Amber never smiled.
Only a grim frown adorned her golden skin, quiet and small. Yes, that's what she was like. Quiet and small. Amber never let a grin grow on her lips like her mother when she watched her sister fight. The gem would only watch as the elder's eyes crinkled in happiness at their ferocity. Mother had never smiled at her.
Amber never showed her teeth like her sister, tall and strong, always shoving her. She tried to stay away from her sister. Everyone loved her. She was so powerful, so.. smart. Intelligent. Her mother crowed about her achievements, how one day she would work under the great Yellow Diamond. There was such a proud look on her face, one of happiness and pride.
The only face mother made around her was one of disgust.
Amber did not understand. She never had. Why did mother treat her like this? What had she done wrong? Amber did not know.
Then again, she did not know a lot of things.
Her mother only spoke to her when she was scolding her for showing her face around other gems. "You must never be seen around me, understand?" It was more of an order than a question. Mother said it with such disdain, such venom in her voice, Amber promised never to be seen again. And so she became a ghost. Drifting through the house only when it was empty, waiting in her quarters when anyone was there. She listened in and spied on other gems; if she had not she would have gone mad.
Rarely her mother would ever bring her out, and every time she did it was quite strange. She would always bring her next to her sister, facing several older gems. They would turn their noses up at her, focusing every ounce of their interest on her sister with a grin. Sometimes she would kick the back of her knee, toppling the young gem. Then, they laughed.
And through thousands of years, Amber never understood why.
Then a day came.
Amber was listening to her mother talk to other gems through the door. It was the only way for her to learn any information, her neglecting to tell her daughter anything of what happened outside of the house. She listened closely, and her ears picked up something.
"-a disgrace. I'd love to throw her in the scrap heap so she wouldn't cause me trouble anymore." Her mother's voice came through the crack, her tone seeping with hatred. Another picked up.
"Then why don't you? The stupid fledgling is of no use."
"Well, just between us.." Amber leaned in. "I only keep the yellow fract to put beside her sister. Having that frail matchstick beside my strong daughter makes her look even greater. But sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it. Today she asked why she couldn't go out! Cracked gem can't even understand what's wrong with her."
Amber was puzzled all the more. But something poked at her mind, a creeping suspicion that she denied furiously. The other gem spoke.
"Well, Amber is slow, after all."
Her eyes widened.
The gems laughed.
And her mother laughed with them.
Amber choked back the sob that was building in her throat.
She had to get out of here.
She had to run away.
A golden glow grew from her gem, but she didn't notice. The small one was too busy failing to hold back tears.
That was why Mother hated her so much? That was the reason for millennia of hatred, of hurting a disgust and disdain and HURTING-
She stopped, and heard footsteps coming to the door. With horror, she realized that she had spoken the last part out loud. Now, her mother stood there, staring down at her daughter's wet face.
And for a few tense seconds, everything was quiet.
Then, she noticed the yellow boots on Amber's feet, her gem softly glowing.
Her eyes hardened.
Her mouth twisted.
And then, emotions engulfing her, Amber ran.
She was nothing more than a streak of yellow as she raced past so many gems, heading nowhere.
Her mother followed.
Amber only went faster, zooming past the doors of the warp facility, scattering gems of all kinds.
Her vision blurred with liquid, and intense pain taking her from the inside. She didn't even know where she was going. She only knew to run.
Then, she stopped. The abrupt appearance of carved steps tripped her, sending the the gem flying onto the polished surface. Crawling to her knees, Amber heard the voice.
"STOP!" Her mother stood in the doorway, her body stone-still. There was silence once again. And the small gem broke it with a low whisper.
"Why?"
It happened again. Her mother's face twisted into a grimace. Hate.
"You want to know why, you brat? Because you're stupid. You're useless! You're so stupid, you can't even figure out that YOU'RE BROKEN!"
Her shouts echoed through the room. Her face was red, seething.
Amber did not look at her. Her eyes were focused on the shining surface of the warp pad. Her boots glimmered.
She didn't have to stay here.
The blood drained out of her mother's face as she realized what her daughter would do. Her legs carried her forward, arms raised high and fists clenched.
A beam of light erupted from the warp pad, engulfing the hurt gem inside. Amber felt herself being shot up, out. Away.
Crash.
Fists came down onto the crystal surface, making deep cracks.
The light that carried Amber instantly disappeared. She toppled through blackness, spinning like a comet.
And the poor little gem drifted through space. As ice grew around her, her body dissolved, leaving only a golden gemstone.
Amber slept as the worlds moved on.
