Rhodonite woke up in her bed again, her whole body aching. She tried to sit up, even though it hurt. She was in the same outfit as she was in when the experiment was taking place, except it was bloody and slightly ripped. She noticed that her limbs were wrapped in some sort of tape, which Rhodonite assumed to keep the healing tears or whatever in place.
"I better get my limbs back to moving, who knows how long I've been resting..." Rhodonite said to herself as she got up out of bed and limped to the gardens.
The gardens were seemingly empty of Gems, it was still daylight, but getter darker as the sun set. Rhodonite didn't like the pain of walking through the pavilion, but yet it was calming, and she liked all the noise. Birds were chirping, animals were chattering and grunting, snorting and howling, and she could hear the river running. Lo and behold, she stopped at a part of the forest path that the river ran through. The river was moving quickly in white, foamy rapids and the water seemed to make its own sort of roar, and now that Rhodonite thought about it, the river was more of a creek or stream. Luckily, there was a beautiful red bridge crossing the stream, and Rhodonite decided to stand on the bridge and watch the water and animals, her arms resting on the railing.
Rhodonite sat there for hours, and she took mental note of everything she saw, from the colorful birds, some with magnificent tail feathers, to a herd of long-necked, purple mammals drinking from the stream.
"Rhodonite?" Rhodonite could hear the familiar voice of Blue Diamond behind her.
"Hello," Rhodonite said quietly and brusquely, not even turning to look at Blue.
Blue leaned on the railway beside her. "I see you are recovering from the experiment," She said. Blue was wearing the same outfit she was wearing when she first saw her, an ice blue kimono.
"Yeah, the experiment that you conducted. Don't act innocent, you are one of them and I know you helped." Rhodonite snapped.
"I didn't conduct it, my sisters did, there's nothing I can do about that," Blue replied.
"But you have a say in the whole committee thing, you could have stopped it if you really cared," Rhodonite said.
"You don't know that, I have a small say, but they never listen to me. You know enough about me to remember that I'm defective." Blue argued.
"That was my first mistake, confiding in you," Rhodonite said quietly.
"That wasn't a mistake! The experiment was not my fault, you can still trust me, I swear!" Blue put an arm on Rhodonite's back.
Rhodonite winced in pain and flicked her hand off. "Don't touch me! I don't need your sympathy."
"I have a feeling you'll need me," Blue replied.
"Oh, so you suddenly have future vision now?" Rhodonite asked sarcastically.
"All Diamonds possess it, actually," Blue explained.
"Ugh, whatever." Rhodonite scoffed.
"I know this is scary, and I know this is why it is leading you to not think straight, but I could help you if you stop blaming me," Blue said encouragingly.
Rhodonite's eyes widened, and Blue smiled as she saw this.
"Fine, you have a point," Rhodonite replied.
"Glad to know that I'm right." Blue smiled.
Rhodonite tried to hold back a smile but failed. The two sat in silence for a bit, watching the river.
"Do you know anything about who you used to be?" Blue asked.
"Oh, I know plenty. Parts of it is still vague, but it was quite the adventure to even remember who I was." Rhodonite said, still staring off at the river. She looked over to see that Blue was staring intently at her, her eyes glittering with fascination. "Fine, I'll tell you, just quit looking at me like that!" She said.
"Alright! Where does it begin? Well, the part you remember?" Blue asked eagerly.
"It started at a raid during the first Gem war, one of my past lives, Sodalite, and her partner/wife, Howlite were stalking a Homeworld ship carrying Rhodochrosite, my other past life. After capturing Rhodochrosite and some of her helpers, Sodalite got to know Rhodochrosite over the weeks, and she even took her out to the beach so she could pick her side based on heart, not fear. After Rhodochrosite joined the Crystal Gems, Sodalite, Howlite and her worked together and prepared for the final battle of the Gem War, Operation Orosu, where Sodalite and Rhodochrosite died and eventually got melded together." Rhodonite explained.
"That's it? I felt like it was going to be more...detailed?" Blue said.
"You're only getting a summary out of me, hun," Rhodonite replied.
Blue chuckled. "That's good enough for me."
There were a few seconds of silence again before Rhodonite looked back over at Blue Diamond.
"You're still here?" She asked quizzically.
"Where else would I go?" Blue answered with a question.
"I don't know, away from here? It's boring here, so I thought maybe you had better things to do?" Rhodonite said awkwardly.
"Nah, I think you're as cool as it gets." Blue smiled.
Rhodonite grinned back, then it shrunk back down to seriousness. "I should head back to bed, everything aches, maybe I'll feel better tomorrow." She began to limp away.
"Well, I'll see you later!" Blue shouted perkily, waving goodbye.
"Yeah, yeah, good talk." Rhodonite said as she made her way to the door from the path, and she wearily waved back.
Blue smiled and sighed. "I think this whole 'friend' thing is coming along!"
You said you wanted more Blue so...
Now don't get me wrong, Blue will be very important in the near future, but as of right now, she is more like Sally in the Nightmare Before Christmas, that friend/lover that the main character doesn't really notice at first. But I mean, cut Rho some slack, she's been through a lot.
What does everyone think of Rho and Blue's relationship so far? And what do you speculate on coming from it?
ALSO I AM SO EXCITED FOR STEVENBOMB 4 I ALMOST FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR