"Well, one thing about the devil, she can never be caught!" Rhodonite smirked to herself as she picked her form quickly, making sure to bear the Blue Diamond emblem for safety. Some of the determination and rebellious spirit from before had stayed within her, and granted, it was pretty difficult to dissolve from her being now that it had found such a prominent home in it. She knew that the Quartz would've been incompetent and have forgotten to bubble her, so she was able to reform easily.
"Gah!" The Quartz flinched as the Gem she was holding suddenly glowed and hovered out of her hands, forming Rhodonite.
Rhodonite landed, stretched, and summoned her tomahawk. "Yeah, remember to bubble next time." She smiled smugly.
The Quartz pulled out her Gem destabilizer. "I won't let you get away with this, beast!" She began to hold it out threateningly, causing Rhodonite to back away.
"Enough with this beast business, just call me Rho," Rhodonite said, giving a devilish, yet warm smile with the fangs she had always been insecure about, but yet she smiled often to keep up her largely false ego.
"I can call you whatever I like!" The Quartz yelled assertively.
"What's with you and the dramatic chit-chat? Just attack me already, I'm right in front of you," Rhodonite dissolved her tomahawk. "And completely defenseless. Come on, don't you want fame and fortune, recognition from your stupid Diamonds?" Rhodonite tried to come off as snarky to intimidate her opponent, and it seemingly worked. She could see the Quartz trembling, hesitant to poof her, for some odd reason. She looked young, so she immediately assumed that she was a newly emerged trainee.
"Why are you hesitating? I'm making it easy for you..." Rhodonite stopped backing up, and the Quartz froze in front of her.
Rhodonite took the chance to study the Quartz since she had a feeling she was going to be conversing with her for a long time. The Quartz had about the same build as any other, broad-shouldered, tall, muscular, with long, bushy hair that was a pleasant cream color. Her skin was a very light powder blue with a slight iridescence, but not much. Much like a Jasper, her skin was two toned, a majority of it was the blue and it had markings which were a whitish-gray-silver color. The glittering blue Gem of hers was placed just below the side of her shoulder. Her silverish-blue eyes were fearful, yet eager, like a child waiting in line for a rollercoaster. She also bore the Blue Diamond emblem.
"So, what's your name, newbie?" Rhodonite asked.
"A-Aura Quartz, loyal soldier of B-Blue Diamond." The Quartz stuttered. She looked up at the small emblem on Rhodonite's chest. "And apparently, so are you?"
"The Diamond and I are very good friends, actually," Rhodonite said.
"H-How? Why would the glorious Blue Diamond be friends with a monster like you?" Aura Quartz asked.
"I don't know, myself, but looking at her gardens, she must have a knack for "bloodthirsty monsters", such as myself." Rhodonite shrugged. "So about that capture, are we gonna do this or...like what are we doing here?"
Aura Quartz swallowed nervously. "Uuuum..." She stuttered before shaking her head as a way to get back on task. "I will now poof you and take you to my Diamond, it's my order, my calling and I will serve it!" Aura said, faking a jab at Rhodonite's chest with her destabilizer.
"Oh really? Is it really your calling, or is it what everyone says is your calling?" Rhodonite asked, studying her nails as if uninterested.
Aura threw her hands up in frustration. "Gah! Quit messing with me, devil! I will refuse your temptation!"
"You call me a devil, and oh, I believe it, but this isn't a temptation, it's the truth. Just come with me, and you'll be free." Rhodonite was now backed up against a closed elevator door. She held out her hand acceptingly to Aura, while she pried the elevator door open with the other, revealing the ominous black hole going straight down, the only signal of life was the wires climbing up the shaft.
Aura was hesitant once again, arguing in her head about Rhodonite's offer. I mean, this Gem had been corrupt and had been a terrifying horror story shared by her peers. Aura knew exactly who this Gem was, a forced fusion, an unstable, disgraceful being that should not exist. What if this sly, quick, despicable Gem was lying about freedom, or her hospitality was fake? If Aura decided to join her, and it have been a hoax, then she would've been considered defective, traitorous, thrown out onto the streets, lonely, homeless, scavenging for anything...No, she could not bear the thought, all she knew was that she had to make a decision now.
"I'm sorry, but I decline your offer," Aura said, closing her eyes as though she were accepting dire, disappointing news, like a child upon realizing her best friend must move away.
Rhodonite summoned her tomahawk. "How disappointing, but remember, you always have a choice to change!" Rhodonite grabbed onto one of the elevator wires, snipped the other wire adjacent to her, which caused her to fly up the shaft to the surface.
Aura Quartz looked up the shaft with her mouth agape with worry and awe. Then scurried to the warp pad on the other side of the corruption facility and tried to find Rhodonite as fast as she could.
I have to know more.
No, I have to catch her.
But can't you see, she can help you!
No, follow orders.
Aura's mind was conflicted, but she was still very focused on the task at hand.
Find Rhodonite.
Rhodonite jumped out of the elevator shaft and dissolved her tomahawk.
Gotta get Blue, gotta get Blue. Her thoughts raced.
