Magma and Diamond hardly ever got along.

Ever since they were little, they never liked each other. They were as different as their respective colors, different like water and oil. Red and green could work regardless of their shade, but they needed to be put into the right hands that knew how to make them work well.

Magma always thought she was too pretentious and better than everyone else because of her intelligence, not to mention bossy too. Diamond thought he was too prideful and unwilling to admit he had problems until he was forced to deal with them. How they felt about each other only grew worse with age. They only got along if they were mutually irritated about something and vented, or if they wanted peace from everybody else and sat in silence. Otherwise than that, it wasn't unlikely to see them get aggressive with one another.

The first instance of that happened when they were quite young. Diamond took his usual spot where he liked to play and Magma got angry about it. He stomped his foot on the floor.

"That's my space! I want it back!"

She simply looked up as she flipped a page. Dia turned her head, looking around her. Her eyes went back to her book after a moment.

"I don't see your name anywhere." She calmly responded.

Magma's fur only grew brighter, the bright red taking up most of his body.

"It doesn't need to be! It's mine! Move!" Magma demanded.

Diamond looked up at him without lowering the book. She looked back down. She grabbed his hair and threw him down to the floor. His face hit the ground hard. The sound alerted Chiro and Nova as they ran over.

"Diamond! Let him go!"

Diamond let Magma go, just like Chiro told her to do. Magma rubbed the spot she grabbed and growled. He clenched his fists. He was close to catching on fire. Nova put her hand on Magma.

"What's the matter?" She firmly asked.

"She stole my spot!"

"It was free, so I took it. He can play somewhere else."

"That's not nice, Diamond. You also don't grab somebody and hurt them like that." Chiro looked at Magma. "Don't attempt to hit her, I know what you're thinking of doing."

"But she started it!"

"Actually, it was you. You could've chosen any other spot, but you decided to get up in my face."

"I didn't!"

"Okay, stop it you two." Nova interjected. "Either share, or go somewhere else, and I don't care who goes where."

"Nope!" They rejected in unison.

Nova and Chiro looked at each other for a few seconds and sighed. It took them a good while to find a compromise that everyone was satisfied with. Magma didn't get his spot back until the next day, but they were on opposite sides of the room. Neither of the five and a half year olds were really happy, but this was the only thing they could agree on.

Nova and Chiro knew those two didn't like each other, but they didn't think it'd get physical.


Eleven.

That was when Diamond got her own room for medical and psychological studying. There was a general study room, but she didn't want to be in the same room as anybody else doing their own thing. She liked being alone and she certainly liked having no interruptions. There was only one rule she had for that room.

Knock before you come in.

It was short and simple. It should be easy for anyone to remember. At least in her eyes, it should've been.

Magma came in one day trying to return some scissors to her, but he forgot to knock first. He simply came in, thinking nothing about it.

"Yo, DG, ya forgot your-"

Diamond spun around, jumped out of her chair, and went for Magma in one motion. She knocked him straight to the ground. She pinned his arms to the ground. He struggled and squirmed beneath her, like a little bug trying to free itself before it got squished. He growled at her, and she tightened her grip. Her glare upon him was cold, uncaring. There was nothing behind her eyes.

"What was my only bloody rule, Magma?" A snarl was present in her voice.

"I don't knock once 'cause I forgot and this is how you get?" He grunted. "I just came to return your fuckin' scissors, you nut job!"

She looked at the scissors in his hand. Dia took them from his hand with her tail. She quickly moved it to her hand and her tail took her hand's place in keeping Magma down.

She moved her arm back, as if she was calculating how hard she should stab him. He moved his tail to get her off, but she stepped on it. Magma groaned in pain. She swiftly moved her arm down. Magma closed his eyes. His heart pounded. He prepared for impact. She stopped just before the tip of the scissors touched his arm. Magma slowly opened one eye. She stayed still for a few seconds before she pulled back. Diamond got off him. He got up afterwards and held his tail.

Diamond seemed unaffected by what she did, like there was no guilt behind it. All she did was look at her scissors, seeing if there was a dirty spot on them. She didn't even look back at Magma. He wondered how the fuck she was able to just act like she didn't go to stab his arm.

