Welcome, Pink Diamond

It was those three words that split the known world into two. Holly Blue marched down the aisle of computer stations, past rows of scrambling amethysts, and with every order she issued was dragged away from the world she knew and believed in.

"Get all working robonoids into formation."

A world that always made sense because its clarity came from a Diamond and not from her own mind. That Diamond had said to her.

Don't let my Pink be forgotten. That is your purpose. This place, these gems, it's all that's left. Preserve her legacy.

"I want all the cameras that we have in the corridor pointed at that door."

"Yes, Holly Blue!"

Yes, My Diamond.

"Order the Jaspers to hold position in sector K." Holly Blue entered one of the rows and went down until she reached 8XJ's station. "I want that door open."

Holly Blue hovered behind 8XJ, her screen displaying six camera feeds all aimed at the door to Gem Storage. Holly looked up from the screen to the Pink throne across from them that had always remained empty.

Welcome, Pink Diamond

There was a new world. A world in which Aquamarine brought a Diamond before her in shackles and Holly had thrown her into a cell.

8XJ peeked up around her off-white curls to Holly Blue standing over her shoulder. Holly met her eyes; her own fear and uncertainty were there. She turned her head left and right looking at all those around her. They were silent. She couldn't remember what this room was like without their idle chatter. Through the translucent green of their holographic screens, she could see their tinted eyes peering anxiously back at her. Gem symbols and numbers flickered over their foreheads and streamed down their cheeks. For four thousand years these same faces had looked to her for everything. She knew each combination of skin color, hair color, hairstyle, and gem placement. She could name pranks by gem identification codes. Whether it looked to be a 10CK prank or a 10CL one. She knew Skinny loved technology and could repair anything in half the time of anyone else. She knew 8XH hated patrolling sector B. One night all the corridor lights in one of the halls had gone out leaving her in complete darkness. She called it spooky sector. After multiple talking to's for skipping it on her patrols, Holly finally gave up and stopped putting her on its rotation. Holly Blue knew that the only carnelian, called "Red", the most loved amongst the gems, was also the loneliest. She knew that despite catching and punishing them, 8XE and 8XY liked to fuse and call themselves Sixteen. She knew some of the gems covered for their fusion episodes.

But most of all, even though they could be more troublesome than the humans, Holly Blue knew that they were each part of Pink's legacy. When Blue came, she didn't see the gems as they were. They weren't soldiers anymore. They were living memories, no different than the statues and murals to Pink Diamond except they got up and walked around and could speak to you. They only existed to belong to a Pink Diamond who was shattered. The old world.

Holly Blue looked between each face. All of them called out to her to take them with her to this new world, to explain it to them, to give them a place there. But for the first time in four thousand years, she did not have the answer.

Holly Blue turned back, and sat her hand on 8XJ's shoulder, "Make sure the cameras are tracking energy readings."

8XJ relaxed and nodded slowly, "They are, Holly Blue." She went back to the screen.

If Pink released any of quartz gems, the sensors would pick up the energy given off by the gem reforming. But the logs were blank. It couldn't be that she hadn't released any yet. There was something else, some other reason she had fought her way to storage and not to the hangar bays. It was maddening. There was no way of knowing why or what she wanted. What series of events, what state of things, could explain Aquamarine coming here and marching a shattered diamond down the ramp of her ship with only a peridot to accompany her? There could be no history beyond that event. Holly Blue reached behind her head, slid her fingers down, and with trembling fingers checked the surface of her gem.

"I don't know if I'm going to be able to open the door electronically," 10CR said from a row behind Holly Blue, "A… a Diamond lock command isn't meant to be bypassed."

Holly Blue snatched her fingers away from her gem. "Keep trying," she said.

10CR took a breath and adjusted her screen, resizing it so that the code was larger. Her fingers returned to testing the wall of symbols on her screen as if among its codework was a secret button that she would be able to feel for and press that would unlock the door.

Instead, the blast doors to the left of the workstations separated. All the amethysts turned their heads and lifted their eyes. Topaz stomped in first. Aquamarine could not be seen until the fusion was all the way through the door. She fluttered in from behind Topaz with all the grace and energy of a buzzing insect whose hive has been kicked.

She narrowed her eyes at Holly Blue with a beady intensity hovering just near Topaz's blocky head, "Is this why you had me remove her shackles, Agate? Is this why you had me wait for a scan when one door could have confirmed it for me?"

Holly Blue had forgotten about the door. Only Blue Diamond ever opened it. Holly stepped away from 8XJ, taking her hand off her shoulder.

"If one of my gems released her, I will turn them over to you. But I need to know why you brought that peridot gem on board the station to be scanned."

