A new gem as the head of the North American complex. She was the first and only Gem that he saw in the complex. She was standing at the door whee he entered. He didn't notice her until the blue-skinned Gem stood up in front or him. "Who were you talking to back there?" She thought for a second. "Sounded like a Pearl."
Greg nodded. "Yeah. She was." Greg struggled to get back into his old shoes. "My mistress' Pearl."
"So you're out her service?"
She said it almost like she loathed the fact. Greg knew what happened when a Quartz loathed something. He didn't want to be the recipient of that chaos.
They started walking. The new Gem didn't wait for an answer when she said, "I'm Chalcedony. Facet 16."
"Gregory Universe Scharpling. North American complex." He turned away from her splitting white eyes.
"I don't believe you we're here when I was inaugurated. But as I told the others, I will not tolerate humans that don't acknowledge their commanders."
Greg's skin chilled. "Y-yes, commander."
"Commander Chalcedony," she corrected, an even sharper edge to her voice.
"Yes, Commander Chalcedony," he said faster this time.
"Good." She turned a corner and Greg followed. They were silent. Greg had to kick his legs out in order to keep up with her strides. What we she, a foot taller? She didn't look it.
"Who was your mistress?" she asked.
He was about to answer before taking a second thought. If Rose was rebelling he shouldn't give her away. Should he just say Pink Diamond? Or had they found out about the incident at the estate?
"I need to check records," she prodded.
Greg started from his thoughts. He couldn't lie if they had records. "Pink Diamond," he finally said. He hoped it was the right answer.
Chalcedony looked down at him. Her white hair was short and spiky. It couldn't be longer than chin length. One eye darkened to a dim sky blue. The other was still bright.
"Okay. I'll check you in…" Greg looked at her hand to notice metal caps on Chalcedony's fingers. They were coloured similarly to her skin but not quite. Almost like Peridot's things.
Her finger caps did pretty much the same thing. A screen glowed as it popped oh of them. Chalcedony's other hand wasn't covered by the finger caps but worked on he screen like it was. Ripple effects covered the screen as a page full of humans' names showed up. He caught his name near the top. She tapped it and it faded away.
"You were telling the truth. Good."
Greg knew that Chalcedony would know if she found out a lie. He was thankful that she was happy to find his truth.
"You can go back to your quarters. Your troop will tell you your new schedule."
Greg nodded, even more grateful that he was being dismissed.
He started speedwalking away from the tall gem. He glanced back at her to see a bright red popup on her blue screen.
There was a second as he stood back for a second. As soon as he concluded that the message wasn't about him, Chalcedony turned to meet his gaze. Instead of seeing anger, there was a glint of worry in her eyes. "Gregory. There's been a change of plan. Follow me."
"Yes, Commander Chalcedony!" Greg nodded and ran towards the Gem.
Greg was led to Chalcedony's office. Instead of the normal posters of a hollowed-out planet and signs full of procedures and protocols, this room was completely empties out. As Chalcedony sat down into her seat, he almost heard the echo of the chair's creaks. "Sit down," she said.
Greg sat quickly, but shifted uneasily in his chair. This wasn't right. Was it about last night? He hadn't been there to see what went on. He couldn't say anything.
Instead of comforting him, the thought scared him even more. If he couldn't say anything, he'd get interrogated or worse.
"A Quartz has just sent a message to me," she began.
Greg didn't say anything, but wondered what it would have to do with him.
"She told me that she was recently at Pink Diamond's place of residence."
Greg stiffened. So it was about last night. He was doomed. He couldn't say anything aboutt it, and she was surely going to ask.
"Do you know what she said?"
The hair on Greg's arm prickled. Should he lie? She'd find out. She already had the information. "No, I don't," Greg offered steadily and slowly.
"She said that there was a fully-equipped training room. Her Gems were nowhere to be found, and when she did find a few, they fused!"
"Oh," Greg said. "What's fused?" he asked to feign ignorance about the entire situation.
