Chapter 5
Water Planet
1800s
Era 2
A black gem laid there, right in the dirt, steam came from it while there were limb enhancers scatted about. For the first couple of seconds, there was silence, a good silence. All the Gems gazed at the single stone, none of them seeing a cut quite like it.
"That's a Black Onyx gem?" Zircon questioned out loud, she had just reformed.
"Funny, I always assumed Zircon gems were more smooth…. Odd," Peridot responded, she looked right at it
"It sort of looks familia." Pearl added.
Peridot then bubbled the gem and held it using her tractor beam, it was a miracle that anything in her limb enhancers worked at all. That was something else she smiled about.
"More reinforcements are coming, we gotta hide, or run or something," Moonstone suddenly said, she looked up to the sky and shivered just a bit.
"We can't hide here, they know we're here, and our presence here risks the refuge." Aquamarine then said, she dusted herself off.
All the Gems then looked at Aquamarine, they all then looked at each other as if they knew exactly what had to be done.
"We should leave the planet, all of us. They know that Black Onyx has been poofed and they know we're here." Moonstone said out loud she looked around for a bit.
"But they don't know about the rest of the refuge, luckily." Aquamarine responded, " Peridot, you think you can fly Onyx's ship?"
Pearl looked at Aquamarine, they all knew traveling was the best thing to do even though Pearl had only just found herself a peaceful place to be. It seems that destiny had other plans for her. Destiny is a jerk.
"Of course I can." Peridot said.
"I'll go message the other Gems that we have to leave." Zircon said, her monocle then projected a panel and she began to write the letter.
Pearl gazed at the gem for a few more seconds, it didn't match any of the traditional shapes for the average Gems. That Black Onyx was definitely the first of her kind, that's for sure.
Once the messages were sent, and once Peridot got the ship running, it was time to leave the planet. They would first have to lead Emerald as far away from the Water Planet as possible, then they would have to find a new planet away from the Diamonds. All sounds simple but really, it was probably down right impossible.
It's not like they had a choice, Peridot made sure to place the bubbled Black Onyx in the electric cell. Moonstone sat down beside Peridot, to give her a bit of directions incase they were to be ambushed. Aquamarine was also at the front, she needed to make sure the two of them didn't distract themselves with chat, especially at such a time like this.
Now Zircon and Pearl were in the engine room. It was the quietest area, away from Aquamarine's constant scolding of Peridot and Moonstone. The two of them also chatted with each other, but they made sure to speak a little softer then the more energetic Gems up by the main controls.
Then there was Black Onyx, still bubbled, the gem remained right in the electric cell, unable to reform and definitely no way to escape regardless. That in itself wasn't that bad, but the being poofed left Onyx alone with just thoughts and memories. The worse kind actually and there wasn't any way to escape.
"Keep a close eye on the scanners, Emerald's Imperial Warship would be right above us, we need to lead her away from the refuge." Aquamarine nagged, she occasionally hit Peridot's head with the wand.
"Ow… I'm watching the scanners," Peridot responded, she flew the ship out of the atmosphere.
There was the Destiny Destroyer, just above the planet and containing hundreds of Gems. Peridot made sure to fly near enough to get Emerald's attention.
"Aquamarine, Emerald is attempting to video chat, should we put it through? I think we should put it through." Moonstone said.
"Put her through Moonstone."
Moonstone did that. Within an instant, Emerald was on the screen, she seemed calm for a second but the moment she saw that Black Onyx wasn't there, her expression completely changed.
"What! Where's the Black Onyx?" Emerald shouted, she starred right at the Aquamarine, "You!"
"That's right, it's me!" Aquamarine responded, she spun around just a bit, "We have Black Onyx, so if you want her, you'll have to catch us."
"Gladly," Emerald said, then she turned to her own crew, "Aim for the engines and fire!"
The Destiny Destroyer then proceeded to charge the four prongs, it fired them releasing four separate energy beams right at the warship. Peridot managed to maneuver the ship just a little, to avoid direct contact, but the energy shields were completely offline. There was a bump, the slight impact caused the ship to shake just a bit.
By accident, the bubble containing the Black Onyx gem flew into the electric barrier, the bubble burst causing the gem to fall back on the floor. Black Onyx reformed after a couple of seconds, she looked around for a moment but unable to reality clearly.
"This is a first time this has ever happened, everything's going down hill and you know it," Yellow Diamond said to White. She gazed at a couple maps of the Earths.
"The Rose Quartz has very interesting tactics," White responded.
"White, this is a crisis, we're losing more Gems then creating. You shouldn't have authorized Pink to claim the planet." Yellow added.
