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[3rd POV]
A sigh escaped Y/N's lips as he slowly continued his stroll towards Cinnabar's home. She rightfully deserved an update on the situation concerning Phosphophyllite, she was after all their friend. No matter how hard she tries to deny it Y/N is certain Cinnabar was worried for their troublemaking mint-haired friend.
"I hope she's not mad..." thinking back to the way she acted when he and Dia talked to her she might have been a little angry for some reason.
Y/N was hoping she cooled her head and didn't hold any prejudice towards him or Diamond for "annoying" her during her night patrols. His thoughts drifted to his mint-haired BFF, if she really could talk to the snail creature then they might have a chance to learn something of the outside world, that is if they could trust their words or if Phos really was going insane. Without even noticing it at first Y/N arrived at the cliff near Cinnabar's cave/home/residence. Y/N began extruding enough Red Matter under his feet to safely lift himself off the ground and slowly descended into the entrance of Cinnabar's home.
There was no door, or bell, or anything for that matter at the entrance, "Shinsha? Are you home?"
Y/N received no response, maybe she wasn't home which was the most likely scenario, or maybe she was ignoring him which was less favourable. So Y/N yelled again, "Shinsha are you home?!"
This time he heard light rustling in the cave which soon stopped, either something or someone was in Cinnabar's cave making that noise or Cinnabar herself was there, ignoring him. With reluctance, Y/N walked into the cave which was shrouded in a cover of darkness. He could barely see anything for crying out loud, how the hell did Cinnabar manage to live in a place like this?!
"Shinsha? Are you asleep?" hardly plausible, Y/N wasn't even sure if Cinnabar sleeps at all considering her physiology is similar to his.
The sound of paper crunching under his right foot caught his attention, bending down he picked it up and was very surprised to see a crudely drawn picture of... him? It didn't really look like him, at all, if his name wasn't by it he would've thought it's something else. He didn't expect Cinnabar to make something like this, did Cinnabar even make this? She didn't seem like someone to draw so badly...
"Phos probably drew this," muttered Y/N under his breath, the rustling he previously heard must have been this piece of paper fluttering across the cave, "Hmm?"
Y/N rose an eyebrow at the two hearts he failed to notice at first glance, one was drawn rather badly, probably work of Phos and the other was drawn much more nicely, it was perfectly symmetrical, probably work of Cinnabar. Speaking of the red-haired troubled girl, Y/N noticed the faint glistening of crimson at the very end of the cave. Gently placing the paper down and putting a rock on it so it wouldn't get blown away Y/N silently walked towards the resting form of Cinnabar. This was the first time he saw her sleeping, it was a strange sight to see considering she worked the most during the night and never seemed tired during the day. Y/N frowned when he saw the lack of an actual bed and the fact the sheets Cinnabar was using were dirty and torn was not helping his growing concern for her wellbeing.
Y/N stiffened when she stirred in her sleep before her eyes lightly fluttered open, his racket must have woken her up, "Ah, sorry to intrude Shinsha. I wasn't expecting you to be sleeping."
But the girl barely responded, she seemed tired, just like Y/N was the day when he had to lift that snail's shell from the pond. She slowly reached out and gently tugged on Y/N's jacket, wordlessly telling him to get down. Y/N rose an eyebrow and sat down beside her lying form, he really should get her a fresh set of bedsheets and an actual bed. She may be made out of minerals but that doesn't mean she can't be comfortable. Y/N blinked when he saw Cinnabar hold his hand, interlocking her fingers with his and closing her eyes again. He just stared at his longtime friend who looked so fragile at that moment that he just wanted to hug her and never let go, not that he'd actually say that to anyone. He gently moved some of Cinnabar's red hair from her face and a small gentle smile appeared on his face when he felt the red-headed girl tighten her hold on his hand. In silence Y/N sat there, holding Cinnabar's hand while she peacefully slept by his side. He didn't move, he was just there, like a statue. He stayed this way for hours until Cinnabar started to finally wake up.
"Morning sunshine," Y/N's sarcastic greeting was returned with a mumble from Cinnabar as she groggily sat up before leaned her head against Y/N's shoulder, "I'll never understand why everyone finds my shoulders to be comfortable..."
"How long was I asleep?" the tiredness was not yet completely gone from Cinnabar's tone.
"A couple of hours, maybe more, when I arrived you were already asleep," explained Y/N as he gently leaned his head against Cinnabar's which made her smile a little, "We recovered Phos, mostly."
"Mostly?" Cinnabar's question made Y/N sigh.
"Yeah, apparently she can talk to the snail thing now," Cinnabar only sighed in response, already thinking their mint-haired friend has gone bonkers, "But if she can we can learn something new, hopefully. That is-"
"If we can trust it," Cinnabar finished for Y/N who nodded in response.
"Yeah... I actually came here to apologise," Cinnabar rose an eyebrow.
"Why?" Y/N thought for a second.
"You seemed angry when I and Dia talked to you," Cinnabar was silent for a few seconds before she let go of Y/N's hand and stood up, stretching her arms for a brief moment, "Did I say something wrong?"
The red-haired female hummed in response as she slowly strode towards the entrance of her home, "Well, yes and no."
Y/N rose an eyebrow in a questioning manner as he stood up as well and followed after Cinnabar, "What do you mean?"
"I wasn't really angry at you or anything, but it would've been nice if you came to me first," Y/N blinked, a gesture he does often when he's confused.
