SO! I am sort of back? I guess...? Brand new venue. Gonna try to get my other fanfics worked on as well, but Steven Universe showed up in my time of depression and stress and helped me out so I'm starting one of these up for SU. This one's gonna be pretty intense, assuming i do it right. Can't say I'm not nervous. I've been doing a lot of writing, but i've been out of the game for a while now. A year i think? Well, enjoy!
"And you're sure of this? It's time for us to leave then, huh?" Almandine stared out of the clear red window in front of her, as if something ominous loomed in the distance. She looked apprehensive, but then, when didn't she? As the leader of her own little squad of Gems she had to take into consideration every single detail, from the minute to the extreme. Anything could be a detriment for those she held so closely. She may have been cruel or even cold at times, but her passion and love for her team was impossible to mistake. Almandine may have answered to the Diamonds: Yellow, Blue, and Clear Diamond, but she would do anything to keep her own gems out of danger. They were like family to her. Her eyes traced the sky from under her rusty red hood, following the lining of each cloud until her gaze fell upon the moon, burning blood red through the window. Her gaze then shifted to the other structures in the grandiose city. Then she looked upon the many gems with which she found herself spending most every day with, each living under the subtle control of the Diamonds that she herself was victim to until her friend had brought it to her attention. She was no one's puppet, she had no master save herself.
"I guess you're right, Beryl. It is about time we get out of here. But where? Where could we possibly go? We are not safe here. It is clear with each passing day, as our missions grow harder and harder, they are trying to get rid of us. How much longer before we lose another gem? How many more of us must we sacrifice for their monopoly of the universe? I'm as done with it as you are, now. Thank you for opening my eyes. We need only a place we can go, seek refuge, far from this horrid place. Somewhere they wouldn't expect. Somewhere safe. Somewhere unnoticeable. Have you any ideas, my old friend?" Almandine turned her solemn face to the rather heavy set gem behind her. Beryl was a purple skinned gem with hair covering her eyes in rather cute and curled bangs. She was also rather thick of build, but she was also short: only 4 foot 3 inches to Almandine's near 8 feet of height. She was taken aback, rarely ever did Almandine speak, and even less so much so. She felt both honored and elated. At first she had no ideas, holding her stare with her mouth open in a dumbstruck void of expression. Almandine waited patiently, as this was her want to do in times like these, as Beryl processed this information. Neither of them were stupid by any means, and that was the problem. Because of their own experience they pictured a number of planets that they could run off to that should nearly be safe and still lead the Diamonds to them.
"Tourmaline. Spinel." Beryl said, suddenly. Almandine's face perked up as she realized she was staring off into the blank space just behind Beryl's head, another bad habit she picked up from dealing with Beryl's many pauses. "Hm!? What about them?" Beryl was already turning around, preparing to leave, thinking she had explained enough. She so loathed having to talk, preferring the role of a listener. "They talk of this place, this planet I've never heard of or even read about. I find no documents on it anywhere. Talk to them about it. They should know." Almandine simply nodded her thanks, picking up Beryl's reticence to continue their conversation. She had come to learn each and every mannerism and habit of her gems. A simple nuance of her job that she had come to love. She worked so closely with them that she had picked up on their particular quirks. She knew how to motivate them and how to lead them perfectly, how to instill fear and awe and hope and joy and provide what they needed when they needed it. Almandine glared out of her window once more, glaring at a particularly tall, spired building that melted her smile into a grimace. "How many more of us would you let die, hmm?"
The clash of steel on steel filled the room, echoing off of the spacious walls and into the filling the air with the music of combat. The opponents were two brightly haired gems, both fairly tall, the first being Kunzite, the second being Spinel. "You're in for it now, Kunzite! You keep leaving yourself open, well count on me punishing you this time! No more mercy from me!" Spinel launched himself, yes himself, at his thin, sword wielding opponent with vicious fury. Just before he thrust his star tipped spear at Kunzite Almandine called out, "Spinel. Come over here." Spinel's hand faltered as his attention divided, "Huh!?" Kunzite's worried grimace turned into a gleeful smirk as she side stepped his slow attack, spun around the shaft, unarmed him with the hook of her rapier, and struck him into the ground. "Agh! Wha- URK!" He began, unable to finish his thought as Kunzite's curved blade found his throat. "I win again, Spinel. Always take advantage of openings, no matter what, right?" Spinel glared up at her and growled, "You're fast and think on your toes. That's as much as you got going for you." Then e sighed and fell back to the floor, refusing to support himself any longer. "Oh, what am i saying. I'm just making an ass out of myself. I was in this same position so many years ago on Earth…" He closed his eyes and brought his hands to his face, muffling his words, "If only I got the chance to have a rematch. I guarantee that she would find the results to be quite different. I've been practicing all these years. What have you been doing, Pearl?"
