Emerald opened his eyes, waited a second for his vision to adjust, and sat up....inside a...bubble? What? He easily burst open the bubble, which was no real surprise, and stood up inside.....a room in the temple. Hold up....how did I get here? Well, apparently Aquamarine somehow transported you back here. We've been listening while you were sleeping. Oh great, you guys.... Emerald tried to ignore the fact that the voices were back, and glanced over towards the door. Who's back? I guess I-WE could check. He walked over towards the door, opened it, and noticed...half of the group. He mumbled quietly to himself for a second. "Err.....Amber, Zircon, Spinel, gray shield person..." "Hey guys, where is everybody else?"

Aquamarine felt like he had just slapped her across the face, the hurt apparent on her features that is until she tilted her head down a bit so her hair became a veil. Her fingers curled tightly into her palm, her teeth biting the inside of her lip to keep her from snapping since it would be of no help. She just didn't understand why he needed to bash on her skills and knowledge just to make himself seem better when she had always left the choosing up to the new Gems. She didn't lie and put everything straight up. She would let any of the Gems leave if they wanted to, she just wanted to protect them and though it would hurt to let them leave...it was their life. Aqua should have known everything Bloodstone said earlier had been the truth and he had only back tracked to calm her down so the Truce would go through.

"Anyone who is planning to go to the Temple, please follow me. I suddenly have no desire to be in a certain someone's presence while being bashed and insulted. I will not treat this new Gem like a game to be won over and it is their lives to do with as they chose. It isn't about you or me. I am glad though to know your true feelings Commander now that you are away from the others. It gives a very clear insight on what a Truce with you would be like. I thought I saw something in you...I thought you were different but I see now that I was very wrong. You are the same Gem that struck me down a thousand years ago." Aqua stated her head still tilted down from view, hurt laced clearly in her calm words before she began to walk away, the ones that wanted to follow her would. She did pause for a moment before speaking up one last time,"You may say you know about Earth but you will never understand Earth. There is a difference between knowing something and living it. Don't reply. I don't want to hear your words and I don't want to see you."

Those words being said, she continued to head towards the Temple and at a decent pace so that the others didn't have to play to much catch up to keep up with her. I should have known better than to hope..., the thought hurting her 'heart' even more than it already did when it came to the Gem she was walking away from.

Carnelian huffed in offense after Soapstone replied to her, "A 'has-been'! Such brazen behavior to call a lady such as myself a 'has-been'! The nerve of it all!" She went silent as Soapstone continued speaking to Bloodstone, and hearing his answer. Candice listened as well, taking her attention off of the snowball that Mars was in (trying to make sure that it didn't melt) and her eyes widened at the mention of creatures. She had a feeling that when he said creatures, he included humans as well as the alien monsters and animals indigenous to Earth. Carnelian and Candice both looked at Aquamarine, catching on that she was just hurt by his words. They both listened to what she had to say, and after she spoke, the both of them followed after her. Carnelian followed because she had planned on going to the temple before the explosion occurred, while Candice only followed in order to get to the motorhome...and to ask Aquamarine a couple more questions before they reached her motorhome. As Candice walked off, she pointed a silent and insulted glare towards Bloodstone before walking off.

Once Carnelian caught up to Aquamarine, she tried to console the gem "Dahling, I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. That was quite insensitive of him!"
Candice pointed out to Carnelian "I don't think bringing it up is going to help," She then looked to Aquamarine and she requested, "I have a few more questions to ask you, before I head for my place. Would be okay with answering them?" She figured it would be best to give her space if she didn't want to answer.

Reggie laid down on the ground for awhile, not wanting to move a muscle, when the orange giant from before came in, saying something about another gem being injured. Reggie got himself up, worried but not saying anything in response. He didn't know much about gem's, but from what he could tell, whoever it was wasn't damaged so they should be okay. Emerald came in a bit later, asking for an update, but Reggie merely shrugged his shoulders before making his way over to the door that led to the rooms, knocking on it to see if he could get the attention of it's occupants. He didn't say anything, just waited for a response from anyone.

