My Carnation - Dr.Stone FanFiction - 1215

h y d r e n g e a

𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒻𝑒𝓁𝓉 𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈

-

"Rina!"
I gasped, turning quickly, Gen smiled down at me and rose his hands in the air, "Relax, it's just me."
I relaxed, resting back into the pillow - in fact, I almost fell back asleep.
"Hey, wait! It's the New Year, so we should all watch the sunrise!"
I groaned and sat up, "You stayed up?"
He nodded, standing and holding out his hand, "So come on, let's go and wake the others."

Together, we walked up a hill to get to a good spot to see the sun. Ruri led the way, and I stood trying to blink away the tiredness in my eyes as we waited for the sun to peak out of the horizon. It started slowly, the dark blue turning lighter and lighter the closer it got. The more light that pored over onto us, the more Suika's rock started to shimmer.
Back before the petrification, every new years, I used to tell myself "just one more year now, for sure, and you'll be able to find what you've been looking for", and  "this year for sure, someone will love me, someone who means it."
Of course, that never happened. This year, I didn't make any wishes at all.
"Why is it glowing?!" Suika asked, holding it up.
"It's Tungsten. It glows when exposed to Ultra Violet light!" Senku exclaimed.
"I've never seen anything like it!" Chrome gasped.
"Neither have I. It's an ultra rare gem. This stuff is used in modern filaments. Heats got nothing on it. It's the strongest metal in the universe!"

After almost a year living here in the kingdom of science, I'd forgotten what all my dreams were. Besides, most of those dreams meant nothing anymore considering I couldn't really achieve them in the stone world. Learning about the cultures humanity grew for themselves and their small communities, perfecting it as they grew larger and larger to an uncontrollable mass. To try and understand all the gods, made up or not... and to try and show everyone I knew that we really weren't different.
But now... all that was gone. Everything humanity created had been destroyed. The temples we built and sustained were nothing - not even ash. The gods stopped receiving their offerings. Everything I ever sought to understand and teach was gone. I wondered if now, if I could even get the courage to wish for anything this year at all, if it would finally come true.

Even when the others ran back to the village to prepare for their mining trip, I managed to slip behind them and stay a little longer at the top of the hill. For once, I didn't cry. I almost felt dried up on the inside, carefully building a small snow man and trying to ignore the burn from how cold the snow was on my fingers. But aside from that, it was actually a really nice day. The sun was high in the sky and I told myself not to. I told myself not to wish for love, and new clothes and happiness. It never came when I tried waiting for it.
"Rina!" I jumped slightly, turning from my sitting position looking at the sky to Gen, who huffed as he walked up to me, "Are you okay?!"
"I... I'm fine." I replied, raising a worried brow as he paused to breathe, hands on his knees as if he still wasn't used to this kind of physical activity.
"We were looking for you!" He exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips suddenly, "Did something happen? Why did you come out here by yourself?"
I glanced to my baby snow man. Once upon a time, months ago, he said he would only do things that benefited him. How is helping me in any way benefiting him?
"Rina? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Let me help you up."
"Why?" I whispered, cutting him off.
"What do you mean why?" He chuckled lightly, and I blinked. I thought he'd sigh instead... "I'll be honest for you... I'm a mentalist, not an asshole."
Gen... I swallowed, "I'm sorry for going off on my own but, I'm not sad this time. I'm okay."
"I see. That's good then." He gave me a light smile and held out his hand.
My eyes softened looking at it, reminding me of all the hands these people have held out for me.
I gripped onto his hand, standing slowly. He smiled sweetly to me and I felt myself blush. All my life, I'd always been the one to smile at others, give things to others, in hopes they'd like me. I was a mean kid growing up, so I did my best to be good. Most of the time, people just took advantage of me.
No one's ever, gave me the same smile I gave them.