Almandine's ear twitched under her hood and a toothy grin plastered itself on her face, "How'd you like to find out, Spinel?" Spinel near jumped, smacking his head against the floor. "OW! Wha-what?" He hadn't noticed just how close she had gotten in the short amount of time she had been in the training room. "what are you talking about?" His question came a little too quickly, and he mentally reeled himself back. Almandine's smile only grew in size, "Come. We must talk. Kunzite, find Tourmaline and send her to my room." With that Almandine turned with Spinel in stride behind her. "What is this about, Almandine? What did you need me for?" Spinel held a certain level of high regard for Almandine, unlike anyone else's. She was more than his leader. She was an adversary he could not best, no matter how hard he tried, and yet she made no direct indication of her true strength. She never seemed to overexert herself, no matter what. He could respect power and that is exactly what she had, in spades. Almandine closed the door to her room as Spinel stepped through.
In the time it took to reach her room, Almandine's smile had not abated. She walked over to a wall and gestured Spinel to be seated at a couch across from her. Spinel hesitated, but sat in time, looking physically uncomfortable. If he had done anything to displease Almandine, he would know, right? And what was with that smile? This all felt so creepy and wrong. "Almandine," He began. "What do you need from me? What about Earth?" Almandine's smiled faded into a simple, warm grin, sensing that it was bothering him for her to smile to strongly. "Tell me, Spinel. Tell me about Earth. What do you know? Indulge me." Spinel hesitated. He had no clue as to why she would want to know this. "uh..?" Almandine made an 'oh.' "Of course. You have no reason to tell me anything about Earth past the fact that I want to know about it. In fact, no one knows anything about Earth, save for a select few. I just wondered why that is. No one seems to know anything about it at all. Do you think you could indulge my curiosity?" By now she had pulled down her hood, revealing her soft face and warm smile fully. A luminescent bright pink blush spread across Spinel's face and flushed through the rest of his body. "W-well, I-i-i suppose I c-could try." He felt the words get caught in his throat, forcing him to clear it. "Yea, sure, no problem! E-easy!" Almandine looked as ecstatic as she felt, mentally keeping herself from jumping. This was an uncharacteristic emotion for her that she would have to look into later.
"Well," Spinel began. "My memory of Earth was this beautiful landscape. Lost of mountains, plenty of cute fauna, wonder forests and fields. The oceans were magnificent. Everything was some sight to behold, but we were there for a different reason than sight seeing. We were there to take over the Earth as a new gem world. I can't say I'm too proud of the cause, but they were a hick planet then. They gave us so much in the form of resources. It had so much untapped potential. Just when we thought we finished setting up and could look away, this gem, goes by the name Rose Quartz, stepped in. She destroyed our forces with hers. Apparently she gathered a bunch of other gems who were also done with destroying the planet. They thought it was unjust, and in hindsight I guess it kind of… was..? I don't know. All I know is that it brought on a civil war between gems. The Diamonds don't like people talking about it. They brought all of their strongest gems in to fight in it. Why weren't you enlisted?" He paused, staring blankly at Almandine. Almandine thought, "I must have been away on a different mission at the time." She waved her hand at something behind him and said, continue." Spinel thought about his words for a second. "well, the civil war. The civil war between Rose and the Homeworld. We fought long and hard. I remember my battle quite vividly. Especially against her. This one gem named Pearl. She was as graceful as she was beautiful. We worked together often, too, before the war. I regret ever raising my spear to her, but i would have easily out fought her if she wasn't so-" "Clever?" "Yea! That.. She was such a quick thinker. The battlefield was all hers. She learned the terrain in a matter of seconds and while she could barely keep up with my strikes, in retrospect, I was really no match for her. We were pushed back by Rose's forces. This was also the same time we lost Kyanite. He didn't retreat when the laser was fired. I doubt anyone survived, but the Earth is still there to this day, untouched and unknown. why do you ask?"
