The Diamonds have a great many expectations of the Gems that serve them; obedience, loyalty, respect and fear, but one of their most unreasonable expectations, is of uniformity. Put simply, the Diamonds expect every Gem of the same cut, to behave the same way. Rubies are expected to be determined, Pearls are expected to be formal and respectful, and Quartz soldiers are to be fiercely loyal and loyally fierce. But expecting something, doesn't necessarily mean you'll get it...
Across the universe, from Homeworld, to earth and beyond, there are thousands of Gems, as unique as the Diamonds who made them. These are their stories...
Our first story begins on Homeworld, during the great Gem War of Earth, with Ruby squad Epsilon 42. The squad consisted of four very different Rubies, and one of the things that made them unique, was that they gave each other names. First, there was Burma, easily the mildest of the four, with a tendency to flinch if anyone so much as raised their voice. Her Gem was on her chest, and her form was the pinkest shade of red. The second, was called Marbles, distinguished by her excitable nature and her sense of humour. Her Gem was on the back of her left hand. Then, there was Spicy, named after her fiery temper, with a Gem on her thigh.
The last member of the Ruby squad was Star. Her name was the most obvious choice, since she was a Star Ruby. Six white lines expanded from the centre of the Gem on her forehead, and then over her form. While not technically off-colours, Star Rubies were rare enough to be frowned upon, and upper class Gems tended to turn their noses up at her, as though she was unpleasant to look at. Conversely, Star was one of the sweetest and kindest Gems on Homeworld. She was always the first to notice when another member of the squad was upset, and was quick to comfort them, any way she could.
As with many tight-knit Gem squads (particularly ones that were required to fuse), squad Epsilon 42 had grown very close over the centuries, to the point that their affection and loyalty for each other became a source of discomfort for their Morganite commander, a tall, sinister, pink Gem, with a black cape, and flowing, white hair. The fact that they were a perfectly adequate Ruby squad, though, meant that she couldn't separate them, without a reason. But unfortunately for the Rubies, a reason arrived...
Homeworld was losing the battle on earth, so Gems were being enlisted from across Gem space, and when the Rubies' Morganite was tasked with providing extra soldiers, it was with a sadistic smirk, that she said she knew just the Gem. She leapt at an opportunity to break up the Ruby squad, and it was an easy choice, choosing the Ruby to deploy. Not only was the Star Ruby distasteful to look at, she was often the one encouraging the others to indulge in their controversial emotions.
The Rubies shared a tearful hug, under Morganite's disapproving sneer. Their outrage (particularly in Spicy's case) at being split up, was just barely pacified by Morganite's dismissive comment that Star would probably return once the war ended. It was just a few months later, though, that disturbing news reached Homeworld- the rebel leader, Rose Quartz had shattered Pink Diamond... The Rubies wanted to be glad that the war was over, but their Gems ached with anxious foreboding, for what would come next.
The three Rubies were sitting in a small room, in one of Homeworld's many guard posts, writing dull reports about their recent patrols. Spread thin as Gemkind was, they were the only Gems in the building, or at least, they thought they were, until the doors slid open, and Morganite strolled into the room, her head held high.
"Rubies, I have good news." She announced, although her sinister smile didn't give the Rubies any joy. "The war is over."
Burma ran over, with a cautious smile. "They found Rose Quartz!?"
"They captured all the rebels?" Marbles suggested.
Morganite gave a long, sinister laugh. "Found? Captured? Whatever for? No, in our Diamonds' infinite wisdom, they have purged the earth of Gems. The rebel army has been eradicated."
"Wh... what?" Burma squeaked.
"Pink was only shattered two rotations ago!" Spicy pointed out, with a threatening suspicion in her voice. "How did they evacuate all the Homeworld forces in that time...?"
Morganite gave a condescending smirk, and when that didn't get the reaction she'd hoped for, she elaborated. "They didn't."
Marbles held her mouth in shock, Burma's eyes started to water, and Spicy angrily cried out, "WHAT!?"
Morganite turned sideways, as though preparing to leave. "Prepare to be dispatched. New Kindergartens are being established off-world to replace the Gems we lost. I'm assigning you to guard duty at one. Who knows? Maybe they'll make some new Rubies to fill out your squad."
As she turned to leave, Spicy ran forwards and grabbed her cape. "What about Star!?" She demanded.
Morganite cringed, and effortlessly kicked Spicy away, sending her sliding across the room, where Burma and Marbles caught her and started helping her up. "What about your hideous little friend?" She sneered.
