Homeworld, Upper class sector of City-17
Homeworld - the aptly named gleaming capital of the Empire. It was an ecumenopolis that housed in the low hundreds of billions of gems, architecture scarcely imagined by mortal minds soared into the lower parts of the stratosphere or floated above with the use of antigravity technology, their tops glinting in the afternoon sun as thousands of hovering vehicles flew past every minute in the purposely engineered lanes of open air left between the buildings. Not a single patch of suitable ground was left undeveloped, for everything must serve a purpose. Such was, is, and ever shall be the will of the diamonds.
City-17 itself was one among hundreds of megalopolises that were seamlessly combined with each other by the use of efficient transport infrastructure to form the planet wide city on homeworld. So seamless was it in fact, that if each individual diamond had not chosen their own unique colour scheme and construction style, then nearly everyone who travelled through the world would have been none the wiser as to who's domain they were in at any time.
Lower class gems moved by the millions on the ground level streets of City-17's streets with marching battalions of amethysts led by their respective agates keeping the populace in line with cold, authoritative glares and the roar of thousands of boots pounding as one. Then, in the high enclosed walkways that lay suspended above, were the nobility allowed to make their way on foot in relative peace without the need to face the unappealing prospect of being huddled around with the masses down below. Such was their importance in the daily running of the Empire that it warranted privileges like these, as it could rarely be afforded for them to be impeded.
Within one of these walkways a stream of the regally dressed gems of the blue court, who were the jury of a recent trial, flowed out of the oppressively lit midnight blue room along with their pearls. There was some mess of a situation about a nephrite from one of the outer colonies who was guilty of harbouring illegal fusions within her ship - needless to say the sheer wall of evidence in prosecution meant that she and the fusions were all likely being herded into a prison cell, left to languish before the date of their execution.
Exquisitely carved murals miles long depicting the accomplishments of gemkind flanked the orderly members of the exiting upper crust on either wall and above them on the delicately arched roof. Though the quality of it was unquestionable, they all paid the art little heed, having already seen it countless times before. All of them, that is, except one short blue gem who had never seen these murals in person before, despite the collective decade she had spent on assignments within the city.
She made an effort to hide it, but she was in a foul frame of mind. This was her latest assignment, to act as part of the law on Homeworld itself, yet it appeared if nothing was sacred. Even when in court the other jury members continued to disparage her, and while the high standards of discipline expected in the area meant they could not do it so openly as to ridicule her verbally, they still managed to circumvent that with dirty glares and the like.
"My Sapphire, you seem displeased. Would you like me to perform a song for you?" Pearl asked, and though she kept her eternal mask of mild mannered happiness, as was expected of a pearl, it failed to express what she truly thought about Sapphire. Her mood always appeared to be sour, yet she never wished for her to do anything to improve it even though there had been countless times she would offer to be of help.
"No, It is fine. I have no need for it." Sapphire muttered in an attempt to politely reject, even so the cold way she spoke betrayed her spite as it tried to escape no matter how hard she tried to suppress it. Pearl did not deserve to feel her wrath, conversely she was probably the one person who deserved the absolute opposite treatment from her.
"Such an uncouth pearl that one, always speaking without being spoken to first. No wonder why out of all the remaining gems in the pink pearl line she was handed down to you."
'Not this again.' Sapphire brooded as a glower cast itself over her face. Despite the insult, she said nothing in retort, her only visible response to the comment being to speed walk which then forced the attendant holding her hand to similarly increase her pace so she could stay in front and guide, though otherwise Pearl too stayed silent, in spite of possessing similar distaste for the gem now pestering them. It was not her place to question a member of the nobility, even if they so often appeared to be the cause of Sapphire's woes.
"Hmph, why so quiet? Don't you know how unbecoming it is not to respond to others trying to make conversation, or does that gemstone of yours have more flaws than just its placement?"
"Aquamarine. Leave us be." She demanded, the trail of ice crystals growing from beneath her feet as she walked by reflecting the anger that lay barely contained beneath her frigid calm exterior.
"Us? Oh! Are you defending that pearl of yours?! Pfft, I can tell that they're a relatively high quality one, but there's no need to put yourself in front of it, after all I'm not here to harm anyone. Even if I was, you could always acquire a new one." The diplomat mocked with a haughty chuckle while she floated above Sapphire on fairy-like water wings, taunting her from beyond reach.
"Anyway, as I said, I am not here for your pearl. However, by now I expect you know why I've bothered to slow down and spend my precious time catching up with you."
