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[3rd POV]
The sound of his own footsteps was the only thing Y/N could really focus on. His mind was in a state of disarray. The first day of everyone being awake and things are already starting to get way too complicated with relationships. He never imagined Bort of all people would have him in the palm of her hand, although there was a slight sense of relief it was her and not someone like Red Beryl. Bort is not one for blackmail, but Y/N didn't know how far the black-haired battle maniac was willing to go with the newly acquired information.
"You just keep on falling deeper and deeper, don't you?" Y/N stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes slightly widened for a moment before his expression turned into a death glare.
A vision of himself with short hair and crimson regal clothes appeared by his side, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, giving Y/N a disapproving look. Y/N slowly turned to look at the hallucination version of himself, already cursing himself for even bothering to acknowledge Y/N's presence.
"I wonder what would Padparadscha think," Y/N's eyes shot open as he clenched both of his fists.
Red Matter pooled off his body in plentiful amounts and quickly formed a spiked appendage that went to strike Y/N, but he was gone in a blink of an eye. Y/N continued to stare at the fractured wall with pure rage in his eyes as the crimson liquid spike returned back into his body. Taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair, Y/N calmed himself down. He DETESTED these moments, moments when he felt the most vulnerable. At the mercy of his own inner demon that liked to kick him down at any chance he got.
"Y/N?" a soft voice grasped his attention, a voice he knew well.
"Ah, hello Dia," greeted Y/N with a small and slightly awkward wave, he rose an eyebrow immediately when he saw the lustrous girl holding a bouquet of flowers in a wooden vase, "Flowers?"
"Oh!" Dia gently moved a couple of multi-coloured flowers around, showing Y/N just how many types she had in a single vase, "Well, I thought they would make the school more lively."
Y/N nodded, but he saw something hidden beneath Diamond's pleasant smile, something that felt very unlike her, "...Are you okay?"
"Eh?" Diamond was taken back by Y/N's sudden question, although she didn't immediately reply with a yes, instead, she opted to quiet down, giving Y/N more than enough hints that she indeed was not fine.
"Did Bort do something again?" exasperatedly asked Y/N, he felt bad for his sweet-natured friend, she was too pure for her own good.
"What makes you say that? Bort is never wrong..." Y/N listened intently as Diamond trailed off, tracing her fingers against the green stump of a lone flower, "...she's always, ALWAYS right."
Y/N only listened, already knowing that Diamond's opinion towards Bort was a little... mixed, to say the least. But the smile the lustrous Gem gave Y/N as she said the next few words really put the nail in the coffin when it came to her current relationship with the battle maniac.
"It's just infuriating," there was not much Y/N could say in response, Diamond's opinion wasn't based on just a few encounters, but rather hundreds of years she spent with her black-haired sibling.
The red-haired male could only give Diamond a look of sympathy, dealing with Bort was by no means an easy job. It might just be harder than dealing with Lunarians and that's really saying something considering he doesn't really spend that much time with her. The least he could do for the poor girl was at least provide some manner of emotional support.
"...Want a-" but Y/N couldn't even finish his sentence as they noticed a large amount of mist filling the hallways of the school, "...Something doesn't feel right."
"You're right... I don't like it," commented Diamond as she placed the wooden vase with the flowers onto the ground, the distinct feeling of being watched crept a shiver up her spine.
Before Y/N could expel enough Red Matter to create at least one appendage something appeared in the thick fog. Neither Y/N nor Diamond could properly react in time as a colossal light yellow monster charged at them. It was quick, very quick, not to mention absolutely huge in size. It's nothing like Y/N ever saw before. Six eyes and six arms, how in the world could a Lunarian like this exist baffled Y/N to great extent. But now was not the time to be frozen in fear-
-SMASH-
Diamond managed to jump to the side just as the large humanoid Lunarian's fist descended into the ground. But Y/N was not so fortunate. He was nowhere as fast as Diamond and because of his late response was just pounded into the stone floor of the school with enough force to rattle every inch of his person. It felt like a massive boulder just fell on top of him, cracks quickly appeared in various patterns across his body as some Red Matter splattered across the ground. Then as the Lunarian lifted him into the air Y/N was expecting some manner of prison or a cage to hold him in, but to his and Diamond's surprise, his body was just thrown to the side and down a hallway. His shock lasted all the while he bounced off of the ground a couple of times before finally smashing into the wall at the end.
"Ugh!" Y/N grunted as small bits and pieces of his body cracked and broke off.
As he tried to stand up from the crater he created he was surprised to find himself nearly falling face-first into the ground were it not for Red Matter supporting him.
"Look at how pathetic you are," at the sound of the uncanny voice Y/N growled in anger.
