Tiger watched her locator flicker and blink, seeing a familiar but not familiar planet flickering on the edge of the screen: Earth.
Letting out a growl of anger, her golden eyes narrowed into slits as she remembered with a pang of grief her commander's words about the planet.
Tiger turned to Ruby over the star maps. "What's that planet over there?" She asked, extending a finger to tap a green and blue planet.
Ruby turned to Tiger, a sad glint in her eyes.
"TE, that's Earth. It's where My Diamond was shattered, and where a war happened." She said solemnly. "But after Pink Diamond's death, Earth is now a destroyed battlefield devoid of life except for corrupted gemstones from the war and monstrosities." She said. Tiger nodded, her ears twitching. Ruby's face fell a bit before adding "Just… promise me one thing, kiddo." Ruby said, sounding tired all of a sudden.
"Yes, Commander?" Tiger asked. Ruby gave a small smile at Tiger's formality
"Just promise me that you'll never go to- or even think about the Earth, unless it's about destroying the damned thing." Ruby said.
"Yes, Commander." Tiger replied. Ruby ruffled the younger gem's hair briefly, bringing a small rumbling purr from Tiger.
"Thanks, TE." She said.
Yet here Tiger was. She was fleeing Homeworld without Ruby. The old ship she had stolen to escape Homeworld was heavily damaged in a asteroid field that the ship had been too slow to avoid. And now with Earth only a few light years away, she was about out of options.
Tiger considered her options briefly with a flick of an ear. Before turning the controls towards the flickering dot and went towards it.
After a thought, she realized she should check what her fuel level was. Tiger's heart sank upon glancing at it. It was dangerously low- hell, it wouldn't even last her to Earth's moon.
Two choices: try to get to a planet, or die out here.
But then she saw it. A red button hidden in the layout of switches and levers. It was a homing beacon.
But if I hit the button, than colonies 2 million light years away in all directions would see me! Tiger thought frantically.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Tiger turned to see the fuel level again- and wished she hadn't.
25 Percentage fuel remaining
The screen displayed in flashing red lights.
Oh Ruby, what can I do? This wasn't a part of the plan! She thought.
Tiger looked to the feeble flicker of the screen. 200 light years. She did the math briefly, it was over. Even if she went to the nova thrusters, she might screw up the trajectory and then she would be out of fuel completely and be in the wrong place.
But with the fuel diminishing every minute, she had no choice but to at least try.
Getting out of the cockpit, Tiger went to the generator room. Dozens of switches labeled from main systems to even a single light bulb.
With bated breath, Tiger began flipping them one by one
Gravitational pressurizers: off
Head and taillights: off
Take-off thrusters: off
Cabin lights: off
Emergency lights: off
Transmission communicator systems: off
Tracking systems (they were already offline): deactivated
Main thrusters: off
Heating and cooling systems: off
Emergency safeguards: on
Signal flares: off
Shield: offline
Speed stabilizers: off
Nova thrusters: on
Tiger felt the hum of the engine fade away to nothing. And with the absence of the heating and cooling systems, the cold started biting at her.
With the lights off, she had to feel her way back. She stumbled a bit in the unfamiliar place, but eventually reached her destination.
Finally reaching the cockpit, Tiger saw the labeled button in the faint glow of starlight: Nova Thrusters.
"No going back…" Tiger breathed, her breath coming in a frosted mist cloud as she flipped the cover up…
And hesitated. A dead silence filled the small ship. Just do it! Tiger thought, squeezing her eyes shut and slamming her hand on the button hard before she could doubt herself again.
The silence became a low whine that grew as a violet light filled the cockpit. The whine became a shuttering roar as Tiger felt her world lurch forward.
Blinding speed made her feel like the world was going too slow, but she was just way to fast. Stars blurring into white streaks that burst in her face. Tiger wanted to scream, but the speed she was traveling at stole her voice. She cracked an eye open to see a blue blur that was the ship.
Then, in the distance, she saw Earth. And it was growing every millisecond, getting larger and larger…
Suddenly, her speed doubled, tripled, quadrupled. She had hit the atmosphere. Just in time.
The engines cut out…
And Tiger opened her eyes in the cabin.
BEEEEP! BEEEEP! BEEEEP!
The alarm wailed in the cockpit, Tiger screwed her eyes shut, realizing that it may just be the end. She had deactivated the speed stabilizers. The crash would shatter her gem on impact.
Better die in darkness than by a Diamond's hand… was Tiger's last thought.
The rest came in bits and pieces:
The wailing alarm crescendoing…
Flying through the air briefly...
Pain shooting through every inch of her being...
Heavy weight crushing every fiber of her...
The wailing stopping...
Pain spiking across her form…
...
Tiger felt like asteroids were weighing her eyelids down as she struggled to decide if she was dead yet or not.
She twitched an ear. Nope, not dead. The pain she felt was a clear indication of that.