Just then a bubbly laugh permeated the room. "Oooooh, I wouldn't say 'untouched' Spiny." Almandine chuckled, "Here's the little nuisance now." Tourmaline walked into the room through the opened door behind Spinel and jumped over and onto the couch next to him. "In the gem! Whatya need, Almand? Kunzy sent me over to chat." Almandine gave her a look. "Right, right, Earth. Well, the civil war that you guys fought was for more than just getting the gems off the planet. There was something on the line there. Something big." Her face and tone fell. "Something that made me." Spinel's face contorted into one of shock while Almandine lowered hers in solemn respect. "ANYWAY!" Tourmaline perked up, "The world of Earth was to be used as a kindergarten. All those wonderful resources made new gems like me. Made a whole bunch of them, too, but Spinel's right. The planet's pretty much been abandoned by gems after that war. No warps on it even work anymore. Why do you wanna know, Almand?" Almandine turned again to face the window, "Well, it was brought-" Tourmaline let out an awful groaning sound, causing Spinel and Almandine to jump. "Enough with this brooding baloney! Just TELL US!" Almandine turned again, visibly blushing under her cowl. "R-right. Sorry. Beryl talked to me earlier today. We're convinced it's time we got out of here. We need to leave gem Homeworld, and Earth sounds like the safest place to go."
The day crept on and lapsed into weeks after Almandine shared her intentions with the rest of her small group of Renegade Gems. The only two not initially told about the plan was her close friend and partner Onyx and Spinel's favorite sparring partner, Kunzite. Onyx was the most worried about the plan, showing an extreme amount of discomfort and anxiety. She was the most violent and cautious of the team, and worked the closest with Almandine. She understood her so well, or at least she thought she did. This decision felt so sudden, so spur of the moment. It left her feeling vulnerable and she feared what the diamonds would do to them if they caught wind of their traitorous plan. Kunzite herself took the idea with a more apathetic tone.
"Almandine. What is this really about? You said we needed to escape the diamonds. What else is there? Why are we really leaving? what's the proble-pro-p-p.." Onyx's questions were cut off, reduced to simple stuttering as Almandine brushed her hair behind her ear. "Onyx, you know I love you all. I'm tired of all the loss. Just last year we lost Carnelian, and Kyanite has been missing for millennium on end. The diamonds are afraid of our strength, face it. We're some of the strongest gems here altogether. I believe they fear a second civil war and are getting rid of us so as to prevent it. We are deemed a threat." Onyx's face was stained a bright orange-red, but she shook it off to rebut, "Then why don't we just fight them already? So many people are tired of their rule! They have to be! You can't be the only one! Let's just take them out no-" "NO!" Almandine cried. Onyx was taken aback. Almandine was not prone to outbursts of any kind. She quickly regained her composure and pulled her hod tightly over her head. "No. We cannot risk that. Many people may be tired of her rule, but that's too general and hopeful. We cannot risk that. Not yet. They rule with fear and power and fear is stronger than any rebellious motivations." She turned again to look out of her window at the Diamond's spire tower. "I won't allow any more of us to be lost to their vile wills. I cannot lose anyone else. I won't lose anyone else. I'd much sooner lose myself." She turned back to Onyx and pulled her hood back. Almandine walked calmly back to onyx, watching happily as the blush crept back to her cheeks. "I love you too much to let you get hurt." Onyx's legs began to shake as she felt Almandine's hand grace her cheek.