Still holding her partners' hands, Spicy cried out furiously. The three Rubies' forms turned bright white as they fused. The fusion shot to her feet, with her fist in the air and, before Morganite could do more than flinch, the fusion squashed her like a bug, disrupting her form with a burst of smoke and sending a round, pink Gem clattering to the floor. The Ruby fusion hesitated for a second, before forcefully separating.
"What have we done!?" Marbles cried, holding her head.
Burma was distraught for different reasons. She sat on the floor and hugged her knees. "Star can't really be gone... can she?" She asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"You bet your Gem she can't!" Spicy insisted, pointing at her. "I'm not just gonna believe some rock head like her." She picked up Morganite's Gem and sealed it inside a red bubble. "We're going to earth. We're gonna find out for ourselves."
"But... how are we gonna get to earth?" Marbles asked.
"We don't even know where exactly Star was stationed..." Burma pointed out.
"No..." Spicy agreed, stroking her chin, thoughtfully. "We gotta find someone who will."
-x-x-x-
Not far from the guard post, was a large prison. Most of the Gems held here were rebels, who had been captured before Pink's shattering, and were awaiting trials, but not the one the Rubies had come to see. As they crossed the building's threshold though, they found the entrance guarded by an imposing green Gem, with a dark green pant suit, and hair in a tight, lime green bun. She was a Moss Agate.
"What are you three doing here?" She asked, suspiciously.
"Uhhh well..." Burma tried.
"Hah... funny story actually..." Marbles continued.
"Our commander was just shattered on earth." Spicy announced, confidently. "We've been assigned to auxiliary guard duty, by blue Diamond. We're at your service, Agate!" She saluted, and Burma and Marbles quickly followed suit.
Moss Agate rolled her eyes, as though the Rubies were a nuisance. "Very well, patrol the corridor, until I say otherwise."
The Rubies marched past Agate with military discipline, until they rounded a corner, at which point, they sprinted past the cells, looking for their target. The corridors were lined with cells, each one secured with a Gem-destabilising field. Most of them had Gems inside, some of whom were happy to give them directions, and before long, they found who they had come to see.
In one, lonely cell, far from anyone else, sat a small, pink Gem, with her back to the corridor. Her hair was in a pair of bushy, short pigtails, and she wore a sleek, purple dress, which spilled across the floor, where she sat, like a pool of water.
"Psst!" Spicy hissed, once the group found her. "Hey, we need to talk to you!"
There was a pause. "I know..." The Gem eventually said. "I knew you were coming, I know what you're going to ask, and I know what you'll do with the information..." The Gem turned around, revealing a large, singular eye, half-closed in depression, and a round, Pink Gem with a triangular facet at the base of her neck. "So why didn't I know what was going to happen to her!?"
Pink Diamond's Sapphires had been rounded up, the second the news got out. None of them had seen it coming, and no one was sure why they'd been detained, or what was to happen to them. Would they be punished? Disposed of? Experimented on? It didn't bear thinking about.
"We're sorry about what happened to Pink." Burma offered.
"I don't care about..." The Pink Sapphire began. "I mean... she was great, and it sucks what happened to her! But..." She knelt down on the floor again. "What's wrong with me...?"
"Do you... need anything?" Marbles asked. "We could bust you out if you want?"
"No... you couldn't..." Sapphire corrected, with a sigh. "Just grab the data disk off the wall behind you."
Burma turned around, and found what looked like a round sheet of glass, with text lining the outside.
"Now listen carefully. I'll tell you how to get out of here, how to steal a ship that will take you to earth, and where you'll find your friend..."
For several minutes, Burma recorded Sapphire's meticulous instructions, occasionally even telling them how many steps they'd need to take, and how many seconds to wait, for guard patrols to pass them by. When she was finished, Burma squeezed the outside of the disk, and it vanished, with a flash of light.
"Thank you..." She said to Sapphire. "I'm really sorry... about everything..."
The other two Rubies thanked her too, and they began walking away. Just before they left earshot, they heard Sapphire sigh, "You're not going to like what you find..."
-x-x-x-
Sapphire's instructions worked perfectly, and by the time someone noticed that a Mark Three Light Kite was missing from the hangar, it was half way to earth, with the three Rubies aboard. The ship was a white diamond-shape, with a one-seater cockpit, beneath a glass dome. Luckily, it was built for Nephrites and Jets, so the three Rubies could just about squeeze into the seat.
The hazy blur of hyperspace faded away, revealing the earth. Immediately ahead of the Light Kite, was a debris field, of hundreds, if not thousands of Gem ships, blown apart, or simply inactive. After exiting hyperspace, the three Gems only had a few moments to stare in awe, at the planet, before it was obscured by a monolithic, dreadnought-class ship, which drifted past them, the kind that was crewed by hundreds of Gems, and could decimate mountains.
