Chapter 4: Nora
Author's Note: Okay, this was not what I was expecting.
Me a few days ago: Oh, this chapter won't be too long.
4000+ words later:
Me: Well, at least it's not too short.
"Yay, saturday!" are the first words out of my mouth as I bound out of bed. Amber smiles down at me from her hammock, no doubt having been awake for hours.
So, what shall we do this fine day? She asks with a smile, jumping down to land silently beside me.
Food first, I say, my stomach growling. Still in my clothes from yesterday, I make my way down the stairs to find breakfast being cooked by Pyrite, my mom sitting in front of the screen.
"Good morning!" Pyrite says when she sees us, causing Mom to look up.
"Hello, Nora, Amber. Breakfast will be ready soon."
I sit down next to her on the couch, amber on my other side. It's a family tradition to watch the broadcasts on saturday mornings.
"...and in three months we will be celebrating our 7000th anniversary of the end of the war! This is a very special occasion, as our great leader Steven Universe has agreed to make a public appearance.!"
"Whoa, really?" I lean in closer, trying to catch every detail.
"The celebration will take place in Central Square, on August 15th."
"We apologize for the interruption."
"Aww, man!"
"A minor earthquake has caused structural damage to the underground mining tunnels. All production has ceased. We apologize for the inconvenience."
The broadcast resumes talking about the celebration, but I'm no longer listening. Something about that earthquake catches my attention.
Hey amber, shouldn't they have been able to predict an earthquake like that?
Yeah, but technology isn't perfect.
Still, it seems like a good opportunity to investigate! I know an opportunity when I see one. It's not like there's anything else I'm doing today.
Oh yeah, that's gonna be awesome! Amber agrees with me, as always. We'll be rogue adventurers, exploring the abandoned mines of a long-forgotten country!
Yeah, that works, I agree. We finish breakfast as fast as possible, and I quickly throw on some shorts and a tank top before we head out.
The only entrance to the mines isn't all that far from here, less than a mile's walk to the edge of the city. The city ends rather abruptly, a steep slope leading to a narrow strip of grass before the forest begins. The mine entrance is directly below us, a path leading into the forest in the direction of the refinery, which is located near the launch pad. Not that actual spacecraft are used very often, since the moon warps are fairly stable, but the government keeps them in case of emergency.
Carefully sliding down the slope, we land just to the side of the entrance. Another small earthquake shakes the ground, and I struggle to keep my balance.
"Oh thank god! Help us!" A voice calls out. Startled, I realise that two people are just inside the mine, strong iron bars keeping them in. One is a human girl, slightly taller than me, the other a very small gem.
"Don't worry, we'll get you out," I reply, walking up to the bars. "What are you doing in there, anyway?"
"I work here, duh," the girl replies. "Now get us out!"
"Don't worry," I say again. Amber, is there a way we can bend the bars enough to get them through?
I can try, she says. The nearby trees begin to stretch, strong branches reaching out towards the bars, pulling on the metal until it bends, making a hole just wide enough for them to get through.
"Thank you," the small gem says as she makes her way out. "I'm Rose Quartz,"
"Rose quartz?" I'm shocked. That's not possible, is it?
"A rose quartz, not the Rose Quartz," the girl clarifies. "It confused me too. I'm Rose."
"That's even more confusing," I say.
"Tell me about it." She looks up at the sky. "I suppose I should thank you. Follow me."
Curious, I follow Rose down a small footpath in the woods. It doesn't look like it's used often. After what must be several miles, we emerge in a wide, grassy clearing. A modest house sits behind a small garden, completely wooden.
"This is where you live?" Li'l Rose asks, and something clicks in my head. I'd been assuming they were a pair, but her reaction-
"Built it with my own two hands," Rose says proudly. That's still confusing in my head. "Been living here almost my whole life. I don't spend much time here, though. I'm working most of the time."
"Working in the mines?" Amber asks, just as confused as I am.
"Yes. You have a problem with that?"
"But you don't look much older than me," I'm honestly surprised.
"I'm 12 years old."
