Chapter 1
Iwaizumi didn't think he'd ever been this high in the tower before. The enormous spire seemed to reach up forever into the sky, no matter how far he climbed up the winding stairs, suspended solid and motionless where they hovered. The ceiling overhead loomed higher than anything he'd ever seen, built to conform to giants and making him feel incredibly small.
When he reached the throne room, he felt even more inclined to stare in amazement at how tall and open it was, delicate yet imposing, radiating with a hushed atmosphere of power. But he remembered his instructions, and kept his gaze lowered respectfully as he traipsed with some caution into the middle of the room and knelt down on the floor.
"Ruby 1F7 Cut 3KG reporting," he recited nervously, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the reflective tiles under his knees.
"Iwaizumi Hajime," A deep, rumbling voice stated, with certainty, breaking the faintly humming ambience of the room and bringing forth complete silence when it finished.
"...You sent for me, sir?" Iwaizumi asked, after a moment of floundering mutely, completely immobilized by the sheer aura of the gem addressing him.
"Yes. I have a task for you."
Iwaizumi swallowed where he knelt, the authority in that voice sinking under his skin and into his very core like an electric vibration. Demanding submission and fealty.
"What is it, my Diamond?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the sweeping mahogany hem of Ushijima's robe, trailing across the floor as he stepped away. "During our last siege to reclaim the Earth colony, a gem was misplaced who could mean the difference between victory and defeat in this war."
"...Who is it?" Iwaizumi prompted upon a pause, once he was fairly sure he wouldn't be accused of interrupting.
"A very rare Dioptase," said Ushijima, "An intellectual strategist of extraordinary value. The constitution of his gem is...fragile; he is not a soldier and could be easily damaged and rendered useless to me if he's left defenseless on that miserable rock." Iwaizumi looked up slowly, recognition dawning, only to see Ushijima's back turned to him as he gazed pensively out into the endless void of stars, as if he could see the tiny blue marble of a planet spinning out there somewhere, defiant and hostile and yet somehow so vulnerable. "I want you and the other Rubies in your team to go to Earth and retrieve him for me."
"Yes, my Diamond," Iwaizumi assented immediately, ducking his head down and hoping the personal concern that had begun to gnaw at him after hearing that description didn't make it into his voice. "But the planet is huge, how will we find him?"
"I will be sending you with a guide," Ushijima explained, the whisper of cloth against smooth polished stone suggesting he had turned around, "A Sapphire with future-seeing capabilities who is familiar with Earth, and can hopefully help you to locate Oikawa in a timely fashion."
Having his hunch of who the missing gem was confirmed did nothing to temper the worry clamoring in Iwaizumi's chest, and he pressed his hands down flatter against the floor, hoping to hide their trembling.
"Do you accept the task I am presenting you with?" Ushijima asked levelly, as if Iwaizumi had even the remotest option of refusal.
Sucking in a breath, he rose to his feet and quickly clamped his arms to his sides, "I do."
"Good," Ushijima sighed softly, waving one regal hand in dismissal, "Then you should be off at once. Kindaichi, show him out."
"Y-yes, my Diamond!" squeaked a nervous looking Pearl stationed on one side of the doorway. He shuffled over to Iwaizumi and started ushering him from the room with more vigor than was entirely necessary.
"Oh, and Iwaizumi," Ushijima didn't raise his voice, but both Iwaizumi and the Pearl halted mid-step nonetheless, in order to heed it, "If you should encounter any members of the Rebellion, any Crystal Gems while on Earth...you have my permission to fuse with your task force and shatter the traitors on sight."
Iwaizumi hesitated, feeling a chill run down his back at the calm but lethal tone Ushijima had taken, and then slowly inclined his head in compliance.
"Yes, my Diamond."
.
.
He was alone.
Alone and in darkness, pressing his body to the smooth, cold stone and trying to burrow himself deeper into the earth. Light filtered into his safe little hole from the outside. Bright light, illuminating the shadows of scores and crevices indented in the rough sandstone and reflecting off uneven patches of melted glass long ago cooled. He didn't know that light, or what lay beyond the confines of his shelter and self-imposed prison. All he knew was that he was alone, and he wasn't supposed to be.