Aquamarine's eyes bulged, "How dare — you have forgotten what Diamond you ser—"

"I've forgotten nothing." Holly Blue shot back. The boldness of her own words shook her. All of the amethysts were staring at her, some of them with their mouths open. In this new world, the rules of the old didn't apply. She wouldn't survive here if she didn't act fast. Her gems wouldn't survive this. She steeled herself. "I need to know why she poofed a whole squad of amethysts to get to that peridot gem. If I don't know what she's going to do, I can't help you contain her."

"You should be shattered for incompetence, not treason. You think she went to a storage room full of rebel quartz soldiers so she could release a peridot?"

"I don't know why she did it… but… she… "

Aquamarine's cheek twitched at the clenching of her teeth. "I'm going to tell you what is going to happen. I and Topaz are going to go down there and clean up the mess you've made. You are going to send your jaspers and robonoids in with us to assist. And then I'm going to be bringing three traitors back to Homeworld. The quartz, the peridot, and the gem that let her escape. You are one step away from joining them."

"I'm not ordering any of my gems in there until I know what is waiting for them on the other side of that door." Holly Blue said.

"Then I'll do it myself!" Aquamarine shrieked. Her hand went up to the bow on top of her head. Holly drew back. Before Aquamarine's fingers could curl around her wand, Topaz shoved herself in front of the small fluttering gem, shielding her with her body.

Topaz's eyes, that were a moment ago dull and unseeing, were now wide and alive scanning the entire room. Holly Blue turned her head, confused. All of the amethysts had stood up, their hands hovering above their gem placements ready to summon their weapons. Holly Blue took a few trembling steps backward. She bumped into 8XJ who was now standing right behind her. 8XJ put her hand on Holly's back to help steady her.

Behind Topaz's shoulder only a bow could be seen, then blue hair, and finally Aquamarine's eyes as she floated up slowly. There was more than fury in her eyes. There was uncertainty. A long silence crawled through the air between them as they all looked at each other.

One of the terminals issued a series of rapid beeps. It was coming from a cluster of workstations that were set aside for hangar bay services. Everyone watched carefully as 10CR made her way down her row and out to the beeping terminal. Something she saw made her sit down in front of it. She brought up a visual feed, but no one could see it around her large mane of purple almost pink hair.

"The red eye is picking up a hand ship. It's on course to the station." She paused, "It's not requesting dock, and... it isn't slowing down."

"Stars…" Holly Blue said.

"Let me see that!" Aquamarine fluttered above the amethysts while Topaz marched her way through them making eye contact with each of them as she passed.

"Watch those cameras. Any spike of energy, let me know." Holly said low to 8XJ before joining everyone as they crowded around 10CR.

"Out of the way," Holly huffed with exasperation.

"Sorry, Holly Blue," a few of the amethysts muttered. The crowd of purple and lavender readjusted to let her in. On 10CR's screen was a green hand ship.

"Open a line of communication," Holly Blue ordered. Aquamarine eyed her sideways.

10CR pushed a few buttons. "Request sent." All of the amethysts drew closer together, waiting for the answer. Holly Blue sat her hand on the back of 10CR's chair. After a few moments, 10CR adjusted herself uncomfortably and cleared her throat, "The request was denied by the pilot. The ship reaches us in less than 70 ticks. It's on a direct course to sector B of the ring." She looked back at Holly Blue for what to do. The station didn't have defense capabilities. There was no reason it would ever come under attack.

All of the amethysts were talking amongst themselves. "Spooky sector," Holly Blue heard one of them say low to another.

"Check the rejection message you received. See if it has a pilot stamp," Aquamarine commanded, raising her voice over the other gems in order to be heard. The amethysts quieted down and waited for the result. Holly Blue watched the distance between the ship and the station count down.

"There is one, It's uh…" 10CR pushed a key, "A peridot gem. Facet-12C3B Cut-8LG."

Holly Blue turned to Aquamarine. Aquamarine wasn't looking at the screen anymore. She was staring off, her eyes growing wider by the second, her small mouth slowly falling open.

A shudder ran through the station.

All of the amethysts held onto each other as the quake of steel rumbled beneath their feet. Holly Blue grabbed onto the shoulders of the two closest to her, and Aquamarine wobbled in the air before holding onto Topaz's head.

!HULL BREACH! the terminal announced.

As soon as Holly Blue had her feet again she was shouting over the amethysts to 10CR, "Find the location of the breach in sector B. Give us a live feed."

"Y-y-yes H-Holly Blue."

Holly could barely hear the reply over all the conversations going on around her, but she could see 10CR hunched over in her seat as if under fire, her hands shaking as she swiped at the holographic screen. The war had been so long ago.

"It's in cuh-corridor 12," She reported. She groped through the list of cameras until she found the right one. All of the amethysts went quiet again as they stared at a loading bar. The technology throughout the station was a hybrid of era 1 and 2 and the cameras still belonged to the old era 1 system.

