AN: I like the headcanon of the human Zircon's names being Belle and Yana. Remember, you can ask any character anything you want by going to the story blog for this world, birds-of-a-feather-winged-gems. Just search it on Tumblr!
"I said..." The taller woman growled. "Who are you?"
Peridot quivered where she stood, her wings tight to her body, every instinct within her was screaming for her to fly, but this girl would probably catch her and kill her... "M-m-my name is... P-Peridot." She murmured in fear.
The girl didn't show any signs of being placated, "Do you know anyone named... Jasper?" She asked, her blue eyes piercing as if they were trying to burn holes into the blonde's soul.
"No, I-I don't." Peridot answered, the woman lit a single match and used it to light up a single lantern, Peridot could see not only her lean muscles, but also the scars on her. One on her chin, a few on her arms and legs too, this girl had obviously been in fights, and by the looks of it, had won.
"Wake up!" She called to the other people in the shed, and one by one they all got up as quickly as they could.
The one the blonde noticed first was about her height with fluffy ginger hair, and speckled pale orange/brown wings, her clothes were tattered just like the rest of them. The second must have been her twin, with long pale blue hair and bangs that threatened to cover her eyes, there was a jagged scar over one of her eyes and though her face seemed calm her feathers bristled. Next was a tall woman with pale blue eyes, and what would be pure white wings if it wasn't for the faded splotches of paint in them, her peach coloured hair was messy and her nose was pointy, she glared down at Peridot. Beside her was a girl that was only a little shorter, with soft blue hair that covered her eyes completely, her blue and white wings were kept close, and the blonde had a bad feeling that her covered eyes were sending a poisonously hateful look.
The last one was shorter than Peridot, with teal hair that held a tattered and stitched up bow, her dark blue wings puffed out as she bared her teeth, her hands clenched into fists. The blonde felt as though she could breath in a way these women didn't like and they'd tear her to shreds.
"Lapis, what do we do with her? She's obviously an intruder." The girl with the scar over her eye stated.
Lapis? So that was her name. She must have been the leader of these thuggish looking people. "She's not with Jasper, so she's no thief." Lapis said quietly, but that didn't calm the others. Though within seconds the shortest girl had a smirk that made the blonde's stomach turn.
"Of COURSE she's no thief! Look at her clothes!" She had a strange accent, but her voice was as scathing as Emerald's. Peridot's heart twisted with pain at the thought of her mother. "She's not just new here, she's an Upper class!" The short woman crowed and laughed. "What's the matter? Not used to seeing poor people? Or are you just upset that your breakfast isn't going to be a 3 course meal on a silver platter anymore?!" She burst into a fit of giggles until Lapis cuffed her on the back of the head.
"Shut up Aquamarine, I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." Lapis growled, the short girl shut her mouth but rolled her eyes. "Everyone get to sleep. We've got work in the morning." She turned to Peridot. "You... If you want to stay with us, you have to pull your own weight. This isn't like your home, we work for every scrap we get. I'll be watching you tonight to make sure you don't try anything."
The blonde nodded, Lapis pointed to a corner of thee tiny shed. "You can sleep right over there. Get sleep because we'll be waking up at dawn."
Peridot curled up in the corner as tightly as she could, wings wrapping around her little body. She looked up at the blue haired girl as the others settled down to go back to sleep. Lapis pushed a small sheet of metal over the entrance to the shed, leaving them in pitch black. The blonde resisted the urge to cry. She'd never been so scared in her life, all she wanted now was her big brother, or their nest maid... She hoped Holly was okay.
POV SHIFT- Holly Blue
Why? Why had she done that? Not only had she mouthed off to Emerald at the party, but the second they had opened her cage on this hellish island she had flown in another direction without even bothering to find Peridot... The poor thing must have been so scared, she had never been in this kind of place before. She and her brother had been born in the manor, raised in it, taught in it, lived in it. They rarely left, they had no reason to leave the paradise their mother had created for them, they had anything and everything they could ever want.
She shivered as she slowly tiptoed through the island, Holly wouldn't dare call out to the young girl no matter how much she wanted to. Her wings wrapped tightly around her arms, and her heart gave a squeeze as she thought of the poor blonde and what could happen to her. Holly couldn't help having a protective instinct towards her, she'd literally known Peridot since she'd been born.
It had been winter, deep in a snowstorm that was freezing over the Upper-class Island in a deep chill. Holly had been simply working on getting the nursery ready. Emerald's husband was out helping to clear snow, the green haired lady so close to laying her egg, or at least... They thought it was one.
When the time had come so suddenly, it had turned out that Emerald hadn't been carrying a single egg, but two. Two beautiful eggs that had left their mother weak after having them. The first one, much larger than the other and even laid first, hatched quickly. A little girl (oh how wrong Holly had been), blonde hair like her father with a poor eye like her mother. Eyes bright green with pale skin and featherless wings as she screeched at the world, Holly cleaning the egg's slime off of her, wrapping her up and handing her to her mother.
Emerald was still crying, but now she had a large smile on her face. "Hi baby..." She whispered to the infant, who had settled down in her blanket. A name had been selected for her, in an old language it meant 'Success'. "Hi Squaridot... I'm your mama..."
