There was a sound of glass shattering, and Topaz winced.
"Now, I know you're not happy that this is happening so soon..." he began to explain.
Diamond drew in a deep breath, and turned around, stepping out of the shadows. Most of her skin, including her face, was made up of white crystal, maybe all but twenty percent.
"It's as good a time as ever," the gem said in a voice that sounded like death. "Well done in managing to bait her; Peridot will pay for baiting her early."
There was a long pause in which Topaz looked down at the gray floor, and finally gathered the nerve to look up.
"...Why is it that you want her so badly?" Topaz asked uneasily. Diamond's gaze snapped toward him with such ferocity that he flinched.
"It's been a long time...such a long time...Topaz, we need her gem. You remember when we first came here, the temple that we landed near? The pyramid temple? It's the only one that can create a signal strong enough to send us home. And to do that, we need her gem...She managed to slip away from us before I realized that we needed it."
Topaz was shocked by the fact that Diamond almost sounded desperate.
"I...see..." Topaz said unassuredly. "I'll do my best."
"Your best isn't a promise. Get the job done," Diamond growled. Topaz's eyes widened when he thought he saw the crystal that was incasing her skin spread a little further after she snapped at him. "I want to go home."
The sun rose over the beach, spreading a refreshing light over the sand. Two weeks had passed since Peridot had first come to Rose Quartz's temple, and in these two weeks, Garnet was no less at ease than when he first appeared.
"Pearl, you stay at the temple. I don't want you getting hurt."
"But Garnet! I want to help!"
"Pearl, listen," Rose finally spoke up. "We don't want you getting injured, or else it could jeopardize our mission. We want to be able to return safely with...Amethyst, was it?...And then we will return, alright?"
"...Okay," Pearl moped, turning back toward the house.
"Hey, Pearl?" Garnet asked, turning away from the warp pad for a moment to look at the younger gem.
"Yeah?" the young gem asked, turning back around.
Garnet shaped her fingers into a gun. "Bang," she said with a smile.
Pearl giggled, and started to run back toward the temple, but as the others turned away, she stopped running, and began to inch back toward the warp pad, her feet shifting silently through the sand.
"Alright, so Amethyst is being trained in the interior of the stronghold?" Rose asked, turning to Peridot.
Peridot nodded. "One of the lower floors, close to where they hold the gems that they are planning to execute."
"Let's warp," Garnet said, stepping onto the pad. Rose and Peridot followed.
"I'm not being left behind when I can help!" a young Pearl shouted, running toward the warp pad just as it lit up.
"Pearl! NO!" Rose shouted, holding up a hand to stop Pearl as she leapt onto the pad and was warped with the rest of the gems.
The ground was dark gray, and the air was full of black ash. The stronghold that Diamond's gem army was hiding in was covered in spiked wire, and stood several stories high, with no windows.
Rose stared at the structure that was the stronghold, a flood of bad memories surfacing as she thought about all of the humans she saw tortured, all of the gems that she saw killed, and clutched her head, trying to make the memories disappear.
"Rose...?" Garnet said, looking down to where Rose fell to her knees beside the other two gems. "Rosie?"
There was a soft thud as Pearl landed on the ground a few feet away, having tumbled out of the warp pad.
"Pearl," Garnet said sharply, her head snapping toward the younger gem. "I told you to stay at the temple!"
Pearl's eyes widened with fear.
"I wanted to help..."
"It's been awhile Rose," a calm voice called. Rose's mind cleared, and she stood up, straightening her shoulders. Garnet stiffened beside her, but somehow, Peridot remained calm.
The voice continued. "I didn't think that you would actually risk coming back here, Rose Quartz. Sapphire said that he had seen you a few years back when he was rounding up gems and humans, not to mention all of the other missions that you have screwed up for us since you left."
"Topaz," Rose Quartz called. "You know me better than to just hide out there. Whenever we sparred, I always won."
Topaz stepped out, sword in hand, but lowered. He smiled lightly.
"Don't let them escape," he said out loud, and in a moment, at least 50 gems had flooded through the clearing and began to attack. "Cut off their exit!"
The battle began to roar around Rose as she fought for her life, struggling against stinging weapons and punches and kicks. Her mind drifted back to the day that she ran to escape soldiers, the day her brother was killed, the day, so many years ago, that she was thrown into this mess...
"Garnet! Protect Pearl!" Rose shouted over the sounds of battle. She froze, however, at the next familiar face that she saw. There in the crowd, slowly walking toward her, and completely unaffected by the sounds of battle, was Diamond.
This chapter was short because otherwise I think I would have made it too long. =) Next chapter will be out soon.