"Do you ever shut up for more than five minutes?!" yelled Y/N in frustration as he glared at his delusional counterpart, limping past his "future" self in hopes of somehow catching up to Diamond and providing help in any way he can, even in his damaged state.
"Where are you going?" Y/N ignored Y/N's words, or at least tried to do so, "You will only get in the way. Leave her be. Save yourself the pain of having to watch her disappear."
"I'll save myself the pain of listening to your blabber," snarled Y/N in between his teeth as he continued marching onward, hellbent on saving Diamond from that monster of a Lunarian.
Y/N watched Y/N with a neural, almost annoyed expression before he sighed, "You're only going to hurt yourself in the end, trust me, I'd know."
And like that, the wretched hallucination disappeared, leaving no trace behind of its existence. As Y/N continued limping a sense of dread slowly crept up his back when he tried listening and finding Diamond's, and subsequently the Lunarian's current position by the sound of their battle. But everything was oddly quiet...
-PITTER-PATTER-
The sound of what Y/N guessed to be the pitter-patter of tiny feet. And soon enough before his very eyes appeared tens of strange, four-legged and (sometimes) multi-eyed puffs of clouds that bark and huffed when they saw him.
Like an army of ants, they surrounded Y/N, but the red-haired male only looked on in confusion as the tiny adorable puffs of clouds bonked against him, some tried to climb him, albeit unsuccessfully. Some chewed on his shoes, but Y/N only looked at them with confusion and surprise, he didn't have the conscience to kick them away.
"...What are you?" but Y/N the only answer he received was a cute bark as the little critters used each other like stools and managed to climb their way up to Y/N's head and shoulders, "So fluffy..."
He didn't do anything to move them away from his body, instead, it appeared as if he embraced his new position as some manner of chew toy. He scooped three up from the ground and carried them in his arms, making sure they couldn't get away while two sat on his shoulders and one took the spot on top of his head. They appeared to like Y/N, at least to some extent as those that couldn't climb up his body followed him when he decided to go find the rest of his peers. Judging by the texture and appearance of these creatures, they most likely are bits and pieces of that large Lunarian that smashed him into the ground before. Y/N couldn't really run, and the presence of these fluffy and snuggly pups made him feel really comfortable. He would've fallen backwards and allowed himself to be enveloped in the fluffiness for all eternity, but there was stuff to be done, such as finding Diamond, regrouping with the rest, repairing his body, and figuring out what these things were and what to do with them.
-BARK-
Subjectively, he wants to keep them. All of them. If he can he will keep every damn last puppy he can even if it breaks him.
"...Fluffy," Y/N ignored his doppelganger as he tried and failed to pat the doggos, leaving him in an even more depressed state than before.
"Ah, Y/N?" he turned towards the source of the sound, that being Phosphophyllite.
"Hi," simply replied Y/N, still holding the pups close to him.
Phosphophyllite could merely stare at him in slight disbelief but also understanding, those living puffs of clouds were very adorable. But she couldn't help but feel a little jealous, whether she felt jealous towards Y/N for being a puppy magnet or the puppies themselves was a mystery. What wasn't a mystery was that the group of pups following Y/N around was but a portion of the actual number of pups in total.
"That big Lunarian kept splitting into smaller pieces when we cut it down," explained Phosphophyllite, making Y/N nod in understanding.
"So Dia is safe?" asked Y/N, he already suspected as much but just wanted to reassure himself.
"Oh yeah, she took the big Lunarian down all by herself. Rutile is treating her right now. You should probably go see that quack as well," Phos took a note of Y/N's damages in the middle of their conversation, she was simply too distracted by the dogs to notice beforehand.
"Yeah, I'll go do that," and so Y/N waddled away, trying not to step on the pups along the way while Phosphophyllite looked at him and his small army round a corner and disappear.
"...I wish that were me," muttered Phosphophyllite as she quickly left in hopes of capturing the rest of the escaped Lunarian dogs, she fully believed that Y/N will be able to keep his share of cute puppies close to himself, "...Rutile is not going to happy."
And the mint-haired girl was correct. Y/N trembled in his boots as he laid on a wooden bench some distance away from Diamond who was also lying down, although in a much worse state. At the very least the lustrous disco ball wasn't currently being straddled by the most terrifying being known to Y/N, Rutile. He desperately clutched to the three fluffy puppies in hopes of alleviating some of the dread he felt from the definitely mad doctor.
"I'll hammer a nail between your eyes until they pop out if you get damaged again," Y/N could only nod in response as Rutile menacingly tapped his forehead all the while sitting on his stomach.
The rest of the puppies were all huddled together in the corner of the room in complete fear of the girl that only needed a hammer and a nail to instil fear into just about anyone. Y/N prayed he wouldn't get damaged again soon, otherwise, he's going to need more than glue and a pair of experienced hands to put him back together.
[[TO BE CONTINUED...]]
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