Summary: Yellow Diamond studies up in the White Archives with an unexpected colleague.
The air in the room fell silent. Still. Cold.
The two Diamonds stood at attention, eyes drifting slowly from Hematite to the bubble he held in his hand. Seconds ticked by that felt like forever. Both of the Diamonds stared wide eyed, unable to speak. At first, they looked confused. Then, as they realized who was in the bubble, they looked stricken, shocked. Blue froze in place, a shuddering hand raising up to cover her mouth. She took one unsteady step back, eyes locked on White's gem in horror.
Yellow, however, didn't seem to process it immediately. In fact, she didn't seem to even notice the fault in the presented gem. Being a little taller, the light was hitting the gem in such a way that she couldn't see the crack. Stifling a single, nervous chuckle, she clasped her hands together and stepped forward.
"Hematite..." She spoke with the faintest trace of optimism in her voice. "These things happen. White has gotten poofed before, I'm glad you brought her gem back safel-" She stopped, just shy of the service gem, staring down at the bubble. Her eyes went wide as saucers, her mouth falling open with a soft, shuddering gasp. Surely, it was White's gem just as she'd seen... But now that she was closer, she couldn't miss the deep split in the gemstone.
Holding up trembling hands, Yellow slowly grabbed the bubble with her palms, carefully lifting it close to her.
"..."
A soft whimper escaped her as she stared down at the damaged gem. She was rendered speechless. Horrified. Hurt. Almost as if she was in disbelief, she held the gem up to her face, looking it over carefully. She was deathly silent for what felt like forever, before she cracked an uneven grin... and started laughing.
"IT'S OKAAAAY! Everything's going to be fine! We can fix this! Haha! We can..." She faltered, her lip twitching into a stifled, anxious smile. "We... She... She can't be..." Tears formed in the Diamond's eyes, and she found herself unable to look away. She took a step back, hands trembling. "White..."
Blue was still frozen, horror plastered over her face. She made no attempt to walk forward, and found that she was unable to say anything yet. She was still trying to soak in everything that happened.
–
The small service gem was frozen in place, the same look of horrified guilt on his face as before. He couldn't will himself to move, even as Yellow pulled away the bubble. His chest started to rise and fall a bit more rapidly. Seeing Yellow Diamond in such a state wasn't helping the panic rising in his chest.
"I-I don't know what happened, I found her like this, I didn't know what to do. Yellow, you guys gotta know a way to fix her, right?" His voice was strained, hurried, and he suddenly took to wringing his hands together. He tugged at the fabric on his sleeves.
–
–
Time ticked slowly by, and White was still stuck in this horrible room with this dark creature looming over her. She remained silent. Steady. Calm. Occasionally, a low rumble would shake the room, reminding her that she wasn't alone. She refused to acknowledge this thing. She wouldn't. She couldn't. It couldn't stay there forever, could it?
She remained in place, breathing calmly as she could, head forward, eyes closed. The tremors had stopped for some time... perhaps it was gone? She opened her eyes and dared to look up. As her gaze drifted up to the dome, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she noticed that whatever was creeping around up there was now gone.
"Finally..." She whispered to herself, crossing her arms and hugging them close to her chest. Still sitting on the floor, she tried reforming again.
Nothing.
Her brows furrowing, White looked down at the floor. Was she stuck here? She didn't want to be here. Maybe she was in a bubble; maybe Hematite had found her. If that was the case, why wasn't she freed yet? What was going on out there? A hundred different scenarios started racing through her mind... but she didn't have long to dwell on them.
She heard something akin to ice cracking. Her eyes widened, and she looked around. She didn't see anything, but the cracking noise was getting louder.
Grrrrrrrggghh.
There was a rumble behind her. The Diamond froze, her entire form seizing up. She stared on straight ahead, unsure if she wanted to know where the source of the noise was coming from. Then something felt off below her.
She glanced down, soon gasping and scuffling back, still on the floor. Stark white, circuit patterned cracks began inching their way under and around her. From the way they were moving, they appeared to be coming from behind her. White turned around suddenly, desperately seeking an answer.
She wished she hadn't done that.
The circuit patterned cracks inched their way out from the darkness, spreading rapidly across the room. The source of the cracks, however, was far more unsettling than the cracks themselves. Four huge, piercing white eyes glared at the Diamond from the darkness, slit eyes transfixed on her. White started trembling, turning to face whatever being it was that was now inside the facility. She scrambled back, unable to look away. The cracks found it's way around her, slowly moving up her arms and legs. White cried out in surprise.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She snarled with a trace of fear. She grabbed at her hands, trying to brush away the glowing white circuit patterns that inched their way up her fingers, wrists, and forearms. The eyes continued to stare from the darkness, another rumble shaking the room.
Then it started to move.
–
–
Yellow gripped at the bubble, clinging to whatever little hope she had. This wasn't happening. This couldn't happen... Maybe this was another nightmare. She held the bubble close, her mouth moving as if saying something inaudible. Blue stepped closer, finally finding the strength to move at all. She stood next to Yellow, staring into the bubble with the utmost distress.
Yellow's brows furrowed, and she slowly looked up at Hematite. A darkness fell over her face, eyes filled with accusatory anger.
"How could you let this happen..."
–
He took a step back, bumping into the desk, making him inhale sharply through his teeth in surprise. He started to tremble. An audible whimper escaped Hematite as he backed against the desk fully, his hands clutching at the fabric on the front of his suit. He shook his head, eyes wide, unable to look away from Yellow Diamond's angry gaze. She hadn't even done anything to him, yet he felt as though she were about to attack him, by the look in her eyes.
"I-I didn't- I-I don't know, it was just a n-normal mission, I didn't-!" he stammered, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. Ever so faintly, below his chin, his gemstone started to glow.
–
Yellow growled, but looked down at the bubble.
"Nevermind that. We'll deal with you later..." she said, her expression softening as she looked at White's gem again. Blue looked worried, and took a step towards Hematite. She shakily raised her hand up like she were going to touch him, but her hand retracted. She never made eye contact with him, but kept staring at the bubble.
"Hematite, you understand how serious this is... yes...?" Blue said, finally gazing back at him. Her eyes were filled with dread and haunted recollection. "Diamonds are really hard to crack. If you know anything, we need to know what happened."
–
Hema was staring ahead, through Blue. He barely heard her words.
He finally sensed what his gem was doing. The service gem didn't respond. His eyes were wide, and his hands suddenly shot up to his neck, covering his gemstone. Hema's breathing became uneven.
No, no no no!
–
As Blue spoke, Yellow sighed, pressing a finger into the bubble. An audible pop echoed through the dense air of the room. Blue's head whipped around, and she stared wide eyed at Yellow. She looked down at the gem now freely held in Yellow's hand. The warm-colored Diamond held the gem loosely, an open palm presenting the damaged gemstone. They waited with bated breath for anything to happen. Normally, once freed from a bubble, a gem reformed immediately.
But nothing was happening.
–
At the sound of the bubble popping, Hema shot his attention over to Yellow. Shaken, he watched the now-freed diamond. But nothing happened.
Oh, stars. He hadn't been quick enough.
The fault had somehow worsened, hadn't it?
Hematite's clawed fingers grasped at his gem. It was glowing brightly now. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and he looked down at his gem, covering it in panic. An audible whimper escaped him, and he turned away slightly from Blue and Yellow, trembling.
Don't, not right now, calm down, don't shift, don't shift.
–
–
White tried to stand up, but her legs trembled below her. She grunted, silently cursing herself as she struggled to get up. After some effort and stumbling, she managed to stand, and she stared down at the cracks that spider webbed up her legs now. She looked up, taking a few wavering steps back. What's going on? Why is this happening? What is this stuff? Why here, why now?! She lifted her head, noticing that in her panic, she had looked away from the eyes that were once right in front of her. Now, they were gone.
SCRREEEEAAAAAAAAAA!
A loud, hissing screech filled the air behind White. She turned around, putting her hands up defensively. Eyes widening, her stomach dropped. Skulking dangerously over the bookshelves, now very dimly lit with glowing circuit patterned cracks, was a huge, draconian figure. Its massive form was slinking over the isles, huge claws digging into the shelves. Wherever it stood, more white cracks formed, and the shelves, books, and diamond pads all fell to pieces. Its eyes were fixated on her, piercing through her very core.
She took a step back, but the beast slowly slinked forward. She couldn't make out too many details, but it's silhouette was far more clear now. It had six legs, a long thrashing tail with a blade that resembled the bladed end of her pole arm, and a mane that flowed down the back of its neck. As it inched closer over the bookshelves, the white circuit patterns crept over its eyelids.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
It hissed, revealing a glowing white, gaping maw. A long, ivory forked tongue lashed out, razor sharp fangs glimmering, stark-black against the white insides of its mouth. Rearing up its head, the towering creature let out a harrowing roar that resonated through the entire library. The glass dome ceiling above White shuddered and suddenly shattered with a horrifying crash.
White covered herself with her arms as the glass fell to shards around her, exploding into glitching pieces which soon disappeared as they hit the floor. A small whimper escaped her, and she forced herself to look back at the monstrosity. The beast lowered its head, eyes wide and mouth parted slightly. Their gazes met momentarily. The draconian figure's very gaze struck terror into the normally stead-fast Diamond.
For a moment, an ominous calm filled the air. White stood still, the white-circuit patterns no longer creeping up her skin. The draconian creature watched the Diamond intently, its long, bladed tail flicking back and forth, cracking the shelves as it did so. The air felt stiff, cold. The beast slowly narrowed its eyes, letting out a low, threatening hiss that made White's hair stand on end. It didn't make any move to come closer, but by the look in its eyes, White could tell it was considering it.
She didn't want to be anywhere near this thing. She wanted to escape, but was too worried that if she ran, it would follow. But if she stayed, it could lunge for her. Panic flooded her core, rendering her unable to do anything.
Then, she felt something shift. Brows raising, she gasped softly and looked up. The air around her cleared, suddenly feeling far less stale and dense. She was free to reform, finally! The Diamond's form began to glow, and she looked down quickly, grimacing as she clenched her fists.
–
–
Eyes widening, Blue and Yellow stepped back as the gem in Yellow's hand glowed and lifted itself into the air. They froze, wide eyed, watching her silhouette begin to form. There was a minuscule amount of hope that overcame both of them upon realizing that nothing seemed out of ordinary with her shape as it came into view.
But then she reformed completely. Feet tapping to the floor, the taller diamond stood, head hung low, eyes closed. Something was very wrong. Yellow gasped, stepping back clumsily. Blue's shoulders dropped, and she whimpered with dread. White's eyes shot open, staring past the group of three gems blankly.
–
Hematite's gem stopped glowing as White's form started to take shape, and he relaxed ever so slightly, a shred of hope fluttering in his chest. But then the bright light faded from White's form, and the service gem stopped breathing entirely.
–
Instead of her normal coloration, her once white features were now jet black, and vice versa. All of her colors seemed to have inverted, except for her outfit and her gem. Her fingers seemed slightly elongated, fingertips tapered even more like claws than they normally were. Her eyes were inky black, and instead of irises, there were long white slits in their place. Around her eyes, white circuit patterns spread above and below like digital cracks in her skin. The diamond was silent, her posture off. She was slouching unevenly, fingers grasping at something unseen.
No one said a word.
–
Hematite stood, the hair on the back of his neck starting to rise again. A chilling tingle ran through his entire form, his hair fluffing out in panicked anxiety. No. No this is wrong. White, oh my stars, w-what- He stayed frozen in place, not making a sound.
–
White blinked, her expression blank. Tears started dripping down Yellow's cheeks, and she took a shaken step back. Blue, however, took a step forward.
"Wh-white?" Blue said quietly, holding up her hand to the Diamond. She didn't touch her. White looked down at Blue's hand, then looked over to Hematite. Her lips parted. It was noticeable that her teeth were still white, but her mouth was also white. A silence befell her, and she didn't speak.
–
Hematite was still frozen in place. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe. Dread sunk deep down into his very core. This is my fault. She's broken, and it's my fault. White, White I'm so sorry! He managed to blink once, though he still made no move otherwise.
–
Cold, unnerving silence filled every corner of the room. She turned to the service gem, then looked back at Blue. Then Yellow. Her brows raised in confusion. Were they alright?
"T̀h̷wą'̢ś igg̛nò n̡o̴?́ Rea͟ ҉y̕uo͠ ̸l͜a͝l̨ ̧kayo?҉ "
White's eyes widened upon hearing her voice. That wasn't what she'd said at all. Gasping quietly, she looked down, noticing her shoes first. They looked normal, but something looked off with her shirt. Then, she raised her hands. Crying out in horror, she scrambled back, panic striking into her very core. Heaving, she grasped at nothing, shoulders raised.
"Ho ym ͝rast͠s̴ t̕h̶aw̵ p͝dhe͢p̵ena to ͟e͘m͏?̢! ́Àht̕e͡tḿei̶!" Her voice was wavering, and an odd static filled the sounds coming out of her mouth. Her volume shifted unnaturally, erratically. Her words were mixed up and broken, and no matter what she said, nothing came out intelligibly. She sounded more like a broken radio than a gem. "Aw̴h̵t͢ hèp͏p̛d͘ane?̷! Htaw ͟edna͘hp҉e̶p?͜!́" she cried out, but nothing came out right. Her words were scrambled, chopped, and distorted. Not only that, the overlay of static didn't help matters. Blue stepped forward again towards the other Diamond, carefully placing her hand on White's arm.
"White, Please! We don't know what you're saying, please calm down!" Blue said. White was breathing heavily, undisguised horror on her face. She flinched at Blue's touch, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes.
"U͟e͢l͞b́! No͠d't͘ ͢t͏o͝cuh ̷me!̀ W͜h̀t̵a҉'͢s ̨nphea͏ped̵, ͠h̸yw a͠m I ̕ki͡el ͢h̨ts͏i̶?̷!͘"
Blue's frown deepened as she stared up at White with confusion and anxiety plain as day on her face.
"White, I don't... Understand you... I'm sorry."
–
Shaking his head, Hematite quickly covered his mouth, eyes staring in horror at his leader as she cried out in broken, unintelligible fragments. The service gem glanced down in panic. His gemstone had started to glow again, and the knot of anxiety in his stomach suddenly jumped into his throat. A choked cry of grief and fear cracked from his chest, and he suddenly bolted for the office door, forcefully pried it open with his hands, and slipped out of the room, gone without a word. His efforts, though exhausted as he was, left visible dents in the side of the door.
–
The Diamonds shot their attention to the fleeing service gem, but made no effort to go after him. They had much bigger problems to worry about than him, right now. White hung her shoulders in defeat, looking at Yellow. Yellow grasped at her glove, letting go and wiping the tears from her eyes.
"White..." she spoke, stepping towards her. "Your gem is... cracked," she forced out, her voice strained.
White froze.
No. No, this is a horrible joke. Yellow, don't do that.
