Part 2: The War
Chapter 1: Bed, Bath and Briefing
Turquoise set down her companion, and turned to face the two small gems; her grin radiating playfulness. She was clearly an early-emerger among other turquoises, tall and strong but with the dexterity-based build of standard turquoises; her brown hair despite being tied back in a ponytail hung in a long plume. Most unusual of all her outfit seemed to emulate the human clothing Ruby and Sapphire had seen: a combination of a brown sleeveless vest, leather britches and moccasins.
"So, welcome to the team you two. I'm Turquoise, this here is Smoky Topaz but we just call her Topaz." The Topaz waved, still blushing from earlier. She was small and thin compared to Turquoise but twice as big as Ruby nonetheless; her hair fanned out just below her jawline, and just like Turquoise her grass-like skirt and simple cloth top emulated human clothing conventions.
"And I think it's obvious that she's Obsidian." Turquoise continued, gesturing to the third rebel.
"Obsidian suggest you attempt to bite her." The black gem responded curtly, continuing to pummel the warp pad. Her design seemed unchanged from Homeworld's standard, simple garb for other obsidians; yet unlike the standard her white hair had been reformed into an even fan from the top of her head to her shoulders.
"I'm Sapphire," she stood, offering her hand to Turquoise to shake, "and this is Ruby." Ruby slowly got to her feet, carefully avoiding any potential strain.
"Yeah, hi." After shaking her hand Turquoise turned to address Ruby.
"Now, our movement strategies required we build this warp pad a way out from the fountain, so it's going to be a bit of a jog. You up for that Ruby?"
The little red gem nodded, and the two smaller gems followed Turquoise as she turned towards their path.
"Good, good." The taller gem nodded, her gait slow and casual but with a sense of power, "Now, if you're going to fight with us you've got a lot to learn. We'll get to it eventually, but right now we're going to cover basics."
"Like what?" Ruby asked, looking around at the myriad of plants with multicolored flowers this area had.
"Well, for starters you've got to get used to calling me, yourself and the rest of us Crystal Gems." The larger gem smirked wryly, "calling us rebels is doing a disservice to us. We're doing so much more than just rebelling."
"I see… for example, protecting human settlements?" Sapphire asked, going off an instinct one of her visions gave her.
"More or less," Turquoise scratched the back of her head, "sometimes we just rile them up into joining our fight. And sometimes…. Sometimes we just show up too late." She sighed, but felt Ruby place a reassuring hand on hers.
"We know what that's like." This reassurance was enough for Turquoise to nod and continue, pushing her own anguished memories aside.
"Anyway, while we're on the subject of names: you can't call our leader Blood Diamond. Ever." The emphasis she put on this was strong and deliberate, "She's Rose Quartz now, ok?" Ruby and Sapphire shared a look of shock and confusion. A gem renaming herself was unheard of, unprecedented by anything.
"I- why a quartz of all gems?!" Ruby couldn't believe that a Diamond would, if she were to rename herself, would choose a quartz gemsona; it seemed really disgraceful. Turquoise laughed heartily, like an oak in a windstorm.
"I knew you'd ask about that. You see: she doesn't buy the caste system. If a diamond is leading the movement, it's not as symbolically powerful as a quartz, now is it."
"And… Rose?" Sapphire added, smiling a bit at the thought that here perhaps she and Ruby would be allowed to be equals.
"Well, roses are an earth plant. They're soft and vibrant but- well, here's one." Turquoise snapped a pink rose of one of the bushes beside her and passed it to the two gems to look over, "And our Rose, it turns out, can control plants. So she took a liking to it."
"That explains a lot." Ruby thought, turning the plant over in her hands carefully to avoid its sharp spines. She smiled at Sapphire as she realized the same concept of equality between them.
"Anyways, what else… Oh yeah. If you join us, both of you have to fight. Every gem fights."
"How many of you are there?" Sapphire shook her head, "sorry, of us are there?" to this the large blue soldier rubbed her gem in thought.
"Hmm, well…. Including both of you, there are forty-seven Crystal Gems." To this Ruby's jaw dropped.
"F-forty-seven?!" she shook her head, "how has this rebellion been going on for so long?" Turquoise laughed again warmly as they rounded a corner.
