" She shouted.

The shout echoed around the room, never like before. I placed my hands inside my black jacket pockets and pulled out two pistols and swiftly looked around. Brea continued to bawl around the arcade machinery, but then we both hear quick footsteps, almost sounding like a ticking noise. We looked off into the darkness of the arcade, where the noise was coming from. The sound was growing louder and louder by the second, making Brea hide behind my back. Without any fear, I pointed my guns at the darkness.

A gigantic red spider swiftly crawled out of the darkness and nearly leaped on to me. It hissed and spat in my face multiple times, and I struggled trying to get it off of me, and Brea stood back. After nearly running out of energy, I finally was able to wrap my fingers around the triggers of my pistol. I aimed it at the spider, but then the spider spat out red webs from its mouth and trapped my arms to the ground. The force of the webs slamming my arms into the ground caused one of my guns to slide near Brea.

"Brea! The gun!" I shouted as I tried to push the spider away with my legs, "Quickly!"

Brea struggled to grab the gun, probably because of her gentle side, and I pushed the spider off of my body. However, the spider jumped onto the ceiling and looked down on me. I didn't hesitate to use my powers see what it was going to do. It was about to jump straight down and bite my stomach. When I saw it beginning to fall from the ceiling, I raised my legs and caught it before it land on me. I pushed it off of me and kept kicking it while my hands were restrained.

Damn it, I can't grab the gun, I'm scared! Brea thought to herself. Someone help!

Someone jumped through the ceiling and landed next to me. I couldn't see who it was because the dust of the broken ceiling began to cloud the room. I began to concentrate the rest of the energy I had into freeing my arms from the red webs. I tried and tried, but my arms couldn't break the web. I heard fighting going on with the spider and someone else, but I couldn't tell who it was.

I then saw a glowing red orb rolling towards me. It was a ruby, specifically a star ruby because of the particular pattern. I then saw a grayish light glow brighter and brighter as some woman neared me. As the dust finally cleared the room, I saw a person with gray skin and white eyes dressed in a black kimono with a purple belt to it and carried a black katana. The closer I looked at the katana, I noticed that it had similar features to a diamond… Wait…

"Where's Beryl?" She asked as she held the sword to my throat, "I know that you met with Bloodstone, and I know you have something to do with Beryl!"

Well, this is obviously a bad way to introduce myself to another… what are they called, Rock Sentient Beings? Gems? Well, how am I going to live through this one?