Slowly, she lifted her hand, and touched her gemstone. She ran her finger gently across its surface, and stopped right over the deep crack. Even with the softest touch to the fault, she felt a painful, fiery stab of pain shoot through her very core. She shuddered and flinched, a glitched whimper softly rising from her.
"O̕͟n̷̕.͡.̷.̵͟I͞t͘͢h̢̕s̸̡ ̵̀á͟͜n̢͡c'̡t͘͢ ̢͞be̛͠..." she choked, the once small tears at the corners of her eyes suddenly spilling over her lower lids. Tears started pouring down her cheeks, and she raised her hands up to her face. Blue and Yellow glanced at each other nervously, taking a few steps away from the tallest Diamond. They wanted to try and comfort her, but at the same time... they didn't want to be anywhere near her.
Not like this.
Not in this state.
Abruptly, White dug her nails into her cheeks, tears dripping down her cheeks. A warped, cracked scream rose in her chest, echoing past the open doors of the office and into the early morning.
–
–
Run. Don't stop. Get away.
After about five minutes of sprinting down the twisting halls of the White Tower, Hematite finally reached his room. In a blind panic, he firmly typed in the code to open the door, and slipped in as soon as it hissed and slid into the wall. He closed it behind him.
Back plastered to the metallic surface, Hematite stared at nothing, eyes wide, his chest heaving as he tried to calm down.
No, no. This isn't happening. This is all a bad dream. Wake up. WAKE UP!
Hematite let out a soft whimper and grasped at his head, his clawed hands digging into his hair and scalp. Tears suddenly started to flow down his face.
White... White!
What happened?! WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!
It's all my fault, I let this happen, they're going to shatter me for this!
I'm her bodyguard and she got cracked on my watch!
Hematite clutched at his chest. His breathing was uneven. He began to hyperventilate. Looking around, he spotted the shelf on the closest wall to him. He stumbled over and firmly grasped the edge of one particular shelf with his clawed fingers, digging small scratches into the surface.
There was a bright flash of light.
The now tiny service gem was left hanging on the edge of the shelf before he scrambled up, stumbling unevenly to the panel against the wall. He pressed against it, slid the hidden door open, and then stepped inside, turning and closing it up once more.
Nobody would find him here.
The tiny service gem stumbled along the long hallway before he arrived in his miniature bedroom. He turned the light on. For once, the warm glow of his crystalline lamp filled him with no comfort. Whimpering, Hematite slumped against one of the far corners, where a long cushion rested. He backed himself into the corner, crossing his arms, holding his shoulders tightly. His clawed hands dug into the fabric.
They won't find me here...
Hematite buried his face in his knees, shaking uncontrollably.
They could fix this... They had to fix this... She was just cracked, they could get her back to normal. Pink Diamond had healed cracked gems in the past, based on reports.
The tiny gem choked back a sob, his nails digging harshly into his suit.
Nothing's unfixable...
–
–
The day went on in ominous silence. White retired to her room, locking her doors and refusing to let anyone in. Yellow and Blue, unsure what to do, parted ways and returned to their own towers. With White in her room, they knew she wouldn't get any worse physically, so they had a little time to collect their thoughts and square other things away before they had to tackle how to fix this. Yellow, not wanting to talk to anyone, locked herself in her office and turned away anyone who tried to enter as well. Blue, however, tried to go about the day normally. But she had an exceedingly hard time masking that something was wrong. Anyone she spoke to, especially gems that she usually interacted with in her day-to-day business, immediately noticed that something was off about her. She was monotonous, unfocused, and all of her peppy demeanor was gone. It lead to some suspicious looks, but no one questioned what was going on with her. No one dared to.
–
–
"Yes, that schedule will do just fine," Blue said distractedly, her voice unnervingly flat. She was staring down at a diamond pad in front of her, one hand supporting her cheek, the other flipping through some files. The Onyx standing in front of her desk bit their lip quietly.
"My Diamond, I was... asking about the next shipment of carbonite to sector 23..." she said cautiously. Blue slowly blinked, furrowing her brows. She frowned up at the Onyx, who stiffened at their Diamond's unhappy gaze. "N-nevermind! I'll go over it at a later time with my co-manager," she said quickly. Blue narrowed her eyes.
"Good. Now leave. I have other work to do."
The Onyx nodded and saluted quickly, heading out the door as soon as she could. It hissed shut behind her, leaving Blue alone in the office. The Diamond sat in stiff silence for a good minute or so before she slowly sat up, rubbing her palm firmly over her face. A low, frustrated groan rose in her throat, and her eyes shut tightly. Her mind felt clouded, stormy, fuzzy. This all felt unreal, as if they were all caught in the same bad dream. This couldn't have happened. White couldn't be cracked. There were few things that could crack a Diamond, they'd made sure of that through their designs of their different gem classes. Each class had its limitations, and not a single one, by its own power, was recorded as being able to get anywhere close to damaging something as tough as a Diamond. That was, all aside from one class of gems... one new class. But, surely that wasn't the case. White wouldn't make a gem class strong enough to damage a Diamond and then willingly take one as her body-guard.
… Then again, she hadn't designed them to corrupt over time, either. It could have happened by accident; there could be a flaw in their code that made them far stronger than intended. Those teeth of theirs were intended to shatter gems with ease...
Blue furrowed her brows, rapidly shaking her head. No, what was she thinking?! This was Hema she was thinking about! He was the only Hematite on that planet at the time, right? And he would never do something like that. But then that begged the question... what could and would crack a Diamond? What could do that and go unnoticed, if Hema's rather shaken, vague 'story', if you could call it that, was to be believed? Was there someone else after White's life? Were they still loose out there? Was it an accident? What pieces, if any, were they missing, here?
And, speaking of missing... where was Hema? After his rather concerning 'departure' from the office that left the doors damaged, nobody had seen him. That in and of itself was... worrying.
Something else was wrong. Something about this was off, and she needed answers. She wanted an explanation, she wanted some kind of hope that these dark, barely warranted suspicions that were starting to rise in her mind were wrong. Once alone, she grabbed her communicator. The device glowed brightly, a small hologram screen appearing a few inches overhead.
"Contact Hema." Chirp. "... Hematite? Please answer me. This is Blue Diamond."
–
The tiny service gem had fallen asleep in his room, slouched against the wall. His face twitched into a fearful expression now and then, a faint trace of sweat along his brow. Seemed he was dreaming.
Beep beep, beep beep!
With a start, Hematite sat up, his eyes shooting open. He let out a soft gasp, woken from a rather... chilling nightmare. But the moment he was conscious, he couldn't recall what it was. Perhaps that was a good thing. With a trembling hand, Hematite reached up to his visor and tapped it, answering the call.
"... This is Hematite."
–
Blue sighed with relief, leaning back in her chair.
"Hematite, please. I need to speak with you. Wherever you went, no one can find you. I'm not going to hurt you, I just wanna talk. Can you come to my office tonight? Preferably sooner than later?" she asked, arms crossed. All of her normal, upbeat emotion was gone entirely. She sounded professional; she sounded serious.
–
Swallowing, Hematite closed his eyes tightly, inhaling deeply through his nose. He slowly let out the breath, grimacing.
"... Yes. I'll be right there."
Click.
Standing, Hematite made his way out of the room, shifted back to his normal height, and then left his bedroom. He made his way to the Blue tower, slowly, heavily.
His eyes stared blankly ahead, a vaguely hollow look to them. He was still visibly shaken, but at least he seemed alert. Shoulders squared, steps measured, he briskly walked along the sky bridge. A crisp night breeze blew through the high path, brushing Hema's hair aside.
He still looked like a mess.
–
Knocking, Hematite stood in front of Blue's door, walking inside once it opened. He saluted stiffly.
"Hematite reporting, Blue Diamond."
–
Blue sat up straight, arms folded over one another.
"Please, come in..." she said quietly. Glancing over to the Pearl that stood in the corner, she made a motion with her head, mouthing something to her silently. The Pearl nodded in understanding, and left without a word. Blue looked solemnly at Hematite, fingers gripping at her forearms. "Listen, Hematite. I need to know exactly what happened... This... this is catastrophic. We have a cracked Diamond on our hands." Just at her physically saying that, her anxiety started to spike, and she looked down at nothing. She bit her lip. "I need to know. How did she get cracked... Where did you both go, what did you both do?"
–
The service gem walked stiffly over to the azure gem's desk and took a seat. He folded his hands in his lap, staring at her.
"... Yesterday morning, after White called me, I went to her office and she told me about a recording she received. It was an anonymous tip from what I can only assume was a rebel. They told White that there was a group that was planning to start a full-out uprising against Homeworld." He took a deep breath, trying to remain professional. "They were stationed on a nearby reclaimed Pink Diamond planet. White and I left immediately yesterday morning and made our way to the location given to us by the message. It took us all afternoon to walk there. It was night before we arrived." His tone shifted slightly. "But we ran into trouble. It was an ambush. These rebels, and their leader, I assume, attacked us. They were mounted on gem monsters. The leader was a fusion, Zultanite. We took them out... And then we rested."
–
Blue locked her fingers together, bringing her hands up in front of her mouth. Her eyes narrowed as she listened to the service gem's report. Any other time, she'd find it to be an interesting tale, but she was listening for details in this one.
"Go on."
–
"... And. Well." His professional air suddenly began to waver. He looked unsure of himself for a moment. However, he pushed it aside and cleared his throat, squaring his shoulders. "The message warned us about a 'scout'. Said that she was under orders to give a signal to start the uprising, should their plans be found out. So a few hours went by, I rested, White did as well... But then my visor caught something." His index finger tapped on his hand. "It was a very small gem. White and I chased after her, but she lead us into a huge cave system. Even at my half height, it still dwarfed me. It must have been at least twice my full height." He glanced to the side. "And... So. we followed the scout into the caves. She was really fast, so she kept getting ahead of me. I started to... notice that the tunnels were getting narrower, and that we could be..." He looked confused for a moment, pausing.
How had White been ambushed, or, whatever happened. How? He hadn't passed anyone on the way into the caves, nor did he see anyone on the way out. Had they been followed, or had White found someone in the room he found her gemstone in?
"... Sorry." Clearing his throat, he looked at her again. "I thought we might be ambushed, so I asked her to stay behind." The end of the last word caught in his throat.
–
Blue continued to bite her lip, chewing at the inside of it gently.
"Mmmng.." She grunted uncomfortably and looked away. Brows furrowed, she tapped her laced hands against her chin. "And so she did, I presume?"
–
"Yeah. I figured if we ran into trouble, it'd be best if she was there for backup... and vice versa. So I continued down the caves after the scout, and left White at some forked paths." He swallowed nervously. His professional demeanor started to crumble. "... I don't know what happened." His hands trembled for a moment. "I chased after the scout and caught her after a while, but when I caught her... she used this weird ability on me, and." Closing his eyes, Hematite drew his lips tight, his expression unreadable. "I blacked out. Then when I came to, I found White cracked in another room."
–
Blue's brows raised, and she sat up straighter. She almost looked angry.
"That's it?" she growled, her voice sending a chill through the air. She wanted to say something more, but she held her tongue. "Hmph..." She looked right through Hematite, lost in thought. "I see..." She placed her hands on the desk and tapped her fingers along its smooth surface. Her suspicion was rising by the second, and that last part of Hema's story didn't help at all. She couldn't do anything about it now, though. Looking to the service gem, she gave him a curt nod. "How did you find her gem, then?"
–
As soon as he opened his eyes again to look at Blue, whatever was left of his composure shattered. She looked angry. She sounded angry.
"I-I don't know, I." Hematite looked down at his hands, unfolding them, looking at his palms. "When I came to, the scout was still using the ability, so I bubbled her. That stopped it, but my head was still ringing." Hema's voice wavered. "I think I tried to call White's communicator, but she didn't answer." The service gem trembled. Tears pricked at his eyes. "So I went back for her, and-! Sh-she wasn't where I left her, so I tracked down her signature, and she-" The service gem's voice cracked, and he lifted a hand to his mouth, covering it much the same way he'd done back in the caves. But this time, his eyes were shut tight. He swallowed hard. "Sh-she was there. On the ground. I scanned her and saw that she was cr-..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. "S-so I took care of the scout and b-bubbled her gem. I didn't want to touch it."
–
Blue kept a steady expression through the whole explanation, but she couldn't null the hundreds of thoughts spinning in her head. What kind of ability did this scout even have? How could this have happened? If what he was saying was true, then who did this? Something wasn't adding up in this story. There were a lot of holes, here. Holes that she didn't understand, and probably wasn't going to get answers for any time soon, especially with Hema in this state, and White in hers. She took note of Hematite's expression, and for a split second, her face softened. She seemed more concerned now than anything. Stars, this was really upsetting him... She twitched her finger and hung her hands to her sides, clenching her fists. She was quiet, looking away.
"And that's when you came back, huh?"
–
The service gem took a moment to recover. When he did, he still looked distant and terrified.
"Yes. I came back and immediately contacted you and Yellow. I waited in the office until you arrived." His tone changed again, and he put his face in his hands. He sounded terrified. "I don't understand. I didn't detect anyone in the caves, there weren't any signals around when I blacked out, and none had appeared when I came to... I-I didn't see anyone in the room with White, either." He shook his head weakly, his shoulders dropping. When he spoke again, his voice was thick with grief and guilt. "This is all my fault. I let this happen. I should have trusted my instincts, I knew something was wrong! I should have never left her behind!"
–
Blue sighed heavily, placing her elbows on the desk.
"Look, Hematite... Calm down. We'll figure something out. Things will be alright, okay?" She looked up at him, smiling faintly. She was lying, of course. She had no idea how things were going to turn out, or if there was even any way to fix White's crack. She wouldn't get any worse, thankfully, if she didn't damage the gem further. However... she wasn't going to get better either.
And, the longer she stayed like this, well... the more she risked corrupting.
The last thing the world needed was a corrupted Diamond.
Her eyes widened at the thought, but she quickly looked back to Hematite with a forced, hopeful gleam.
"Hey, by the way... whatever you do, try not to tell anyone about this. If people find out that White's been... well, you know... they'll." She paused, the worry flooding back. This time, she couldn't brush it off. "There could be a massive panic. We don't need that... Do you understand? This needs to be kept quiet. We'll try to figure out something in the meantime."
–
Hematite blinked up at Blue, finally taking his hands from his face. He sniffed, wiped his eyes, and then cleared his throat, crossing his arms. He clutched at the fabric of his shirt.
"R-right. Okay. I understand. I won't tell a soul." Looking away to the side, Hematite frowned and pulled tighter at his sleeve. The quicker they solved this, the better. Whoever was the cause of all this needed to be brought to justice. And Hematite hoped that, whoever or whatever it was that had cracked White's gem, well. He hoped he would get to deal with them personally.
–
Blue stood, her palms held together formally.
