Part Three
The forest was darker than Bismuth had expected. The seemingly haphazard entanglement of foliage overhead allowed for only the slightest slivers of moonlight, creating a ceiling for which she felt the stirrings of respect.
For all the time she'd spent at the forest's edges, Bismuth had never actually ventured amongst the trees. There hadn't ever been any need for her to. She hadn't been part of the earliest stages of this planet's colonization and development. Not like on Planet Diadema 8 of the Silicate System, for instance, where Bismuth had helped cut down the great grass growths by the ammonia coasts to make way for a very ambitious array of spires. By the time she'd been assigned to Crystal System Colony Planet Earth, all the initial construction sites had already been cleared and flattened and prepared. Her job had been to build, and nothing else.
Bismuth's eyes strained in the darkness. The Crystal Gems didn't seem to have a problem navigating the rough terrain, even without much use of sight. They made their way easily over the irregular ground, the loose stones, and the occasional root. The effortless glide Rose Quartz was demonstrating especially made Bismuth feel horribly clumsy in comparison. It was almost like she was floating, or like the forest was actively doing its best not to hinder her in any way. Bismuth, on the other hand, kept tripping over gnarly roots that seemed to want to grab at her ankles, or hitting her head on low-hanging branches, often worryingly loudly.
Nobody said anything, not to her, not to each other. Although, once or twice, as she winced at the feeling of shifting loose earth and pebbles endangering her already precarious balance, she swore she caught the pearl smirking at her.
Eventually, the fusion— Garnet— held out a hand. The gem in her palm glowed red, lighting the path in front of them.
"Wait, aren't you afraid someone will see that?" Bismuth asked, voice kept carefully low.
Garnet shrugged as she stepped over a small log, then kept her hand pointed towards it so Bismuth could follow suit. "Homeworld never comes this far out."
Bismuth wasn't entirely convinced by that, but she was grateful for the light, so she said nothing.
For a while after that, the heavy silence hung over them, broken by nothing but the rustling of leaves and a collection of odd, subtle noises Bismuth couldn't hope to place more precisely than 'Earth'. The Crystal Gems seemed intent on putting as much distance behind them as possible. Bismuth, now less worried about taking an embarrassing and potentially painful tumble, was focused on trying to remember which way she'd come from, just in case she did decide to turn back. It didn't take her very long to realize how difficult that would be without guidance. This wasn't like the nicely labeled, regimented corridors she was used to. Every tree looked practically identical, and every turn they took felt like going around in circles.
Finally, their pace seemed to slow; and Bismuth figured it was okay to risk asking another question: "You're taking me to your base, then?"
"Not quite yet," said Rose Quartz, still leading the way, still perfectly unruffled to a somewhat annoying degree. "There's something else I think you should see first."
Okay, so maybe the rebels weren't stupid enough to bring a completely untested and unproven new 'ally' directly to their hideout after all. And the mysterious promise ofsomething else did pique her curiosity.
"This it?" Bismuth asked when they stopped at a small river a short while later. It was... nice, she supposed. The water made a tinkly rushing noise, and the planet's moon looked quite lovely reflected on its surface. She couldn't say it was particularly breathtaking, though. Didn't do anything to help her buy into any of the rebels' beliefs and claims, either.
"No. We're just stopping to clean up a bit," said Rose Quartz. Without further ado, she wandered into the shallow water, Garnet at her heels. The two of them began to splash around, washing the mud and grit off of themselves.
Bismuth watched for a moment, then shrugged and decided to join them. Cleanliness wasn't really something she'd ever had any reason to care about- bismuths were brought in to enhance the scenery by building and shaping it, not by being it, after all- but she figured she might as well try it since the chance was presenting itself so handily.
The pearl stayed by the shore, alone and almost comically vigilant, hand on her sword hilt, scanning the tree line. Bismuth left her to it.
The water was cold when she stepped into it, much more wary than Rose Quartz had been. Not as cold as snow, but close to it. The sudden change in temperature was a shock, but a pleasant one, weirdly enough.
Rose Quartz caught sight of Bismuth wading in and offered up a small, inscrutable smile. "Come join us, Pearl!" she called, just as Bismuth felt the icy water reach her waist.
