The sun set over the Manhattan skyline, casting a warm glow across the city. From the room a stoned Brooklyn and a crystalized Angel and Amber, it seemed to be casting a fiery glow.
As it hit Amber, her body began to shake and the crystal began to crack. Her hands began to twitch, and somewhere inside her, a heart fought to start beating again.
The moment the sun went down, Brooklyn broke free of his stone prison. He immediately looked down to see Amber struggling to get free of her orange crystal. He looked over his shoulder to see Angel's was sliding right off and she was breathing fine. So why wasn't Amber?
"Amber come on." The red gargoyle said worriedly, kneeling down to help her sit up. "Amber you need to breathe."
The door opened, revealing the clan and Fox, who looked worriedly at the teenager as she held her son.
"What's happened?" Goliath asked, looking between the girl and the amber colored shards coming off of her.
"I'll explain later!" Brooklyn exclaimed, lifting Amber off the ground. "Right now she isn't breathing!"
Fox handed Alex off to Lexington. "Let's see her."
Brooklyn was weary, but he handed Amber over to the red-headed woman. Fox immediately set off to work by laying Amber in the other bed. She brushed the crystal away from her chest to find an oval shaped gem with a harp incased inside just above her heart. She pressed down on it a few times before Amber suddenly gasped and sat up, coughing as she tried to regain her breathing.
The gargoyles sighed in relief as Fox tried to calm the girl down before they approached her again.
"You all right Amber?" Brooklyn asked, moving some hair from her eyes.
"Yes." She said calmly, her hand over her gem. "I forgot to tell you that happens to me."
"And may I inquire what happened to you?"
All looked towards the door to see Xanatos and Owen at the door. Xanatos was looking at the girl suspiciously. Brooklyn glared at him, putting himself between the human and the girl. He growled immediately.
Amber put a hand on Brooklyn's shoulder. "It's okay." She got down off the bed and met Xanatos eyes. "And you…"she clenched her fists. "Don't assume that Angel is the only one who's suffered at the Gem Cutter's hand!"
As Amber tossed of the long sleeved shirt off, all looked to see the multiple scars and stitches covering her arms. She reached down and pulled the leggings off as well, leaving her only in the dress and revealing even more scars.
Fox looked in shock. "But…I didn't…"
Amber didn't meet her eyes. "I used a concealment on myself to hide these." She sat on the edge of the bed. "I didn't need you all asking questions. But now I've dragged you all into this."
"Explain then lass." Hudson said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Amber sighed. She had no choice. "As I told Brooklyn last night, one thousand years ago, the Gem Cutters destroyed the last Gemmalites in the world. But it wasn't until about five hundred years ago that one linage of the cutters thought it'd be a good idea to recreate their prey."
"Their prey?" Goliath asked.
"Us." Amber replied, tracing over her gem. "They perfected the means to do so three hundred years ago."
"How do they do it?" Fox asked curiously.
"At first, they just thrust the gem into runaway kids they'd taken off the street. Hoping they'd take to the gem and they'd get a hunt. But it was rare and in between that it'd happen. So prey was limited. But the lives they took…the people they killed…"
She paused before she was calm again. "Before the generation me and Angel were in, they'd found a way to change the gem's genetic structure so even more people would take it. That's what they did to our parents."
"Your parents?" Xanatos asked.
Amber nodded. "My mother and the other's fathers were the last ones to get that done to them when they were ten. Six years after that they escaped the hunt and settled down somewhere. After that they'd gotten twelve years of life. Though…" she looked over at Angel. "I'm not sure the others made it out that night."
"What do you mean lass?" Hudson asked.
"I'll get to that in a bit." Amber said nonchalantly. "Anyway the reason we're different is because we're the first natural born in over a thousand years. And that made us really rare. Like 'if you get them then you can really call yourself a Gem Cutter' rare." She started tearing up. "They already got my brothers and sisters."
They all glanced at each other. Then back at the girl, who'd began to shake again.
"I don't remember much…but it was the night Angel was born. I'd just turned six the day before with my siblings since we were sextuplets. It started off quietly. But…not long after the announcement of the birth…someone struck down one of my brothers." She was shaking harder. "They just kept coming. One by one people fell. But Sun…Char…Tope…Jasp…and Sapph..."
She couldn't talk anymore. She'd just broke down. Angela pushed her way through the crowd to hug the poor girl close. The males in the room looked at each other in shock. She'd gone through so much pain. But it didn't explain everything.
Amber calmed down again she continued. "After that it's pretty much a blur until I woke up in one of their facilities. They were men of science now, so they wanted to understand how we worked. All I wanted to do was escape. But…" she looked over at Angel again. "Angel needed me. I was the only one she'd respond to besides her brother. And besides, they had my mom under lock and key. So I stayed." She looked towards the window. "It was her death that motivated me to escape when I was eight." She smirked. "The Gem Cutters may be good hunters, but they're not so good at hand to hand combat."
"So you've been on your own for almost ten years?" Angela asked.
Amber nodded. "It was hard at first. But I got stronger with every fight I got in." she fingered her gem again.
"What does the harp mean?" Broadway asked curiously. Brooklyn elbowed him. "Ow! What?!"
"It's okay." Amber said with a small smile. "The harp means 'life'. At least it did to the Gemmalites. Basically, it means I breathe new life with my powers. And as an amber, it also means I can absorb others powers and abilities."
"I see." Xanatos said. "And Angel's angel wings?"
"She's a flyer. And the angel quartz in her chest means she has a lot of spiritual energy."
"Last night you said there were more of you." Brooklyn said, making their eyes meet. "Do you remember them?"
"Yes." She replied. "In age order, their gems are a sugilite, an onyx, and a ruby. We are the last five of our kind." She made a fist. "And I intend to keep it that way."