A/N: Shout out to SpaceWonder368, 123lionclan, and the guest(s) who keep reviewing and everybody who has reviewed thus far! You guys give me motivation!
Time passed, slowly but surely. Pearl worked night and day without end.
A day her hands didn't bleed or sweat didn't drip down her face was a day she was unfamiliar with.
She dragged a huge piece of metal to her station.
She had given up on self-pitying for the most part, it was pointless.
All memories of any previous life before, whether for the better or for worse, were dull in her mind. She was surprised she hadn't just erased the memories from her mind entirely. Instead, they lingered like old, timeworn pictures with the angles and colors obscured.
They were reminders that it hadn't always been like this, even if life before wasn't much better.
Long days, and what felt like even longer nights, calloused hands, and aching neck. She used the back of her arm to wipe away sweat that had gathered on brow. Her head pounded as per usual, but something was a bit off on this day.
She had finished her latest project what felt like some time ago, yet Galena hadn't shown up to examine her handiwork. She looked down at her creation. It was a white rod with black wire traveling up the sides and a black handle.
Disgust crossed her face for a fleeting moment, knowing full well what the machine's purpose was. It was a rod used for oppression. It would send out electoral waves upon the victim through contact. It was something close to a taser, but with much more power. She would know considering she shocked herself by accident while constructing one. It was not at full power and she dropped it quickly after touching it, but it was still enough to paralyze her hand for a few minutes and send a jolt up her entire arm.
Pearl's eyes drift to the corner of her station where all the others she had built were placed. She lost most interest in all the items she had built, but it didn't change the fact that she couldn't ignore the purpose for them. They bugged at her, in the back of her mind, she knew precisely what she was doing.
She hated it. She hated being forced to do what had to to live such a pathetic life and she had to admit, she actually begun to hate herself, too, for not being able to do anything about it or for giving up with what seemed like without a fight.
She felt powerless in the situation, but what else could she do…
Nothing. For a weak gem such as herself that was designed for no other purpose than to serve others, there was absolutely nothing she could do.
She tore her eyes away from the rods and looked blankly at one of the walls of her station. Her tired eyes fixated on nothing as her eyelids lowered. She brought her hands up to rest on either of her sides, as if hugging herself. She never had been given enough time to just linger and do nothing since she had first started in the factory. It wasn't until now that she could really pay attention to all the aches and pains that her body had and the desperation of her mind begging for some rest.
Pearl's eyes sunk to the ground and her eyelids sunk even further so. Her skin felt clammy to the touch and her gem seeming a bit lackluster. She felt her mouth parted a bit as she her mind drifted.
She closed her eyes completely.
"Worker 3648192," a voice rung out in her mind.
Pearl instantly jumped; her eyes wide open as she spun around to face a familiar face.
It was Galena.
She studied Pearl for a moment.
Pearl's heart stopped. Had she been caught trying to rest her eyes?
"It seems that there was an incident during the construction of a space voyager and there is a need for new workers in a factory higher up than our own," Galena trailed off as she sauntered over to rods Pearl had built.
"They are requesting for gems that will be capable of comprehending and understanding blueprints and designs for the construction of new space shuttles and weaponry," she picked up a rod and scrutinized it before turning it on and facing Pearl.
Pearl felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as a cold sweat formed.
Galena smirked and her eyes fell down to the weapon held casually in her hand, as if it were nothing to be concerned about and with a bit of a wry laugh she looked back to Pearl.
Pearl's breath got caught in her throat and she jumped back when Galena lashed the object out toward her suddenly, nearly touching the tip to her torso, "you will be one of the gems to go as a replacement."
Pearl closed her eyes in fear, but stood as stiff as a board. She felt as if she was about to sick. She waited for anything to happen at that moment, but the only thing that came was a click, the sound of footsteps walking away from her, and a chuckle.
It only took a few moments for two gems much larger than herself to enter station with handcuffs in hand and escort her out of the building and into another transportation vehicle.