The pearl clearly heard the order, and without even a moment's hesitation shook her head.
"You'll like it," Garnet said, tone wheedling.
The pearl put one hand on her hip and arched a brow. "Is that a prediction?"
"Just a hope," said Garnet.
"Well, I hope that we don't get captured," the pearl shot back tartly. "So if you're done with your little swim…?"
Garnet grinned, and stepped easily onto land.
"Oh, very well," Rose Quartz sighed. She daintily gathered her skirts and swept up behind Bismuth.
(The rebels, Bismuth noted, always took care to ensure that she wasn't left at the back of the pack and unattended. They had some hint of sense then, at least.)
Before they carried on, however, Rose Quartz paused once more, right beside a bush. From it, she plucked a single flower and tucked it into the pearl's hair as she passed.
"Rose…" the pearl said, with a look Bismuth couldn't quite parse. In the pale moonlight, it was just possible to see her face turn blue.
Bismuth watched the exchange, curious. Was that a… gift? That didn't seem right. True, Bismuth didn't know much about pearls, but surely they didn't get... given things. Not to keep for themselves. To hold, yes, of course- but surely if Rose Quartz wanted to bring that flower with them for whatever reason and didn't feel like carrying it herself there were simpler ways to go about it than tucking it into the pearl's wispy hair where it was in danger of falling off any second.
But then, maybe it was more like decoration? Pearls were meant to be pretty, and flowers were themselves quite lovely, and the shade of this one seemed to contrast the pearl's hair color nicely.
Bismuth's theory barely lasted thirty seconds before Garnet picked up a fistful of messy petals and leaves off the ground and started to pelt the pearl with them. Although 'pelt' might have been too strong a word, considering most of them simply drifted to the ground before they even touched their target. Nonetheless, this was not a tender exchange of adornment. This was something else entirely. Almost like...
Almost like a game.
"You two are ridiculous!" the pearl cried, the wide smile on her face belying her affronted tone. She strutted behind Bismuth, using her as something of a Gem-shield against further attacks. When the group finally set off again, Bismuth could hear her muttering and picking the detritus out of her hair.
"I thought they were nice," said Garnet.
"Oh you know what would be nice?" The pearl raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her hips. "Get me some vines and make me a proper belt to carry my swords with."
"I could stab you," said Rose Quartz, voice startlingly light and airy, considering the actual content of her words. "Then you can make one yourself to go with your new body."
"Ha! I would like to see you try."
And then all the Crystal Gems laughed.
Bismuth watched and listened to the whole exchange in bewilderment.
She'd heard all sorts of speculation about the rebels- it was impossible not to, if one was stationed on Earth, what with the persistent nuisances they'd made of themselves. Fearmongering and dramatics, most of it, especially the rumors about the pearl. The one Bismuth had always subscribed to was that the pearl had been stolen- taken by TheRose Quartz from right under her proper owner's nose. And then the pearl, poor thing, had been so lost and scared that she'd latched onto Rose Quartz as her sole source of leadership, no matter how misguided it was.
Now, one surprise near-stabbing courtesy of said pearl later, she was seriously rethinking all of that.
Nothing about this pearl seemed particularly scared or lost or obedient. No, the rebel pearl seemed to have earned her title. Bismuth recalled the things the Crystal Gems had told her about their view of loyalty— pledging yourself to someone not because you were made for them, but because you respected them, and liked them, for who they were— and figured that whoever this pearl's owner was now, she'd chosen them herself.
Which just left one question.
Bismuth half-turned so she could see the pearl, and slowed her steps somewhat to give her a chance to catch up.
"Hey," she said, bending down so she was closer to the pearl's height, voice so soft it was practically a whisper. "Who do you belong to?"
The pearl reared back as if she'd been struck.
"Nobody!"
Head held high and nose even higher, she swept past Bismuth and over to Rose Quartz. The Quartz's attention was entirely on the pearl, expression sympathetic as the pair exchanged words too quiet for Bismuth to hear.
