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Chapter Text

Sitting upon her massive yellow chair that enabled her to turn around with it, Yellow Diamond was resting her chin on her fist while using her other hand to hold up a holodata plate to review the ongoing process of all her colonies. Her expression had a certain air of boredom, mixed with tiredness; however another emotion was barely there but it was buried deep down to allow her to work efficiently. It was sadness, sadness for Pink Diamond and her passing, however Yellow Diamond had to persist for the good of the empire, unlike a certain Blue sister of hers; it was already more than a thousand cycles since then, and yet Yellow has been stuck taking over Blue's slack on her part in managing her own colonies.

Yellow Diamond has had to even require a certain Yellow Quartz of hers that has been her shining gem amongst all her other Quartz and Emeralds that try to amount to even an ounce to her favored Quartz. If she remembered right, and she does most of the time of all the identifications of every gem, (She was a ruler, and her station demanded she knew who worked for her,) Her favored Quartz was Quartz Facet 74ny4 cut v0n, said Quartz was her a creation of her own making; Yellow had made Facet 74ny4 cut v0n with the intent of having a right hand worker, to be her personal eyes and ears across the Diamond Empire and its many colonies.

A rare smile formed on Yellow Diamond's face as she leaned back and began reading the incoming reports of the very Gem she was thinking about, "Northern quadrant is stabilizing, most rebellions have been quelled, in the process of taking out the remaining pockets." Yellow read out aloud to herself with a satisfied smile, indeed, her personal creation of a Yellow Quartz was giving her an emotion that she wasn't sure what to put a pin on. It wasn't quite pride, but at the same time it was, it wasn't love, but at the same time it felt close; perhaps the feeling she was getting was close to the emotion that the primitive mothers in the human zoo have towards their children…no, that can't quite be it…

An incoming call brought Yellow Diamond out of her musings when a call was coming in towards her personal channel, a few thoughts ran through her mind of who it might be, but she soon found out when she scrolled through her dataslate to check who was pinging her; Yellow Diamond raised an eyebrow when she saw who was calling, it was her Favored Quartz of all callers. Seeing as it had to have been important for Facet 74ny4 cut v0n to contact her right now, Yellow Diamond allowed the call to connect through.

From a nearby holoprojector, a hexagon shaped screen was projected up into the air to show the caller. It was a half sized Yellow Quartz giving the diamond salute in respect to Yellow Diamond. "My diamond." the Favored Quartz spoke with a crisp tone, "I apologize for the impromptu call." The Quartz facet intoned while keeping her salute up.

"Hmm." Yellow Diamond let out a sound of thought, "Apologies granted." she spoke with an authoritative yet relaxed demeanor, "You calling now, must mean something must have come up that needs my express attention, I was afterall going through your reports just now."

The Favored Quartz relaxed her arms down but kept them clasped behind her behind, "Indeed my diamond! I've just got word the the planet of F78 in sector 9 from the Southern Quadrant has just broken into rebellion!" Facet 74ny4 cut v0n announced with a worried tone, causing Yellow diamond to glare at the screen. "My diamond! Apologies for the news, I just wanted to inform you to get express permission to reign in the sector before we have another Northern Quadrant on our hands!"

Yellow Diamond smirked a bit and waved over her favored Quartz' worries, "Fret not, I was directing my ire towards the mountain of work and documenting I'll be needing to do after this is handled." Yellow spoke out with amusement slipping out in her tone, prompting the Yellow Quartz to relax a bit. Yellow diamond stood up and allowed her two way call to show her Yellow Quartz her full might, "Facet 74ny4 cut v0n, I hereby give you full express permission to put out this new rebellion with full impunity, leave no gem unshattered!" she ordered out.

The Favored Quartz gave Yellow diamond one more salute, "By your orders, my Diamond!" The Yellow Quartz responded, before the call disconnected. Yellow Diamond sighed a breath of relief and satisfaction, it was good to have at least one real good competent gem amongst her subjects.

"Then again, I did make her to my specifications, I'd be a fool to think otherwise that'd she'd not be up to the task." Yellow Diamond prided herself, meanwhile however, in the far corner of the room where a pearl was working, Yellow Diamond's pearl to be exact. Yellow pearl was grumbling with hidden jealousy, but couldn't very well say anything given her station.

"What was that Pearl?" Yellow Diamond questioned with a curious tone as she turned to look at her personal pearl with an expression of interest, Yellow Pearl offered her Diamond an embarrassed look. "Nothing, my diamond!" She saluted her Diamond, "Just wishing Facet 74ny4 cut v0n the best of luck." she responded nervously, 'lucky clod! Why does she get all the attention, when I'm the one helping my Diamond here!?" Yellow pearl pouted in her mind.

Yellow Diamond smiled and took her leave, "Luck has nothing to do with my little Quartz's success, but the thought is welcome. Come pearl, I have work to do in Blue's office; I'll be picking up her slack after all." she ordered out, prompting Yellow Pearl to pick up her dataslate and rush after her. "Yes My Diamond!" she said as the two exited out of the room.

'Lucky Pearl, you get to stay safe on homeworld.' grumbled Tanya, or to most of her gems under her command, Facet 74ny4 cut v0n. Tanya was almost amused that her name was simply made into leet speak, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. She had another sector and quadrant to quell, she just hoped it wouldn't take another century like the one she had just finished putting down.

Chapter Text

Citrine's Yellow Hand Ship
Facet 74ny4 cut v0n's personal quarters

"No vacations, no retirement, no aging, no upward mobility of my rank." Citrine, aka Facet 74ny4 (Tanya) cut v0n, wrote in her personal journal in her very first life's language, it galled her that she was still able to keep her knowledge intact of her first life's language and memories for her third life. Tanya's second life was rife with conflict with at least an end in sight, but now her third life has no sign of ending in conflicts. She was only there for a little while to fight in the Rose Quartz rebellion, but her memories of that wasteful end of the rebellion reminded her that her standing in Gem society of the Great Diamond Authority only amounted to so much; so many gems on both sides were snuffed out by the remaining gems, so was she only fortunate enough that Yellow Diamond saw fit to get her out before the call was made.

"A shame honestly." Tanya continued to write in her secret journal, "All the potential of every gem wasted on the lone fact that everyone can only do what they were made to do." Tanya wrote in her journal with a sour expression, it was also a shame that most of the loyalist side of the rebellion were caught in whatever the Diamond's did to Pink Diamond's first and last colony. However a nagging feeling always pecked away at the back of Tanya's mind of how too simple it was for a Diamond of all gems to be shattered, it was even more odd to Tanya that Homeworld was running low on resources after the failed colony of Pink Diamond and the end of Rose's rebellion.

Tanya leaned back in her hover chair and brought up her stylus that she used to write on her private dataslate, she began tapping her chin with the stylus in thought. Each time she thought back to Rose Quartz's rebellion, things kept not adding up. Pink Diamond should have been guarded by legions of soldiers at her beck and call, and yet, records state that Rose herself managed to get past all the guards and shatter Pink diamond; that doesn't even take into account that a diamond, a mineral in of itself that is known as the the hardest to shatter, was, well, shattered like a common gem.

Tanya shrugged to herself and put a pin on the continuing private investigation she had been doing over the last ten centuries since the end of Rose's rebellion. It was something to do on her own time, to quell the monotony of her nigh immortal life save for being shattered. She had been safe so far from being seen as useless or retaining a defect that'd mark her to be shattered like so many other gems. At first she was traumatized and worried for her own fate of her third life, but after so many centuries, Tanya had grown numb and became desensitized to the reality that she lives in such a society.

Pushing herself away from her desk and turning around on her chair, Tanya closed her dataslate up and hopped off to head out of her private quarters to check on the progress of the ongoing rebellion she had just arrived not too long ago. Marching herself off through her doorway that opened up upon scanning her gem's signature on her chest, Tanya continued heading her way towards the bridge while passing by several soldiers and workers under her command. 'Citrine' would give each one a passing glance of a stern look, causing each one to stiffened up and salute her before continuing as they were before she passed them by. Sometimes it felt good to be in charge, but at the same time Tanya despised it. She didn't earn it, 'Citrine' was made into the position.

As Tanya strode onto the bridge of her ship, she took a passing glance around to watch the rare few era 1 Nephrites and Peridots hard at work to pilot the ship and its many facilities along with its faculties. 'Citrine's' eyes glanced to her left and right to notice two Jasper Quartz were at door guard duty, they both caught Citrine staring at them and straightened up. "Ma'am!" They saluted, causing the rest of the crew to bring their attention momentarily to 'Citrine'. Tanya, who whilst was towered over by most Quartz, was no less authoritative than the station given her as she proceeded to give everyone a glare. "Return to your posts, no need to greet me." she ordered out as she marched her way in with her hands clasped behind her back; meanwhile the rest of the crew seemed to work harder in some form or manner by the mere presence of 'Citrine'.

Once Tanya reached her captain's chair, she let out an exhausted sigh. "Must you all be so tense." she hollered out with a peeved look, "I am not in a call with Yellow Diamond after all." she remarked, earning the desired effect as her crew relaxed a bit. "Good." 'Citrine said as she took a seat on her personal chair, "It wouldn't do to have everyone so uptight." she mused while she crossed her arms in front of her chest and crossed her legs to lounge a bit in her chair. "You'd think they were afraid I'd shatter them on a whim." Tanya internally mused while watching the view from orbit of the planet below in the process of a rebellion breaking out.

"Ever since Rose rebelled, every other colony has seen fit to think they can break off and rise up against the Diamond Empire." Tanya continued to muse internally, all the while clasping her hands in a steeple in front of her while resting her elbows on her chair's armrest, and idly tapped her foot up and down in the air to ease the ongoing boredom that invaded her mind. "Pearl!" 'Citrine' ordered out, prompting an orange pearl to walk up around Tanya's chair and present her own dataslate.

Orange Pearl smiled as she presented her current status review of the ongoing conflict, "As you requested, I have compiled all the conflicts ongoing around planet F78, they are ready for your perusal." the Pearl announced gladly as she smiled and handed her dataslate off to 'Citrine'.

"Thank you Pearl." 'Citrine' said with a clipped tone as she accepted the dataslate and began reviewing the status of the planet, Orange Pearl stepped back and clasped her hands behind her back and waited for her next order.

From Orange Pearl's point of view, she felt genuine pride and happiness that she was given the opportunity to be 'Citrine's' pearl, and it wasn't just any Citrine gem either. The Citrine that Orange Pearl was in servitude to was none other than Yellow Diamond's personal Citrine that she made personally; Thus, by her logic, Orange Pearl was working for the very extension of Yellow Diamond herself.

From other gems' point of view, they were rather relaxed in feeling they can be less tense under Yellow Diamond's Citrine, that is, away from the prying eyes of homeworld and any of its other more stricter gems of the caste system. Very rarely did Citrine ever shatter a gem under her command, save for the rare few times of mutiny; Most of the gems wished they could have it stay like this, far away from homeworld and serving under Citrine, cause at least under her, things didn't have to be so strict and tense.

Meanwhile with 'Citrine', Tanya was skimming through her Pearl's dataslate, and furrowed her brow as she began to connect a few things together in the reports. Orange Pearl noticed her 'owner's' displeasure, and deigned to question the reasoning of Citrine's furrowed brow of annoyance. "Did I not collate properly, my Citrine?" she questioned worryingly while leaning into her leader's view.

'Citrine stood up from her chair and handed the dataslate off to her pearl, "You did just fine, Pearl." she began to say as Tanya paced forward a bit, earning the attention of her crew as she clapped her hand together, "Ladies, I'm afraid this rebellion was sown a bit deeper, as this system shows evidence of outside influence, It seems we have another Northern quadrant situation on our hands after all." She grimaced out.

Tanya was not looking forward to this, it had the hallmarks of another bogged down rebellion that'd take her another century or two. Just what she hoped against, and she doubted Being X had anything to do with it, seeing as how she could sympathize with the rebellions…however…the Gem Empire was too large and powerful for her to opt to side against it. One of these days, she'd need to plan some form of fake death and escape this never ending monotony of her duty.

Chapter Text

Planet F78 of Sector 9, Southern Quadrant

Facet 74ny4 cut v0n, aka Yellow Diamond's Citrine to be exact, fixated her eyes on the ongoing battle on Planet F78; Her view was from space as she stood up from her chair to watch the monitors that displayed the various theaters of battle going on across the surface of the planet. With her hands clasp behind her back, her expression of listless deep thought while she gauged what hemisphere of the planet needed outright orbital bombardment just to quell the rebellion outright; Her decision however was tied up with the amount of importance the planet was to the Diamond Empire, and besides, any and all planetary bombardments were strictly ordered to be run by her superior Yellow Diamond before the order was given.

Superior being the lightest term Tanya could give to Yellow Diamond, seeing as how said Diamond was her creator in all senses of the word. 'Of all the reincarnated lives I could have been afforded, I end up with a life wrought with a nigh endless life, nigh endless strife, with the only caveat of possibly being killed by way of being shattered.' Tanya mused to herself as her citrine gem irises swiveled to glance at a monitor that showed one of the hemispheres of the planet contained and quelled. Moving from her spot, Tanya paced forward with her hands still clasp behind her back, all the while a rare few era 1 Nephrites and Peridots mixed in with Era 2 Nephrites and Peridot were working away at the consoles of the bridge in managing the ship systems and navigation; Save few of the gems took momentary glances behind them as Tanya passed by them, their posture was lax but kept up the work as ordered.

Tanya eventually reached a round projector that displayed a miniature display of the planet, and clasped her hands to begin giving out a few micro orders. "Facet n4v1 cut 94702 Nephrite." Tanya called out softly to the nearby gem working at the holotable along with a Peridot, her eyes homed in on the particular gem who straightened up and saluted her. "Ma'am?" the Nephrite questioned, "Your orders?"

Tanya lifted up her arm to point at the Hemisphere that had just been secured by their own Quartz and Rubies down on the surface, "Begin relaying orders by my command, any and all Gems within the southwest hemisphere of planet F78, you are to begin preparations for Anti-air guns deployment and provide air support for the ship to land." Tanya ordered out with a clip to her tone.

With a salute given to her superior from said gem, "Yes, my Citrine!" The Nephrite responded before she began interacting with a few other Nephrites to begin working on communicating out their Citrine leader's orders.

Tanya glanced at the Peridot that went ramrod straight when her gaze landed on her, Tanya formed a frown and spun around to leave. "Facet 848y cut 517 Peridot, follow me." she ordered out snappishly before making off towards the doorway that led back out from the bridge.

With a slight attempt to withhold a grimace on her part, unsure of what task her Citrine had in mind from her, she proceeded to give her superior a salute in response before responding, "By your command, my Citrine!" The Peridot responded before grabbing a holo tablet to take with her and followed close behind her Citrine superior.

As Tanya passed by her chair by which 'her' Pearl was standing at attention and waiting on her next orders, Tanya paused in her steps once she stood next to her Orange Pearl. "Pearl, with me." she instructed out before continuing on to exit the bridge, Orange Pearl in turn smiled whilst saluting her Citrine. "By your orders, my Citrine." she responded shortly before tailing behind her Citrine.

Just as Tanya approached the doors, she paused once more in her walking to turn around and face her bridge crew with her hands clasped behind her back once more, her citrine gem eyes scanned the room for any irregularities in the work ethic of her 'employees'; A few Nephrites and Peridots were idle, leaving Tanya to call them to attention. Turning fully around to face her crew, she cleared her 'throat' so to speak to grab their attention; with a few facet names called out, Tanya issued out an order for the idle workers to follow as well. "Far be it for the bridge to be over-staffed, I'll see to it you'll get more than enough things to do if all you're doing is sitting around chatting it up." She ordered out with a sardonic tone and grin.

The order given out garnered the desired effect, as a few idle Peridots went back to work to finish a few more calibrations of the ship's specs; Several Nephrites snapped a salute and marched their way up with hidden excitement, prompting Tanya to smirk. "Well well, seems we'll have a boost in numbers for our air team." she semi-jested, earning a crack of a smile from a few gems under her command. Tanya proceeded to then glare out at the remaining crew, "For the rest of you, no slacking! If you have nothing to do, then proceed with plan alpha nine zero three." she commanded out with an authoritative tone and expression.

One Nephrite that led at the helm to pilot the Hand spacecraft saluted her Citrine, "My Abundant Citrine, a word please?" she asked and shirked under her Citrine's withering gaze, "If it would be possible ma'am?" she added in as an apology from asking out of line.

Tanya huffed a bit and gave the Head Nephrite Captain a disappointed gaze. "Facet c4p cut 741n, corect?" she inquired from the helmsman of her hand spacecraft, earning a rather awed look from said gem. The Nephrite straightened up her posture and saluted ever sharp, "Yes my Citrine! Allow me to thank you for remembering me!" she gushed out.

Tanya narrowed her eyes at the helmsman, earning a rather nervous look from the Nephrite. "We are fortunate enough that we are far from the prying eyes of homeworld, as such, in any other case, I would be faced with ordering your shattering for speaking out of turn." she began to explain, earning a grimace from said gem. Tanya continued to speak with a smirk, "Just be thankful the leash on us is lax out here-"

"But Ma'am." Orange Pearl protested with an even smile as she stood beside her Citrine, and glanced down at her 'owner', "You are Yellow Diamond's personal Gem, her personal Citrine she made herself." the Pearl tried to point out with a prim smile.

Tanya glanced up beside her with a withering look, "Yes, but that doesn't mean I should go around shattering gems that forget protocol of their stations. Why else would planets like F78 try to rebel in the first place?" she inquired with a pointed look directed at her Orange Pearl, who had the look as if she was smacked upside the face.

"Why don't you rebel?"" a voice spoke up amongst the crew of the bridge, causing the room to go quiet faster than one could blink.

Tanya glared out to her crew, before sighing exhaustively and closed her eyes, "I'll excuse the treasoness question for now, but don't ever bring that up when we're in Homeworld's system." She then opened her eyes with a tired look, "We are part of a multi-galaxy spanning Empire, no matter how big a rebellion can get, remember how Rose Quartz's rebellion ended." She reminded her crew with a withering glare, "All it took was all three Diamonds to turn their gaze onto the planet, and destroy every gem on planet 3427h."

With her piece said, she turned around to leave the bridge; Tanya however stopped once more just as the doorway automatically opened up. "You don't have to like it, I certainly don't like it, but the jobs we were made to do are all we can do for now." she spoke out while not turning around, "And a Rebellion at this point in time is not the answer." she said before she fully left the bridge with the gems that followed with her in tow.

Once the doors shut behind Citrine and her entourage of gems, the remaining crew on the bridge sighed a breath of relief. One Nephrite rounded on the Nephrite next to her with a heated glare, "Could you be any more out of line, facet wh331?" She hissed out, "You could have gotten shattered!" she worried over her fellow Nephrite.

Said Nephrite simply shrugged with a grimace of embarrassment, "Sorry facet 57332, it's just that Citrine seems more lax than any other gem we've been commanded by, and her propensity for shattering gems under her command is next to none." She tried reasoning.

A Peridot from across the room guffawed in cheeky laughter, while pointing out at Nephrite Facet wh331. "You should have seen the look on your face when she glared out at us, you looked like a pearl caught with her hands in a destabilizer!"

Said Nephrite that the Peridot was laughing at, smiled threateningly back at the Peridot. "Oh, what's that Facet 73ch? I distinctly remember a certain Peridot and how she reacted when Citrine caught her in the act of an idle hobby of hers." she remarked with a dark grin of amusement.

Peridot Facet 73ch quieted up and had her cheeks glow a dark green in embarrassment, "s-s-shut up!" she demanded.

Chapter Text

Planet F78 surface
Outer reaches of the South West Hemisphere

Destablizer mortar rounds could be seen landing in the entrenched rebel forces as they attempted to charge up against the loyalist forces, crackling electricity and displaced dirt erupted from every mortar shot upon the rebels as they charged a fortified barricade. With Citrine's forces, Onyx Quartz gems were manning the large turrets that shot destabilizer rounds unto the charging rebels; working alongside the Onyx gems were Rubies, they were marching to and fro to feed destabilizer rounds into the manned turrets and allow the Onyx Quartz gems manning the large turrets to fire nonstop into the charging rebels.

In the sky was no different in the battle for the SouthWest Hemisphere of planet 78, in the fashion of Robonoids were aircrafts piloted by the opposing sides; the air was filled with destabilizer zaps shots and explosive destabilizer air-to-air missile rounds. The sky was filled with electricity discharges from the air combatants, the loyalist combatants however were steadily winning the airspace over the SouthWest Hemisphere. It was not long until the sight of Citrines Hand Ship could be seen entering the atmosphere with several dozen Sun Incinerators captained by Various Emeralds in each one, groups of Robonoid drone air ships flew alongside the Sun Incinerators and Citrine’s Hand Ship to ward of enemy airships and intercept any attempted shots at the ships themselves.

Inside Citrine’s Hand Ship and in the Hanger Bay, the staffed Gems were working around the clock to ready the vehicles and building fabrications to install a base of operations within the SouthWest Hemisphere for the Loyalist faction. The Doors to the Hanger Bay opened up with a hiss, earning the attention of a few onlookers while they worked; from out of the doorway walked Citrine and two gems behind her, Citrine in particular was talking with the Peridot behind her while holding up a holopad that projected a live feed of the ongoing battles around planet F78. Of the live feed that was shown, eight different views of the planet were shown; From north to south, east to west, and all in between, Citrine was able to gather ongoing reports from the different Hemispheres of the planet.

Citrine paused in her steps while speaking with the Peridot behind her, while her Pearl stepped in place beside her with her hands clasped behind her back in waiting her next order; Citrine pointed toward the projected view of the Southeastern hemisphere of the planet. “If the North West hemisphere is too hot to push any further at the moment, what are the calculations of the enemies’ numbers for a push into the South East of planet F78?” Citrine questioned the Peridot now standing beside her with a holopad of her own to use.

Peridot smiled back in response as she began using her finger digits to key into the holopad of hers, “Well let’s see.” she began to say while she eyed her holopad with some focus on running the numbers. “Unlike the North Eastern Hemisphere of planet F78, where there are numerous mountains and cave systems for the Rebels to employ the so-called Guerrilla Tactics you named yourself, the South Eastern Hemisphere contains very little mountains but holds a demographic of wide open plains as the major geographical presence across the hemisphere.” the Peridot looked up from her holopad and smiled respectively towards her Citrine in command, “By my calculations, a push into the South East Hemisphere is most prudent once we set up a base of operations in the South West hemisphere.” Peridot responded to Citrine.

Citrine closed his eyes in quick thought before opening them with a nod of affirmation, “Good, begin relaying your findings to the rest of the Peridots, come back to me once you are finished Peridot Facet 848y cut 517.” Peridot saluted her Citrine in response, “By your orders my Citrine!” Peridot responded cheerfully, before she marched herself back through the doorway they came in through.

From Citrine’s perspective, Tanya sharpened her eyes as she closed her holopad up and glanced around the cargo hold; the various gems at work were either carrying a few things around or setting up several airships to use once the Hand ship landed, as few gems in particular were idling by a few crates they had just finished hauling into the hanger bay. Tanya eyed the few non working gems with a stare of irritation, she could excuse a break every now and then, but they were in the process of landing her Hand Ship; Tanya needed every gem working, she couldn’t afford any slip ups during a battle.

“Amethysts Facet-5 cut-8XG and Amethysts Facet-5 cut 8XJ.” Tanya hollered out with a commanding tone to the slacking Amethysts, said Amethysts straightened up with a salute and nervous expression. Tanya marched herself over to the Amethysts with a withering look, and stood before the two with her arms crossed and a displeased look; Her Orange Pearl on the other hand caught up with her Ctrine and stood behind her with a disapproving look directed at the employed Amethysts from Pink Diamond’s human zoo.

Tanya glanced between the two nervous Amethysts before she began to scold them with an authoritative tone of voice, “Is this how you repay me for getting you away from the rather uptight Holly Blue?” she questioned them with a pointed look, just as one was about to speak, Tanya shut the Amethyst up with a look directed at her, “Is working under my employ that boring compared to working under Holly Blue?”

Tanya glanced once more and directed her gaze at one of them, “You, speak, why are you two not working? Have you already finished your orders?” she questioned the gem on the left.

While still keeping her salute up, the Amethyst on the left spoke up with a nervous tone. “No my Citrine! We have in fact just finished, there was really nothing else to too till our next orders were given.” The Amethyst responded sharply.

Tanya blinked and looked around to see, in fact, the two Amethyst did finish their duties she had personally given them; her cheeks tinted a dark tone of yellow before she coughed into her fist, “Right, very good then.” she corrected herself and clasped her hands behind her back as she faced the two Amethysts, “You will have to excuse me, we are on high alert now that we are landing this ship. We can’t have anyone slacking in the process.” Tanya apologized to the two Amethyst who had surprised looks on their faces.

Tanya’s Pearl that stood behind her, coughed into her fist with a pointed look directed at the Amethyst. “You heard My Citrine, what do you have to say now?” she ordered from the two.

Tanya held up her hand for all three to stop speaking, “That will be all Pearl.” She said with a turn to look up at her Pearl with a pointed stare, “The error was on my part.” She declared before she faced the two Amethysts once more, both had relieved looks on their faces. “8XG and 8XJ.” She announced.

“Ma’am!” The two Amethysts chorused, prompting Tanya to continue speaking while she stared up at the two. “Seeing as you two are finished with your prior duties, I’ll have you assigned as my personal security detail.” she announced with a sharp look directed at the two, “Do you believe you are up to the tasks?” she questioned the two with a smidge of a smirk, while earning a disapproving look from her Orange Pearl.

“Surely you jest ma’am!” Orange Pearl protested with a worried look as she leaned into view, and walked around to face her Citrine while she gestured at the two Amethysts. “They’re from the failed colony of 3427h! Pink’s colony no less! You can’t trust-” Tanya’s Pearl was cut off when her Citrine gave her a pointed look of annoyance. “I mean, with all due respect! I must protest against this decision.” Orange Pearl corrected herself with a look of shame as Tanya glared up at her.

“I’ll ignore the insubordination for now Pearl.” Tanya began to say, allowing Pearl to give a grateful look back. “But my operation, my rules. We have pockets of rebellions across various quadrants and sectors, we do not have the luxury to stick to the rules and traditions out here like Homeworld and so many of its inner colonies.” Tanya chastised her Pearl, who had the mind to look apologetic while ducking her head a bit.

With a hesitant look and sigh, Orange Pearl calmly saluted her to her Citrine. “By your orders my Citrine.” She responded, earning a look of acceptance from her Citrine commander. “I simply wished to express my displeasure of your decisions.”

Tanya glared at Pearl, before letting out an irritated sigh. “Yes, well, do see to it you don't speak out of turn in the open. You know as well I do that I can't be seen with a disobedient Pearl."

Orange Pearl grimaced and looked down in shame, “Understood Ma’am.” she responded, allowing her Commanding Citrine to continue speaking. “Good, I don’t enjoy shattering those under my command, and I’d hate to lose you. You’ve been quite capable during the last campaign.” Tanya complimented her Pearl, causing said gem to have the decency to have her cheeks glow dark orange in response.

“Now.” Tanya started to say toward the two Amethyst who went ramrod straight while saluting, Tanya sighed and gestured for the two to relax. “At ease ladies, now follow me if you would. I expect both of you to be attentive as my security detail.” she instructed the two, earning both to exclaim ‘ma’am’ in response.

Just as Tanya turned to begin inspecting the rest of the workers whilst the ship descended out from space and land, she caught something out of the corner of her eyes that prompted her to look out towards the large opening of the hangar bay where the aircraft and gem tanks could dock and exit out from. A large yellow forcefield was all that separated the inside from the outside, and outside an ongoing aerial air fight was taking place that seemed to be approaching the large open hangar bay.

Orange Pearl was the first to speak up amongst them as every Quartz and Rubie within the Hanger Bay began to scramble for any attempts form the Rebels to burst in through. “My Citrine, let’s get you out of here!” She fretted while the two Amethysts pulled out their respective hard light swords from out of their gems to prepare for a fight.

As one of the rebel’s aircraft managed to break past the few loyalist gem aircrafts, Tanya brushed off Pearl’s worry with a gesture of her hand. “I think I should greet them instead if they manage to break in.” she refused her Pearl’s suggestion while flashing a confident but calm smile, while earning confused looks from the two Amethysts. “But-” Orange Pearl began to try to plead with her Citrine, just before the stray rebel airship managed to blast the power off to the hanger bay with its blasters and crash its way in.

Tanya held her palm up, “Not yet you two.” she said when she saw the two Amethyst begin to charge in, causing them to stop in their places with confused looks on their faces while the Gems of the rebel airship jumped out from their wrecked airship to begin launching an attack against the occupants of the hanger bay. “A Jasper, an Onyx, an Ametrine and a Chalcedony.” Tanya spoke aloud with an intrigued voice, earning the attention of the four varieties of Quartz gems in particular while they fought off the few.

“That’s the one, girls!” Onyx shouted as she used her light hammer to fend off an attack from the combined might of a fused Rubie form. “It’s Yellow Diamond’s Citrine!” remarked an off color Jasper as she used her hard light helmet to bash her head against an attack from a loyalist Jasper as they butted heads against each other.

“Let’s do it!” Shouted the Ametrine as her gem on head began to glow while she used her hard light spear to defend against a gem whip from one of the other Jaspers, the nearby Chalcedony aided the Ametrine to fend off the Jasper while her gem glowed as well.

“Together now!” Chorused the four different Quartz gems as they retreated back to regroup.

Tanya on the other hand began walking towards the rebels while she placed her hand into her gem on her chest, her Pearl on the other hand was about to follow and asked that she stop but Tanya shook her head when she saw Orange Pearl in the corner of her eye. “It’d be rude of me to not greet our guests Pearl.” she began to say while she pulled out two yellow diamond encrusted gloves out, it didn’t take a genius to figure out who made the gloves and gave them to her. “As the Commander of this ship and forces, it’d be rather rude to leave our guest unattended.” Tanya said with a rather austere tone.

As the four quartz gems’ forms lit up and combined into one big form, Tanya continued to walk forward while fixing her gloves onto her hands; She gave the gem form an intrigued look as it let out a war cry, “This is your end!” The fused gem form shouted in a deep tone of voice as it began to charge towards Tanya.

With a wave of her hand, Tanya held her hand up in a halting gesture with her fingers splaying out; a pulse of destabilizer energy pulse out from her glove and impacted into the charging fused form of the quartz gem rebels, “No, I don’t think it is, not now that is.” she said with a crisp tone while the destabilization shockwave from her glove sent at the fused form caused it to halt and release a shout of shock and pain.

“We refuse to work under the Diamond Empire any longer!” The fused gem form howled out as Tanya continued to walk toward it with her hand out directed at the fusion, the form began to warp and shutter until all four quartz gems separated from the fusion. Tanya kept her hand up to keep the four gems held under her glove’s destabilization field, “Then you should have just left, instead of rebelled!” She simply said while smirking as she held her other gloved hand up to forcefully levitate the gems up into the air.

“What?” The Onyx gem gritted out as she and the other quartz gems were held aloft within Tanya’s destabilization field emitted out from her gloves, in response, Tanya simply scoffed. “Oh nothing.” she said while slamming her hands downward, causing all four gems to be forcefully slammed into the floor below. “Just some idle mutterings from a gem high up on her pedestal you rebels enjoy telling me.”

“So what.” The Chalcedony growled from her position on the floor, “Just shatter us and get over with it you filthy gem loyalist!” She hissed out with disdain.

Tanya allowed herself a smile as she held the gems under her gloves’ powers, “No, I have something better in mind.” She states with a rather calm but chilling tone, “Pearl, my Gem Rehabilitator please.” Tanya hollered out with a menacing smile, “Yes Ma’am!” Orange Pearl hollered back as she rushed over while pulling a cylindrical object from out of her gem on her forehead.

“You wouldn’t dare!” The Jasper hissed with gritted teeth, Tanya beamed back at the Jasper with a smile. “Oh I would, and will.” Tanya responded while holding out her hand to her Pearl while keeping her other hand out to hold the gems down under her hold. Once Orange Pearl gave said object to Tanya, she glanced between the four. “So who's first?” she questioned the four with a faux smile.

“Get cracked, you loyalist!” Spat the Onyx gem, prompt Tanya to turn her hand and curl her finger to lift said gem up and over to her. “Very well then, you’ll be the first.” she said with a glare.

From the two Amethyst gems' perspective of 8XJ and 8XG, they winced as they watched their new leader Citrine ignite her gem rehabilitator on, and slash away upon the rebel quartz gems to reset the gems’ ‘factory’ memories. “Beats shattering.” 8XJ muttered to her sister gem, “Yeah.” muttered 8XG, “But what’s with the gloves?” she pondered, 8XJ shook her head in response and winced some more as Citrine slashed through the last rebel gem. “I think it best we not question it, I don’t want to be on the business end of it.” She muttered back. 8XG nodded in agreement. “Agreed.”

Back with Tanya, she stood before four quartz gems, their forms gone after being slashed and were now just their gems; Tanya was in the midst of taking off her gloves after she handed back the device back to her Pearl, “8XJ, 8XG. She hollered out while keeping her eyes on the gems on the ground rebels. “Come here.” she ordered while she finished taking off her gloves and put them away into her gem on her chest.

“Ma’am?” Both amethyst chorused as they marched up, Tanya clasped her hands behind her back and faced the two once they reached her. “Bubble these gems and follow me.” She ordered, prompting both to do so as they began bubbling the former rebel gems up.

“Do you intend to extract information like last time?” Orange Pearl asked her Citrine as she followed her commander with the amethyst.

As Tanya led the way to the brigs of the ship, she glanced at her pearl while the amethyst behind her followed. “The Data extractor was instrumental in the last campaign, whatever information we can glean from these gems’ memories can contribute to the war effort against the rebels.”

Orange Pearl nodded in affirmation, while the amethyst gems behind them looked on in confusion while they walked through the hallways of the ship; Tanya glanced over her shoulder as she led the way, “Ah yes, you two are still new, you’ll might as well be getting acquainted with the data extractor. Worry not, it’s nothing serious as shattering a gem." She then flashed a toothy grin, “The Rehabilitator reset gems to their factory settings, but it doesn’t erase their memories, which means we can extract valuable memories unimpeded.” Tanya explained to the amethyst gems.

While Citrine faced forward while they continued to walk, both amethyst looked to each other with looks of uncertainty.

Chapter Text

Citrine’s Hand Ship
Data Extracting Chambers

Amethysts 8XG and 8XJ fidgeted on the spot as they stood at the doorway of the Data Extracting Chambers, they were told they did have to like what was going to happen to the rebel gems, but it still didn’t ease their minds as they watched their commander stand beside a rare Olivine of Era 1. Off to the side and waiting on her orders was Orange Pearl of course, but both Amethysts had their attention focused on what was going to happen to the poofed gems bubbled up and held within separate stasis fields.

Meanwhile from Citrine’s perspective, or more accurately Tanya’s, she sat on an elevated platform with a table and hoverchair just behind an Olivine gem; Tanya had her hands steepled while she rested her elbows on the desk as she waited for the Olivine operator to extract memories from the rebels that managed to break their way onto her ship. All four gems were in separate status fields for separate data extraction, allowing the process to run smoothly at one gem at a time rather than all at once and risk a jumbled bit of info to be lost through processing the memories all at once. Tanya’s eyes glanced at the Olivine gem at work, waiting when the gem would finish keying in the commands for the memory extractor to begin.

Said gem was a darker shade of green compared to a peridot, and had none of the limb enhancers needed for era 1 peridots; The gem’s hair was tied back into a dark forest green haired bun, while she wore a similar outfit to a peridot but darker in shade. Over the Olivine’s eyes she wore a light green visor that had information streaming in while she worked on a pedestal-gem-like console that projected a holo-keyboard, her finger digits moved quick as if she was playing a piano keyboard. Her expression was that of focus on her job with a bit of a relaxed demeanor.

After a few more moments of the Olivine gem working on the information extractor, she keyed in one more tap before facing Tanya with a quick salute. “The extractor is primed and ready, my Citrine.” She spoke to Tanya with her head angled a bit up to look directly at her commander.

With a curt nod from Tanya, she had a holoscreen for her to use to peruse through the memories of the rebel gems, “Begin the process, facet 3x7 Olivine.” Tanya gave the gem under her command the greenlight, “I want information dating back at least one rotation ago, see if we can get a bead on if they came into contact with any central leaders of this rebellion of this planet.” she commanded from her Olivine under her command.

“Right away ma’am.” The Olivine gem responded with a perky smile as she was quick to begin working on the holo-console, with a few swipes and typing, the Ametrine Gem out of the four gems had its stasis field project a holo-monitor screen out into the air for all to see. Tanya looked at her projected holo-monitor above her desk, and placed her fingers onto the screen to begin scrolling through the point of few of the Ametrine gem’s eyes. “Hmm.” Tanya let out a hum of thought as she wasn’t getting anything of note as she scrolled through the footage of the rebel gem’s memory.

“Nothing…” Tanya muttered under her breath, before glancing over at the Olivine gem. “Pull up the Chalcedony’s memories, I’m getting somewhere.” she murmured out the last part. Olivine turned and typed in a few more commands, and soon the Chalcedony’s memories were on full display. After Tanya began scrolling through a few more memories of the gem’s time prior to the present, Tanya splayed her fingers on her screen to pause it.

After viewing the paused memory for a few more seconds, Tanya’s eyes narrowed at a blurred image of a figure that was on a grandiose stage in the midst of what she assumed was a rallying assembly; Tanya’s eyes looked through the memory for any of the other present gems within the stasis fields to use for a closer look . “Olivine, bring up the Onyx gem’s memories.” she commanded tersely with an angered look.

Olivine gulped and sweated, remembering the last time she saw her commander show such a face. “At once, my Citrine.” the gem responded with a salute, before swiftly keying into her console to bring up the Onyx gem’s memories.

As the gem in question had their memories pulled up in full display for Tanya, she skimmed through the footage memories until she reached the point of the rally assembly footage. Once Tanya paused at a more clearer image of who was rallying the gems up, she spoke out loud with commanding authority. “Olivine, send these gems to the brigs.” she snapped out as she stood up from her table.

Olivine blinked momentarily before facing her commander fully, “Shall I send the image forward to homeworld for evidence?” she questioned her superior.

As Tanya descended down from the elevated platform she was one, she stopped once she was at the bottom and turned to glance up at the enlarged image of who Tanya was up against. “Have it sent post haste, if you would, Yellow Diamond will need to know our reasons for taking Pryope into custody once we put a stop to this planet’s rebellion.” Tanya informed the Olivine Gem

Olivine saluted Tanya crisply, “At once, my Citrine.” she responded back with attentiveness, before she went to work on doing her duty.

While Tanya exited out of the room with the two Amethyst gems trailing behind her, the screen that she was viewing at her desk was still up. On the bright yellow holo-screen was the paused memory of a Pyrope gem, and she was working up the gems into a frenzy.

Planet F78 surface
South West Hemisphere

Droves of Loyalist Rubies are seen charging in alongside their commanding Quartz gems, held in the arms of Rubies in particular were an added addition for their ranks; as the Rubies charged in as the frontline regiments, they fired off destabilizer rounds from their laser guns. Running in behind the regiments of Rubies were Jaspers, and one particular Jasper was leading the charge of a separate regiment with a tad bit more fervor than the rest.

Jasper, a quartz soldier made from the beta kindergarten of Earth, was ecstatic at the chance to put a proper end to another rebellion. As she and the rest of the regiments finally clashed at the center of the battlefield against the rebel gems, Jasper grinned in satisfaction as she blocked a sword with her forearm from a green Prasiolite gem. “Weak.” she said with contempt, before smashing her helmet on her head into the other’s head that caused said gem to poof. As much as she’d like to stomp and shatter the defeated gem, she was under orders from her commander to bring all defeated gems back to base for their factory reset.

“Hmph.” Jasper sneered in contempt as she crossed her arm to block an incoming hammer from a Bismuth that charged in with their hands transformed into a hammer. “Come on! You think that’ll defeat me!?” Jasper cackled in delight as she brushed the attack off from the surprised Bismuth, before she pulled the rebel gem in by their wrist and whipped her head down to poof the Bismuth away. As the Bismuth gem clattered to the ground, a squadron of pebbles zoomed around and through the legs of the loyalists and rebels within the battle; using their own mode of transportation via small hover ships to compensate their small size and rush through the battle, they arrived next to the gem of the Bismuth and picked the gem up into their transport vehicle before flying away back to base.

Jasper had to roll her eyes at the absurdity of it all as she fought against a duo of Fayalite and Larnite gems, she didn’t know why her commander was so insistent on using every ‘resource’ possible, But she had to give credit where it was deserved; For the passed thousand cycles since…her Diamond’s shattering…Yellow Diamond’s Citrine has done nothing but succeed in quelling rebellion after rebellion, and her esoteric knowledge of warfare was in her honest opinion mind boggling. ‘But I guess that’s to be expected, Yellow diamond made Citrine herself.’ Jasper reasoned in her mind as she raised her arms to block two spears from impaling her, she flashed the Fayalite and Larnite gems a savage grin. “I was made for this, unlike you pathetic worms!” Jasper boasted to the frightened rebel gems, before grabbing the offending spears and throwing them down along with the wielders.

As the two gems lay before Jasper in a dazed state, she brought her arms up and smashed her forearms into the chests of the two; the amount of force applied by Jasper caused the two gems to poof away, with the only evidence of them being in the fight was their gems clattering on the ground. A loud thundering sound of footstep brought Jasper’s attention up to see the rebel gems had a large fusion of different gem charge in towards the front lines, any other time, she would sneer at the thought of gems fusing together to be stronger; her thoughts were quelled when from the back lines a group of Topezes fused together, the formed fusion charge in to meet up with the other fusion of the rebel gems.

As Jasper resumed her own duty of poofing the rebel gems by her hands, her thoughts strayed to her commander’s thoughts on fusions. ‘To say that Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Gems stronger, is nothing but hubris to say the least’ Citrine’s words echoed in Jasper’s mind as the two fusions fought against each other in the backdrop while she dealt with a red Tephroite Gem that tried to climbed up on her back and stab a sword into her head, only for it to bounce off her helmet. Reaching up behind her, and grasping the offending gem around her neck, Jasper slammed the rebel into the ground with a nasty smirk. “Useless and weak, you should have stuck to what you were made for!” She chastised the gem, before she slammed her helmeted head into the Tephroite’s torso, poofing the gem’s body away and its gem to only remain for the pebbles to come in and take it back for its factory reset.

In the peripheral of her vision, Jasper witnessed the Topaz fusion grapple with the Rebel fusion of different gems. ‘You say fusions are a cheap tactic? All I see is a super weapon just waiting to be utilized for its full potential. Jasper, don’t ever say a tactic is weak, unless you analyze the tactic fully.’ Jasper cringed slightly at the beratement she received from her Commander laying into her on the merits of Fusions. Glancing up for a moment to see the Topaz fusion hook her arms under the rebel fusion, she watched with mild fascination as the Topaz fusion threw the traitorous fusion of gems into a swath of rebel gems. The large body of the mixed fusion landing atop their own allies caused all of them to poof from its weight alone, Jasper ‘tsked’ as she watched the Topaz fusion leap up and land atop the fallen mixed gem fusion with their elbow pointed at the torso. With a loud poof, the mixed fusion popped followed by the sight of the gems it was made of to clatter to the ground around the Topaz fusion as she stood back up. “Show off.” Jasper muttered under her breath while she blocked another attack from a whip this time.

The offending enemy this time was a Sodalite, a predecessor to the Lazurite line that eventually paved the way for the makings of the Lapis Lazuli gem line. “You!” Jasper spat with contempt for the older model of gem that predated Pink Diamond’s time. “You’d throw your lot in with the rebels!?” she accused the gem as the gem tried to use her whip once more, it wrapped around Jasper’s arm, just before Jasper smirked as she grabbed the offending weapon and yanked the Sodalite towards her. Just as said gem was about to open her mouth to explain herself, “Don’t bother, you rebel gems always spout the same thing!” she yelled in anger as she slammed her helmet into the head of the rebel gem. With a pop, the Sodalite gem’s body poofed and its gem clattered to the ground for another squad of pebbles to come and take the gem to the base.

A loud horn echoed from behind the enemy lines, prompting Jasper to look out to the horizon to see a second wave of rebel gems coming in to reinforce the front lines; Jasper glanced around to see they were faring well, if she had to guess, they were down to a third of what they started out with while the enemies were already down to one fourth of the forces. Jasper gleamed a savage grin as she faced the enemies head on. “Throw as many as you can, it doesn’t matter!” She shouted, before curling in on herself to spin and blitz through the forces of her enemies as a bright yellow razor ball. As Jasper bulldozed her way through a swath of more enemies, she stopped herself and uncurled from her ball of death to find herself in the midst of the second wave.

Jasper momentarily glanced behind her, only to focus back to the task at hand with a grin of satisfaction; What remained of the first wave of rebel gems she and her fellow loyalist fought against, had dwindled down more from Jasper’s action of blitzing through the enemies. Just as she found herself surrounded at all sides, Japer only welcomed the challenge more. Blocking more attacks with her forearms from the rebels’ weapons, she reached out and grabbed two gems by the throat before she swung them around into their own allies with wild abandon. “Is that all you got, you pathetic scum!?” she yelled as she fought against the gems around her, until the gems in her grasp popped and poofed back into the gems from undertaking too much bodily harm.

With a sneered of disappointment, Jasper wiped her hands of the mess, before quickly blocking a large gem sword from a Prasiolite gem with her helmet. “So close, but not enough!” Jasper boasted, before butting the weapon away and slammed her head into the offending gem. Another pop and poof later, Jasper now stood amongst several gems around her. With a huff of mild exhaustion, Jasper glanced around to find that her allies had finished the remaining first wave and joined up with her. As she continued onward to fight alongside her allies, the clouds above parted ways as Citrine’s hand ship finally descended down and began firing off lasers from its fingertips into the far back lines of the enemies.

“Heh.” Jasper mused with amusement as she watched the hand ship fly down and cause havoc on the enemies, until it stopped firing its laser before its fingers overheated. “You think I’m trouble? Wait till our Commander finally gets down here!” she shouted in her war cry as she fought against the rebel gems; Meanwhile from up in the sky, the Hand ship flew forward until it reached its destination in the landing zone for a proper base to be built up. With Citrine’s ship now landed behind ally lines, Jasper could only wait until she could watch her Commander join another battle with her and the allies once more.

Hand Ship
Soon to be Base of operations

Within the ground the fingers of the ship were jabbed into the ground, while the cut off wrist part was laying down on the ground as Loyalist gems were going to and fro, in and out, all were working around the clock as they were propping up prefab buildings and walls for the base of operations to be built; In the midst of it all was a temporary prefab headquarters for Tanya and her lower ranked commanders to go over what’s been going on so far.

Tanya had her hand up on her chin in a thinking pose while she rested her elbow in her other palm. In front of her was a table with a hologram of a live feed from the ongoing battle just outside not too far away, so far their forces were pushing the rebels back, allowing them some breathing room to build their base of operations with some ease. Around the table along with her were two Hessonites and one Emerald Gem.

Fixating her eyes on one of the Hessonites, Tanya pulled her hand away from her chin and leaned forward on the table with her hands to look closer toward the hologram on the table of the live feed from the frontlines of the ongoing battle. “Facet 93n cut 3231, what are the losses on our end so far?” she asked the gem in charge of the current front lines that were fighting against incoming swathes of rebels.

The Hessonite saluted her Citrine with a proud look, “So far, we have lost one third, and as you suggested to me, I took to heart to allow more than just two topazes to fuse.” the gem responded, while gesturing towards the feed, “As you can see, the topazes can easily match the strength of mixed gem fusion.” She informed Tanya, with a sour look at the mention of mixed gem fusions.

Tanya’s eyes closed in mild frustration, but didn’t let it show; she opened them back up and glanced towards the Hessonite gem, “Be careful how you look at mixed fusions, Facet 92n, underestimation towards mixed fusions may be your downfall.” she warned the gem with a narrowed eye look.

“My apologies.” The Hessonite straightened up with a nervous look as Tanya directed her ire at her, “It’s just my observation that different gems fused together is taboo for a reason, everything must fit as one afterall.” she reasoned for herself, thinking how her Diamonds view mixed fusions.

“You say that now.” Tanya said while she directed her gaze around the table at the other gems, “But you never know what benefit we may gain, if mixed gems are finally pushed to be allowed for use.” Tanya warned with a disapproving frown.

The Emerald Gem across the table from Tanya gasped in distaste, “Surely you jest.” the gem spat with a seething look directed at Tanya, “You would defy the Diamonds in such a taboo practice.” she inquired with a look of suspicion.

Tanya slammed her hands on the desk to shut the dissenting gems up, she narrowed her eyes at each one. “I would not defy, I am merely looking at what potential can be used, I do not accept wasted potential.” She hissed out with annoyance directed at the gems.

The other Hessonite chose that point to throw in her own thoughts with a troubled look, “But my Citrine.” She began to say, while earning the attention of Tanya. “You can’t expect to get away with such a proposal. Just think of what may happen if White Diamond hears of such a thing.” she warned, shuddering to think of all the gems that became gray-white puppets of White Diamond.

Tanya sighed in irritation, “Enough of this. This is getting us nowhere, we can discuss the matters another time.” she said with a disapproving frown.

The Emerald captain nodded with a sigh, “Agreed.” she remarked, with the Hessonites dropping the subject as well for the time being. Soon after, the four began plotting the next course of battles for the following days, and not long after, the gems save for Tanya, exited the building.

With her citrine gem eyes, Tanya viewed the ongoing battle from the live feed, before turning on her feet to head out to aid her troops. “This needs to end sooner.” she muttered as she exited the building, with plans on inserting herself into the battlefield as well. As Tanya stood on the ground outside, she faced towards where the battle was going on at, and folded her fingers together to mimic the act of cracking her fingers. ‘What I wouldn’t give to taste coffee…though it’d be difficult with a body constructed out of light.’ Tanya mused.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Southwest Hemisphere
Front lines

The scene opens in the sky of the battlefield, several gem aircrafts are flown in from the direction of Citrine’s Hand Ship after restocking their depleted destabilizer energy rounds; in what looked looked to be the a similar structure of a human aircraft of a Hind-D, but without the propellers and fashioned into a hexagonal like gem body with a wingspan, the aircraft was flying in using thrusterless gem technology. Two Nephrites are in the front cockpits in each of the Loyalist owned aircrafts as they are piloted towards the frontlines, while under the wingspans of the aircrafts are turret spheres manned by Rubies on both sides.

As the aircrafts are flown in towards the frontlines in a V formation, they begin splitting off from each other to fly over the battlefield in a less easier way to be picked off in a group. The scene pans in on the aircraft at the center that stayed on course in the meanwhile, before following with the aircraft as it dips down and flies over the opposing side. As several shots from energy shots ping off its hull, the Rubies in the sphere turrets unleash their payload with their destabilizer gun turrets; the sound made by the turrets are light high pitched whirs of lasers going off as they fire into the rebel gem below.

Several times the Nephrites piloting the gem aircraft would make swerves and tilts to evade enemy fire from below, especially from the light-cannons station out all the way at the Rebel’s base where they’d be fired off and the laser shots would come careening towards them. After a few misses of close encounters of being shot down by cannon fire, one stray mortar shell from the rebels would impact the side of the aircraft just as it made another dodge from cannon fire.

“We’re hit!” One of the Nephrites urgently reports into their headsets, while both aid each other to pilot the soon to be fiery wreck to the ground. “Please make way in sector 9 dash 4 , we’re coming down.” The other Nephrite reported into her headset. Not long after, within the ranks of their allies of the loyalist, there was a large opening spot made way for the Nephrites to try and pilot the aircraft down to. With an abrupt and hard crash, they managed to steer the gem aircraft down while its top was on fire from the mortar shell impacting it.

While the loyalist gems that made a clearing for the Nephrites to crash down to began hustling in to aid the gems to get out of the aircraft and to safety, the sky continued to be filled with the same sort of battle as aircrafts were in heated contest to evade the incoming fire from the rebels all the while unleashing their payload into the rebel gems below.

At the frontlines in the meanwhile, the scene is brought back down to where Tanya was as she fights alongside her gems under her command. Orange Pearl is seen finally reaching her as she herself deftly parries aside a gem gloved punch from a Brookite gem, just as said gem was about to punch again with an uppercut directed at Tanya, Pearl is seen rushing up and leaping over Tanya’s shoulder and bounding off from her shoulder to gain more air; Just as Tanya deftly leaned back from the uppercut from the Brookite and her Pearl was in hangtime, the rebel gem glanced up and realized her folly as Pearl came down with her spear aimed down to stab the gem through the head. Unable to move in time, the Brookite had her head impaled, shortly before popping and poofing away to leave only her gemstone remaining.

Meanwhile With Tanya and Orange Pearl, they continued to work off one another in tandem, centuries worth of combat experience between the two allowed Tanya to rest easy knowing her Pearl had her back. As the two turned around to face their backs to one another, Tanya brought her arm around to the back of her, “Pearl, grab on!” she hollered out through the war cries of the gems fighting each other. While the rebel gems rushed into to try and overwhelm the two, Pearl quickly reached behind her to grab onto Tanya’s hand while keeping her other hand on her spear.

With a heave from Tanya, tossed Pearl up into the air, before reaching up with her hand to catch her pearl by the leg and swing her around. With the extended reach granted by Orange Pearl while wielding out her spear, and Tanya’s own weapon transform back to her rifle form, the two became a deadly spin-top of a wide arc spear being extended out while Tanya’s rifle is fired off into the masses that couldn’t be reach from the two working together to extend their reach via Pearl’s spear and being held straighten out by her leg and swung around.

Several poofs later, and Tanya releasing her hold on her Pearl by tossing her up after finishing their combo move together, A rebel gem fusion of more than just two came lunging out of the air toward Tanya with her fist held above her head in a overhead hammer smash move. While Tanya took to dodging away from the attempted overhead double fisted slam, Pearl was front flipping in the air as she descended down with her spear held tight in her grasp. In real time, Orange Pearl’s form looked like a spinning ball of razor sharp edges with Pearl’s spear as the razor edge.

The fusion of four gems had one pair of their eyes witness Pearl descend down towards them, with their forearms brought up to block the blow, the fusion succeeded in protecting themselves from sustaining any damage. Meanwhile with Tanya While her Pearl leapt away from an attempted grab at her from the fusion, several thoughts ran through her analytical mind as she thought of how to bring down the gem fusion. Quickly glancing behind her, she took quick notice of the Jasper that took to fighting on the frontlines against rebel forces with a passion. “Jasper, with me!” she commanded with a loud voice, bringing the attention of said Jasper to glance her way and eagerly rush over to aid.

As Tanya rushed in with Jasper behind her, the fusion took notice of Tanya first as she leapt up to block their vision of Jasper behind her. With her saber raised above her head, Tanya slashed down at the gem fusion, only to have it blocked by two forearms. Just as the fusion that that was it, Jasper came in as a rolling body roll and cannonballed herself into the stomach of the fusion. As Jasper continued her spinning razer-like body against the torso of the fusion, said gem fusion brought their other others down to grab Jasper’s body and throw her off with a pain yell.

While Tanya leapt off from clashing her saber against the forearms of the fusion, Orange Pearl came in from behind and stabbed her spear into the back of the gem fusion. The Rebel fusion released a pain yelled while Tanya took the initiative of the lapse in the fusions attention, and dashed in to let off yellow sparks from her saber and cut twice at the legs of the gem fusion. The damage caused from Tanya’s attacks caused the fusion to have circuit-like lines run through their body from the origin of the cuts, in an effort to finish off Tanya and Pearl working together to take down the fusion, Jasper came in like a cannonball once more by hurling her spinning body into the belly of the rebel fusion.

With a loud boom pop, the gem fusion unfused leaving the gems that made up the fusion to fall to the ground; Tanya in the meanwhile bent at her knees while holding her saber in a sheathing stance, before leaping up to slash at the four gems in quick lightning fast succession. Once Tanya landed back down with her back turned to the falling rebel gems, once said gems landed, their bodies poofed away with yellow sparks dancing off their gemstones.

Orange Pearl was the first to rush to Tanya in the lull of battle, only to be given a sharp look from her Citrine and was gestured to keep going. “Don’t worry about me, Pearl, keep going.” Tanya shouted over the loud cacophony of the battlefield to be heard. Orange Pearl held her spear close to her chest and nodded in understanding, before she went off to fight the nearest Rebel gem.

Tanya then turned to glance over at Jasper who glanced back at her as well, “Well done, keep up the effort, Jasper.” she thanked her fellow loyalist gem, who flashed her a smirk in response. “Any time, My Citrine.” she hollered over the loud cacophony of gems fighting each other, before rushing off to fight the nearest rebel gem as well.

Glancing around her, Tanya cursed under her breath as she watched how many rebel gems were deceived on the false hopes of Pyrope’s words. She knew for a fact the aristocrat gem had no sympathy for the lower classes of the caste system, which begged Tanya to question what the Pyrope gem’s game was and what she had to gain on falsely leading a rebellion against the Diamond authority. Something wasn’t matching up, and she swore to get to the bottom of it.

Homeworld
Blue Diamond’s work office

In a large room with a wide range of blue colors to signify who owned the domicile, up on a raised platform with water streaming down at the corners of it, Yellow Diamond was seen worked at Blue’s work desk that had several holo-screens the fed in streaming info of her colonies and sol systems claimed by her and her forces. The room’s walls were lined with rushing waterfalls, with some gems hoisted up upon the walls singing out melodic tunes.

Yellow let out a tired sigh as she glanced around her and at the Gemstones crafted to be Blue’s atmospheric melodies to listen to while she worked, or at least when she used to work before…well…Pink shattering. Yellow leaned up from Blue’s desk and glared up at the gems designed to sing, before standing up and pulling a holo-tablet from out of the blue desk that she worked at. “I can’t work like this.” she groaned as she continued to work on managing Blue’s colonies via the holo-tablet she pulled out of the desk she worked at.

As Yellow Diamond strode down from the platform and out from Blue Diamond’s work space, her Yellow Pearl was quick on her feet just to catch up with her as she held her own tablet of sorts that had data streaming on for her compile and organize for her Diamond to later analyze and review. While the two exited out of the room, Yellow Pearl’s tablet rang off as a sign of an important message was incoming.

While her pearl was going over who had sent her a message, Yellow Diamond paused in her walking to focus on the incoming data of a few of Blue’s planets in need of their yearly inspection. An idea brought on by her Citrine in a proposal of keeping their colonies in check, rather than the former bicentennial inspections, as many things can change in a single cycle. “Hmm, I’d send my Citrine, but…” Yellow diamond spoke to herself in thought, “She’s already busy dealing with planet F78…plus.” Yellow mused with a small tap of her boot on the floor, “It’s been well over a hundred cycles since she’s been back on homeworld, it's about time she came back home and reported back to me directly.”

“Pardon me, My diamond.” Her pearl’s voice brought her out of her musings, and directed her attention down to her pearl. “Yes? What is it?” Yellow Diamond inquired of her Pearl with an indifferent tone as she directed her attention down to where her pearl stood by her boot.

Yellow Pearl offered her diamond a troubled look, “I’ve just received a message from Citrine, that is to say, your highest ranking Citrine that is.” she corrected herself at the end, and held her dataslate out to transmit her message to her Diamond. “Here, she sent these memories from a few rebel gems she caught.”

As Yellow Diamond received the incoming data from her Pearl’s dataslate remotely, she held up the holo-tablet in her hand to watch what was sent to her. With a raised eyebrow of interest shown as she skimmed through the sent memories, she paused one of the memories that showed a clear picture of a Pyrope Gem. “What. is. This?” Yellow Diamond bit out with fury and a heated look at what was going on in front of her as she held up the holo-tablet to view the recordings.

It was one thing for a low class gem like a rose quartz to raise a banner against them, but for an aristocrat gem to be playing the same act was a crime of the highest order on her list. The upper ranks are meant to rule and lead by example, and yet here was a Pyrope gem whipping up gems into a rebelling frenzy. With a thought in mind, Yellow diamond bent down and lowered her hand down, “Pearl, come.” she bit out, with said pearl immediately hopping on before Yellow brought her up to sit on her shoulder while she stormed off.

While Yellow Diamond stormed off through the halls of Blue’s workspaces, Yellow Pearl continued to skim through the continuous data stream in on her dataslate that was being fed from incoming messages from Citrine’s campaign on planet F78. She’d ask where her Diamond intended to go, but she elected to keep silent as she watched her diamond head in the direction of the Aristocrat gem district of Blue Diamond’s court. Yellow pearl couldn’t imagine what her Diamond had in store for the gems of blue court.

“I’ve told her, time and time again, Blue needs to reign in her court, and now we have a rogue aristocrat acting out of line and beyond treason.” Yellow grounded out, pearl however could only gulp in fear and hope Blue Diamond would soon cease wallowing in grief. It’s been well over a thousand cycles, they couldn’t keep working like this.

Rebel Gem Base (Formerly an Aristocrat Gem’s Temple)
South West Hemisphere

Groups of gems from small to large are seen rushing to an fro as their repurposed base is desperately holding up against incoming mortar shots of destabilizing bombs; in a repurposed auditorium ment for the aristocrats to host their parties, gems were working around the clock as the sounds of their repurposed base was being weathered down by incoming mortar shells. In one spot, several era 2 peridots with and without their limb enhancers are seen working together with various Carnelions to heft with them repurposed gem technology for later use. They were all making a desperate escape from the compromised base to head to one of the other sectors of the planet to regroup and rethink their situation.

The front lines are being pushed in the loyalist favor, as Citrine leads her forces against the dwindling amount of forces available for the Southwest hemisphere. Rebel gems are being poofed left and right as Citrine pushes with her forces deep into enemy lines. From above in the air, gem aircrafts are being flown in by Nephrites with Rubies manning turret laser destabilizer guns on the sides. The noise the laser guns make are like clapping thunder as they unleash their powerload into the throes of the rebel gems. Pock marks and indents are left in the ground from the velocity of the rounds unleash into the enemy forces, leaving trails of gemstones from gems having their bodies destabilized and poofed away,

Elsewhere within the large room were huddled up gem servants, unsure how to proceed with so much going on; A couple of Carnelian and Ametrine Quartz gems are seen rushing over to move the gems out to a safer room, or at the very least to an escapable exit route. “Come on!” one of the Carnelian gems urged the gem servants as they moved them in the right direction of the escape route. “Who knows how long the temple will stand!” an Ametrine gem exclaimed as they all helped aid the gem servant escape the soon to be crumbling repurpose Temple, once owned by the aristocrat gems of the planet, out of the room.

A gem is run through by a spear, as Orange Pearl stabs the gem from the front after she parried the gem’s attempt at attacking with their own weapons; Jasper is seen holding up two rebels by their throats, before slamming the gems into each other and with an audible pop from the gems’ body impacting into each other at such force. In the far distance, the fusion of Topaz gems is seen stomping and slamming their feet and fists into the retreating forces of rebel gems around her.

Lining the many wall that faced out towards the front lines of the battle were broken out windows, now all retro-fitted with light-cannons that periodically fired off from the gems manning the ‘consoles that controlled the cannons placed within the large open windows; Every once in a while however, a stray enemy cannon fire would make its way through the openings and exploded into the cannon with gems being caught in the blast with a poof of their body and their gem falling to the ground below afterwards.

Lapis gems are seen flying with their water wings aiding them to fly, they would work in pairs and form water from the clouds in the sky to form buzz saws and send them flying to the rebel gem below; several gems are seen bisecting either horizontally, vertically or diagonally before their bodies poof or pop away, leaving only the rebel gems gemstone to clatter to the ground below. Elsewhere on another part of the battlefield, Lapis and Larimar gems would work in conjunction with Amethyst gems. The Lapis gem would cause a rush of water to flow through the battlefield, the Larimar would freeze the gems in place that the water covered over, and the Amethysts would roll their bodies into the frozen bodies and shatter them to pieces, leaving only their gemstones behind.

As the front lines could be seen being pushed back ever closer to the repurposed base of the rebel gems, gem bodies could be seen poofing at an accelerating rate as the loyalists continue to push their way forward to the base. From inside the base, gems are seen fleeing to the back in fear as the ceiling and structure of the repurposed base begins to crumble from the bombardment of so many mortar shells from the enemy fire. On the rebel’s side, large bodied gems are seen evacuating the base out the back while carrying smaller gems in their arm to aid the little ones in the escape. Gem crafts are seen attempting to flee as well into space from the repurposed base. only to be either shot out of the sky by their enemies or by Lapis gems working in tandem to conjure up razer thin whips as they fly in and slice the aircrafts out of the air.

Citrine is seen bounding off from a large gem body that she had poofed from her stabbing her saber into the back of said gem, and landing atop a fleeing gem’s back the next; with a swipe of her saber as the gem stumbles forward from the abrupt weight on her back, Citrine decapitated the gem before it ever hit the ground. With a loud pop, the gem’s body poofs away, leaving only its gem that was on her forehead to clatter to the ground. Were one to look closer to Citrine’s eyes, one would see a conflicted look, only for it to swiftly disappear.r

Bright blue magical fires erupt from the collapsing repurposed base as mortar shells continue to rain down on it, all the while the remaining occupants are either struggling to get out in time or are seen pulling their allies out before the loyalist army reaches the base. One gem is seen able to pull their ally out from beneath a large slab piece from the crumbling base and escape from the area, how, not all others are lucky as another group of gems are seen tried to pull their allies out from a burning piece of blue rubble; with a loud whistle of something falling out of the air, a destabilizer mortar shell falls out of the air and impacts the area they are in. Several poofs later, the rebel gems trying to rescue their allies all pop away leaving only their gemstones to clatter to the ground.

In the midst of all the chaos of the battlefield, Citrine is seen receiving a package from a Monticellite gem; as her army of gems around her continue to march on around her, she looks down with an unreadable expression towards the bomb gift to her to use. Dismissing the Monticellite back to base and bidding her a job well done, Citrine grasps the packaged bomb in her palm with a sigh escaping her lips.


Crowds of gems could still be seen fleeing the collapsing temple turned rebel gem base, the tall large spires that surrounded it as part of it decoration is seen losing their structural integrity from so many mortar shots; one stray mortar blast sends one spire tilting over until it finally collapse down towards the fleeing rebels on the other end of the temple. With a loud boom and crash followed by several pops of bodies being poofed, the quake caused a ripple effect to occur for the rest of the spires as they all began falling like dominos.

“They’ve reached the base!” One gem shouted as she fled with her fellow gems while taking caution to avoid the path of the falling massive spires behind them.

One small bodied pearl gem is seen tripping on her own feet, before trying desperately to get back up. Said gem looked up with fright when she heard incoming enemy ships of the loyalist, and just as she thought her luck was up, one of the Tiger’s eye gems among the rebels ran her way and picked her up and placed her over their shoulder. “Hold on!” The Tiger’s eye gem yelled as she fled with the gem on her shoulder. “We’re not leaving anyone behind!” she desperately told the small gem she carried with her.

The Pearl in the meanwhile could only watch on in horror as she witnessed their base be demolished by a large destabilizing blast. From around the base, thousands of loyalist gems are seen chasing after them, taking caution to steer clear of the leftover destabilization field left by whatever bomb caused the large explosion.

The stampede-like army of loyalist gems could be seen bulldozing their way towards them breaking everything in their way to chase every single gem down. Some of the gems would part ways around the fallen spires, while the bulk of them would blast their way past the fallen spires and pour out like a rapid stream. leaping over and standing atop one of the fallen spires, Citrine is seen directing her army with her saber in hand pointed out at the fleeing gems. “Get them all! Let none escape!” She echoes her voice out in a commanding tone, prompting the loyalist gems under her command to chase after the fleeing rebels ever faster with a respectful fervor toward their Citrine commander.

From Citrine’s perspective, or more specifically, Tanya’s, she watched on with a pang in her heart as she watched gems were being popped left and right by the soldiers under her command. Her face twitched, swiftly checking herself of showing not a smidge of remorse when she saw in the distance a pearl get carried away by a Tiger’s Eye gem; A part of her want to see at least some of the rebel gems escape to safety, but she knew she had to be thorough in commanding her forces to hunt down every rebel gem and bring them back to heel under the Diamond Authority.

As Tanya watched from standing atop the falling spire, the tiger’s eye gem and pearl on her shoulder were well and far ahead, only for one of her Rubies from the aircrafts to be flown in above to crack off a shot and pierce both in one shot with a sniper destabilizer round. Reflecting from her Citrine gem eyes, Tayna watched as the two’s bodies electrified from the destabilization shot and poofed soon after; as the remaining pockets of rebels gem around the area were being hunted down to the letter by her forces, Tanya dissipated her weapon away into her gem with a tired soft silent sigh for no one to hear but her.

“Damn you Pyrope.” Tanya mumbled out with some heat in her words as she watched the dwindling numbers of rebel gems drop from her forces chasing down every last one in sight. “I’ll make sure you’ll pay for this…you and your silver tongue will pay.” she cursed under her breath at the aristocrat gem. She could understand the plight of the lower caste of gems, to always live beneath the foot of a society that allowed no upward mobility.

‘I know I have no room to speak, but it doesn’t mean I enjoy my station.’ Tanya groused to herself in her thoughts as she watched the last remaining rebel gems in the distance be chased down and be popped by her Rubies in gem aircrafts shooting them down with their laser destabilizer guns. Tanya said as she hopped off the spire and reconvened with her Pearl, the battle was won, but the war on Planet F78 had just begun. Hopefully in her mind, it didn’t drag out too long.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Planet F78, Citrine’s personal quarters within Loyalist HQ
4,500 B.S.U.

Tanya

The automatic doorway that led into Tanya’s personal room swiftly lifted up with a sharp hiss, in view was Tanya as she walked in while massaging her scalp with Orange Pearl trailing not too far behind. As Tanya approached her nearby sofa, the door to her room quickly closed as fast as it opened, leaving the two gems alone for now; Tanya moved to sit and lean back on her orange plush sofa, while letting out a tired sigh as she massaged her head.

The room was silent, save for the sound of the soft hum of the ambient noise from outside the room; it was then that Tanya stopped massaging her scalp and relaxed her arms to rest them at her sides, her eyes glanced over at her Orange Pearl, where she stood by at the wait. “Are you waiting for an invitation, or what? Come sit over here already.” Tanya said with mirth in her tone at the fidgeting pearl standing by the sofa, and patted beside her in a welcoming gesture. “We both could use some rest after that long meeting.”

Indeed, before Tanya had entered her room, she was stuck dealing with going over future battle plans for the rest of the planet, and potential weak points in the defensive lines of the rebels around the planet in other hemispheres of the world. Tanya was glad she could delegate enough work on three Hessonites far, but that’s all she’s allowed at the moment so far by Yellow Diamond. Hessonites already command quite an enormous amount of troops, regiments, etc. underneath them; so it’s fair to say in Yellow Diamond’s eyes that the force that Tanya was commanding beneath her was enough for a single planet.

However, what Tanya wanted was not what Yellow Believed was needed, an overwhelming force of numbers to quell the planet’s uprising of rebel gems; in the argument of Quantity vs quality, the argument went both ways; too many could be detrimental to a cohesive counter force, and too little was not enough to quell the rebellion within an acceptable time frame. Thus, the agreement was on three Hessonites, or more accurately, two Facet Hessonite and one cabochon Hessonite.

Tanya cared not for what she got, and she’d be damned if there would be segregation within her ranks; she didn’t want an armada that was at odds against each other on the soul bases on whose gem was a better cut than the other. “Ironic, that even within an alien race, discrimination is not exclusive to humanity.’ Tanya thought inwardly to herself with a small hidden smirk that went unseen by Orange Pearl while she looked at the spot where Tanya was patting the spot on the sofa for her to sit at.

As Pearl sat beside her Citrine, Tanya decided to play dirty and amuse herself by laying her head down on her Pearl’s lap. “Eep! My Citrine!” Orange Pearl spoke up in a half scandalized tone, half embarrassed voice as her Citrine used her lap as an impromptu pillow. As she lifted her hands up from doing anything unsavory, Pearl couldn’t help but allow her cheeks to glow bright orange from her embarrassment at her Citrine’s brazen act.

“Oh relax.” Tanya sighed out as she rested her head on her Pearl’s lap, after around a thousand years with her orange pearl, Tanya had been slowly getting more and more comfortable around her closest confidant. “It’s just a simple lap pillow.” she impishly teased her Pearl. It took her a while to work up the courage to try the act, and for the first time, she felt comfortable as she laid her head in the lap of her pearl. She just hoped she wasn’t being too forward in her actions.

Was she being out of line? Maybe. Was this how most owners of pearls act? Who knows. Did she enjoy how her teasing was causing her pearl to blush? Yes…yes she was…oh give her a break, she’s been alive for longer than her second life! At some point in her long life in being a Citrine gem commander, Tanya developed a little bit of a teasing streak while in private with her Pearl.

She was still a man in mind and soul, and she deeply regretted not putting in the effort for not telling how she really felt around Visha and the long nights they spent in the great war of her second life; But then again, things like emotions had no place in a war, and she had seen how mankind was brought low by acting on their baser emotions in war rather than thinking logically.

Thus, in her third and longest life so far, Tanya saw fit to be a bit impish at times in private moments with her pearl, a break from the stonewall facade she had cultivated over the years in her many lives.

Back to the matter at hand, while Orange was blushing up a storm, Tanya folded and rested her arms on her stomach while she laid her head on her pearl’s lap. “Pearl.” Tanya spoke up in a curious tone, bringing Orange Pearl out of her blushing mess now that her Citrine spoke up.

“Um…y-y-yes? My Citrine?” she asked curiously, unable to hide her growing blush on her cheeks.

Tanya looked up with a curious gaze in her citrine eyes back at her pearl’s eyes, as if they pierced into her very soul. “Do you think I’m evil?” she asked her pearl in earnest, “Not just me, but my actions, against rebels and what-not, and be honest.” Tanya warned her pearl with an eye piercing gaze.

After a few moments of silence from Orange Pearl, the gem sighed and smiled softly down at her commander, “You’ve always told me that evil is an abstract concept, and the view of evil is different in anyone’s minds given their situation.”

Tanya smiled gratefully up at her pearl as she continued to rest her head on her pearl’s lap, “It’s good to see my private moments together are not wasted.” She complimented Orange Pearl. “But yes, Evil can be an abstract concept and idea, but most important of all, the perspective of how someone views another as evil is always dependent on a given situation.”

Orange Pearl moved her hand to do something she wanted to do with her commander’s hair, but stopped herself and instead tucked a piece of her own hair behind her ear as a minor nervous tick. “I believe your actions are…well,...you’re doing the best you can, given your station.” she responded in a shuddering sigh of trying to calm her nerves, “Compared to the time when we worked together during that Rose Quartz’ rebelion, you were more callous in your actions with shattering our enemies…” she frowned sadly at the memories she dredged up.

Tanya let out a sigh of her own, “Yes, I did not think at the time that gems sense of self continued to exist after shattering, it is why now I proactively try and use the factory reset method, rather than the horrendous method of shattering a gem…” she mused in a melancholy way.

As a few more moments of silence passed between the two, Pearl spoke up to break the silence as the two relaxed on the sofa. “My Citrine, may I be bold as to ask a certain question?” she asked with a curious expression on her face.

With a shrug from Tanya as she continued to lay down, she looked back up into her pearl’s eyes. “As the saying goes with a Bismuth, strike while the iron is still hot.” she replied with an impish smirk.

“Please don’t tease me so, my Citrine, it is unbefitting of your station!” Orange Pearl Grumbled a bit before responding once more, “Has Yellow Diamond yet to give the go on project Hoplite?” she asked.

With a shrug from Tanya, she let out a frustrated sigh. “It’s slow going, but it’s going to take a while for her to get around to using the method I proposed to her to get the project going.” she answered with a careless shrug. With her question answered, the two fell into a comfortable silence in the rare moment that either was able to relax for a bit and be themselves without prying eyes watching them.

Soldier Barracks

Within one of the many barracks, where gem soldiers recoup themselves and prepare themselves for their next deployment, several Jaspers are seen inter mingling with each other socially as they either did a bit of sparring or discuss certain topics as to what their next mission will be or how well they’ll do in the next battle; one such Jasper known as one of the best made on Pink Diamond’s first and only colony, is seen within a sparring ring ring of sorts with her fists up and an annoyed expression as she faced of a skinny Jasper, colloquially called skinny as her nickname by their commander.

As the two jaspers circled around each other, Jasper once pondered why her commander Citrine put up with employing such a defective gem in her forces; that was in the past some time ago, nowadays she had to put up with the gem’s insufferable cheeky attitude towards her. Willing their weapons into action, Jasper had her helmet on while Skinny wielded a poleaxe from out of her gem on her stomach. In and instant, both Jasper from Earth’s Beta Kindergarten lunged at each other and clashed their respective weapons against each other; a loud clang went off followed by a few more as both gem tried to get a hit in on the other, only for both to either parry of block the opposing opponent’s weapon.

As the two continued to circle around and spar against each other, Skinny took the chance to smirk as she blocked a power headedbutt from her fellow Jasper. “Drop that insufferable smirk of yours!” Jasper grounded out as she followed up her attack with an uppercut into her fellow Jasper’s stomach.

“Oh, come on, I’m simply having a bit of fun here.” Skinny, with a smirk, teased her fellow Jasper as she slammed her poleaxe to the side to parry Jasper’s punch, and spun her weapon down to counterattack her opponent.

Another loud clang went off as Jasper redirected her head and blocked the attack with her helmet, “Who said anything about having fun, you…rrrgh!” She would have said defect, but she had fought alongside the Skinny Jasper for more than a few centuries, and she knew when to keep her mouth shut when she was proven wrong in some of her opinions. “Just be serious and just fight me already!” Jasper spouted with an annoyed yell as the two increased their trading of blows against each other’s weapons in a bid to get a hit in.

Meanwhile on the sidelines, a few Amethyst were sitting aside to relax until it was their turn to take the ring against each other, two such Amethyst were 8XG and 8XJ; both are from Earth’s Prime Kindergarten, and as Skinny liked to say in a teasing way, were cliquey when in larger group with the rest of their fellow Amethyst.

One of the two spoke up amongst themselves as they sat aside by the ringside as they watched Skinny and Jasper go at each other, 8XJ was the first to speak as she sat with her chin resting on her fists and her elbows on her knees as she sat, “You’d think both would get over themselves and realize how they actually feel towards each other.” she whispered over with a smirk and sideways look while leaning to the side towards her fellow Amethyst.

“Snk.” 8XG snickered with a low chuckle as she rested the flat of her palms on the bench she sat on while she leaned over to whisper back to her fellow Amethyst. “Nah, if neither of them haven’t gotten past what they got going on now, then no way will they actually say anything to each other about how there’s some tension between them.” she smirked back.

“Pshaw.” 8XJ tried to silently guffaw a snickering laugh at how her fellow amethyst spoke about the two drastically different Jaspers would oftentimes be at each other’s throats, and not in a life threatening way. “Blame Skinny.” 8XJ insisted with a mirthful expression, “She’s the one always starting the little bouts of skill between the two of them,” she pointed out, right as said Skinny Jasper managed to deftly dodge another punch by the the more bulky Jasper by front flipping over her and retaliating with a swing of her poleaxe from behind at Jasper’s back. Jasper followed up her punch by swiftly spinning in place, parrying Skinny’s poleaxe with her forearm, and hooking her arm around the offending weapon to pull Skinny in and headbutt her.