Finally, she mustered enough will to open her eyes… and was greeted with a bright blue sky.
How… am I not dead…? She thought, because if she was dead, than she wouldn't feel so. Much. Pain.
She tried lifting her head, and was greeted with the feedback of her head spinning and what felt like a battalion of agates punching her head from the inside. Despite this, she got up in a sitting position before rolling slowly and painfully to her feet.
Her feet hurt, her knees felt like they wouldn't support her. Yet through sheer determination, Tiger took in her surroundings. The ship was in complete ruins, smoking blue rubble, and the largest pieces were the size of an Era I Peridot. It had been pulverized in the crash with no chance of salvation.
Moving forward, she limped towards a worn seeming pathway in the forest towards a new substance. Sand, Ruby had called it, a beach.
She staggered across it, stumbling and limping towards a mountainous structure of stone.
The sun in her eyes, Tiger felt deleterious with pain and lack of being able to see. Her legs complained with each shuffling limping step.
After what felt like an eternity, her legs finally gave out. But Tiger refused to give up so easily.
Using her hands, she tried to drag herself forward, and failed, pain bringing the harsh reality of her abilities in this state.
She lifted her head up once more, her eyes unfocused, and sighed. She dropped her head back onto the hot sand.
Commander… what would you do now if you knew I was here? She thought. In a burst of delusion, she imagined Ruby scolding her: "You dumbass! Look what you did you off-color! I told you not to go to Earth, and look where it got you!"
"I'm sorry, Commander… I didn't listen… may the Diamonds have mercy on us both for this act of desertion…" Tiger whimpered, eyes sliding close again.
When they opened again, the sky was red.
Tiger finally managed to stagger back up to her feet again, and limped towards the mountain. She felt a pull there, as if something was waiting for her. Something that would take away the pain and suffering.
Within sight of it soon, Tiger's ears picked up a sound, footsteps.
Then, a red blur sped forwards. Unprepared, Tiger attempted to duck and roll- only to fall on her side, but she never hit the ground.
"Who are you?" A deep voice asked. Tiger felt a strange tingle for a moment, the world distorted for that second before it stopped.
"T-t-ti-g-ger's E-eye." Tiger said, but her voice was staticy and stuttering.
"Tiger's Eye?" The figure said. Tiger realized they were holding her steady by her left arm.
"Get away from me you monstrosity!" Tiger tried to say, but all that came out was "G-G-get… a-aw-y…" as she ripped her arm away. A sparkle of deep amber came away with the movement as Tiger felt another wave of distortion come, longer than the one before.
"Stop moving or you'll shatter yourself trying!" They shouted. Tiger flinched, ears ringing.
Suddenly, Tiger was lifted up with surprising gentleness. Then, she felt it. Two circular cool stones on her palms. A gem. More importantly, a fusion.
The fusion carried Tiger upstairs and she was lain on a soft cushion. "STEVEN!" The fusion bellowed, Tiger winced. But then voices came.
"Garnet! Why did you leave so-... soon…" a masculine voice asked.
"This is Tiger's Eye, Steven. She needs our help." "Garnet" responded.
"Oh my stars!" A voice exclaimed loudly.
"Pearl!" Garnet's voice was strained in concern. "Keep your voice down!" She hissed.
"O-oh. Sorry, Garnet…" The pearl said. "What… what happened to… her gem…?" She asked.
"I found her on the beach. She was cracked so bad that when she recoiled from me… this happened." Garnet said, holding something up to the light.
Curious, Tiger craned her neck agonizingly to a sight worse than anything she had ever seen. Brown and amber-gold in color, Tiger recognized what it was. Shards, her own shards.
A pained whimper rose in her throat. She shut her eyes, wondering if those were her shards, than how was this happening with her alive.
"I think she's getting worse, Garnet. Steven, can you heal her…?" The pearl asked. Tiger would have flinched at the touch pressed against her flaking gemstone, she would have cried out in pain, if there was any.
It was gone. A warmth spread from her gem to all over her body. It washed over her in waves. Then, the pure healing bliss faded as soon as it came.
She opened her eyes.
"W… what happened…?" Tiger asked.
"I could ask you the same." Garnet replied calmly.
Tiger watched Ruby as the little red commander paced the ground, looking a tad frustrated. "Commander…" Tiger said gently, trying to keep her voice from breaking.
"Yeah, TE?" Ruby responded.
Tiger scuffed her feet on the ground. "What are you going to do… after this." She asked.
Ruby shook her head "What am I going to do? I'll make sure you get out in time. First the Rose Quartzes all get shattered, now all your kind will be wiped out too!" She said.
Tiger tried to force a smile, and failed. "It was always a miracle I wasn't shattered on sight… I suppose my luck finally ran out." She sighed.
"TE, what are you talking about? You're unique! Sure, a bit on the small side, but no other gem in existence has your abilities!" Ruby exclaimed.
"So?! That's why I'm defective! I always stand out in any crowd. Nobody else is two rubies tall and has cat ears!" Tiger snapped.
