Alright. This was blocking up my writing schedule so I'm posting this a little early. I mean, its the 11th of November somewhere.
Well this is quite the setback.
This was only the third day that I've been here and the disappointment has not stopped. The best so-called "defenses" that these rebels had were just whatever they still had lying around. Other than that it was just the last remaining Crystal Gems that kept this mud hole from being torn apart by the corrupted Gems. Peridot mentioned that there might have at least been one laser light cannon, but I can't work with might. Most she talked about was how the human "Steven" helped her defect. And really? Calling Yellow Diamond a clod? This planet was really worth that?
When I had asked about what had changed about Homeworld in the time I was gone she spilled into half unloading information and half complaining about the technology on this planet. She ramped down when she started on the systems that had been finished conquering. Whether it was because she was now on the other side or for some other reason she seemed to avoid anything to do with my "former" specialization. Although it was comforting to hear about how well we'd been doing after the tragedy that was the loss of Pink Diamond.
And she still hadn't heard anything about Rose Quartz, that Lapis only told of things that she suspected that the Lapis was told to tell her. This was a stark comparison of what she hoped that the Peridot could tell her.
And why was she so small? From the last she could remember, Peridots were tall and a bit slender, not the definition of all mind no mass.
"Happen to know about the drop teams that survived the conflict?" I asked this in the same small voice that I used when I started this act. If the only thing they saw was a scarred and scared Gem then might as well roll with it.
"Why would you need to know that? Didn't you abandon them?" Peridot asked. She got a jab to the side from Lapis who'd been moving some things around for another "morp".
"Morp. Weird word." Tourmaline thought to herself.
"Yeah. I know. It's just. I never really got to tell them why." I answered, "They were so used to just following orders without seeing the chaos that they caused. I just want to know if they're still around or at least, not turned into a monster"
I brought my knees to my chest and leaned my head down. Cause the little smile on my face that came with those memories would have easily tipped them off.
"Well, without access to the Homeworld network I really can't say anything." Peridot said, "The only reason I knew the smallest bit about them came from what I learned from the Black Tourmaline experiment."
"And you know so much how?" I asked with the smallest amount of audibility from my position. It didn't seem like she knew who exactly I was or the details of what I did, but she knew enough about the others that it didn't leave me comfortable.
"Every Kindergartener knows about it!" She exclaimed, "The last, the first, and the only."
I raised my head in surprise at the name of the story. Although it seemed that she was too busy talking to notice.
-3rd Person POV-
"The beginning itself is just too abnormal. Just as the extra planetary kindergartens were starting and the final kindergartens on Homeworld were reaching their completion, one of the Diamonds decided that there should be a plan if the ones not based on Homeworld were to not produce adequate Gems."
Lapis had taken a break from arranging things around to sit and listen. That didn't hinder Peridot in the slightest from continuing.
"So she decides that the final kindergarten be used for her experiment. This led to that particular kindergarten to be left unattended to for a few thousand years in preparation for this experiment. It was in that kindergarten that she created gems that could serve in more ways than one, ones that could make up for either the lack of or the failure of other Gems." Peridot started to walk around as she told the story, "Of course, by the time the experiment was nearing its starting phase the other kindergartens were proven to produce Gems to the same standards that Homeworld's had. The Gems from the experiment were then dispersed amongst the empire for observation. They were taken into the courts of White, Blue, and Yellow Diamond and assessed accordingly. Some of them are still in the positions they were initially assigned to, but it became more common for them to be assigned in support roles for colonization forces, and that's where they produced some of the highest results."
At this point she was pretty much as lost in the story as her listeners were.
"Yellow Diamond wanted to reintroduce the program into standard kindergartens because of these results, but she declared the program a failure once it began. The requirements for growing Black Tourmalines for the same purpose as the experiment was almost impossible to produce anywhere but Homeworld."
"Um Peridot."
"Not now Lazuli, the best parts coming up. The key re-"
"Peridot look."
"What is it?" Peridot exclaimed, exasperated her story was being interrupted.
She had been facing away from the other two while she was talking, so when she turned around she didn't know what to expect.
Lapis was now standing next to the seated form of Black Tourmaline and waving her hand in front of the dark Gem's face.
Said Gem was staring straight at Peridot, or so she thought. She was staring through her, at the open barn door that was letting in the view of the night.
"She was fine a few seconds ago." Lapis started, "When you were walking around she just froze up."
Peridot walked closer to the two. Trying to analyze what was happening to their guest. That's when the mumbling started.
"Why?"
"Huh?" Peridot responded. She looked at Lapis who only returned the look of confusion.
"Where are they? How much longer?"
Tears started pouring from the black Gem's eyes as her questions started to become more incoherent.
"What do we do?" Lapis asked.
"How should I know? You were the one trapped in a mirror, you should be the one that knows what's going on."
"Well I wasn't like this!"
