Hey! I am going to sorry in advance if there are some very obvious mistakes in this chapter. The reason for that is that I haven't had as much time to quickly look through it, as I am currently in the hospital. Don't worry I am fine.
For those, however, who are interested in getting a more in-depth explanation about what the hell is going on, with me being in the hospital and all, can read it all in the A/N at the end of the chapter.
I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
Shock ran through me. "How could she have escaped? I thought the cell was supposed to be escape-proof!" I yelled in shock, disbelief and fright.
"It is escape-proof. Only guards assigned to the cell have access to it, and even then, it is only to the tunnels, to prepare the prisoner for execution. Which is why we are removing you from the building now!" Doc yelled over the roar of the chaos around us.
"I still don't get why I would be in danger," I said, still confused.
"Think Steven!" Doc yelled. "Not only are you the reason that Rose Quartz was caught in the first place but think about what I told you. Only the guards assigned have access to that cell. This means that one of those guards, if not all of them, helped her escape! This isn't just a normal solo escape. This is a helped escape mission!"
"Eyeball mentioned something like this," I told her. "That there might still be some of mom's supporters left here on Homeworld. But if this really is true, why has nothing been done about it?"
"Because of the Diamonds," Doc said with a frown. "It is impossible to find out how we're part of the opposite side at this point, so the Diamonds declared shortly after the war, that all rebels were now gone. But us Gems who fought on the battlefield knows that that is not the case. We have been trying for eons to get Blue and Yellow Diamond to get in contact with White Diamond and find a way to figure out which Gems are Homeworld Gems and which are former rebels. But they have refused, with the claim that there is no reason to disturb the peace. Maybe this situation will actually make them get over their pride."
"White Diamond?" I asked shocked.
"The supreme Diamond," Doc answered. That confused me more, so I mumbled a little "what?" "Now is not the time to explain. We need to get you out of here."
Doc dragged me down the hall until we got outside of the building, and to the port with all the space ships. She dragged me over to one of the smaller ones, where they could maybe fit three Rubies, but with me in there, Doc and I would just barely be able to fit. She pushed me in, before getting in and sitting in the passenger seat.
"Are we leaving the planet?" I asked. Doc looked at me like I was crazy.
"Now, of course not!" She exclaimed. "I am taking you to the other side of the planet. And since I don't trust public transport right now, I will have to fly you myself." She then started the space ship and flew as fast as she could.
"Why do you not trust public transport?" I asked. Doc sighed in annoyance.
"You are asking a lot of question at the moment," Doc grumbled. I just smiled sheepishly. "It's because I don't know who might be on it."
"You are making it sound like we are in the middle of a war," I said.
"It is because we might be," Doc said, surprising me. "I know this might seem like a little major thing since it is an important prisoner who escaped, but the implications that it was a helped escape just makes it worse. For all we know, this might make other former rebels come out in the open and start fighting like they did all those eons ago. We can't take the risk right now of having you out in the open. Everyone knows who you are." I looked at Doc, shocked at that statement. How did everyone know who I am? Doc continued explaining. "The Diamonds declared that Rose Quartz had been captured. Then a week later, they declared that a new Gem had been made, called Quartz Facet-XX1 Cut-XXX1 and that the Gem was the reason behind Rose Quartz's arrest. The moment people see you, they will notice that you are the new Gem because you look like nothing we have ever seen before." I nodded to that, before sitting back in my seat and relaxing a bit.
It is weird. Being this important. I knew I was important when I was with the Crystal Gems, just not for the reason I had thought. Back then, I thought I was important since I not only was a half-Gem but also because I was one of the last things of mom's legacy. Now I know it was because I was the incubator for their leader. But here, I am important because I am the only kind of my gem. A Rose Quartz, but at the same time not. The only Gem with a definitive gender. Yes, all Gems identify as female or no-gender and taking on the appearance of said genders. But I am the only definitive male Gem.
Still, this doesn't explain why I have become this important. They couldn't have treated every new gem they discovered like this. I know I helped them in capturing mom, but that doesn't make me important enough to be protected like this.
We were nearing our destination after what seemed like an hour. You could clearly see that this wasn't like the inner city I had been in. There was a gigantic building in the centre, with about eight smaller ones scattered around it.
As we got closer, I got a better look at the building. It looked more like a palace than anything else. The other buildings looked like blocks who had been placed randomly around the palace. Other than that, they were all white. No ounce of colour anywhere, which is a big contrast to how the city is.