"But that's what I like about you!" Ruby insisted. "Most gems would give up when they found out they were different than the rest of their gem type. But not you, you pushed yourself to improve and show your worth!" Ruby said
"I did that so I could try and just be a normal Quartz! And now that chance will never come! I'm not led by a colony renowned Agate, I'm led by a Ruby. And looking at the rest of our squadron, what do you see in them? Because what I see is a group of military gems that no commander wanted and they dumped them on a Ruby!" Tiger snarled.
"And as your commander, I want to help save you!" Ruby barked back. She pulled out a communicator and opened up a few star charts. She swiped through a few galaxies and star systems before zooming in on one in particular. "Planet X584-ZJ. In a distant galactic star system. Nice and large. Not many resources, so colonization possibilities are low. Out of the way of outlying colonies. Should take a moon cycle to reach. By then, they have found out you've left. But they won't think you've reached that far." Ruby muttered.
Tiger nodded, seeing the logic. "How will I get there?" She asked
"Cargo ship going to a Blue colony is leaving in a few hours. Stowaway in there, when you reach the colony, get to a small under radar ship and leave discreetly with the next fleet patrol." Ruby said.
"And if they see me?" Tiger asked.
"Well, before you board, shapeshift into a gem from Blue's court and try and blend in. Don't talk much, follow orders given. Play the part." Ruby responded.
"But… what about you?" Tiger asked. Ruby thought for a moment before saying
"I'll tell them that I took matters into my own hands when they said there was a mass execution of Tiger's Eyes and shattered you myself." Ruby said.
"What if they ask for my shards?!" Tiger asked.
Ruby chuckled. "I have a plan for that." She said, within her pocket, she pulled out a pouch that held deep amber-gold and brown shards. "I found these when I went back to your kindergarten. I checked them to the database. From what I know, it's from another off-colored unregistered Tiger's Eye like you." She explained at Tiger's horrified expression.
"I'm… unregistered?" Tiger choked out.
"Yes. You never got assigned a facet or cut when you emerged. If I hadn't accepted you, you would've been shattered. They forgot to do it. All defects are shattered before getting assigned and registered." Ruby answered.
She then checked the time. "Damn, I wasted too much time. Get going Tiger, I'll see you later." She said, pocketing the shards again.
"Goodbye, Co-"
"We don't say goodbye in the military, Tiger. We just say 'see you later.' Goodbye is too final, because I have a feeling we'll meet again, someday." Ruby chuckled, reaching up to Tiger, who lowered her head so Ruby could scratch her ears one last time.
"Than… see you later, Commander. May the stars light your path." Tiger said, turning around and leaving.
Tiger than thought to how the plan had gone so well from there.
She had boarded the cargo ship fine. But when she was about to get to the smaller patrol ship, an Agate spotted her and questioned her. Tiger had not satisfied her with her responses and the alarm was raised.
She had barely escaped the docking bay with the ship. Her first act had been to set the ship to autopilot on a course for Planet X584-JZ. But she forgot to disable tracking. A fleet had followed her. Tiger disabled tracking and communication systems, and then used a good chunk of her Nova Thruster power to escape. She altered her course for a longer route.
But she never saw the asteroids until they hit her. The ship suffered damage, but Tiger had been blown way off course in the process. That had all led up to her being here.
"Uhh… is she alright? She's been staring at nothing for ten minutes…" the masculine voice asked tentatively, snapping Tiger back to the present.
"Sorry… I was just… remembering someone." Tiger muttered. Only then, it hit her that she should know who these gems were.
After asking, she found out the following: There was a Pearl. The fusion was called Garnet. There was an Amethyst that served here. But… than there was "Steven".
Garnet and Pearl said "he" is a half gem hybrid. His "mother" was Rose Quartz, the rebel leader.
Tiger bristled at the statement. "Rose Quartz. The Rose Quartz?" She asked, treading carefully.
"Yes. Rose led the rebellion against Pink Diamond, shattering her to earn our freedom and independence from Homeworld's grasp!" Pearl cried out dramatically.
"P… Pink Diamond…" Tiger whimpered. She recalled Ruby's stories about the war and Rose Quartz. And if those were true…
"N-n-no! Ruby said the rebellion was crushed by the Diamonds! My commander didn't lie! She never would lie! Earth is full of corrupted monsters!" Tiger yelled.
"No! No! Earth is great! It's full of life!" Steven exclaimed.
"Then why did Ruby say never go here? It's the grave of who would have been My Diamond. But Rose took that away from us, from her soldiers, from the other Tiger's Eyes, from my commander, from me!" Tiger snapped.
"Oh boy. Another one." A new voice said. Tiger turned around to see a gem, a type she had trained alongside for her whole life. An Amethyst. And a defective one too.
A/N: credits to TurtleTamer on discord for letting me use Ruby in the story. I only own Tiger's Eye.