In a surprising turn of event in mid attempt of Jasper trying to headbutt Skinny Jasper with her helmet, Skinny’s lithe form allowed her to quickly bend backwards and avoid the blow, and maneuvered her legs swing around to wrap them around Jasper’s own and trip her over; as Jasper landed hard on her back from being tripped, Skinny quickly flipped herself over and bounded from the floor and sit atop Jasper’s chest and hold her poleaxe over her with the axe end pointed into the face of Jasper.

Skinny smirked down at Jasper as said gem grumbled at her loss, “That’s, what, eight hundred to eight hundred now?” she teased her more bulky sparring partner, Jasper in response simply loud out a growl of frustration.

“It’s eight hundred and one, in my favor, you-you…uugh!” Jasper groaned in annoyance as Skinny leapt off and offered a helping hand to pull Jasper up on her feet.

Back with the Amethysts gems, they both had cheeky grins as they watched the supposed ‘perfect’ Jasper be humbled in such a way; However, just as they were about to get up, out from behind popped a small Carnelian gem as she placed her arms around her fellow Earth gems. “Whatcha doin’!” she shouted in sheer glee at the two Amethysts getting jumpscared from her antics.

As the two calmed down from screaming, and did a little roughhousing with their fellow earth gem that nearly scared the living gems out of themselves, all three settled down and sat on the bench once more as the Jaspers in the ring began collecting themselves and leave the area to do other things to occupy their time until their next deployment.

“So when’d you get here?” Asked 8XJ in an excited tone, excited that another fellow Earth gem would be amongst them in the campaign on planet F78.

Carnelian snickered in a good natured attribute and whispered between the two Amethyst gems, “Guys, you have no idea how much has been going on, on homeworld!”

8XG gestured for Carnelian to continue, “Well, don’t just leave us hanging, what happened that caused you to arrive here?” she urged the short stack carnelian gem to continue.

Carnelian glanced between the two Amethyst gems with an excited look, “Guys, word through the gossip vine is that homeworld has been in an uproar ever since commander Citrine sent documented footage of a Pyrope instigating the rebellion here.” she smirked with a broad smile, “Why, I even heard Yellow Diamond had most of the aristocracy caste dragged out of their abodes, and were treated to harsh interrogation to weed out who else might have a hand in any hienous acts of their own.” she gushed with a snicker.

Both Amethyst gems laughed in a good natured way, with one of them speaking up first afterwards. “‘Bout time that caste of gems had what was coming, always thinking they can get away with their actions!” 8XJ remarked, prompting Carnelian to frown in response.

“Yeah, but here’s the thing…most were innocent, but quite a few were found guilty of working on plans to do something they shouldn’t.” The Carnelian gem responded back, before pointing out over where the sky could be seen through the doorway that led outside.

“Why, Yellow Diamond even had to contact Blue Diamond, and tell her that a few gems in her court were guilty, especially the Pyrope on this planet that is guilty of staging the revolt that you’re up against.” Carnelian discussed with her fellow earth gems, both blinking at that tidbit of information.

“So…” 8XJ began to say, with 8XG finishing off her sentence, “What’s the situation at the Zoo then?” they asked, “weren’t you stuck stationed there?” 8XJ finished asking.

Carnelian snickered and responded with a cheeky smile, “Guys, you’ll never believe what happened. What had happened was, Yellow Diamond had contacted Blue Diamond while she was visiting Pink Diamond’s zoo.” she began to say, “And guess what happened, after Blue Diamond was given the call by Yellow Diamond!”

Both Amethyst shrugged in response, and urged Carnelian to tell them what had happened. “Blue Diamond went into such a rage, that she forgot to take her ship here, and instead used the zoo as a ship to reach the place and see to it that the pyrope would be made an example of once the campaign on this planet is settled by commander Citrine!”

“...” Both Amethyst were stock still at the mention that Blue Diamond had personally made a trip here, to see the campaign through to the end and punish the traitorous Pyrope. “Uh…” Both amethyst chorused, realizing that it wouldn’t be long until an assembly to be held for Commander Citrine and every available gem to guard and welcome one of the great Diamonds that ruled over gem kind.

Blue Pearl

While her Lustrous Blue Diamond was busy preparing herself to get herself out of her grieving for a little while, she was tasked with marching herself off to confront Commander Citrine and address the Favored gem of Yellow Diamond that her Blue Diamond would soon be awaiting her presence within the assembly hall of said Citrine’s hand ship that was fortified down into the ground for the coming war on the planet.

From what she can only guess, Blue Pearl supposed her Blue Diamond wanted to summon commander Citrine for the sole reason of finding out the projected time frame that the commanding gem could finish the campaign on the rebellious planet; that, and/or provide one or two Sapphires to hasten the end of the campaign on this once, aristocratic owned planet. Blue Pearl didn't know, all she did know was that she never saw her Blue Diamond so furious when Yellow Diamond contacted her and told her that a gem from her court was staging a rebellion.

So furious was her Blue Diamond while visiting Pink Diamond’s legacy that was the human zoo, that she used the entire zoo as her own ship instead of her own arm and hand ship to reach the planet they were now on. The sheer raw emotion that her Blue Diamond released through her powers caused her to feel an unbridled amount of anger by extension, never before since the shattering of Pink Diamond, had she seen her Diamond so furious.

As Blue Pearl approached the designated room where commander Citrine’s private quarters was at, she inputted a few codes on the datapad on the side to ring in the tonal jingle that signified the importance of who was ringing the door, so to speak. She was ringing her Diamond’s jingle tone, allowing her to let the occupants inside know that she was outside as Blue Diamond’s personal Pearl. It was Blue Diamond’s jingle, with a slight extra jingle to it to signify that it was her.

From inside, Blue pearl tilted her head in curiosity as she heard a crash sound and a loud thump, followed by shocked gasp and a surprised shout. Hmm, not strange, she supposed, she is afterall ringing the door in place of her Diamond; therefore, Blue Pearl supposed it not entirely out of the ordinary for gems to be surprised by her visit and the chime of her signified jingle tone that is only identified as her own and by extension her Lustrous Blue Diamond.

As Blue Pearl waited with her hands clasped together in front of her, it wasn’t long until the door opened to reveal Commander Citrine tidying up her uniform blouse, her pearl on the other hand seemed to be in a bit of a blushing mess. Hmm…not strange…she supposed. Blue Pearl supposed Citrine’s Orange Pearl was embarrassed for not getting the door first.

Blue pearl pinched the tip of her blue dress and bowed respectfully before commander Citrine, and softly addressed the gem personally created by Yellow Diamond. “Commander Citrine, My Diamond would like to see you when you are ready.” She softly addressed the Citrine commander, not bothering to ask if she’d be able to meet her Blue Diamond within the assembly hall of her hand ship.

Commander Citrine coughed into her fist to work her throat, before respectfully speaking to Blue Pearl. “Yes, thank you, please, lead the way.” she said with a calm tone, and it was then that Blue Pearl looked up through her hair, and noticed a few strands of hair on commander Citrine’s head were sticking up from, what it looked like, lying down.

Again…strange…but not uncommon, she supposed commander Citrine was taking a nap of sorts that she’s known to have adopted a trait from visiting the human zoo. “Very well then, please follow me.” Blue Pearl softly spoke, before leading the two towards where her Diamond was.

Chapter Text

4,500 B.S.U.

Human zoo

Prior to Blue Diamond receiving news from Yellow Diamond.

Blue Diamond

From the outside of the Human Zoo, the facility appeared to be a pink dagger with a large blade and a small hilt that is surrounded by a ring. A large blue arm and hand ship owned by Blue Diamond could be seen floating beside the facility, with several Red Eyes around the Human Zoo acting as sentries that watch those who travel toward the facility. Inside the human zoo, and through several large hallways, we see Blue Diamond calmly walking through the hallways until she reaches a certain room, and as her Blue Pearl hurries forward to open the large door for her, Blue continues onward once the large doors open up; Within the dimli lit room one can see dozens of bubbled Rose quartz gems, floating close to the ceiling. There are many pedestals, two stairways, a large pillow, and two exits; the large exit is no doubt for the Diamonds, and the other is a smaller one for regular gems.

As Blue Diamond walked in and kneeled to sit on the large pillow, she sadly spoke out as she lifted her shawl off of her head, “Pearl, close the door.” she commands as she looks up at the many bubbled rose quartz gems. Blue Diamond looked up with tears on the edges of her eyes as she looked at what remained of Pink Diamond’s legacy. “Oh Pink.” Blue murmured as she looked up, “You can’t fathom how much I mourn for you.” she said to herself, while the soft sound of the room's doorway shut close, leaving her and her pearl to themselves within the room.

While Blue Diamond grieved in peace, her moment alone with her pearl silently off to the side was soon ruined by the sight and sound of Yellow Diamond personal holo-screen popping up within the vicinity of Blue as she sat on her massive pillow. “You have got to be joking with me.” Yellow gritted out with an annoyed and angered tone, before slamming her hands down on her console desk on her end of the call. “Blue! You have got to move on! We’ve already lost Pink, and I can’t keep picking up the slack from your absence to your colonies!” she berated her fellow Diamond.

With her back facing the holo-screen, Blue did her best to cease her crying, and dry her tears away with her finger. “It’s….it’s only been a few centuries Yellow!” Blue Diamond groused in sorrow as she turned to face the holo-screen with Yellow on the other end of the call. “Can’t you let me grieve in peace for a little while longer!? It’s too soon, Yellow!”

“Yes, sure, why not?” Yellow Diamond sarcastically replied ion veiled anger, “And while your at it, your own court in falling into shambles, your colonies are in dire need of your presence, and several high ranking aristocrats of your court have been in cahoots with a Pyrope on Planet F78 in starting a rebellion!” she seethed out.

Blue Diamond’s eyes went from shock, then to anger, as she began to come to terms with what he just heard. “What…” She asked in listless anger as her grieving aura receded into her, causing the room to longer be bathed in a slight shade of blue. From her Blue Pearl’s point of view, she began to feel the urge to clench her fist in anger, she understood what was going on, thus she tried to refrain from showing any outwards effects her Diamond had on her until it was appropriate and it was on full display from her diamond.

Yellow Diamond frowned in distaste as she leaned back in a chair of her on her end of the call, “Yes, while in the prior centuries, it’s been one thing after another of low caste gems trying to raise their own banner of rebellion in the fashion of the traitorous Rose quartz, but with you gone for so long from your own court, it seems several of your aristocrats have saw fit to think they can get away with quite the same thing.”

As Blue began to come to terms with what she was hearing, he eyes quivered in anger, “That’s…that’s…” she tried to make sense of the situation in seething anger, a dark crimson red hue began to emit from her body, before a dark midnight blue aura exploded out from her body, “That’s impossible!” She roared in anger, as the room around her shook and cracked from the pressure of her aura exploding outwards from her. “What would get into the minds of those…those…” The room continued to shake as Blue’s emotions created a distortion within the room she was in, before it settled down as she began to reign in on her powers before she accidentally destroyed the room she was in and the bubbled Rose Quartz gems.

Meanwhile with her Blue Pearl, said pearl couldn’t help but gritted her teeth in seething anger as she felt the full brunt of her Diamond’s aura, and sent her into an emotional mess that was anger.

Yellow raised an eyebrow at the change in attitude of Blue, “Oh yes, I even have recorded memories extracted from a few rebel gems on that planet that my personal Citrine gem is now on.” she smirked in triumph as she began to play the footage of what was sent to her.

From Blue diamond’s point of view, she watched the footage and wracked her mind of what Yellow said about a personal Citrine Gem; she never met the gem personally, but she’s heard the occasional gossip from the Amethysts and Jaspers she lent the gem whenever she put forward the occasional request to put some of the Prime and beta Kindergarten gems to actual use. Far be it from her to let Pink’s gems remain stuck on the human zoo and do nothing, as a matter of fact, she was sure Pink would have liked to see her gems see other planets…afterall, she did have quite the loyal court and was always admired in contrast to Blue’s own court of gems. Pink treated her gems with a modicum of kindness, thus in Pink’s memory, Blue supposed she’d let the Citrine gem take a few of Pink’s gems on the occasional campaign to conquer a planet.

“Pause the footage!” Blue yelled out in seething anger, and looked at the freeze frame footage of a Pyrope gem working up a crowd of gems into a haze of rebellion. Blue Diamond’s eyes dilated in anger, as she began to come to grip with what was going on. The Guilty Pyrope in question was from Blue Colony 2, one of her very first planets she colonized; Blue pulled up a side screen to the one, and began typing in a few commands, before a profile image of the Pyrope in question. “You…” Blue seethed out, the image she looked at was of Pyrope Facet 4m817 cut 1ou5, as the details the image showed to her.

With a wave of her hand, Blue willed the screen away, and allowed the two way call of her and Yellow to resume, judging by the expression of Yellow, she was still waiting on the other end of the call as she leaned her cheek against her fist in waiting for Blue’s response. “So you believe me now-” Was all Yellow Diamond got to say in a chiding tone, before Blue angrily slammed the screen aside and caused it to smash into the nearby wall and cracked it to pieces.

From Yellow Diamond’s point of view on the other end of the ended call, she had to momentarily blink at the sheer anger that Blue showed before she slammed the monitor aside and caused it to shatter and thus end the call abruptly. Yellow sat up in her chair in a rather shocked look on her face, her hands not both placed on the arm rests of her chair she sat on, “Well now…” Yellow mused while blinking in mild amusement at Blue’s change in attitude. “I suppose I don’t need to be the one to go instead of her.” she quipped.

Meanwhile with Blue Diamond, she began to clench her hands into her hair as she seethed in anger at the thought of finding out that one of her court gem members dared to raise a flag of rebellion against the Diamond Authority, made worse by the fact that it mirrored how Pink’s own Quartz gem raised her own flag of rebellion against her own Diamond. As Blue Diamond stood up with fury evident on her face, her hair became like tendrils as her anger influenced the space around her.

Without another word, Blue stormed off and headed towards the doorway; so angered was she that she didn’t even bother to issue an order of her pearl to open the door for her, and just as so, as with her bare hands, Blue pried the doorways open from the middle and slammed it open before storming off towards the control center where the piloting controls were. So furious was she, that Blue diamond wanted to get to the planet in question in an instant and not even bother using her own ship to get to the planet. Blue Diamond’s mind was red with rage as she stormed through the hallways in a hurry, eager to get to the planet of F78 and see to it the end of the Rebellion herself, rather than stand idly by like…like she did with Earth, until it was too late.

Blue Pearl

As fast as her legs could take her, Pearl did her best to keep up with her Blue Diamond as she stormed off in the direction of the control center for the Human Zoo; Oh sure, she would try her best to calm her Diamond down and think rationally, but in all reality, it’s not her place as a pearl to suggest such a thing. Thus, Blue Pearl is faced with the fact that she has to keep up with Blue Diamond while she storms through the hallways in a fit of rage.

In a bid to not Trip over herself from her blue dress, Pearl’s Blue Diamond parted some of her blue dress in the front while pinching the edges to lift her dress up to allow her the freedom of making long strides in her rush towards the control center. Blue Pearl however had to take a few teleportation shortcuts to catch up with her Blue Diamond, not all nodes were connected to each other, and not a single one led her to the control center for obvious reasons.

As Blue Pearl used another teleportation node on the human zoo station to keep up with her Diamond, she was able to keep up and catch the tail end of seeing the Holly Blue Agate in charge of the facility to halt and step aside and try to greet her Diamond with honeyed words. “My-oof!” Was all Holly Blue got out to say as her Blue diamond brushed/kicked the gem aside into the wall. “Silence! Out of my way!” Her Blue Diamond yelled in incessant fury as she stormed towards the control room that was finally in view of the hallway they rushed through.

While her Blue Diamond continued onward towards the control room, Pearl paused and quickly bowed before the Holly Blue Agate, “Pardon my Diamond.” Pearl softly spoke, as that was all she managed to offer, before rushing off to catch up with her Diamond as she approached the doorway of the control room and pried it open like the last doors she did.

Carnelian

It was a rare time as any to be involved in guard duty for an off-color such as her, well, that is, she’s not exactly off color, just shorter than the average Carnelian like on Homeworld; it did mean she liked the job either, as it was a bore to just stand around by the doors and do nothing for a period of her shift.

Carnelian and the other Amethyst that was on guard duty with her and stood opposite of her of the doorway that led to the hallways of the human zoo station, both of them were abruptly surprised as the doorways shook violently, followed by her and everyone else in the room feeling the urge to be extremely angry. Everyone including Carnelian fell over themself when a large pair of hands pried the doorway open, and in came Blue Diamond in a fury haze as she stormed in and began using the controls of the human zoo herself.

Any of the available Nephrites or era 2 Peridots on duty would have said something, but everyone was so affected by Blue Diamond’s emotional aura, they could only collapse to their knees in anger from the effects of Blue Diamond’s powers. “RRRGGG!” Blue Diamond let out a sound of fury as she slid a few screens aside and put in a set coordinates for the Human zoo to instantaneously teleport to. “Not from my Court! That Cracked clod of a gem will regret ever crossing me!!!” Blue Diamond shrieked in fury.

A moment later, Carnelian and everyone else watched with shock as their Diamond had essentially hijacked the human zoo for her personal use and used it to take her to a different location, rather than her own ship. As Carnelian tried to calm herself from the anger she felt from Blue Diamond’s aura washing over them all, She couldn’t help but wonder who dared to even try to anger a diamond in such a way.

Present

Planet F78

North Western Hemisphere

Unlike the rest of the planet, the majority of the North Western Hemisphere is nothing but an ocean of Mercury, with the occasional island chain or two; it is here on one of the islands where a certain Pyrope is in a private room with herself, she wrung her hands together in worry as she sent out an encrypted called to a group of recipients known only to the highest of echelons within the caste of the Diamond Authority.

From a lone diamond-like gem within the center of the room, whilst Pyrope stood away from it, nine separate holo screens came into existence with silhouettes within three of them at the moment. Pyrope however remembers when there was a time there would have been twelve screens, but that was before Pink Diamond was shattered; the group she was calling, would have been the council of twelve, but with Pink Diamond gone, and her court in question in shambles, all that was left was the council of nine, just like it had been before Pink Diamond came into the picture.

Pyrope continued to wring her hands in nervousness as the silhouettes of the three available gems came into view. A Yellow Morganite from Yellow Diamond’s Court, a Blue Demontoid from Blue Diamond’s court, and finally, a gray and white Sapphire from White Diamond’s court. Pyrope would swear she’d sweat if she had the ability to like an organic in her given situation, but at the moment, all she can do is gulp down her nervousness.

“I - “ Pyrope began to say, only for the Sapphire to calmly raise her hand up, and halt her from speaking any further.

“Pyrope…” The Sapphire spoke in an airy tone, “you failed…” she simply said, “I warned you of Yellow Diamond’s Citrine, and now you are faced with the consequences of your choices.” she calmly spoke with an edge to her tone.

Pyrope bit her lower lip in anger, before replying back, “You’re wrong! If it wasn’t for-” She tried to defend herself, only for the Demantoid to cut her off with a scathing look.

“The Hessonite you used to occupy Yellow’s Citrine gem was obviously unfit to stall for time!” She yelled in fury towards the Pyrope’s choice of gem to distract a certain Commander’s time while Pyrope could enact a false flag operation on her planet against a collective number of cabochon gems, “Because of your poor choice of gem, we had to send in a team and shatter a high ranking official, an era one no less!” the Demantoid seethed, “If it weren’t for that Citrine’s new creation she had her Peridots create, we’d have simply let the matter slide and allow the Hessonite to lie through her teeth!”

From the Morganite in the other screen, she fluffed her hair a bit before commenting on the matter, “Don’t forget, Demantoid, Yellow Diamond has one now too, and she almost found us out if we didn’t do enough quick thinking to stall a few of our council members from getting the message on time and head back to homeworld.” she mused in a bored tone, with a sly look. “My Carnelian gems within the new Arbities regiment, stated that Yellow practically tore the lesser aristocrats a new one, turns out, a few had their own plots to try and ruin the Citrine’s favor in the eyes of Yellow Diamond.”

Pyrope sputtered a bit, before she tried to form a sentence, “Please! Just give me more time” the gem then face the Grey and White Sapphire of White’s court, “Surely you must see a future, anything! Anything for me to use to win this debacle I’m in!”

“I’m afraid not…Pyrope…and this is where we end this trial run of your position within the council…you have failed.” The Grey and White Sapphire said with a dangerous edge to her tone.

“Please, just give me some more time, help me out here! Anything to get rid of those eyesores of cabochon gems! They are an affront to the perfection of the Diamond Authority!” The Pyrope pleaded with her arms out in a begging manner, “It’s bad enough that, that upstart Citrine is so successful. It’s worse that she’s able to get off colors and cabochon gems to work with the perfection that is facet gems!”

While neither of the three other gems said another word, Pyrope took that as a chance to continue speaking, “She’s been breaking tradition after tradition! All in a span of a mere thousand cycles! Help me destroy this Citrine, before she gets out of control! Yellow Diamond has become too lenient with her personally made Citrine gem! It’s madness I tell you!” Pyrope began to shriek at the end.

It was then the gray and white Sapphire spoke up, “The matter of Yellow Diamond’s newest Citrine, is no longer of your concern, this is goodbye, Pyrope. You shall no longer remember us or anything about the council.” she worded out, before a bright white flash filled the room.

As the room finally darkened back to its normal color, Pyrope stood listlessly as she blinked and tried to remember why she was in the room she was in. Then she remembered she had come to this room to figure out how to beat Yellow Diamond's most successful Citrine gem, shaking her head, Pyrope exited out of the room, keen on scrounging up whatever forces she had together and see about sending an assassination squad to take out the Citrine gem. Whatever she had to do, she had to make sure that the Citrine gem was finally rid of, and the Diamond Authority can finally return to how it once was. Surely the Diamonds could understand!? She was doing this for the good of the Empire! Surely they’d see reason why she had to lure the Citrine gem here, and take her out before she changes any more traditions.

Tanya

Within the assembly hall of her ship, Tanya stood with her diamond salute up while her pearl behind her did the same. “Blue Diamond...” She began to say with a cautious tone, hoping she didn’t earn the ire in any way from Blue Diamond. She could feel the seething rage boil within her from the effects of the gem matriarch's aura powers, and as evident, most of the gems under her command as well within the assembly hall that stood at the sides were affected as well.

Everyone looked to be trying to keep in the foreign effect of being angered from being in the radius of Blue Diamond’s emotional aura.

While Blue Diamond’s pearl could be seen standing beside her blue chair, Blue Diamond sat with air of authority with tears of rage threatening to spill from her eyes; any other time, she’d be inside her palanquin, but in her rage filled hasty choice, Blue Diamond had left her palanquin aboard her personal ship arm and hand ship, thus she was stuck with using an impromptu throne chair that was built by Tanya’s Bishmuths under her command for the sole purpose of building new war machines.

“...Greetings…Blue Diamond…” Tanya cautiously spoke out, knowing that she wasn’t supposed to say ‘my diamond’ seeing as how she was not owned or created by Blue diamond, thus she had to address Blue Diamond in a different respectful manner, “Your Lustrous-” Tanya was about to try and give a few honey sickle words to welcome the Diamond to the planet, only for Blue Diamond to hold her hand up to cease her from speaking any further.

Blue narrowed her eyes down at the Citrine before her, “Tell me, how short in a time span can you end this…petty rebellion?” she questioned Tanya with a raised eyebrow of suspicion towards her.

‘Okay, keep calm, I’m sure she can understand things take time…’ Tanya thought to herself, before answering, “Your Luscious Blue Diamond, depending on the logistics-”

“I care not for that, how long will it take to corner the pebble clod that is the Pyrope that started this, this, this treasonous act!” Blue diamond yelled in fury, before slamming her fist down, cracking the armrest of the impromptu throne chair she sat on, “Give me a time frame!” she bit out in seething anger with tears of fury threatening to spill from her eyes.

Tanya gulped her nervousness down, hoping she’d not anger the Diamond too much with what she said next. “Your lusciousness, If you can offer me three more Hessonites, and five more emeralds…I can end this conflict within half a cycle’s time.” she tried to reason with the diamond, as she ran the numbers in her head. If she played her cards right, she could try out the Blitzkrieg method with more forces under her command.

With a 180 spin on her attitude, Blue Diamond smiled maliciously. “I’ll double it, and you make it a quarter of a cycle! I want that Pyrope standing before me in shackles post haste!” she snapped out with seething teeth of fury.

Tanya blinked numbly, never before had she worked with such a large number of gems under her command, that practically numbered close to half a million numbers strong. “I’ll…I’ll get right on it.” She spoke with a face of awe at how many gems Blue Diamond was willing to throw to finish such a small rebellion.

Blue Diamond smiled demurely down at the Citrine before her, “Good, see to it that I see that Pyrope dragged by her feet before me when you are done.” she smirked with a smug look, happy to see things getting done.

An; Due to a certain introduction of a certain group in this chapters, I'd like to know what you guys think of it as a behind the scenes antigonists for Tanya to struggle/fight against.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

I won . I thought it was over. I died a natural death after the sum of it all, what I can’t deny  to expect, was for Being X to confront me once more;  however when he confronted me as I lay in my bed and breathing my last passing breath, he spouted how he washed his hands of me and our little spat. I’d say deal instead of spat, but I never signed anything or agreed to his little test against me and surviving in this second life of mine. With the infuriating tone I’ve known to associate Being X with, he said something about throwing my soul to the winds of luck for someone else to deal with.

I don’t know if Being X was being literal, hyperbolic, or simply throwing a hissy fit with me winning his little test against me, but all I remember next was pitch black and the feeling of floating after I let out my last breath of life. Unlike the time between my first and second life, in what felt like an instantaneous moment from being hit by a train, and waking up as a baby girl in my second life, the time spent till my third life felt long and short’ it was a surreal experience when you don’t feel any part of your body, I was simply consciousness drifting in the dark to who knows where. I couldn’t see anything, I simply felt weightless and felt myself drifting.

Not knowing how long I would spend my time in nothing, as nothing, or at the very least, a supposed soul wandering in some vast space of nothing of sorts, I tried to look around, or what equated to the equivalent of looking around as a disembodied soul. The moment I saw the mere speck of light, I tried my hardest to maneuver myself towards the source of light. Whatever I was doing to move my disembodied soul to the source of light, it worked; perhaps I was simply willing my soul to swim to the light, all I knew, I wanted to escape the vast expanse of darkness and be free of being a disembodied soul.

I did not want to stick around and experience the boundless nothing that surrounded me.

The closer I ‘swam’ to the sort of light, the more color I could see; the most prominent color that was visible was yellow, and not just yellow itself, I was ‘swimming’ towards a spectrum of yellow. I kept maneuvering my disembodied soul towards the yellow light, and the closer I was, the more prominent I saw the sight of yellow electrical volts spinning within a vortex. Before I knew it, I felt the feeling of being pulled towards the yellow light with yellow lightning bounding around it and dancing outwards into the vast expanse of nothingness.

What I didn’t expect next…then again…who can in my situation…I found myself feeling cramped and feeling life returning to me. I felt an overwhelming amount of life return to me, as if a large swathe of life energy was thrust upon me, and invigorated my mind to an inimaginable level. I felt small, then I felt my body form, followed by my limbs and head. Like I said before, it was a surreal experience, and I’ll never forget the moment I finally burst out from my confines, in a rather explosive manner…to say the least.

As I…guess the right word is…ejected, myself from out of my confines, my body felt like it could dance a thousand hours without end, I felt the boundless energy at my fingertips; all around me, as my vision came back to me, I witnessed the fertile ground on whatever alien planet I was on become dead. It was later I found out that every gem pretty much drains the life energy in their given location and spot to energize their new life so to speak. I suppose the nigh immortality and power has to come from somewhere for a gem, but for me, I witnessed I was the only one in sight with an enormous amount of dead life around me. I may not be the biggest life conservationist, but surely there needs to be a less…violent and deadly way for a gem to be made…

As I stumbled a bit forward, and did my best to contain the unbridled power that I beheld at my fingertips, for goodness sake, I swore I saw small yellow sparks light up between my fingertips; While I took every step forward cautiously, and tried my best to get reacquainted with the feeling of having youthful legs once more, I didn’t focus in front of me until it was too late and fell face first into a massive hand.

The next words I heard were ‘perfect’ and ‘easy now’. My hearing was still a bit off, seeing as how I had just come back from the dead, and getting used to having a body again. As I sat on my knees within the massive hand that began to pick me up, I looked up with a no doubt speechless face. Right before me was a massive woman, she was Yellow in different shades of the color, I couldn’t help but gape at what was before me.

Apparently the woman took my staring as a compliment, seeing as how I found out later that most gems after their emergence, look up to their diamond’s with reverence. She must have mistook my staring as being in awe. At least I had that going for me, as first impressions…who else couldn’t help but stare up at a massive woman for the first time?

An early passage from commander Citrine’s private diary.

Planet D39u23ch4ff of StarSector Y3110w 

Within a spherical hexagonal sphere observatory atop a tall cylindrical spire, all in the matte color of shades of yellow, small gem-like drone video-cameras were flying around until an opening at the top slid open, allowing them to fly out and tend to their programmed duties outside of the observatory. Sitting within a large facet carved chair, was Yellow Diamond, typing away at her personal terminal that was connected to the nearby Kindergarten in the works nearby.

Yellow had a small satisfied smile on her face as she placed a few more inputs into the keyboard on her terminal, and finished the personal project of hers that had been incubating within the nearby cliffside of the kindergarten. “And…done.” She clapped her hands together to mark her project finished, and stood up from her chair to exit out of her observatory. As she made her way to the exit portal that led directly down and next to the kindergarten, she passed by her personal Pearl. “Come Pearl.” She simply instructed as she stood within the teleporter.

With her hands folded behind her back, Yellow Pearl preened at being addressed and stood on her tiptoes. “Yes, my diamond!” she responded back, before hurrying to catch up and stand behind her diamond and wait for the teleporter to take them down to the nearby kindergarten.

Without another word, the both of them teleported in a shimmering light, before ending up just outside the edge of the kindergarten, where the land was being sucked dry by kindergarten for the express purpose of creating Yellow diamond’s personal pet project. A means to lighten her load of managing her colonies and armadas. Within the face of the nearby cliffside in sight, Yellow Diamond and her Pearl bore witness to yellow static dancing along the cliffside walls, and converge to a single point where Yellow Diamond had been incubating her personal ‘Citrine’ gem.

Unlike most other gems, Yellow used her own essence to create her new ‘Citrine’, she wanted to create the best Citrine gem, and what better method than to use her own essence? As Yellow Diamond stood just outside the range of the thunderous spark being emitted from the earthen cliff face where her new gem was about to emerge, she smiled with confidence as she witnessed a crack form, signifying her Citrine gem was finally emerging from her long incubation.

Nearby, Yellow Pearl was unsure of herself, she wanted to say something, but it would have been out of line for her to ask if everything was going to her diamond’s plan. The emerging gem was letting off an enormous amount of energy, she had her dataslate out to measure the data, nothing was abnormal so far…that is to say, within her diamond’s set parameters that she predetermined that’d be used and released from the emergence of the new Citrine gem.

Yellow Pearl’s musings were soon interrupted as the new gem emerged in an explosive yellow static eruption; Yellow Pearl was grateful that they were out of range of the explosion, but her worries were soon founded when her diamond began marching off towards her new Citrine gem with a delighted smile. She wanted to tell her Diamond to be careful, but then she reminded herself who she was serving.

Back with Yellow Diamond, she grew satisfied with herself of a job well done, “Perfect!” she said as she bent a knee and brought her hand down to the stumbling Citrine gem of hers, she watched with mirth as her personally made gem plopped face first into the palm of her hand; “Easy now.” Yellow Diamond calmly said to her pet project of a gem, and lifted her hand while standing back up.

Lifting her personal Citrine of hers to eye level, Yellow diamond cracked a proud smile as her Citrine gem groggily looked up at her with a look of awe in her face. “Well now, You shaped up quite well to my specifications.” She mused as her Citrine’s body occasionally let off residual yellow static. “Hmm…energy output is good.” Yellow mused with a smirk as she noted her personally made gem’s body was calming down from its emergence. “Yes. You’ll do just fine!” She remarked with a small chuckle as her Citrine gem looked back at her with curious expression.

Chapter Text

To work on a sort of timeline, I’ll use B.S.U (Before Steven Universe) as a measurement of time, since that’s how the timeline on the wikia works for me to get an idea on when a set of events happen. Since Before Steven Universe marks the timeline as before Canon begins (I.e. the show), I’ll use that.

5,500 B.S.U.
-
Yellow Diamond’s Ship

With a satisfied expression of her ‘magnum opus’ so to speak having been completed, Yellow Diamond continued to carry her personally made gem with her before finally setting her Citrine gem down on her nearby console table, its size vastly dwarfing her Citrine gem’s stature; with her project finished, Yellow could return back to homeworld and continue working on her incoming reports of various colonies under her control, while periodically seeing how well Pink was doing in controlling her own colony.

As Yellow sat down in her chair within the bridge of her ship, she noted that her new gem she had placed beside her on the nearby console table was earning curious gazes by the Nephrites within her Ship’s Bridge; Oh sure, her Nephrites were diligently working on getting the ship into the air, and eventually ready for take off, but occasionally Yellow would catch a few or so gems throw curious looks at the new Citrine gem beside her. She couldn’t fault the curiosity, but she would not accept any slacking off or distractions.

So far, none of the gems were slacking off, and the curious glances were just that, thus Yellow allowed the slight curiosity of her Nephrite pilots to give her recently emerged gem passing glances while they worked; afterall, the curiosity would pass with time, and the Nephrites would go back to focusing solely on their duty.

As the ship began to head into outer space, Yellow crossed her legs and rested her chin on her fist while resting her other arm on the armrest of her chair; she waited and watched as her Nephrites work on calibrating the ship’s gravity engine and the Form Calibration for the ship’s entire crew on board. Unlike an instance where a ship’s entire crew is made up of a singular type of gem, and its form calibration for faster than light travel is to be engaged for said gem type, Yellow’s ship is bigger and houses multiple types of gem rather than one type of gem; thus with its size and crew that is aboard the space faring vessel, some time is needed for the ship to be properly calibrated for its gravity engine to be properly dial to the correct calibration of settings for the ship’s crew to properly work without their form being too distorted in its faster than light travel.

Yellow Diamond minutely glanced off to the side to see how well her Citrine gem as acclimating herself to her surroundings, and noticed how she was staring wide eyed and seemed to be taking in everything slowly; not a peep was uttered out of her Citrine gem, and Yellow chalked it up to her project’s preprogrammed knowledge pouring into her mind. Off to the side, beside her chair, Yellow Diamond glanced to see her Yellow Pearl was sneaking glances at her Citrine as well.

‘Honestly, is my little project of a Citrine Gem that interesting?’ Yellow thought to herself with amusement.

Tanya

Sitting atop what she could only assume was the enormous woman’s console desk, Tanya began to feel an influx of information rush into her mind. While the giant yellow woman was glancing elsewhere other than her, Tanya couldn’t help but wince as information continued to be somehow fed into her memories; it didn’t feel like her memories were being replaced by something else, it was more like something was feeding her information on everything she looked at.

Tanya brought her hand up and felt at her chest where there was now a Facet cut Citrine of a gem, she could feel the onrush of power and information feed from the focal point of the gem. In her mind, she was constantly being bombarded with more information than what a normal human could handle. Tanya continued to feel up to her head, and felt through her hair; she pulled and found that her tuft of hair was eerily reminiscent of what she had in her second life.

As information continued to feed into her mind, Tanya finally realized who the giant woman was and what kind of new sort of society she was part of. The Giant Yellow Woman is Yellow Diamond, and for all intents and purposes, Tanya was a Citrine gem that was made to serve within a caste system, at the moment however, none of the information has yet to explain what part of the supposed caste system she was in. She could only grouse and curse her luck, oh sure, she’d panic, but Tanya didn’t live a long second life to react so violently so easily by now.

With her hands now both plopped down on the surface she sat on, Tanya began to glance around her and try to come to grips with her situation; the information that continued to feed into her mind did help in making her understand her situation, but it didn’t help her come to grips that she was now in a situation where there was essentially no upward mobility…

Then again, as more information that was essentially flowing into her memories, she was learning more about herself that led her to finally realize that her duty was to act as an extension of Yellow Diamond…Her Diamond to be precise, seeing as how every gem speaks in a certain way towards the Diamonds that exist within the Diamond Authority. Most often, ‘my’ is used in a way when referring to a gem’s owner and/or superior. Case and point, Tanya was to address Yellow Diamond in a respectful manner as ‘My’ Diamond, seeing as how Yellow is essentially her progenitor that made her.

More information continued to feed into Tanya’s mind, one such detail gave her a glimpse of how many Diamonds exist so far; at present, there are four, and each one is different in color. White Diamond is essentially the head Matriarch of the Diamond authority…well, that’s what Tanya thought to herself. On the whole, the entire race of gem society is genderless, but at the same time everyone is practically coded as female; thus, Tanya can only presume that the Diamond Authority is ruled by a matriarchy until she can fully understand her situation more and correctly categorize what sort of Empire she was now part of.

“Quite the curious look you got there, my little Citrine.” Yellow Diamond said, bringing Tanya out of her thoughts, and making her blink before she looked up from her sitting position.

Blinking a few more times, Tanya pursed her lips before speaking up in a short stutter. “I-I-It’s all new…my-my-my Diamond.” Tanya spoke in a nervous low tone of voice.

“Hmm.” Yellow Diamond made a hum of thought from her lips while looking down at her newly made gem, “I suppose it is, all new, in a sense.” she quirked a lip of amusement as she glanced around at the insides of her updated yellow arm and hand ship. “But, seeing as how you just emerged, I must imagine you’re still acclimating yourself to the knowledge of who you are and your standing within the Diamond Authority.”

A slow nod from Tanya, “Yes…I am…getting a sense of what I am…” she worded out as she was still feeling quite overwhelmed by her situation.

Yellow Diamond smiled down at her as the ship began to finally initiate it’s faster than light travel, “Good, I'll see about getting you a Pearl once we arrive at homeworld, before we get you on your first assignment.” Her Diamond told her.

Tanya blinked, and hoped she could wrack her mind on what Yellow Diamond meant by getting her a Pearl; everything was still so new and off putting to her, but after a moment's time, Tanya was finally able to grasp what Yellow Diamond meant by getting her a Pearl. As more information fed into her mind, Tanya was able to understand that Pearls essentially function as attendants to high-ranking Gems, with several more functions.

Before Tanya could speak up or make another thought, the ship began to shift reality around it and create a gravitational singularity point to use its massive gravitational pull to warp space-time around it. Tanya felt an odd feeling as the ship sped through outer space, and when she dredged up what she could glean on what was happening, the ship was essentially constantly creating a gravitational singularity that evaporates in nanoseconds in front of it, which basically causes Yellow Diamond’s ship to continuously fall towards the singularity and allow it to travel faster the light through outer space

“That look on your face, I can only presume your mind is being fed information on what is going on right now, correct?” Her Diamond asked of her with a curious gaze down at her, prompting Tanya to look up with an unsure look on her face.

“It’s-er, yes.” Tanya spoke up, hoping she wasn’t being out of line in how she was acting in her situation so far, “You’ll…have to forgive…me..my Diamond, I’m still coming to grips with my position as your right hand.” she tried to explain herself.

Yellow Diamond curled an amused smile down at Tanya as she rested her cheek on her fist, “That’s an interesting term, my Right hand…yes…” Yellow Diamond mused and lifted her cheek off her fist and used her hand to rub her chin in thought, “Quite the appropriate term for you, my little Citrine.” Yellow spoke with a chuffed expression, before giving her Citrine a dangerous look. “Now…where’s the salute? Surely that isn’t missing in your memory bank.” she mused with a small frown.

Tanya looked down and thought inwardly, before looking back up at Yellow Diamond with an unsure expression; Bringing up her arms, Tanya formed a sort of Rhombus with her arms and hands. “This-this is what you mean, my Diamond?” Tanya asked with an unsure look on her face.

Yellow diamond smiled at the speed at which her Citrine was learning, “Good, I am glad your settings are acclimatizing quite fast compared to most gems.” she mused, all the while the soft hum of the ship’s engine could be heard in the background as it sped faster than light towards its’ destination, Homeworld.

Present, 4,500 B.S.U
Homeworld

After coming to the Aristocratic district of Homeworld, Yellow Diamond had her Carnelian Arbites work in conjunction with her Peridot gem bots in flushing out every Noble Gem and have them be processed in an impromptu shakedown within one of the aristocrat’s many auditoriums. While Yellow Diamond stood and waited with her arms crossed till every aristocrat gem was brought to the auditorium that she was in, she couldn’t help but make a contented smile.

She had to give her Citrine props in her proposal in using the Carnelian Gems as a planet’s supposed judicial force, essentially a law enforcement to enforce the Diamond Authority’s law on even the aristocratic caste. Yellow’s Citrine had even given the suggestion of calling them Arbities, as essentially an Arbiter was a singular being and Arbities was its plural given form.

Yellow would have pondered where her Citrine gem was coming up with all her various new ideas, but then she had to remind herself that she herself had made her personal Citrine; so it stood to reason that her little Citrine would come up with such good ideas, she was afterall, her gem, created with her own essence; so it stood to reason that Citrine Facet 74ny4 would be able to come up with new ways to manage the Empire as a whole.

Bringing herself out of her thoughts, Yellow Diamond watched as her Carnelian Arbites could be seen herding every Aristocrat Gem on homeworld. An attendance would be put into effect, and whichever Pyrope was not in attendance, that was where she’d begin to know which Pyrope was pulling the strings over on Planet F78. By all accounts, every Aristocrat gem was supposed to be on homeworld for the Empire’s quarterly review of how well the aristocrats were managing their colonies they were put in charge of.

However, with the recent debacle that was the incident within the Northern Quadrant, some aristocrats from said quadrant might have gotten the message a bit late since the Northern Quadrant was just now released from being blockaded for the sole purpose of her Citrine combing the quadrant of any more rebels. Yellow Diamond frowned in distaste, the Pyrope from the memories analyzed from the rebel gems, she would get to the bottom of this and analyze the memories of every aristocrat’s memories and see if any of them were in cahoots with the traitorous Pyrope gem.

As the Carnelian Arbites finished herding in the remaining noble caste of gems, and said gems began taking standing positions within the auditorium, Yellow Diamond glanced across the crowd for the expressions of every aristocratic gem. Some ranged from curious to confused, only a few however looked nervous and a shy few had fear written on their faces. Well now, it seems some of them are either doing something they should not be doing, they are in cahoots with the traitorous Pyrope, or they were in the midst of doing something bad as well.

No matter, Yellow was going to make sure to show the noble caste why she was not to be lied to, and show what happens to traitors. She would make sure the noble caste knew that just because Blue was shirking her duties, that they couldn't think that they were above repercussions of their actions. Oh yes, she’d make examples out of the traitors she’d no doubt find with her own memory analyzer she had on hand. Already, she could see a few noble gems fidget in fear as the room quieted down and allowed her to begin discussing why she had every Aristocrat gem on Homeworld brought to the auditorium that she was in.

Chapter Text

5,500 B.S.U.

Homeworld

Tanya

I never took much stock in looking up to the stars at night, how could I even if I did? The night sky was polluted with light from the city I lived in, and I’d have to travel out to the countryside to even see any stars at night; something I would do if given the chance, but I most often stuck to the city to diligently work my way up the corporate ladder. Oh sure, you’d see one or two bright lights in the night sky, but never quite something you’d see if you were out in the countryside with little to no light pollution; I’ve seen pictures of what the night sky looked like, but never seen it in person.

In my second life, I was granted the chance to see the unbridled sight of the night sky and the milky way that the parallel earth I was born on was within the arms of; during those many nights within the military camps during the war as I and my fellow troops recovered from our recent skirmish, I’d look up and imagine what it be like if I was born during a time in which Earth had reached beyond our solar system and colonized planets for its many humans to live on. I pondered in my mind if I’d have still been a human resource manager, if the set of circumstances would have changed my outlook on life, if my values would be any different…but then I’d realize that’d I’d still be me, regardless.

The urge in any human’s life would be the want to live a better life, and the same would still be for me, climbing any corporate ladder to earn a livable wage and relax in the comfort of my home after a well earned day of relaxation; I’d no doubt read whatever books that caught my fancy, and I’d still favor the merits of meritocracy. Afterall, what’s better than earning a life of working towards something, and being rewarded for your hard work in return?

Breaking myself out of my idle thoughts as I sat atop the console table of Yellow Diamond…MY Yellow diamond if I need to fit in better in this new life of mine; as I rummaged through whatever inherent system that whatever was fed into my mind somehow, I’ve come to realize I would now be serving a caste system. I don’t know whether to blame Being X, or curse my luck in finding myself in this situation; afterall, it was my choice to follow in the direction of the light I saw in the darkness I was once in after Being X cast aside my soul to whatever empty soulless place I was in.

I felt the ship I was in come to a slight halt as she viewing monitors and space window showed it had arrived to its destination, I blinked in slight awe as I viewed for the first time, in person, an alien world; said alien world however was seemingly cracked into three large sections with a few smaller land pieces, whatever kind of science was at work, gravity seemed to be at the mercy of whatever was keeping the planet from forming back into one piece from the large landmasses gravitational force.

It didn’t take much for the common human in my first life to learn how gravity works, and what I saw outside the ship I was on was defying some form of science that humans are able to comprehend. Surrounding the cracked planet were two diagonal rings that encircled the planet; it was quite amazing to see if I wanted to be honest with myself. Never would I have imagined in all my life…er, lives, I’d get to see an alien planet, but the mood was a bit ruined when I realized my given situation I was now.

“Quite the sight, I’d imagine you are thinking.” Yellow Diamond spoke up as the ship drew closer to homeworld, the name of the planet I now come to identify it as in whatever seemingly boundless information was being fed into my mind from my gem. I glanced over up at my Diamond…another term I’d need to get acquainted with if I am to survive in this new life of mine. I shut my mouth, after realizing I was gaping in awe at seeing my first alien planet in any of my lives.

With a nod from me as I situated myself to sit upright and face the Diamond that had created the form I inhabit now, I responded with a measured tone of voice. “Yes, it’s…quite the sight to behold.” I responded with a simple smile back.

It was then Yellow Diamond leaned forward and took to examining me, or more specifically, my gem on my chest; she had her hand and fingers clasping her chin as she examined my gem. “While I have my ship take us to the nearest Pearl Reef facility, Let’s see if your powers have stabilized yet…I want you to hold out your hands and begin forming energy.” she commanded me with a firm look in her eyes.

Not wanting to create any conflict on my first day alive, and with some hope I wasn’t some defect like the programming within my gem fed me info about, I held out both arms and placed my palms facing upwards. Feeling inward within myself, I could feel a well of energized power within me; it was like my second life all over again, except with a few caveats in how I was able to use mana in my second life. Unlike mana, in how it felt like pulling from out of me an intangible-like cloud of gas of some sort, as I pulled the energy from its source, my Citrine gem, it felt like I was working with a circuit board and wires. It was as if I was a sentient A.I. rerouting power through circuits and wires to will my power into existence within the palms and fingers of my being.

In an instance, I watched with a rather bit of morbid curiosity and fascination as I witness myself exude yellow sparks of small lightning that danced between my digits and down through my arm; My eyes trailed down my arms and saw that my light-based construct of a body showed circuit-like lines trail up my arms as I powers my sparks to my fingertips. If I really wanted to be honest with myself in my inner chuunibyou…ugh…, I thought back to my early human childhood days in my first life and when I watched the movie named Return of The Jedi, and how cool it was when the Emperor simply shot lightning out from his fingertips.

Suffice to say, while I kept my cringe to a minimum, most boys in my class would remark and act out the scenes themselves.

And now here I am, the very power at my fingertips as if I was the lovechild of the Emperor…

“Good…very interesting…” Yellow Diamond mused as she leaned forward and entered my view as I watched the Yellow Sparks of lightning dance between my fingers, she smiled in satisfaction at the fruit of my attempts to show what I guess she wanted to see. It was then Yellow Diamond brought her other arm and hand up to show her own yellow lightning dance between her fingers, but on a larger scale and more potent, if what I saw before me was of any indication. “Matches perfectly to the specifications I had in mind for you.” Yellow murmured out softly with a smile and ceased giving a demonstration of her own powers, before leaning back on her chair.

Ok…maybe I am the love child of some weird imperial ruler…

Yellow frowned and waved me off, “You can cease now.” she instructed with a commanding tone. “Your performance is satisfactory.”

Oh, I looked down and noticed I haven’t stopped emitting my powers, at a whim, I managed to will my powers to cease and allow my arms to settle back down beside myself as I sat back and glanced once more to the window of the ship I was on. That was almost embarrassing, I was a bit too enraptured with what was going on in that moment.

Yellow Diamond

This was good, the Citrine gem I created from a tiny fragment of myself and my own essence turned out quite well in my own opinion; the power output was acceptable and beyond the perimeters of what I initially calculated. The fact that the Citrine gem managed to be able to output the sheer amount of her own power in comparison to my own, is good, seeing as how I’ll be using her as my stand in for operations and military campaigns; While my little Citrine Gem’s powers does not measure much to my own, it’s still acceptable that she’s able to conjure up her own sparks for certain uses I have in mind.

As the ship headed in the direction of the nearest reef to get a suitable pearl for my new Citrine commander gem, I crossed my legs and arms in idle wait while ruminating in my own thoughts. I would occasionally glance at my gems around me, and finally found that their curiosity ceased and stuck to focusing on their own tasks. That was good, although I could still see my Pearl stealing jealous glances at my new Citrine gem as she stood down beside my chair whenever I glanced down at her.

hm…Not sure why she’d exhibiting jealousy, I’m simply keeping the new gem of mine up on my console desk so that I can keep an eye on her, and make sure she’s acclimating well to the programs within her gem I’ve embed within the process of incubating her on one of my colonized planets. No matter, it'll all pass in time after I send my Citrine gem on her first campaign mission, but that’s the thing though, what should be her first Trial run? Mayhaps I should put her in charge of advising Pink and her first Colony…afterall, it’s within my Citrine’s gem’s programming to be able to do administrator work, a perfect way to test how well the new gem of mine can handle advisory work, before I send her off to her first campaign to another world to conquer and colonize for me. No…maybe I should just let Pink try and administrate on her own, since it's her first time colonizing her own planet.

I’ll never hear the end of it from Blue and White, how I’m that one calling them out for coddling her, and here I am thinking of helping her out so she won’t fail.

“My diamond.” One of my Nephrite pilots brought me out of my musing, “We are now inbound to the Pearl Reef of Homeworld sector 223.” the gem announced. “Estimation Time of Landing is within two minutes.”

I uncrossed my arms and legs, and stood up while offering my hand to my new gem to climb on. “Good, come along Pearl.” I said, while the Citrine gem looked up at me momentarily, before climbing to sit on my hand, and be allowed down to walk behind me along with my pearl. As I turned around and walked to the exit once the ship landed, I could hear the Pearl of mine and Citrine walk in step behind me.

Orange Pearl

Orange, that was the color I woke up to, as I sat up in my clamshell, the sight of my first gem owner. I smiled as I floated down and bowed before the Citrine Gem my program had imprinted onto, and took to notice that her skin pigment was orange, as was I in a slightly different tone of orange. “Hello!” I announced joyfully, “Allow me to-”

I was about to speak more, but as my vision basked in the sight of my new owner, I noticed we were not alone. Not far in the distance, stood what my program told me was Yellow Diamond, and another Pearl that was yellow as well. “Oh.” I said as I kept my bow to my new owner, “This…this is…I don’t think my mind can comprehend what to do in this situation!” I remarked with a troubled look.

From my point of view I watched as Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes and marched herself away, “I forgot how irritating a new pearl can be, their basic programming takes a while to set in.” she said while she headed down the hallway. “Come outside when you two are finished, Citrine.” Yellow Diamond’s voice echoed back as she left from sight past the double clam shell doorways.

“...” I stood still as I bowed to my new owner, “uh…as I was saying,...um…” My cheeks lit up in embarrassment as I glanced up at my Citrine commander, however my mouth grew dry as I became speechless while I gazed directly into the citrine gem eyes of my Citrine Commander, she had her arms crossed with a curious expression while she tilted her head a bit.

“Are you able to grasp the concept of assistant?” My Citrine commander asked me, breaking me out of my reverie. “Can you even understand the meaning of what collating means?” she asked in a curious tone.

What? I’m pretty sure I should know…ah yes, combining information together. I nodded slowly as I watched My Citrine commander smiled a rather beatific smile, “Excellent, then we’re on the right track to what I have in mind for you, we’ll need to make sure you can also understand advanced mathematics, political theory, resources management…”

As my new owner continued to explain a few other things she had in mind for me, I couldn’t help but stand up straight at her command as she instructed me to follow her out. Most pearls are given to high aristocrats, going by what my programming is telling me, but it seems like I’ve been given to one of Yellow’s commanding gems of her military…so much information, I wonder what kind of relationship I’ll have with my commander, going by my programming memory bank, every aristocratic gem is different in how they treat their pearl.

Going by how my Citrine commander acts, and the position she holds, I can only assume she’ll use me as a means to deliver reports, if that’s why she asked if I knew what collating means. Suffice to say, the future could have anything in store for me and the commanding Citrine I belong to now.

Chapter Text

5,500 B.S.U.

Tanya

I wouldn’t say I formerly understood what Yellow Diamond meant when she said she would take me to get my own Pearl, but the continuous information fed into my mind from somewhere allowed me to understand more of my situation and what Pearls were. As Yellow Diamond continued to walk into the clamshell-like structure, with the Yellow Pearl of her own following close after, I made sure to keep up with both of them as Yellow Diamond stepped through the large doorways that led into a central area of the clam-like building.

While I would acknowledge the occasional glances given by the Yellow Pearl, I made sure to keep my eyes forward most of the time as I marched my way forward in step with Yellow Diamond; with a her arms crossed, my Diamond…that’s still something new I am gonna have to used to imply with…My Diamond unfolded her arms and gestured for me to take a step forward with a stern look in her eyes. “Here, step forward and announce yourself.” she told me in a simple indifferent tone, with her hand pointed in the direction at the center of the room.

Without another word as to not upset the large woman or disappoint my supposed new…actually, What do I call Yellow Diamond? She created me, but not in the sense an organic female would…hmm…nevermind, a thought for later, the important matter is that she’s one of the matriarchs of the Diamond Authority I now serve, and the best thing I can do is play along until I can get a full grasp on my situation.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I quickly took a few steps forward and awaited at the center of the room until a voice spoke up. “Greetings, please identify yourself and reason for visiting this Reef Station.” A calm and soft feminine voice announced itself, its voice reverberated throughout the room while doing so.

Standing at attention at the center of the room, I clasped my hands behind my back and allowed some of the information fed into my mind to aid me in identifying myself. “I am Citrine Facet 74ny4 cut v0n, and my purpose is to acquire a pearl to aid in my work.” I firmly said to the voice that spoke throughout the room, which by my guess had to be some form of A.I. that was in charge of the place. I suppose that helps me a bit as well in grasping how far in technology the Diamond Authority I’ll soon fully serve in the coming future.

If there was one caveat in my new life, compared to my last one, I didn’t have to start over as a newborn baby…granted I’m once again female for all intents and purposes, seeing as how I was able to see a reflection of myself in the sheen of the floor…I haven’t seen a male counterpart though, so I have to assume I’m part of an intergalactic civilizations of a monogendered species that propagates via incubating their species in the crust of a planet…the information that continued to pour into my mind confirmed my assumptions on some level.

The information that constantly fed into my mind was like an ever growing library of information at my disposal, it was as if I was a super-computer with a wealth of information at my hands that allowed me to do as instructed without questioning what my superior meant by any of her words.

Breaking out of my thoughts, the voice spoke up once more. “Greeting, Citrine Facet 74ny4 cut v0n, You will now be scanned to program you an appropriate pearl for your station.” The artificial voice spoke out, before shortly afterward, a blue teardrop-like object fell from the ceiling and stopped in mid air in front of me. I watched as the teardrop-like object scanned me, before resuming its fall and sunk into the floor beside me. “Analyzing…finished…please step through the lit up doorway and greet your soon-to-be personalized pearl. With your geometrics scanned, your position within Yellow Diamond’s court, and duty within her forces, I have appropriated the perfect pearl for your future endeavors.” The feminine A.I. voice echoed out as the lit up doorway opened up, large enough to allow Yellow Diamond herself to walk in through as well.

Without another word said, Yellow Diamond led the way, even though she was not the one to acquire a new pearl of her own; Within my mind’s databanks…gonna have to get used to that one…it’s dictated for all gems depending on their station to always walk behind their superiors, never beside or in front. Understandable on some level, it’s pretty much a rank and file tradition, and as far as I’m concerned, I am to walk alongside Yellow Diamond’s Pearl behind her while she walks forward; No wait, a bit forward in front of Yellow Pearl…given the intricacies of gem society on a whole… this will get awkward for a while.

Oh, Yellow Pearl is looking at me while our Diamond continues to walk, her eyes make a motion to go first, in an annoyed expression; I wordlessly took the initiative and hurried along to catch up and walk behind Yellow Diamond, with her Pearl soon catching up behind me. As Yellow Diamond led the way with soft thumps of her feet coming down into contact with the floor with every step, I occasionally took a few glances around me. Various pedestals of what I could only surmise was what I’d have the option to choose to give to…my pearl…ugh.

While I find the idea of having an assistant manufactured intriguing, on a certain level, it still didn’t sit well with me that I was essentially going to own a subservient being that did my bidding; though from my first impression of My Diamond’s relationship towards her own Pearl, I can deduce that she treats her subservient pearl rather well, but that didn’t mean other gems of the Matriarchal Diamond Empire treat their pearls to the same letter. I can not say for certain for now, seeing as how I’ve just come into existence within this reality, pearls seem to be a sort of an accessory of sorts for Gems of highclass to show off their immense power.

Snapping myself out of my thoughts as Yellow Diamond halted in front of a lit up clam shell, I stopped to look up and wait for the go ahead to step in front of her; My supposed progenitor turned around and looked around at our surroundings, “I forgot how over decorated these places can be.” she muttered under her breath, with a scrutinizing gaze of the large and wide hallway we were in.

hm…I gazed around, and took notice that the majority of the stuff that lined the walls seemed to be fit for dancers, entertainers, and most importantly of all, ballerinas; well, since I am to get a pearl by the end of this, I’d rather not choose anything other than a weapon. If I am to be what I can only surmise as a position of a commander of sorts, I’ll need a pearl with combat readiness, and I’ll go from there. From what I can glean from whatever continuous information that is poured into my mind, Pearls can learn and adapt to better suit their owner’s needs; not a pleasant thought the more I think on it, but for now I’ll have to make do with my situation and hope the pearl I get acquainted with can think on her own…maybe even figure out if a pearl can detach herself from her owner and be her own person so to speak.

“Anything out of these…trinkets, you’d like to give your pearl?” Yellow Diamond asked quizzically with a bored tone, as she glanced down at me. With my idle thoughts out of the way for now, I looked up and glanced over to a preset of weapon choices, Yellow Diamond followed my gaze and seemed to smirk. “And nothing else?” she asked with an approving smirk…what? What I do? All I did was rather than gaze elsewhere, I looked in the weapon section first and foremost.

I shook my head in a negative motion, I decided to voice my opinion seeing as how she asked first, “If what I can glean from I’ll be doing while serving under you, My Diamond.” I began to say with a stiff posture and hands behind my back, “I’ll be needing a pearl with combat faculties.” I reasoned with the Yellow Diamond Matriarch of what I can now assume from the data within my mind to be the overseer of all military attributes of the Great Diamond Authority…great, out from one Empire Military and into a new one.

Yellow Diamond allowed an approving smile to grace her lips, “Excellent choice.” she mused.

With her piece said, and just as well, the lit up clam began to open up and allowed the pearl gem within it to begin floating up until an orange light-like body formed around until finally the pearl’s body became solid and allowed me to view an almost striking resemblance to myself; to be fair though, from glancing at Yellow Pearl, I supposed all Pearl take after their owners upon first forming.

As the Orange Pearl looked up at me, she smiled as she began to speak, “Hello, Allow me to-” The pearl began to say before me, before glancing past me to glance up at Yellow Diamond. “This…this is…I don’t think my mind can comprehend what to do in this situation!” she remarked with a rather troubled tone with dilated pupils.

Glancing over my shoulder to look up at my progenitor, Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes in mild annoyance, “I forgot how irritating a new pearl can be, their basic programming takes a while to set in.” she said while she headed down the hallway. “Come outside when you two are finished, Citrine.” Yellow Diamond’s voice echoed back as she left from sight past the double clam shell doorways, along with her own Pearl hot on her heels in obedience.

Ah…so some of my assumptions are correct…

“uh…as I was saying,...um…” My own Pearl spoke up in a stuttering voice, I’ll let it slide in all honesty, this all new to me too after all…I glanced down at my pearl and noticed her cheeks lit up in bright orange, ah, she must be embarrassed for her situation.

Crossing my arms, I gazed at the pearl before me. “Are you able to grasp the concept of assistant?” I tried to break the ice, so to speak, with what would effectively be my assistant in my future endeavors, “Can you even understand the meaning of what collating means?” I continued to ask, hoping the term existed within the lexicon of Gem society.

After a few seconds of silence of what I can assume was internal thinking on the orange pearl’s part before me to be, she nodded in a positive motion. “Excellent, then we’re on the right track to what I have in mind for you, we’ll need to make sure you can also understand advanced mathematics, political theory, resources management…” I began to go into a bit more intricate topics, but stopped myself and shook my head.

“Come along.” I gestured for the Orange Pearl to follow after me, “We need to get you an assigned weapon, and leave this place.” I remarked as I led the way towards a pedestal of a spear and shield grouped together, “Then we need to leave, we wouldn’t want our Yellow Diamond waiting on us.” I reasoned, before I took the lead to exit the place with my Pearl following my every step.

Earth

Blue Diamond

Allowing a soft sigh of frustration to escape from her lips, Blue Diamond sat within her Palanquin as she held aloft a diamond communicator to contact Yellow; after configuring it a bit to contact her fellow Diamond, it floated up and began to call up Yellow’s personal diamond communicator. As her communicator shifted and elongated in the air to become a blue holo-screen, it wasn’t long until the call connected and showed Yellow’s Pearl answering the call, with the background of Yellow’s ship.

Yellow’s Pearl had her eyes wide, “guh…I mean, your illustriousness!”

Blue simply offered a hand up to make the pearl cease her ramblings, “I’d like to speak with Yellow.” she calmly said with a stern look in her eyes.

Yellow’s Pearl straightened up and smiled nervously, “Yes Ma’am, right away ma’am!” the pearl exclaimed as she rushed away off screen, some murmuring could be heard, before a familiar voice made a sigh; right after, the screen blipped and allowed the view of Yellow sitting in her seat of her ship. “What is it Blue?” Blue’s fellow Diamond asked in curiosity.

Blue sighed to herself, “I’m doing all I can with what gems I have, but that rogue Rose Quartz and her rebellion is more trouble than I first thought.” she softly placed her hand on her face in embarrassment.

Yellow rolled her eyes in frustration, and leaned back while crossing her legs in her chair, “I told you this would happen, you should have just let me go and help Pink with my own forces.” she crossed her arms and huffed. “But no, you wanted to go first, to coddle Pink.” She accused Blue.

With a narrow-eyed look of anger flashing across her eyes, Blue let the insult fly, as it wasn’t far from the truth; she just didn’t want Pink to fail on her first colony. “Be serious with me Yellow! That rogue quartz of hers is rallying more and more to her cause by the day! This kind of thing is unprecedented! The scale in which the Rose Quartz is rallying more gems to her cause is staggering!” Blue tried to reason with Yellow Diamond.

After a few moments of silence passed between the two, with Yellow placing her chin into her hand to think, her eyes lit up in realization and smile. “I have just the thing to help, I just finished one of my projects, this little rebellion is just perfect to see how well she performs.”

Blue blinked, trying to remember which project Yellow was implying, “And that would be?” she urged Yellow to tell her who she was sending.

Yellow leaned back and smiled excitedly, “I'll use this…rebellion.” Yellow spat the last word out with distaste, before continuing on to talk, “As a trial run for my new Little Citrine Gem.”

With an eyebrow raised from Blue Diamond, she gave Yellow an inquisitive look, “And you’re…sure this little…Citrine Gem will help?” she questioned her fellow Diamond.

“Why of course!” Yellow Diamond remarked with a rather optimistic attitude, as she sat up straight in her chair, “I’ll even assign her a hessonite and a battalion of Jaspers.”

“Well…” Blue began to say with an unsure expression, “If you’re sure about this, then I’ll accept your offer of assistance. I’ll need to leave soon anyways within the next few cycles to check in on my colonies.”

After several moments passed between the Diamonds discussing a few other matters, the call soon ended with Blue Diamond alone to her thoughts. ‘What’s so special about a single Citrine gem…’ Blue pondered to herself inwardly, before shrugging it off to herself, she doubted she’d meet the gem anyways once the Citrine and its assigned battalion reached Pink’s colony; Blue needed to be elsewhere and attend to her diamond duties afterall, and she couldn’t always be there for Pink.

Chapter Text

Planet F78

North Eastern Hemisphere

The scene opens with the view from the bottom of a canyon of the mountainous landscape of the current planet now riddled with battles all over the world that were still being held out by rebel gems, all around the sloped walls were caves with ledges that allowed the rebel gems to mount laser light artillery cannons; some light artillery cannons were shoddily made while others were made quite well with the available Bismuth gems that joined the cause, and in the end that’s all the rebels could work with to stave off the incoming storm of loyalist forces. Like a light show, multiple cannons would shoot their payload up into the sky in an arc over the mountain from out of the canyon they were in, in a vain attempt to shower the sky to take out the incoming aircraft of the invading forces of Commander Citrine.

With it being night time, the sky lit up brightly whenever the artillery cannons went off and their payload arched over the mountainous ranges of the landscape, some even managed to reach into the clouds above and light them up in; however with the laser cannons being as they are with their projectiles, you’d think the lasers would go on it a straight path and not arch over the mountain ranges, you’d be right. However with how the bismuth gems had modified them in a way to give the payloads some weight, they managed to make it so that the projectiles were ladened with plasma dissipation rounds. 

From out of the peaks of the mountainous ranges, a loyalist airship came barreling over with a damaged tailfin; smoke wafted from the tailfin of the aircraft as it flew over the peaks and began to descend downwards to the bottom of the canyon. It wasn’t long until a moment later, several more gem aircrafts could be seen flying over the mountain peaks, some were in better shape the first one, some were a bit damaged while the rest were in good condition to keep flying and unleash their destabilizing rounds into the artillery cannons on the ledges of the various canyons of the area.

Several airships were able to land their shots into the enemy rebels, while some were unfortunate to get hit by the artillery cannons of the rebels, sending them crashing down to the depths of the canyons below in several destabilizing blasts and poofs of gem bodies. A loud crack echoed throughout the mountain ranges, and before long, the largest of the mountains was cut down by liquid mercury.

Following the destruction of one of the larger mountains of the area, a large aircraft flew over the toppled mountain with liquid mercury swirling beneath it. In what looked like a miniature aircraft carrier, beneath the aircraft as it was flown over the canyons and mountain ranges, were four Lapis Lazuli gems standing on hanging platforms; the Lapis gems were working in unison to keep the swirling pool of mercury beneath the miniature aircraft carrier, while four more Lapis Lazulis flew alongside the aircraft as it was flown to use the pool of swirling liquid mercury as their means of destroying the mountains around and below them.

Above the mini-aircraft carrier, vee formations of three Lapis Lazulis at a time would take off and others would fly back in after completing a flyby of the area. From inside the miniature aircraft carrier, Tanya stood inside the bridge of the aircraft where it was piloted by Nephrites, and watched as her troupes of Lapis Lazuli’s worked diligently to cut down the mountain ranges with their powers; the plan was simple from her point of view, use the Lapis gems ability with liquid resources to cut down land, thus with that ability in mind, Tanya effectively had the means to destroy the mountains and leave the rebel gems with no means to hide or achieve any effect gorilla warfare tactics.

At present, they were halfway through the deadline given by Blue Diamond, and so far Tanya was satisfied that they were nearly done already with combing the final stretches of the hemisphere. A stray thought passed in Tanya’s mind, as she thought on how she had to convince her fellow commander, Sodalite, in using the new tools of warfare. Seeing as how Sodalite would be working over in the wide open plains of the South Western Hemisphere with various hills and the such, Tanya had proposed the gem use the current technology of gem warfare, rather than rely solely on an attrition battle of swords, spears, maces, etc.

Flashback

Headquarters 

Leading the way to a specific area of her ship, Tanya led Sodalite with her into a room of weapons and the like. “I assure you, you’ll need these to make your side of the conflict go smoother.” Tanya insisted as she walked into the room with her hands clasped behind her back, while Sodalite followed with her hands crossed in skepticism. Both of their pearls weren’t too behind in the meanwhile.

As they walked across strange looking objects to Sodalite, Tanya stopped in place and turned in place to face Sodalite while gesturing with a hand towards the nearby weapons on what looked like circular objects that held up what seemed to be six miniature barrels with a crank on its side. On the top of the strange looking weapon, to Sodalite that is, was what looked like a place for something to be placed into it. “...and these are?” Sodalite drawled out with a skeptic look on her face. 

Tanya smiled rather deviously, “While gem technology in warfare was made a few steps forward, I figured there needed to be something that our ground forces could use to mow down our enemies with.” she began to explain as she stepped towards the cannon-like object and picked up what looked to be a bundle of small pronged destabilizing needles that was in a box. “I’ve already indexed the information for our forces to instantly learn how to work these things, all that’s left is for our gems to put them into actual work.” Tanya explained.

Sodalite stepped forward and began walking around the cannon-like object on what looked like wheels, a long outdated form of transportation that most gems don’t even know what it is with how long it's been since the advent of the wheel has been outdated by hover mechanics; Sodalite bent forward to look closer at the strange looking weapon, while Tanya stood on the other side of the weapon of war. “Are you able to show me a demonstration?” she asked with a pensive look.

Tanya preened rather devilishly, and moved to wheel the weapon out from the line of its other models to aim it at a target on the far off wall that was reinforced for this exact purpose. “Why not?” she mused as she adjusted the weapon in place, and fed the bundle of destabilizer rounds into the top of the weapon, “Now watch, as gem warfare will forever be changed from swords on the battlefield, to modernized warfare.” Tanya said, before grabbing onto the hand crank on the side, and began cranking the handle around while using her other hand to feed the pronged ammo into the top of the rotary weapon.

While Orange Pearl was familiar to the testing of such a weapon with her Citrine, the other two Gems were not ready for the sound of thunderous cracks to fill the room they were in as Tanya unloaded the payload from the rotary cannon she was using to shoot down at a target down range in the room. Misty Blue Pearl let out an ‘eep’ and covered her ears while ducking down in fright, Sodalite on the other hand jumped back a bit in shock as she watched the amount of thunderous shocks of destabilizer rounds impact a wooden wall target. After a moment passed by, Tanya stopped firing off the rounds and stepped back to face Sodalite with a satisfied smile. 

“As you can see, with range and the amount of rounds able to be fired off, no longer shall we have to deal with a battle of attrition in any further rebellious conflicts.” Tanya smiled towards Sodalite.

After gathering herself to compose herself, Sodalite stepped forward to gently place her hand on the rotary cannon. “I…I don’t like it…” she uttered with a conflicted look, before pulling her hand away from the weapon. She looked up from the objects and gave Tanya a questionable look, “Where’s all the finesse? The glory of combat? This…this…seems far too…too…” Sodalite pursed her lips in trying to think of a way to find the right words for her thoughts.

Tanya clasped her hands behind her back once more, and lightly glared at Sodalite, “there is no finesse in war, Sodalite, there is no glory in battle…” she bitterly smiled.

Sodalite lifted a brow in confusion at Tanya, “What are you saying, Citrine? How can it not be when we fight for our Diamonds?” she questioned the Citrine gem.

Tanya looked at the now destroyed wooden wall target, “There’s a saying I like to go by, Know yourself and your enemy.” She spoke with a rather candid attitude, “right now, unlike Rose Quartz's rebellion those centuries ago, these rebels are being rallied by an upstart Pyrope gem.” she grimaced a bit.

“Psh.” Sodalite spat in vehemence, “What’s that got to do with our upcoming campaign on this planet?” she questioned Tanya with a critical look and snide tone, all the while crossing her arms and tapping her foot in impatience. “Get to the point, Citrine. Why should I try to think how rebels think? They’re all traitors in my eyes.” she sneered.

“Rebels led astray by an aristocrat gem.” Tanya tutted her with a rather peeved look on her face, “I implore you to use these Gatling destabilizers cannons, Sodalite, and when you do, I want you to look into the eyes of every rebel gem’s eyes as you mow them down.” she said as she looked Sodalite directly into the eyes with a dark look. “Maybe then you’ll realize what I’m trying to say to you.” Tanya encouraged the other Commander Gem.

“Hmph.” Sodalite adjusted her monocle-like object on her eye, and gave an eye roll. “I don’t see why not, but I’ll appease your meager whims.” she snapped back, before both took their leave from the room. “Now how are we going to settle the means for capturing the Pyrope gem?” The Sodalite gem commander questioned Tanya as they left the room with their Pearls in tow.

“Not to worry.” Tanya responded as they left the room, “I have my best Onyx Quartz gems on the job.” she smiled back rather fiendishly back at Sodalite.

Present

As Tanya stood within the bridge of the miniature aircraft carrier, Orange Pearl walked to her and handed over to her a dataslate pad. “My Citrine, here are the incoming reports on Commander Sodalite’s forces…it seems she’s faring well overall, but she seems to have yet to use those Gatling Destabilizers you offered her.” 

Tanya raised a brow at the information, and took the offered dataslate pad from her Pearl. “Hmm.” She murmured out as she read the reports of Sodalite’s end of the conflict on the planet. “I knew I should have given her the rifles…but thought otherwise…” Tanya murmured to herself, before thinking inwardly, “ then again, Sodalite is a bit of a traditionalist, judging from her character…I was pleasantly surprised she even thought to accept the idea of using the gatling destabilizers…”  she tapped her chin in thought while holding the pad in her other hand up for her to read through the reports.

“Regardless…” Tanya sighed as she offered the dataslate back to her pearl, who took it back with a simple smile as she stood back behind her Citrine to await her further orders, “At least she’s still successful  without them…I just thought I’d give her an advantage over the rebels.” Tanya spoke aloud with a rather disappointed look on her voice. However, contrary to what the data had read, Sodalite was waiting for the right moment to use the rotary cannons of destabilizing destruction. 

South Eastern Hemisphere

Sodalite was confident she didn’t need the weapons offered to her by Yellow Diamond’s Citrine Gem, but she wasn’t one to deny an offer to have something to help her forces as a last resort. At the present though, with how the battle of attrition was going, Sodalite figured she would have her gems lure the remaining rebel forces in a tactical retreat of her own forces towards the direction of where she had the Gatling Destabilizing guns set up and ready atop a range of hills. Manning the rotary guns were her Blue Jasper soldiers, and they were just now finishing on placing the bundled pronged ammo into place within all the gatling destabilizers. 

In the distance, they could all hear thundering rush of incoming forces head their way, and over the hill came Sodalite’s own remaining force of blue Amethyst gems; it wasn’t long before the large crowd of amethyst gems split up and and continued to run passed the row of rotary cannons, and before long the sight of various rebel gems came pouring over the hills with their weapons raised and eager expressions of victory. “Fools…” Sodalite sniffed with a haughty expression, and raised her arm up to ready the Amethyst gems manning the Gatling Destabilizer guns. “Ready!” She yelled over the cacophony of the rebel gems’ war cries as they charged down the hills and across the plains towards them.

“Aim!” Sodalite yelled throughout the loud sound of warcries of rebel gems, She made sure to bother and look into the eyes of every rebel gem as they courageously charged at them from down the hills, across the plains, and up the next set of hills towards where they were. “Fire!” She yelled once more.

As one, every Blue Amethyst gem cranked the levers on the rotary guns and unloaded their ammo into the incoming crowd of rebel gems charging over and up towards them; a cacophony of thunderous and static explosions lit up the area and grounds, form after form of rebel gems poofed from being pierced by the pronged needles into their forms. Sodalite in the meanwhile focused her eyes on the incoming crowd of rebels, some of the rebels retreated in fear from seeing the devastation to their allies, while most others kept coming in hopes their numbers could overwhelm what was happening to them.

“They have a rather fierce look in their eyes…I’ll give them that…but they are still rebels nonetheless…” Sodalite sneered inwardly at the dwindling forces of rebel gems as their forces were being shredded by the rotary cannons unleashed upon them, dozens of poofed bodies filled the ground. “But this…this doesn’t feel right…there's no honor in this sort of thing…it's just…” Sodalite began to become conflicted as such a one side show of force as the rebel forces dwindled ever more from the onslaught of the cannons given to her by Yellow Diamond’s commander Citrine. 

As the amount of rebel gems dwindled down to the dozens, Sodalite had had enough of such a one sided affair with a look of conflict in her eyes, “Cease firing!” she yelled over the cacophony of the gatling destabilizer guns, and in quick succession, her Blue Amethysts ceased firing into the incoming crowd of rather courageous rebel gems in Sodalite’s eyes…a rather traitorous thought in Sodalite’s mind, but let it be said she’s never gonna let any-gem know. 

“Charge!” Sodalite followed up yelling, and pretty soon a new wave of her Blue Amethyst Soldiers charged passed the cannons and down towards the remaining scraps of resistance. With her job done in making sure the battle was won, Sodalite turned in place and made for the nearby temporary headquarters in the distance. “I looked in their eyes, and all I saw was a reminder of our time on Earth, Citrine, what in blazes do you mean by, ‘know your enemy’?” Sodalite questioned her said as she thought back grimly of how fierce Rose Quartz’s forces fought with such ferocity and vigor for some inane reason she could fathom.

“ I’ll have to admit though…” Sodalite continued to think to herself, in the far off distance, she could see her Pearl waiting for her by the entrance of the temporary headquarters that was simply an angular dome with a hexagonal doorway that Misty Blue stood at attention as she approached the building. “ Those rotary-like cannons are handy, but they change gem warfare far too much…are chivalrous days of armed combat over with on the horizon? I shudder to think what else that Citrine gem has up her sleeve.” 

“Ma’am.” Misty Blue Pearl greeted her Sodalite, as she approached the entrance, the sound of the battle from whence she came from could be heard settling down as her forces grinding the forces down with sheer numbers on her side. “ I do wonder though, Citrine said she had her best Onyx quartz gems on the job to collect the traitorous Pyrope…are they that good?” Sodalite pondered to herself as she and her pearl stepped into the temporary headquarters of the hemisphere she was in.

Pyrope

“Gotta leave! Gotta leave!” Pyrope panicked as she did her best to run toward the outside of her private island, and out to the skypad where her personal spacecraft was ready for take off. “Just gotta wash my hands of this and flee somewhere far away! Yes, somewhere far away, maybe to the other galaxy!” she assured herself with a panicked and nervous look, alluding to escaping to the milky way galaxy. 

