Hey everybody! Just so you know, this is my first FanFiction on this site...I would appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE feedback. Disclaimer; I only own Moonstone/Margo. The rest belong to Rebecca Sugar. Enjoy!

"I...it doesn't work, Moonstone...we can't; we just aren't compatible..."

"No, you just aren't trying hard enough! Why is it when I try to do things for you, you just call my effort useless?"

"It isn't your effort! It just isn't..."

"Just isn't what, Pearl? Because last time I checked, you cared about me!"

"Moonstone...I'm sorry..."

Moonstone awoke to find herself inaudibly crying, and with great and bitter force, wiped away the thin trickles of tears, icy glowing eyes hard and furious.

The sky was always dark- a deep indigo criss-crossed by soft waves of lavender and blood-red. Pinkish clouds, as soft and wispy as cotton, flew over the planet that the Gems lived on, giving everything a soft salmon sheen.

"Ah, Pearl, you've done it again," Moonstone said, tossing her mottled hair as she hoisted her stout body off of the ground, "Made a gal cry in her god-damn sleep; I don't even need it!"

She looked around at her small realm. The entire cave was made purely out of her gemstone. Multiple belongings were scattered here and there- ancient books, stupid little knick-knacks and gags, photos...Jasper had always disapproved of her sentimental side. Then again, Moonstone had also always stuck up her middle-finger to the cyclopean, beefy woman. Just because she hung onto the past didn't mean that...

"Dammit," Moonstone groaned, shifting her weight to her other foot as she realized with a sinking discomfort that she was late to the latest and highly developed form of the Gem's training. It was...for when they dominated the universe.

Pearl, Ruby and Sapphire had always been protective over each and every planet, as they could probably be described as 'justice warriors,' rather than 'warrior warriors,' but had taken a certain liking over a strange little orb called 'earth.' Dammit, that was Rose Quartz's influence. She had always spoke about how humanoid they themselves were, and, well, humans lived on earth...it would be like...like killing a cousin, who had done you no wrong.

But Rose Quartz was after all the one who had taken Pearl on to be her...partner. How quickly Pearl had seen to that- that she would drop Moonstone so quickly. 'Ah, Margo...you know how it is...I can't stop being your fusion partner, even if...if we don't...I don't...even if I'm not your...actual partner...'

And so training had become a sickly ordeal of misled affection and clammy hands...blank stares and closed throats...so...what was the point of going in the first place, if you didn't care much for domination and felt the clenching of a lover's demise? Why would you torture yourself- every time Jasper yelled something crude and cruel, every time Pearl would turn her gaze away to see Rose Quartz flawlessly transforming with another Gem, every time that same Pearl's breaths, which were soft and minty, became harsh and distorted from discomfort and longing- why?

Moonstone, or Margo, (as Pearl's former pet-name) had all of this racing through her already crammed head as she begrudgingly stepped through the glistening portal that took her anywhere she could telepathically and logically think up- in this case, the Training Grounds, a vast, granite floating platform high above the planet.

She arrived rather bedraggled, and grinned sheepishly when she felt the huge, warm hand of Jasper lifting her violently up by her leg, flipping her around, and marching her back to the front of the grounds, where she saw ten straight rows of solemn faced Gems before her, all observing the little short Gem with a look of disgusted sympathy. Only the faces of Ruby, Sapphire, Rose Quartz and Pearl were different- one was angry, one was apprehensive, one was just passive, and the last one greatly distressed.

"Well, well, well," Jasper barked in her rough, scratchy voice; it boomed over the platform, "I see we have someone late-" she flicked Moonstone's neck with a remaining finger, "-to essential training. Does anybody know what happens to slackers like our 'wittle sleepy Moonstone over here?"

Peridot's hand shot up, trembling in eagerness, her green face red from the desire for approval- "We have their fusion partner teach them a little something about lateness!" She had quoted Jasper perfectly from times, long, long before.

Moonstone felt her stomach fall into her throat, and she nearly choked with fury and sickness, trying to protest. It wasn't that she was going to be beat that bothered her, it was that...that...

Pearl stepped out of the neat rows and before Jasper and the dangling Moonstone, raising her thin arm in a shaky and highly reluctant salute.

"So, the lamb teaches the crocodile," Jasper sneered, dropping Moonstone with a heavy and unceremonious thump in front of Pearl. Pearl's legs shook, "Very well. Gems, let's see what happens to our 'wittle slacker."

Moonstone raised her gaze to Pearl's, letting out a defiant cough, and got up from her knees and looked up to the taller Gem.

"You wouldn't dare, lamb," she found herself snarling. A look of pure shock and bewilderment crossed over Pearl's pointed face, and was soon replaced by a gleefully wicked look that sought some kind of sick revenge against her former lover.

Pearl drew out her weapon swiftly, and Moonstone poised her hand near her earlobe, waiting to see if Pearl would strike; she'd get a taste of her Shruiken's bite. Pent up emotions swelled in Moonstone's chest, and what Pearl said next made her nearly sob aloud (which was the ultimate reason for her failure here).

"I never loved you, you dirty little mistake!" Pearl hissed through gritted teeth, and with a single, well-timed swipe, sent Moonstone reeling off the granite training grounds, her silent tears forced out of her eyes as she fell to their planet.