~Sapphire~

There was a faint numbing in the pit of my stomach from what seemed like ages ago. It was a skittish alluring feeling with no weaknesses. I felt like my heart was playing some ancient video game where you had lives and no matter how many times I tried I would love all my lives and have to start over at the beginning. I was the ghosts in Pacman getting eaten, the sheep in Spyro getting burned and turning into puffs of smoke, and the mushrooms getting stepped on in Mario. The lives I shared throughout these horribly graphic games were dwindling and luring me into a dull powerless state.

And oh how I wanted to erase my data and start over.

But I couldn't. No matter what happened in the last two weeks I couldn't shake the dwelling pain of knowing Ruby just didn't care about me enough to stay here. I had known for the last few months before he left that he was hurting, and he was upset because of his mother and the stage life and the critics and judges. I knew he was being pushed to his limit, but in all that time I had only gotten the chance to grow closer to him.

We spent hours staying up together, lying next to each other in the studio basement staring up at a ceiling that was coated in water stains. No one went into that basement but us, and it was so very obvious that it was our sacred place. We used to count the days until mold would start forming, and talk… just talk…

Like the friends we were we would just talk and laugh and encourage each other. We would joke about hidden mistakes in our performances, and make fun of the judges mustache, and complement each other when it was necessary. Being together had been easy as breathing, quiet and unnoticed as blinking, and as natural as the wild pokemon. We were everything for each other, especially on those long nights spent in the basement.

I had thought that Ruby loved me with all his heart. I had been absolutely one hundred percent sure that he was going to be my one and only. I figured this boy who I had known over ten years, who I watched grow through awkward fazes and rise to stardom, would one day marry me. I was expecting this perfect happily ever after and what does he do?

He leaves.

Ruby was so desperate to get out of this city and he never even told me… though I couldn't say I wasn't warned. If anything I should have gathered that he was going to leave one day. He was miserable; he bitched about his mother and even had to fight back tears sometimes. I should have known; I should have realized that it was only a matter of time before he snapped.

And now look who's lonely. Me.

I found myself wondering recently where I went wrong. Was it that night when he called me? Had I been too relieved? Had I expected too much of him? Was it my mistake for going to find him? Surely if I would have made him come to me things wouldn't have been so bad…

Perhaps if he made the journey back to me it would have been a lot easier to convince him to stay, rather than going to him and giving him the dominant satisfaction of knowing his girlfriend was always going to be dropping at his feet. Maybe I made the mistake when I cried in front of him. After all it may have been that weakness that made him stay away. Did he want a stronger girl? Had he already found one?

I had this horrible sinking feeling in me that the boy I grew up with was somehow changed now. I felt like every moment I ever spent believing in him, being jealous of him, loving him… was wasted. I felt nauseated with grief. So sick actually that for a week I couldn't even perform and the public went berserk.

It was bad enough that their number one, Ruby, had left so suddenly, but then they had to face the truth that their second best, being me, was now drowning in her own suffering. The whole world had turned my life into a soap opera in the last two weeks, and you know how long soap operas last. It was like watching day time television every moment of your life and feeling every dramatic emotion from ever dramatic character. A pile up of pain that just kept getting bigger and bigger.

Dozens of guys had sent me flowers when my heartbreak went public, and little cards saying things like "I can be your one and only" and "here's my number" and "let's have rebound sex" fallowed by an address. Guys were taping pictures to these packages for Arceus' sake. Hell, even some girls had taken a shot at me.

But none of them were Ruby, which I realized was what I wanted more than anything. I wanted to see him, hold him, love him and know he loved me back. I didn't want the pathetic public's sympathy, I didn't want paparazzi—for the first time in my life—and I most certainly didn't want lesbo sex with a bunch of whores.

I wanted Ruby, and continued to tell myself this until the studio managed to throw another wrench in my plan. It was the day after Ruby called me saying he would be home soon to "talk". I was mad at this of course, because the guy was so stubborn I knew if his mind was set on talking then that was what we would do. There would be no embracing, no loving, no joking around and encouragement like there used to be. All it would be was talk, and not even good talk.

The lowlife I had become in two weeks-wearing his old Tshirts and not having the strength to do my hair-worth of time must have made my eyes fuzzy, because I surely wasn't expecting Ruby to be back that soon. Soon for him would be at least a week, and yet there he was, right in front of my eyes the next morning.

I pieced together, in the thirty seconds that I stood in awe, unable to believe what I was seeing, that he must have flown through the night without stopping to come back to me. And somewhere in that amount of time he had decided that he was going to stay, because he was sitting facing a judge and talking in a hushed tone. My heart had leapt from my chest to see him in his usual performing outfit—complete with hat and all—and I had never been more relieved.

He did love me… he did love me!

Those were the only thoughts gathered in my head, while I jolted forward and ran to him, throwing my arms around his middle and locking them together so tightly he probably had the wind knocked out of him. A horribly cheesy grin had etched across my face and left the judge with wide eyes.