@pyroman

@Saarebas

Zircon watched Amber's reaction while awaiting for the response, she could tell that he thought about whether to share what happened or not. In the end, he decided to share. Although Zircon did feel a tad bit nosy, but only because she was concerned. Zircon kept her eyes on him, not really paying that much attention to the people coming and going here and there. Well maybe partly paying attention. Zircon's gaze then slowly shifted from Amber's face to his hand as he reached back for something, to show Melanite's gem. Zircon's eyes widened slightly; she hadn't even realized that Melanite ran out, although it was probably obvious when multiple people ran out in the beginning far back. Zircon started to slightly bring her hand up as if to feel Melanite's gem for herself, but her hand only wound up just hovering beside her side no higher than her hip. She looked back up to Amber's face and then back to the gem when he said he didn't think Melanite was broke, and hoped she wasn't as well. Zircon hoped the same thing. She looked at the gem from where she was in examination; luckily the gem didn't seem cracked from what she could see. Zircon silently swallowed before speaking, "W-Well she seems alright to me... She just has to..." Zircon's fingers made soft snaps as she quickly tried to think of the right word, "Regenerate... She should be fine hopefully..." Zircon focused her vision back to Amber directly "It was good that you were there at least...before anything else bad could happen," Zircon tried pulling up a light, easy close-mouthed smile, to at least lighten the mood in some way or to put Amber's worries somewhat at ease.

Zircon glanced at the entrance of the temple before looking to Emerald who asked about something. Wait, when did Emerald get back? Okay. Don't question, just answer. He had asked about where everyone else had went; Zircon took a quick glance around the room, seeing who was here and who was not and also taking notice that some human walked in. Aside from that, Zircon scratched the back of her head, "They're...out I guess." Zircon tried answering the question as accurately as she could, "I know Aquamarine went to look for the others, and some other guy that was here also walked out somewhere. Same with Bloodstone. Other than that..." Zircon took her hand away from the back of her head and then slowly shrugged her shoulders.

A type of arrogance still revolving around Soapstone, he looked directly at Bloodstone with covered eyes with a sort of glare. He was waiting. Soon enough, his speech began to spiel, talking about war-machines, creatures, history, and even his age. The newborn was tapping his fingers upon his crossed arms, wondering if this man was lying. There would be a point in lying, trying to get allies on his side with his desperation to obviously acquire new members for whatever group that he was currently controlling. He glanced over towards the other gems behind him, Aquamarine and Carnelian, they could be lying as well. He looked back towards Bloodstone with a type of grimace behind the wrappings of his physical form, and he harrumphed trying to gain Bloodstone's attention, addressing the matter at hand.

"Your offer sounds... Satisfactory, and I would rather not like anyone else coming with us. You did say it would only be you and some other person, correct?" Soapstone puffed out his collar, and rubbed his hands together. He looked at both groups, a calculating mind working its magic. "So! With careful consideration, I think I'll be going with Bloodstone after all. He says he can offer me the things I need, and I hope that he can keep up with those promises." The young gem started to walk towards the pile of rubble, where Bloodstone stood near before Aquamarine decided to say something, not to him, but to his acquaintance.

He chuckled only slightly at her speech, going with her and the others would have been a disaster! He just needs to understand these gems further, another mistake like that could change his entire path. Reaching his way over towards Bloodstone, he nodded his head towards the opposite direction of Aquamarine. "Ok. Lets go, dwelling in the past for too long can be bad for you."

"It's alright, I should know better by now. If we saw eye to eye than we would not be enemies. I'm sure my feelings are not his worry." Aquamarine spoke truthfully, hurt heavily laced in them but not letting it stop her from talking about Blood. She was actually relieved by Candice's subject change and finally looked up from the ground, her attention moving to the human beside her. She took only a moment to think if it would be best to answer questions from mostly a stranger but then her thoughts moved to Mars before nodding softly."What is it you wish to ask? I will try to answer to the best of my abilities."