"I'll let you off this time because I want to. Plus, it'd be a shame to get these dirty with your blood." Diamond calmly said.

"I wouldn't want my blood on your shit anyways!"

He quickly left the room. Magma gently rubbed his thumb over the sore spot on his tail and hissed in pain. He looked back at the room he was walking away from. Sister or not, he didn't know how his parents expected them to get along. At any moment, she could make him bleed or even kill him if she wanted to. As to why she didn't do that yet, he didn't know but he was just glad she didn't. He just hoped it was because she didn't want to, like how she didn't feel like stabbing him because she didn't want to.

He scoffed, he didn't wanna think about it that much. Magma wondered how the others even got along with her though, because that in of itself was a miracle.

Then he walked through a door. Water and spiders fell onto Magma. When he saw the spiders, he jumped before realizing they were fake. He then heard Jasper laughing nearby. He immediately looked at her with a sour look on his face. His body burned enough that the water sizzled off him until he was dry.

"Jazz…!"

Jasper stopped laughing and ran off. He audibly inhaled before he sighed. Even if he hated the pranks, he couldn't truly be mad at her.

At least Magma was dry, so that was one less problem, just his tail and his sister now.


Diamond grabbed a vase.

She put the flowers in it. Antauri, Marino, and Gibson were in the garden that morning and decided to ask if anyone wanted any of the flowers they took out of there. Dia figured she'd take the offer and grab some for herself. She thought it would brighten up her personal room some, even if it wasn't for long.

Magma looked at her, swallowing the cupcake he took a bite of. He raised an eyebrow.

"Blue roses, huh?"

She glanced at him. "If you wish to be a simpleton about it, then yes, they are indeed blue roses."

He put his cupcake down before he got up. "What did you just call me?!"

"You heard me."

Marino put his hand on Magma's shoulder. He tried to sit him back down.

"Relax, do not mind what she says. You know how she is." Marino said.

"You mean besides being up on her damn high horse all the time thinking she's so much better than us because she's so smart?" Magma snipped.

"Because I am better, at least moreso than you, plebeian." She didn't bother to look at him. "If you weren't angry all the time and thought outside of your immediate emotions-"

Magma went to punch her. She grabbed it, pushed him to the ground, and placed his arm behind his back. Diamond pushed it as much as she could.

"-you wouldn't be stuck in situations like this. Not to mention if you weren't so prideful and were more honest, I'd consider you more on my level."

"The fuck are you talkin' about?! I am being hon- agh!"

She pushed it further on his back.

"Not with some things you aren't."

"Okay, let go of him now, Diamond." Marino went to get Diamond off Magma.

She let go of him and stood up. She grabbed the vase and left the room. Marino helped Magma get up from the floor. Peridot and Emerald went to him as well.

"Are you alright, Magma?" Marino asked. "She did not hurt your arm too badly, did she?"

"Not as much as the next time I see her will be. I hate that bitch."

"Hate is a strong word there, Magma. She's our sister." Peridot pleaded.

His expression softened slightly, but he was still pissed off. "Then despise, how's that? Because she could go fuck off."

He grabbed his cupcakes and stomped out of there. Magma munched them down as much as a grumpy person could.

Marino sighed, they might've only been thirteen, but he feared they wouldn't grow out of this.


Magma dodged every hit that came his way.

Most of what Diamond threw at him only came close to hitting him. He dropped low; he swept his leg across hers. She landed on her back hard. Before she had the chance to get up, he kept her down. His hand was on her chest. She snarled, almost primal.

A tinge of unsavory feelings towards one another could be tasted in the air.

Magma punched her in the face. It was hard enough that blood came out. She coughed and spat out a little more. Diamond glared at him. He kept his fist clenched. He felt bad he hit her that hard. Magma couldn't show it. He couldn't let his guard down. He went to hit again. She kicked him off before a second blow. He wheezed as he landed. Magma put his arms around his body. His hand was on his solar plexus.

Diamond grabbed his tail. She went to swing him around. He sent all the heat in him there. His tail burned up. She let go to prevent her hands from getting burned. He got up. He ran towards her. She grabbed him. She pinned him against the wall. Dia aimed for his face. Magma closed his eyes. Her fist hit the wall. No matter what, she couldn't move it closer to him.