"Thank you for telling me this, Hematite. You are dismissed," she said. Her face void of emotion, she looked to the side. "I'm sorry. I've got something important to do." Turning quickly, she walked for the door on the side of the room, and left without seeing Hematite off.
–
The service gem watched Blue leave with a heavy knot of dread in his stomach. He soon stood and left the office, heading aimlessly down the sky bridge. He had to do something... But what? He couldn't think of any way to fix a cracked gem... He was less than a hundred years old, he knew almost NOTHING compared to the vast knowledge of other gems like the Diamonds. Hematite stopped in his tracks, his brows shooting up in realization.
Of course!
Sprinting off, Hema made his way back to the Blue tower, and down toward the main city warp.
If there was any place he could find answers, it'd be White's archives!
–
–
Dark. Cold. Empty.
Yellow opened her eyes, groaning. Running her fingers through her hair slowly, she blinked, her vision fading in from bleary darkness.
"What...? Where am... I..." She stopped, staring blankly ahead. She found herself lost in a black abyss, with nothing but a stark white line signifying some kind of horizon. The Diamond looked down sharply at her feet, realizing that while she did still have her color, the ground below her was stark black. She felt her body go numb.
No.
She turned around quickly, a shaken breath rattling in her chest.
NO.
Backing up, she looked frantically around her, turning in every direction, her eyes wide. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Why was she here again? This place was all to familiar; she'd never expected to find herself back here. It was over, wasn't it?! She'd made her peace with Hematite. But here she was, back in this dreadful place that she'd never hoped to see again.
Holding her arms close, she started walking, trembling. The last nightmare she had was the worst one she'd ever had... was this one going to be even worse? She waited as she walked, watching the non existent skyline. What was this one going to be? Had her fears come crawling back to haunt her? She thought it was over. She had been so relieved that it was over. Now, she was left to wonder how many more of these she would have to suffer through. Was this going to destroy her again?
Would she never truly have peace?
–
Tink
Tink tink
From somewhere behind Yellow Diamond, the quiet sounds of glass dropping to a stone floor echoed. At first, they started out slow, but then it suddenly sounded as if a wave of crystalline pieces were being poured over each other. The sound slowed and stopped, though the faint sounds of settling crystalline pieces still echoed through the air.
Tink
Something rolled into the back of Yellow's heel, bumping against it lightly.
"Hmhmhmmm.~"
A soft, eerie hum filled the room, shaking the Diamond's very core, stealing her breath away.
–
A whimper rose up through the air. No... Not him... Please... She clenched her fists and took a deep breath. She looked down at her shoe to see what had touched her, but she very quickly wished she hadn't... Eyes widening, Yellow sharply took a step back, away from the gem. It looked just like White's. Kneeling down, she hovered her hand over the gemstone, tears welling up in her eyes.
Why was this happening? Why ... why this? What was going on?
Slowly, Yellow dared to look up.
–
"Hmmhmhmmm. Well, now."
In front of the Diamond that laid before Yellow, was a trail of similar gemstones. They were all cracked. More, more, and more, until they formed a huge pile; a pile that a familiar, giant form was reclined on, holding himself up with one arm. His other hand was behind his back.
"See what happens when you let your guard down?~"
–
Yellow swallowed nervously, glancing between the pile of cracked gems and the all too familiar monstrosity she hoped she'd never have to see again. The fear came racing back, hitting her all at once. Everything she'd felt before gripped at her core once more. All of her anxiety, all of her suspicion, all of it. She trembled, taking a single step back. This wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to be like this...
She refused to speak.
–
Whirrr
Click
The monstrous hunter's visor came to life, the eerie insignia appearing on its black screen once more. But this time, it didn't resemble Yellow Diamond's gemstone. No. This time, it looked like White's gem.
"And to think, if you'd just taken care of your little problem before, this could have been avoided! Now..." Slowly, Hematite turned his head, lifting his hand from behind his back. There, dangling by the back of her shirt, was a starkly-outlined White, hanging limply from his grip. "Your comrade is in grave danger.~"
–
Yellow felt everything stop. Her mind skidded to a screeching halt, her eyes going wide as saucers.
WHITE. WHY WAS SHE HERE?!
"LET GO OF HER!" she screamed out in horrified anger, taking a few bold steps forward. She started breathing heavily, hands trembling. She didn't bother hiding her anger, not this time. "Th-this is my nightmare! Leave her out of this!" she hissed loudly.
–
The giant gem stopped, a look of 'surprise' on his face. The insignia on his visor slowly focused on Yellow, despite Hematite not turning his head.
Cliikikik
He stopped.
And suddenly, he smiled. The monstrous gem's teeth gleamed in the dark as a huge, unsettling grin spread across his face.
"You're right." Steadily, he lifted White towards his face.
"T̟͉͎̪h̗̮͉̙͞i̛̪̫s̸̩̬̩͎͚̼ ͏̩̪̰͇̥̳ͅIS̫ ̮̳̪̭y̛̱͉̭̳o̪̱̱u͈̳r͓̲͎̮̤ ̴̱̫̻̦̗ni̘g̷̭̮̫̩̜̻ḩt̫̤̤̩̘̭͓m̷a͚̬̜r͙̣̳̯̯̼̟e̢̫͓̞̭͙.̧̣̘"
–
Raising her hand quickly, Yellow whimpered sharply, all her anger vanishing like mist in a scorching sunbeam.
"STOP! DON'T!" she cried out, taking a few more steps forward. Her legs suddenly felt heavy. Very heavy. "NOT HER! Please!" she begged, stopping completely. She froze, unable to take any more steps further. Her legs below her suddenly gave out, leaving her collapsed on her knees.
–
The nightmarish Hematite ignored her pleas. With a dark, warped chuckle, he tilted his head back. The insignia never left her. Suddenly, the pile of gems beneath the giant hunter began to change. A deafening cracking sound filled the air, and, one by one, some of the crystalline forms turned yellow... And then some turned blue.
Hematite cackled, the sound coming out distorted and crackly. He finally stopped and grinned again, holding White up just a bit higher over his face.
"Y̶͙͇̤̣͙o͔̗͔̞̰ư̭͚̤̞̩̣̮'̵̴̛̜̳ŗ̴̧͎͎̭̹̳e̫̰̻̠̮̼ ̴̶̨̺͚n̴̨̦̫̗̞̞̞e̶̹̲͟x͔͇̗͖̲͇͇ͅͅt̨̲̜̹̰̜͎́͝.̻͇̲͖̘͖̥͢ͅ"
–
Yellow froze, her stomach twisting into a tight knot. She was helpless. She could never do anything to stop him, and now she was forced to watch. Even if she'd closed her eyes, she knew what she'd hear next.
"No..." she whispered, staring up at White's limp form. "Do something...White...Wake up... Do something, please..." she said quietly, tears streaming down her face.
–
Hematite snickered and turned his attention to White's limp form dangling above his mouth. Slowly, he parted his teeth, lowering the Diamond closer.
–
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
–
Yellow's head shot up from her desk. She inhaled sharply, clutching at her gem. Thank stars, that was over. She regretted taking that short nap. Then again, she didn't have any reason to believe it would lead to that. She was just so mentally exhausted, she assumed resting for a few minutes wouldn't hurt. She would have kept thinking about it, the horror still fresh in her mind... but she had to answer whoever was at the door. Groaning, she stood up, brows furrowed.
"Ugggh... I told everyone to leave me alone," she muttered crossly to herself, walking towards the door. Still, that HAD woken her up from a disaster. So she couldn't really complain too much. Stopping in front of the door, she cleared her throat and regained a professional stance. She cracked the door open a few inches, peering outside.
"I'm not available ri-..."
–
At first, it seemed there was nobody there. And then someone softly cleared their throat.
Standing at the door, just barely knee height with Yellow Diamond, was a Peridot. She had a long, clip-board like diamond pad held in front of her, covering her mouth. Though the service gem wore a pair of leg enhancers, her arms were bare and like a normal gem's. Her eyes were wide, staring up at her leader from behind her bright greenish visor. The service gem blinked once or twice.
"Terribly sorry to disturb you, Yellow Diamond!"
–
Yellow narrowed her eyes, staring down at the tiny gem. She glanced at the Peridot's arms, raising a brow.
"What do you want?..."
–
Uncovering her face just slightly, revealing her rather impressive set of freckles, the Peridot swallowed nervously and attempted to stand at attention.
"General Topaz is here! W-well, she's not here but she's here on Homeworld and she says she urgently needs to speak to you!"
–
Yellow's brows raised, and she opened the door briskly.
"What? General Topaz? Well, where is she?" she asked, taking a single step towards the small Peridot. What on Homeworld could Topaz be here for?
–
The petite service gem held up her diamond pad in front of her again and squeaked quietly, though she stifled it well.
"Sh-she's in the main White Archives! Said she needed to keep an eye on things... And that I needed to fetch you as soon as possible!" She started briskly walking down the path leading into the Yellow Diamond tower, her limb enhancers clacking against the stone.
–
Yellow snapped to attention and followed soon after the Peridot.
"Wait- Agggh," she groaned, a few feet behind already. It didn't take her long at all to catch up, however, and was even starting to walk faster than the Peridot could keep up at times, even at a normal pace. "What is she doing in White's archives?"
–
The Peridot grunted with effort at trying to keep pace with Yellow, her comparatively shorter legs not doing her much of a service. She barely managed to keep up with her leader.
"She arrived about an hour or so ago. She showed up at the Archives and asked to see who was in charge." The Peridot glanced up to the side. "Dolomite wasn't around, so she settled for me," she said simply. The service gem stuck her tongue out as she took another few bounds forward. "She didn't say much. I left her with a few of the gems there before I came to get you."
–
Yellow looked on ahead, taking in the Peridot's words.
"Alright. Thank you," she said, her pace quickening. If Topaz was here and wasn't reporting to her, something was up and she needed to get there quickly. After she and the Peridot made their way down the elevator, she headed right for the warp pad in the center of the tower facility.
–
The freckled Peridot blinked in surprise and rushed after her leader, though her steps were far too small, and Yellow had warped away far before she could catch up.
–
–
Scrambling around a corner, the green service gem stuck her tongue out and made a beeline for the archives building, making her way inside. She headed for the room Topaz had been left in.
–
Yellow arrived not long ago, stepping quietly but quickly through the halls. The main room was massive. With a layout much like the great library, the shelves stood tall and wide, extending for many, many units in any direction. Everything in the building was made with a sleek, white metallic finish. On some shelves, there were buzzing screens that kept more important documents protected from anyone without a special code to get in. The entire facility was very well lit, and there was hardly a dark spot in any given inch.
"Hmm..." Yellow peered down the isles, passing them one by one. Occasionally she'd see a service gem organizing some of the diamond pads, but Topaz was nowhere to be seen. Then she spotted something else. In the more open area of the archives, there were large tables where gems could sit and read or hold meeting. Unfortunately for Yellow, the last gem she'd either wanted or expected to see was sitting at one of the tables. Hematite, sitting with at least thirteen Diamond pads laying around him, looked scattered and distressed.
Yellow scoffed and made a sharp turn to another aisle. She didn't want to confront him right now. She didn't have the time or the patience. Quickly, she kept walking, hoping to avoid him completely. She had to find Topaz.
–
"Ah, Hematite, is this the one you were looking for?"
A strong, well-carrying voice sounded from the space that the service gem was studying in. Hema sat up straight, pausing in his efforts to thumb through some files on a diamond pad. He looked back, putting his arm over the support of his chair. Out from behind a nearby shelf stepped a huge, familiar form, a few books and diamond pads in her arms. She was looking down at one in particular. "Here, I found a few more that seem to be related as well. Perhaps they'll help?" she offered politely, looking at the service gem with an uncharacteristically soft expression.
The ivory-haired gem smiled thankfully at the massive warrior and nodded, carefully taking the items from Topaz as she handed them down.
"Thank you, General. I couldn't quite reach those ones."
–
Yellow stopped dead in her tracks, backing up to the corner again to peek around the aisle. Sighing heavily, she rolled her eyes. Oooof course she had to be near him. Turning, Yellow made her way back to the two. Standing formally, Yellow stopped just shy of the table that Hematite was sitting at.
"Hematite. General Topaz." she said, addressing them in greetings. "What news do you have for me?" Yellow asked, staring at Topaz. Part of her wanted to avoid speaking to Hematite completely, if she could help it.
–
Hematite had noticed Yellow rather quickly, and shrank back in his chair, subtly. No, why was she here?! The service gem sunk down into his chair before he buried his attention back in his studying. He muttered something to himself, one hand clutching his head, supporting it, the other flipping through a diamond pad.
The General crossed her arms in front of her chest after giving Yellow a respectful nod. She glanced down at Hematite. There was an unreadable expression on her face, made even more unreadable by her covered right eye. However, there seemed to be the faintest hint of... pity? Sympathy? It only lingered for a split moment before the golden-haired gem turned her attention back to Yellow Diamond, trying to remain professional.
"May I speak to you privately, Yellow Diamond?"
–
Yellow nodded simply and she placed her hands together momentarily She spared Hematite a brief glance, looking down at the clutter he had made over the table. It seemed as though he were looking for something, but she didn't know what.
"Lead the way, General."
–
Topaz nodded and uncrossed her arms, turning to head down one of the rows of archives and books. She turned her head slightly, her voice low.
"Apologies for dragging you here, I need-"
Skidding around the corner, the freckled Peridot squeaked and came to a clumsy halt, saluting the two gems in front of her. However, she quickly noticed she was saluting in reverse and righted herself with an awkward chuckle. The golden-haired gem clicked her tongue. "Ah, just in time. Peridot, can you please go monitor Hematite at that table over there?" Topaz thumbed back down the corridor. The green service gem peered around the two, standing on one leg, and suddenly perked, beaming.
"Wiiith pleasure!"
With that, she was off, bolting down the hall of archives. She came to a skidding halt as she leapt into a chair, scooting it closer to Hema. "Hiii Hematite!"
"O-oh, hey, Frecks."
"Still studying?" She leaned over his shoulder, peering curiously at his research. Hematite sighed softly, nodding.
Topaz snorted quietly with a shake of her head. She continued down the path, leading Yellow to a much more secluded part of the White Archives.
–
Yellow raised a brow without a word, eyeing the service gem as she ran past them. Maybe things would be quieter now. Shrugging, she followed Topaz, curiosity piqued. What could she possibly want?
–
The General led the Diamond down a few more paths before they came to a secluded room. There didn't seem to be any service gems around. She closed the door behind them.
Turning, Topaz crossed her arms, staring evenly at Yellow.
"Apologies, he has very sensitive hearing, compared to normal gems. I didn't want to risk him listening in on us."
–
"That's alright, General. We're here now, what do you need to say?" Yellow responded, crossing her arms patiently.
–
Topaz looked away silently. She drummed her fingers on her forearm. When she spoke, her voice was hushed, low, and even. She looked at Yellow without turning her head, piercing orange eyes meeting hers.