"I didn't—" Bismuth began, then cut herself off. She hadn't meant to offend. Stars, she'd been trying to avoid offence! Every pearl had an owner, just like how every single Gem had a supervisor or commander or manager, all the way to the Diamonds. It was a perfectly normal question!
But... these Gems seemed pretty determined to be anything but normal.
Garnet shrugged at her as she took the place behind Bismuth, and they continued on in relative silence.
The ground began to rise, and the group began climbing up a slope. A slight one, at first, but growing gradually steeper. Bismuth was embarrassed to discover that she was getting tired. Not exhausted, by any means— she was still able to keep up, but she had to work at it. Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised. She was a strong Gem used to gruelling work, but it was the muscles in the arms she focused on, not the legs. And between her work, the fight, and the trek, it had been a long time since she'd rested.
None of the rebels seemed the least bit uncomfortable, however. Not even Pearl.
The trees thinned, and, at last, they reached the crest of the hill, which broke off into a sheer cliff. Rose Quartz came to a halt. Bismuth did her best not to look too relieved.
"This is it," Rose Quartz said, gesturing to the horizon with a sweeping motion.
Bismuth raised an eyebrow.
It was dark, so she couldn't exactly make out much. She could see a rolling landscape and where the cloud cover broke, a beautiful starscape. "Anything in particular I'm supposed to be looking at?"
"The light," said Garnet.
And, true enough, among the darkness of the ground below, there was a single flickering light. A fire, most likely. Tiny, at this distance, but probably reasonably big up close.
"Neat," said Bismuth, not sure what else to say.
"Humans made it!" Rose Quartz exclaimed, beaming with pride.
"Humans? You mean those bipedal animals that look like Gems? They did that?"
Bismuth had never seen any humans herself, but some of the buildings she'd worked on had had carvings of different Earth lifeforms, including the humans. She knew that the remarkable similarity they bore to their own species had inspired interest among the elites, in particular Pink Diamond, who was supposedly building up a collection of them. She also knew Snowflake didn't like them much at all, and that Biggs had them to blame- or thank- for her upcoming trial. But she'd figured that apart from appearance, they were like all other organic life that had sprung up across the galaxy: not particularly bright.
But producing fire? That did require a bit of critical thinking.
"They're very smart, and always so curious. They can make so many things," Rose Quartz continued, practically bouncing with excitement. "Clothes, tents, knives, nets— they can even train other animals to follow instructions and help them! It's astounding!"
Bismuth wouldn't go that far, but if this was all true… "Huh. That is something I'd like to see."
"You can!" Rose Quartz's face was earnest. "That's why we brought you here! So you can visit them!"
Bismuth scratched the back of her neck. "Listen, this is neat and all… but what exactly has this got to do with anything?"
"Because we're going to protect them," declared Rose Quartz.
"They're refugees," explained Pearl. "They used to live near the Kindergarten, but they ran out of resources they need to survive and had to move."
"And they'll have to keep moving as the draining effect spreads," finished Garnet.
"It's not fair to let such intelligent, vibrant creatures die just for more Gems to live. Not when there are so many other suitable planets throughout the cosmos," said Rose Quartz, eyes burning. "So we have sworn to protect the humans and earn their freedom, just as we will earn for all Gem kind!"
Bismuth cocked her head to the side, and carefully considered her next words. A large part of her wanted to say ' That's stupid ', and explain exactly why, in excruciating detail. But that in itself would be stupid, so—
Suddenly, Garnet jerked, her third eye flying open. "GET DOWN!"
Rose Quartz and Pearl obeyed, just in time for knives to fly over their heads and miss, soaring over the edge of the cliff.
There was a moment of stunned silence before the follow-up attack came.
Snowflake, Crazy Lace, and Biggs roared out of the trees, a flash of pure muscle and steel. Crazy Lace took Garnet down in a tumble, the two of them nearly falling off the cliff. Snowflake was bearing down on Rose Quartz, sword drawn. And Biggs had positioned herself to cut Pearl out of the fighting, axe drawn and ready if necessary.
"STOP!" Bismuth yelled, but she wasn't sure to which group. "DON'T—"
Nobody listened.
"We've got you, Bis!" Crazy Lace roared from the melee.