With a resolved frown, Spicy took the ship's wheel, and had it shoot forwards, zooming around the outside of the gigantic ship, so they could continue towards the earth. While Spicy drove, Marbles and Burma looked up at the ship, through the Kite's dome, looking through the larger ship's windows, at its gloomy, unlit interior.
Suddenly, Burma shrieked in alarm, causing Spicy to jump, and make the ship wobble slightly. "I just saw something move in there!"
Spicy frowned. "If there were any Gems still aboard, they would have radioed for help..." She flicked some switches on the console, and they played a buzzing static. "Nothing..."
Burma didn't bring it up again, but notably, she looked at the ship's floor, rather than out the window, for the rest of the flight. The Kite ducked in and out of the ship graveyard, and eventually, flames began to dance across the ship's dome announcing that they had reached the planet's atmosphere. Eventually, the flames passed, and the ship darted through a layer of fluffy clouds, revealing, to the Rubies' wonder, a sprawling, green countryside.
Burma summoned her data disk again, and guided Spicy as she flew over mountains, oceans and deserts, on route to the location Pink Sapphire had said they'd find Star, and eventually, the ship landed high up a mountain, outside a dark cave.
The Rubies climbed out, awed by the howling winds, and breathtaking view, but they wouldn't be distracted. Shoulder to shoulder, they approached the cave.
"Star! Are you in there?" Marbles called.
"Stand to attention, soldier!" Spicy added, with a nervous tremble to her voice.
As they closed in, the Gems noticed something moving, in the darkness. They froze, and slowly, the thing in the cave began to emerge, with a deep, sinister growl. As the sunlight hit it, the Rubies realised it was a ferocious earth feline, the size of a Jasper, with blood red fur, and a flaming orange mane. Before they could retreat, the creature roared and leapt at them, pinning Spicy to the ground.
"What have you done with our friend...!?" Spicy grunted, as she struggled to force the animal's teeth away from her.
With a confident nod to each other, Burma and Marbles grabbed Spicy's shoulders and, a flash of light later, the three-Ruby fusion was hurling the red cat over her shoulder. The action caused the animal's mane to fly backwards, revealing an unmistakable red Gem on its forehead, with six white lines, expanding from the centre.
"Star...?" The Ruby fusion gasped, a tear rolling down her face. "What... what happened to you?"
The corrupted Star Ruby snarled cautiously and began to advance. The fusion dropped to one knee and held her hands out invitingly.
"Star, it's me! I came to find you!"
Star very slowly stepped towards the fusion, and gradually stopped growling. When she was close enough, the fusion rested a hand on the side of her face, and the corruption looked up at her with desperation and fear in her eyes. Even without any words, it was clear that Star didn't know who she or the other Rubies were... but she knew that she should...
Slowly, the fusion wrapped her arms around Star, and buried her face in her fur. "It's okay Star... Whatever happened to you... we're never leaving you again."
Slowly, a glowing, white light consumed the two figures, and when it faded away, one enormous, red cat curled up on the ground, and went to sleep.
-x-x-x-
Thousands of years later, and not far away, an ear-splitting crash send a flock of birds flying from a forest's canopy. Between the trees, the corrupted Ruby fusion recoiled from a devastating punch from Garnet, new leader of the Crystal Gems. The fusion backed away a few steps, before having to leap to avoid a spear, throw by Pearl, and finally, getting ensnared by Amethyst's whip, and slammed into a tree.
The force caused the fusion to come undone. With a flash of light, four red cats with orange manes climbed to their feet, and growled at the Crystal Gems.
"Aww..." Steven commented, standing next to Garnet, with his shield on his arm. "They're so cute!"
The corruptions backed cautiously towards each other, and soon took their eyes off the Crystal Gems, and leapt into a pile. With a second flash of light, they fused back together.
Although Amethyst and Steven didn't seem fased, Garnet and Pearl shared a stunned look. Garnet dispersed her gauntlets.
"I've... never seen corrupted Gems willingly fuse before..." Pearl noted.
Garnet looked at the fusion, as it backed away from her and growled quietly. Garnet smiled, and then turned around. "Come on, everyone. Let's go home."
Amethyst looked confused. She stretched her whip between her hands. "We're not gonna..."
"No." Garnet interrupted. "She's not hurting anyone."
Hey all, hope you liked this first chapter. In case you can't tell, it's gonna be a short story anthology, which I've wanted to write for a while. I've got a bunch of ideas I'm excited to do, but they won't last forever, so if you've got any ideas, let me hear 'em! If I like them, I'll credit you, if I don't, I'll try to give constructive feedback. Anyway, hope you look forward to the rest!