Part 1: The Mission
Chapter 10: Caught
Sapphire took the briefest of moments to take in the unique architecture of the Lunar Sea Spire, not noticing initially that Ruby was weaving through the crowd to an information desk.
"R-Ruby wait for me." Sapphire quickly caught up with her red companion, who was trying their hardest to get the attention of a painfully bored looking Selenite.
"Hey, excuse me!" Ruby shouted, waving her gem hand over the edge of the desk, "we're here to report on mission 57-O-23, status: Accomplished." The pale mental gem finished staring into space and glared down at the red gem, then proceeded to shuffle lazily through paperwork.
"Uh huh…. Objective being to transport a seer sapphire? Escorted via a… Ruby." She glanced between the two small gems, then back to the report documentation. Ruby glared a bit, familiarizing herself with the dismissive nature mental class gems still held for her; Sapphire gently moved her hand onto her brute friend's hand.
"Yes." Ruby grunted, "Now, we'd like to know where we can go for long-term assignment." The Selenite blinked, then laughed; her clear frame shimmering with her regal, dismissive chuckles.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, you silly brute." Her finger moved to the bottom of the document, "there's a hold on this mission report. You are to report to 'General Jasper' for final sign-off" the tall mental gem rolled her eyes, only for Sapphire to clear her throat. Both Ruby and the Selenite felt her patience wearing thin, despite her face not showing any hint of malice.
"In that case, where may we find her? We've had a long journey, and would appreciate finishing this mission with expediency." The Selenite sighed, and dropped the report into Ruby's waiting hands.
"She's upstairs, briefing office 203." As the two gems moved to the stairs the Selenite called out, "and if she's in a…. Aggressive mood, don't say I didn't warn you." Ruby groaned, eyes narrowing a bit.
"Believe me, I'm ready for that." The red gem groaned, visibly sweating as she took her first steps on the spiral stairs of the spire. She was stopped momentarily by the cool feeling of Sapphire's hand on hers.
"Are you sure about that?" the concern in the blue gem's voice was moving, "I could meet with her instead. You don't have to confront her, you know." Ruby blinked, letting her fingers interlace with her blue friend's.
"Thanks, but…. Just you being there will be enough." She smiled softly, slowly ascending the stairs with Sapphire by her side, "I want to finish this thing together, you know?" the blue gem nodded, a slight blue blush spreading across her face as she turned to look over the exterior of the spire.
"We feel the same way then." She pondered, recalling the way she felt when she decided to share in whatever Ruby's fate would be. As the stairs wound higher and higher past sculptures and lecture halls, Ruby's anxiety waxed and waned between small haggard breaths. Finally, they reached the door of Jasper's assigned office; Ruby braced herself with a short breath. She nodded to Sapphire, who slowly, gracefully pushed aside the thin metal door. Inside, Jasper was crouched over battle formations; to Ruby she somehow seemed even more furiously unstable as she moved pawns in frustration, trying to work around a multi-pronged offensive. On either side of the door were two citrine guards; stoic and mute but ever vigilant.
"Get out. Can't you see I'm busy here?" the orange gem grunted, not looking up from her designs. Ruby pursed her lips, and stepped forward into the dimly-lit room.
"General Jasper, sir?" her quiet croak caused Jasper's head to snap up, "We were sent here to-"
"How dare you?" the general stood, towering over Ruby and Sapphire, "after ten days, you have the gall to slink in here."
"Jasper, there was-" Ruby croaked as Jasper stormed over, eyes full of rage and fists balled.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't feed you to the crystal shrimp!" she roared, fist flying forward. Her momentum was only barely stayed when she found Sapphire had moved in front of her usual red punching bag. Her glare was stony, enough to make even the maddest brute gem take pause.
"I believe I can give you a good deal many reasons why you should spare Ruby." She softly growled as Jasper's fist pulled away, though it was nearly as large as her head, "in fact, I believe you owe her some commending."
"I'm listening, Seer gem." Jasper squinted down at her. She sighed, straightening out her dress a bit as she recalled details.
"Ruby has gone above and beyond in this escort mission. When the warp pad to the sea spire was inoperable, not only did she guide me through the wilds of earth but she put my comfort and safety above her own at all times. She has faced off against men, wolves, and what I have assessed to be an 'auroch' and endured the most extreme of physical and emotional stresses to deliver me safely. In my opinion she exemplifies the best of what a brute gem can be." Ruby balked, glowing with a sudden sense of pride. Even with Sapphire stretching the truth, she had a lot to feel proud for. Jasper's eyebrow was raised with uncertainty, and yet after a moment she nodded.
"Huh, that story checks out I guess." She took the mission report and ambled to her desk, "I guess you really do have it in you, Ruby. Consider yourself front infantry."