'She isn't even trying to break me anymore, she just thinks I'll crack at the slightest pressure. Oh I'll show her.'
"Still trying to be 'strong' and silent? Well hopefully your hearing still works, because I've been meaning to ask about - what was her name again… Ah! Emerald Facet-2L5G, Cut-9XI. I know she might be from a different court, but you see-"
"YOU SHUT YOUR DIAMONDS DAMNED MOUTH YOU CLOD!" Sapphire shouted at Aquamarine just as she was about to laugh at their own pun, releasing all her pent up fury in a banshee like screech as a miniature blizzard exploded out of her. Her powers froze the immediate area, causing the offending Aquamarine to yelp as she hit the ground, her wings turned to ice from the blast.
"I HAVE WAITED TOO LONG TO DO THIS TO ONE, JUst… one of you pebbles." She exclaimed, teetering off into a suppressed sob at the end. Then, a ball of light surrounded her hands as they heralded her weapons being summoned - a set of blue knuckle dusters tipped with nail sized crystalline spikes. It was a highly inappropriate and aggressive act for a member of the aristocracy, yet at this point Sapphire could care less, even if she would be shattered for it.
"Pearl, hold her up for me. Please." At this request, the servant could visibly be seen having the physical equivalent of an error message when her programming started to contradict itself, her face wiped blank and her back forced to be stiffened ramrod straight whilst she processed what in the stars she was supposed to do.
She had been ordered by her owner to pick up Aquamarine, a seemingly simple task. While it would normally have been trivially easy to proceed - considering her owner told her to do it, the size difference not being in favour of her target, and the fact the other gem was slipping on the cold surface in failed attempts to stand back up - it was made infinitely more complicated since it would be breaking with the deeply entrenched deference her type had for anyone above them.
'Wait… please?' Pearl realised what was said to her, making it so she sunk deeper into befuddlement and almost devolved to sputtering, but caught herself in time. Had Sapphire asked her instead of simply commanding? Though she had always been different compared to how other people treated their pearls, but for her - a sapphire, one of the highest ranking castes in the Empire, to ask her, a pearl, who was practically property in terms of their rank, if she wanted to do something was unheard of.
"As you wish… my Sapphire." She finally complied and walked over to where Sapphire stood, whose fist was already drawn back in preparation, with Aquamarine in hand. Though it was a request and not an outright command, her programming was never made to account for the situation that was currently being presented. It resulted in her defaulting to recognising it as an order from an owner, allowing her to override her other instinct to respect the nobility.
"What the- get off of me you sodding pebble!" Aquamarine protested her treatment as she was hoisted and brought around like a toy doll. "You'll be recycled for this you know, you defect-OOMPH!" She cried out as the spiky fist was forcefully launched onto her chin. Ironically, it was her constant insulting that let Sapphire hear exactly where her mouth was, and so the second strike was sent barrelling towards it to silence her.
"Absolutely disgusting, they should be rejuvenated for that!"
"Rejuvenated? More like shattered and recycled. I don't think even rejuvenation could fix that kind of behaviour."
"That pearl needs to learn its place, keep it on a tighter leash will you."
Sapphire could feel a crackling of nervousness in her gem as she backed away from the source of the voices, the reality of the situation now striking her as hard as she had struck Aquamarine. The commotion of their struggle and the weather her temper created having attracted a substantial amount of the previous jury who now moved to form an angered mob encompassing the guilty duo.
Pearl dropped Aquamarine onto the floor, grabbing Sapphire's hand not to guide her, but out of fear. The two inched backwards, only to be trapped in the other direction too as the thump behind them signalled a trio of amethysts that acted as the guards within the trial room battering the bottom of their halberds on the floor to intimidate them.
Then just as all hope seemed lost, their forms rapidly increased in brightness until they were nothing more than amorphous blobs of pink and blue light with two gemstones floating within. Time stood still, their lights spinning around eachother until it gestalted into a single purple beam that exploded with blinding force as the pair solidified into a new being for the first time.
"Pearl! we- I- need. My Sapphire, what do we- I- do… What the..." She stuttered, part of her mind was in utter terror and tugged at her to run while the other part was trying to comprehend the sight of the present for the first time, for the only other vision she had ever known was trapped within the confines of future. The crackle of paranoia she felt previously erupted tenfold after a cursory look down confirmed her worst fears. The sudden more than doubling in height, four arms and purple body making it nigh undeniable to even the most stubborn refusal of belief.