On the screen, the corridor appeared. There was a hole in one of the walls. Through the haze of smoke pouring from it, kicking out a piece of rubble, a long leg stretched out and a Pearl dropped out of it. She rolled to the center of the hall flourishing her spear in an arc around her. Holly Blue put a hand to her cheek. The station was being boarded and they were sending their pearl to engage the enemy first. She couldn't understand what that could even mean.

"It's clear!" the pearl shouted back.

A jasper, an amethyst, a human, and a fusion appeared from the breach after her. Holly's lips parted in disgust. She covered her mouth. The fusion was a mix of two different gems.

The pearl wiped at her top and sighed, "Could we have not used the hangar?"

The amethyst, her arms crossed, looked at the jasper and added, "Maybe next time you can form the ship into a fist and we can punch the whole station into the planet below."

Holly looked the group over. The human wore a suit of armor that looked to be of homeworld design. It was teal with a golden star painted on the chest piece. A large sword was strapped to her back. All of them wore the traitor's star except one. The jasper. What she wore instead scared Holly Blue more. On the jasper's chest where the diamond insignia should be blue, yellow, or white, was a diamond colored the shade of amber. A black cloak covered her shoulders and upper arms and hung down to her waist. She looked between the pearl and amethyst with irritation.

"Hangar bay doors are more durable than station rings. It would have taken more force to breach. It would have damaged the ship."

"Go slamming into them all the time, huh?" The amethyst asked.

"I'll throw you at it next time."

"Go ahead. You want to see how durable I am? We don't have to wait."

"Now isn't the time you two," the human snapped. To Holly's amazement, the jasper and amethyst listened to her and grew quiet.

Next to Holly Blue, one of the amethysts leaned over 10CR's shoulder to get a closer look at the screen, "Look at that amethyst. She's so small. Like Red!"

"Wait a cycle," 8XH said among them, "That jasper. She's... Jasper of Earth."

Holly Blue looked with the other amethysts that were also trying to confirm it. 8XH was right. It was her. The cloak was the honor bestowed upon her by Yellow Diamond's emerald. Holly Blue's eyes moved back to the amber diamond on her chest.

"Holly Blue! Holly Blue!" 8XJ called, jumping up from her station. Holly turned but couldn't see anything through the sea of purple and lavender.

"Report 8XJ," she commanded blindly.

"There was a large spike of energy behind the door!"

Holly Blue was shoving her way out of the crowd and toward the workstations, "Agh! Move!"

"Sorry."

"Sorry, Holly Blue."

"A large spike? How many readings?"

"There's only one."

"What? One? What do you mean one?"

8XJ blinked, "Only one large burst."

Aquamarine was fluttering at high speed toward the door, Topaz hurrying right behind her. Holly Blue stared at them in amazement. For a moment she thought they were abandoning them to the very thing they had brought on top of all of them. Aquamarine reached the door and whirled around. The door opened at her back.

"I will deal with the rebels. You better hope that your jaspers and robonoids are enough to capture her."

Her. Pink Diamond. The flower of the Authority and the shatterer of thousands.

Holly Blue grimaced but gave a sharp nod. The door closed behind Aquamarine and Topaz as they rushed to repel the boarders. Holly Blue shouted commands to the amethysts while returning to her spot behind 8XJ.

"Get back to your stations! Ready the robonoids for a full barrage of destabilization blasts. I want a status report on the jaspers after that hull breach."

All the amethysts stumbled over each other and reached their seats to execute the orders. 10CR abandoned the hangar controls and returned to her station. Holly Blue checked the camera feeds. 17 robonoids were lined up in triangle formation so that the door was the base of the triangle and each would have a clear shot.

"Progress on the door lock 10CR?" Holly Blue asked without looking.

"Still working on —" 10CR stopped. There was a long silence.

"Yes? Yes? 10CR? What's the progress?"

"...the unlock command has been given from the other side."

Holly Blue took a deep breath. She leaned over 8XJ, one hand holding onto the back of her chair, the other pressed hard against the metallic teal of the desk. "On my command, I want all robonoids to fire at once."

The door to Gem Storage began to gradually slide open.

What stepped out was the amber of the jasper's uniform. It was her Pink Diamond — doused in flame. A fire she had come all this way here to set on herself. And it was then that Holly Blue realized that Aquamarine had not brought two prisoners to her station. She had brought one. They weren't separate. Aquamarine had kept them apart.

She wore golden stockings connected to black leggings. A blue vest that ended in white tails in the front and back that rippled between her legs with every step forward. The vest was buttoned over a black sleeveless top. Embedded in her stomach, with her vest and top cut out in the shape of the traitor's star, was an amber diamond.

It was the peridot gem in her forehead that had burned everything away of Pink Diamond. It was the color of her eyes. It was the color of her hair.

Preserve her legacy.

"fire," Holly Blue choked. Through her trembling lips, the word was inaudible.

8XJ was shaking beside her, "It's… it's…"

"FIRE!" in the next moment Holly Blue screamed.