"Why is it that the one time I mess up I'm the one left to fend for themselves?!"
As the questions started to get more aggressive the more panicked that the two Gems became.
"Well, think of something!"
"You think I'm not!"
Peridot started pacing the floor trying to think of a solution. Then it hit her.
Or it almost.
"It" being a large black bladed sword being thrown out the door, tearing the fabric as it went.
"You can't put me back there!"
This sudden outburst caught the two by surprise, as she'd moved so quickly that they only reacted after the sword was in the air.
Lapis, reacting solely on instinct, summoned water to her aid and blasted the unstable gem out of the barn in the same direction as her sword.
"Lapis!" Peridot exclaimed. "Why'd you do that?"
"She was going to attack you." Lapis responded angrily, confused why she was somehow the bad one.
"I know that and thank you." Peridot responded, "But throwing her probably wasn't the best idea."
Peridot was about to start explaining when the sound of something breaking drew their attention.
"I'll go get Garnet." Peridot said quickly, "Try to deal with her."
Lapis had no time to process this as the other Gem ran to the Warp Pad, the sound to it activating shortly after signaling that she was gone.
Lapis slowly made her way to the entrance of the barn, bringing a light with her.
It took a while, although trying to find a black colored Gem in the middle of the night didn't seem like a problem that they thought enough about.
By the time Lapis had found the Gem, Peridot and Garnet had caught up with her. Then the reason why they had such a hard time finding her became evident.
Sitting about thirty feet from the small trench of dirt she made when she landed was Black Tourmaline. From what they could see, she was sitting with her knees touching her chest with her arms covering the majority of her face. It was hard to tell because they had the hardest time seeing her.
Every few seconds she would flicker and then disappear from existence only to return in the same cycle. She didn't seem to notice this though, her eyes pointed forward in a dead stare. Tears were streaming from her eyes and down her arms.
"Why?"
"Well at least she's not breaking things now." Peridot commented.
"Let me try."
Garnet slowly walked to the Gem, holding onto the lantern they brought from the barn so she could be seen.
"Tourmaline." Garnet said in a soft voice, "You're alright, your safe here. You don't have to worry."
Whether this had an affect or not couldn't really be seen, but just the fact that she stopped flickering meant something.
"Why?" Tourmaline said in a harder voice.
"Tourmaline, I can't understand you." Garnet replied.
She disappeared from sight again, only this time she didn't flicker back.
For a second the idea of her just not wanting to reappear passed through their minds, but that changed when Garnet jerked into a standing position.
Tourmaline reappeared, Garnet's head between her arms as she clung to the rectangular corners of Garnet's hair. With their faces only inches apart she started again.
"I WAS FINE." She cried angrily, "My form dissipated in that base and I was FINE."
After she emphasized that last word she slowly moved her arms down to wrap around Garnet's neck, like she was about to fall and her locked arms around the fusion would be the only thing keeping her up.
Peridot and Lapis had been watching this closely, knowing Garnet could handle herself that they could just watch. But when Garnet answered Peridot did notice something.
"You were readjusting and the stress caught up to you." Garnet explained, "You have two Gems right here that can help you through it. You are so strong, you need to keep going. You need to allow these two to help you, but they can't if they don't know what they need to do. This was just a little setback, I can walk you back to the barn and get things going in the right direction."
Tourmaline's head rose as Garnet talked, rising to look the other Gem in the eyes. Peridot thought she saw something, of course it could have been nothing. But in Tourmaline's eyes was a strange blue glint.
The walk back was uneventful, with the four Gems walking back in silence and the light of a few lanterns. Garnet kept her word and walked the now calm Gem and walked her in. She gave the other some words to think on before she left, along with some instructions for the other two.
"Alright you two, you guys are gonna have to be able to handle things if it happens again." Garnet told the two, "You can't just go grab me when it happens so here's some tips. You're gonna light this place up more and make sure she feels safe here. The dark will cause her more stress and make sure she's here before nightfall. Do that and you'll be just right."
As she walked away the two Gems looked behind them, ready to get their jobs done. What greeted them was the dark Gem sitting down and facing slightly away from them with a lantern in her lap.
"Sorry about that." Black Tourmaline apologized to the two of them, sounding ashamed of what had happened.
"It's alright. It probably would have happened anyway so it's good to happen now."
Peridot looked to Lapis, hoping that the other had a better idea for something to add to that response.
"Yeah." Lapis started, "We can have Peridot whip you up something that could help."
Peridot closed up the door and Lapis placed more lanterns around the barn.
Black Tourmaline stayed in her sitting position, a look of uncertainty and confusion plastering her face.
(By the way. How do Gems cry? I can understand that when they blush its just them coloring themselves differently but tears? Just how?)
Man. I put almost twice the effort into writing my other story but this one is a whole lot more popular in comparison, but reading them I can kinda can tell now.
The next update will be on the 29th.