"Where is White Diamond."
–
Yellow's expression faltered, and she found herself unable to hide her brief surprise.
"Uh... well, um... She's in her tower, of course!" she said, trying to keep her expression in a neutral state. Her brows raised however, and she stared unnervingly through the warrior.
–
Topaz inhaled slowly through her nose, her brows furrowing. Her right eye was still covered by her hair. However, as she lifted a hand to her face, she quickly fixed that, brushing her hair back behind her ear. Her gaze was piercing, intense, and held the fire of a war veteran.
"Then let me ask another question. How is White Diamond."
–
Yellow paused and gazed at Topaz's right eye, hesitant to answer the question. So she'd caught on. She wasn't sure how, but she knew Topaz knew something was up. Sighing, Yellow stepped closer, glancing to the side for a moment to make sure no one was around. She looked back up, matching Topaz's fierce gaze.
"Can you keep quiet about this..."
–
"You know I can, Yellow Diamond." Topaz frowned slightly, once again drumming her fingers on her arm.
–
Yellow took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She exhaled heavily through her teeth.
"I'm afraid... White's been cracked."
–
Topaz immediately closed her eyes, a pained expression crossing her face. She turned away, taking a step or two from Yellow. Running a hand through her hair, the General inhaled slowly through her teeth.
"I was afraid of that."
–
Yellow cleared her throat and opened her eyes.
"How did you figure?" she asked, folding her hands behind her back. "The less people that know about this, the better. We don't want to risk word of this getting out just yet."
–
Clenching her fist in her hair, the General slowly exhaled, squaring her shoulders. She turned back to Yellow.
"No need to worry. I won't tell anyone. I just had to..." She grimaced and looked away, a sharp-toothed sneer on her face. "Confirm some suspicions."
–
Yellow felt a twinge of confusion. Suspicions? What kind of suspicions?
"I see... So, what are you doing in these archives, then? Why are you here?"
–
Topaz turned her attention back to Yellow, her teeth no longer bared. She stood straight, and for once, folded her arms behind her, standing tall.
"You remember that faction we've been having troubles with, yes? Back on my home planet? Well, did White ever call you about the anonymous tip we received?"
–
Yellow narrowed her eyes in thought, but then nodded.
"Yes, I remember, and yes, she did."
–
Topaz nodded in return.
"Well, White was adamant that she and her Hematite could handle it. So, I let her. I had other business to attend to, so I withdrew all of my soldiers from the area before they arrived. They weren't making any progress, so there was no point in them getting in the way. Of course, I knew they'd be arriving yesterday morning, and my patrols reported seeing Hematite and White headed for the location in the message. But when the same patrols reported that the Hematite was headed toward the capital alone, not too long after arriving..." She grimaced just slightly, but quickly returned to her professional air. "I thought perhaps White and the harvester had simply completed their job quicker than expected... Which was impressive. I wanted to thank White in person for supposedly taking care of the issue at hand!" Topaz frowned slightly. "But, I was not met with the two of them. The Hematite was alone, carrying a bubble. I had been waiting near the warp pad for them, but when I saw that bubbled gem, I froze up." The golden-haired gem inhaled quietly. "I didn't get a good look. I thought it might be White Diamond. In fact, I had little reason to believe it was anyone else. Nobody had come along for their mission, after all. But the service gem... looked... off."
–
Yellow had not heard a report of how things had gone, so this was all news to her. She looked away, pursing her lips.
"What do you mean off? ..." she asked, narrowing her eyes. She kept glancing at Topaz's right eye as she spoke, seeming unusually intent on watching it. Topaz didn't seem to mind, or even notice.
–
"He didn't seem entirely there. He looked panicked, fearful, hunted." Topaz snorted and glanced to the side. "I thought perhaps he was being followed. But nobody came after him. I stayed there for a good long while to make sure. I even sent my gems in after they left, and they, for once, all returned intact. My patrols reported nothing out of the ordinary, all day. So, I thought perhaps the mission had simply gone sour towards the end, and that White had just been poofed." The General narrowed her eyes. "But the look in that service gem's eyes troubled me. After I squared things away at my home planet's capital I warped here to Homeworld not too long ago, hoping to find some answers... And. Hoping to find that my suspicions were wrong. So I asked around. Nobody would tell me anything about White Diamond, you were locked away in your tower, supposedly, and Blue Diamond was no-where to be found. I started to get, well. 'Nervous' isn't the word. So I asked around for Hematite. A few gems saw him heading to the archives, so I came by here to see what he was up to..." Sighing, Topaz stood straighter, suddenly rolling her neck with a faint 'crick' as she squared her shoulders again. "And then I saw him researching cracked gems."
–
Yellow bit her lip, suspicion rising.
"What are you getting at, General?" she asked, drumming her fingers rhythmically. Well, of course he'd research that, he might be trying to find out how to fix her. Isn't that what we're all doing, come tomorrow?
–
Topaz frowned and looked away. There was a pause.
"You know me, Yellow Diamond. I never 'get at' anything. I'm simply telling you how I figured what had happened to White, that's all. I believe Hematite, no matter what happened during that mission, is researching a fix. He seems very intent on it. He's barely said anything to me aside from what you saw earlier. That, and he gave me access to his mission logs, in case anything could be of use there."
–
The Diamond stood a little taller, tapping her heel once on the floor.
"Fair enough. We're all going to be looking into fixing White. It doesn't really surprise me that he's here, honestly..." She paused, thinking hard about what information Topaz was giving her. She looked at one of the shelves nearby, her expression unreadable. "I only hope there is a way..."
–
Topaz followed her gaze, unblinking. Her hair fell over her eye again, a look of genuine pain on her face.
"As do I. I believe we'll find something. We have to." She looked to her leader and crossed her arms in front of her. "That being the case! I am here, and available to you, should you wish me to assist you in finding a fix. With the rebels taken care of on my planet temporarily, and a temporary leader in place, I am free for a while, and I wish to help." Her expression softened for a moment. "It'd be far more efficient with more helping hands."
–
Yellow looked back to the warrior and nodded with genuine thanks.
"We all appreciate it. The faster we can get her fixed, the sooner our troubles will be over." Yellow said. She looked as though she were masking something, but it was hard to tell what. Her expression looked forced.
–
The General took note of the odd look, but since she couldn't place the reason behind it, she brushed it aside mentally.
"Indeed." She frowned and looked around for a moment. Stepping closer, she pushed her hair behind her ear again. "That being said, I do have to ask you one final thing."
–
At first, the Diamond didn't respond. Yellow raised a brow, fidgeting with her glove behind her back. She almost seemed lost in thought, like she was contemplating something. Suddenly, she snapped back to attention, realizing she almost missed responding completely.
"Yes, what is it?"
–
"Now, you know I never 'get at' anything, but I need to know, for my own peace of mind..." Topaz arched a brow. When she spoke again, her tone completely changed. It was low, and had a dark bite to it. Her gaze burned into Yellow's, a fearsome fire in her eyes.
"Can you think of any motive the service gem would have for turning on his leader."
–
Yellow froze, blinking in surprise.
"Well... If you anger him, I suppose." She shrugged, reluctant to say anything more. The pieces started to come together. It had happened before... she angered him, and he turned on her.
But White?... If Topaz was implying what she thought she was implying, then it raised a lot of questions. Questions she wondered if she should even ask. A prickling suspicion began to rise in her chest, mixed with a cloudy, frustrating sense of confusion. She was missing so many pieces to this, and she hated it. "I'm not sure... if he would, though. To my knowledge at least, White never did anything to anger him. Nor Blue." She grimaced, thinking about herself. "He may have attacked me, but he had his... 'reasons', and I don't think he would make that mistake twice."
–
"I see. I had a feeling there may not have been anything there, but, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything important to this." She squared her shoulders and nodded. "Thank you, Yellow Diamond. Despite him not having any direct ties or motivations, I think it'd be best if we kept a closer eye on him. He has a history with instability against authority. Surely it couldn't hurt if we were to keep watch over him, when we're in the same general area. I can both help him with research and keep him out of trouble."
–
Yellow placed a finger to her chin, glancing off to the side.
"Well, do you really think that he needs to be monitored?" She asked. "Sure, he's had a history, but... Something isn't adding up. If you think he might be hiding something, why would he have come back to us with her gem bubbled as quickly as he did?" She crossed her arms, trying to make light of the story. Though she was merely trying to brush her suspicions off, she did actually have a point. On one hand, this whole thing was awfully suspicious. He'd come back on a mission with her with her gem cracked when he was supposed to be protecting her. He had run away once White had reformed. He had blown up on Yellow before... but on the other hand, he was researching how to fix the crack. He had come immediately back to the towers and faced the Diamonds directly. "Do you think he'd come back if he had done something bad?"
–
Topaz slowly arched a brow and inhaled deeply through her nose. She looked to the side, tapping her fingers on her arm in deep thought. By the look on her face, it was clear that what Yellow said made sense to her. A lot of sense. Her expression softened, her lips pursing.
"I suppose that's true, yes. You have a compelling point." The golden-haired gem's brows raised, as if something had occurred to her. "Actually, no, you're completely right. Only a fool would do that, if he were hiding something. A fool or a genius, and, I'm afraid I don't peg the service gem as the latter." The General smirked for a moment, rolling her eyes. Returning to her usual stoic expression, Topaz folded her arms behind her and nodded respectfully, closing her eyes. "Thank you, Yellow Diamond. Alright, I will focus all my attention and energy on helping you all find a cure." Her eyes opened, and she gave Yellow a sympathetic look. "We'll fix her in no time. By the Diamond Authority, I swear it."
–
Yellow nodded, a slightly softer expression befalling her.
"Thank you, General Topaz. If you find anything, please let me know. And remember: no one can find out about this," she said, turning to walk back out of the room. Her gaze drifted at all the different Diamond pads, leaving her to wonder if any of this immense collection of knowledge had any solution for them.
She couldn't stop thinking about Hematite... And soon, she was left to dwell on her nightmare. Did she really suspect him? Sure, she had every reason to, but she couldn't draw any conclusions just yet. It was unjust, unproven, and at this point irrational. There was actually more evidence currently pointing away from him at the moment. Yes, she needed to remain calm and take things one step at a time. Whoever was guilty for this would be brought to justice. She would make damn sure of it.
Days passed. Weeks passed. About three weeks later, nobody was any closer to finding a solution than they had been before. Hematite had taken to researching old Pink district locations, and had personally checked them out to see if any of Pink Diamond's fountains were still active. They weren't. Nothing he could find in the records was of any help. He'd found a few very old archives on some artificial way to heal cracked gems, but it required a plant that was long since extinct, according to the files. They hadn't been updated in some time.
Hematite hadn't seen White since she reformed. She'd stayed locked in her tower, sure not to be seen by anyone. As far as he knew, only her Pearl was allowed to make contact through text-based messages on her communicator. Hema was focusing all his attention on trying to find a way to fix his leader...
Until he received a message on his eyepiece from White's Pearl.
–
–
With a dense knot of dread in his stomach, Hematite walked heavily toward White's office. He didn't want to see her. Not how she was... Not after what he let happen. He had no idea how she'd react to seeing him again. She'd been clearly distressed as all get out when she reformed. Hematite could tell that she was confused, despite being completely unintelligible when she'd spoken.
The service gem walked with his arms crossed, his eyes staring blankly ahead. A warm breeze blew through the open windows of the White Diamond tower, but it brought him no comfort. He felt vaguely cold and heavy with anxiety. Slowly, he rubbed his hands up and down his arms, as if trying to warm himself. He was silent. The entire world around him was quiet, outside of the soft bustle of the oblivious city beyond the towers.
But suddenly, the quiet was interrupted by the rapid beep of Hematite's eyepiece. With a start, the service gem stopped in his tracks and hesitantly lifted a hand to his visor. His clawed finger hovered over its surface. He could tell by the pattern of beeps that it was a Hematite calling him, so maybe he should answer it. Hema drew his lips into a tight line and tapped the eyepiece, answering the call.
"Hiii Hema-dear!" chimed a familiar voice over the other end of the call. Hema's eyes widened in surprise. Ti! She giggled and continued, an odd tone to her voice. She sounded slightly impatient. "You didn't show to our training session! You were supposed to meet me by the Coliseum, silly!" she said in a sing-song tone. Hema grimaced and reached up, rubbing his face. Stars, he forgot about that.
"Ah, sorry, Ti. That was today?"
"Mmhm, iiiit's been the same day for the past few months, Hema! Remember, we were going to practice more, the closer it got to the fusion event? It's in just a few months! I mean, I still practiced without youuu, but. It doesn't really work if you're not here!" she chimed, a slightly forced-sounding chuckle in her throat. Hema frowned and rubbed his temple, sighing.
"Yeah, well. Sorry, Ti, but I kind of have something more important going on," he grumbled, trying to keep at least a little politeness to his tone. Ti paused.
"Hmm? Did you have a mission today?"
"No, Ti. I've been conducting research on... something."
"What kiiind of something?" she cooed with only half-interested-sounding curiosity. Hema glared ahead of himself, at the spiral path leading upward.
"... It's classified."
"Aww, even from me?"
"Yes, Ti. Even from you."
"But Hema-deaaar."
"No, Ti. Diamond's orders, I can't talk about it."
Ti went quiet for a moment. Hematite blinked and glanced at the eyepiece awkwardly, raising a brow. She cleared her throat and continued.
"... Anyways. Since you couldn't make it todaaay, how about tomorrow?"
"Ti, I can't."
"What, why not?"
"Look, I just. Can't. Okay? I probably won't be available for the next few months, even. Probably longer, with how much research I have to do." He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning as he looked off to the side. "I... probably won't be able to make the fusion event, actually. Now that I think about it."
A cold silence filled the other end of the call. Ti shifted in place, clearing her throat quietly.
"Mm. I see. Well... that's unfortunate, Hema. But, I'm sure we can make the next one, right?" she asked, chuckling softly. Hematite frowned.
"Maybe, I'm not sure. I'll... try, though. Hopefully this will all be cleared up before then," he said cautiously.
"Yeah, hopefully. Well, good luck with all that then, Hema. I have to go do a job in a minute here. Call me again if anything comes up and you can come train, okay?~" Hema grimaced, but then nodded.
"Alright, alright. I'll call you if anything clears up and I can meet you there. But for now, I have to get going, okay? Good luck with your job-"
Click.
Hema blinked in surprise, an almost offended frown crossing his face. He looked at his visor. She... hung up on me. Tch.
Cut her some slack, you did kind of stand her up. Maybe she's just hurt, or she's having a bad day.
Mmm. I guess.
You've got other things to worry about right now, anyways.
Right...
–
–
Stopping in front of the tall office doors, the small service gem brushed his fingers together behind his back. He didn't want to do this. He couldn't hold himself together last time he saw her, and now it'd been weeks. Why did she want to see him all of a sudden? Did she miss him? Did she even know what he was doing? Maybe she was just checking up on him.
