"Ow…"
That was all that the small, red gem had to say after she fell on the ground, what she said being natural as she spat the dirt out of her mouth. She had no memory of what she was doing here, or even where she was. She weakly got to her feet, her arms fumbled as she attempted to push herself off the ground, groaning as she finally rose, stumbling back a bit and nearly falling.
"Woah!..." She said while she tried balancing herself, her arms going in circles before standing firm on the dirt ground.
She looked at her hands, marvelling at their size as she brushed the loose dirt and rocks off of them. Her eyes travelled to the ropey muscles along her arm as she flexed her fist. She smiled proudly as she proceeded to flex the muscles on her other arm, chuckling as she felt how strong she was.
Her eyes went down farther to the brown and red shirt that she was wearing, pulling at the tight fabric that hugged her chest, running her thumb against the bright yellow diamond insignia that shone bright when the sun finally came out from the clouds.
As she began to step forward, she noticed a glimmer from her foot. She propped her foot on its heel and studied it, seeing the square shaped facet on the… gem.
"So, I'm a gem… A… Ruby." She realized before flexing her toes against her gem, grunting as a small amount of pain struck her from touching it.
Ruby bent down to touch the red gem with her fingers, shivering slightly as it tried to hurt her, but eventually the pain went away a few seconds. She didn't really want to touch it again in fear of hurting herself again.
Now that she knew what she was, the small gem needed to know why she was here. She tried to remember anything prior to this moment but… there was nothing. It was like she was just born...
As she thought that, Ruby's feet pivoted as she turned her whole body to see a newly formed hole high up on a giant rocky wall, still steaming from the heat of something exploding from inside of it. That's where she must have formed…
"So that's why I don't know anything… I really was born today... " She mumbled before staring at the wall longer, noticing more holes shaped exactly like hers.
There must be more Rubies here, but she couldn't see any nearby. The thought of seeing more gems like her excited and scared her. What if they weren't how she thought they would be?...
She took her eyes off of the wall and around her surroundings. This place looked… lifeless. It was just fields of rock and dirt, chasms were all throughout the field. A place where gems were born, the walls were perfect for creating them, plus their resilience made it hard for them to break when they fell after bursting out of their birth spot.
"And there you are Ruby facet 2LM2H, cut 9XJ!" A booming voice shouted from behind Ruby, causing her to freeze in fear.
Loud footsteps impacted the ground, getting more dreadful as Ruby heard whoever called out to her getting closer. It did not sound like a Ruby.
The small, red gem nervously turned around before looking up at the imposing figure looking over her.
The large gem had striking reds and oranges adorned on her outfit, not including the shining yellows of her diamond insignias on her chest and knees. She held a weapon in her meaty hands, a bright red spikey ball attached to a chain, her murderous eyes shot straight through Ruby, like she was going to kill her right then and there.
Her tear shaped gem was located in the most uncomfortable looking place that Ruby could think of, the throat.
"I am Fire Agate, your superior and who will guide you through your training!" The large, muscular gem explained before moving beside Ruby, staring at the wall of the chasm. "There should be two more…"
Not a moment after she spoke, an explosion of dirt and chunks of ground burst from the wall, the only thing being heard after the tremors was the screams of a Ruby falling from her hole to the ground.
"Ow…" She grumbled once she fell down with a loud thud, flipping over to her back as she laid down to get some energy back, panting heavily.
As she stared at the steaming hole that she came from, another explosion impacted the wall from the inside right above where her hole was, leaving another screaming Ruby falling down from the cloud of dirt.
The grounded Ruby also screamed, not having the energy to move, she put her arms over her face to protect herself.
The newly formed gem landed right on top of her fellow Ruby, groaning in pain. She hurt slightly less because of the short, muscular gem cushioning her fall.
"T-Thanks…" The Ruby muttered as she tried to get up, putting her hands on the ground beside both sides of the other gem's head.
Both Rubies opened their eyes at the same time, blushing as their pupils locked into each other, both of their already red cheeks turned darker as they blushed, steam going off of the upper one's hands. They were the first things that they ever saw and being like this felt...
Beautiful.
"I-I'll help you up Ruby!" The one on top nervously said, getting off of her companion quickly, dusting herself off before reaching her hand out for her fellow gem to grab.
"T-Thank you…" The Ruby on the ground graciously accepted and allowed herself to be lifted off the ground, putting her hand on the other gem's shoulder so she didn't fall.
The two Rubies locked eyes once again, entranced in each other's brown eyes as they struggled to say anything.
Fire Agate let out an annoyed sigh as she walked towards the pair of Rubies.
"Isn't that nice, 9XK? You found 9XL." The large, fiery gem sarcastically complimented as she approached the two little gems. "Now come on, we're going to the barracks!"
Fire Agate grabbed the backs of the two Rubies' heads and slammed their foreheads together, making the pair yell out in pain before stumbling back.
"You too 9XJ!" The higher class gem ordered as she and the other two gems began walking into the wasteland looking area.
Ruby decided it was best for her to follow, trotting right beside her fellow red gems, looking at them curiously. They both looked identical.
Not even both of them, all three looked exactly alike with the only difference being their gem placements. One had hers located on her hip and the other was on her knee, while Ruby's was on her foot, in the second most uncomfortable spot she knew…
It was… odd seeing two gems who look the same being affectionate towards each other, she could already tell that was the case as both Rubies were talking and acting like they cared that the other was hurt.
