SUMMARY:

Under mysterious circumstances, a certain peppermint-colored gem gets transported to another world. Now, trapped in a place filled with things they ignore, Phos will have to find a way to return to their home. On the journey they may find both threats as well as friends, perhaps this isn't such a bad world, huh.

Additional notes (05/05/24):

This story was firstly published in AO3 and it's still on-going. I just felt it would be nice to cross-publish it here, as well. I might take some time posting the next chapters, thank you for reading!

...

When Phos opened their eyes, they were greeted with the blue sky hidden behind something tall and green. Were those trees? They seemed so different from the ones nearby the school, though. The grass below their body was also shorter and softer, and soft, quadrupedal creatures ran away from him as soon as they noticed movement, he couldn't recognize them, were they some new form of Lunarian?

Confused, the gem rubbed his head, confused. The last thing he remembered was falling from a sunspot, the other gems screaming frantically until they blacked out just to wake up in this unknown world. Was he finally abducted? It didn't seem so, the ominous chants the moon people would sing while attacking them were nowhere to be heard, and this place… felt so much like home yet it definitely was different.

"My… have I already lost my mind?" Phos mumbled, standing up and brushing the dust off their uniform, they stretched their arm to reach for their sword which lay carelessly a few feet away from them. It was still midday so the best option was to find a good place to hide, it was still unknown if Lunarian were there, too, and they didn't want to know yet.

The peppermint-colored gem barely walked a few steps before someone collided with them, making both stumble and fall to the ground. That's it, now they didn't even have Rutile to paste them back together, however, much to Phos' surprise, neither of them was broken in the slightest, at least not to their knowledge.

"Ow ow ow! S-Sorry, friend, you're quite tough, though"

Phos stared baffled at the strange individual in front of them. He definitely wasn't a gem, as his body felt soft and bouncy, similar to the Admirabilis, yet they weren't underwater, so it wouldn't make sense for him to be in a shape that resembled that of Phos' kind. Although his light-colored hair could hint at him as a Lunarian, it didn't make sense either, the gem would remember any Lunarian with such peculiar clothes, what was up with all those colors, anyway? And his eyes were green-colored, similar to Peridot's eyes, but only his eyes were that color. What was that… being? Phos's mind had too many questions to answer that they were startled when the stranger spoke, once again. Oh, of course, he can speak.

"Hey, are you alright? You look like you just saw a ghost" The stranger seemed to be talking to them, good, now they didn't have another choice but to talk back. Sensei had told them to be polite and careful when first talking to others, however…

"Who are you?" The words just kind of blurted out of their mouth, "Where am I? I… I need to return home, Sensei will be sad if I don't return and…"

"Woah, calm down" Moving his hands forward, the boy maintained a relaxed posture. "My name's Bennett, leader and solo member of Benny's brigade" He smiled and gave them a thumbs up, Phos didn't feel he was a threat, good. "This is Mondstat, the nation of freedom and home to the Anemo Archon."

"Mond… Mondustat?" The word felt foreign in the gem's mouth. "Oh… I'm Phos… Phosphophyllite"

"I've never heard that name before, you must be from another nation!" Bennet beamed, Phos could only feel grateful that he hadn't questioned their origin any further. It would be awkward trying to explain something even if he ignored it. "So… are you lost? It would make sense, huh".

"Yeah… lost" Phos chimed, uncertain how they should behave. "Do you know… where can I find help?" Perhaps it was too hasty to ask, after all, he didn't know how the inhabitants of this world might react to foreigners. This one so far had been incredibly friendly. It might be worth taking the risk and asking.

"Well, the Knights of Favonius might lend you aid." Bennett rubbed the back of his neck, thoughtfully. "C'mon, I'll show you the path to the city! I might not be a knight, but an adventurer might also help those who need it. Now, let's go-agh!" The blonde teen stumbled with something on the path, almost falling before smiling at his new friend, he reminded Phos of his younger self in some ways, clumsy but willing to help. Thus, the gem began walking, following the young adventurer through the path visible amongst the grass.

…

Bennett, on the other hand, was wondering if what just had happened was an unusual good luck strike. When he collided with someone he thought it was just one of his usual encounters with a Hilichurl camp, fortunately, that was not the case, although Phosphophyllite's body felt hard as a rock, it somehow reminded him of one of the few instances when he accidentally bumped into the chief alchemist of the Knights. Perhaps Albedo was somehow related to the origins of his new friend? He had heard rumors that he wasn't from Mondstat.

Oh, whatever, the blonde placed that piece of information in the back of his head for future use if necessary.

They were in the forest nearby the Dawn Winery, nearby Wolvedom, Bennett was there to hopefully find a certain wolf boy to take on an adventure, but instead, he found a foreigner wandering lost in the woods. Surely, once his new companion could find help in the city, he would return to Wolvedom and tell Razor about what had happened, these unusual moments of not having bad luck were something the Pyro-user was proud to tell to his friend.

He couldn't help but notice the unusual attire Phos was wearing, sure, it looked like a uniform as if the other teen (Benny guessed the peppermint-colored individual was rather young) was part of an organization or a guild, but he hadn't seen such a minimalistic fashion choice, not even in the few foreigners he had crossed paths with. His curiosity only increased as he watched Phos staring thoughtfully at… well… almost everything around them.

"What are those…?" He heard the pale youth murmur as they stared at some solcettias laying on the ground, nearby a tree. Welp, he began to wonder if his new friend had suffered some memory-loss concussion.

