A sapphire came out of the ground and was blessed with the gift of future vision. But when she was presented to her Diamond and used her ability she was afflicted with an abnormality.
The sapphire could let her mind travel along the threads of the future but it was interspersed with agonizing pains throughout her body. She would not be able to speak for a long while because of the pain.
This greatly reduced her usefulness, as she could not be used on the battlefield where quickness was vital. The sapphire was too valuable to Harvest right away, but she could not be used to her full potential.
As such she was brought to the court of her Diamond where they would decide what to do with her. She would have to be guarded out of obligation until her fate was decided but none of the warrior gems would volunteer. It was not in their purpose to watch over a defective gem.
"I will do it!" The voice belonged to a ruby, unwavering and bold in the silence.
A lowly ruby guarding a defective sapphire was adequate.
Later, when the court was dispersed and the ruby and sapphire were alone, the sapphire reflected on her purpose and spoke. It broke the rules but she broke them by existing.
"Why did you choose to serve me?"
"You looked so alone," the ruby replied.
"But it could have cost you your life."
"There are tons of me," and the words were doused with a resigned sadness.
It was another piece in the numerous turmoils.
The deciding fate of the sapphire hung in the air for a long while. She was stationed to a colony that was not yet developed. Perhaps her Diamond would order her demise and place her in the fresh soil to be born again and born more useful.
She would try to push through the pain but that would make it worse and she would not be able to speak when it passed.
The ruby would stand, trying to keep her face stoic, but after too many times of this she broke the rules, too. She knelt down to the sapphire when this bout of agony had ceased.
"You don't have to do this," she said.
Along her words her hand reached out and sapphire grabbed in spite of every order she knew.
And they became someone else, someone without a name or purpose or rules but it was freedom.
And it was known that time would run out for the both of them, and they escaped on stumbling legs, falling to a colony that was vast and seemingly unending.
And in time their titles became names and what they were walked on steady legs and became herself.
Originally posted on Ao3 on September 3 2019