"I feel like I've been looking for who you used to be… Back when you were actually happy."
The pale purple haired gem raised their head slightly to meet the dark grey ones that belonged to whom Calcite had once called a friend. There they sat, on their knees, out of breath, and defeated physically. Of course, Gypsum could not have allowed her lover to run off with the Crystal Gems.
"Have you cracked?" She asked, pointing her war hammer into their face as if it was a threat, but Calcite truly doubted she would use it again, unless Calcite fought back. They looked up at her with a blank expression, unsure how to respond. Perhaps they had cracked, but Homeworld was still wrong. What she was doing was still wrong.
"We're killing the earth, Gypsum." Calcite said simply. Gypsum rolled her eyes. Of course she knew that. It was the only way Homeworld could make new gems, they needed the Earth, far more than the lifeforms there did. Gems were elite, their survival was much more important.
"Why does this matter to you? You were regarded as such a high ranking gem! You had made it! And now you are going to throw it away to fight alongside a losing team?" She asked. Calcite remained stoic.
"We don't have to fight, you can join me." They said, not pleading, though a part of them wanted to. They wanted to beg Gypsum to join their fight. He saw worth in what the Crystal Gems were doing. They were fighting for a cause, what was Homeworld fighting for?
"Join you? Who even are you?" Gypsum asked. The dark gem relented, letting her weapon drop, but Calcite remained on the ground. They didn't want to oppose her, she still meant the entirety of Homeworld to them. Plus, they had no idea what she had meant? Who were they? They were Calcite. Born into a low ranking class of gems, but proved themselves powerful. But they wanted to use their powers for good.
"I am still me." They said, but Gypsum shook her head.
"You're not." She said, putting her weapon back into her wrist. "Where is the Gem I love?" She demanded, as if Calcite was not right in front of her. It stung, hearing her proclaim that he was not there, that his existence wasn't anything now that they no longer fought on the same side.
"Are you so stuck in your views?" Calcite asked, but Gypsum shook her head, her white hair falling into her face.
"This isn't about my views. This isn't even about me." She said. Calcite rose to their feet. Vibrations rang through the ground, and they both knew that soon they would be met with soldiers here to destroy those who opposed their fight. Gypsum clenched her fists.
"You were happy!" She yelled at them. "You were with us, you were with me, and you were happy, but suddenly, we weren't good enough!" She yelled. "I have searched in you, trying to find the spark of a Gem that smiled when they successfully managed to use their powers on other objects. I keep trying to find in you, the same Gem who wanted to fight, who wanted to protect their neighbors and friends, who fought through everything to become to soldier you are. But I can't find you. You aren't even happy over there! You don't celebrate with them, you don't cheer for your own victories!"
"It's like, you think what you're doing is the right thing, but you don't even want to do it." She said finally, before turning around. A group of quartz were running towards them, ready for a fight. She turned back to Calcite, who seemed dumbfounded, still trying to process what she had said.
"If I thought you were happy, if I thought any part of you remained, I would have joined you, but you aren't there anymore." She said, taking a step back.
"You're a crystal gem now. A sad, lonely gem, with nothing to fight for." She said, before taking a step back. The quartz had spotted Calcite, and ran towards them. Calcite looked back at Gypsum for one more fleeting moment, before angrily disappearing, the gem on their arm glowing brightly, before evolving into nothingness. They stared at the bewildered Quartz's a moment, all of them seeming unaware of what a calcite's power was. They didn't blame them. No one knew who they were.
Calcite looked back at Gypsum again, but she was gone, having already escaped behind the shelter of the fleet, having known Calcite would still be there. They looked down at themselves a moment, before running in the opposite direction, away from the group, and away from their best friend. They weren't happy, not without her. But that didn't mean what they were doing wasn't right.
Calcite knew the Earth mattered, in some way, it did. But she had mattered too. And somehow, they had forgotten that. They were fighting their neighbors, their peers, and now the only one they truly cared about.
What they were doing was right, but they were not a winner. In fact, they were losing everything. All those neighbors and peers, and Gypsum, the one they knew would drop everything to protect them if she could. They were losing her. And now they realized they were losing themselves too.