Fade Out

Chapter Seven

…..

Mercy had been a barracks pearl. Under most circumstances that would have meant a brutal, broken existence and an early shattering. She was lucky that the particular barracks she belonged to were a kind breed; something about the soil they emerged from made them softer, gentler. But incredibly paranoid.

Apparently the pearl they had owned before Mercy had disappeared, likely stolen for another barracks. They were a lot more careful with her; she rarely left her box, and when she wasn't in use the opening was bolted shut. They were reluctant to take her out for any reason.

When they did use her, they liked to have her listen to stories of their battle prowess. They weren't a particularly battle-hardened bunch, so most of their tales were strongly exaggerated, and when they spoke of other squadrons they emphasized how reckless they were, how rough and violent they could be towards even their comrades. They often spoke with anger of their suspicions that their previous pearl had been stolen and most likely shattered by the other squadron. When they were moved to the terraforming project, they complained about the planet, how much harsher it was than Homeworld.

Is it any wonder, then, that she began to love her confinement? When her world was regularly reduced to less space than it took to stretch her arms, the barracks hall seemed enormous, overwhelming. The presence of more than four Gems at any time was frightening. She heard other Gems walking around, shouting, drilling and building from safe inside her box, and they seemed so far away. With so little to do, the spike rarely bothered her. It was peaceful.

When it all went wrong, her owners holed up in their hall like cowards. They sealed her box shut before the hall was invaded by the rebels, for all the good it did in the end. She heard each of them begging for mercy as they were shattered, one by one, and they found her box, broke open the door and dragged her out. The Everlast was amused by the squadron's begging, and gave her the name in memory.

All the captive pearls had their ways of coping. Gift kept no thought in her head for longer than a moment. Treasure found some strength in defiance and bitterly clung to it. Sweetness and Light had each other. All Mercy had was an instinct to make herself smaller, quieter, so she would not be noticed. It worked fine when there were twelve pearls, not so much when it came down to just the five. And some of the Everlast's commanders chose her because she was trying so hard not to be chosen.

Really, the only reason she had lasted so long when other pearls had shattered was because the others took pity on her, and volunteered to take her place when she was called upon. Treasure had done this more times than she could remember. Even Sweetness had jumped in a few times (though Light never had.)

When it was time to go, she didn't want to leave. As awful as their confinement was, what was outside could easily be worse. In the end, Treasure knocked her out, carried her out in gem form and when she put herself back together, she was already on the rig.

…..

Steven's thoughts whistled through his head at dizzying speed, and for one giddy moment he thought the other Gem was holding an egg she was going to break into a frying pan. A crazed giggle was building in his throat.

Courage and Treasure stood firm, staring the Gem down. Courage's mass flexed with coiled power.

"You have no use for that," Treasure said. Her voice had gone curiously dull.

The Gem laughed, a hacking, painful sound.

"I may be broken but I'm not blind," she hissed. "This pearl is not one of Pyrite's. Where did it come from?"

"She was hidden," Treasure replied, folding her arms, her fingers tapping gently on her forearm in what Steven assumed was nervousness. "She's on the brink of shattering. The Everlast let us keep her, but she's useless."

"So useless you dropped it in the sand and came back for it..." the Gem's long fingers closed over Pearl's gem.

"She was my friend," Treasure shrugged. Courage's grip on the hank of metal tightened visibly. "You were there...you saw how many pearls were broken..."

The Gem spit a mouthful of grit out onto the sand.

"I never broke any of Pyrite's precious pearls..." she growled.

"And yet here you are."

"And here she is!" the Gem hissed, pointing a shaky finger at Courage. "Didn't take you long to climb to the top, did it? Pyrite was a fool to trust you! You should have gone to dust orbits ago! Along with that runt quartz..."

The Gem's filmy, flickering eyes raked over Steven just once, and then she seemed to disregard him entirely. A trickle of cold sweat ran down his spine as he thought of creeping towards her to see if he could get close enough to swipe Pearl's gem from her grasp. If her attention was focused on Courage and Treasure for just long enough...

"Pyrite won't thank you for returning her. She'll shatter you as soon as you drop your guard..."

"Maybe if I return this one...but if I return you..."

Courage stiffened, but Treasure was unfazed.

"She'll shatter you for having the audacity to touch me without permission," she replied flippantly.

"I won't touch you," the Gem spat. "You'll come of your own free will. Or I'll just keep this one for myself."

There was that awful crawling feeling of wrongness again, of some sort of horror Steven didn't quite understand, along with the terror that they were about to lose Pearl. Courage took a hard step forward and the Gem shuffled back, holding Pearl's gem high above her lumpen head.

"Don't even think about it," she bellowed. "There's a rabble in the hills ready to signal for the Everlast's troops. You'd never get away in time."

Courage seemed to diminish in size as she stepped back, looking to Treasure for guidance. Steven shook where he was standing. Treasure stood firm, fingers flitting against her sides, before letting out a long sigh.

"Fine. I'll go with you. Give her to the Quartz," she said.

The Gem smiled, unfurling her palm.

"Of course."