Would she ever experience...that?
"Alright you dolts, we're here!" Fire Agate yelled back at the three gems as they approached what Ruby slightly dreaded.
Hundreds of rubies in one area. All in large lines waiting to receive orders, looking like a huge square of nothing but cubed brown hair.
Ruby and the other two red gems stood in the front of the rows of rubies, mimicking their stances with their hands in front of their chests, making a diamond symbol as their legs pressed solidly against each other.
Every single ruby stared at their superior, awaiting what she would say or do, willing to do whatever she would order them.
"Ok you moronic pests! You all know why you're here, to train to be as acceptable of guards as you can be for such an idiotic gem as a Ruby can be!" Fire Agate paced around each row of Rubies, giving her speech as she examined each and every one starting from the back.
"Now, I personally do not care if you fulfill your duties so long as it doesn't make my gem the next thing under a Bismuth's hammer! Your jobs will be to protect any gem that will be assigned to you or fight in whatever invasion that our great, powerful, mighty Yellow Diamond wages on the next planet in our empire's quest to insure the survival of our race!"
Ruby gulped as she heard the hot-headed gem speak about what they are to do. It seemed like Rubies were the lowest of the low in terms of gems, meant only for fighting and protecting, and how Fire Agate talked to them, had little respect. She hadn't been alive for very long, but she could already tell that this way of life wasn't for her.
"9XJ, are you listening?!" The large, imposing gem glared down at the unsuspecting Ruby who was lost in her own thoughts.
"Y-Yes my Agate!" Ruby nervously answered, trying to keep her composure as Fire Agate's burning eyes looked her small, weak body over.
"Do you know your purpose Ruby?" The tall, destructive gem asked as just her eyes made Ruby want to melt into a puddle.
"To… protect?" The small, red gem asked, her voice cracking before her instructor nodded her head.
"Yes, but a ruby's purpose is also to die for whomever they are protecting. Most rubies don't last twenty years, they'd even be lucky to survive two. That is why you need to succeed in your training!" Fire Agate instructed, her arms behind her back.
"B-But… What if… I don't want to do that?..." A large blush appeared on her face as she blurted that out.
Why did she say that?! It felt so… instinctual. Ruby prepared herself for the worst as she stared at her superior's thighs, refusing to look at her perpetually furious eyes. Instead, she heard a chuckle.
As the small, red gem looked up, she saw Fire Agate was… smiling, starting to laugh.
It began with small snickering, that only she and a few other rubies in the front row could hear, but it started growing and growing, her hair started glowing as she got louder and louder, fading in and out from bright to dark. Eventually the normally stoic gem was laughing hysterically, her hefty arms wrapped around her large chest.
Some Rubies started joining in, laughing nervously at first as if they were unsure if they were allowed to laugh, but got more into it as their realized their superior was too distracted to care.
Her hair eventually erupted into flames as she threw her head back, embers pouring behind her as the flames grew from her boisterous laughter, giving every Ruby more incentive to laugh more.
Ruby wasn't laughing however.
She was terrified beyond comprehension, not knowing what to say. The red gem thought she would get attacked or shattered for saying what she said.
Hundreds of laughing heads didn't help either, getting humiliated was so… demeaning. Her posture changed from the others, she held her muscular arms and began crossing her legs nervously. Sweat ran down her face as she looked at everyone, from the hysterical Fire Agate to the rest of the identical faces making fun of her, like looking into hundreds of mirrors.
Suddenly, as quickly as it started, Fire Agate's posture quickly went back where it was before, the fire on her hair extinguishing before the large gem grabbed Ruby by the top of her cube shaped hair, singeing it slightly.
The short gem yelped in fear as her head was pushed back to look her superior in the face and so she would be unable to grab ahold of the larger gem's arm. Tears tried to go down Ruby's face, but they quickly evaporated from the heat coming from both her and the agate glaring down at her.
"Now listen to me you imbecile! I will not tolerate you going against what you were made for! There have been gems that have done that and they are now pieces unable to form because they're SHATTERED! If you pull this anywhere else, they will crush your gem to dust and then they'll do the same to mine because I was supposed to prevent you from thinking this way!" Fire Agate exclaimed before letting the cowering little Ruby go, pushing her into another ruby.
"Remember your purpose because, well, if you aren't shattered from saving a gem more important than the injectors used to make you worthless beings…" The large, imposing agate threw her head back, her gem glowing as she brought her hand to it, a handle sprouting out as she pulled her signature mace and chain out.
"Then I will." Fire Agate brought her spiked ball down on her own hand, puffing as she knew she set an example for all of the rubies, who stopped laughing and suddenly became scared. Not for Ruby, but for themselves.
The high-class gem scoffed at the small, red gem as she shuffled to get up, trying not to cry from the incident that just transpired. Fire Agate took one last glance at her before walking away, continuing her speech.
The ruby behind her carefully helped Ruby back up, lifting the little gem to get back to her previous stance.
Ruby was conflicted with herself now. She had to try to be what a ruby had to be or else… she could die…
It was hard to argue with that but a part of her knew that getting used like this was… wrong. Why can't all gems be treated the same? Why can't she be the same as Fire Agate?
Why can't she be…
Something other than a Ruby?