Getting the memories back, it took time. Thankfully Bronzite had patience... they all did. When she'd notice Citrine's arm twitch occasionally around Pearl or Rose, it made her believe that Citrine was still in there, the one she knew. It'd been difficult, having to force her to relieve specific moments to get her back.
Destabilizing her by Rose with Pearl's spear.
Destabilizing her by Bronzite using the earth after she had picked an argument.
Pearl going off on her.
Each one was painful, but the one that really helped, was just going to a human party, holding her hand and walking. Bronzite had hurt for every time they'd had to give her a painful memory, but this was a good one. Discussing the music, discussing each other. She explained to Citrine what they had been and Citrine had been so nice about listening until the end.
Just accepting, after bothering Bronzite about why, that it was to help her and she understood. It didn't really mean anything to be destabilized, she'd come back. She had understood that they all just wanted their friend back.
It really showed her that she was the same Citrine that just wanted to help. That she would give everyone a chance to get them back. But the night of the party with the humans again, talking it out, and the kiss.
They'd kissed and it'd been just as good as last time. She glowed for a moment before there had been a flash of light and she was her again. The Citrine they all knew, they had fought with, they loved.
Even Pearl came over and hugged her, apologizing for yelling at her... Citrine was pretty sure the amount of growth she'd forced them all to endure was huge. It wasn't just her either. Other gems that had been rescued from the ship were slowly getting their memories back. Some of them might never, but they were still happier there, and at least they didn't have to fight the faces of old friends.
It was sweet too, at least to Citrine, that Bronzite had gone after her, snuck around the jungle with Pearl and looked for her. And it was sweet that Pearl had gone along with it. Citrine remembered the attack, remembered jumping and shoving Pearl out of the way despite everything that had gone down south between them. Pearl had gone with Bronze and went and rescued her; it meant she'd climbed some ground right?
Cycles later, there was another fight, another battle and another celebration party. The Crystal Gems were kicking the Diamonds off the planet. Pink had been shattered, and the rest were running off the planet faster than anyone had ever seen them land. They weren't just retreating they were flat out starting to give up.
The chatter on the signals was chaos. Nephrites with no direction, Hessonites were fleeing in their own ships and abandoning their troops. Gems were destroying warp cores, hoping to not get chased. It wasn't like the Crystal Gems weren't willing to help there either, Bismuth had told stories of her going to the Galaxy warp to destroy it and poofing a few of the Homeworld Gems still trying to leave.
It was all a victory for them. Supply ships being knocked down, spires falling and being taken, and ground reclaimed. Yellow Diamond was running from the planet and taking her gems with her. It led to all the celebrations and partying that a rebel gem could ask for.
It could give a gem a feeling that things were going almost too well and that something would eventually give. Something that would happen that would change everything for the worse. That was how nature on that planet was, good days met bad days. It evened out.
War seemed to be like that too.
One of the worst days was when Bismuth stopped coming back. She'd disappeared, and no one knew exactly what day it was, but she just... stopped being there. No new weaponry. No fixing weapons. The other smiths were okay, but they weren't nearly as good as her.
The bigger issue was morale. Bismuth was beloved both by new recruits for making them feel welcome, and the old guard for making them laugh and keep going. Bismuth could light a fire in anyone's gem and make them keep going even when things got rough. Even when they were tired.
Now she was gone, and no one knew anything.
When you were on day three of an extended battle - exhausted, everything hurting, everywhere covered in dirt and grime and mud (because who knew that a planet could be so dirty and filthy), missing her became more apparent.
Citrine sitting on a stump almost entirely covered in mud, leaning with her back against the tree that had been felled in a battle, she sighed as she stared up at the stars. There were some fires going and the smoke kept covering up the view, making it more and more difficult to see them. The air was thick with the smell of it as well, a bit acrid, but it buried the scent of turned up mud and plants and filth.
"Can they just give up already?" Citrine turned towards the sound of the voice, looking over and seeing a Ruby that was more than fired up about it. Honestly how she had that much energy to be that upset and ready to go still, Citrine had no idea.