"Tourmaline, where are Onyx and Almandine?" The multicolored sprite of a gem laughed and looked up to see Beryl. "They're in Almand's room, Big Sis!" The larger gem patted the former's head and smiled, "Thanks, little tyke. I needed to talk to them. Go get Kunzite and Spinel. The plan's been compromised and we need to go. Now." Tourmaline's almost permanent smile shattered into worry like a delicate vase. She hopped off of the chair she was currently inhabiting and rushed into a long hall cluttered with doors that lead to vacant rooms. Tears always stained her cheeks when she went through this hall. Each door lead to a room full of memories of people she hadn't had the opportunity to meet. She could only imagine the pain that the other gems had gone through.
Beryl closed the distance to Almandine's room with surprising uncharacteristic haste. Time was running short and they needed to move. She hurried to open the door and stepped through the threshold to see Onyx and Almandine kissing deeply in each other's arms, "Almandine we nee- Whoa-kay." Beryl began, directing her gaze elsewhere. "AH!" Onyx cried, "Beryl! What the hell!?" Almandine herself straightened her hair and brought her hood back over her face. "Beryl. What do you need?" Beryl coughed and finished her statement, "We need to leave now If we're leaving at all." Almandine bristled. "You don't mean-" "They know," Beryl interrupted. "and we need to leave. Now. They're coming." Beryl turned towards the door. "I've already set up a our ship. We can leave if we hurry. They don't know where we're going. But they know. And we need to go" Beryl looked around for a second scanning the room, as if looking for some hidden fourth person. "I'll get the others together. We'll be at the ship. We'll need her as well. Don't delay." With that Beryl exited the room and bolted down a pure green corridor.
Almandine sighed and closed the door. Onyx stuttered, "Almandine, didn't you hear her!? W-we need to go! The Diamonds will be here too soon for this!" Almandine held her hand out to Onyx, "Onyx. Do you trust me?" Onyx was taken aback, and nervously started ringing her hands. "I- what? What are you-" She stopped short, unable to process the words. Almandine got a little closer, still holding out her hand. "Do you trust me? Do you believe in me? In my idea? In running away?" Onyx looked hurt. "Almandine, I don't need to believe in your plans to know that you're right. I'm no where near as smart as you or Beryl. That's why you lead us and she makes plans with you. You've never lead us astray and I've no reason to believe you will now. We've seen great victories and horrible losses, but we've survived this long. I love you and would follow you to the ends of this world and any other!" Onyx took Almandine's hand and pulled her into a slow and heartfelt Bolero. Almandine sighed, "Let's hope this goes well, Onyx. I've never been more scared." Onyx smiled haughtily, "We've never failed like this before. I don't plan to start now." Onyx raised her arms, relishing the feeling of the simple touches of Almandine as a warm glow began to spread through the pair.
The light pierced through the window and painted the walls of the room in a heavenly bath. Once their two gems fused all that was left was a hooded figure, standing at a towering 9 feet 7 inches tall. Her eyes were pitch black with blood red pupils that matched her tar black and red tipped hair. She wore a tattered rusty red hood over a black scale tunic that covered everything but her navel where an Onyx gemstone lie dead center. Her legs were bare, save for pure black thigh high boots. The woman looked outside of the window, only to see that a ship was parked just outside of the entrance to the building. She smiled and made a sound akin to that of a purr and pulled her hood up over her face, "Oh, let the games begin." Her voice was not the calm of Almandine nor did it carry the sharpness of Onyx's tone but something more seductive and sinister, like the sound of a freshly sharpened knife digging into someone's neck. With those words she strode out of the room and headed calmly down the long green corridor for her ship's hangar.