As Pyrope rushed to the exit while hefting up the hem of her dress to run faster, she did look behind her to see fast moving shadows throughout the hallways of her private building. Just as Pyrope reached the exit, she attempted to press her hand on the small console on the wall for it to open up to her hand on it. “What the?” she questioned herself as the door did not open. Pyrope tried several more times to slam her hand on the wall’s console to the doorway, only for the doorway to never open. “What’s going on here!?” she shrieked in fear and worry.

Just as she turned around to try another exit, her vision was filled with the sight of dark clothed gems with their head wrapped in dark scarves to conceal their faces, “Wha-” was all she got to say before one of them rushed in and stabbed her in the torso with a daggers sized pronged destabilizer. “No-” She shrieked, before her body poofed, and all that was left of her was her pyrope gem clattering to the floor.

A few days later

Blue Diamond

While things were being finished up around the world with putting out remnants of any more rebels, Blue was rather happy to hear things were coming along smoothly; she was also happy to hear Yellow’s Citrine gem managed to acquire the traitorous Pyrope gem in a timely manner, now all she had to wait for was to exact her duty as a Diamond and shatter the upstart gem of her court. 

As she sat within the assembly hall of Yellow’s Citrine’s ship once more, she was brought out of her musings once the sight of the Citrine Gem entered in through the entrance to the assembly hall; within her hands was a bubbled Pyrope gem, and Blue couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction at a job well done by such a gem. Once the Citrine made her way past her own guards, the commanders stood straight and presented the bubbled Pyrope gem to her. “Your radiance.” she spoke with a clipped tone, “I give you the gem in question that started all this.” 

Blue smiled, “Excellent, well done, Citrine.” she spoke softly, before reaching out to grab the bubbled gem to shatter the nuisance.

With a conflicted look though, the Citrine gem spoke up out of turn, “A suggestion, if you would allow!” she quickly spoke up.

Ceasing herself from grabbing the bubbled Pyrope, Blue raised an eyebrow at the Citrine gem’s abruptness towards her, she’d let it fly for now seeing how since she was able to successfully bring the Pyrope gem to her, “Yes…what is it?” she asked in an impatient tone.

“Rather than…shatter her…” The Citrine began to respond to her, while still holding the bubbled gem up to her, “I suggest we make a public trial on homeworld, and make an example out of her.” she bargained with Blue.

Momentarily glancing to the side in thought, Blue thought to herself before looking back at the Citrine gem and pulling her hand away to listen more to what the gem had to say. “Go on.” she inquired with a look of expectation towards Yellow’s Citrine gem.

Citrine brought her arms down, but continued to hold onto the bubbled pyrope gem, “Yes, rather than publicly shattering this pyrope gem, I  suggest after the public trial, you punish this pyrope gem by putting her to work as a lowly pearl equivalent, make her regret her decisions in the long term rather than swiftly executing her in the short term.” the Citrine gem suggested with a straight face.

Placing her index finger on her chin while glancing to the side in, Blue thought to herself of how the idea would work out…yes, that seemed rather appropriate. Sure, she could shatter the gem like she did to so many gems before, but that wouldn’t exactly send a message to any of the gems in her court in the long run. New aristocrat gems would be made later on down the line, and none of them would learn from the past mistakes of what happens when a gem from her court decides to be a little upstart and try to rebel.

“Might I also suggest I run a memory scanner on this gem?” the Citrine gem suggested, earning a look from Blue as she brought herself out of her thinking. 

“Hmm?” Blue pondered the question given to her, “For what reason?” she asked with a critical gaze directed down at her.

Citrine offered a simple smile with a nervous look, “Too many reasons, if I’m being honest, But I need to know, er, we need to know if she’s in cahoots with any other aristocrat gem of your court.”

Blue thought about the question, and she did hear that not all of the aristocracy were present on homeworld for Yellow to skim through the memories of…yes, mayhaps she was too eager to shatter the gem afterall. So much can be accomplished with keeping the upstart pyrope intact. “Very well then.” Blue smiled rather magnanimously down towards the Citrine gem before her. “Be sure to keep the pyrope within your briggs, under tight security.” she ordered the gem before her. 

As the Citrine gem bid her well and took her leave, blue stood up and made way for the larger door exit, “Come pearl.” she spoke softly, it was time to leave this gem forsaken planet. what was once an opulent planet for her court, Blue now supposed she ought to assign for the planet to be harvested for its resources and become an actual gem colony. A few orders were all that were needed, and she could have the planet turned into a proper colony within a few centuries. 

Unknown

In a hangar where outer space could be seen with a simple force field cutting off the outside to the inside of the place, a certain Blue Demantoid could be seen watching a group of spaceships in the depths of space warp off to intercept a certain target the Blue Demantoid had in mind for her private forces. “What are you doing?” a soft voice spoke up behind the Blue Demantoid.

“Gah!” Blue Demantoid angrily yelled as she whirled around to face the intruder, only to stop herself from yelling once she saw whoever crept up on her. The Demantoid gem began to look nervous at the White and Grey Sapphire that managed to creep up behind her. “Grey! Wh-wh-what are you doing here?” she asked.

The White and Grey Sapphire momentarily looked out where the personal ships of the Blue Demantoid disappeared out into outer space, before turning her head back once more toward the Demantoid gem. “They’ll fail…” Grey simply told Blue Demantoid with a calm tone of indifference.

“You don’t know that!” Blue Demantoid angrily pointed out at the White and Grey Sapphire, “You Sapphires aren’t always right, you know!” the Demantoid gem spat with annoyance.  

“...correct…” Gray Sapphire responded, “But the chances of them even succeeding is quite low….” 

“grrr…I never asked your opinion!” Blue Demantoid said back to gray in a heated tone, before storming off, “I will have that Citrine gem disposed of! Mark my words!” she yelled back as she left the hanger.

Once Blue Demantoid exited the hanger, Grey Sapphire faced her head towards the exit of the hanger that led out into outer space. “...I will have to say…Yellow seems to have created a rather interesting specimen of a gem…” the White and Gray Sapphire spoke to herself with a rather unsettling, wide smile.

Chapter Text

Planet F78

Tanya

A procession of gems lined the surrounding area leading to Blue Diamond’s ship that had eventually been piloted to the planet of F78, from Tanya’s point of view, she and Sodalite stood next to each other below the palm of the ship as it hovered above ground with its hand facing the ground. With both of their Pearls standing behind them in the meanwhile, Tanya and Sodalite had their hands behind their back in waiting while Blue Diamond could be seen exiting from Tanya’s ship.

Breaking the silence between them, Sodalite spoke up while keeping her eyes forward. “What did you expect me to see in the rebels' eyes, by the way?” she asked idly with a skeptical look on her face.

“Zeal, anger…” Tanya answered Sodalite’s question as Blue Diamond was halfway to her ship, “The competency to throw themselves into a rebellion for a cause they were promised.” she questioned with a wry expression on her face. “That, and rebel gems have a penchant for asymmetrical warfare…though, I think in this recent war on this planet, the rebels weren’t able to get a foothold compared to the one on Earth.” Tanya mused.

Sodalite scoffed with a withered look on her face, “...If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this campaign, is that the lower caste of gems are so easily manipulated by a rogue Pyrope …and I don’t like that fact…” she answered softly as Blue Diamond finally reached them.

“My Diamond!” Both Tanya and Sodalite greeted the Diamond as she stood before them.

Blue Diamond, while wearing her hood over her head, smiled demurely down at the two gems before her. “Excellent work, Sodalite.” She complimented her gem, prompting the Sodalite to preen at her praise, “And you, as well, Citrine.” she said to Tanya as her gaze went over to her with a simple satisfied expression on her face, “I’ll be sure to relay to Yellow that you and my Sodalite’s combined work, achieved a quick finish to the rebellion on this world.”

As one once more, Tanya and Sodalite chorused ‘my Diamond’, Blue Diamond offered a simple satisfied expression in response, “Now, as for your rewards for a successful campaign, the first thing I’d do would grant you two your own pearls.” Blue Diamond momentarily looked at the two Commander’s own Pearls, before continuing on to speak with a simple proud smile towards the two gem commanders. “But seeing as how you two already have your own already, the next step is to grant you your own colonized planet to govern.”

While the Sodalite seemed to be ecstatic at being rewarded such a thing, Tanya on the other hand was panicking while Blue was discussing with her Sodalite gem of which planets of hers were available to govern, ‘last thing I need is more on my plate! And since when do gems get granted a planet as a reward? I thought only certain types of gems of a specific caste were given the duty of governing planets in place of their Diamond?” Tanya thought to herself.

“Very well then.” Blue Diamond continued to speak, prompting her to bring her awareness back to the conversation between the Blue Diamond Matriarch and her Sodalite, “If this planet is what you want.” Blue said with a concerned look on her face, before making an expressive look of excitement, “Oh, I know just the thing for this planet.” Blue Diamond clasped her hands together, “We’ve been rather low on Green Gems, for some time since…” Blue stopped herself as she began to become expressively sad, “...No…” She whispered to herself as she looked sideways off into the distance, before sighing to herself to bring herself out of her moping.

“Regardless…” Blue Diamond continued to speak where she left off from, “It’ll be good to see some rare green Sapphires and Tsavorite Garnets once more.” she smiled with a melancholy look on her face, “And with this planet so rich in Mercury, I’m sure you’ll be able to harvest this planet and make it a proper gem colony.”

Blue Diamond then looked down at Tanya with a soft smile, “And you, I must say, Yellow will be delighted to hear your success as well.” she said to Tanya, before speaking some more, “And while it is in my power to offer you a reward, I see it fit for Yellow to be the one to grant you one.” she calmly said, before turning towards her ship. “I’ll expect you two on homeworld soon.” she said, before walking towards the center beneath her ship’s palm along with her Pearl behind her; In the next moment, a blue orb levitated down and encapsulated Blue Diamond and her Pearl then levitated them both back up into the ship through the open palm of Blue Diamond’s ship.

As the ship owned by the Blue Diamond Matriarch began to levitate up into the stratosphere of the planet, Sodalite spoke up once more between her and Tanya while still casting her gaze upwards at her Diamond’s ship. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen my Diamond smile like that…” The Sodalite gem mused as she and Tanya faced each other.

“...Yes…” Tanya responded back as they looked at each other, measuring each other’s response, “one can hope she does not return to her grieving…” she said with a critical tone in her voice.

Sodalite sighed to herself while correcting her monocle to set it right against her eye, “Quite so, now, I bid you farewell for now.” she said while heading off in the direction of her armada of ships in the distance.

“Yes…farewell to you as well.” Tanya responded back as she watched Sodalite leave, and took her leave from the area as well to begin ordering her own battalion of gems to start packing up to leave the planet. ‘Now all that remains, is to scan Pyrope’s memories, see if she’s in cahoots with any other aristocrat gems.’ Tanya thought to herself as she headed towards her orange war-hand ship.

Later

Within the orbit of planet F78, countless ships are seen flying upwards from off of the planet’s surface and ceasing for a while in outer space; the armada of ships from two separate courts surrounded Blue Diamond’s ship to momentarily guard the matriarch’s ship, before parting up to allow the Diamond Matriarch’s ship to warp away to Homeworld with several ships warping right after it to safeguard their Diamond. The remaining ships that were still within the orbit of the planet, were awaiting their Citrine commander’s ship to warp off and follow suit.

Within the Orange Hand war ship of Commander Citrine, things were running smoothly, that is to say for most of the crew; within a certain room however that Tanya was within and the Olivine that worked with her to extract the memories of four previously caught Quartz gems, it was a different story for them. While her Pearl was off to the side to await further orders, Tanya had a pensive look on her face while she and Olivine were looking at the memories of the Pyrope that caused all the Rebellious mess.

“I don’t understand…” Said Olivine as she keyed in more commands at her console, while Tanya was at her own desk as she stood and leaned forward with her hands place on her desk to look  closer at the projected holograms of memories displayed within , “Everything is intact, but none of the memories add up for the Pyrope’s actions.” Olivine fussed as she tried to activate more commands to dredge up possible errors within the bubbled gem’s memories.

“Indeed”, Tanya mused as her eyes scoured through the files of the Pyrope’s memories, “A lot of the memories are showing Pyrope was alone in her cause, and yet, somehow her ‘rebellion’ was able to acquire cannons and other such weaponry.” She noted with a critical expression on her face, her brow was furrowed in thought as she tried to make sense of the situation.

Tanya stood up from leaning on her desk, and glanced over at Olivine, “Continue scouring what you can, Olivine, even if you don’t find anything.” she said while taking her leave of the room where the Pyrope Gem was held within a stasis field, her Pearl wasn’t far behind her in leaving the room. As Tanya exited the room, Olivine bid her later with a crisp salute before resuming her work with her room while the hexagonal doorway was opened up by Tanya’s Pearl. As Tanya exited out from the memory extraction room, the doorway shut after Orange Pearl exited right after Tanya and followed behind her Citrine.

Placing her hand on her chin in thought while placing her other hand on her hip as she began pacing forward through the angular hexagonal styled hallway of her ship, Tanya began to try and make sense of the situation with the Pyrope. ‘First it was the suspicious disappearance of the Almandine Garnet in the Eastern Quadrant at the end of the campaign there, then there was the self shattering of the White Olivine Forsterite in the Western Quadrant, after that there was the shattering of the Hessonite in the Northern Quadrant from an unknown group we couldn’t capture, and now I have a Pyrope with odd memories that don’t add up.” Tanya thought to herself in suspicion of all the events within the last hundred years.

Her campaign in the northern quadrant being by far the longest out of the four campaigns so far with the recent century, with the recent campaign being by far the shortest she’s ever had to deal with, all in part thanks to Blue Diamond finally getting her rear end up and actually doing something for once the five hundred or so years since Pink Diamond’s “Shattering”. Tanya still puts emphasis on doubting the eye witness reports of Pink Diamond being seen shattered by one of her own Rose Quartz.

Shaking her head to rid herself of going into that tangent of a mess, she could think more on the suspicious event of Pink being shattered too easily.

As Tanya rounded a corner in the hallways she paced through, a chime echoed throughout the ship. “This is Nephrite Facet n4v1, please prepare for warp travel in three, two, one…” with a soft lurch of the ship, and from Tanya’s position within the ship where there were ‘windows’ to show the outside, she watched as the stars in the distance became blurs and straight lines before disappearing as the ship traveled at warp speed towards Homeworld. Windows was the rough term, it was an aesthetic part of the ship, and Tanya could suppose it was rather pleasing to the eye to watch outer space as the ship traveled faster than light towards Homeworld.

Continuing on from where she left off from, Tanya continued to try and make sense of all the ‘unfortunate’ occurrences to certain gems; she continued to pace forward through the hallways of her ship, and thought inwardly to herself. ‘It’s almost as if…’ Tanya stopped momentarily in thought, as a random idea passed in her head. ‘What if…’ her eyes began to widen in realization, ‘What if it’s not just some random rebellions popping up? The recent four are far too suspicious with how certain high caste gems were involved in each one, and summarily dealt with by an unseen…foe…element…aristocrat…’ 

While Tanya turned in place while her Pearl could be seen waiting beside her as she turned around to look in the direction she came from. ‘Someone’s pulling strings, but who? There’s only so few higher ups above a Pyrope gem until you get to the level of a Diamond, But I refuse to believe the Diamonds would callously do such a thing…” Tanya’s face then soured at a passing thought.

‘Or maybe…I don’t deny that the Diamonds aren’t perfect, far from that.’ Tanya continued to think to herself, as she turned back around and continued to walk through the hallways towards the bridge of her ship, ‘They all have their faults, who's to say one of them is pulling the strings? The more pertinent questions are which one would benefit more from all this, why are they doing this…and that’s simply on the theory that it might be one of the Diamonds.’ Tanya refuted while trying to thinking up more reasons of all the happenstances of the recent hundred years of quelling rebellions.

Tanya would continue to try and make sense of all the recent odd activities with high ranking gems in the recent campaigns across the Diamond Empire and its colonies, and just as she would finally reach the bridge where her crew greeted her with the respect they usually give her, she wouldn’t expect what came next out of nowhere and would further her suspicion that someone was working from the shadows of the Great Diamond Authority.

?????

An older model of a Hand War Ship that was red in color, traveled at warp speed towards its intended target with its fingers curled in to make a fist; The Warship consisted of more stone-like outer shell of the hull compared to the newer hand warships of the Diamond Empire that had a more sleek looking hull with less seams. Within the bridge of the ship, the lights were dimmed with dark neon red, at the Captain's chair was a tall figure whose figure could barely be seen in the dimmed light. A lone eye could be seen that was narrowed in anticipation, while their other eye seemed to be replaced with a gem.

On one of the monitors that the pilots of the ships were operating on, it showed that their path was taking them on a direct collision course with a certain other warship; it wasn’t long until warning beeps went off to signify that they were in range of the target ship of theirs. The Captain of the ship clenched one of their fists, and used their other arm and hand to swipe it across them in a wordless command to their crew to initiate the attack. Several pilots began keying in inputs, and shortly after, the ship began to emit a hum as it approached its intended target in warp space. With a loud ‘thrum’ and boom, the ship initiated an attack that caused their target to be ejected out of warp speed and allow them to exit out of warp speed as well to chase down their target with due haste.

Above a garden filled moon 

A loud boom went off as two Hand Warships exited out of warp speed, with the red fist warship ‘punching’ itself into the Orange hand warship and sent it careening through space until it straightened itself out to face its palm and fingers directly at the enemy ship; just as it began charging its lasers on its fingers up, the red fist once again ‘punched’ itself into the open palm of the Orange Ship.

Unlike before when the Red Hand War Ship managed to send the Orange War ship careening through outer space, the Nephrite Pilots with Citrine's ship were able to eject several destabilizer missiles out from the back of the orange hand while controlling the ship to stabilize itself. As the missiles went hurtling towards the enemy ship, the red fist war ship opened its fist up and splayed its fingers out to project a projected light shield up to protect itself. After the missiles collided into the force field projected up by the red ship, the orange ship took the initiative next by hurling itself at the other ship with its fingers splayed outwards as well.

The two ships collided into each other as they clenched their ship’s' fingers into the other, intent on crushing the other; after several seconds went by with no give on either side, the palms on the two opposing ships had small holes open up, allowing their passengers to exit out and board the other ship.

Surface of the Moon

In what looked like an abandoned garden, there were overgrown shrubs, floating pink obelisks that were showing signs of age, some were even showing signs of hairline cracks; on one of the pink stone pathways was a certain Pink Spinel, who was waiting patiently for her Diamond to return and finish playing their game. ‘Come on Pink, this game was boring a thousand years ago! Why aren’t you coming back?’ the gem thought to herself.

As Spinel began to let her mind wonder and watch as one of Pink’s butterfly creatures began to fly close to her still body as she continue to stand where she was told to stand as part of her game with Pink, her silent time on her Diamond’s garden was soon interrupted by the loud sound of two war ships coming out of warp speed above the moon, causing Spinel to jump in shock and cause her to flail her limbs around in the sudden disturbance of the Hand War Ships.

With a rough ‘oof’ exiting out of her lips as she tumbled onto her rear end, Spinel glowered up at the ships as they began attacking each other. “Oh come on! You guys made me lose the game I had with Pink!” she grumbled while picking herself up, and took notice of her surroundings. “Oh…” Spinel lamented as she saw vines had begun to encroach her space, and would have been covering her feet if she stood centuries longer, Spinel wouldn’t doubt she’d have been covered in vines and roots if she had stayed any longer in that one spot.

“Oh phooey.” Spinel harrumphed as she crossed her arms, and lightly glared up at the hand war ships that were now clasping onto each other. “What am I gonna do now! I lost the game, and not just that, How am I gonna tell Pink I didn’t stay where she told me to stand as part of the game?” she pouted.

Just as she was gonna grumble more, the two ships separated from each other in a large static explosion, and before Spinel knew it, the ships began listing downwards towards the surface of the garden moon. “...whuh-oh.” She said aloud as she began to back away as the ships descended down to her location. “Run!” She comically with an expressive shocked look on her face, her legs elongated and allowed her to take long running strides as the two war ships came careening down from whatever caused them to both lose their anti-gravity engines running.

As Spinel continued to run with the ships behind her crashing down to the surface of the garden, she leapt with a deep overdramatic yell of ‘look-out’ as she dove into some nearby overgrown bushes with flowers on them; and just as well, as the two war ships finally crashed onto the garden moon with a loud boom and upheaval of the ground. Once things began to settle, Spinel peaked out from the bushes she lunged into with a curious gaze. “Ooohh, Pink’s not gonna like that….” she covered her mouth and giggled to herself.

Chapter Text

Pink’s Garden

Spinel

With the two Warships having crashed onto the surface of the moon that was owned by Pink Diamond to have a garden on it, the garden itself being within an enclosed area to keep the atmosphere in and allow the plants within the garden to thrive, Spinel climbed out of the bushes she jumped into to head to the edge of the Garden area and see where the ships landed at; It was for her own amusement that she lunged into the bushes, when in actuality the ships were on a crash course for the area outside the Garden enclosure.

As Spinel got out of the bushes, she soon brushed off herself before jauntily swinging her arms back and forth as she headed to the edge of the garden to see where the Warships crashed; after more than a thousand years of waiting for Pink, Spinel was excited to see some actual visitors for once, even though she lost the game of standing still for Pink. Once Spinel approached the edge of the garden to where there was a force field that held in the atmosphere for the Garden, the Pink Diamond playmate pressed her hands up against the force field and waited with baited breath as the ships outside the garden remained idle for the moment.

Just as she was about to go out and welcome the new visitors and hope she’d have some playmates to have until Pink returned, Spinel raised an eyebrow in curiosity when the ships back ends opened up; it was not long before several dozens of gems exited out from their ships and charged at each other. “What are they doing? Don’t they know Pink’s garden is this way?” Spinel questioned as she watched the gems collide into a fighting mess, “Wait! Why are they fighting, why are they fighting on Pink’s moon?” Spinel asked herself with growing worry.

Tanya

Doing her best to get a handle on the situation, Tanya was trying to get a grasp on who it was that attacked her own ship; she sent out a retaliation force to intercept any and all enemy combatants from the enemy ship, while she herself commanded from the bridge to get an accurate understanding from the Nephite pilots on how the enemy ship forced them out of warp speed and where they landed.

While her Pearl was standing at attention behind her, Tanya paced forward towards one of the Nephrite Pilots that was able to pull up the galactic map. “Hmm…” the Nephrite began to say as she looked up at the holo-screen of her console, her lone eye honed in on the image, “Well, commander, I have good news and bad news.” she uttered with a bit of worry to her tone.

Tanya walked closer and stood beside the Nephite that sat within her seat, Tanya leaned a bit forward with her hand on the console desk and her other hand on the seat of the Nephrite to get a closer look at the galactic map. “This…this is a private sector of space owned by…” Tanya furrowed her brow as she realized their situation.

The Nephrite nodded, “Yes.” she began to say as she typed a few commands prompts to make the galactic map zoom in on their location, “Good News, we are within the inner colonies of the Great Diamond Empire…” the Nephrite then nervously glanced over at Tanya with her single eye, “Bad news…we are on a private location owned by the late Pink Diamond.” she finished saying.

Tanya stood up from leaning near the galactic map, “How is that bad news?” she asked, with a confused look, before glancing further into the descriptor of the location they were at on the holoscreen showing the galactic map. The Nephrite chose that opportune moment to speak up and read the holoscreen on her console desk, “Restricted area, we are trespassing on a Diamond’s private grounds, Pink Diamond’s private grounds to be exact.” she uttered with a panicked expression.

Tapping her chin in thought, while the sounds of battle could be heard outside the ship, Tanya furrowed her brow once more, “This will complicate our return to Homeworld, not only will we be late, but I’ll also have to explain to Yellow Diamond of why we desecrated Pink Diamond’s private moon.” she sighed in irritation.

“Pretty sure Blue Diamond is the one we should be worried about.” one of the other Nephrites piped up amongst the bridge crew.

Just as Tanya was about to speak up, the sound of fighting could be heard from outside the doors of the bridge. Tanya cautiously turned around while pulling out her Saber weapon from her gem on her chest to prepare for the intruder(s), the rest of the crew followed suit along with her Pearl as she rushed over to stand in front of her in a guarded manner. Under her command, Tanya instilled the fact that all the gems under her leadership had the capacity to fight, and she wouldn’t waste such an opportunity for her crew to be able to defend themselves.

Thus with the doorway leading into the bridge opening up with the sight of the intruder, a gem that looked to be a Red Hessonite, and dozens of enemies and allies fighting throughout the hallways, Tanya had to hold up a free hand to halt the Nephrites from jumping into fighting; Tanya held her Saber in a ready position directed at the Hessonite, while said Gem gave her a dark smile. No one said a word while the fighting in the background went off, everyone seemed to wait with baited breath on who’d initiate the first move or say something. 

The Red Hessonite gem was the first to initiate the confrontation by sprinting towards Tanya with a Cutlass sword in hand, the gem’s speed was fast in how fast she closed the gap between the two. With Orange Pearl guarding her commander, she took up arms with her shield and spear as she readied herself; Tanya however noticed something odd in the enemy gem’s cutlass, her eyes narrowed as the blade on the enemy’s weapon was the same as a destabilizer blade. Whoever she was facing, they somehow got their hands on the new technology that she had been putting into use throughout the recent century, and that meant she wasn’t dealing with some run of the mill rebel force. 

Just as Orange Pearl was about to block the cutlass sword with her own shield, Tanya sprung forward and quickly pushed her pearl out of the way before blocking the Hessonite’s weapon with her own Saber Sword. While her Pearl seemed to look upset at being pushed aside and on her rear end on the floor nearby, Tanya glared at the enemy gem before her as they pushed against the other’s sword. “You!What are you doing here?” She questioned the Hessonite as she pushed forward while running her static energy along her sword to withstand the Cutlass destabilizers held in the grasp of the enemy gem. 

For once, the Hessonite finally spoke as they circled around each other while clashing against the other’s sword with their own, “Oh Citrine, you didn’t think our last stint on Homeworld would be enough to get rid of me, would it?” She challenged back with a chiding smirk as they clashed some more before leaping away from each other to momentarily take stock of the other’s ability in combat, all the while holding their blades up in a defensive manner. “You thought you could embarrass me in front of the Diamonds after the campaign on Yellow diamond’s fifth colony.” she challenged Tanya with a snarl. “But fate has granted me the honor of finally giving me the chance to have my vengeance upon you!”

As Tanya and Red Hessonite circled around each other, Tanya spoke up next, “It was your fault you fell for the rebel’s trap on that planet, don’t pin the blame of your arrogance on me!” Tanya snarled back as the two ceased circling around each other, and tensed up for another round. “I wasn’t about to be dragged down by your failures, that is why I came in to clean up your mess before the allotted time was up to finish the campaign!” 

“Raagh!” Screamed the Red Hessonite as they both lunged at each other and began trading blows at each other's blades, “Get cracked!” She yelled heatedly as they swung their blades against the other, cracks of destabilizing energy went off as their blades clashed. The two went into a flourish exchanging blows of their weapon at the other, the air around them was filled with static discharges of destabilizer energy as the two clashed their blades into each other.

With a flourish from Tanya, she flipped over Red Hessonite after striking another swing at the gems Cutlass sword. Tanya swung her Saber down while upside down in the air, only to have Red Hessonite block her attack by raising her weapon above her. Just as Tanya landed behind the enemy gem and swung an attack at the Hessonite’s back, the enemy gem was quick on the uptake, quickly turning around to block with her cutlass. The amount of force Tanya applied to her blow caused the two gem’s weapons to cause a tiny eruption of static sparks of destabiliser energy that fell around them to the floor.

Both combatants leapt away to gain some ground before initiating another round; Tanya glared balefully at Red Hessonite, “If only you applied this much effort back during your time as the rebel’s captive, maybe then you’d have been a force to be reckoned with.” she quipped with a disappointed frown as they stood across from each other.

Red Hessonite smirked back at Tanya, and used her free hand to put it into her gem in her eye socket, before pulling it back out covered in a yellow glove. “Oh I’m a force to be reckoned with, and I have you to thank with your weapon ideas you so graciously come up with for the Diamond Empire.” Red Hessonite remarked as she aimed her glove covered hand at Tanya with her fingers stretched out at her.

With a loud thrum of destabilizing static, arcs of yellow lightning sped towards Tanya; Tanya’s mouth however curved into a rather rueful smirk as she quickly used her own free hand to project a yellow curved barrier around her palm to direct the attack away from her and explode into the ceiling. Red Hessonite was shocked to see such a thing, before seething at the Citrine gem before her. “What!?” she shrieked, before amping up the power on her glove and attacked Tanya with it once again.

Acting quick once again, Tanya reinforced the barrier around her palm with another barrier and redirected Red Hessonite’s attack away from her; the attack was redirected into one of the windows, and exploded through the window with a loud shattering crash, allowing the lightning to harmlessly dissipate outside as the vacuum of space sucked the air out. As blast windows closed on the shattered window, the vacuum of space from the moon's empty atmosphere no longer sucked the air out of the bridge.

As Tanya and Red Hessonite stared each other down, a bright dot in outer space seemed to shine a bit more in the intact windows of the bridge. On one of the holo-screens of the bridge, it showed an incoming celestial object on a collision course with the moon; the screen showed the amount of time left until the collison, and it was soon. One of the Nephrite’s took notice of the holo-screen, and began working on figuring out the exact collison spot of the celestial object.

Back with Tanya and the enemy Hessonite on the other hand, they began taking their fight against each other out through the hallway as Tanya put the pressure on Red Hessonite to get her out of the bridge and away from the crew and others; with a flourish of attacks with her Saber, Tanya swung upwards with her blade, only to be met with a parry of Hessonite’s own Cutlass as she countered back with a downswing next. 

Tanya performed her own parry of the attack and brushed the attack aside, the two began trading blows into the other's weapon once more as they traveled through the hallways outside the bridge. “Did you really think I wouldn’t come up with a safeguard against my own weapons?” Tanya chided Hessonite with a snarl of disappointment.

“Don’t talk to me as if you’re better than me!” Hessonite refuted back as their swords let off sparks as they clashed their weapons against each other, “You’re a mere thousand year old gem, I won’t be shown up by some young upstart gem, just because our Diamond Favors you more, doesn’t mean you can go around changing things!” she spat back with heat in her tone as they continued to trade blows.

As Tanya blocked an attack from Red Hessonite, she quickly thrusted her free hand out at her enemy’s chest with static emitting off of her palm. Hessonite was quick to act and blocked with her gloved hand, their palms bounced off each other in a loud sparking boom. “Change is needed, If I am to be efficient!” Tanya said back with a heated look in her eyes as they swung their respective blades at each other. “I can’t get anything done if Gem society is always stuck in the old ways!” She challenged Red Hessonite.

“Then obviously Yellow Diamond made a mistake making you!” Hessonite spat back as she feigned a thrust attack with her Cutlass, before promptly swinging her blade up at Tanya’s arm holding her weapon.

Tanya flashed a satisfied smirk at Red Hessonite as she leaned to the side in anticipation of the feigned attack, and cartwheeled flipped  out of the way from Hessonite’s true attack. “Careful Hessonite, those are some treasonous words you got there.” she warned as she followed up her movement with a flurry of ex slashes towards Red Hessonite, who blocked each one with some ease.

“I won’t have to worry, not if I take you out myself!” Red Hessonite affirmed with a gleeful look as she tried her best to get an edge over Tanya in their heated exchange of words and weapons, “With you out of the picture, Gem society can return to what it once was!” she crowed in delight.

“I’m afraid you’re too late.” Tanya glowered back with a snarl of her lips as they traded more blows against each other’s weapons, “you can’t just go back to how things were, too much improvement in gem society has been made to make it more efficient!” she denied back at Hessonite through the sound of their weapons clanging against each other. “I won’t let centuries of my work be undone! I’ve worked too much! What can you say you’ve done, other than wallow in damaged pride of being tricked by rebels?” Tanya challenged back.

“Raagh!” Yelled Red Hessonite as Tanya finally pushed her over the edge of rationality by reminding her of her embarrassment and failure, and overextended herself with a thrust of her Cutlass. Hessonite had to watch with anger, shock, and fear as her attack missed, and Tanya deftly parried her attack aside with her Saber and thrusted her blade into her chest with a loud static sound.

As Red Hessonite heaved in pain from impaled on Tanya’s Saber, as would any other gem with the capability to sense pain, she hunched over while Tanya leaned in to whisper into her ear with a rather rueful grin, “I’ll be sure to pass on your recorded words to Yellow Diamond.” She stepped back from Hessonite as she collapsed to her knees, “you’re…nothing...but a pebble, compared to them.” Hessonite spoke once more, before poofing with a wide dangerous smirk.

Tanya blinked at the last words, “Them?” She questioned, the Hessonite could mean anything by what she meant; Shrugging to herself, “ I’ll figure it out myself, nothing a bit of memory scanning can’t fix.” Tanya thought to herself as she walked over to the Hessonite gem on the floor and picked it up, before bubbling it.

As she finally came down from her battle high, a sensation she wasn’t sure why she’d feel as a Gem of all things, but Tanya finally realized where her fight with Red Hessonite took them through to; Tanya glanced around her as she held within her grasp the bubbled Hessonite, she was now inside the hanger bay where there was onlookers about with wide eyed looks. Deciding to break the awkward silence between her and the rest of her gem crew that was stationed in the warship’s hanger bay, Tanya spoke up with a firm tone. “Don’t just stand and gawk now, We’re still under attack, get back to work!” she ordered snappishly, and just like that, the gems within the hanger bay went to and fro to assist in ending the little skirmish against the enemies outside.

“Feh.” Tanya muttered as she turned around, only to see that the hallway leading into the hanger bay was stricken with slash marks and damage from her little scuffle with Red Hessonite. “Oh…” Tanya blinked, before her vision spotted the sight of Orange Pearl coming around the corner in the hallway, and into the hanger where she was. “How is everything, Pearl?” Tanya asked as she met her Pearl halfway, with Orange Pearl looking up and down at her before breathing a sigh of relief. 

“I thank the stars, My Citrine.” She remarked, as she placed her hand on his chest in relief. “Why would you push me out of the way like that?” she questioned her Citrine, “I could have taken the blow for you, and given you the opportunity to easily dispatch that Hessonite!” Orange Pearl fretted.

Tanya rolled her eyes at her Pearl's antics and insistence to sacrifice herself for her, “But then I’d be stuck without your help for a good while till you reform yourself.” she quipped back with a rather amused smile back at her as she passed by her Pearl to head back to the Bridge and get a sitrep of the status outside the ship.

Orange Pearl had the decency to blush at Tanya’s chosen words, and cupped her cheeks in embarrassment, “Oh…” she remarked as she turned to follow after her Citrine, “Oh, by the way!” she added in saying, “I forgot to mention, the Nephrites have made a diagnostic check on the ship.” she reported to her Citrine as she walked up behind Tanya. 

Tanya glanced over her shoulder while she continued to walk towards the bridge of the ship, “excellent, and how soon can we leave?” she questioned her pearl.

Orange Pearl nervously tapped her index fingers together as she continued to walk after her Citrine, “Unfortunately, a week's time.” she answered, before adding in more to say, “and I don’t mean to add more bad news, but a comet is on its way to collide with this moon we’re on within three days.”

“...Did they get the projection of the damage, and where the comet will impact this moon?” Tanya asked with a trepid tone as she paused in her steps.

Her Pearl proceeded to gleam a smile back, while clasping her hands behind her back an cheerfulness as she momentarily stood on her tiptoes “Oh yes, We’ll be safe, the projections given by the Peridots on deck have calculated that the comet will shatter the moon, but the surface we are on and the nearby Garden in proximity to your ship and the other ship’s crash site will be safe.” 

“...There’s a garden on the moon we crashed on?” Was all Tanya could ask through her crashing mind of all the bad news she received from her Pearl.

AN; Going back through the Steven Universe Movie, I realized Pink Garden was not in fact on a moon, but a shard of what looked to be a moon. So without bothering to retcon what I wrote in the previous chapter, I went ahead and made a reason why Pink diamond’s garden is on a shard of a moon. 

Chapter Text

Homeworld

Yellow Diamond

The sound of fingers tapping into a screen keyboard filled the private chambers of Yellow Diamond, the matriarch in question could be seen sitting back in her yellow throne-like chair as she used both hands to type and slide her digits across the keyboards around her to bring up and read incoming reports of her colonies and ongoing production of various gems on them; Yellow’s pearl on the other hand could be seen working at her own small desk beside her Diamond’s chair, her task was to simply accept calls and give the gem on the other end of the call an appointed time in which her Diamond would be available to call back.

One such call would soon make that exception, as one of Yellow Pearl’s communicators on her desk lit up. “Oh my.” she perked up in subtle anticipation, the one call she couldn’t simply tell the other gem on the other side to wait was ringing her communicator. After a few inputs on her own keyboard to key in the command to pick the line up, a holo-screen soon popped up from the communicator, showing a certain Citrine Commander on the other end. “Citrine.” Yellow Pearl spoke with an attempt on her part to hide her contempt for her Diamond’s favorite Gem out of all her other creations. “To what reason are you calling?” she queried.

On the other end of the call, Citrine could be seen sitting in her chair within the bridge of her Ship; her legs were crossed while her arms rested on the armrests of her chair, one finger was idly tapping out of habit to calm her nerves. “Hello, Pearl.” she spoke politely through the two way video communication, “I’m calling in to report a few things I’d like you to pass on to our Diamond, I’m sure her hands are full at the moment in dealing with reports.” Citrine spoke dryly.

Yellow Pearl momentarily let her eyes drift to the side and muttered, ‘That’s one way of saying it’ she muttered under her breath, before giving her full attention to Citrine and responded back to her, “I’ll be sure to pass along the message.” She cued Citrine to go ahead and explain what she needed to say, not noticing that her Yellow Diamond had ceased her activities, and listened in on the conversation once she heard the familiar voice of her Citrine Gem.

“Right.” Citrine began to say as she leaned to the side a bit in her chair, “I’d like to formally apologize that I’ll be a bit late on the return trip to homeworld.” she said with an irritated look on her face as she made a flippant gesture with her hand, “My ship was unfortunately accosted by an unknown faction within gem society-” Citrine tried to explain herself of her situation, only for Yellow to interrupt the call between Yellow Pearl and Citrine. 

“Pearl.” Yellow Diamond spoke up, earning both gems attention as she lowered her hand down to be given the communicator, “Hand me the device.” she ordered with a firm tone and expression.

Yellow Pearl, who straightened up a bit when her Diamond called for her, immediately took the communicator from her desk and offered it up to her Diamond, “Yes, My Diamond.” she responded, shortly before delivering the device into Yellow Diamond’s palm.

As Yellow Diamond lifted the communication device in her head up to place it onto her own desk, she leaned forward to speak with her Citrine Gem commander. “What’s this I hear about your ship being ‘accosted’, what’s the status of your ship?” she questioned the gem on the other end of the call.

Citrine, who now sat up straight while giving her Diamond the salute in respect, responded succinctly, “My Diamond, All is well, save for the fact that I now have the perpetrators bubbled and all other hostels as well.” she reported with a sharp look in her eyes, “The Ship is damaged, and it’ll take at least a week’s worth of repairs with the peridots I have on board.” Citrine explained to her Diamond.

“Hmm.” Yellow narrowed her eyes at her Citrine gem on the other side of the two-way video call, “I noticed you said an unknown faction from within gem society were the ones that accosted you, earlier.” she mused with a critical gaze in her eyes, “Are you certain whoever attacked you, isn’t some rabble rebels?” she questioned her Citrine gem.

Citrine shook her head negatively, and relaxed her arms once the conversation went into full swing with her Diamond. “No, the perpetrators were able to use advanced technology to displace my ships out of warpspeed.” she answered with an uncertain look on her face, "I'm planning on extracting what I can from their memories, and get to the bottom of who orchestrated the attack on my ship, my crew, and me.” she responded.

As Yellow Diamond began typing into her holo-keyboard, she traced the call to home  in on where the call was coming from. “You…landed on Pink’s moon…” she muttered with a narrowed look in her eyes.

“I Apologize!” Citrine spoke up with a panicked look on her face, “We crashed, not landed, and we’re doing our best to respect the-” she would have spoken more, but a sharp gaze from Yellow Diamond ceased her ramblings.

“Be still yourself, Citrine.” she spoke with an authoritative tone in her voice as she leaned back in her chair, before crossing her arms and legs, “Tell me, is the garden area still operational, are any gems still there tending to the garden on that moon of Pink’s?” she questioned her Citrine gem.

“I…I haven’t sent anyone to check the place yet.” Citrine began to explain with a cautious tone in her voice, “Do…do you wish for me to check on the place?” she questioned her Diamond.

“Yes.” Yellow Diamond spoke sharply as she stood up, taking the communicator with her, “Is there anything else of note you wish to inform me of?” she questioned further. 

Citrine gave a positive nod back, “A comet is on a collision course with the moon, but by the calculations done, the Garden will be able to remain unscathed.”

“Hmph.” Yellow Diamond sighed to herself, “I see, I'd have to hate to tell Blue that Pink’s garden was destroyed.” she mused, before speaking once more. “Take care not to run into any more incidents, Citrine, I’ll be seeing you soon within the allotted time after your ship is repaired.” Yellow ordered, prompting Citrine to stand up and give one final diamond salute and a ‘My diamond’, before the call ended.

Once Yellow Diamond handed the communicator back down to her Pearl, she reached up and clasped her hand on her chin in a gesture of thinking as she mentally went through the bits of information she was told by her Citrine gem; There were many noble factions within the higher echelons of gem society, with a select few within the caste were allowed to actually put to use new gem technology before its put into widespread use. That fact alone allowed Yellow Diamond to narrow down the suspects by a wide margin, but what Yellow didn’t like was that the warp displacement technology was brand new, and only someone of Diamond Authority had the permission to put it into use.

She would know, her Peridots came up with the schematics of the technology for the purpose of installing it into her own ship; That left Yellow with two suspects, but with how Blue has been these past centuries, Yellow was left with White…and that thought made Yellow Diamond rethink how she would approach this conundrum that her Warp Displacement was used on her Citrine Gem’s ship. “Come, Pearl.” Yellow ordered as she exited out of her room, the pitter pattering of small footsteps could be heard behind her as she left her room.

She’d need to inspect the records of procured technology within the last century, before she made any movements of accusing White of mishandling or misusing of gem technology. Yellow Diamond couldn’t inspect the records from her room, the archived procurements were hardlined within data discs instead of stored within data bank servers; thus she was left making a trip to the data archives. 

Planet Albus 01 of the Patet Sol System

From the view of outer space, the planet looked to be an ecumenopolis, a world in which not a speck is left untouched with megacities covering the surface of the world; the night sky part of the planet as it rotated on its axis lit up with gem-building lights, showing the planet’s residents never rested…though that’s not saying much when the majority of Gem species do not partake in sleep. 

From the point of view on the surface of the planet, or at least the upper crust of all the megastructures built upon each other with sky crawling gem-skyscrapers built high towards the sky, the city was abuzz with gem aristocrats traveling in gem-styled hover vehicles piloted by Amphibole gems, lesser gems of the Nephrite gem line. Amphibole gems share a good portion of looks to their Nephrite gem cousin gem line, save for color being light green color scheme in contrast to a Nephrite gem’s average color scheme of dark green.

The point of view then changes further down to the depths below the megacity sprawling planet, a place where not even a ray from the planet’s binary stars could be seen from. It is here where the majority of gem society live, that is to say, the servants, the maintenance crews, the clean up, etc. Many gems have gone centuries without seeing the upper heights of the planets, others do see it sometimes when duty dictates, but the majority are stuck never seeing the light of the suns in order to not be seen by the higher echelons of gem caste society. 

Some gems would even say they never once saw the surface, and yearn to one day see life beyond the towering megastructures that blot out any attempts for the lower crust of gem society to see what goes on in the upper parts of the planet’s society. 

Corundum had a body similar to that of a Ruby, with hair styled into an afro and bright red skin. Her Gem line was the predecessor to the Rubies, yet her line of work involved carrying materials from point a to point b; a monotonous type of work she’s only ever known, something that should have been displaced by automation, but Corundum could count her lucky stars that her use by gem society hadn’t yet outdated her to the point of disposing her gem line. 

Corundum shuttered while carrying her packages over her shoulders in her arms as she remembered when White Diamond ‘expired’ the Hematite gem line, that was more than ten thousand years ago, but still remembered when the Herkimer Quartz soldiers came down and rounded up every Hematite in existence; they said it was something to do with relocating the entire Hematite gem line to a different planet to be processed for different use, but she and every other gem in the lower crust of planet Albus knew what was going to happen.

They should have done something, she should have done something; but every gem of the lower crust just stood and watched it all happen out of fear, fear of retaliation from White Diamond and what she could do. Corundum allowed a wry smile to grace her lips as she weaved around a crowd of bismuth workers as they worked on repairing a pillar that held up the overhanging ceiling of whatever building she was under now. ‘At least there’s no sign of those gems being outdated, those gems have been around long before me.’ Corundum thought to herself as she continued to weave through more crowds of gems. 

‘Actually, speaking of outdated, I wonder if the Herkimer Quartz gem line has been updated yet.’ Corundum continued to think to herself as she finally approached her destination to drop off her package, she greeted the gem she was supposed to meet. “Hey Fayfay.” she greeted cheerfully as she tossed the packages on her shoulders down onto the hovercraft-cart next to the gem she spoke to.

The gem with a bobbed haircut style that covered her eyes, blew out a sigh as she wrote with her stylus onto her holopad while leaning on the nearby wall she stood next to; she finished writing before using the stylus to part her hair a bit to look at Corundum with an eye, “Easy on the goods, Cor, can’t have another accident like last time.” she warned. The Fayalite gem that Corundum spoke to, was dressed in a set of worker’s overalls with a slender build and height as tall as your average Amethyst gem. Her gem was on her shoulder and her skin was iron red.

“Hey!” Corundum began to defend herself with a shrug, her gem could be seen on her left hand. “That wasn’t me! One of the Bismuths bumped into me.” 

“I know.” Fayalite responded as she continued to hold her hair up to give the Corundum before her a look, “I’m just saying, if you’re not careful, one of the higher ups will come down on us hard.” she warned.

“Right…” Corundum muttered with a regretful sigh, before perking up and gave Fayalite a cheeky grin while leaning over to elbow her fellow gem a bit in excitement, “Hey, you still up for Tephroite’s little jam session after our shift?” she asked.

With a smile back, Fayalite responded candidly, “Wouldn’t miss it.” she said, prompting Corundum to cheer and leave with a wave back at her before disappearing into the crowd of gems. After a few moments passed, Fayalite frowned as she stopped leaning on the wall she stood next to, and stood straight up. Lifting her datapad up to look back down on it, there was a broadcasted message to all gems of her line. All Corundums are to be reported for the next gem line to be relocated off of the world. “Oh Cor…” she muttered with worry.

Chapter Text

Planet Albus 01

Beneath all the superficial glamor of the planet’s surface of megastructure and skyscrapers, deep within the bowels of the planet’s gem underworld where cogs and gears spun on their axis, a soft thrum of music could be heard; further into the unseen world to the upper crust gems, the music thrummed louder and the sound of a crowd could be heard. Corundum could be seen walking with Fayalite beside her as they both make headway for the jam session in progress. In the distance as they walked, various different gems could be seen heading in the same direction.

Speaking up first with an excited look on her face, Corundum glanced over at Fayalite beside her as they headed towards a refurbished supply warehouse that was once closed down for repairs. “Sounds like Tephroite finally got some new sound synthesizers!” she remarked as the music became louder and clearer as the two gems walked towards their intended destination.

Lifting her bangs up and tucking them behind her ear to allow her left eye to look directly back at Corundum, her lips quirked into a bit of a smile “hm, yeah, I heard her jam partner Spodumene managed to procure some better acoustics, even managed to reconfigure those old monotonous turntables the upper crusts use, and suit it their needs.” Fayalite responded back with interest in her voice.

As the two gems continued to walk closer to the warehouse with the music becoming more prominent, from around the gem-like pathway leading towards the place that they walked on, various gems could be seen heading in the same direction as well. Gems from all corners and directions of the underworld could be seen exiting out from alleyways and buildings that were closing down for the gems’ shift being over. All around the pathway leading towards the ongoing music party, lower crust gems of all types were eagerly heading to the place of gathering to unwind; coming in all shapes and sizes, gems could be seen eagerly talking to each other as they all headed to the same destination in mind.

Passing by two Bismuth gem lookouts beside the double door hexagonal entrance, both Corundum and Fayalite greeted the two gems with a wave; the two large gems greeted them both in kind with a nod, before resuming their watch for any danger to the little music party. As Corundum and Fayalite entered the warehouse, and made way for the center of the building, the music was now blaring loudly from all corners of the warehouse from built-in speakers to make the music be heard all around the inside. 

Corundum let out an excited noise as she pointed out towards the dance floor, “Look at everyone go!” she remarked as gems could be seen bopping and dancing to the rhythm of the music played in the building. Some gems could be seen sitting atop supply boxes and simply bobbing their heads, while others stood atop the boxes to dance in place. 

 At the stage at the backend of the warehouse where two gems could be seen working at a DJ box together, the two gems had lithe amorphous bodies with clear skin that showed their actual gem color inside. A pink Tephroite with dredd appendages covering her entire head, while the gem next to her was a Blue Spodumene with a single eye and head appendages morphed to look like a top knot that rested atop her head. The two DJ gems worked together at the dj table with their hands on angular hexagonal discs that played the music within the warehouse. Both of them looked to be in their element as they worked the music to please the ears of the gems inside the building.

“Come on, Fayfay!” Corundum yelled over the music as she pulled Fayalite’s hand to bring her with her to the dance floor, “There’s a spot with our names on it!” She encouraged Fayalite, and in turn smiled softly as she was pulled along by Corundum to where there was an open spot for the two of them to dance together. Once the two got to a suitable spot, Corundum wasted no time in starting a bopping and dancing to the music, with Fayalite joining in soon after. 

With all that was going on during all this music and dancing, some gems that were close to each other in relationship had their gems lit up; before long, the entire warehouse lit up with brief flashes before calming down to fusions of different gems jamming to the beat of the music from the Pink Tephroite and Blue Spodumene DJs. Meanwhile with Corundum and Fayalite, their gems lit up, but didn’t go that far from that in comparison to how other gems in the warehouse were comfortable with each other to that extent. All in all, it was a rather excellent turn out for the lower crust gems able to unwind away from the prying eyes of gem society and all of its constricting rules. 

As the music began to wind down, the crowd of gems, from singular to fusions, applauded the two music players in appreciation for their skill outside their designated gem design. Tephroite, bringing up a megaphone of sorts made out of angular gem material, she held it up to her lips to speak to the crowd before her. “What do you say?” she hollered into the megaphone

“One more time!” The crowd of gems chorused in excitement.

A couple Bismuths from beside the stage took a cue from Spodumene that was still behind her DJ booth, gave them a nod and smile, prompting them to begin bringing up repurposed music tools that the upper crust gems used for ball music. “That’s what I thought!” Cheered Tephroite, as two more Spodumene gems made their way up the stage, and took positions at their music tools to begin playing the next round of the jam session. From there, the entire warehouse was filled once more with music as the amorphous bodied gems began strumming and playing their music for the audience to dance to, a night for all gems to enjoy until their next shift ready.

Later

While the night was yet to be over, music continued to be played from the amorphous gem troupe; off to the side where gems were taking a minute break before getting back onto the dance floor, Corundum and Fayalite could be seen sitting down on makeshift stools. Corundum giggled as she elbowed Fayalite beside her, “And you said you couldn’t dance!” she guffawed at Fayalite’s embarrassed expression.

With a resigned sigh and smile, Fayalite glanced down at Corundum beside her as she crossed her arms. “Yeah, yeah, get out of your system, I just didn’t think they’d be that good.” she remarked while the music in the background was played softly for the crowd to catch a break and relax until the next round picked up to a faster beat for them to dance to. 

“You kid’n me?” Corundum jested as she giggled at Fayalite’s squirming body, “I thought you were great on the floor!” she exclaimed with a simple smile afterwards. 

As silence fell between the two gems while the music continue to be played into the atmosphere from the band troupe on the stage, Fayalite broke the silence between the two of them with a cautious tone. “Hey, Cor’.” She spoke up with her visible eye under her bangs looking directly over at the smaller gem.

“Yeah?” Corundum responded without a care for the moment.

Deciding to get it over with, Fayalite spoke with worry written all over her face. “What-what would you do if your gem line was slated to be-” she began to say, only for Corundum to cut her off with a sideways look and smile.

“Fayfay.” Corundum silence her fellow gem partner she’s known since before Yellow Diamond came into existence, “I know what your about to say…” she then formed a melancholic smile up at her gem friend, “It’s written all over your face…that, and I received the order before we met back up to meet for this little music party.” 

“Oh…” Fayalite said with a downcast look, before looking back over at Corundum, “What are you gonna do now? We could try finding a place to escape to.” 

Corundum shook her head and smirked at Fayalite, “Oh come on Fayfay, why’s there a ‘we’ in this?” she asked with a sardonic grin, “The last thing I wanna do is drag you down with me.” 

Fayalite brought her hand up and nervously rubbed her arm to cope with her feelings, “Come on, Cor’, we’ve known each other for so long, I don’t think I can imagine a life without you.” she shook her head negatively.

As the two fell into uncomfortable silence, Corundum spoke up with an unsure look on her face. “Hey…” she said with a thoughtful expression, “If we did somehow manage to escape this planet, where would we even go?” she asked.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Fayalite answered back as she looked up to glance at the spinning ball of light that added ambiance to the music dance party. “I heard Pink Diamond’s planet could be considered a refuge, rumor says that the Diamonds have washed their hands of the planet after Pink Diamond was felled by her own evil Quartz soldier.” 

“But didn’t the Diamonds wipe that planet off of the star map?” Corundum asked her fellow gem with a confused look as she kicked her feet while sitting on her stool. 

Fayalite rolled her eyes as she crossed her legs and leaned back on the nearby wall that the stool she sat on was next too, “And you believe the word of the propaganda they release from their lips?” she questioned with her brow raised.

“Hey!” Corundum began to defend herself, her hands palms gesturing towards her chest, “A Nephrite gem I know, was stationed on that world, and she was one of many gems that was able to get off of the world in time.” Corundum explained to Fayalite, “And she said the entire planet was engulfed in a white light just before her ship entered into warp speed to come back to our home galaxy.” 

“Hmm.” Fayalite mumbled out her lips, and shrugged, “That could be anything, we don’t know the full capabilities of our Diamonds anyhow.” she remarked.

“Yeah…” Corundum spoke back with a thoughtful expression, “soo…Earth it is then?” she suggested with a smirk up at Fayalite, who returned the smirk back. 

“First, we gotta procure a ship that’ll get us there.” Fayalite pointed out, “Then we can see if Pink diamond’s planet is safe by now to take asylum at.” 

Before the night could finish off on a high note however, the down of crashing and gem rioting could be heard outside the warehouse, drowning the music party inside the building, prompting the music to be stopped and everyone to cease what they were doing and find out what was going on outside. 

Fayalite frowned as she pulled out her datapad from her gem on her shoulder, and began sliding her finger on it. “Oh…” her lone visible eye widened as she realized the cause of the ruckus outside. A list was now made of gem types to be relocated off of the planet, including Corundum’s gem type, and many more with recent new gem types and automation replacing them; by the looks of it, the Herkimer Quartz soldier gems would be replaced by White Diamond’s Chalcedony Quartz soldiers. As Fayalite continued to slide the list down, her gem line also was listed among them.

Breaking her out of her funk, Corundum shook her by her shoulders. “Looks like we’re finding that ship sooner than expected!” she smirked up at her, with which she returned a lopsided smile of her own. While the Band troupe could be seen ushering out the backdoors by their Bismuth helpers in the background, the front doors were slammed open by a Snowflake Obsidian. “Everyone out!” she shouted, “White Diamond’s Gray Chalcedony soldiers and Homeworld’s Carnelian Arbites are out in droves, rounding up every gem on the list of gems to be relocated off this planet!” 

With that simple sentence leaving the lips of the Obsidian gem, every unsanctioned gem fusion unfused and the entire crowd began pushing their way out of the nearby exits and open windows. “And that’s our cue.” Corundum spoke aloud to Fayalite beside her as they both stood up from their seats and made way for the nearest exit. 

Homeworld

Within the archives of Yellow Diamond’s domain on homeworld, said Diamond Matriarch was busy searching through shelves of disc records until she finally found what she was searching for and pulled out a large drawer that was labeled with the recent hundred years. “If I wasn’t so paranoid of losing all the information, I’d have simply had it stored into servers for ease of access.” Yellow muttered to herself, the drawer she pulled out was at chest height for her, thus she didn’t need to lean down or require a stool to stand on to pull an entire drawer out from the top shelves.

Yellow smiled as she found what she was looking for, a disc file of the last hundred years. “Found you.” She spoke to herself with a smile, before taking the file out and held it within her hand to take with her to the nearest console in the archives. Once Yellow Diamond exited out of the many rows upon rows of archived data, her pearl could be seen minding her own duty in helping Yellow sort out the other last hundred years of data prior to the one she just pulled out. It was best to cover all her bases, rather than from one century alone.

Just as Yellow approached a gem console and monitor to start working at, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Yellow Pearl reach up to her ear, signifying she was getting an incoming call through her headset. Yellow sighed and rolled her eyes, if it wasn’t one thing, it was another; she was busy with her own investigation, and now some gem was probably reporting some problem. ‘This is exactly why I created Citrine, but it didn’t ease the burden any less.’ Yellow grimaced to herself in her thoughts.

“My Diamond?” Yellow Pearl spoke up with caution in her tone, bringing her Diamond’s attention down to her, “I have some troubling news.” 

Yellow Diamond pinched the bridge of her nose, and let out an exhausted sigh, before setting the data disk her grasp aside, and addressed her Pearl. “Out with it Pearl.” 

“Right…” Yellow Pearl began to say as she kept her hand on her ear to listen in on the incoming information, “I’m afraid White Diamond is doing her ‘relocation’ of gems on one of her planets once again.” she informed her Diamond.

“Oh for…” Yellow Diamond let out an annoyed growl, before speaking up. “Why must she be so insistent on having the newest gems on her planets, the older gem lines work just fine!” she bemoaned. 

“And there’s a revolt in the process as well, the amount of gems she’s planning on ‘relocating’, is…is rather staggering compared to last time.” Yellow Pearl remarked with a cautious look up towards her Diamond. 

Yellow Diamond ceased her previous action of pinching the bridge of her nose, and resorted to sitting down on the nearest chair fit for her size. She began to rub her chin in thought as she leaned forward in her chair while resting her other arm on the armrest of her chair. “Pearl, get me a list of what gems White is throwing away.” Yellow Diamond commanded.

“Uh…my Diamond?” Yellow Pearl questioned her Diamond, unsure if her Diamond’s decision was wise. “What about White Diamond?” she asked.

Yellow Diamond simply smirked as she thought internally of the opportunity to finally take some of White’s coveted old gems from a bygone era. “I missed the opportunity of taking your Hematites, but I won’t miss out on taking what you oh so willingly toss aside.” she smirked as she steepled her fingers together and smiled behind them in eager anticipation. If she was quick about it, she could contact her Citrine gem, and order her to head to the planet Albus 01 post haste; the trial of the Pyrope gem could wait a while, the enticing idea of taking White’s old era gems were too good to pass up.

They were already low on resources to make gems, and Yellow diamond had to agree with her Citrine gem, they couldn’t afford to lose gems so willy nilly. Also to add on to the fact that the gems White wanted gone from her world, were from an era when gems were made from more hardy and abundant resources. With such a sizable list of gems that White was throwing away, Yellow would be a fool to not incorporate them into her military branch of the great Diamond authority. Sure, she’d have to have them factory reseted to suit her needs, but it was better than losing out on precious numbers. “Oh the sheer numbers of gems that will be in my court.’ Yellow relished in delight. 

White would no doubt raise a hassle of interfering with her desire to throw away gems that belonged to her, but Yellow would be prepared with many rebuttals; She didn’t care how much White would raise a stink about it, Yellow would have her extra manpower and she’d be darned if White hogged all the good stuff, especially if she wanted to toss them away. What was yester-century trash, was Yellow’s treasure of sheer numerical value of gem manpower.

Chapter Text

Pink’s Garden

Tanya

While the gems under her command was working around the clock to make repairs on the ship, Tanya was in the midst of what looked like a garden that needed some tending to; already she could see greenery and vines growing out of control, but still thriving within the sealed biosphere that she entered into through a two set of doorways that allowed her and her fellow gems that joined her to enter the garden without exposing it to the vacuum of space. One set allowed visitors to enter from the outside, while the other set allowed the vacuum of space to not affect the garden on the inside by staying closed until the entrance chamber was repressurized for gem visitors to enter on through the secondary set of doorways. 

While the small contingent of gems that she took along with her split up to take stock and notes on how much was needed to restore the Garden back to its pristine condition, Tanya continued walking towards the center where she could see a galaxy warp pad with her Pearl not far behind her. Walking with a datapad in hand, and using a stylus in the other hand to write into it to make notes, Tanya’s eyes glanced back and forth to take in the sights. Orange Pearl behind her chose to speak up to comment on the state of the garden.

“I don’t understand.” Tanya’s pearl mused as she walked behind her with her hand under her chin, and the other supporting her elbow, “Why isn’t there a team of gems to look after Pink Diamond’s own garden?” she pondered.

As Tanya jotted down a few notes into her data pad, she responded without missing a beat, “Well, that's why we’re in here on command by Yellow Diamond.” she said as she halted in her steps and stood before the steps leading up to the galaxy warp pad, “To check the status of the garden and see if there are any gems that were left behind before Pink went to Earth.”

While her Pearl turned around and glanced at the bushes and the flowers on them with some bit of awe and wonderment, Tanya proceeded to walk up the stairs leading to the warp pad and took notes of its state. “Everything seems in working order.” she murmured as her eyes scanned the steps and soon the warp pad once she reached the top, “I’m not peridot, but I don’t see any abnormalities in the warp pad.” Tanya mused as she bent down to get a closer look, before something in her peripheral vision on the other side of the warp pad seemed to peek over the stairs.

Tanya’s head snapped up along with her eyes to focus on what came into her vision, only to see nothing; she raised an eyebrow when she heard some giggling, before it ceased as if whoever was doing it shut their mouth with their hands. Tanya stood up, and turned her head slightly to look down from the warp pad to see if it was pearl, ridiculous as it might me, but lo and behold she was busy jotting down into her own datapad, her attention was on the hairline fractures on the floating pink obelisks. 

A finger poked Tanya’s left shoulder, prompting her to quickly turn in the direction of whoever was trying to get her attention, only to see no one beside her. ‘ What?’ Tanya thought to herself, ‘Someone poked my shoulder, I know I felt something or someone poke me.’ Tanya continued to think to herself. Another poke landed on her back, prompting Tanya to quickly whirl around as fast as she could to catch the offender, only to catch no one. ‘ What!? I know someone poked me!’ Tanya assured herself.

To prove Tanya’s sanity, a silent giggle echoed on the other side of the warp pad, prompting her to narrow her eyes in suspicion, and stormed over to get to the bottom of all the nonsense. As Tanya walked over the warp pad, and to the other side of it where there was a set of steps leading down to the other side, a pink blur whooshed up above and over Tanya. Moving as fast as she could in turning around to catch the pink blur, Tanya stumbled back in surprise when a pink gem of sorts had her face directly in front of her own. “Boo!” the pink gem giggled out as Tanya continued to stumble backwards.

As Tanya let out an undignified yelp of surprise, the pink gem let out a giggle of excitement as her arm elongated over to Tanya to catch her falling body that would have went falling down the stair by wrapping her noodle elongated arm around Tanya’s body and pulling her back into a one armed hug. “Welcome, welcome, welcome!” the Gem dramatically announced as she squished her cheek up against Tanya’s own, who gritted her teeth in annoyance and tried to push her arms out to escape the gem’s grasp, but to no avail.

“My name’s Spinel! And what’s your name, new friend!?” Spinel asked cheerfully and giggled some more as she unwound her arm off from Tanya, causing her to cartoonishly spin in place, before Spinel placed both her hands on Tanya's shoulders to stop her in place. Tanya’s eyes seemed to somehow spin around, before she brought her hands up to smack her cheeks to make sense of her situation and snap herself back to reality. 

Once Tanya finally got a grasp on her situation, she breathed out a calm herself before responding to the off brand looking disney character before her, “You can simply call me Citrine, for now.“ Tanya responded as calmly as she could while fixing her hair down after being spun around in such a way.

While Spinel bounced one foot to another in childish excitement, Orange Pearl finally reached the top of the warp pad after hearing the activity and noise that was going on on top of the stairs and warp pad. “My Citrine, are you okay!?” She fretted, only to be accosted by Spinel next as the pink gem made her legs and arms into springs and back flipped over until she reached Orange Pearl and wrapped her arms around the Pearl’s torso. 

“Why hello new friend!” Spinel cheered some more as she held Orange Pearl up against her cheek to cheek within her noodly arm wrapped around the pearl. “If you haven’t already heard, I’m Spinel, and you look like a Pearl…and Orange…Orange you glad to meet your new buddy Spinel?” the pink gem ran her mouth a mile a minute in overeager excitement, Spinel proceeded to giggle at her own play on word joke.

Orange Pearl struggled to get out of the pink gem’s grasp, “Unhand me, right this minute!” she declared with an upset look on her face.

Spinel chortled as she released Orange Pearl from her grasp, and sprung from her spot over to a spot between the two gems; as Spinel stood at her spot while also bouncing up and down at her knees with her hands clasp into fists and against her hips, she twisted her body around and leaned backwards to look at Tanya upside down with a twisted torso. “So.” she began to say with a perky attitude. “What brings you two here?” Spinel asked, before unwinding her body below her body, while her head stayed in place. 

As Spinel bounced off from her feet and stood beside Tanya with pep in her body and continued to animatedly dance in place with her hips swaying and knees bending as Tanya spoke up with incredulity written all over her face, “I am here on orders of my Yellow Diamond.” She responded with a measured tone as her eyes went up and down in tracking Spinel’s body as the pink gem seemed to barely contain herself from standing in one spot. 

“Ooh, Then what was all that fighting earlier?” Spinel asked as she bounced off from her feet and performed a handstand and kicked her feet back and forth in the air with her head craned cartoonishly up to look fully up at Tanya. 

Orange Pearl, who was getting tired of the pink gem’s shenanigans, stormed over and poked at Spinel, “listen here you-” She began to say, only for Spinel to stretch her hand up while still performing a handstand with only one hand, and slapped Orange Pearl in the face. “TAG!” she screamed deeply with excitement, before backflipping in place and ran in the air until she zoomed off out of sight down the stairs.

“Why you!” Pearl shrieked as she went running down the stairs to find the Pink gem.

Tanya rubbed her own face with her palm, “What have I gotten myself into?” she asked herself.

“Gee. Beats me.” Spinel dramatically said from above Tanya’s head as a pair of legs were draped around her neck and collar, as Spinel sat on her shoulders and leaned against her head while resting her arms atop her head. Spinel proceeded to stretch her neck and dangle her head upside down across from Tanya’s own face. “So, what game do you wanna play?” she asked with a cheeky smile, with hope in her eyes as her gem eyes shined in childish wonder, her lips spread wide into a cheeky grin while doing so.

Tanya’s eyes widened during the whole process with shock and surprise, before she let out an annoyed growl and began trying to pry Spinel off of her. “Get off! I’m not here to entertain some childish gem that’s been left neglected for centuries!” Tanya began to say, while clenching her teeth and squinting her eyes in frustration to get the pink gem off her shoulders and neck, not noticing Spinel momentary dower expression.

“But If you want someone to play with.” Tanya continued to struggle with prying Spinel off of her shoulders, only for Spinel to snap back into place onto her shoulders. “I have some gems from Pink Diamond’s court that share your attitude somewhat.” She tried to bargain with Spinel.

“Yippee!” Spinel cheered as she bounced off from Tanya’s shoulders, causing her to stumble in place from the displacement of the gem from her shoulders, before catching herself and stood back in place to watch as Spinel landed back down in front of her and bounced at her knees with her hands on them as she looked up at Tanya with an excited look. “Who is it? Tell me…tell me tellmetellme!” Spinel urged Tanya with excited fervor.

“Let me guess.” Spinel began to ask suddenly as she looked up at Tanya’s pensive face, “You brought Pink Sapphire…wait no.” she furrowed her brow, “She’s boring, no wait. You have Labradorite!” she gasped with wide eyes, “Wait, don’t tell me, Pink lent you the Gems she created on her new colony she always wanted!” 

At that tidbit of information, Tanya blinked at Spinel’s questions, “Er…something like that.” she began to say, “I have some Amethysts, a Carnelian, and two Jaspers that belong to her…I can tell you that much…” Tanya wasn’t sure how to break the news that Spinel’s Diamond was supposedly shattered, a fact she’s still in the process of investigating whether it actually happened or not. 

“Some new best friends!” Spinel cheered as she bounced with her knees in place while swinging her arms and fist side to side in excitement as she looked up at Tanya with a cheerful grin, “Some new best friends, some new best friends, some new best friends!” Spinel chanted with the last bit more boisterously and giggled a bit as she turned her legs into springs and bounced away, before catching herself onto the top of one of the pink floating obelisks beside the pathway that led up to the warp pad. 

As Spinel wrapped her legs around the obelisks she caught herself onto, she wrapped one of her arms on it as well and used her other arm to hold her hand over her eyes as she scanned the entire garden from high up. “Pink always creates the best playmate gems, I wonder if Pink Morganite still helps Pink in managing her court.” she offhandedly spoke as her eyes caught sight of various amethyst gems.

Tanya’s thoughts zeroed in on the name Pink Morganite. “I’m sorry, Pink Morganite?” she asked as she walked over and hollered up to Spinel, who stretched her arm that was around the obelisk to allow her to behind her body backways and look at Tanya upside down. 

“Yeah!” Spinel began to say with a wide brimming smile, “Pink Morganite, she and Pink always play tea parties, on top of helping Pink with her court.” 

As Tanya brought her arm up to place her hand on her chin in thought, Orange Pearl came bumbling out of the bushes with an exasperated look. ‘I don’t recall a Pink Morganite being on Earth.’ Tanya thought to herself with her brow furrowed in thought.

Orange Pearl looked up with a frustrated look at Spinel, who unwrapped herself from the obelisk and leapt off of it to tackle Pearl to the ground with an excited laugh; dust was kicked up from Spinel tackling pearl to the ground, and once it all settled, Tanya looked down with a eyebrow raised as Spinel stood over her Pearl’s downed form. “Boop!” Spinel said as she booped Orange Pearl’s nose. 

As Orange Pearl sighed and picked herself up from out under Spinel, she brushed herself off and glowered at the cartoonish silly pink gem. “Really now, can you go one minute without being all over the place?” she questioned Spinel.

Spinel clicked her tongue at Pearl, “boo!” she gave Orange Pearl a thumbs down and waved her off with a bored look. “Pink’s Pearl was more fun than you, before White took her.” she commented.

The tidbit of information aside about White diamond taking Pink diamond’s pearl, Tanya made her way down from the warp pad, and over to the two gems with her hands on her hips. “Spinel.” she spoke up as she approached the animatedly silly pink gem, “How long have you been here by the way?” Tanya began to question her, to which Spinel turned towards her and shrugged offhandedly.

“Wouldn’t know, a thousand years or more?” Spinel remarked with a frown, before bringing a smile back to her face; stretching her leg and foot to place it beside Tanya’s own, Spinel then snapped herself instantly beside her the next moment as she clasped her hands together as she gave Tanya a gleeful look. “But enough about me , what about you? I’m sure Pink’s told you all about me!” she inquired, prompting Orange Pearl to rub the back of her head uncomfortably, while Tanya coughed into her fist.

“I’m afraid Pink was too busy managing her new colony.” Tanya tried to dash Spinel’s hopes painlessly, “There was a lot that happened during her time on her colony…” she explained to the pink gem as she stepped back a bit from Spinel and her tendency to invade someone else’s personal space. “And I rarely got the opportunity to interact with her when I was stationed there.” 

Spinel smiled as she rolled her eyes with her arms up in a shrug, “Yeah, fair. You definitely don’t look like the type of gem to be in her court, you look more like Yellow’s sort of gem." She mused as she rubbed her chin in mock thought, and brought the hand up she was rubbing her chin with to her eye and cartoonishly pulled her eyeball out and enlarged it to make it look like a telescope and use it to look at Tanya closer. “Yeah, definitely Yellow Diamond’s cut of gem.” she remarked while enunciating ‘definitely’ with a dramatic tone.

While Tanya couldn’t help but squawk inwardly in her mind of how far Spinel could manipulate her body to that of a cartoonish stretchy body, outwardly she gave Spinel a twitching smile. “You…sure to know your gems.” she commented.

Spinel made a flippant gesture with a dramatic bow, “I’m a Spinal, and not just that, I used to play with Pink and her Court a lot, until she wanted to play a stand still game, and left me here to wait until she came back.” she preened, before standing back up, and placing her hands on her hips as she talked with Tanya, “By the way, How is Pink these days?” she asked while tilting her head in curiosity, “It’s been too long since I’ve seen her.” 

While in the background, Orange Pearl could be seen fidgeting in place with an uncomfortable look on her face, Tanya on the other hand gave Spinel a somber look. “I think it’s best if a Diamond breaks the news to you.” she responded with a cautious look on her face.

Spinel gave Tanya a quizzical look on her face, as she tilted her head the other way. “What news?” she asked, before squinting her eyes at Tanya, “Did something happen to Pink?” Spinel then shrugged, “I mean, what’s the worst that happened? White put her into solitary confinement again?” the pink gem continued to ask from Tanya.

Later

Guarding the doorway to the communications room was the short stack Carnelian and Amethyst 8xG, not too long ago their Citrine Commander returned from Pink’s garden with a Pink Spinel no less and went into the communications room; muffled talking could be heard on the other end of the doors, but the calm atmosphere would soon be interrupted by a loud yell of sorrow, followed by loud cry and a sharp ‘no’ wailed out. 

Both Carnelian and Amethyst 8xG blinked in surprise as they looked at each other in puzzlement, not sure what to do but stand watch and guard; they still had unbubbled gems onboard for interrogation in the briggs, so security was more tight than usual. The Pink Spinel that went in with their commander must be the one crying, as the voice didn’t match either Citrine’s pearl or their commander’s…and it certainly wouldn’t be Yellow Diamond on the other end of the call that their Citrine was calling up to break the news to the spinel after giving her report on what the status of Pink’s garden was.

Both gems on guard duty jumped in shock when a large fist indent punched itself into the doors and walls of the communications room from the inside, followed by incessant crying and a yell of ‘pin her down’ from their Citrine commander. Carnelian and Amethyst 8xG jerked a bit as some scuffling could be heard on the other end, followed by more screaming, crying and fighting. ‘ Raaaggghh!’  Spinel was heard screaming her head off in sorrow, followed by a loud electrifying sound; before long a poof was heard, and if that wasn’t enough, the doors to the communications room finally fell down from being hit so hard.

Carnelian and Amethyst 8xG looked at each other as they heard their Citrine make a sigh while Yellow Diamond on the other end of the call spoke up. “That was almost as bad as Blue’s emotional outburst when she heard Pink was shattered.” Yellow Diamond spoke softly.

As both gems leaned and peaked into the room where Citrine, Orange Pearl and Yellow Diamond within a two way video screen call could be seen, the entire room looked like a wrecked mess; Right as Yellow Diamond’s eyes drift back up from the Spinel Gem lying on the floor to her Citrine Gem commander, both Gem’s retreated from sight and listened in on the conversation.

“Well now…Now that’s out of the way,  I want you to head to planet Albus 01.” Yellow Diamond commanded, “I know I commanded you to come to homeworld once your ship was repaired, but there’s been a change in plans.”

“My Diamond?” Citrine said cautiously, “That’s-”

“I know. But there’s a revolt of gems, gems that White is planning on tossing aside for new gems.” Yellow responded to Citrine’s questioning tone. “Factory reset them or not, I don’t care, I want those gems.”

“My Diamond, pardon my question, but what if White’s local guard on the planet try to stop me?” Citrine questioned her Diamond.

“This is off the record, and tell your Gem guards outside to not speak a word of this.” Yellow Commanded, prompting Carnelian and Amethyst to make sounds of surprise. 

“Carnelian, Amethyst, did you hear that?” Citrine’s voice bellowed out from within the room, prompting both gems to step into sight and snap a diamond salute with expressions of nervousness. 

“My Citrine!” The gems chorused, and followed it up with “My Diamond!”

Citrine could be seen glancing their way, while she held Spinel’s gem in one and her other was on her hip, “Good.” she commented, before facing her Diamond. Orange Pearl on the other hand could be seen off to the side doing her best to pick up the mess in the room that Spinel made in her temper tantrum. 

“Now.” Yellow Diamond began to say, she could be seen standing on the other side of the two way video call with her arms crossed. “Let this be stricken from the record, I want you to use my full authority given to you to quell this revolt and steal each and every gem on the list that White is tossing aside.” The Yellow Matriarch explained with a dark and pleased look, “Don’t let White’s quartz gems on that planet tell you what to do, you are acting on my authority, if they try to stop you, you are to act within the full extent of my authority and take them out.” 

Citrine fidgeted in place a bit, before asking, “And…White Diamond?” she inquired.

Yellow allowed a delighted smile to grace her lips, “you let me worry about her, your priority is to acquire all those gems that are revolting on her planet.” she told Citrine with a pleased look.

“My Diamond.” Citrine saluted with Spinel’s gem still in her grip, before Yellow Diamond ceased the call, leaving the room silent for a bit. Citrine spun in place and glanced at the two gems in the room other than her and Orange Pearl. “I doubt I need to explain myself what you need to do, right?” prompting both gems to look at each other, before looking back at their Citrine commander. They nodded.

“Good. call in a cleaning crew and have this place cleaned up.” Citrine grimaced as she glanced around before waltzing out with Spinel’s gem still within her grasp. “Come on Pearl, I need to head to the bridge and have the Nephrite’s plot a course for Albus 01.” 

As Citrine and her Pearl exited the room, both Carnelian and Amethyst 8xG glanced around the room to get a better look of the place. Carnelian let out a low whistle, “I didn’t know Spinels could be so violent and strong.” she commented.

“You and I both.” The Amethyst Gem commented as they exited the room to get a cleaning team for the room.

Chapter Text

Location (?????)

Pink Morganite

A pink Morganite could be seen walking within a hallway, her light pink hair was like any other Morganite’s hair in the fashion of a brush, but with it being tied at the base of her head and and the end of the strands where it ended up as a rolled up ball of hair to keep from touching the floor she walked on; the Gem’s attire, like her most of her gem line, was that of a Kimono with shades of pink and flower design on it to accentuate who her Diamond owner is…or was in Pink Morganite’s case.

The Gem’s destination in mind was the formal gathering of the Council of nine, an amount of high class gems that was increasingly becoming difficult for the active members to pull the strings from behind the shadows of the expanding Gem Empire, ‘ Would have been twelve and more, if it were not for that blasted Rose Quartz.’ Pink Morganite groused in her thoughts as she passed by several doors leading into different rooms for different purposes within the space gem station she was on.