We landed right on a small landing space, where three other space ships were. Doc mumbled something. "What?" I asked her.
"It's nothing," Doc tried to tell me, before sighing and explaining when I have her a look. "It's just, the situation might be more serious than I first thought. But it doesn't matter. We still need to get you into the palace."
"So, it's a palace," I asked excitedly. "Who lives there? Is it the Diamonds? Do the Diamonds live together like one big family? Why is it white then, and not blue and yellow and pink?" I kept firing these questions at her left and right.
"Shut up!" She finally yelled. I closed my mouth at once, knowing how Rubies could get when mad. "I don't have time to answer your questions! We need to get going."
We didn't make it far before some Amethysts blocked out path.
"Do you have clearance to be here?" One of them asked. They were very intimidating, but apparently not for Doc, which is surprising, considering her size.
"Depends, which Diamond do you serve under?" She asked. The Amethysts answered as one "Yellow!" which Doc nodded to as she answered: "Then you know what I mean when I say I am transporting asset Black quartz?" The one who asked them the question nodded, before turning to the other and saying: "Let them through. Beta 1 and Beta 2, you will escort them to the Diamond Hall." The two Amethysts mentioned nodded and lead us through the other parting Amethysts. I looked over at Doc.
"Black Quartz?" I asked.
"Yes," She stated. "At the moment you are called Black Quartz, primarily because of your outfit. We have yet to give you an actual name."
"What about Facet something and Cut whatever?" I asked her. She sighed.
"That is just your number. We all have them. We can't just call all of us Ruby or Peridot. Isn't that why you call me Doc? To not confuse me with other Rubies?" I nodded to that. "That is also why we have given you the name Black Quartz. Granted, we don't need to give you a special name, you are the only one of your kind after all. But it is easier to remember than all the numbers." I nodded.
We finally got to the palace and was quickly escorted inside and into the Diamond Hall. I got why they call it the Diamond Hall. In the room were four chairs, all of them alight except for the smallest one. The chairs were surrounding a round table. Sitting in them were the three Diamonds. On the far-left was Yellow Diamond, looking more serious than usual. Next to her was Blue Diamond, a look of panic having replaced her usual sad look. And beside her, in the biggest chair, sat White Diamond. She was gigantic and illuminating. Her hair was spiked and looked sharp enough to be able to cut someone. She wore a regal bodysuit, with a soft, long, see-through skirt attached to the bottom of it. And a cape, where the inside of it looked like the galaxy. Because of her hair being so illuminating, it was impossible to see her gem, as there was nowhere to even see where her head ended and her hair began.
She was intimidating. Not because of her size, but because of her facial expression. She was smiling like nothing was wrong in the world. She is in no way matched any of the feelings Yellow and Blue Diamond were feeling. She was just smiling, blank, emptiness.
"We need to shut the entire planet down. Letting no Gem get in or out," Yellow Diamond demanded.
"But what about our other colonies or patrolling ships? We can't just leave them alone, not knowing what is going on. They are easy targets," Blue Diamond protested softly.
"She is right, Yellow. We can't just close down the planet because of one escape, even if it is Rose Quartz. Besides, this wouldn't have happened, had you guys been more levelheaded. Then you might have realized that there was a traitor in our midst. Instead, you both allowed yourself to become absent to gem kind," White Diamond said in an empty, cheerful voice.
"Don't blame us for this!" Yellow Diamond yelled, standing up from her chair and banging her fists onto the table. "If you had just been there from the start, instead of just letting it happen, we wouldn't be in this situation. If you had helped us, and not turned a blind eye, things wouldn't have escalated into a war! If you hadn't been so damn emotionless, PINK WOULD STILL BE ALIVE!"
Silence reigned after that. Then White Diamond spoke up. "Let's talk about this later. It seems we have a visitor."
The Diamonds turned to us. Doc and the Amethysts all did the signature diamond sign in front of their chests while saying 'My Diamond'. I just stared at them, before talking.
"You wanted me here, my Diamonds?" I asked. Blue Diamond smiled and answered.
"Yes, we wanted you safe while we found the traitor. But don't worry, the traitor has already been found and caught. We would still like for you to be here, while we prepare you."
"Prepare me?" I asked confused.
"Yes. You will be there at the trial."
"Wait, what?" I asked in confusion. Why should I be a part of the trial? Am I a suspect? I thought they had already caught the perpetrator.