Candice noticed how Aquamarine still seemed to be hurt and even wary. She raised the snowball for Aquamarine to see, and she asked "Alright, I'm not exactly sure how your powers work. How long does Mars need to be in this snowball in order to be fully healed? And if this melts...it wouldn't hurt Mars, would it? Do I need to keep this in cold storage?" Candice wanted to focus on Mars' well being first and make sure that he would be alright. She also wanted to ask Aquamarine about why she protected Mohs Town a month ago, but considering her emotional state, Candice figured it would be an unwise decision to do so around this time. It would be better to ask her questions that tested Aquamarine's honesty at a later date, when she would be less likely to suspect Candice.

Carnelian looked to Candice as she asked her questions seriously, and getting straight to the point. Carnelian couldn't help but smile and she raised the fan to hide her smile. She couldn't help but think that the human girl was very sweet because she was so concerned about Mars' well being (whoever Mars was). Looking over her again, she also added mentally that she needed help when it came to her appearance.

"Rather wise for a newborn aren't you? Either way, you're right, it's getting dark and we should get moving before something shows up. The warp pad should still be functioning so we can get to my ship and then I'll contact Chromite from there." Bloodstone walked to the warp pad and waited for Soapstone to stand on it, "This platform is what we gems call a warp pad. As long as the other warp pad is on the same planet and you know where it is located, you can warp to it. The warp in my ship, on the other hand, has a lock on it and only those I allow can warp there." After explaining the warp pads, Blood warned Soapstone to brace himself and then warped to his ship. He soon contacted Chromite and had her return to the ship before showing Soapstone around.

"So this main room here is the control room, all of the ship's functions can be accessed through here. I'll teach you how to use the controls in due time. Down this hallway is the rest of the ship, the three rooms on the left are, in order, the barracks, the training room/weapon room, and the robotics and equipment storage. The barracks is where my entire armada would sleep, the beds are designed to shift into whatever the sleeper desires so I'd prefer if you didn't go in there since the beds serve as a remembrance for me. The training room is obvious as to what it's purpose is for. And last but not least, the equipment storage houses all sorts of things from armor to robotic drones to body enhancers that can help a smaller gems be bigger and stronger when fighting, perhaps you could have me install some longer arms that reach past your sleeves. That one room on the left is my lab, I don't mind you going in there but I don't want you touching anything. Lots of work has gone into the things I have in there and I don't need them undone. At the end of the hall is the gathering quarters where you can eat, drink, talk, or whatever you see fit for that room, although I'm not sure you'd be one to do any of those things." Bloodstone showed off all the rooms as he talked about them, walking down the halls until he reached the gathering quarters. Blood pointed out the two rooms attached. The one on the left leads to the guest rooms, where we used to keep very important gems but now you will be staying in one of them. The door right in front of us is the temple door, the four gems on the door are the only four gems that can open it and unless there are blank, empty rooms, no new gems can be added to it. Sadly since our temple was built instead of natural, it was designed to only house four gems and the bubble room, which is always claimed by the main fusion of group." Blood sat down at one of the tables in the quarters and sighed. "Well, that's the tour. If you need me than I'll be in my lab. Research and Development is my duty of course, and my work is never done." Bloodstone stood up and walked back to his lab, waving to Soapstone before entering the room.

Soapstone smiled under his wrappings, Bloodstone didn't know half of the story since he was created, but what was the point of telling someone his past? He followed his temporary ally towards some sort of object protruding from the ground, it resembled the shape of a circle. The gem was hesitant to wary to step onto the foreign object, but the brief explanation seemed to calm down Soapstone. Still, he was wary of the thing as warping sounded quite weird and most likely slightly nauseating. When Bloodstone warned him, he looked towards his direction with a confused face before light shinned straight into his face, blinding him.