"Ruby—oh Ruby I'm so happy you came back! I knew you wou—

And that's when I figured it out.

He turned, looked at me with a slightly scared expression, and revealed his true identity, which caused me to leap backwards in shock and shake tremendously. A fire of hate grew in my chest for the near identical boy, and it was all I could do not to commit suicide right then and there. Hurt and anguish lapped at me like a black ocean wave, and tears begun to pour.

"Who—who i—is this?" I stammered to the meanest of our three judges. He was the one with that ugly mustache and ugly personality. I stared at his coal black eyes in repulsion, casting glances at the boy I had just latched onto like a leach.

He didn't look bothered, just a little sympathetic, and I absolutely hated that he responded to my question himself, rather than waiting for the judge to answer.

"Hello." He said in a muted voice, much like one of a lullaby. "I'm Brendan."

Everything seemed to fall into place then and there. My boyfriend left, I dumped him when I should have listened to him, and now they finally found a replacement worthy of stage life. Everything that seemed to be ruining me at the moment came crashing down, and I couldn't stand it.

"Why?" I whispered, ignoring the confident boy before me. He had the same facial expressions as Ruby did. The same hair, the same tight chin and soft jaw. His eyebrows were set the same way, his shoulders the same width and sloping. Everything about him was Ruby, and I hated it. The fact that I couldn't look at him from behind and know if it was my boyfriend or not would slowly kill me. For sure he was going to be my worst enemy. The only noticeable difference there was between this guy and Ruby was his eye color. And the fact that he was perhaps a tiny bit taller than Ruby had been, but I couldn't be sure of that.

Ruby's eyes bore the shade of, well… rubies. Dark luxurious crimson, almost burgundy but more red. It was his signature feature. And while this character here—this look alike—had the most striking green eyes I had ever seen. I hated them.

I hated him.

"Sapphire." The judge approached me, thinking that maybe I was going to claw out Brendan's eyes if he got any closer. He pulled his large hands up and set them on my slender shoulders. "It's time to get over it. I know you're upset but honestly… just let him go."

"He's coming back though!" I assured, lip quivering. "He said he was…" The shock of Brendan not being who I thought he would be struck me like a ton of bricks and I couldn't shake that feeling.

The judge looked sternly at me. "Sapphire, I have known you your whole life. I knew your mother when she was just a girl. And I know that you aren't this strung up. Get over it." His eyes narrowed. "Or you're fired."

No one would dare ever threaten Ruby with such words, and that upset me more. I was facing the terrible fact that I missed him so much and even now, with him not here I was feeling competition with him. Where along the lines had he gotten so much better than me? And more importantly, why did that matter? I obviously wanted him back here… I needed him back. But why was it me threatened to lose my job when he was off gallivanting?

And my heart sank. How could I lose my job? The only thing in this world—performing—that was sure not to walk out on me. If Ruby was so flaky then I had no business being flaky myself. It wasn't rational to hate this judge for what my boyfriend did, but I did. I wanted to spit on him for telling me to get over it.

Maybe you should go get laid. I snarled silently as he released me and turned.

"And Sapphire." He mumbled before leaving to go boss other people around. "I suggest you get used to calling Brendan, Emerald."

"Emerald?" Brendan blinked in confusion, unfamiliar with the name.

The judge ignored him and kept his eyes on me. "He's your partner from now on. This is more than a performance now. This is a story. Ruby leaves; Emerald swoops in and sweeps Sapphire off her feet. Capiche?"

I could see Brendan's eyes flickering towards me, judging my reaction to this and finding it much more blank than he expected. I stared as if I had just been paralyzed, not blinking or breathing.

Oh Ruby… where are you now? I wondered. Why can't you just come back?

Brendan took a step towards me in my frozen state and bent down ever so slightly to my level. I could tell he blinked thoughtfully though I did not make eye contact. I couldn't bear to look in those emerald eyes.

"Sapphire?" he said my name for the first time, and it was gentle, loving in a way I had never heard before.

I didn't answer him, nor did I move.

"Sapphire… I'm sorry." He whispered before pulling away and leaving me alone in the studio. I waited until his back was completely turned and several feet away to look at him.

No doubt that was Ruby walking away from me; they looked exactly the same from behind. I stared in wonder, all the while damning that boy to hell for making my heart ache. Damning Ruby for making me wounded in the first place.

"Oh and…" he said back to me in his muted voice. And I had to admit, I was glad he didn't turn around when he said this, it would have been too much. I couldn't take the words themselves, let alone his striking eyes to pull more strings on my heart. I listened carefully, unable to grasp just what he was saying, but somehow believing every word of it. He spoke in a careful tone that not even Ruby could master.

"He's not worth it Sapphire." The newfound gem spoke. "You're too good for him."