Reputation

Toxic

Spinel

I abandon the questions much quicker than anything in my entire life. The scythe in my hand is cold from disuse. The metal almost burning in my hand.

And I run.

I push my hand down on the handle of the door, pushing it open with anxious adrenaline. My heart beats hard with every shortened breath taken in by my lungs. I hear the distant shouts of Garnet and Steven close behind me.

But I don't mind being labeled as guilty as long as I can prevent any more damage. If I can prevent someone from being in danger. If I could prevent someone from the worry and guilt that I have always known.

The blinding sunlight breaks through the widely opened door. Squinting the black dots out of my vision, I hope that my eyes start adjusting. I don't want an enemy that could have followed me to have any advantage.

Cause I know that there are evil gems that would really want-

"SPINEL!" I hear Steven shout from behind me. I don't turn around. Even when I feel Steven try to pull me back into the ship, I throw myself forward onto the ground.

The wet, sinking ground.

Opening my eyes from the impact I see my hands sinking into the earth. The once solid green terrain, now saturated with pink...poison. I try to pull my hands out of the sunken dirt, but all my effort is pointless. With every frantic tug, I just get pulled in deeper.

"SPINEL!"

Sweat clings to my brow. The earthen poison now reaches my gem. And once it does...it burns. "Spinel hang on!" I hear Steven shout behind me. I'm glad that I am facing away from him, because he isn't able to see how much agony that the poison is causing. I try stretching to the door, but the constant pain prevents me from doing almost anything.

"Okay Steven, just hurry." I say, getting my teeth. I wonder if he is still even there, if he is even going to be able to save me before I am pulled under. I continue to try to pull myself up, but everything I try to do just makes it worse. But I refuse to do nothing and let myself be consumed by the poison. No matter how much it hurts.

I drag my hand through the poisoned ground, towards my gem. With every second of berating poison, I feel my energy being slapped away. I try to cover my gem from letting anymore of the toxic dirt from reaching it.

But now I am sinking even further.

"Spinel, we're going to pull you out." I hear Steven say to me, a hint of leaked concern comes through his voice, as if he is trying to stay collected in this kind of peril situation.

Would I try to be calm if it were me standing in that ship? Would I feed them lies, saying that they were going to be alright? Would I tell them that it's going to be okay, even if their vision is tunneling because of their gem being hurt from poison?

I guess I'll never know.

I cough as I realize that the saturated earth is almost to my chin. But my mind feels too far away for me to really realize it. "I'm coming to you Spinel, and then Garnet is going to pull us both out!" He says trying to get me to respond.

All I know is that he should not being coming anywhere near me. Or this poison. "Don't!" I shout through the burning pain. But I can't see what his reaction is, but I can hear him land into the terrain next to me.

I watch him dig his hand into the ground, eyes wide with pain, but concentrated on the task. I reach is hand and he pulls me out of the ground a little, as he simultaneously pushes himself in. I know that he realizes that it's poison, but I can only hope that because I am also stuck with him, that I had no idea that this had happened.

But soon enough, with our faces twisted in matching pain, he shouts to Garnet, "OKAY PULL US IN!" All I hear is the ship engine roar on. Worry flashes through my mind. She isn't going to save us, she is stealing the ship! But before I could tell that to Steven, we are both throttled out of the ground.

I look up, with wild fear in my mind. But I am too shocked to speak my concern. Steven helps me up from the ground, and we walk forward, sloshing through the mud. He helps us travel quickly to the ship, using the rope to pull us forward.

It takes me a second to realize that Garnet had tied a rope to a rung of a ladder on the ship, and then piloted the ship to thrust us out of the ship. She wasn't leaving, she was using the power from the shuttle to get us out of the ground.

Soon we make it to the ship, both of us worn but only one of us weary. Stepping onto the ship was a tough and tiring battle of its own. With my gem still on fire from the poison, all I want to do is get the toxic mud off of me. And I hope that he isn't feeling the same.

I hope that he isn't suffering as much as me, just because I got myself into a dangerously stupid decision. I mentally laugh at myself, I could have gotten him heart because I was trying to prevent him from being hurt.

But I mean, that's how it always works, isn't it?