When Worlds Collide (Blue Diamond x Reader)

Chapter 10: Questions and Answers

“Is this really necessary?” you asked as Pearl circled you, taking measurements.
“I'm sorry if I'm causing you any discomfort. This is just to make sure your dress will fit properly.”
“Dress? I… Oh boy…”
When she had finished taking every conceivable measurement and written it all down, she left and came back with a metallic canister.
“This should be safe for your skin, and should also last for for a while,” she explained. “Only… this part of the process will require you to… umm…” she trailed off, blushing the colour of a blueberry and unable to finish her sentence.
“Disrobe?” you suggested. She nodded quickly, avoiding eye contact. “Ah. I assume we should leave the room for this. I don’t imagine it’s proper to… y’know… in front of… y’know,” you said, indicating Blue Diamond.
“You don’t have to leave on my account. I can step out if you want,” Blue said.
“You don’t have to. I… I don’t mind.”
“If you’re sure,” she replied.
You took your clothes off, nervous about the two sets of eyes on you as you did so. Well, hopefully only two.
“Can I leave my underwear on, at least?”
“Yes, that should work perfectly fine,” Pearl declared, relieved. You noticed Blue Diamond staring at you, her mouth slightly agape.
“Sorry,” you muttered, “I know this isn’t a pretty sight.”
“(Y/N)…” Blue muttered. “You’re… beautiful.”
“Oh my… thank you, My Diamond! You… really think so?”
“I do. Your form is so very intricate. Every bit as detailed as that of a gem, and even moreso, down to a microscopic level. Such a magnificent construct which wasn't programmed, occurring only through billions of years of evolution, descending from only a single cell, and grown from only two, with organic chemical chains combining and distributing at random to create so many countless possibilities, and you are the result.”
“Sounds almost like you think organic life is cool.”
She thought for a moment.
“Perhaps I do,” she admitted as Pearl began to paint your skin pale blue. “I suppose there was no reason for my prejudice against organic lifeforms. They may be less advanced, less evolved, less capable, but I never considered that they might have redeeming qualities… or even advantages. I think that my issue has been that I've… never taken the time to come to know such a being. Until now. And I'm very glad that I did.”
“My Diamond? I'm glad you chose me,” you said softly, smiling.
Once Pearl had you painted in a nice, even blue colour, she rummaged through several costume pieces, pulling out a blue wig you could wear. It was somewhat similar to her own hair, although the bangs were parted in the middle and swept to the sides so you could see clearly. Finally, after a few hours of labour, she brought out a form-fitting dress made specifically for you. It wasn't exactly your usual style, but it felt good to not be practically naked. An elliptical hole was cut in the area of the upper chest for your “gem” to show through. Your gem was in the form of a fake pearl, one-sided so it would sit flat against you, mounted on an elastic band you wore underneath. This allowed it to be held on without having to be physically stuck to you, with the elastic strap conveniently concealed beneath the fabric of the dress.
“I hope it's okay, My Diamond,” Pearl said, “but I chose a slightly irregular fake pearl. If it looked slightly defective, it might offer a simple explanation if anyone asks about (Y/N)'s… I mean, I'm sure you can see, I tried my best, but…” She indicated you with little confidence.
“That was an excellent idea, Pearl. You've done very well. I'm sorry (Y/N), you just don't normally look much like a pearl. I believe your disguise will withstand scrutiny so long as anyone looking stands back a bit… or squints… or hasn't seen a pearl before…” Blue muttered awkwardly.
“It's not so bad as all that,” you remarked as you studied yourself in a mirror. “Just the wrong build, is all. But I think it'll work fine. You're Blue Diamond! If you say I'm a pearl, who's going to try to tell you I'm not?”
“I… that's… that's true!” she realised, evidently not having thought of this.
You turned to Pearl.
“You know what this means,” you said grimly. Her mouth hung open slightly and she shuffled back a step.
“W-what?”
“Twins!” you cheered, embracing her and causing her to laugh in relief. “Wait! I've just had an idea! Let's-”
“Paint the Unseen!” she exclaimed.
“Of course!” Blue Diamond gasped. “We can rob it of its only advantage!”
“But, uh, maybe let's not use blue,” you suggested. “Seriously, like, everything around here is blue. Let's not give it a chance to blend in.”
“Good point,” Pearl agreed, grabbing a canister of hot pink paint.
You recruited Holly, then went through the ship to the room 8XJ was guarding, little more than a closet.
“Okay. Jay, Holly, I'm going to need you two to restrain it so Pearl can do her job.”
Jay started to open the door.
“Wait!” you exclaimed, halting her. “Just open it a crack. Make sure the Unseen’s still dressed. We don't need to have the old cliché where the alien's invisible and we open the door wide, can't see it, freak out wondering where it went, and it gets loose because it was actually still there the entire time.”
