Just a cracked gem
Just as a minor clarification I'm aware that within the manga the gems all use primarily male and generally interchangeable pronouns. But since in the anime, they make no strong emphasis on either gender but they all look generally feminine I've chosen to mostly use female pronouns since the gems as well their voice cast fit into that role easier. Just thought I'd clarify that for those mainly manga readers who I'm sure may prefer that style
Furthermore, this fic will only take into account things in the anime and won't have any spoilers for those who haven't read ahead in the manga (like myself ^-^).
And lastly, since this fic is something of a prequel I will inevitably end up botching a lot of the characters ages in this, since certain gems would definitely be around much longer than others, its canon compliant but I'll try to minimise the possible age inconsistencies as much as possible
That aside, please enjoy
Summer was a generally ideal time season for just about all living things, organic or otherwise. The beautiful vegetation of the their tiny little island clear for all to see and admire as the sun accentuated the bright green of the short grasslands that covered nearly everything besides the beach and of course the massive two-story building complex that was something of a mix between a monastery and enormous library that served as a home to all the gems.
Some of their numbers dwindled down over the centuries, thanks to the Lunarians but their presence still especially strong on the Island with most attempts ending in failure. But as the law of averages went, once every few Centuries or so the Lunarian's would just manage to successfully get the better of them, typically a weak link in their ranks. Being one of the oldest Gem, Padparadscha had seen it happen several times over at this point and had worked out the pattern.
A dear friend gets captured, there'd be a whole month of depression and before long they'd be right back to fighting. Lather, rinse, repeat. She hated herself at times for having these cynical thoughts, but as the strongest and most capable gem other than Sensei she couldn't help but feel an obligation to protect all the other gems whom she often thought of as younger siblings, not nearly as often as Yellow but the sentiment was no less strong.
"Oi, Padpar!" she heard a familiar voice bellow, prompting the sapphire gem to open her and look down from the large boulder on which she decided to catch a rest on, not exactly comfortable but she was an easy gem to please.
Letting out a soft sigh she glanced down at Diamond, that bright multicoloured hair and soft features unmistakeable anywhere no matter where she saw them and smiled before dropping down in front of the smaller gem with her Nagamaki in hand.
"Hey Diamond, what's up?" she replied. No sooner did she see Diamonds face that cracks along her cheeks came into clear view, anxiety clear in her eyes which only meant one thing.
"It's the Lunarians, they caught us off guard and attacked Yellow and me, but they're way more than the usual seven and almost got me…" she said trailing off into an anxious ramble.
"Woah, calm down Dia. Where's Yellow?" she asked as she placed a soothing arm on her shoulder, those cracks couldn't be inflicted easily so they definitely weren't the usual Lunarian strategy.
"Sorry. Ye… Yellow, she told me to go get Sensei. But I saw you up here first. You can handle them, right? You're our best fighter." Diamond said, looking ready to make a mad Dash back to the monastery to get Sensei. Time was of the essence with Yellow being at risk.
Placing both arms on her shoulders, she assumed a more stern demeanour.
"Alright, go get Kongou-sensei. I'll go help Yellow" she said to which Diamond wordlessly nodded before running off back. If she had anything to say to Pad she choose to hold her silence.
Taking a deep breath and getting a quick stretch Padparadscha darted towards the southern hill faster enough to come off as a crimson blur to an untrained eye, her Nagamaki held tight as she surveyed the sky for any sign of their adversaries.
It took her all of three minutes after entering the other twos patrol region to perform a full perimeter check and infuriatingly enough there was no sign of the platinum-haired gem. Performing another search of the area would take more time than she was willing to give, so she went to the largest tree she could find and leaped to the top to survey the region.
"Found them" she whispered to herself in relief as she spotted a gold hue along the cliff edge darting from side to side to avoid an onslaught of arrows threatening to cut her down. If it had taken a minute longer for her to spot Yellow she'd be squeezing her blade hilt hard enough to shatter it.
A second later she launched herself off the tree fast enough to have the top branch snap off as she was once again running at a breakneck speed across the field. And not a second too late she unsheathed her blade to intercept an arrow just before it could strike Yellows head, startling her quite a bit as Pad effortlessly leaped up several feet to meet their aggressors and delivered several precise blows to all of them.
Her red eyes calm and focused as ever as she delivered a series of concentrated strikes that cleaved through the Lunarians like butter, first severing their arms to prevent further resistance and following it up with full a horizontal decapitation that had them all fading into dark mist. Her movements, so swift that it was only four seconds before she dropped back down on her feet.
