...
Thought returned from nothingness and Tourmaline's mind resumed. She saw nothing, heard nothing, and felt nothing; but still she existed. She was simply waiting to be. However, this wasn't the first time her body had been destroyed so she was no longer operating on pure reflex. She was once again reduced to just her gem, but now she had the chance to remember.
She remembered fire.
Flashes of memory came to her in a tumult, mixing together without order. It was painful and chaotic but eventually, in this timeless space she learned to relax. A new kind of peace came to her and she allowed the knots of her mind to loosen and unravel. All the knowledge, thoughts, and experiences that made up Tourmaline were allowed to spread out and she could look at them from afar and manipulate them at will like jewels upon a table.
She remembered the Absolution, looming black against the sky like an inverted pyramid. She remembered the other Gems, her household, standing at her side. And there were humans there too, doing something. There had been an idea, something to do with the Geode that powered it. But then there were others, other Gems. Or had they been there before? Then there had been fighting, and weapons, and monsters. And then there had been blinding fire, followed by nothingness.
This formless world of thought and potentia was entrancing, but part of Tourmaline could still remember what time was and knew that it must be passing. She needed to reform her body and return to the world of matter and action.
The enemy would be waiting for her.
Bright white light stung her eyes and that sensation brought the realization that she now had eyes. Her body coalesced around her with a pleasant burning heat as Tourmaline hung in place, feeling the arms and legs, fingers and toes return to her. Then gravity returned as well and she dropped a few inches, down to the ground. She landed on her feet and looked up. The scene was more or less what she had expected.
She said, "Hello, rebels."
Gems surrounded her on all sides, a refreshing rainbow of familiar hues. But it only took a glance to tell that this was not true civilization, but rather a cruel and vicious mockery. Tourmaline's new body stood in the middle of an empty circular arena carved out of rock. All around her, standing in elevated rows, were the enemy. There were over a hundred of them, Agates, Quartzes, Bismuths, Rubies, Peridots, and even more. Here and there among them loomed fusions, some normal, some monstrous, but all of them just existing, not performing any task. But Tourmaline knew who to blame for that, and she stood in the forefront of it all.
Rose Quartz wrapped herself in a gentle white dress but still her terrible power radiated out from her false beauty, like the very shadow of war. A Bismuth and the monster Garnet flanked her on each side of the platform and still the Quartz seemed taller by far. Tourmaline's eyes flicked down and saw the defective, violent Pearl sitting elegantly at Rose Quartz's feet, one arm gently trailing up to rest on her leg. Then Tourmaline saw the purple pole-arm lying flat the stone beside the Pearl. Tourmaline fought the urge to laugh, it was twelve feet away and for all the good it would do her it might as well be on Homeworld.
So she turned her face up towards Rose Quartz. "Where are my household?"
An Agate off to her right said, "Hey, how about a little thank you? With that super weapon exploding in the sky we didn't have to risk our gems rescuing you guys, but we did anyway. And then we had to deal with a crazy hopped-up Tourmaline swinging some Quartz cleaver so a quick poof and bubble was pretty gentle under the circumstances."
Then a very familiar voice joined in. Tourmaline's own words sprang out from another mouth with a sarcastic lilt. "See, I've always been telling you we Tourmalines are mighty warriors." Tourmaline turned to see a other one of her in the stands. The other her was about to continue but was then interrupted by the Rose Quartz herself.
"Crazy Lace, Melon, that's enough. She's just had a very challenging day and her first thought is for her friends. Don't give her a hard time for that."
The other Tourmaline shrugged her perfectly type-standard pink shoulders, and shook her absolutely normal green hair. Without meaning to, Tourmaline crossed her arms, fingers tracing across her own much redder skin. No, she couldn't allow herself to be rattled. She wasn't an off-color, she was within minimum acceptable standards. She just had to remember that reassuring thought.
Rose Qwartz smiled down at Tourmaline. "Your friends are safe. In fact we have already spoken to several of them before you were unbubbled. They had wonderful things to say about you, Tourmaline. It seems you've done amazing things."
The rebel Bismuth at Rose Qwartz's side snorted. "Yeah, amazing. Amazing and really convenient. Let's just say there was reason we let you out last"
Tourmaline didn't know how to respond. "I didn't try to do anything. Just my duty."
An Amethyst shouted out from the crowd. "Are you kidding? You're the one who told us how the Geode worked! Without that, the Absolution would have shattered us into dust before we could have hoped to stop it."
"I...I didn't mean to..." Guilt and confusion swirled around Tourmaline. "I was just try to..trying to..."
Tourmaline stood on the ridge-line before the Absolution. There was smoke and there was dust, and there were mountains breaking apart like falling sand. Somewhere nearby a human screamed. That individual had known the humans who dwelled in that other valley. Now there was no valley, only a scar, black and red were the friction had melted rock. Tourmaline felt something small brush her skin.