"Only through a combination of tactics and boldness Homeworld can't kill off." With that the three entered a clearing where two gems were kneeling over ground level plants with red fruits coming off of them. One of them was obviously a pearl, yet she wasn't frozen in a hollow smile; she was concentrating and taking notes diligently. The other gem, a large being dressed in a white dress and engulfed in pink curls, worked with the fruits, shaping them. Behind them stood an ornate fountain; its top point was a stature carving of the pink gem, water flowing from its "eyes".
"That's her, isn't it?" Ruby asked, humbled at the sight of a true diamond. Turquoise nodded and stepped towards the two, coming into earshot of the Pearl.
"Growth rate seems to be good, samples at this level of development are particularly fibrous." The pearl glanced up briefly, not quite registering the approaching gems, "about a quarter of the strawberries show advanced signs of CORIUM INFECTION!" her reflexes took over and she summoned a spiraling spear, brandishing it at Ruby. The small gem flinched, more surprised that this pearl could summon her weapon with such confidence than afraid for her life. Turquoise casually tilted the tip of the spear away from her."Eaaaaasy Pearl. She's not too far gone yet."
Rose stood, staring curiously at the two gems her warrior had brought, "We found them in the Sea Spire. Permission to let this ruby soak in the fountain?"
"Why? It's not going to-" Pearl started, before feeling Rose's hand on her shoulder.
"Granted." The two stepped aside, clearing a path for Ruby, "this should be quite interesting."
Ruby turned her eyes from the former diamond toward the fountain, approaching it alone. As she reached it, she found the lip of the fountain was just out of reach; she struggled furiously, but not enough to exacerbate her infection, but ultimately in vain.
"Hold on, hold on." Sapphire rushed to her side and lifted her by her sides, lifting her enough to grip the edge.
"Ah, thanks Sapph." Ruby blushed and cleared the edge, easing into the oddly warm, salty water.
"No problem." Sapphire floated onto the edge and sat beside her. The other three gems approached them.
"Enjoying the tear bath Red?" Turquoise asked, as the water began to fizz with yellow foam.
"T-tears?" Ruby felt relief as her infection, and her injuries from Jasper, melted away. Rose Quartz laughed softly, seemingly pleased.
"This fountain is filled with my healing tears, and it looks like you're going to be fine." Both Ruby and Sapphire could not believe how much kindness was radiating off this once unstoppable monster of a gem. If this is what Homeworld believed to be unrepentant evil, then it was clear to both of them that they themselves were irredeemable in the eyes of Homeworld.
"B-Rose…. I think I want to be a Crystal Gem." She looked town at her hands as the last of the veins frayed away from her, the internal corruption receding. Sapphire stood up immediately, facing Rose.
"So do I... And, if possible, we'd like to be stationed together." Rose laughed softly, sharing a knowing look with Turquoise. She then lifted Ruby out of the water as the infection withered away, brushing off the denatured remains and setting her beside her Sapphire.
"Consider it done. Turquoise, could you take them to the camp?"
"Gladly Rosie." She gave a small salute and gestured to another warp pad, a ways away, "come on you two." As the two hopped down and followed her, they could hear Pearl muttering to herself.
"This is going to be a nightmare to clean…."
/
"Alright, here we are!" after a ways of walking through dense forest Turquoise pulled back a dense curtain of foliage to reveal a small encampment of gems. The structures were human-like, but with blatant insertion of gem technology such as gem scanners on the doors. The gems within the camp were alternately training for battle or chatting amongst one another. Turquoise scanned the inter-mixed tents and cabins, clicking her tongue a bit. "Which ones are still open…? Ah this one!" In three leaping strides the larger cyan gem closed in on an empty cabin; it was a touch taller than her and wide enough for the two small corundum's trailing her to fit, with room to spare.
"Hey, this is great!" Ruby stepped inside the enclosure, her face breaking into a grin, "this is so much better than the barracks of Homeworld, or the caves we've been stuck in."
"I liked the cave you made." Sapphire interjected, stepping in with her. Turquoise, in turn, stifled a laugh of recognition.
"Looks like you two are settled. I've got to go check in with-"
"Way ahead of you, dear." Topaz slipped out from behind the larger gem, giggling softly, "we've destroyed the warp pad and reported to Rose. Our tracks are covered until we get back to the humans."