Taking your suggestion, she opened the door only slightly and peeked in.
“Yeah, I see it.”
“Okay then.”
She and Holly burst in, seizing the Unseen by the arms (once they'd found them). Pearl crept in, but hesitated to start the process.
“S’okay Pearl, it's not getting loose anytime soon,” Jay reassured her.
Several minutes later, the Unseen was not nearly so unseen as all that. It stuck out like a sore thumb with its bright pink hue.
“I do feel a bit bad,” Holly confessed as you all stepped out and resealed the room. “After all, I am responsible for the deaths of its comrades.”
“I doubt it,” you replied. “It doesn't seem like this thing breathes. They're probably just a bit floaty.”
“So there could even be some clinging onto the ship right now. Suddenly the first option sounds better.”
“Did it say anything today?” you asked Jay.
“Yeah… that it would only answer to anyone with the authority of a diamond.”
“That's all?”
“That's all.”
“Well that isn't very helpful. Dare I ask how they get people to talk on Homeworld?”
“Uh… I don't think you dare ask. Best leave it at that.”
You returned to Blue Diamond.
“Well, we got it done, and no one got hurt.”
“That comes as a relief. I suppose we don't know whether these beings are actually dangerous, though I shall be unsurprised if they are.”
“Me too. I'm glad I decided to come with you. It'd be terrifying to face this alone. But I feel safe when I'm with you.”
“I promise you'll always be safe with me. I could not bear the thought of anything happening to you.” She lifted you up so you could be face to face. “You've brought happiness I thought was gone back into my life.”
You found yourself lost in her eyes, feeling like you needed to speak, but finding you could not. Words failing you, you kissed her. It took only an instant for you to fully comprehend what you were doing, and you pulled back immediately. But when you did, you saw on her face no anger, no displeasure, not even surprise, only a misty-eyed smile. And then she kissed you back.
“Blue…” you whispered. “I…”
“My Diamond?” Pearl interrupted, entering the room. “We're coming up on the facility.”
“Facility?” you asked.
“I know you won't be happy with me for this, but since we cannot persuade the creature to speak, I'm bringing it to someone who can.” She noticed your concerned expression. “I have given orders that it is to suffer no lasting harm.”
Your group went down to a planet a few minutes later. It was a barren rocky environment with mountains which would make travelling any considerable distance on foot impossible. The sky was dark grey and flashed with lightning periodically. The facility of which Pearl had spoken was an imposing grey structure resembling a pyramid with the top cut off, and you immediately realised that this was a prison planet. Two rubies flanked the entrance.
“My Diamond!” they declared in unison.
“She's ready to receive the prisoner,” one of them stated.
“Excellent. Perhaps for now, the two of you could fetch some restraints for it?” Blue suggested.
The rubies obeyed immediately, clapping the Unseen in magnetically linked shackles, and fitting it with a collar meant to counteract cloaking technologies. The being flickered briefly, then faded into full view. You could now see its skin and clothing visible in areas not painted over.
You all entered the prison complex. It was an incredibly labyrinthine structure, and its corridors and rows of sealed cells all looked identical. You were glad Blue knew the way, or you'd have been lost within seconds. The interior of the building was brightly illuminated by harsh bluish lighting. It probably would have set the mood better if the lights had been dim, but this was admittedly much more sensible. It was clear that the Diamonds often came here, as everything was built to accommodate gems of their size.
“In here, prisoner,” the rubies instructed, leading the Unseen into a room. You followed Blue Diamond into the adjacent room. It was dark, filled with various controls, and looked through to where the Unseen was being held through a pane of what you suspected to be two-way glass.
The interrogation room on the other side was brightly lit - blindingly so. The walls were covered in mirrors, likely to help disguise where you were. A silver metal chair with restraints built into it sat in the middle of the room, and a long table was pushed off to the side. The Unseen gazed quizzically about the room.
“She'll be here any second,” Blue said into a microphone. “I suggest you cooperate.”
As the Unseen looked for the source of the voice, the door slid open. The Unseen’s shackles deactivated and fell off as if by magic. Before it could celebrate its freedom, a blue glow engulfed it, lifting it off its feet and tossing it into the chair, snapping shut the restraints around its wrists and ankles.
A very small blue gem, no more than knee height, walked in confidently, the door closing behind her. She was strangely doll-like in her features, even lacking a visible nose. On her back were little fairy wings which looked to be made of water, and in her hand she carried a wand. To see her as an interrogator would have been hilarious if not for the coldness of her expression.