The palace was practically a labyrinth, so it was difficult for Rhodonite to know where she was. She just knew she was in some hallway and she was running fast away from the elevator that connected the corruption lab to the surface. In fact, the hallways were like a barren desert, a tight tube of white, and the twists and turns were the only things that kept Rhodonite's reality intact. The first real burst of color was when she ran into a bright yellow figure.
Just her luck, it was a Citrine Quartz, bearing the Yellow Diamond emblem standing sternly in front of her. She recognized the soldier as one of the Quartzes that led her to what she called "The Gladiator Poofing Room", Rhodonite always had her own names for things on Homeworld. She had smacked right into the breasts of the figure, then fell backward onto the floor.
"Aw, geez that's gonna hurt for a week!" Rhodonite groaned to herself as she rubbed her tailbone. She was abruptly grabbed and lifted by the shirt so she was face-to-face with the Citrine.
"State your purpose and your identity." The Citrine said snappily, powering on a Gem destabilizer. (At this point, Rhodonite was getting sick of seeing the same old weapons and the same old paint color palette and the same old Gems everywhere she went.)
"Uuuuum...I'm...Rhodochrosite! Yes! Here for a visit..." Rhodonite decided to lie, and granted she knew that lies wouldn't help her in the long haul, but sometimes a good fib is powerful enough to save your life.
The Quartz pulled up a holographic screen on her arm and flipped through what looked to be records. "The only Rhodochrosite to ever live died several thousand years ago in the Gem War. You aren't fooling anyone. What's your real identity and your real purpose?" The Citrine growled.
"I know who she is." Rhodonite recognized the voice of Yellow Diamond coming up behind her, but she didn't dare turn her head from the Citrine's gaze.
"My Diamond." The aggressive Citrine immediately sounded shaky as she dropped Rhodonite back on the floor and made the Diamond signal with her arms, standing perfectly still, legs together, head up respectively.
Rhodonite looked up at Yellow Diamond. "Oh, Gold..." She whispered.
"This is the corrupted Gem you were assigned to, the one who stormed the throne room," Yellow said.
"But, she doesn't look corrupt anymore..." The Citrine mumbled.
"That doesn't matter at the moment, who was your partner, and why did she let it escape? Your orders were to poof, bubble, and bring it to me for further experimentation. Who was your partner, and what happened?" Yellow's tone instantly became snapping and authoritative, and her voice was the kind that was regal, poised, serious, and enough to make anyone squeamish to wet their pants.
"Rho!" A voice shouted, along with quick, yet heavy footsteps coming down the hall.
"Oh, who is it now?" Citrine growled.
"Aura!" Rhodonite immediately recognized the call. Maybe she had come back for me? Rhodonite thought excitedly.
"Halt, I now recall, you were the Citrine's partner, and you let the creature escape!" Yellow shouted, which caused Aura to skid to a stop beside Citrine.
"I-It was an accident, I swear, common mistake." Aura stuttered, frozen in the "Diamond arm-signal, completely stiff" stance.
"There are no accidents, don't make your Diamond regret giving you such a prestigious position so early in your training. One more mishap and I will have to assume you defective. You know our expectations, now meet them or suffer the consequences." Yellow said loud and clear in a scolding way.
Yes, my Diamond." Aura replied obediently.
"I'll be sure to report to your manager of your incompetence, Aura Quartz, and she will be the judge of your further punishment. Citrine, head back to the corruption lab, new orders are awaiting there. As for you, devil, you will be coming with me." Yellow Diamond ordered coldly and bitterly. She picked Rhodonite up by the scruff of the neck and strode away, Citrine departed as well, leaving Aura alone in the deserted hallway.
Yellow Diamond carried Rhodonite by the neck through the corridor, despite Rhodonite's squirming. Yellow glared at every squirm, and Rhodonite had no idea where she was going, but she knew it was nowhere good so she tried to escape with everything she had. She was in no position to reach her weapon, so she was defenseless there, but escape was enough for her at the moment.
Yellow stopped in front of a white door that camouflaged with the wall, in fact, it startled Rhodonite when it slid open automatically. Yellow grumbled to herself and threw Rhodonite into the room. Rhodonite let out a startled yell, and the minute she caught her bearings from the toss and turned around, the door slid shut and the beep of the lock cried tauntingly in her ears. Like a dog with separation anxiety, Rhodonite threw her body against the door and pounded hard, calling for help. The room was pitch black, who knows, she could've been hitting a wall, but she knew it was in the direction of the door, and that was good enough.
"Rhodonite." Yellow Diamond's voice echoed through the room, there must've been some sort of intercom. It felt strange, though, as though it were Rhodonite's conscious speaking to her, even though she knew it wasn't. The whole thing was eerie.
"What do you want this time? This is the last time you capture me, when Blue hears about this..." Rhodonite growled only to be interrupted.
"Don't bring my sister into this, she doesn't need to know of our little chat," Yellow said.
"What do you want to know from me?" Rhodonite asked. "I'm not going to be giving any answers to you."
"Oh, you're willing to trust my sister, Blue, who has done way worse deeds than I, but not me? Where's the fairness in that?" Yellow answered with a question.
"What has Blue done?" Rhodonite asked.
"Typical, she hasn't told you. Make herself look innocent...she thinks she's clever enough, and that you're stupid enough to not pursue the truth. She was the one who planned to suck out the Earth's life, don't you recall fighting her? Don't you remember getting whipped, beaten, prodded by the same Gem thousands of years ago? Even today in your new form, you still bear the scars on your back, but you choose to ignore them...Why? You refuse to remember...you refuse to recall that she is at fault." Yellow's words were honeyed, deceptive.
"No...don't you dare say it. I won't listen." Rhodonite said defiantly.
"Oh, but you have no choice." The volume on the intercom crescendoed. "She is responsible for everything, don't you see? If it weren't for her, you could be alive...truly alive...what you are right now isn't alive, just zombified, you're merely a ghost, a shadow, a nightmare...a devil." Yellow continued.
Rhodonite's breathing grew quick and heavy, her eye began to twitch and her hands shook.
"You believe it...yes...And I know exactly how my sister makes you feel, she makes you feel alive, accepted, loved...and I know you love her. You have to fight it! It's a mirage, don't you see? My sister is tricking you, seducing you, I am simply trying to help you. She won't protect you, but I will, you will be my first priority..." Yellow Diamond was articulate with her words, yet sometimes she would say words with extra bite...She was a snake, and her words were quiet hisses in the night..some, however, some words were venomous bites that stung deep, and it happened to be the ones she put the most emphasis on. They left Rhodonite empty...slipping off the edge of sanity.
"No, I won't accept it," Rhodonite said, as a way to insure herself.
"Oh but you will...Love fades, it is a temporary thing, yet so many people risk everything for it. It's one of the things that makes humans so foolish, and now Gems do it too? On Earth, they fuse for it? Ha! Unbelievable...that planet is certainly not worth your time, yet you lost everything the minute you joined them so many years ago, Sodalite. You took this on yourself, this torture." Yellow continued to monolog. "And you are so blinded by my sister's tricks, that you're forgetting about who you loved...Howlite! That naive soldier White Diamond seemed to adore. Are you willing to forgive what Blue Diamond and her forces did to you, her, your relationship?"
"What do you know about our relationship?" A fire lit in Rhodonite's eyes. No one talks about her past lives like that, no one calls her by her previous name as if it were a slur, and no one mentions Howlite, nor their relationship.
"I know that you loved her, Sodalite, and she loved you, but my sister is like a forest fire, she takes all that is beautiful and chars it black and weak, like you...your being is as frail as a flake of ash. I can see your heart, Sodalite, and you are at your breaking point. Why? Oh yes, your life was not only taken from you, but you now must live through hell as you are a disgrace to gemkind, a mere mistake, a horrifying tale that Gems tell late at night...not only that, you must deal with the pain of being stuck, thrown together, watching what you once had pass you by through dreams and have fits of corruption every time you feel something real. It's only a matter of time before you realize what you are...you are a Cluster, not Rhodonite. You are not a Crystal Gem, or a Gem at all, a mindless monster meant to destroy anything that stands in its path...in our path." Yellow said.
Yellow's words were like the sharpest claws, the sharpest knives, jabbing into her, twisting deeper and deeper through her everything, her being, her psyche, her heart...The longer she talked to Yellow like this, it didn't feel like she was being persuaded by her nemesis, but more like her own inner demons were closing in on her, wielding the most powerful of weapons, ready to pounce on her and suffocate her with shadows. For a second, she believed Yellow Diamond...she actually doubted Blue Diamond's affections. Rhodonite felt corruption coming on, but held it in, desperately tried to control it, if not for spite, but so that she may not be controlled. Tears welled in her eyes as she fell to her knees.
"Why are you hiding it, Sodalite? ACCEPT IT ALREADY! BE WHO YOU REALLY ARE!" Yellow yelled.
"No! I may be a monster, but the only thing I will be destroying is your tyranny over this planet and the many other ones!" Rhodonite stood up proud, her face stained with tears.
"What? Tyranny? No, no, absolutely not...you've got it all wrong... What has my sister been telling you?" Yellow Diamond tried to calm Rhodonite down.
"These aren't lies, don't try to swindle me!" Rhodonite shouted.
"You don't want me as your enemy, Sodalite! My wrath burns more than my sister's lies! Don't test me, this is bigger than you are!" Yellow Diamond became hostile in her tone.
"I'm willing to face those odds, let's go, monster against monster!" Rhodonite yelled back.
"You'll regret crossing me..." Yellow said as Rhodonite felt a large, mallet like mechanism whack her from the side and throw her against the wall...
POOF! A white cloud of smoke was covered by the blackness of the room.
A beast's promise is not one to be broken...
THE EPIC CONCLUSION TO THE TWO PART SPECIAL!
This one took a lot of time so reviews are definitely encouraged!
I really barfed a lot of emotion here...
One thing I want to have...an FAQ! PM me a question...it could be anything, about me, the story, whatevs. Then we can all be good buddies and it'll all be peachy! :)
(Reminder: This next chapter may take longer than usual, since it is quite long.)