They had fused.
Her eyes were wide in panic as she scanned the area, only to be met with multiple dozens of sickened and shocked countenances scanning them in return. Now that they had time to process the situation, Sapphire's consciousness began willing her to escape, while Pearl's more meek nature started to buckle in dread, paralyzing them in place - the pressure from the numerous gazes bearing down on her threatened to defuse her as her hardlight body started to light up again and break apart.
"Well? What are you doing just gawking? Haven't you seen what they've done! There's an off colour, standing right there-OOMPH." Aquamarine's tirade was cut short as a far larger knuckle duster, now in purple, slammed into her side as she was standing back up and sent her flying, creating an impression of her body onto the wall upon collision, poofing her in the process and leaving a teardrop shaped light blue gemstone on the floor.
In another hit of irony the obnoxious attitude of the diplomat, in tandem with a renewed sense of self-preservation, reunified the state of the two minds within the fusion. As she re-stabilised and her form knit back together, she capitalised on the shock caused by her creation to escape, seeing no other option if she wanted herself or her components to live. They had fused, and there was no returning to normalcy after that, not that they wished to go back to the lives they had before anyways.
There was nothing good there for them here. Sapphire may have been powerful in theory, nevertheless in practice she was often at the bottom of the order, left to be preyed on by the greedy will of her 'peers', her powers being used for their own end. Then there was Pearl, looked down and sneered at because of who she was assigned to and was little more than a hand-me-down in the minds of many. All the while she had been forced into quiet, left unable to speak out against this treatment, ever chained by her accursed programming.
'Its now or never,' And with that thought, the fusion brought their knuckle dusters crashing into the wall with all the haste she could muster. She would question who or what exactly she was later, for what she did in the present would determine if she would even survive the next few seconds. Her enlarged fist crashed into the tapestry first, crumbling it in a single strike and revealing the solid wall underneath.
By now, she was acutely aware that her vandalisation was bringing the gems around her out of their collective fit as they began to move in order to prevent any more damage being done. Knowing even her increased strength could not hope to break through it in time, she made a few steps backwards, and in desperation she charged shoulder first into the damaged section of wall in the vague hope that her increased mass would punch through with enough speed propelling it.
With one final kick of her legs she leapt forwards and tucked her head in line with her shoulder, crashing through the wall in a flurry of dust and blue debris. Though just as she sensed freedom in the open air for the first time, what minimal momentum she had left over stopped carrying her forwards and she began to fall. Her eyes widened in delayed alarm as she flailed her two pairs of arms around in a panicked, yet futile effort to grab onto a surface which was not there.
Eventually, as her descent continued, she slowed the flailing of her arms before halting entirely, understanding the situation. The fusion spun her body around to look just where she would land, however instead of there being a bustling street or some sort of structural complex below, there was only one of the massive gashes torn into the planet by the gargantuan ancient kindergartens that spawned the first of gemkind. As she stared into it, the black abyss stared at her in return, inviting her to come within.
With nothing else she could do, she faced the sky one more time with the knowledge this was likely the first and last time she would ever see it. The moment was oddly serene, for even if she did poof upon impacting solid rock at over a hundred miles per hour, then she knew that at least the gemstones on her front would be safe.
The varying hues of blue and purple that made up City-17's skyscrapers and streets soon gave way to grey rock and the black of subterranean darkness, the chasm swallowing her at last.
#####
"I… I am sorry you had to go through all of that." Was all Bolt uttered to Ammolite when the holograms depicting her creation finally came to close.
"Don't be, all of it happened millennia ago and none of it was your fault." She assured him.
"I understand, but it feels wrong to me that you had to face so much injustice. You do not seem like a criminal to me, if anything, you are the opposite." He spoke his mind for no other reason than to cheer her up.
"If only the rest of the Empire thought the way you did." Ammolite said, a sigh escaping her lips as her upper pair of arms lifted up to tenderly hold onto his ankles. It was not as if he was in danger of falling off, his cable-like musculature being wrapped around her forehead made quite sure of that. Instead, it was the feeling of warmth that came from having physical company with someone she trusted which motivated her to do so.
"Just promise me that you will go into your rest cycle now that I have kept my end of the bargain." She told him, sounding somewhat cheeky whilst her head moved to the side slightly when addressing him as if to check if he would follow up on the request, despite the reality that she could not actually crane her neck around far enough to do so properly.
