Alexandrite breathes. Six arms stretch and twist, reveling in existence. She unfolds from the ground in a glow of gem and form and creation and return to what-has-been and the edges of what-will-be.
She tilts her head up, up, up and the stars dance and sing to her, for her. She is part of them. They are part of her. She burns like the stars but not nearly for so long.
There are screams and roars and shouts somewhere below her and she looks down and remembers. There are five who wish to hurt her, but she has six arms (two mouths) and she will not fall here (then where? doesn't matter not here not yet). She picks up the gems beneath her (young, so young, older than i am, not saying much) and snaps their forms between her fingertips. They fall down, down, down into eternity.
Eternity.
Space, time, distance, never ending, unstoppable. Right there.
She lunges for the Galaxy Warp, brings her full weight to bear and she sinks, pulls herself towards the heart of the Earth, turns the shackles of gravity into her weapon. The Galaxy Warp, strains, cracks, breaks and something deep inside Alexandrite's mind is furious.
No way back. Never was. Nothing to go back to. No reason to go forward. No way to stop the future. Never is.
There is no pain, just a vague prickling sensation, but there are bolts deep in her flesh now. Bolts with ropes leading back to her captors.
Her mask slides back and she laughs, long and loud, her tongue lolling out of her fanged mouth and she tastes the fear in the air. (isn't it lovely? it gets old, where have i tasted this before? you don't want me to answer that)
She could pull the bolts out, but she doesn't. She was never meant to live. (to be made, and yet here we are) The security of this construct is irrelevant. She has the enemy right where she wants them.
She pulls, holding onto the ropes (no point in hurting more than necessary). The cannons, guns, bows, all of them crumble, dragged along behind her and gems with them.
As soon as she reaches the comforting embrace of warp space, she lets go. Those who dared desecrate her body drift away, lost in the abyss (should we go after them? the drones will finish them off, exactly, exactly).
For a blessed moment, she floats, then memory returns.
Alexandrite roars.
Her feet land in the Galaxy Warp and it cracks as she wills it with every step. A few scattered ants try to resist her (valiant, not a desirable trait in an enemy). She crushes them.
She stumbles (we could have spared them, we didn't, they didn't deserve it) but she keeps going. Rage wraps itself around a core of grim necessity. She has no time or heart to spare for mercy.
She has walked this path before, most of it anyway, but she was distracted by the pain then and she is distracted by the rage now.
This is your fault. You told me not to post a guard. You should have left her somewhere safe. I thought I did. This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't left. It did happen. We just have to deal with the consequences. And you'd know all about consequences, wouldn't you? Stop fighting. We can figure out who to blame later. Now. Later.
Her mask cracks, reforms, cracks again, shudders, shakes, but comes out solid, in the end. (it is the end right now, not yet)
There are questions, asked and answered, and her feet carry her closer and closer to where she knows she must go.
The enemy begins to rally, fusing into larger forms to try to bring her down. She laughs and laughs as the fools bring their gems closer to her mouths. Throats tear and arms fall and voices, the few that are left, scream, but only the voices she hears outside her contruct still make a sound.
She's looking for something very important, something that has to be found. She can feel it calling to her. Not it. Her.
Rose.
She runs, crossing miles in heartbeats, reaches a massive tower, a fortress that stretches high above even her head. Her fingers, all thirty of them, dig deep into the walls and she hauls herself upwards.
The gems at the top pour boiling, smoking, steaming water down on her head, trying to make her fall but she can feel Rose calling to her, louder than the pain. (what did they think that would do? we can swim in lava, but we can't, we'll look after you)
There are bolts again, digging into her back, trying desperately to pull her towards the ground. She smiles and lets them. The tower falls with her. She punches her way through its heart before it can crush her and catches the pink gem that tumbles through the hole.
A song she knows, has always known, will always know blooms deep in her chest. Rose is safe.
But it's not over yet. The alarm has been raised and at least a gross of gems pour into and out of the wreckage, weapons at the ready. She places Rose in her mask for safekeeping, swallows her to be sure. No need to worry about Rose reforming inside her. She won't be around that long.
The enemy bring cannons with them and lasers and missiles this time, the most sophisticated weapons they have to bear. Their offense is the stuff of legend, precise and powerful, using no more force than necessary in one blow, but never needing a second blow if the first one lands.
Their defense is childish.
With a scream of rage, she charges. Most of the enemy, technicians and medics, scatter at the sight of her gaping maw. Many warriors go with them.