The Morganite gem could count her lucky stars that she was still in the loop of what amounted to a shadow government of the Great Diamond Authority; while the Diamonds did in fact rule with their thumbs pressed down onto gem society, it was the council that pulled the strings to a certain extent to ‘guide’ gem-kind to the path of flawlessness, perfection, etc.

‘Perfect my cracked rear end, don’t they see that they might very well cause a fracture in gem society?’ Pink Morganite thought to herself with a sour face, ‘It’s no wonder Rose Quartz happened.’ She continued to think, ‘If the Diamond’s aren’t careful, we’ll end up with more than simple rebellions.’

As the Morganite gem passed by one of the doors, it opened up revealing it was one of the rooms for a galaxy warp; within the open doorway, a pink Sapphire stood before stepping out. “Morganite?” she spoke softly with her hands folded together in front of her. 

Said Morganite ceased her walking, and turned to face her fellow court member of the Late Pink Diamond. “Huh, oh.” Pink Morganite said with a cautious look, before realizing it was a fellow ally gem, she softly smiled in response and waited for the Pink Sapphire to catch up with her momentarily. “You’re right on time…er, future vision?” She guessed.

The Pink Sapphire, in a variation of the average Sapphire gem, but with shades of pink and hair that covered her single eye.; the Gem tilted her head a bit, “No…and yes…” she responded with some humor to her tone, earning an eye roll from the Morganite, before the two of them walked side by side to the formal meeting of the council. 

“That’s what you always say when I ask about your future vision.” Pink Morganite grumbled as she walked beside Pink Sapphire within the hallways of the council’s space station, periodically, they would pass by a few windows to show them the outside of outer space, a gas giant could be seen in the background with several moons in the view as well.

Pink Sapphire turned her head a bit to look at the Morganite gem beside her as they walked, and frowned at her. “That’s because the future is ever changing, unlike most sapphires of Blue Diamond’s court, I must accept the fact that no future is concrete, thus, I can’t accurately tell the future.”

As silence fell between the two gems after Pink Sapphire said her words, Pink Morganite was the one to break the silence, “Is your vision still branching out, like you described it to be, ever since Yellow Diamond’s Citrine gem came into existence?” she asked softly between her and Pink Sapphire.

Pink Sapphire’s head tilted forward a bit, before she brought it back up to look at her fellow gem of Pink Diamond’s court, “Yes. I do not know why, but it seems wherever that gem goes, she seems to carry with her the ever changing influx of the future.” the Sapphire gem remark, before facing her head forward as they continued walking.

After so many centuries of keeping up on reports about the Citrine gem on the side, the Morganite gem of Pink Diamond’s court finally decided to pop the question about the gem“...Does her future align with our investigations on our Diamond’s shattering?” Pink Morganite finally asked in a conspiratorial tone as her eyes darted back and forth a bit in making sure no other gem was around. “She was on our Diamond’s planet at the time, afterall, perhaps she might know something.” Morganite whispered.

Pink Sapphire, after a few moments of silence, spoke with a rather devious smile. “Would you believe me, if I said that she’s already been doing some investigations of her own?” she queried her fellow court gem.

The Morganite gem widened a bit, and as both of them passed another door, Pink Morganite grabbed Pink Sapphire by the shoulders and took her with her into the nearby room after opening the door and closed in behind her to speak to the Sapphire more privately, “WHAT!” she hissed out loud, thankful the entire room was mostly soundproof, the most any gem would hear on the outside of the room would be unintelligible mutterings. 

With her hands still on Pink Sapphire’s shoulders, Pink Morganite’s expression was that of surprise and panic, “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” she asked with a bewildered look afterwards.

With the grace to match her gem demeanor, Pink Sapphire gently grabbed the hands on her shoulders and pulled them off with no resistance on the Morganite gem’s part. “You know as well as I, Morganite…” Sapphire began to say as she gently held Pink Morganite’s arms, and pushed them back to the morganite gem’s sides, before speaking once more. “That we must be careful in these trying times.” she warned while bringing her hands up to part her hair and look at Morganite with her eye, to show that she was serious. “We can’t know for sure who betrayed our Diamond, it could be as high up as the Diamonds…or even the council of nine themselves.” Pink Sapphire uttered quietly the last part more darkly.

Pink Morganite brought her arm up to place her palm on her forehead in anguish. “Why else do you think I accepted the offer to be the moderator of their meetings?” she questioned with a sour look, as she dragged her palm down her face, and gave Pink Sapphire a look, “White Olivine offered, and I took it, there was no other way for us to get any closer to the real truth!”

Unlike the majority of gems from other courts of the Diamonds, Pink Diamond’s court loved their diamond very much, adored her for her kind nature for the gems in her court; Sure, the gems of the other diamonds’ courts loved their own diamonds to an extent, but Pink Diamond’s personality and exuberant attitude towards her court of gem earned her a popular opinion amongst her gems.

That is why when word of Pink Diamond being shattered was propagated by the Diamond to have been shattered by her own Rose Quartz, unlike the other courts and gems of Yellow, Blue and White Diamond, Pink Diamond’s court refused to believe the fact that Pink Diamond’s own quartz gem would shatter her. It also didn’t help that the propaganda given by the Diamonds about Rose Quartz was so different from court to court, as well as how the diamonds actually defeated Rose Quartz and her crystal gems seemed to vary depending on who you asked.

It all screamed suspicious, and Pink Diamond’s court of gems refused to believe their Diamond would be so easily assassinated, or even hated for that matter. The way Pink Diamond treated her court and gems was so starkly different from the other Diamonds, it was like day and night. That is why the two gems currently were doing their best to uncover the truth about what really happened, and who betrayed their Diamond,

Back to the matter at hand, Sapphire offered a simple smile in response before responding, “Morganite, you were lucky enough to be offered the position, though that’s not saying much since you did help our Diamond manage her court.”

“But…” Pink Sapphire continued to speak as she paced over to stand beside her fellow court member of the late Pink Diamond, “It did help give you enough credence to get the position as a moderator, we can just be glad the council allowed me to be your consultant.” she mused.

Morganite looked to the side away from Sapphire, “Yeah well…” she began to say, before looking back at Sapphire with a fixated look of determination in her eyes. “Being a Sapphire has its perks I suppose.” she responded with a wry look on her face.

Sapphire curled her lip in amusement before letting her hands back down, and her hair bangs returned to covering her eyeball. “Now…” she began to say as she clasped her hands to her front, “What are we gonna discuss about the topic of Yellow Diamond’s Citrine gem, and her private investigation into our Diamond’s assassination?” she queried.

Pink Morganite crossed her arms while pocketing her hands into her kimono sleeves, “You tell me, what have you found out so far?” she asked.

The Sapphire gem turned her head a bit, “Not here…” she whispered as it seemed she was seeing something with her future vision, before reaching down and grabbing Morganite’s hand to pull her with her out of the room. “Come, the meeting is soon, we can discuss the topic later in our Diamond’s domain on homeworld where it’s slightly safer” Pink Sapphire said softly as she allowed Morganite to take the lead and follow her to the council meeting.

Understanding Pink Sapphire’s insistence to talk on the matter later, Pink Morganite led the way; just as they passed by the next door over, said door opened up with a chime. “You two.” an unnatural melodic joyous voice spoke up.

Halting in their steps to turn and face who addressed them, both pink gems took note who it was. Standing as tall as a Jasper Gem and lithe as a pearl’s body, was White Diamond’s first white Olivine Gem, Forsterite. Wearing on the bridge of her nose, was a pair of small round eyeglasses with small illegible gem letters periodically popping up with numbers in them. The gem’s face was that of keen fascination, and framing her face were two long gray hair bangs wrapped in gem gadgets of sorts, while the rest of her hair was wrapped on the back of her head into a swirled bun.

The Forsterite’s attire was a white and gray bodysuit, with a buttoned up gray overcoat that draped over her shoulders. The White Forsterite Olivine gem opened her mouth to speak with an eerie happy demeanor, “Morganite, Sapphire, so good to see you.” she spoke as she walked out of the doorway of the room she came out from, and stood beside Morganite in particular and looked down at her. Placing her chin on her palm, while placing her other palm beneath her elbow of the arm that had her palm beneath her chin.

“Looking quite adequate still, I see.” Forsterite spoke with a thin smile and sparkling eyes, and leaned down while placing her hands on her hips to look Pink Morganite in the eyes, who looked back at her with an unsettled demeanor while placing her arm out to block her away from the Pink Sapphire behind her. “Hm…yes, quite.” Forsterite continued to say while she lifted her small round eyeglasses up to frame her over her eyes better. 

“Greetings…Forsterite.” Pink Morganite spoke back, while she kept a cautious demeanor up, “How’s the project on White Diamond’s colony planet Boron?” She tried to steer the Forsterite’s attention away from her and Pink Sapphire.

It worked, as Forsterite stood up with a demure smile, “Oh, quite fortuitous,very perfect and white!” she idly answered with an eerie look in her eyes as she looked down at Morganite and Sapphire, before spinning on the balls of her feet and heading off in the same direction that the two former gems were going in. Forsterite paused in her walking, and momentarily tilted her head sideways and over to look at Pink Morganite and Sapphire. “Coming?” she questioned the two with an inflection of eeriness, “The meeting is in five minutes.” she warned the two.

Morganite looked behind her at Sapphire, before the two reluctantly followed behind the ancient gem of White Diamond’s court. 

Meeting chamber

What looked to be a wide circular room with rows of tables and chairs on elevated floors, from the entrance and exit of the room, came Forsterite then Pink Morganite not far behind her with Pink Sapphire trailing close behind her fellow Pink court member. While Forsterite made her way up the stairs to the elevated rows meant for the council members to sit at, Pink Morganite and Sapphire walked to the center of the room where a round desk and chair were with a gavel atop the desk.

While Pink Morganite did not rule over the other gems of the council, she was given strict orders by White Diamond’s Sapphire that her duty was to keep the council member from getting too rowdy in any civil arguments. As the Pink Morganite gem approached her seat, she pulled the chair out with a soft dragging sound before sitting down at her position within the meeting, while Pink Sapphire stood behind her with her hands folded in front of her. As Morganite waited for chime within the room for the meeting to start, the pink gem looked up to see who else was attending the meeting.

Other than the Forsterite gem that arrived with her and Pink Sapphire, it seemed three others were able to make enough time in their schedule to be in the meeting on time. Forsterite could be seen sitting beside Yellow Diamond’s Yellow Morganite, who looked bored as she leaned her cheek into her palm while her elbow rested on her table in front of her; Forsterite seemed rather adamant in talking with Yellow Morganite, on the nature of her progress with White’s colonies and such, all the while the Morganite gem seemed to try and tune out the Forsterite’s ramblings.

Elsewhere in the room, Pink Morganite could see Blue Demantoid fuming with herself by her lonesome for some reason that Morganite couldn’t fathom yet, she figured some gem must have caught her ire or something. Finally the fourth gem that managed to be in the meeting, was White Sapphire; the sapphire gem sat by her lonesome as well, but for some reason, Pink Morganite sword she could see the White Sapphire’s eye beneath her hair flicker over to Blue Demantoid, and would occasionally let slip an amused smile before going back to a simple demeanor of an average Sapphire.

The chime for the meeting to begin finally echoed in the room, prompting Pink Morganite to pick up her gavel and hammer it lightly into her table. “With that, we can begin the meeting.” she started with saying, and tapped a button on her desk for a holoscreen to pop up above her table. “With those that are here, the first to speak up and address any problems, is…Blue Demantoid.” Morganite cited off from the screen she read off from.

With a furious expression on her face, the Demantoid gem stood up and slammed her fists down on her table. “Oh, we have a problem alright! Yellow Diamond’s Citrine Gem is still out there, making a mockery of gem society!” she shouted, only for Pink Morganite to stop outburst with a slam of her gavel.

“Blue Demantoid!” Pink Morganite yelled out with a harsh tone, “Please, restrain yourself, and calmly state your grievances, instead of acting like an overly violent Jasper!” Morganite hissed through her teeth.

“Shut up!” the blue Demantoid yelled back as she pointed her finger at the Pink Morganite at the center of the room, “I don’t have the patience to listen to you!” she screeched, her voice uneven with anger, “You’re beneath-”

“Ahem!” White Sapphire made herself heard as she stood up from her chair, and faced her head in the direction of Blue Demantoid, “Demantoid.” she softly spoke, “Mind yourself, or would you rather meet the same fate as Blue Garnet, your predecessor?” she warned with a simple small smile.

At the mention of her predecessor, Blue Demantoid grumbled with a withering look down at Pink Morganite, before sitting back down on her chair. White Sapphire smiled eerily wide, “ Good.” she purred out, then sat back down as well.

‘White Diamond’s gems’ smiles are always creepy.’ Pink Morganite thought to herself, but didn’t let her inner thoughts be known.  “Right.” Pink Morganite began to say as she once again gave the floor, so to speak, to Blue Demantoid. “Please voice your problems with the aforementioned Citrine gem, with a better attitude, than simply shouting your head off.” 

“Grrr.” Blue Demantoid clenched fists in anger, and gritted her teeth, until she calmed herself to her best ability, “Centuries of gem society perfection! Going down the cracks with every new authority given to that Orange Quartz gem! I don’t see why Yellow Diamond gives her so many leeways in her campaigns against rising rebellions.” 

From her position on her own table, Yellow Morganite sat up and leaned against her chair while crossing her legs under her long yellow kimono dress; She allowed herself an amused smile at Blue Demantoid’s expense. “I don’t see the problem with her recent changes, if it works, it works.” she quips with a snark in her tone.

Blue Demantoid’s eyes snapped in over in the aforementioned Morganite’s direction, and gave her a seething look. “Shut it, Morganite! I don’t want to hear it from Yellow Diamond’s tasteless palanquin designer.” she tried to insult the Morganite gem, only for her to sniff haughtily, and give her a smug look back.

“Says you. My Diamond enjoys the functions over the form of her palanquin.” Yellow Morganite seemed to look like she was enjoying the fact that Blue Demantoid’s insult simply slid off her like water.

Pink  Morganite took that moment to hammer her gavel once more unto her table, “Demontoid, please refrain from insulting others during the meeting, if you must, do so after!” she ordered out with a look of warning in her eyes.

“Tch, whatever.” Blue Demantoid responded back with a look of derision at Yellow Morganite, before facing forward at her desk. “As I was going to say, that Citrine gem needs to go, before anymore changes to gem society are made, and the Diamonds accept more ideas from that blasphemous gem!” 

“Oh.” Spoke up Forsterite with an amused grin, as she glanced in the Demantoids direction, “Like how your previous attempt worked?” she asked with a wide brimming eerie smile.

Blue Demantoid’s expression glowered in Forsterite’s direction, as she hunched over her table with her hands clenched, “It is obvious we need numbers to rid this stain! Surely the other council members will agree with me!” she reasoned.

“Except they aren’t.” White Sapphire spoke up softly with a simple smile, “do not assume other’s opinions, Demantoid, less you lose face ever more.” she warned while glancing in Blue Demantoid’s direction.

On Pink Morganite’s table, where her holoscreen was projecting info on the aforementioned Citrine Gem’s location, it also showed a few other details on her next actions given to her by her Yellow Diamond. “Well council members.” Pink Morganite spoke up in the silence that fell after White Sapphire spoke, “Commander Citrine is on Pink Diamond’s garden moon, and going by the data shown before me, she was ordered to confiscate White Diamond’s gems that she’s relocating off from one of her planets.”

As another period of silence fell within the council room, While Yellow Morganite seemed to be rather amused at the news, Blue Demantoid allowed herself a sinister smile as if she was plotting something; However, White Diamond’s White Sapphire and Forsterite had more unsettling expressions of smiles. Pink Morganite could understand the former two, but the latter two seemed to share similar opinions.

“This is it! We can use this opportunity to have that cracked gem be shattered for invading White Diamond’s planet!” Blue Demantoid shouted with manic glee, while slamming her clenched fists down onto her table.

“There’s a problem with that.” Pink Morganite spoke up with a cautious expression, as she read off from her holoscreen, “Since White Diamond is discarding various types of gems off from her planet, they are all essentially up for grabs.” 

“Your point?!” Blue Demantoid spat out with impatience in her tone.

Pink Morganite looked at the Demantoid with a wary look in her eyes, “Yellow Diamond gave her Citrine gem her full authority to act with impunity, she pretty much set her Citrine loose upon the world.”

While Blue Demantoid seemed to be on the verge of an apoplectic episode, Yellow Morganite seemed more amused than ever as she covered her mouth to hide her wide brimming smile of amusement at Blue Demantoid’s expense. It was White Sapphire that spoke up first after the news given. 

“I say we watch how this plays out.” She stood up with a simple smile, “A perfect opportunity to test White Diamond’s new White Quartz gems on her planet.”

“I concur!” Forsterite stood up while fixing her small round glasses over her eyes, she smiled demurely with an excited expression. “A positive testing ground for both sides.”

“You two can’t be serious!” Blue Demantoid stood up and protested, “you’re giving that cracked Citrine gem more opportunities to grow her strength within Yellow Diamond’s court! This is madness!” she screeched.

In a bid to anger the gem and amuse herself at the Demantoid’s expense some more, Yellow Morganite stood up with a smug smile aimed in the aforementioned gem’s direction. “I too, agree on this idea, let the two sides conflict, see how this plays out.” She agreed with the two white Gems within the council room.

“Grrr.” Blue Demantoid sat down with a look of smoldering anger directed at Yellow Morganite.

With the majority decision settled, Pink Morganite hammered her gavel while the rest of the council members sat back down. “Majority rules, we watch the events play out on planet Albus 01.” she announced.

Citrine’s Ship

From within the Bridge of her ship, Tanya watched as her other ships of her armada outside her ship’s windows warp away to their destination, White’s Diamond’s planet Albus 01. Sitting in her chair with her legs crossed, and her elbow on the armest, Tanya leaned her head on her fist as she watched her attachment of  gem ships continue to warp off to their destination. 

The plan was simple, regardless how any gem looked at it; While ‘Commander Citrine’s’ ship was still being repaired, the contingent amount  of her forces, outside her hand ship, would strike first upon the planet and grab as many ‘discarded’ gems as they could until their commander could arrive as well on her ship.

Tanya idly glanced at the nearby table placed beside her with the Spinel gem on it, rather than bubble said gem, she needed the Spinel gem able to reform and help her figure out her ongoing case on Pink Diamond. Sure, she could use the memory extractor, but she usually uses it on rebels and unwilling prisoners. Suffice to say, Tanya doubted she needed to force the answers she needed out of Pink Diamond’s Spinel gem.

The only problem however, is the state of how Spinel broke down into a psychotic mess of depression and denial when Yellow Diamond told her the news of Pink Diamond’s shattering by Rose Quartz. It’d take some time for the Spinel gem to finally cope with the loss of her Diamond, ‘I just hope she won’t be so violent when she reforms from out of her gem.’ Tanya thought to herself.

Chapter Text

Earth

Tanya

After arriving at what I could only guess was ancient Earth, going by the fact that I couldn’t see the abundant light pollution on the night side portion of the rotating planet; I’d say I’d be shocked to see an alternate Earth, but I’d be lying to myself. I’ve already gone through the song and dance a first time, it’d be tiresome the second time to come to grips that I’m on a different Earth than my own; with that said, I accepted that I was once again in a different alternate timeline of Earth.

Afterall, I’m pretty sure many historians would have picked up any notion that gem space faring aliens once waged a war on Earth.

Cloud Arena

Idle talk filled the arena between various gems of Blue Diamond’s court, most were Garnet type gems such as Hessonites and Pyropes; among the more militant types of gems, A Blue Sodalite and her Misty Blue pearl could be seen in front of a procession of Blue Quartz soldiers. Said Blue Quartz gems were of the Dumortierite variety, with some similarities to the Amethyst Quartz gems’ appearances. In the distance where Blue Diamond’s palanquin could be seen, a Blue Demantoid is in the midst of speaking with her Diamond before giving a sharp diamond salute and taking her leave.

In the midst of all this, Tanya stood beside her Pearl with no one else having approached her yet. With her arms crossed, Tanya let out a soft sigh or boredom while her Pearl behind her kept her hands folded behind and awaited her next orders. ‘That Sodalite said I was supposed to stand and wait for her Blue Diamond to call on me once she’s finished with her prior duties…ugh, I’m not getting anywhere if I’m stuck waiting around!’ Tanya thought to herself while letting a sour face slip over her facial expressions.

“Something Troubling you, My Citrine?” Orange Pearl spoke up softly, prompting Tanya to glance over her shoulder and at her addentent/secretary of what would likely be most of their lives. Her Pearl gave her a simple smile as she clasped her hands together in front of her, “I can try to remedy whatever ails you.” Orange Pearl offered with an expectant look in her eyes.

Tanya shook her head while keeping her arms crossed, and turned her head back forward to continue looking around, “No, no need.” Tanya responded with a dry tone in her voice, “I’m simply a bit cross, that’s all.” she griped, “I was sent here to aid a war effort against a rebellion, but all I see is postering!” Tanya pointed out with a gesture of bringing her arm out and steadily swinging it out to all the aristocrat gems around them.

A new voice piped in with a snide tone, “Get used to it!” a Blue Demantoid spoke aloud as she passed by the two, and paused in her step to turn and faced Tanya with a smirk. “Unlike you brutes from Yellow Diamond’s court, my Diamond’s court at least knows how to be civilized in war.” she remarked.

The way the Blue Demantoid talked to her, she could let pass, but to let the gem tell her that war was in any way civilized, irked her to some degree. Tanya narrowed her eyes at the Demantoid standing across from her, and folded her hands behind her back, “Oh, I beg to differ.” she quipped back with a rather hostile smirk of her own. “War has nothing to do with being civilized.” she argued back.

“Demantoid!” Sodalite hollered with an annoyed look as she walked over to find out why the gem was heckling the new Citrine Commander from Yellow Diamond’s court, “Can you not go five minutes without pestering gems you think are beneath you?” She questioned the gem that supervised various aspects of Blue Diamond’s court of gems.

As Sodalite reached the three of them, she stood between Tanya and Demantoid, with her Misty Blue Pearl not far behind her, “Honestly, I find your lack of etiquette quite abhorrent.” she admonished the Demantoid gem.

Demantoid scoffed and gestured at Tanya with a wave of her arm, “I’m simply pointing out that we don’t need those barbarians from Yellow Diamond’s court.” she defended herself with annoyed grunt.

With a raised eyebrow, Tanya flashed a smirk of her own and brought her hand up to thumb her chin, “Oh, care to say that to my Diamond?” she challenged back. “I was afterall all, sent here on my Diamond’s orders.”

While Blue Demantoid seemed to clam up at the mention of doing such a thing, Sodalite brought her hand up to cover her mouth, “Oh ho ho ho, Good one Citrine.” she remarked, and flashed a smirk as well at Blue Demantoid, “You hear that, Demantoid, you’ve been called out.” she laughed lightly with mirth.

“Grrr! Shut it!” Blue Demantoid yelled and pointed at Tanya with an angry expression, “Don’t think I’ll forget this!” she yelled before storming off through the crowd of Hessonites, pyropes, and many other Garnet types of gems.

As Sodalite calmed down from her laughter, she stood closer to Tanya and sized her up a bit before speaking up. “I must say, that’s the first time in a long while since I’ve seen a gem pull that sort of come back at her.” she mused.

Tanya lifted her arms into a shrug, and crossed them in front of her chest once more, “I don’t mind the insult towards myself, but that Demantoid better be careful how she words her insults.” she quipped back with a light smile.

“Hmm, yes, indeed.” Sodalite mused as she lifted her arm to fix the monocle over her eye a bit, then brought it back to clasp her other hand behind her back as she stared at Tanya across from her. “But what was that you said about war?” she questioned Tanya with a quizzical expression, “Please do, elucidate me on your view on the subject matter.” Sodalite asked.

Tanya shifted a bit on her feet as she spoke with the Blue Sodalite gem while still having her arms crossed, ‘Crap, how do I wing this? Gotta convince her I have a fresh look on the subject that matches up with how brief it’s been since I emerged as a gem!’ Tanya thought to herself in panic, while on the outside she had a cool facade to mask her panic.

With her eyes gazing at the crowd of gem aristocrats discussing different matters to each other, Tanya spoke while doing so, “Well…I may be a newly emerge gem, but what I’ve managed to collate from the data that my Diamond has given to me on the war so far on this planet, I’ve managed to glean a few things so far.” she answered with a measured tone, before glancing back at the Sodalite across from her.

Sodalite resting her elbow in her palm, while bringing her other palm up to cup her chin, “hmm, yes, A fresh mind on war would benefit us in any capacity, please do illuminate me on your thoughts.” she responded with a rather amused expression.

“War is not civil, there is nothing about this that is civil, this rebellion war is costing the Diamond Empire resources that it wasn’t prepared in the slightest for.” Tanya answered with an annoyed look in her eyes, “Gem versus gem, It doesn’t seem like Gem society has ever faced such a thing until now.” 

“...Yes…” Sodalite let out a hesitant breath out, her brows furrowed as she crossed her arms and tilted head down a bit as she thought on the matter, “I can’t argue about that, any other time it’s been small skirmishes against the local wildlife of planets we colonize, nothing on a grand scale such as this has ever happened.” She remarked.

‘What? Are you telling me, this galaxy spanning empire hasn’t come across another space faring race yet?’ Tanya questioned inside her mind, before actually voicing her thoughts with a confused look, “Pardon me, but the Diamond Empire has yet to face another advanced race, in all the years they’ve expanded in our home galaxy?” 

Sodalite shook her head as she relaxed her arms and folded them behind her back, “Indeed, as far as I know in all my years I’ve served my Diamond.” she remarked, before tilting her head a bit as she thought on the matter more, “Though, perhaps during White Diamond’s solitary Era, maybe the Diamond Empire did come across one or two, and they just faded into obscurity, or most likely stamped out and erased from gem history.” Sodalite shrugged to herself.

Tanya withheld a grimace, and simply nodded, “I suppose that’s possible, thanks though for indulging my question.” she allowed a grateful smile to grace her lips.

Sodalite gave Tanya a nod, “My pleasure.” She smiled back, however, just as she finished speaking, A Blue Sapphire and her bodyguards of Ruby Gems walked past the four of them. 

Tanya’s attention was now on the Sapphire Gem and her contingent of Ruby Guards walking behind her.

“Ah.” Sodalite spoke up as she stood beside Tanya and watched the four gems head in the direction of Blue Diamond’s palanquin, “I was wondering when my Diamond would request one of her Sapphires to aid our cause on this dirtball.” she mused while adjusting her monocle over her eye once more.

As the Sapphire and her Ruby bodyguards halted to wait in line to converse with their diamond,  Tanya allowed her thoughts to be let known, “A Sapphire…” She mused, “Those are the gems that can glimpse into the future, correct?” she questioned the Sodalite gem side her, while their Pearls continued to stand behind them. 

Sodalite nodded while glancing in Tanya’s direction, “Yes! Quite the magnificent cut of gem, wouldn’t you say?” she remarked with a smirk. “And not just that, My Diamond has been able to create the most amount of them compared to the other courts!”

Tanya frowned, “Rubbish…” she let slip out from her lips without thinking of the consequences.

Meanwhile with the Blue Sapphire gem, she could hear the faint talk of the Sodalite gem Commander of her Diamond’s court, and that new Citrine Quartz Commander from Yellow Diamond’s court that was sent to aid in the war effort on Pink Diamond’s colony; Sapphire focused her attention on what was being said between the two while not facing their direction, it was quite rare for gems to disparage a Sapphire’s ability to tell the future.

Sodalite made a look like someone had insulted her court, she narrowed her eyes at Tanya. “Excuse me? I'll have you know-” she tried to defend the abilities of her Diamond’s Sapphires, only for Tanya to cut her off with a calculating look in her eyes as she glanced her way.

“The Ability to tell the future is not what I am criticizing.” Tanya spoke to sodalite with a sideways glance in her direction, “What I do not except, is the ability to accurately tell a concrete future.” 

While Sapphire allowed herself to finally turn her head and glance in Tanya’s direction, Tanya continued to voice her thoughts on the Sapphire’s ability, “There's such things as self fulfilling prophecies, no future is set in stone, and the future is always like a river with many branches.” Tanya listed her thoughts on the matter, but continued to voice her misgivings, “Tell me, how often has a sapphire been able to accurately tell the future?” she asked.

“....” Sodalite couldn’t say much on the matter, for there have been precedents of such a things, a sapphire’s ability to see the future do come true, but very rarely there were times when two more sapphires are needed to see multiple paths of the future. “I suppose, what you’re saying, My Diamond should have requested more than just one?” Sodalite questioned Tanya with her brows furrowed a bit as she glanced her way.

As the line for the audience to speak with her Diamond moved some more for her to move, Sapphire waited for her Rubies to go first and for her to walk behind them, but kept her ear in the conversation between the two commanders. The Citrine gem wasn’t wrong in her opinion, and even she didn’t know why her Diamond didn’t ask for more than one sapphire, she could only see one point in the future at any given moment, and took her more energy to view more paths than she liked to be able to.

Tanya nodded at Sodalite, “Yes, forgive my insult, but I was simply giving my thoughts on the matter that Blue Diamond wouldn’t go the full length to maximize the full potential of her Sapphires.” she answered back with an apologetic look directed at the Sodalite gem.

All of a sudden, “Three this !” One of the Rubies said during their little argument between each other, earning both Tanya’s and Sodalite’s attention as one of the Rubies punch the other and caused said Ruby that was punched in the shoulder to stumble back and bump into the Sapphire behind her that they were all assigned to guard. 

The crowd of gems that saw it happen, gasp in shock while the Ruby gem stepped away from her Sapphire she was supposed to guard. “Oh, I, um, I'm so sorry, I, let me, uh…” she fumbled her words while reach out to check if she harmed the Sapphire she bumped into.

Sapphire faced her Ruby gems and held her hands up in a placating manner, “I'm fine” she began to say, while earning a ‘what’ from the Ruby that bumped into her, “It's okay. It was bound to happen.” She told the Ruby with a soft voice that left no room for argument.

Ruby Blinked a few times, before finding her voice, “I, uh... okay.” she worded out softly.

As the line for getting an audience with her Diamond finally shortened to her turn next, Sapphire began making her way to her Diamond while saying, “Now please wait here. I must attend to my duties.” Sapphire said as she passed the three ruby gems and soon approached Blue Diamond’s palanquin.

Back with Tanya and Sodalite, both gem commanders witnessed the entire thing, and while Sodalite was among the gems that gasped, Tanya couldn’t help but allow an amused smirk to grace her lips at how the interaction between the Ruby and Sapphire gem played out. 

“The audacity!” Sodalite gasped out, “That Sapphire should have her Ruby shattered for such an offense.” she fussed over what she just witnessed.

Tanya frowned at that, and glanced at Sodalite with glare, “Rather excessive for such an offense, wouldn’t that be?” she remarked.

Sodalite faced Tanya, “Don’t even joke about such a thing, for such a low level type of gem to even touch such a high class cut of Sapphire gem, the thought boggles the mind!” she remarked with an aghast expression.

“Careful, you just might get a brown spot on your nose with that kind of talk.” Tanya quipped with a deadpan tone and expression as she sighed with annoyance.

“Ah! Brown spot? Where? Pearl! Mirror!” Sodalite panicked at Tanya’s insinuation of her face being marred by something brown.

“It’s a euphemism, Sodalite!” Tanya told the gem commander before said gem’s Misty Blue Pearl did as she was told, “I was simply using a word to say that you are being too much of a sycophant.” 

“Oh…oh!” Sodalite began to chuckle at Tanya’s explanation, “My word, you had me worried, but yes, Thank you.” she preened at being called such a sycophant.

“...you’re welcome?” Tanya could simply say on the matter, not bothering to correct the gem that the word is used more as an insult. 

Sodalite smiled back as she folded her arms behind her back, “Yes, quite. It’s always prudent to gain favor in Blue diamond’s court, it’s just how the aristocrats work.” 

Just as Tanya was about to ask Sodalite how Blue Diamond’s court works as a means to pass the time some more, a loud voice shouted out above the court. “Blue Diamond, leave this planet! This colony will not be completed!”

“It’s the rebels!” One of the Rubies shouted.

“Who are you!” Yelled one of the gems within Blue Diamond’s Court.

“Show yourselves!” Another gem within the court.

Meanwhile with Tanya while Sodalite was turning her head around to find where the voice came from, Tanya glanced up to see a Pearl standing atop one of the floating pillars, while a Rose Quartz in a white dress could be seen floating down to stand behind the Pearl who had swords in each hand. Both chorused together, “We, are the Crystal Gems!” they said together.

While Blue Diamond’s palanquin began exiting the area with Blue Diamond and her pearl inside it, the rebel Pearl landed soon after where the palanquin once was and managed to slice her way past two quartz soldiers with ease. 

While Sodalite went immediately into command mode and began issuing out orders to her soldiers to get themselves together and attack the Pearl and Rose Quartz, Tanya couldn’t help but watch at how easily a pearl was dispatching the gems around her. “Pearl.” Tanya spoke aloud for her pearl to hear while the commotion around them was abuzz with fighting and mayhem, “How well are you able to fight?” she asked.

Orange Pearl stepped forwards and clasped her hands in an eager manner, “I’m not sure how well, but I do wield a shield and spear.” she answered.

Tanya shook her head and watched as the three Rubies charged in, fused, and made for an attack at Rose Quartz “Not…what I was asking, I was asking how well can you fight compared to that Pearl, she’s fighting gems way outside her class.” she mused with an intrigued look in her eye. ‘If gems can fight outside of their parameters and designations…’ Tanya pondered to herself inwardly.

“I’m…not sure…” Orange Pearl responded with an unsure look as she watched the ruby fusion get easily dispatched by Rose Quartz, two of the rubies poofed while one remained.

Tanya watched as the Pearl leapt into the fray and made an attack upon the Sapphire next, only for the remaining Ruby to shout, ‘no’, and leap into the midst of the two to try and push Sapphire out of the way of the Pearl’s swords. Tanya’s eyes widened in astonishment as she watched the two different gems fuse into one singular being.

While the entire audience of Blue Diamond’s court of gem gasped at the taboo fusion of different gems, Tanya’s pearl gasped as well while covering her mouth in shock. “...such a thing to happen between two different gems…” she spoke in an aghast manner.

Tanya on the other hand allowed her expression to become more analytical and intrigue, “So it is possible for two different gems to fuse…” she murmured while cupping her chin in thought, “do you think the functions multiply between the two, or dilute to some degree?” she mused.

Orange Pearl faced her Citrine and jerked back a bit at her commander’s interest on the subject, “My Citrine! You can’t be serious!” she gestured at the fusion while in the background Rose Quartz and her renegade Pearl fled the scene. “Different gem fusion is taboo!” she responded with an indignant attitude.

While the Ruby and Sapphire fusion unfused, Tanya quirked an eyebrow up as she glanced her Pearl’s way, “I’m simply making an observation, Pearl, nothing more, who knows, maybe there are more finer points to mixed fusions, it might be even beneficial if it maximized the output of power between the two gems that have fused.” 

"Unbelievable!" Shouted a gem amongst the crowd as the court surrounded the Ruby and Sapphire.

"Disgusting!" Spat another gem amongst the crowd.

"This is unheard of!" Said from another gem amongst Blue Diamond’s court that circled around the two gems that unfused.

From the corner of her eye, Tanya noticed Blue Diamond’s palanquin hovered back and set down for the Blue Diamond Matriarch to confront the Sapphire Gem. "The rebels have fled. Sapphire, this was not the scenario you described!" 

Tanya could notice that the Sapphire sweated nervously as she responded to her Diamond. “This is... not what I saw! I don't know what happened, I…”

Ruby rushed in to defend the Sapphire gem and put herself in the spotlight, “No! It was me!” she shouted in worry.

From within Blue Diamond’s palanquin, the Diamond matriarch leaned forward in her chair. "Clearly." Said Blue Diamond. "How dare you fuse with a member of my court!" 

Ruby tried to reason with her Diamond, “Forgive me, I... !” she tried to say, only for Blue Diamond to cut her off.

“You will be broken for this!" Blue Diamond said as she clenched her hand in a gesture of what she was about to do to the Ruby gem.

Tanya could only stand back and watch as the court of gems closed in on the Ruby and Sapphire, A shame really, she could have used the two for a point of reference for further study; the only problem was Blue Diamond’s and the other Diamond Matriarchs had a fixation on making mixed fusions taboo, she didn’t know the ultimate reason why so far. If you asked her, it seemed like some hangup that needed to be tossed in the wind, especially if mixed fusions gave boons in combat since they are a space conquering race…who knows what other space faring race they might run into.

She’d much rather have everything at her disposal to win, rather than be hampered by some arbitrary taboo within gem society.

Just as the situation seemed bleak for the Ruby gem, the Sapphire gem grabbed ruby by the hand and dashed off with her through the crowd at high speed and dove off the edge of the Cloud Arena. 

“Well now…” Tanya mused with her arms crossed, as the crowd of gems dispersed and either tended to their Diamond’s whims or left to try and see about chasing after the two. “Do you think we’ll see them again?” she quipped.

“My Citrine?” Orange Pearl Questioned her commander, “Whatever do you mean?” 

Tanya shrugged, “Just a hunch, those two gems are now incentivised to join that Rose Quartz’s rebellion.” she remarked candidly.

“Do you really think that, my Citrine?” Orange Pearl asked as she looked in the direction where the two gems leapt off of the edge of the Cloud Arena.

“Hmm.” Tanya murmured out, “Only time will tell.” she answered back.

AN; Yes, I manipulated the timeline for Tanya to witness Ruby and Sapphire fusion, so that she could catch a first glimpse of Mixed fusion.

Chapter Text

Outer Reaches of the Patet Sol System

‘Thwoom’ after ‘thwoom’ of space being distorted from gem ships finally reaching the solar system of White Diamond’s many colonized planets and moons, several dozen small gem ships blipped into existence from exiting out of their warp speed. Within a gem ship that was one of many of the gem forces that would soon begin their covert operation on the planet Albus 01, Skinny Jasper felt a rather euphoric feeling of finally getting deployed on a mission; the covert operation was a rather tricky one at that, but so long as everyone did their part, the mission would go off without a hitch with perhaps some minor hiccups along the way should their presence be discovered on the planet.

Crazy as it sounded to Skinny Jasper, but apparently with the amount of ships and teams their Citrine commander sent ahead, involved multiple stages and plans to make the invasion of planet Albus easier; Skinny only got the barebones gist of what was supposed to go down, something about a team of Era 2 Peridots would go in to disrupt communications, another front had any remaining ships to stay in space and attack any ships that leave the planet and extract any gems that were on the list that White Diamond was getting rid of.

Skinny was just glad her part of the operation was more simple, and didn’t cause her head to spin with the amount of operations that would be put in effect on the planet; Her simple duty was to ‘save’ as many gems on the planet, and direct them to the nearest extraction points. Simple as. 

Yeah, simple, as if White Diamond’s colonized planets were probably the least amount of defended planets within the Diamond Empire.

“Approaching outer limits of planetary surveillance systems, adjusting to evasive maneuvers, please stand by…” The Nephrite Head Captain spoke over the intercoms that could be heard in every ship of their forces headed for White Diamond’s colonized planet.

Skinny Braced herself as her ship she was in, was herded with the leading ship of the flotilla of gem ships swerved through space from one planet to the next at high speeds; she could feel the barest amount of the gravity wells as her ship avoided any and all ships under White Diamond’s planetary surveillance patrols, just staying outside of their radars that was most likely in their waning years before being replaced to a more sophisticated system with more range.

In the distance from out of the window of her gem ship, Skinny could see the planet of their destination; A beep sounded in her ear piece, prompting Skinny to touch the gem tech on her ear to pick the call up. “Yeah?” She spoke with a candid attitude and smarmy smile, all the while hiding the anxiety of executing her first mission under Commander Citrine.

“ Yo! Skinny! You ready to rock that planet’s world!?” Carnelian spoke with a rather snarky attitude and excited tone, “ We finally get to be deployed! Can you believe it?!” The short stack Carnelian said, Skinny could already imagine the gleeful expression of the little gem’s face.

Skinny couldn’t fault Carnelians attitude, they were both pretty much gems that emerged with faults in them, but for some reason, Commander Citrine didn’t look at them like so many other higher ups of Gem society; She didn’t know what Yellow Diamond had in mind when she made the Citrine gem they’ve all come to know and respect, but it seemed whatever method Yellow Diamond had used, Commander Citrine seems to break the mold of what’s expected of an ordinary Citrine Quartz gem.

Not that she wasn’t complaining at all, but it would be nice to see more Gems like commander Citrine.

Skinny shifted a bit on her feet as she held her hand up to her ear to listen and speak to Carnelian on the other end, “Well, don’t get too excited.” she jested with a smirk forming on her lips, Skinny glanced out the window of the ship she was on, and pondered which ship Carnelian was on. “This isn’t a normal combat routine, afterall.” she remarked.  

“Tch, yeah…hey, are we allowed to discuss what we’re supposed to do?” Carnelian asked from the other end of the call with a puzzled tone.

Skinny glanced back to the window of the ship where she could see the Planet Albus 01 coming into full view finally, “Carnelian, if you had listened to Commander Citrine’s briefing, we’re supposed to keep the bare minimum of communication once we’re within range of the planet’s communication’s system.” she chided the Carnelian gem.

“Oh! Hehe, whoops.” Carnelian responded, Skinny could already imagine the expression of the short stack gem, embarrassed.

A ding went off in the ship’s comms, letting everyone know the Head captain of the Flotilla was about to speak, “ Please cut off all radio chatter for the next few hours we are within the outer limits of the planet’s, initiating phase one, all ships, prepare for stealth systems to engage…check…”

Skinny’s earpiece shut off, signifying that Carnelian was following the orders, as was she once she pressed into her gem tech on her ear, and waited for the next phase of the operation to begin. Already, she could see out her window the many other ships becoming next to invisible in the backdrop of outer space. If Skinny remembered right, the stealth tech was rather new, and in its experimental phase, thus they only had a window of a few minutes for their ships to fly into the atmosphere of the planet and land somewhere unseen and undetected before the stealth tech ran out its timer within every ship.

“All hands, prepare for phase two, initiating plan White Shadow. Prepare in Three…Two…one…”

Skinny watched and felt as her ship zoomed down to the planet of Albus 01, flew through the upper atmosphere and passed several gem skyscrapers before her ship landed within an open bay for ships. On her way down to the surface of the planet, Skinny swore she saw flames burning out the windows of various buildings; she was sure the acts of the gems responsible for such an act could all be swept under a rock, once they abducted every gem on the list, and welcome them into the service of Yellow Diamond. Unlike a rebel gem, the gems they were ‘saving’ were already tossed aside by White Diamond; thus with some loopholes on Commander Citrine’s planning part, they could essentially be seen as saviors to the ‘disposed’ gems.

All around her, Skinny could see her fellow lithe Quartz gems that were unwanted by gem society, she shared a smirk with them all as the door to the outside of the ship lowered down and allowed them to disembark. “Alright girls, you ready?” she asked as she cracked her knuckles, a rather pointless action since she didn’t have any bones, but her hard light body still allowed her to make the action sound out.

Skinny was rather glad to see she wasn’t the only skinny quartz soldier in existence, and she didn’t know how Commander Citrine managed to gather them all, but she said something about their bodies being perfect for this particular mission. 

Gems ranging from Amethysts to Carnelians had various types of lithe skinny bodies, and they all found camaraderie with her and each other; They all shared excited chuckles, before Skinny exited first to find her first batch of gems to ‘save’ and bring back to the extraction point.

Governess’ Gem Palace of Albus 01

Situated in the midst of all the gem skyscrapers of the Ecumenopolis planet, was a pristine white palace with shades of gray to highlight parts of its more prominent white architecture pillars and sculptures that lined the palace walls; a good amount of flat land separated it from the rest of the other structures, allowing to stand out more amongst all the city landscape. 

The palace building was for the planetary gem governess in charge of managing the planet in place of her Diamond, and said gem was a Pure White Garnet; the Governess stood within her office, and was facing the large opened window of her work room that she did her work of managing the planet in. Twin Hair drills flowed from out of her hair and down to her waist, all in the stark color of semi-transparent white hair follicles; Her eyes were gray gems, and her face was that of an amused expression as she watched the city outside the limits of her palace go up in flames somewhat.

The Pure White Garnet Governess wore a pristine white dress with sleeves that had ruffles at the end framing her wrists, while the rest contoured around her body and flowed down around her legs with a slit to allow her to walk with long strides in her white crystal-like high heels. The gem governess had her arms crossed as she mulled on a few thoughts on how to fix the mess after all was done and over with. White Garnet could deal with the fallout, all of this was planned, this was expected after all. Those lower caste gems had their time, now it was time to ship them off and allow the planet to shine better than before with better gems and technology. 

The door to her office opened, prompting White Garnet to turn and face who was disturbing her at the moment. “Who dares-” her words were caught in her throat when it was Forsterite that allowed herself in with a rather excited expression. “Oh, it’s you.” she remarked. “Forsterite…” White Garnet spoke with a measured tone as she cautiously watched as the Forsterite gem walked over to her desk in between them. “I’m afraid you caught me at a busy moment…”

“I can see that!” Forsterite gushed as she clasped her hands up next to her head, “And I’m here to deliver some fantastic news!”

Governess Garnet lifted an eyebrow, and answered back, “Hrm…Let me guess…” she began to say as she placed her hand on her hip, and whipped out a fan in the other to cover her mouth as she allowed an rather manic smile to be expressed. “Our Diamond is offering me the entire solar system to govern.”

Forsterite cackled and smirked at Garnet's guess, and leaned forward a bit to say with her hands on her hips “Oh no, my dear Garnet! Yellow Diamond sent her Citrine Commander to confiscate the gems she’s removing from this planet!” She celebrated by raising her arms up.

White Garnet’s eye twitched, before she lowered her fan and allowed a terse smile to be seen as she spoke with the Forterite gem, “That’s not good news, Forsterite…that’s BAD NEWS!” she shrieked at the end, causing her hair to fray a bit, lifted her hands up to clench at the air, “I can contain this mess, we don’t need that stupid gem on our glorious Diamond’s planet!” 

Forsterite giggled at the Garnet’s expression, before correcting her. “Oh no.” she wagged her finger at the governess, “She wasn’t sent here to help, she was sent here to take the discarded gems.” 

Governess Garnet blinked at the information given to her, “...Well…we can’t have that, can we now…” she numbly spoke with a rather unsettling smile, “That Yellow Diamond should keep her business out of things that don’t belong to her.”

Forsterite clapped her hands together once, “A good reason as any, to test the new Quartz soldiers, right~?” she goaded the White Garnet with a preening smile.

“Hmph.” Governess Garnet harrumphed and smiled demurely as she turned around the face the window of her office, “Quite! I’ll be sure to show that upstart gem that she’s about to face her first loss, oho.” she chortled a bit at the thought of embarrassing the upstart Citrine Commander.

“And when is that Commander due to reach the planet?” White Garnet asked with a rather excited smile as she watched the cityscape go up in flames from the gems that were revolting in response to being discarded. 

“Hmm.” Forstorite mulled over her thoughts, before smiling as she answered the White Garnet. “Depending on a few factors, I’d say within a few days at the very least.” 

Governess Garnet allowed a toothy grin to split across her face, and rubbed her palms together, “Good, good! Enough time to ready the Chalcedony Soldiers for actual combat experience.” she remarked.

While the White Garnet was enjoying herself on the thought of pulling one of the Citrine Commander, Forsterite on the other hand was amused at the fact that the governess didn’t ask about if there was already a force on the planet. She could have told the Governess Garnet about it much like she told that Commander Citrine was on her way once her ship was fixed, but realistically, she didn’t want to aid the governess the whole way.

Afterall, it’s not very often she would get a chance to watch this kind of ‘covert’ warfare, it also would not hurt to see how well the new line of quartz gems will fare; win or lose, the end results will give the empire excellent data on how well their gems operate in war.

Afterall…everything is according to her glorious Diamond’s plans.

Elsewhere on the planet

Corundum and Fayalite at the moment were amongst the thousand’s other gems that were running wherever they could for cover inside buildings, while Chalcedony Quartz soldiers were busy fighting against the Herkimer Quartz gems that were among the list of gems to be relocated off the planet. As the two gems in question dove aside into an open doorway of a building for items requisition, a stray destabilizer round whizzed past them and exploded into a group of Bismuth gems that were trying to help get other gems escape, only to be caught up in all the crossfire.

While the Bismuth gems poofed, Corundum peaked around the open doorway to check on the situation, “Sheesh.” She spoke through all the chaos erupting in the streets of the undercity of the planet, “You’d think those New Chalcedony Quartz gems would be less indiscriminate, but it just goes to show that newly emerged gems are more prone to not question orders.” she remarked, before being pulled back inside the building by Fayalite.

Fayalite had her hands on Corundum’s shoulders as she looked down at her below her hair fringes. “We gotta keep moving Cor! This isn’t the time to gawk and watch.” she said with a tone of admonishment.

“Hehe.” Corundum chuckled awkwardly, while rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, “Right, sorry, it’s just been far too long since anything has happened on this planet.” she smiled grimly.

Fayalite shook her head and held Corundum’s hand to lead the way to a nearby set of stairs on the other side of a front desk that led up through the building they were in, “Come on, I believe this building has an overhang above the monorail system, we can try and catch a ride on an incoming train and escape this mess!” Fayalite commented while she led Corundum close behind her, both hopping over the counter and towards the stairs, before running up said stairway.

As the two gems disappeared from sight up the stairway, a tall and lithe gem slipped her way into the building, and hugged the wall beside the open doorway; letting out a sigh of relief, her eyes drifted to where the two prior gems escaped up the set of stairs. It was Skinny Jasper, and she was seeing why Commander Citrine said her form was perfect for infiltration. She could fit through crevices, nooks and crannies, and all sorts of vents that a normal Jasper couldn’t. Maybe that’s why her commander sent all of the lithe off color quartz gems on this kind of mission…makes sense in a way. Her fellow Skinny off color quartz gems had almost the same strength of a normal Quartz soldier, but their lithe bodies allowed them to bend and contort better.

And if Skinny remembered right, she once heard her Commander Citrine putting in a request for more Lithe Quartz soldiers, something about creating a subgroup of gems of their gem line for this exact purpose. While the normal Quartz soldiers were more suited to open warfare, her Citrine Commander saw fit that the lithe off color quartz soldiers had a better purpose for the sort of thing she was doing right now; infiltrating the planet as best as she could, squeeze her way past the security systems, whatever it took for her to be able to sneak past every security checkpoint.

Skinny smirked as she creeped her way up the stairway, her objectives not far from earshot beyond the chaos happening outside the building. ‘ I thought those drills Citrine put us through were odd, but it looks like it’s paying off.’ she thought to herself as she stuck to keeping her feet from making too much noise as she followed the Corundum and Fayalite gems up through the empty building.

Meanwhile, back with Corundum and Fayalite, the two gems finally reached the overhanging part of the building that was a hallway leading across the ground and monorail track below it and into another building; Large industrial windows lined the walls on both sides of the bridge hallway, Fayalite approached the right side of the hallway bridge after releasing her hold on Corundum’s hand. “Come on.” Fayalite said as she pushed a window open.

In the distance, the sound of a monorail train could be heard coming their way, and soon, it could be seen on the outside from out of the many windows. “Ready?!” Fayalite shouted over the loud noise of the chaos happening outside, Corundum gave Fayalite a thumbs up and excited smile. “You bet!” she shouted back, before they both climbed over the window sill, and hopped over to land atop the running monorail train.

Back with Skinny, she let out an annoyed grunt, and hopped out of the window as well, and landed on the last train car, while in the distance, the two gems she was after were already climbing inside the train car they landed atop. “Really making me work for it, aren’t ya.” Skinny remarked with an amused smirk as she climbed down and entered the door of the train car she landed atop.

Tanya

While she expected this to happen, she just didn’t think it would be so off putting. “Spinel, You can’t keep denying what happened to Pink Diamond!” Tanya berated Spinel as she sat on her chair’s armrest within the bridge, all the while kicking her feet and humming a happy tone.

“Pshaw” Spinel waved Tanya off with an eyeroll, “Don’t be silly, Pink’s just probably playing some new game of hers, she wasn’t cracked, silly.” she giggled a bit offkey with a glint in her eyes that spelled trouble.

Tanya sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, ‘ She’s going through two stages of grief, she already skipped and went to anger, now she’s in denial!’ she thought to herself in exasperation.

Chapter Text

Within a large surveillance room that was outfitted with gem equipment on the verge of being outdated with the ever increasing technology level of Gem society, Larnite gems of the Olivine family gem line could be seen sitting at their desks; Each gem was in charge of watching multiple monitors at any given time, but most of the monitors only showed the bare essential places on the planet. Quite a few monitors showed the growing flames that have spread up to the upper levels of the city planet, while others showed gems in a hurry to tend to their duties.

One by one however, each monitor began to go haywire before blacking out and shutting off. As the Larnite Gems began to scramble to fix the situation within the surveillance room, the door to the room slid open to show a several Carnelians with some era 2 Peridots with them; Just as the Larnite gems took notice of the unexpected visitors to their workspace, the Carnelians stepped in with destabilizer rifles in their hands, before opening fire upon the gems within the room. Into each chest of the Larnite gems, a small and sharp progged object was pierced into their chests, before unloading their destabilization power into the gem victims’ bodies.

Every Larnite gem’s body frazzled as circuit-like lines spread out from the points of impact of the pronged objects that were shot into their chest, before they poofed from the destabilization of their hard-light bodies. Once the coast was clear, one of the Carnelians prompted with a nod to the Peridots to go on ahead in, “Clear.” She spoke, while she and the other Carnelians parted for the Peridots to come in and do their duty as part of the infiltration.

As one of the Peridots approached one of the desks, she had her limb enhancer's digits type into the keypad that sat in front of her; after several clicks into the keypad, the Peridot gem had one of her digits inserted into a nearby drive beneath the multiple monitors. A few seconds passed, before every monitor was restored and showed a pristine view of nothing going on. “Sector nine, finished, moving on to the next.” She spoke aloud to the other peridots, before moving to the next monitors over, and repeated the process.

This was the same for all of the Peridots as they worked around the clock to hack into the server net of the surveillance room and cameras that might allow any early warning systems to go off whenever one of the gems might come into the crosshairs of any cameras. Speaking of an early warning system, one of the Peridots pondered how well the contingent of gems in charge handling the planetary communication systems were fairing; shrugging the thought off, the Peridot gem continued to hack into the system in front of her, and shut down the surveillance within the train systems of the planet.

Within a Train car on the monorail

An axe blade emitting yellow destabilization energy is seen bisecting it’s way down the body of a Chalcedony Quartz Soldier from head and down, said Quartz soldier was facing away from the attack, thus its expression was that of shock as the gem’s body split apart and poofed; Standing behind the poofed quartz gem was Skinny Jasper as she lifted her poleaxe weapon, spun it above her body, and gauged her situation, before holding the weapon to her side within the nook of her arm with the axe end facing the floor. 

The Quartz soldier she had just bisected, was one of a few more Chalcedony gems within the same train car as her, said quartz soldiers were giving Skinny shocked looks, before charging at her. “Get her!” “You won’t get away with that!” were one of the few exclamations yelled throughout the train car as the muscle bound quartz gem soldiers went to attack Skinny Jasper.

On the other hand with Skinny, she allowed herself a confident smirk as she watched how the Chalcedony Soldiers were charging at her with fists raised and poor forms. “You guys really are fresh off the line.” She quipped with a snarky tone, and charged forward while whipping her poleaxe around while ducking a punch from the closest quartz soldier. With her knees bent from ducking under the punch, Skinny punished the gem in front of her by swinging her poleaxe up as it buzzed with destabilizing energy. In a diagonal slice through her torso, the Chalcedony gem blinked in shock, before her body poofed and her gem clattered to the ground.

The next two quartz gems that were behind the gem that Skinny poofed, decided to attack together with their left and right fists raised respectively for a double haymaker punch into the skinny Jasper's body. “Don’t get cocky!” “Stupid off color, I’ll shatter your gem!” the two Chalcedony gems yelled as they swung their fists at Skinny.

Skinny Jasper simply allowed a smirk to continue to be prevalent on her face as she leaped up to and spun her body horizontally to pass her torso between the fists with her skinny body that were aiming for her head and stomach, allowing her slim body to spin while swinging her poleaxe at one quartz soldier and aiming a spin kick at the other. Her poleaxe, with its destabilizer edge, managed to gouge a deep cut into the torso of the gem Jasper spun her poleaxe at, and with a poof a second later, the chalcedony’s gem clattered to the ground; the other quartz soldier was more fortunate, as the spin kick that slammed into her face, caused her to simple stumble back and wince in pain and hold her face, momentarily blocking her view of the skinny Jasper.

With the one quartz soldier of the two that came at her with their fists raised remaining, Skinny smirked as she landed with her knees bent, and her hand on the ground as she bounced back into the air to grapple her legs around the other Chalcedony’s head; “Mmmhm!” The Quartz soldiers muffled out in surprise, before Skinny twirled her poleaxe around and speared the Chalcedony gem through her head and down; a poof later, Skinny Jasper found herself landing back onto her feet, before hastily dodging out of the way from a barbed club of the last Chalcedony quartz gem.

“Hmm.” Skinny observed as she held her weapon up to her chest in a defensive pose as she and the Quartz soldier circled around each other with their weapons at the ready; Skinny Jasper allowed herself to keep an ever prideful smirk up as she faced off the last quartz soldier of the train car. “Well, at least you came prepared.” she quipped.

“You won’t be so confident after I’m through with you!” The Chalcedony Gem soldier replied, as she went in with her barbed club raised, prompting Skinny to raise her poleaxe up to parry the club aside and attack the gem’s torso, only for the Quartz soldier to react in time by moving quickly and block with her barbed club. The Chalcedony soldier flashed a confident smirk at Skinny as she swung her barbed club back in quick succession, prompting Skinny to block and be pushed away from the quartz soldier by the heavy blow. “Nice try! But I’m a cut above the rest of my fellow Chalcedony sisters.” she quipped, only for Skinny Jasper to simply smile in amusement at her as they faced each other down.

“Good, it’ll make this less boring!” Skinny retorted dryly with a smirk, getting an annoyed reaction out of the Chalcedony gem in the process. 

Elsewhere on the train, Corundum and Fayalite could be seen making their way through a train car that had various crates with various cogs and gear pieces; Corundum took note of what was being transported on the train as she and Fayalite walked through the train car, “Huh, isn’t this shipment supposed to be the stuff for that factory in disrepair within the outskirts of section G?” she pondered.

Fayalite flipped her hair up to look with her eyes better while walking with Corundum to the end of the train car, “Looks like it.” she mused, before letting her hair fringe back down. “Word through the gossip chain however, paints a different picture. I think White Diamond is planning on restructuring the entire planet’s systems and buildings, and not just simply removing expired gems off her colony.” she remarked with a somber tone.

As the two approached the end of the train car and its exit, Fayalite reached and pulled the exit door open, allowing both gems to see that the next train cars were supply beds with how the train was on a curved rail; strapped and bound atop the train cars were various metal pipes, and just before either of the gems could bother to exit and climb up onto the strapped down pipes, A loud clang echoed above them, followed the sight of a Skinny Jasper being launched across from the top of the roof and down atop the strapped down pipes. 

Corundum and Fayalite watched with confusion as a loud sound of footsteps echoed from the rooftop of the train car they were in, promptly followed by the sight of an ordinary and perfectly cut of Chalcedony Quartz soldier gem to leap across from the roof of the train car the two gems were and land across from the Skinny Jasper atop the strapped pipes atop the next train car bed. Just as both Corundum and Fayalite glanced at each other and had thoughts of making a change of plans, the other end of the train car they were in, the door opened up with two other Chalcedony quartz gems.

“Hurry, this way, 5JW went this way!” A quartz soldier said to the chalcedony soldier behind her while her back was turned to Corundum and Fayalite.

While the two gems stood stock still, unsure what to do, the chalcedony soldier that saw them while the other had her back turned towards them, tapped her fellow quartz soldier on the shoulder and pointed at them, “Hey, aren’t those gems amongst the list to remove from the planet?” she remarked with a rather dangerous glint of a grin.

“What?” the other quartz soldier said as she turned and allowed her own smirk to form as she began to walk into the train car with her fellow Chalcedony gem soldier. “Oooh yeah! They are! Come on sis.” she said while pulling out a broad gem club from out of her gem on her shoulder, “We can’t have them here. Can we?” 

The other Chalcedony grinned as well as she pulled a spiked gem mace out from her gem on her stomach, “Nah, no hard feelings you two, but your time has expired.” she said next as she and her fellow Quartz soldier chuckled darkly as they wielded their respective weapons.

“Cor, can you fight?” Fayalite quickly asked as she new quartz soldiers maneuvered their way through the train car to reach them.

“I can get scrappy, what about you Fay?” Corundum asked as she stuck her hand into her gem, and pulled out two small gloves before placing them on hers and punched her fists into each other with a nervous grin.

Fayalite gulped a bit, before pulling a whip with a spiked ball on its end, out from her gem, “Well, I’m no agate, but I know my ways around a whip.” she replied as pulled her whip taut, as she and Corundum steadied themselves for what was to come. “I just never thought I’d be using my whip in combat, other than getting gems back to work.” she remarked with a tense tone.

Elsewhere on the planet

Within a communications hub build, manned by more Larnite gems that shared the appearance of peridots but with White and gray shades of color, up in the catwalks above several large hightech gem-styled servers for communications to be transferred from one end of the planet to another, a short stack Carnelian is seen with several Rubies;  Their job was simple, wait for ping in their ear pieces that it was time to sabotage the communications. Simple as…

“Hey.” Whispered a Ruby while she was crouched and glancing at Carnelian, she had a yellow visor over her eyes, her gem was located on her chest. “What’s it like serving under Citrine?” she idly asked with an interested smile and subtle innocent tone.

Carnelian shrugged as she glanced over at the Ruby ‘Doc’ of the Ruby Squad that came with her, she was crouched down as well, “This is my first mission actually, but she is quite a drill instructor when she hammer in how to properly sneak into a building.” Carnelian whispered back, their voices both were unheard by the gems below with how high up they were and the sound of the servers running at full capacity with fans and such.

Ruby ‘Navy’, who was crouched on the other side of Carnelian, smiled demurely as she expressed her wonder on the subject of Commander Citrine, “I heard, that Commander Citrine once conquered an entire system of rebels in a single decade!” She remarked with an excited but hushed tone.

“Eleven years to be precise, in the eastern quadrant” Carnelian corrected ‘Navy’ Ruby, as she glanced her way, “Skinny was amongst Commander Citrine’s battalion at the time, you can ask her more if you’d like when we’re finished on this mission.” she whispered.

Ruby ‘leggy’, had a confused expression while she was crouched beside  Ruby ‘Navy’, “I thought the western quadrant was the one she completed an entire campaign on?” she quietly questioned with an airy tone of confusion.

Beside Ruby ‘Leggy’, Ruby ‘Army’ glared at the youngest of the Ruby squad as she crouched beside her, “You idiot! Did you already forget? The Western quadrant campaign was where Commander Citrine had to drop a moon onto the planet to break the colony up!” she admonished the young Ruby gem with a whispered tone.

Crouching beside Ruby ‘Doc, Ruby ‘Eyeball’ lifted her one eyebrow as she glanced in ‘Army’s’ direction and Carnelian, “A bit excessive, isn’t that?” she whispered with a pensive look on her face.

Carnelian glanced back over in ‘Eyeball’s’ direction, and nervously smiled, “The planet was a derelict supply colony, used by the rebels, so Commander Citrine made sure to ask Yellow Diamond before proceeding with the plan.”

“Ah. That makes sense.” Whispered Ruby ‘Doc’ with a simple smile.

“Yeah! Can’t bother to spare a planet when its resources are all spent up!” Added ‘Navy’ with a demure whisper and excited look.

It was then that each of their earpieces pinged, prompting each and every one of them to pull out small orbs with circuits running along the surface of each orb; they glanced at each other, before nodding and tossed their orbs down to the distant floor below.

Governess Gem Palace

The Pure White Garnet gem could be seen calmly walking to her nearby communications room of her palace, while the mess outside was the least of her concern with how the rabble was revolting against being shipped off her perfect white planet, she needed to contact White Diamond’s Pearl and relay that Yellow Diamond’s Citrine commander was on her way to interfere with the operations on her planet. 

As White Garnet stepped up to a double doorway with its doors closed, she had to manually push the doors open; like the rest of the planet, a lot of its buildings were out of date. “And it would be nice if my Diamond granted me a Pearl!” she grumbled to herself as she walked up to the communications of the rooms, and sighed as she pressed a few buttons to contact homeworld. After waiting a few minutes with her arms crossed, White Garnet furrowed her brow as the connection was taking an awfully long time. 

“Grr, Stupid out of date communications!” Governess Garnet spat as she refrained from kicking the modems of her communications room, and clenched her fists down at her sides while impatiently tapped her feet as the screen in front of her showed an image that it was attempting to connect to her desired recipient. After what felt like forever to her in how slow the communications worked, the screen finally did something by changing to a message that said ‘Error, planetwide communications are all down, please wait while your nearest planet sends a crew of Peridots to fix your problem.’

As White Garnet had a dumbfounded look on her face, her fists unclenched as she tried to form a coherent sentence. “That-what-how-but…”

Within the office of Governess Garnet where Forsterite could be seen lounging in White Garnet’s chair with her feet kicked up onto the desk, the gem smiled excitedly as White Garnet could be heard screaming from down the hall. “ A SQUAD OF PERIDOTS? THAT’LL TAKE A WEEK AT LEAST TO GET THE COMMUNICATIONS UP!” she was heard screeching at the top of her lungs.

Forsterite giggled impishly as she glanced to the window where she could see the chaos of the revolt in the far distance, “So that’s how Citrine conquered the northern quadrant’s rebelion, our assumptions were way off!” she mused with an excited smirk. “Oh Citrine! Your methods are quite interesting!” Forsterite remarked with great interest as she held up a data pad, and wrote into it with a stylus, “Took…communications…down” she worded out with a grin.

Tanya

Gem soldiers and others alike stepped aside as they watched their commander Citrine walk through the hallways of her ship to her private quarters, not far behind her was her Orange Pearl as well who had an upset expression while she held her datapad to her chest while looking down at a peculiar gem with her arms wrapped around her Citrine’s leg: That gem was Spinel, as she sniffled while looking up at Citrine’s face as she continued to walk while being encumbered by Spinel hooking her arms around her leg.

“I’ll do anything, just don’t keep saying that Pink is gone! She can’t be gone!” Spinel tried to beg Citrine as she promptly lifted herself up and wrapped her legs around Citrine’s legs to get a full limb hug around the commander’s leg, tears threatened to break out the corner of her eyes as Commander Citrine continued to walk with the gem wrapped around her leg. “I won’t play any more childish games! Yeah That’s it! She’ll come back if I act more mature, right?...waahh!” she bawled as Citrine stopped and pried her off her legs, and held her up at eye level.

“You can bargain all you want, Spinel.” Tanya told her with an attempt to give a somber look on her part, “But it won’t remove the fact that Pink was witnessed to be shattered.” she informed the spinel gem, making sure to place emphasis that she said ‘witnessed’, as eyewitness accounts are iffy at best with how era one gems are able to shape shift and possibly orchestrate the whole mess. 

The whole ordeal surrounding Pink Diamond’s shattering was odd at best, and an empire wide conspiracy at worst. Pink Diamond was documented to have been the odd one out, and with how Gem society is enforced by White Diamond’s will and to a lesser extent Yellow and Blue Diamond, it’s not far of a stretch that the whole event of Pink getting shatter involving a scapegoat and so many other plans could effectively remove a Diamond that had the possibility of changing Gem society.

As Tanya carried a begging and crying Spinel from under her arms and at eye level, ‘Begging is another part of the stages of grief, at least she’s  fast with her emotions.’ Tanya thought to herself as she carried Spinel into her room with her Pearl not far behind her. Once Tanya reached her bed in her private quarters, she gently sat the Spinel gem down atop her bed. “Pearl, mind giving Spinel a hug while I tend to a few things at my desk?” Tanya asked with her head turned towards her Pearl who stood beside her.

Pearl looked up at her with a contemplative look, “Are you sure that’ll help her?” she asked, over the sound of the sniffling spinel as she wiped her eyes of tears. 

“Trust me, it’ll help.” Tanya sighed with a somber smile, and gestured for Pearl to go ahead.

“If you say so.” Orange Pearl Shrugged, before walking over and sitting beside Spinel with her arms open, “Come here…uh…oh!” Pearl was surprised as Spinel immediately dove at her with a teary hug. 

“She can’t be gone! We didn’t get to finish our game!” Spinel continued to blubber out through her crying, desperately trying to bargain for the truth to be a lie.

While her Pearl was busy comforting Spinel, Tanya stepped to her desk and sat at her chair to begin looking through her incoming mail in her tablet, “tch, thirty messages, this’ll take a bit.” she muttered as she began to read her electronic mail.

Chapter Text

Ahead of the incoming monorail train that was riding along its railway, the chaos of the lower caste of gems revolting could be seen on full tilt as crowds of gem were fighting against the freshly emerged Chalcedony Quartz soldiers. With the sheer volume of gems unrest pressing the advantage with numbers, several buildings and pillars holding up the upper buildings collapsed from structural damage of the ongoing skirmishes within the streets of the underbelly of the cityscape.

One such building toppled down and pulled the street and pipes system with it as it tumbled away from the monorail track, but in doing it caused the ground and pipes system to buckle the monorail track up and break; as the monorail train continued its ride along the train track system, it ramped up the bent track system, and careened up towards the upper levels of the city scape.

From within a large room with fancy interior designs in the fashion of gem society reflecting white and gray scale colors, posh carpets lined the floors with decorative stained windows that were murals of White Diamond of Era 1; all around the large room were chairs and such for gems to sit on an discuss important matters between gems of elite status. Soft music played in the atmosphere as the gems conversed amongst each other, some even laughed as they spoke little jokes against the common riffraff that lived beneath the city.

From at an angle out of the floor, the entire serenity of the posh gathering of aristocrat gem was ruined by the crashing of the transportation train that was derailed from the lower depths of the planet and up into the upper levels of the city; As everything began to settle from the sound of the crash and the engine of the train cutting off with a sharp hiss, the sound of screams could be heard from gems at the sudden interruption of their gatherings and sudden sight of the chaos that was the crashed train that was now lodge diagonally through the entire building.

Several gemstones laid about from the aristocrat gems being poofed by the blunt force trauma of the train hitting their bodies, where as those that were out of the radius of the crashed train, had fallen back on their rear ends in fright that the chaos below had reached the upper levels of the planet. 

From out of one of the train cars, a door creaked and was kicked off its hinges, it was Skinny with a bit of scuff marks on her body; under her arms were Fayalite and Corundum with scuff marks on their faces as well, whom she tossed out of the train and onto the floor below them, before exiting out as well. As Skinny Jasper landed with her knee bent, and stood back up, she glanced around while brushing her hands off each other with a smirk. “Never let it be said you guys owe me for that one.” she jested as she saw the various noble gems scrambling out of the room away from the mess, which made her smile in amusement.

“But I have to say, Citrine’s gonna be glad you two can fight pretty well.” Skinny continued to talk as she turned to face the two gems that were picking themselves up off the ground, and began brushing themselves off. “Against freshly emerged Quartz soldiers that is.” Skinny snorted in amusement and crossed her arms as she gauged the two gems as they looked up at her, with Fayalite only having to look up only a tad bit with the difference in height between her and the Skinny Jasper. “But hey, at least you’ll be of some use, given your combat capabilities, that just leaves where to place you.” she mused with some snark in her tone while smirking.

As Corundum and Fayalite finally came down from the high that was the short lived fight on the train against the Chalcedony quartz soldiers, Corundum was the first to speak up with an annoyed tone, “What do you mean use? What’s even going on?” she fired off a few questions at Skinny, the sound of the chaos in the distance below them could be heard faintly.

Skinny smirked as she bent her knees to give Corundum and her an eye level talk, “Easy! White Diamond is tossing you aside, so Yellow Diamond is taking you all.” she smiled back with a rather predatory toothy grin, “Welcome to the Citrine corps!” she quipped.

Fayalite crossed her arms and growled at the back of her throat, “And makes you think we’ll follow you?” she questioned with a critical gaze in her eyes, “While both Cor and I are thankful for the save, we had other plans, and it doesn’t involve being used by another Diamond, only to be tossed aside again like yester-century gems.” Fayalite said to Skinny as the Skinny Jasper stood up to gaze back at her with an amused expression while crossing her arms once more.

“Who said you had a say in it?” Skinny quip with a smirk back at the annoyed gems, “It’s either this, or get ‘relocated’ by White Diamond’s soldiers.” she told the two gems, who were struggling to answer, except for one.

Corundum sighed with her shoulders sagged in defeat, “We were going to escape to Pink Diamond’s old colony, figuring that it’d be a safe haven.” she answered with a grimace.

Skinny glanced down over at Corundum, and whistled in astonishment, “You guys are really behind the times, aren’t you?” She asked them with an amused look, earning confused looks from the two gems, “Have you spent all that time under the city, that news doesn’t spread that well?” Skinny asked Corundum and Fayalite.

Fayalite was the one to answer with a haphazard shrug, “News comes iffy at best from beyond the planet, why, what happened beyond the Diamond’s winning the war on that planet?” she asked Skinny with a confused expression.

Skinny allowed herself an eye roll, “The Milky Way galaxy is barred off for a few thousands years, something about homeworld and its colonies reorganizing itself, before it can fully commit to another attempt at colonizing that Galaxy.” She shrugged to herself with her arms still crossed, “That, and apparently word is that the Galaxy warp on Pink Diamond’s planet was damaged, which makes instantaneous travel impossible to travel to the planet.” Jasper explained to the wilting gems.

“Would it bother you to be less subtle, Skinny?” A familiar voice to Skinny Jasper said from the nearby busted down wall of the building they were in, followed by the sound of watery wings flapping and the soft patter of feet landing.

Skinny and the other two gems with her turned their head to the gem that spoke, standing atop the diagonally crashed train was Lapis Lazuli. Wearing a backless, halter crop tank top that is blue on top and navy on the bottom, Lapis also wore puffy dark-blue pants, tied up by an orange ribbon. She smiled rather amusedly down at Skinny as she hopped down from atop the train and walked towards the three gems before stopping a few paces away from them. 

Skinny scoffed with a smarmy smirk, and stepped forwards to look down a bit at Lapis. “Keep talking, Laz, just because Citrine favors you over most Lapis Lazulis, doesn’t mean you get to talk smack so easily, I don’t see you rounding up any gems on your end.” she challenged back with a daring smile.

“We’re right here, you know.” Corundum spoke up with an annoyed look on her face.

Lapis simply smiled back up at Skinny, and flicked a tuft of her hair out of her view, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I see two gems to round up right now.” she challenged back with a smirk of her own as she looked back up at Skinny, “And besides, your mission isn’t to round up gems on your part, you and your fellow skinnies are supposed to take out the new batch of Quartz soldiers on this planet.” she chuffed a bit with a roguish smile at Skinny.

“Wait, what!” Fayalite jumped in surprise at that tidbit of information.

Skinny butted her head down at Lapis with her fist on her sides, and gave Lapis a daring toothy grin, “Keep Talking, Laz, and you’ll find out why Jasper and I are still even in matches against each other!” She retorted as she and Lapis butted heads.

“What’s even going on?” Corundum asked with a confused look.

Lapis let out a chortle and stepped away from Skinny, before turning on the balls of her feet, “And here I thought that sort of thing was something you shared with Jasper?” she teased back as she stepped towards Fayalite and Corundum, who stepped back with cautious looks on their faces.

It was then Skinny stood straight up and crossed her arms with an annoyed look, “Shut it, Laz! Don’t poke your nose into where it doesn’t belong!” she grumbled, before watching as Lapis summoned from out of the nearby indoor fountain to form her wings, and catch Corundum and Fayalite within an orb of water to transport with her. 

While the two gems panicked within their water orb prison, Lapis turned towards Skinny with a serious look. “Onto serious matters, have you received word on the status of the planet so far?” she asked, while pointing at her ear, “I can’t handle flying with something like those earpieces in my ear, it distracts me too much.” she explained with an annoyed look.

Skinny crossed her arms now as she and Lapis were in more of a serious mode of talking, “You and your fellow Lapis Lazuli seem to have the same problem, ever tried practicing with the earpieces on?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Lapis furrowed her brow, and lifted her hands with a shrug, “Give us a break, Skinny, the tech is new, we’ll figure something out. Anyways…” She said with a glance in the direction of the hole in the building, parts of the brick and mortar wall fell occasionally from the top down. “Do you have any updates on the planet?” she asked.

Skinny lifted her hand up to place her finger below her lip, as she mulled over a few thoughts, “Planetary Communications were successfully brought down, among other things, but so far the teams around the planet have been successful so far in breaking down services on the planet.” she explained as she dropped her finger away from her lip, and smirked at Lapis as she flapped her water wings and hovered up above the ground with the two captured gems still in the orb of water.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just poof those two? Rather than carry them in that water prison?” Skinny asked with an amused gaze at Lapis.

Lapis simply smiled back as a Sea Harrier-like flying gem ship flew into view from the crashed open hole of the building they were in, the side of it opened up while the bottom of it emitted gravitational prepulsers that enabled it to fly with blades or jet engines. “Who said anything about carrying them, I’m simply making sure they can’t get away.” she said while tossed the gems in her orb of water into the gem ship, and flapped her wings to fly into the flying craft.

Skinny walked over to the edge of the hole in the building and watched as the aircraft parted from being close to the building and Lapis stood at the open side-door of the gemcraft with one hand holding onto the frame. “Need a lift for another run, or you wanna hop in and rest for a few?” she hollered over the sound of the chaos below the cityscape.

“Hn.” Skinny let out an exhausted noise as she bent her knees, and leapt over the gap to land into the aircraft, “I’ll take that small break, we still have less than six days until Citrine can get her ship in working order and arrive with the rest of our forces.” she said with a grimace as the aircraft took off with the side door being shut closed by Lapis.

Meanwhile with Lapis while she controlled her orb of water to go ahead and clench her fist to cause the water pressure to squeeze down on the gems within the bubble, and poof them and allow their gemstones to clatter to the ground, she made a once in a while thought to how she was forced to work under Commander Citrine. Well, forced would be the word, if it weren't for the fact she was poofed by a Bismuth, and later used by Homeworld’s forces when they believed her to be an enemy.

Lapis would later come under the scrutiny of Yellow Diamond’s Citrine Commander, after prying her gem from out of the mirror; The one sentence that still irked her that Commander Citrine once said during the war, was ‘You belong to me for now,  that can be our little story. You were my informant, and you were caught.’ and that was just one of the many interactions she had with her temporary warden, now Commander.

Lapis Lazuli’s cheeks tinted dark blue as she thought back to the words, ‘you belong to me.’, like all gems, they are owned by higher classes of the gem caste system, but Commander Citrine said those words without bothering to realize the implications of a gem telling another gem that they belonged to them. Don’t get her wrong, she, like her fellow Lapis Lazuli gems, they rarely answered to very few high ranking gems, given the fact the power of a single Lapis Lazuli could control an entire planet’s ocean.