"Humans?" Sapphire asked, tilting her head in just a way that Ruby's eyes stayed on her even as the focus of conversation shifted to Topaz.
"They're what 'men' prefer to call themselves. It clears up confusion." Topaz leaned in front of the unsuspecting Ruby, just as she snapped out of her bizarre trance, "Ruby, you're the first gem I've ever seen come back from a corium infection. Can you tell me how you wound up getting infecting in the first place?" Ruby blinked and sighed, memories of the encounter coming back slowly.
"Well… there was a river monster. No, it wasn't a monster, it was an infected gem. Sapphire and I took it down, and I tried to pick up the gem…." She wrung out her non gem hand, thankful the pain and corruption was gone. Topaz hummed in thought.
"I see, direct contact with an infected gem. I will remember that." She went to stand when Sapphire spoke up.
"We still have the gem, actually." Sapphire retrieved her ball of ice and set it on the ground before them. Topaz looked at it curiously, while Turquoise simply laughed.
"Ice-bubbling. Wait 'til Rose hears about that." Sapphire was unfazed, glancing at ruby and holding out her hand in an inviting gesture. Ruby caught on and let heat pour into her hand, holding it just above the surface of the ice. It melted away until the infected gem was just visible, but contained.
"As you can see, there are no physical signs of infection on the gem and- are you ok?" Sapphire had turned away from the gem in question just in time to see the icy grip of horror on Topaz and Turquoise's faces. The large blue gem breathlessly mouthed 'they found her' while the shaken brown gem lifted the half-melted ball hesitantly.
"w-where did you fight this monster, again?" she asked fighting to keep a straight face. The two small corundum's glanced at each other before Ruby chose to answer.
"I-it was inside a river at the edge of a huge cliff… outside of the Kindergarten." Topaz nodded in understanding, then worked on a weak smile.
"I… can I take this to Rose Quartz, please? We've been looking for her- it." The two gems nodded, and wordlessly the brown gem took the ice ball and nodded to Turquoise, leaving for the same path they had taken moments before.
"Well…. This has been some heavy stuff." The cyan gem cracked her neck, working her way back to her previously calm demeanor, "I was going to begin training you two tonight, but now I have a better idea."
"We're listening." Ruby leaned back against the wall of the cabin, where Sapphire found herself drawn to matching her pose on a subconscious level.
"Tomorrow night there's going to be a meeting between us and several human tribes on unifying to fight Homeworld forces, and to stop the Earth's destruction. And I want you two to come with us."
"I- why us?" Sapphire shifted her lean, blushing as she realized the uncanniness of her imitation, "Neither of us are experienced speakers. I don't think we'd offer much, if at all." To this Turquoise laughed deeply again.
"Maybe, but you two have a story to tell. Besides, I'm starting to think you two are good luck for the crystal gems." She winked at the two gems, turning away, "until then, you two get comfortable, ok? This is home for you two now." As Turquoise left, it took the two gems a moment to process this. Sapphire chewed her lip, staring at the wood and grass mat that contrasted her life of stone and finery on Homeworld. It wasn't bad, just…. Different. Meanwhile Ruby though of her life of regiments, cramped quarters and Jasper breathing down her neck. She laughed, because what gem wouldn't?
"Home…. We're home Sapphy." The red gem lifted the blue one, who after a brief squeak of surprise reciprocated both the laughter and the embrace. The two gems felt washes of warmth, of joy radiating from the cores of their beings. For a brief moment their forms grew blurry, only for the realization of how long and intense the hug was growing to shock them back apart.
"Ah, I think I got carried away." Ruby blushed, stepping back a bit.
"No, it's understandable." Sapphire ran her fingers through her hair, not letting on to the questions plaguing her mind, "you're… appreciating your freedom."
"You know it." Ruby smirked, settling on one side of the cabin, "and now I'm going to do what I've needed to for weeks." The red gem settled into the floor and nearly immediately fell asleep. Sapphire smiled softly at her friend's sleeping form, before settling into the other corner of the cabin, forcing herself to meditate before her odd thoughts and feelings surrounding Ruby threatened to drive her mad. Something was missing still, but try as she might the mental class gem could not think of what it could be.