Ten needed to take a rest against a tree. Being a gem, she wasn't physically tired, but it was clear the story was taking a different kind of toll on her.

"Are you okay?" said Steven meekly. The story was horrible to hear and he wasn't sure he knew what to say to ease her mind. "You don't have to tell me any more of your story," he said. "You're just going to have to tell it again when you meet the others. From the sound of it, once is more than enough."

"No, it's fine," she said. "I've just never told the story aloud is all."

"It sounds terrible." He felt stupid for saying that.

"It was. Seeing other Rose Quartzes being shattered… it's almost like watching yourself die over and over. It's a bit much." She sniffed loudly, turned away, and wiped her face. She stood back up. "But my story's not over, Steven. How much longer do we have to walk?"

"Well, if we're not completely lost, it should be about two more hours." He looked off into the distance. "I think I recognize that city, though. We saw that big squiggly-looking building on our way to your ship, so we're still headed the right way." He looked at the sun as it sank deeper in the western sky. It was going to be dark soon. If it went down before they found the warp pad, he was pretty sure they wouldn't find it today. "We need to move a little faster."

"I can… if you feel safe with me, I can carry you."

"Really? That'd be great!" She walked over and placed her hands on his sides and hoisted him up. She was very strong and lifted him to her shoulders with ease, but he suddenly felt uneasy. He wondered if this was what it would be like if his mother were still… alive? Still existed? He wasn't even sure if she could be considered dead or just… something else. Or somewhere else, he thought, rubbing his gem absently. Were she here, would she pick him up as easily and as readily? Would he feel this same strange mix of danger and security, despite knowing his mother even less than he knew this Rose Quartz below him? He was filled with confusing emotions and all he knew was that he would rather hear more of Ten's sad story then tackle them right now.

"Thank you, Steven."

"Huh? What for?"

"That you let me handle you makes me feel trusted. It makes me feel… safe."

"Oh, uh, sure. No problem." He didn't have the heart to tell her that his legs were just really tired and he'd rather she tried yanking his gem out again than have to walk one more step.

"Hold on tight," Ten said, gripping has legs. She began to run much faster than Steven would have been able to manage. At this speed, Steven figured they could probably make it to the warp pad just as the sun was hitting the horizon.

"Where was I in the story?" she said, her voice level despite the powerful shocks her legs were shooting up her body.

"Your ship had just gotten off Homeworld."

"Ah, right. From there, things gradually went from bad to worse…"

The Rose Quartz pointed to herself. "Since I've been chosen leader, you can call me One." She pointed to another Rose Quartz. "Two." Then another. "Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. And you're Twelve."

"Not very creative names," observed Eight.

"Why don't we just go by our Facets or something?" Five asked.

"After what Homeworld just did to us," said One, "I don't really feel like going by my Cut or Facet. Do you?"

The other Rose Quartzes were forced to agree under the circumstances. They didn't like it much either, but for better or worse, they were outcasts from gem society.

"So what do we do now?" said Ten. "This ship doesn't have much fuel left, and even if it did, we have no idea where we're going or what we're doing. I mean, what are we going to do with our lives now?"

"Whatever we want, I guess," said Eleven.

"Well, what do we want?" asked Ten.

No one had a ready answer. After a moment of silence, One said, "For the time being, it's to not get shattered." The others nodded and murmured agreement.

Ten looked around at the others. Of the twelve of them, most looked like the standard Rose Quartz model, including herself. The only variations were One, Three, and Eleven.

Eleven wore her hair in a tight braid running down to mid back. Her eyes were wide and feral-looking, and while her muscles weren't as pronounced, she looked wiry and tough.

Three kept her hair shaved down to near baldness. Her jaw jutted out, ending in a strong chin. Her shoulders were wide and powerful, as well as her legs, but her waist was extremely thin, giving her an oddly pinched look.

One, on the other hand, had gone a different way. She looked larger in the middle, almost fat. It made her look less intimidating, but also more trustworthy. She kept her hair extremely long, letting it spill in ringlets nearly down to the floor. Whereas the standard Rose Quartz wore armor of shiny metal over most of their torso, One had chosen a long gown that looked more like something a Diamond would wear. It certainly didn't interfere with her ability to fight, however, as she had been ferocious as they were moving from ship to ship. In fact, all three of those who modified their appearance fought on a different level from the others. They must have seen a lot of combat. It made sense, in a way: most gems only changed their appearance after taking damage because the process took so long that they couldn't find the time to do it. These three had been reduced to dust and survived to fight another day.

Had Ten ever been poofed, that would likely be it for her since she usually worked alone. If these three had been recovered, that meant companions.

And companions meant war.

Ten shook her head. She didn't want to think about war. She was still in shock from the battle at the Citadel. She felt on the verge of crying, but her body just wouldn't do it. Her head rang with the sound of shattering gems. She covered her ears to try and make it stop.

Six spoke up. "According to the ship's database, if we're going to go somewhere for fuel, our best bet is this colony here." She pointed to a dot on the map labeled 'Azipan.' "It is small and sparsely populated, but it's in an important enough location to warrant a fully equipped spaceport. We'd barely be noticed. We should also grab a spare power core or two, just in case."

"And then what?" said Four. "We could just as easily each grab a docked ship and go our separate ways."

"And you're going to, what, just wander space alone?" said Seven.

"Doesn't seem much different from wandering through space together, does it?" Four snapped back.

Seven looked hurt. "It would be better to at least have some company, wouldn't it?"

"If you want to leave, I'm not going to stop you," One said. "None of you are obligated to stay. I don't control you, nor do I want to. I won't force you to do anything. If at any spaceport you want to leave, go right ahead. In fact, I'd prefer it, because if we are going to stick together to survive, I want to be sure that I can trust the gems at my back."

Four flushed at this. "No, I want to stay. I was just saying."

"You're just scared," said Eleven. "We all are." She nodded at One and Three. They nodded back.

"It's going to take half of our remaining fuel reserves to get to Azipan," said Six, picking up where she left off. "We'll need to restore a quarter of our reserves to make it to the next safe spaceport. If absolutely necessary, we can leave with as little as a five percent refuel, but let's just say I don't see us sneaking in and out of the urbanized trade center that gets us to."

"So a quarter of a tank," said One.

"Full is best, but yeah, a quarter will do."

They called down to the Spaceport's control tower. Six used audio only so they wouldn't see the ship full of Rose Quartzes. They were given permission to land near the central fuel depot, directly in sight of the main control tower. They didn't like it, but there was no reasonable excuse for requesting a different landing bay, so they just accepted it.

They landed quickly and got to work. If the gems in the tower hadn't noticed that they were flying in a bright pink ship that was clearly a Rose Quartz's, it wouldn't take much longer.

One, Five, Six, and Twelve were going to watch the ship and monitor whatever communications they could decipher coming in or out of the control tower. Two, Three, Seven, and Nine, were in charge of fueling the ship. Four, Eight, Ten, and Eleven were sent out to see if they could find any power cores and after that, if possible, some weapons and communicators.

None of them had any communicators. Ten had given hers back to Zircon before leaving for Homeworld, as Rose Quartzes and other warriors were usually equipped by their managers and didn't own their own gear. As such, they were going out into this spaceport unarmed and alone.

"Stay close together," said Eleven. "Everyone look in a different direction and make sure no one gets the jump on us. If you see any Rubies or any type of Quartz, you warn the rest of the group. If necessary, we fight together. I don't want any of you being heroes. I also don't want any of you being cowards."

None of the others in the group questioned Eleven. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Ten definitely had no idea how to fight as a group, nor really how to protects others in a fight. She barely did anything during the fight at Red Diamond's Citadel, blocking a handful of attacks with her shield, but she didn't strike any other gems, partly because she was too frightened to, and partly because she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Eleven turned to Four. "You said you did security work in a spaceport, right? Where should we look for a power core?"

"I'm not sure," said Four. "We mainly guarded the terminals and landing pads. But I can definitely show you where the other stuff we need is."

