(I wrote tidbits of the Penacony chapters during my lunch breaks since I've been busy with my internship recently, and I have yet to review them, so you're getting this and a little something instead)

(There's gonna be typos somewhere in here 😒)

"What is this place?"

"Beats me. Part of the memory zone, maybe?"

Y/n and Aventurine stood idly in a long 🍑 corridor lined with paintings, the hall stretching out farther than they could see. They'd both appeared at the same time, neither really wanting to address the 💩 show that had landed them there in the first place.

They'd come to a silent agreement to just not address it — not until they got up out of this creepy hall.

The h/c haired woman heaved a sigh, 'Just great. The moment I start feeling like myself again, this happens.' she gave Aventurine a curious look, "We could just try walking. There's gotta be an exit somewhere."

The sandy-blond dude shrugged as he glanced back at the trailblazer, "I haven't got any better ideas, let's go for it."

Y/n walked ahead first, her gaze scanning the walls curiously. These paintings... there was something familiar about them. They were shrouded by dusty old cloths, but she could hear voices from behind them.

Curious, she wandered to the left side of the hall and carefully lifted the cloth to see... a baby? An itty bitty baby, that had suspiciously familiar sandy-blond hair, was dozing within the picture.

'Aw, how cute,' y/n thought with a little smile.

"Y/n, take a look at this," Aventurine called and y/n glanced over to where the man was standing by an open door, "It's not much, but it's not a picture. We can probably go through."

"If it ends up dropping us into some sort of purgatory we can't wake up from, I'm blaming you," y/n hummed but didn't hesitate to wander over and step through the doorway first.

Aventurine followed behind her, the two of them slowly walking into the darkness. It was so dark, y/n couldn't even see her own hand when she held it out in front of her face.

"What a pain... why the hell is it pitch black in here?" y/n wondered, halting and blindly reaching out for Aventurine, "Hey, where'd you go?"

"Scared of the dark?" Aventurine's teasing voice replied and y/n scoffed, rolling her eyes even though he probably couldn't see her.

"Whatever, just give me your hand. I don't want to get separated in this creepy 🍑 place. What if that Cocaine Dragon finds us?" y/n retorted.

It was a moment before a hand found y/n's and she heard Aventurine chuckle, "Fair point — here you go."

Y/n kept a tight hold on his hand as the pair of them wandered through the darkness together. She blindly waved her hand in front of her, checking for a door or a window or something until her hand made contact with what felt like a door knob.

"Oh," y/n mumbled, "Found something."

"Is it a way out?" Aventurine inquired from behind her as the woman shrugged, turning the knob.

"Only one way to find out."

She cracked open the door, her eyes curious as light appeared on the other side, though her curiosity quickly turned into horror, "💩! Look away! Don't look!"

Aventurine, of course, did the opposite and peered past y/n. Rather than darkness or hell, he found a sunlit field where a bunch of people dressed in what looked like military attire were gathered.

Amongst them where what he recognized as foxians, leading him to believe this field in front of them was located on one of the Xianzhou ships, but the sight of a familiar h/c haired individual — just shorter — made him realize that this was actually a memory.

"Is that who I think it is?" Aventurine inquired as y/n turned away with a groan, covering her eyes with warm cheeks, "My Xianzhou Friend, huh?"

"Shut up! I told you not to look!" y/n groaned, peeking past her fingers at Aventurine, "I'm never gonna get used to seeing myself like this... damn it, I said look away!"

"Nah, I don't think I will." Aventurine said with a cheeky look as he wandered over to the group of Cloud Knights in the memory, y/n jolting in alarm and hurrying after him. "Hey! Don't you dare."

As they neared, the duo could make out what was being said amongst the group of Cloud Knights as they peered curiously at the h/c haired girl joining them.

"So you're B/n's sister, huh? Man... you sure you're old enough to be on the frontlines?" one of them murmured with a little frown while the girl pouted up at her.

"Don't let her size fool you, B/n was about that big when he was her age." another snickered, "She's a like a tank — you should've seen how she put Instructor Zhixin on his 🍑 a couple months ago. You know what they call her? Dozing Knight. She looks all sleepy and squishy, but she's a Cloud Knight through and through."