Magma slowly opened his eyes. They caught their breaths, even when Diamond tried to move her fist. Antauri walked up to them and moved Diamond away from Magma.

"We're done training for today." Antauri announced. "You two did well, however there's things you both did wrong."

Magma moved away from the wall and crossed his arms. He had his eyes on Antauri, keeping his full attention on him.

"Magma, you became hesitant after the first blow. I understand you don't want to hurt her, but if you were to show hesitancy in a real battle, it could mean life or death." He then looked at Diamond. "Diamond, where you were about to hit could've been fatal. It's good to not hesitate, but you must have restraint as well. We're not to truly kill our enemies, rather defeat them in battle. If it was a Formless, it would be a different story, but it's not."

She didn't bother to look at Antauri. "Understood, however my punch wouldn't have been fatal. It would've broken his nose, though. A bloody, broken nose would've been the most of it."

Diamond walked away. Antauri merely sighed, knowing there wasn't much any of them could do there. Nova stopped her at the door, still trying regardless of the previous attempts everyone made when it came to her behavior. Magma groaned.

"Do I have to train with that headcase?" Magma looked away.

Antauri sternly glared. "Don't call her that. Regardless of how you feel about your sister, you'll need to learn to go up against anyone and you'll need to know how she fights when you fight alongside her. You have to lean on your teammates as much as they need to lean on you. If you can only fight against her, then you still have much to learn."

Antauri walked away from the fifteen year old. It only left Magma annoyed. There was no way he could fight with someone like Diamond. If anything, he was gonna die first before anything else.

"Magma," Gibson called.

He sighed through his nostrils. Great, he was gonna get a lecture from him too. Magma walked over to him.

It ended up being advice as well, but he wasn't that happy about it still.


Diamond wrote down her notes as she continuously looked back on her book.

She examined every word, every little letter, to make sure she processed and wrote them down correctly. With everything around her being quiet, it was easy for her to focus. The only sound that filled the room was her typing on her device. It was nice not having any distractions for one.

Well, that was until she heard a knock on the door. Of course she had to think of the word "quiet," didn't she?

She stopped writing and put her device down. She turned to the door with a sigh. Before she could say anything, the monkey on the other side spoke.

"Yo, DG, can I come in?" Magma started. "Before ya say anythin', I just wanna get away from the others for a while."

That didn't seem too bad then. If that was all he wanted, then he was allowed in. Whenever one or both wanted peace from the other decuplets, they had one unspoken rule for each other.

No talking.

It was what caused their fights to begin with, somebody saying something that pisses the other off. Unless it was both wanting peace from the others and to vent, silence was the best option for them.

"…Sure, come in." Diamond turned back around. "Just don't touch anything."

The doors opened up and Magma came through.

"Wasn't plannin' on it."

He sat down next to her. Besides the movements of his tail and his deep breaths, he was practically silent. When his deep breaths went on for more than fifteen seconds, she eyed Magma. Every inhale and exhale, he counted to three with his fingers. In between each of them, he waited a couple seconds before inhaling or exhaling. She supposed it was something either their mum or Father Antauri taught him, possibly both. She knew he was getting help with his anger issues now, which in her opinion took long enough, so it might've been from that.

Nonetheless, she looked away and let him do what he needed to do. Diamond kept count of how long he took deep breaths, though, as she worked.

One minute in total before he stopped.

A small smirk crawled into her face. It was an improvement, even if it was a miniscule one. The bugger, even if it took until that incident with Dactyle, had him admit he needed to work on them at least.

Diamond quietly chuckled, whether she thought of him as a bugger as a good or bad thing, nobody would know but her.


"Magma, would you mind returning this to Diamond?" Marino handed him a black pen, one that appeared chewed out. "I would, but I have not been able to find her."

Magma looked at the pen with a scowl and looked back at him. His fists clenched and they nearly trembled. His lips pressed together.

"And why the hell should I? What about PG, or maybe Astral? Either one of them could do it!"

"You say that as if you wish to avoid her like the plague." He retracted his hand.

"Of course I do!" He growled. "Why wouldn't I wanna stay far away from that damn psychopath? Do you know how many times she's come to killing me, let alone break parts of my body? Maybe if that headcase got her shit straight, then we wouldn't be like this!"

