A/N Thank you all for bearing with me. It's been a long wait between chapters as I've been dealing with a lot of personal stuff. I want to get back to updating regularly, but I do hope you enjoy this one.
Peridot drove her small fingers through Steven's hair, stopping only when both hands were full with what little of it she could hold, but what was just enough for her, tugged gently, needfully, and each squeeze was a relieved You're here.
They couldn't separate us.
How?!
I don't know!
I don't care!
Tourmaline ran down the corridor laughing. She skipped up into the air, legs fluttering kicks, before levitating back down. And all of the cameras, like a small moving wave, turned to follow her as she went. The aura link tugged and Tourmaline came sliding around the next corner on her golden stockings. She twirled, the tails of her blue vest rippling out in front and behind her, her arms spinning up into the air. She giggled, presenting herself to the next empty hall. Waiting a moment, she ran on. She was getting closer to Skinny.
And Peridot pulled back so that she could see him and Steven was that prism again with her green light rushing through him. It was the way she looked at him, like there were no other projects, as if she had pushed everything else off of her workbench so she could have room for only him. All her tools were useless so she used her hands. He could feel her thumbs pressed to his temples while her fingers circled in his hair treating him so carefully, something she couldn't risk dropping. Her lips were against his and he kissed her back and he hadn't even perceived the movement in between.
Tourmaline was strolling with eyes closed, sighing, smiling, running her fingers dribbling across the nearest wall and feeling her way toward the end of the link. Then they felt it, Steven first. It was like waking up and finding Peridot still asleep in the same blissful dream he had just been in. With the sober knowledge that it would be gone once she opened her eyes, he was unable to wake her up so that she could enjoy it a little longer than he had. He was forced to watch her slowly blink her eyes open and realize what it was.
They weren't just getting closer to Skinny. She was coming closer to them, and fast. More importantly, she wasn't alone. Very much not alone. Tourmaline stopped in the middle of the corridor. Peridot's smile faded. She lowered her eyes.
I thought at least Skinny… she would want to come with us.
Her shoulders were already starting to draw in, but Steven stopped them, setting his hands on both gently and firmly. All of them, Peridot.
Slowly, she raised her face to him. What? Maybe we still have a chance to save the humans… but all…? Without her visor, her blue eyes shined with a hope that hurt. Her hand clutched his forearm as if to pull herself up. We showed them who we really are and they… I don't understand how we didn't destabilize. I want to help them too, Steven. But we have to get out of here. We saw what they think of us. They don't want to talk to us. She squeezed his arm and hesitated before reluctantly adding. We might not get another chance to escape, Steven.
Steven gazed down at her hand. She was always his voice of reason, always his aura link tugging him in the direction to go. But both of them had already gone that way; they both knew what was there. Earth wasn't the end of the journey, it was the first step. It was time to take another step on the detour that began the day he had met Peridot. It was time to take their place. He looked straight into her blue eyes.
When you said it with me, when you told Mom that we'd fight the Diamonds differently; that you wouldn't make other gems pay the price for it like she did, did you mean it?
Wha…? I… Steven… I'd do anything to help other gems the way you've helped me. To let them see what I've seen.
Anything? Even… if we have to pay for it?
The fear grew in her eyes. Underneath his hands, he could feel her begin to tremble.
Don't… Her lip quivered, her eyes pleaded with him. Don't… ask… She choked back the next words. Instead, her answer, her thoughts, were so strong he could feel them tug on his own. They dragged him back to the hall that was now behind both of them, but not far enough. To a yellow hand rising in front of her. Beyond those fingers was a darkness scarred with crooked streaks of amber. Her eyes traveled across a wasteland of discarded robonoids, and on the other side pink bubbles twinkled at her smiling softly. But it was the silence that terrified her. A silence only earned after frantic, warping machinations. It was the sound of emptiness, the reaching out in a vastness and finding nothing, to know that you took it and still don't have it. And that silence crept through the hall, and it moved not past her, but back to her as if it had spilled from her and into everything around her as it always seemed to do. Everything vibrating and vibrant with life. She would hold onto it, and it would go quiet until it stopped, until there was nothing left. Nothing but the stillness of a kindergarten.