Eleven frowned. "I guess that will have to do. Everyone keep a lookout for anything that might tell us where the power cores are."

"That's a lot of stuff to remember to look out for," said Eight. "Gems, weapons, communicators, power cores, suspicious activity—" Eleven put a hand up to silence her. "Hey, don't go shoving your hand in my face—"

Eleven clasped her hand over Eight's mouth and put a finger to her lips. She pointed off to their right where a group of Rubies were moving in their direction. Eleven motioned the other Rose Quartzes to get out of sight. They moved into the cramped space between a large blue ship and a wall. The Rubies hurried past, heading off in the direction their group had come from.

When the Rubies were far enough away, Four spoke up. "Do you think they're heading for the ship?"

"Yes," said Eleven. She then turned and continued heading in the direction they were going.

"Wait," said Eight. "If they're heading for the ship, we need to go warn the others."

"Not our job," said Eleven. "Besides, if they're getting commands from the Central Tower, One and the others will have heard the orders though the ships communicator. They'll take care of it."

"It doesn't feel right just leaving those Rubies to the others," said Ten.

Eleven cut her off. "I know, but we also have an important job. The success of future refuelings may well depend on whether we can find communicators and weapons. And forget about if our power core dies and we don't have a replacement. Unless you don't mind floating alone in space until the end of time."

None of the others looked happy about it, but then neither did Eleven. She led them deeper into the compound.

"Can you get your legs under this thing?" Eight grunted.

Ten shifted her weight. The power core was heavier than she thought it would be. Also bigger, being nearly as tall as a Rose Quartz. Four and Eleven were carrying a case full of communicators they had found, but they had no luck with weapons. Being a relatively peaceful sector of the galaxy, there was little-to-no security here, and what few weapons this place had were probably being carried by guards or locked up in the control tower. Most of these gems could pull their own from their gems if needed anyway.

The cores had been held in a cold storage unit near the main engineering bay. A group of Pyropes and Peridots scattered when the Rose Quartzes approached. It seemed like they had heard about the massacre at the Citadel. If security forces weren't already on their way, they would be soon.

They could hear some commotion as they drew nearer to their ship. Eleven formed her shield. "Keep moving this thing," she said. "Four, watch their backs. I'm going to see what the trouble is."

"I'll do what I can," said Four. Eleven headed off, disappearing behind the hull of a ship.

The three Rose Quartzes made progress as fast as they could, but the power core was large and unwieldy.

"Hey," said Eight to Four. "Think you can give us a hand with this?"

"I need to keep a lookout," said Four, her fingers fidgeting as they gripped the communicator case.

"If you help us out, we can get to the ship faster. Just use one hand or something."

"Oh, b-but…" stammered Four. She looked around for Eleven.

"It would really help us out," said Ten.

"…Okay. Just a little." She shifted the communicators to her right hand and placed her left underneath the power core, lifting as best she could.

"Oh, man, that really helps," said Eight.

"Yes, thank you, Four," said Ten.

"Sure, no problem." Four gave them a small smile, one that faded quickly from nerves.

They hobbled along until they were almost in sight of the ship. The commotion was growing louder and they heard an odd sound, some sort of yowling.

"What in the world are we listening to?" said Eight. Ten was about to respond when Eleven barreled into sight.

"Eleven!" said Four with relief, then "Eleven!" again in shock as a huge creature bowled into her and pinned her against a ship. It was massive, standing taller than a Rose Quartz, with its body and four limbs covered in shards of jutting crystal, a wicked, elongated face, and a mouth full of shining, gem-like teeth. A bright purple-black gem sat in its forehead. It held one of Eleven's arms against the ship and snapped its jaws inches from Eleven's face, but she held it at bay with the remnants of her free hand. It looked like she had taken considerable damage.

"I'm coming!" shouted Four, tossing down the communicator case and running to her aid.

"Wait, hold on!" shouted Eight as the sudden shift in weight caused the power core to dip dangerously.