And as the order left her, she wished she could take it back. It was the widening of Pink's eyes in almost innocent surprise as the doorway in which she stood vanished into blinding roaring light. Every robonoid rocked back, unloading their entire charges at the burned Pink Diamond in an attempt to extinguish that flame. It would remove that peridot from her; it would bring pink back. A flood of white orbs filled the camera feeds, wave after wave, streaming from all directions. The sound of them slamming into the doorway grew so loud that the only thing Holly Blue could hear from the camera feeds was the crackling distortion. The cameras that were closest to the door flickered in and out. They couldn't withstand the stress, the sheer amount of energy discharge flying past them.

Holly Blue hung onto the high curved back of 8XJ's chair, hugging it to her body with her eyes squeezed closed. Tears fell from her cheeks. She mourned the death of her Pink. The Pink that was shattered and her own life spent in collecting all of the pieces and holding them together with her own hands. At first, she had held them together so that Blue Diamond could see her again. But with every rotation, Holly Blue stared into that image herself and saw in it all that Blue Diamond missed. Holly started to wonder to herself about the missing pieces and what should fit into the cracked lines. And to her, what should have filled those lines and those places was an empire that had never seen the rebellion. An empire that was shaped by Pink Diamond.

But all along she had shaped it. This empire. This Era 2 was her's.

The sound of robonoid fire finally ceased. Slowly, Holly Blue opened her eyes. The pink throne stood empty across from her. She wiped at her cheeks. On the camera feeds smoke billowed out of the door to Gem Storage. She waited for it to clear, her eyes trained on the floor, desperately searching for the color pink to show itself. The amethysts that could manage it, gasped. A terrible shiver ran through Holly Blue.

In the doorway, the smoke tendrils drifting around it, was an amber light. It was nothing but the light projection of their body, and it was still holding the gems, crackling in her forehead and stomach, together. The fusion's hair floated like tails of flame, her eyes of light shone like two small suns. With a stubborn deliberateness, her physical form began to put itself back together over the amber light. And when she finally had a brow to furrow, she lowered it and her mouth flattened into a terse line.

She spoke and there were two voices that came from her that melded together, both saying the same words except for the last.

"I'm never leaving him(her)."

All of what happened next seemed to move in slow motion for Holly Blue. The fusion began to run, her long lean legs propelling herself forward. Amber sparks of energy generated along her entire body shooting up from her legs and up her arms and flowing along the curve of her back. As if suddenly the corridor had been plunged into zero-g, she dove into the air driving herself into a corkscrew. The bolts of amber lightning dove with her. As she soared between the robonoids, her bolts chased after her through them. They leaped between each cone, ripping through them, and zipped over her spinning body to be shot to the other side. One by one the robonoids dropped from the air, their irises exploding into glass shrapnel, their casings shriveling into husks.

The camera feeds on 8XJ's screen were fading black one after another. The fusion flew over the last robonoid, landing behind it. Each bolt joined together and tore through it to return to the fusion. She absorbed them with a boom of thunder that rolled through the whole corridor. The only cameras that were left were from the other end of the hall. They were all pointed to her.

The diamond rose to her feet. The corridor at her back was as black as space. Plasma scars in zigzag patterns were roasting in the walls in hot orange hues. She turned back and stared into the darkness. Everything in the hall was dead. Beyond the shattered lights, sparking robonoid frames, the cameras that hung down from their posts; beyond that abyss, was the open door to Gem Storage and the soft reflective glow of unopened pink bubbles. The diamond brought her hand up and looked at it. The amber sparks darted between her fingers and circled around her hand.

8XJ looked to Holly Blue and then back to the energy logs. "That was enough energy to shatter hardness levels up to Topaz," 8XJ whispered. She turned her face up to Holly Blue, "What—what do we do?"

The amber diamond was facing the cameras now. Her eyes were closed in concentration, her hand on her chest. It was as if she was searching for something inside herself, trying to listen to it. Suddenly her eyes shot open and she bolted down the corridor.

"Follow her!" Holly Blue shouted.

Holly's voice broke the spell that was over all of the amethysts. It was like unleashing a dam. They began to cry out all at once and over each other.

"A new Diamond… Pink Diamond is coming to shatter us… No! She's fused… Peridot… Shapeshifted to look like Pink… Rose Quartz is… We're all… "

"Stop!" Holly Blue shouted, "Silence! Silence!"

The amethysts became louder and some of them were turning to each and hugging, holding onto each other and crying. Only 8XJ's voice shouting out a new report made them quiet down enough to listen to it.

"She's headed straight for the Jaspers. She's running directly to them. How does she know where they are?" She spun around in her seat to Holly Blue, "We have to tell them to retreat. We have to tell them to get out of there."

"No," Holly Blue said.

"But if she gets there…"

"The jaspers are the only ones that stand between us and her. We have to give Aquamarine and Topaz time."