"They're… fruits, really tasty, they grow in the trees" He tried his best to explain it, briefly and clearly, concern began to fill his mind, it was better to hurry up, what if it was something serious? Bennett grabbed Phos's hand, tugging them to follow him.

While they kept walking, a wild boar ran out of a bush, startling both of them as it bumped into Bennett, causing him to trip over. He knew the day was going way too well for his bad luck to not appear.

…

Phos could feel the panic rushing through their body when the odd, hairy creature collided with Bennett, and for a second they forgot the squishiness of the blonde. "A-Are you alright?!" They stooped to take a better look, fearing he might have broken something, just to quickly be reminded that, apparently, organic, squishy beings don't get broken so easily. However, they saw with concern how something red stained the boy's knees.

"Ow ow… don't worry, it happens more often than I'd like to admit" Bennett's reassuring words somehow worked, as the gem relaxed his posture, sitting next to him as the young adventurer pulled something out of one of his pockets; thin pieces of something that looked sticky that were pasted onto his knees. "Tada! I'll be fine, okay?" He seemed so confident that Phos couldn't question any further. Bennett stood up, limping a few steps before being able to walk as usual.

The gem took a mental note of those sticky things, Rutile wouldn't believe them if they told them about that. Could they be of any use for broken gems?

Soon, the landscape changed. Although those things called trees were still plenty, new vegetation appeared, they resembled the plants from which they collected the seeds to create the powder that covered their bodies, Phos thought; the sudden concern of what would he use once his powder washed out popped in his head, as he was pretty certain the plants he could use to create more powder didn't exist there. He had noticed other individuals as they approached what Bennett explained was the Winery, they all seemed soft, like his new friend, and they all were pink, like the Lunarians, but somehow they looked friendlier. How they looked made Phos consider way more seriously how they should deal with the powder issue, even amongst gems it wasn't considered pretty to appear without the powder covering their bodies, and that same thing may apply here.

Their thoughts got interrupted abruptly as they noticed something, or someone glaring at them. Turning their head, their eyes met fiery red ones, alongside a crimson mane. For a second, Phos could have sworn that person was Padparadscha, they shared the same red hair and eyes, but this individual surely seemed way more intimidating than the kind, elder gem. Instinctively, Phos gave a couple of steps backward when the newcomer approached both them and Bennett, and much to their surprise, the latter didn't appear as startled by the redhead. Could they also mention how tall this one was?

"Oh, good evening, Mister Diluc!" The blonde beamed waving his hand at the individual now identified as Diluc. His frown and stern face made Phos shiver, it reminded him of the face Adamant Sensei would give whenever someone was too reckless.

"Good evening, Bennett. Weren't you going on an adventure?" Phos swore if the redhead kept glaring at them they could crumble to pieces. They knew not everybody would be friendly toward outsiders. They chose to focus on something else to try to ignore the glares, so they looked at the big building in front of them, sure, the school was bigger, but this building was filled with details, and it seemed made of wood! Sphene would lose their mind if they saw something that big made of wood.

It seemed their distraction strategy worked because they barely paid attention to the conversation held between both organic beings (they were sure that the inhabitants of this land were organic like the Admirabilis), only understanding something about 'Mister Diluc' asking Bennett who they were and how did the boy found them. After a brief exchange, Bennett grabbed their hand to keep walking, and even after that, Phos could still feel the piercing glare coming from the man as they walked away.

"Phew, sorry about that, Mister Diluc can be quite intimidating at times, but trust me! he's a really nice guy"

"He seems… grumpy" The gem mumbled as they continued their trip. They heard quietly as Bennett explained to them a little more about the Dawn Winery (not much, to be fair, but at least now Phos knew what a Winery was, and what those plants were).

The further they walked, the clearer Phos could see the giant rocky thing in the middle of the water, were those… buildings? How did they make something so big in the middle of the water? Questions began to accumulate inside their head. Bennett got ahead a few steps as he lifted his arms, pointing at the big rocky thing.

"That is the city of Mondstat! We're almost there… augh!" He tripped once more with a stone in the path, although at that point, Phos seemed unfazed by the peculiar ability that Bennett had to fall in the least expected moments.

Bennett guided Phosphophyllite through a rocky bridge, scaring away some winged animals in the process. At the entrance, two more persons greeted them, their uniforms seemed made of a material similar to Phos' golden arms, but they were silver-ish instead, and Phos was sure they weren't able to liquefy them as they did with their arms.

Absent-mindedly, the gem followed the teen upstairs, the 'big rocky thing' turned to be what Bennett called a 'city', so all these big buildings were called a city when they were together. Bennett suddenly stopped in front of a rectangular-shaped building where more of those uniformed people were wandering around.

"Here we are", Bennett gave a deep sigh, putting his arms at his sides and puffing his chest. "The Knights might know how to help you for the time being. See ya later, I guess, I didn't finish my commission so I'll have to report it or Fischl will definitely electrocute me!" After saying that, the blonde teen waved his hand at Phos before running downstairs, Phos felt he heard something crashing in the process.

Now they were by themself in front of the rectangular-shaped building. Sure, they were grateful to Bennett for guiding them to a place he felt could be useful, but now the question was, how exactly should the gem approach this? Not to mention, he hadn't been in a place so full of living, organic beings at the same time.

The gem was about to walk inside a building when the door opened, making them bump into another person and stumble downstairs. "Oh c'mon!"