Famethyst for Life

Chapter 1

It was just an average day at the Human Zoo. The humans were enjoying themselves in their artificial habitat, the quartzes were at their post, and Holly Blue Agate was barking out orders at everyone. At the end of the day, Skinny and Carnelian walked into the landing bay talking amongst themselves when they saw Jay staring out into the bay exit looking into the empty vacuum of space. This has been going on for weeks but no one chose to question her on it; but now, their curiosity got the best of them and they approached the larger quartz.

"Hey, Jay," Skinny called out.

"Oh, hey guys," Jay replied.

"We've noticed that you've been coming here a lot lately and we wanted to know if everything's alright?" Carnelian asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Jay answered. Unfortunately, Skinny could see right through her.

"C'mon, you can tell us; we won't tell anyone else," she promised.

Jay sighed, "Okay, remember when the Crystal Gem's broke into this place?"

Carnelian chuckled, "How could we forget; Holly wouldn't come out of her room for weeks."

"What about it?" Skinny asked.

"Well, it's just . . . I'm glad to know that 8XM's alive and she's found a better life than . . . well, this," she said gesturing to the whole facility. "But a part of me is upset because of the fact that she's a Crystal Gem."

"C'mon, Jay, we helped them escape; I'm pretty sure they trust us enough to let us come pay a visit," Skinny explained.

"You don't get it, do you? She's a Crystal Gem, a traitor to Homeworld, an enemy of the diamonds," said Jay. "Up to this point, the diamonds thought they were all dead; that was the only thing that kept them from sending out a huge fleet of warships to blow the Earth to kingdom come. But now that the diamonds know about Rose or Steven or whatever that hybrid's name is, the next time we see her, she'll be in a holding cell awaiting shattering."

Skinny processed everything she just heard and then she spoke, "Look, Jay, I get it. But remember, you aren't the only one that misses her. So if that time comes, we'll be there for her."

"Yeah, but that would mean choosing between her and our loyalty to Homeworld," Jay explained.

"Well, you're obviously gonna choose her, right?" Skinny asked.

Jay was completely silent.

"Jay? You wouldn't actually choose Homeworld over her, would you?" Skinny asked.

Still, the larger quartz remained silent.

"Jay?" Skinny called out again.

"Um, guys, you might wanna take a look at this," Carnelian said pointing outside the hangar exit. Gazing into the direction of her finger, they immediately caught sight of a flaming spaceship heading straight for them. Jay grabbed the two defective gems and rushed them to safety as the ship crash-landed right where they were once standing.

In an instant, long, tube-like cannons sprouted out of the floor and sprayed the ship with water putting out the fire. Soon, the other quartz soldiers, followed by Holly Blue Agate, entered the corridor.

"What in the cosmos happened here!?!" Holly demanded. Her question was answered when she saw the smoking crashed ship. "Oh, my."

Suddenly, the glass dome surrounding the cockpit lifted and revealed, to everyone's shock, Amethyst, who appeared to be battered up and unconscious.

"8XM!!!" Jay shouted.