"Yeah, same as us," Amber says. "Why don't you go to school in town?"
"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not exactly what you'd call normal. I'm a loner."
"Loner?" Now I'm even more confused.
"Don't you know anything?" She rolls her eyes. "Not everyone has a partner like you. Some of us are just… alone. Like people used to be, back before the war."
"That sounds awful," Amber blurts out.
"You'd be surprised how many people say that," she says. "That's why I don't come to the surface very often, and I hardly ever go into the city."
"You just live out here, all by yourself?" I ask as we reach the front door. Rose opens it with a key- I haven't seen technology that old since we went to the museum a few months ago.
"Pretty much," she shrugs. Li'l rose is clearly fascinated by the house, and I can't say I don't find it intriguing. Everything is just so… simple. A small kitchen, a stovetop but no oven, what appears to be a handmade wooden table and chairs, a simple bed in the corner, and an extremely tiny bathroom.
"I built this house with my own two hands," Rose says proudly, surveying the space.
"All by yourself? What about your parents?" I can't help but ask. She freezes.
"You don't have any," Amber says. It's a statement, not a question.
"I don't know who my parents are," she admits. "Maybe they died, maybe they couldn't take care of me, who knows. I don't have memories of them."
Suddenly, the earth begins to shake beneath our feet. It's another earthquake, and it's a big one. Before I can even react, I find myself being literally dragged back outside by Rose, while Amber carries Little Rose out behind us. And just in time too- as we clear the threshold, the house collapses behind us, the wooden construction not quite able to hold up to the earthquake.
"Dammit!" I can faintly hear Rose shout. Everything is chaos- trees are falling, dust is rising, and I can barely see a thing. Reaching out blindly, I feel my hand connect with Amber's, and she holds on tight. Rose is still gripping my other hand, and we huddle in a group, trying to avoid the debris flying everywhere while still remaining on our feet.
None of us see the crack splitting through the earth until it's right beneath our feet, and we're suddenly free-falling beneath the earth.
Rose's hand escapes my grasp, but Amber holds on even tighter as we fall, and it's several seconds before I can make out a faint light beneath us. It's only now that it occurs to me to scream.
"AAHHH!" I brace myself for impact. The ground is rushing up at impossible speeds, and I squeeze my eyes shut, preparing for the end.
It doesn't come. I feel myself hit something much squishier than solid ground, and when I open my eyes I realise I landed on top of Amber. She poofs right in front of me.
Amber! I can't hear her voice. This has happened before, but not for years. I carefully lift her gem, holding it close before I stand.
I'm in some sort of cavern, the ceiling so far above I can't see it. There's a lantern just beside me, giving just enough light to see Rose and Li'l Rose a few meters away. Rose looks alright, somehow, and Li'l Rose is perfectly fine as well.
"Well this is interesting." I look to my right and find a green gem staring at me. I give a small yelp and scramble backwards.
"Whoa, don't get all scared on me. It's fine." They hold out a hand. I warily take it, shaking gently. "I'm Emerald."
"Nora," I reply automatically. "What is this place?"
"Some old gem structure from way back when," she gives a shrug. "The question you should be asking is what is it used for."
"Can someone tell me what's going on here?" Rose asks, coming up behind me. At this point I'm too tired to be startled. Li'l rose is trying to hide behind her legs, which is rather cute.
"Three of you? Great. Well, you better come with me. This place is bigger than it looks." She lifts the lantern out of the ground and turns to start walking.
"You mean four," I say. She looks back.
"Huh?"
"There's four of us." I hold Amber's gem in the light.
"Four, then. Are you coming or not?" she somehow takes everything in stride. Rose starts walking, so I follow here, feeling completely lost. I have no idea what's going on.
"We're here." I look up to see Emerald setting down the lantern. We're now in a much more well-lit area, and with more light I can see a huge crowd of people, humans and gems. Most of the humans don't look very well-off, with several of them bearing obvious injuries.
"Whoa," Rose breathes, and I echo the sentiment. This place is amazing. But not really good amazing, if that makes any sense.
"Welcome to the Loners home base," Emerald says proudly. Is this how those people live?
