FOREWORD:
Well hey there, it looks like you're reading the foreword of my very first fanfiction. I'm a great fan of the show Steven Universe and as such am very excited to have published the very beginning of my own fanfiction. I attempted to write this story before but this is the first time where I've outlined the plot ahead of time so I know what I have to write. It turned out to be pretty large in scope so stay tuned for the epic drama to unfold. Any and all feedback is appreciated but ffs please be mature and without further ado please enjoy my fic.
SharpLikeObsidian
In the low light Black Pearl could not see the bite marks that marred her skin. Reflexively she touched the black pearl on her forehead. From Memory she knew she was naked. She knew she had short black hair styled into a pixie bob. The black hair complimented her black lips, nails and eyes as well as her cement grey skin. She had always looked like that.
She thought of the metallic bands that wrapped flush around her wrists and the collar on her neck. She briefly thought to tap them and check for new information that must be brought to her mistress, but this was no more than a nervous habit and she knew that it was impossible to miss the device's alerts. She touched her breast where a bite had engulfed her nipple and she cringed at the tenderness.
I guess I don't need to see the marks to know where they are. She thought to herself.
Indeed she was right. Black Pearl was acutely aware of nineteen bite marks that ranged from as low as her groin to as high as the crook of her neck. She did not always relish her duties as a pearl.
For an instant the band on her left arm lightly vibrated. A beam of light projected from the band to display the new text alert.
"DESTINATION: THE EARTH, ARRIVING IN: 1 HOUR"
Black Pearl looked to the other side of the room where her Mistress, White Diamond's Obsidian, was reclining. There was nothing like a true bed to be found in the room but on one section of the floor was a plush carpet that was soft to the touch and littered with cushions. Her Mistress was lying on her back as though she were asleep.
The Pearl gracefully stalked over to her master and sat down beside her on the floor.
The Obsidian half-opened one white-glowing eye to look at her Pearl.
"What is it, Pearl?" She queried.
In the darkness it was difficult to make out any detail, but Black Pearl did not need to see her mistress to know what she looked like. Their nude forms shared the same cement grey skin. Her Black Hair was styled into a spiked pixie cut, a deliberate homage to White Diamond. Her lips and eyes and nails were black as well. On her forehead was a lustrous black gem of obsidian.
Her frame was petite but she stood half a head taller than her Pearl. Though she was thinner framed than an imposing quartz her skin was stretched taught by hard muscles and per pound few gems could match an Obsidian in raw power. Small, pert breasts rose from her chest, and she reached up to tweak her nipple.
"My Mistress," Black Pearl folded her arms in the Diamond Salute. "We shall be arriving at The Earth in approximately an hour.
""Yes, Thank you Pearl." The Obsidian closed her eyes again and continued to play with her nipple. "Are my legs charged and ready?"
"Yes Mistress, they are fully charged and I polished them earlier. I replaced the toes and heels as well."
"Excellent." The Obsidian sighed and rose to her feet.
"Computer, 100 lumens." The room responded to the Obsidian's voice and adjusted the light accordingly.
In the light Black Pearl could see her mistress standing before her legs.
Black Pearl thought of her mistress's legs. White Diamond's Obsidian was not an amputee, although it amused Black Pearl to imagine a blind gem listening in on their conversations about the legs and assuming that White Diamond's Obsidian was, in fact, an amputee and that the legs were some mode of prosthesis.
No, her mistress's legs were limb enhancements not replacements. In standby mode the legs stood by themselves near the door. The entire rear half was opened like a cockpit waiting for their master to step in. When her Mistress was wearing her legs she appeared to be completely robotic from the waist down. Corded muscles that shone like black glass were welded to her legs and groin. The feet added curved claws to her toes. Their durable exterior offered ample protection and powerful muscles transformed unenhanced legs into deadly weapons. White Diamond's Obsidian wore them continuously when she was not engaging in activity that required their removal.
Black Pearl Shivered as she thought of how she received the bite marks.
White Diamond's Obsidian possessed acrobatic flexibility and if the legs impeded her flexibility at all then Black Pearl had never noticed. What the legs did do was give White's Obsidian monstrous strength and surprising weight.