Peridot's chest jerked. Steven caught her as she lurched forward and crumpled into his arms. He pulled her in a hug, holding her as she shook. Standing paralyzed in the middle of the hallway, Tourmaline opened her mouth, contorting it into a silent cry. She collapsed to her knees and slapped the floor with her hands harshly as she caught herself. Steven held Peridot. Her hair bent underneath the curve of his neck and the peak bristled out just below his chin as he ran his fingers through it. Where he touched, the tufts surrendered, pacified for a moment before springing back up. The aura link to Skinny was coming closer and closer. She would be here soon. And so would the others.
We don't have to be what they think we are. Steven whispered next to her ear. We have to try. We have to talk to them.
She swiped her face left to right against his vest shaking her head no.
You're… You're growing stronger, Steven. But it's what I bring when I fuse with you. What I'm doing to you. The lightning… it's stronger. How you stopped the amethysts. It won't be enough to stop a squadron of jaspers. They are so much stronger. And if they won't listen… to me… if they won't listen to us… or let us leave. I can't… She squeezed him harder and trembled against him.
Steven reached down and lifted her face to him. She blinked at tears. There was a weariness in her eyes, but beneath it, he could see a love that burned for him, that exasperated her, confused her, distressed her; but was like nothing she had ever felt before him, happily, hopelessly, driven by it after him.
You're not the bad part. You're Tourmaline's heart. I know you want it all to be different. ...You don't have to be her anymore.
Peridot reached up and gently touched his cheek. What if she's the only one that gets to keep you?
He leaned down and pressed his lips to the hard glassy surface of her gem and left a kiss. Then nobody will ever be able to see who you really are. The one I see. Between them, the memory of the hallway faded away. Steven replaced it with his own; peridot happily tipping up a mug of hot cocoa. She brought it down again, and grinned in childish delight, wearing a chocolate mustache.
Peridot blushed. Flustered, she scrubbed her cheeks and smiled lopsidedly. Maybe we can leave some things out. Steven returned a sad smile.
Peridot slipped her arms around his neck, her brow furrowing the way it did when she was latching onto a plan. I'll try to find the words. I told you before I'd try.
There she is. Back again.
Her face broke from it's pointed seriousness to smile back at him. She kissed him.
Slowly, Tourmaline got back to her feet. She brought her hand up to her chest to check the distance again. They were very close now. Close enough to… She held a breath and listened. Boots thudded in the distance, so many of them. Tourmaline arched her back, standing firm. Peridot glanced at Steven unsure, but he smiled back at her. The footfalls grew louder and louder steadily.
Jasper gems in Blue Diamond uniforms poured around the corner and into the hallway. They slowed when they saw Tourmaline standing in the middle of the corridor waiting for them. Every eye went to the diamond in her stomach first, then to the one in her forehead. It made her want to cover them, to run, but she didn't move. instead, she searched amongst the faces for Skinny. Skinny was the last to appear, walking in the back with the others. She was looking around, noticing that the jaspers in front of her had come to a stop. Pushing through and cocking her head around one of them, she saw Tourmaline and froze. Skinny looked to the peridot gem and then into Tourmaline's eyes with a solemn wonder.
All of the jaspers were watching Tourmaline, about a dozen of them in all. They seemed to be waiting for the slightest indication of movement. Some of them flinched when she started to speak.
"I… uh... um," Tourmaline began. "Err... " She growled to herself, and one of the jaspers raised an eyebrow. Tourmaline felt the heat grow in her cheeks. A million things that she could say flew by in her mind way too fast to catch. My name is - wait no/ I'm the Final/ I know you may think that/ I don't mean to/ I'm just/
The jaspers looked between each other warily. Tourmaline closed her eyes, and groaned, finally she bit her lip before releasing it and saying, "Um… I don't want… "
A speaker above their heads crackled to life cutting Tourmaline off. It was the voice of Holly Blue, "This is the Agate of this station. I will be very clear with you. You may be a Diamond, but you are a traitor to Homeworld. You have betrayed the Diamond Authority. You have betrayed Blue Diamond and you… " The speaker sounded as if it had cut out for a moment. All of the jaspers raised their faces to it, and the speaker came back clear, "have betrayed all of us. You will submit to the Diamond Authority. If you hand yourself over, the rebels that have come to help you will not be shattered. If you do not comply, they will be destroyed."