Four jumped on the back of the beast and got her arms around its neck. It whipped its head back and forth, causing the crystals protrusions on its body to cut at Four like knives. Eleven freed her arm and began pummeling the creature with her fists and shield.

While they fought the crystal monster, Eight and Ten struggled with the sinking power core. Ten attempted to get better footing, but her legs gave out suddenly and the power core began to fall right towards the abandoned communicator case.

"No!" shouted Eight. She dove in front of the falling power core, catching it and pivoting her body at the same time, dragging it away from the case. She landed with a jarring crash on the ground, the core landing directly on top of her, crushing her. She burst into mist and Ten found herself screaming.

"Eight!" cried Four, loosening her grip on the crystal beast. It chose that moment to buck, sending Four sailing through the air and crashing to the ground. Then it lunged forward and bit Eleven on the neck. Eleven grabbed its jaws and tried to hold them apart.

"Four! Ten! Grab the communicators and get back to the ship!"

"But Eight!" said Ten. She gripped the power core around the middle and with considerable effort hoisted it off the spot where Eight had been moments before, but there were only pulverized bits of gem underneath.

"I can't hold this thing much longer," said Eleven. "Get to the ship before the others come back." She kneed the creature in the stomach and spat in its face. "You're lucky I don't have a weapon, you fractured clump."

Four stood and began running towards the ship. "Wait!" Ten called after her. She leapt over the power core and grabbed the communicator case, gave one final look back at the struggling Eleven, then took off after Four.

"Four! Look out to your right!"

Two more of those crystal creatures charged at her, practically blurs as they raced on all fours. She screamed in panic and formed her shield, catching the first one in the face. Ten ran over and formed her own shield and together they pushed the first beast off. The second one waited until they were distracted with the first and darted in, biting Four right around the gem and tearing it out of her body. With a poof, Four vanished into dust, leaving Ten alone.

"Give that back, you mutt!" Ten roared, reaching for the gem in its mouth. The thing only stared at her and bit down, shattering the gem with its teeth. "No!" She raised her shield and struck downwards, hitting the beast right between the eyes, full on the gem. There was a high-pitched keening, and then the gem shattered and the beast vanished in a puff of smoke.

She looked for the other beast and found that another was bounding towards her. She was outnumbered two to one again. She turned and ran as fast as she could. She could hear them following behind, their mouths yammering and yowling, their hands and feed pounding the ground in animalistic fervor, slowly but surely catching up. The ship was so close, but there was no way she was making it before they caught her. She was sure it was over for her.

"Get down, Ten!" called a voice. She saw the shield at the last moment and ducked her head. The shield whizzed by and took one of her pursuers in the face, then vanished. Another came a moment later and struck the second. Through the open latch of the ship, One was beckoning Ten. Ten leapt through the air and landed in a heap on the floor of the ship as One snapped the latch closed.

"The others?" she asked sharply. All Ten could do was look at her, shake her head, and whimper. One shouted towards the cockpit. "Six, take off!"

"How many are aboard?"

"Everyone that's left."

The ship's engine roared to life, and soon they were on their way out into space again. Ten huddled on the floor, shaking beyond her ability to control.

One knelt in front of her and put her hands on Ten's shoulders. "You did well against that monster. Was that your first shattering?" Ten pulled away from her and, after a moment of relative silence, started bawling her eyes out.

"I'm sorry you had to do that. I'm sorry you lost your companions. It gets easier." She turned back towards the cockpit. "And I'm sorry about that, too."

Some time later, One took inventory and a head count. Four, Five, Eight, Nine, and Eleven were gone. The ship had been fueled to three-quarters and they had communicators, but they still had no weapons and no power cores. They had lost nearly half their party to recover only half of what they were looking for.

"What were those things?" asked Two. Like Ten, she was cradling herself on the ship floor.

"Onyxes," said One.

"That is an Onyx? I thought it was some wild animal!"