He wove his fingers together, folding his hands in close to his stomach. With his left thumb he traced the bumps and grooves of the oblong, triangular gem studded into his palm. That was something else he knew. He knew who he was.
Jasper. Hinata Shouyou. There was some comfort in knowing his name. It felt warm and familiar; a soft, glowing feeling in his chest. Something he could hold close like a shield, to protect him from this terrible uncertainty.
It was always too quiet here, the only sound the whistling of the wind through the other holes pockmarking the ruddy orange cliffside. Holes like this one, but wider, and taller; he'd seen them during his first tentative excursion outside. All of them long empty, abandoned by their occupants, leaving him with no company, no team to rely on...something he knew for certain he was supposed to have.
They left me behind…
He was supposed to be a fighter - he felt it in his core, had known it since he'd fought his way out of the ground a seeming eternity ago, only to crawl meekly back into it once it finally sank in that he was alone, and no one was coming for him. With no one to fight with, and no one to fight against, how was he supposed to carry out his only true purpose? And if he had no purpose, then what was the point of leaving this hole and finding out what else might be out there, beyond this dry, rocky canyon?
He wondered how long he could stay here. How long he had stayed here, just waiting for time to forget him and let him turn to dust, or for someone, anyone, to come and find him. With every day that went by, every cycle of bright light passing slowly overhead, he became more certain that no one ever would.
"...I-is this the place?"
Hinata tensed at the unexpected noise. Was that...a voice? He could hardly believe it. Someone's here? Now? He strained to hear more, pushing away from the wall in shock when a second, louder voice answered the first.
"Yep! Cool, huh?"
"It's kind of...creepy. Like a haunted house or something."
"A what?"
"You know, like...a regular house, but with ghosts and monsters and stuff that jump out and scare you."
"Asahi-san, this Kindergarten's been empty for ages, nothing's gonna jump out and -"
The second voice cut off, as Hinata quickly launched himself out of the safety of his hole and into the canyon, landing with a slight wobble in his step and facing the two strange beings that had, apparently, wandered in from the outside.
The moment he'd revealed himself, the taller of the two creatures had let out a very high-pitched, undignified shriek and ducked behind the shorter, who had dropped into a defensive crouch, as if ready for a fight. Hinata unconsciously imitated his stance, peering at narrow, calculating eyes, and the bright yellow teardrop stone on his forehead.
"Who are you?" The mystery gem asked, poised with one hand hovering near his gemstone, as if deciding whether or not to withdraw a weapon.
"That's what I was gonna ask you," Hinata said, materializing a pale orange, wickedly sharp boomerang into his hand with no such hesitation, "Where did you come from? How did you find me?"
"Nishinoya," the taller being intoned anxiously, cowering ridiculously behind the gem that was little more than half his height, "I think he's one of the…you know...the bad gems..."
The one called Nishinoya turned and gave his companion what looked like a scolding glare, "Daichi-san said, there are no bad gems. If he was with Homeworld's army, he would have attacked us by now." Turning back to Hinata, he seemed to lose some of his wariness and stood up straight - though that didn't serve to give him any height advantage over Hinata - a nervous smile playing around his mouth, "What's your name?"
Hinata squinted at him, still on guard, but then allowed himself to relax with a defeated sigh a moment later. What was he doing? These two were awfully strange, but they were the first company he'd had in...he didn't even know how long; he didn't want to make them leave like the rest had.
"I'm Hinata Shouyou," he recited stiffly, as if giving a command. As if he had any semblance of control here, "A Jasper. What about you?"
The small gem's smile seemed a little more genuine as he replied, "My name's Nishinoya Yuu. Lemon Quartz." He gestured with his thumb to the taller person behind him, "And this guy's Azumane Asahi, he's um…a human."
Hinata blinked, allowing his weapon to dissolve back into his palm, "What's a human?"
Both of them simultaneously opened their mouths, then paused, and glanced at each other uncertainly. Hinata tilted his head to one side in confusion.
"Humans are…" Nishinoya began, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "Hm. Well, they live on Earth, they're kind of like gems, but like...with no powers, and only one physical form, and they're kind of soft and squishy and they do weird things sometimes like, they grow and eat things and do this thing called sleep where -"
"Nishinoya," the human called Azumane interrupted, leaning down to place a reproachful hand on his shoulder, "He doesn't need to know all of that..."