Whatever the reason, he had a horribly heavy knot in the pit of his stomach. Slowly, he reached his hand up to the door and knocked.
–
It was the Pearl who answered. Slowly cracking open the door, she peered through with concern and worry. To her relief, it was just Hematite, not another worker asking for White.
"Oh, hello... she's waiting for you," Pearl said softly, glancing around. Good, no one had followed him. She stood aside, allowing him to walk inside.
White wasn't sitting at her desk where she normally was. She was near the small lounge, hunched over in one of the chairs. The windows to her room were completely sealed off with thick curtains. The room lacked its normally natural, warm lighting; The only thing illuminating it were the bright lights from the ceiling. On the table in front of her lay a tray with three cups, but only two were full. White didn't seem to acknowledge that Hematite had entered the room.
–
The service gem stepped inside. A sharp gasp escaped him upon seeing White again.
Stars, she looked so...
Looking around, Hematite rubbed his arm, grasping at the fabric. White's room held none of the usual warmth it had, and despite the smell of tea, he found no comfort here. Not right now.
"H-hematite reporting, White Diamond," he said nervously.
–
Without turning her head, the Diamond raised up her hand and waved it in the direction of the lounge. She wasn't speaking. The Pearl, too, made her way over.
–
The service gem stepped over, not letting go of the fabric on his sleeve. It was so unnerving to see White like this. He'd heard of what a cracked gem could do to someone, but he'd only ever seen it once in his life, and it was nothing like this... And to see it happen to his leader, his White Diamond...
–
White stared solemnly, eyes half lidded, at the cup in front of her. Next to her cup, there was a Diamond pad. The Pearl stood at attention next to the two, quietly folding her arms behind her back. She was silent, but so was White. Slowly, White looked up at Hematite; ivory slitted 'pupils' piercing through him. But she looked hollow. She looked weak, defeated. She looked down at the table and grabbed the Diamond pad. After a few seconds, it turned on, and she typed in something. She handed it to Hematite. On the screen, there was nothing but glaring digital words.
"Hello."
–
Hematite looked blankly down at the diamond pad, holding it in his hand. He turned his eyes back up to hers, forcing himself to meet her unnerving gaze.
"... Evening." Shakily, he handed the diamond pad back to her. "... How have you been feeling?"
–
White kept the same expression as she wrote something else down. Handing it back, it read, "Not so good. What about you?"
The Pearl opened her eyes, looking sympathetically over to Hematite. Her lips parted to say something, but she didn't speak.
–
Glancing down at the screen, Hematite felt a lump form in his throat. A pained expression crossed his face, and he held back tears that suddenly pricked at his eyes. The service gem cleared his throat, his voice cracking for a moment.
"Tired. But. Mm. You know, I've been. Okay," he lied.
–
White took back the device, looking away. She didn't type anything out immediately. She looked to the Pearl and gave a motion with her head towards the table. The Pearl blinked, slightly surprised.
"Are you sure?" The Pearl said, running her fingers over one another timidly. White nodded. The Pearl grabbed the empty teacup and poured herself a glass. Standing, she looked down at the liquid with a look of faint despondency. "Thank you..." she said quietly.
White handed the device back to Hematite.
"You don't look okay. I haven't seen you since our mission. Where have you been?"
–
Glancing at White's Pearl, the service gem blinked and looked at his own cup. He wasn't sure he wanted any tea this evening. As he read the words on the device, Hematite's brows furrowed, and he looked away. The look on his face was clear as day. It wasn't as powerful as it had been when White reformed, but the emotion was still there.
Guilt.
"... I've been looking for a way to fix all this." He turned to her finally, grief-stricken eyes staring into hers. "To... fix my mistake." Hematite tried to keep a held-together demeanor, but it faltered suddenly, if only for a moment. His voice wavered. "I'm sorry."
–
White frowned, still looking noticeably upset. Letting out a shaking sigh, she clutched the pad in her hands. There was another small pause before she typed anything, but eventually she found the words. Once more, she handed the device over.
"Hematite. I don't know how this happened. What mistake."
The Diamond's expression fell, staring blankly past him. It was subtle, but something in her eyes changed. She suddenly looked scared.
–
Hema's stomach tied itself into a knot. He looked away from her, finally letting go of his sleeve. He held his hands in front of him for a moment, looking at his palms.
"... I don't know what happened, either." He clenched his fists for a moment, in frustration. He still didn't know how this had all transpired... He had no way of knowing. Looking at his leader, Hema's face was once more plastered with guilt. "I caught the scout... but they used some ability on me, and I blacked out. And then when I came to, you weren't around, and..." He took a deep breath, steadying himself. He couldn't freak out. Not in front of White. "I tracked your signal into one of the cave paths. And... I found your gem on the ground."
–
The Diamond stared at her cup again, listening to Hematite's words. She noticed how nervous Hematite had gotten upon speaking. She made a small noise akin to a mumble, but all that came out was glitched static. There was a lot that seemed odd with that story, but she couldn't place a finger on what about it threw her off. She was just glad Hematite had found her at all. She could have been dead. She handed the pad back.
"Is that all."
–
Hematite read the words silently.
"... Yes. I couldn't find anyone in the caves, so I ran back to the galaxy warp and came here. I called Blue and Yellow to meet me in your office... And then you reformed..." The service gem suddenly had a rather hollow look in his eyes, akin to a thousand yard stare.
–
White furrowed her brows for a second, but they fell back into place. The air in the room suddenly felt off. As if the pressure was rising. However, it fell back down to normal after a few seconds. White averted her gaze from Hematite, lost in thought. She didn't want to think about that damned mission. She didn't want to think about how she was now. She didn't want to think about anything. For that matter, she didn't want to do anything.
Her eyes started to water, and she brushed her hand across her cheek. This time, she dropped the diamond pad on the desk instead of handing it to him.
"What do I do now?"
–
The service gem felt his stomach drop.
What do I do.
"... We're going to fix this, White. I swear it." Hematite looked to her with a fiery light in his eyes, though there was something else behind it.
I have to.
"You just stay safe, and stay strong. I promise, we'll find a way to undo this."
–
The Diamond stared into Hematite's very core with pleading eyes. Suddenly, she whimpered, static filling the air for a second. Taking the Diamond pad, she wrote something dreadfully slow, her face twisting into horrified sorrow. Her hands shook. She dropped the Diamond pad on the floor and broke out into a choking sob, burying her face in her hands. The Pearl gasped, placing their teacup on the desk and rushing over to White, hovering her hands above her. She didn't touch her, but the concerned look in her eyes said that she wanted to. Slowly, she looked at the Diamond pad and picked it up.
The Pearl went pale, and slowly looked up at Hematite.
–
Hematite gasped in surprise and took a step back, trembling.
No, oh, stars White, please don't cry!
He couldn't stand to see her like this. He just couldn't. But he couldn't leave like he did when she reformed.
Hematite wrung his hands together, staring helplessly at his leader. He wanted to hug her, or reassure her, something. Seeing her like this, he wanted to hold her close and promise everything would be okay. But he couldn't do it. He didn't dare touch her like this. For all he knew, physical contact could make her unstable. Not to mention he wasn't supposed to touch a diamond the first place.
Hematite stared at the Pearl, his eyes wide.
"What?"
–
Reluctantly, the Pearl looked between White and Hematite, swallowing nervously. She handed it over.
"PLEASE HELP ME."
–
A choked noise escaped Hematite's throat, and he covered his mouth, looking away, eyes wide. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, and he inhaled sharply, biting onto one of his knuckles.
Keep it together.
Show some courage.
Looking at White, he gently placed the diamond pad down, inhaling deeply.
"I will help you, White." His voice wavered, and he swallowed. "By the Diamond Authority... I swear it."
–
The day went on like normal. Casual, oblivious gems were walking their way down the streets, blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding within the Diamond Towers. No one had any clue anything was wrong at all. They went about their daily lives, chatting and doing their jobs like any other day. Night soon began to fall, and the cities glittered as brilliantly as they always did. The hum of content gems drifted from the close-knit districts, filling the warm evening air with a pleasant, droning sound.
Morganite was no different. Happily serving gems in his bar, he continued business as usual. Today had been busy, but thankfully gems were starting to slow down and stop flooding in. While he enjoyed his work, and it was good for business to be so busy, it did get a little overwhelming at times.
–
A small, dark-haired gem sat at the bar, sipping a rather colorful drink quietly. She was listening to the music from the dance club part of the bar, her eyes closed contentedly. Considering her drink was almost done and she didn't seem tipsy, seemed she'd gone for a non-alcoholic beverage tonight. A wise choice.
"You holdin' up there, Morg'? Been busy tonight." Rubes cracked open one of her eyes to glance at the pink-haired warrior.
–
Morgan turned with a sigh, staring off at the door.
"Ah, yes it has been, unfortunately, but I'm holding up well! Yourself?" he asked, the usual charm in his voice as strong as ever. Grabbing a glass, he started to clean it with a rag.
–
The Ruby smiled slyly and held up her glass for a moment.
"You know me. Give me my drink and I'm good for the night." With that, she sipped at it again, setting the glass down with a 'clink'. She stared ahead. "Hey... Morg'. Have you seen tough guy around? It seems like he's been gone a lot lately... And usually he tells one of us when he's going on some long mission."
–
Morgan grinned widely, shrugging.
"Can't say I have, actually. I'm sure he's fine, though! Have you tried his communicator?" He asked, clicking the glass onto the lower counter behind the bar.
–
Rubes pursed her lips, running her finger along the rim of her glass.
"I did. He hasn't answered any calls. From me or Puff." The ruby cocked a brow and sighed. "I mean I'm sure he's fine, but." Movement from the entrance of the bar caught the dark-haired gem's attention, and she looked over, blinking in surprise. "Well, speak of the giant."
Hematite looked around for a moment before heading over to the bar, spotting both Morgan and Rubes. For once, he didn't seem shy or peppy, or even happy. No, there was something different about him. He moved with purpose. His eyes were alight with a determined fierceness.
–
Morgan waved his hand in greeting, still smiling ear to ear. But he'd absolutely noticed Hematite's unfamiliar demeanor.
"Hey there, big guy. What's going on with you?" he asked, grabbing onto a nearby bottle. "You want the usual?"
–
The service gem hopped up in a seat one stool away from Rubes and shook his head.
"No." He looked up at the pink-haired warrior and frowned, an unreadable expression on his face. "Are you terribly busy right now?" he asked tersely.
–
Morgan blinked, glancing to the side.
"Well, not terribly, no. Is something the matter?" he asked, somewhat concerned. He wasn't used to seeing Hematite like this, and with the service gem being away for so long, something didn't sit right about this.
–
Looking around, Hematite tapped his clawed fingers on the smooth bar surface. He finally turned his attention back to Morganite.
"What can you tell me about Pink Diamond's old healing methods. Her springs, her powers, anything."
–
Morgan's brows raised, his interest piqued. He leaned in, smile fading. He matched Hematite's serious tone and demeanor. Their faces now sat far closer together. Morganite dropped his voice, a grim frown on his face.
"Why are you asking questions like this?..." He stared at the service gem, eyes half-lidded. A lock of hair fell between his eyes.
–
Rubes' brows raised, and she glanced between the two gems, her glass stopped at her lips, mid-sip. Slowly, she lowered it, watching them. Hematite continued to tap his fingers on the counter. He hesitated, but continued to meet Morgan's gaze.
"I need to know. A gem was cracked on one of my missions that wasn't supposed to. It's important that they're fixed."
–
Morgan narrowed his eyes further, pursing his lips suspiciously.
"Alright." He suddenly grinned again, more warmly this time. "Pink Diamond was well known for her healing powers, and healing methods. Personally, she used tears when she felt sorrow for other gems. She had fountains, medical stations, heck... even some of the wild-life had healing properties." He shrugged, looking upwards to the ceiling "Buuuut I haven't been to her district in such a long time... I'm afraid I don't know too much more than that. Everything that was once able to heal is either gone or stopped working a long time ago, as far as I know. I'm sorry."
–
Frowning, Hematite stared at the warrior for a long moment.
"... Is that all?"
–
Morgan frowned, looking back to the service gem.
"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry I couldn't provide any more information than that. I do hope you find what you're looking for, though."
–
There was a long pause.
Slowly, Hematite closed his eyes, lifted his hands, and clutched his head in them. He dug his fingers into his hair, tilting his face down slightly. He was silent. Rubes glanced worriedly at Morgan. She'd never seen Hematite like this, and, despite her normally cool demeanor, this was starting to unsettle even her.
–
Morgan mirrored Rubes' worried glance, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, trying to regain his casual demeanor. At first, the silence that befell the Hematite was a little awkward. But then, slowly, something else rose in Morganite's core. Concern.
"Are you going to be alright?..." he asked, looking at the despondent gem.
–
Hematite dug his hands into his hair further, inhaling quietly through his teeth. When he spoke, his voice was low, weak, and wavered just slightly.
"What do you do," he muttered. Rubes blinked, setting down her glass. Hema's change in tone struck a chord with her, and she carefully scooted over one seat. For a moment, she lifted her hands near his arm, hesitating. Hematite continued. "What do you do when you have a problem you have to solve, but you know there isn't an answer."
The Ruby's calm demeanor fell. She looked worried.
"Hey... tough guy." Gently, she placed her hands on him, one on his back, the other on his upper arm. "Heyy, shh. What's wrong? What's going on?"
–
Morgan's eyes widened slightly. Why had that question sounded so familiar to him? Placing a glass down, he stood at attention and gazed around the club. No one seemed to need his assistance at the moment, so he didn't need to be anywhere else. Hematite's words concerned him.
When he spoke, it was soft and careful.
"We want to help you in any way we can..."
–
Sitting up slightly, Hematite let his hands fall away from his head. His eyes were wide. He looked utterly haunted.
"I have to fix this. I have to fix what I broke, and I can't."
Rubes glanced at Morgan. She gently squeezed Hematite's arm.
"Hey. Hema. What are you talking about? We can't help if you don't explain."
"I-I can't. I can't tell you anything. I just thought- Morgan, you're the only pink district gem I know of. The only one I can trust, anyways. Every other one I know is a rebel."
The dark-haired gem blinked. She glanced up to the side, pursing her lips.
"... You know. Tough guy. I actually used to be a pink district gem."
Hematite lifted his head in surprise. He looked at Rubes abruptly.
"Y-you were? Why didn't you tell me this?!"
"Because it never came up, and it didn't matter? Look, that's besides the point." She paused. "Morgan is right, pretty much everything in the district is dead or isn't working anymore... Well. Except maybe one thing."
–
The pink haired bartender crossed his arms, smiling softly.
"Rubes, do you know something I don't?" he hummed out, eyeing her in a playfully suspicious manner. He wasn't really in the mood to be like this, but he figured if it helped ease the tension at all, it wouldn't hurt. That, and it masked his own rising discomfort.