8XJ clenched her fists and turned back to the cameras that were following the fusion as she closed in on sector K. All that Holly Blue could do now was think of what Pink had said to her. That she wouldn't hurt any of them. Holly turned her eyes to the empty throne and settled her hand on 8XJ's shoulder.


Jasper wasn't so much as leading them as she was moving, and if they didn't follow her, she would continue to do what she intended to do without them. They didn't choose to follow, but to catch up. Connie stuck close, and Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet came after her. Jasper marched with a restlessness. She would check each new hall and choose one, peering around corners and stopping only long enough to give an interrogative look to each new door and the sign next to it in gem language. None of them were the one that they were looking for. Connie knew this because the more of them that Jasper walked past, the heavier her steps became, the faster she whirled around corners. It was like she was driven by something, something that even she was having a hard time catching up to.

But oddly, Connie didn't feel the same way. She felt as if eventually Jasper would lead them to where they needed to be. Before they left Earth, Pearl had given her the Christmas present from Peridot early. Connie agreed that it seemed the right thing to do given the circumstances. She couldn't wait to thank Peridot for it in person. But that's how she felt — Jasper stomping and her strolling — that it was all in good time that they would find Steven and Peridot waiting around for them in one of these rooms. They would let them out and everyone would have a good laugh about the worst Christmas ever and hug each other.

The suit made Connie feel powerful. It wasn't heavy at all like she thought it might be at first. It fit her like a second skin and sometimes it felt like the suit made the movement before her muscles did. She couldn't wait to test it out. She would poof Steven's jailors and fly back home through space on their brand new ship. This is what she had always wanted. This was the life. It was what she was born for… even if her parents couldn't admit that.

Jasper was born for it too. Connie couldn't help but smile at her despite all her grunting and growling and the restlessness that grew more in her after each new turn. The hall that Jasper was leading through was coming to an end and into a lobby. On the left were two elevators, on the right was an emergency airlock, and across from them, the hall continued on. There were two dark pink couches and a few chairs here, but they didn't look comfortable. They were all straight abrupt lines. At least the seats on the ship had had some curves to them. What stood out the most were the potted plants that were all over. They weren't real. They were made out of stained glass, and Connie tried to identify them. There were some with wide cylindrical tops in colors of white, blue, and pink with star patterns that resembled hyacinths. Another cluster of pink and white that were definitely tulips.

She took in a deep breath through her nose trying to smell them. She almost could. It brought back spring break memories — strolling through her Aunt Riya's flower garden on glittering golden days.

Tell me my chellam, can you name that one?

Connie looked to the flowers that were on either side of the airlock.

Daffodil

Aha, and how do you know that?

The horn in the front! TOOOOOT! TOOT! TOOT!

Connie could hear her auntie's soft and easy laughter. She smiled and wondered at all these flowers. She thought gems didn't care about stuff like this. Connie gazed over at Pearl. She was hugging her spear to her chest, her eyes gloomy in remembrance as if she were looking at funeral bouquets.

Above them, the row of lights flickered in and out. Then, they went out completely. Connie could hear everyone shuffling in the dark, and then a few moments later the lights came back on. They looked between each other. Jasper did a quick mental headcount and then glanced away, preoccupied with her own thoughts.

The sound of Garnet's somber voice breaking the silence made Jasper turn her attention back to them with a grimace as if remembering that they were still there with her.

"An Aquamarine and Topaz fusion will soon be here. We must face them before we can find Steven and Peridot."

Finally. There would be some action to test the suit, and it would be an Aquamarine and Topaz. New gems to fight too. Connie had never seen those types before.

Jasper didn't look as eager. She lapsed into that brooding look she had worn almost the entire time piloting them here. She glanced at the other end of the hall across from them and began to pace grabbing at the side of her face. She took in a quick irritated breath and turned back to them. "Alright. All of you listen up."

Amethyst crossed her arms, "Who made you leader?"

"The war did. Unless you want to be shattered because you don't know anything about these gems. You've never fought them have you?"

Amethyst was silent. She breathed out heavily from her nose.

"I thought not. We do this wrong and all of us are shards. We only have one chance at this. We can't afford to make one mistake." She stepped up to them and everyone huddled up. "First, we have to separate the fusion. Fighting her fused will be impossible. Luckily she'll defuse for us when she tries to capture one of us."

Jasper looked to Amethyst, "That's going to be you."

"What?! You want to throw me to the fusion first?"

Jasper gave her a cruel smirk, "I thought you were durable."

Amethyst glanced away, "Yeah, okay, so what's the plan? I take on everybody while the rest of you guys watch?"

"Draw the fusion's attention. Annoy her," Jasper replied, "You should have no problem with that. She will defuse and then try to reform the fusion around you. Before that happens, use a shapeshift form that can generate spikes." Jasper paused and scrubbed at the side of her face before sighing, "Do you even know a form like that?"