10 minutes went by, then 30, then 50... And the little egg hadn't hatched. Holly stood in the kitchen, holding the egg close and lightly rocking it. She wanted this egg to hatch so badly, Emerald deserved another baby... But if an egg stayed dormant for too long it would die within the egg. Babies needed their mothers for warmth and food, hence why Squaridot needed her mother as soon as she'd been cleaned up. You needed feathers to hold in your body heat, if your wings were bare you had no way of being warm enough to survive for very long.
Holly held the egg a little tighter. Her pale blue eyes widened when she felt a small tap on the bottom of it. The other baby, this unexpected hatchling, was still alive, and needed help. You really weren't supposed to... But she didn't care. Holly tapped the bottom of the egg, and grinned upon feeling it move with the little kicks getting faster and harder. "That's it." Holly murmured. "You've got it, it's okay."
A small crack appeared in the lower part of the egg, not quite the bottom but close. Her breath hitched as a small bit of liquid dripped out, she placed the egg on a thick towel and took a deep breath. The egg was indeed hatching, but not fast enough. The budgie-winged woman grabbed a spoon out of the drawer and tapped the crack, widening it before prying 2 fingers in to snap off a tiny part of the shell.
Her heart fell upon seeing a tiny, pale, slime covered foot. Breach... Wonderful. It would be harder for the baby to hatch, but not impossible. After a particularly hard kick the little feet burst right through, a large hole formed in the shell followed by a muffled cry.
Holly turned the egg over and a small baby slid out into her hands, slick with the slime from... Her egg. Another little girl! Pale and green eyed like her sister, blonde too. Although both her eyes were clear, and there was one major difference... Her wings were bare like any other baby...
But they were massive.
The new baby screamed and squirmed as she cried. Holly wrapped her in the other little blanket her egg had been in and held her close. Emerald was weak, and was already busy taking care of the first child. The tall woman reached into the fridge, pulled out a small bottle of formula and letting the newborn eat.
Later on, the sweet little baby had been named Peridot.
Peridot had proven to be a somewhat sickly child, catching a cold every winter no matter what they did. She was always smaller than Squaridot, paler too, and so attached to both Holly AND Emerald. The twins' father had passed away in their youth, both of them too young to remember him, but they never cared. As far as they were concerned they already had what they wanted.
Even if that meant driving Holly INSANE. They would constantly ask her for things, follow her around and beat their wings causing a rucks, not to mention their feathers getting everywhere.
One winter, when the twins where around 14 years old, Peridot had become quite ill. The poor little thing could hardly sleep, her breathing was wheezy and she nearly refused to eat anything. She cried and cried, reaching out to both Emerald AND Holly. There was a small thought always in the back of of the tall woman's mind: Peridot (and possibly Squaridot) had imprinted on her when she was born, and saw Holly as another mother.
She did love these kids though, these people were all she had. She had once lived with a sister, who had passed away. Mother and father gone, Holly was alone. If these children bothered her sometimes, it was more than forgiven. That night, Holly had stayed up the whole time, making sure Peridot could drink, breathe easily, and fall asleep. She kept the young girl's temperature down, keeping her calm.
Now, on this awful island, she had abandoned her to whoever else was here. Tears welled up in her bright blue eyes, how could she do that to someone so innocent? Peridot didn't deserve this, she wasn't a fighter, she'd never hurt a soul...
"She must be so scared..." Holly whispered, her wings drooping down. She looked up to the stars, and gave a small prayer as she walked through the ghost-town. "Please, Peridot, wherever you are, stay safe, I'll find you... I promise."
TIME CHANGE
POV SHIFT- Yana Zircon
"Come on Belle! We don't have much time!" The blonde called as she and her wife ran down the hall. Her wings, bright yellow with specks of brown, opened, feeling almost no wind under them, she needed to get out of here and into the sky, maybe get onto a boat and head down to Belle's island of birth. The police would never follow them there.
There were so many Islands in their world, they just needed to get off of this one, they needed to get away from White and her guards. The two of them had good jobs, they were smart, had everything they needed too... So why did they have to get so damned curious?!
Yana had been with her wife, looking through old files, doing research on the many 'bird types' as they were known. All they wanted was a little more information on clients, Yana's bird type a Golden Weaver and Belle's bird type a Black-Throated Blue Warbler, which none of her parents were.
It wasn't unheard of for parents to give birth to child of a different 'species'. Yana had been the same as her mother and father, but Belle had been so different. She had left home young, shunned by her peers, leaving what was known as The Island That Honoured The Past. It looked ancient, rarely using any technology, old style architecture too. Nests that they made instead of houses that according to Belle were so comfortable... They honoured the time before White Diamond.
Now she and her wife were on the run. While doing research they had found some rather odd information about their Leader, White Diamond, and her former co-rulers. Azura and Yella. Rumour had it they had gone insane from the pressure of their jobs, and had thrown themselves into the sea together. But as the file they had found said, this was not the case.
The two had been found first though, and now had to run through White's facility in a desperate escape attempt. Yana flapped her wings once she got outside, Belle joining her as they soared into the air. "Come on Yana!" Belle called out to her, wings pumping rapidly as the two fought to get away, hearing the strong wingbeats of the Eagle winged people behind them. "The boat, get to the boat! Hurry!"
Yana nodded, and followed the blue haired woman.
OR at least, she tried to... The guards caught up quickly with them, slamming into Belle before taking the blonde down. She fought back, screaming and hitting the woman who'd grabbed her.
A hard smack cuffed her over the head, and her vision blurred, Yana went limp in the guard's arms, and the world faded to black.