Authors note:

I never plan what I write before I write, so I am in the dark as much as you are… all I know about this story is that it will be from [blanks] POV and won't be a human AU.

Chapter one

In the dark

Amethyst POV

I shivered, a cold sweat breaking out all over my body. She was back, she was coming… Or at least, 'it' was coming. I whimpered pathetically from within the confines of the small dark hole I knew as my home, mine, my territory. The false safety I'd convinced myself this hole had was the only thing that kept me from screaming, although even with the comfort of the sickly sweet lies I told myself, every part of my was aching the undeniable urge to run, run, run and never ever stop.

This is home… I told myself over and over. You can't run from home, it's against the rules… isn't it?

I bit my lip in shame. The doubt. The constant doubt lingering at the end of each thought I claimed as my own. Rules, fear, doubt and complete confusion overruled me and I felt tears slipping down my cheeks. Nothing was my own, home, was not my own, my thoughts where owned by my doubt, and even my body didn't have to be my own, I could change it to whatever I wanted, for however long I wanted.

The only thing that broke me from my day dream was that awful sound again. Screaming. Endless screaming. And that other sound, loud cracks breaking through the silence, that unidentifiable sound that haunted my dreams, when I had dreams, if I ever slept again.

It was then when a large orange hand grabbed my throat and dragged my flailing fighting body away from… 'home'.

A strangled noise escaped my throat and I was thrown to the ground. I screamed as the rocky floor beneath me scratched and cut the side of my body. I curled into a ball, wanting to be as small as I could, hoping she might ignore me, or even better, not see me. I cursed my stupid fantasies as she cracked down that stupid thing of hers, the sound revealed itself, a whip. Pain shot through my body and I spasmed and screamed for her to stop, tried to talk but not able to due to each terrible crack.

"PATHETIC!" The orange woman screamed suddenly and the whipping stopped. "EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU ARE PATHETIC, EARTH IS PATHETIC!" Her words meant so much more than I could ever have imagined. There were more of us, more of us living in stupid holes, living in the dark.

A stupid smile crossed on my face for a fleeting second. She glared at me, a poisonous expression drilling through me, even more painful than the dreaded whip. And then she said something. Something that really stung, more than it should've, I didn't even know what it meant. "You. Came. Out. Wrong." She snarled, and, with one final kick, she turned and left me crying and whimpering on the cold hard ground. In the dark. Alone, once more.

The yellow woman was burned into my mind for years and years. Paranoia gripped me wherever I went, although most of my years in the caverns and holes and darkness was not spent venturing out, it was spent crying or shaking or reliving the pain. I never heard screams again, I wondered where they all went, I also wondered if they were still alive but never dwelled on that thought for too long.

Sometimes I would wake up from dreams and imagine her hand around my neck again, pulling me out, further, further, and then I would find myself screaming in the spot where I had made myself the smallest I'd ever been.

She was the only thing from this entire mess that had come out as it was meant to, she was perfect, had everything that no one else had. She was special and she knew it. But I had come out wrong. I was a mistake. I was worthless. I had none of her strength, nor ability. Sometimes I would wonder if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she possessed these qualities, other times I didn't think at all.

One night I was sitting outside by a small flickering campfire, trying to warm my freezing hands and singing softly to myself when I heard voices. They were happy, light voices and as soon as I added more fuel to the fire I regretted it. What if they saw me? What if yellow woman was with them? I held back a scream and flung myself into my hole. I yelped in shock and sharp pain as my shoulder bashed violently against the wall. I clasped my fingers around my gem, still not entirely sure what it was for, or why I was made with it. And then, as the voices got nearer, my gem began to glow.

I cursed under my breath and desperately tried to cover the bright light with my small, podgy hands. A few beautiful shards of light still shone through. I was mesmerised by it, staring dumbly at the way it danced on the walls of my hidy-hole. But then a shadow at the front of my cavern snapped me back into reality.

The face smiled and she pushed up her glasses, winking at me with all three of her eyes. She held out a hand, "I'm garnet." She smiled and crouched down. "Nice to meet you."

And at that moment, the only thing I could do was stare and stare at her hands, the beautiful gem glistening on her palm. I had been right. All this time, there were more of me. Well, her appearance was different… But… she was a gem.

And even after all of these years of not knowing what I was made for or who I was I said quietly. "I'm amethyst, nice to meet you too…"