Garnet threw Crazy Lace off her, pinning her down in reprisal. The Quartz seemed momentarily dazed by the turn of things, but she was too experienced to stay stunned for long. She quickly used her superior strength to push the fusion off her. Taking another knife from her belt, she lunged at Garnet, who simply sidestepped each swipe as if she could see every attack coming—
— because she could. Crazy Lace was a good fighter, but she had no way of dealing with an opponent who could literally predict every attack she'd make.
Snowflake was having similar problems. Rose Quartz was, well, a quartz, but she was a new model unfamiliar to Obsidian. Her fighting style wasn't so much traditional attacking as— as dancing, light and immaterial as clouds, jumping over her opponent's head and always staying just out of reach of the sword.
So Snowflake stopped attacking with her sword. Her gem flared black for a moment, her hand stretching out into a lance. Snowflake thrust it forward—
—A flash of pink. A clang!
The hand-lance struck against a shimmering pink sphere, which flickered for a moment, then vanished.
Rose Quartz smiled brightly, and counter attacked.
As for Biggs… Well, the newmade hadn't made the same mistake Bismuth had made, ignoring the Pearl. She was making a different one: trying to talk her down.
"Hey there, little star," Biggs was saying, her voice soft. Judging by her posture and the open, encouraging look on her face, she was trying to make herself seem as unthreatening as possible, all while carrying an axe easily twice the size of Pearl. "I bet you're really scared, huh?"
To Bismuth's surprise, Pearl nodded. Her eyes were huge, her lips trembled, her fingers played nervously on the hilt of a sword she suddenly didn't seem to know how to properly hold.
"Come on then, and I'll help bring ya back to your owner, okay? Now why don't you give me that sword?"
Head bowed, Pearl stepped towards the smiling, eager form of Biggs.
Bismuth had just enough time to utter a yelp of warning, when Pearl plunged the sword right up through Biggs' chest.
"You're welcome to have it!" Pearl chirped, before pulling the sword back out. Biggs's form dissipated, and Pearl ran through the smoke to join her teammates.
Bismuth dove for Biggs's gem, holding it close to her chest. With her free hand she gripped the fallen axe, hoisting it up and getting back to her feet. Now, she had a weapon. Now, she had a means of pulling her own weight and defending herself properly. A means of fighting back, and of attacking...
But attack whom?
In the predawn light, the Gems were merely shadows. Flashes of pink and blue and red and black, moving so quickly and so close together that one could hardly be distinguished from another. Bismuth couldn't run into the fray by hitting the wrong person by mistake— and, if she was being completely honest with herself, she wasn't even sure who she wanted to hit, if anyone...
Before she could choose, the decision was taken out of her hands. There was a grunt, and a scream, and two poofs of smoke, one right after the other.
When the mist faded, Rose Quartz, Garnet, and Pearl stood over the fallen gems of Snowflake Obsidian and Crazy Lace Agate.
"Well," piped up Pearl, smiling widely at Rose Quartz, "that was fun."
Garnet reached down to grab the two gemstones.
"No!" Bismuth stepped forward, axe up, Biggs still pressed close to her chest. "Don't touch them!"
The fusion froze.
"Bismuth—" Rose Quartz began.
"I won't let you shatter them!" Bismuth cried. "If you try, then—"
"Okay." Garnet stood up, and stepped away.
"Okay?" Bismuth echoed, not lowering the axe.
"We weren't going to hurt them," Pearl said. "Well. No more than we already have."
"We don't shatter Gems," said Rose Quartz.
Bismuth scowled. "What do you mean? Of course you do— all the raids, blowing up the Memorial of Life—"
"No one was shattered," Rose Quartz said.
No. No one had been, Bismuth realized. She'd figured that was just incompetence on the rebels' part. Everyone thought it was incompetence.
Were they really doing it on purpose ?
"How do you— but if you don't—" Bismuth shook her head. "If you don't shatter Gems, they just regenerate and attack you again."
Garnet smirked. "Not if we're gone by then."
Okay. Not incompetence. Just stupidity again.