He soon found himself standing in a completely different area, most likely this battleship that Bloodstone had been talking about, but Soapstone stumbled off of the warp pad, his mind spinning him as he tried to move. It took a few stomps onto the ground to allow him to finally stay still, but his mind was still slightly cloudy on the entire process, did everyone have access to this instantaneous travel? He shook his head removing the rest of the cloudiness from his mind before Bloodstone was already walking ahead of the new gem, Soapstone catching up with his short covered legs. Bloodstone soon started to discuss the main areas of the ship, the first was barracks. It was a strange word, but it meant to train or fight... That was something that Soapstone was trying to avoid at all cost. Storage, the place to put all the excess or useless junk. Beds? What are those? And what is sleeping? So many things he didn't know, but nothing like information that would be able to calm himself of this lack of knowledge. Soon enough, body enhancers... Those could be useful, but those would make him more noticeable, and more notice means a bad situation in any case, so he would pass on those unless he knows he will be inside of a fight. Finally, Bloodstone mentioned something about labs? Those sounded weird as well, but the word seemed interest him, and Research and Development... Interesting, he could learn something from this gem. In the end, Soapstone was left standing in the middle of an unknown territory with no idea what to do... What should he do?

Aquamarine smiled softly, Candice's concern helping to calm her nerves as well as starting to lighten her mood. She could see why Mars trusted her now because she truly did care for the other Gem and had found a good friend in this human. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit at some of the question for they were amusing but understandable since Candice didn't know about how her powers worked."You have no need to worry, he should already be mostly healed right now if not completely but I would keep him in there until he reforms on his own breaking it or till it melts. I didn't want to miss any hidden cracks. The melting shouldn't harm him, it would just be water on his gem. Some don't do well with water but I would not use this kind of way to heal him if he was in danger of that fact. I doubt Mars would like to wake up in cold storage. If he isn't fully healed by the time it melts than I would be more than happy to heal him again." she answered honestly before making her way up the steps to the Temple, Chromite making her away down as they did. Aqua said nothing, continuing as the Gem passed since she was sure the other one was on her way back to Bloodstone or to do something she could care less about in this moment. If another stranger was out of the Temple than that was fine by her, the next thing on her list was to get rid of the warp pad at the Temple till a block could be found. If anything they could use the on in the forest not far from town if they really needed to be somewhere.

It seemed some of the Gems were still in the main room of the Temple. She barely missed Spinel slipping away into her room, carefully asking the human Reggie if he could move aside before she did. The door to her room closing fast which meant the Gem probably had really wanted to be alone but who could really blame her."Have any of you seen Melanite while I was gone? I have been worried sick and I can't seem to find her anywhere. I could check the town a bit more thorough but I honestly don't believe she would go there..." Aquamarine asked concernedly to the others that were left in the main room.

Candice took in Aquamarine's silent reactions to her questions carefully. She could see that she was at ease, but the laugh seemed a little condescending for some reason. She listened to Aquamarine's explanation on how her healing snowball functioned. After she had answered, she nodded and replied simply "Alright. Thank you," She had realized that they had gone past her motorhome and she stopped near the entrance of the temple after Aquamarine had finished explaining. Carnelian stopped and she asked Candice "Dahling, aren't you going to come with us?" Candice shook her head and answered "No. I'll wait out here, in case Mars needs to be healed or if he wants to go back to the motorhome after he reforms," She clearly remembered how Mars reacted to the sight of Aquamarine and Bloodstone and she didn't want to put him through that kind of stress again. She shooed Carnelian when it seemed as though she was just going to stand there, "Go on ahead. I'm sure you have your own questions that you want answered," Carnelian nodded, unsure about Candice before heading up the stairs and entering the temple.