Meetings at the Human Zoo became much more frequent once the Rebellion started. Here the four Diamonds would constantly meet face to face with each other, there weren't many other Gems so there was privacy.
"I see, we just need to insure every warp pads is out of their reach, that would stall slow their movements. With that, we'll be able to efficiently send troops," White Diamond said to her, "and where's Pink and Blue Diamond?"
"We're right here, Pink had to collect something important ." Blue responded just when she entered the room.
There was Pink Diamond. She followed right behind where her hair in a complete mess and her skin covered in dirt. An attack had taken Pink by surprise near one of the forests but she managed to get out of the area with Blue's assistance. She was just in a last minute exposition to collect something very important to the war.
"So, did you manage to find something useful?" Yellow asked.
Pink simply nodded, over the past few years her voice became less prominent and a more mature personality finally developing for the situation. She even managed to grow just slightly and the tutu outfit was ditched completely. Yet Yellow Diamond didn't seem too convinced by the gradual change.
"It's not another bunch of useless flowers is it?" Yellow Diamond then asked. For a couple few hundred years, flowers were Pink's obsession.
"Nope."
"Really? Show me."
Pink hesitated for a moment but nodded, she left the room for a couple of seconds then returned with a relatively large container. It was only the general size for Quartz, much too small for any of the large Diamonds to use. Pink dug into one of the boxes and took out a small hard drive.
"These were salvaged from the Crystal Gem's communicators, I figured that collecting as much of these and hard drives would be useful since he can extract information from them?" Pink suggested.
The other three looked at each other for a couple of seconds, then they looked at the nervous Pink Diamond for a couple of seconds. Blue then grinned at Yellow, a sort of victorious grin and finally Yellow managed to grin as well.
"That can be useful, good job." Yellow said.
The meeting lasted for a few more hours with Pink mostly agreeing to follow certain strategic instructions Yellow and White laid out. Once the meeting was done though, Pink retreated to her special area, assuming that all of the other Diamonds were already gone.
At the very top of the Human Zoo, there was special flower garden. At eyes level, it didn't look quite as impressive but up upon a bird's eye view, the details were seen perfectly. Pink Diamond was just in the process of transferring a couple of new flowering plants to the garden. She made sure each specimen was placed in the right order, or the entire image would be affected.
"I see your garden is getting lovely," Blue said, she just walked into the room.
"It was always lovely."
Blue looked at the garden in its full slender. It was the complete Diamond insignia all made from four different kinds of flowers, each flower a specific color. To make it as perfect as possible, the garden was mathematically guided when it came to exactly where each flower was placed. It was a good effort.
"Somehow, I just know this would all work out just fine." Blue reassured, she kneeled down to give Pink a hug.
Black Onyx reached out to the hug, but there was nothing there. She finally managed to open her eyes to see that she was in a cell. The limb enhancers were gone but at least she knew that she was in her ship. Of course this meant the entire mission was a failure. Another failure…
She sighed and starred at the walls, the occasional bumps would be a bother but there wasn't anything she could do about that. Then, she heard singing, it was relatively soft and sweet, a sort of calming voice that a strong sense of emotion. Black Onyx looked forwards for a moment, just across the halls, she could see a shadow, it was difficult to make out but it appeared to be blue hooded figure walking away.
"Blue?" Black Onyx whispered, then she looked away for a moment. Suddenly, she came, or rather lost her senses, "Blue!"
Black Onyx attempted to run through the cell, but the electric barrier stopped her. Onyx frowned and looked forward, there was the blue figure walking away.
"Blue!"
Black Onyx shouted even louder, she then proceeded to punch the floor. There were constant bangs heard across the ship as she continued to make dents on the metal floor. With each punch, Onyx got more desperate. Then, he managed to reach the wires, Onyx then grabbed unto them proceeding to tear them apart. The electric barrier was finally gone.
"Wait up Blue!" Onyx then rushed out of the cell.
All this was seen right from the Peridot's screen. At first, Black Onyx punching the floor wasn't a concern but the moment she managed to destroy the electric barrier caused for a quick panic . She quickly showed the video to Aquamarine who also flinched.
"Black Onyx escaped!" Peridot shouted.
"I'll go get her." Aquamarine said, she flew through the hallway.
Black Onyx continued to chase after the blue figure, she ran across the ship as fast as she could but never able to catch up to it. Onyx didn't quite give up though. She then crashed right into Aquamarine but didn't pay much attention to her. Instead, she simply pushed her away only focussed with one single goal. However, Aquamarine had other plants, with her wand, she simply trapped Onyx in the tracker beam.