Treasure touched Steven's shoulder to urge him forward. Courage hung back, helplessly, as they approached the Gem. Steven held his hand near his own gem, in case he needed to summon his shield. When she judged they were close enough, she tossed Pearl's gem into the sand just past Steven's head. He went scrambling after it, and the Gem lurched forward to grab Treasure by the arm.

Everything happened so fast. Several bangs rang out around the hills and engines in the distance roared in response. Pearl's gem burst into life before he could get to it and she came out with her spear already drawn, hurling it straight at the stranger Gem's face. Treasure ducked, as she had clearly known this was going to happen, and rolled away towards Courage. Pearl's spear found its mark in the Gem's eye as the hunk of metal Courage had been wielding took out her torso. She exploded, just as other misshapen gems started scrambling down the outcroppings.

Pearl grabbed Steven's arm without a word and dragged him away, following Courage and Treasure who were tearing back towards the shale plains. They dipped in and around the jagged hillocks so fast it was dizzying, and Steven's arms were scraped bloody by the time the rig was in view.

"Start it up!" Courage roared, as the gems waiting for them spotted them and snapped to attention. The rig's engine rumbled in the next second and the pearls piled into the back.

Garnet and Amethyst had never looked so relieved in their lives to see Pearl and Steven back safe. (Amethyst looked on the verge of tears.) But Pearl spoke not a word to either of them, and as Steven was sitting beside her he could feel her trembling.

"Where's Mercy?" Treasure suddenly asked.

The rig had just been pulling out and it ground to a halt. Treasure glared at the other pearls, snapping at them furiously with her hands.

"She was in the rig," Gift spoke aloud. "She's been in here since you left..."

"She's not here now!" Treasure cried.

The ground beneath them was beginning to rumble with the oncoming war party. Somehow it seemed even bigger now than it had been before. They needed to leave, and soon, but Treasure threw open the door of the rig.

"They'll be on us any parsec!" Courage growled.

"We're not leaving without her!" Treasure shot back, jumping down. Sweetness and Light joined her a moment later, and within a few nail-biting, agonizing seconds they were back, carrying Mercy with them. She was rigid and curled in on herself, staring at nothing. They fumbled getting her into the rig, costing them even more precious time. As they finally sped away on the trail, the first vehicles were visibly gaining on them.

With a sinking heart, Steven saw that the Everlast's troops were much bigger than they had been; a number of vehicles and gems so badly malformed they looked on the edge of exploding. Pyrite was chasing them with renewed vigor, her own truck was tearing ahead of the crowd at blinding speed. It was clear, she knew there was another pearl on the rig.

A vanguard jumped ahead of Pyrite, boxing in the rig against the steep gorge away from the dunes. The gems onboard were barely hanging on, two of them fell off and were crushed under the wheels of the vehicles behind, and they didn't slow even a little. A joyful shout rang out from behind them as a small motor charged off of a rock-face directly onto the rig, exploding and taking two of the protective spikes with it.

Courage's fists gripped the wheel so hard it groaned, staring grimly ahead. Garnet positioned herself between the door and Steven, gauntlets at the ready but at a complete loss for where to aim them. The pearls huddled together, Mercy at the centre, rocking and moaning in despair. They were completely surrounded. It was finished...

...wasn't it?

I can make a bubble. I can make one big enough for us all. I can do it.

But just as he was summoning his bubble, whatever shock that had been holding Pearl back seemed to wear off and she snapped back into strategist mode. She slid into the seat ahead, beside Amethyst, and the two of them came to a wordless agreement.

Their dance was barely a dance, they swung out onto the roof of the rig on opposite sides, dodging debris and magnetic hooks to come together. They spun once, together, dipped and then Opal was precariously balanced on the roof. There was an audible gasp from all around them.

Opal spun around to anchor her foot on the bonnet of the rig, wrapped one giant arm around the roof of the car and drew her bow. Her arrows blasted the vehicles blocking them to shreds, knocking shrapnel into the gems behind. A hook wrapped around her neck and she yanked the chain, smashing the gems on the other end into the outcropping. The other motors pulled back, though Pyrite urged them to attack. It was clear they had never seen a fusion before; they were lost, and Pyrite for once couldn't guide them.

Opal fired at Pyrite's truck, but she wrenched the wheel at the last minute and the truck caught the blow on the wheel, flipping it and smashing the gems inside. Pyrite tumbled out, mostly unhurt but roaring in fury. The wheels of hundreds of vehicles screamed as they skidded to a stop.

The rig trundled out through the thinning gap in the gorge and Opal's last action before she split was to fire at the wall, bringing down a hail of boulders to block the way behind them.

…..

The rig kept going for at least another mile before it puttered to a slow stop. Steven threw open the door and lurched out into the sand, and vomited hard. He felt weak and exhausted, and nobody else looked to be in any better shape. They were slumped across the seats of the rig, completely drained. And yet...

The pearls were as ragged as could be, and yet something in their faces had changed. Mercy had stopped rocking. And Treasure was glancing from Amethyst and Pearl to Courage and back again, lost in thought.