Nishinoya looked up at him, a flash of a self-aware grin crossing his face as he shrugged, "Yeah, I guess not. So...Shouyou, was it? You don't seem like such a bad guy at all. If you're not with Homeworld, who're you with?"
Hinata glanced at the sandstone rock face he'd come out of, dented with dozens of nameless exit holes all larger and cleaner than his own, and sighed softly. "I guess...I'm not with anybody."
"Well then, you should come with us!" Nishinoya declared, slapping a hand to his chest and bouncing up on his toes proudly, "I'm sure Daichi-san and Suga-san would love to have you, we haven't got any Jaspers yet and we could always use new gems to fight."
"Fight?" Hinata echoed, perking with surprise, "Fight what?"
"Fight who is probably more accurate," Nishinoya corrected him, his expression turning serious all of the sudden, but losing none of its fiery determination, "See, we're part of the Rebellion, fighting in the war against Homeworld and specifically...Red Diamond's army."
He paused a moment, as if for effect, and then all at once his face brightened again, "Well, I am anyway, I'm a Crystal Gem warrior - Asahi-san mostly just lets us use his house as a base."
"I do more than that!" Azumane protested indignantly, "What about that time when -?"
"So if I join you guys, I'll get to fight a whole army?" Hinata interrupted, already tightening his hands into fists in anticipation at the thought, an eager grin finding its way onto his face.
Nishinoya and Azumane stopped and looked at him in complete bewilderment for a moment, and then the former burst into a wide, blindingly bright smile and shot over to slap Hinata on the back.
"Hey, this guy's great!" he laughed, hanging off of Hinata's shoulder and practically pulling him into a one-armed embrace, "Sounds just like me back in the good ol' days, we have got to take him with us!"
Azumane didn't seem so convinced, and in fact looked a little unnerved, fidgeting with his hands indecisively where he stood, "...Must we?"
"Hell yeah! You know Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san'll get a huge kick out of his attitude, and besides, the world needs more little guys to step up and take down the giants!"
Something in Azumane's wavering gaze seemed to soften, seeing Nishinoya's enthusiasm for the idea, and he lifted his shoulders slightly in a shrug, "If you say so… Let's go, then. This place gives me the creeps."
"Everything gives you the creeps, Asahi-san."
"Does that mean I'm in?" Hinata asked, turning his head to meet Nishinoya's gleaming eyes beneath the light golden flash of his gem, as they followed Azumane's retreating back out of the sandstone canyon.
"Not so fast, newbie," Nishinoya smirked, letting go of Hinata's shoulders only to nudge him with one of his own, "First you've gotta go through Daichi-san. ...But he should be no problem, it's Suga-san you've gotta watch out for."
"Is he your leader?"
"No, Daichi-san is...sort of...they're like a team. But Suga-san's the one who's gonna see right through you, to what you're really made of, and he'll judge you based on that."
"Don't make him sound so intimidating, Noya," Azumane said, glancing over his shoulder at Hinata reassuringly, "Sugawara's a nice guy, you've got nothing to worry about."
Nishinoya sniffed, "You haven't seen him on the battlefield, when his eyes get all scary intense and he slices through Homeworld gems' physical forms like they're paper."
"Yeah, but don't...all of you kind of do that?" Azumane asked uncertainly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Kind of. Most of us aren't psychotic about it."
"What's paper?" Hinata piped up. Nishinoya blinked at him, his train of thought visibly dissolving, and then threw his head back and burst out laughing.
"Right, I forgot we have to go through all this again with our new recruits. Why don't you take this one, Asahi-san? You understand it a lot better than me."
"Listen, just because you gems write everything down on like, floating futuristic screens and stuff, doesn't mean we all should."
"So sheets of flattened tree pulp are the better alternative?" Nishinoya grinned, poking the tip of his tongue out between his teeth teasingly.
"I didn't say that! Just - leave the Earth trivia to the real Earthlings, okay?"
Nishinoya huffed in fake offense, folding his arms behind his head and shooting Hinata - who remained thoroughly confused by this whole exchange - a cheeky, sidelong wink.
"Whatever you say, Asahi-san…whatever you say."
.
.