As she turned back to face Yellow she could see her friend jump back, slightly startled by her sudden presence. It was enough to have the smallest of smirks form on her lips knowing that even a thousand years of fighting the Lunarians she could still move fast enough to catch Yellow off guard.
"Ugh, Padparadscha! Where did you...?" Yellow Diamond blurted looking disoriented from trying to keep her in sight. It didn't last though as with every other time it only took Yellow mere seconds to get over the initial shock and rub the bridge of her nose in relief. "Your unbelievably fast as usual, Pad"
In response, Padparadscha laughed sheepishly and sheathed her blade. "Well, we can't have you getting taken to the moon just yet, can we Yellow? You look no worse for wear though" she said noting the lack of any visible cracks on her body.
"Only because you showed up when you did, that arrow would have cut me down if you didn't show block it". Well it wasn't untrue, still Yellow was the furthest thing from incapable of holding her own in a fight, certainly the second or third strongest next to Cinnabar as far as ability was concerned.
Pad simply smiled in response, before looking past Yellow to see Sensei and the others running to them over the horizon "Ah, looks like we made sensei come out here all for nothing" she said as she held her Nagamaki between her shoulders and glanced back at Yellow who looked a bit embarrassed at everyone else's sudden presence.
Soon enough the distance was closed between them and Pad could feel Sensei's soothing hand on her head, even at her age it was admittedly still a very comforting gesture.
"Seems my worries were unwarranted. Well done Padparadscha" Adamantite said before moving onto Diamond. "Seems their tactics are indeed evolving if they were able to give us this much trouble, I trust you are unharmed, Yellow Diamond?"
"I'm fine thanks to Padparadscha, again" she said as she rubbed her head sheepishly while sensei gave her a maternal pat on the head and examined her for any cracks momentarily before turning back to the others.
"It would seem so. Let us head back then, they likely won't be returning for a few days at most"
"Yes sensei" they all piped in unison before turning back to the monastery.
Padparadscha liked to consider herself a Phlegmatic gem, she never got mad, was generally easy to please and gave a hundred and ten percent in everything she did. Whether it was fighting off the Lunarians, helping Alexandrite on her little experiments or just having a lovely nap (guess which was her favourite?).
But when the others, especially the youngest among her siblings like Diamond, Lapis Lazuli and Heliodor started placing her on Pedestals just because she was the most efficient at killing Lunarians after Sensei then she could admit it was a bit tiring.
"Padparadscha's so strong, Wish I could partner up with her"
"The Lunarians must be a joke to Pad, wish I could be that capable. Everything would be so easy then.
"She's such an awesome sis, Rutile and Cinnabar could learn to be more laid back like her"
Of course, she didn't blame them for thinking that way, most of them were barely over a few centuries old and from their still relatively inexperienced perspective, she probably seemed god-like with the blade in hand. But still, it didn't sit well with her knowing some of the others felt like they couldn't just speak to her casually, specifically with little Heliodor who was about seventeen years old and was upbeat but would always get shy whenever they were in the same room.
"Not appreciating the fame then, are you?" Rutile muttered as she examined the sapphire stone in one hand while she wiped away the dust in her other.
"Your welcome to take it off my hands whenever you want" Padparadscha responded as she dug harder into the soil with her shovel.
They were presently looking for Quarts gems by the Cord shore, specifically gems that shared enough characteristics to be compatible with her, to try and mitigate the faints and occasional drowsiness that tended to plague Padparadscha occasionally. As far as the crimson haired gem was concerned though it wasn't of too much importance and only came out this far to appease Rutile and Sensei's concerns. Not to say she wouldn't be thankful of being rid of the discomfort but they came in such brief waves every month or so that they scarcely affected much of her cognitive or physical functions.
"I'm afraid that banners forever synonymous with your name. Why not embrace it?" Rutile questioned as she kneeled over the grass, dressed in a matching white tea shirt and dark shorts, though with the addition of long dark leggings, a matching Nagamaki on her hip and her hair worn down on both sides of her multicoloured head.
Padparadscha internally scoffed at the hint of mockery in her remark and rolled her eyes. "Easy for you to say, you scare off most of the youngsters as soon as you make eye contact" she replied as she rested her head on her shovel, with a rather dramatic moan to help get across the 'I'm feeling ostracised, please give me pity and say nice things' vibe. It was a joke of course, though she wouldn't deny any praise from Rutile considering her sharp tongue was the deadliest thing about her, so by that logic the compliments should have been equally as grand.
"I do not 'scare' them off. I simply just don't stick out as much as you" Rutile replied as she flung a stone at Pad who caught it without raising her gaze from the floor "Instead of sulking about it, help me dig up as many Quarts gems as you can find, Pad~" Rutile said as she put another potentially usable gem in the little wheelbarrow next to her.