Tourmaline slapped a hand to her chest. The others were here? She hunted for the aura link, the one Steven had made with Pearl that day alone in his room. She found it almost immediately. The image of a flower, but broken into pieces as if it were glass, entered her mind. A deep reminiscent sorrow followed. It nestled into her chest, curling itself around the image. Tourmaline grimaced.
It was true, Pearl was here, and the others had to be too. They were in another part of the station, but she couldn't sense any distress from the link. Neither Holly Blue or Aquamarine had captured them yet. All of the cameras in the corridor were pointed to Tourmaline. Knowing that Holly Blue was on the other side of them, Tourmaline picked one and stared right at it, and this time Steven spoke.
"I'd rather be shattered free, and so would they."
"So be it!" Holly Blue snapped back. But there was a long silence, and her reply almost seemed to warble. It was high pitched as if the speaker was breaking down again, "Jaspers..." They tensed and shifted against each other for the next order that they knew would be coming. Her voice came back, "...stand down. Let her pass."
Gasps escaped from amongst the jaspers. A wave of shock bristled through them. They started to look between each other and then some back to the speaker, with disbelief and confusion, but there was one with anger.
"No!" She shouted, furious. The jasper shouldered her way to the front of the group, her skin was tan and her white hair jutted up in odd places forming messy spikes. She glared at the fusion and aimed her next words at her, "I'm not letting her go anywhere!"
"That is a direct order—!"
But the Spiky Jasper was already folding her hands over her chest. They lit up forming silver and scarlet gauntlets. She punched them together.
"Wait!" Tourmaline called out. "We don't have to do this. I… I don't want to fight any of you. I just want to talk."
"We don't want to talk!" The Spiky Jasper bared her teeth in a snarl, "Did you talk to the other gems we used to know before you shattered them? Huh?! Before you had your other traitors shatter them for you?" She readied her gauntlets in front of her, "We are going to bring you in or shatter trying. And we are going to do it for them!" She looked back at the others, the fury in her waning only for a moment as she said to them, "for 7BL."
Holly Blue's voice came back over the speaker booming, "Stand down! I ORDER YOU ALL TO STAND DOWN!" and then in a desperate plea, "Stars... don't do this.
But a ripple of grave understanding, like a wake that started at the Spiky Jasper, coursed through the jaspers as one by one, dutifully, they began to summon their weapons and spread out in the hall to take its full width. One of them reached behind her head and summoned a greatsword from the gem on her back hefting it down in front of her. Another drew a flash of light from her hip that formed into a silver club. Another pulled a kite shield from her shoulder gem. All together came their somber mutterings, "For 7BC… For 10CT… For 7BH… For 7BA… For Red's squad…"
Tourmaline opened her mouth, her eyes darting between them. What could she say? What could she say? Something to get them to stop. Peridot's mind was racing with the task. And all she could think about was the last time they had fought a jasper. Being told how weak they were. And it was true. Jasper had been stronger, had been faster; their shield slapped away like it was a toy. Her chest was heavy with the memory of being pinned down. How helpless she had been without the lightning. And then... the confidence radiating off her like amber sparks as she slowly got back to her feet with its help… as it gave her back control. Peridot looked desperately to Steven.
You have to talk to them, Steven! I can't! You're so much bet—
But now she noticed his face. How it was turned away from hers toward the infinite horizon. The hollow look as he thought of all the gems that they were charging him with. It was like a thousand Sodalites dying and a thousand Jaspers to mourn after them. Peridot held onto him.
What she did isn't your responsibility!
But before Peridot could say any more to him, the Spiky Jasper raised a gauntlet in the air and howled a war cry. All of the jaspers raised their weapons and echoed her, filling the hallway with their collective roar. Peridot watched as all together they charged toward them. No, it was toward Steven, with her in the middle, the only one that stood in their way. Tourmaline stumbled a few steps back.