"Where are you planning on blasting off to, eh, Beryl? Where is Almandine, or Onyx for that matter? Are they not your superiors? Neither I nor the other diamonds have given you orders to leave on a mission. In fact, if I recall correctly, Tourmaline had been injured and needed to recover so we gave you a week to relax." Beryl remained stoic as the gems behind her bristled in a mixture of fear and anger, "And that is exactly what we are doing. We are primed to go to a gem owned planet solely for relaxation. Now please, move out of the way." Yellow Diamond looked at the ship and then back to Beryl, "I don't think I will be moving, but you will be." Beryl shifted into a defensive stance, holding her arms one over the other and in front of her. Three small and mirror-like cubes bled out of her hands and floated in the space between them. Kunzite yelled past Beryl, not willing to get between the two gems in front of her, "You'll regret holding us here! Just wait!" Yellow Diamond cackled and held her hand out, palm facing the group of renegades. "I don't even care where you're trying to run off to anymore! You won't make it there anywa-" Just as her sentence met it's end, she was cut off by the crooked blade of a scythe catching her in the stomach from behind. The blade pulled her in a wide swing, sending her flying in the giant room until she came crashing into a large green wall. The renegades stood, slack jawed as the large fusion of Almandine and Onyx stood in all her glory. Her weapon was a sleek and slender shafted scythe with an huge red axe head on the opposite end of the blade. The weapon let off an eerie red glow around the edge of the axe and scythe, betraying a more sinister quality to it. Beryl was the first to recover from the shock and hustled the rest of the renegades onto the ship as it prepared for launch. "Bloodstone. Make this fast. You have ten minutes to finish up with her before we launch, let alone before the other diamonds get here."
Bloodstone stood stoic, facing the wall, and flashing a thumbs up to Beryl with her free hand. The scythe rested slack against her shoulder as she waited for Yellow Diamond's counter attack. "YOU WOULD RAISE YOUR BLADE TO ME!? YOU FOOLS!" A beam of yellow light rushed through the air toward the ship from where Yellow Diamond crashed. Bloodstone raised her scythe and struck the beam, forcing it to veer off and out of the hangar and into the open air outside. "You are the fool if you think you can take me alone, Yellow Diamond. It was cocky of you to come alone." Yellow Diamond pushed out of the wall and landed gracefully in front of the towering gem. She laughed daintily, as though she hadn't just been launched across the room. A blinding blue light appeared just under Bloodstone, and before she could react she was encased in a clear blue pillar of light. "What makes you think I would ever come here alone? I'm not so stupid as to think you would come along easily!" Two figures stepped in through the corridor that lead to the hangar. The first figure was identical to Yellow Diamond in ever aspect, as was the second, save for the fact that she was blue. The other diamond wore all white as opposed to blue or yellow.
The pillar began to crack as Bloodstone forced herself free. "You still want to fight? That would be silly and such a waste." said Clear Diamond in a deadpan tone. The Pillar cracked in a burst of light and Bloodstone pushed away from the second circle of light forming under her, "I fight because I have to! Not because I want to!" Brandishing her scythe, she struck the ground, digging the blade deep into the floor and sending dark red shock waves coursing towards the two new diamonds. They pushed away from each other, going in opposite directions from the waves. Capitalizing on their current airborne status, Bloodstone converged on Clear Diamond, striking at her with the axe end of her weapon, embedding her into the wall that she was in front of. Yellow beams peppered the area around Bloodstone, burning with each landed blast. She bolted down the wall, keeping just in front of the line of fire of the lasers. Yellow Diamond predicted her movement and charged a larger blast a little further down the stretch of wall. Bloodstone was trapped as a blue circle began to form on the floor under her as well. Thinking fast, she kicked off of the wall and into the air, dodging the blast and the pillar altogether. "Fool, you've left yourself open." Clear Diamond pulled herself out of the wall and waved her hand at the dark gem in the air. Millions of tiny white gems began to materialize around her and pointed sharply at Bloodstone. As they flew on to their mark she reared her scythe back and sliced through the air, sending a dark extended wave of energy that ended next to Yellow Diamond. She then melted into the wave and moved with it down to the yellow gem, catching her off guard, thinking she had dodged an attack. Yellow Diamond created a barrier of light between bloodstone and herself, to no avail.