–
The Ruby glanced at Morganite with a small, nervous frown. Hematite was staring her down, his eyes wide.
"Well?! Come on!"
Rubes frowned and flinched back, giving Hematite an offended glare.
"Excuse you, tough guy."
The service gem immediately shrunk back a bit, glancing away.
"Sorry, I'm sorry... I-it's just." He took a deep breath, looking at her in dismay. "Rubes, this is urgent. If you know something, please. Tell me."
With a soft groan of suspicion, the Ruby rubbed at her chin, soon covering her mouth and glancing away. After a long, tense moment, she finally spoke up with a long, heavy sigh.
"We were supposed to keep it a secret, in case of an emergency. But... if you're serious about this, I guess this is an emergency." She turned fully in her chair, staring the two gems down with dark, fierce eyes. "Listen closely, tough guy. Do you remember the base Puff and I were at when you came and collected us up? The one with the gem monster?" Hematite stiffened at the mention of his corrupted kin, but he nodded, regardless. "Yeah, well. It was a greenhouse, as I'm sure you noticed. And it was completely overgrown. There were a lot of useful plants there, but then... There was one thing in particular that caught our attention." She shrugged for a moment. "Axinite found it, actually. We told him not to go poking his nose around, but he did it anyways and found a tunnel system. We thought it'd be a good strategical place to hide if anyone came looking for us, but. There was something else down there. Deep at the bottom of the caves is an odd, woody-stemmed plant. I guess it grows better in the dark, or something. I remember they used to be all around the pink district before it got overgrown. It's a rather delicate plant and only blooms once every fifty years, and then sticks around until you pluck it. Axinite reported it back to us, and we all agreed we'd keep it secret in case... well. Any of us got hurt." Rubes tapped her hand on the bar. "But it sounds like you need it more than we do, now that we're settled back in the districts. I'm not sure if it could help you, tough guy. But I can say with one hundred percent certainty that that was a Pink Diamond plant, and at least, twelve or so years ago, it was alive and well. We never touched it. So unless anyone has found that place and taken it, it should still be there."
Hematite's eyes were wide, and he looked as though he might tear up.
"A-are you sure? M-morgan, no, wait. Rubes, what did it look like?"
"They had really prickly, wooden stems, looked like they had really soft petals, and I'm pretty sure they had little pink diamond-like gems in the center of the blossoms. They also had lighter pink tips at the end of the petals."
"Morgan, does that sound familiar? Were those a healing plant?" Hema gripped the edge of the counter, looking at Morgan sharply. He was incredibly tense.
–
Morganite held his hand over his mouth curiously, listening with intrigue. Brows raising slowly, his eyes shot open at the mention of the plant's appearance. He looked to Hematite, speechless.
"That sounds like the Hearthfall Flower... Those were some of Pink's primary ingredients for her medical bays! Rubes, if you really found one of those, that... that could absolutely be what Hematite is looking for!" he said, his grin widening hopefully.
–
Hematite was on his feet immediately.
Hearthfall Flowers, the reports said they were extinct!
"They really need to update those archives more," he said quickly, under his breath. When he looked up at the two, his eyes were shining. His old self was back, and he grinned brightly. "It's worth a shot! If it's still down there, this could be just what we need!" The service gem looked to Rubes and leaned over quickly, hugging her tightly. "Thanks, Rubes!" He let go and looked at Morgan. "I owe you both one, but I gotta get going!" Rubes flicked her hair behind her shoulder, giving an awkward chuckle. She crossed her arms.
"Alright then, head off! Let us know how it goes!"
Hopping out of his seat, he nodded, rushing for the door with a wave.
"I will!"
–
Morgan smiled, waving at the service gem. He sure was in a hurry.
"Good luck, Hematite!" he called out, sparing Rubes a thankful glance. Whatever was going on, he hoped it went well. And hey, maybe this 'I owe you one' would turn into another trip into the blue district.
–
As fast as his legs would carry him, Hematite made his way to the towers. On the way there, he tried to contact Blue to tell her the news and meet her in her office, but she wasn't answering her communicator.
Fine, then I'll go to Yellow!
–
Stopping in front of her office door, Hematite knocked rapidly, barely waiting for the doors to hiss open. He quickly stepped inside and saluted.
"Hematite reporting, Yellow Diamond! I think I might have a lead!"
Blinking, Hematite suddenly fully noticed who else was in the office.
–
Yellow was in the middle of a conversation with General Topaz at the time, but as soon as she heard Hematite's words, her eyes widened, and she stopped mid-sentence.
"What?!" she exclaimed, quickly placing her hands on her desk. She stood, glaring with shock at the service gem. "Hematite, you'd better not be joking. What have you found?!"
–
Topaz stopped mid sentence and turned in her seat, putting her arm over the back of it. She stared at Hematite intently, surprise and curiosity clear as day on her face.
"Yes, what have you found?" she asked hopefully.
Hematite was breathing rapidly from his run, but it was quickly slowing down. His hands were balled into fists in front of him, his eyes glimmering with optimistic eagerness.
"Okay, I don't know if you remember me telling you about this since we weren't on the best terms back then, but the first mission I ever went on with Blue, you know, uh, back before the whole ordeal with Earth, and all that," he shook his head, frowning. Getting off topic, not a good idea! "Anyways! We found this rebel base not too far in the pink district where I found Rubes and Puff-" Hematite idly wondered if Yellow would even remember him talking about those two... probably not. "-And it was a greenhouse. There are tunnels underneath the base that have Hearthfall Flowers, still! They're not extinct like the reports said!"
–
Yellow's eye twitched, her jaw dropping.
"Hearthfall Flowers?! Hematite, are you sure?!" she said, coming out from behind her desk. She towered over the service gem, but still looked anxiously excited. "Pink Diamond used those to heal cracked gems, if we found one of them..." Her eyes lit up fiercely. How had he learned of this? How did he get information about that greenhouse? Tch, it doesn't matter. He's found something, and that was all that counted.
–
Nodding excitedly, Hematite looked up at Yellow, only the faintest flicker of anxiety making itself known in his chest at the sight of her towering over him. He stood his ground.
"I'm pretty sure! I mean, I haven't confirmed anything, but that's why I came to you. We need to go check this out as soon as we can!" His eyes were practically sparkling. "I know the way, I still have the coordinates from the mission!"
–
Yellow gasped suddenly, glancing up at the door without so much as turning her head.
"Wait, Hematite! You said these were Hearthfall flowers, right? We might need to go do a little bit of research on them first. It's been such a long time, but..." Yellow pinched her fingers between her eyes, grimacing. "Rrrk.. I never handled these plants personally, but Pink did. She always went on about how there was something that we needed to do in order to pluck it right. If we don't, the flower will wilt immediately. We need to find out what that is. If this flower has special attributes, or something about it that we need to know, then we need to look it up. We can't risk losing it."
–
Hematite wilted just slightly, his hands falling to his sides.
"Aw, whaaat."
Topaz had opened her mouth and held up one hand, as if about to say something, but after Yellow's statement, she nodded and closed her mouth again.
"Yellow is right. if I remember correctly, there was a trick to them. Something about how to pick them and transport them." The General stood up from her seat and crossed her arms, walking over to stand in front of the small service gem. He looked up at her, craning his neck back. Topaz looked at Yellow. "But there should be some records at the archives, right, Yellow Diamond?"
–
Yellow ran her hand along the side of her face, clicking her teeth as she seemed lost in thought.
"YYyeeeeessss. In theory, I think so!" she said optimistically. "There should be, yes! If you go looking for them, in the right places!" She nodded.
–
The service gem perked up.
"Ah, I should still have the archives put aside somewhere, if Frecks didn't put them away." He quickly turned to the door and looked back, waiting for Yellow to follow. Topaz looked to her leader and arched a brow.
"Should I come with you? We can 'cover more ground' between the three of us."
–
Yellow looked to the General and nodded. "That's a good idea. Feel free to tag along. We might need your help," she said, following quickly behind the service gem. Finally, this was what she'd been waiting for! Finally, they could fix White. Despite her excitement, however, she still kept professional, and followed after Hematite with her head high and her expression serious.
–
–
The three gems searched through the archives for a good few hours. Unfortunately, the freckled Peridot had put away Hematite's archive pile, and they had to search for them all over again, in bits and pieces.
Topaz was off to the side, currently speaking with the small Peridot, who nodded every once in a while. The green service gem scurried off, as if to go fetch something. The General watched the Peridot leave and made her way back to the table that Yellow and Hematite were seated at.
"I'm going to go check on something. The Peridot says there may be some extra archives in a separate building, but I'm unsure if they'll lead anywhere. Don't wait up for me, if you find what you need!"
Hematite looked up at the golden-haired gem and nodded, scratching his head.
"Right, thank you, General. Good luck with your search."
–
Yellow Diamond sent Topaz off with a curt nod.
"Right, good luck then, General. Contact me on my communicator if you find something interesting," she said formally. Looking back down to Hematite, then down at the archives, she pursed her lips. "Okay Hematite, did you find what you needed?"
–
Topaz nodded and walked off briskly, after the Peridot. The service gem looked up at his superior and nodded.
"Yeah, I finally found the last diamond pad. I wish Frecks had gotten here sooner, she could have saved us a lot of trouble." He looked back down at his archives that were laid out in front of him. Reaching over, he flicked through some files on one of the screens.
There was a stretch of silence as the two of them sifted through the research.
"... So we're going to have to find how to use these, after we gather them, right?"
–
Yellow sighed heavily, observing the files closely herself.
"Yes, unfortunately. I believe she used some kind of liquid with a special kind of mineral in it as a binding agent, buuut thankfully I do know that we use that same liquid in our Flask Robonoids." She thumbed through something, trying to pinpoint what she was looking for. "I believe that, mixed with the plant, may be the key to our success. But we need to make sure..."
–
Hematite nodded. Flipping through some pictures, he frowned, going silent. The service gem was quiet a long time. The further Hematite went into the files on the Hearthfall flower, the more something started to nag at the back of his mind.
About an hour later, he muttered something under his breath.
"What effect would these have on corrupted-... hm."
He went quiet again, enlarging a bit of text from a report on his holographic screen.
–
Yellow blinked, glancing over to the service gem wordlessly. She said nothing, brushing the odd statement off. Groaning with impatience, Yellow started to read the files far more carefully. She knew she was on the right track, but couldn't find what she was looking for.
"Oh come on, I know this stupid plant is in here somewhere." She growled quietly, tapping her nails on the desk. A few more moments passed by, and she gasped. "Hematite! I think I found it!" She exclaimed, quickly grabbing the Diamond pad and holding it closer to her face. Scanning the document, her eyes went wide. "This is it! Oh, I'm glad we looked for this, or it would have been catastrophic... Hematite, we need to slowly pluck these things directly underneath a small node in the blossom's stem, and bubble the flower immediately so that it does not wilt. That was how Pink safely transported those plants and preserved them so well! Stars, why does such an important plant have to be so finicky?"
–
The service gem had jumped slightly, and turned to Yellow in surprise. His eyes widened, and he blinked, a smile spreading across his face.
"Oh! That's it?! Well, what are we waiting for? Is there anything else it says we need to do, or is that all?" He leaned over, peering at the document.
–
Yellow took a quick look over the archive, smiling. She turned it off and stored it in her gem.
"Looks like this is it, Hematite. What are we waiting for?" She looked at him with a fierce determination. "I'll hold onto the archive in case we need it. We should get going! If you know the way, then take us there." She stood up from her seat, clenching her fists.
"Let's go fix White."
Soon enough, Hematite and Yellow stood upon the Pink District warp pad. The Diamond took a step away from Hematite, looking out to the district. She scowled. She didn't want to be here, but she knew she had to for the sake of saving White. The sky above was cloudy and dark, blocking out the view of the stars in the night sky. The service gem quickly stepped off and looked around, pulling up a map on his eyepiece.
"Alright, it's a few hours from here, if we walk... and even if we run, it'll take a while." Inhaling quietly through his teeth, Hematite brushed his fingers together, brows furrowed. They needed to do this as quickly as they could, and he had an idea as to how to speed up their trip, but he was hesitant to bring it up.
No, this is for White.
They both needed to put their differences aside completely if they were to help her. The service gem turned to Yellow, looking up at her.
"If I shift up and carry you, we can get there a lot faster."
–
The service gem's words struck a nerve, causing her to flinch. She paused, slowly looking at him.
"That won't be necessary..." she said, crossing her arms. There was no way she was going to let him touch her, especially at that size. Besides, she had a trick up her sleeve. She didn't need his help for getting there quickly. "You don't need to worry about me. I can keep up just fine."
–
That's what I thought you'd say. The service gem looked away and nodded.
"Right, okay. Just thought I'd ask, Blue couldn't keep up when we came here." Stepping away, Hematite clenched his fists, his form starting to glow. "Let's go." He bolted off toward their destination, his form quickly shifting as he ran. It stopped glowing as soon as he reached his half height.
–
Yellow started to pace quickly, watching Hematite shift up in the distance. He was already starting to gain some distance, so Yellow picked up speed. As she followed after the giant gem, her run turned into a sprint, and she dodged over and around various obstacles with startling agility and ease. Her eyes narrowed, fixing on Hematite who was far ahead. Then, her body started to glow faintly, trails of sparks fizzling around and behind her. With a lightning fast flash, her entire form was enveloped in a yellow, electrified aura. She raced forward, her speed easily tripling. Pretty soon, she found herself matching Hematite's speed. She looked up at him briefly, but kept her focus ahead of her. She made sure to stay a good twenty feet or so away from him at any given time, running alongside him.
–
Hematite glanced down at the Diamond once he caught sight of her, and his eyes widened slightly. He shouldn't have been surprised, he'd seen her use that ability in some of their fights, but to see it being used for an extended period of time instead of for a quick second... It was impressive, to say the least.
The service gem kept his focus ahead of him. At this rate, they'd be at the base in no time!
–
–
Within about forty five minutes, the two gems arrived at the badly damaged greenhouse. The walls were in the same state they'd been left. Well... almost the same state. Back when Hematite was here last, sure, the building was a little overrun with weeds, and it looked decrepit and weathered, but now it looked even worse. Huge, thorny blackened vines coiled around the outside, leaving large cracks in the wall where they bore down on it. The thorned tendrils coiled around the building from every angle. Their woody stems looked to be woven in and out of the building at every crevice, every open window, every doorway. Every opening was blocked off by thick brier stems, some as wide as Hematite's arm at his current size. As far as Hematite could see, the inside of the greenhouse hadn't changed. It was still a huge block of overgrown plants within the glass dome. Except, this time, there appeared to be some strange, jet-black plants mixed into the dense foliage pressed up against the glass. He didn't fancy going in there, but they had to. Stars, the past twelve years hadn't been kind to this place, had they?