No. Noooooooo!
Below her and Steven, the waters of their pool darkened. From the Grove, the words of that Other Tourmaline echoed in Peridot's mind and reached out as far as the infinite horizon would go. The voice made the waters underneath her and Steven ripple like one finger dragging a long, black nail across its calm surface.
Such fury. And we both know…
Tourmaline raised her hand to the jaspers as they closed in. She could feel her skin prickle with the familiar surge of energy, tightening...
When it gets too hard
...the serpents of amber coiled up inside her. They raised their flaring heads. They saw the threat and cocked back, bristling, ready to strike, meaning to destroy this entire corridor.
What you will do with it.
Trembling, Tourmaline squeezed her eyes shut. The Spiky Jasper raised her gauntlet in the air and brought it hurtling down. An amber light burst from Tourmaline's outstretched hand.
BONG
Tourmaline opened her eyes.
Between her and the Spiky Jasper… was her shield.
The jasper grunted, forcing her weight down on top of it, but Tourmaline, with her arm raised high, didn't budge. The jasper slammed her other gauntlet down and pushed as hard as she could. Tourmaline's arm didn't even shake at the blow. Through the transparent gloss of the shield, they both stared at each other. Slowly, the tension faded from the jasper's face, replaced with astonishment. Tourmaline stared back, just as surprised.
A huge warhammer swung down on top of Tourmaline from her right. With her free hand, she caught the head of the hammer. The clap and the sting in her palm issued like she had given out a hard high five. Tourmaline stared up at the end of her arm, at her fingers dwarfed by a solid block of steel that they were somehow holding back. Her pinky was dangling half off the side. On the other end of the hammer, a jasper with a braid was clenching her bared teeth and pushing hard. Tourmaline looked back over at the Spiky Jasper. She was grinding her boots into the floor, slipping and readjusting to get traction as if she was trying to move a very confused wall. Tourmaline blinked, then her wide amber eyes fell into a glare. She snapped it between the both of them, and finally, she yelled out.
"LISTEN to me you clods!"
The other jaspers were surrounding her. Tourmaline shoved the head of the hammer away, but when she did, the top of it swung back clear over the head of the jasper holding it. The jasper's arms went up, her face in bewilderment, and as soon as the weight of the block was behind her head, she cried out following it down to the floor.
Tourmaline dropped to one knee. Spiky Jasper, still pushing from the other side, rolled on top of the shield. Tourmaline stood back up, lifting her up and over her head and heaved, tossing her at the gem coming at her from behind.
"I'm not-!"
Tourmaline jumped back from the wide arc of a greatsword blade swinging through the air.
"He's not-!"
A club slammed down against her shield. "Argghhh!" She shoved it away and kicked the jasper in the chest. The force of it lifted her off her feet and sent her into two other gems. All three skidded across the floor to sprawl against the far wall.
"PINK DIAMOND!"
She was standing, surrounded, turning her head left and right. Some stared back in shock, most of them in anger. They would never listen to her. She had known it all along. It was the gem in her forehead. It was what the one in her stomach had already done. Desperately, Tourmaline searched for Skinny, but she wasn't among them. The jaspers were helping each other to their feet.
"Get her!" One of them cried out, and all of them scrambled toward her at once from every side.
Immediately dropping into Steven's fighting stance, Tourmaline formed a large yellow bubble around herself. It cut off three jaspers from everyone else who slammed into it head or weapon first. Two gems were in front of her and the third behind her. The windup of Tourmaline's shield throw was almost a blur as she hurled it to an angle quickly calculated by Peridot. The shield ricocheted off the shell wall and slammed into a jasper in front of her. As it came spinning out of the poofing smoke, Tourmaline rushed forward and the shield flew past her catching the jasper behind her in the chest. The only remaining jasper charged to meet the fusion. Tourmaline stretched out her hand and caught her shield bouncing back to her from behind. She rolled her shoulder into it bringing the shield around in front of her.