The taller gem lashed out with her leg, shattering the light like glass and catching her in the jaw. She then followed up on the stunning blow by slashing into her with the wicked axe head and pushing her away again, this time into Blue Diamond. "BLOODSTONE! YOU'RE OUT OF TIME! WE NEED TO GO! NOW!" Spinel's voice pierced through the air. She looked back at Spinel in desperation. "I'm sorry." She whispered to herself. "Wait, what?" She said. Her arms rose reflexively, as though she didn't need to think to act anymore. Onyx began to identify as herself again, rather than Bloodstone. She began to panic, she didn't even feel the strength of Bloodstone anymore. She couldn't even feel Almandine anymore. Her arms were brought down heavily, embedding the blade in the floor. Bloody spikes began to sprout from the ground around the ship, pinning the oncoming diamonds in a forest of red thorns. Immediately after, Bloodstone began to glow again. From the light, the Onyx was pushed forcibly out from behind, leaving the Almandine crystal reforming standing upright. Almandine pulled her hood over her head and looked back to onyx, "ONYX RUN! TAKE THE OTHERS! ESCAPE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"
Onyx's face contorted in pain and tears streaked down her cheeks, but she forced herself into the ship. The ship pulled in its boarding hatch and powered up, pushing off of the ground and hovering. Almandine felt a tear trailing down her cheek as she watched the ship blast off, silently waiting for the diamonds to break free of her trap. Once the ship had left her sight she pulled her weapon, a blood red axe that radiated a second, and longer, blade made of deep red energy after the first steel blade, out of the ground. With the retrieval of her weapon so too did the spikes recede. Almandine turned to face the diamonds as they fell to the floor. "So, which one of you wants to go first?" Almandine dropped her axe, letting it dissipate into light and took on a boxer's stance. Blue Diamond glared coldly at the red gem. "So they escaped. We still have you. Do you intend to fight us without your weapon? You can barely handle us in your fusion, how do you expect to fight us alone? Just give up. You lost." Almandine visibly seethed from under her cowl, "I'll never give up! Not until you pay for what you've done, for what you're doing! I would rather die than live under you! NOW FIGHT ME!" Her body surged with a burning red energy and she launched into Blue Diamond, sending her flying back down the corridor in a burst of red light. Following up her surprise attack she threw a volley of punches at Clear Diamond, catching her off guard and knocking her down, but not landing many hits. A hot blast from behind sent Almandine flying away and into the far wall on the other side of the hangar. Clear Diamond stood back up and growled before sending a barrage of white sharp gems flying after her. There they crashed into the wall, easily cracking the wall into rubble.
Almandine lay helpless under the rocks, languid and exhausted. Between panted breaths she struggled against the rocks that kept her pinned before ultimately giving up. The three diamonds loomed over her, dangerously. "What should we do with her?" Blue Diamond started. "We could always just destroy her gem." Yellow Diamond finished. "That would be the easiest way to be rid of her." Almandine started laughing. "What's so funny? You may have gotten your friends out but you will die in return." Almandine's laughter broke out in a fit of coughs and wheezes, but persisted afterward.
"I will not be dying here. Check me and you will find no gem on this body. I am far beyond anything you've ever faced. There is no gem that can defeat me!" Her body began to glow again. "I WILL NOT LOSE HERE!" With monstrous force, she blew out of the rubble and jumped to strike Yellow Diamond, who in turn caught her by her neck. "You have no gem!? What are you!?" She spat every word with scalding ferocity. With monstrous force, Yellow Diamond slammed the red gem into the broken pile of wall fragments.
Finally out of energy, Almandine panted and barely held on to the consciousness she had left. She chuckled as lightly as she could, as every action hurt with piercing agony. "I do have a gem, I'm just -COUGH COUGH- just.. not stupid enough to leave it on my body…" The diamonds exchanged glances between themselves. "Fine." began Clear Diamond. "We'll just have to suffice for the second best thing." Her frown changed into a wicked grin. "If we cannot kill you, we will simply break your mind, body, and your will."Almandine's face contorted into a mix of pain and fear, "No.. No you wouldn't!"
Blue Diamond picked up the red gem and, with yellow Diamond's aid, dragged her down the corridor. "Can, will, and have, Almandine. You truly underestimate us." Almandine shook weakly against their grips, unable to break free. Yellow Diamond chuckled. "You will become a slave, mind and body, to our wills. You will no longer be yourself, so say goodbye to whatever pretty little ideas you have about your friends and your life. It is over now. You really have lost."
Almandine's deepest fears began to set in. "No… NO NO NO NOOOOOOOO!" She cried as loud as she could, but to no avail as she was dragged helplessly into the diamond's ship and hauled off into the Diamond Spire.
Editing is stupid, but necessary when I can't count on my busy af friends to do it for me. Sucks I'm just as busy af, tho.