Thus. Given the fact that Commander Citrine was one of the rare few high ranking gems that could say that she belonged to her, and it would actually be true in a sense, Lapis Lazulis were still gems that control vast amounts of power over water. She then thought to how different it’d be if she came with a partner Lapis to the earth, would things have been any different?

Her gem line often operated in groups of two on their own to terraform a planet with its oceans if it had any; If a planet didn’t have an ocean or any form of water, the job of terraforming the planet went to the Yooperlites, which given the ratio of planets that didn’t have water, they were called on more often…huh, “ I don’t suppose Commander Citrine might ask about them some day…” Lapis thought to herself as the aircraft flew through the chaotic airspace of emergency gem vehicles and such.

Blinking herself back to awareness all of a sudden, she snapped her fingers as she forgot something, and walked over to the gemstones of the Corundum and Fayalite, and picked them up before bubbling them, “Almost forgot.” Lapis said with an amused smile.

“Was wondering when you’d realize that, I would have done it, but I wanted to see if you’d realize it first.” Skinny Jasper joked with a smirk as she looked up at the standing form of Lapis with two gemstones bubbled in her hands.

“Hm.” Lapis couldn’t help but agree with an amused smirk, before placing the bubbled gems away into a bin nearby with other bubbled gems; Lapis continued her train of thought of how she came under the service of Citrine. ‘ I wonder how different my life would be, if Citrine didn’t confiscate my Mirror prison.’ Were Lapis’s idle thoughts as the aircraft soared through the air of the chaotic air traffic from the ongoing chaos that was spilling upwards from the lower levels of the cityscape and out onto the upper levels.

Tanya

From out of her private quarters, Tanya is launched through a hole in her doorway by a large pink fist, and impacts the wall on the other side of the hallway, before sliding down with a wince of pain on her face. “She's back to angry again.” Tanya growled out in annoyance as she picked herself up, thankful that her hard light gem body was able to sustain itself against such blunt force trauma.

As she picked herself up, Spinal’s fist was pulled back in with more screams of anger and sadness, “I was hoping she was going through her stages of grief fast, but apparently I ask for too much!” Tanya hissed in anger to herself as she brushed herself off, before reacting quickly to catch a tossed Orange Pearl.

As Tanya caught Orange Pearl into her arms bridal style, her pearl looked up at her with an embarrassed look and red face, “Oh my.” Pearl said while Tanya looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, before setting Orange Pearl down on her feet.

Tanya sighed as she rolled her shoulders a bit and calmly walked into her own room through the hole on her door to try and calm Spinel down who was throwing another angry fit. “Wait out there, this will take a moment.” Tanya hollered through the high shrill screaming of Spinel, as the sounds of furniture can be heard being thrown around.

“Stay away from me! you should have just left me on that moon!” Spinel yelled within Tanya’s quarters as the two could be heard getting into a scuffle.

“Maybe, but that wouldn’t help matters, you have to face the fact that Pink Diamond is gone.” Tanya retorted through the sound of fists punching a wall.

“Shut up! I never asked you to save me from that Garden!” Spinel wailed as she could be heard tossing aside another furniture piece.

“And what then? Do you think your mind would stay sane just standing there for centuries, waiting for your Diamond that may never come back?” Tanya challenged back, as Pearl could see through the hole in the doorway while she leaned to the side to see inside a bit, her Commander Citrine managed to get Spinel into a grappling hold, which the Spinel Gem didn’t bother to elongate or stretch herself out of.

“ I just…I just, why did it have to be her?” Pearl could now see Spinel wilting her limbs a bit as she sniffled and cried. In the corner of her eye, she could see a few Amethyst Quartz coming around the corner of the hallway, making her shake her head at them, prompting them to understand and turn around once they heard the ruckus more clearly.

“Perhaps it’s best you should take another rest like how I showed you, gathering your mind a bit more.” Tanya suggested to Spinel, who was now let down to lay on the ground. As Pearl stepped inside the room through the hole in the doorway now that things were calming down, Spinel could be seen with black tear marks under her eyes.

“Hm.” Spinel mumbled a bit to herself, fully lying on her side with her eyes closed, and began to sleep on the floor. 

Tanya proceeded to pick Spinel up, and help her over to her bed, “I meant on something comfortable.” She remarked as she laid Spinel down to rest on her bed.

As Spinel could be seen relaxing on Tanya’s bed, Pearl approached her Citrine Commander with a glance at the broken doorway, “What do we do about…” she began to softly say, only for Tanya to hold her hand up to stop her from speaking anymore.

“I’ve been meaning to install a new doorway system anyways on this ship.” Tanya answered back softly as she turned to face and looked at her Pearl, “Let’s just hope she doesn’t have anymore anger episodes soon.” she remarked with a sigh, followed by the soft sound of Spinel snoring softly.

Tanya turned to look at Spinel with a deadpan gaze, “...at least she learned how to sleep quickly.” she added.

Little side Omake

Dust was kicked up around the room from Spinel throwing an angry fit, the sound of soft stomping could be heard from the doorway where the dust was more thick; from out of the dust came Citrine as she rolled her shoulders, and Spinel swore she saw a weird flash of a different looking Citrine with a green uniform on, while wielding a sword in one hand.

As Commander Citrine closed the distance between them, Spinel fell onto her rear as Citrine began to swing her saber at her, “You lack conviction in your anger!” she yelled, before Spinel had to scream in fright as Citrine swung her sword down.

It was at that moment, that Spinel woke up screaming from her sleep, and began to pat herself down, “It…what…but…” she began to sweat bullets of fear. 

Citrine glanced over as she sat at her desk, while Orange Pearl is seen sweeping up the mess she made, “Nightmare?” Citrine asked Spinel with a cautious and concerned look.

“...What’s a nightmare?” Spinel asked, oblivious to what her mind dreamt up for her.

Chapter Text

Sol system FS-175

Gas Giant Planet Chartreuse

From the outside perspective of space, a large ship meant for hauling cargo can be seen coming out of its warp, and just outside the gravity well of the massive planet; within the bridge of the cargo ship, various Nephrites are seen managing the flight controls, with a Nephrite captain standing at the main helm of the flight controls. As the ship drifted in space for a bit, the captain pinged into the communications of the planet.

After several seconds passed, and a large holomonitor came to life in front of the Nephrite captain, on the other end of the call, A yellow Olivine looked up from her desk to address the Nephrite and the ship she arrived in on, “Greetings, please give announce the security code to precede, you have exactly one minute, until orbital defense shoot you down.” she sternly commanded with no room for argument.

The Nephrite Captain, used to the routine by now with how often she delivers her shipments to the planet, Relaxed her shoulders she responded to the Administrator of Yellow Diamond’s Black Site planet, “Salutations!” Began the Nephrite Captain, “Clearance 137 dash m3 dash 1n. Waiting for response.” She intoned.

The Yellow Nephrite typed into something offscreen, before shaking her head, “That code is a week old, you have forty five seconds left.” she warned the Nephrite.

“Hm.” Nephrite grumbled, before slapping her face in embarrassment that she forgot that the security code was changed recently, “Clearance code kn0 dash 0ck dash 1n9.” 

Once again, the Yellow Olivine typed into something offscreen, but this time she nodded, “You’re cleared, please proceed forward.” She instructed the gems within the bridge that could hear her, before the holoscreen blinked away, allowing all the Nephrites on board to began working on the ship’s systems, and for the Nephrite captain to take the helm and begin flying down into the upper clouds of the gas giant.

As the cargo ship descended into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant, the atmospheric pressure of the planet bared down on the ship as it sailed through the clouds; various floating facilities could be seen hovering in the upper reaches of the gas planet’s atmosphere, with several facilities seemingly intaking the gas clouds from the bottom up. The facilities sucking up the gas clouds would later expel lesser parts of the gas clouds it sucked up from the bottom and expel out at the top of each facility.

Occasionally from within the clouds, lightning would strike out at the facilities, and hit large poles on the top and bottom of them, before dissipating into the buildings; one the sides of the floating facilities, were large capsules that trapped the lightning into the glass containers, before being pulled inside and replaced by an empty glass capsule.

The Cargo ship on the other hand, would fly by each one, as none were its destination; as the Nephrites occasionally glanced outside through the bridge windows as they worked in the bridge of the ship, they could see heavy traffic of ships flying from facility to another, transporting supplies and passenger gems to their next jobs site. It was soon seen within the gem ship, that a large swirling cyclonic storm was now in sight.

One of the Nephrites spoke up, as the ship approached Gas giant’s massive storm, “Approaching gamma storm zero three zero, readying dampeners.” she intoned, before shortly a sound echoed within the walls of the ship.

It was then the windows lit up to show a charted path for the ship to safely pass in through the massive cyclonic storm, and for the cargo ship to enter into the eye of the storm that was their destination. The ship shook a bit as the Nephrite Captain sailed the ship through the high winds of the planet’s large winds storm, and as it seemed the storm was about to get worse for the ship from how loud the muffled howling winds of the storm echoed into the ship, it was then the ship finally entered into the eye of the storm, and everything was calm.

Clouds seemed to part passed the ship’s windows as the Nephrite Captain piloted the cargo ship through the eye of the storm, in the center of it all, was a massive facility with heavy traffic of gem ships carrying their cargo in an out of the storm to the massive facility; Said Facility could barely be called a simple facility, with how large it was. Hovering within the center of the storm, the facility had a dome-like roof with angular surfaces that shone a little from the planetary system’s sun shining down through the gas giant’s clouds a bit.

The dock that the Nephrites were flying towards, was one of many in which various gem ships loaded and unloaded their supplies and workers; As the Nephrite Captain finally reached a clearance space for her to dock the ship at, a large mechanical arm reached out from the facility, and assisted the ship in fully docking onto it. With a loud hiss and kerchunk of the ship connecting its ports to the facility’s dock, a bubble shield dropped down around the ship, closing it off to the outside elements of the storm.

From out of the windows of the ships, all sorts of gems of the Olivine Gem line could be seen working at the docks to transport supplies, checking inventory, all the way up to foreman workers that yelled out orders to keep the various gems in line.

“It never fails to astound me to see so many gems of the Olivine family gem line to be in one place at one time.” One of the Nephrites spoke up as everyone began getting up to begin getting to work on getting the supplies aboard the ship off and to whichever gems were charged with receiving the supplies they were tasked to transport to the ship.

As the crew exited out from the bridge and headed towards the back of the ship where they needed to offload their cargo, the Nephrites continued to converse, “Wasn’t this ‘blacksite’ facility the idea of that Citrine Commander of Yellow Diamond’s?” A Nephrite asked as they all herded into the cargo bay of the ship, with one of them pressing a button on a nearby wall to open a large door up on the side, baring the sight of the chaos outside that was the facility’s dock workers working around the clock. 

“I think so.” Another Nephrite conversed with the former, while everyone else went to work taking stock of everything to make sure all supplies made it intact and everything arrived in peak condition. 

“But why call it a black site? I don’t see anything black about it.” The former Nephrite spoke back up as she worked with the Nephrite she was conversing with, while jotting down a few notes into her dataslate pad as she glanced across the section of the cargo hold she was in charge of to make sure everything was in order. 

The other Nephrite spoke back as she scanned the supplies with a gem tool of hers, “I believe I heard something about it having to be less about the color, and more about it being a terminology.” she answered as she finally finished scanning the supplies she was charged with, and looked to the Nephrite she conversed with her single eye, “It has to do with this place and planet being an unacknowledged part of the Diamond Empire.” 

The former Nephrite blinked her eye, as she finished her task, and looked to the other Nephrite, “Unacknowledged?” she asked with a confused look, “You mean this place isn’t signed off by Yellow Diamond to be in operation?” 

The other Nephrite shook her head as she paused in her work to speak more clearly as she faced the Nephrite she spoke with, “It is, and it is not, something about keeping certain aspects under wraps until various projects are deemed manageable and worth investing into.” she corrected her fellow Nephrite.

The former Nephrite shrugged to herself, it was more complicated the more she asked, so for now she decided to drop the conversation, and talk about something else as they all back assisting each other in getting the supplies out and offloading them to their designated zones for whichever Fayalite was in charge of receiving the supplies.

Yellow Olivine

The Gem Admin of the gas giant planet Chartreuse, Yellow Olivine, can be seen within a large room outfitted with various monitors and consoles in front of her; she sat within a floating angular yellow chair, at present she was typing away on one of her holokeyboards as her eyes focused on the holomonitor in front of her. Streams of data and lines of code fed from top down, and after several seconds passed by, Yellow Olivine finally finished with an input equivalent of an ‘enter’ keypad.

With her work done for now, Admin Olivine sat back and crossed her arms as she watched the data work itself out, her eyes skimming through the influx of coding that flowed from the left to the right in response to her command inputs. Lifting her hand up, she fidgeted with her visor over her eyes, and relaxed her arm back down onto her lap as she crossed her leg over to continue to wait for the data to finish processing. 

The Yellow Olivine’s appearance was that of short blonde hair, an orange and yellow shirt that was covered under a lab coat; she wore an ochre colored skirt, while her shoes were simple amber colored boots. The Gem’s visor over her eyes was dark orange, its width was just wide enough to cover her eyes.

A ping prompted the Admin gem know that the process was done, and soon a holoscreen popped up beside her on her chair’s armrest, allowed her to tap on it and have it project out from the wristband on her arm; Standing up to walk around a bit, Yellow Olivine began tapping into the holoscreen that was projected out of her wristband, and began analyzing the data more closely.

As Admin Olivine walked around her workspace, a buzzer rang from an important line, earning the Yellow Olivine’s full attention. “Oh dear” she mumbled to herself as she keyed into her wristband to save the documents for further perusal later, and allow her to give the caller her full attention.

Striding towards the center of the room, where a round table with various buttons in it was, Yellow Olivine approached the table and pressed a few input commands before stepping back and holding up a crisp Diamond salute.

With some pause in delay as a holoscreen popped up and some interference played a bit before the screen cleared up to show Yellow Diamond, sitting within a chair; her legs were crossed, with one foot resting her knee, she resting her elbows on her lap as she leaned forward in her chair. Yellow Diamond’s hands were steepled, covering her lower face with an expression of contemplation as she began to converse with the Yellow Olivine gem on the other end. 

“Olivine.” Yellow Diamond spoke with a crisp tone, “Report, how goes project 7hund32 dash c14p?” she inquired from the gem.

Yellow Olivine relaxed her arms and folded them behind her back as she began to preen at being able to divulge the success of one of the planet’s ongoing projects. “Remarkably well, My Diamond!” She began to gush in excitement, “Citrine’s ideas are full of interesting takes on weapons of warfare! Why, if I didn't know any better, I’d say you created the most cream of the crop Citrine gem!” She remarked with an excited expression.

“Get to the point, Olivine, you can compliment my work some other time.” Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes as she sat up in her chair and gave the embarrassed Yellow Olivine gem an expectant look, “Has your facility finished my Citrine’s idea?” 

With excitement now bubbling from within her, Yellow Olivine coughed into her fist before going into detail off what they finished so far, “At present, we have a prototype ready for testing, we just need to requisite an appropriate ship and retrofit the weapon onto it, and test in on one of the nearby moons.” she explained to her Diamond.

“Hmm.” Yellow Diamond pondered to herself as she glanced to the side in thought, before looking back at Yellow Olivine with a simple satisfied smile, “No, I think I’ll have my Little Citrine come by instead, and pick it up on her way back to homeworld.” she told the Admin gem.

“My Diamond?” Yellow Olivine questioned her Diamond with a quizzical look, “While it’s not my place to question you, wouldn’t you prefer that we test it first, before giving it to Commander Citrine?” she inquired.

Yellow Diamond waved off Admin Olivine’s worries, “you’ll just be wasting it on simple organic life forms, the weapon was brought up with gems in mind, correct? What better way than to test it on the next planet that rebels?” she smirked at the end.

“OH!” Olivine remarked with a look of awe, “You’re right, my Diamond! What’s the time frame for when Commander Citrine will arrive to pick up the weapon?” she questioned her Diamond.

Yellow Diamond mulled it over, before responding to the Olivine admin, “Given her shining track record, you have at least a week and a half, to a month at most, so best make sure your facility has the prototype ready for pickup.” She instructed the Admin gem.

“My Diamond!” Yellow Olivine saluted her Diamond, “We’ll be waiting for her arrival.” she answered back with a determined look.

“Good.” Yellow Diamond acknowledged as she stood up, “Over and out.” She said as the transmission cut off. 

Admin let out a nonexistent breath of awe and giddiness, “Oh Dear.” she remarked as she fanned herself, “Yellow Diamond is so radiant!” she remarked, before slapping herself and breaking herself out of her fanning over her Diamond, and furrowed her brow. “And not just that!” she began to say as she clenched her fists in excitement, “Commander Citrine is gonna drop by to pick up the weapon she suggested about! Not just that, she’s visiting the Blacksite planet she came up with about to Yellow Diamond! I gotta get everyone ready!” she fretted as she sped out of her office, to begin getting everything ready for Commander Citrine’s arrival.

Chapter Text

Planet Albus 01

Estimated time, one week later

Albidus Moon

Within a cave that is situated at the foot of a cliff, a facility is tucked away within the cave dwelling; its structure is reminiscent of how many other gem facilities are built, angular and smooth walls with remarkable technology to keep it running for eons. Its structure also seems to be built into the cave walls that seem to lead to the cliff face where small windows allowed the resident(s) to view the planet of Albus 01 from a far orbital distance on the moon. In one such room that had a wide window to allow the gem inside the room a greater view of Albus 01, A Yellow Beryl gem can be seen standing next to the wide window of her room with a dataslate in hand and a stylus in the other.

A gem from the Beryl family gem line, a parent gem line that had split off later down the line of the Diamond Empire to become Morganites, Emeralds, and Aquamarines, it goes unsaid the the Beryl gem line is one of the oldest gem lines from Era 1, going back all the way to the Dawn of Yellow Diamond’s creation, just shy a few thousand years after White Diamond; Thus from the Yellow Beryl’s perspective, she has seen plenty of conflict in her long life.

She was among the first gems her Diamond made to lead gems, until later Yellow Diamond improved upon her creations to diversify what higher-up gems lead who; if there was an equivalent to her status a human could understand, it would be close to an admiral of Yellow Diamond’s military branch. 

Dressed to accentuate her status as a Beryl of her caliber and age, Yellow Beryl wore what looked to be Naval Officer suit in dark yellow colors with a light orange undershirt that was visible while she had her overcoat hang off her shoulders; The Beryl gem watched through her window of the ongoing chaos on Albus 01 that could now be seen from space.

Yellow Beryl couldn’t but reminisce of the early years of Era 1, the expansionism of the Great Diamond Authority was a grand time, colonialism of planets was at an all time high, and the Diamonds were at an all time boom of creating new types of gems; Beryl frowned now at the present time, so much has happened in the time frame of just over a thousand years, and now they were faced with a resource shortage, Pink Diamond was shattered, Blue Diamond is or hopefully was grieving over the loss of Pink Diamond, rebellions were popping up across gems space…

Yellow Beryl let out a soft sigh of weariness, before shaking her idle thoughts away; it wouldn’t do to be preoccupied with her thoughts, when she was supposed to observe Yellow Diamond’s Citrine Commander from space, While Forsterite observed from planetside; She had just finished observing the outer rim of gem space to keep an eye on the outer colonies, but now she needed to observe the supposed Commander of her Diamond’s creation.

She had to hand it to her Diamond, and be in awe of her creator’s genius, never would she have imagined her prowess of creating such a fine specimen of a perfectly cut Citrine gem; Whatever her Diamond did, she was successful in creating a rare custom made gem. Unlike batch made gem lines, single made custom gems took more time and effort on a Diamond’s part, thus they were in few numbers compared to their batch gem counterparts.

Yellow Beryl could count herself amongst the rare few in her Diamond’s court, right next to Yellow Morganite, with Citrine being their youngest sibling of Yellow Diamond’s custom made gems; Beryl herself was her Diamond’s first attempt at making a Beryl gem, thus she went into great effort to perfect her facet cut of gem. With a smile, Yellow Beryl was satisfied with herself in knowing she was the gold standard of latter batch Beryl gems to measure up to, even if they couldn’t compare; however, she frowned as she knew by the later years of era 1, her gem line of Beryls were nearing their end, and were to be replaced by the more diverse batch of Emeralds and Hessonites to lead any sort of campaign or invasion force.

In fact, if Beryl remembered right, her Diamond was about to retire her entire gem line, but then the war on Pink Diamond’s colony happened, and the decision was put on temporary hold, to an indefinite hiatus before the decision was finally scrapped; Since most Beryls were within Yellow Diamond’s court, they were then put in charge as planetary governors as outpost commanders of Yellow diamond’s colony worlds.

Word through the gem rumor mill, said something about Yellow Diamond’s Citrine commander putting in a good thesis on preserving every gem they could, once the war on Pink Diamond’s colony was over; Yellow Beryl didn’t know how that custom made Citrine did it, but whatever she wrote, it convinced her Diamond enough to reorganize her military branch to face domestic as well as foreign enemies. 

If you asked Beryl though, they’re military doctrine did seem a bit outdated pre-Rose Quartz rebellion, and by post-Rose Quartz rebellion, and with resources running low after such a lengthy war, Yellow Beryl had to agree that the Great Diamond Authority was never truly ready for such a protracted war, compared to simply steam rolling over simple organics to make way for colonizing their planets, especially since it was a war fought between gems. Thus the Rose Quartz rebelion, for good and ill, the Diamond Empire was in need of restructuring and the rebellion was the tool to kickstart some reforms.

Shaking her head and muttering to herself, ‘Look at me, what’ll the conservationist half of the council think?’ Yellow thought to herself with an amused smile as she looked out her window, continuing to wait for the Citrine Commander to finally arrive and clean up the mess on the planet so to speak. Most gems of the upper echelons of gem society were against Citrine’s reforms within Yellow Diamond’s military, but recently there’s been a growing number of supporters of a pro-reformationist faction of gem society, but it was slow going.

Yellow Beryl blinked and watched as the subtle bending of space rippled above planet Albus 01, and before she knew it, she witnessed an entire armada of gem warships followed by one massive orange hand war ship; penning into her dataslate, Beryl began writing down a few things, before looking back up to watch as the armada split off and began intercepting ships leaving the planet. She watched as ship after ship was blasted out of space and sent back down planetside, while some others disabled the leaving ships, only to later look like Citrine’s forces were raiding the leaving ships.

Beryl looked down to write into her pad, “Able to operate on a massive scale…performing a planetary closure so that no ships leave…raiding ships of decommissioned gems…” Yellow Beryl worded out as she wrote into her dataslate, before looking back up to continue to observe the ongoing planetary invasion of Commander Citrine. 

Citrine’s War ship hand

Tanya had her Pearl and the Pink Spinel gem to stay in her private quarters, while the business of finishing up on collecting the ‘discarded’ gems played out; Standing up within the bridge of her ship, Tanya had her arms crossed as she watched while the plans she put into effort in planning played out. Already the planetary comms were down, which left the White Garnet unable to call for help from the other planets of the solar system.

“Incoming comm call from planetside.” One of the Peridots working at the comms of the bridge, earning Tanya’s attention with a raised brow of confusion.

Walking over to speak with the Peridot, she stood beside and glanced down at the gem, “Incoming comms from planet side? I thought all comms were down by now.” she questioned the Peridot gem with a scrutinizing gaze directed at the console in front of the Peridot.

Undeterred by the facial expression in knowing it wasn’t aimed at her, Peridot pointed at her screen that show the incoming comm call was from a specific part of the planet, “They are, or at least, supposed to be, but I’m receiving a strong signal from what seems to be the designated Governess’ Gem palace.” she informed her Citrine Commander.

“Hm.” Tanya hummed in thought as her eyes narrowed in thought, “Hail the call.” she warranted the peridot the go ahead.

“Ma’am!” The Peridot Gem responded as she keyed in a few buttons, before a large holoscreen popped into existence at the front of the bridge; as Tanya walked back to her chair but stayed standing, she witnessed as the incoming call was a bit staticky, before the call came in clear to show Governess White Garnet of the planet below her. 

“Finally!” The White Garnet shouted in annoyance, “About time someone-wait a minute!” you’re not from-you!” She began to screech in anger at the end, “What do you think you are doing, you low class pebble?!” governess Garnet yelled as she slammed her palms into the table in front of her that was projecting the connected call. 

“I am here on the orders of-” Tanya began to inform the rather…prejudice Uppercrust gem, only for the Governess to cross her arms in denial and cut her off by more irritated yelling.

“I don’t care who ordered you here! This operation of yours is over! Cease this at once!” The White Garnet yelled with tense anger.

Tanya let out a strained sigh, tapped her foot a few times, before responding to the Governess gem, “Allow me to speak, your-”

“Get cracked! You low bottom dweller! You have no idea what you’ve done! I’ll see to it that White Diamond will have your complete gem line shattered for this!” Governess White Garnet continued to interrupt Tanya while pressing her face up against the monitor. 

As the Governess attempted to calm herself down now while fixing up her disheveled hair, Tanya spoke once more, hoping she wouldn’t be cut off this time. “On the orders of Yellow Diamond…” she began to say with a strained smile, with a tense facial expression, Tanya continued to speak once the White Garnet stopped fixing her hair. “I am here to seize all discarded gems, and bring them back to my Diamond’s part of the galaxy.” 

“Grr…” Governess Garnet let out an annoyed grunt, “and yet, you saw fit to shut down my planet, and perform some sort of operation on it.” she pointed out with a seething expression, “Your gems have ruined the shining gem that is my planet!”

“I don’t know.” Tanya began to retort with a smirk, “Pretty sure those discarded gems and their revolt would have done more damage, I’m just simply making sure it was quarantined to this planet alone, and not to the rest of the planets within the solar system here.” she explained to the Governess with a satisfied look.

Not knowing what to say to such an idea that actually had merit, White Garnet could only scream in anger, before calming herself down once more. “Listen here you…you…you cracked clod!” She began to berate the Citrine commander while standing back and pointing at the video screen between them, “This is a direct order by me, Governess White Garnet, you are to cease all activities, and turn yourself in for a reprimand!” she exclaimed.

Tanya simply blinked back, before questioning the White Garnet, “Are you in Yellow Diamond’s court?” she questioned simply.

Governess Garnet made a look like she was slapped across the face with something disgusting, “What, Me, part of that court? No!” She shirked back in disgust.

“Am I in White Diamond’s court?” Tanya questioned the Governess once again.

“What-No! What does that have to do with-” White Garnet began to question Tanya, only to be interrupted by Tanya this time.

With an annoyed look on her face, Tanya responded by saying, “Then what part of the Gem caste system says that you have any authority over me?” she shot back with a knowing smirk.

“I own a planet, you clod!” White Garnet yelled back, “That’s my authority, and you have trampled over it!” she pointed out.

“You. don’t. Own. it.” Tanya worded out with a smirk, “You are simply a custodian of the planet, nothing more, nothing less. White Diamond simply gave you a planet to look after.”

“But-you-I-” White Garnet began to stumble over her words, before shaking her head to correct herself, and glared as she responded back to the Citrine commander, “I am Governess Garnet, and I will-”

“Which one?” Tanya questions, earning a confused look from the Garnet gem.

“White Garnet, of course!” Said gem responded back with an annoyed look.

“Which…one.” Tanya asked again with a confident expression.

“I’m…I’m…” Governess Garnet was now sagging her shoulders in defeat, “Governess Garnet number zero one six of the White Garnet line, Facet p215 Cut 71n3.” she grimaced.

“Mhm.” Tanya nodded, “Now, tell me, does a White Garnet have any sway in the court of Yellow Diamond?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Tch.” White Garnet sneered, “Alright, enough! I get it! I overstepped my authority, no need to rub it in!” she grouched as she sagged forward with a defeated look. “Just take those gems already and leave! I have an entire planet to reorganize, it’ll take years to clean up all this mess!” she bemoaned.

“With pleasure!” Tanya responded, “I am on a tight schedule after all.” she ended with saying, before the call ended between them.

After a tense moment of silence passed, one of the Nephrites spoke up with a cautious tone while looking back over her shoulder to her Citrine Commander, “Was it wise to do that, my Citrine?” she asked her commander. “Talking to that Garnet that way?” the Nephrite questioned.

“Hm.” Tanya made a noncommittal shrug while walking back to her chair, and sat down on it with her legs crossed, and her cheek resting on her fist, “Last I checked, Gems don’t rule over other gems from a different court, unless given the explicit permission by the Diamonds of the two Gems of the different courts.” she answered back.

“Yeah, but she’s one of White Diamond’s garnet gems.” Another Nephrite pointed at as she sat beside the other Nephrite that spoke up first.

“Still doesn’t excuse the fact she tried to pull her authority over me.” Tanya responded back with an annoyed look, “We both were at an impasse of words and authority, and nothing short of postering between us was ever gonna happen.” She explained to the Nephrite. With Tanya’s piece said over the matter, the bridge fell into somewhat comfortable silence.

“You’re still gonna need to go down there and confront her, don’t you?” One of the Peridots asked within the bridge.

Tanya sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Yes, I need to get the full manifest of what gems have been ‘discarded’, if I am to complete this entire operation.” she griped, not looking forward to interacting with the pompous Governess in person…or in gem.

Later

Governess Palace

An orange ship about double the size of a Ruby eye ship, is seen traveling down and landing atop an appropriate landing zone; after a few moments passed, a hatch opened down, which allowed Citrine and an entourage to accompany her. Exiting out of the spacecraft after Citrine, was Jasper and a few other Amethysts. With her hands clasped behind her back, Citrine is seen walking calmly towards the entrance of the palace with her guard unit close behind her.

As Tanya makes her way to the entrance, she forces her way seeing as how there was no one present. “What happened to all the guards?” Jasper questioned with a critical gaze around the palace inside.

“Out dealing with the revolt outside most likely.” Tanya answered as she stopped walking and looked around for anyone to speak to, “The Governess Garnet didn’t take into account the logistics of dealing with an entire planet revolt, with such a fresh batch of newly emerged Quartz soldiers.” she assumed with a thoughtful look and her arms crossed.

“Pft, yeah!” One of the Amethyst remarked with an amused shrug an amused expression, “That’s like asking for my fellow Amethysts and I to fight the rebellion on Pink’s colony alone.” she remarked.

“What, don’t think you all didn’t have it in you to be like me?” Jasper challenged with a smirk to her fellow Earth Quartz sister gem. 

“Jasper, not all can come out of their incubation like you did.” Tanya remarked back at the Jasper Quartz gem, “Remind me again, who flexed their arms while exiting out of their hole, unlike the rest of her fellow gems.” She pointed out.

It was then that Jasper had the decency to blush, “I was in the process of attacking the enemies outside my incubation hole! How else would I have gotten the drop on those traitors upon my emergence?” she challenged back.

“Mhm.” Tanya murmured, willing to drop the subject for now; for now, they had to acquire the manifest of gems that were on the discarded list.

A door opened from the left side, “Well now~.” A gem began to say, prompting Tanya and the other gems to turn and give their attention to the Forsterite that was coming into the room they were in, “And here I thought you would come down and allow me to inspect you up close~!” The rather odd smiling gem said as she strutted towards Tanya with her heels clacking along the shimmering white floor beneath them.

While Jasper and the others were unsure what to do, they keep silent, as the Forsterite paced towards their Citrine Commander with an ever curious expression and manic smile. “Come here and let me have a look at you ~!” She cooed in a very off putting happy tone.

Tanya jerked back a bit while stepping backwards away from the rather curious White Forsterite gem, as she stepped up to Tanya and examined her up close, “Excuse me?” she squawked in surprise at the Gem’s absurd personality, “Do you mind!” She tried to shove the gem away from her, only for the Forsterite to catch her hands, and examine the palms and wrists.

“Mmh!” Forsterite hummed in excitement with a wide brimming smile, “ah.” she spectated as she pulled Tanya in to look into her eyes, “ooh!” She remarked as her small eyeglasses over her eyes fed in continuous information as she examined the Citrine gem in front of her.

“Yes! Incubated at the right temperature, pressure…mmm, ah, she even found the right planet to grow you!” Forsterite remarked as she pulled Tanya in to look at her gem on her chest, just beneath where a human’s collar bone would be, “And the Facet is even more remarkable! And the cut is just so supreme!” she gushed, only to find a foot on her face, as the Citrine Commander pried herself away from the touchy Forsterite.

“Do you mind!” Tanya yelled with a flustered and annoyed look, “What am I to you, an exhibit?” she asked, only to find the Forsterite now crouched before her, before grabbing her foot and pulling her upside down to look at the Citrine Commander in a different angle.

“I do mind, in fact!~” Forsterite responded as she held Tanya by her ankles, “I’m a gem inspector, and I just dropped by to check in on White Garnet, and lo and behold, I get the chance to inspect Yellow Diamond’s treasured Citrine gem!” She chimed in with a wide smile as she inspected Tanya's feet and legs, before flipping her around and placing her down.

While Jasper and the others looked ready to involve themselves at a moment's notice should things get violent, so far, all the Forsterite’s done was just physically harass their Commander. 

Tanya patted herself down while glaring at the Forsterite, “Next time, schedule an appointment! I’m on a tight schedule!” she responded back with an annoyed huff.

“...oh, I didn’t think of scheduling an appointment.” Forsterite giggled to herself with an odd smile.

Tanya gave the gem a baleful glare, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to inquire from White Garnet of the manifest of gems that are to be discarded off this planet.” she informed the Forsterite.

“You mean this?” Said gem inquired as she pulled out a dataslate, “I’d be more than willing to hand it over, if you let me inspect you more!” Forsterite smiled rather widely at Tanya in unbridled excitement, before finding the dataslate swiped from her grasp, and in the possession of the Citrine commander.

“We’re leaving!” Tanya orders snappishly while exiting the palace with as much of her dignity still intact. As the Quartz Soldiers hurried after their Citrine Commander, Forsterite bent to the side a bit to watch Tanya leave from a different angle. 

“I’ll be sure to get an appointment with you next time!” Forsterite shouted while cupping her mouth, only to earn no reply as the Citrine Commander entered her ship. As the ship left for outer space, Forsterite’s eyes dimmed a bit, before the gem shook her head, then exited the palace to look up to the sky where the personal ship of Commander Citrine exited out of the atmosphere. “She’s always so touchy…” She began to say, before her eyes widened and cupped her head with her hand, as if she was hearing an incoming call, “no, my Diamond…yes my Diamond…of course my Diamond…right away my diamond!” Forsterite said to herself, before heading back into the building.

Chapter Text

???

Within the meeting chamber of the council of twelve, a few gems were already in attendance for the next meeting; at the center of the circular room was Pink Morganite, in the midst of waiting on her timer within her data slate that sat off to the side on the table of hers to go off and prompt her to slam her gavel and signal for the council to begin their next meeting. Those that were in attendance so far were Yellow Morganite, Blue Demantoid and White Sapphire, the next meeting was supposed to involve the entire cabal of the council to discuss the events so far of the prior century within the Great Diamond Authority.

From the entrance of the council chambers, gems began to walk in by either one or two at a time, Morganite eyed the incoming gems with a scrutinizing gaze; The first two gems that walked in, were Forsterite and Nosean from White Diamond’s court. Already more than acquainted enough with White Diamond’s overly enthused Gem inspector Forsterite, Pink Morganite placed her attention on the Nosean gem as the two gems walked up a set of stairs to sit next to White Sapphire. 

White Nosean is one of the very first, if not the actual first, commander gem of White Diamond’s moderately sized invasion force for conquering planets to pave the way for the Diamond Empire to colonize whatever planet she conquers; Her appearance was that of a clean white military uniform with black boots that reached her knees, and her hair was styled to resemble her Diamond in a flattering way.

The Next two gems that entered through the entrance, were Blue Hessonite and Pyrope; Supposedly, Blue Pyrope instigated the Pyrope gem on planet F78 to commit the ‘treasonous’ act of riling up rebel gems. Blue Hessonite on the other hand was the one involved with sending her private forces out to shatter the Hessonite in the Northern Sector for her failure to withdraw in time before Citrine could capture her.

Coming in soon afterwards was Yellow Beryl, she seemed rather content at the moment from Pink Morganite’s perspective; Apparently she went to do a little analyzing on her youngest custom made ‘sister’ gem, Commander Citrine. Morganite supposed whatever Citrine did, made Beryl quite satisfied to watch her sister gem. Pink Morganite drew her attention to Yellow Morganite who was already here, and began conversing with her elder sister gem Beryl once she made her way up to sit next to the Morganite. 

Custom made gems were arduous to make, thus it was why they took longer to incubate compared to their batch made gems; With Citrine, that made three custom made gems within Yellow Diamond’s court, making Beryl the eldest, yellow Morganite the second oldest, and Citrine the youngest. Pink Morganite actually wondered what the meeting between the three would be like, cause as far she knew, Commander Citrine had yet to meet her older sister gems that Yellow Diamond had custom made herself.

Pink Morganite brought her attention back to the entrance to see Yellow Aquamarine, an Era 1 aquamarine; With Yellow instead of Blue motif colors, Yellow Aquamarines were few in number within Yellow Diamond’s court, whereas in Blue Diamond’s court they were more numerous. Something about it having to do with Yellow Diamond not bothering to create more during era 2 if Pink Morganite remembered right. 

The next two and Final gems to enter were Pink Sapphire and Pink Zircon, the two approached her table wordlessly and stood next to her while she sat; Zircon, like the rest of her gem line, was created to handle the law aspect of gem society. Morganite held up her data slate to check the time, and lifted her gavel to begin the next meeting by hammering it down on her desk. “With this, we can now begin the centennial discussion.” she announced as she held up her dataslate…she really needed to upgrade it to the new holopads that were out now…

Looking up from her dataslate after looking through it, and for the council to quiet down from idle chatter, her eyes scanned the room of all its occupants. “It’s been a rather busy century, so let’s try and narrow down the more pressing matters.” she warned the council with a simple gratifying smile.

From there, the council broke into murmurs amongst each other as they discussed with each other on what to speak about first; Pink Morganite glanced across the elevated row of seats that each gem sat at, and noticed Nosean sat just a little off to the side on the bottom row while Forsterite and White Sapphire sat in the same row above her; The Grand Commander of White Diamond’s gem soldiers had her legs crossed, while her arms were crossed. She seemed to have a pensive look on her face as if she was going through her thoughts, before her gaze snapped towards Pink Morganite.

While it seemed the rest of the Council were still busy trying to figure out what to discuss by narrowing down several subjects of discussion, Nosean seemed ready to speak her mind; Pink Morganite allowed a few minutes to pass, before tapping a button on her desk for a holoscreen to pop up above her table, and made a hum of thought when the very gem’s name was up on the list, “The first to speak up and discuss matters is Nosean.” Morganite cited off from the screen she read off from. 

Nosean

Being one of pedigree and status, as well as such a fine cut of gem that presented itself on her forehead, Nosean was a gem that went to great lengths to instill order and perfection within her Diamond’s court; Out of every other commander gem, she is considered the oldest and most decorated. Nosean took extra care to hold herself up to the standards of her Diamond, and shine as brilliantly as she could, her faith in the Great Diamond Authority was absolute, she would do everything in her power to please her diamond.

As of late however, within the recent several centuries, Nosean had seen rather hasty changes that she was skeptical of, and the many changes within the main military branch of the Diamond Empire, which was governed by Yellow Diamond, had seen rather…shall she say…improvements…yes, she’ll go with improvements to the say the least. Though, that didn’t mean she liked it, in fact, she was entirely against the reformations and restructured military doctrine, but the results bore efficiency and success…and Nosean was not one to turn her nose up at efficiency and Success, she just wished it didn’t involve off color gems and unsegregated cuts of facets and cabochons. 

It was why she was now on the fence so to speak, with the ongoing matter of what to do with Yellow Diamond’s Citrine Commander; On one side, she wanted the gem shattered for her blasphemous ideas and military doctrine, but on the other hand she was proud to see such an efficient commander. That was why she was within the faction of undecided, while others were for and against Citrine. There was even a discussion going on to increase the numbers within the council, and invite Citrine amongst the numbers, but realistically, she was a thousand years too young to have a seat on the council.

The rest of them were around and over three thousand years old, and the agreed minimum age for any council member was two thousand years; thus, for now, there would still be an open discussion on whether they should increase their council member numbers to compensate for the size of the Diamond Empire.

At present, Nosean cleared her throat, before speaking clearly with a refined tone, she stood up straight with her hands clasped behind her back as she began to discuss matters, “Show of arms hands now please.” she began to ask with a pointed look at everyone, “So that we can get this out of the way, how many of you were going to speak on the matter of Yellow Diamond’s Citrine Commander?” she questioned the rest of the council.

An overwhelming majority of the council raised their hands with either disgruntled looks, amused expression, to seething, and a mix of other expressions within the council of twelve. “I see.” Nosean remarked, before reaching into her breast pocket, and pulled out a small device to remotely control large holo screens to pop into existence, and showed a full diagram of Citrine, as well as written reports that scrolled upwards to the side of her image.

“Facet 74ny4 cut v0n.” Nosean began to summarize, “This will be the first time we’ve actually gone into a full discussion about this cut of gem, so let's not leave anything out. Yes?” She inquired amongst every gem with a pointed look, and earned nods of agreement from everyone. “Excellent.” she smiled primly.

“Now.” Nosean began to say as she pressed the screen on her device in her hand, prompting the holo screens to show four different planets, before one was zoomed in on that was owned by Blue Diamond that seemed fine from orbit; the image of the planet then zoomed in to show a more scarred and scorched surface with various gem temples destroyed. “Planet 42u23.” she presented to the audience within the council chamber.

It was then that one of the council members from Blue Diamond’s court made their discontent of Citrine’s methods in quelling the planet’s be known, as Blue Pyrope slammed her fist down on the table in front of her, “She ruined my Diamond’s treasured planet! Look at the damage she wrought upon that planet.” she raged and grinded her teeth in anger.

Nosean gave the Blue Pyrope a curious expression with a raised eyebrow, “That is where you are wrong.” she corrected the council member to the right of her, and thumbed her device to bring up detailed reports of the eleven year campaign on the planet to take out the rebels on it, “Detailed accounts show that the the majority of the infrastructure was damaged by the rebel gems, with Citrine’s forces doing the least amount of damage.” Nosean told the gem with an analytical gaze.

“Well…she…gah!” Blue Pyrope threw her hands up in anger and sat back with a seething expression, “We still had to abscond Almandine Garnet from that planet, and all our projects along with her.” Pyrope sneered in dissatisfaction.

“Yes yes.” Yellow Beryl said as she crossed her legs and looked at Blue Pyrope with an eye roll, “And we’re still looking for a new planet to host our little projects on, things like this take time though, so don’t take your anger out on Citrine almost finding our hidden cache of projects.” 

While Blue Pyrope grumbled, Nosean took her chance to continue where she left off, by bringing up the next planet to zoom in on. “Next up, the derelict planet of 1v02y.” The image of what looked to be were the remains of a smashed gem colony that was previously hollowed out to become its purest form as a gem world, something that would have happened to the Earth if the colonization finished on that world.

With a rather pensive look on her face, Nosean wasn’t sure how to react to how Citrine resolved the matter on the derelict colony world. “Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, Citrine was able to resolve the matter rather hastily by knocking the planet’s moon out of its orbit, and dropped it into the planet, thus finishing her campaign against the rebels in a rather timely manner.”

From her stance against the Citrine commander, Blue Hessonite couldn’t help but bring up the matter that said gem practically destroyed the colony world of White Diamond. “Shouldn’t you be the one that should be angry at how that commander defaced your Diamond’s colony world.” she probed Nosean with a sneer on her face.

White Sapphire took her chance to speak on the matter with an eerie smile, “You forget, it was derelict, my Diamond has no need for such an eyesore of a planet.” she pointed out, prompting the Blue Hessonite to look at the Sapphire in surprise.

“Quite.” Forsterite spoke up next with a wide brimming smile, “It was slated to be disassembled over the course of several decades.” she informed the Blue gem with an excited grin, and maddening look in her eyes, “In this way, my Diamond’s court was able to swoop in and collect the destroyed pieces of the colony, and ship it off to the nearby planet without a hassle from decades of work!” 

Mutterings broke out amongst the council, before Nosean cleared her throat once more to get the attention of the audience, “Enough, now, onto the latter half of the century.” she said as she brought up more images of various campaigns that were operated by Commander Citrine. 

Elsewhere

Citrine’s Hand War ship

Above the world that is Albus 01, the armada of ships and giant hand ship under Citrine’s command is prepping up for the trip to the next destination; inside the giant hand war ship, and inside the general briggs for housing bubbled and non-bubbled gems in containment rooms, the area was alive with activity as several dozens upon dozens of bubbled gems are being shipped into the briggs. With the recent ‘purge’ that had happened on White Diamond’s colony world, dozens of Amethysts gems were in charge of hauling in armfulls of bubbled gems, and storing them away into holding cells for later release on one of Yellow Diamond’s reserve fortress colony worlds.

A cacophony of idle talk filled the briggs as Quartz soldiers worked around the clock, in the meanwhile, Citrine herself along with a few Peridots and an Olivine were working on categorizing the incoming batch of gems that have been ‘confiscated’ from the Colony world. Standing beside the entrance along with her assistants, Tanya held in her hand a holo pad and a stylus in the other hand, using both to jot down the gems that were being hauled in.

As more Amethyst gems are hauling in more bubbled gems, Tanya jotted down into her holopad, “That makes…fifteen hundred gems so far.” she let out an exhausted breath.

A Peridot looks over at her, “Fifteen hundred and ten, ma’am, to be more precise.” she corrected her Commander.

Tanya shot the peridot a look, “I was rounding down, but yes, you’re right.” She nodded and placed her holopad under her arm, and gave the Peridots and Olivine her attention, “Continue while I tend to other business matters.” Tanya commanded the gems she had involved in tallying and categorizing the captured gems.

“Ma’am!” The Gems saluted their Citrine Commander, allowing Tanya to give them a nod in return and exit the area.

As Tanya left the briggs, she passed by more incoming groups of quartz soldiers under her command with more bubbled gems carried in their arms, “ We’ll be filled to capacity if this keeps up.” she thought to herself as her eyes trailed to the numerous bubbled gem carried off into the briggs for storage.

While her Pearl was still keeping Spinel company at her behest, and soothing the gem’s grief over her shattered Diamond, it gave Tanya the ample opportunity to retreat to a more…secretive project of hers, right next to investigating the shattering of Pink diamond. As Tanya continued to walk through the busy hallways of her ship, she eventually reached a less busy section of her ship before finally reaching the door that opened only to her geometrics, ie, her gem.

The room was pitch black inside, and as Tany walked in, allowing the door to shut behind her, the room lit up in a low yellowish orange tint of light, “Now, where to begin.” Tanya spoke to herself as she cupped her chin, as looked at the various walls and objects organized around the room; there was even a few holo boards that could be moved around along the floor for ease of relocation, on each wall was a holoscreen that showed various data on what Tanya had been working on over the decades and centuries, and one such wall involved information Tanya was able to gather on data around Pink Diamond and the case of her shattering.

Another wall involved a new case that Tanya had been busying herself with over the past century, involving odd happenstances that seemed to involve high ranking gems; Leaving the case of Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond aside for some other day, Tanya wanted to focus on the more relevant case of increasing amount of rebellions, and the aristocrat gems that have been involved in all the matters.

Tanya walked towards the center of the room, and sat at the desk that was situated there, and pulled out an item from her gem and slotted it into the console of her desk, and began typing into the holo-keyboard below the monitor that was propped up on the desk. “ There’s also that incident involving that red Hessonite…said something about them or something…is there some sort of shadow government that I’m not aware of after a thousand years?” Tanya thought to herself as she typed into her holo-keyboard to store more evidence to review for later.

“Then again…” Tanya said out loud to herself as she looked up in thought, “Why would I be aware of any shadow government…wouldn’t they have done something sooner than now of all times!” she pondered in worry, “How would such a thing even exist with the Diamonds already at the highest level of authority!?” she asked herself.

“ No.” Tanya chided herself in her thoughts with a grimace, “that defeats the purpose of a shadow government, but that still poses a question of whether all these rebellions are all just false flags just to weed out actual rebellious gems…no…even that wouldn’t make sense…unless…” Tanya stopped typing into her keyboard, and stood up from her desk, to look at the nearby wall with several monitors of information about the various worlds she’s been put in charge of quelling rebellions on.

Tanya shook her head to herself, and before she could go any further into investigating the matter, she checked the time on her personal holopad from out of her gem, “I’ll have to continue this later.” she muttered to herself, before exiting the room after she snapped her fingers, prompting the room lights to shut off, and the doors to shut once she exited the room. 

Chapter Text

???

Tenya’s eyes focus down on the papers he has to leaf through, before writing down on a few on them, a few employees have been rather late on arriving to work on time; as the Human Resource manager of the Diamond firm, it was up to him to weed out the workers that were not pulling their weight. The business he worked for demanded the utmost diligent workers within the company, and he was no exception; Tenya was lucky enough to get a foot in the door into his position with the help of his Mother’s connections into the business, but that didn’t mean he could slack off less he disappointed her.

Focusing his eyes momentarily at frame on his desk, it pictured him at graduation with his very strict looking mother standing behind him; Tenya went back to leafing through files of employees, he could reminisce more later after work, right now, he needed to go through a hundred more employee files by the end of the day. The Diamond firm was one of the largest businesses on Earth, and he was just another cog in the ever growing business that he worked for.

A knock on his door prompted him to call the person in, “Enter.” he hollered a bit for his voice to be heard through the door as he went through a file of an employee; entering in through the door to his office room, Tenya glanced up to see it was his office assistant, a rather dutiful worker named Amber Pearl. The prim looking female worker smiled as she entered his office with two coffee cups in a Drink Carrier, “Pulling another all nighter again, Tanya?” she amusedly asked as she approached the desk he worked at.

Tanya blinked as the world around her shifted a bit, but the atmosphere and office stayed the same. She accepted the offer of coffee from her office assistant as she reached out and grabbed a coffee cup from the Drink Carrier that Amber carried, “Thank you miss Pearl.” she murmured as she took a sip from her coffee cup, and allowed the enriched flavor of the beverage to pass over her tongue and down her throat. Placing her cup of coffee down onto a coaster on her desk, Tanya glanced out her window to see that it was indeed late into the night.

Amber shifted a bit in a shy way, “um, you can just call me Amber, if you’d like.” she smiled a bit as she held her own cup of coffee in her own hands after she pulled hers out of the Drink Carrier to hold it and drink from.

Looking back over at her personal assistant, Tanya gave Amber an amused look. “We’ve been through this miss Pearl, we can drop the formalities when we’re off the clock.” She chided the helpful worker she’s known for the better part of all her years she’d worked for the Diamond Firm.

Amber smiled a bit, “I suppose you’re right.” she replied with a respectful tone. 

Tanya

Blinking her eyes as she woke up from her nap on her bed in her private quarters, Tanya found herself with Spinal clinging to her arm while peacefully sleeping; with a deadpan expression on her face, Tanya glanced over to see Pearl look shyly away with an innocent look. The dream she had herself was fine, and nothing new, it was her mind pretty much mashing all realities of her lifetimes together; it was a weird mashup, yes, but one she accepted by now with how her mind has coped with her gender. Male or Female, she didn’t care by now; the body was a body, but her mind was her own.

“Spinel.” Tanya said aloud to wake the gem up, only for the spinel gem to begin exaggerating snoring sounds, her eye twitched in annoyance at the gem’s behavior. “Spinel, I need to get up.” she spoke tersely with a tight smile of aggravation.

Spinel rolled over to lay on her back, but continued to lay horizontally on Tanya’s stomach, “Just a few more minutes…” she mumbled out.

It was then that Tanya had enough, and sat herself up while Spinel rolled off and was now laying on her lap, “You can sleep all you want, Spinel, but I need to get back to work.” She chided the former Pink Diamond’s personal Spinel gem. 

Spinel, now having been rolled back onto her stomach as she laid across Tanya’s lap, draped her arms and legs across the bed as well; Spinel lifted an eyelid to peek up over at Tanya with a pout, “Come on, it’s more fun when I’m with someone.” she whined in a dour mood, still coming off from her depression stages.

Tanya then grabbed and pulled Spinel up off of her to place her aside, and stood up from her bed, then stretched a bit even though she didn’t need to, she just enjoyed the sensation of the feeling after a good sleep; While Spinel continued to mope a bit on the bed as she draped herself off of the side, Tanya turned to look over at her Pearl, “Pearl, keep Spinel company while I go to the bridge.” she instructed with a firm look in her eyes.

Spinel began to thrash a bit and with pouty lips as she looked up at Tanya as she hung off of bed with her head upside down, “Come oooon! I’m done being cooped up in here! Can’t I come this time?” she pleaded as she turned over onto her stomach to lift herself up on the bed and look up at Tanya correctly with a hopeful smile, “I’ll be good this time, Pi-er, Citrine, this time! I won’t throw another fit!” she tried to reason with a promise towards Tanya with a wide smile.

Tanya glanced to her Pearl, “Only if you stick close to Pearl, here.” she said, prompting Orange Pearl to give the Spinel gem a kind smile back.

“Booo.” Spinel wilted as she sat on Tanya’s bed and hunched over, “I wanna stick close to you Pi…uh, Citrine.” she moped with her bottom lip out in a pouting face.

“Spinel.” Tanya began to warn the gem with a sharp look of sterness, “I don’t care how long it takes, but you need to come to terms that Pink Diamond is gone, no matter how much you wish.” she chided the gem.

“...” Spinel now had a downcast look as she looked to the side in depression, “How…why would a gem from her own court shatter her?” Spinel began to question with tears forming at the corners of her eyes, “ Pink wasn't like the other Diamonds, she cared for her court of gems, so how can a Rose Quartz gem do such a thing to Pink of all Diamonds.” she said with her voice cracking in sadness, then looked up at the Citrine Commander with a hopeful look that she’ll answer her questions.

Not thinking before she spoke on the matter, Tanya crossed her arms with a thoughtful gaze down at the Spinel Gem, “That’s why I’ve been investigating the incident on the side.” she murmured with a glance to the side in thought, “The facts don’t seem to add up to Pink Diamond’s demise.” she muttered. “It screams like a cover up story.”

Spinel looked up at the Citrine Commander with Surprise, “Wait, what was that?” she asked in confusion.

Just before Tanya could respond, the comms system dinged, “Commander Citrine, I would like to inform you that we are now approaching planet Chartreuse. That will be all.”

“We can continue this conversation later, Spinel.” Tanya told the gem as she reached down and grabbed Spinel by the hand, “Come.” She ordered without room for argument as she pulled the gem up by the hand and forced her to walk with her, while Orange Pearl walked behind the two. As the three of them exited Tanya’s private quarters, Spinel glanced up at the Citrine commander with a confused expression, before looking down at her held hand as she walked with the Citrine gem commander.

In Spinel’s mind, memories of the time when Pink would all of a sudden grab her hand to take her to play a few games were dredged up, followed by the times Pink played all sorts of games with her; with a simple small smile unseen by Citrine and Orange Pearl as they all walked through the hallways of the ship, Spinel squeezed her hand back into the held hand embrace she held with the Citrine commander. Whether Citrine noticed or not, she didn’t seem to comment on it as she led the way to the bridge.

Gas Giant Planet Chartreuse

Above the large gas planet, space seemed to bend as an armada of ships followed by one large orange Hand War ship coming out of their warp speed; after several minutes passed by in relative peace, a few ships came out of the wrist of the hand ship, before flying down to the gas planet below. 

Within the facility that was at the center of the gas giant’s massive cyclonic storm, the entire floating research facility was abuzz with activity, more so than usual as a certain Citrine Commander was arriving to pick up a particular weapon of mass destabilization in its prototype phase; inside the Administrator's office room, Admin Yellow Olivine was putting herself into overdrive as she worked at her desk, fervently typing into a holo-keyboard. “Compile this…extract…come on, faster!” she shouted at her screen.

So involved in putting together the last touches on the finer know-how instructions for the project 7hund32 dash c14p weapon, that Yellow Olivine nearly fell out of her chair she sat on from a screen popping up next to the monitor she focused her attention on. “Gah!” She stumbled a bit in her chair, as the screen showed a two way video call between her and the Very Commander that was expected to come and pick the prototype up. “C-c-comander Citrine!” She announced as she stood up at Attention.

The commander didn’t comment on her stuttering, “Yellow Olivine.” she began to comment with a raised eyebrow, “I was told you have something for me down here?” she said, while in the background there could be seen a locked off section of the facility with a few Topaz Guards standing beside the door that would lead to what Commander Citrine had come to pick up.

“Oh Stars! I wasn’t expecting you here so soon! I thought I’d have a few more days at least!” Yellow Olivine fretted with her hands on her head in embarrassment. 

On the other end of the call with Commander Citrine, Tanya was thinking inwardly to herself with some joy, “I might just use this to my advantage, I can stall for time and relax for a bit…” she thought to herself with a small smile. Coughing into her fist, “Very well then, I can wait for a few days at the very least.” she smiled at the Yellow Olivine on the other end of the call.

Olivine seemed to breathe a breath of relief, and smiled gratefully back, “Thank you, My Commander Citrine! I was just putting the last touches on the instructions to the projects you were tasked to pick up, it won’t do for you and your gems to operate the weapon without knowing the ins-and-outs of the wmd-”

“WMD?” Tanya deadpanned with an incredulous tone.

“Why yes!” Yellow Olivine smiled excitedly as she stood up for the call, “I thought I’d give it a short acronym.” she said with pride, and nodded to herself.

“...Oh…” Tanya mumbled to herself, before asking, “And WMD stands for?” she prodded the gem with a question.

Yellow Olivine grinned excitedly, “Weapon of Mass Destabilization!” she explained to the Citrine Commander.

“Destabilization?” Tanya questioned the Olivine more with a raised eyebrow, “Not Destruction, but Destabilization?” 

Yellow Olivine frowned a bit, and tapped her chin in thought, “Well, I did think of that first, but theoretically, this weapon is supposed to cause wide destabilization of gems on a planet on a massive scale, it's not supposed to cause destruction on a wide scale.” The Admin Olivine then shrugged to herself, “So I went with Destabilization instead of Destruction for the classification of the weapon’s scale.”

“What’s that part about theoretical?” Tanya asked with a narrowed look of caution.

Yellow Olivine smiled in response, and waved her worry off, “We were able to get enough of the theoreticals written out, now all you need to perform the practical use of the weapon.” she assured the Citrine commander with a gratifying smile.

“I’m gonna need you to explain what it’ll do, before you give it to me.” Tanya asked of the Yellow Olivine gem with a stern frown, “I don’t like going in using something that I have no idea what it’ll do.” she told the Admin gem.

With a giggle of excitement, Yellow Olivine placed her palm on her chest. “I would love to explain the inconsistencies of the prototype, just allow me to finish up the instructions in a few days, and I’ll properly show you what the weapon is and what it’ll do!” she said with a prim smile.

“Well…at least I’ll have an excuse for why I didn’t immediately pick the prototype up.” Tanya thought to herself, before fully speaking to the Admin Olivine, “Very well then, I'll give you at least a week. Two at most” she nodded to herself in satisfaction of getting some down time.

“Oh stars! Don’t worry! I’ll finish it as fast as possible, I wouldn’t want you to be behind schedule after all.” Yellow Olivine fretted with an excited smile, “While I’m thankful for being given a longer time frame, I’m sure you have more important matters to attend to.” she assured the Citrine Commander.

Tanya gave the Yellow Olivine Admin a tight smile, “Oh no, I don’t mean to impose, take your time, and make sure nothing is left out. Wouldn’t want my gems under my command to work with something that has an incomprehensible manual afterall.” She tried to reason with the Olivine Admin.

“I’ll see what I can do!” Yellow Olivine compromise with a crisp diamond salute, “Over and out.” She ended the call.

Just as the video call ended, which was displayed off from a projected holoscreen from the nearby wall with a built in interface, Spinel made an excited sound off to the side, prompting Tanya to turn her head and see Spinel messing with a giant looking mallet, “Ooh, what’s this, woah!” Spinel said as she tested it out by swinging it, and went flying with the mallet’s momentum, and crashed into a stack of supply crates that toppled over her.

“I should have had Pearl to look after you.” Was all Tanya could be bothered to ask as she pinched the bridge of her nose, while Spinel popped her head out of the clutter of supply crates, “Spinel, I asked you to stick nearby.” she tried to chide the spinel gem.

Spinel simply smiled at Tanya, “I am nearby.” she responded back.

“...I ran into that one.” Tanya said to herself with a wince.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

???

From out of the meeting chamber doorway as it opened opened up, the council members exited out after finishing deliberating on important matters strictly known amongst themselves; every trio of gems from each court talked amongst each other as they exited out into the hallway to head to their own destinations, eventually the last ones to exit out were Pink Diamond’s gems, Pink Morganite, Sapphire and Zircon.

From Pink Morganite’s perspective as she walked alongside her fellow gems of Pink Diamond’s court, she inwardly pondered as she headed to the hangar bays with Pink Sapphire and Zircon. While the council did do quite a bit of decision making on various matters across the board for the Diamond Empire as a whole, so side could yet come to an agreement on the matter that was Yellow Diamond’s Citrine Quartz commander.

Decorated in accomplishments as she was, she posed a problem with the more traditionalist of the council members, namely Blue Diamond’s Blue Demantoid, Hessonite and Pyrope; while Yellow Diamond’s gems were more bias in allowing the Citrine commander to do as she wished with all the new ideas she brought forth and how well they all panned out. White Diamond’s gems however were the odd bunch.

White Sapphire was keen on letting the matter of Citrine play out and see what else she could do, Forsterite more or less was adamant on analyzing the commander further, whilst White Diamond’s Nosean gem commander simply wanted to wait it all out until she was given the express opinion from her Diamond that the Citrine commander was nothing but trouble. 

Thus the unanimous decision with what to do with the commander was to decide after a few more centuries, until then, the council would continue to observe the young quartz gem.

Eventually the trio of gems from Pink Diamond’s court made it their own private hanger within the hidden station of the council, a mere consolation compared to how the other gems of the council had their own seat whereas they had none. ‘Not like we can do anything about it.’ Pink Morganite thought to herself as she walked beside Pink Sapphire and Zircon. ‘We lost our beloved Diamond, so now we have no chance of earning a seat.’ she continued to think as she followed with her fellow court members of the ‘shattered’ pink Diamond.

As the three gems headed towards the available ship within the hanger bay, a ship that was angular in shape in the color shade of pink, it resembled a Sun Incinerator ship model with the exception of the needle at the nose of the ship and the wings at the side; The private ship was Tulip ship model, one meant for transportation rather than the whole on board fight systems that a sun incinerator had. 

Just as the three of them were about to board the Tulip ship, a calm voice spoke up from the entrance to the hangar bay, “Morganite, might I have a word with you?” the voice of White Diamond’s Sapphire echoed out through the hanger.

While Pink Sapphire and Zircon paused in entering the ship through the lowered ramp of the Tulip ship, Morganite glanced at them and nodded for them to go ahead on while she walked back to converse with White Sapphire. 

Once Pink Morganite walked back and approached White Diamond’s sapphire, said gem gleamed a rather simple smile as she stood across from Pink Morganite with her hands together in idle posture, White Sapphire stepped towards Morganite before she was face to face with the pink gem. Morganite sweat in nervousness if she were human, but alas she stuck with intertwining her fingers together and twiddled her thumbs as she smiled back at White Sapphire. “Was…there something you needed?” she asked the sapphire gem.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence from the White Sapphire, the gem unclasped her hands and parted her hair away to look into Pink Morganite in the eyes with her single eyes, she smiled broadly in a rather amused manner, “You can investigate all you want, but it won’t hide the fact that she’s gone, you know.” she said in a rather plain manner.

Something within Pink Morganite snapped, as she parted her hands from each other.

SLAP

A harsh echo of a slap echoed throughout the hangar bay, before silence fell between the two gems; Pink Morganite’s face was red with rage while her arm was beside her in the air from swinging it while White Sapphire’s cheek had a red mark on it. The Sapphire gem let go off her bangs and touched her cheek with a free hand while maintaining a neutral expression. 

After a few moments passed, Pink Morganite’s mind finally came down from her anger before switching to that of shock and fear as she shirked back from the White Sapphire as she jerked her arms to her chest, “...!” Her eyes were wide in fear while placing a hand over her mouth in shock at how she allowed her emotions to control her actions, against’s White Diamond’s Sapphire no less.

After another round of seconds passed, White Sapphire began to sooth her wounded red cheek but smiled as she looked back at Pink Morganite through her bangs, “I almost forgot you Pink gems take after your Pink Diamond in not just color, Pink Diamond was quite renown for her outbursts.” she remarked in observation as she finished rubbing the slapped cheek of her face, but kept her hand on it to hide the red mark on her face.

Pink Morganite stepped backwards once, before standing ramrod straight and giving the Sapphire a respective bow, “I’m sorry your clarity! I-I-I-” A finger soon found its way on Morganite’s lips by White Sapphire walking up to her and placing said finger over her lips with her free hand.

“Shh.” White sapphire shushed Pink Morganite, before stepping back a step from the Morganite gem. “I’ll let this slide for now.” she said as Morganite began to stammer a bit, all the while White Sapphire continued to smile. “But let’s get back to what I said.” White Sapphire continued to talk.

Morganite shot a quick glare at the other gem, before correcting herself, “How long have you known we’ve been trying to investigate our Pink Diamond’s shattering?” she asked in curiosity, “It’s not like the others and I have been broadcasting our private investigation.” 

Relaxing both of her arms back down to interlock her fingers once more in front of her as she stood across from Pink Morganite, White Sapphire’s cheek showed almost little to no red now as she spoke with the Pink gem, “I have my ways.” she answered, “But you should know, and this is no lie, it was no fault amongst the council.”

Pink Morganite gave the other gem a suspicious gaze, before scoffing, “As if I’d believe that!” she raised her voice in protest and pointed in the direction of the hallway entrance to the hanger bay, “Pink Diamond was the outlier of all the Diamonds, and I’m pretty sure her shattering was the fault amongst Blue Diamond’s court!” she began to say as she seethed in anger, “Yellow Diamond only sent her single Citrine Commander and a battalion, while Blue Diamond sent an entire armada to help quell the rebellion on Pink Diamond’s colony.”

White Sapphire tilted her head a bit in curiosity, “hoh? And how has your investigation not pointed the fault towards the Citrine Quartz gem? Wouldn’t she be a suspect as well?” the white gem inquired

Morganite narrowed her eyes at the Sapphire in suspicion, “I have a trusted source that the Citrine commander is doing her own investigation into the matter was well, so we’ve docked her off from the list of suspects for now.” 

At that mention of the Citrine Commander doing such a task, White Sapphire turned in place to frown, “I see.” she remarked before leaving a confused Morganite.

“That’s it!?” Pink Morganite hollered over at the sapphire as she exited the hanger bay and into the nearby entrance of the station’s hallways, in response, White Sapphire paused in her steps just as the automatic door opened up for her to go through, and turned to glance over her shoulder at the Pink Gem.

“It seems I have some more digging as well, farewell Morganite.” White Sapphire responded back in a crisp tone, before turning back around and headed back into the hallways.

As the doors closed behind the White Sapphire gem, Morganite let out an exhausted sigh, “What’s with that gem!?” she asked herself, before heading to the Tulip ship. Once the Morganite gem entered the ship through the lowered ramp of the ship, said ramp closed back up once the gem fully entered the Ship vessel; After a few minutes passed, the ship began to hover up and slowly fly out to space.

While the Pink Tulip ship floated through space just outside the hanger bay entrance, the back side shifted into a blossoming tulip before an engine thruster emerged out from the middle of the blossoming backside; moments later, the space in front of the ship distorted before the ship stretch a bit from space warp before finally the Tulip ship blasted off at warp speed to its destination.

Within the space ship vessel as it traveled at warp speed to homeworld, the three Pink gems sat in silence behind their own ship consoles, after a few moments passed it was Pink Sapphire to be the one that spoke up as she turned her head to speak to Morganite who sat at the center of the three. “You’re lucky that Sapphire allowed you to leave for that transgression.” she said in a calm manner.

Pink Morganite, who sat straight in her own chair, let out an annoyed grunt, “Don’t remind me!” she wailed out in despair, before looking back at Pink Sapphire, “But how could she have known of our investigation?” she asked.

“I think the more pressing matter is why you told her that the Citrine Quartz commander was investigating the matter as well.” Pink Sapphire remarked back in a slight chiding tone.

“Gah!” Morganite threw her arms up and covered her face in shame, “I don’t know! I just snapped when she said those words to me!” she exclaimed.

From the left side of Pink Morganite, Pink Zircon spoke up as she preoccupied her time with a datapad as she typed into it while looking down at it, “You’re just lucky she was more concerned with information about the Citrine Commander that she didn’t know about.” the pink gem remarked as she looked up from her personal device and glanced over at Morganite with a raised eyebrow. “For all that she thinks she is, she’s certainly not all knowing with her own future vision.” 

“Hmm.” Pink Sapphire nodded in agreement as she glanced over at Zircon, “I believe it has more to do with her position as White Diamond’s own Sapphire gem, a prestige like that can no doubt get to one’s head.” the gem said calmly.

Pink Morganite frowned in distaste, “Whatever.” she huffed as she faced forward and watched from out of the front windows of the ships, space and stars bent and stretched from out fast they were going. “We can dwell on this matter later.” 

Homeworld

Above the split and shattered planet that was Homeworld, the home planet of the Diamond Empire and center of its very civilization, the space began to warp and shift into eventually an armada of ships rubber banded into existence above orbit; eventually one large orange hand warship warped into existence amongst its armada of gem ships. Attached to the wrist of the hand warship was a new weapon that was situated under its palm.

After a few moments of hovering within orbit of the planet, the entirety of the armada, including the warship, began to slowly make their descent down to the surface; eventually, the entire armada made their way down to the Yellow Palace situated within the main hub area of the four Diamond Palaces.

Behind the Yellow Palace was an open landing area meant for Yellow Diamond’s personal ships, the very same of which the armada of gem ships and warship were granted permission to land on. As the ships began making their gentle landings on the flat surface, from out of the back of the palace a large doorway fit for a Diamond to pass through opened up. From out of the doorway, Yellow Diamond marched forward with her hands behind her back, countless gem soldiers lined up beside the pathway as the Yellow Diamond matriarch walked past them, all of which were giving their ruler their respect and diamond salute.

While Yellow Pearl could be seen doing her best to catch up with her Diamond, said Diamond eventually stopped her march and stood at the end of the pathway, and waited for her Citrine gem to finally exit out. Her expression was that of patience and authority as she watched from out of the palm of the hand warship, a ramp lowered down. Eventually from out of the ship came the Commander Citrine, finally having arrived back to homeworld after a century of busy work across gem space.

Eventually the Citrine commander approached her Diamond, and stood straight before giving her Yellow Diamond a respectful diamond salute, “My Diamond, forgive the lateness, I was held up with some important matters to take care of.” she spoke aloud as she looked up at her Diamond Matriarch.

Bringing her arms from around her back to cross them over her chest, Yellow Diamond looked down at her Citrine gem with a scrutinizing gaze, before glancing up at the entrance of the ship’s ramp, “I assume so.” she drawled out with neither anger or happiness, “And what of Pink’s Spinel gem?” she questioned out of curiosity with a raised eyebrow.

Citrine glanced over her shoulder to see her own Pearl in the process of doing her best to drag a crying Spinel, “No! She’s not gone!” she wailed.

“She’s…still coming down from the news of Pink diamond’s shattering.” Citrine responded as she watched her Orange Pearl struggle to pry the Spinel gem over from out of the floor of the ramp. “Her mood swings can switch quite drastically.” she observed.

“Hm, Just like Pink.” Yellow Diamond noted as she watched her Citrine gem’s pearl struggle to pull the spinel gem up and off from the ramp, only for her to end up stretching the gem, “Pearl, go help Citrine’s Pearl in getting that Spinel to calm down.” She ordered without missing a beat and turned on the heels of her feet and began marching herself back to her palace, “Come Citrine, we have much to discuss and talk about.” she ordered in a strict tone.

“Yes, my Diamond!” Yellow Pearl responded, before rushing off to help the orange Pearl.

Citrine watched as Yellow Diamond’s Pearl rush over to help her own Pearl in getting the spinel gem to calm down, before rushing after her own Diamond Matriarch; she couldn’t very well protest her Diamond’s orders, thus she had given her Orange Pearl one last look before continuing on walking after her Yellow Diamond.

Chapter Text

Homeworld, Yellow Palace

Tanya’s pov

Walking through the hallways of my Diamond’s palace, the walls, floors and ceiling were all in the shades of Yellow; it’s been well over a century since I’ve been back on homeworld and it's still the same as always…well, other than the fact of the now empty hallways that were once lined with sentient walls, I had put in enough requests of appropriating those gems to allocate them from out of their unnecessary stations and place them elsewhere. 

Quite honestly, I saw no purpose for employees to stand around and do nothing, and the gems that were made to stand around and do nothing while the Diamond Authority was dealing with resource issues was quite absurd. So while I had the time a century or so ago, I made sure to make a very worded argument of getting those gems out from their monotonous stations, and place them elsewhere that was more productive to the Empire on the whole.

My submitted argument apparently did quite well from what I heard a few decades after I wrote the message to Yellow Diamond, as it apparently took Yellow Diamond and her powers to reprogram the gems from out of their states, and into more appropriate bodies before putting them to work on one of her colony worlds; so I suppose it all worked out all in the end, but now the hallways were lined every few corners with Quartz soldiers standing at attention with weapons in hand. What was this, the equivalent of Buckingham palace?

‘I suppose it’s better than what it was before, the sheer amount of gems forced to be walls was absurd, why put them in that position when you could allocate them to a better purpose than wasting away as wall decor?’ I continued to walk behind my Diamond as we both strided through the hallways of her Yellow Palace.

While Yellow Diamond marched ahead of me with her arms folded behind her back, her strides were longer compared to mine which meant I had to walk faster to keep in step with her as she led the way to wherever she wanted to take me and discuss whatever was on her long list of things to do or whichever it was that is important; Knowing her, it was more than likely a very lengthy discussion on my progress over the past century.

As I followed after my Diamond, we both eventually made it to the end of one of the hallways we walked through; the yellow doors opened up to show various other gems already present within the room and apparently waiting while sitting on hexagonal raised seats situated in rows with a pathway in the middle for Yellow Diamond’s size to easily walk through. The various gems that were sitting, were in the midst of making small chatter amongst themselves, until Yellow Diamond stepped through the doorway.

The present audience of gems silenced up and stood while giving the Diamond Salute to their Diamond, “My Diamond!” a cacophony of voices rang out.

Yellow Diamond continued to walk into the room while I followed close behind her, “Pick a seat and sit, Citrine, the centennial review of my court will begin soon.” she ordered briskly without turning to look at me, as she continued to walk in and head towards the back end of the room where there was another doorway that she headed towards and entered through once it opened up for her.

Centennial court review huh? I suppose this might be analogous to a corporate yearly review of budgets and assets, only with how long lived gems and busy the empire is, the data is compiled over a century before finally a conference is made to go over who has been slacking and who has not. I do not believe I have nothing to fear, Yellow Diamond has been sending me every which way across the stars to settle matters, and each and every time I made sure to finish them all up in a timely manner.

Taking in the scene before me, I noticed quite a variety of gems were present within the room, from a Yellow Sapphire gem in one of the front row seats to what looked like a fire Opal in the back rows of the seats, there were at least ten or more different types of gems; just as I was about to take an empty seat next to a Zircon who gave me a nervous look once we traded glances at each other, the entrance doors behind me opened back up, prompting my attention to see who it was arriving late…ish? Yellow Diamond hadn’t started yet so I suppose whoever was arriving was aware of how close they might have made it late to the court review.

Turning around a bit to glance over my shoulder, I watched as three more gems entered through the doorway, a Morganite, a Beryll, and an Aquamarine, all of which were of course yellow in their color makeup; The Yellow Aquamarine gave me one glance before sneering at me and making her way off to find a seat, ‘I suppose she must be one of the few gems of Yellow Diamond Court that don’t approve of my ideas I’ve been submitting forward.’ oh well, it’s not like I’m out to earn the approval of every gem of my Diamond’s court, I’m in this to try and get our resource problem under control, not gain favor with the entire court or even race of gems.

If they have a problem with my solutions, they can try and think up something better, otherwise, they can sit on a destabilizer and get poofed for all I care; Contribute to solving the problem or get out of the way has been my motto for the past centuries, and so far it’s gained me enough favor from Yellow Diamond, or at least, I’d like think so with all the ideas she has put into effect that I’ve submitted to her throughout the centuries.

The other two gems however gave me vastly different expressions compared to the contempt I received from the Yellow Aquamarine, the Morganite and Beryll gems seem to have excited expressions as they both made their way over to me. The Golden Beryl gem was the first to reach me and reached out to grab and hold my hand in her own hands, “I must say, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person!” she gushed with a calm but happy expression, before letting me retract my hand out from her grasp.

Giving the Yellow Beryl gem an odd look and raised eyebrow, “...The pleasure is all mine?” I responded back as I looked over at the Morganite who finally reached me and looked up from her diminutive stature, I almost could help but notice the kimono she wore but refrained from commenting on it for now. 

The Yellow Morganite lifted her arm and covered her mouth with the back facing her mouth, her cheeks lifted from a smile she was making, “I must say, you make a more imposing figure than shown in the hologram videos.” she remarked in a demure and sly way.

Hologram videos? I narrowed my eyes down at the gem, “I assume you must have had the chance of seeing my communications with Yellow Diamond from time to time, while working on her palanquin, or at least, that’s what your purpose should be, correct?” I prodded the gem for information.

“Amongst other things of the like.” Morganite smirked behind her hand, while looking slyly to the side with a mischievous look in her eyes, “I do after all design and redesign her palace to her whims and needs, I take pride in my work!” she answered.

“Hm.” I crossed my arms and palmed my chin as I looked down at her, “So the design involving sentient walls were your ideas?” I asked, “I’m surprised you’re this cordial after Yellow Diamond took up my idea of reallocating those gems for other purposes.” 

Yellow Morganite let out a chortle from her throat, and looked back up at me, “Oh please, that was a design I made five thousand years ago, and I hate seeing my old work, so it was a bit refreshing when our Diamond had me work on new designs for the palace.” she remarked with an exceptional shine to her eyes as she looked up at me, “If it weren’t for your proposals, I’d be stuck with little to no work other than updating her palanquin from time to time.” 

So she’s thanking me for putting a workload on her? Well, I suppose when you have had such a lifestyle and an eternal life, life would get boring if you had nothing to do.

“Anyways.” Yellow Beryl began to say as she gestured towards three open and available seats in the middle front row of the various rows of seats that were present in the room, “The meeting should begin soon, it’d be best to sit and await our diamond!” she remarked in a cheerful manner, before leading the way.

Quite the amiable formality that the two had towards me, so suppose it couldn’t hurt to sit beside two gems that were more positive towards me; as I followed after Beryl with Morganite following behind me to sit down at the available hexagonal raise seats, the doors that Yellow Diamond entered and left through opened back up with Yellow Diamond herself exiting out what seemed to be a private office room of her own before the doors shut behind her.