Marino crossed his arms. His eyebrows furrowed at him. His tail laid flat on the ground.

"She cannot help how she is deep down. Improve her behavior, yes of course, but how her brain works is not like yours or mine. Diamond might have a disorder that she cannot truly help or can be cured. Even then, there is no reason to change that. It would be like changing Emerald or Astral."

Magma crossed his arms and looked away. He huffed at that.

"They don't have aggressive tendencies and give no shits about whether they hurt somebody or not!" Magma argued. "And don't even dare give me none of that 'she's our sister' crap either. She might be my sister, but that doesn't mean I don't loathe her!"

Marino put his hand on Magma's shoulder. "You cannot mean that. I know you love her deep down-"

The warmer coloured monkey smacked his hand away. His fur only burned brighter.

"Don't act like you know how I feel! Ugh, keep going and ya might sound like that fuckin' bitch."

"That's not a bad thing in this situation. Surely you are just mad about earlier and do not mean it."

Magma glared at him. "Wanna bet, MO?"

They kept going for several more minutes. Little did they know, Diamond stood outside the room, hearing every word being said about her. Magma's dislike and Marino's understanding and lack of judgment. She wanted to walk in during that "psychopath" comment and tell him to get his facts straight, how she would fall more under sociopathic instead if either of those terms had to be used, but she just stayed there. She only crossed her arms and pressed her lips as she listened. Her eyes peered off elsewhere, more into the darkness of the hallway than the light within the room.

She could admit she had problems with her tendencies, but the way Magma talked about it made it seem like he hated her guts. Diamond wouldn't dare blame him for that feeling. She couldn't blame any of them if they hated her, whether it bothered her was out of the question. If anything, she wanted to understand herself more than any of them seemed to care.

Diamond just walked away from the room at some point. It wasn't like she was required to stay there the whole time, much less listen to their conversation about her. If anyone wanted to return her pen to her, then she would gladly receive it.

At least Diamond knew how Magma truly felt about her now.


There were just more and more Formless coming through.

Diamond sliced and diced everything that came her way. Every movement was calculated, graceful, not even the slightest bit was sloppy or sluggish. Her scissor blades cut cleanly through the air with every Formless they hit. She was soon surrounded by them on every side.

"Blade Tornado!"

She quickly spun around with her arms extended outwards. She spun so fast she appeared to be a small tornado. Diamond attacked every Formless around her. Once they dissipated, she stopped spinning. She took a moment to catch her breath and kept an eye out for any more.

The others seemed to be holding their ground, whether it was her siblings or her parents. The only one she didn't see around or in front of her was Magma.

"Duck!"

She immediately followed the command. She got on the ground. Right above her, Magma went through the air and punched a Formless. He landed with a roll. Magma got up shortly after landing. He helped Diamond up and put his back up against hers.

"Tch, I'm surprised you even did that." Diamond commented.

"Ha," Magma exclaimed, "you really think I'd just leave ya there to get wrecked? Not on my watch!"

He punched a Formless in the face. It turned into goo as it hit the ground.

"You hate me, so it would be reasonable you would leave me to die when the opportunity shows itself."

She sliced through another one. He threw his leg through one before punching an oncoming one.

"Hate?" He raised an eyebrow. "Look, I might not always like ya, hell there's shit I'll say in the heat of the moment, but that don't mean I don't care about you."

A sly smirk made its appearance on her face.

"I suppose the feeling's mutual. I'll be sure not to slice you then."

"Yeah, yeah, do that when we're inside."

He wrapped his tail around her waist. Knowing what he was gonna do, she wrapped her tail around him. He lifted her into the air. Magma raised his connected fists. They started to glow a yellowish orange colour.

"Volcanic Disruption!"

He slammed them down onto the ground. The ground came up and flames came from his gauntlets. It was like a volcanic eruption without there being a volcano anywhere in the vicinity. In its way, every Formless either fell in or got burned.

Their relationship with each other wasn't the best, nor was it the simplest. The best way to describe it was that they would always love each other, even if they didn't like one another.

Magma and Diamond had their weird ways of showing they care that only they understood.