It was dark and lonely, a void once more, but now filled with accusing whispers. Visions of the Lamaist flashed through his mind as he tries to shut them out, screaming in silence as white hot agony runs through his core. He can feel them devouring his body, yet there was nothing there. But it didn't stop the pain, the suffering, the maddening sound of their whispers as he fell deeper into darkness. Suddenly, however, the voices quieted, as an icy embrace wrapped around his form. But it's familiarity brought no comfort to him, only more shame and pain. He pushed away at it, rejecting the feeling. And so it was that it would leave, only to return to wrap him in it's chilling embrace, and each time it left, the voices got quieter, less numerous, their hold on him weakening.

But they never stopped, and would never let him go.

Candice would feel a sudden heat inner hands as the snowball began to steam, the ice rapidly melting as Mars began to radiate large amounts of heat. It slowly began to lift into the sky, the ice cracking with a burst to show his basic form, which was soon detailed. However, a difference could be sen immediately from before. His jacket was drawn closed, his hair less wild and disorderly, kept in a long pony tail that went down the length of his back. His face was the same, but his eye( the other was covered by a strange new eyepatch) was somewhat haunted and weary. Aside from these changes, everything else was the same, but it was obvious that something was weigh him down. As he dropped to the ground, he just stood there, not saying a word or even acknowledging Candice's presence. He just kept staring into space, as if some part of him had yet to return.
@Guardian Angel Haruki

A weak smile found its way onto Amber's face as he listened to Zircon's words, though unsure themselves they did manage to reassure the giant Gem about his actions. He looked down to the gemstone still sitting in his palm before letting out a slight sigh. "What should we do with her?" He asked no one in particular, namely because he doubted anyone in the room would be able to give him that positive of an answer. Before he could get a response the door of the temple opened and Aqua herself made her way in, the universe is funny in the way it gives answers sometimes. The smile that had barely made its way onto Ambers face moments ago faded as he heard the sky colored Gem's question. "Uh... mum..." The giant Gem just managed to say as he stepped forward towards Aqua. He slowly gestured down to his hand where Melanite's gem sat before he spoke again. "I found her in the Kindergarten. S-She got caught under some rocks... I did what I could..." Amber tried his best to explain again. He found it much harder to explain what he had seen this time, maybe because he had spent his strength on the first telling or maybe it became so much more real now that he was telling it to Aqua.

After Carnelian had left, Candice's attention was drawn back to the snowball when she felt that it was melting rapidly all of a sudden. She gasped as Mars' gem floated in the air, shining a bright light, and his human form reappeared. She immediately noticed how his appearance was much more reserved than it had initially been. After he had floated down and landed on the ground, she took a slow step towards him and she asked "Mars? ...Are you alright?" She wanted to know what had happened in the Kindergarten, but she noticed that the sun was setting and it was quickly getting dark.

She sighed silently when it seemed as though he wasn't going to answer. She suggested to Mars, not taking another step towards him (so as not to seem threatening), "Mars, do you want to head back to town?" She hoped that he would answer, say something, anything! Seeing him just zoned out and reserved like this was painful for her to see.

"Uh... mum..."

That was all it took for the sinking feeling of dread to hit her as Amber stepped forward towards her, every step closer making her mind rush on all the things he could say because of the tone in his voice was none to pleasant as it lined with fear and worry. He slowly gestured to his hand where the sleek black gem sat, looking ever so small in Amber's large hands. She listened to his words, coming closer as he spoke and her hand shakily touched Melanite's gem before slowly turning it over and revealing that nothing was wrong with the Gem. It was probably was all thanks to the orange gem in front of her. She felt the weight that had formed earlier fade,instead she felt relief and a sense of pride that could not be ignore replacing the feeling of dread."She is alright,Amber. Melanite has no cracks or breaks of any kind probably thanks to you. Be proud in the fact that you saved her from further damage than just a reform... I know I am proud of you." Aquamarine spoke softly, a smile lightly her features and lightly rubbing the orange gems arm before picking up the black gem in his hands. She carefully bubbled it, sending her off to a safe place to wait for reform since it could take awhile. Emotional pain would not speed up the process for her.