Her body ached, and she hadn't even known that was possible, and she just wanted to rest. Right now, the Homeworld gems weren't around after retreating so they had time to just sit and relax, but she was tired. It felt... pointless doing this. They weren't trying to fight to fight, those gems were trying to get away. They would hunt them down, it'd be a skirmish and they'd run off again and then they'd wait till the sun came up to do it over.
Citrine just... wanted to know why they were running away. It felt almost like they were being led to a trap somewhere, some big pile of the army waiting to just blow them all to smithereens, or something. Nothing had happened so far though, they just kept trudging through.
"You okay down there?" Citrine tilted her head back to look at Bronzite standing over her and smiled a little before nodding.
"Yeah. Just thinking." Citrine explained to her as she watched Bronze's hair, it moved a little, she had the freedom to allow it to do that in the wind.
"You've been doing that a lot." Bronze commented before sitting on the tree behind her. It made Citrine crane her head back more.
"Been a lot to think about." Citrine explained before she finally sat up and turned to face her. "We've been running and chasing and everything, but it still feels like we're being led somewhere. But if that were the case, I don't think it would have been for three cycles." Citrine explained. It was confusing and convoluted for it to be a trap.
"You do tend to be a little paranoid." Bronze mentioned and Citrine laughed a little bit as she sat there.
"Yeah well... I've had enough reasons to be a bit paranoid." Citrine smirked. Bronze gave a weak smile but nodded.
"You tell anyone else about it?" She asked. Citrine shook her head.
"Nah. I think it's just me. Things are good. Besides... The leadership is smarter than I am. They probably are already thinking the same thing." Citrine justified. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, to not tell them but what good would come of it if she was wrong?
"Hey, maybe a walk wi-" Bronze started when they heard the sound of a deep horn blast. A battle horn, but why was it being called suddenly? Citrine and Bronze both stood up instantly and ran towards it, but realized they were heading almost back the way they had come from, from behind. Citrine gave a worried look at Bronze, but continued, seeing everyone grab their weapons or form them.
Her own appeared on her wrist as she ran. The gems from Homeworld were running. Ships were taking off. They were blasting by them, not even attempting to aim or fire. The gems weren't wanting to fight. Just shove off the bodies standing there, trying to dodge a weapon and continue where a few drop ships were landing. They were wanting to leave.
This was wrong. They were scared of something and it wasn't their rebellion if they were willing to run through it to get away from whatever it was they were fleeing from. This was a pure panic, running for their lives.
"Bronze? Bronzite!" Citrine called out as she turned to look around. Her stomach was churning. This was very wrong, something was coming and she didn't know what. "Bronzite!" She screamed out again before seeing her a ways off. Citrine took off running towards her, getting shoved and jostled and pushed down.
She was covered in mud, but she got up and took off again, still screaming her name. How had they gotten separated? When had it happened? It was hard to keep an eye on the darker gem when it...
It got quiet. No sound seemed to be heard anywhere.
Then, it got bright.
She could see her and ran forward, the noise of the battle should have been loud, deafening but she didn't hear it. She didn't even hear her own breathing, or her feet stamping the ground. She grabbed Bronze's hand and yanked, pulling her close. She wanted to protect her and was so grateful she had found her when she realized...
It shouldn't be white out. Her eyes turned to the sky, and slowly, other gems turned as well. Everything was stopping. Weapons were being dropped. Only the most battle frenzied couldn't see it. Suddenly the sky was blasted with a deafening sound. It made her teeth ache, her hands going up to try and block the sound. The colors... the lights. The Diamonds? It had to be, right? They were the only ones capable of this.
"BRONZITE!" Citrine screamed but her voice wasn't there. She could see her, see Bronze on the ground covering her ears. Her form was glitching. All she could feel was panic. Something was inherently wrong. This had to be what everyone was trying to run from, trying to escape. They had to have signaled a full retreat and all the Homeworld gems were trying to get out of the way but they hadn't. There were just as many Homeworld soldiers still around, all screaming and trying to make the sound stop.
Citrine's form was glitching. Everything hurt. Her head felt like it was going to explode. Her vision was going black, the smell of everything around her was assaulting her nose. Her body felt huge and heavy and in pain, everything tense and angry.
She caught just a glimpse of Bronzite, her form growing larger, changing. What was happening? What was happening to Bronze? What was happening to her?
And then it all went black.