Amethyst shapeshifted into a massive purple porcupine. "Pffft. Look who you're talking to," she said, wearing a big sloppy grin.

Jasper seemed disturbed. Connie held her mouth and giggled, and Pearl tried to suppress a smile.

Jasper shook her head, her hand on her forehead, "Ugh, I suppose that will have to do. Anyway, do… whatever that is... and activate the spikes when the topazes have reformed. It will break the fusion long enough for us to take them on individually."

"Focus on the topazes once they've been split. The aquamarine will try to use her wand to tractor beam us. Try to disarm her. If anyone of you gets trapped, call it out. If someone has ranged capabilities use it then. Target the wand or the hand, that will disrupt it. When fighting the topaz, know that they are top heavy, so focus on attacking their legs. They aren't very fast so moving quicker is —"

The sound of heavy footfalls made Jasper stop and glance over her shoulder. A childlike gem with butterfly wings fluttering and a large yellow wall of a gem were coming down the opposite hall. The aquamarine and Topaz. This was it. Connie found herself smiling and drawing her sword off her back. She loved the SHING it gave off. Only a taste of what she was going to give them for taking Steven and Peridot. Behind her, she could hear Amethyst returning to her normal shape.

Dutifully, Jasper went ahead of them and summoned her helmet, putting herself between the others and Aquamarine and Topaz. Connie followed and stood by her side readying her sword. She leaned over to Jasper speaking low, "How did you know all that stuff?"

Jasper glanced down at her with a small, sad smile, "I did more than guard those spires."

Connie thought for a moment, then returned the smile. The two of them turned to face Aquamarine and Topaz who entered the room.

Aquamarine regarded them with an amusement you might regard an insect trying to get away from you with a few of its legs already pulled off.

"I'm glad you've decided to turn yourselves in. Now I can rid Blue of the last remnants of this little rebellion myself," her eyes shifted to Jasper, the amusement left them, but the cruelty was still there, "And you. What a fool with that diamond symbol on your chest. The 'perfect' Jasper gem was cracked all along, just in a place no one could see."

Connie looked to Jasper, but she hadn't even blinked. It was as if she had gone somewhere else where words couldn't reach her. Whatever she saw there, it was familiar, like she had seen it a thousand times over. Always rushing to catch up to a tired inevitability.

"What have you done with my babies?! Where are they?" Pearl appeared on the other side of Jasper, her spear pointed toward Aquamarine.

Aquamarine never took her eyes off Jasper, "You have such a rude pearl. Do you always let her speak for you?"

Amethyst came up next to Connie. She put her hand on her hip, "Before we get down to this little business, I got a question for your Topaz."

Aquamarine and Topaz looked over at her.

"Which half of the fusion is contributing to all that ugly?"

Aquamarine looked unamused, but Topaz's blank stare dropped. She furrowed her brow.

"Can you even hear me?" Amethyst asked, "Well, whichever one of you isn't the ugly one, should fuse with me instead. I got a little something you might like." She winked and rubbed her hip before giving herself a spank.

A deep orange burned on Topaz's flustered face. She summoned her pugil with an angry flourish. Calmly, Garnet took her place next to Pearl and summoned her gauntlets.

Aquamarine drew her bow and formed her wand. "I won't be the one to shatter you, but I'll be there to watch it. Blue Diamond will decide your fate."

Jasper's eyes were dark underneath her helmet as she answered, "The Final Diamond will decide yours."

Garnet and Pearl launched themselves at Aquamarine. She weaved left and right in the air avoiding them. Jasper tore off in a ball of spinning light toward Topaz. It was so fast that Connie hadn't even seen her begin to charge it up. She ran after her. Topaz held her pugil in front of her waiting for Jasper to crash into her, but she never did, instead veering off and around her. Topaz turned to track her and was barely able to turn back in time to block Connie's overhead swing. Steel on steel rung out as her sword clashed against the staff. Topaz pushed her back, towering over her, and marched forward. Connie threw herself back from the double swinging heft of the mace heads. She could feel the wind off of them lashing her in the face.

Jasper was out of her spin. She was behind Topaz now and planted a kick flat into her back stumbling her forward. Jasper jumped back immediately after the kick to avoid the next pugil swing aimed at her.

Amethyst shouted, "C'mon big girl! Over here!"

Jasper and Connie were circling Topaz and carefully drawing in closer. Topaz looked between them, not knowing which to hit or block first. Connie tested a step forward and Topaz shoved her back with a swing before charging away from them and straight toward Amethyst. Jasper watched her go with a smirk.

Behind Jasper, Aquamarine was picking up Pearl with a blue beam of light from her wand. Garnet stopped and raised her arms up, "Not going to happen." She fired her gauntlets at Aquamarine and they exploded in front of her face. The blue beam coming out of the smoke cloud vanished, and Pearl fell on her side.

In a flash of light the Topaz fusion unfused. They were running toward amethyst, their arms linked over each to capture her in the middle.