"Then you're setting out for a war you're sure to lose," Bismuth said. "You'll keep getting into fights with Homeworld about your 'freedom' or whatever— and even if you win, they'll just keep coming back to fight, again and again, until you lose."
"Do you want us to shatter them?" Pearl asked, tilting her head towards her felled enemies.
"No!" Bismuth snapped. She let the axe fall, and quickly collected the quartzes' gems, holding them in the relative safety of her arms. "I'm just saying."
"We're trying to find a better way," Rose Quartz said. "We've got some ideas."
In demonstration, she reached down to the grass, and plucked a flower that grew there. She cupped her hands around it—
— a little pink sphere formed, floating in the air.
"What's that?" Bismuth asked, risking a step closer, curious.
"It's called 'bubbling'," said Rose Quartz. "It's a little tricky, but once mastered, it creates a suspension field. The flower could stay inside for years without wilting."
"—or a gem inside, without regenerating," Bismuth deduced, impressed. "But then, if you can do this... why haven't you used it in any of your attacks?"
"Because if we bubbled everyone away, who would be left to share our message?" Rose Quartz asked.
'Nobody's sharing your message as is!,' Bismuth nearly snapped, but then she stopped herself. Maybe Gems were, she just hadn't heard it yet. She didn't really get out much, didn't get close to a lot of folks. And you'd have to be real careful, talking about that kind of stuff. But maybe there were dainty-looking pearls, much like this one and still so wildly different, keeping their heads close as they made their way down hallways, whispering to each other about not giving back swords and daggers. Maybe there were little rubies passing secret notes to each other because no one would suspect them of being incendiary that way. It was an odd, interesting thought, and one Bismuth didn't quite know how to feel about yet.
As Bismuth was musing over this, Garnet decided to sit down and stretch out on the grass. A moment later, Rose Quartz followed suit. Pearl sighed, popped the bubble with a finger, and then snatched the flower before it fell. She placed it in Rose Quartz's hair, a return of the earlier favor. Then she sat too, leaning against Rose Quartz's shoulder for support.
Bismuth kept standing. Kept watching.
"It will no doubt be necessary to bubble Gems eventually," Pearl said. "But we've avoided it so far."
"And it wouldn't be right," Garnet said, propping herself up on her elbows. "Bubbling those who are just doing their jobs."
"Just trying to protect someone they love," Rose Quartz added, looking directly at Bismuth.
"Someone they... love." Bismuth repeated the strange word. "What's that mean?"
The Crystal Gems exchanged looks.
"It's a human expression," said Rose Quartz, which was no explanation at all. "It doesn't have an exact equivalent…"
Pearl tapped her chin. "In simple terms, I suppose it means… 'to care deeply for someone because you enjoy their company'."
Bismuth's face felt hot. "Well, that ain't right, then. They're quartzes. Good ones, too. Why'd they care for the likes of me?"
"You'll have to ask them that yourself." Garnet smiled at her. Then she laid back down and stared up at the sky, which was beginning to melt into the lightest shade of pink.
Meanwhile, Pearl buried herself into Rose Quartz's hair, the two of them starting a soft, giggly conversation.
Bismuth looked down at the gems in her arms.
The Crystal Gems had fought and defeated their attackers— and then just given their gems back to her. They weren't even watching to see when they'd regenerate! Any untrained newmade quartz could reform and ambush them, just like that.
Absolutely hopeless.
Bismuth sat down next to them anyway, gently laying her quartzes down in her lap.
Her fingers twitched. She wasn't good at just sitting and waiting and doing nothing, she never had been. She plucked a couple flowers out of the ground, and started twisting them around her fingers.
She couldn't stop watching Rose Quartz and Pearl. They were laughing together, touching each other, acting like no boundaries existed between them at all. Was that what had possessed a Rose Quartz, one of Pink Diamond's most beloved creations, to go running off into the middle of nowhere to fight for a random organic species? Was that what had made a tiny little Pearl pick up a sword and go charging into battle, and somehow win?
Bismuth wanted to ask, but the last time she'd tried to, she'd accidentally offended Pearl. Besides, it didn't look like either of them would be able to answer now: they were busy doing some sort of sucking thing with each other's mouths.
