Chapter 142 - Together

"Ah, finally! Back home!" Gem muttered after landing back in the real world, "Ouch, my bones hurt." She complained and sat down on her bed while looking at the window.

"It's getting late. We're late. We took too much time on that unplanned rescue mission and now we're going to stay on this trip a little later than planned, and that treasure witch hunt," Gem said to herself while covering her eyes from the sunlight using her arms.

"I should get up, we don't have time for this," she added and pushed herself out of the bed, jumped to the door, and held the doorknob while opening it silently.

'I'm sure everybody's taking a rest just like me, but I want to locate that witch as soon as possible and teach her a lesson,' Gem thought while wandering around the open hallway.

Since the stairs were just in front of her room, Gem thought she should go down and check what was happening downstairs instead of bothering her friends. But when she peeked down and saw Fily organizing plans on the living room, Von sleeping on the leisure room's couch, and Venedette driving the Levi-yacht, she decided to see how Petunia was doing first by going to her room next to hers.

*Knock knock*

"Can I come in?" Gem said while holding Petunia's doorknob softly. And when she didn't receive any kind of response, she slowly opened the door and saw Petunia's darkroom, full of burnt chemicals and failed mixtures spilled everywhere.

"What happened here? Petunia? Are you there?" she asked while getting closer and closing the door to get a full vision of the darkroom using her necklace's light.

Gem heard sniffs coming from under the study table, and when she went to look, she saw Petunia curled on the cold floor, using her tail as a pillow to sleep on while wiping all her tears away.

"Oh no, Petunia…" Gem said with sympathy as if she also wanted to cry with her.

'I don't know how to comfort people, let alone comfort cats. What should I do in this situation?' Gem thought as she faltered and dropped to her knees to match Petunia's level.

"G-Go away. Leave me alone," Petunia said weakly in between her sobs.

"Please don't cry, you're making me sad." Gem pouted while reaching a hand to Petunia.

"Go away," Petunia said and pushed her hand away.

Gem paused for a second before thinking of something else that might cheer Petunia up.

"How about… this? Tadaa," Gem said while magically controlling the Healing slimes she released in her hands as if they were holograms in this dark room.

"Here," Gem added and wrapped the liquid around Petunia's back, making her warm and cool at the same time as if it was a water blanket.

Gem didn't stop there and even rubbed the liquid across Petunia's whole back and patted her head softly.

"You're so brave, I can't imagine sacrificing your all for someone you just met. If it was me, I'd probably save every last bit of those potions for myself and refuse to give them away to strangers. But you, you were strong and brave enough to give them away, and for that, your name will never be forgotten. You just saved a generation of children, Petunia," Gem said the words she really meant to tell Petunia ever since she found out about what she did.

"That was also thanks to you," Petunia said and turned around but Gem only smiled weakly at her.

"No, that was all you. You were the biggest part of the plan and without you, I simply cannot fix the problem on my own, nor would I force myself to do so. Because unlike you, I am selfish. I find myself more valuable than others. But what you did helped open my eyes. Both you and Venedette chose to take the risk just to save others. And I think that's the most wonderful thing ever. You thought me the importance of being selfless,"

"Yeah, but look at me now, I'm going to die. I was bound to die anyway and I'm just too stubborn to accept it, but hey, at least my life was meaningful, right?" Petunia said while turning her head to look at Gem's teary eyes again.

"It is. You are meaningful and important, Petunia. Especially to us. You're still important to us. Do you think we would just let you go like that? Losing those formulas doesn't matter anymore Petunia, and do you know why?" Gem said while wiping her tears violently.

"Why?" Petunia asked innocently.

"Because you have us now," Gem said and paused to give Petunia space.

"You have us now Petunia, more than anything, we'll make sure to give you everything you need in order to survive. And now, let's not cry over here and do nothing when we have that witch to look for, come on." Gem offered her hand again to Petunia while still using her other hand to caress her fur.

"Right… but how did you know that I was actually looking for the witch?" Petunia said right before touching Gem's left hand which made Gem wonder why Petunia suddenly asked that question.

"Because Sir Durish told me about the formula." Gem shrugged while looking weirdly at her, taking a clue about what was going on, "Was I not supposed to say that?"

"No, promise me you won't tell them about that, okay?" Petunia said while refusing to put her hand in Gem's before Gem answered her question.

"Okay, I won't tell them about the witch. But how did you convince them to join this witch hunt without telling them about the witch though?" Gem asked when Petunia finally climbed up her shoulders.

"Monica lied to them about a special formula that the hidden store sells," Petunia only said.

When they reached the door, Gem paused for a little while and looked at Petunia sincerely.

"We'll get through this, okay? Together."

"Together," Petunia repeated, finally planting a little bit of hope in her heart.