"Aye, aye captain" she responded as she dropped the stone and carried on digging.
Almost an hour later they managed to gather enough gems and were on their way back to the school, while none of them were exact Padparadscha gems with some skilful gem sculpting Rutile could carve up the compatible minerals and use them to fill some of her holes, assuming there was enough after the carving to actually fill her holes. Mending up broken gems was still very much a skill she was learning.
She held all the shovels while Rutile handled the wheel-barrow which was comparatively easier to steer than it was to carry the two loads on her shoulder, it didn't matter considering she could easily bench press three gems.
Was that an odd statistic to bring up? Well it was because she had at one point had the awkward pleasure of getting stuck at the bottom of a certain staircase incident on a certain evening involving a sleep-deprived Alexandrite, a clumsy Dia, a very unfortunate Benitoite who just happened to be on her way up and an unsuspecting Pad at the stair floor. It was one of those things everyone involved wanted to forget but spectators like Rutile and Yellow never let them live down.
"I should be done carving up the pieces tonight, so drop in my room after lights out" Rutile instructed as they headed away from the beach they heard a loud THUD prompting both gems to stop in their tracks.
Turning back, they spotted a dark silhouette on the beach at the base of the Nascence Crystal.
"Probably another half-formed gem piece" Rutile stated as they glanced at the unmoving mass of black behind them,
"Probably… but better safe than sorry" she said before placing the shovels down and jogging over to the dark figure and prompting Rutile to sigh and watch Pad run off from the corner of her eye.
Perhaps she was being silly considering a gem only formed once every three hundred years or so and considering it was just seventeen years prior that Heliodor formed they're family wasn't due for an addition in a while. Still, something in her gut told her she wanted to be sure.
She Stopped just a few feet away from the gem, the flowing sea stopping just feet away from her legs as she looked down at the gems body which was completely dark and unmoving, the body seemed to be completely formed with the exception of the webbed feet and the lifeless nature of it. Quite common amongst gems that just formed but not encouraging either.
"Hmm…" she hummed as she crouched over the humanoid figure and ran a finger over the gems face and examining the dark sludge on her fingers. Even when the bodies where fully formed, if the gems internal structure where formed improperly or like Pad they lacked certain chunks of flesh the gems wouldn't come to life.
To put her doubts to rest she glanced up at Rutile who was watching her expectantly before hoisting up the silhouette in her arms before heading towards the sea with little regard to the stains on her clothes, would Rutile be irritated if the gem didn't come to life? Probably but she could deal with the nagging if she had to.
Once they were far enough that the water was at her hips she gently dipped the body inside and watched as the sludge began washing off, too bad she significantly underestimated just how thick the stuff was as two minutes in and she still couldn't see a face and her optimism was dwindling down. Yeah, the whole thing was probably gain mud piece that formed into a gem silhouette thanks to the Nascence crystals tendency to form gems into an anthropomorphic shape.
"I'm an idiot" she muttered under her breath as Rutile stepped onto the beach to watch her.
"Well, did it come to life?" she asked.
"Ha… Not exactly"
"So in other words you wasted an extra fifteen minutes playing with mud?" she questioned as Pad turned to face her with the body back in her arms.
"That's an apt description" she replied with a chuckle while Rutile facepalmed.
"Pad"
"Yes?"
"Stop carrying that filthy thing around" her partner stated, motioning to the mud that she was still carrying. Padparadscha was beginning to feel a little dumb now, wordlessly she let the figure sink and began making her way back to shore
That was when she felt something hard grip her right elbow tightly "Gah!" she exclaimed in shock as she looked back at the water and could see the slightest traces of a pale hand gripping her under the mud.
Wait, that meant there really WAS a gem under the mud.
Wordlessly she yanked her hand away with some effort and picked the body back up and out of the water. And there looking back at her were a pair of dark orbs and mud-stained black hair staring back at her.
"Rutile, get Sensei," she said to her partner who by the looks of it had picked up on the same thing and was already hurrying back, freely ignoring the equipment they left behind. She looked back at the Crystal curiously.
'Why bring another gem to life so soon after Heliodor...?'
The question played in her head three times over before she glanced back at the gem that was staring at her through half-lidded eyes, her expression unreadable as Pad glanced at her elbow and could see the smallest of cracks along the area.
"Strange how you came to life…You're definitely a strong one though" she smirked as a gust of wind blew past them. "Something tells me you'll fit right in" she said to the gem before carrying her back to shore, their bodies drenched but the mud almost entirely faded from her nude form.