Slowly.
It was quiet on the cold ship. Through the green, reflective halls, empty cells lined up, waiting to be filled. One did not have to wait long.
Through an opaque screen lay a figure, all alone in the small room. Her head, covered in honey-colored hair spiked on both sides bobbed up and down rhythmically. Her breathing was shallow and uneven, her face covered by the slender yellow arms and buried in her knees. A patterned shirt and pants hung limp on her thin figure, tattered and torn. The cell was silent except for the huff of her breath, the quiet sound bouncing off the walls.
Drip.
A wet plop echoed, the shining liquid collecting in a pool on the ground. A hitched breath. Then, another drip. Another pool of salt mixed with water.
Images rushed through her mind. Of being enclosed in darkness. A sudden light. Then, a face. It was so beautiful, she remembered. But something was.. off about it. No warm smile graced the lips of the image before them, but a cold frown. It was no scowl, neither indifference, but a look of one who is unimpressed. In these first few moments of life, Amber was greeted with coldness. She could not remember much in her early years except one thing. A plateau of rock, overlooking a huge city of stone. Being so energetic, excited. Running. Then, the whoosh of wind past her face. Trying to land on her feet. A crack. Dark. Years passing by, something changing. Looks of scorn directed at her by other gems. Her own... 'Mother'(? That's what humans had) , scowling at her. Young gems laughing, jeering at her. 'Fract'. 'Broken'. 'Slow'. Amber didn't understand most of the time. Why would they call her slow? She ran, she was fast. That's what she did, who she was. Amber was confused a lot. She was confused at many things. But she did know that the names hurt. So did the looks. The anger. The disdain. The hatred. She couldn't take it anymore. So, she did what she did best.
Amber ran.
And for a short time, she was happy. The small, cold planet was rather lonely, but with no one there, no one could hurt her. Amber rather liked that. So she stayed for a while. Made a home. Explored the caverns and glaciers. And she was happy. Alone, but happy. But then they came. She saw the green hand coming nearer and fear grew in her heart. She could not run, they would find her. They would always find her. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the green gem. This one, she recognized from a long time ago, in the palace of diamonds. The gem's eyes had narrowed. It had come again. That look of hatred that she could not escape from. She was taken easily by the larger gem. She had simply took one look at her cowering form, scoffed, and struck her once. Amber descended into darkness.
She awoke in the cell. The fossilized amber knew she would be taken back there. Punished. And hated even more. A green fist tightened around her heart. Tears slipped from her eyelashes.
Wait. She held still, listening to the silence.
There it was again. A soft crooning, echoing through the ship. It was so gentle, so kind and soothing. Amber stayed quiet, and listened. Everything was going to be alright. Just as long as she heard the song of the wind at her back, of hope and freedom and running across water. The singing stopped, lapsing into silence once more. Amber's heart dropped. A hoarse whisper crawled from her lips.
"Please keep singing."
No one heard her. No one ever did.
Suddenly, she heard a groan. It was from somewhere above, the screech of metal. The honey gem waited with bated breath. More groans. Distant booms, thumps. What was happening? A shockwave blasted through the ship, sending Amber into the wall. Darkness enveloped her sight.
Amber woke with a start. A quick check to her gem - it was fine - and she looked around with wide eyes. The back wall of her cell was gone. Outside….
Oh, outside. A glimmering beach, like nothing she had ever seen. She emerged from the room like a turtle, small and cautious. She half-expected the large gem to pop out and hurt her again, but no attack came. She observed the land around her with an open jaw. Soft waves lapping at the sun-bathed shore, an open ocean.
Amber looked to her left. Far away, there were dangerous sounds. Growls and shouts and laughing, horrible laughing. To her right, a shining sea.
Freedom.
And Amber did what she had always done.
She ran. And as she raced across the water, a murky thought rose to the surface.
'Earth?...'
It had smelled her.
Plumes of snow flew into the air behind her, marring the perfect flat landscape. A honey glow flashed across the blank snow, before it was torn apart and sent into a cloud. Left. She dodged an icy pillar jutting from the snow, the glow reflecting on its surface for a millisecond. The wind howled in her pointed ears, every breeze a scream of agony.
Faster. The glow grew brighter, shedding some of its light on her panicked face. Hot, steamy air huffed from her mouth, barely emerging before disappearing behind her. The land was a blur beneath her feet, all barren whiteness. She was the only one to be seen for thousands of miles, alone in a cold, cold desert.
Amber knew better than that.