Hema slowed his pace, panting quietly as he finally stopped. He leaned over for a moment, his hands on his knees.
"Alright, this is the place," he said breathlessly, wiping a hand over his brow.
–
Yellow halted to a stop, a glow still gracing her form for a few seconds before it faded out. She squinted, her cold, critical gaze flickering over the building.
"Ugh... disgusting," she whispered to herself, taking a few steps towards it. "Alright, where exactly in this place do we need to go?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips. She kept casting disdainful looks at the overgrown facility, her lip curled up into a sneer.
–
The giant gem looked around. He suddenly looked confused, and, admittedly, a little nervous.
"Uh... I didn't ask that far." Oh dear. "W-well, Rubes said the plant was in an underground tunnel system, at the end of it. So I guess we have to look around in there for some sort of entrance."
He really wished he asked follow-up questions.
–
Yellow turned her head sharply, glaring angrily at the service gem.
"WHAT?!..." she snapped, faint sparks fizzing around her form. She groaned in exasperation, looking back up at the building. Baring her teeth, she placed her hands on the rough surface of the walls. She muttered something cross under her breath, but it was impossible to tell what she was saying. No, don't lose your temper. Just get in there and get this over with.
Running her palms along the sides of the walls, she started pacing the building, looking over for any type of doorway. But the more she looked, the more frustrated she became. All around the building, every single entrance and crack was filled with invasive foliage, vines, brambles. It seemed as though the entire inside of the facility was overgrown to the brim, like a box filled with water. They left no room to get inside or even peer through, aside from a few places here and there. Every now and then, there appeared to be a tiny space between the briers that led deeper into the building. They were far too small for a normal sized gem to fit through.
"Of course, it couldn't just be a door, noooo. It had to be complicated..." she complained quietly, tapping at the wall. "Maybe it's around the other side?" the Diamond called up, continuing to pace along the side of the massive facility. She headed in the opposite direction of Hematite.
–
Hema was making his way around the large building. He currently stood along part of the massive glass dome. The huge structure appeared to be too tall for him to even reach the top of at his full size. He called over, his voice carrying to Yellow, even from the other end of the building.
"I don't think it'll be out in the open... Rubes said it was under their base..." He frowned and ran his hand along the side of the glass dome, peering inside best he could. Through the dense foliage and stars knew what else, he couldn't even make out the ground. From outside, the greenhouse looked more like a glass container of mulch rather than a kempt facility of neat and tidy plant specimens. "Tch."
The giant service gem stopped circling the building, having made his way back over to Yellow.
"I think it's inside, somewhere. Blue and I never went into the building, she just flushed out what we needed." A faint, brief expression of horror and recollection crossed Hematite's face. It was hard to notice, if one wasn't looking carefully. He quickly shook it off, the image of Spike's corrupted form flashing through his mind's eye. "I don't see anything around the outside... it must be hidden indoors, maybe in the greenhouse."
–
Frowning heavily, Yellow grumbled something again.
"Well it looks like we have only one option, really," she said astutely, peering up at the service gem. "You're a deconstruction gem. Why not make us an entrance? There's no direct way in through all this mess." She took a few slow steps back, gradually making distance between herself and the building.
–
Blinking in surprise, the service gem looked at Yellow, then the building, then Yellow again.
"Are you sure...?"
Hematite paused for a moment, but then seemed to realize that her plan actually did make the most sense. He was going to suggest he shift down and they go inside and search on foot, but Yellow's method was far quicker. They'd have to cut through a LOT of foliage and who knows what else if they tried going in that way. It could take hours.
And time was of the essence.
If he broke through the greenhouse section, he could risk damaging the flower if it was anywhere near there, instead of being underground. Since he couldn't see inside, he didn't want to risk that. And, even if the flower wasn't anywhere in the greenhouse... with how thick the foliage appeared from the outside, it'd still take him who knew how long to get through the wall of plant life. This really was their quickest option.
Nodding, Hema waited for Yellow Diamond to make some distance between them before he turned back to the building. Despite him being over 8 stories tall at the moment, the greenhouse base still stood taller than him. He could almost reach the roof if he lifted his arm and jumped, but that was the extent of it. He'd have to work hard to get through this one.
"Alright, watch yourself, Yellow Diamond. This might get dicey."
The giant gem stepped back. In the back of his mind, he could tell that the run to the base had taken out a large portion of his energy, and that he wasn't in any condition to shift up to his full height. Thankfully, with the state of the building, he didn't think he needed to. Hematite's hands started to glow, and his knuckledusters sparked into existence, bright pink electricity crackling between the metal prongs.
–
Yellow nodded and took a few more steps back. She adjusted her stance, readying herself if debris came her way. While she didn't entirely like giving him an excuse to be this big around her in the first place, they needed to get into that building.
–
The electricity quickly faded from his fists. He wouldn't be needing it here. Lifting his hand up to his eyes, Hematite frowned and flicked on his hunting visor.
Whirrrrrr
The screen began to glow in the low light, high pitched electrical sounds filling the thick air of the district. Thankfully, there was no clicking this time. No, he had to use his visor for a different purpose this time. A complex HUD blipped onto Hema's visor, various numbers and grids virtually overlaying themselves over whatever part of the building Hematite looked at. Certain spots on the building, mostly where there were cracks and dents, were highlighted in a pink hue.
The giant gem crouched down, peered around, did everything he could to get a good overview of the state of this side of the building. He just needed a weak point... Something that'd bring the wall down with minimal effort. He pulled aside a few thorny branches here and there, peeking inside whatever small openings he could. Now that he was getting a better look at this place, the inside didn't appear to be quite as filled as it seemed at first glance. He even spotted a few places a micro gem could easily fit in and get deeper into the building. Here and there, a small opening led into a more open-looking area of the inside. In all reality, he could get in if he shrank down, but then there was still the matter of getting Yellow in. Plus, he didn't fancy being in there by himself for any amount of time. Something about the scent of this place bothered him.
–
Yellow flinched upon seeing Hematite's visor show up. Frozen in place, she found her eyes locked onto it. Why does he need that? What is he doing? A faintly nervous suspicion began to creep up in the back of her mind, but she tried to push it away. She didn't know too much about the Hematites' visors, she shouldn't jump to conclusions. She watched with visible discomfort, picking at her glove as Hematite peered around inside the building.
–
He kept looking for something, anything that looked like a fault in the building's structural integrity. And then, he spotted it. In a rather mossy room, a huge crack ran down along the wall, seemingly stretching down past the floor, into the next story of the building. Hematite's visor gave a sharp 'chirp' and highlighted the crack on his screen.
"Gotcha."
Stepping back, the giant gem frowned, rolled his shoulders, and took a stance eerily similar to the one he took at the start of his spars. A long pause followed. The service gem took a slow, steadying breath through his nose.
CRACK!
In an instant, Hematite's fist and half of his arm had torn straight through the building, hitting the weak point he'd locked onto. He made it look effortless.
He pulled his fist back. His visor gave another chirp.
Stability at 67%
Taking another, sharper breath, Hematite reeled his fist back again, striking the now weakened section of the building. Soon enough, large cracks began to form along the sides, spider-webbing up the surface of the dark gray walls.
–
Flinching, Yellow instinctively turned away and covered her head. The ear splitting crack rushed through the air, catching Yellow slightly off guard. Despite the fact that she knew he was going to hit the wall, it didn't prepare her for the speed or the force in which he struck it. Eyes widening slightly, she watched on with both intrigue and the slightest twinge of fear. She'd never seen him deconstruct something before, but she'd never thought she'd have to. Stars, she almost forgot how strong he really was.
–
The service gem struck the wall in different places, strategically weakening the structure until suddenly...
CRACK!
The giant gem stepped back. With a thunderous thrum, the entire wall shifted, and the facility shuddered. Clouds of dust jetted out from the fissure that had been made in the thick stone. A huge, circular crack had been carefully broken into the building's wall, as if made by some terrible cookie-cutter. Hematite smirked to himself in satisfaction.
Walking closer, he fizzled away his weapons and dug his clawed fingers into the top of the fault. With a prolonged growl of effort, the giant service gem dug his heels into the ground and pulled, the entire chunk of wall shifting with a sickening, crumbling sound. Hematite squared his shoulders, and, with one final, abrupt shout, he yanked the chunk of wall as hard as he could, tearing it away from the building. Hematite fleetly stepped back, the massive piece slamming onto the ground with a shuddering THUD, sending dust and debris out around it. A gaping hole laid in the side of the building, all of its different floors exposed to the outside. The wall's destruction had torn out many of the more obtrusive vines and chunks of foliage, leaving a few entrances clear for getting inside the building. Hematite scanned the yawning wound in the facility, making sure to check that it wouldn't come crashing down on them now that he'd damaged it. He nodded once, humming a note of approval to himself. This certainly wouldn't be a viable base anymore.
–
Incredibly unnerved, Yellow lowered her arms from her head as the dust settled, staring at the massive chunk of wall that lay on the floor. The faintest flicker of anxiety prickled in her chest, but she brushed it aside promptly. Slowly, she looked up to the immense hole in the wall. Well, at least it worked... Albeit nervously, she walked towards Hematite and cleared her throat.
"Well done..." she said, looking into the building. "That was... Something."
–
Hema blinked and lifted his visor from his eyes. He looked down at her with a tiny, hopeful smile, as if he was proud of what he did, but wasn't sure if she was. The smile faded, and he turned serious again, turning back to the now open greenhouse facility. He lowered his visor.
"Alright, now that we can see all the floors of this place..." He peered inside, grimacing at the invasive plant life that seemed to have overtaken the entire thing. He didn't remember there being this much around last time he was here. The giant gem slowly scanned each floor, looking for any signs of the tunnel entrance. Now and then, he reached in and brushed plant life aside, clearing away briers and woody thorns. After a few minutes... he sighed in frustration and shook his head. "No luck." He sat up. "... Yellow, now that we have a clear entrance to the greenhouse, we should check there."
–
Yellow took a gradual step inside, carefully looking around her. This place seemed pretty unstable, from the looks of it. Cracks riddled many of the walls, and tiny pebbles crumbled to the floor as the building continued to settle from Hematite's rather impressive bit of 'renovation.' But, despite the outside wall being a mess, the inside was held together by plant life and the integral structure of the facility. It didn't appear to be at risk of falling apart at the moment, from the looks of it.
"Alright, lets get a move on."
She didn't want to be here any longer than she had to be. The very sight of this place set her on-edge, which worsened the further she stepped inside. "You know this place better than I do, even if that's not saying much. At least you have some kind of map..." She sneered, stepping over a root. Retracting her foot quickly, she growled with disdain.
–
Hematite nodded and closed his eyes, quickly shrinking down to about ten feet tall, the same height as Yellow. He flicked his visor away, though his eyepiece remained online. Following after her, he made his way towards the greenhouse. It had to be in there.
After clearing away some plant life from a large doorway, the two gems made their way inside the overgrown facility and looked around. Hematite trailed after Yellow, gazing curiously at the large tunnel that appeared to be cut and burned straight through the thick barrier of foliage. Hematite ran his hand along one of the long-since singed roots. That looked like a Ruby's handiwork. Probably Rubes... He eyed the cut stems and branches that arched overhead. Those seemed to be cut rather hastily with some sort of blade. Well, Puff did have a war ax. This must have been the main entrance they used, back when they were stationed here. Looking down at his feet, Hema tilted his head. While he could see the imprints of Yellow's feet, along with two petite sets of footprints, and one large set he assumed was Puff's, he spotted something else. A pair of footprints laid in the heavily-trodden ground, surrounded by what looked to be frost damage. Strange... Were there other gems here with Puff's group? Or, stars forbid... had someone else come here before Yellow and himself?The service gem looked at his visor, blinking in surprise as he noticed it was on the fritz. It glitched and fizzled softly, disturbed by some sort of interference. Oh, great. Just what they needed...
After a minute or so of walking, Yellow and Hematite finally stepped out into the main body of the greenhouse. It was humid, sickly-sweet smelling, and had the looks of a miniature jungle. The entire ceiling of the greenhouse was formed by high, woven branches of various plants and trees. Vines, lichen, and other sorts of plants of all shapes and sizes hung from the branches, made up the walls, and blanketed the floor. The ground itself was damp, and held a sort of peaty scent to it. Thankfully, only patches of it seemed to be moist, while the rest was either made of neatly-laid, but weathered stones, or a blanket of moss. Hematite's skin crawled, and he made a disdainful noise of disgust as a strong, acrid scent filled his nose. He didn't like the smell of things in here. And, while he was rather fond of nature, this place felt... oppressive. It almost felt as though he and Yellow, as they made their way around to check for any signs of the tunnels, were being watched.
–
Hematite wasn't the only one to notice the strange air in the room. But, instead of unnerving Yellow, she bristled with anger, her eyes widened subtly. She stomped through the main room of the greenhouse, kicking plants aside, zapping things out of her way, and even taking her sword out to hack away at some branches blocking off small sections of the area. She grumbled under her breath, making her way to another area, Hematite trailing behind her. Turning a corner, Yellow flinched as a low hanging vine brushed against her. In an acute fit of anger she snatched it off the wall and threw it to the ground, gritting her teeth. She started to walk faster, muttering more harsh words too quietly for anyone to hear.
–
At Yellow's mini outburst, Hematite flinched and looked at her, his expression one of nervous concern. She seemed on-edge, and that was never good. Still, he kept his cool and continued searching around the facility. The eerie feeling of being watched never left him, and he could have sworn he kept hearing shuffling, or smelling a rather odd scent in waves. Something wasn't right here.
Soon enough, Hematite split off, and found himself in the center of the greenhouse, in a semi-clear area. Vines and thorny branches created a near sphere-like cove around a large tree that had overtaken some sort of 'pedestal'. Its roots were curled over the edges of the stone, moss covering the ornately decorated bricks. The trunk of the tree twisted up and into the overgrowth above it, the branches meshing with the thorny stems surrounding the clearing.
"... Yellow Diamond, you might wanna come take a look at this!"
–
Yellow brushed off some of the foliage that had tacked its way onto her outfit. She cursed under her breath, frustrated with her current state. Hematite's voice caught her attention, snapping her back out of her irritated grumbling.
"What is it?" She stumbled over a few loose roots, running up to the service gem. It didn't take her very long to notice what he'd seen. She gazed up at the massive tree, brows furrowing. She went quiet.
–
The service gem looked up at the impressive tree. His visor crackled for a moment, and he frowned, tapping it.
"Tch, so this is where all the interference is coming from." Despite the static, he could see something near the tree, on his radar. With a weak chirp, Hematite's eyepiece dimmed, turning off entirely. He started looking around the tree, climbing up into the roots to check out the base. "I wonder..." Slowly, the service gem climbed his way around the massive tree, peering around its roots and trunk. He dug around here and there, moving bits of foliage and stone away. Suddenly, he gasped and sat up. "Yellow, over here!" Hematite started shoving some vines and chunks of haphazardly placed dirt aside, revealing a medium-sized tunnel that was half-hidden by the tree's massive roots.