"After that? Of course I will." He affirmed with a nod before then closing his eyes and drifting off into a dreamy sleep, the catalapsean node instantly shutting off multiple sections of his brain the moment he willed it to, with only the parts controlling vital functions such as his heartbeat or breathing remaining active.
As his vision shut down he felt himself suddenly awake once more, frigid wind cutting his back. Muddied darkness enveloped him as he searched around, Ammolite's shoulders and head having disappeared from view, now replaced with an open ravine leading down to a craggy floor below. He tried to scream, he tried to widen his eyes in fear, he tried to feel panic, but none of these things came. Despite the situation he found himself in, the only response he made was his body moving to face the sky and emotions of eerie calm emanating from the two gemstones lodged in his forehead and sternum.
'Gemstones?!' Bolt realised as he slammed onto the ground at terminal velocity, the agony of the impact forcing out a distinctly feminine groan of pain from his mouth.
"Where are we… am I?" The words appeared to come from his mouth, but no, that absolutely was not his voice. His may have still have been moderately high-pitched due to his youth, and though this one was vaguely similar in that regard, it had far more age and weariness tinting its tone. As unlikely and unbelievable as it was, the voice coming from what he thought to be his throat belonged to none other than Ammolite.
As he stood to his feet, his suspicions were confirmed with concrete evidence. The first thing that clued him was the body he currently found his consciousness residing in - too tall, too thin and too many limbs. Then came his attire - gone was the hefty gunmetal grey metal plate and black plasteel breechcloth, replaced with a delicate iridescent purple knee length dress and low heeled shoes.
"Grrnngggh AGH!" He heard her cry out as if her words had become his. He was blinded by purple light, a popping noise echoing throughout the wide halls of the kindergarten preluding his point of view being split between two, one nothing but darkness and the other being relatively normal, if a bit dimmer than what his superhuman vision was used to.
"Pearl! I am so sorry! I didn't know they would come for you, I… I... thought that they would only come for me. DAMN IT I... I was so careless-" He, or was it Sapphire? Devolved into a rapid fire apology of sobbing as he- she? Leaned his face onto his own arm- Pearl's arm?
"My Sapphire, there is no need to be upset, we're alive and we've finally left that wretched place. Isn't that all that matters?" He/Pearl cut off himself/Sapphire in an effort to bring up words of consolation.
"I know! But we were nearly captured up there! Who knows what they would have done to us, we could have been shattered, both of us, and all because I lost my temper once!" Despite the help offered, he/Sapphire continued to air his/her grievances for those misguided acts.
Vwooom
He wanted to feel defiance upon hearing that damned noise, to rise up and strike at the foe, but he was tied to the pair's feelings and the pair's actions. And having been done in the past, it was already set in stone, so there was little he could do aside from having his sentience be forcefully dragged around as they/he turned to the direction of the disturbance. While he knew exactly what caused it, they did not, and as such he sensed confusion beaconing from both of the bodies he occupied.
VWOOOM
However, the moment he/Pearl caught sight of the source, a spike of trepidation was stabbed at his/her throat upon recognising the four objects that floated down from the surface above. Malevolent blood red light sparked out from their cyclopean eyes, each of them searching a different direction. The sound may have been unfamiliar to the two gems, but to him/Pearl the visuals most certainly were not.
Shattering robinoids.
Though he/she moved to grab onto himself/Sapphire in preparation to make a run for it, they made no movement, not even a single noise regardless that one of the scanners were coming dangerously close to scanning their gemstones. Breath meant to form words were instead twisted by terror to choke him/her, the kickback of feet that should have started to pelt down on the stony floor at full pace were converted to weight that kept him/her on the floor, left to stare at the impending doom with their mouth agape.
But just as all seemed to be on a set course, Bolt was once more put through a mental wringer as half of his consciousness was sucked into Sapphire's meditative state. He/she entered the place where the streams of fate were made visible, wishing to gain insight on why he/Pearl was so silent by the use of limited precognition to gain a short visual of the area in the near future.
Bolt shot awake in a cold sweat, hyperventilating as he did and his twin hearts beating apace. In the short seconds he was privy to a vision he felt death strike a decisive blow on Sapphire, a white energy beam striking her directly in the face where her gemstone was. And though it happened to neither of them, it was so vivid, so real, that he thought himself truly dead for a moment before rousing.
It was already bewildering enough for Bolt to experience something from the perspective of two people at once, no matter how brief the incident was. Though to then experience their emotions, their pain, their struggle while said people are also having a conversation on top of that - nevermind the disturbing experience of being conscious while remaining out of control of his actions - left him in a state of hollowness, his eyes doing little else aside from gazing straight ahead while he comprehended what he had been put through.