"...Sorry...?" Cinnabar just sighed in exasperation at Y/N's oblivious behaviour.
"You dork. But I could forgive you, for a price," Y/N lightly snorted when he heard that, Cinnabar merely smiled lightly and spread her arms, waiting for a hug.
With a rather happy sigh, Y/N moved in to embrace Cinnabar who happily wrapped her hands around his back, burying her face into his shoulder. They stayed like that for a good while, just standing there in each other's embrace.
"You sure like hugs, huh?" sarcastically remarked Y/N.
"Yeah..." Cinnabar was somehow enjoying the comfort of close proximity to Y/N, even though his body was literally tougher than rock by a large margin.
They remained in their embrace for a good while, it sort of made Y/N thankful for the fact only he had the luxury of hugging Cinnabar at the moment, no matter how selfish it may have sounded. Soon Y/N noticed that it was slowly getting dark outside and quickly realised that he should probably return to the school, who knows what Phos was up to in his absence.
"I'm going to head back now, I take it you will be joining us tomorrow?" Y/N pulled back from the hug and Cinnabar rather reluctantly let go, she really, really enjoys hugs.
"Sure, make sure that three-five doesn't do anything stupid this time," Y/N lightly chuckled at that, he really should look after Phos more judging by how much of a clutz she is.
"I'll try," just as Y/N walked passed his wrist was swiftly grabbed by Cinnabar, but before he could even question her his eyes nearly burst from their sockets when he felt the red-haired girl's lips on his cheek.
Cinnabar's face went fifty shades of red from embarrassment before she ran by a stupified Y/N who just stood there, with wide eyes and a blush creeping up his cheeks. He looked in the direction in which he thought Cinnabar ran off in, considering he was still at the entrance to her cave there were only two possible directions she could run in, left or right. Y/N took a deep breath to calm his mind, even though he didn't really have lungs, or brain, or any organs for that matter. Using Red Matter to bring himself up the cliff and onto the grassy plains of the vast plateau, a multitude of colourful and glistening dots ranging in colour appeared in the distance, moving in seemingly random patterns. A confused expression crossed Y/N's visage, why was everyone running around so frantically...? Oh goddamn it...
"...Damnit Phos..." the closest dot to him was multicoloured and vibrant, definitely Diamond.
Y/N ran in her general direction at full speed, "Dia! What's going on?"
The walking, talking disco ball of a girl noticed him and appeared relieved for a second, "Y/N! Have you seen Phos? We can't find her!"
"What? No, why?" Dia's worry returned with full force, making Y/N worry as well, "What the hell did she do this time?"
"We think she went to the ocean. Please help us look for her!" Diamond then quickly ran off, completely unaware or ignorant of the look that crossed Y/N's face.
"The ocean...? But why the..." then the realisation dawned on Y/N, Phos would've never went to the ocean alone and on her own accord, somebody had to make her want to go there, "That damn slug..."
"Never should've left Phos alone with that squashable worm..." Y/N's face was stoic, devoid of emotion at first glance, but his eyes told a different story.
Fury. Anger. Guilt and many other words to describe the feeling welling up in Y/N's body. He tried to calm himself as much as he could, he tried to think rationally, but it was all for nought. He couldn't shake the feeling of self-loathing and failure off his shoulders. Clenching his fist he turned in the direction of the beach and ran towards it. Kongo-sensei and Rutile were already setting up a camp by placing a few blankets on the ground and bringing in supplies.
Rutile noticed him arrive first, "Well, nice of you to join the fray."
"Not the time for sass, what's going on?" Y/N already started applying the salt-resistant resin onto his body.
"Phos ran off with the slug into the sea, me and sensei are waiting for everyone to arrive so we can go searching underwater," explained Rutile as she placed another bowl of resin onto one of the blankets.
"Great, I'm going to search for her first," but before Y/N could run off he felt someone's hand on his shoulder, and it was not Rutile's.
"Y/N, search only near the shore. I forbid everyone from going further than that, it's too dangerous," Y/N remained silent for a split second.
"Understood," and with that Y/N disappeared under the water.
His body was too heavy to float, considering he was a literal living piece of a space mineral he obviously can't swim. Seeing the seams of the sun's rays slowly dim all around Y/N gazed into the dark depths in front of him. He looked back towards the shore and turned his attention back to the depths of the ocean.
"Fuck it," cursed Y/N as he continued his search into the deeper parts of the endless and dark abyss, completely disregarding Kongo-sensei's orders.
A few jellyfish could be seen floating around him and in the distance, giving off dim light in the dark depths. He searched high and low, the sun already started to set and the rays penetrating the surface of the ocean all but disappeared. They were replaced by the much dimmer light of the moons orbiting in the planet's orbit. An excruciating amount of time passed without any clues to Phos' current whereabouts. That is until Y/N stepped onto something, it crunched under his foot. The dust of the ocean floor covered it too heavily for Y/N to see what it was, so he bent down to pick it up. The moment the object was dusted off Y/N nearly cracked. A green, glistening but cracked shard was in Y/N's hand, undoubtedly belonging to the one and only person he was currently searching for... Phosphophyllite.
[[TO BE CONTINUED...]]
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Braggski: Sorry about the delayed update, we had a series of power outages due to some issues in the local powerplant. Here, have a cute picture of Cinnabar and Phosphophyllite as a token of apology.