As Yellow Diamond strided forward with a few dataslates under her arm and one in her other hand, her eyes glanced up  from whatever she was reading on the dataslate in her hand and towards my way and seemed to pick up on who I was just now sitting down with, “hm, good, you three have gotten to know each other already, it saves me the time of introducing you to each other.” she commented candidly as she walked towards a rising podium that lifted out from the center of the floor.

As I sat between Morganite to my left and Beryl to my right, I glanced between the two as both glanced back at me with knowing glances and smiles, I'll have to ask them both what she meant. 

Right as Yellow Diamond placed the dataslates on the podium, a soft boom echoed throughout the whole palace and room, before a red aura wave washed throughout the room. While a few gems fell off their seats with force angry expressions, others were able to stay on their seats but hunched forward with their own expressions of ire; I did my best to unclench my teeth from whatever force was causing me to feel such an emotion out of nowhere.

“Blue!” Yellow Diamond gritted out as I looked up after forcing down some of the forced emotion that was thrusted upon me, before the aura collapsed and dissipated away. I watched as my Diamond stormed out of the room through the doorways, before the doors shut behind her, leaving the rest of her court recovering from the sudden forced anger.

“I must say.” The Zircon gem spoke up from across the room of the other side that had rows of raised hexagonal seats, she adjusted her yellow monocle on her left eye as she glanced around, “Blue Diamond must have finally attended her own centennial court review, after five centuries of grieving over Pink diamond.”

The Hessonite that sat beside the Zircon gem crossed her arms from out of her cape as she crossed her leg over her other leg, the gem let out a scoff with a mild smirk, “I can only imagine the kind of trouble her court has been causing with her gone for so long to cause her to go into an apoplectic temper.” she mused.

In the back row of the seats, A fire opal that looked straight out like an a creme of the crop front line gem soldier, allowed her thoughts to be known as she spoke up amongst her peers as she glanced to her side towards the sphene beside her, “Rumor has it that quite a few of the Blue Diamond court nobles have been embezzling gems and resources to their own colonies.” 

The sphene beside the Fire Opal scoffed as she crossed her broad sized arms and shook her head, “Nah, no way, that’s a mark for treason, aint it?” she inquired in a gruff tone to match her size and shape of a hardlight body, a body that was similar to the Jasper under my command.

While the peanut gallery began to gossip more amongst themselves, I myself spoke to the gems beside me as I glanced back and forth between the Morganite and Beryl gems. “So” I began to say as I lifted my leg up to rest it on my other knee and crossed my arms with a look of curiosity, “What did Yellow Diamond Mean by you two getting acquainted with me?” I asked the two other gems with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh!” The Yellow Beryl spoke up first as the two gems beside me turned on their seats to converse with me more directly, “While the Diamonds do indeed create many batches of gems under their control, Yellow Diamond has seen fit to create, summarily, custom gems for nuanced purposes.” 

“Like specialization gems?” I inquired with my curiosity peaked, afterall, I haven’t seen other Citrine Quartz gems that look anything like me, or even any Citrine quartz gems for that matter.

“Almost.” Morganite spoke up with a mischievous smile as she cupped her chin as she seemed to gauge my reaction on a surface level, “Beryl was the first of her custom type gems, that our Diamond later used as a template for lesser beryl gems.”

“So a mold to work off from I suppose?” I asked as I directed my attention to the Yellow Beryl gem beside me.

Beryl made a thoughtful look, “I…supposed that might be an apt description, I was more or less later used as a base template to work off from.” 

So essentially a mold of data to make more beryl gems off from to acquire near the same results, “So I suppose we three share that in common?” I proposed my question to the other two gems beside me.

“More or less.” The Morganite responded as she spoke to me with a sly look, before making a smug expression, “I on the other hand have yet to be used as a template, sad really, I would really look forward to the competition.” she commented before making a chortle laugh whilst covering her mouth with her arm to hide her open mouth of laughter.

Honestly, with the kimono and how she covers her mouth from time to time, she’d almost make a good impression of an ojou-sama.

“That’s because you have not aged enough, I keep telling you this.” The Yellow Beryl spoke up beside me as she leaned forward a bit to look directly over at Morganite with an expression of admonishment.

I could help but give the Beryl gem a confused look, “Aged? I was not aware that the Diamond Empire bothered with the particularities of a gem’s age.” I remarked.

Yellow Beryl looked back at me as she leaned back to her former posture on the chair she sat on, “For most gems, yes, but the higher ranking gems require a somewhat trial period of a thousand years or more before actually being given more appropriate tasks to suit their duties.” she answered in an informative tone.

“So is that why I’ve finally been tasked to join this court meeting?” I asked the two gems beside me as I glanced between Morganite and Beryl.

While Morganite grimaced and look to the side, it was Beryl that once again spoke to me as she looked at me, “You were supposed to be here after your trial period of five hundreds years passed, but with the whole Rose Rebellion that lasted a thousand years, and you being sent to Pink’s colony to assist there for five hundred years, the whole process was delayed quite a bit.”

So it’s back to that kerfuffle that caused a widespread resource issue for the Diamond Authority to this day, huh? “So the supposed trial period of mine was stalled?” I asked, seems like there had to be more to it than that.

Morganite looked back over at me, “It’s also because of all the ongoing messes that Yellow Diamond has been sending you to clean up, and she herself was busy managing other things, so quite a lot of stuff has been stalled that isn’t just you among the long list of her duties.” 

Ah, that makes more sense…I suppose in the loosest sense. The Yellow diamond court has been swamped with work after all, and just now things have been settling down a bit, so I suppose now was good as ever to have me attend these centennial meetings.

As I converse with the Yellow Morganite and Beryl on other matters that involved what their century of work have been, in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but be curious to how Blue Diamond’s court session was faring that caused the Blue Diamond matriarch to unleashed her emotion aura in such a way.

Blue Diamond Palace

Sodalite was glad her Diamond finally returned from her grieving over Pink Diamond, but the amount of embezzlement of gems and misused resources over the years by her court was more than enough to cause the Diamond Matriarch to quite literally erupt in anger with her powerful aura to flare outwards. 

While it was up to the administrator Azurite to help settle matters while her Blue Diamond was away to grieve for the past five hundred years, it didn’t help matters that the administrator was in on the embezzling with several Pyropes and Tourmalines; don’t even get her started on how long it took for her Diamond to go over each and every report, it almost took her to the last minute of finishing it all before the centennial court review had began.

Sodalite would never forget the rest of her life of the scene when her lovely and beautiful opulent Blue Diamond broke through her own doors with her gorgeous hair, all frazzled and an expression of apoplectic fury. Bodies were poofed from shots of her power whenever a guilty gem tried to defend themselves, while others were grabbed by her Diamond and poofed by her crushing grip.

Swallowing down her nervousness as she stood behind her chair and peaked over, “My Diamond?” Sodalite spoke up as her Diamond began to calm down after all the guilty gems were poofed and bubbled for later punishment, “I believe you're getting a call from Yellow Diamond.” she commented as she pointed over at Diamond’s podium that had a floating hologram showing an incoming call from Yellow Diamond.

Blue Diamond relaxed her shoulders from her angry tantrum, before patting her hair down with a nervous look, “Oh, Yellow!” she remarked in worry, before looking around to see the cracked walls caused from her temper and emotional aura from blowing outwards. “Oh dear.” she cupped her face in embarrassment.

The call eventually came through once Blue Pearl walked over and touched the large oversize podium, “Allow me, My Diamond.” she said softly.

“Go ahead.” Blue Diamond nodded to her pearl as she soothed more of her frazzled hair down.

Once the call connected, Yellow Diamond could be seen with her own expression of anger and fury, “Blue! What do you think-” the Yellow Diamond Matriarch then took notice of the background behind Blue Diamond, “Blue.” Yellow Diamond sighed as she palmed her forehead, “How bad was it?” she asked as she dragged her hand down over her face to look directly at Blue Diamond through the call.

“Is it so bad that I can’t ask for five hundred years of grieving without my Court needing me?” Blue Diamond asked with an annoyed expression.

Yellow Diamond glanced through the video call to see the state of Blue Diamond’s meeting room meant for her court, “Evidently, you’re asking for too much.” she sneered in distaste at seeing the floating guilty bubbled gems.

AN; Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Figured I get one more chapter out before the next year comes. Hope you enjoyed this one.

Chapter Text

Homeworld, Blue Palace

- Prior to the Centennial Court Review of Diamond Courts

Blue Diamond could be seen within a large room in shades of blue like the rest of her palace on homeworld, and presently she was looking over stacks of dataslates piled all over her desk as she sat on her turquoise colored angular chair; The matriarchal Diamond had a mix of emotions as she went over reports after reports of data of every colony under her control, from pensive to outright anger were her swirling reactions to reading the reports. Numbers were fudged to outright misappropriated gem resources for lavish unsanctioned gem balls.

Blue’s eyes narrowed in seething anger while trying to stifle her overwhelming anger towards her administrator Azurite, who was supposed to take care of things while she was away to grieve over the loss of Pink. Yellow may not be as visibly emotional as her, and was quick to rationalize certain aspects of her feelings, but Blue Diamond tended to allow her emotions to shine through herself, and right now Blue was feeling very apoplectic towards her Administrator. 

As Blue Diamond placed her current datalsate in her hand down to soothe her incoming emotional temper from clouding her actions, she leaned back into her chair to let the ambiance of her room mellow her out; in the background, waterfalls cascaded down on the far off walls; The aesthetic of waterfalls in her office room soothed her mind, before closing her eyes to dwell on the past. 

Eyes snapping back open, Blue let out a soft groan as her mind drifted back to Pink, and how the Empire used to be with her chipper attitude, her methods of bringing all the Diamond’s together with Balls and other such parties. “No.” Blue Diamond said to herself with a dark look as she thought back to when recent events have shown it wasn’t good for her to grieve for so long. Already it was looking like an entire fiasco had occurred while she was away to grieve, and now she couldn’t be bothered to grieve in peace without her Court and Aristocrat gems stirring up trouble. Five hundred years was all it took for her Court and Gems to muck things up.

“My Diamond.” Her Pearl’s soft voice broke her out of her thoughts as Blue Pearl walked up to her desk with a holopad in hand, “I have more reports on the way, where would you like me to put them?” she inquired of her Diamond as she angled her head up to look towards her Diamond as she stepped beside the large chair that belonged to said Diamond.

Blue Diamond let out an annoyed sigh, and leaned back over her desk to go over her current stack of dataslates, “Have them brought in Pearl, and have them placed beside the desk.” she ordered, earning a curtsy from Blue Pearl.

“As you command, my Diamond.” Blue Pearl responded back softly with a small smile as she stood back up from her curtsy and made her way off to have the Blue Ametrine Quartz soldiers assist her in bringing in the piles of report for her Blue Matriarch to go over. It was good to finally see her Diamond out of her grief, but now her Diamond was faced with a series of problems all over her court.

As Blue Pearl stepped through the doorway to the personal office of Blue Diamond, it closed back up once she fully exited out and made her way towards the doorway down the hall of waterfalls that cascaded over the hallway walls; While making her way past several other doors in between gaps of waterfalls, she spotted a few Ametrine guards making their rounds of patrolling the hallways.

With a plan in motion, Blue Pearl strided over to the guards. “Ahem.” She softly spoke as she approached the ametrine guards, the likes of which had similar looks to their Jasper Quartz cousin gem line but with less bulk, said guards ceased in their march to turn and face the Blue Pearl.

“I require your assistance.” Blue Pearl softly said to the group of guards, who in response recognized who the pearl was and politely nodded to her, “Follow me please.” she spoke next while gesturing to a doorway in the distance within another gap of the cascading waterfall walls.

As Blue Pearl and the group of Ametrine guards approached the doorway of the Pearl’s destination, Blue Pearl approached the door first and placed her palm on the panel beside the door to open the doorway up. The doors opened up, allowing the Pearl and Quartz soldiers an inside look.

Pearl however frowned when she spotted Azurite of all gems along with several other high ranking gems with their backs turned to the doorway that opened up with nary a sound, and how could the gems have heard a soft opening door when every gem inside was busy smashing dataslates and using other forms of ways to scrub data clean.

“Hurry!” The Azurite Administrator yelled as she directed several gems in making a mess of the room, “Blue Diamond will be finished any hour soon, we got to wipe everything clean, we can pin the blame on some Ametrines later!” she screamed in fright, all the while earning a glare at her back from the ametrine guards and a distasteful frown from Blue Pearl.

“Excuse me.” Blue Pearl soft spoke up in a louder octave than her normal vocal tone she’d often use, earning every gem to cease what they were doing while the Azurite administrator stood stock still, before steadily craning her head around to glance over her shoulder with some measure of fear. “...” the look of fear was written all over the gems’ faces.

“Guards.” Blue Pearl spoke with a terse but soft voice, “Arrest them, my Diamond will take care of the rest.” she asked/ordered. Being Blue Diamond’s pearl came with a few responsibilities and authority more than the average pearl that would be owned by any other high ranking gem, and commanding the arrest of members of her Diamond’s court was amongst one of them.

With a trembling lip of fear and some anger, Azurite snarled back at the Pearl before her, “Belay that order! She’s just a pearl-” she began to say, only for the pearl to cut her off by speaking.

“You are tampering with records, Azurite, you lost your authority the moment you enacted this action, and by extension, your cohorts.” Blue Pearl softly intoned with firmness in her voice, “Dispose of them, Ametrines, and collect their gems for later processing.” she ordered more tersely.

While the culprits within the room began looking for ways out, Blue Pearl stood and watched as the Ametrine guards rushed in and began poofing every gem. As the spectacle continued to play out, Blue Pearl spoke to herself with a frown, “This will not bode well for my Diamond, she will be very angry.” she noted, right before Aministator Azurite found herself having tripped in her escape to the exit, and now laid on her stomach at the feet of Blue Pearl.

From the view below, Azurite looked up and could see the scathing look of Blue Pearl’s eyes from under her hair. “Please! We can talk about-” she began to plead, only to be interrupted by the pearl.

“Shh.” Blue Pearl silence her while gesturing with her finger in front of her lips while looking down at the Azurite gem below her with a scathing look in her eyes beneath her hair that could be seen by the Administrator from her position, “We just got our Diamond out from her grief, but now you’ve complicated matters.” she softly spoke with a distasteful frown, before one of the Ametrine guards walked over to grab the Azurite by her leg and drag her back to the center of the room to be dealt with.

As Azurite let out an anguish yell of anger and fear, the Ametrine guard reared her arm back and punched Azurite’s body with enough force to poof her; as the former administrator’s gem clattered to the floor, Blue Pearl glanced around the room to take note of the damage done, and noticed there was still a majority of the dataslates left untouched by the guilty gems. “Collect the gems and bubble them for my Diamond to deal with later.” Blue Pearl ordered the guards. “I must inform my diamond of this troubling matter.”

As the guards continued doing their duty, Pearl turned on the balls of her feet and began to exit out of the room, “Come to Blue Diamond’s office once you were done with the bubbled gems in hand.” she finished ordering before exiting out of the room to confront her Diamond and deliver the distressing news.

Present

From the point of when Blue Pearl broke the news to her Diamond, it was pure chaos as the Blue Diamond Matriarch ordered an entire lockdown across her palace and territory on Homeworld; while the planet did belong to White Diamond first and foremost, the granted territories to each diamonds were gifts as a means to keep all the Diamond present on one planet, rather than scattered across the stars on their own colonies.

After several days all the way to the present, Blue Diamond had furiously gone over every report given to her and by each day her mood was soured until the day of the Centennial court review that each Diamond underwent to go over the progress of the Empire at large and the statistics of their own colonies.

At present from Blue Pearl’s point of view, she couldn’t help but deal with her Diamond’s aura as it washed over her from the anger her Diamond felt as she dealt with every guilty party within the centennial court review. The angry red aura caused quite the tremor throughout the palace, and Pearl could only fathom how much Yellow Diamond’s palace received any of it from how far her Diamond’s aura could travel.

As Pearl watched her Diamond finish poofing the last guilty gem within the room, leaving only sparse few remaining gems to be part of her upper court echelon, a call eventually pinged from her diamond’s podium at the auditorium-like room; the entire set-up was styled into an underwater menagerie with clams as chairs and a running creak at the base floor lining the walls, as with all of her Diamond’s artistic style, she enjoyed the thematic view of water and all that it encompasses. 

While Sodalite grabbed her Diamond’s attention to tell her Diamond that she was receiving a call from Yellow Diamond, Blue Pearl momentarily glanced around the room as she stood not far from her Diamond, quite a bit of the walls were cracked from her Diamond’s emotional outbursts.

Bringing herself out her thoughts, Blue pearl walked over to the podium and offered to accept the incoming call for her diamond. “Allow me, my Diamond.” she spoke softly, earning the go ahead from the Blue Diamond Matriarch.

As her Diamond began talking with Yellow Diamond on the other end of the video call, Blue Pearl allowed her to go back to her thoughts as she stood back away from the podium; there was much do to for the blue court to recover from this mess, and while it wasn’t her place to know the more intricate ways to reorganize, restructure, and even fix the mess that was Azurite’s embezzlements and those that aided her. What Blue Pearl did know was that quite a bit of the Blue court would be left open for new gems to fill, which meant her Diamond would be busy for quite some time.

Yellow Palace

Elsewhere within the grand building of Yellow Diamond, within the general quarters for the lower caste of gems, i.e quartz soldiers and the like, the place was abuzz with activity as gems busied themselves in keeping themselves occupied; In one of the spacious rooms allocated for soldier gems to retreat to and await their next orders and missions, a cacophony of conversations filled the large room.

Said large room had its own share of arenas to allow the gem soldiers to sharpen their skills against one another, a practice done to keep all gems from letting their capabilities from atrophying; In one of the arenas was Skinny, while in another Was Jasper, both seemed to be in an unofficial contest who could last the most rounds against other quartz soldiers, who seemed all the more thrilled at fighting against the legendary Jasper Quartz from Pink Diamond’s colony. The gem soldiers going up against Skinny on the other hand were just as thrilled at throwing their lot against the off color, only to be proven she could best them just as well as the other Jasper in the other arena.

While the sounds of gem weapons clanging against each other filled the air just as much as the cacophony of conversations between various gems, off to the side stood Lapis with her arms crossed as she leaned up against a wall. No matter how often she has hung around with the lower caste of gems while she’s been under the command of Citrine, it’s always a surreal experience for her to be amongst Quartz soldiers and their variations that came with the Quartz line of soldiers.  Lapis Lazulis were the common elite of the Gem empire, which afforded her quite the experience of seeing how different the hierarchy of caste interacted amongst each other of the same caste level.

Lapis watched on with an indifferent expression as she witnessed Skinny easily dispatch a heavy class quartz soldier by utilizing some sort of counterforce to launch the gem out of the ring and give the match to the off color, with a small smile of amusement, Lapis couldn’t help but look at the faces of the other gems at how easily the off color won the match. ‘Some of these gems haven’t even gotten the chance to actually see combat, yet they think just because she’s an off color, they’ll be the ones to easily win the match.’ Lapis thought to herself as the cacophony of cheers and excitement filled the area from the audience of gems watching the matches.

Back to her previous thoughts on the matter of caste hierarchy, Lapis reminisced to herself on how her fellow Lapis Lazulis would interact with each other during their missions of terraforming planets; sure she’d have fun with her fellow lapis gems, but it didn’t exactly feel like how the quartz gems had fun tossing each other in friendly matches. ‘Pretty sure if my gem line did the exact same thing, there wouldn’t be a planet left.’  Lapis thought to herself sardonically, thinking back to how capable a lapis could sheer through objects with the power of water alone. The very thought of Lapis Lazulis practicing their powers against each other was an amusing thought.

Oh sure, Commander Citrine had acquisitioned a few other lapis lazulis to combat the growing rebel gem problem, but it was just that, the Lapis Lazulis were used strictly for taking out other gems, not once have they been required to brush up on their combat skills, as her gem line was more or less used as a ranged class under Commander Citrine; not once were any Lapis Lazulis used for close up and personal combative purposes.

Afterall, her gem line was on the upper spectrum of gem power, depending if they were on a planet with water of course, and last she checked, Commander Citrine once said she should have acquisitioned more Lapis Lazulis while on Pink Diamond’s planet; the planet was already seventy percent water, which would have put Lapis on a home field advantage with how abundant the water was on the planet.

“Hey!” A voice broke Lapis out of her thoughts, prompting her to look down at the approaching off color Carnelian; the shortstack gem was waving over at her while 8xG and 8xJ followed beside her, “I figured you’d be down here amongst us.” She noted as the beta kindergarten gem and the two prime quartz gems of earth approached the Lapis gem.

Lapis allowed a small smile to grace her feature as she lifted her hand up from out of her crossed arms to greet the three gems, “Hey.” She greeted back as the gems stood beside her to watch the ongoing matches within the arenas between quartz soldiers. “Shouldn’t you three and skinny be on that human zoo soon?” she asked the three gems to pass the time.

Carnelian, who stood beside Lapis now, waved off her question, “Pft, nah, Blue Diamond ended up having to use the human zoo space station as her means to get back to homeworld, since she used it to travel to planet F78.” she answered with a snarky attitude of amusement.

Amethyst 8xG that stood beside Carnelian, spoke up next with an amused chuckle, “Imagine Homeworld’s first reaction when she came back using the human zoo as her transportation, only for her blue arm ship to arrive some time later after the pilots tried to catch up with their Diamond.” the Amethyst remarked, earning a few chuckles from the other Quartz gems and an amused expression from Lapis.

“Yeah.” Lapis remarked as she thought back to seeing in space the Human zoon within orbit of Homeworld. “I’m sure it was quite the spectacle.” she commented back at the Amethyst gem beside Carnelian.

“Hey.” Amethyst 8xJ spoke up as she stood beside Lapis, opposite of Carnelian, “you wanna spar some?” she asked while pointing to an available ring, and then punched her palm with her fist with an excited expression, “I haven’t seen you interact much with the others, how about you loosen up some?” she asked Lapis.

Lapis let out a small chuckle, and shook her head, “Pass, I’m not exactly built for hand to hand combat, I’m more suited to fight with water, in case you forgot.” 

“Nonsense!” Carnelian spoke up with her fists clenched in eager excitement and hopped to grab Lapis by the hand and pull her into the available ring, “You’re already here, so why not loosen up a bit?” she prodded the Lapis gem, who looked like she’d rather be anywhere but in her current situation.

Meanwhile from the entrance to the large room of rowdy quartz soldiers, the doors opened up with the presence of Yellow Pearl, Orange Pearl, and an angry Spinel who looked on the verge of throwing one of the Pearls through the wall. “And here is where Yellow Diamond allows her soldiers to let loose and sharpen their skills against each other.” Yellow Pearl said as she gestured for Spinel to see, a general tour was given to the Pink gem, as she had never visited the Yellow Palace in her lifetime and right now was good as any to occupy Pink gem’s time while Citrine was busy with her duties under Yellow Diamond.

“Who cares about some stupid room for quartz gems!” Spinel threw her hands up in exasperation, “I want to go see how Pink’s palace is doing!” she whined in anger.

Orange Pearl tapped her index fingers against each other as she stood beside Spinel with a simple but tense smile, “Spinel, we’ve been over this, we can’t exactly take you there without either Blue diamond’s or Yellow Diamond’s permission.” 

“Ugh!” Spinel made an exasperated sound as she hunched over and drooped her arms down like noodles off a fork, “You both bore me! None of this tour is any fun!” she tilted her head back with a whine and fell onto her rear to sigh more dramatically.

Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes and sniffed haughtily, “We don’t do fun here, the Yellow Palace is for serious business.” she remarked.

Spinel shot a dirty look at the Yellow Pearl, “You’re the one that’s no fun, I can see why Pink said she thought you were boring and full of hot hair.” she shot back with an annoyed dark look.

Yellow Pearl gasped and palmed her chest in an aghast manner, “Why, I never!” she remarked towards the insult so to her by the spinel gem. “I am not full of hot air, I am in fact a percentage of-” she was about to say more, only for the sudden toss of Carnelian’s small body to slam into the nearby wall adjacent to the doorway. “Oh Stars!” she remarked.

While Carnelian pried herself out from the wall with raucous laughter, before sprinting back, she yelled out, “See, told you that move would work, now try again, but this time with more from your hips!”

Both Pearls looked astonished and shocked towards where a surprised Lapis had her arms out in an after pose of having thrown the Carnelian with a move she taught her, Spinel on the other hand looked excited and bounced up to balance on the balls of her feet, “That looks fun! I wanna join in!” she remarked, before heading into the room.

While Spinel went off into the room to interact with the common rabble that were Quartz soldiers and one Lapis Lazuli, Yellow Pearl turned her head to glance directly over at Orange Pearl. “Should we just leave her here, or…?” she left the question hanging for the other Pearl to answer.

Orange Pearl looked back at Yellow Pearl, and offered a shrug, “Our Diamond and Commander are both busy, so I suppose we should keep an eye on Pink Diamond’s Spinel.” 

“Hmm. Yes.” Yellow Pearl remarked with a dry look directly back out towards where the Pink Spinel gem went off to, and watched as the gem joined one of the arenas. “Should we worry for her safety though?” 

“Who's safety?” Orange Pearl asked with a raised eyebrow directed back at the Yellow Pearl, “We’re dealing with Pink Diamond’s Spinel gem.” 

Yellow Pearl then grimaced, “Oh, right, she’s that Spinel, a Diamond Rated spinel at that. I almost forgot she’s the top of her gem line compared to other court jesters.” 

Chapter Text

Homeworld, Yellow Palace

Gem Processing

In a large room where large amounts of gems were being shepherded in from the direction of a hallway that led to where Citrine's ship had landed, amongst all of the ruckus and conversations between the crowds of gems picked up from White Diamond's planet of Albus 01, an Olivine could be seen standing atop a grand platform that allowed her to be visible from afar amongst all of the incoming gems being shepherded into the large room. Along the walls were Quartz soldiers with their arms crossed and keeping an ever vigilant eye on the new gems coming in.

The Olivine gem held up a conical device and spoke into it, "I'll only say this once, keep your hands and feet to yourselves until further notification." she began to announced, and gestured to her left, "For the gems that were used for administration purposes, please take yourselves through that hallway and you'll be given an update to your suits for your change in Diamond owner, after which, you'll be led to a seminar on what will be expected of you from now on under the command of your new Diamond."

Olivine then switched her device into her other hand and used her right arm to gesture to the right, "For all you other gems, take yourselves through that hallway, and you'll be processed for combative purposes." she finished announcing, which afterwards the flow of incoming gems conversed amongst themselves a bit while splitting off to their destinations. Olivine continued to keep an eye on the batch of gems that finished flowing in from the entrance to the large room she was in, and crossed her arms as she waited for the next batch to repeat her speech once again to direct the gems to their destinations.

Amongst the batch of gems that were directed to the left, Corundum and Fayalite were part of the group of gems as they walked alongside each other to be processed by whoever or whatever was on the other end of the hallway they were directed to by the Olivine gem. Corundum spoke up first after coming to terms that she was on homeworld.

"Did you see what Homeworld looked like when we were outside, Fay?" Corundum asked her fellow gem from of the same planet as she and Fayalite walked beside each other, Corundum glanced up at her fellow coworker gem she's known for the better part of her life. "It's not exactly how I imagined it would look like if you ask me."

Fayalite shrugged haphazardly with an unimpressed look on her face, and blew a stray strand of her hair away from her visible eye while the rest of her bangs covered her other eye, "It looked okay, at least it doesn't look like a shining white rock with coal at the bottom like our home planet." she remarked with a dry tone as she glanced down at Corundum while walking beside the short gem.

"Nah." Corundum rolled her eyes at Fayalite's assumption, "I bet the lower sections of Homeworld are filled with gem holes, and all of the rest of homeworld is built atop some desolate cave system of caverns." the ruby-like gem mused with a snarky tone.

"Most likely." Replied Fayalite as she and Corundum eventually made it through the hallway with their fellow captured gems that were led into the room for their new duties under Yellow Diamond. "Especially what the rumor has with that rebellion on Pink Diamond's colony having caused a resource shortage to the Diamond Empire." she remarked afterwards.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called out to the two, bringing the attention of Corundum and Fayalite over to see Tephroite and Spodumene, "Fayalite, Corundum!" the Tephroite waved her amorphous arm and hand to greet the other two gems, "over here!" She encouraged the duo to come over and stand with a familiar crowd of gems.

Both gems took notice and split off from the crowd of other gems to converse with the two amorphous type gems, "Tephroite! Spodumene!" Corundum greeted back with a happy expression as she lifted her arm and hand up to greet Tephroite right back, "I wasn't sure I'd get to see you two again!" she remarked as she and Fayalite reached the other two gems.

Tephroite nodded back at Corundum as the two fellow gems from the same home planet conversed with each other, "Well it seems obvious our gem type isn't meant for administration, so I suppose it was inevitable we'd be in the same group of gems to be herded into this room." she noted.

Fayalite chose to speak up at that moment with a quizzical look on her face as she sized the two amorphous gems up and down with her lone visible eye, "Do you two even know how to fight? I've never seen an amorphous gem type get into any type of confrontation within the under city of Ablus." she pointed out with a skeptical look directed at Tephroite and Spodumene.

"Of course!" Spodumene finally spoke up with an amused expression on her face, as her single eye was directed at Fayalite as she stood beside Tephroite, "It's not like neither of us avoided the more roughhousing gems of the undercity, so if push came to shove, neither of us were strangers with having to put down some rowdy gem that was making trouble for everyone else."

"Well…" Corundum began to say as she directed her attention to the stage situated at the back end of the room they were in, "Whatever Yellow Diamond has in store for us and every other gem from Albus 01, hopefully it doesn't involve being stuck in an undercity anymore." she remarked with an annoyed look on her face.

Tephroite nodded her head in agreement, before a loud voice cut the chatter of the entire room, before the sound of loud footsteps stepped across the stage. "ALRIGHT!"

Bismuth Facat h47 cut 7021 was a very proud gem from the h4n20 Bismuth line of gems, she like her many other sister gems were made with the express purpose of creating the finest gem weapons in all of gem history, some of which weapons were more notable than others based on how they looked and operated.

While Bismuth marched herself through the hallway to the auditorium to greet the new gems and mentally figure out how many new weapons needed to be made, she thought back to one her more finer weapons she made for the Commander that had delivered the new batch of gems for Yellow Diamond to practically conscript into her military arm of the Diamond Authority.

The War Knife was her best gift she made at the time to Citrine before she was shipped off to fight against Rose Quartz's rebellion, only to later have to make the commander a new one weapon after she returned; she wasn't sure why, but Citrine had simply told her that she wanted a new blade that wouldn't remind her of the war on Pink's planet.

With that thought aside as Bismuth was on fast approach to the exit of the hallway she walked through, the gem clenched her hands in mild conflicting emotions as she was reminded that one of her sisters defected to Rose Quartz side of the rebellion, and how she created a blade that somehow shattered Pink Diamond. Something was up about the sequence of events that led up to that moment, but unfortunately Bismuth wasn't down there on that planet at the time so she couldn't exactly get a good look at the blade that her sister gem made.

Hopefully Citrine would travel to the planet after the lockdown on the galaxy was lifted and allow her to come with, she needed to get a good look at the weapon if they could find it and figure out how her sister created a blade that was capable of shattering a Diamond of all gems; by all rights, and by her calculations, the force an impact needed was greater than the strength of a Quartz Soldier's ability to swing a weapon into a Diamond's gem. Unlike the rest of gem society, their Matriarch Diamonds were made of more stable properties than other gems, and even their forms could take heavier blows far beyond what a normal gem was capable of taking.

Putting her remuneration on the matter aside for now, she could reminisce more on the matter later, right now she had a job to do.

As Bismuth walked out of the hallway and onto the stage, the lights above highlighted her form; her multi colored dreads on her head were tied back into a ponytail, her height and mass of her form was the same as any other Bismuth, but her inny gem was located on her shoulder; right as she stepped to the center stage in front of the many relocated gems from White Diamond’s colony world of Albus 01, her eyes took in the sight and sized up every gem in existence and mentally took measurements of what sort of weapons would fit each gem.

After finishing her mental activity, Bismuth cleared her throat and prepared to yell as boisterous and loud as she could, " Alright !" she yelled with her fists planted at her hips, it did the job quite well as every gem brought their attention to her while silencing themselves with their conversations they had amongst each other.

"Good!" Bismuth spoke aloud, the room carrying her loud boisterous voice with ease as she began to pace along the stage as she greeted the new greenhorns of Yellow Diamond military arm. "I'm pleasantly glad to see you're all acquainted with knowing to shut your traps and allow someone to speak when they need your attention!" she yelled.

As Bismuth paced to the side on the stage, she halted and faced forward while standing on the right side of the stage, "I'll get to the quick end of it, you and by extension the rest of those after you that will be coming later, are all now part of the great military arm of the Great and Magnanimous Yellow Diamond!"

Bismuth then began to pace to the other side of the stage, all the while the audience of gems kept their attention on the boisterous Bismuth gem, "I am here to welcome you here, as well to assess what I'll be expecting from all of you for next few years as the Yellow Corps whip you all into efficient soldiers."

Ceasing in her paces to stand on the left side of the stage, Bismuth folded her arms beyond her back as she glanced down and scanned her eyes across the crowd of gems, "And trust me, once I'm through with you all, you'll be looking back at your past selves and wonder how you became a bonafide coal crusher!"

Pulling out a dull metal chisel to place into the side of her lip and chew on, Bismuth then cross her arms with a smirk, "And don't even think of complaining, you're even lucky Yellow Diamond didn't have Citrine wipe your memories with a factory reset, so count your lucky pebbles you still have a functioning processor in your mind!"

After finishing her chew session on the dull chisel she placed into her mouth, Bismuth pulled it out to show it was now sharp and used it to point at each and every one of the gems in a sweeping motion of her arm, "Now set up and prepare for the next few months of tireless retraining! I'm about to turn you all from dull blades to the cutting edges of Yellow Diamond's military, the likes of which will cut through any enemy without so much of a single sweat. MOVE OUT!" Bismuth yelled while gesturing towards a hallway to the left.

With some murmuring amongst the crowd of gems as they slowly made their way to the hallway and their destination, Bismuth glared and formed her hand into a conical shape to amplify the echo of her voice, "DOUBLE TIME, MOVE IT MOVE IT OR I'LL GET DOWN THERE AND MOVE YOU MYSELF, OR SO HELP ME…" Bismuth yelled, earning the results she wanted as every gem ran off into a sprint.

As Bismuth watched the new gem recruits with a now amused expression, she crossed her arms, "Yup, still got it." she said to herself, while waiting for the next batch of gems to arrive for her next round of welcoming new 'recruits'.

Chapter Text

Homeworld, Yellow Palace

Yellow Diamond’s Court 

Tanya

After Yellow Diamond had done her brief talk with Blue Diamond, she had resumed her court review for over quite a bit of hours, all of which involved the progress of every gem’s duties within the room; Some gems were more successful in their reviews than others, while some few gems were penalized in mismanaging their colony worlds or stations across the territories of Yellow Diamond’s colonies.

One such gem that was penalized was a Yellow Jade that was in charge of managing a ring of asteroids of a solar system, a solar system that was within the Northern Sector of the Galaxy, the very same sector that was where the majority of where Yellow Diamond expanded her territories of colonies through; The Jade gem had been complacent in her duty as the overseer of the ring of asteroids, and it ended up with a deficient in gem production that didn’t match anywhere near the projected numbers done by Yellow Diamond after she went over the reports.

Suffice to say, the Yellow Jade gem was stammering out apologies before being silenced by Yellow Diamond and was told to expect inspections every decade rather than the stipulated twenty five years to make sure she didn’t screw up again. One didn’t have to imagine if she failed again…

The rest of the reviews across the board were more mediocre and acceptable results from the other gems of their duties. As Yellow Diamond approached my end of the room while pacing back as she read off from her data slates, she halted in front of me and the other two gems that sat next to me, Yellow Morganite and Beryl.

“Morganite.” Yellow Diamond started to say as her eyes glanced down at the dataslate in her hand, while her other arm as folded behind her back, before glancing down at the palace and palanquin designer, “I’ll be using you for the foreseeable century in remodeling the palace, some changes are needed and quite a few facilities are in need of renovating. See to it that you go over a list of available Bismuths and meet me within the atrium of the palace.” Yellow Diamond ordered with a firm tone of voice and stoic look down at the Morganite.

Yellow Morganite looked close to jumping out of her seat and bowing at the feet of her Diamond, but she settled with doing her best to stand up and gleam an expressive smile of delight while saluting her Diamond, “Yes, My Diamond! I’ll do my best to acquire the best of the best of the Bismuth gems I have available, thank you oh so glorious-”

“Yes yes.” Yellow Diamond lifted her palm up with an exhausted look on her face, “You can save the compliments for later.” she gestured for the Morganite gem to sit down, to which she accepted with an anticipated smile on her face.

Yellow Diamond then proceeded to swipe her finger up on the Data slate in her hand, and focused her attention on Yellow Beryl. “Beryl, I’ll be having you sent to the northern sector of my territories, I need you to take on an expedition to find a new solar system with viable planets for colonization.” she ordered with a strict tone and expression cast down upon the Beryl gem.

Yellow Beryl stood up and saluted her Diamond with an ever present gracious look on her face as she angled her head up to look directly at her Diamond’s face, “Yes, my Diamond! I shall begin gathering my forces post haste!” She announced with fervor, before sitting back down to allow her Diamond to move on.

With her piece said and done with Beryl, Yellow Diamond began scrolling through her dataslate, before walking back to her podium to grab the last one, “Citrine, you had quite the century of work done.” She began to say  as she picked up her next dataslate and looked like she was skimming through it for a sec, before scrolling back up to the top with her finger. 

‘That’s putting it lightly.’ I thought to myself while repressing a grimace as I watched Yellow Diamond go through the dataslate with a scrutinizing gaze, I uncrossed my arms and legs to sit respectively up while placing my hands on my lap. While I doubt I could put forward some new ideas for including new regiments into my forces right now, I’ll stick with hoping I didn’t fail to live up to my Diamond’s expectations of all the campaigns I operated through the century; afterall, I could speak with Yellow Diamond later on the matter of finally getting those Rose Quartz gems out of their bubbles and actually putting them to good use.

Yellow Diamond lowered her dataslate to look directly down towards me, “Citrine, how goes the cabochon and facet mixed regiments?” she inquired with a gaze that seemed to measure my next response.

Responding back to the best of my ability, I swallowed down my nervousness and told the whole truth as best as I could, “While the higher echelons of gem authority figures are more prone to discriminate based on each other’s gem type and all manner of other matters surrounding their gems, the common foot soldiers of my armada and regiments are pleasantly fine fighting alongside each other.” I informed my Diamond without missing a beat.

“Hm.” Yellow Diamond raised a curious eyebrow at my answer, and lifted her dataslate back up to go over whatever Data I most likely submitted to her throughout the century of my work. “But none of your Hessonites or Emeralds have disobeyed your direct orders of working at peak efficiency?” she asked with continued curiosity.

I blinked at her question, before answering her with a nod, “Well, they don’t exactly hinder each other at surface level, it’s still easy to see moments where the leaders of my forces would call each other out with worded insults at worse, but I have yet to see any of the cabochons or facet gems actually attempt any form of sabotage towards each other.” 

“Interesting…” Yellow Diamond mused while looking to the side in thought while cupping her chin, “Perhaps the discrimination is just more prevalent in Blue’s court than in mine…” she spoke to herself, before looking back at me. “Give it another century, until then, keep working on that social experiment of yours.” she ordered.

Just as I was about to respond with a respectful response and salute, the Diamond chime rang, which made Yellow Diamond release an annoyed breath before looking back at her podium to look at the remaining dataslates, “We’ll continue this tomorrow at the same time.” She announced before placing her dataslate in her hand down on the podium to gesture at the exit, “Those of you that I’ve addressed, you can return to your stations and colonies, the rest, stay for the next court meeting.” she commanded.

As one, and along with me so as to not stick out, every gem stood up and gave their diamond salute to Yellow Diamond. “My diamond!” Every gem and I replied back, before everyone began exiting out while Yellow Diamond picked up a holopad up from her podium and allowed a hologram to project out from it inspect the data that was flowing in through the hologram screen with a gaze of scrutiny.

Already, both Morganite and Beryl were heading on out to leave, and seeing I might as well leave to check on Pearl and Spinel to see how they were doing, I made my way for the exit as well; just as I was halfway to the exit, Yellow Diamond spoke up while still seemingly focusing on the hologram of data. “Citrine, stay behind, I still have a few other matters to talk with you about.” she ordered without looking directly at me.

Looking back from Yellow Diamond to the leaving forms of Morganite and Beryl, the two gems waved at me to which I reciprocated with a wave back before turned around to stand over by Yellow Diamond and wait for her to address me once she was finished. After several minutes of complete silence passed between Yellow Diamond and me, the Diamond Matriarch finally finished reviewing whatever had her attention and began heading for the exit. “Follow me.” she ordered.

As I followed Yellow Diamond out into the hallways and through the palace, I stuck to keeping up with my Diamond while walking behind her; while she continued to walk, she spoke up without looking back at me, “How goes the situation with Pink’s Spinel gem?” she inquired, and if I wasn’t mistaken, some curiosity seeped into her tone of her question towards me.

Thinking back to how erratic Spinel’s mood swings are and her coping depression being all over the place, I responded back to my diamond with a measured tone of thought, “It’s too soon to say she’s gotten over the news of Pink Diamond’s…er…demise…” I winced a bit when I saw Yellow Diamond’s fists subtly clench while she had her arms folded behind her back as she walked, “She can also get unstable during her anger phases of grief.”

Yellow Diamond

“Phases of Grief, you say.” I spoke with a measured response back to my little Citrine while continuing to walk through my palace hallways; it was about time to remodel the palace up a bit after a few thousand years had passed, it was starting to get tiresome to walk through the same scenery of the palace, a change of scenery would probably help my mind cope with all the work that has been piled on top of all my duties as a Diamond.

While I continued to walk through the hallways, the sound of my Citrine’s footsteps echoed after mine as we both walked through the palace; Thinking back to the matter of Diamond duties and Citrine’s mention of Pink, I couldn’t help but hold back an emotional expression. As a Diamond, my station demanded perfection and the appearance of an ever imposing authoritative figure.

As much as I wanted to grieve like Blue had, there was too much work to be done with the massive size of the Diamond Empire;  When I first heard of Pink’s shattering, I wanted to deny the truth, and when the truth came to realization, I did all I could to make sure Citrine and her forces retreated off from Pink’s planet before all three of us Diamonds retaliated against that dirtball of a rock.

Breaking myself out of my thoughts, and glancing over my shoulder to look back down at Citrine with a sideways look, “How unstable does she get?” I questioned the Citrine gem of mine.

The Citrine Gem Commander looked like she was going over her thoughts, before finally answering, “Not as bad as you might think, I don’t have to always break out my destabilizers or use my gem powers to actually poof her before her anger gets too much most of the times, but there are some instances where I have to get rough in putting her down to get her to recoup from her emotional outbursts.”

‘She’s almost as bad as Blue when she first heard of Pink’s shattering, an entire wing of her Palace was decimated.’ I thought to myself as I led the way to a set of elevator doors, with how massive and multileveled my palace was, some transportation was needed to get to other floors without the need for a large stairway to suit my size.

I still remember a time when my palace did have many stairways, it was exhausting to use them all to get to any one of the floors of the massive palace.

Just as I turned to speak with my Citrine gem after approaching the elevator doorways…I really should think about installing teleports within the next century or so…the palace walls and floor shook a bit with some hairline cracks forming on the walls. I glanced down at my Citrine gem to see her sweating from what looked like nervousness, while I glanced around to look at the damage caused by the tremor. 

Hmm…when was the last time I actually had the palace walls fortified for such an occurrence? Blue’s aura was already a signifier that the palace needed heavy renovations, whatever caused the tremors was most likely… “Citrine, follow me.” I ordered sharply, before taking the elevator to go down and check on the soldiers’ quarters.

General Quarters

“Oh Stars!” Yellow Pearl fretted as she watched the tail end of Pink Diamond’s spinel make a mess of joining the rowdy quartz soldiers, after an escalation of roughhousing between the Diamond-rated Spinel gem and every other Quartz soldiers, Yellow Pearl could help but imagine why the court jester was capable of defeating so many gems in such a short time frame.

While Spinel seemed happy and full of giggles as she kicked her feet while sitting atop a pile of gem bodies who groaned in pain, she glanced around with what seemed like anticipation of excitement. “That was fun! Who else wants to play! I don’t know why, but I feel somewhat better after-” Spinel twisted her upper body of her torso a few times, before extending her arms out to lift herself in the air to unwind her lower body back in place with her upper body, “unwinding with you all!” she giggled before leaping off from the pile of gem bodies and allowed the defeated opponents to begin picking themselves up off of each other.

“Was she always like this?” Orange Pearl asked as she stood beside Yellow Pearl, “The capability to do this, that is.” 

Yellow Pearl glanced back at the other Pearl and shrugged with a confused look on her face, “Why are you asking me?! Pink Diamond’s spinel gem never visited here before until now.” she crossed her arms, “Most of the time Pink Diamond would play with her in her garden, I highly doubt she was this violent with her Spinel gem.”

“So…Pink Diamond never came back looking haggard?” Orange Pearl questioned back with an uncertain look on her face.

Yellow Pearl gave Orange Pearl an annoyed look while Spinel could be heard asking for others to continue and play with her, “Listen here you, I’m Yellow Diamond’s pearl.” she palmed her chest with a miffed look on her face, “Not Pink Diamond Pearl…” she then realized something with a wide eye look, “Well, that is to say, I’m not one of her pearls.” she nodded to herself with a satisfied look on her face. 

Crossing her arms, Yellow Pearl continued to speak with a proud look, “So you can stop with the questions, I don’t know everything about the late Pink diamond, I just know some things from the spare times I’ve seen her in passing when she conversed with my Diamond.” she nodded to herself at finishing her explanation.

“Late Pink Diamond…” Spinel spoke aloud with a listless expression, as she glanced over in the direction of the two pearls with a manic angered look.

“What?” Yellow Pearl asked with a confused look on her face, while Orange Pearl slapped her hand on her face, and groaned.

“Pink’s not late!” Spinel yelled with an angered look directed at Yellow Pearl, who looked puzzled at such 180 degree turn of personality in the court jester, “RAAAGHH!” Spinel screamed at the top of her voice as she leapt into the air and dove towards Yellow Pearl, “Take it back!” she screamed while making a grab for Yellow Pearl as she flew through the air from leaping at the pearl gem.

“Oh Dear/ Stars!” Orange/Yellow Pearl both said at once as the Spinel gem hurled herself at Yellow Pearl.

Just as Spinel was about to make a grab at Yellow Pearl while in midair, the appearance of Citrine blurred into view beside Spinel with her arm raised and hand crackling with yellow static, before slamming her palm down onto the backside of Spinel. “Spinel, We’ve talked about this!” Citrine said with an angered tone, while Spinel’s body crackled with yellow circuit lines, before poofing, her spinel gem clattering to the floor afterwards.

While Citrine let out an annoyed huff as she picked Spinel’s gem up off the ground, both Pearl froze on the spot when they heard Yellow Diamond speak aloud behind them from within the open doorway.

“Hm.” Yellow Diamond mused with her arms crossed, and inspected the wrecked site of the soldiers’ quarters with a look of casual inspection, “Pearl, when was the last time I had this portion of the palace renovated?” she asked with a calculated look directed at the walls and infrastructure of her palace walls, floors, and ceiling. 

“What? Oh, right away my Diamond, looking into it right now!” Yellow Pearl responded as she pulled out her holopad and skimmed through it, before pulling out a record, “Ah, ten thousand years, by this record.” she responded in a crisp manner.

“Right…” Yellow Diamond narrowed her eyes at the room and all the years of accumulated structural loss and integrity, her palace was built with longevity in mind, and ten thousand years was most likely pushing the limits of allowing the palace to go any longer for a full on reconstruction of the entire palace. “Pearl, have Morganite penned for a another appointment, it looks like I’ll be having all of my palace reworked and redesigned.” she ordered.

“Yes, My Diamond!” Yellow Pearl responded with a smile while standing up on her toes, before letting herself stand back on the flat of her feet; afterwhich, Yellow Pearl began going through her holopad to pen in the appointment with Yellow Morganite.

Turning on the heels of her boots, Yellow Diamond began to head out of the room, but not before stopping in her tracks to look back at her Gem commander, “Citrine, take Pink’s spinel to the pink Palace, perhaps taking her there will help hasten the speed of her grief.” she ordered, before fully exiting out.

Meanwhile with Tanya, she thought to herself as she held Spinel’s gem with her hand while glancing around the soldiers’ quarters, ‘ I’m not sure if that would do any good, but anything is better than having to keep on dealing with Spinel’s constant and random angry outbursts of grief.’ Tanya mused as she glanced around at all the damage done by Spinel…or at least hopefully it wasn’t all her fault, Tanya hasn’t exactly been down in the soldiers’ quarters before until now.

“Hey…” Lapis greeted Tanya as she walked around piles of groaning gem bodies, some of which had some gems without their bodies after having been poofed by Spinel’s roughhousing with them; Tanya glanced over at Lapis and greeted the Lapis Lazuli gem back with a nod, “I didn’t take you the type to be down here.” she noted as an observation.

“Meh.” Lapis spoke with her arms crossed as she stood across from Tanya, and glanced over her shoulder to look back at the recovering quartz soldiers, some of whom were giving Spinel’s gem in Tanya’s hand a surprised look. “Rather down here, than amongst the common elite of Blue Diamond’s court.” she replied with a look of reminiscing, “It’s like dipping my toes in running water rather than stagnant water.” 

Tanya gave Lapis of look of questioning, to each Lapis responded back with another shrug, “It’s and inside joke I share with my gem line sisters, the aristocrats and their balls are a quite boring, while the common riffraff of the lower caste seem to know how to have a real good time.” 

“hm.. . quite the metaphor.” Tanya realized with a look of slight amusement, “Well, seeing as you’re here, you want to join me and Pearl in taking Spinel to Pink’s palace for a visit?” she questioned the lapis lazuli gem.

“Mmm, why not?” Lapis shrugged with a haphazard smile back at Tanya.

“Anyone else want to volunteer to see their Diamond’s home palace?” Tanya cupped her mouth for the other gems within the room to hear, only to see various Amethyst gems from the Prime kindergarten of Earth and other gems from the beta to raise their hands as if their life depended on it. “I’m pretty sure that’s all of you…” Tanya remarked with a bit of an amused look on her face, even noting that Jasper seemed to have retracted her arm back down so as to not be seen and feel embarrassed.

Tanya didn’t choose to comment on it, as she was pretty sure Jasper was more of the type to look tough on the outside, but she was sure the gem still missed her Diamond.

Chapter Text

5,400 B.S.U.

-

Earth

Across the battlefield of countless gems clashing their weapons against each other, within the chaos of it all, a gem rebel finds herself stricken in her gem by a blade covered in yellow static energy, the offender being Citrine as she held the handle in her hands while spearing the enemy through her gem with the blade; Citrine’s yellow eyes lit up as she finished her enemy off by exploding the rebel’s body from the gem outswards, before allowing the shattered gem shards to clatter to the ground.

“Noo! Cherry!” A Biggs Jasper yelled in despair as she fought against an Orange Pearl, her attention was taken when she saw her fellow rebel gem get pierce through her gem, and shatter without remorse by the Citrine gem, “I’ll make you pay for that!” She yelled as she pushed away from the Orange Pearl that was blocking her weapon with a shield, and made a charged effort toward Citrine with her weapon raised above her head.

Citrine’s impassive face glanced her way with one of wariness, only to be replaced with satisfaction when the Biggs Jasper found a spear lodged through her stomach, causing her to turn her head and see that the Orange Pearl she had pushed away, had gotten back and thrown her spear into her torso before she could attack the Citrine gem.

With a sudden poof of the Biggs Jasper’s body, her gem clattered to the ground while Orange Pearl quickly pulled out another spear from her gem on her chest as she blocked an incoming strike from a Tiger’s Eye rebel gem with her shield while the other gem used her bare fist to strike at the Homeworld Allied Pearl gem.

Glancing at the Biggs jasper gem that was still on the ground, Citrine moved to stomp and shatter it, only to catch herself from moving any further and leap back away from an incoming overarching swing of a pink sword; landing from her leap, Citrine held her War knife up defensively as she faced down Rose Quartz.

The leader of the rebellion had finally shown up, and was giving Citrine the most heated glare and snarl she had received thus far, “You!” Rose yelled out in anger, as the two squared off amongst the ongoing chaos of war, “I won’t forgive you for shattering my friends!” she yelled as she rushed at citrine with a more rounded defense charge with her shield and blade in hand.

“Did you honestly believe it wouldn’t come to this sort of end for them!” Citrine yelled back with an annoyed scowl at the naivete of the insult thrown at her, the two finally collided with Citrine’s Kreigmesser struck into Rose's sword, before evading Rose’s strike from her blade by swinging her sword over to parry the blade aside.

As Rose Quartz leapt at Citrine with an overhead strike of her pink sword, the commander brought the flat of her blade up while holding the handle and palming the other end to withstand the blow and deflect it aside along with Rose as well.

Both combatants squared off once again as Citrine held her weapon up in a defensive manner, while Rose had her shield and sword ready for the next trade of blows. “I won’t let homeworld or even Pink Diamond marr this world any longer, nor will I allow the awful oppression of the common gem to be sustained any longer, the time for change is now!” she yelled back with a look of resolution in her eyes, before rushing at Citrine with her shield up defensively, and her sword held in a ready strike as she charged.

Citrine met Rose halfway as she attempted to flip over the Rose Quartz rebel leader and strike at the head of the gem, only to be met with a well timed block by Rose by her shield; once Citrine landed behind Rose, she swiftly attempted to follow up her attack with a thrust of her war knife into Rose’s exposed back, only to be blocked by the rogue pearl and her spear.

The Rogue Pearl had supposedly leapt over to land behind Rose and guard her exposed back, and block Citrine’s attack finishing blow with the stick of her spear; the tip of Citrine’s war knife clanged as her blade struck against the Pearl’s weapon before she retracted her weapon to quickly swing her Kreigmesser down with brute force, “Out of the way!” Tanya scowled in anger at the missed opportunity to end the war then and there.

“Never!” The Rogue Pearl yelled back as she went to block the attack, only to be pushed aside by Rose as the rebel leader placed her shield in the way of Citrine’s blade that exploded on contact with yellow static; the shield Rose had was able to absorb the brunt of the yellow static attack with ease, to which caused Citrine’s eyes to narrow into a scrutinizing gaze.

“Rose!” Pearl yelled out in worry, before quickly acting as Orange Pearl finally entered the fray between the three after dispatching her earlier opponent, now making it an essentially two on two match amid the chaos of gems around them. 

“Get out of my Citrine’s way you defunct Pearl!” Orange Pearl angrily shouted as she leapt from out of the air with a downward strike of her spear where Pearl stood, who on reflex dove out of the way. 

Citrine on the other hand found an opening in the rogue Pearl’s defenses, and broke off from the clash she had with Rose and swung her blade in the pearl’s direction; from out of the tip of her blade, an arc of yellow static energy flew at the pearl. 

“Pearl! Watch out!” Rose yelled out in worry as she threw her shield into the path of the static arc energy, to which the attack and shield collided into a mild explosion of yellow and pink energy; while citrine’s energy attack dissipated into the air, Rose’s energy shield fell to the ground before finally dissipating away; While Rose had disarmed herself of a shield for the time being, Citrine took her chance to rush in at the rebel leader with her Kreigmesser poised in a thrust attack.

Rose was quick to act as she stepped back and used her sword to swing and parry the thrust aside, before having to block with the flat of her blade from an upper handed swing of Citrine’s war knife; Rose was force to put more effort than she was normally comfortable with as she pressed down against Citrine’s upward swing attack of her Kriegmesser. Both gems began to struggle against the other for dominance, before Citrine flashed a smirk and released her blade from her hands.

“!!!” Rose found herself stumbling forward from the sudden shift in what Citrine was doing as the commander stepped aside the downward strike of Rose’s sword while her war knife found itself fallen to the ground, the commander brought her arms in and thrusted her palms out with gloved hands now covered in yellow energy.

As fast as Rose could react, she brought her arm up and projected a new shield up to blocked the palm thrust by Citrine, a loud displacement of static energy exploded between the two; While Rose’s eyes were momentarily closed from the sudden brightness of the yellow light emitted by Citrine’s attack, she opened them back up quickly to find Citrine diving for her blade and grabbing it before swinging at her lower legs under her dress while crouched down on her hand and knee.

“No!!!” The Rogue pearl bellowed out in worry as she finally got out of the brief conflict she had with Orange Pearl, and leapt over to make a downward thrust into the ground to block the incoming swing of Citrine’s blade at Rose’s feet.

From behind Rose however, Orange Pearl ran up with her spear and shield raised and thrusted her spear at Rose’s exposed back.

“Not so fast, Homeworld scum!” Bismuth yelled as she finally made it through the chaos of the battlefield, and transformed her arm into a hammer to knock the pearl out of the way from charging any closer at rose.

“!!!” Orange Pearl gasped in shock, before quickly bringing her shield up to block the blow; with a loud thwack, Orange Pearl found herself sent flying back, only to be caught by Citrine who had gotten back up and leapt over to catch her from getting thrown out of the fray of battle.

Landing back down to place Orange Pearl beside her, Citrine and her Pearl squared off against what seemed now a two against three. “Bismuth!” the rogue Pearl shouted with a gratifying smile as she, Rose and Bismuth squared off against Citrine and Orange Pearl.

“Figured I’d make it my Bismuth to butt in on this fight.” Bismuth joked as she transformed her hammer hand into a blade next.

From out of the chaotic crowd of gems, Jasper landed from tackling a rebel amethyst gem to the ground, and poofing her with her helmet; as the Jasper gem stood back up she gave a nod of respect to Citrine before giving Rose a sneer of distaste.

With Jasper now among them all, it was an even split of combatants; after a few tense moments, the three gems charged back into fray against each other.

Elsewhere 

Homeworld, White Palace

Marching through the shining white hallways of her Diamond’s palace, Nosean headed towards the personal throne room of White Diamond; as the one of the oldest gem generals created during the early years of her Diamond Empress’s Ascendancy, Nosean could count herself one of the few gems that has known White Diamond long before any other the other Diamonds came into existence.

While Nosean continued to march through the hallways with purpose in her steps, she passed through a hallway with archway openings to the outside; Her Diamond’s Head and torso ship not far from the White Palace itself. As the white gem general continued to walk, she eventually made it through enough hallways to reach the throne room where she hoped she’d be granted an audience with her Diamond.

Standing not far beside the large doorway, were two Herkimer Quartz soldiers, one of the oldest line of Quartz gems that have been in existence. ‘But for how long though?’ Nosean thought to herself as she approached the doorway. The diamond Authority and its empire of gems could only last for so long with its current tech and gem lines, sooner or later, everything and every gem would be outdated…including her, as much as she hated the thought.

Just as she was almost within enough reach of the doorway, a large gray bubble emerged from out of the floor before her; the gray bubble, once it finished emerging out of the ground, opened up seamlessly with an ever smiling gray and white pearl with her arm and palms held up in an ever stiff pose.

“Oh hello, Nosean.” The gray and white white pearl greets the gems with an ever present bright smile and exuberant expression, save for a spider crack over one of her eyes, “I don’t recall you ever scheduling a meeting with me.” the pearl remarks with a stiff smile.

Nosean stepped back a bit, before straightening up and smoothing out the wrinkles on her white military uniform; after swallowing back her nervousness, she momentarily looked directly at White Pearl, “...My…Diamond.” She nervously began to say as she pushed back the need to salute, “I…may I have the honor to speak with you personally?” Nosean asked with a firm tone with some hope laced within it.

The gray and white pearl continued to stare at Nosean with an ever present perky smile, the lone eye blinking only once.

“My Diamond!” Nosean stepped forward closer to the pearl, before directing her attention past the pearl towards the large doors of the throne room, “I know you’d rather speak to me through your gems, or that stolen pearl of yours, but it’s been so long since I’ve ever been face to face with you!” she pleaded.

After a few moments of no response, Nosean stepped forward once more while palming her chest, “It’s been well over a thousands years since you’ve granted me the chance to bask my eyes upon your presence, much less speak to each other,” she pleaded

With how the pearl was situated, Nosean had managed to walk next to her while trying to speak past the doorways; after a bit more silence, white pearl slowly turned on her toes while keeping her pose the same. “Very well then, it has been a little while since we spoke face to face.” the pearl spoke with an echoing chime of her voice, while her eye twinkled in delight.

The white pearl slid towards the doorway and phased through the doors, shortly after the large doors opened; Nosean covered her eyes with her arm from the sudden onslaught of brightness from the room, before her eyes adjusted to see her diamond within her throne room, sitting amongst several stone terminals with holograms displays of all her currents planets she’s conquered and own. 

By Nosean’s estimates that her eyes could count, there were at least thirteen planets with twenty one moons under her control so far; White Diamond sat within a large white cushion chair while several white columns surrounded her and the terminals she worked through. At present, White Diamond sat with her legs crossed with her dress draped over the back of the backrest of the cushions she sat on.

With her arms length, White Diamond was able to reach out and tap a few things into one of the terminal’s, before retracting her arm and resting her hand on her knee; her other arm held up a stone tablet that projected a hologram of data, it was from the older years of gem archeotech, that had been phased out a few thousand years ago.

‘I’m not surprised she wants to keep some things the same.’ Nosean thought to herself as she allowed herself in and halted once she was a respectable distance in, and waited for her Diamond to address her, all the while giving her White Matriarch the Diamond salute

While White Diamond was glancing down at her stone tablet in her hands, she glanced at Nosean's with a wide brimming smile before slowly setting her tablet down to look directly at one of her oldest gem generals. “Oh, I’m just about done with that tablet tech anyways.” she spoke back in a cheerful eerie tone.

Nosean smiled nervously up at her Diamond and relaxed her posture, “Apologies my Radience one, for speaking my thoughts too broadly in your presence.” She apologized.

White Diamond chortled a bit with an echoing melodic tone, before reaching up to cup her cheek, “Think nothing of it, my little conqueror, but do tell me. What is it you must consult me about that you’d rather talk to me face to face than through my new Sapphire?” 

Nosean stepped forward once while reaching out pleadingly to her Diamond, “It’s about the little problem on Pink’s new colony that Yellow Diamond gave to her.” the gem general began to explain while walking up to her Diamond, “I fear for your sake of mind that nothing good will come of it if we let it drag on this way.”

White Diamond allowed her Nosean gem to walk up to her, and reached her hand out to let the gem climb onto it, before bringing the gem general up to eye level with her, “Oh don’t you worry, Pink’s just having a little tantrum, is all, let her have her have her fun while it can last.” she tutted. “After all, she’s bound to learn sooner or later that her actions have consequences.” 

Nosean couldn’t help but give her diamond a hopeful look, “I know you told me to keep a tight lip about it, and I’ll always honor my loyalty to you, but sometimes I worry the choices that young diamond makes, will bites us back that will leave us reeling for centuries, maybe thousands of years!”

White Diamond simply reached in and poked Nosean in the nose very gently with the tip of her black index nail, and smiled warmly, “You let me worry about that scenario. In time, all will be well eventually, and the Diamond Authority will continue as it once will like always.”

Nosean couldn’t help but let out a worried sigh, and looked directly into the eyes of her Diamond, “I just hope you don’t lose yourself through Pink, you’ve already split yourself to make Yellow Diamond and BLue Diamond, I shudder to think what would happen if you lost the Pink Diamond aspect of yourself.” 

“Worry not, Nosean.” White Diamond said as she chortled a bit in amusement, before standing up to allow her Diamond atop her head to shine brighter throughout the room, “Just as I shine just as brilliantly, so shall my younger Diamonds shine, and no amount of silly tantrum shall cause any harm to myself!”

‘You still make me worry about you, my Diamond…’ Nosean mentally thought to herself, not bothered that her thoughts were heard through her diamond.

“I appreciate the sentiment, My little Nosean.” White Diamond began to say as she smiled warmly at her gem general, “But I am a Diamond, no amount of force shall marr my features, nor my other counterparts.” she explained before laughing a melodic tone of laughter.

Chapter Text

Pink Palace

From outside the palace, down in the lowermost part of its base, a crowd gems are making their way towards the entrance meant for the lower echelons of gem society; leading the crowd of gems was Citrine along with her Orange Pearl and an exuberant Spinel as she hopped from leg to legs like they were springs.

“Pink’s palace, pink’s palace, pink’s palace is where the fun is!” Spinel beamed a wide smile, before frowning as she hopped once more to land by the lower doorway for common gems to come in through, she glanced up with a longing look to where the main entrance was high up with a large doorway for the Diamonds to pass through.

As Citrine and the rest caught up with her, Spinel continued to look up at the pathway to the main entrance, and envisioned a scene from her past of when Pink Diamond had just come back to her palace after picking her up from her emergence; Spinel even saw the see through scene of her hopping beside her Pink Diamond as the two them headed to the main entrance, with Pink diamond pausing to look down a laugh at the acrobatic ways Spinel bounced around her Diamond and clapped in joy.

Spinel reached up with a listless longing expression, before the scene disappeared from her vision and was replaced with an empty pathway; pinpricks of tears spilled from the corner of her eyes as she clenched her fist back down and grinded her teeth in anger. “Stupid Rose Quartz!” She abruptly yelled out, her eyes bloodshot with heated anger, before breaking into depression and collapsing to her knees to weep.

Meanwhile, with Citrine as she allowed the various Quartz soldiers to continue on to head into the entrance to finally visit the palace of their Diamond, Orange Pearl spoke up as she stood beside her Citrine with a worried look on her face, “Should we…comfort her?” she asked while turning her head to look up at her commander.

Citrine looked to be in the process of thinking with her arms crossed, before a sharp shrill giddy voice broke out when the lower entrance doors of the palace opened for the quartz soldiers to enter, “Visitors at this hour!?MY oh my oh my!” 

Turning around on the heels of her feet, Citrine looked to see the perturbed and wary looks of the quartz soldiers as they were abruptly blocked off from entering any further from a lone gem standing within the doorway of the entrance, Spinel sniffled a bit more before wiping her tears to glance over her shoulder to see one of Pink’s gem she hasn’t seen for some time.

Walking out while spinning a pink parasol in her grasp, a Pink Opal, dressed in a richly adorned pink dress with matching boots, jauntily walked amidst the parting crowd of Quartz soldiers, the gem’s eyes twinkled in excitement at the prospect of visitors to the Pink Palace. “And what’s this? You lot are even Pink’s little hodgepodge of quartz soldiers from her colony!” she squealed with delight as she glanced around at the soldiers around her, before exiting out through the crowd to confront Citrine and her Pearl.

Citrine took note of the hair the pink opal had was a ponytail with a drill-like appearance that went down from the back of her head to over her shoulder and hung below her collar, she also took notice that the odd Opal seemed to look past her and straight at Spinel with a maddening gaze. 

“Well if it isn’t lil old Spinel!” Pink Opal announced as she walked over with a pep in her step, and stood in front of her as Spinel looked back at her with an unreadable gaze, “It’s about time you made it back home! When I heard from Morganite that we’d be getting visitors, I didn’t think you’d be among them! This is such a delight!” Pink Opal animatedly spoke with a chipper tone.

Meanwhile, within the crowd of quartz soldiers, Skinny leaned down to Carnelian to whisper while looking cautious towards the odd Opal, “Is it just me, or does that attitude seem a bit off?” she questioned.

Carnelian looked up at Skinny and gave her a haphazard shrug, “She’s kinda actin’ like Spinel during her phase where she’s in denial of Pink Diamond’s shattering, all chipper and such.” she whispered back.

Back with Citrine, she glanced over at the crowd of soldiers, before looking back at the Pink Opal as she and Spinel eyed each other down, Spinel was giving the opal gem a look of annoyance while Pink Opal was smiling broadly back at her. “Are you supposed to be the gem to welcome us here?” she asked first with her arms crossed and a look of skepticism on her face.

“Who? me?” Pink Opal craned her head around and tilted it to the side with maddening gaze, “Aw shucks, I’m just here cause I heard the rumor that Spinel was finally picked up from the Garden that Pink left-” the next thing Pink Opal knew was finding an enlarged fist punching her into the wall of the Palace, and finding herself indented into the base of the wall. Pink Opal blinked with a wide smile as she pulled herself out from the wall, and spin-hopped up out of the way of another incoming large pink fist that thundered against the palace wall that Opal was once planted into from the previous punch.

As the enlarged pink fist retracted back to an enraged Spinel, Pink Opal floated down while hanging onto her opened parasol before landing with some grace; both gems stared down at each other, before Spinel spoke up with anger, “She didn’t leave me! She was playing a game with me!” she yelled at the Opal gem.

Pink Opal marched herself over and smiled back at Spinel with a maddening gaze, “Awe shucks, and here I thought she left you-whoopsy haha!” Opal said as she avoided another punch from Spinel by ducking and standing right back up with a brimming smile.

Spinel grinded her teeth in anger at the Opal gem and pointed her index finger at the gem, “Stop saying nonsense, when you know you’re just saying that stuff to get back at me for being Pink’s playmate, face it! I replaced you as her number one playmate!” she smirked devilish at the way Pink Opal’s smile tightened and clenched her parasol handle, until she broke it over her knee to whip out the sharp point of her broken handle at Spinel.

“YOU WANNA GO YOU CRACKED GEM!” Opal screeched at Spinel while threatening her with her broken handle repurposed as a piercing weapon.

Spinel began to storm towards Opal and made-pretend of rolling up imaginary sleeves on her arms, “LINE YOUR CHAFFED GEM UP AND WE CAN GO, CHARCOAL BLASTED GEM!” Spinel yelled back, and as the two marched towards each other, a calm tone spoke up.

“Opal.” Pink Sapphire spoke up calmly from within the entrance doorway with Pink Morganite standing beside her.

While Opal ceased from marching and turned to look back with a nervous look on her face directed at Sapphire, Spinel did not halt her actions as she swung her arm out and stretched it out to pummel the Opal into the wall once again; just as her fist was about to make contact with Pink Opal however, Citrine and made it over and reach to halt the fist in place, leaving only a few inches as a gap between the fist and opal.

Citrine didn’t look on the verge of struggling against Spinel’s strength, but there was a definite tense moment between the two which Citrine shooting Spinel a glare of warning as her hand sparked up yellow circuit lines, before Spinel took the warning and retracted her fist to turn the other way to cross her arms but not without glancing over to give the Opal a glare from over her shoulder.

Citrine let out an annoyed breath as she relaxed her posture, before turning to address the two gems, “You must be the gems that were supposed to greet me, yes?” she questioned the gems as Pink Sapphire walked out first with Pink Morganite walking behind her.

“Indeed.” The Sapphire replied in a calm tone as she approached Citrine steadily, before stopping once she was within a few feet of the commander, “I apologize for Opal’s behavior and antagonistic nature, she and Spinel have a bit of history if you can’t already tell.” she commented while gesturing at said gems that were in the process of giving each other the stink eye. 

“Mh, Yes…” Citrine pursed her lips in thought while glancing at Spinel and shot the gem a warning look, who glanced her way and nervously waved and steadily walked over with a look of shame.

As Citrine focused her attention back at the two gems, she cleared her throat to speak clearly, “Prior mishap aside, I have been given the authority to give Pink Diamond’s quartz soldiers the chance to finally get a tour of their diamond’s palace, get more acquainted with how she lived and what her preferential treatment of her court was compared to the other diamond courts.”

Pink Sapphire smiled in response to Citrine explanation, and gestured for everyone in, “As one of the highest officials of my late Diamond’s court, I can say it is under my authority that I shall allow this tour, please do let yourselves in.”

While the crowd of quartz soldiers talked animatedly amongst each other as they headed into the pink palace, Opal gave Spinel one last dirty look before turning her nose up and entering back inside the palace ahead of the crowd of gems. 

As Spinel was doing her own thing of making faces back at Opal before she entered back into the palace, Citrine spoke back to Pink Sapphire with a noticeable surprised expression with the brow raised, “I’m a bit surprised you allow that much freedom for gems to wander the halls of Pink Diamond’s palace.”

Sapphire's smile waned before frowning, “Yes, well, it’ll feel less empty now with her soldier gems wandering the hallways.”

“Ah.” Citrine winced, before giving the Sapphire gem an apologetic smile, “Well, would you mind giving a more personal tour of the place as well?” she asked, “I have a few questions as well surrounding the nature of Pink Diamond herself, that I haven’t had the chance to ask from her own court yet.”

Pink sapphire smiled back once more, and gestured for her to follow her, “Do please ask away, and Spinel” she called over to Spinel, “Why don’t you take it upon yourself to view Pink’s room?”

Spinel crossed her arms a bit and moped with a dissatisfied frown, “What makes you think I wanna go there?”

Sapphire simply smiled in response to Spinel’s question, “Cause I foresaw you asking for a chance to go see it, so I went ahead and offered you the chance to go ahead and see it without asking.” the gem answered, while causing Spinel to look embarrassed at herself at forgetting who she was speaking to. 

“Hehe.” Spinel nervously rubbed the back of her head, “I almost forgot you could do that, I was a bit preoccupied with my thoughts on other things.” She apologized.

“Just don’t get into it with Opal again.” Pink Morganite spoke up as she waltzed over to stand beside Pink Sapphire, and gave Spinel a deadpan look, “The pebbles do diligent enough work in keeping the palace in top shape.” she warned. “It’s bad enough that you and Opal had one of your little fits against each other.”

Spinel grumbled to herself, and looked to the side where she punched Opal into the side of the palace, and saw it was already under repair by the pebbles that her Diamond created with her essence. “Right…” she mumbled, before sharply looking back at Pink Morganite, “But no promises if she starts it!” she said back with a heated look.

Pink Morganite looked directly back at Spinel with a glowering look, “I  was tasked with modeling this palace for my diamond, I will not have your shenanigans desecrate it.” she bit out, before sighing, “Just try to take your arguments with Opal outside if it happens again.” she pleaded.

“Well now.” Sapphire interrupted the two as she clasped her hands together with a calm tone and smile, “Shall we head on in, I’m sure the other gems are already enjoying the palace without us!”

Pink Palace

Within the main room that has several artistically made columns to look like towering flowers, at the center of the floor was a large water fountain that had more of the same aesthetic of flowers inside bushes for the brim of the fountain; gathered around the fountain were a few of the wandering Quartz soldiers, few of which were Skinny and Carnelian. Skinny leaned over on the brim of the fountain to gaze down at her reflection within the water, while Carnelian was just barely able to lean her upper body over the brim.

“Hm.” Skinny ‘hm’ aloud as she turned her head to look at her reflection, before standing up to look around with an appreciative gaze at all the architecture that her Diamond preferred; putting her hands on her hips as she walked around, Skinny smirked appreciatively at what she saw, “I gotta say, our Diamond has good taste for interior ideas.” she remarked, while Carnelian leaned off from the brim of the fountain to follow after her.

“Kinda feels more cozy too!” Carnelian remarked as she caught up with Skinny and walked beside her, “Feels like home to me.” 

While the two gems continued to walk beside each other, they passed by Jasper who was leaning up against one of the columns with her arms crossed, “It would have been too.” Jasper sneered to herself with a dark look.

Skinny and Carnelian stopped walking to stand not far from Jasper, before Skinny looked back at the brooding Jasper, and smirked at her, “Oh Light’n up Jaspy, ain’t much doin if all we do is mope, y’know.” she jested in an effort to light the mood that Jasper brought down with her state of mind towards her late Diamond.

Jasper didn’t bother looking back at Skinny or Carnelian, but let out an annoyed sigh, “Just let me be for once, I’d rather tour the place by myself.” 

Skinny and Carnelian glanced at each and shrugged, before Carnelian headed off first to tour elsewhere, while skinny stayed behind to speak a bit more with Jasper, “You know-” she began to say as she walked over with her arms crossed, “I kinda envy prime kindergarten quartz soldiers.” she commented.

Jasper looked back at Skinny with a confused look, to which Skinny took at letting her continue where she was going with her talk with Jasper, “They get each other, they formed cliques, a comradeship. But you and me, and all the other Jaspers and carnelians from the beta kindergarten?” she gestured between her and Jasper, “Carnelian and I at least chum up, but everyone else seems bent on dwelling on the past.”

“Tch.” Jasper grumbled a bit, before speaking back, “It’s not like an off color like you would understand, you weren’t stationed at the front lines, you weren’t even used in the war effort.” 

Skinny rolled her eyes, and shifted on her feet a bit as she kept her hand on her hip while the other pointed at Jasper, “You at least got to serve at the front lines, how do you think I feel I didn’t get to serve my diamond due to how I came out?”

“...been there…” Jasper grouched out while looking elsewhere with a self hatred look in her eyes.

Skinny furrowed her brow and relaxed her posture as she stood across from Jasper, but crossed her arms as she gave Jasper a look, “I didn’t understand what you said, Jasp’, you need to speak up if we’re going to have this conversation.”

Jasper sighed in defeat and looked straight back at Skinny, “I should have been there for her.” she gritted out in anger, “A thousand years of war, and all it did was lead the loss of our diamond.”

Skinny frowned, and sighed dejectedly while looking to the side, “A lot of us feel that guilt, Jasper.” she softly spoke back, before looking back at Jasper with an annoyed look, “But you don’t see the Prime kindergarten quartzes moping about it, internally most likely, but they have each other to lean on, and I envy that.” 

“I’m just not ready to move on…” Jasper grouched out with her eyes shut in anger, “It’s too soon for me to simply forget the loss of my Diamond, our Diamond!” 

Skinny nodded in understanding and backed away from Jasper, “Just don’t be doing it your whole life, it’s a bit boring with just me and Carnelian being pals from Beta, and I’d like to experience what Prime has with each other.” she commented with a wistful look on her face while smirking back at Jasper, before leaving. “Just let me know when you’re done hanging onto the past, alright!?” she hollered back as she left to catch up with Carnelian.

While Skinny exited the main room, Jasper continued to lean up against the column with a look of contemplation; she then glanced in the direction that was the lone empty cushion seat, amongst several dozen smaller seats that surrounded it, no doubt the room she was in was where her Diamond held her meetings with her court. ‘Would I have even been part of your personal guard?’ Jasper thought to herself wistfully as her eyes homed in on the large set of cushions that was meant for the size of her Diamond, she briefly imagined Pink Diamond being there, talking with her court animatedly while she herself was standing not far from the entrance guarding the place for her Diamond along with other Jaspers from the beta kindergarten, before the imagination of her mind disappeared.

“Tch.” Jasper grouched out before shoving herself off from leaning on the column behind her, and took her leave, “Stupid Rose Quartz! I should have shattered you when I had the chance!” she yelled out while stomping her way down an empty corridor, all the while surprising a few amethyst standing near the water fountain.

Once Jasper was gone, the Amethysts glanced at each other before shrugging, Jasper’s behavior was a bit erratic at times, and being angry was one of the default moods they were mostly accustomed to by now.

Chapter Text

Pink Palace

A set of footsteps echoed in the hallways of the palace, a few gems were walking in a group as they toured the place Pink Diamond once walked through and lived in. Citrine, Orange Pearl, Pink Morganite and Sapphire made up the group as the gems spoke to each other in a casual way.