Her eye darkened again as she said, "Something that should only be done between similar Gems. Any ideas what happened next?"
Greg now understood why she was asking the questions. She was trying to get him to overshare. Say more about the Gems than she was asking. So if Greg just kept saying no…
"No, Commander." He looked at her raise her brow and immediately caught himself. "No, Commander Chalcedony."
"The fused Gems split and then immediately went for the Quartz. The one who came back was lucky enough to poof."
Greg, actually not knowing the situation asked, "What happened to the other?"
Chalcedony grinned, something snakelike and devilish. "I'm surprised you knew there were two, human."
Shit. Shit shit shit! He needed to fake his way out of this one. "You said…" He hesitated, trying to speed the conversation through his head. "You said that there was one who came back…" He turned away from Chalcedony's blue-and-white stare. "I just assumed…"
This time, Chalcedony hesitated. She seemed to run through a list of possible options before saying, "You assumed correctly." She put her feet on the desk in front of them. Instead of papers flying around there was a the crisp sound of the bench cracking beneath her feet.
Greg finally noticed somethings that was different about Chalcedony. Instead of having a pink diamond on her stomach like Chalcedony did, there was a blue diamond sewn into her collar, just above her chest.
Finally, as the silence was getting uncomfortable, Greg tapped his feet on the ground. The sound echoed.
"What happened to the other Quartz?" Greg asked again.
"That's on a need to know basis."
"Is there anything else you want me for?"
Chalcedony blinked. "No. Go back to your headquarters. Your uniform will be waiting for you."
Greg nodded and slide out of his chair. She still looked a little peeved.
He bowed. "Thank you, Commander Chalcedony."
Chalcedony stood up. "No, thank you," she grinned, revealing white points for teeth. "You've been most useful."
Greg didn't really feel useful. He might have just given himself away if he hadn't lied to make up for it.
"If you have any more information about Pink Diamond, then please tell me." Greg noticed both Chalcedony's eyes were white again. "Because I just have a hunch that you know more than you're willing to tell."
Greg's mouth tightened with his shoulders. If the hair on the his neck wasn't so long, he would have felt it raising. "N-no, Commander Chalcedony," he lied.
Her eye immediately flashed blue. "Alright then." Her grin seemed to widen. "Tomorrow morning I expect you on shift. Good night."
Greg had run back to his dorm as fast as his long legs would take him. When he turned into the door, his hair trailed behind him and landed in his face.
As was usual in his dorm, nobody but the children were asleep. Top bunks ad legs hanging off of them. Buck was upside down, staring down onto the bottom. "I tell you, he's dead. His deep voice rang through the dorm. "Been gone a few weeks. It's unusual."
"What isn't unusual around here?" Marty snapped back from the bunk below him. "Heliotrope's gone, Gems are swarming the damn mines…" Marty trailed off as he looked forward to see Greg. "Holy shit, it's Lion!" he shouted. He sprang from his bed, narrowly missing Buck's head, and ran towards him.
As Marty hugged him, Greg took in Buck's words. "You thought I was dead?"
Marty let go of him and held him at a distance. "Correction: Buck thought you were dead. I thought you were being tortured."
Greg judged by the grin on Marty's face that it was meant to be taken humorously. Because of recent situations, Greg failed to see it as such. "Thanks," he said bleakly.
Marty's face dropped for a second. He seemed to think for a second. "Well, Kopi's going to have twins," he offered.
Greg should've been happy. He and Sara have been trying for a few years. Instead, he thought of how hard it was going to be to get her out of the complex. "That's great." He halfheartedly smiled.
Buck narrowed his eyes jumping off of his bed and tripping on the floor. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I for one think it's great news!"
Remembrance dawned on Marty's face for a second. "Oh yeah," Marty said. "Buck Jr's finally been let off the night shift. He's working with Buck now."
For this, Greg smiled a bit wider. "That's great," he repeated.
"But seriously, you don't seem alright."
Greg's smile faltered. He remembered why he was discharged from Rose again. "Well, I guess I've got something to tell you…"