He snapped out this trance in a shiver as he sensed all of Ammolite and her components' repressed memories flooding in, now leaving him as a firsthand audience to everything that had caused them even an iota of sadness. Every nerve in his body jittered with pins and needles for a second as he absorbed every negative experience they had ever had - every mild inconvenience, every snide comment made, every insecurity they held. Even all the way to the raw fear of death that enveloped Ammolite when she first came into existence and Sapphire when she met face to face with her creator.
There they were, all swirling in the back of Bolt's mind, pressing him to be awake with their mere presence. In spite of this, he still found some amount of exhausted joy when he stretched his limbs and back upwards, his body now free and doing exactly as he commanded instead of him being shackled within the preconceived movements of another person. However, he soon became markedly aware that they were no longer on the move, Ammolite having halted in her tracks.
"Did you feel that?" Bolt asked her, his breath slowing back close to normal as he did, wondering if it was the activation of this latent ability - that he assumed to be his - which caused her to come to a stop.
"Was… was that you?" Ammolite deflected with another question, shaken by the event as well. She seemed distant, yet at the same time almost refreshed, the weight piled onto her psyche by centuries of sorrow and regrets being wiped away by what were supposedly Bolt's powers. The memories were still there, that much was certain, but when she tried to remember, none of the heavy baggage once associated with many of them came. As she cycled through them there was no violent storm of angst or worry, only a peaceful pond of plain neutrality.
"I am not entirely sure. But yes, I believe it might have been me." He replied with slow uncertainty, dwelling in disbelief for a moment on every word.
"Well, in that case thank you."
"Thank me? What did it do to you?" He queried.
"I… I have no words to describe it in any detail, but simply know that you have lifted a number of burdens on my old mind." Ammolite replied with a kindly dismissive chuckle, also in partial disbelief of what happened, yet still thankful for it. "Now, about your rest cycle."
"I will try to re-enter it, but I cannot make any promises after that."
As Ammolite picked up the pace once more, Bolt restlessly moved around as much as he could while poised on her shoulders. For a time he tried laying his head in different ways or fluffing up her hair to make it more comfortable, even attempting to sleep through brute force via activation of the catalapsean node. However, it was only after a few minutes when the prickling sensation burying his body and mind at last subsided did the organ comply, shutting down most of his brain once more.
Unlike previously, his dreams were peaceful this time and formed of his own memories, not another's. An orange face smiled down on his miniature, stubby form as she cradled him in her arms while the faces of four others crowded around him, each one of them taking their turns to crouch down to his face level and be enamoured by him. He stretched his chubby arm out to meet the latest figure who took their turn to look at him, grabbing their pointy nose and eliciting a laugh from the person moments after, in turn causing him to giggle with them.
'Padparadscha and Rhodonite.' He realised who the figures were. 'How I miss you two. How I miss all of you.' A wearied smile subconsciously broke out on his slumbering face, full of longing fondness.
"I miss them too Bolt, but do not worry, we will find them soon enough." Ammolite whispered soothingly, her precognition letting her see his thoughts. Careful not to wake the boy, she caressed his lower legs one last time before leaving him be and continuing her march ever onwards, deeper into the planet's crust.
#####
"There they are!" A voice called out excitedly to her teammates, gesturing them with a wave of their hand to peer over the ledge.
"Are you sure that's the one?" She questioned, the doubt obvious in her words as she kept watch on the pair from the top of the canyon.
"Yes, you can bet your shards on it." The first one said, confirming with a certain nod.
"They're the one who poofed the Jasper?" The second one asked again.
"Saw them do it with my own vision spheres, did it pretty savagely too." the first gem replied enthusiastically.
"But they're so… so small compared to her! I think you've been following the wrong person." A third voice exclaimed, incredulous at the first one.
"Hey! First off, I've been tracking them ever since I first heard the commotion of the fight. Second, not all of us are built like you Ro-"
"Cut it you two. Even if they ain't what we're looking for, they're still more recruits to the cause." The second voice commanded the others.
"They're on the move again." The third gem announced, prompting the rest of the group to silence themselves as they left their position to continue shadowing the thing and the fusion who carried it.
This was the biggest break they have had in millennia, and they were not about to let this opportunity go to waste.
A/N:
Describing what Bolt's emotional absorption abilities did from his perspective was quite hard, but I think it turned out well in the end.