Grey flakes, drifting on the wind like gentle falling snow. It was the ash of the forests and the farmlands below. Knowing chemistry, some of it was probably human bodies as well. It sounded like Dawa's humans knew that too.
Her Gems hadn't wanted the humans to come here, but they still had. They carried weapons of wood and stone, spears and axes and bows, but still they came. They had no hope of defeating Gems, and yet they had come anyway, because all they wanted was to exist in peace, away from the specter of war. Tourmaline found herself smiling at these creatures.
Then the Rebels had arrived. The Absolution had fired. And Tourmaline's humans had burst into flame.
That was in another place. A place where she'd forgotten who made her. A place where she had helped the enemies of the Diamonds because the alternative was destruction. The enemies who had destroyed her home. She stood before the court of Rose Quartz. She looked down at the floor. "I'm a failure. Again and again."
"No, you have failed. That is never the same thing." Rose Quartz's voice was so firm that it felt like a blow. Then it softened like the glaciers melting into twinkling streams. "We've all failed. And we've all succeeded. But look at us. Failure doesn't have to weaken, it can give us strength. It allows us to learn. It allows us to hope for change, like the life on this planet does every day. And you can be a part of that strength, if you want."
Tourmaline let out a single laugh, so harsh she almost choked on it. Her fist trembled at her side and there were tears in her eyes, the evidence of more swirling emotions than she could label. "You want me to join you?"
"I know it's frightening. After all, you were just hiding out to find a safe place for your friends to be themselves. But that's what we're fighting for." Beside Rose Quartz, Tourmaline saw the Garnet shift slightly, as if for some reason no longer quite as at ease.
But Rose Quartz continued, "That is what this planet means to us, to everyone. A chance to celebrate who we are, not who we were meant to be. And the only way that can happen, the only way that safe place can be made, is to drive back the Diamonds who refuse to understand." She stepped forward to the edge of the raised platform, stepping over the abandoned pole-arm, and knelt down on one knee, her hand outstretched towards Tourmaline. "You can help us. On your own you've already done more than most Gems would imagine attempting. We would love to join you. Please, will you come be part of our home?"
She was so tall. Even without the platform, if Rose Quartz had kneeled like that beside Tourmaline on flat ground she would still have been at eye level. Tourmaline could hardly bare to look up from the floor to meet her, and yet from her periphery she could see no offense from the Quartz, only a genuine warmth and ernest passion. Slowly, Tourmaline loosened her hand from its fist and took a step towards the platform.
She raised her hand up to her shoulder as her self glowed, shimmering as her long ribbon coalesced into existence. Around the chamber, several of the Gems dropped into attack postures but it quickly became apparent that a Tourmaline's inherent weapon was a poor tool for war. She said, barely murmuring. "I'm not made for fighting."
Rose Quartz voice was smooth like the embrace of solid rock. "So few of us are."
Then Tourmaline raised up her arm to hurl her ribbon between Rose Quartz's feet. Around the room there were sudden gasps of shock, but Rose Quartz only leaned back in surprise, even as Tourmaline's power increased the ribbon's weight, turning its end ballistic. The same pulse of added weight allowed her to whip the ribbon, and let the end wrap around the haft of the massive pole-arm Rose Quartz had left lying right behind her.
Tourmaline yanked back on her ribbon and with another pulse of her power the forged weapon shot towards her, now almost weightless. The motion was violent and sudden and yet, despite her confusion, Rose Quartz simply hopped slightly in the air, effortlessly dodging the weapon that threatened to knock her legs from under her.
The weapon haft landed in Tourmaline's hand and there were already twenty instruments of war pointed at her gem from various parts of the stands. Flashes of materialization light from every direction showed more were coming from the rest of the rebels, but all those were academic before the thin sword-blade that raced forward towards Tourmaline like a rocket, clutched in the fist of a Pearl. By the time Tourmaline blinked she was only two paces away.
Tourmaline spun the pole-arm haft, only at the last moment remembering to give it back enough weight to deflect the sword point. It caught the blade but the rogue Pearl didn't care, pirouetting as the sword flashed again, this time towards Tourmaline's abdomen, ready to bite through her body and dissipate her form in an instant.
"Stop!"
Rose Quartz called out and Pearl froze at the very point of impact. Tourmaline could feel the metal point pressing against her surface, just at the limit of what her body could withstand. Then the sword was gone and Pearl had stepped back, holding her weapon elegantly behind her back.
"Of course," Pearl said, never taking her eyes off Tourmaline. "She's still clumsy. I don't think she is any real threat."
Tourmaline's hand gripped so tight on the haft that its texture bit her palm."No, I'm not." She had been defeated in less than two seconds. Then she looked up at Rose Quartz and her next words tore out of throat with the force of long suppressed rage. "But you are. How can you not see that you've become monsters!"