"This is where we all went?" Rose takes a step forward. "I wondered where everyone went after the cave-in."
"We're all gathered here," Emerald confirms. "Except for the few who made it to the surface before it got sealed off. How'd you end up there, anyway? You must've fallen all the way from the top."
"Nora and Amber got us out," she says. I look down at my feet. "They're a real pair."
"Ah," the green gem understands. I've never felt out-of-place for being normal before. She must sense my discomfort, so she changes the topic. "Are any of you injured at all? That was a pretty nasty fall."
"I'm fine," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. Rose shakes her head.
"You'd be surprised what an emergency airbag can do." So that's how. I had been wondering.
"Right. Well, I doubt you'll be leaving anytime soon, so we'd better make you comfortable for the time being. The entrance's collapsed."
"But I need to get home! My parents will be worried!" I can't help but say. Rose looks back at me, her stare icy cold.
"Not all of us have a family to go back to." With that she deliberately walks a few paces ahead of me, Li'l Rose trailing behind her in the middle, almost constantly glancing back at me over her shoulder.
"Amethyst!" Emerald calls out. A short purple gem looks up from where she was talking to two other quartzes. Something about her seems familiar…
"Yah, Emz?"
"These three- sorry, four- literally fell out of the sky."
"Now this I have to hear," she says, standing up and walking over to us. "What d'ya mean, four? I only count three."
I carefully hold Amber's gem up for her to see, keeping a tight grip on it. She nods.
"Right. Okay, get a place prepared somewhere for the humans. I'll talk to them for a bit."
"Yes'm!" Emerald says, rushing off. We follow Amethyst to a dome-like structure with a stone bench running all along the outside.
"You're the Amethyst, aren't you?" Rose makes a connection. "One of the original Crystal Gems."
"Only the second war, not the first, but yeah. That's me."
"No way!" I exclaim, some of my energy returning. "I learned about you in school!"
She chuckles. "Yeah, I guess all that stuff is ancient history by now." She sits down on the bench, gesturing for us to follow. "Everything changed, after the war. I guess I'm still getting used to it."
"Tell me about it," Li'l Rose says. "I had no idea there even was a second war until Rose told me about it."
"What?" she looks honestly confused. I'm interested in the story, too.
"I found her in a bubble in one of the old tunnels, at the bottom of a pool. She has no idea how she ended up there," Rose says. "Say, we haven't done proper introductions yet."
"I believe we haven't," Amethyst chuckles. "Who wants to go first?"
"Me!" Li'l Rose volunteers. "I'm Rose Quartz, but everyone I've met so far calls me Li'l Rose."
"Rose Quartz?" she nearly falls off the bench, startled.
"It surprised me too," Rose and I both say at the same time. I can't help but chuckle. Rose continues, "My name is Rose, but I suppose you probably picked that up. No doubt this will be very confusing," she earns a laugh from everyone, including me.
"Right. I'm Nora," I say, not sure what else to do. "And this is Amber," I hold the gem in my lap, my hands wrapped loosely around her.
"Right," Amethyst says, looking around at all of us. "Nora, you're one of the city people, right?"
I sigh. "Yes. I don't see what's so wrong with that."
"I've got nothing against you, but some people here have some rather strong opinions," she says. "So try not to be too obvious about it."
"Right. Yeah," I say, wondering how on earth I'm going to do that. It's as though everything in my culture has been turned upside-down. A question occurs to me. "Emerald said the entrance has caved in. When is it going to be clear again?"
"We don't know," she admits. "Most of our strongest gems are out of commission, and who we do have are mostly busy helping with all the human injuries."
"I can help with that," I say, sitting up straighter. "I learned some first aid from my mom. What supplies do you have here?"
She looks slightly surprised, but presses onwards. "We've got some assorted bandages, disinfectant, a few makeshift splints-"
"There's a lot we can do with that," I say, standing up. "Where should I start?"
"Hold on, I'm helping too," Rose says. "Twelve years of nothing but self-help first aid teaches you a lot."