–
Yellow followed close by, glaring at the vast plant life within the room.
"Do you think this is it?" she asked, peering over at the service gem. She stepped up onto a large root, staring down into the medium-sized hole in the ground. It looked large enough to fit a warrior gem like a Jasper, easy. It led down into pitch blackness. Yellow Diamond frowned and slowly crossed her arms, glancing subtly at Hematite. Something didn't feel right about this, but she had to keep going. They needed that flower. Still... she couldn't shake her bad premonitions.
–
Peering into the tunnel, Hematite nodded.
"This is the only tunnel we've found in here, we gotta check it out." Quickly, he climbed inside, slipping down the steep slope. He could tell they'd be able to climb back up, but he still had to focus to keep his footing. Vines and roots threaded in and out of the walls of the tunnel, which, the further down the service gem went, seemed to be getting more spacious.
–
Yellow looked through the tunnel, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. She didn't like this either. Who in their right mind would ever make a base here? She couldn't fathom how gems could live in such barbaric places. Stepping through, she followed the service gem. It was dark, but at least there seemed to be a small bit of natural lighting still left. For a little while, at least. About thirty or so feet down the gradual slope, Yellow couldn't help her breathing from hitching as she realized she couldn't see Hematite anymore.
–
The deeper they went into the passage, the less dim light they had, which, admittedly, hadn't been much to start with. Soon enough, it was pitch black. Hematite frowned and lifted his hand to his eyes, flicking on his visor.
Whirrrr
In an instant, the tunnel was lit up by the bright glowing light of the service gem's hunting visor. The tracking on it in such cramped, interference-laid spaces was useless, but it was still a rather good source of light. Hematite continued on, his feet crunching down on dirt and plant life alike.
–
Yellow stopped for a second. If the noise didn't startle her, the sudden light in the darkness that followed certainly did. She lifted her hands over her gemstone, pulling at the wrists of her gloves. She continued following without a word. That was the last thing she'd wanted to experience in a pitch black room. It felt far too familiar.
The two gems carried on for some time, their path only illuminated by Hematite's visor. They stayed silent, their footsteps the only sound to break the silence that fell between them. That is, until about ten minutes into their trek, Yellow finally spoke.
"Do you know where we are going?" she asked, the faintest trace of irritation lacing her tone. Part of her told her to turn back, but it was unlikely that the plant they were looking for was anywhere back where they came from.
–
Hematite glanced back, his visor illuminating the Diamond behind him for a moment. He turned his attention forward again, shaking his head.
"Not exactly, but it has to be down here. Rubes said it's at the end of this tunnel. So if we just keep going-"
HissSSSsSsccKK
Hema stopped dead in his tracks, looking around. His eyes went wide, his chest tightening.
–
Yellow stopped as well, her brows shooting up. She suddenly held up her fists, sparks forming around them.
"Alllright, what was that?" she growled with exasperated frustration. The flowing electricity provided a small bit of extra light, but not for very much.
–
"I don't know. But you heard it too, huh. I thought it might have been my vis-AH"
The service gem leapt a good foot or so back, flailing his left leg in the air. He looked down, and his visor illuminated a huge, dark, thorny vine that had latched onto his ankle.
HSSSSKKKKCCKCK
Summoning his weapons, Hematite grimaced and swept his fists down to strike the vine holding him. It reeled back with a hiss, retreating back into the dark. But more were closing in. In the blackness of the large tunnel, bright, bluish points of light suddenly blinked into view. Then, slowly, they started moving down the walls.
–
Yellow scowled, quickly summoning her sword. Bright flickers of electricity licked up the blade and spiraled around it, providing more light. It didn't take her long to identify what the glowing eyes belong to.
"Watch your back!" she snarled, taking a few bold steps past the service gem, walking towards the dim lights. "Vicious, feral pests..."
–
Hematite nodded.
"You too!"
The service gem looked around quickly. He knew he wouldn't be able to shift up much bigger in here, it was too small... The tunnel only seemed to be about two stories or so high, from what he could make out.
Hematite felt another vine latch onto his ankle, and he growled in frustration, using his other heel to kick at it, hard. The vine retreated and slithered up the wall.
Hematite turned his attention toward the dim blue lights, and his eyes widened when his visor illuminated their source. Crawling along the walls were multi-eyed, spider-like gem monsters. But instead of having normal, insect-like bodies, they were lithe, animal-like, but still had an extra set of legs. They had spindly, vine-like tails that trailed out behind them, twitching in fury. They seemed to have leaf-like 'tufts' spiked along their shoulders, backs, and ears. Hematite couldn't tell if it was some sort of 'fur', or if the tufts were solid spikes. Their bright blue eyes locked onto their targets, long, toothy jaws opening to reveal bright, glowing mouths.
HSSSKKSKSKSK!
Hematite backed up quickly, his knuckledusters alight with electricity. The moment they lit up, the creatures hissed aggressively and leapt, their long, jet-black claws stretched to strike.
Hematite was soon in a rather even match against the onslaught of creatures. He'd poof a few, take a couple hits, poof another, it was endless.
In his struggle to stay on top of things, he could only get glances of Yellow across the way. He hoped she was doing alright.
–
There was so many of them, it was a wonder that they could even fit in the caves with them. They appeared to flow out of the very walls themselves! Thrashing her sword in an even, measured pattern, she cut at the vines that slinked their way towards her. Occasionally, one or two of the vines would wrap around her, but were soon sliced in half with her electrified blade.
"Rraaagh!" She snarled angrily at the creatures, turning on her heel to face a few that were coming in past Hematite. Crouching low, she readied her sword and struck the ground, sending out a small shockwave in their path. The monsters hissed with pained protest, stunned for a few moments. She rushed to them, slicing her blade clean through their bodies. Cloud after cloud of navy-blue dust filled the air.
–
Thankfully for the service gem, Yellow's electricity didn't do too much to him, but it did make the vines that had wrapped around his legs retract.
"Thanks, Yellow!"
He couldn't tell if it'd been to intentionally help him or not, but it did, all the same. After a few more minutes of fighting, Hematite felt his energy starting to wane. Between his run to the greenhouse, taking down the wall, and then this fight... the service gem was quickly reaching his limits.
In a last ditch effort to end the fight quickly, Hematite summoned his electrical whips and lashed fiercely at the creatures making their way toward him. They hissed in protest, one or two of them getting hit hard enough to be poofed. The rest scurried off.
He turned his attention to the last of the creatures, which seemed to be retreating back up and... into the walls? Hematite frowned in utter confusion, his chest heaving. After Yellow poofed a last group, the two gems were left alone in the cavern.
Hema was breathing heavily, his whips dissipating into a show of sparks. He lifted his visor and wiped his brow, sighing heavily. Returning the screen to his eyes, the service gem looked around.
"... I think they're gone."
–
Yellow listened carefully, eyeing the walls for any sign of movement. Thankfully, it looked as if Hematite was right. Re-lighting her sword with more electricity, she kept a hold of the blade, just in case. It helped her rising anxiety. Stepping forward, she held up her sword and lit the way.
"Come on," she whispered.
–
Hematite looked back and nodded, following after Yellow. The two made their way further and further into the caves... Until they reached a dead end after about ten or so more minutes.
"... Is. Is this it?" He looked around, his visor lighting up the walls of the large, round cavern. "Okay, this must be it! The path stops here!" The service gem scurried ahead of Yellow Diamond, and started checking the walls and floor for the pink plant. "It's gotta be here somewhere."
–
Yellow followed behind, but her pace was far more slow and steady than Hematite. She knew better than to rush in.
"Be careful, Hematite. You don't know what is in here," she said, sighing. "There might be more of those nasty creatures. If the plant is in here, then we can't risk it getting caught in the crossfire if we get attacked." the Diamond warned, illuminating some of the area with her sword. Waving it around slowly, she was able to make out small pieces here and there of the area. Oddly enough, this place seemed barren, aside from the obviously dense plant life.
–
Hematite looked up and around, his visor illuminating the roof of the cavern. Instead of dense rock and dirt like the rest of the tunnels, this room's ceiling was unnervingly made entirely of roots. A mess of thick, wooden branches twisted and curved around the top of the room, creating an almost weblike, clustered formation. Hematite mumbled something under his breath before turning his attention back to the rest of the room.
"Alright, where is it..." He checked around quickly, looking for any sign of the pink flowers that Rubes had described. Woody stems, pink blossoms, gem-like center...
...
But they weren't there. The longer Hematite looked, the more a sense of dread started to rise in his stomach. Dread and anxiety.
"N-no, this isn't right. Rubes said it was here... A-at least, it was twelve years ago..." he muttered, almost too quiet to hear.
–
Yellow froze, almost dropping her sword. She'd caught that. Slowly, Yellow turned and held up her sword, faintly illuminating Hema's hunched-over form near the wall.
"What...?" She started to back up, staring at the dimly lit service gem from across the room. Her chest rose and fell slowly, her brows furrowing. She twitched, face twisting into a look of pure, unbridled rage. "WHAT?! What do you mean it's not here?! TWELVE years ago?! Hematite, YOU-!" She snarled, her entire body suddenly enveloped with blinding electricity. Taking a step forward, sparks flickered out from her feet, singing the plants she walked on. Raising her shoulders, she breathed heavily, staring Hematite down with unholy fury.
–
The service gem froze.
He whirled around, plastering his back to the cavern wall, and stared at Yellow, eyes wide.
"I-I thought it'd still be here! Rubes said this place was a secret, s-so! It was worth a shot!"
Hema's body went cold as Yellow Diamond suddenly coursed entirely with electricity, her form lighting the room dimly. Hematite's chest started to rise and fall rapidly, and he gripped at the plants growing along the wall, a raging sea of panic and terror coursing through him.
–
Yellow opened her mouth to retort, but she stopped, the light around her flickering suddenly.
Can you think of any reason the Hematite would have for turning on his leader?
Her eyes widened with shock and realization. She took a slow step back. The subtle anxiety and horrible premonitions that'd plagued her since arriving at this gem-forsaken suddenly clutched at her chest. She tasted bile at the back of her throat, which she quickly tried to swallow down.
"You..." Her hand trembled slightly, and she started to take a few more steps back. "This was a trap. You lead me into a TRAP!" Her brows furrowed, anxious rage overflowing her very core. "I should have known... I should have known better than to trust you! You just wanted to finish me off down here. BUT I WON'T LET YOU!" she screamed, summoning a second electrified sword. Crossing the blades together, she took a defensive stance. Her piercing yellow eyes furiously locked with Hematite's gaze.
–
The service gem's mouth fell agape, and he shook his head in blind terror as Yellow Diamond pulled out a second sword and readied her stance.
"Y-Yellow! C-calm down! This isn't a trap, I thought the flowers would be down here!"
–
"NO! Don't you DARE tell me to calm down, you... MONSTER!" Her eyes pierced through him like fiery blades, striking directly into his core. She took a heavy breath, hissing through her teeth. She stepped forward, her form fizzling and sending out small bolts of electricity that struck the plant life around her, searing everything it touched.
–
The service gem physically flinched at Yellow's venomous words, and he whimpered audibly, a choked sob cracking from his throat. Hot, stinging tears began to flow down his cheeks, past his visor.
No.
No... NO!
Hematite's gemstone began to glow in his blind panic. But, as soon as it began to glimmer, it fizzled out. He didn't even have enough energy to shift up.
Terror seeped into his very core as Yellow approached slowly, menacingly. Her expression was all too familiar. He'd hoped he'd never see it again.
He felt long, ice-cold claws closing in on him on either side. He stopped breathing entirely, staring at Yellow with eyes as wide as saucers, though right now, she couldn't even see them past his visor. Opening his mouth, the faintest pitiful plea escaped him.
"Y-yellow, please-"
–
Her hands clenched tightly around the swords' hilts, poised to strike him down as soon as she got close enough.
"You think you can fool me? You think you can get the better of me? You think you've WON? No. I won't let you hurt anyone else." Her tone was low, dark, and condescending. She sneered at him with a familiar, hateful look. All her fear from before was suddenly crushed under the heel of her deep-seated distrust of the service gem. Slowly, as she got mere feet away from him, she raised a sword up, never once taking her narrowed eyes off of him.
"I should have done this years ago..."
–
The ivory-haired gem felt his heels slowly slipping from under him as he pressed his back hard against the wall. His eyes were locked fearfully on Yellow. He felt his entire world crumbling around him, and yet couldn't bring himself to speak. It suddenly felt as though some outside force sank their claws into his chest, holding any words he could have said in his throat. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't speak, he couldn't move.
And then, he saw the blue lights.
Lifting his chin ever so slightly, Hematite stared up in horror at the ceiling. A set of glowing blue eyes was peering out from the roof of twisted roots, locked right onto the two gems. Its eyes looked like the creatures' that they'd fought before... but no. This one was far... far bigger. It was the mother. Hema stared fearfully, a lump of ice in his throat. He suddenly realized that the gem mother wasn't staring at both of them. Its eyes were focused entirely...
On Yellow.
The creature opened its mouth, jet-black teeth silhouetted against a glowing blue mouth. Glittering strands of saliva dripped from the monster's jaws, falling to the tangled roots below it.
–
The Diamond's eyes darted down from his visor to his gemstone as he tilted his head back, practically presenting her with the silvery gem. He gave her a perfect shot. With a sly, hateful sneer, she arched her arm back and readied her strike.
–
Time seemed to stand still. Everything around Hematite slowed, and a prickling chill crept up his neck. Yellow had her sword readied, prepared to strike him down. The gem monster above slowly lurched forward, jaws wide open. Hematite's entire body suddenly coursed with energy, a fiery surge rushing through his very core.
Act.
In a flash, Hematite launched himself off of the wall, shot toward Yellow Diamond, and shoved her backwards. He winced, her lightning coursing through him and locking him in place as soon as he made contact to shove her onto her back.
S N A P!
–
Yellow gasped sharply, taken by surprise at Hematite's sudden burst of movement. Blast, she thought she had him! Snarling out in furious anger, she stood up and turned around. She immediately stopped in her tracks after righting herself.
Her eyes widened in undisguised, rageful horror. He tried to push her into that thing! Eyes fixated on the snarling monstrosity before her, she realized Hematite was suddenly nowhere to be seen. The giant gem mother crept back up into the ceiling of the room, once more The Diamond quickly fizzled away one of her swords and turned away. Nothing here was worth sticking around for. Without a second thought, she made a run for the entrance, as fast as her legs would carry her.
A furious, boiling rage bubbled in her stomach, making her hair stand on end. She'd been tricked, she had no Hearthfall Flowers to show for it, and she didn't even have a chance to finish Hematite off herself. There was nothing left for her down there. Whatever fate had in store for Hematite, she wasn't sticking around to find out. She didn't care anymore.
It wasn't her problem.