Y/n frowned at the mention of the name and let out a quiet groan upon remembering the bastard who blew off her god damn forearm back at the Luofu. And the nickname... oh my god, the nickname.

"So, when did this take place?" Aventurine inquired as the pair of them watched the Cloud Knights overwhelmed the younger y/n with questions.

"Centuries ago..." y/n murmured with a small sigh, rubbing the back of her neck, "It was way before the Third Abundance War... my first expedition. My mother was worried sick, and my brother was going to be on a different warship, so a close friend his promised to look after me."

"Which one..?"

"The one with the black hair and the fox ears that are pointed downwards. He's got earrings, see?"

Y/n pointed out a young foxian amongst the Cloud Knights, looking amused as the younger y/n clapped back at one of the other Cloud Knights — quickly leading to a heated back and forth between the two.

"I can't seem to remember his name, though..." y/n murmured with a sad gaze, brows furrowing slightly.

Aventurine watched her expression for a bit, glancing back at the memory as the foxian man scooped up y/n from under her arms and hauled her away.

There was a creaking noise which caught both Aventurine and y/n's attention, coming from a door that had opened in the distance. Hopefully the way out.

"Let's go," y/n hummed as she departed first, heading towards the door while Aventurine lingered a moment longer.

"Are you nervous, y/n?"

"Master Dan Feng said I shouldn't have any problems defending myself at this point — and brother said I'll have you and the others there to look after me. So no, I'm not nervous."

The foxian man smiled, patting the younger y/n on the head, "That's good to hear, but don't be afraid to ask for help. All of us are here to look after one another, and that includes you."

The younger y/n cracked a small smile, nodding eagerly, "Right! I understand, Captain Yongliang!"

The memory began to fade and Aventurine hurried to catch up with y/n who was waiting in the doorway. She held the door for him, grasping his hand when he reached out, and the two entered the darkness once more.

There were no words exchanged between the two, only their echoing footsteps filling the silence. It wasn't long until y/n's hand bumped against a door knob and she opened it again. She was initially expecting the inside of a Xianzhou warship, but instead found a desert.

Their surroundings looked so desolate and devoid of life, but the sky... the sky was unlike anything y/n had seen before. Shifting times of warm and cool colors shone above — a remarkable sight y/n could view forever.

Y/n was a little taken aback by the environment, scanning the area curiously before glancing at Aventurine. Woah, what was with that expression?

She idly watched the man's face for a moment before clearing her throat, "I take it you know where we are now, hm?"

"...yeah. I do." Aventurine murmured

"Sister!"

The pair perked up at the sound of a young voice and y/n immediately spotted a little figure running past, headed for something beyond a sandy incline.

The h/c haired woman's eyes lit up, "Hey, is that you? I thought that hair and those eyes looked familiar!"

"Me..?" Aventurine echoed quietly, seeming somewhat detached and unfocused as he watched the young boy run up the hill.

Y/n hummed, frowning as she tried to gauge what was running through the man's mind, before tugging him along, "Come on, let's go check it out. We won't find a way out if we just stand here the entire time."

Aventurine inhaled shakily before nodding hesitantly, trailing after the woman as the pair made their way up the sandy hill. Upon reaching the top, they found the little boy running over to an older girl.

"There you are, Kakavasha. Where were you this time? Not investigating what fell from the sky last week, I hope?"

The young boy smiled innocently, "Maybe, maybe not. But... look what I found!" he presented a small hairpin, a little dusty and somewhat scorched but the vibrant colors of the item shone through the battles scars it'd received during its descent through the atmosphere, "I'll have to clean it up a bit, but I want you to have it! I think it'd look nice on you, Sister!"

"But my birthday is far from now."

"It doesn't have to be your birthday for me to give you a gift. But, if you'd prefer it to be a birthday gift, I'll give it to you during this year's Kakava!"

The older girl chuckled as she took her younger brother's hand in hers, the two of them beginning to walk away together, "But that's your birthday. Wouldn't I make more sense for me to be gifting you?"

"No, you already share tons of stuff with me — so I'm going to share my birthday with you," Kakavasha hummed with a warm smile, "Sound good?"