"Me, too!" Li'l Rose says. "I mean, there's not really anything else I could do."
"Right then," Amethyst stands as well, smiling. "Let's get you started."
The improvised health center is little more than a blanket-carpeted square ringed by lanterns. It's run by a pearl with a shoulder gem- she insists on being called Orchid. Several humans of varying ages are spread out in the clearing, most of them with immobilizing injuries, such as a broken leg.
We're set to work treating the less serious injuries- a twisted ankle, a shallow cut, a sprained wrist- you name it. Each and every one of them thanks me, and it makes me smile. Once in awhile I'll take a break, usually staring at Amber's gem and wishing for her to come back.
"It's nearly midnight," Rose says, looking at a display on her arm. The shoulder guard which I'd barely noticed before has extended to cover her whole arm, the display hovering over her wrist. "We should all get some rest."
"I'm not tired," I say, but a massive yawn gives me away. "Alright, a little tired."
"Don't worry, I can handle it from here," Orchid assures us. "You two get some rest."
"Yeah, and I'll still be able to help," Li'l Rose says. She proved to be a fairly good assistant, despite knowing next to nothing about humans.
"Alright," I give in, looking at their faces and knowing I can't win. "Where do we go?"
"Down that way, take a left at the green light," Orchid points. "They've probably set up a space for you already."
"Thanks," Rose says, standing up. I pull myself up as well, noticing her arm-thingy retracting. Orchids instructions are actually quite helpful, despite being vague, and another gem whose name I never catch shows us to two empty spots. We only have blankets, no mattresses, but at this point I could probably fall asleep standing. I lie down and wrap up in the blanket before that can happen, keeping Amber's gem close in my pocket.
When I wake up, at first I think it's still night. The lighting hasn't changed at all from the last night- but then I remember we're underground still. Rose is waking up next to me, some internal alarm waking us at the same time, I suppose.
The first thing I do is reach into my pocket to feel Amber's gem. She's still there. I have to keep myself from giving a sigh of relief. Of course she wouldn't disappear in the night. Still, I can't stop myself from wondering when she'll be back. If I remember correctly, last time it took a little over a day for her to reform. But that was years ago. Who knows what could happen now?
"We should probably get moving," Rose says, although she sounds as reluctant to move as I am.
"We probably should," I agree, but make no move to get up. Then my stomach grumbles, and I realise I haven't eaten for about 24 hours.
"Yeah, food would be good too," she grins. I stand up, and she follows suit. "Now to find wherever the food is in this place…"
We make our way back to the green light, where the same gem from last night is standing. She smiles at us.
"Sleep well?"
"Yeah, good. D'you know where the food is at in this place? Is there any food?" I ask, hunger gnawing at my insides.
"Take a right at the infirmary, it's the red light."
"Thanks!" Rose says. I can hear her stomach growling, too- she probably hasn't eaten for longer than me. On the way over, we stop to talk to Orchid and Li'l Rose, who haven't stopped working all night.
"You're back!" Li'l rose says, always excitable.
"Yes, we're back," Rose says. "Orchid, how are things now?"
"Slowing down, fortunately," she says. "Everyone with serious injuries have pretty much been dealt with. Now I'm pretty much just giving out bandaids."
"And I'm helping!" Li'l Rose beams, lifting a package that's almost taller than she is.
"Need some help with that?" I automatically offer.
"Nah, I got it," she says, setting it down beside Orchid. "That's the last box."
"We're running low," the gem bites her lip. "What I wouldn't give for a supply line…"
"Oh well," Rose says. "Is there anything left for us to do?"
"Not really," she admits. "You could get some rations for all the patients, I guess."
"Will do!" I say with a grin, and Rose and I walk off with a newfound sense of purpose.
"I hope they get it cleared soon," Rose says conversationally. "You need to get back to the surface."
"Yeah," I say, surprised at how fast the conversation turns dark. I gently touch Amber's gem in my pocket. "They should have it cleared soon, right? Amethyst said that the reason it was taking so long was that most of the gems were busy trying to help the humans."
