Chapter 218 - Shoot

"Goodmorning Gem! Has your breakfast arrived yet?" Venedette said cheerfully while coming inside of her room in the hospital wing with Von who was just silent and embarrassed by the stuff he just said to his mom.

"Gem?" Venedette asked and let go of Von when she noticed Gem shivering, "What's wrong? Did something happen?" she added and then went closer to examine Gem herself.

Von hadn't even moved an inch away from where he was standing when he suddenly felt the room's temperature rise as if there was a fire burning which was coming from Gem's direction.

"Mom, be careful!" Von shouted and threw himself to his mom so he could stop her from approaching Gem.

"Ahhh!" Venedette shouted and shut her eyes while shielding Von and herself with her iron skin from the laser that just suddenly shot out from Gem's necklace when she turned around.

"Venedette! Von…" Gem said after seeing her and suddenly fell weak on her bed with her necklace finally cooling down.

"W-What happened?" Venedette asked and cautiously stood up while still holding Von behind her.

But instead of answering, Gem could only mumble words as she was the one being affected the most by the Salamandite crystal's sudden abnormality..

"Water! Give her some water, Von!" Venedette said after noticing Gem's dry lips and dehydrated face while pointing at the table beside the door where the maids put Gem's breakfast that she still hasn't touched since earlier that morning.

"What was that?" Venedette said and went closer to the cut that the laser made on the roof.

The light was similar to the faint cyan color of Gem's energy slimes but instead of being faint, the light was so intense that it almost became a darting laser! Only bigger and not as precise as the ones on the market.

"Here you go," Von said and gave Gem the glass of water without complaints about how scary and dangerous that necklace of hers was or how he doesn't trust her at all, which only made Venedette realize how true his words were earlier that morning.

"Wait," Gem said and turned her necklace away before leaning closer to Von so she could finally drink water.

"What happened, Gem? Are you alright? How long has this been happening?" Venedette asked restlessly while caressing her dead necklace.

"Earlier… this morning-" Gem said between her sips which almost made her choke.

"Slow down, it's okay. Drink that first," Venedette said and moved closer so she could wipe the sweat away from Gem's face.

"Mr. Gemini and Lady are both gone. Is it possible to lose your system while your Stat-hut is still active?" Gem said and took a deep breath to calm herself down after chugging that glass of water straight to her stomach.

"What do you mean gone?" Von asked while moving the glass of water away from her.

"They're not responding to my calls. But the Stat-hut is still working though, I don't know what's happening anymore."

"How about inside the Solitude? Did something other than the things you told us yesterday happen there?" Venedette asked and leaned closer with curious eyes.

"I still can't remember anything other than that. But that thing that happened earlier! That was the same glow that my necklace did before I passed out!"

"That laser-like thing?"

"Kind of," Gem said, answering Venedette's question who was now reaching out her hands to touch Gem's Salamandite that was still burning.

"But it was softer and brighter than that, I think that's also the reason why those invisible kids ran away from me."

"What made you so sure that the things you think you saw in there were kids?" Von asked.

"I accidentally kicked one of them, and their voices sound a lot like kids, younger than us."

"Was it scary?" Venedette asked as her eyes shifted into a more concerned gaze.

"It was, but I passed out before I could even process anything-" Gem said and turned silent when she heard her stomach growl.

"You must be hungry, I heard you also didn't touch the dinner that I told the maids to deliver in your rooms," Venedette said while walking towards the table beside the door to get Gem's breakfast.

"Oh, I- uhh… I immediately fell asleep last night, uhh," Gem said while looking away.

"You're lying," Von mouthed to her with narrowed eyes which made Gem pout.

"Eat this now before it gets cold. You should also just rest for the day instead of attending your classes. Your health comes first."

"Can I also skip the rest of the day here with her?" Von suddenly said, which froze both Venedette and Gem.

"I mean, if I can, I would like to stay here to watch out for her," Von immediately followed to make his intentions clear.

Even though the former was his original plan after all.

"Sure, you wouldn't mind being guarded by Von, right Gem?" Venedette said with an innocent smile as if she got convinced by Von's excuse.

But in reality, Venedette just thought it would be better for Gem to have company instead of going through these things by herself.

At least someone should be there for her. 

"O-Of course," Gem answered hesitantly with the memories of the first time they were left alone in a room and almost killed each other because of getting into each other's nerves.

"I also wanted to stay here longer but unfortunately I have more meetings to attend to. Being a manager of a group for this upcoming tournament is not an easy task, especially since I wouldn't be joining the games myself anymore so I have to set up everything nicely for you guys to have a smooth start. You won't use this against me, right? You know how much I love you two," Venedette said and kissed their foreheads as if saying goodbye already.

"Are you going now?" Von asked after moving away from her.

"Yes. Take care of her, I don't want to spar with a sick child later this week when my class starts."

"You're finally going to teach us how to fight?!" Gem said, miraculously gaining energy from what she just heard from Venedette.

"Uhuh, I hope you'll be in good shape by then," Venedette said and waved goodbye to them after jumping outside the window.

"Why is she always in a rush?" Von mindlessly whispered to himself before taking the dishes from Gem's tray away from her and back to the table beside the door, making Gem speechless for a minute.

"Y-You're actually here to take care of me?" Gem asked and held her necklace tightly after noticing another change in its temperature just like when its system merged for the first time with her Stat-hut earrings.

"No. I just went here to skip classes," Von said and laid down two beds away from where she was as if he did not just help her with the water or the dishes earlier.

"Oh, figures," Gem said and also laid down on her bed quietly, purposely not saying anything in an attempt to finally have a peaceful day with Von.

But after five minutes of silence, Gem still couldn't wrap her head around how chill Von was and why he was not saying anything to her at all.

"Von… are you there?" Gem asked before turning in his direction and catching him lost in his thoughts while reaching for the ceiling.

"What?" Von said and turned his head to Gem's direction too, making Gem panic and look away almost immediately.

"Uhh… I was just wondering…" Gem trailed off and held her now freezing necklace tightly with her warm right hand.

"What?" Von said again, but in a more dismissive tone than earlier.

"You're not scared of this anymore?" Gem said and showed Von the necklace that was being covered in ice flakes as if it was winter.

"P-Put it away," Von said nervously while still keeping a calm demeanor.

"Oh, you are. My bad," Gem said and giggled after getting the reaction that she wanted from Von who was still afraid of her necklace.

"I'm not! Why would you point it at me!?" Von said in defense, lowering his voice at the last sentence before turning away from Gem and laying his back on the bed again.

"Tch, you're still a crybaby huh?" Gem said even though she did not mean it.

But instead of retaliating, Von only went silent and let Gem think whatever she wanted like the mature boy that he was just claiming to be to Venedette earlier.

'He's not answering…' Gem thought and tried to just ignore Von too.

But every time she would close her eyes, the voices of Mr. Gemini and Lady kept echoing inside of her head, making her feel lonely and miss them even more.

"Are you crying?" Von asked when he noticed Gem's ragged breathing.

"No…" Gem said with a shaky voice and quickly wiped the tears away before opening her eyes.

And before she could even react, Von was already standing in front of her, looking worried and nervous as hell for assuming that it was his fault that she was crying, which made Gem chuckle a little and forget about how sad she was for losing both of her systems.