So she looked to the fusion instead, and asked, "What's the deal with you two?"
Still on her back, Garnet gave her a sidelong glance. "Two?"
"Yeah." Bismuth weaved the stems of the two flowers together, and plucked another couple. "You are two Gems after all, just in one body."
"Right now, I'm one."
"Sure," Bismuth said, deciding not to argue the point. "But why are you in one body?"
"'Cause I like it."
Bismuth could already see the answer she'd get if she asked 'why' again, so instead she asked, "What's it like?"
Garnet was staring up at the sky again. "Indescribable."
Bismuth sighed as she joined a couple more flowers to the chain. "You're not very helpful, are you?"
The fusion grinned, as if this was a compliment.
A silence fell, filled only by the chatter of morning birds and the persistent sucking-noises of Rose Quartz and Pearl. Bismuth checked on her quartzes, but none of them showed any sign of regenerating. Instead, she added more to her flower chain.
"I could show you," Garnet suggested, eventually.
"Show me…?" asked Bismuth.
Garnet raised an eyebrow, and stretched an open hand out towards her. Bismuth recoiled, face hot as a forge. "Uhhhh…."
"Oh, stop teasing her," Pearl said, apparently now finished with her lip-based embrace.
"Should I tease you, instead? Or perhaps Rainbow Quartz?"
Pearl's cheeks turned the most vibrant shade of blue. Rose laughed. So did Garnet. And after a moment, Bismuth decided to join in too, even if she felt like she didn't understand a third of what they were so amused by. And who was Rainbow Quartz? Certainly not a type of Gem Bismuth had ever heard of, and she could most definitely say she'd been around quartzes now-
There was a rustling in the bushes.
Everyone froze. Eyes scanned the leaves tensely. Pearl picked up her sword. Bismuth reached for the axe. They watched. They waited.
Out hopped a little white creature with big floppy ears.
"Oh," said Pearl, lowering her blade.
"It's adorable," Rose Quartz crooned, as the thing twitched one of its ears at them.
"Rose…" Pearl said, sounding exasperated. "Not again."
Rose Quartz stood up. The creature startled, and bounded away. Rose Quartz started after it.
"Really?" asked Pearl.
"I want a closer look~!"
"So you're just going to go trampling after it?"
"Yes!" Rose Quartz simply said, already disappearing into the trees.
Was that a quartz thing, Bismuth wondered, chasing after random organic creatures?
Garnet finished her sky-staring and got up as well, heading off in the same direction as the hopping animal. "I'm going too."
Pearl's mouth hung open. " Garnet -"
"You should come too," Garnet said, ducking under a branch. The sentence wasn't phrased as an order, but there was a strange undercurrent that Pearl nonetheless seemed to obey.
"Oh, fine," she muttered, but didn't go before stopping to pick up the various fallen weapons left over from the earlier scuffle, storing them away in her gem.
She let Bismuth keep the axe.
Then all three of them were gone. Bismuth was left alone in the clearing, overlooking the cliff.
But not for long.
There was a dark purplish glow. Bismuth pulled herself away as the obsidian floated into the air. A hand formed first, arm stretching out from it, and then the rest of the torso following from there. She hovered for a moment, until the black and white sparkles resolved themselves into a body.
Snowflake looked all around her in quick, practiced movements, checking everything for signs of danger— and when she saw only Bismuth, sitting on the ground with a flower chain in her hand, she allowed herself to relax a fraction.
There was a question on Snowflake's face. A fear Bismuth understood, and had shared in not too long ago.
"They're here," Bismuth said. She laid Crazy Lace and Biggs out next to her.
Snowflake nodded. She looked around once more, ever vigilant, just in case, and then knelt down on the Gems' other side.
Neither of them felt the need to talk. Instead, Snowflake decided to follow Bismuth's lead, and started to chain flowers together, too.
She was slower than Bismuth, clumsier. Her fingers weren't used to such tiny, precise movements. But she was a quick learner, and a patient one. She watched Bismuth until she got it just right.
Bismuth liked this. Liked making something, all of her own design.
Once the chain was long enough, she decided to tie it off at the ends, making a circlet. Satisfied, she started on another.