The jasper's curved knife scraped down the outside of the shield as Tourmaline held the first stab off. Tourmaline stepped left and grabbed the gem's wrist as she raised it high into the air for another. With the jasper's wrist in her grip, Tourmaline bent her arm across the outside of her shield by slamming it into the crook of her arm. She cried out, unfurling her fingers and dropping the knife. Tourmaline let go and the jasper stumbled back clutching at her arm. Without slowing down the fusion lunged forward holding her shield up in front of her. Tourmaline punched the inside of it causing the shield to bounce forward with the force. The jasper was thrown against the bubble wall before poofing.
Tourmaline dropped the bubble flooding the hall with the smoke of three gems. The jaspers outside rushed into it unseeing, stabbing and swinging. But when Tourmaline moved through the cloud, she moved in a way she never had before. It was more than the strength of a Diamond. It was as if inside of her Peridot and Steven were in perfect synch like a hundred questions asked between them that were all yes. The feeling was so strong that she could barely sense the individual identities within herself. Tourmaline flitted between the jaspers, a dark silhouette dancing between them in the smoke, the vapors trailing over her limbs as they twisted away from swinging weapons.
She dropped down, skidding against the ground, and brought her shield down across the back of a pair of knees. The gem hit the floor. Tourmaline shot to her feet and in one fluid motion bounced the blunt end off the jasper's chest catching it back in her hand. She turned, and with another quick peridot calculation sent her shield out like a yo-yo. It bounced off the floor and up into the face of a Jasper running toward her. It threw her sliding on the ground to poof.
"AAARRGH!"
Tourmaline spun toward the roar but not before Spiky Jasper tackled her, throwing them both out of the smoke cloud and into the harsh light of the hall. On top of Tourmaline, Spiky pulled her gauntlets together and brought them down aimed at the peridot gem in her forehead. Tourmaline caught her by the forearms while the gauntlets trembled with Spiky's effort inches above her visor.
"I'm not who you think I am! Just let me explain, I'm trying to help!" Tourmaline pleaded.
"You're… arrgghh nothing… but urggh… A LIAR!"
Tourmaline kneed Spiky in the side and threw her off. Spiky rolled and hit the wall while the other jaspers stormed out of the cloud toward the both of them.
Tourmaline rolled to her feet and bobbed left and right avoiding two swings from a shield. Her own shield flew out of the cloud as it started to dissipate. It reached her, but floated in the air, keeping the other jaspers at bay, blocking attacks all on its own as Peridot controlled it and Steven fought hand to hand. With two jaspers poofed, Tourmaline heard something whistle threw the air. It hit her right below the shins and she wobbled, waving her hands out for balance before finally crashing to the floor. She tried to move her legs but they wouldn't separate. She looked down. Tied around her ankles were two thick cords that ended in heavy metal orbs.
"What is this?!" Tourmaline yanked at the chords. "Bolas!" She answered herself. "What? Ugh." She glanced up and saw more jaspers moving in. "Stars… this keeps getting better all the time." Tourmaline held up her hand. Her shield flew to her just in time for her to grab it and hold it over her head. The jasper with the warhammer brought it down against the barrier. Tourmaline pushed it away, and knocked the jasper in the leg with her tied feet, throwing her off balance. It gave Tourmaline the moments she needed to clutch the shield to her chest, rollover with her chest to the ground and her butt in the air, and morph the shield into a tower shield underneath herself. The shield lifted off the ground and carried her up into the air above the jasper's heads.
"Gotta… get this… cloddy thing off…" Tourmaline struggled with the bola chord. "No, it's this way, you have to untie it this way. Okay okay, alright alright." Above the jaspers, the shield, with Tourmaline sitting up on top of it, flew down the hall back toward the way they had all come from. Another bola clanged against the underside of the shield.
"Almost… almost…" Tourmaline muttered to herself, shuffling her stocking covered feet.
Spiky Jasper came charging down the hall after her and leaped into the air catching the side of the shield. Spiky's weight forced it to begin tilting.
