Fresh From Homeworld

I Understand What You're Going Through

The gems below conversed among themselves, shouting and questioning each other expressively. When it had seemed that they had come to a conclusion, the fusion of the ruby and sapphire stepped forward. On her fists appeared gauntlets, and on her face was a stoic expression. "What business do you have here with us?" she shouted up to Kambaba Jasper.
"Where is Rose Quartz?" Kambaba Jasper asked. As a fusion, her voice was firm and strong, Merlinite and Chrysoberyl's voices blended into one, booming voice. After she said this, she watched as the pearl pushed the little human boy further behind her, much to his protest. The others looked too stunned to speak, even the fusion. She looked unsure of what to say next.
Finally, she spoke. "Why do you need to know?"
Kambaba Jasper paused, also unsure of what to say next. If she said she needed help, would the Crystal Gems reject her? Would they hurt her? Why not? They didn't have a reason to help her. She stepped forward, and her gems glowed. From the gem on her foot, she pulled a staff. And from the gem on her shoulder, she pulled a sling. The hands that held the weapons drew together, as did the weapons themselves. The weapons fused, forming a crossbow. She grinned, taking another step forward. If she fought them and won, they would have to take her to Rose Quartz.
Below her, the other gems drew their weapons: a whip, a spear, a shield... wait. That shield looked familiar. But that didn't matter. Kambaba Jasper didn't have a choice. They either had to fight, or to leave. And the latter wasn't an option. She lifted her weapon, but then her arm faltered for a second. "No!" she shouted. "What? What are you doing?" She swayed on her feet a little. "I don't want to!" Her facial expressions changed from fear, to regret, to confusion. "We're doing this for you. We- I want this!" The gems below looked just as confused.
"I said, don't!" Kambaba Jasper shrieked. The unstable fusion fell apart, Chrysoberyl sprawled on the ground, Merlinite standing next to her.
"What were you doing?" yelled Merlinite.
"We can't fight them," Chrysoberyl said weakly, her strength sapped. The crack of her gem looked worse than before.
"Of course we can! Especially fused! Why didn't you agree?"
"It's not right," Chrysoberyl said firmly. The arm she propped herself up on then gave out. She hit her head on the ground with a moan.
"Her gem..." the human boy said in realization. He ran to the gem, worry spread across his face.
"Steven, wait!" The pearl and amethyst called after him, close behind. The pearl owned such a resemblance to her own red pearl that she nearly sobbed. She thought that if the fusion of the ruby and sapphire fell apart, she would start to cry then and there. She just missed her gems so much.
     However, Merlinite stepped in front of Chrysoberyl. "Don't hurt her," she stated. "What kind of gems would you be, fighting with a gem with such damage as hers? We mean you no harm, unless you, us."
     The boy, Steven, pushed through the pearl and amethyst. With big, shining eyes he looked up at Merlinite. "Please. I'm here to help. I can heal her. I... well, it's hard to explain. For now, let's just say that I'm kinda Rose Quartz. Well, she was my mom, but- Oh, right! Sorry!" Steven walked up to Chrysoberyl and crouched down. "It's okay. I can fix your gem," he told her kindly. He licked his hand, producing a sparkling, magical saliva.
     "What...?" Chrysoberyl breathed.
     "Trust me," he said. She nodded shakily. Steven turned his hand to face her gem and pressed his palm against it. Chrysoberyl's face was somewhere between confusion and disgust.
     He pulled his hand away and watched Chrysoberyl's gem intently. It began to glow and the crack closed. "You- what? You... fixed it?" Chrysoberyl said in amazement. "Thank you... but how? Why is your form this way? Do you recognize me, Rose Quartz?"
     "My name is Steven," the child answered. "Rose Quartz gave up her physical form to create me. So yeah, I'm kind of Rose Quartz, but I'm human too!"
     "And you don't have any of her memories?" asked Chrysoberyl.
     "No, I'm sorry," Steven answered.
     "No, don't be! It's just... I guess you could say that I owe my life to her..."
     "Wait..." the pearl standing behind Steven stepped forward. "I remember who you are. You're Yellow Diamond's chrysoberyl, aren't you? The one with the spinel and the black star sapphire."