Ruby balked for a moment, "uh, actually…"
"I was hoping to request a permanent assignment of Ruby as my own personal guard, actually." Sapphire chimed in, sparing her friend her inability to explain her change of heart.
"Yeah, that. We uh…. Work well together." The Red gem stammered. Jasper looked up, then shrugged.
"Whatever I guess, guard assignments are in room-" Jasper trailed off as she looked closely at the two gems. Then Ruby, then her burlap shawl.
"What… are you wearing?" Jasper's voice was flat, and incredulous. Ruby gulped and stumbled a bit, eyes darting between Jasper, her guards, the door and her Sapphire.
"What this?" the red gem laughed softly, "Just something I, uh, found on my travels. I think it looks good on me." Ruby quickly turned to leave, only to find the citrine guards had moved to block the door, as if compelled by an unspoken command.
"Take it off. You look ridiculous." The orange gem compelled, causing both of the small gems to quail a bit.
"Why should she?" Sapphire demanded, once again putting herself between Ruby and Jasper, "there are no rules against keeping foreign memorabilia that is non-hazardous." To this the general moved closer, a scowl growing across her face.
"It's suspicious. This squirt would pick up some earth material to hide something." He gave a nod, and one of the guards forcefully yanked the cape away, dragging Ruby to her knees. The glow of the corruption filled the room, and the citrine that unveiled her jerked away in horror.
"w-we can explain!" Sapphire kneeled beside Ruby protectively, even as Jasper began to process the information before her.
"You… you were going to infect us all, weren't you squirt?" she scowled, marching towards them, "you were waiting to turn until you got here, and then you were going to infect everyone, right? I expect this sort of chemical warfare from that psycho Galena, but the rebels too?"
"No!" Sapphire howled as ruby coughed, the veins finally reaching, "it's not like that, this was an accident-"
"RESTRAIN THE SAPPHIRE!" Jasper yelled, as the two citrines struggled to separate the mournful blue gem from her friend, "and as for you, I'm going to show you what happens to gems that betray the empire."
"S-Sapph-" Ruby choked out just in time for Jasper to kick her full force into the office wall. Sapphire let out a pained gasp as tears started to stream down her face, yet try as she might she could not struggle away from the grip of the citrines. As Ruby struggled to get to her feet, Jasper let out another kick; each blow willed the veins of corruption closer and closer to her gem.
"Come on already," the orange gem grunted as she throttled the now limp Ruby, "retreat in to your gem so I can finally, FINALLY, smash you!" Jasper was poised to deliver one final kick when the door to her office slammed open. Every gem in the room, even Ruby in her immense agony, turned to face the empty doorway. There was no sign that anything had opened the heavy metal door, though it stood wide open. Jasper stared at it wearily, but then sighed.
"The wind," she drew her leg back again, "one of you better close th-" at that moment, her foot seemed to be drawn backwards by an invisible force and the door slammed shut on its own.
"w-what?" one of the citrine's muttered, only for a black knife to emerge from its chest, causing the other to drop Sapphire and attempt to defend herself. This proved in vain when a dusty brown gem appeared from nowhere and cut her down with twin chakram.
"I've got the door, hurry!" she called, pinning her thin frame against the door to brace it. Jasper scrambled to her feet to push her aside, only to be intercepted by another mysteriously-appearing gem; this one was large and light-blue and grinning proudly.
"Hi Jaspie." She bellowed, sucker-punching the general in the gut hard enough to force her to retreat into her gem. She then laughed, and then gave a thumbs-up to a black gem materializing across the room, "perimeter's clear."
"Obsidian is already sorting the documents, patience." The black gem replied, throwing open drawers and scanning papers. From the floor, Ruby and Sapphire each looked at the intruding gems with bewilderment. Sapphire cautiously crawled across the floor towards Ruby, which caught the attention of the tawny door gem.
"Turquoise, there's two more targets on the floor." Though she was a mental gem, her words to the big and likely brute gem were patient and even toned. Even more shocking, the blue gem scoffed in response.
"C'mon, these two are harmless," she squatted between Sapphire and Ruby, out of pure ignorance of the situation, "you saw how Jasper was wailing on… this one." The large cyan gem's eyes studied Ruby intently, causing her to tense in expectation of more pain.
"Topaz, look at her." The blue gem rubbed her gem; a huge blue and brown rock encapsulating her jaw. The Topaz sighed, her lips pursed with fear and caution.
"Yes, she's infected. Be careful near her, and we should-"
"But no, the fountain!" the Turquoise insisted, "I bet you anything at this stage the fountain could work on her. We have to try it!"
"That's not at all part of our mission." The Topaz responded flatly, but was showing clear signs of intrigue.