Black Pearl watched as her mistress stepped into the legs.
By habit White Diamond's Obsidian went in left foot first. She held onto the waist for support, then wiggled her left foot into position. Her right foot soon followed, and after wiggling into place, The Obsidian touched her hands to the limb enhancement's hips. Recognizing her touch, the legs closed from behind to fully encapsulate their wearer. For a brief moment warm light shone from between the the layers of metal as well as from the space between the metal and The Obsidian's waist. Then with a hissing sound the legs hermetically sealed themselves shut. They were completely flush to The Obsidian's skin and the glowing light that was shining from out of them was nowhere to be seen.
White Diamond's Obsidian then surprised her pearl by stretching out her arms and letting out a great yawn. In a relaxed manner she went through a series of stretches.
neck flexions,
neck lateral flexions
Latissimus dorsi,
Triceps,
The Obsidian worked through various stretch poses seemingly intent on stretching out her every muscle.
The Obsidian's Black Pearl mused that her mistress, who always seemed dutiful to a fault was not in a rush to resume her duties. Her mistress evidently knew that the two of them wouldn't get another free moment for a long time. Black Pearl surmised that her master was savoring the final moments of her break, so she took the opportunity to do the same...
Until Black Pearl silently gasped. There she stood nearly as naked as the day she emerged. Closing her eyes, Black Pearl raised her hands to form a triangle in front of the lustrous black pearl on her forehead. For a moment her gem glowed white from within, then a black lolita dress came forth in a blossom of white light. She stood some inches taller in heeled lolita shoes. Her Leggings exhibited a black and white diamond pattern. Finally she touched the front of her collar and a white diamond insignia sprang forth to dangle in front of her throat.
"Hmm...very pretty, Pearl."
Black Pearl blushed and whispered a meek "Thank you, mistress" as she slightly bowed.
White Diamond's Obsidian closed her own eyes. Her left hand rose vaguely in front of her face as she concentrated. Her glossy black gem glowed white. Momentarily the skin around her torso glowed white. A form fitting crop top of the lightest grey blossomed forth around White Diamond's Obsidian. On her chest four black lines were arranged into a rhombus, a minimalist interpretation of the white diamond insignia
Black Pearl took note of the color, "#f0f0f0."
White Diamond's Realm was a world of grayscale and over the millennia The Obsidian's Pearl had grown very sensitive to the minutest variation of tone.
White Diamond's Obsidian seemed to consider doing another stretch, but instead only sighed.
"Ok Pearl, let's go see The Earth."
White Diamond's Obsidian stepped out of the captain's quarters into a white hallway with her pearl in tow and proceeded along the shortest path to the bridge.
Black Pearl glanced around and noted the colors.
"#fcfcfc, #ededed, #f2f2f2, #f9f9f9."
The entire ship was as white or nearly white as was mandatory for an appendage class ship in White Diamond's fleet.
"Pearl, do you remember when you first became mine?"
Black Pearl looked up to face her mistress's back
"Yes Mistress, it was exactly nine—"
"I remember the stardate, Pearl" Her mistress interrupted, "Do you remember what it was like, when it was just you and me…before my sister emerged." The Obsidian added.
Black Pearl thought for a moment, and told her mistress what she thought she wanted to hear.
"The Universe seemed smaller to me back then. White Diamond was still teaching gems what it meant to serve her."
Black Pearl thought for a moment longer.
"We didn't need as much of a reason to punish a gem back then...but no one had put the fear of disobedience into gemkind yet." she continued.
White Diamond's Obsidian remained silent as she walked. Evidently Black Pearl had facilitated her mistress's nostalgic humour.
"And Mistress…" Black Pearl risked an opinionated statement, "You were a different gem before you created Yellow Diamond's Obsidian."
The Black Pearl waited for her mistress's response on pins and needles.
"You'll never know it Pearl…"
Black Pearl was listening intently.
"There are no words for it, the way it feels to create a new living being. To conceive a living creature as an idea in your mind and to bring that idea forth into the world, as an entirely new living, thinking, feeling being."