“As you can see-” Morganite gestured to the clean walls and opulent way the hallways were designed with floral decorations to match the appeal of her late Diamond’s taste in how she wanted her palace interior to be, “While it has been some time since the loss of our Diamond, we of her court have saw fit to no less honor her memory in keeping her palace to its utmost pristine condition.” She said with pride in her tone and some level of it showed on her face.

While Citrine’s eyes wandered around as she walked beside Morganite, she spoke with a thoughtful tone, “I’m pretty sure the other Diamond’s would have had you do it regardless.” she mused while lifting to cup her chin as she paused in her steps to inspect a four way hallway that had four statues of Pink Diamond in different poses in each of the corners. “Were those commissioned by her?” she asked offhandedly.

Morganite preened a bit at the question to the statues, and walked forward to gesture around at each one of the various pink statues, “These are in fact new, actually, I figured it help give my late Diamond’s palace some nice statues of her magnificence, something to show how grand she was!” 

“Hmm.” Citrine examined each statue, and noted they were in fact almost one to one ratio of size to the real Diamond, going by her estimates of the few times she had been in the vicinity of Pink Diamond and other instances of old records. “You have her in quite the excited poses of exuberance and playful nature.” she noted.

Morganite smiled blissfully as she cupped her hands together and sighed at the thought of her Diamond, “My Diamond was such a kind hearted Matriarch, I can’t imagine ever being owned or created by any other Diamond, she was the best Diamond to serve under her gracious light~!” she crooned with a melodic tone of delight.

As a moment of silence fell between the gems, Citrine spoke up once more as she turned to face the Sapphire gem with a look in her eyes, “So you say…Sapphire, can you say without a doubt that most gems under her care and court were treated fairly well in contrast to the other Diamond’s and their court?” 

At the drop of the question, both Morganite and Sapphire traded each other a look, before both nodded and Sapphire looked back at Citrine, “That depends…” Pink Sapphire began to say in a calm tone as she stepped closer to Citrine with her hands resting behind her back, as she gauged Citrine’s reaction. “How well does your Diamond treat her court?”

“She used to be very strict…well-” Citrine glanced to the side with a grimace, “She still is…but-” Citrine shrugged and looked back at Pink  Sapphire, “For some odd reason I can’t fathom, she’s lent me her ear on more than one occasion on various rules of gem society I have found to be pointless and outdated, especially given the circumstances of the empire’s resource shortage.” 

“hm…I see…” Sapphire said as she walked around Citrine while keeped her arms folded behind her back, “Perhaps if my Diamond hadn’t met her end…she would have enjoyed your company…” she mused as she continued to walk around Citrine, before stopping to stand beside her with an upward glance at Citrine’s face.

“But yes, my Diamond was a very benevolent matriarch to her court and gems of lower status, it is why to this day that we’re all saddened and shocked that a Rose Quartz would shatter our Diamond.” Pink Sapphire explained to Citrine in a calm and reserved tone.

“Hm…” Citrine palmed her cheek while resting her elbow on her other palm, and began tapping her cheek with her index finger as she mulled over the words of Sapphires, “Curious, very strange as well, if not very suspicious…” she narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she glanced off to the side at one of the statues of Pink diamond in a giddy pose while kneeling down, as if she was speaking to one of her gems in an excited way.

While Citrine was going over her brief thoughts of what she told so far, Pink Sapphire and Morganite glanced at each other, before Morganite gestured for Sapphire to go ahead, prompting said gem to speak up and break Citrine out of her thoughts. “Commander Citrine, word is you are investigating the matters behind our Diamond’s shattering.”

Citrine glanced back down at the pink Sapphire with a raised eyebrow, “Well-” she drawled out with a pensive look on her face, “While I’m not exactly going out of my way into the private investigation on the matter, I am in fact looking into it. Things don’t seem to add up with the entire matter.” The commander then fully faced the Sapphire with an expression of suspicion.

“Am I to assume you heard this from Blue Diamond’s Sodalite commander, or some other manner in which you found this information out of my private investigation?” Citrine asked with a narrowed eye look while palming her hips as she stood over Pink Sapphire.

Not deterred By the size difference between her and the commander, Sapphire remained steadfast while stepping forward, “Courts like to talk, Commander Citrine, and Sodalite is no different from any other high ranking gem official. But back to the question at hand. Please, tell me, do you have any leads on this investigation you are doing in your spare time?” she asked, while allowing some hope to slip into her calm voice.

Citrine eyed both high ranking gems of the late Pink Diamond, measuring their expressions before fully committing to divulging what she was doing in her private time, “Before we discuss this matter any further, do you have a place that won’t have eavesdroppers?” she asked while glancing side to side.

Once again, Sapphire and Morganite glanced at each other, before looking back at Citrine, “I believe we have a place for that, yes.” Sapphire nodded with a calm tone and smile.

Spinel

The doors to Pink Diamond’s innermost private room opened from one of the few gems given access to her chambers, a place where Pink would spend her time playing games and all manner of other activities; Standing in the midst of the opened secret passage was Spinel was she gazed into the passage room where there was a vanity mirror in the distance, while at lower floors there were all manner of gem game objects Pink would actively use in her spare time to interact with her playmate gems.

Spinel blinked with a listless expression as she walked in with a limp gate in her paces, her hands reaching the ground and dragging across the floor as she sniffled as memories of of the times she and Pink would visit the private room and play, even engaged in roughhousing at times; the private room was the one place she and Pink could actively play to their heart's content.

As the pink gem approached the vanity mirror and the large chair meant for her Diamond’s size in stature, Spinel reached up with a longing gaze before gently touching the cushion of the chair, before pulling herself steadily up to sit on the large chair; letting out a soft sorrowful sigh, Spinel looked forward at the mirror and saw her pitiful reflection. 

Her appearance was heavily disheveled from the stress of her emotions, her hair was a mess and her eyes had deep bags underneath them from her emotional turmoil of her loss of her diamond. Spinel reached her arm out to stretch and palm the mirror, and as she leaned up to the mirror, she imagined seeing a phantom image of Pink sneaking up on her like all those other times her diamond would do to jumpscare her, before spinel would retaliate back with a tickle war.

Sighing deeply to herself and dragging her hand down the mirror, Spinel let out a whine of remorse before falling back onto the chair.

“She’s really gone, isn’t she~?” Spinel stood up on the chair to sing a bit, and pulled herself atop the vanity to stand directly in front of the large vanity mirror, “~Leaving behind a trail of memories~” she placed her palms up against, and stared into the mirror, her mind replaying images of her point of view of the times she’s played with Pink. “~Memories, that I cling onto with pain…”

Grimacing to herself as a tear drops from her eye as she stares back at the mirror to see her disheveled state, “~Pain that lingers, an ever present ache that tremors in my chest~”

Spinel turned in place to look over the entire private room of her Diamond, “~My world now feels empty, and yet all I can do is remember our good times~”

Hopping down off the vanity, Spinel reached up to palm the chair’s leg, and glanced up imagining Pink sitting in it, “~Life moves on, but I still long for her, to hear her voice and say it’s all a game…”

Dropping to her knees as she wept, Spinel looked up with a tearful gaze, “~The grief I feel…is overwhelming, I long for the touch of your hand, the sound of your laughter, and the warmth of your presence…”

Crinkling her eyes shut as the tears dripped from her eyes, dark lines stretched out from her eyes while her gem began to shift, “~But all I have left are memories~. Your absence is like a weight on my chest, a constant reminder of what I have lost.~”

Spinel forced herself to stand and began walking out with a melancholy look in her eyes, “~Though you are gone, your presence in my memories remains, a bittersweet reminder of what I once had, but no longer have…”

As she exited out of the private room, the wall closed up as she fell to her knees, “~You left me, but you never left~my~heart~” she finished singing softly as her eyes glistened wet from tears, her gaze directed to the balcony where Pink would oftentimes look out with her to gaze upon the large city of homeworld and its capital.

Spinel sniffled and used her arm to wipe her tears, before a different emotion welled up with her, making her grit her teeth in anger as she clenched her teeth, “You better hope you didn’t survive whatever the Diamonds did to Earth, ROSE QUARTZ, or mark my words, I’ll hunt you down and shatter you myself!!!” Spinel shrieked with a maddening look in her eyes as her gem finally finished shifting and her gem body shifted colors to match her mood.

Lapis

While she opted to join and tour the place unnoticed, Lapis went ahead with the suggestion of keeping an eye on Spinel; Citrine had asked her if she’d be willing to follow the gem without alerting her much, and without nothing else better to do, Lapis when ahead with the plan of looking after the pink gem.

Going by the earlier incident with that one Pink Opal, Lapis was expecting the crazy gem to follow Spinel and harass her, but lo and behold the gem was nowhere to be seen during much of Spinel’s trek throughout the palace; going by the interaction that the Opal had with the Pink Sapphire, there was some hierarchy that still existed within Pink Diamond’s court even with the matriarch gone.

What Lapis didn’t expect during the entire time she stayed out of sight, was Spinel to be able to access a private room that looked like it was meant only for a Diamond and her pearl; with that thought aside however, Lapis stuck to following after Spinel and using her water illusions to cast over herself and reflect light from allowing her to be seen from a certain angle. As Lapis entered the room and stuck to the walls, Spinel surprised her again when the gem accessed another part of the room that made the wall open up to a private area.

The mere fact that Pink Diamond of all gems needed an actual private room for herself and whoever else, the mere thought made Lapis ponder what sort of actual matriarch Pink was if she needed her private space away from prying eyes.

What was going on between the Diamonds? Was Pink not treated fairly amongst her fellow Diamond? So many thoughts ran through Lapis’s mind and more even as she leaned in to glance into the massive room with a lone vanity mirror in it. 

While the little song the gem sang her heart into was a bit touching, Spinel’s appearance was something else entirely; whatever inner turmoil was brewing in the court jester's mind, it was affecting her appearance.

Lapis made it back out of the room with the door still having been left open, allowing her to drop her water illusion and lean against the wall next to the doorway to stay out of sight while Spinel walked out to finish her little somber song she sang to herself.

As Lapis leaned back around the opened doorway, she witnessed the tail end of Spinel’s appearance finish its shift after the gem promised violence toward Rose Quartz; Lapis lifted a brow of surprise out how violent the gem was acting, and opted to lean back away from the doorway. “... Citrine’s got one heck of a problem gem on her hands.’ she thought to herself incredulously with wide eyes.

Citrine

“So far, my evidence over the entire matter has left many questions than answers.” Citrine explained as she sat at a simple round pink table within a spartan room with no windows and little to no lighting, save for the luminescent flower that hung from the ceiling and lit the room up with a pink tint.

At the center of the table sat a simple holoprojector, displayed above the table were various actual eyewitness memories of the event; all of them were a bit shaky at times, while others were a bit too far from the scene, but all painted an odd picture. “What I don’t understand is why Pink Diamond did not have a guard unit of soldiers lined up around her during a rebellion on her own planet. It also galls me that Rose Quartz managed to somehow just come out of the palaguin and stab Pink Diamond and shatter her at the same time, none of this is adding up!” Citrine explained with an irritated look on her face as she sat with her leg crossed over the other and her arms crossed.

Gesturing to the images above the table, Citrine point to one that was the most clear and least shaky, “And as you see here as well, the dress seems off as well, along with that gem stone she has on her stomach, it doesn’t match the exact color one to one, or even the right amount of angles for its facets, it’s as if-”

“It was a staged assassination…” Pink Morganite spoke with an enraptured gaze at all the images she saw of her late Pink Diamond being shattered, as well as the images of one Rose Quartz. “But that’s-”

“Impossible…” Sapphire finished saying with gritted teeth and a tear dropping from her one eye under her bangs, “My Diamond had a few of Blue Diamond’s sapphires on hand at the time to help her.”

“Yes…” Citrine drawled out with a narrowed eye look as she cupped her chin, and tapped her lip with her finger, before speaking up, “Unless of course Diamond’s have a predisposition to not be seen as clearly in the future visions of sapphires.”

Pink Sapphire gulped, and sweated a bit, “...that’s…actually a good point, most of us Sapphire’s do in fact have a more foggy vision when we view a Diamond’s future, but it’s mostly left up as the future being as it always is…always changing.”

Citrine then leaned forwards to look at Morganite and Sapphire with conspiratorial gaze, “I’m also troubled by the fact that it all happened so suddenly, no one bothered to yell out for Pink Diamond to move out of the way, there’s also the fact that her pearl is nowhere to be seen as well, and we all know Pearls have a heavy predisposition to stick close their gem owners.”

Morganite leaned forward to slam her fists into the table with gritted teeth of anger, “What the shard is going on here! What could this all mean!” she clasped her head in disbelief.

Citrine let out an annoyed sigh, before leaning back into her chair to cross her arms once more as she looked between Pink Sapphire and Morganite, “As much as I hate to say it, it seems like the entire event was an inside job from somegem high up, and I dare say it may well be a Diamond level height of conspiracy.” 

All of the gems quieted at that notion, especially Morganite and Sapphire as their expressions were of varying modes of panic, before Sapphire spoke up with a cracked voice, “T-t-that’s impossible, Pink, our Pink diamond was adored by the other Diamonds.”

Citrine glanced between the two, before shrugging to herself, “But who liked her the least, should be the more prominent question, yes?” she prodded.

“...White….” Pink sapphire breathed out with a look of disbelief as her brow raised, “White always disliked my Diamond’s way of behaving.”

“Are you sure about that?” Citrine asked Sapphire with a pointed look, “I would have gone with Yellow diamond, my Diamond, she’s the one that seemed the least tolerant of her antics, if we are to go by the records of the last few times the Diamonds interacted with each other.”

Morganite gave Citrine a look of disbelief, “You’d accuse your Diamond of such a thing?” she said in an incredulous tone and wide eyed look.

“We can’t dismiss anything after all,” Citrine slowly looked over at Morganite with a look of seriousness, “And beside, like I said before, this all seems like an inside job beyond belief, and for all we know, this could have been operated by some unknown organization that exists within the Empire.” 

With the way Citrine worded out her explanation of ‘some unknown organization’, both Pink Sapphire and Morganite glanced at each other with quick gazes, both unsure what to say next as silence fell within the room. 

“But.” Citrine began to say as she pulled herself up out of the chair she was in, and gave the two gems a nod, “This is what I’ve been able to come up with so far, and I thank you for giving me the time to know what sort of Gem Pink diamond was amongst her court, it helps a paint better picture of what I have so far of what happened all those years ago…”

With some trembling in her voice, Sapphire spoke with caution, “So we have a conspiracy within the empire…” 

“More than likely, keep in mind to watch yourselves.” Citrine warned, to which both gems nodded in agreement. Lifting up her arm to pull out a holo tablet, she checked the time, before putting it back into her pocket, “I think that’s all the time we have for now, if you have any more evidence to help me, you know how to get in touch with me.” she said, before glancing at Orange Pearl.

“Come Pearl, let’s try and look for Spinel and see if she faring any better.” Citrine said as she headed to the exit of the room, the door swiftly opened up with a hiss afterwards.

Orange Pearl gave the two pink gems a respectful bow, before excusing herself to follow after her Citrine.

Once Citrine left the room, with Orange Pearl following after her, the door closed, leaving the Sapphire and Morganite to themselves; after a few moments of silence passed, it was Morganite that spoke up, “Do you think the council had a hand in this entire mess?” she asked with a fearful look on her face.

After a bit of thinking on her part, Sapphire spoke with a troubled tone as she looked up at the luminescent flower hanging upside down within the room they were in, “Like Citrine said, this could be deeper than we first thought.” she softly spoke out with a troubled voice.

AN; Yeah…don’t know how to feel about the attempt of Spinel singing…I was just thinking up words that would work somewhat in a somber song.

Chapter Text

Pink Palace

Citrine walked through the halls with Orange Pearl trailing not far behind her, the commander’s eyes would occasionally glance at various statues of the late Pink Diamond, no doubt more homages made by the Pink Morganite that boasted her skill to encapture the image of her Diamond; While the silent between Citrine and her Pearl was almost palpable, the commander’s thoughts however were a whirlwind.

‘Those two definitely seem bereaved of their Diamond, based on their dedication to honoring her memory in their own way.’ Citrine thought to herself as she crossed her arms while continuing to walk in the direction of Pink Diamond’s room, a deduction on Citrine’s part that had led her to the first choice of believing Spinel would go first at the very least. ‘The suspicion against Blue Diamond’s court is more than likely, as plenty of Blue Diamond’s court were there at the time, however that doesn’t leave out the possibility of my Diamond’s own court, with the idea of shapeshifting up in the air…’

Citrine’s facial expression then darkened at the thought of White Diamond of all Diamond Matriarch’s to be a possible culprit, ‘Pink Sapphire had explicitly stated that White Diamond was an objector of Pink Diamond’s behavior, so I can’t rule out her as a possible culprit.’

As the commander continued walking through the halls in silence, while keeping her thoughts to herself, she thumbed her chin as her thoughts delved deeper into the personal investigation of hers against the mess that was the Rose Quartz Rebellion. ‘ From what I have gathered so far of Pink Diamond’s character profile thus far, She possessed many ideals that clashed with the Diamond Authority’s traditions. …’ Citrine mused in her thoughts as she was soon on approach to Pink Diamond’s room, Lapis Lazuli was standing just outside the open doorway. ‘Too many variables in this conspiracy.’ She inwardly grimaced.

Citrine schooled her features as she approached Lapis, who was already aware of her as she gave the commander an easygoing wave, “Hey.” she said as she leaned up against the wall next to the opened doorway, and thumbed in the direction of the room. “I think you better address little miss gem in there, she’s starting to get a little…well, you’ll see when you look inside.” Lapis suggested.

Opting to continue this line of thought for another time, Citrine greeted Lapis, “Why, what’s wrong?” She asked rhetorically as she walked over and stood within the doorway to see Spinel, now hunched over as she sat on the floor with her back turned towards the doorway, she had her arms wrapped around her knees as she sat with her legs up to her chest while staring out towards the balcony.

“Spinel?” Citrine softly spoke as she walked into the room, said gem ducked her head a bit before turning to glance back at the commander, to which Citrine took note of her new features that marred her face and hair, along with her outfit having changed in contrast to her original form. The gem sniffed a bit while wiping away some leftover tears on her cheeks.

“She’s really gone, isn’t she?” Spinel asked with a cracked tone of voice as she stared up at Citrine from her position on the floor.

Once Citrine was close enough to Spinel after walking over to her, she bent down at her knees and glanced into Spinel’s depressed eyes with a conflicted look of her own, “...Spinel…” Citrine began to say, before sighing a bit.

 As she weighed her options of whether she should divulge what she has been doing revolving around the incident of Pink Diamond’s shattering, Citrine decided it was for the best to at least help the gem find some closure like the rest of Pink Diamond’s court. “There’s something you should know, about the subject matter about Pink Diamond’s shattering…” 

If there was one gem that could help with filling out more of a character profile of what kind of Diamond Pink Diamond was, it’d be Spinel at the very least barring the missing Pearl that accompanied Pink Diamond at her colony.

Spinel sniffled a bit more, before asking, “What about it?” she gritted out in a pained voice, glaring forward at empty space.

Choosing her word carefully, Citrine answered while gauging the gem’s facial expressions. “I need your help, in the years I have been afforded this investigation I am doing in my private time, and it revolves heavily around the matter of Pink diamond and the set of events leading up to her supposed shattering.” she explained to Spinel with a steady tone.

Glancing back to the side up at Citrine as she rested her chin on her knees as she huddled her legs to her chest while sitting on the floor, Spinel began making a look of skepticism towards the commander. “What do you mean ‘supposed’? Yellow Diamond said it herself, Pink was shattered by Rose Quartz.” 

Citrine expressed her own emotive look of skepticism back at Spinel, “And yet, how come none of her shards were collected, or why was it so simple to shatter a Diamond in of itself from a sword of a Quartz soldier?” she posed the question to Spinel, who switched from skeptical to confused as she mulled over the idea over in her mind. “Too many inconsistencies surround Pink Diamond’s shattering, especially with how a rebellion popped up on her first colony world, given the fact her personality isn’t that abrasive to her gem compared to the other Diamonds.” Citrine added as an afterthought.

“Spinel, if there’s anything secret about Pink Diamond you can tell me, like if she had enemies amongst the other courts, or even the Diamonds…” Citrine let the question of hers hang in the air as Spinel’s eyes widened in disbelief at what could be implied.

Just as Spinel was about to speak of a few traditionalist gem factions that were from the other Diamond courts, Orange Pearl’s dainty footsteps could be heard rushing their way before she shouted, “My Citrine! Look out!” Orange Shouted as she rushed past Citrine and Spinel.

A ‘thwip’ sound echoed before a destabilizer prong was shot out from the direction of the open balcony of the room, and towards Citrine; Orange Pearl had noticed the odd movement from the edges of the open balcony, and before anything terrible could happen to her Citrine, she rushed into while mentally pulling her shield ready to be pulled out to block whatever or whoever was spying on the conversation between her Citrine and Spinel.

As Pearl slid to block the incoming projectile headed for her commander, the prong impacted into her shield before her expression turned to surprise as the prong broke through her shield and pierced through her body, leaving a hole in her hardlight torso.

With wide eyes of worry, Orange Pearl turned her head as quickly as she could to see if she saved her Citrine from getting pierced from the prong, and as her form began forming yellow circuit lines from the hole pierced through her torso, she smiled to see she was able to slow down the trajectory of the prong projectile; Citrine was able to pull out her Saber in time and block the incoming prong with the flat of her blade.

With a wince on her part as she felt her form fizzle and static from getting pierced through, Orange Pearl found herself falling to the floor while her weapons poofed before finding herself in the arms of her Citrine. “...” Pearl’s eyes were wide while her cheeks glowed dark orange, “m-m-m-my Citinre!” she stuttered out, before she couldn’t hold her form any longer and poofed.

Citrine

Catching the pearl gem into her palm before it clattered to the floor, the commander looked sharply to the balcony and broke out into a sprint once she caught the tail end of the unidentified would be assailants upon her person; leaning over the banister of the balcony, Citrine glanced around before looking down to see three assailants descend to the vast bottom of the palace, she narrowed her eyes before glancing over her shoulder.

“Lapi-” Citrine began to say, only to be cut off as a blur of blue ran past her and dove into the air before Lapis formed her water wings to propel herself downward.

“On it!” Lapis shouted back as she used her water wings to fly after the descending assailants.

Citrine grumbled a bit to herself, “Was going to ask you to look after-” she was cut off once more mid sentence when a blur of pink ran up and passed her.

“Raagh!!!” Spinel screamed in anger as she reached out and vaulted over the banister of the baloney, and stretched her arms out as she skydived down after the assailants.

Citrine glanced down at the pearl gem in her hand, before clenching it into her palm and pocketing it into her gem for storage. “Better go follow them to try and help capture at least one of the assailants.” The commander griped to herself, before breaking out into a sprint towards the balcony, before vaulting over the banister and descended.

Already as she dive bombed downward, Citrine watched with her own eyes as one of the black garbed assailants that were heading steadily close to the ground, whipped out lava wings and converged them in a conical shell to pierce through the ground, thus creating a hole to the underside of homeworld.

“A yooperlite!?” Citrine said to herself through the rush of wind blowing past her from descending through the air, ‘Yellow Diamond just made those…only a high ranking court member could have authorized the use of them…’ She thought to herself.

While the rest of the assailant gems followed their leader into the hole she made, Lapis flapped her water wings to fly faster down while Spinel trailed behind; Citrine narrowed her eyes as she angled her body to create less drag and dive bombed faster, while almost passing by Spinel.

Spinel glanced at the commander, and furrowed her brows in confusion before widening in realization and followed suit of narrowing her limbs in.

Homeworld Kindergarten, Underside of Homeworld

From the ceiling above that covered the entirety of what lurked beneath the surface of homeworld, a red dot formed before expanding exponentially, until a drill-like conical set of wings pierced their way through the ceiling of the underside; the yooperlite gem unwrapped her wings and twisted her form around to face the incoming Lapis gem that had chased after her and her fellow cohorts. Her eyes narrowed as her body heated up while burning off the black garb she wore, showing her actual form of red skin and clothes that involved a crop top and a short skirt all in variations of dark orange.

While the Yooperlite’s cohorts zoomed past her, the gem herself extended her lava wings to intercept the incoming lapis gem; Lapis herself glared at the gem as she extended her water wings out and clashed them against the Yooperlite’s own incoming wing attack. The two separate wings impacted each other, resulting in an explosion of steam that bellowed outwards and swallowed the forms of both gems into the cover of hot mist.

As a red and blue set of glowing wings were visible within the steam, two other sets of two shadows descended through the cloud of steam, before two garbed gems emerged out of the bottom while dragging some of the cloudy steam with them from the momentum of their fall; seconds later, another set of shadowed forms descended through the foggy mess before Citrine’s and Spinel’s forms exited out of the bottom of the steam cloud next.

While Citrine dive bombed after the other two gems with Spinel trailing after her, her vision was filled with the sight of the massive underground kindergarten that was the various columns of rock and earth, all of which branched in every which direction while still being attach to the chasm below or the ceiling above of the massive cave system of the kindergarten.

Citrine narrowed her eyes as she was on fast approach to the other two gem assailants, before her eyes widened at the sight of what more than likely a set up lying in wait for her to have followed the gems as a fallback plan. Along the many walls of the spindly columns that existed underneath homeworld's surface, many holes made from Era 2 gems existed, many of which were occupied with gems lying in wait as well.

As one, a wave of gem leapt out from their holes and descending after the Citrine Commander, the sheer amount of them all falling after the commander was like a wave of bodies descending out from the holes and towards Citrin  many of them were Era 1 Carnelian Quartz soldiers.

‘Whoever sanctioned this, they’ll wish I shattered them when I’m through with them!’ Citrine angrily yelled within her mind as she twisted her body around and reached to pull Spinel past her, to which Spinel took the que and reached out to grab the offered hand before being slingshotted past Citrine by the commander while she herself focus on the incoming wave of Carnelian gem.

“You’re only following orders…” Citrine began to softly say to herself through the rush of wind from her falling through the air, she glared at the steadily incoming horde of quartz soldiers gunning for her. The commander reached up to her gem, and from out her citrine gem she pulled out a projectile shooter of sorts, it had a wide barrel with an injector on its trigger.  “That Yellow Olivine better knew what she was doing in creating this thing!” she gritted as she pulled on the trigger.

Once she pulled on the trigger, a needle injected into her finger, before pulling out a yellow circuit-like liquid; the weapon in Citrine’s hands began to shake until the end of the barrel glowed bright yellow, before suddenly the weapon fired out a torrential yellow beam of yellow static shot out like a conical beam of lightning. The light emitted from the weapon’s fire lit up the entire cave system for a few miles, before the light died down followed shortly after several dozens of sounds of pops echoing throughout the underside of homeworld.

Yellow Palace

Within the more private sector of the palace set up for the residential space of Yellow Diamond court for when the gems are present on homeworld to attend matters such as the centennial court review, a massive room was filled with large square yellow columns that reach the ceiling; between each column were bridges and walkways to connect the various residential private housings for the gem of the upper echelons of Yellow Diamond court to conduct their official business while they were tasked to be present on homeworld for the time being.

While some had little to no personal touches placed within or outside of them, the gems that occupied the residential living spaces were no less comfortable in using the gifted space to occupy their time for the stay on Homeworld.

Within one of the private housing spaces, a Hessonite was pacing in front of her desk with her arms crossed; the gem paused in her pacing as she uncrossed her arms to pull out a holopad to check the time and for any new messages. “Tch, I’ll be ruined if this does succeed!” She grumbled to herself as her facial expressions were of worry, before calming herself as she schooled her features.

Hessonite was part of the traditionalist faction regarding how gem society would move forward, and in her opinion, a certain Commander had been changing gem society, at least amongst her Diamond’s court, toward what most have called Era 2’s reformation; The traditionalist wanted gem society to slowly move on from the devastation that was the Rose Quartz rebellion, but the Citrine’s commander’s methods of moving society forward was too drastic.

She didn’t understand why Yellow Diamond lent her ear to that insufferable Citrine Commander many times over, just because she survived the blasted rebel war doesn’t mean she is worthy to be lent so much leeway of the suggestions she’s given. Hessonite glowered at the empty wall of her office while palming her hips as she tapped her foot in impatience, “It’s inconceivable that my Diamond would listen to such a young gem as that commander!”

Hessonite then smirked as she checked the time once more on her holopad, “My forces are probably cleaning up her shards, no way she’d be capable of fighting off such a large force all alone.” she presumed to herself.

At the next moment, her doorway dinged of a visitor, prompting Hessonite to reach over to her desk and push a button on it. “Come in!” she hollered out, already expecting a certain visitor to come in that she was expecting.

The doors of her office room opened with a soft hiss, and in the doorway stood Yellow Aquamarine; standing at the full height of an average pearl, Yellow Aquamarine walz  in with her arms crossed with an expectant look on her face.

“Ma’am.” Hessonite briefly bowed to her superior, before standing back up to face her as the gem walked up to her, before stopping short a few feet away.

Yellow Aquamarine glanced around the room a bit, before looking back at Hessonite, “ ‘as de deed been done?” she asked in an off accent.

Hessonite’s breath hitched a bit, before she nervously smiled at her superior, “I have my entire troops of Carnelians involved, along with the Yooperlite’s you provided me, so it shouldn’t be too long until the Citrine gem is in shards.” the gem general explained.

“Hm.” Yellow Aquamarine scoffed as she began pacing around the hessonite with her arms still crossed, all the while her eyes focused forward, “joehst be aware, if dis idea o' yoo’s goes sideways, you are to oehndergo memahry wipe, you oehnderstand dis, cahrrect?” she questioned Hessonite with her thick accent slurring some of her words.

Hessonite blinked as she thought of something, before turning to face the gem with a confused look on her face, “But what about your yooperlites? Surely they’d have memories of you giving them orders as well, correct?” 

Yellow Aquamarine smirked back at Hessonite, as she paced around the desk with the room, and sat within Hessonite’s own chair as if she owned the room herself, “ahh selly yooehng 'essahnite, you wahrry abooeht yooehrself. I already 'ave a plan in mind for de pahssibility o' me yooperlites being captured.” she explained with a smug and dark look. “And besides, it's always good to 'ave someone else do your dirty work for you. 

Hessonite began to sweat a bit at what possible idea the Yellow Aquamarine had in mind for the yooperlites she gave her to use against the Citrine Commander along with her own Carnelian soldiers. “You…you didn’t!”

Yellow Aquamarine smirked a smug expression as she leaned back in her seat while inspecting her nails, “ahh dahn't be so naive, 'essahnite, it's all fahr de sake o' gem society afterall.”

Hessonite let out a shuddering breath, before calming herself down, “May the moon goddess guide their souls…” She winced while clenching her eyes.

Chapter Text

Underside of Homeworld

Kindergarten

In the ever expansive chasm of Homeworld’s massive cave system of its kindergarten, one of the massive columns was carved vertically within the chasm; from high above the column structure, Citrine along with Spinel were still in free fall with countless gemstones falling with them. Not far below them were the two black garbed gems, who soon rid their garbs by igniting their magma wings from out of their back, and showing their actual forms of being two more Yooperlites.

Citrine pocketed her weapon from earlier into her gem and reached out to Spinel, “Spinel!” She yelled through the rush of air from the freefall they were all experiencing, “To me!” she ordered with a stern glance at the gem, to which Spinel glanced quickly back at her.

Just as Citrine had issued her order, the Yooperlites threw out twin arcs of ‘X’ magma arcs  from their magma wings through the air up towards the two of them; Spinel took the order directly as she reached out and grabbed Citrine’s hand, to which the Commander yelled out, “You land first!” she shouted as she twisted her body around while still holding onto Spinel’s hand, and slingshot the gem around her and threw her between the two incoming attacks of the yooperlites.

With a whoosh of whistling air, Spinel utilized her rubbery arms to maximize Citrine’s throw of her to the distant vertical column of earth below them, bypassing the two Yooperlites with the sight of a pink blur; with a loud thud, Spinel managed to land feet first while spreading her legs out a bit to displace the force of the impact while making a minor indent into her landing into the vertical column.

Citrine on the other hand twisted her body again to orientate herself between the two incoming lava arc attacks, narrowly making it through the two incoming attacks; while the magma arcs careened off sideways into nearby columns, Citrine continued her freefall down towards the Yooperlites who narrowed their eyes in aggravation as they flapped their magma wings to fly downwards.

The magma attacks themselves superheated their way into the columns they landed on, and caused several rocky boulders to crumble off and fall to the depths below, along with some heading towards the vertical column that Spinel landed on; Meanwhile with Citrine, she straightened her body to nose dive faster past the two Yooperlites before they could fire off another combo attack at her.

Spinel quickly looked up and watched as Citrine nosedived towards the vertical column she stood one, and within a quick second the commander reoriented herself to land with a loud crash on all fours; a harsh wide indent was created into the floor beneath her from the velocity of her fall, before she had to stand up and backflip away to avoid an incoming falling magma shot directing at her from one of the incoming flying Yooperlites.

Just as Citrine and Spinel were about to re-engage the two gems above them, two large broken pieces of boulders fell at opposite ends of the column they both stood on, causing it to crack at both ends before the vertical column broke off from its main body and plummeted to the deep chasm below with both gems still standing on it; Both Yooperlites flapped their magma wings to fly after the gems while the carnelian gemstones from earlier continued to fall and land on various ledges, some just continued to rain down with the plummeting column and gems.

Lapis

From behind a column of the massive kindergarten chasm, a steam cloud exploded outwards and engulfed the countless hole riddled column in hot steam; from within the cloud, two shadows flew through the steam at high speeds with glowing red and blue wings respectively of the two shadowy forms. The shadowy body within the steam cloud with red glowing wings exited out of the bottom first, the Yooperlite had an annoyed look on her face as she glanced over her shoulder as she flew downwards.

Following the Yooperlite, Lapis flew out of the steam cloud at high speed; bits of the steam cloud got dragged down by Lapis’s form as she flew downwards towards the Yooperlite with a focused expression.

The Yooperlite glared over her shoulder at the incoming form of the Lapis Lazuli gem, and reoriented herself midlight to face her body towards Lapis and flapped her magma wings once more to propel herself faster down while reaching out at the nearby walls; clenching her fists and throwing up at Lapis, the cavern walls began twisting in on themselves until they glowed red hot and became magma themselves, before erupting outwards from off the wall and down at Lapis as the two of them continued flying downwards.

Already feeling the rush of heat heading her way from above, Lapis connected the dots of what the new gem with Magma wings was capable of, and flapped her water wings to nose dive faster and spin around before making a sharp curved turn through the air; the flow of magma narrowly missed Lapis as she flew around another column within the Kindergarten chasm.

“Two can play at that game.” Lapis muttered to herself as she flew around the column while clenching her fists up, feeling out for Homeworld’s water system, something that still existed even after the planet had been cracked into large pieces; as she continued to fly with a flap of her water wings, Lapis finally made it back around the bend and confronted the Yooperlite with her arms locked behind her as if she was dragging something behind her.

The Yooperlite on the other hand smirked as she watched as the Lapis gem come back towards her while she hovered in the air with the flap of her magma wings, the gem raised her hands up and clenched her fists, before bringing them both down is if she was swinging down a hammer; the cavern wall behind the Yooperlite twisted in on itself before it turned into magma, and like a spring of water flowing out from a water faucet, the heated up rock turned magma exploded outwards and hurled itself towards Lapis.

Lapis on the other hand halted and hovered some ways away, and gritted her teeth in concentration as she struggled to pull her arms forward with both fists clenched; just as the flow of magma was about to reach her, Lapis’s arms snapped forward. A massive torrential flow of water bursted out from one of the nearby cavern walls, and coiled around her like a giant serpent of water before she willed it forward to smash against the flow of magma head her way.

Citrine and Spinel

As the column that the two gems stood one began its freefall, the empty space above them where Lapis was fighting against her Yooperlite exploded into an enormous cloud of steam; meanwhile with Citrine and Spinel, the two of them steadied themselves atop the large column as it continued it fall along with them standing atop it. 

Meanwhile with the two Yooperlites, the magma winged duo fluttered their wings as they glanced each other while chasing after the Commander and Spinel gem; both yooperlites nodded as one before flapping their wings to reach out to each other and clasped each other’s hands, the two gem then began performing a death spiral until their gems lit up.

Citrine cursed her luck as she watched the new type of gems perform what looked like a mid air death roll courtship of what eagles would do on earth, before the gems’ bodies lit up and fused into one big Yooperlite. “Be ready Spinel!” Citrine hollered over, to which Spinel nodded with a cautious look over her own as she clenched her fists and prepared herself for the trouble to come.

With two loud thumps, the giant Yooperlite had flapped her magma wings and landed her large feet into the free falling column that Citrine and Spinel stood on; as the Commander and spinel gem faced off against the large Yooperlite, said gemfusion smirked down at the smaller gems with a confident look. “Say your prayers to your makers, cause you’ll be seeing them soon!” the large gem bellowed out in a deep feminine voice.

Spinel’s eyes became bloodshot angry as she glared at the fusion of two Yooperlites, “You leave Pink out of this!” she shrieked, before flinging herself at the large fusion, “raaggh!” Spinel scream as she dove at the yooperlite fusion, and extended her limbs out to wrap the fusion’s own limbs in on themselves, thus causing the large yooperlite fusion to fall over onto her back with a bewildered expression.

“Get-get off me you stupid nutcase!” The Fusion yelled as her arms and legs began becoming red hot, causing Spinel to hiss in pain, but gritted her teeth as her pain tolerance was higher than a normal gem’s, but she wasn’t as resilient as a Bismuth gem that would be able to bath in magma as if it were a morning swim. “What the crack! What kind of gem are you!?” the fusion asked in an incredulous tone.

The Fusion watch as the Spinel gem looked back at her with a maddening grin of ill intent, but before Spinel could open her mouth up to reply, the Yooperlite fusion found her leg being pulled, and once she glance over the spinel gem, she saw that Citrine had come over and grabbed her heated up leg; with some wincing on her part, Citrine heaved the fusion up over her shoulder while shouting, “Get off her while you can, Spinel!” the commander shouted.

Spinel didn’t bother being told twice as she unfurled her limbs off from the fusion and flung herself away as Citrine heaved the large Yooperlite fusion over her shoulder and slammed her into the ground; with another heave on Citrine’s part while the large fusion was still dazed from getting her face smacked head first into the ground, that is to say, the falling column they were still fighting on, the commander gritted her teeth as she pulled the large fusion back into the air and over her shoulder.

“HaH!” Citrine yelled in frustration as she threw the fusion over her shoulder and into a far off cavern wall full off leftover holes from gems emerging out from it, the Yooperlite fusion body ended up getting indented into the wall, before peeling off and falling down towards the descending piece of earth that Citrine and Spinel stood on.

Letting out an exhale of breath, Citrine looked over at Spinel to quickly assess the gem’s state before the fight with the fusion started back up, “How are your limbs, are you okay?” she hollered over.

Spinel looked back at Citrine as the ground beneath them continued to fall with the fusion of Yooperlites still in freefall above them, she lifted her arms up and showed a little redness in them that was gradually disappearing, “Eh, I’ll be fine!” She smiled cheekily, before frowning as she looked around, “We’ve been falling for some time now, how are we going to get back up?” Spinel hollered back.

Just as Citrine was about to open her mouth, the column they both stood on came to a sliding halt as it finally reached a choke point in the chasm, both of them buckled a bit at their knees before falling to their rear end; Spinel spun her arms around and fell while Citrine simply fell with a wince of slight pain.

“I guess that answers-” Citrine began to mutter, only to be cut off when the fusion of Yooperlites slammed nearby onto the surface she and Spinel sat on.

“Are they unconscious?” Spinel asked, and as if to answer her question, the fusion groaned and picked herself up and glared over at the two other gems, all the while none of them noticing the broken piece of cavern column they were on began cracking and sliding very slowly downward.

The fusion smirked in confidence as she stood back up, “Nice try-”

BAAM

A ragdolled body of the Yooperlite that was fighting Lapis, soon found itself being bodied into the head of the fusion, followed by an onslaught of a water fist slamming down into the fusion and lone Yooperlite.

Citrine and Spinel watched on with bewildered expressions as a torrent of leftover water continuously pounded down into the Yooperlites until their bodies couldn’t sustain their forms from the onslaught of water; Citrine looked up followed by Spinel as Lapis flapped her water wings to slowly fly down and land once the Yooperlites’ gem bodies poofed and clattered to the surface while the leftover water sloshed away into the chasm below.

Once Lapis landed and steadily walked over to Citrine, the commander spoke up with a reserved look on her face, “I take it these new types of…elemental gems are no match for you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow of curiosity.

Lapis smirked back as she palmed her hip and shrugged with her other arm, “Eh, she had the homefield advance, I was just fortunate enough that homeworld as any water at all…that, and she was definitely green compared to me.” she boasted while inspecting her nails with a prideful expression.

While the poofed gemstones of carnelian soldiers caught up and rained down around them for a bit before trickling down, Citrine looked up, “Lapis, are you able to carry any of use back up?” she inquired.

“Mmh.” Lapis crossed her arms with a nonchalant look on her face, “I can carry one of you at a time.” she answered, before looking up as well, and saw how far down they were, “It’ll be a while between each trip though, so choose who wants to go first.” she informed the commander.

In the time that Lapis was talking with Citrine, gone went unnoticed the slight glowing of the Yooperlite gems by Lapis and Citrine; while Spinel first took notice of the odd occurrence with her focus elsewhere other than the conversion that Citrine had with Lapis, she wasn’t sure what was going on with the gemstones until it was too late.

Right when the gemstones began to crack a bit, Spinel hollered, “Hey Citrine-” were her only words spoken before the three dormant Yooperlite gemstones shook, cracked, and exploded into a bursting flow of hot magma that went flying in all direction with excess force.

Citrine, Spinel, and Lapis all found themselves hit by an onrush of liquid hot magma that burned their bodies and sent them flying off the now collapsing wedged pillar that they were all standing on; three poofs later and a Citrine gemstone, followed by a Spinel and a Lapis Lazuli gemstone fell to the deep dark depths of the kindergarten chasm bellow. 

The explosion echoed throughout the cavernous Kindergarten, followed by the sounds of heavy rocks and boulders falling to the depths below; after a short bit, calmness stilled and all was silent.

Pink Palace

Pink Morganite calmly walked through the halls of her late Diamond’s palace, she had forgotten to give Citrine a tablet that contained the copied still-images of her Diamond, the kind of images she had used in her many efforts of creating the various Pink Diamond Statues that were present throughout the Pink Palace. With the hopes of giving the detailed images of her Diamond, Moganite was of the mind that it’d help further Citrine’s investigation into the matter surrounding her Diamond’s shattering.

Once Morganite reached the private room of her Diamond, she frowned as she noticed the door had been left open; with some grumbling on her part, Pink Morganite continued to walk toward the room and walk in before glancing around a confused face as she noted no one was in the room. “I was told she was last seen heading to see how my Diamond’s Spinel gem was faring…” she noted with a worried look.

Walking further in, Pink Morganite looked around and found nothing broken or worse, but as she continued to walk through the room, she stumbled a bit when her foot stepped on something; stepping back and reaching down, Morganite picked up what none other than what looked like a yellow pronged projectile of the new destabilizer weapon that was in the works of being the staple of every gem soldier.

Glancing back up from the pronged bullet in her fingers and now noticeably worried of the situation, Morganite looked around with wide eyes, “What happened?” She asked herself, before walking over to the balcony. There were no signs of any leftover gems or anything else, so whatever had to have happened, had to have caused a fight the led to it being taken outside, and the only fastest way out was through the balcony.

Approaching the banister of the balcony, Pink Morganite leaned forward and looked down, before widening her eyes at seeing a large hole made by whatever force or gem she was not aware of yet; the hole was red hot from whatever drilled its way down, so that left the possibility of a Lapis Lazuli being guilty of causing such a hole to be drilled to what she knew was the underside of Homeworld.

“Morganite?” The soft and calm voice of Pink Sapphire echoed from the entrance of the room, causing Pink Morganite to get jumpscared and quickly turn around to see the worried face of Sapphire.

“Sapphire!...I mean…” Morganite stumbled through her words while placing her palm on her chest from getting surprised.

Pink sapphire walked in while looking around, “What Happened? Where’s Commander Citrine? Did you already hand off your images of our Diamond to her?” she asked calmly, while Morganite breathed out a calming breath of relief.

While Sapphire finally reached Morganite, said gem looked back at Sapphire with a worried look, before glancing down at the pronged bullet in her fingers; for all she knew, Citrine was right and there was a clandestine group of anti-Pink Diamond sympathizers, very zealous ones at that. Many thoughts ran through Moganite’s mind, were they next? Did some gem high up in a court chain send some gem assassins after Citrine for delving too much into her investigation of her Diamond’s shattering? 

Word is already spreading amongst the courts after all that Citrine is investigating the matters of Pink Diamond’s demise, it started with Sodalite and it snowball from there; it was only a matter of time when one of the Diamond’s caught word of it…wait, what if one of the Diamonds have already caught word of it? 

Pink Morganite’s eyes widened, what if that’s what happened!?

“Morganite?” Pink Sapphire spoke up once more as she turned her head from side to side, a tell that she was looking around with her eye under her bangs, she ceased looking around and back at Morganite, “What do you think happened?” she asked once more as she walked forward to look over the banister and down at the hole drilled through the ground to the underside of homeworld.

Pink Morganite curled her fingers over the pronged bullet with gritted teeth of facial worry, “I believe Citrine may be onto something, and an aristocrat or even a diamond had sent some clandestine group to take her out.” She answered, while looking over into the distance of the entire city of the Homeworld capital.

“....Oh dear…” Pink Sapphire spoke with worry.

Chapter Text

Citrine’s gem 

Finding herself inside what looked like her mind’s interpretation of organization every aspect about her, she had opened her eyes to the sight of an ever expansive office room with many cubicles; said cubicles were stationed by various iterations of herself, some look like her previous life and other went further back to her first life,

If Citrine wanted to bet on anything, it was probably her soul’s memory having been imprinted by the memories of her past lives, and was using them as figureheads as a means to an end.

That, or her gem was indeed an aspect of some very high tech magical computer that was able to scour the thoughts of the soul and use what it needed to make up what she saw before her…

This was indeed all new to her, as Citrine never once experienced being poof, and how here she was standing in the midst of a large office space with several cubicles filled by different looking versions of her first and second life. 

“My Citrine?” A voice spoke up behind her, prompting her to jump a bit from the sudden call out to her, before she turned to face who it was that called her name. “Yes?” she asked while turning around.

Standing before her was Orange Pearl with a worried look on her face, “Did I fail? Were you poofed too by whatever assailant was spying on us?” she asked in a fretting manner while examining her Commander.

Citrine placated Pearl by holding her hands out to halt the pearl from worrying, “The circumstances of how I got poofed were different pearl.” she scolded her gem assistant, while Orange Pearl ducked her head in embarrassment of worrying too much.

While Pearl kept her head down, Citrine explained what had led to her body being poofed.

Orange Pearl lifted her arm up to cover her mouth in shock, “Oh dear…I-I, Yellow Diamond is not going to like this.” she remarked after being filled in on what happened while her pearl gem was stored inside Citrine’s gem.

“By the way.” Citrine curiously tapped her chin as she inspected Pearl, “I’m surprised you’re already able to form yourself inside my gem…” she then eyed Pearl up and down with a scrutinizing gaze, “While this had been my first time being poofed, wouldn’t this be your…” Citrine glanced up as she mentally counted the times her Pearl threw herself in harm's way to protect her Citrine, “Ninth time being poofed?” she asked while raising an eyebrow.

Orange Pearl fidgeted a bit in her place when she was put under the scrutinizing gaze of her Citrine, “Ten, actually.”

Citrine nodded a bit, “Ah, right…” She mused, and looked back down at Orange Pearl, “Have you already undergone your reformation, or is this an aspect of yourself that you are able to show while inside my gem.”

Orange Pearl brightened up at the question given, “Oh, well, by my calculations, I should be able to reform my gem body in about two days, and yes, I am Pearl’s inner aspect of herself!” She then palmed her chest while making a prideful expression. 

“I am in charge of organizing the items she puts into her gem!” She preened at her explanation.

Citrine shifted on her feet a bit while standing across from Pearl as she explained her purpose, the commander gave a nod of understanding to Orange Pearl. “Two days…” she murmured to herself while idly looking off to the side in thought all the while cupping her chin.

Orange Pearl furrowed her brow in worry as she wrung her hands a bit, “My apologies, but would you prefer the time table to shorten?” she asked while fretting over Citrine’s behavior.

Holding her palm up away from her chin, Citrine made a placating gesture, “No, no, take your time, it’s me that needs to rush, I have a schedule to keep up with and I need to figure out how to properly expedite myself in forming my body back out of my gem.” she answered with a concerned look.

“Oh!” Orange Pearl remarked, “I see! Then I’ll make sure to relay the news back to Pearl!” she clasped her hands in exuberance.

Citrine then looked back at Orange Pearl with a focused look, “By the way, where is Pearl’s gemstone? I'm gonna have to assume you have it otherwise…” she inquired with a curious look in her eyes.

“Ah, yes.” Orange Pearl began to say as she picked up a briefcase and held out flatly to Citrine for her to see as Pearl easily unlatched the buckles, and showed the dormant pearl gemstone. “I must say, I do enjoy how you compartmentalize your stuff inside your gem, and an aspect of yourself even showed me how to store my own documents in this wonderful looking box!”

Citrine looked down at the Pearl, before looking back up at Organizer Orange Pearl as she shut the briefcase back up and set it aside, “Which one of myself helped you out?” Citrine asked with a cautious look on her face.

Orange Pearl warmly smiled as she pointed over to a set of doors with a sign above it that read, ‘Resource Managers’, “That would be the nice human male looking construct you decided to make up within your gem…not sure why’d you choose that form…”

Citrine, thinking as quick as she could, came up with a simple answer, “It was an experiment of mine I wanted to try out within my gem aspect, and I was curious how the human male form would work integrated within gem society, just one of my many experiments I’ve wanted to try out, and what better way that simulating it inside my gem!” She explained in a haphazard way.

Orange Pearl touched her lip in thought with furrowed brow, before smiling, “How ingenious!” she remarked while nodding, “Pearl is always trying to figure out why you study up on the humans in Pink Diamond’s Zoo, and it wasn’t just about their sleeping habits!” Pearl commented with a soft giggle afterwards.

“Exactly!” Citrine affirmed with a nod of her own, before making a shoo’ing gesture, “Now why don’t you move on and get back to working on reforming yourself, I have my own affairs within my own self to get my reformation underway.” she ordered with a stern look.

Orange Pearl’s aspect of herself dutifully saluted, “As you wish, my Citrine, I don’t be far if you have need of me however.” she added, before picking up her briefcase of her outer persona’s gemstone, and walked off to sit next to a watercooler while placing the briefcase onto her lap.

Citrine, while curious of the all the surreal nature of the inner world of her gem, resolved to get her body reformed post haste. With nothing else better to do, Citrine headed towards the room labeled with ‘resource managers’.

Homeworld Kindergarten 

A soft red glow illuminated a cavern, before a twin bodied Rutile gem cautiously stepped out from the tunnel; it was the Rutile twins off the Off color gems, and as she leaned out of the cave to check if the coast was clear, her gem lowered down its intensity of luminosity so at to not be seen from afar. “What was all that racket?” the left twin pondered.

“That was an awful lot of noises that echoed down here.” the other Twin finished say as they cautiously walked out and surveyed the area.

From within the cave that the Rutile twins walked out from, a green glow traveled out from dark depths until a blue spotted Peridot walked out, “Did you find out what made those noises?” she asked in a nasally tone of voice while shutting off her gem glow once she left the cave.

The Rutile gems glanced back over at Spotted Peridot as she walked up next to the twins, “Not yet.” the left twin replied, “but whatever caused that ruckus, it sounded like-” the right sided Twin said, before the left sided twin finished her sentence, “it came from far above.” they both pointed up.

“Hmm…” Spotted Peridot looked up as she walked further out with Rutile twins trailing after her, “Oh, look!” the peridot remarked as not longer after, gems began to rain down and fall to the ground beneath them.

“What-” LEft Rutile said, “The…” Right Rutile finished saying with both displaying bewildered looks as they and spotty Peridot backed away back into the cave to watch as dozens of Carnelian gems showered down from above, followed by three unique ones and shards of gems the off color gems had seen yet.

“Well this is peculiar…” Spotty Peridot remarked as she analyzed the scene before her, while the Rutile twin looked cautiously at it all.

Once the rain of gems finished peppering the ground to cover quite the bit of surface with poofed gems, the Rutile twin looked at Spotted Peridot with a concerned look on their faces. “Should we bubble them all?…” both said at once, while letting the question hang in the air.

Spotted Peridot looked at the scene once more before looking back at the Rutile Twins, “I think we should, and take them back to Off-color city. Fluorite and her Sapphires will know what to do with them.” she surmised, to which the Rutile twins nodded in agreement. Before both looked at the more prominent gem amongst them all, “Especially with that one.” Spotty Peridot pointed at the Citrine gem, both gem and twins displaying nervous reactions.

Citrine, inner gem world

Opening the door to the office labeled as ‘resource managers’, Citrine allowed herself in through the door while letting the door shut behind her; before her was a long oval table occupied by what looked like variations of her past lives, three of each in fact which added up to six in total of her past representations of her former lives.

Put to mind the the iterations of her past lives was just a matter of her gem extrapolating the best possible aspects of herself to represent herself, Citrine wouldn’t put it past her subconscious self to want to put the need to at least categories vague memories of her past lives; looking before her as the six different aspects of her were presently typing away at was more than likely her best representation of laptops, Citrine glanced at the more simplistic version of her previous life, the others had more going for them for some odd reason in the hair department.

Walking over to the female soldier aspect that had a prominent ahoge that twitches every now and then, said aspect finished typing and looked up from her work with an annoyed expression, “Took you long enough, sit, I’ll be right with you after I finish organize the last bits of your memories from the last twenty four hours.” she instructed.

Citrine raised an eyebrow at the abrasiveness, and concluded that the aspect was running off her past self personality to a certain degree; with nothing else better to do, Citrine took the empty seat available next to the soldier aspect of herself.

While the commander waited for the soldier aspect to finish her work, Citrine allowed her eyes to wander around the room while the sound of typing filling the air; over on one of the walls were various photographs inside frames, all of which were under a large set of words that labeled them all as ‘employees of the months’.

‘I suppose that’s my subconscious laying out the people that I have shared enough relationships with…’ Citrine mused as lo and behold, there were two very faded out pictures of a man and woman, ‘I can only conclude those are my parents…I suppose…so that must mean the employees of the month is a more abstract way of my emotional attachments to the people I’ve shared memories with.’ Citrine surmised as she curled her finger over her mouth as the dwelled on her thoughts.

Past the two very faded out photos of her mother and father from her first life, the frames and photos became more clear as they eventually led to her second life; amongst the people from her second life, Visha’s exuberant face was emblazoned within a gold frame along with silver for the men she worked with in her 203rd mage battalion. A tang of something welled up in her, before quashing it down.

‘It won’t do to dwell on the past too much.’ Citrine scolded herself with a dour look as she lowered her arm to cross it with her other at her chest as she leaned back in the chair she sat in, ‘They lived good lives past the war, and we all moved on for the better. No use getting sentimental for something that had been well over a thousand years ago.’ she added to her thoughts on the matter.

Glancing back at the framed photos, her eyes then trailed the newer ones that were from her present life. ‘Is that how I feel about her?’ Citrine asked herself mentally as she saw Orange Pearl’s respectful salute to her with a prim expression, the photo of her pearl was in a silver frame and not in a gold one.

“You hold Visha in a tad higher regard.” The male counterpart of herself spoke aloud as he look up from his laptop, while looking over to her from across the table.

Both Citrine and her male self stared at each other, both Citrine spoke her mind on the matter, “Ah, I see, she was the first, so of course she’d set the gold standard…” she lifted a corner of her lip up in jest.

The Salaryman looked back at her with a simple expression of a calculated stare, before speaking once more, “Quite, she always seemed to want to stick by your side, regardless of the abrasiveness you exuded.”

With his piece said, the Salaryman went back to work at his laptop, leaving Citrine to her own thoughts; Citrine trailed her eyes to the bottom of the wall before looking over to another wall where there were more until the word ‘potentials’, and amongst the various gems she’s come across were Spinel who was in the lead. ‘Huh…well…she was rather helpful in that last fight, and she does hold clues to who Pink Diamond was at a more personal level.’ Citrine assumed to herself.

The soldier finally finished typing before shutting her laptop closed and turned her chair to face Citrine, “I will say, you have been a bit too emotive to gain that gem’s trust…” she commented on Citrine’s thoughts. “But I suppose it’s for the best you try and gain her trust if you are to ever understand who Pink Diamond was away from prying eyes.” she observed.

Citrine focused her attention on the soldier aspect of herself, Tanya. “I saw fit to allow some form of reciprocal emotion let me gain some better results out of my soldiers, rather than display a cold hearted facade, and so far it’s been working wonders by my estimation of the amount of successful campaigns I’ve finished under the Diamond Empire.” she explained with a simplistic look on her face.

Tanya scoffed as she groused at the notion, “Just don’t get too emotional, we're not out there to be a caring individual, one wrong move and Yellow Diamond might see fit to shatter us.” the soldier warned with a glare.

Citrine rolled her eyes at the paranoia of herself, “I highly doubt my Diamond will shatter me for a display of emotion, I’m pretty sure she’d do such a thing if I commit a taboo of gem society.” the commander said with a flippant tone.

Tanya glared back at Citrine, “Hmph. just don’t say I didn’t warn you if you find yourself a shattered soul like the rest of those gems you shattered during the Rose Rebellion.” 

“...I’d rather not think about that…” Citrine repressed a shudder at the thought of causing a fate worse than death. “I didn’t know at the time, and now I have to live with the fact.”

Tanya sat back in her chair and gave Citrine a look of bewilderment, “You didn’t experience this sort of sympathy for your enemies in your second life, what changed?” she prodded.

“You know very well why.” Citrine retorted with a glowering look on her face as she glared back at Tanya, “It’s simple to think human souls will move on to a supposed afterlife, but it’s not the same for gem souls.” The commander then sat forward in her chair, “For whatever reason, a gem’s soul will be tethered to their gem even when they are shattered, leaving them to become discombobulated consciousness, and you know how I feel about the consciousness of oneself.” 

Tanya tapped her chin in thought, “Maybe it’s because Being X doesn’t exist here in this universe.” she smirked at the end at the thought of not having to deal with that imposter god. The supposed deity was far from what God was portrayed as in the bible, and he was too narcissistic for his own good. 

“The debate on Being X’s godhood aside…” Citrine began as she settled into her chair a bit, while leaning her elbow on the armrest, “He did cast our soul aside after all, and in all my thousand years in this life, not once have I heard a peep from him.”

“Good, the last thing I want is him forcing his stupid curse miracles into our subconsciousness.” Tanya said with a glower and clenched fist.

“Let’s shelf this kind of talk for later, mayhaps, right now, I think we should work on getting my body to reform pronto.” Citrine suggested with a stern tone and look.

Tanya nodded in agreement as she turned her laptop to face Citrine, “Agreed…. Now, I have downloaded your previous iteration, and I am assuming you have no problem with reusing the template you’ve stuck with for the past thousand years.” 

“If it’ll get me to be able to reform faster, I’ll take it.” Citrine nodded back as she looked at the laptop screen once, before looking back at Tanya, “What’s the timetable for the reformation of my body?” the commander asked.

Tanya turned her laptop to face her, and typed a few inputs before answering, “About…a day or two…no wait, make that a day and a half.” she corrected herself.

Citrine tsked a bit herself as she glanced to the side with a grimace, “Great, I was hoping it’d be shorter, I have an entire regiment of gems visiting Pink Diamond palace, not to mention Yellow Diamond will be expecting me to report back.”

“I’m pretty sure she;ll understand the circumstances of your tardiness, if you file a good report.” Tanya shrugged in response to Citrine’s thoughts on the matter relating to Yellow Diamond.

Yellow Palace

From outside the view of the palace belonging to the Yellow Diamond Matriarch, everything was calm, until an entire swathe of its walls exploded from an explosive ball of yellow destabilizing energy, countless gemstones fell to the grounds below from out of the hole.

Within the personal office of Yellow Diamond, the matriarch stood up with clenched fists while a holoscreen in front of her showed the image of Yellow Pearl; she had sent her Pearl to retrieve Citrine, only to later find out the reason for the commander’s odd tardiness of her schedule.

From what Pink’s court had relayed to her pearl, an assassination had been attempted on the life of her Citrine commander; evidence had shown a fight had broken out that led to a hole being drilled through the crust surface down to the kindergarten cave system below. 

What was worse, was, the evidence of the hole was still hot and fresh from a specific new gem line she had been experimenting in creating; and not just that, only a few of her gems in her court were privy to the knowledge of her new experimental yooperlites, which meant she was now dealing with traitor’s amongst her court.

“Get. back. Here. now.” Yellow Ordered her Pearl on the other end of the video called.

“Yes my Diamond!” Yellow Pearl quickly said, before the call shut off, leaving Yellow Diamond to herself and her thoughts. 

The first thing she needed to do was lock down her palace, and get permission from White to enact a planet wide martial law…

Well, they were already ruled by authority, she just needed an excuse to put homeworld under a figurative house arrest; she didn’t want no gem to be able to escape, and by the time she’d find the culprit, she’d be sure to shatter the guilty and harvest their shards to be put to use.

Chapter Text

Yellow Palace

The entire palace of Yellow Diamond was locked down just short a few hours ago, the whole court of the Yellow Diamond Matriarch was locked in their own private quarters; outside each door of the rooms were Yellow Diamond’s own Carnelian Arbites, their top priority to keep the entire sector of the palace under lockdown and not let any upper court gem from out of their spaces.

Many Yellow upper Court gems were confused as to what was happening, as were everyone else as a matter of fact.

Inside two of the living quarters, two of the gems from the Yellow Court conversed with each other through a video call through their holopads, Yellow Morganite and Yellow Beryl.

Morganite had a concerned look on her face as she looked back at Beryl through their two way video call, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen our Diamond that livid since-”

“Pink Diamond’s shattering, yes I know.” Beryl spoke back while cutting off Yellow Morganite from speaking what they already remember and know about, she herself had her own concerned look as she sat in her chair, while on the other end of the call, Morganite too was sitting in what looked like her own style of furbished decor and lounging chair.

Morganite frowned a bit on her part as she looked to the side in thought, before looking back at Beryl through the video call, “You don’t think Yellow Aquamarine might’ve finally gone through in her attempt at Citrine’s life, do you?” she asked with a wide eyed look.

Beryl clicked her teeth in annoyance at the thought, Yellow Aquamarine and a good portion of about a quarter of their Diamond’s court were vocal objectors to Commander Citrine’s innovative ideas, many of which have been put into practice for test runs; already there were quite a few ideas that have stayed in use while a few were put back until further notice

One of the test runs that had succeeded, to an extent, was the dissolution of segregation between the Cabochon and Faceted gems; the ‘to the extent’ part was there was enough evidence to support the desegregation of the two types of cut gems amongst the solder gems, but amongst the upper levels of command there was some to little pushback, but it didn’t hinder the campaigns that Citrine had completed through her five hundred years after the Rose Rebellion.

Yellow Diamond and her court, at its core, had the responsibility of being the bulwark of the Diamond Empire military, and with the resource shortage that had debilitated the empire to such a degree, not many could complain when the innovative ideas helped in some form or matter to pick the empire back up from its crutches and move it steadily forward.

The only problem however was plenty of the idea that Citrine had pushed for went in the face of what the gem society was and what the Diamond Authority stood for. Perfection.

The only problem is, the Rose Rebellion marred that perfection and now they were steadily recovering from the loss of loyal gems; Era 2 gems would never match their predecessor era 1 gems, but in the eyes of Citrine and to an extent her Diamond, it all came down to successful results in these trying times.

Especially when there were ‘rebellions’ popping up every now and then, some were actual while others were…staged.

Finishing her thoughts on the matter, Yellow Beryl finally spoke up as she sat back while idly scratching her chin, “I wouldn’t put it past her to be the root cause of our Diamond’s anger.” she spoke with a furrowed brow.

Morganite let out an annoyed scoff as she slipped herself into a more comfortable position on her cushioned seat, “Yeah, but what could she have done though? We’re all on homeworld!”

Beryl resisted the urge to roll her eyes and settled with standing up to begin pacing around in her quarters, “Whatever it was that she might have done, if she is the guilty one that caused this mess, she had to have a collaborator, at the very least. No way she’d go down without dragging someone down with her.” she surmised with a dry tone.

Blue Palace

Using the tips of her fingers to massage her head, Blue Diamond was now spending a moment’s time to relax her mind from all the responsibilities she was in charge of; so many colonies of her’s were in dire need of relocation of building supplies and others were well and truly done. 

Blue Diamond was currently sitting in her private quarters, a lavishly decorated room with the same theme of an underwater motif going for her palace. On one side of the room was a large balcony that overlooked the capital, in the distance the other palaces were visible with White Diamond’s head towering over in the midst of it all.

Opening her eyes that were once closed from her attempt at relaxing her mind, Blue diamond looked up towards the ceiling while the soft singing of a built in gem structure filled her room with a musical ambiance. She had completed so much work, and yet she was far from finished, in fact she had barely scratched the surface.

So much reorganization was needed, allocation of gems, allocation of ships, shipments of vast leftover resources left on finished on long finished colonies; Her administrator Azurite was now useless and incompetent, the trust broken from the mishandling of the responsibility thrust upon the high ranking gem.

The gems that were on completed colonies under her authority had submitted requests to move on to and volunteer to any new project underway, but with how long she had left from the public eye of her court to mourn her loss of Pink Diamond, plenty of those requests went unanswered.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, it didn’t take long for more than a century for nearly half of her court to mishandle the gem resources. 

Why couldn’t her court behave as well as Pink’s court? 

“Oh Pink…” Blue Diamond somberly said as she leaned up from her cushioned lounge, and ceased massaging her head to relax her arms onto her knees as she sat up on her lounge. The Blue Matriarch took a soft glance in the direction of her large balcony to see the Pink Palace in the distance. It was a miracle that her court was still able to function without her, but then again, she never got the chance to own any colonies other than the failed one that ended with disastrous results.

That meant the Pink court wasn’t as large as the other courts, and wasn’t as stretch thin, but it was a credit of remarkableness in Blue’s eyes that the pink court didn’t collapse overnight. At least Pink’s court was able to function long after their diamond’s shattering, Blue somberly smiled at the thought. She was sure Pink would be proud of her court that they didn’t end up like hers.

With that thought out of the way for later, as it wouldn’t do to allow herself into another spiraling mode of depression over Pink’s shattering, Blue Diamond glanced elsewhere through the balcony as she continued to sit on her lounge. Elsewhere in the distance was the Yellow Palace, and most prominently a glaring large hole that was no doubt caused by Yellow.

Something must have happened, something dire, something very important that had to cause Yellow to allow herself to react so violently. Unlike her and Pink, Yellow was always the more mature one in hiding her true feelings and not often expressing her visible emotions on her sleeves.

Though, she supposed that is what Yellow saw her duty as, a stalwart Diamond that is the oldest, second only to White Diamond.

Blue had once asked what it was like when it was just them two before she finally emerged on her birth planet, and the best explanation she got from Yellow was that it was a slow start but after a while things started to pick up once she herself emerged to pick up the task of conquering the galaxy under the Diamond Authority.

She was still waiting on getting the call back from Yellow after she sent a message to see what had caused so much distress that would warrant the wrath of her powers, as well as leveling a good chunk of her own palace…who knows how long that would take to rebuild…a few decades at least, to a few centuries at most…

Yellow was very meticulous after all compared to her when it came to having her colonies built and organized in a certain fashion, though that’s not saying much compared to White’s colonies; though last she checked, White hasn’t exactly went out of her way to make any more colonies under her court, which left her and Yellow to pick up the slack. 

White must either be taking it harder than she was, or something else.

“My Diamond.” Blue Pearl spoke softly as her pearl stood not far away beside the lounge she sat on, said pearl looked up while holding a holopad of hers while Blue Diamond glanced down over at her Pearl with an an expectant look, “Yellow Diamond is now calling back in response to your request, would you like me to patch her in through your Diamond comms?” she asked.

Blue Diamond let out a soft sigh before giving a nod and answering with a ‘yes’. 

Without any further need to be told otherwise, Blue Pearl walked over to the nearby low table and pressed a few buttons on the leg of it, before promptly afterwards a holoscreen popped up above the low table that was in front of Blue’s cushioned lounge.

Already Blue could hear the sure tale sounds of heavy construction on the other end of the call, and that’s not to say about the peeved look on Yellow’s face. Lifting a brow up in curiosity, Blue sawa rare sight of Yellow having her hair a bit disheveled and a stray strand of her hair falling over down against her forehead.

Perhaps things were more troubling on Yellow’s end than Blue realized, “Yellow…” she breathed out, while expressing her worry for her fellow Diamond’s appearance, “Are things that really dire over there?” Blue asked.

Yellow Diamond let out an annoyed grunt as she sat in a chair of her own on her side of the call while her arms were crossed, her eyes narrowed in seething anger, “Let’s just say I’m dealing with a bit of a mess on my own end.” she expressed in a sneer.

Blue placed her hand against her mouth in more worry for her fellow Diamond, “Yellow, you blew out an entire good portion of your own palace, that’s more than a bit of a mess!” she spoke in a slight scolding tone, “What is the cause of your distress!?” Blue asked in a pleading manner.

“Rgh…” Yellow Diamond released a growl of anger from out of her throat, before unfolding her arms to slam her fists onto the table in front of her, “Treason!! And not just that, unauthorized use of a batch of new experimental gems, attempted assassination of one of my high ranking gems instigated by another, I’d shatter that gem responsible if it weren’t for the fact that she still serves a purpose for weeding out other culprits behind the mess that colluded with her!” she yelled with seething fury.

As Yellow Diamond finished her diatribe, she was left breathing quite a bit hard from her yelling, before exhaling calmly and leaned back into the backrest of her chair to palm her forehead, “While I can’t say things were running smoothly for the last five hundred years, never would I have thought I’d experience this sort of mess from my own court as well.” she bemoaned. 

“Hmm…” Blue hummed in agreement to that statement, it was unthinkable that so much corruption and backstabbing existed in their own courts, but she supposed it was on them for not seeing it. Everything was so simple back then, before the accursed Rose Quartz Rebellion, but now that Era 2 was underway…

It seemed as if everything was coming to a head, it was as if Rose Quartz was the ignition primer…

“Perhaps…” Blue began with an uncertain look on her face as she reached up to combed her fingers through her hair to calm her own nerves, “It is time we cleaned house of our entire courts, this Era 2 has been rife with conflict, and most troubling it has been the cause of high ranking gems of our courts, very rarely have I been able to discern it being the fault of a common foot soldier.” she surmised with a furrowed brow of thought.

“Augh…” Yellow groaned in protest as she glared through her fingers as she slid her hand down from her head, the glare wasn’t for Blue, but it was most certainly for their growing problem of rebellious gems. “The mere thought of reorganizing our entire courts is giving me conniptions.” she complained. “But neither of us had the time to actually reorganize our courts properly once Era 2 had begun.”

“Yellow…” Blue began to say as she ceased her action with her hair and placed her palms on her lap as she sat on her lounge, “I have so many leftover resources, and mismanaged colonies, that some overhaul is in dire need for my entire court.” she closed her eyes  and let out a sigh before opening them back up to look straight back at Yellow through the video call.

 “I’m already short of half of my upper court, and with my Azurite part of the problem properly dealt with, I don’t even know where to begin once we start cleaning our courts up.” Blue explained to her fellow diamond with a look of doubt on her face.

Yellow, for her part, sat back in her chair and steepled her fingers a bit, “Well, once I get the go ahead from White for permission to lock down the entire planet, I’ll see about lending you certain schematic of mine that I drew up a few thousand years ago, it might help you create a new administrator that is as competent as my Citrine gem.” she said, while making a smirk at the end.

One thing about what Yellow said unsettled Blue, or maybe two things, she wasn’t sure which yet. “Wait, you sent a request to White to lockdown the entire planet!?” she asked in surprise while expressing her shock.

“That, or at the very least lockdown the galaxy warp pad as well as cease any and all space ships from making their departure.” Yellow replied back in a flippant manner, before sighing to herself as she sat back up straight to cross her leg over her knee and lean on her armrest with her elbow while resting her cheek against her fist. “If I’m lucky, I’ll get a message back in-”

“ Greetings!” White Diamond’s pearl suddenly greeted the two Diamonds as the video call screens between the two Diamonds now shared the channel with said pearl, who was expressing a wide joyous smile and stock still with her ever present pose. “ How have you two been? Good I hope?”  the pearl intoned with her gleeful smile.

“White!?” Blue remarked as she jerked back a bit.

“Huh!?” Yellow expressed with wide eyes while jerking her head back a bit in shock.

“ Good!~” White Pearl expressed a closed eyed smile, before opening her single eye back up to look at the Diamond through the call, “ Yellow, you may proceed with the lockdown.” She said without missing a beat.

“Wait, Whi-” Blue began to protest, before she could speak any further, the White Pearl interrupted her with a concentrated stare in her direction.

“ ~And Blue, It’s wonderful to have you back from your little break. Be sure to catch up on all your work, your leftover court definitely needs you after all.” The pearl intoned with a stiff smile, before expressing kindly “~ have a wondrous day!~” White Pearl expressed once more with a closed eye smile, before her screen disappeared from the video call.

A minute of silence had gone by between the Diamonds, neither of the two Diamonds could utter a word, as the situation that had transpired had unsettled them a bit. After another good minute had passed, Blue spoke with a hurt look.

“Is that how she saw my mourning for Pink as? A mere break?!?” Blue asked with a bit of a hurt expression at how callous White was in naming her grieving over Pink as a simple ‘break’.

Yellow replied back with an annoyed look, “I think what’s most pressing is that she responded at all to my request, usually it takes forever to get her reply back.” she remarked while brooding a bit for a number of reasons pertaining to White Diamond.

After a few moments of silence passed between the Diamonds, Blue spoke with a curious tone, “What was that one thing about earlier of a schematic by the way?”

“Hmph.” Yellow made a flippant gesture, “I’ll show you later once everything has settled, we can go to the colony where I drafted the gem schematics up from prying eyes.” she explained with a cautious look in her eyes.

At that, Blue was even more curious as to what Yellow meant, what sort of schematics prompted Yellow to be so cautious that she needed to have them off from Homeworld.

From that point, the two Diamond Matriarch discussed a few more inconsequential matters, before bidding each other a good day and closed their calls. 

White Palace

Standing, or in the wider public eyes of the white court, posing atop the throne of White Diamond, White Pearl smiled primly as she willed the holoscreen away, before she addressed the few Gems present in the throne room as she glanced down with her one eye.

All three members from the council of nine were present, White Sapphire, Forsterite and Nosean, all of them were in attendance awaiting their prompt to speak while standing before the throne in their own way.

White Sapphire, like any other Sapphire, stood patiently with her hands folded in front of her. Forsterite stood to the left of the Sapphire as she occasionally looked into her holo-wrist brace, before standing back at attention. Nosean as usual held an air of nobility about her as she stood ramrod straight while clasping her hands behind her back and head held high.

White Pearl directed her lone eye at Nosean and spoke with the voice of White diamond, “Is something troubling you, Nosean? I can already feel you have the most reservation about what I allowed Yellow Diamond to enact.”

Nosean released a small breath as she gathered her thoughts, before making them known to her Diamond, which only made White Pearl chortle a bit. “I don’t be so worried, my little white general.~” she replied to the thoughts of her Nosean gem, and made a very wide expressive smile, 

“Yellow Knows what she’s allowed to do and what not, she is afterall the eldest of the three and the more responsible, she has demonstrated it enough for more than fourteen thousand years afteral~” White Pearl continued to explained on her decision to give Yellow the green light of what she asked for, “Afterall…” the pearl then spoke with her eyes squinted and brimming smiling, “It’s not everyday homeworld gets to experience a world wide lockdown, in fact…”

White pearl widened her eyes and looked up in thought, “I do believe this is in fact the first time homeworld has experienced a lockdown…YES!” she exclaimed excitement, “This is just what homeworld needs, a good exercise in authority and who better than my most busy Diamond!?” she remarked with a smile as she looked back down at her three gems of the council she made up. 

It was so amusing to see how other gems thought they had any sort of reach beyond their stations, and when you give them an inch, they run a whole mile with it!

White Diamond peered down at her gems through White Pearl, and glanced directly at White Sapphire, “You may speak, you see something, don’t you?” she asked with an eager smile, “Go on, say what’s bothering your vision~!” she urged with a wide eyed look.

White Sapphire lifted her arms up and tapped her index fingers against each other, “While I was on my way back from visiting the central ball palace, I was very nearly able to cross paths with that Citrine gem of Yellow Diamond…I was able to see her from afar, but when I tried too…”

White Pearl cut the Sapphire off but letting out a melodic laughter, “Oh, I know, and don’t you worry your little head and your future vision about that Citrine gem~” the pearl said with a placating expression of glee, “It’s best if certain things about that gem are left unsaid until the appropriate time is ready!” she warned with a narrow eyed look down at the sapphire with a pleasant smile.

White Sapphire gently bowed, “As you say, my glimmering Diamond…” she softly spoke back.

White Pearl then turned her one eye to Forsterite, “Afterall, I’m sure you’ve already gathered up the data about her, yes!?~” she pried from the third gem of the group.

With all the attention on her, Forsterite stood on her toes in excitement, “OH yes, I don’t know how, but Yellow Diamond seemed to have put more effort in the making of that gem than she did on her prior two custom gems, if I didn’t know any better, I would say she gathered what she learned from before.”

Shifting her arm up to display the three gems in question through a hologram, Beryl, morganite and Citrine were soon displayed, forsterite continued to speak with an intrigued tone, “Her methods of incubating an excellent specimen of a gem is remarkable! While there’s a certain difference between them all going by classification and-”

“Forsterite, just get to the point.” Nosean spoke up with a flat look while looking from the side at her.

“Oh…I did it again…didn’t I?” Forsterite remarked with an embarrassed look on her face, before looking up at White Pearl, only to see a pleased expression regardless of her ramblings or interruption by Nosean. Coughing in her fist, Forsterite retracted her arm while dissipating the hologram away and stood straight, 

“What I mean to say at the end of my conclusion, Yellow Diamond had made a leap between making her morganite and the new Citrine commander. She isn’t wholly a Citrine gem, as something very small, very microscopic that my sensors weren’t able to glean from it.” Forsterite explained with a look of uncertainty.

“Is she possibly an imperfection of a citrine gem?” Nosean asked with a side eyed look directed at Forsterite, to which said gem replied back to.

“Oh, stars no, haha, not in the slightest, it’s almost as if Yellow diamond-” Forsterite spoke while cupping her chin in thought, only to be cut off by White Pearl

“Enough.” the white pearl said simply in a soft tone, while directing her attention to her gem analyzer, “You can forward me the details later, it’s best that kind of information does not leave this room.” she explained with her eyes narrowed in on the forsterite gem.

