I am Opal, a gem with a long, complicated past.
After the night I chose my name, I spent a lot of time with Garnet. She helped me find out what my weapon was and how to use it. She helped me discover the ins and outs of... well, me. I am forever grateful for her help and guidance. Without her help, I'm not sure I would have been able to stay together as long as I did.
The war was still going on, though, so occasionally we would have to leave the comforts of our camp behind to fight. I watched many gems die during that war… Amethyst was so young, she doesn't even remember she was there. Even though many forces were retreating, some of the Homeworld factions were still fighting, strong as ever. So many gems were shattered, we stopped collecting the shards.
There was one day, however, that the war appeared to be over. All of the Homeworld forces had retreated, and many gems wanted to bury the gem shards of their fallen comrades. They went to an underground passage all at once to mourn the fallen and lay them to rest. Garnet, however, had a bad feeling about the area. Only Rose and I listened, and we went to take down the remains of our camp.
None of those gems ever returned.
We decided to construct a temple to live in; if we were going to stay here for the rest of our days, we were going to make it comfortable. Although Garnet and I insisted our counterparts didn't need separate rooms, Rose built them anyway, saying we might need some space once in a while.
I'm glad we listened to her, because she was most certainly right.
As the years passed, Amethyst and Pearl matured. Although I rarely unfused, I could tell that the bond between them was something more than it used to be. When I did unfuse, there would be tender kisses and silent promises made between them. It felt less like a bond of simple trust, and more like a bond of love.
The only problem with that kind of bond is that it is prone to jealousy.
For the first few millennia, everything was fine. We would occasionally find a corrupted gem, and bubble it to save the humans from its wrath. But as time went on, Rose Quartz fell in love with many of these humans.
Pearl had always had a liking for their leader, but her bond with Amethyst was stronger. However, when Rose started seeing these humans, Pearl became quite jealous. I started to unfuse more and more often, and I would stay unfused for longer periods of time. Amethyst could see that Pearl was gaining an interest in Rose, and would act out to try and gain Pearl's attention. Of course, this only made Pearl annoyed. This trend continued, and eventually the two would only fuse when absolutely necessary. I was only myself for short periods of time, and it felt… different. I couldn't be myself because my counterparts were jealous. I did what I had to do and then split apart. It was not fun, and I could feel the tension building. However, there was nothing I could do. I felt helpless.
Flash forward to 1987. Rose had met another human. This one was a musician who went by the name of Greg Universe. By this point, Pearl was head over heels for Rose, but she seemed to be oblivious to it. Pearl treated this human as just another phase, but as the months and years went by, she realized that this was much more serious than any of Rose's other relationships. She feared the worst, and turned to Amethyst for support.
Meanwhile, Amethyst acted so childish, she took the look of a child in her form. Rose was like a mother to her, and thought of losing her made her act out more and more. She just wanted to get her attention, but all of her attention was on Greg. Many nights, she would stay locked in Pearl's embrace, listening to her ramblings and seeing the tears that made her heart break.
They would sometimes fuse in these moments, and all I could feel was sadness. I've never felt so alone as in those moments where the combined emotions of Amethyst and Pearl made me break. I would sit alone in a corner, sobbing until dawn. Sometimes Garnet would pass by, but she couldn't help. She knew no matter what she did, it wouldn't end my pain.
Instead, she put on a stoic expression, and kept walking.
The last time I remember being fused before Rose's death was when Steven was about to be born. Rose was giving us her final instructions.
"...and Opal, thank you for your understanding. I know this experience has been hard for you, but you managed to pull through, for all of us. I am forever grateful."
I told myself that I would stay together during this, but Rose was making it quite difficult.
"To both of you, the child's name shall be Steven." she declared. "Please, take care of him…"
As her body dissolved into light, I tried my best to stay together. I needed the support of my form to keep me from completely breaking down.
I can handle this. I am Opal, and I am strong.
As soon as I saw Steven, I fell apart, and Pearl ran off into the distance.
I wasn't myself again for 12 years.