The fusion had been discovered. There was really no going back now. Morganite marched towards them, heels stomping against the hard floor. Oh Diamonds, she was going to shatter them.
"You've corrupted my best Ruby!" screamed Morganite. "I'll have you shattered, you disgusting, disgraceful, disappointing Pearl!"
Ruby moved to protect her lover. She was trying hard not to set the place on fire in fear. "It was my fault! I-I-I asked her to!"
Morganite pointed a finger. "Don't think you're scot-free, I'll have you taken to court and sentenced to a life of imprisonment," she stepped back and placed a hand to her forehead as if she'd faint. "OHHH," she whined. "I take in a ratty Pearl from the kindness of my heart and she repays me like this!"
Peridot continued to stand awkwardly in the door way, sweating. She didn't know what to do. She was astounded by what had happened in front of her. She hadn't been aware that different gems could fuse at all- or would want to for that matter. Eventually she perked up, lifting a finger. "U-uh, should I send a message to Zircon,"
Morganite stopped swooning and turned back towards her secretary. "Yes, begin drafting a letter," she whipped towards Pearl and Ruby. "and you," she pointed at Pearl. "are going to be shattered immediately,"
Morganite reached out over Ruby to yank Pearl up by the wrist. Pearl, unsteady and terrified, stumbled as she was forced onto her feet. She inadvertently knocked into Ruby who stepped out of the way. Ruby stared in disbelief and panic for little more than five entire seconds before lunging and placing a death grip on Pearl's other arm.
"What are you doing, let go! You're only making things worse," cried Morganite, pulling Pearl. Ruby was scooted a few inches, unable to match the strength of the bigger gem. She pulled hard on Pearl in the opposite direction, which gained a whimper form Pearl. They were hurting her!
Morganite gave another hardy tug and Ruby let go, tumbling back onto her bottom. She was fearful and furious, tears dabbing at her eyes and the floor beginning to scorch. This was not how things were supposed to happen. She breathed heavily and watched as Morganite was dragging Pearl away to the door.
Another burst of courage enveloped her, as if someone had struck a match inside her belly. She yelled out and leaped into a run; Ruby subsequently punched Morganite in the back when she wasn't looking.
"Augh!" Morganite yelped, feeling fire against her body. She had let go of Pearl and stumbled forward with the force, a hand rubbing the burn on her back. By now Ruby had taken Pearl's hand and took off out the room and front door- leaving a screaming and cursing Morganite in the door frame calling after the couple. Peridot, scared yet mystified, had yet to start the draft.
The two had been wandering around Homeworld for nearly an hour, keeping to the few shadowy areas that they could. There were just so many aristocratic gems with servants trailing behind them that they feared one of them would eventually notice that they were alone and suspicious. Servant gems did sometimes run errands without their masters, but they were paranoid.
So far no one had come after them. They ended up stopped behind a building hidden inside a sliver of darkness that it cast. Ruby paced and Pearl sat with her back to the wall. She had her knees to her chest and held them close. She sniffled softly.
"I'm s-so sorry," Pearl stuttered weakly.
Ruby stopped pacing and placed her hand on top of Pearl's head. "It's not your fault," she replied. "it's the whole messed up system,"
Pearl glanced up and nodded once. They were quiet, both in their own thoughts.
Ruby removed her hand. "What do we do now,"
Pearl tightened her hold of her legs. "They'll send robots after us,"
The standing gem shuttered and crossed her arms. She sat down beside her lover and leaned against her. Pearl wiped a tear from her eye. Soon they were holding hands and Ruby was whispering that everything would be alright- they'd make it through somehow.
"I should have waited," replied Pearl. "we should have went to the room- we sh-should have-" she sighed.
The other kissed the back of Pearl's hand and shooshed her sweetly in the same way a mother might a scared child. Ruby eventually stood up to look around the corner and into the open streets of Homeworld cautiously. Gems strolled here and there. She observed an Agate buying something from a lowly vendor then bundling it up and handing it to her Pearl. Across the way a Zircon wagged her finger and yelled at a somewhat smaller Topaz.
Suddenly a gem caught her eye in the sparse crowd. It was the lavender Zircon from Morganite's past house party- oh no. She seemed to be frantically asking random gems questions. Pink Sapphire was with her; her future vision would give them away. Pink Sapphire's head slowly turned towards the building they were squatting behind. Ruby leaped back, startled. Oh Diamonds.
"What's wrong," whispered Pearl.
Ruby rubbed her red cheek and picked at a curl in her hair. She peeked around again- just for a second. Pink Sapphire was walking else where, and the Zircon had opened up a light screen. She was communicating with another Zircon, no doubt ordering for the release of search droids.
"We've got to go," Ruby rasped, shaking. "now,"
They held hands and tried to fast walk inconspicuously away from that direction. They skirted around the edge of a drop off and walked around the building, heading away. Not once did they look back. Suddenly there was a shout- Zircon had seen them!
"You two! Pearl and Ruby! Stop! Stop right now! Identify yourselves!" yelled the Zircon from some distance, hands cupped around her mouth.
When the pair didn't turn, speeding up as if readying to dart, her suspicions were confirmed. She called up the light screen and reported the information on where they were and where they were heading. Pink Sapphire by now had come back to Zircon's side. Yes, she had seen them in her future vision. But she hadn't ratted them out. This was all a waste of time.