"That's sounds lovely. Thank you, Kakavasha."

As the pair of siblings began to walk off, y/n glanced at Aventurine curiously, "Kakavasha, huh? So that's what your name is — had a feeling Aventurine wasn't it. Seems kinda cult-ish for you and all of your associates in that little Stoneheart club to be named after gemstones."

Aventurine chuckled, a wry yet weary sound as he watched his younger self and his sister walk off hand in hand, "You think so? Well... I haven't been called Kakavasha in a long time."

"Mm, I quite like your name." y/n murmured with a shrug, "Whether it be Kakavasha or Aventurine, I don't mind calling you by the name you'd prefer."

The sandy blond gave y/n a little grin, "If I let you call me Kakavasha, can I call you Dozing Knight?"

Y/n frowned, "Don't push your luck."

"Is that a yes?"

"What do you think?"

Aventurine chuckled quietly, casting one last glance at his younger self before turning away, "Alright... let's go find that door, shall we?"

"Whaaat? Already? But I wanted to look at those chubby cheeks you used to have— ah, wait," y/n reached out and pinched Aventurine's cheek, a rosy hue appearing on his cheeks as he gave her a look of alarm.

She gave him a cheeky look, "Haha, you've still got them. Alright, I think I'm fine with going now."

She promptly released his face and strolled on ahead, making her way to the door that appeared in the distance. Aventurine held his cheek with a startled look, processing what just happened before hurrying after her, "H-Hold on, it's dark in there, let's not get separated-!"

Y/n paused in the doorway with a, "Huh?" right before the door slammed shut. What the hell?

Aventurine rushed to the door, attempting to open it only to find that the damn thing was locked shut.

"Hey! Y/n! Are you still there?"

He heaved a sigh as the memory faded away, leaving him in complete darkness once again. However, this time, he didn't have the h/c haired trailblazer guiding him.

"Alright... this is fine. I can still find her," Aventurine winced a little, "...probably. I just have to keep walking."

He strode on ahead, trying and failing to make out anything in the suffocating darkness. It felt as though he'd be walking forever with no chance of actually finding a damn door and—

"Ow!" Aventurine yelled when he suddenly slammed into something hard, getting jabbed in the stomach with something hard. He winced, rubbing his stomach before reaching out for the object and finding that it was a doorknob, "Well... that's one way to find it."

He swung open the door and was met with chaos. It didn't take a genius to realize this was a battlefield, Cloud Knights in bloody combat with canine-like creatures that were either ripping their enemies apart with unforgiving claws and teeth or swiftly eliminating them with blades and firearms.

It was all so loud and overwhelming, and clearly he wasn't the only one who was feeling the suffocating effects of the bloodshed all around.

Aventurine quickly found the younger y/n curled up behind some debris, hands over her ears and her eyes wide with fear. She was hyperventilating, trembling violently, but she still kept a tight hold on her spear.

The girl was murmuring something under her breath, seemingly trying to comfort herself, but it clearly wasn't working. The blond man frowned and approached, carefully wandering through the battlefield. For a memory, everything felt so vivid and real.

The bloodied earth beneath his shoes, the smell of burning flesh, blood and soot in the air, the sounds of battle all around. Still, Aventurine knelt in front of the young y/n with a, "Hey, you've got to get up."

"...I can't..." the girl whispered, "There's nothing I can do. It's over." she rubbed at her eyes, "We didn't know they'd be here — they destroyed our supplies to combat their lupitoxin. Even if some of us can push past it, we're outnumbered and we're going to die."

"Well you're going to die if you sit here and cry. Come on, you've got to get up," Aventurine told her.

Y/n seemed to be considering it, but squeezed her eyes shut with a yelp when an explosion shook the area and one of the creatures hit the ground next to her hiding spot. It got up with a growl, seeming ready to lunge back into battle — only to spot the cowering girl at the last moment.

"Well would you look at that, another pest hiding away like a coward. You have no place on the battlefield, filth," the creature snarled, turning to face her as it towered over her.

The young y/n could only stare in horror, gasping for air as she tried and failed to steady her breathing. It was as though she were frozen in fear, hands trembling as she tried and tried to muster the strength to do something— anything.