     Chrysoberyl flinched. "Yes. You remember?"
     Pearl blushed. "Yes, I do. I- I'm sorry. If I had known that you... if your sapphire hadn't said something... if Rose hadn't stopped me... Hold on, why are you on earth and not with the diamonds? And who is this?" Pearl gestured to Merlinite, still in stunned silence.
     "It's a long story," Chrysoberyl admitted.
     "We already completed our mission. We have time," said Garnet.
     "Yeah!" exclaimed Amethyst, pulling Chrysoberyl to her feet.
     "Come on, Merlinite," Chrysoberyl said as they and the Crystal Gems made their way to a warp pad.
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~
     Chrysoberyl didn't know what had gotten into her. One second, she was in the gem's temple, the next, the seriousness of what she had done collapsed on her like the weight of Homeworld. She had run out of Steven's home without a word to the others, not even Merlinite, who had called after her. She had been sitting somewhere on the beach far from the temple for a while when somebody sat down next to her.
     A sideways glance told her that it was a peridot. Her resemblance was stunningly similar to her own peridot's.
     "Why are you looking at me like that?" Peridot asked.
     "Oh! Was I staring? Sorry, you just look a lot like someone I used to know."
     "... You had a peridot at your service, didn't you?"
     "Yes... how did you know?"
     "Well, there aren't exactly a lot of gems that look quite like a peridot." They sat together in silence for a long while until Peridot finally asked, "Why'd you do it? Why'd you leave Yellow Diamond?"
Chrysoberyl looked at the yellow diamonds that rested on her outfit, lost in thought. "7,000 years... I was at her service for 7,000 years... and I still denounced my loyalty to her. What kind of chrysoberyl am I?"
"7,000 years? That long?"
"Yes, are you much younger?"
"Well yes, actually. My age hardly surpasses a couple of decades." Chrysoberyl looked at peridot, noticing the shape of her hair and the diamonds on her knees.
"You belonged to her, too, didn't you?"
"I did. I only joined the Crystal Gems a year ago. Up until that point, I was on a mission for Yellow Diamond. But after I was captured by the Crystal Gems and... you know, got to know them... I found they weren't that bad. And the earth... I found the beauty behind the life on this earth. After that, Steven and I stopped the cluster, well, Steven helped the cluster bubble itself."
     "The cluster's not going to emerge?!"
     Peridot nodded. "Well, we had a lot of help with building the drill from Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet."
     "The fusion?"
     "Yes. Oh, wait! I forgot the most important part. While we were still building the drill, we went to the moon base to find the coordinates of the cluster. In secret, I took back a connector to the diamond communication line. I used it to call Yellow Diamond. I called in a report. But the real reason I called was to say that we should terminate the cluster, because it would destroy the earth and all of the precious life on it. Let's just say... Yellow Diamond wasn't happy. She commanded me to leave the cluster to destroy the earth. I said that I wouldn't leave the earth because there were things on it worth protecting."
"That's exactly how I felt, Peridot! I felt the need to come here because I would actually be protecting something! I never had that opportunity on Homeworld."
"And do you know what happened next, Chrysoberyl? Were you there? I'm sure that a gem as close to Yellow Diamond herself could have been present. Her pearl sure was."
"I don't know, but tell me! What happened?"
"I called Yellow Diamond a clod, right to her face!"
"You didn't!"
"I did! I then shut off the communicator and that's the story of how I became a Crystal Gem, whether I liked it or not. But, Chrysoberyl, let me tell you, I was distraught over what I had done. I thought my life was over, literally! I thought Yellow Diamond would send a ship to shatter me! But these guys... these gems protected me when we thought a ship had actually come. Get this: it was actually a bunch of rubies looking for someone else! What I'm trying to say is, I understand exactly what you've gone through and are going through. I defied Yellow Diamond. I came to earth. I met the Crystal Gems. I am a Crystal Gem. I hope that you understand that I understand. And I'm still learning! Did you know about the concept of music? How about the feelings of others? Hey, I even learned what a ladybug was!"
"What's a ladybug?"
"That isn't the point. What I'm saying is, trust us. We know what you're going through. Especially me. And I want to help you. So please," Peridot stood up and extended her arm out to Chrysoberyl. "Let's do this together."