"Look, we've got the documents. How would this hurt our mission? This may be our only chance to try this." The cyan gem's eyes pleaded to the brown gem, who was now rubbing her own gem on her cheek, seeming puzzled.
"Well… what do you think, Obsidian?" she asked the black gem flitting through the documents on Jasper's desk. She looked over briefly and shrugged her broad shoulders.
"Obsidian has no qualms with this plan. If you may carry her, Obsidian will consent to this." With that she gathered together a stack of documents under each arm, "we shall go now." Sapphire watched as the larger blue gem wrapped her Ruby in the remains of the burlap; a new sense of dread building inside her.
"I suppose these are rebels… Oh Ruby, what are they going to do to you?" as the Turquoise lifted an utterly defeated looking Ruby, she found the strength to clear her voice enough to gain the leaving rebels attention.
"I- I won't just let you take her." The small blue gem quaked, the eyes of the rebels caught on her, "if you take her- y-you have to take me too."
The three rebel gems shared a look; the turquoise was sporting a bemused grin and the Topaz and Obsidian had an identical nonplussed expression, the latter casually handed the former the report stacks.
"Ok." The three responded, as the stocky black gem lifted Sapphire. She squeaked in surprise, but met eyes with Ruby's; full of confusion and anxiety.
"You two stay quiet, alright?" the Topaz whispered, just as the soldiers of the spire began banging on the door behind her. She nodded to the Obsidian. She took a deep breath and with a pulse Ruby and Sapphire found themselves, and the rebels, completely invisible. The door swung open and the guards poured into the room, barking orders and searching high and low for the intruders. The two small gems found themselves being carried out the door, seemingly dancing past the brute gems. As they slowly weaved their way down the stairs, past flurries of confused soldiers and generals, it seemed like a clear shot to the main warp hub of the spire.
Until a familiar grey gem blocked their path at the top of the stairs; her grey eyes burrowed into them before she laughed and produced a white powder from one of her bags.
"Well, you must be those spies all this fuss is over." Galena laughed, and threw the powder onto the rebels, coating them all in a layer of white film they could not shake clean. She then began to draw her syringe.
"Fancy me, delivering no less than five rebels to the authority. Or maybe I could divvy you up into test subject- wait, what are you doing?" she was addressing the Turquoise, who was filling her lungs with air. Just as Galena and a few other guards moved into range to strike her down she blew them aside with gale-force winds.
"Come on, we don't have much time now!" she led the other three gems down the stairs, towards the base of the spire. They were immediately cut off by a wall of citrines from the main warp hub.
"Obsidian would like to remind you all that we're being surrounded." In a moment of huddled trepidation, Sapphire placed her hand on Ruby's.
"There's still the Auxiliary warp." The topaz turned towards the nine-foot drop between their position and without hesitation leapt gracefully towards it, which the obsidian and turquoise promptly followed. As the guards tried to close the distance on them, a warp pad came into view at the edge of the courtyard. As the few guards of the auxiliary warp closed in to block them off, Turquoise shifted Ruby to one arm and summoned a dark brown staff from her gem.
"Tell General Emerald I said hi." She smirked, knocking them aside into a cloud of yellow smoke. The rebels crowded onto the warp pad and as they warped away to safety they watched the empire forces attempt to interrupt the stream in vain. Within a few minutes, they found themselves in a field half a world away, and Obsidian and Turquoise promptly set Ruby and Sapphire down and pounded the warp pad into dust. Topaz stood aside, sorting through the papers they had taken.
"I… can't believe we did it. Decades of planning, and we did It." She locked eyes with Turquoise, who had a wistful grin on her face. She rushed over and lifted the brown gem, spinning her and laughing.
"You bet we did it babe! Mission ACCOMPLISHED!" the blue gem hooted as her ally blushed and laughed along with her. Obsidian gave a little eye roll before returning to the warp pad's destruction. In the lull of the moment, Sapphire crawled to Ruby's side.
"Are you alright?" she whispered, hand caressing her covered shoulder. Ruby leaned up a bit, wincing in pain.
"I'm stable anyway." She gave a brief smile, but then watched the rebel gems. Something in this moment caught her off guard; these rebels were certainly braver and kinder than any propaganda reports she had been exposed to.
"Does this make us rebels now?" the little red gem asked her friend, who had also taken up watching the rebel gems.
"Perhaps we are." She sighed, her vision misting over with time, "But you know what? The rebellion, as of now, has a chance of winning the war."
"Really?" Ruby asked, mild surprise on her face.
"Yes… it's small, but the intelligence they gathered can turn the tide of the war in their favor." Sapphire wrapped her arms around Ruby; in the uncertainty surrounding their frightening, stressful and confusing day they took comfort that they were still together.
-END PART 1-