As Pearl and Ruby ran around another towering building, shoving past angry elites, they thought they heard Zircon screaming that it was already too late. Before long they heard humming- robonoid. Death was near, Pearl began to shake. Ruby gripped her hand hard. There- she saw it- the conical robonoid's eye hovering far behind them and scanning. It caught sight of them and sped up, moving over the tops of chatting and disgusted gems.
Suddenly the two took out in a run with Ruby nearly dragging Pearl behind her. They had to escape! They had to hide! It saw them, and they needed to lose it fast. Ruby turned around the side of a short spire, but the robonoid wasn't dumb. It swooped around the corner and kept following them. The eye glowed, readying to shoot.
The two turned again and the shot missed. Something exploded and someone screamed but they didn't have time to rubberneck- keep going! Pearl thought she heard an Agate yelling at them to halt. Any and all eyes that they passed were stuck on them as their legs carried them away- away- they stopped.
It was the edge. There was no where else to go. Pearl began to cry and Ruby couldn't keep still, her head shifting every what way. The robonoid had spotted them again. It closed in. Ruby looked over her shoulder at the steep drop off; she knew what was down there. Dirt. Darkness. Death. She locked eyes with the robonoid, up at her partner, then back to the robonoid. This was it. This was really, really it. She swallowed her fear.
It prepared to shoot, electricity licking the air as it glowed. Ruby's previously frozen legs began to tremble. As the glow reached its peak Ruby tackled Pearl's legs and tipped them over- the shot lashed out over their heads. Pearl screamed and Ruby clung to her.
They were falling.
The buzzing robonoid looked over the edge, but they were simply falling too fast to aim at. Soon they disappeared into the obscurity of lower Homeworld. It had no orders to follow past the ends of the world, so it just backed up and calmly went on its way back to base.
They awoke in a flurry of dust and debris, having left quite the indent in the ground. When Ruby sat up, sore and confused, she realized that they had escaped certain death. Her quick thinking landed them at the bottom of Homeworld, but at least they were alive. Pearl blinked awake beside her, having had a temporarily a lapse in consciousness. She was awake now, though.
Pearl coughed as the dust settled. "Wh-where are we?" she asked, so scared her teeth chattered.
Ruby stood up on wobbly legs. All around them light filtered down, casting long shadows and flittering across particles in the air. Everything was gray.
"Somewhere safe... I hope," Ruby replied quietly.
She helped her love back onto her feet. They thought it best to keep moving in case robonoids were sent down after them as often happened with escaped gems. The two walked among the ruins. They'd never seen this part of the world, not even in images. It was the original kindergarten. The whole thing was a maze of holes and rock, bitten bare by the sharp canines of gemkind. It inspired awe as much as despair. Anyone who ended up down here was dead for sure.
Pearl wasn't going to question Ruby's choices. What had happened was obviously not the most desirable action, but it had been the only one. Were it not for her short, sweet little Ruby's dedication to keeping her safe, they would have been fried by now. And then, after they were electrocuted, their stones would be taken to court. Pearl would be instantly shattered, and Ruby would be put in a rigged trial.
They had been through so much together. Pearl recalled that day when they had first been seen to the door by Sapphire. She had scrutinized them and waved them out as if she had seen their future, and Pearl couldn't help but wonder just how far the Sapphire could see. Did she know they'd fall in love? Have sex? Fuse? Did Sapphire know they'd jump? Well, now they'd never know.
There was a strange, stale wind that moved through the depths. Other worldly sounds came from them when the breeze pushed over the edges of holes. Ruby kept close to Pearl while Pearl took to watching their surroundings. Compared to the liveliness of the surface- it was so quiet. It made them nervous.
They'd been walking for some time.
"I need to rest," said Pearl.
Gems did not get tired in the sense humans do. But the excitement and turmoil of it all was draining the life out of Pearl. They moved into a large hole in the rock and sat down.
"Feeling okay?" asked a worried Ruby. She was petting the back of Pearl's hand to calm her.
She nodded. "Y-yeah.. I just don't know wh-what we're going to do,"
Ruby kissed the hand and kept petting. She was quiet for a while in thought. "We should just keep going! If we- if we keep moving we can hide. They'll never find us,"
Pearl sighed a shaky breath. Ruby was right, that was all they could do. With any luck the burrows in the walls would confuse the robots once they began sniffing them out. Though so far everything was lifeless. If they could see no gems alive in the pit- who was to say survival here was possible at all? But they loved each other. They'd keep moving on and on and on for that love; if they died then they died together.
Pearl took Ruby's other hand. She stared with wet eyes into Ruby's, brows furrowed. In the smallest voice she asked "Can we fuse?"
Ruby returned a miniscule smile. She kissed Pearl gently- shaking. They blurred into light and became one again.
Rhodonite took a moment to settle herself. She hugged her knees to her chest, eyes closed. Her thoughts were swirling around in her shared mind. As a fusion the two would be less likely to get split up if cornered, and if caught they'd be together until fired upon.
She crawled out of the hole and faced the dark canyon once more. This was it, she supposed. This was her new home. Rhodonite took a breath and started off again towards what she'd like to think was the heart of the maze; dizzying and intertwining in ways that would hopefully mix up a hunting robot. Her top hands held together and the lower ones stayed at her sides. Above, light was flicking through the dust.
well guys, this is it. thanks so much for following me through summer as i finished this. this is the longest fanfic i ever wrote! i hope you've enjoyed all the doodles i stuck in too. there will be an epilogue posted after this to wrap it up. 3 see y'all around