"No!" Tourmaline cried as she wobbled and started to slide off the edge. Her fingers clutched and scraped, but the shield finally flipped over throwing Spiky to the ground and sending Tourmaline sliding along the floor. The shield clattered to the ground, now uncontrolled. Tourmaline swung herself upright. Frantically, she reached for the bola cord still wrapped around her legs trying to get it off before the other jaspers reached her, but something made her stop. Someone was standing above her.
It was Skinny. Her face was tense, and twitching; struggling. Her hand was outstretched and open, but it wasn't to help her up. The device attached to her arm that Steven had noticed before was lit up. Beyond the transparent glass, white, frenetic energy surged through it… down to the pieces that fit over Skinny's palm, thumb, and first two fingers. Peridot recognized the parts immediately. It was a gem destabilizer. Like the one for a robonoid, but it was attached to her arm. Her hand was shaking as she aimed it at the fusion, fully charged.
Tourmaline let go of the bola chord, her fingers slipping away, and stared up at Skinny unmoving. Skinny clenched her jaw. Spiky Jasper had gotten up and was now headed right for them followed by the remaining jaspers.
"Good job Skinny," Spiky shouted ahead, "hold her there!"
Skinny jerked her head to the jaspers and then back to Tourmaline. Her eyes traveled up to the peridot gem in the fusion's forehead. She squirmed, and a low throated groan began in her throat. Her eyes darted back and forth between the jaspers and the fusion. The closer the jaspers got, the louder the sound deep inside her grew, until it emerged out of her lips into a tortured cry. Suddenly, Skinny whirled on the jaspers and the arm mount let out a high pitched whine. EEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOHHHHMMMM
A white orb flew out of Skinny's palm and slammed right into Spiky before she could even raise her gauntlets. Her gem soared forward and clinked several times onto the floor.
"Skinny's with HER!" One of the jaspers shouted.
Skinny yelped as she barely ducked the jasper with the warhammer swinging at her in a wide horizontal arc. She fumbled away, hunched over, with her hands holding her head, the mount on her arm beginning to hum again. Stumbling back, she tried to aim it again but had to dodge another wild woosh. Finally, the jasper stepped forward and raised the hammer over her head. Tourmaline's shield zipped through the air. It put itself between the jasper and Skinny as the hammer came down. Skinny flinched. The shield took the blow and floated forward and shoved the jasper back. Amazed, but quickly realizing that she wasn't back inside her gem yet, Skinny shot her hand up and the shield lowered giving her the perfect shot. Through the glass showing the inner workings of her arm mount, a pale white light shone, growing intensely before being directed out of Skinny's hand poofing the jasper.
Tourmaline had managed to get the bola off her legs, but another jasper, waving a club in the air, was running toward Skinny. Tourmaline scrambled up, her hands and feet squeaking against the metal tiles, as she picked up into a half stumbling run while not even all the way up yet, and threw herself into the jasper. It sent them both into a wild spin down to the ground as Tourmaline latched onto her uniform. Above them, Skinny ducked a bola, braced her arm with her hand and squinted before returning fire. Tourmaline heard the gem poof in the distance, but she was trying to wrestle the club away from the jasper underneath her. She tore it from her and kicked herself away. The jasper tried to stand up, but Tourmaline brought the club down hard across her back poofing her.
Another blast came from Skinny's destabilizer. After the sound of a gem poofing followed it, the hall finally fell silent. As if her body didn't quite realize the fighting was over, Tourmaline started to get up out of instinct, but in the middle of the motion, she stopped. The blurred moments, flashes of limbs, the haziness of smoke, the sound of her shield blocking blows meant for her; it all rushed to catch up to her in an instant, and when it did, it sunk deep inside her, a weight in her stomach. She let the feeling lower her back down until she was laying on her back. She stared at the plated ceiling, stretched out like a starfish. There was nowhere to go.
She rested the back of her head against the cold tiles, her amber locks splaying underneath her and curling against the sides of her face. Her chest rose as she took in a deep breath before letting it out in a long sigh. Littered all around her were jasper gems.