Pearl's eyes were glued to the ground as she walked and she didn't even attempt to look at the outside life. She knew it would only bring about bad feelings if she did.
She stepped into the vehicle without protest and took to a corner as she did some time ago when she was first transported. She hugged her legs close to her chest as best as she could with handcuffs on and looked straight at the doors in the back of the vehicle. She waited for others to eventually enter, but no one else did as she heard the engine start up. Her eyes moved to the wall next to her as she hugged her legs even harder. She was going to the new factory all alone.
The truck took longer than Pearl originally thought it would to arrive at the new factory, but she didn't complain. It had given her a little time to think to herself and mentally prepare for the change. She had even got the chance to close her eyes and relax, or at least as best as she could. Her body seemed to relish in the little time that it was granted to unwind a bit, though her only complaint in that moment would've been how uncomfortably warm she felt. Her mind had only begun to drift elsewhere when the vehicle jerked to a stop and knocked her forward.
She got up on her hands and knees, vertigo blanketing her mind as a nauseating feeling swept over her. She was still, unable to move with her head hanging down when the two gems escorting her opened the doors in the back of the truck.
"Oh, does the little defect have motion sickness?" one of the gems mocked with fake sympathy as she entered in through the doors. The gem grabbed Pearl's arm roughly and forced her stand. Though it had sickened her, Pearl had to admit she was rather glad the larger gem did so in some sense, because she knew if they had asked her to stand on her own she wouldn't have been able to.
The gem forced her out of the vehicle and over toward a line of smaller gems. Pearl felt herself trip over her own feet a couple times as she was dragged along, but her mind was too busy trying to overcome the headrush she felt.
"Wait in this line. Try to run and we'll kill you in a heartbeat," the gem escorting her growled as Pearl was forcefully stopped.
Before she could even register what was going on, she felt weight disappear from her arms. Pearl looked down and saw that her handcuffs had been removed. She quickly rubbed her wrist and looked around like a frightened animal. In front of her, a line of gems stood near a long stretch of the building, waiting. Most were of pale hues of white, tan, and pink, but there were some that were more of dark gray-black hues.
Pearl caught sight of something moving from the corner of her eye and turned to look behind her, the fog of vertigo slowly clearing from her mind.
Behind her, she saw that the building was made in a shape of an L and there had appeared to be a set of doors to which she saw her escort walking toward. Curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't help but wondered where the gem that had been escorting her was going after she had just threatened her. Pearl looked around some more. The area she was in held some semblance of the area of the other factor, but the only main difference was that it seemed to lack any sign of life other than the gems gathered at the factor. All the other buildings surrounding the factor were tall and looming.
There stood a couple of guards, but the more Pearl observed, the more she realized that if she were try to make a run for it that she might actually stand a chance of getting away with it.
But the more Pearl thought about it realistically and logically, the more she realized that that was only hopeful thinking. Even if Pearl did manage to somehow elude the guards, then what? There was nowhere for her to run to.
With a sigh, she lowered her head in defeat. She looked back forward.
Patiently, she waited in line.
Slowly, the gems in front of her shuffled forward and she would follow suit. Staring down at her feet, she waited. Not much went on inside her of head. Her body still ached, but she simply ignored the feeling as the hot sun beamed down on all of the gems waiting in the line.
Pearl raised her arm to her forehead to wipe away the sweat that had gathered from sun's heat. She heard the sound of the line moving forward and made to make another step forward, as well, but a sudden dizzy spell struck her and she stumbled to the side.
Pearl tumbled flat on her stomach when something bumped into her from behind.
"HEY! WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!?" someone yelled.
Pearl quickly flipped around and scurried backwards on the ground in fear that a guard was the one who pushed her down.
"LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOUR GOING TO HELP ME PICK ALL OF THESE UP, YOU HEAR?!" a small, red colored gem with a tote bag continued to yell at her.