The few who dare remain behind fall to her iron-tipped claws. A light, glittering dust fills the air and coats her lungs as she breathes it in. It grates against the inside of her construct and her rage burns still hotter.
Billions of light years away, a star goes nova. The inhabitants of nearby planets tell stories of the sight that would have been passed down for generations, were there any generations left to hear. There are none.
She stretches and flexes, peering around warily for some new foe to fight, but she finds none.
Those who could have fought fled and those who didn't flee are in no shape to fight. In fact, they're in no shape at all.
As she begins the trek back to her home, slower this time, there is time now for luxury. The low hum from the gem nestled inside of her comforts her. (see? of course she's safe, a few minutes later and she wouldn't have been, but she is, let's just focus on what is, let's not, please)
Her walk is eerily silent, but her walks always are. Any native mobile organics tend to avoid her. As do most gems. It doesn't bother her though. She knows what she is. (this is your fault, if you want to blame anyone blame them, you know what they did)
As she walks, her head begins to pound (why didn't you tell me you were injured? you didn't ask) but she ignores it (let's just get home before we start fighting) as best she can with her vision beginning to blur (don't worry i think i know this area, you always say that but you're always wrong i don't know why we ever listen to you). She has to keep going (there's a possibility of enemy troops in these woods) but she wants desperately to rest (did we really… yes we really did, get used to it this is what real war looks like). She won't rest until Rose is out of danger. She starts to run just to make the land pass her by faster (i'd be much faster on my own, what about the rest of us?).
Her mask cracks and she can feeling like an aching muscle, an open wound, a broken bone, an itch she can't seem to scratch. (almost there, almost there, almost there, almost there)
Alexandrite falls apart just barely inside the gates of the Lunar Sea Spire.
Pearl picks Rose's gem up, cradles her to her chest, every muscle in her body shaking with fear, with exhaustion, with relief.
Amethyst curls up as small as she can, trying desperately to ride the waves of pain, wishing she could block the sounds of cracking gems.
Ruby feels nothing but almost hysterical excitement that makes her laugh and laugh, but she knows she won't be able to move come morning.
Sapphire straightens herself up, brushes off her dress, taking the role of commander Rose left to her and shoves aside the horrors she's seen.
She walks over to Amethyst and crouches down next to her.
"I'm sorry," she whispers and she means it, "but we had to get out of there alive."
Amethyst shakes her head desperately. "We could have just cracked their gems. We didn't have to-" She can't finish the sentence so Sapphire does it for her.
"Destroy them," she says and Amethyst flinches. "Yes we did. Or they could have destroyed Rose."
"There has to be another way," Amethyst pleads, tears rolling unchecked down her face.
Sapphire smiles sadly. "This is the other way. We used to just stand by and let things like this happen." She places her left hand on Amethyst's back and rubs soothing circles. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget how young you are."
"I just wanna forget today ever happened," Amethyst groans.
"You can," Sapphire says.
Amethyst blinks up at her. "What do you mean?"
Sapphire kisses her on the forehead. "I can make you forget all about today, all about this whole damn war. But not yet. Not until the war is over. If you still want to forget then, come find me." She walks back to where Ruby waits for her.
"Ready, love," Ruby asks.
"Always, dearest," Sapphire replies and even with the whole host of misery that day, she can't help but giggle like a child when Ruby sweeps her off her feet and twirls her around.
The nice thing about being a fusion, Garnet reflects, is that the damage doesn't seem to cross forms. Her skull is perfectly intact and the old strength invigorates her.
A small crowd has gathered, staring at the gems huddled on the stone floor.
"What are you looking at?" Garnet snaps. "Get back to work."
Gradually, they disperse, finding excuses to be somewhere else. In all this time, Pearl hasn't moved from where she stands.
"Are you alright?" Garnet asks gently.
Pearl gives her a watery smile. "This time I get to choose how we protect her," she says.
"Of course," Garnet says. She grins. "You know what she likes," she adds with a wink. Pearl blushes.
Three days later, Rose returns from her gem state. By what Garnet calls sheer luck, Pearl and Amethyst are with her to witness it. Rose sees them, smiles bright enough to make the stars look dim and draws them all into a warm embrace.
"You know," she says. "I think I might make a healing fountain. In fact, now that I think about it, it seems a bit silly not to have one."
They build the fountain together, set brambles with steel thorns to protect it. As they leave, Garnet sees a head of black curls out of the corner of her eye. She smiles. There will be time for tears later, but for now, Rose is safe.