She was about a quarter through, and the sky now a brilliant orange, when a new red light glowed beside them.
Crazy Lace wasn't nearly so relaxed when she regenerated. She formed with an avalanche of questions on her lips, asking if Bismuth was okay, if Biggs was okay, then anxiously checking the newmade's gem for any cracks or chips. Once satisfied that everyone was unharmed, she still didn't want to sit down. She instead amused herself poking around the clearing, looking around the trees, staring out over the cliff.
"What're those?" she asked, pointing towards a collection of dark shapes. The flickering light of the fire was still visible, but only barely.
"That's where the humans live," Bismuth said.
"Really? Huh. Guess that's what all those little shapes are, then," Crazy Lace said, watching the vaguely Gem-shaped silhouettes moving around down below. "They sure look different when they're not inside a cage."
Snowflake grunted. Maybe in agreement, maybe just because she was having trouble tying the two ends of her flower chain.
Bismuth reached over to help her. As she did, their hands touched. Snowflake didn't bother to move away. Didn't even flinch. The feel of her skin was… nice.
(Bismuth thought, suddenly, of Pearl and Rose Quartz, sitting so very close together, their mouths pressed against one another... and quickly backed away to finish her own chain.)
"We can't go back, can we?" asked Crazy Lace.
Bismuth frowned. "Sure you can. You didn't come back with the rebels, yeah, but surely you won't be punished too severely. No one else has managed to catch them yet, either."
"Can't," Snowflake said. "Unauthorized mission."
Bismuth stared.
"You went on an unauthorized mission? To get me?"
Crazy Lace and Snowflake nodded.
"Are you completely cracked?!" Bismuth cried. "Why?"
"We weren't going to leave you captured in the hands of traitors!" Crazy Lace cried.
Snowflake reached out, and touched the axe sitting on the ground beside Bismuth. "You weren't captured."
It wasn't a question. She knew.
"Not as such," Bismuth admitted.
Snowflake didn't say anything. Crazy Lace looked as though she didn't know what to say. And neither did Bismuth. She'd known, when she'd gone out, how dangerous her choice had been. For as much as she'd told herself she could easily lose the rebels and run back, she'd realized how unlikely actually returning, and surviving, and just going back to her cubby-fixing assignments like nothing had ever happened would be.
She hadn't expected anyone else to be punished for her decision, though. She hadn't expected the stupid, stubborn, impulsive, astoundingly caring and loyal quartzes to come after her. Going out on an unauthorized mission would have been foolish at the best of times— but just hours before some big Diamond event? And with nothing to show for their efforts?
(Well. They'd bring back Bismuth, safe and sound. But even if Bismuth decided she did want to return, she wouldn't be considered much.)
None of them could go back. And they had to have known that when they'd made the call to leave. But there were… other options. Choices to be made, strange and unexpected new paths to explore, together.
Bismuth sighed, long and hard, and finished the last flower circle.
Finally, when the sun was already halfway done steadily climbing the morning sky, Biggs reformed.
She spun around, clearly disoriented from her regeneration— this would be her first, Bismuth realised. No wonder it had taken so long.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Are we safe? Where are the traitors?"
"Around," said Bismuth, waving a hand in the direction of the trees.
"We're safe enough," said Crazy Lace. Bismuth's mind went, unbidden, to all that she'd heard the two older quartzes discuss between themselves, tense and worried, careful of Biggs overhearing. The trials of the tournament, the unlikely at best and impossible at worst odds, the perfectly permitted and understandable callousness of a Diamond-
Safe.
Snowflake took a couple of the flower circles from Bismuth's lap and got up. She went to Crazy Lace, reached up, and dropped one of the crowns on Lace's head. The other, she placed on her own. It was a little big and it dropped to half-cover her eyes, but she bore it as seriously as she would have any Diamond-grade military honor.
Lace smiled. Bismuth did, too.
Biggs Jasper just looked confused. "Why are we just… sitting here? Did we… escape?"
"Yeah," Bismuth said, giving Biggs the last of the crowns. "I think we did."
oOo
Authors' Note: Up next, the epilogue.