"Yeah, I guess," she says. We've reached what seems to be a small food court, although the only supplies are ration bars. Multiple booths are giving them out, and we wait in line for a few minutes to get enough for everyone at the infirmary. On our way back, a tall orange gem calls out to us.
"Rose! There you are!" they shout.
"Hey, Jasper!" She waves. "I was wondering what happened to you guys. How's everyone else doing?"
"Only a few injuries, thankfully," she matches our speed to walk beside us. "What happened to you?"
"I ended up in one of the old tunnels," she explains. "Oh, you are not going to believe what I found!"
"Iron? Titanium?" The Quartz gem tries to guess.
"Well, I suppose I shouldn't say what, but who." We've reached the infirmary. I set down my armful of rations, keeping one for myself.
"Oh good, you got them," Orchid looks up from where she's checking one of the girls with a broken leg. "Li'l Rose, could you get them?"
"Sure!" the childish gem jumps up from where she'd been sitting and comes over to us.
"Jasper, this is Rose Quartz," Rose says. How many times has this happened by now? I've lost track. "I found her in one of the old tunnels, bubbled and hidden under a pool of water."
"Huh," she bends down to look at the pink gem, taking it in stride. "Any idea how she got there?"
"None,' Rose replies. Li'l Rose squirms under their gaze, uncomfortable.
"Orchid!" I look up to see Amethyst running to join us. "They've finally cleared the exit."
"Oh, good!" She stands up. "Some of these we'll need to take to the surface for treatment, but most can stay."
"Good. I don't want too many people leaving," Amethyst admits. "This cavern is one of the only places safe from the earthquakes."
"What do you mean, stay here?" I ask. She looks over to me as though she's only just noticed us.
"Right, I forgot. Most loners live, well, on their own. But we found this place by a happy accident, so I figured we can make our own little city, under the ground. Safety in numbers and all that."
"That's a brilliant idea!" Rose exclaims. "I don't know why I never thought of it. We don't need to rely on the city folk if we have our own system."
"Precisely," Jasper agrees.
"But I need to go home," I say, slipping a hand into my pocket. "If the way is open, I should leave. I don't belong here."
Amethyst and Orchid share a look, then glance at jasper. Jasper nods. "I'll show her out," she says, her voice rough. She places a hand on my shoulder.
"Goodbye, Rose. Goodbye, Li'l Rose. Goodbye, Orchid. Goodbye, Amethyst," I say, only realising after the fact that I could've just said a general goodbye. Oh, well. I let Jasper lead me away through the maze of lights, finally making it to a tunnel that leads out.
"Just go straight. Don't take any of the side passages, and you should be fine," she instructs.
"Goodbye, Jasper," I say. She walks away, and I turn towards the tunnel.
It's dark. Even darker than most of the cavern, which says something. As I take a step forward, I can barely see anything in front of me. I take another step, and then another.
I suddenly feel my foot catch, and I tumble forward in the darkness. I hit the wall hard, and my only instinct is to curl up and cry.
"I can't do this," I whisper to the empty air. "I've tried to be strong. But I don't belong. I can't go alone."
My voice echos off the stone walls. I must've gone around a bend at some point, because I can't see any light from the cavern. I'm completely and truly alone.
Suddenly, I feel a warmth. My breath catches, and I pull Amber's gem out of my pocket. It's glowing, and she rises into the air, her form taking shape and illuminating the tunnel for a brief moment before she solidifies and sinks to the ground. In the instant while I can still see her, I notice her design has changed slightly, the skirt shorter and her general form slightly taller. I think I can see a pentagonal design framing the gem on her back.
"Nora?" She says out loud, and I follow the sound of her voice. "Where are you?"
"Here," I say, crawling towards her. Her arm touches my shoulder, and she pulls me closer. I wrap my arms around her in a hug.
Where are we? She asks, confused. There was an earthquake-
We ended up underground, I tell her. You saved me.
I guess I did. Her gem begins to glow, lighting the area around us. Let's get out of here.
You will not believe what happened while you were gone! I start filling her in on everything that happened in the past 24 hours as we make our way up the sloping tunnel, just glad to have her back.