No matter where she went, she would have to fight. She couldn't escape it. It was as if behind her was a shadow, and no matter how fast she ran from it, no matter how hard she wrestled against it, in darkness and light, it would be there. And when others looked at her, they saw past her, their eyes out of focus, addressing it instead of her. When she spoke, they listened to it mouthing behind her. When she stretched out her open hand, it would grin and curl it into a fist.
But...
Tourmaline turned her head, remembering Skinny.
She was standing in the middle of the hall, trying to shy away from the scene in front of her, but unable to take her eyes off the gems that were a moment ago her sisters. She held onto her arm that had the destabilizer attached to it, clutching it with her hand as if she was wounded.
Slowly, Tourmaline got up and made her way over carefully. Skinny didn't move, she only turned her face down.
"It wasn't you. It's not your fault," Tourmaline insisted looking back over her shoulder at the gems then back to Skinny as if she was trying to dispute something Skinny had yet to say. "I did this."
Skinny didn't answer, but Tourmaline could see tears trickle down her cheeks.
"Hey…" She added softer.
"It was me," Skinny said, "because I'm… —I let you out, Steven."
Tourmaline looked down at a jasper gem laying near their feet. She stared at it, the diamond in her stomach feeling heavy. The hall was silent, except for Skinny's tearful breathing, and the accusations shouting at her from all sides from dormant gems. And as she heard their voices calling out to her LIAR! SHATTERER! TRAITOR! DESTROYER! she could not possibly imagine...
"Why?" Tourmaline's voice was almost a whisper.
Skinny squeezed her face together causing the scarlet marking across her forehead to wrinkle and grow a deeper shade of crimson. Her voice was shaky, a mix of sorrow, and suppressed fury, "Pink Diamond left us. She lied to us, betrayed us, shattered gems that I knew. And at the end, after she got what she wanted, she abandoned everyone. Now I see that she was never my Diamond, that she never had a plan for us." The tears had stopped, leaving her eyes a soured pale yellow, "I don't believe in her anymore..."
Tourmaline felt two gentle hands on her shoulders. She lifted her face to meet Skinny's. And she saw something she never expected to see there: eyes that weren't unfocused. They were centered only on her.
"But I believe in you."
Tourmaline stood stunned. "...what?" she managed.
"I had to know. That's why I freed you. The only thing I was ever created to do was to serve Pink Diamond. If you were her, it wouldn't matter. You told me... " Skinny looked around at the walls. Vines shaped from the metal panels stretched on in either direction looping endlessly and unchanging. "...all of this is just a lie. One we have all been living for a long time. It doesn't mean what it's supposed to mean. I thought if you were Pink… at least you would shatter me, and it would all end, it would finally be over. This feeling I've had since they told all of us that she was gone, that somehow, someone took her from us. We would never know what she wanted us to be. But… " Skinny's eyes rose to the gem in Tourmaline's forehead, and somehow her lips found a smile. "You only wanted a peridot. You could have tried to escape, but you came here to explain yourself to us. You have the power of a diamond, but you didn't use it." Skinny met Tourmaline's eyes and said softly, "...you aren't her."
Tourmaline rocked back suddenly as Skinny threw her arms around her. She stood frozen, her arms stiff at her side.
"Tell me you have a plan for us. Tell me I was created for something."
Gradually, Tourmaline put her arms around Skinny and held her. "You were created for something," Steven and Peridot told her together. Skinny hung her head as her sobs returned, and deepened with profound relief. Each shudder seemed to make her shrink in Tourmaline's arms as Skinny drew in, folding her arms across her chest so that the fusion was holding her around the shoulders like a small child.
Her voice quivered, "What's... your plan for us?"
Tourmaline squeezed her and rested her head side by side against Skinny's, "To help you find out what that something is."
Skinny buried her nose into Tourmaline's shoulder. Her eyes looked beyond, sweeping over the jasper gems, "...how do we do that?" she asked.
Tourmaline stepped back, holding Skinny by the arms, and furrowed her brow, "Help me collect all these gems. We're bringing them with us."
"Where?"
"To Holly Blue and the others."
"But what if they won't listen to us?"
Tourmaline's smile was tinged with Peridot's cockiness and Steven's sincerity, "That's never stopped me before."