Onyx tried to struggle but the beam simply overpowered her; so she just watched the figure disappear around the corner.
"We're going to have to poof you again, please stay poofed this time." Aquamarine said to her.
A missile from the Destiny Destroy caused the ship to bump gain, the impact caused Aquamarine to trip thus releasing Onyx from her. Black Onyx still paid no attention to Aquamarine, she just took the opportunity to run after the figure again.
"Blue!"
Aquamarine looked at Onyx. There didn't seem to be any logical explanation Aquamarine can think of for Onyx's behavior; that only pressed her to find out. Aquamarine then rushed after Black Onyx, curious to know what would happen.
Black Onyx followed the figure to the engine room where Pink Pearl and Zircon were. The two Gems stood up surprised to see the raging Gem heading right towards them, so they pulled out their weapons Pearl with her small knives and Zircon with her own sling shot.
Pearl threw her knives right at Onyx, each one of them managing to stab her yet she continued all the same. Zircon then fired small energy blasts from the sling shot, each one caused a small, blue explosion and it managed to get Onyx down for a moment. Onyx slowly stood back up, she could see the figure just up ahead of her, she's so close.
"Blue! Stop, wait up!" Black Onyx shouted one last time.
"Blue?" Pearl asked.
Black Onyx kept on pushing, her eyes were soaked with tears as she continued to keep moving. Zircon and Pearl tried to hold her back, from whatever she was chasing but they didn't make much a difference. Onyx simply tossed them back then dashed one last time to the blue figure.
"Blue…" Black Onyx said softly, she looked at the figure to see Blue Diamond.
Blue was much, much shorter then what she supposed to be but it didn't quite matter to Onyx. Blue Diamond was dressed in her usual robe, she slowly removed the hood from her face and smiled a little at Black Onyx. Onyx closed her eyes or a couple of seconds then opened them right back up. Tears continued to flow down her cheek as her pupils glowed pink for the first time in hundreds of years.
"Blue, I'm sorry…." Black said softly.
"I forgive you."
Black Onyx then opened her arms widely, she then wrapped them around Blue Diamond, but there was no Blue Diamond. Black Onyx's eyes returned to the usual grey while she looked around for a bit, no sign of the blue figure at all. She continued to look around, hoping to see some clue of Blue Diamond but she wasn't there. She was never there.
"Pink Diamond?" Pink Pearl finally asked. She looked directly ad Onyx.
There was no response… Black Onyx slowly turned around, the tears didn't cease from flowing but her hands caught ablaze. She looked at all three of the Gems for a moment while her expression finally stiffened from sadness to hate. Just like that, a blast of heat and flames engulfed the entire engine room.
Aquamarine managed to escape, she flew off with both Zircon's gem and Pearl's gem right in her hands but Onyx just followed. Aquamarine continued to dodge the barrage of fire balls that flew right at her, some of them only missing from just a few centimeters. Finally, Aquamarine made it to the deck where Peridot and Moonstone were. She locked the door and placed the two gems right at the panel.
"What happened, that don't look good." Moonstone said, "Not good at all."
"Black Onyx is crazy, something's wrong with her. She wouldn't stop crying and she almost blew up the entire engine room." Aquamarine finally said.
"Welp, we're gonna die." Peridot said.
Black Onyx just punched the metal door, one fist at a time. Her grunts were mixed with held back crying while she attempted to bread the door open. The Gem did! She then punched the door down with her fists and rage. Aquamarine and Moonstone suddenly fused into Cat's Eyes to combat her. Black Onyx was having non of that though, she quickly leapt up and proceeded to punch Cat's Eyes.
"What can you possibly hate to make you this crazy?" Cat's Eyes asked.
"Myself."
Cat's Eyes fell back on the panel, she tried to cool down the area but Black Onyx just melted all the ice. She then attempted to punch Cat's Eyes again but the fusion managed to move to the side this time. Onyx's fist then went through the panels, messing with a couple of wires. Suddenly, the entire ship went into warp speed. The sudden acceleration forced all of the Gems back.
Black Onyx didn't care, she continued to throw punches at Cat's Eyes, using the close corner to over power the fusion as much as possible. Peridot saw the fight and flinched, then she looked at the control panel, she sneaked right up to it and went through the broken wires. With the aid of her limb enhancers, Peridot managed to repair just enough of the wires to stop the warp speed.
It was too late.
The gem warship was right at a collision course for Blue Diamond's ship. Both Black Onyx and Cat's Eyes stopped the fighting the moment when the saw that they were right about to crash into the ship. There was no turning back now.
"We're gonna cra-" Peridot was just about to say, just when the warship went right through Blue Diamond's ship.