Black Pearl wondered if the most experienced kindergartner took as much pride in their thousands of creations as her mistress did in her few. She looked at the back of her mistress's head and guessed not. She didn't need to see her mistress's face to know she was beaming. Black Pearl knew she was not an empath but millennia of being in her Obsidian's service had taught her much about her mistress and she had evidently said the right thing.
"I have no idea how deep the unfathomable depths of White Diamond's imagination go, but the first time I ever got an inkling was watching Yellow's Obsidian crawl from out of the ground."
White Diamond's Obsidian was only just getting started.
"I woke up deep in Homeworld's magma, and before I could even think, was crawling up to the surface."
Black Pearl didn't need to say anything, and she wondered if her mistress even cared if she was listening.
"The sweet, blessed cold when I poked my head above that inferno, and there she was, Gem Kind's progenitor: White Diamond!"
Many gems spoke of their diamond with reverence but Black Pearl knew it was different for her Mistress. There were countless made-to-order pearls that possessed only hazy memories of their quality-assurance test at the factory they were produced at.
White Diamond's Obsidian was the first of only three Obsidian and among them only she was personally made by White Diamond.
"I still remember how furious I was when you informed me that White Diamond was to be joined by an equal."
Black Pearl remembered too.
"I was all like..." The Obsidian affected a mock imitation of herself, "...shut your whore mouth no one will ever be as great as my White Diamond."
Black Pearl thought to remind her mistress what happened afterwards but she doubted that it would be wise or that she would even need to.
"And then you showed me the official proclamation and I wanted to cry," The Obsidian laughed a little, "Yellow Diamond? Say whaaat? Stars, what an awesome day that was."
White Diamond's Obsidian seemed finished for the time being but Black Pearl knew her mistress was in a good mood and she had not survived this long by missing chances to endear herself to her mistress.
"We both assumed that Yellow Diamond would be the one to create her own Obsidian. Did we not my mistress?"
The Obsidian gaily replied, "I know right!"
"You were there, Pearl. You handed me my orders to warp to planet Aureate. Not one of White Diamond's Planets but Aureate. Aureate! The first and only planet of The Yellow Diamond!
That was when I did cry. Create and train an Obsidian to be in the service of Yellow Diamond."
The Obsidian said it like she still couldn't believe it.
White Diamond's Obsidian stopped walking. In front of them was the door to the bridge. Neither gem would get another personal moment for a long time and The Obsidian hesitated before the door. In her mind The Obsidian was unwilling to devote another thought to anything other than her reminiscing. Not before punctuating her thoughts could she move on to the task at hand.
Black Pearl watched and listened intently. She could not see her mistress's face but she saw that her head was slightly bowed. She might have been looking at the floor or the door in front of them but Black Pearl guessed that the Obsidian was zoned out and looking at a memory through her mind's eye.
Previously White Diamond's Obsidian had spoken in a booming voice, as she was inclined to do when ranting, but the words that came next were comparatively quiet and gentle. Black Pearl watched and listened intently.
"When I saw Yellow's Obsidian crawl from the magma it was like looking at a mirror through a window in time. Like watching myself be born, but this time I was the one standing on the shore and she was the one who was born in a lake of fire. I may never know how White Diamond felt when she first saw me, but if she felt like I did then she was replete with joy."
And then suddenly the joy was gone from The Obsidian's voice and The Pearl shuddered.
"That only made what I had to do next that much harder…"
Though she did not convey it even slightly Black Pearl was internally panicking. She had not meant to bring that up.
White Diamond's Obsidian suddenly turned to face her pearl and she bravely met her mistress's eyes.
The Obsidian smiled at her Pearl at warmly said, "Ah, you know there's no room in my mind for a thing like regret. Thanks for listening Pearl."
Black Pearl politely bowed and quietly said, "I am honored to do it, my mistress."
"Ooh, that's a nice hickey on your neck there too. Sorry about the bite marks, you know how I get."
Black Pearl's cheeks blushed a darker grey and she only managed a stammer,
"I—I—, My Mistr—"
"Hah!" White Diamond's Obsidian chortled wickedly.
Evidently satisfied that her pearl had been sufficiently goaded she waltzed through the door to the bridge with her Pearl faithfully in tow and Black Pearl faithfully followed.