She screamed up at one of the most powerful warriors ever made, with an army surrounding her. But Tourmaline couldn't bring herself to care, because in front of her was Rose Quartz. Somewhere within her soul, a dam had broken. "You've ruined everything. You claim your rebellion is to allow Gems to be themselves, but how can we? You destroyed my purpose! You came upon all these Gems, and you destroyed them, ripped them free of their lives and their destinies to leave them lost in this storm of chaos. No wonder they cling to you, they have nothing left after you pass by."
The Bismuth at Rose Quartz side snarled and stepped forward but her mistress held out a hand. Rose Quartz' head had tilted down, her long pink hair falling to cover her face.
Tourmaline was trembling with fear and with rage but she continued, tears running down her cheeks. "Your freedom is poison. No one actually wants that! Gems want security, they want understanding, they want long existence where they can be successful and productive. And they want peace. That's what you've destroyed. You destroyed our hope for peace. Gems are being shattered, Gems are lost, Gems that were never made to fight are being forced onto the battle field. Who are you to decide that? You're just an Earth-made Gem like the rest of us. What gave you the right?!"
A deathly silence had descended over the rebel gems. Tourmaline knew her time was short. Slowly but firmly, she gripped her weapon in both hands and angled massive blade towards Rose Quartz. Tourmaline began to walk forward.
"I'm too weak to make myself hate you. I don't even think you're a terrible person. You just don't understand. You can't see that you're wrong, that everything you stand for is dedicated to the destruction of those I love and the ruination of this world."
The sword blade was at her throat. "Step back," the Pearl said.
Tourmaline never took her eyes off Rose Quartz, even if the other gem had hidden behind her long pink hair. She was only speaking to the leader. "No," Tourmaline said. "No, you could destroy me in an instant. I'm just a Tourmaline and you're a Quartz. You're bigger, you're stronger, you are so far above me I can barely comprehend it. I'll lose, I know that. But I will fight you. I have to. To protect the world and the people I love from what you are trying to do."
Tourmaline didn't know what to expect. Something swift and violent, ending with the destruction of her body and the shattering of her mind. What she didn't expect was laughter; loud, rough, and debilitating laughter.
Even the rebels looked confused as they saw their leader, the terrible Rose Quartz, gasping in laughter. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to wipe them away. For a moment she regained breath. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Then a new peal of laughing broke through and she held up her hand as she tried to stop it again.
The disrespect was so fierce Tourmaline felt like her gem had been ripped out of her body. "How dare you!" she screamed.
"I'm sorry," Rose Quartz finally managed to gain control of herself. "I really am sorry. But sometimes a moment is so astonishingly perfect that you just can't help it. A mirror in time. Garnet, go fetch the rest of her friends, all those who didn't really want to ally with us."
The Garnet fusion nodded with a small smile and darted off. Tourmaline was left in the middle of the amphitheater, weapon loose in her hands as she boggled.
"What...what's happening?"
The Bismuth turned to, "Uh yeah, Rose, what the heck's happening? Sure, give them a chance to join, but that gem is an unredeemable Diamond supporter who's just declared eternal war on us. Why does she still have that weapon? Why's she still have a body? Why's she still standing?! Rose! Answer me!" Even the Pearl, who by her behavior must have been Rose Quartz's own, seemed unsettled.
The Garnet returned with an armful of containment bubbles, and then a few seconds later flashes of light heralded the return of Ruby, the Peridots, Nephrite, and the latter two Bismuths.
Ruby came back into the world already punching. "Yaah! You ready for more?! I already told you clods I...!" She froze and realized that time had passed. All her aggression flicked off like a switch. "Oh, hi Tourmaline. Cool, you got out too. These Gems are weird."
The Peridots both reformed at once. In unison, they started talking and got as far as, "So as I was saying..." before they noticed the remarkably changed circumstances and shut down mid word out of fear and confusion.
Nephrite ran up and threw her arms around Tourmaline's shoulders in a hug, silent as always. For her part, Tourmaline just patted the larger gem's arm, still half in a daze. It wasn't all of them, not everyone from the mountain cave. Some must have defected to the rebels. But it was enough.
Rose Quartz smiled down on her, not the same warm yet calculated smile she had before, but a genuine and ungrateful expression of joy. There may even have been something like wistfulness.
"Go on your way Tourmaline. After that speech there's really nothing else I can say, now is there? To do anything else, I'd be betraying myself."
"You're...You're letting us go?" Most of the rebels didn't look happy about that either.
However, it seemed Rose Quartz didn't care. "It's a big world out there. I hope that, no matter what happens, you find a place for yourself. And know that, if things go to plan, I'll make sure of it."
...