"You will be a witness on the stand," White Diamond explained. "Seeing as you were one of the people interrogating Rose Quartz, you will have been one of the most likely people to have seen the perpetrator. After the trail, you will then have to put down a statement and write down the numbers of all the guards you have seen while being near Rose Quartz."
"But… I don't know any of their numbers…" I told her nervously. White Diamond's smile widened. "Then you will write down their gem and their gem placement." I mumbled 'of course, my Diamond', hoping to please her, as her smile unnerved me. I still had some questions though.
"Am I the only one who is going to be on the stand?" I asked them.
"No," Yellow Diamond answered. "The Gem who captured the traitor will also be on the stand, together with some of the other guards, but that will be all. We already know what happened. This is just to show the population that a fair trial is taking place." That sounded weird to me. They are the all-knowing Diamonds. Shouldn't Gems just bow down to their words without questioning? As if sensing my confusion, Blue Diamond answered my unasked question.
"We don't want what happened last time, to happen again. If we can show the population that we are good leaders seeking justice, we need to give this traitor a chance to defend themselves," she explained. "I do feel sorry for the poor Zircon who has to represent them." I don't think I was supposed to hear that, but that made a chill go down my spine.
"So, just to be clear," I started. "All I have to do is go up on the stand, say if I recognize them as one of the guards, who used to guard… the prisoner… and then, that's it?"
"Exactly," White Diamond said. "That's it. Not even an off-colour like you can mess it up."
I froze for a second at that, before putting on a brave face. This is Homeworld after all. I shouldn't be expecting anything different. What I didn't expect was for Yellow Diamond to defend me.
"He is not off-coloured," Yellow Diamond whispered. "And you shouldn't call him that. You, of all Gems, should know what a sentence like that can do to someone."
It was tense after that. I got a feeling that this had something to do with Pink Diamond. But why should that matter? She couldn't have been off-coloured. After all, Peridot said that Diamonds are the most perfect beings of the universe.
White Diamonds face continued to have that empty smile before she turned her eyes back on me. "You have five minutes before the trial. Don't mess it up." And with that, she rose and walked out, with Yellow and Blue Diamond following behind her, both with put out expressions on their faces.
I looked back at Doc and the Amethysts. They all wore stone faces, but I could see Doc was looking a tad nervous. She probably hadn't thought that this would happen. I fake coughed, hoping to kick-start her again. It seemed to do the trick.
"Okay, so we have five minutes to get you back to the inner-city courthouse," she sighed. "Dammit! White Diamond must really be in a foul mood today to only give us five. It would normally take us 15, just to get back to the city. Guess I will have to break some laws to make this work…"
I started sweating. Fifteen minutes. That would mean… I got pale, something I didn't even think possible for a Gem. She is going to kill us! She dragged me by my arm towards the spaceship, mumbling about angry Diamonds, and the importance of time.
After a three-minute, heart attack inducing ride, we finally landed at what I would have to guess, was the inner-city courthouse. It was big, but not as big as where I had just been. We walked in and was immediately flanked with more Amethyst guards. I looked down at Doc for an explanation.
"As I said, people can guess who you are. While you were in the Diamond Hall talking to the Diamonds, the rest of the population were given news of trial and your importance in it. To make sure former rebels doesn't make a move, you have to be protected as much as possible." I just nodded, still not used to this kind of attention.
We walked into the courtroom. It looked nothing like the ones I have seen on television. In the middle of the room, sat three chairs, each on an end of their Diamond insignia. Again, there was an empty space, where there probably should have been a chair. In the middle of the insignia, there was a platform. It hadn't risen yet, meaning the trial hadn't begun yet. The Diamonds weren't even here yet. A fact, that Doc seemed to be proud over. We were being escorted over the other side of the room, where we then were placed in chairs behind some glass.
"This glass is special. I think it is called one-way glass on Earth, but I am not sure. We can see what is happening, but they can't see we are here. When a Gem needs to take the stand, these chairs will transport you through a tunnel and up on the stand." I nodded at that and waited for the Diamonds to appear while fumbling with my thumbs.
When they came in, everyone stood up from their seats, even though they couldn't see us. I only got the prompt to do so because Doc elbowed me in my side. Their Pearls were right behind them. We all sat down when they did, and the trial began.
"We are gathered here today for the trial of Amethyst Facet-1A3 Cut-1SF, who helped Rose Quartz escape her cell, and leave the planet," White Pearl read from a transcript. At her statement, every Gem around me started mumbling and cursing. When the Amethyst in questioning was brought up on the stand, everyone was glaring at her. "What does the defendant plead?"