But she couldn't.

'They're borisin, aren't they? I've heard about the lupitoxin they emit, but to think it was this bad...' Aventurine thought with a frown as he watched the memory play out.

The younger y/n's breathing was still quick, but it slowed ever so slightly as she managed a shaky sneer, "You've got some nerve calling me filth when you smell like a wet dog — take a bath before you start throwing insults, mutt."

Aventurine couldn't help his flabbergasted look.
'She just doesn't stop 💩 talking, does she?'

"You run your mouth too much."

The creature lunged for her with a snarl, the girl letting out a choked gasp as she fumbled to defend herself only for a sword to come slashing down, swiftly slicing off the creature's head.

The body awkwardly fumbled for its head, patting its bleeding neck in confusion before it was kicked away and the head was picked up and thrown off somewhere.

That foxian man from before grabbed y/n by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet, "You can't sit here, you'll just get yourself killed!"

The h/c haired girl's eyes welled up with tears, "Yongliang... I'm sorry, the others... I couldn't-!"

"Don't worry about that now, we can't stay here," the man ordered as he ushered his younger comrade along, "Move!"

Aventurine watched as the duo hurried off, the younger one of the two briefly glancing back with wide e/c eyes. The young man blinked in surprise, wondering how the hell she was looking at him, before taking a couple steps back and finding another Cloud Knight kneeling where he'd once been.

There were large, bloody gashes across their back as they knelt in that spot, unmoving. Had they been the one y/n was responding to? Well... even if it was, it was clear that they had died.

And with that, the memory melted away.

Just as quickly as it faded, another began to form as the darkness was replaced by a quiet forest. There was a small fire, the young y/n and her companion seated near it as the foxian tended to the girl's injuries while she tinkered with a strange, bloody contraption.

The silence was palpable, so much so that Aventurine was kind of uncertain about moving even though it was just a memory.

"Is b/n okay?" y/n asked quietly.

"Not sure," the foxian — Yongliang — replied quietly, "Haven't heard anything from anyone else since we were ambushed. I'm sure he's fine, though."

Y/n nodded, flinching and pulling her hand away with the strange mechanism in her grasp sparked with electricity, "Tsk, damned thing..." she returned to tinkering with it with a bit more vigor this time, brows furrowed.

Aventurine glanced at Yongliang as he continue tending to the girl's injuries, and he wandered over to take a look. He winced at the sight of claw marks marring y/n's left shoulder, and there were painful looking burns on her back.

'So she's messing with that to keep herself distracted, huh?' the young man thought with a sympathetic look as he took a seat on the ground near the duo, 'She's tough, but there's no hiding how much it hurts.'

"Ouch—!" "Bear it for a while longer."

The foxian offered his younger comrade his hand which she accepted and squeezed every time her expression became wracked pain as she was patched up.

"I'm sorry I'm so useless," y/n finally spoke up again, "I've done all that training, but as soon as I step into battle, this happens."

"It's not your fault. We weren't expecting to be attacked, and not everyone can just shrug off the effects of lupitoxin," Yongliang replied simply, "You have nothing to apologize for."

"But the others—!" "It's not your fault."
"I could've done something...!"

"It's not your fault," Yongliang repeated.

The young y/n's eyes welled up with tears once more, but she was quick to rub them away with a sniffle and a small, "Okay..."

Silence fell between the two as Yongliang finished patching up the younger girl, turning to the fire instead as she kept messing with the mechanism she'd gotten her hands on.

Those fox ears of his were perked and attentive, clearly looking for danger, and the man eventually paused with a small frown. He sniffed, paused, then sniffed again.

"Aha! I fixed it!" y/n declared, her eyes still watery and looking as though she were on the verge of tears, "Yongliang, now I can—!"

The foxian shoved her out of the way and she went tumbling away, a tree halting her rolling as she stared at the sky in a daze. She scrambled back to her feet and was met with the sight of her fellow Cloud Knight on the ground holding his face in agony.

Aventurine inhaled sharply at the sight of blood pooling past the Cloud Knight's fingers, coming from the lacerations he'd unfortunately sustained in the damn face.

The