She looked behind her, moving to step up next to the new gem that had joined her in coming to the Temple."Everyone, this is Carnelian."she stated before turning her attention to the one standing next to her."I am sorry to say this isn't everyone that lives here but...it has been a rough day. You have already met Emerald and the human Reggie. This is Amber and the other black gem there is Zircon. If you would like to continue to stay here with us we would be happy to make you a room but of course the choice is yours. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. I am sorry to say that afterwards...I need some time alone. I hope everyone understands..."

@Akayaofthemoon Emerald watched these events take place, from Amber and Melanite's gem, to Aquamarine, and he had a few things on his mind, namely what happened, but he didn't think that Aquamarine was in any mood to-"Excuse me, Aquamarine, just one question before you go, what happened? Are you ok?"

-Inside Emerald's confused, confused head-
What was that?! I was curious! Well, she better tell us. Seriously, what's with you guys? -etc etc-

-Real world-
Emerald paused for a second, mumbling to himself in different tones of voice, as in his head a various stream of arguments was sent back and forth between him....and him.....and also him. What? He shook his head, trying to focus, and also trying to adjust to the fact that this was probably going to happen for a long time. Never mind that. I'll just wait for a response. Emerald turned back towards Aquamarine, waiting for an answer.

Mars flinched ever so slightly, his eye turning towards the sound of her voice, but he didn't seem to see her, his multi-colored eye appearing to be glazed over, seeing something that wasn't really there. After a couple more steps away, he seemed to recall where he was, whatever nightmare he'd been in forgotten as he suddenly came back into full consciousness.

"Uh, y-y-yeah. I t-think that's be for t-t-the best." Mars said quietly, his looking down at the ground in a depressive fashion as he turned around to make his way to the RV. Every so often he'd flinch, as if he'd heard something in the distance or saw something out of the corner of his eye. And he'd also take to scratching at the area around his eyepatch, one of the many new nervous ticks he'd returned with.

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Spinel had found the entire situation overstimulating and wasn't sure what good her presence there was doing, and nobody seemed to be paying attention to her. She'd decided to retire to her room for a spell. After saying there for a significant amount of time, Spinel came back out to check on the situation. She looked around to see that several people who were there for the initial commotion were gone. "Did I miss anything important?" she asked, hoping whoever was there would answer.

Zircon shortly scratched the back of her head again slowly when hearing Amber's question towards anybody in general really. It wasn't for that long though as Aquamarine returned, followed by the question of Melanite rather quickly. Perhaps that was Amber's cue; anyone could have seen this question coming from Aquamarine sooner or later, Zircon could only imagine that it may or may not be hard for Amber to have to tell what happened a second time. With hands properly behind her back Zircon watched the interactions exchanged between Amber and Aquamarine as suspense slightly rose for her. After officially hearing from the expert that Melanite was alright Zircon softly breathed out in relief. It felt easing to be completely sure on Melanite's condition. After that was settled Zircon's attention was caught once more when Aquamarine addressed to everyone in the room to introduce a new gem, namely, Carnelian. Zircon gave a small wave at an appropriate chance, "..Hi," Zircon found that a greeting towards the new one would be suitable, short or not. Zircon's attention soon turned to multiple things, mostly taking notice of Aquamarine stating she needed alone time and then Emerald's question to her. Concern slightly increased; did Aquamarine run into more tensions perhaps? There was really nothing to do about it now except respect the alone time Aquamarine wanted. This day literally could not get any more...bumpy.

Zircon turned to Spinel, about to briefly fill her in as she asked. "People are either out and about or in their rooms...or here..." In all honesty Zircon wasn't exactly sure when at what point Spinel went off to her room, so for all Zircon knows she might be just saying things she already knows but it wouldn't hurt to inform just in case. Zircon took a couple steps forward, quietly and lightly clearing her throat looking slightly to the side, "Melanite got uh... 'poofed'...caught under some rocks or something..she's alright though. Amber got her," Zircon believed that was the only 'big thing' that has happened this day. At least the latest thing she knows of.