“So you must be the Unseen,” she mused in a posh English accent. “I'm Aquamarine. I'm just here to get answers to a few questions. There's no need for us to be unreasonable.” She flicked her wand, sliding the table to the middle of the room, right in front of the Unseen’s chair, and stood up on it. “You're pink,” she observed. She awaited a response, but received none. “Do you like being pink?” No answer. “I'll take that as a no.” Pointing her wand,  the Unseen started to glow again. It looked as if its skin was being forcibly stretched and tugged in all directions.
“She's killing it!” you exclaimed.
“Calm down, (Y/N). I told you, she won't,” Blue assured you. Her voice was calm, leading you to trust her.
There was an unpleasant peeling noise. When you finally dared to look, you saw that the Unseen’s skin was intact; only the paint had been peeled off, and now lay draped as a thin human-shaped film over the table.
“There now,” Aquamarine said with feigned charm, “isn't that much better?” She became annoyed waiting for a response. “Are you even capable of speaking at all?”
“I am,” it replied at last.
“Excellent. Then you'll have no trouble with my questions. First of all, what is your mission?”
“We are the watchers.”
“I see. And who all, pray tell, are you watching?”
“We watch your Diamond and her companion, the betrayer of worlds.”
“The betrayer of worlds?”
“The deceiver who plays at being a human who plays at being a gem.”
“To what end are you monitoring them?”
“That we might report the course of events.”
“Had you planned to harm Blue Diamond?”
“No.”
“Who were you going to report to?” The Unseen sat stiffly and was silent. “Are you in fact working for a diamond?” Further silence. “I'd advise against being difficult,” she warned. Waving her wand, she released the restraints on the chair, lifted the Unseen up, and made it dance around the room like a marionette before sitting it back down. “Considering how easily I can do that, I think you can imagine that the list of more painful things I am capable of is… extensive. You're going to tell me what I want to know.”
“We answer to Our Diamond.”
“Well, that's something,” she sighed. “Which Diamond?”
“The one this world has forgotten.”
“So the proposed Black Diamond, in other words?” She waited for a response. “I do need confirmation.”
Blue Diamond spoke into the microphone.
“If you'll tell us, I swear on my authority as a Diamond that we will let you go.”
The Unseen laughed, a dry, wheezing sound.
“What's funny?” Aquamarine asked, audibly suspicious.
“How can you expect to release me?” it asked. “I was never here.”
It began to turn transparent, fading fast. Aquamarine tried to grab hold of it with her telekinesis, but found it was lie trying to manipulate thin air. The Unseen vanished completely. The paint it had been covered in was also absent, as were its shackles and visibility collar. Pearl began pressing buttons and checking monitors.
“There's no other lifesign in there! According to this, Aquamarine was in there alone!”
A viewscreen popped up, and the two ruby guards appeared on it.
“My Diamond? You did bring a prisoner in a few minutes ago, didn't you?”
“Yes, and it's just disappeared!”
“Uh, okay, because… we don't have a record of it. At all. I remember putting magnetic shackles and an anti-cloaking device on it?”
“You did,” Blue confirmed.
“Well they're back in storage now. None were ever signed out.”
“Pearl, the security tape!” Aquamarine declared, joining the rest of you in the control room. Pearl brought up the video. It showed several people approaching and entering the prison. Blue Diamond, Blue Pearl, you, Holly Blue Agate, and 8XJ. That was it.
“This is unacceptable,” Aquamarine declared, her confidence faded and her voice shaking faintly. “We require answers immediately. My Diamond, I don't think we have a choice. I think it's time we consult… him.”
Blue nodded slowly.
“My Diamond!” Pearl exclaimed. “Surely you can't mean…”
“Of course not,” Holly scoffed. “They're extinct, everyone knows that.”
“The jaspers used to tell stories!” Jay exclaimed. “Do you really mean that Eidras is real?”
“Who's Eidras?” you asked, thoroughly confused.
Blue spoke, her eyes staring a thousand miles away, her voice dry.
“The last Umbran in the universe.”

Hello everyone, couple of announcements. First of all, based on what people expressed the most interest in, I've determined the order in which I will write the other stories. I'm planning to work on them one at a time to prevent the sort of slow progress I've been making you all suffer through. The list is as follows:
You Rock My World (Amethyst)
A Cloddish Proposal (Peridot)
A Home For My Heart (Lapis Lazuli)
In case you worry that things will get repetitive and generic, I want to assure you that I have unique plans for these future stories. Without spoiling too much, A Home For My Heart takes place in just over one hour, while A Cloddish Proposal is set over many eternities (and no, that isn't nonsense), while You Rock My World will feature very little mystery, action, or sci-fi, and will mostly just be a sweet and reasonably grounded story. The reader's characterisation will also vary significantly, so hopefully there should be at least one you can relate to.