"They are wild animals," One snarled. "They're usually only let out in the most dire of circumstances. They can hardly tell friend from enemy and they are very, very good at destroying gems." She shook her head. "They didn't even use them at the Citadel, but in a place like this where there are so few innocent gems that might be harmed by mistake, it makes sense to let the Onyxes loose. I should have thought of that."

Three put her hand on One's shoulder. "No one would have thought they would go that far. Don't blame yourself." Three gave her shoulder a squeeze, then let go with a defeated sigh. "We can't fight like this, One. We're going to be targeted no matter what system we go to or what planet we land on. We can't survive alone."

"We need to," said One. "No one else will help us."

"Excuse me if I disagree," said Six, pulling all eyes to her. She pulled up a map of the local galaxy cluster and moved through several stars and planets. She found what she was looking for and pointed to a small dot. It was labeled 'Earth.' "There is someone out there who might help us."

"She's the reason we're being shattered in the first place," said Twelve.

"She doesn't know that. I mean, probably. I doubt she wanted this to happen. If anyone will help us, it will be the Rose Quartz of Earth and her rebels."

One sat heavily on the ground. "We don't really have many options, do we? How long will it take to get to Earth?"

"In this ship?" said Six. She looked out through the viewfinder into the empty expanse of space in front of them. "A while."

"What happened next?" asked Steven.

"Well, we had communicators now," said Ten. "Our next landing went much better because of them. They made it much easier to coordinate attacks and defense and searches. We eventually got our hands on some weapons as well, which made us far more likely to survive. But even so, we're talking about a lifetime of running and hiding and raiding. Even with incredible luck and skill, we kept losing gems.

"First we lost Two to an unlucky shot from a docked ship's cannon. Soon after that, Twelve left us, deciding to take her chances alone. She might still be alive for all I know. Since there were only five of us left now, One and Three started drilling combat practices into us and Six taught us all how to navigate toward Earth in case anything terrible happened to her. Which it did, unfortunately; while the four of us were out searching for fuel and supplies, a party of Rubies raided the ship and shattered her. We took the ship back eventually, but before we could they broke our navigation systems. That made it a lot harder to find Earth.

"Then Three got shattered, surprisingly. I didn't think Seven and I would outlast her, but we did. One tripped an alarm in an armory and Three held the security forces off on her own. She went just like Eleven did: sacrificing herself to keep her companions alive.

"Seven was next. Then it was just me and One. And then…" Ten sighed. "And then it was just me. Alone. Running to get fuel and find weapons and hoping I didn't die, trying to find Earth and struggling to survive for reasons I often forgot."

"So all of your friends…?" Steven couldn't finish the question.

Ten nodded. "And all I have left to remember them by is this." She reached into her armor and pulled out a little black bag. She shook it and it jangled.

"What is that?"

"One. I promised I'd bring her shards to Earth. I think I'll put them somewhere significant. She'd probably like that." Steven found himself tearing up and he clutched reflexively at Pearl.

After a short walk in silence, they stepped into a small clearing. Reddish sunlight filtered through the trees as the sun sank to the west, illuminating the warp pad with a fiery glow. "It's been a long time since I used one of these," said Ten. "I'm not sure I'll be able to direct it correctly."

"Don't worry, I can handle it," said Steven, hopping down from her shoulders. "Just stand on the pad and I'll bring you home with me."

"So you trust me enough for that, now?"

Steven paused. His instinct was to immediately answer in the affirmative, but he found himself hesitating. For some reason, he just couldn't say yes. She had just opened up to him in a deeply personal way, so she was deserving of his trust, wasn't she? He looked up at her, her eyes becoming anxious as his answer became more and more delayed. Her hand hovered unconsciously near her sword. Panicking a little, he tried to respond nonchalantly. "I either trust you, or I believe you made up that story, and I'll be honest, if you made up a story like that, well, that would be pretty messed up." He cringed at his own clumsy words, but she seemed relieved.

Not wanting another awkward moment like that, he stepped on the crystal plinth and it began to glow blue, then light shot upwards and they were being pulled into the warp stream.

"You really can do it!" she said. "You're full of surprises, little hybrid."

"I get that a lot. Now let's go home."