Shards. (Steven Universe Fanfic)

Chapter 1: Fireless and Fireful

"I wonder how many stars are in the sky."

"Like, not the visible sky, but in all of space. How many are there? How many will there be! We'll never know!" The gem exclaimed while gazing out of her apartment window at the star-filled sky. There were so many planets and so many worlds! Some that weren't conquered by the Diamonds or terraformed by a Lapis! Just so many places, unexplored, just floating! And so many of them could be bursting with life, and nobody would know or care.

"Shouldn't you be getting to work soon?" The gem added.

"Shouldn't you be getting to work right now?" A second gem said, smirking. She was similar in color to the first one, but she had neater hair that was tied back into a long braid and traditional Pyrite clothing.

"Pyre! I was going to stay back at the apartments today since our door is broken and doesn't function from the outside!" The first one replied, slumping down into the couch.

"Isn't the Matinence Peridot going to come and fix it soon?" Pyre asked

"Nope. We got another delay because apparently all of the Matinence Peridots are busy doing 'more important work.'"

"What? That's our 5th delay so far, and we only requested last night."

"They need better matinence. This is what, the sixteenth time our door has broken this year? It usually only--ugh, im ranting again." Pyre sighed.

Pyre blinked tiredly, getting up and grabbing her bag. She put her hand on the door's inner lock pad, and it whizzed open, Pyre walking out and trotting down the hallway.

Pyrite sighed and pulled out her screen, which would have her list of deliveries and messages to send.

"I have so many deliveries today..." She grumbled, dragging herself out of the door and over to the elevator. Her stomach lurched as it descended down to the ground floor.

As it abruptly halted, Pyrite stepped out of the moving doors and left the apartment complex. The sky was dark and starry tonight. Pyrite didn't have a travel pod of her own, but she did have a bike that she could ride on her own to her deliveries.

She biked over to her manager's office, who had the set messages for the day that she was going to deliver. Screens were only available for the highest ranking gems in this Era, but Pyrite had been gifted one as a part of her job since she needed it to locate her deliveries. She delivered messages, packages, and anything in between. Stars, one time, she had delivered a poofed gem to someone!

She pedaled faster. I'm already late! She picked up speed quickly and glided along a sharp turn on the pathway. Pyrite slammed the breaks of the bike as her manager's building was in sight.

Hopping off, she padded up the polished gray stairs and to her box. PYRITE FACET-9.5HW PYRO-TEST CUT 7HL the box read. She placed her thumb on the lock pad, and the metal door swung open. Pyrite took the load of boxes piled inside of it and balanced them carefully back down the stairs and dropped them into the wagon attached to her bike. There was a tarp that was rolled up on the edge of the wagon to keep everything inside, so she unraveled it and draped it over the boxes and clipped to the other sides of the wagon. She hopped back on her bike and pedaled the large load along behind her to her first stop.

Her GPS on her screen led her to a large mansion deep in the city with shining white walls and a grand door partnered with an exceptional amount of stairs that would be a huge pain to climb. Pyrite undid the tarp and picked up the box that matched the address.

She began her ascent up the seemingly never-ending stairs when her bag buzzed. She pulled out her screen, and a notification had popped up.

"DOOR MATINENCE POSTPONED FOR 7 MORE ROTATIONS." The screen read.

Pyrite groaned. How many more delays? She asked herself.

Dropping the box near the house's doorstep, she began her miserable descent down the stairs, preparing to call and tell Pyre the news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WHAT!?" Pyre's voice screeched from the phone.

"Sorry... I think there was a huge incident in a building down the street. I had to deliver, like, 10 boxes there."

"I'll go ask if we can have a room in the Palace Apartments." The other Pyrite mumbled.

Pyre rambled on for a few more seconds before hanging up.

"She'll be hard to cheer up tonight..."

Pyrite picked up the last package for the day. It had no text on it besides the addressing, just a tiny star in the corner of it. It was addressed to the Palace Apartments! This was a special delivery! Pyrite wondered if Pyre had managed to get them a room there. After a long day of work, all she wanted to do was rest.

Pyrite pedaled towards the center of the city capital, its lights glowing in the growing darkness like a single gem in a void of nothingness. As she made it towards the palace, more and more gems began to swarm the street, and Pyrite was biking slower and slower. Eventually, she had to get off of her bike entirely and drag it behind her.

She pulled up to the extension of the palace meant to be made for the highest ranking gems who worked directly for the Diamonds. Gems milled about in and out of the apartments, most looking way more sophisticated than the lowly Pyrite messenger who dare taint their pristine and shiny private society. There was a small bike lock station near the door, so Pyrite padded over, cautious of the many gems around her, and locked up her bike for a quick trip inside. Floor 2, room 257. There were surprisingly fewer gems inside of the building.

She pressed the button for floor 2 inside of the elevator, keeping the package tight to the side of her body. Floor 2 was basically empty in great contrast to the swarming mob outside.

She knocked on the door of room 257, and a Lapis Lazuli answered the door. The gem had dark blue hair that came own to her shoulders and curled put at the ends and a paler blue ribbon tied around her head. She looked as if she hated everything, and she probably did based on the way she grumbled when she saw who had shown up at her door.

"Don't Pyrites have more important jobs than being messengers?" The Lapis Lazuli murmured, taking the package from her hands.

Pyrite looked down at her feet, embarrassed by the Gem's words.

"Aren't all Pyrites, like, soldiers or something? Stars, what did you do to end up that lowly ranked." She continued, much louder this time.

"I-"

Pyrite's reply was interrupted by a call from someone else in the room.

"4XK, stop being rude to the messenger!" The voice called. Another Lapis then shouldered her way into the doorway, the other ruder Lapis retreating back inside.

"Sorry about her. She's rude a lot. Thanks for the package, though!" The new Lapis apologized.

"Hey, it's fine. I have a crabby roommate, too." Pyrite replied, awkwardly walking away to get back outside and call Pyre about the room situation.

As she pulled out her phone, a new message had appeared. Pyrite gasped as she read it.

"PRESENCE REQUESTED IN FRONT OF YELLOW AND BLUE DIAMOND TOMMOROW WHEN THE SUN IS HIGHEST."