"Oh yeah. Come get some." Amethyst said, posing with a grin. The topaz's surrounded her and she shapeshifted as they began to fuse around her. They came together and formed solid. Amethyst's big purple snout was jutting from Topaz's chest as she turned around to face Jasper and Connie.

Topaz started to resummon her pugil, but she was stopped in the middle of the gesture. "HHHRRRRNNNG!" Her eyes flared open. She fumbled at her chest before stumbling down to her knees waving her hands out.

"What's the matter? Stomach ache?" Amethyst asked. Topaz fell forward onto her hands and squeezed her eyes closed but her form of light quivered into glitches. She wasn't going to be able to hold it. The fusion destabilized with a flash of bright yellow light. Amethyst as her normal shape was holding her stomach laughing between them.

"I can't believe that worked!"

Two shadows fell over her. She opened her eyes to see the two Topazes above her. They summoned their maces.

"Uh oh."

A blaze of yellow slammed into one of them on her right side. It picked her up off her feet and carried her off, crashing into the wall and shattering the plants into showers of colorful glass. Jasper emerged from the ball of light and threw a punch into the Topaz. Above amethyst, a sword stuck itself between her head and the strike coming down on her from the left side. Amethyst rolled to her feet. She drew her whip from her under her shirt and cracked it against the Topaz's face.

"Found the ugly one!" Amethyst called out.

The Topaz heaved her mace over her head and struck it against the floor. A yellow shockwave of energy rushed up from the floor and sent Amethyst skidding across the room. Connie used the opportunity to cross the distance. She swung her sword left. Topaz met it. Right. Deflected it. Connie leaned back as a blur of yellow wooshed in front of her face. Jasper had said that they weren't fast. Fast for who? She was only able to keep up with the swings because of her suit. Just as she had thought, it was moving before her muscles did and it was propelling her forward just fast enough not to get smashed into pieces. Steel rang as Connie traded blow after blow with her.

The Topaz raised her mace and this time three black straps snapped around her right arm and pulled it back. Amethyst was tugging as hard as she could behind her. Connie stepped forward to deliver a stab but was forced to fall back from the mace swinging from Topaz's flailing left hand. Topaz jerked her right arm and Amethyst came flying over her shoulder and into the wall behind Connie.

Connie rushed forward. Topaz wielded the mace with one hand to deflect the swipe. The other hand grabbed her by the forearm and hoisted her up, her feet dangling. Rose's sword clattered to the ground and Topaz marched forward carrying Connie out in front of her. Connie landed punches into the Topaz's arm with her other hand, but it didn't seem to faze her in the slightest.

Past Topaz's bobbing head, Connie could see Aquamarine without her wand launching a barrage of ice spikes at Pearl. She was flipping out of the way. Garnet leaped into the air and caught Aquamarine like she was a football, clutching her small body to her chest. It brought them both to the ground, Aquamarine flailing and screeching wildly.

Jasper was on the other side of the room. She was locked hand to hand with the other Topaz. Both were struggling for control of the grapple. But Jasper was losing. Topaz was slowing pushing her back and down. Jasper looked over and caught Connie and she saw something behind her that made her eyes widen in surprise. Desperately, Jasper turned back to the Topaz. She had lost her helmet somewhere in the fighting. She resummoned it and threw her head back and headbutted the Topaz in the face. The topaz stumbled backward, but instead of attacking her, Jasper ran toward Connie instead.

Connie swung herself so she could see what was behind her, what her Topaz was marching her to. The words EMERGENCY AIRLOCK greeted her in red. She was spinning back and she tried to pry at Topaz's fingers with her free hand. They didn't budge. They were like blocks of stone hardened around her forearm.

"HELP!" She cried.

Amethyst's spin-charge came from the side, but the Topaz didn't even slow down to smack her away. Amethyst rolled away and landed against the foot of one of the couches. There was an explosion from across the room. Connie could only see shards of ice launch into the air followed by a fog of frost. Connie twisted in the air. It wrenched her arm, and she cried out in pain. The doors at her back were grinding open. She tried to look for Jasper, but where Jasper used to be was a golden comet. It was racing toward her and the Topaz.

To Connie's horror, a blue beam picked the comet up, still spinning, and redirected it into a wall away from her. Aquamarine was cackling, her wand back in her hand.

"Toss the trash Topaz. She doesn't have a gem to shatter."

Connie was flying backward. She landed on her butt. Topaz loomed from above, throwing a shadow over her before two doors slammed together separating them. A siren began to ring in the small room she was in. Lights flashed red and yellow. She scrambled up and threw herself against the door. There was a thick window between her and Topaz. She couldn't hear anything on the other side. There was nothing but the blaring of sirens ringing in her ears.