Pearl was a bit dumbfounded at the statement and the gem she saw until she noticed all of the letters that littered the ground.
A light flickered on in Pearl's head and realized that the small gem was a messenger of some sort.
The red gem kneeled down and grumbled as her hand reached out to pick up all of the letters that were scattered everywhere. Pearl watched her for a moment, still stunned.
The red gem picked up a letter, but stopped half way of putting back in her tote bag and, without looking at Pearl, roared, "WELL?"
Pearl watched as the letter in the red gem's hand began to smolder at her touch and small wisps of smoke began to rise from her hand.
Shaking her head a bit to snap out of her daze, Pearl quickly moved start picking up the letters, fearing the temper of the red gem. She quickly began to gathered them in her arms.
"No, no, no! I'm gonna miss her! She's gonna leave!" Pearl spared a quick glance at the red gem when she heard her whispering to herself with an odd expression that was a mix between anger and franticness.
"I have to hurry! I have to hurry! I have to hurry!" the smaller gem kept repeating to herself like a mantra.
Pearl finished gathering the letters that were by her and neatly organized them in an orderly stack before holding them out to the red gem. The red gem was busy shoving the letters into the tote messily, but looked to Pearl with a glare. Quickly, she forced the letters into her bag and snatched the letters from her.
The enraged red gem stood, and with a hand full of letters, she motioned at Pearl and growled, "If I wasn't in such a hurry I would-!"
"WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?" another aggressive voice cut the red gem off midsentence.
Pearl saw a look of horror cross the small, red gem's face as she looked somewhere past Pearl.
Pearl quickly twisted her head around and saw a guard approaching them with a weapon drawn.
Pearl quickly scurried further away from the red gem as the guard approached them. She jumped when she felt something touch her hand in the process and saw that it was a letter; she must have missed one. Pearl looked back to the guard with fear covering her in a cold sweat, but was surprised when the guard walked past her. She had seemed to be more focused on the messenger gem rather than her.
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!" the guard shouted, stooping over the red gem with her hand on her hips and a menacing look in her eyes.
"It wasn't!-..." the smaller gem said with a hint of her fiery temper as she balled her hands into fists, but trailed off as her eyes quickly moved down to Pearl.
Pearl froze in terror. Her eyes widened and she gave the red gem a pleading look. If the red gem told her what happened, Pearl knew she would receive a grave punishment.
For only a second, a hesitant look made it's way on the red gem's face before it vanished and she looked to the ground.
She continued," I- I just dropped some letters. I told that pathetic gem to help me pick them back up…"
A smirk crossed the guard's face, but she continued to glare down at the red gem, "and who said you had any command over this gem? Your only barely above her, so unless you want to end up just like her… YOU BETTER REMEMBER YOUR PLACE AND GET MOVING!"
The red gem was startled and backed away from the guard before running off with her letters still in her hand.
"You better be glad I don't have authority over you, you little runt! But I'll be sure to inform your quadrant leader!" the guard shouted as the red gem ran away.
Pearl watched the gem go, extremely grateful to the small messenger. She remembered the letter by her hand and quickly picked it up. She turned her attention to the guard, who was laughing at the fear she arose in the red gem, and Pearl made a risky decision.
Pearl hastily folded the letter and tucked it away in her clothing. If the guard found the letter, the red gem would surely suffer a weighty price.
It was an eye for an eye.
Pearl heard the guard finish laughing and swiftly moved to her original position. The guard turned and looked at her with an annoyed expression.
"What are you waiting for? Get back in line!" the guard commanded as she kicked Pearl, not noticing the crime she had just committed.
A/N: I didn't want to make this any longer than two chapters long, but I don't want to make these chapter extremely long either. So, there will be a third chapter of this flashback/dream before going back to the story's 'real-world' or conscious setting.
Thank you all for continuing to read this story! Lots of love to all of you!