Their guide was led into the hangar heavily guarded; a hulking Turquoise soldier with a shock of short white hair on his left, a less massive but equally menacing buzz-cutted Peridot on his right - who shot frequent, ill-disguised glares at the team of Rubies through narrow black-rimmed eyes - and a tall but limber gem that might have been a Jasper bringing up the rear, fastidiously adjusting the lenses that shielded his coolly surveying eyes beneath the pale golden ringlets of his short bangs.
The Sapphire himself, however, was not physically intimidating in any way, and even seemed rather scrawny at first glance, arms folded loosely around his waist, head bowed submissively as he was escorted through the doorway and past the airlock, which hissed open at his arrival. Iwaizumi, along with the other two Rubies in his task force, stood up a little straighter and crossed his arms in salute as the rare seer and his bodyguards approached, forming a diamond shape over his chest with his hands.
"Are you Ruby 1F7 Cut 3KG?" the rear guard droned uninterestedly, the hangar lights reflecting harshly off his eye lenses, obscuring his expression.
"Yes sir," Iwaizumi said, inclining his head shortly, "My name's Iwaizumi Hajime, and this is my task force."
"Red Diamond's task force," the fearsome Peridot corrected him, in a low, sneering growl. Shifting his left arm, revealing the light green gemstone studded into his shoulder, he pushed the still silent Sapphire's back, causing him to stumble forward a step, but said nothing else.
"And an awfully small force at that," the Jasper continued, scanning over the trio disdainfully, "Are you sure just three of you will be enough to guard such a valuable asset on an alien planet?"
"Tsukishima," the Sapphire spoke at last, his voice soft and level, "Ushijima has already entrusted Iwaizumi-san and his team with my protection. I more than trust the judgment of my Diamond, and you ought to as well."
The Jasper called Tsukishima was silent for a moment, and then gave a stiff, terse nod, "Of course I do." He paused, and then loomed over the Rubies with a barely veiled threat, "It's these little runts I don't trust."
Waving him off, and showing a surprising amount of boldness in doing so, the Sapphire stepped away from his old escorts, and into the custody of his new ones, lifting his chin to reveal the dark flash of his gemstone, round and blue and precious, directly over where his left eye should have been.
"My name is Akaashi Keiji," he greeted them, lifting his hands to cross them back to back in a calm salute, "I'd like to thank you, on behalf of Red Diamond, for your service."
There was something all-knowing in his only visible eye; something cool and serene but chilling all the same, that seemed to look straight through Iwaizumi and his crew, gathering information en masse that he was simply too polite to reveal out loud. It was frightening, to be known so completely and intimately at first glance, by a total stranger, but Akaashi's face didn't stray once from its humble, deferential expression, and in a split-second Iwaizumi realized that this gem had almost effortlessly earned his respect.
"O-of course!" he said quickly, clearing his throat into his fist and stepping to the side, "These are Matsukawa Issei and Hanamaki Takahiro, the other Rubies in my team."
A tiny smile touched the corner of Akaashi's delicate mouth, and something like amusement crept into his eye, "I know."
"Oh...right." Flustered, Iwaizumi rubbed the back of his head, "Anyway, we'll be launching soon, why don't you...come on board with us and we'll get you settled on the ship?"
Akaashi simply nodded, and allowed himself to be led up the gangway by Matsukawa and Hanamaki, both of whom looked just as thrown off their stride as Iwaizumi felt, glancing nervously between each other but remaining respectfully silent.
Iwaizumi paused before following them, in the event that Akaashi's guards had any further instructions or specifications from Red Diamond about this mission. Just as he was starting to turn around, a huge, unforgiving hand clamped down on his shoulder. He blinked and turned his head, to find the giant Turquoise soldier staring at him implicitly, a stony frown on his otherwise inscrutable face.
"I believe what Aone is trying to say," the one called Tsukishima began frostily, approaching on his other side and pinning him with cold, cruelly glinting eyes, "Is if you slip up, if something goes wrong, if that Sapphire comes back from this wild gem chase with even so much as a scratch…" He leaned in closer, a shadow of a scornful leer playing at his lips, "I will personally make sure you and the rest of your team are shattered into a million pieces. Is that clear?"
Iwaizumi hoped they didn't see him shiver, expression hardening as he schooled himself to show no fear in the face of the threat.
"...Crystal."
TBC