She heard its heartbeat, thrumming below the ice, always following her. So loud in her ears, striking a primal fear in her heart. She had come here expecting paradise. All she had seen was a nightmare. She had come here so she wouldn't have to run away anymore.
Yet here she was.
She had to go faster. She had to get away. The light grew brighter still.
Tears beaded at the edge of her eyes, gathering and freezing on her cheek. She was scared. Amber was so, so frightened.
All her life, she could run away from anything. Be it the anger of her mother, the scorn of her family, or the ridicule of her "friends", Amber could always run away. What other choice did she have?
But now her gem was failing her. Her endurance was sapping, the steady beat of her feet faltering. She heard the heartbeat even louder. It knew.
Salty tears burst from her eyes, her vision going blurry. In that one weak moment,
she tripped. She fell head first, rolling head over heels at high speed. Amber only clenched her fists and bit her lip, waiting for the horrible spinning to end.
Crash.
The sickening crack seemed to spread up her spine. Then, everything was still. Her heart leapt to the back of her throat. Did she dare? The alien did, and cracked her eyes open.
Looking to her gem, placed right above the ankle on her left leg, she saw only a smooth piece of fossilized amber. She deflated in an instant, a wave of relief washing over her.
Ice surrounded her, a small tunnel exactly her shape in front. She had dug straight into the center of a glacier, she realized. The gem marveled at the clear, glass-like substance around her small self, taking a moment to gaze at the beauty. Then, she heard the thumping again.
It was directly below her.
Instincts took over and she scrambled, her boots digging furrows in the ice before she gained a foothold and sped towards the opening. Behind her she heard a huge crashing and cracking, ice shattering like glass. She had to go faster, to get out-
Exploding from the glacier like a rocket, she landed on her feet this time. The glacier exploded in a shower of icy shards, two huge sets of teeth clapping together like a vise. Amber looked on in horror as she finally saw the beast that had been hunting her this whole time.
Like a colossal serpent, the monstrosity was long and lithe, scales gleaming silver against the grey sky. Exoskeletal legs like those of a centipede curled against its stomach, making for fast land travel. Jaws creaked open vertically, bony spikes creating the creature's teeth. Amber trembled as jade eyes protruding from each side of its face fixed themselves onto her, now clearly seeing its prey. The beast screeched, giving her a glimpse of a viridian gem clouded with yellow embedded in its throat.
In the moment, time seemed to slow. The monster soared above the small gem, casting a huge shadow on the ice. In those few seconds between the creature's attacks, Amber realized. All her life she had run away from her problems. Her weapon, her boots, was made for it. She had run away from the monster, like everything else.
But it had followed her. Just like everything else.
And she realized in that short moment that she could not run away from this.
The beast came down from its arc, crashing through the ice and vanishing into the cold waters below. Amber knew that it would strike again. She didn't have much time. Her gem shined fiercely as she gathered her strength. She couldn't run. Her muscles firmed, and her knees bent. Something she had never felt before entered her mind.
Anger. Fury at everything and one that had ever hurt her. Amber embraced it, and felt the beat of the beast's heart hammering under the icd. A trickle of sweat slid down her cheek as she summoned every drop of her strength. The heartbeat swelled.
Now.
Her gem flashed, and she rocketed into the sky. Soaring to the edge of the clouds, Amber flew higher and higher. For a few seconds, she reveled in the fresh, warmer air. But her joy didn't last for long, and below the serpentipede burst from the water, searching for its prey. The wandering eyes found their target far above, and narrowed. The gigantic jaw opened, revealing the gem once more.
Amber felt bile rise in her throat at the sight of the monster's maw and the thought of what she was about to do. But steeling her nerves, she knew that she couldn't go back now.
And Amber began to fall.
It happened in less than a second. Amber falling down and the beast soaring up. Right before it was enveloped by the jaws of the monster, the golden gem flashed once more.
The serpentipede's mouth snapped shut, and it too began its descent.
Silence.
Then, a soft glow from the creature's throat.
The pupils shrunk to pinpricks. But it could not screech or even squeak before the silver scales disintegrated into dust, and all that fell was aviridian gem and the one that held onto it.
Amber landed safely, her boots enlarging to soften the blow. Heaving in deep breaths, she shivered at the freezing air in her lungs.
She had done it. She had defeated that horrible monster that had been hunting her for so long. Then, she gazed down at the small green gem in her palm. It looked so fragile. So small and.. scared.
With one more glance at it, she tucked the stone into her pocket. With a deep sigh, Amber stretched her legs, and the smallest smile grew on her cheeks.
And Amber ran.