The Amethyst scoffed, before answering: "What does it matter what I plead? We all know the outcome anyway…" I paled at that. The outcome…
"I state again, what does the defendant plead?" This time the Amethyst just said not guilty. And so, the trial began.
A few guards were put on the stand, with one of them being the Rutile who had captured the Amethyst. And then it was my turn.
"Quartz Facet-XX1 Cut-XXX1, please take the stand," White Pearl said. At that, my chair seemed to drop through the floor and I was zoomed away. Seeing someone being transported was one thing, but experiencing it, is something else. Not even warping can compare.
I ended up sitting on the stand, looking up at the Diamonds and down at the Amethyst. The Zircon representing the Diamonds started asking questions.
"Is it true, that you on many occasions have been a part of the interrogations of Rose Quartz?" The white Zircon asked.
"Yes, through the vision of the Pearls," I answered.
"So, you would be able to identify this Amethyst as having been one of the guards guarding her?"
"Yes," I answered, before looking closely at the Amethyst. For me, most Gems look the same. They all have the same outfit and the same hairstyle. There are only small things that make them different. One of them being the gem placement. I looked her over one last time, and saw that her gem was on her naval, just like me and… Rose… She also seemed to have some kind of mark there. I said as much: "I can recognize her on her gem placement, and the weird mark poking out of the uniform, close to the gem. She was the only one with that combination."
The white Zircon nodded and motioned for the Zircon who was defending the Amethyst to come forward. This Zircon was yellow, and one look at Yellow Diamond showed that she was not happy about it. The Zircon themselves didn't seem happy either.
"Is it true that you once were Rose's son, going by the name of Steven?" The Zircon asked. I nodded at that. "And you have completely forsaken her?" I nodded again. "Then you wouldn't mind telling me her name?" I froze at that. I know it shouldn't be hard, calling her name. It is only a name, but… for so long… she has been 'mom'…
"I can't," I said honestly. The Zircon got a triumphant look on their face before asking why. "Because it hurts, knowing that I was only a tool of power for her. And while I hate her, it is hard calling her anything else but… mom…"
The Zircon didn't seem happy with this answer and stopped asking more questions. The trial was over, and now judgement awaited.
"The Diamonds have decided," White Pearl said. "As punishment for freeing the ultimate traitor of Homeworld, the murder of Pink Diamond, Amethyst Facet-1A3 Cut-1SF will be deemed a traitor of Homeworld and shattered!"
…
Shattered.
I am going to see a Gem be shattered.
A Bismuth walked into the room, with a big weapon on their back. I didn't need to ask to know what that was for. It was some kind of big hammer, with a lot of different spikes on it. Was this the Home World version of the Breaking Point? The Amethyst was restrained then poofed. It was then placed on a mantel in front of the Bismuth. With one last look at the Diamonds, the Bismuth swung its hammer.
And hit point-blank.
A/N:
The reason for me being in the hospital is kind of related to my back/neck problems, but at the same time not, as that isn't really what I am being treated for.
About 5-6 days ago, I started noticing that I had double vision. There wasn't really anything I could do, other than wait for my doctor's appointment, which I had yesterday. But while I waited for that appointment, my vision got worse and worse and worse, to the point where walking had to be done slowly, so I wouldn't walk into stuff, because I had no idea what was real and what was a result of my double vision.
Yesterday, I went to the doctor, and they had no idea what was wrong with my eyes. They were pretty sure that the pain in my body was because of muscle tension, so at least that is in the beginning of being fixed, but they had no idea what could cause the double vision. So they send me to an eye doctor.
The eye doctor looked at my eyes and told me it had to be a neurological issue, as my eyes seemed fine, and they could see the nerves behind my eyes were swollen. So they send me to the neurological department at the hospital and warned me they might want to commit me for the night. And they did.
Yesterday I had a CT-scan, that was negative for anything bad. Today I have had an MRI, a spinal fluid extraction where they also checked the pressure in my head, and I had some blood work done. All of it also showing nothing is wrong in my blood or my head. Another doctor, however, noticed that my left eye is slightly delayed in its movement. So now, they want to check my eyes here at the hospital, which can first be done tomorrow. So I have to stay here for another night.
It has been hard looking at a computer screen because of my double vision, so I haven't gotten much work done on finishing this story. But hopefully, while I am at the hospital, they will find out what is going on and fix it.
Have a nice Wednesday!
~Little S