She pounded her hand against the door. The steel of her gauntlet rang against the steel of the door. Topaz watched her from the other side with a faraway look in her eyes. But they snapped wide when the point of a sword tore through her chest and jabbed upward toward the window wiggling near Connie's face. Connie jumped back. Then, she was right back on the door trying to peer through a cloud of yellow smoke. Jasper was beyond, tossing Rose's sword to the ground with a face of near disgust. She met Connie's eyes with an unsteady gaze, and then rushed over to the door panel. She tried a few buttons, but the door responded with something Connie couldn't hear. Jasper shifted her eyes back up to Connie. The expression on her face was one Connie had seen once before. It was when Tourmaline had used the aura link on her to look for 8LG.

Above Connie's head came: OPENING OUTER DOOR IN 20 TICKS.

There was a change that took place in Jasper's eyes. She looked down and pressed a button on the console, then she turned back to the Crystal Gems and Aquamarine and Topaz fighting behind her.

17

Jasper was shouting something to them. Connie pounded on the door. Bruised and battered, the Crystal Gems began pulling away from the fight and retreating to the hall they had all come from. Amethyst was more beat up than any of them. Pearl was putting her arm around her to help her into the hall.

13

Connie looked for Aquamarine, but Aquamarine had been staring at her. When Connie locked eyes with her, she whirled around and fluttered as fast as she could back to her side of the hall. Topaz was following her quickly, but she took one look back over her shoulder. That glance was enough to make her freeze. She was staring at something near Jasper's feet.

9

With a stubborn deliberateness, Jasper picked up Rose's sword. She brought her hand up to her helmet, and the hammer head on top shifted away. The visor that covered her eyes elongated, and the steel of the helmet became rounder until it looked more like a motorcycle helmet when she was done. She took it off her own head. She tucked it under her arm.

4

Topaz was running back. She was running toward the airlock door. Aquamarine was waving her hands and shouting angrily at her, but gave up and ducked back into the hallway. Jasper stood in front of the door ignoring Topaz entirely.

2

The doors in front of her opened. Connie rushed forward.

And Jasper met her.

"Jasp—!"

Without warning, she slammed the helmet on Connie's head, wrapped one arm around her, and raised Rose's sword high above her head before stabbing it deeply into the metal floor below them.

Topaz had made it. She was only a few feet away from them, but she was staring down at something cradled in both of her hands. It was a gem. "Topaz," she said before closing her eyes.

The outer doors opened.

In an instant, Topaz was there — then she wasn't. Connie looked back and saw her twisting in the darkness. A darkness that had opened its jaws and was now sucking them in. Its roar was all she could hear around the helmet. In her ears was her own frantic panting that fogged up the glass in front of her eyes. But she could still see it past the misty glass. An abyss that had as many eyes as there were stars. It peered back at her, into her. It wanted to take everything from her, not out of anger, not out of joy, not out of hunger, but out of indifference. Connie struggled against the torrent to turn her head away from it. Jasper was clutching on to her and the sword with all her strength. Plants and pots were crashing into her as they flew past both of them. Petals and leaves of colored glass rained down on Connie's helmet and down her visor. Jasper shuddered, but never let her go.

Ahead of Jasper, there was a frenzy of blue. Aquamarine's wings flapped madly. The darkness had dragged her from the hall. She was fighting it, but she couldn't overcome it. Slowly, it pulled her toward them. Connie reached out to her, hands wavering wildly in the gust. Aquamarine was falling past them, but she saw Connie's hands. She grasped for them and caught them. Their arms whipped like waving chains as Connie's gloved fingers squeezed around Aquamarine's tiny wrists. Connie could only stare into her terrified, pleading eyes.

Past Aquamarine, Connie saw the doors began to grind close behind them. The roar was gradually silenced as the doors struggled to shut the darkness away.

THOOM

All three of them collapsed to the floor.

The helmet around Connie's face poofed away. She gasped, writhing forward, filling her lungs with air. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. There were rushing footsteps, then an explosion across from her. Connie started; her eyes shot open. Surrounded in a small cloud of blue, laid Aquamarine's gem. Above it was the point of Pearl's spear.

Connie rolled over, flopping onto her back. Beside her was Jasper on her stomach, and above Jasper's head was the blade of Rose's sword. Even impaled with the blade facing away from them, there was a rift almost a foot long in the metal where it had dragged through the floor.

"You saved me," Connie whispered.

Feebly, Jasper reached over and dropped her hand on Connie's arm. Jasper closed her eyes with a soft sigh.

They laid there for a few minutes. Garnet came over and bubbled Aquamarine's gem. Amethyst and Pearl rested together on one of the couches. But all Connie could think of was that darkness. Topaz, clutching the gem to her chest, floating off into it. Swallowed by it.

She turned her head back to Jasper, whose hand was still on her arm as if she was still holding her back from that abyss. She looked calm enough to be asleep.

"We… weren't supposed to win like that," Connie said softly.

Jasper's eyes opened. They looked tired. "Sometimes we didn't even win," she said.