Nosean stepped forward with a cautious look about her, “Well, if we are speaking of Citrine at all…what should we do about it if she runs into those off-colors beneath the surface? That commander seems to have a penchant for collecting off colors.”

At the mention of the off colors, White Pearl made a closed eye smile, “Pink loves surrounding herself with failures, and look how that turned out for her, off playing with her little failures on her planet” Gone was no mention of the use of present tense, but neither of the three gems spoke on it for a glaring reason. 

White pearl then slightly opened her eye into a squint with an eager smile, “Let’s see how Yellow Diamond’s adorable little Citrine gem plays with those failures down there.”

Chapter Text

Citrine

For the first time in my third life, I reformed from out of my gem. The nuance of such an ordeal demanded my utmost attention on reconstituting my form back to what I had before, nothing else mattered other than making sure the details of my hard-light body was as exactly as it was before I was poofed by the self destruction of the new type of gems Lapis, Spinel and I went up against.

As my awareness was brought back while I stretched my arms and legs out from the light my reformation caused, I distinctly heard around me cautious murmurs.

"She's already reforming!?"

"Quick! Alert the Jaspers and Carnelians!"

"You stupid clod, that's the commander, who knows what she's capable of!"

"Like that one rumor about her wiping out swathes of rebels in one swipe!?"

"How the Lava-crag was she able to break free from out of her bubble?"

Obviously, wherever I was after I and the other's landed after getting poof, someone confiscated our gems and took us back to their dwelling.

Once I landed back onto my feet after fully forming, I opened my eyes to see before me various gems that did not in fact fit into the mold of what gem society demanded of every gem to be; Granted, there is only so much you can do after emerging since it is out of every gem's hands, but regardless, I could not help but deadpan at the attempt of whatever jail cell or whatever lame shoddy looking bars built from out of recycled metals from an old era and various other tossed scrap that was repurposed to hold prisoners.

I directed my line of sight amongst the various skinny quartz and era 2 looking gems that did not fit the mold of ordinary gems, a few others were spotted as well.

Ahh…The supposed off color gems I've read in passing that removed themselves from gem society, not quite an attempt at a rebellion, but an attempt at hiding beneath the megacity of Homeworld's capital. I honestly thought it was a rather silly idea for off colors to stick around on Homeworld, and not make some sort of gambit attempt of leaving the planet for refuge elsewhere.

But then I thought it would not be that simple, as Homeworld was not that simple to obtain a ship and fly off from.

Looking around at my poorly made cell, it was practically a large sized hole that looked like it was perfectly carved out from the stone wall…

So I'm still in Homeworld's old kindergarten…actually, I should rephrase that, cause when I looked back through the cell door of my captivity holding, at which the instant I did, it cause the gems watching over my to step back in caution while some swallowed down their nervousness.

I narrowed my eyes at them with some annoyance as I crossed my arms and idly tapped my finger against my arm. They weren't doing anything yet, it was practically a standoff…in the loosest of terms, of who'd break eye contact.

Sweeping my gaze at what I can only consider bystanders, gawkers, what have you, I broke eye contact with them to look once more around my cell holding, and noticed neither Lapis's gem nor Spinel's gem was in here with me.

Looking back out from my cell, I zeroed in on the Rutile gem with twin upper torsos. Quite the particular mess the gem twin torso found themselves in, "quite the rarity I've ever seen, if I'm being honest.'" I thought to myself as I gauged the reaction of the Rutile twins wilting under my gaze. "Never seen an off color such as them." I noted inwardly.

The Rutile quartz twins seemingly swallowed down her nerves before making an attempt at glaring back at me while stepping a bit forward, "What." The left twin said, "Can't stand to see." the Right twin followed up saying, before being finished by the left twin, "An off color like me?" She challenged me.

Blinking a few times, I realized I was no doubt going to have to deal with off color gems that dealt with heavy prejudice of gem society, "Ah, no." I shook my head softly, speaking finally and followed up by saying while looking to the side a bit in thought, "I'm just curious to see such a rare kind of off-color." I mused

Looking back to what I can only consider my captors given my situation, the Rutile twins were taken aback before furrowing their brows, "Curious?" "What do you mean" "by that?" The Twins interchanged between their speech.

Shaking my head a bit and held my palm up in denial from my crossed arms, "Answer me this first, How long was I out and where is the Lapis's and Spinel's Gem?" I should still have Pearl stowed away in my gem, so that left Spinel and Lapis on her own somewhere

The spotted era 1 Peridot amongst the small contingent of gems, gave me a nonplussed look and thumbed to the right of her, "They're in their own bubbles elsewhere."

"And the other gems?" I asked with a pointed look, to which the nearby skinny looking Carnelian spoke up with an uncertain look.

"Those shards you mean?" The off-color Carnelian asked, drawing my attention with a swift look, to which she reacted with some measure of nervousness, "We all assumed you shattered them, like the rumors say you do to renegade gems."

Tapping my finger once more against my arm as I stared back at the Carnelian with a focused gaze, I scoffed before answering the gem, "Policy has changed, figures with you all living under the surface, you wouldn't know any better…" I grumbled a bit.

"I'm sorry, what was that!?" The Spotted Peridot questioned, her expression was that of surprise and shock.

Which was understandable, given the fact that policy for anything in gem society hadn't changed on anything before the time of Rose's rebellion. It was only afterwards that the shake up caused quite the number of changes, I tried my best to add in a few changes, but they were suggestions at best that didn't bear fruit until centuries later when Yellow Diamond finally approved a few of the ideas I put forward into practice.

Not to mention the fact that the red tape of gem bureaucracies were still a bit flaky before Rose's rebellion, but afterwards, a lot has changed over the many centuries, and it was only the beginning from what I've experienced so far.

Looking back at the Spotted Peridot that had hues of yellow mixed into her natural green hard-light body, I spoke back to the gem, "Before I answer anymore of these questions, how long was I out?" I asked.

The off color gems looked amongst themselves, before the Peridot in question answered after looking up from a shoddy looking piece of gem tech from scavenged parts, "Uh…about one day of Homeworld's rotation, give or take an hour or more…" she then tapped on her shoddy piece of tablet, before the numbers fritzed a bit, before working once more. "Right." she looked back up from her supposed device that had some manner of function and reason to exist, "About so, yes."

The Rutile twins furrowed their brows in inquisitiveness, as they spoke between each other again to me, "Why?" "Are you expecting-" "A rescue squad?" they both asked with building fear in their voices.

"Hmm." I mused in idle thought while I ceased tapping my arm with my finger in thought, "While I do not know what you intend to do to me, other than ask questions." I remarked while sweeping my gaze across the cautious off color gems, "If you value any sense of safety, I would recommend you bring forth my gems into my possession, so that I may leave. I see no other reason to remain here."

"Oh, like you wouldn't shatter us off colors the moment you leave this cell!" One of the off colors shouted amongst the group of gems, to which some of her fellow off color colleagues shushed her with worried glances towards me.

"Hmm." They weren't wrong…if this happened many centuries ago, but at the moment, I'd rather leave this place. They are already seemingly content in hiding from gem society to form their own little niche of an off color society; me being here would only attract whatever search party Yellow Diamond would no doubt send after figuring out what had happened.

"It is in your best interest you just release my gems back into my possession." I spoke aloud as I narrowed my eyes at my supposed wardens, who all gave me their best attempts of their brave faces.

After getting no answer for a few seconds, I released an annoyed sigh before stepping forward to the ramshackle bars of my cell and gripped the bars, "Look, if I wanted to shatter any of you…" I began with saying with an equally annoyed look as I used my gem static powers to heat the metal bars up, "I'd have-" with a simple heave of bending the bars to the side, "already done so!" I stated while a few of the off color gems fell over backwards in fear, some scrambled in fright, while the Rutile twins stood nervously still.

As I stepped out of my cell, I stared down a bit at the rutile gem twins, who in turn took a step back. I wasn't sure what the average height of a Rutile quartz was, but now that I was able to gauge every gem around me, something felt a bit off, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Putting the thought aside for later, I looked around at my surroundings, and found that I was in the midst, or at least, the very bottom of a kindergarten chasm that was sealed off with metal and stone walls.

Looking around, the entire underground kindergarten landscape was repurposed to what looked like a mini city, an undercity if you would with ramshackle walkways made from recycled parts of gem tech and structures.

Already I heard murmurs from above me as I stared up to peer at wandering eyes of various passerby gems; some ranged from the bottom most of gem society, some ranged up to a green Lapis gem. There were even skinny quartz gems that were milling about carrying supplies across the walkways and bridges that lined the crevice that was one of Homeoworld's old kindergartens.

And here I thought I'd have to wait for more skinny quartz gems to miraculously pop out from one of the era 2 kindergartens on the other planets; figures the planet had other skinny quartz gems, only they were in hiding from gem society's old stigma against off colors…I don't blame them either.

But it was only a matter of time until this little niche society of off colors was 'found' and destroyed. Assuming if I was correct, the Diamond's simply didn't bother yet with the gem dwelling underneath the surface of Homeworld; so that essentially meant these gems were living on borrowed time until something was decided for their fate.

"Told you those bars were shoddy!" A gem shouted amongst the peanut gallery that were the gems sounding me with trepid looks.

"Oh shut it!" A snide tone, that was not the familiar sound of a Peridot. "I'd like to see you weld together old parts from the wreckage of ships!"

Clearing my throat to gain the attention of everyone including the Rutile twin gem that stood away from me, "So, are you gonna hand over the Lapis gem? Or are you going to wait until the worst that happens?" I prodded them with the question.

"Worst?" The spotted Peridot asked, who walked back to stand beside Rutile with an unsure expression, "What could be worse than having you here?" she asked.

Are these gems that thick in the skull…okay, wrong analogy for gems, but I supposed only I'd mentally understand what the analogy meant and construed.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I level my eyes on the spotted peridot with a flat look, "I am a high ranking gem amongst Yellow Diamond's forces. How long do you think it'd take for her to send down a search party to investigate my situation?" I questioned them all with a pointed look.

"...Oh shards!" A skinny Carnelian spoke out.

As the little ragtag group of various off color gems began to fret and worry, a soft voice spoke aloud. "Excuse me." A soft and polite voice spoke as a Lime Green Pearl made her way through the gathering of off color gems. "Um…oh, hello…I see that you're…already out…" the green pearl noted with a nervous expression.

My attention on her brought me to notice the two arms on one side of her right while her left shoulder had no arm…hm…other than the asymmetrical way the pearl was, she didn't seem that different from other pearls. My gaze on her seemed to make her a bit uncomfortable, as she withdrew one of her arms behind her back while leaving one in view.

The Lime green pearl smiled nervously before looking over at the Rutile twin gem, "Um…uh…Fluorite wishes to see the Citrine gem…and give her back the Lapis gem…um…yeah…" she reached up with both her lopsided arms to rub the back of her head in shyness.

Well then…that was convenient, I suppose.

Fluorite

She'd have to reprimand Rutile and Peridot sometime later, but for now, Fluorite was waiting for that Citrine Commander to arrive and take her Lapis Lazuli back and leave the Off color undercity.

With the help of the two Sapphire's, Star Sapphire and Padparadscha, fusing for a bit to use their fullest capabilities of seeing forward for a bit, it was deemed safe to let the Lapis out and reason they only wanted to speak for a bit before letting the Lapis gem free.

Imagine their surprise when the lapis gem cared not what they were, but where commander Citrine was.

It was always telling how a gem leader treated their gems, based on their lower casts gems that operated beneath their service.

That, or the Lapis Gem that stood not far beside them was that sort of gem…but then again, as Fluorite thought to herself, those types of gems were few and far in between…and even then…

"Fluorite!" Lime Pearl hollered as she walked in through the domicile of what every off color treats as their leader…well, she was the most senior of them all…strictly speaking, most of the gems that made up her fusion were from a bygone era, long before era 1.

"Oh." Fluorite noted slowly as the light green pearl made her way in, within the distance, the Citrine Commander was not that far behind her, "You're quite…different than I imagined…."

Citrine

What was that supposed to mean? 'Different than I imagined'. I get rumors spread quite differently between planets of the gem Empire, but surely these off color gems get some sort of reception of some sort to receive some sort of intel to safeguard their safety from the prying eyes of gem society…right.

As I stepped into what I could only associate as some form of the off colors attempt at some sort of city hall governance, that being one person in charge with various misshapen seats for gems to come and voice their concerns to their gem mayor…

Or maybe I'm just assuming things and this is just…whatever fusion that is sitting atop a chiseled stone stump of a circle…she's more than likely an elder to the off color gem society, she already has the grandmother looks…and I am not sure why she ended up with that fusion appearance, other than that fact she had the appearance of a mix between a queen ant and a caterpillar.

She still had motor functions on her legs, but it looked like it would be cumbersome for her to move; the amount of gems I saw that made up her fusions were at least three…no four, the fourth one was on her shoulder.

Stepping not far from the supposed elder of the little ramshackle undercity, I level the fusion with a flat stare, while quickly glancing at a bored Lapis. "Lapis? How long were you released from your bubble?" I asked her.

Sitting with her arms crossed while sitting on a misshapen chair made from bits of gem tech that no doubt no longer had any function other than being used as a spare chair, Lapis shrugged at me, "Eh, 'bout an hour before you came in." she lamely answered, before looking elsewhere, seemingly wanting to be somewhere else other than stick in some boring looking room.

Hm…

I looked back at the fusion, who looked back down at me with kindly eyes, "You have yourselves…quite the little…society here…" I tried saying as a means to break the ice with the fusion.

The fusion smiled a bit more at my attempted compliment, "Oh…we do with what we can…though, I am surprised…you are not that turned off from seeing a mixed fusion." she remarked with some mirth laced into her tone.

Well…

"Commander Citrine has had her soldiers volunteer to try mixed fusions to see the benefits of the application of two different gems fusing into one." A Sapphire spoke abruptly, prompting me to do my best at hiding my surprise at someone calling out one of my hidden activities with my loyal gems.

"Oh…is that true?" the elder fusion asked as she turned to look at one of the Sapphires that sat beside her silently.

I zeroed in on the Star Sapphire looking gem, and was about to try and deny the accusations, as Sapphires were not supposed to be able to see the past, only for the yellow Sapphire beside the Star Sapphire to speak up with surprise on her face.

"Oh My! I sense that the commander Citrine is shocked that Star Sapphire called out her past actions!" The Padparadache remarked in a surprised manner.

…what the hell is going on here!

The fusion elder then looked from the Padparadache and gleamed an amused and warm smile down at me, "And here I thought nothing ever changed with gem society after I retreated to the depths below here." she remarked, and clasped one of her pair of hands together, before gesturing with her upper arms to palm her chest.

"Deary me, some introductions are in order, I suppose. I am this…undercity's elder gem, Fluorite, and these are Padparadache, and Star Sapphire." The Fluorite introduced herself, before gesturing to the two sapphires beside her.

"AH, Fluorite is about to introduce herself to the commander! Hello, I'm Padparadache!" The yellow Sapphire gem greeted herself with some oddity.

The other Sapphire greeted me with a head nod, "Greetings…I'm still shocked you'd do such a thing behind Yellow diamond's back." she remarked with an amused smile after introducing herself.

…And why is Lapis giving me weird looks?! What is even going on here!? Why me!

Wait...where's Spinel for as a matter of fact?

Chapter Text

Yellow Diamond

Having already shut down every warp pad available on homeworld the first chance she got after receiving permission from White Diamond, Yellow Diamond followed her next course of action by pulling the full authority given to her; her next immediate order was commanding every shuttle pad, ship and everything involving space travel to be shut down.

And to make sure no gem could escape by some slim chance, Yellow commanded her Fleet Admiral Gem to surround the planet with a blockade of ships; from low orbit to every other measure, one would be hard pressed to not see Homeworld's sky without a noticeable fleet of ships.

With no chance of any gem making a slight chance of slipping through her fingers, much less with the planet locked down, Yellow Diamond followed up with sending a team of gem investigators to the Pink Palace to figure out the full scope of what had happened from the viewpoint of Pink Diamond’s court; while that process was going on, Yellow also sent a cleanup team to inspect and repair the damage done to the Pink Palace as well as the hole drilled into the surface by the Yooperlites.

At present, Yellow Diamond sat within her office, various dataslates strewn across her desk that all compiled reports and data of the day prior. As Yellow Diamond reached over her desk to grab another report, she set aside the one she had in hand after quickly skimming passed all the praise and titles the gems under her command would shower the reports with, as well as the undeserved grandstanding of the gems’ attempts of putting themselves on a pedestal.

“Ugh.” Yellow Diamond looked up with an annoyed frown, and placed the dataslate down, “Another report filled with a whole paragraph of praises…” she then made a sharp look over down at her Pearl who was in the process of typing into her stone monitor…she really should update her pearl’s entire workspaces. That monitor in itself was five centuries old, all it was really doing now was hindering her Pearl with whatever task she put on her.

“Pearl.” Yellow Diamond commanded, earning the attention of said Yellow Pearl as the tiny gem ceased her actions and stood up to salute her Diamond with an eager expression.

“Yes my Diamond!?” Yellow Pearl awaited her Diamond to speak after she gave Yellow Diamond her undivided attention.

Yellow Diamond picked up one of the dataslates before looking back down at her Yellow Pearl, “Once you are done going through the Pink Palace’s reports, I need you to send a statement to all of my gems that are of substantial status, do not, under any circumstance, waste my time with paragraphs of praises, just give one title and move on with the report!” she dictated to her pearl.

“Oh! Yes Ma’am!” Yellow Pearl agreed to her Diamond’s command, before sitting back down to begin typing out the message to all gems under Yellow Diamond’s message to all her gems.

“And another thing.” Yellow Diamond interrupted Yellow Pearl's attention for a moment as her Pearl looked up at her Diamond in mid typing, “How old is that monitor? I do not recall updating your devices for a good five hundred years…” Yellow Diamond mused while palming her chin in thought.

“Hm?” Yellow Pearl removed her hands from her stone monitor while looking up at her Diamond, before glancing down at her monitor in question that was among the various devices her Diamond gave to her, “Oh, um, I believe you gave me this monitor from the Haxon series of monitors from about eight hundred years ago, right after the Juxtan monitors became obsolete by twelve hundred years.” Yellow Pearl answered her Diamond without missing a beat, and looked back up at her Diamond.

“I see….” Yellow Diamond mused with furrowed brows, before leaning forward to grab something from her desk and picked up a large holoslate for her stature, “I’ll have to update all of your devices, if you’re that far behind with gem tech” Yellow Diamond explained with an annoyed look on her face.

“My Diamond!?” Yellow Pearl raised her brows in surprise at her Diamond’s focus on her amid all the investigations, “I.. oh dear. Um…” 

With a sharp look from Yellow Diamond as she typed into a keyboard on her desk, while a holomonitor was erected up on it to show her work, “What is it? If I am to have you work at an efficient pace, I will not have you hindered by obsolete tech. We’re already on the Kolex models, and yet you still have your old Hexon monitor, and that’s not even to speak of the other devices you have that are outdated…”

Unsure why her Diamond was fixated on her all of a sudden, Yellow Pearl ask her diamond with a respectful but curious tone, “My Diamond, pardon my rudeness, but…” she made a wincing look, before continuing further after seeing Yellow Diamond straight look at her, meaning she had better say what she wanted or silence herself. “What does this have to do with the investigation?” she asked finally.

With a flat but annoyed look as she looked forward off into space, Yellow diamond crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, “Pearl, I’ll ask you this instead, when was the last time we even bothered to have the entire Empire update all within its boundaries?” 

“Oh. oh stars…” Yellow Pearl furrowed her brow, before looking up at her Diamond with a questioning look, “Um, last I remember, the entire Empire at large had updated everything within a time frame of at least ten years, give or take, it was in Era One…before…well….” Yellow Pearl nervously gulped while poking her fingers.

Yellow Diamond’s facial expression tightened a bit while staring forward with a straight look at what her pearl was alluding to, but refused to elaborate further before she spoke, “It has been a very tumultuous time within a span of a few thousand years…” she bit out with some anger in her tone, while narrowing her eyes a bit.

She then glanced through the big gaping hole in her office that she had caused in her anger. It was one of the reasons Diamonds had to control their emotions, to a certain degree. Blue had her problems of being overly emotive to the point of unknowingly allowing her aura to affect others…

White was…well…herself as usual, a very callous Diamond behind the veneer of what gem society saw her as. An overly ‘expressive’ Diamond that could control every gem without a care nor trouble.

Even a Diamond.

Yellow Diamond’s face soured at the thought of White Diamond and her ability to supersede her ego over her other Diamonds. She experienced it, Blue experienced it, even Pink experienced it.

At the train of thought leading to Pink and Emotions, Yellow allowed her lip to curl while her face tightened a bit more, before relaxing as she turned to look out through the gaping hole in her office to look off into the distance where the Pink Palace stood. Pink was the youngest out of all of them, thus she was more prone to letting her emotions get the better of her.

Her former Pink Pearl, now under the control of White was evidence of that, and that was just the tip of the rock concerning the late Pink Diamond.

Yellow Diamond idly tapped her finger against her arm as she stewed over her thoughts while standing not far from the hole in her wall; it wouldn’t do to think too much about Pink anymore, as it led to too many what ifs, why’s, how’s, and so many more questions.

Ceasing her tapping of her finger against her arm while her arms were still crossed, Yellow released an annoyed sigh. ‘I would almost find it cute, if not insulting, if My little Citrine thought I didn’t know any better…’ Yellow mentally said to herself while her thoughts persisted around the tragedy that was Pink’s shattering.

Her Commander hid her actions well, but not well enough. Privately investigating Pink’s demise and everything that surrounded it.

She would have called her commander to cease her actions, if weren’t for the fact that none of the private investigations her little Citrine has does, has hindered her main priorities that she had her do across gem-space. 

If anything, her Citrine gem was more likely doing it as a side project…something to do during downtime…

“Hm…” Yellow Diamond hummed in thought as she relaxed her arms down and folded them behind her back as she inspected the hole of her office, an idle thought of how much she enjoyed the open air coming into her office alongside the view of Homeworld's capital.

Perhaps she should add in to the list of having an open balcony for her office, to the eventual restructuring and remodeling of the Yellow Palace to her Morganite.

With that thought aside however, Yellow Diamond’s thoughts went back to her Citrine gem as she glanced off in the direction of the Pink Palace once more. Her commander had went to the palace under the guise of letting Pink’s various gems to finally get to see what the palace looked like inside; it was almost amusing that her Citrine gem hid her actions behind other actions.

So far, the Citrine commander of hers had yet to slack off in any of her duties while letting her ‘personal investigation’ slip in through. Perhaps she should have her finally reveal her hand and tell the gem to divulge all that she found.

Maybe then, she’d get some closure for Pink…

Releasing another tired sigh, Yellow diamond unfolded her arms and walked back to her desk and picked up a dataslate, “Pearl, finish those two last reports on your desk, and meet me at Blue’s Palace.” she instructed her Pearl, before walking off with the object in hand.

Yellow Pearl blinked a few times in surprise, before saluting her Diamond, “Yes my Diamond!” she chimed back, before getting to work so that she could finish in due time to catch up with her Diamond at the Blue Palace.

With Yellow Diamond as she walked out from her office and into the hallways of her palace, her soft thundering footsteps echoed the halls as she strolled through, Yellow idly looked down at her dataslate before looking back up. She was already finished with the entire reports, in essence, she was just rereading them for the sake of finding anything she had missed.

She really did need her gems to cease their inane waste of filling half of the reports with praises to her. What was that word her Citrine used? Brown nosing? Another odd quirk of her little gem commander of coming up with new words to associate with gem society.

Too much brown nosing, and not enough getting down to the point.

As Yellow Diamond strided through the halls of her palace, her thoughts led back to why she was heading to Blue’s palace. It was best she discuss the matters of updating everything within the Empire once again after several centuries with Blue, all they really needed from White was just the go ahead authority.

Which pretty much meant talking to the pearl she had under her control she was imposing her ego thought, never bothering to show her face since Pink’s shattering.

But that's besides the point, as Yellow strolled through the halls an into a spacious area that beheld the warp pad for her to instantly beam herself over to the Blue Palace.

Stepping up to the warp pad, Yellow Diamond frowned a bit as she stared down at the device in question; the object was supposed to be only meant for her, it has been far too long since she has checked if there has been any attempts of using it beside her.

“Ugh.” Yellow rolled her eyes once at the annoyance she found herself experiencing, with the unauthorized use of the yooperlites, the attack against her Citrine gem by said yooperlite, and everything else that has led up to the present, Yellow was beginning to think the entire empire did indeed need a shake down.

She shouldn’t have to feel paranoid in her own home, much less the capital planet of the Gem empire.

But apparently, the politicking between the gems of her court boiled up to the point that it led to having her found so many problems in her court, that Blue was not far off from saying their courts needed to be cleaned up.

The only question was, how deep did the politicking between her gems interfere with the progress of the empire? How many rebellions were caused from mismanaged colonies?

…and how could a rose quartz be strong enough to shatter a diamond with a sword!?

Pink Palace

The amount of permissions and questions Morganite had to give in regards to the investigation surrounding the attack on the Pink Palace and Commander Citrine, had been numerous with how many times she had to say yes to the permissions, and discuss what she was doing at the time of the attempt of the attack on Commander Citrine.

No doubt many of the other gem residents of the pink palace were being questioned as well, and speaking of other residents, as Pink Morganite sat within her modest room her Diamond gave her, the door to her room opened with a hiss, allowing Pink Sapphire to walk in.

Morganite lifted a brow in curiosity was she watched Sapphire walk herself in while an assigned group of ruby gems awaited her from outside but refrained from entering with her; as the doors closed and Sapphire allowed herself a sit atop one of the pink cushions across from her, Morganite opened her mouth to speak in a curious tone.

“They…did they ask if you saw anything before it all happened?” Morganite asked with a questioning look.

Pink Sapphire, with her hands resting on her lap, gently spoke, “My foresight, like most sapphires, is not a cut and dry ability, Morganite. That, and it does not work in such a way that you think….” she spoke softly, while giving her attention to Morganite.

“Oh…right…” Morganite mused as she shifted her seated form atop her own cushioned seat, and brought her legs up into a cross-legged form as she conversed with her long-time gem compatriot ... .friend? Morganite expressed a thoughtful look as she gazed back at Sapphire’s face whose hair, like many other sapphires, hid her single eye, “You once said it’s like looking at divergent paths, right?”

Sapphire nodded at Morganite’s recollection, “some other sapphires, from Blue’s court, have taken to seeing the foresight ability as seeing the flow of time like a river.” she added as an afterthought.

“Hm, I suppose that makes some sense…” Morganite mused, before shaking her head, and looked at Sapphire again, “But, we’re getting off track, what did they ask you?” 

Pink Sapphire shrugged with a bit of an amused smile, “The most pertinent question the investigative teams ever asked me was how could I not have foreseen the attack.”

Morganite blinked a few times at what her fellow gem said, before questioning Sapphire, “Well…did you?” she asked with an uncertain look.

Sapphire frowned and shook her head once, before speaking, “It’s not so easy with sapphires when we’re around Diamonds. And being on a planet with all three Diamonds at once, does not make my foresight that easy to see the paths of the future.”

“Oh…right…” Morganite remarked with a furrowed brow, “I remember you saying something about that, something about it taking a fusion of sapphires to see past the fog of the Diamonds’ presence.” 

Sapphire smiled a bit at remembering something, “Pink would always ask what I saw for her, but the best I could give her was what I vaguely saw. She never cared that I couldn’t give her the best description of what I saw for her, she just found my ability to see ‘amazing’.”

With a dour look on her face, Morganite spoke a bit softer, “Right…she always did see the best in all her gems…” she recalled after Sapphire mentioned Pink Diamond and her personable traits towards her pink court.

After a sobering moment of silence fell between the two, Morganite spoke up once again after the mood lifted somewhat as she looked directly at Sapphire, “...by the way, I think Opal left the palace…” she said with an annoyed tone.

“...you say that like it's a bad thing.” Sapphire remarked back to Morganite with a confused tone, “...wait…” she followed with saying.

“Yeah…who do you think she went after to settle her grudge?” Morganite groused with a continued look of annoyance, “I don’t think she realizes who she’s really going after.”

Sapphire’s mouth tightened into a thin line, before speaking with a strict tone, “Spinel was always the one about to handle Pink in her more active centuries of games and activities, it was only a matter of time till this happened…” she mused rather quickly.

“Right…” Morganite agreed with Sapphire, before speaking again with a curious tone, “How quick do you think the dispute between them will be…if Opal is even able to find Spinel down below?” she asked.

“Was that question for my foresight, or genuinely of my opinion?” Pink Sapphire asked flatly, while tilting her head a bit out of curiosity.

Pink Morganite pursed her lips a bit, before speaking, “Opinion.” she replied back after quick thinking.

Sapphire simply shrugged at Morganite’s response, “Pink Diamond did get Spinel in an effort from the other Diamond to have a gem that could handle her more…rowdy personality…” she mused.

“...she is not lasting a minute against her…” Morganite concluded with a sideways look.

Blue Palace

Without a proper gem in authority after the debacle Blue Pearl had to clean up at the command of her Diamond, it was up to the Pearl herself to follow the orders of her Diamond and execute her orders until such time that her lustrous Diamond could create a new Administrator gem.

At the moment, Blue Pearl stood while she laced her fingers behind her back as she watched the ongoing task of every gem available within her Diamond’s court in reorganizing every data slate back into proper order, though currently they were all working within where Blue Diamond held her court review.

Blue Pearl stood atop a carved half-clamshell, and kept an eye on the few gems that actually never partook in the corruption that the former Azurite Administrator seeded into Blue Diamond’s court. 

The soft pitter pattering of footsteps brought Blue Pearl’s attention as she glanced to her right from under her hair, from the open doorway entered a Monticellite messenger. She kept a sharp eye on the gem as the messenger gem walked up to her with a holoslate in hand. 

As the Monticellite calmly walked up to Blue Pearl, the messenger gem held up the slate for her to receive, “Direct orders from Blue Diamond, ma’am, she wants you to organize her schedule now that she’s…well…removed herself from grieving so that she can fix her mistake…” the Monticellite said, before gulping at the look she was given by Blue Pearl, “Her words, not mine!” she added hastily. 

Blue Pearl relaxed her expression and nodded at the gem and accepted the holoslate, “Very well then.” she softly spoke and sent the messenger gem away.

While the gem exited the room, Blue Pearl walked to a nearby clam chair available, and made herself comfortable; there was much to do now with her Diamond back and active, and not a lot of time to simply stand and do nothing…as much as Pearls were known to do, besides open doors and other menial tasks.

Blue Pearl, as she began thumbing through the many scheduled events her Diamond was supposed to attend, some nonsensical that didn’t need attending unless really needed, while other events and appointments needed the personal purview of her Diamond. With a stylus out, Blue Pearl began tapping and moving the tool across the holoslate.

It was nice having her Diamond more active than simply wallow over the Late Pink Diamond. Tragic as it was, the empire at large had need of its diamonds, and Blue Diamond, her Diamond, needed to stay in action to help stay the course now that the Gem empire was now short of a Diamond.

It was times like this that she missed Era 1, but now they were in Era 2, a period of reform, restructuring, rebellions, corruption.

Blue Pearl looked up from her dataslate, in mid thought. ‘If you are even still alive, you wretched Rose Quartz, I don’t think you realize the side effect you’ve caused against the empire from your rebellion.’ 

Chapter Text

Off-Color Undercity

Sitting atop one of the scaffoldings that scaled the walls of the old repurposed kindergarten, now repurposed as living spaces for the various numerable off color gems that have managed to escape to the depths below surface, Spinel had an expressive look on her face as she chatted with a Honey Quartz gem. Said gem was yellow in color with a gelatinous body that was stiff enough for her to have a stable form of an average quartz soldier.

“-So then, Pink said she wanted to have your batch since Yellow Diamond didn’t want your batch, after calling all of your gem types failures. Yellow Diamond denied her, So then later she snuck out while telling me to sit still till she got back.” Spinel giggled a bit, as she rested her palms against the platform she sat on while leaning back a bit. “She came back after some time, Yellow Diamond was very furious at the time when she found out Pink snuck you off somewhere…never figured you’d all be down here.” she mused wistfully.

The Honey Quartz nodded a bit, “We were quite surprised when she snuck into our holdings, and snuck us through those secret passageways of hers.” she remarked while smiling somberly, “If it were not for her, My batch might have been shattered and recycled.” 

Spinel then frowned a bit, “By the way…” she trailed off as she glanced at Honey quartz, “I don’t get what makes you an off color…uh…were you supposed to be able to do something other gems do?...Cause I don’t see anything wrong with your appearance.” she gestured up and down at the Honey Quartz.

Honey Quartz, having been given a bit of a bigger picture of what happened after her batch were helped in escaping a terrible fate after being called a colossal failure, smiled thinly at Spinel. “A lot of my fellow gems were deemed failures, due to the instability of holding our forms…” She then glanced off to the side bitterly, “And it wasn’t for the lack of trying either…” she bitterly spat.

“Huh.” Spinel mused while eyeing the honey colored wings that the Quartz wrapped around herself, “I don’t see anything wrong now…” she remarked curiously.

Honey Quartz gestured at herself, “This is just after centuries of practice of keeping my form stable…didn’t even give us a chance…” she muttered afterwards with a downtrodden look.

Spinel smiled a bit, “Well, maybe you can get a second chance” She remarked with an excited look, “I’ve seen Citrine take off colors to use among her soldiers after all!” 

“...Has the great Diamond Authority really changed that much!?” Honey Quartz asked with a surprised look, only for Spinel to shrug at her question.

“Not…really?” Spinel said with a questioning tone and look, “I mean, maybe? I only just came back after Citrine crash landed on Pink’s Moon Garden, so I don’t know how much has changed.” she said in a nonchalant tone.

Honey Quartz looked at Spinel with a quizzical look, “um…okay?” She said in response to how Spinel returned to gem society, “Still, I feel like you’re leaving out what happened to Pink on-”

Spinel, with a seething look on her face while gritting her teeth, clenched her hands into fist as she shouted, “Pink didn’t get shattered! Hehe!” She began to giggle uncontrollably, and gave Honey Quartz a sideways look, “It’s just some big game she’s playing, Diamond’s don’t shatter!” she cried out, before calming down with a conflicted and hateful gaze off into the distance of the off color undercity.

“I see you’re still coping, good for you.” A familiar voice to Spinel sneered in anger, prompting Spinel attention towards one of the hole entrances that lead into the off color residential area. 

While Honey Quartz was unsure what was going on, or who’d bother to come down from the surface, but she watched as Spinel hopped up to her feet, and sprung off from the scaffolding with spring-like legs, before landing on the ground to glare at the newcomer.

From out of the entrance, Pink Opal stepped lightly into the fluorescent light emitted from the various repurposed gem tech that had been recycled into use for lighting. Stopping short of a few yards away from Spinel, Pink Opal stood as the two glared at each other for their own reasons. Silence fell between the two, before Opal spoke with an annoyed tone, “You look worse up close, you stupid court jester.” she sneered while gently leaning her parasol against her shoulder.

Spinel harrumphed, and crossed her arms with a smirk, “Says you, you barely changed your outfit.” she shot back, before pulling her arm out from her crossed arms to point at Pink Opal, “Pink always enjoyed how you changed your clothes everyday, but here you are wearing the same thing you wore since she left with me to the Garden!” she challenged back smugly.

Pink Opal sneered and gritted her teeth while clenching her parasol into her hands tightly, “I’m scuffing wearing what I wore when she left for the Pink Palace for the last time! It’s what I wore before she left us all!” 

“....” at the mention of Pink leaving them all, Spinel grinded her teeth, “You ugly Piece of Glass! I’ll have you know, she didn’t leave me! I’m still playing a game with her…except I lost…” she groused with an annoyed look and tone, while hunched over and her fists clenched down as if she were ready to have a go at Opal. “So don’t talk like she left us all!”

Pink Opal’s eyes lit up with anger at being called an ugly piece of glass, before making an amused look at Spinel at the assumptions she was making, “And what game was that? Stand still until she gets back? Oh dear…ohohoho, that expression, I’m right!” She chortled while lifting her wrist up to laugh at Spinel while covering her mouth behind her hand. “She left you, and you're coping with the fact, she not only left you, she made you stand for what could have been eternity!”

“That’s not true!” Spinel yelled back with anger in her eyes, while taking a step forward towards Pink Opal, “Pink was just tired of me for a few centuries, she’ll come back, I just know it!” she argued back with tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes, “You’re just jealous she grew tired of having social gatherings with you to her Balls!” she smirked back with a triumphant look.

With a seething look, before making a grab of her parasol with both hands once more, Pink Opal, “YOU WATCH YOUR MOUTH, YOU PIECE OF COAL!” she yelled with a high pitched voice, before she broke her parasol in half out of sheer anger towards Spinel, “I did what I was made for, for her! Maintain my etiquette as her number one Socialite Soiree planner!” she cried out, before tossing aside the broken parasol that dissipated into light once it clattered to the ground.

“You’re no different than every other Opal!” Spinel yelled back with anger, and cackled, “Face it! You’re just a run of the mill opal, while I’m one of the first Spinels, in fact, I’m the first spinel, and I was created for Pink specifically, A Diamond rated Spinel. You couldn’t hope to measure up to how special I was for Pink!” Spinel argued with Pink Opal with a smirk while patting her chest as a gesture throughout her diatribe.

“And how’d that turn out!” Opal screeched back while summoning another Parasol from the gem on her head, as the argument between the two gems got more heated, “I bet Pink left you, cause she wanted to move on! You always were clingy, whereas I was patient with Pink.” she spat out in anger.

“You shut your mouth! Raagh!” That was the last straw as Spinel lunged at Pink Opal.

“How about you get cracked!” Pink Opal yelled as she ran at Spinel.

The two gems collended into a heap, before both of them rolled in a tangled mess of flying fists and a parasol being swung, shortly before both gems rolled off fighting through the entrance of the off-color gems undercity.

Having watched it all occur as a bystander, Honey Quartz was silent for a few seconds, before speaking her mind on the matter, “Those have to be the most extreme gems within Pink Diamond’s court…no way most of her gems behave like that…” she remarked with an incredulous expression.

From beside her, a Pink Moonstone gem with tide red colors mixed with her natural Pink body, walked up to stand beside the Quartz prototype soldier, “Kinda..ish?” she said, while answering Honey Quartz’s question.

Said gem soldier glanced to her left and up at the gem type that was meant for Pink Diamond’s personal Ball party decorators. The gem had a smock that covered a majority of her figure in gradient colors of pink, with a berete atop her head to finish the look.

Honey Quartz gave the Pink Moonstone an upward glance while still sitting, “kinda?” She questioned. While the Pink Moonstone gem palmed her hips as she glanced down at the prototype quartz soldier, “What do you mean by that?”

Pink Moonstone shrugged, before answering the question, “I didn’t get to know the court that much, before Pink sent us down here to escape being shattered, but I did get to know some of her court while she hid some of us in her palace for a time.” 

“Her entire court is very…clingy in their own ways, and hangs onto her every word…” Pink Moonstone explained with a wistful tone, “I think it has to do with the fact that she treats her court differently than the other Diamonds and their courts.”

“Hmm.” Honey Quartz hummed in thought in reply to the Moonstone’s descriptor of Pink and the short time she got to know the Pink Court. 

“I think it also has to do with Pink’s habit of never being strict with her court, even if she can’t help it.” Pink Moonstone added as an afterthought.

Honey Quartz picked herself up to stand and face the Moonstone gem, “Well…let’s just hope that Opal was the only gem that found this place.” she said with a dour look.

“Rather bold of you all, to assume we never knew this place existed.” A calm voice announced itself, as from the many entrances of the undercity, several Gems from Yellow Diamond’s court made their presence known.

Several were Jasper Quartz soldiers, while at the center lead was a Fire Opal as the gem herself stood out atop the opposite scaffolding of the Moonstone and Honey Quartz.

The Fire Opal gem that had announced herself, and her contingent of jasper soldiers, gave the two cautious off-color gems a narrowed eyed look, “Yellow Diamond, my Diamond, has always known of this place.” she made a haughty sniff afterwards while dozens of off color gems took notice of the sudden appearance of the new gems.

Fire Opal, a lithe gem dressed in a black and yellow similar in scheme to a quartz soldier, glanced around at all the gems with her hands on her hips while the jaspers awaited her orders beside her. “She simply allows you to continue to exist for the time being, cause she allows it, and you all will find yourself at an end when she demands it…or at most, at White Diamond’s order.” she added at the last bit.

One brave off color gem, an off color Jade from Blue Diamond’s court, spoke up, “w-w-what are you here for then? If not to shatter us all!?” she hollered out with a nervous look from above a couple scaffoldings above Honey Quartz and Pink Moonstone.

With a bored look, Fire Opal huffed an annoyed tone, while flipping her orange bob-cut hair aside, “I am here to retrieve Commander Citrine. We searched Homeworld’s old Gamma Nine kindergarten until I reached the conclusion that she must have found her way here.” she spoke dismissively, while giving every off color gem a look of disgust. “Just the sight of you all stains my eyes.” she commented, a variety of looks from the off-color gems ranging from anger to scowls.

“That will be enough callous remarks.” The Commander’s voice the tension in the area just as quick as Citrine exited from a far off building that was within earshot.

With a plain look as she walked out, Citrine stood at the entrance with a pointed look towards Fire Opal, “Fire Opal, I haven’t seen you since the incident on Planet Ochre One dash two.” she stated with her arms crossed and an expectant look.

Fire Opal’s face stiffened a bit, before giving the commander a look of disgust as a pair of Sapphires eventually followed out to stand behind the commander. “Of course you of all gems would find yourself welcome here, always strutting around with off colors in your regiments, alongside cabochon cuts with facete cuts.” she sneered with her lip turned up in disgust. 

Commander Citrine, who stood atop the stairway that led up to the building she walked out from, began her descent down while conversing with the Fire Opal, “Oh, I wasn’t welcomed here in the first place, as you, like always, assume too much.” she drawled out while staring directly back at the gem who shot back a heated look, “And how I operate my regiments is none of your concern, nor is it up for me to discuss to you at the moment.” she spoke in a crisp tone, before stopping to stand a few feet away from the Fire Opal.

After a few tense moments between the two gems, the Opal growled in anger before squashing her irritation with the commander, “Yellow Diamond…expects me to bring you back…” she spoke through gritted teeth. “Under no circumstances, was I to escort any off color clods of an eyesore back to the surface!” she spoke in a very upset tone with her fists clenched at her sides.

Citrine frowned once, before making a flat look, “And you don’t have to, I’ll just come back to confiscate some valuable sapphires.” she argued with an intense look, at which Fire Opal clicked her teeth in annoyance.

“You’re just like Pink Diamond was, always wanting off colors.” Fire Opal spat in discaust with a curled lip.

Already, soft angered murmurs broke amongst the onlooking off color gems that watch the two gems argue back and forth to each other. Citrine however made a rather nasty smirk at the Fire Opal, “You know, I am reminded of when you hindered my investigation on planet Ochre One dash two, perhaps I should relay what you just said about Pink Diamond to Yellow Diamond.” she remarked as a veiled threat.

“....!” Fire Opal’s eyes widened while stepping back, before glaring at the Commander, “You…you!” she stuttered over her words, before spinning on her heels to leave, “Don’t keep me waiting!” she gritted out, while her Jaspers gave a passing glance at the Commander, before following their Opal leader out.

Once Fire Opal and her gems were gone finally, Citrine frowned with an annoyed look before turning around to look at Lapis as she approached her with Star Sapphire and Padparadcha trailing behind the Lapis Lazuli gem.

“I have much use for those unique abilities of you two, so expect me back down to pick you up.” Citrine ordered with a stern look, at which the two Sapphires smiled a bit at their off color abilities being called useful. The commander then looked up and around at the many off color gems, “That goes for you all too, either stay here and wait for the inevitable, or be drafted into my regiments.” she hollered out strictly. “That, is your ultimatum.” she finished speaking before stopping short of herself.

“Wait…one more thing… where’s-” Citrine began to ask if any gem had seen Spinel, only for said gem to arrive back with a satisfied and triumphant look while tossed up and down a Pink Opal gem. “Oh…uh…” Citrine furrowed her brows in confusion as she watched Spinel walk back in through one of the entrance holes, “...since when, is that Pink Opal!?” Citrine’s eyes twitched a bit at the blase way Spinel was juggling Pink Opal’s gem between her hands.

“Yup.” Spinel replied back as she walked over to Citrine, and stop short of standing a few feet away from the commander, and continued to juggle the opal gem, “We had a little argument…and we worked it out… very thoroughly.~” she explained with an upbeat tone in her voice.

“...” Citrine gave Spinel a flat look, before closing her eyes and letting out a calming sigh while internally counting to herself. Opening her eyes back up, she marched off to the exit, leaving Lapis and Spinel to follow after her with one amused and the other continuously juggling an opal gem.

Once the three were finally gone, Honey Quartz, who was still standing atop a scaffolding with other off color gems, looked over at Pink Moonstone, “Things must have really changed on the surface…” she mused.

“Yeah…but how much?” Question back Pink Moonstone.

Yellow Diamond

Currently in the midst of a conversation with Blue as the two of them sat within the blue Matriarchs lounge room, Yellow crossed her arms and legs as she relaxed back into one of Blue’s cushioned chairs, “-And that’s just the beginning part of how I made my Citrine gem, it’s a bit intensive work for the first three decades, it was one of the chief reasons I had my Beryll take a good chunk of my operations under her, while I worked on my project.” 

“Hmm.” Blue diamond hummed in musing as she sat in her own stylized cushioned chair as she conversed with her sister diamond, she steepled her fingers while her face exhibited a focus look, “Three decades is quite short, that something I can work with.” she nodded.

Yellow made a flippant gesture with her hand, “Your experience may differ Blue, afterall, this would be a second attempt of what I’ve done, so you’ll be working off what I’ve already accomplished, so at the very least, you’ll have my notes to work off from, which will expedite the process if possible, of not make an adjustment to your schedules, as you’ll be needing to check on the planet of your choice very periods at a time to keep an eye on the ongoing process.” 

Blue Diamond stared at Yellow with an understanding look, and nodded in satisfaction, “With my former administrator imprisoned at the moment for a trial later, I will have a need for a new one, one that will not fail should I be away for too long.” 

Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes at Blue Diamond, “Please tell me you have no plans on going back to grieve on that wasteful zoo of hers.”

With an uncertain look, Blue Diamond made a forlorn look, “Please don’t talk like that, it was her’s, and it’s a legacy of hers I wish to keep around.”

“Please. Blue.” Yellow Diamond Scoffed at Blue Diamond, “You created the zoo for Pink to have those primitive organics to play with, while she could continue her duty of colonizing that blasted planet!” she spat out the last part as if the thought of merely mentioning Pink’s colony was poison on her tongue, metaphorically.

“That may be so! But those organics are from her planet!” Blue Diamond argued with a pointed look.

Yellow Diamond pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed with her eyes clenched in annoyance, “Let’s not get any further into this argument Blue, it never gets us anywhere.” she stated in an exasperated tone, to which Blue Diamond nodded slowly in agreement, before Yellow looked back at Blue. “You’re almost as bad as My Citrine gem wanting those Rose Quartz gems to serve as a hoplite regiment!” 

“Hoplite regiment?” Blue diamond asked in a curious tone, and reached up to deftly touch her chin in thought, “Is that part of that Art of War thing she once told me about?” she asked Yellow.

“...” Yellow Diamond's eyes widened a bit, surprised, before answering Blue with an intrigued look, “Art what now?” she questioned.

“Oh…you didn’t know?” Blue diamond question with a brow lifted of inquisitiveness, “She once said something about there being more to war, and that there was an art to it, or something to that effect.” she remarked with a tilted head of curiosity while looking off up in thought.

“Hm.” Yellow mused as she shifted a bit in her seat as she uncrossed her legs while relaxing her arms to cupped her chin in thought as she leaned forward a bit, her other palm rested on her lap as she sat forward, “She’s developing quite further than I calculated…” 

“Excuse me?” Blue asked her fellow Matriarch, at which Yellow followed up with speaking to Blue’s questioning look.

“Nothing really, just some additional traits I didn’t foresee coming.” Yellow Diamond shrugged haphazardly, “If anything, I suppose she’s just adapting as I’d expect my Citrine gem to do.” she answered Blue in a carefree tone.

“...Adapt?....I…suppose that would be needed for a gem of her caliber…given the many rebellions I’ve read about…among many other incidents…” Blue Diamond remarked with a expression of inquisitiveness once more.

Chapter Text

Yellow Palace

The trip back to the surface, aboard a vessel made for the soul purpose of traversing the deep chasms that were the kindergartens beneath the surface of Homeworld, was a quiet one with neither party speaking to each other; Once the ship, that was in the shape of a tapered baguette cut gem with a few extra dimensions to allow it to serve as a flying vessel, landed and everyone boarded off outside the back entrance of the Yellow Palace, Fire Opal stood at attention with her hands folded behind her back as she stared back at Citrine with her nose turned up in disgust towards the commander, who in turn stared back with her arms crossed as the two gems waited for the other to speak.

 Fire opal spoke back with sneer in her tone, “Don’t think Yellow Diamond will accept those eyesores so easily into your ranks, commander.“ she hissed out the last word as if it offended her from even leaving her mouth, “I’ll see to it as well, that those bottom dwellers never see the light of day either! They belong down there, and by the grace of the Diamonds, should be worshiping the Diamonds for even letting them exist down there.” she spoke with scorn in her tone towards the off colors.

Citrine, looking nonplussed towards the Fire Opal, pursed her lips flatly before speaking with a flat tone, “That is not for you to decide, Opal, and neither is it for me, it is up to Yellow Diamond.” she spoke tersely at the end, before unfolded her arms to walk up Fire Opal to poke the gem into the chest, the Commander’s height just slightly taller than the Fire Opal’s making her look downward a bit into the eyes of the Opal’s, “And rather you like it or not, I will not have unused gem resources go to waste. If they are to remain as they are unshattered, then they are better put to use in my armada than simply staying down there waiting for the inevitable.” 

Fire Opal stepped back a bit while slapping aside the offending finger of Citrine and pointed back at the commander with a hateful gaze, “Says you! You are what’s wrong with the many changes our Diamond has been changing throughout the thousands years!” she seethed out.

Narrowing her eyes at the Opal, Citrine refrained from scoffing at the other gem, “And look where it got the Diamond Authority a thousand years ago. A thousand year war on a single planet, and all of it was wasted with a Diamond shattered, countless gem resources lost, and the aftereffects of the war are still felt today, Opal.” The Commander strained out with a forceful bite. “You’re not the first gem I’ve had this talk with, and I doubt you’ll be the last!” 

Fire Opal tried to find another reason to argue with the commander, and when she did, she wished she thought twice before speaking, “Well maybe Pink Diamond had it coming on that cursed planet that spawned so many traitors and off colors!” she shouted, before widening her eyes, and clamping her mouth shut in fear.

The onlookers that were the Jaspers of Fire Opal’s team, all gasped with shocked faces, while behind Citrine, Lapis mouthed the word ‘wow’ in disbelief of the audacity the gem had, Spinel on the other hand was-

“Spinel, stay-” Citrine was about turn and command the court jester gem to stay where she was and stay calm, as she had a feeling the spinel gem was going to most likely act irrational at the disparaging words the Opal said about Pink Diamond, only for Spinel to already be in mid lunge towards the Opal Gem.

“THE FRACT YOU SAY!?” Spinel yelled in belligerent anger, while Pink Opal’s gemstone that was once in her possession fell from out of her grip to clatter to the ground below.

In surprise and regret for not choosing her words wisely and letting her mouth run, Fire Opal began stumbling backwards in the process as Spinel lunged through the air towards her with the intent of mauling her.

“Spin-” In mid flight as said gem’s flight path of her lunge brought her next to Commander Citrine, the commander herself had an annoyed look as she quickly reached out to grab Spinel by her right arm, and halt her.

Spinel, feeling the grip on her arm, willed her arm to stretch so that she could continue flying through the air from her lunge to assault the disrespectful Fire Opal. “I’ll make you pay for saying that!” she screamed in hysterics.

As Spinel was three fourths on her way to tackle the backwards stumbling Fire Opal, Citrine went from annoyed to angry as she pulsed her gem static powers into her hand that was grasping Spinel stretched arm. The current of Citrine’s static stilled the stretched arm and made it retract, allowing the commander to pull the arm in like a lasso, along with a shocked Spinel as the court jester found herself unable to stretch her arm any further.

Citrine, whipping the stretched arm around along with Spinel’s entire body, slammed Spinel down into the ground with a loud boom, and cracked the surface from the amount of force Citrine applied slamming Spinel into the ground by whipping her stretched arm and self lack a lasso. “Spinel!” she barked out in an authoritative tone. “Cease at once!” she ordered while keeping a firm grip on the arm she still had of Spinel’s and stomping over to the pink gem.

Spinel, with her back against the ground, glared hatefully up at Citrine, “Outta my way!” she screamed as she bounced back into her feet, and retracted her arm from being elastic, but found herself getting pulled in by Citrine as the commander continued to have a firm grip on her arm.

Finding herself trying to pull out her arm from Citrine’s grip by leveraging with her feet planted against the commander’s knees, Spinel next found herself yoinked up by Citrine as the commander grabbed Spinel’s other arm to look into the pink gem’s eyes with a firm look. “There is a precedent for this Spinel, you do not need to act that hastily!” she barked out with an authoritative tone towards the court jester gem.

Spinel on the other hand tried to squirrel her arms and hands free, “Just let me go!” she cried out with tears breaking from the corners of her eyes, “I’m not gonna let her bad mouth Pink that way!” she wailed before hatefully looking in the direction of the Fire Opal. “Just you-...” she ceased her actions and speech as she witnessed Fire Opal get carried off by the shoulders of her own Jaspers.

A screaming and struggling Fire Opal struggled against the hold the Jaspers had on her as they dragged her off to the Yellow Palace. “Who do you think you are touching, you low class quartz soldiers! Release me at once! I command it!” she screeched.

The Jaspers of course ignored the insults and commands the Fire Opal yelled, as they disappeared into the Yellow Palace with their screaming Opal Gem held prisoner between two Jaspers.

After a few tense silent seconds passed, Spinel finally calmed down a bit, before slowly looking back at Citrine as the commander continued to hold her up by her wrists. “...since when could Jaspers ignore their higher ranking gem with authority over them?” she questioned with clueless look and confusion in her tone.

With a straight forward flat look from the commander, Citrine spoke without missing a beat in her words, “I don’t think it has be said that no gem is allowed to bad mouth a Diamond in such a disparaging way, much less of a diamond that is no longer with us.” Citrine explained with a firm tone. 

Biting her lip at having to be reminded that her delusions were not real, Spinel croaked out, “She’s not gone…” she whispered out while looking downcast as her attention was now more on the ground than making any effort to look the commander in the eyes.

Noticing that Spinel was no longer active in wanting to attempt and flee to attack the Opal, Citrine questioned her, “I am gonna let you down now, Spinel, and I expect you to not run off, understood?” She spoke strictly, to which Spinel slowly nodded.

Releasing the hold on Spinel’s wrists, Citrine watched as the gem landed on her feet, before Spinel crouched down to hug her knee with an arm while using her other arm and finger to doodle imaginary lines into the ground, “She has no right, talking like that…” she muttered with an angered look, but kept her end of the promise with Citrine.

“Hmm.” Citrine hummed in agreement, before speaking up, “I’m also pretty sure she’ll be the first gem to be shattered by Yellow Diamond in over nine hundred years. I don’t see Yellow Diamond letting what she said be let go that easily…” she remarked a faraway look in her eyes as she crossed her arms while glancing off to the direction of the Yellow Palace.

The soft sound of pit pattering of Lapis’s soles echoed in the air as she strolled up to stand beside Citrine, and glance a tad bit up at her face with a sideways glance, “You know, I’m surprised Yellow diamond pulled back on that sort of punishment…it almost feel kinda weird that it’s been that long since a gem as been shattered.”

Citrine, with a miffed attitude, glanced back at Lapis with a sideways look, “The simple argument was why bother with shattering, when we have rejuvenators?” Citrine questioned back rhetorically, before uncrossing her arms to plant them on her hips as she conversed with Lapis, “And not just that, we do not have enough Diamond essence to shatter disobedient gems left and right like its Era One.” 

Shaking her head, the commander lifted her arm up and snapped her finger while looking sideways at Lapis, “The moment the deed was done on Earth, things had to change, rather High Gem society likes it or not. The Diamond Empire simply can not afford to stagnate, less it rots from the inside out.”

While Spinel continued to mope, Lapis spoke a bit more with Citrine, “Rot within…huh…” she blinked a few times as she digested the word, before looking directly at the commander, “Wouldn’t it be too late for Blue Diamond’s court though?” she asked curiously.

With a shrug, the commander replied back to Lapis with a glance, “Well, I wouldn’t know much, last I heard before we headed for the Pink Palace, was that she poofed more than half of her court, with an administrator to boot. Blue Diamond was just fortunate enough that events had unfolded to the point that got her out from her grieving, and back into the public eye. Who knows how worse her court would have been if she had been grieving any longer than a thousand years.”

“I suppose that is true…” Lapis mused towards the Commander's thoughts on the matter pertaining to her court she’s from.

Blue Palace

Having taken their conversation into one of Blue Diamond’s secluded rooms that housed several terminals, cylindrical vats that retained her Diamond essence, and various other machinery that all revolved around the process of making gems suited to her court’s caste, Both Diamonds sat in the midst of it all with a raised stone table.

For Yellow Diamond, as they had just entered the room where Blue Diamond did her own process of selecting what gems she needed to grow, the Yellow Matriarch sat with a curious gaze at the room around her, “You really haven’t been in here for quite some time…” she remarked.

“Mmh?” Blue Diamond hummed in question as she fixed her blue dress as she sat on her stone chair by brushing off herself from the dust that had collected over the many decades, “Well…” she glanced around a bit, “While I have not gotten around to updating most of my Palace, with the grief I secluded myself too…” she said while looking back at Yellow’s curious gaze on her, “I have come back here every few decades to at least provide the essence needed for the advancement of our empire…” she calmly said but with a dour expression. 

“That's all I could do, before drifting back to grieving for Pink…” Blue Diamond finished explaining to Yellow Diamond with a somber expression, who in turn leaned against the stone table while brushing aside the dust.

With an annoyed grunt, Yellow Diamond spoke back to Blue Diamond, “Yes, well, It’s best that if you ever do decide to sequester yourself away to grieve, don’t make it a thousand years.” she said tersely with an angered look, with Blue giving a nod at the behest of what has happened to her court so far.

After a few moments, Yellow Diamond started the discussion between the two of them back up while channeling her energy out through her Diamond with a wave of her hand to pull out a few datapads that were bulky to the point of being as think as Yellow Diamond thumb, three datapads in all. “Now, Blue, before I initiated the attempt of creating my Citrine gem that was by all rights successful, I made sure it was a success by spending what little time I had available to calculate, research and finalize it all into a compilation to take references off from should something go awry.”

With a bit of an intrigued look with a lifted brow, Blue Diamond glanced down at the tablets that showed some age but were still in working order, “How…long ago did you begin the research?” she asked.

Yellow nonchalantly brushed her hand through the air, “Around two thousand years before I actually began the attempt, and even then those were very busy years, I am sure you remember.” she remarked with some bit of nostalgia.

With a bit of a somber smile, Blue Diamond chuckled warmly, “Ah yes, it was quite the few thousand years, before…Pink got her colony…” she sobered down with a frown after mentioning the eventuality that was Pink Diamond’s colony and the worse event that had marred the Diamond Empire.

“Hmm…yes…” Yellow grimaced, before shoving her emotions down to continue speaking, “In any case, The spare time I had available, I spent it towards figuring out what would make a perfect quartz commander, a gem that could lead the others as well as be one of a kind that I could make a mold off from for future cuts of her kind.”

With a quizzical look Blue gave Yellow, she spoke with a curious tone, “I’ve noticed that, in fact when I first met her, that the Citrine gem of yours has more authority than most certain Quartz soldiers are given…Yellow…why is that?” she asked with a questionable look.

Releasing an irritated breath, Yellow leaned back on her stone chair to cross her arms, “Blue, we are stretching ourselves thin as it is, and back then, before that mess on Pink’s colony, I was already feeling fatigued from having to micromanage everything under my branch and court.” with an annoyed scowl, Yellow Diamond continued to say, “I do not know how White does it Blue, but I can not be everywhere at once and keep every planet of mine in line.”

With a measure of understanding, Blue Diamond nodded in agreement, “I suppose I can not fault you for feeling that, Yellow.” she remarked, then looked off to the side in thought, before looking back at Yellow with a disapproving frown, “But I’m having a hard time believing you of all Diamonds would let off colors into the rank and file of your soldiers.”

With a roll of her eyes, Yellow Diamond scoffed, “Relax Blue, like I said, that Citrine of mine was an experimental success, and she’ll continue to be one with the new propositions she’s submitted over the centuries.” Yellow then haphazardly shrugged, “And she’s been doing a good job at it too, in submitting well worded and presentable submission forms.”

“Yellow.” Blue spoke with a tone of warning while her brow furrowed down in disapproval, “What about White…or even me!? I have to act as the arbitrator of the law as well as follow the laws that White has set down for us to follow! I can’t just ignore what I saw on that planet when I met that Citrine gem of yours!”

“I’m actually surprised you didn’t do anything at all at the time when you went to that planet. I almost thought I’d have to call you up to have you cease from doing anything yet.” Yellow Diamond remarked with amusement, “Were you that angry at the time?”

With a look like she was caught red handed, wide eyes and a nervous look, Blue Diamond palmed her fingers into each other, “I mean-”

“You even used Pink’s Zoo as the means to transport yourself to that planet.” Yellow Diamond added with some measure of amusement at Blue’s wilting expression of embarrassment. “Face it Blue, you went off many protocols, and went off without thinking.”

“Alright!” Blue exclaimed with her hand raised in surrender, before soothing herself back down to speaking clearly with Yellow, “But Yellow, what about White? How has she let all this go on?”

“Mmh..” Yellow Diamond hummed with a sideways look, before making an annoyed expression, “I’ve wondered that myself, but I’ve always chalked it up to that canny and annoying thing she does where she somehow already knows my activities without my express need to tell her.”

“...right…” Blue Diamond agreed with an uncomfortable look, before speaking once more, “But we’ve gotten off track!”

“Right.” Yellow diamond said in agreement as she reached forward to gently shove one of the dataslates towards Blue, “Here, this is the formula that you’ll be needing to start with.”

Accepting the datapad to inspect the formulas, Blue Diamond used her index finger to scroll through the data before frowning a bit. “...Yellow…” she cautiously spoke as she continued to scroll, and landed right at a component that was part of making Yellow’s Citrine Commander. With a slow look up and slowly lowering the dataslate down, Blue Diamond looked at Yellow Diamond with a fearful gaze, “Does…Does White know what you have done? This…this…this can not be all true!” she hush-yelled.

With a scoff, Yellow Diamond made a flippant gesture with her hand while her arms were crossed, “Blue, you’re talking about what, I’m sure she knows. In fact, I’m sure she knows that I know that she knows. White has always been like that ever since I’ve known her!” 

Cautiously looking back down at the dataslate she had put down, Blue Diamond spoke with a wide eyed look, “Yellow, I don’t think we can even call that thing of yours a perfect Citrine gem! You put a part of yourself into the makings of a citrine rich planet…and by all rights, her gem is a Citrine gem, but…” she tried to find her words after finding out what percentage else was in the commander’s gem.

While indeed it was ninety nine point nine nine nine percentage ratio of citrine in the gem, a tiny miniscule fraction of it contained a microscopic piece of Yellow diamond’s own gem, not essence like most other gems were made. 

“What would our courts think if this were made public!” Blue Diamond questioned with her continued wide eyed shocked look, “This cannot bode well at all if this were to ever get out that a Citrine Quartz commander has part of her gem a microscopic piece of you in her! The courts would split and fracture! Think of the fallout Yellow!”

With a frown, Yellow stared back at Blue, undeterred, “Blue, I believe you forget who and what we are. We are the ultimate authority. If anything, it will only help us weed out the dissenters more, paving the way for the more loyal gems to be made in our courts. It’s a win-win in my eyes.” she explained in a blase tone.

“....I dearly hope you are right about White, Yellow.” Blue diamond spoke after thinking for a bit, and looked uncertain down at the dataslates with newfound light of what Yellow Diamond had made. 

As Yellow was about to open her mouth to speak, the door to the room they were in, chimed, signaling that their pearls had something urgent for them; Both diamonds looked at each in surprise, before Yellow diamond stood up to walk over to the door to have it opened.

With an audible hiss of the door opening, Yellow Diamond looked down impatiently at the two Pearls of the respective Diamonds, “What is it Pearls, what is so urgent?” she questioned, while behind her, Blue calmly stood up and waited to see what business the pearls had in interrupting the Diamonds.

Yellow Pearl, with a shocked face, spoke with disbelief in her tone, “My Diamond.” She and Blue Pearl saluted first respectfully, before Yellow Pearl continued speaking, “Planet Cadmium and its Sol system has been attacked!” she yelled.

While Blue glared in the background at the mention of an attack, Yellow looked annoyed with a sneer, “another rebellion again?” she sighed.

“No.” Blue Pearl spoke calmly, surprising both Yellow diamond and Blue Diamond that it was not another rebellion, “The Planetary Garnet governess had detailed was organics from the Dagon sector.”

Silence fell between the Diamonds, with Yellow Diamond looking over at Blue Diamond, “Didn’t we survey the planets in that sector over ten thousand years ago?” she questioned her fellow Diamond, who nodded with a confused look, “The organics on one of those planets were primitive at best, barely anything of note other than the rich minerals the planets had available!” she tried to reason with herself of how organics could advance within the timeframe of more than ten thousand years.

After several seconds passed with silence between the Diamonds in digesting the information, Yellow Diamond scowled as she marched off, “We’ll continue this discussion another time, Blue, I need to mobilize all my generals and commanders!” she hollered back as she disappeared from sight along with her pearl.

“My diamond?” Blue Pearl spoke in questioning as she politely stayed outside the room while her Diamond stood beside her stone table. 

Blue Diamond looked over at her Pearl, “I’m fine Pearl, please leave, I have some matters to deal with. Have my council and all of my governors be at the ready.” she orders strictly, while shuffling over to the table to pick up the dataslates to conceal into her gem. Blue Pearl saluted her Diamond before rushing off to do as ordered.

Chapter Text

Yellow Palace

The further Citrine walked through the halls of the Yellow Palace, the more squads of quartz soldiers rushing off to their own barracks; that in of itself was already telling that something was up for Citrine to assume otherwise, so the commander made haste in heading to her own office quarters stationed within the private housing district of the Yellow Palace.

With quickness in her strides, while Lapis and Spinel were not that far behind her, the commander hurried towards her office; Citrine idly glanced around as she stepped through one of the entrances that led into the private housings that were built into square columns. Already she had to get clearance from the two Carnelian Arbites, which meant Yellow Diamond no doubt involved herself in addressing the matter of the attack on her, and put the entire Palace under lockdown.

'And it wasn't just that', Citrine continued to muse to herself while striding across a bridge walkway between the squire pillars, Yellow Diamond no doubt caught onto the fact that a gem had used those new gem types on her along with the other gems that been involved in the hole attack on her, Lapis, and Spinel.

Stopping in mid stride the moment she reached her office, Citrine stood to look around an noted that there were Carnelian soldiers at each corner of the balconies, all whom kept a vigilant eye on the residential district, and was certainly not for the protection of the gems of Yellow diamond's court nor for the rest of her gems that were in the higher echelons of gem society ranging from Hessonites to Garnets.

There was a definite air of tension that Citrine could feel.

Amid her musings, Spinel spoke aloud as she had seemingly picked Pink Opal's gem back up to continue juggling it, "How long are you gonna keep Pearl in your gem, by the way?" she asked offhandedly as she whistled to herself, "Pearls after-all open the doors for their owners." she pointed out candidly.

Halting her hand in mid movement as she was about to open her own door, Citrine payed Spinel a glance with an annoyed look, "While it is a pearls duty to do such a job, it does not mean I am that lazy to do be unable things on my own while she is occupied in re-calibrating herself to reform her light-form." she stoically answer, before pressing on the door panel to open her door with a sound of a hiss.

While Citrine stepped into her domicile, with Lapis and Spinel shortly behind her, the commander glanced momentarily around to note nothing had been touched, or upturned, given the recent events; pursing her lips a bit as she strolled in while the other two found an appropriate place to sit such at the nearby couch or chair…

It took her some explaining to the pebbles how to make the couch, to the point she had to put in an order through a morganite gem to fashion something cushy to sit on; she did not get any chance of acquiring the services of Yellow Diamond's actual own Yellow morganite gem, but the service she needed wasn't that complicated to make.

Rambling thoughts aside as Citrine walked around her desk to sit down for a bit to check her mail logs. After a bit of tapping into the keyboard built into the desk, a holo-monitor beamed into existence for her to begin looking through her mail. Typing through the keys with quick fingers, while her eyes focused on her holo-monitor, Citrine noticed only one message was sent to her, and it was very recent, very very recent as in just a moment ago.

Tapping a few keystrokes to open the message, Citrine noted it was from Yellow Diamond's Pearl, a dictated message from Yellow diamond herself to call in all generals and commanders; an immediate assembly was to be had within the next hour and there would be no excuses accepted for tardiness.

Lifting a brow of curiosity, Citrine frowned to herself, before tapping a few more keys to shut her monitor off and stand up to leave, "I was expecting a message from Yellow Diamond, but not in this manner." she remarked as she snapped her fingers to earn the attention of the two gems, and pointed at them, "I'll need you to head down to the barracks and get yourself ready with the rest of our soldiers, something's come up that has warranted all of Yellow Diamond's high ranking military commanders to convene." she firmly instructed.

Standing up and brushing her pants off idly, Lapis looked back at Citrine with a surprised look, "This better not be another rebellion, I'm getting sick of those missions." she grouched.

Spinel, as she hopped off from the same couch, tossed Pink Opal's gem once more before bubbling it and putting it into her gem, "sheesh…you make it sound like there's been tons of rebellions." she remarked.

Lapis crossed her arms and expressed an annoyed look, "It's not that, it's that whenever Citrine borrows the Lapis Lazuli's from Blue Diamond's court, Lapis's M3 and N1 always come hounding me to ask what it's like serving under Citrine, and what's it like doing things other than terraforming planets." she explained with a deadpan look afterwards.

Citrine, just as she approached her door, glanced over her shoulder to look at Lapis, "Aren't those two from Era 2?" she asked idly, curious if she was speaking about the two more notable Lapis Lazulis that would always be among the first Lapis Lazulis that volunteered to be borrowed.

With a bored sideways look back at Citrine with her arms still crossed, Lapis nodded her head once, "M3 and N1 are new by about five hundred years. right around the time you submitted a request for Lapis Gems to be temporarily used in times of wars." she explained.

"hm." Citrine noted with a hum, before resuming her exit from her office domicile, with Lapis and Spinel not far behind her.

While the commander made haste in making way towards the Palace's auditorium, a place big enough for Yellow Diamond to walk through and be seen by all her gems, a fact that really it was just a normal sized room to the diamond, Spinel continued to talk to Lapis out of curiosity.

"So…is it any better than terraforming planets?" Spinel questioned Lapis as she and her trailed behind the commander.

With a flat look while staring forwards as she walked, Lapis shrugged with her arms still crossed, "You'd be surprised how long it takes to terraform a planet with water available, otherwise, doing the deed with my own water ends up taking an extremely long time…it's also one of the reasons why I think my gem type might be phased out someday." She added the last part as an afterthought.

"I sincerely doubt that." Citrine spoke aloud while her back was still facing Lapis as the commander continued to walk forward, earning a surprised look from Lapis, "You think the Diamonds want their colonies terraformed faster, but that's farther from the truth, when you look at it objectively."

"Huh?" Spinel questioned with a confused look, staring up at Citrine's back as they all walked through a doorway of the palace's residential district, "What are you trying to say?" she asked.

Without looking back at her, Citrine answered Spinel, "The Diamond's have all the time in the universe to multitask between their colonies in the making, their courts, and many other trivialities, so it is safe to assume that time is not an issue for us gems, given the simple fact that we do not age like organics."

Continuing in her strides, Citrine glanced over her shoulder to look at Lapis, "So, I don't know where you get that your gem type might get phased out, gem tech only goes so far, and even if there was a replacement for Lapis Lazulis, the ability to control water is a very valuable power that should not be squandered." she explained, before looking back forward, not noticing the tint of dark blue hues on Lapis's cheeks.

"Gee…" Lapis remarked with a sideways look while rubbing her arm nervously, "I never thought about it like that." she humbly said.

Making a confused look, Spinel thumbed her chin before speaking her mind, "What about those lava using gems? I never saw any gems like them before." she noted in a curious tone.

With a thoughtful look up, Lapis thought on the question, before glancing back down at Spinel walking beside her, "It's probably Yellow Diamond's attempt at a Lapis variant, the ability that is."

"I wouldn't blame the idea of making such a gem." Citrine idly added in her own thoughts in on subject matter, "Yellow Diamond does own a few volcano moons, with one planet that is full of active volcanoes, so it wouldn't be that far of a stretch that those gems would be an attempt at terraforming such planets and moons without the worry of a Lapis's water getting evaporate from the extreme heat."

"Volcanoes are not that difficult, really." Lapis corrected Citrine with a haphazard shrug at the glance sent her way from the commander, "It's the planets that are completely mired in volcanoes and magma, it's one of the reasons why my Diamond handed off one of her planets to your Diamond. It was an unappealing planet to her, and held little to no gem resources to make the gems that would have been appropriate for her Court."

"You talk as if you were there at the time." Spinel commented with a curious tone, eyeing Lapis, "I mean…were you?" she followed up by asking her.

"It was my second planet at the time to terraform, but Blue Diamond withdrew us Lapis's before we started any work on it." Lapis answered the court jester casually.

Blue Palace

Blue Pearl did her best to shift through the data logs that she had been granted access to to assist her Diamond in organizing what forces were available to assist Yellow Diamond's military forces; while the amount they had available compared to what Yellow Diamond has, who was in charge of objectively the military of the empire as a whole, it did not mean the other Diamonds could not send a few troops of their own to aid in stomping out any means of the enemy that had so boldly attacked the eastern edge of their empire.

Blue Pearl's eyes looked down through her hair as she traced her finger along the screen of her holopad device, with frown, she noted that the only available forces they had other than Sodalite's armada, were Dumortierite and Sapphirine, the other five commanders were on the list of embezzlers and traitors to the blue council.

Dumortierite, she was her Diamond's first commander, and Sapphirine was made during her Diamond's process of creating her sapphires. Both gems remained steadfast in loyalty to their Diamond along with sodalite.

Looking up to her left to speak with her Diamond, Blue Pearl calmly spoke, "My Diamond?" She began to question, announcing that she had finished what she was tasked to do, earning her Diamond attention with a cursory glance from her desk, while Pearl's own was seated down beside the desk of Blue Diamond.

"You've finished compiling the list I needed?" Blue Diamond questioned with an air of authority, expecting an immediate answer going by the stern expression on her Diamond's face.

Blue Pearl lifted her holo-pad and slid her finger along the screen for her to be able to send the information to the monitor atop Blue Diamond's desk for her perusal, "The only ones left available aside from Sodalite, are Dumortierite, and Sapphirine." Blue Pearl calmly answered.

Blue Diamond's brow furrowed in annoyance before relaxing it back a bit, "I see…" she sighed irritably.

Pearl watched from below as her Diamond went through a few motions of calling the two commanders in, and after a few seconds, two images of Blue Diamond's other commanders rang in on a split screen video call. Dumortierite was on the left screen, while Sapphirine was on the right, both gems were in the midst of commanding their own troops within their ships, before taking quick notice that their Diamond hotline connected them into an immediate call with their Diamond.

"My Diamond!" both chorused and simultaneously saluted Blue Diamond. Both gems were about to speak one after another, but Blue Diamond cut them off with an authoritative voice and look.

"You will both skip the pleasantries." Blue Diamond spoke tersely without giving either gem any room for words, "I require you both at homeworld within the timeframe of its complete rotation, do not be any minute later." she commanded strictly.

"By your command, my Diamond!" Both gems once again ended up echoing each other, before both commanders devolved into issuing out rushed orders of getting their ships going, right before the call was cut off by Blue Diamond.

Once the video call disconnected, Blue Pearl waited for her Diamond to tell her what she needed done next, as she clasped her hands onto her lap.

It wasn't long before her Diamond made a look of realization, before looking down at her, "I almost forgot, Pearl, please send my Lapis gems back to that Citrine gem, now's not the time to terraform, so I suppose she can borrow them for a bit longer…" she ordered her pearl, before looking forward in thought, "Quite curious I never thought a Lapis gem would be appropriate for war…" she remarked.

After a few more seconds passed while Pearl stood up from her desk to leave, Her Diamond made a look of realization before she looked down at her with an expectant look, "Oh, and while you're away, see to it if you can travel over to the Yellow Palace in time before Yellow sends her forces off."

Pausing in her steps as she gave Diamond her attention, Blue Pearl stared up at her, "My Diamond?" she questioned.

With a sideways look at her own monitor of compiled data logs, Blue diamond spoke with a curious tone, "I am now more curious than ever, about what that Citrine spoke of about the Art of War. I would like you to ask if she has anything written up on it in time for this event." Blue diamond finished explained as she looked down at her pearl.

Blue Pearl bowed to her diamond as any pearl would to their owners, "By your command, My Diamond." she calmly replied, before making haste in exiting the room to do her Diamond's bidding.

While Blue Pearl exited the office of her Blue diamond, said Diamond leaned back in her chair to think for a bit, "Would an art for war even apply against organics?" She questioned herself, trying to grasp what if anything was there more than simply throwing soldiers at a problem. If anything, the Rose's rebellion was already a lesson in itself.

The rebellious quartz only had one planet to rebel off from, while homeworld and its many colonies had countless soldiers to overwhelm the planet with; the only problem was, they treated the problem as an insignificant one, and now they were dealing with the consequences.

"Would things have been more different, if we sent more, or took it more seriously?" Blue diamond asked herself with a somber look and sighed sadly, before correcting herself with a stern look.

"No. no more of that, I can't keep beating myself up about it! Pink wouldn't want me to be eternally sad!" She chastised herself, almost feeling the heartache at mentioning Pink, but the thought of how bad her court became, roused her back from her depression.

Sitting up straight, Blue Diamond resumed the task of organizing the digital data through her monitor of what worlds and moons of hers were in disarray, so far she's already found out that half of them were in dire need of visitation to inspect what officially needs replaced and torn down, others were in need of her presence to see how far the progress of the colonies have done in creating gems.

Very little could create era one gems, so the majority of gems from now one would always be era two gems, that would end up needing limb enhancers to compensate for the loss in stature the gems would be able to project as their hardlight bodies.

Blue Diamond released a tired breath as she continued to work at her desk, it was going to be a long day before she could do anything else other than go over each and every datalog; if she wanted to do this right, and repair her court, she needed to be diligent and thorough.

Yellow Palace

With the sound of soft thumps of her feet touching the ground, Yellow diamond marched herself in her auditorium with her fists clenched. So much has happened with the last few days, an invasion on the eastern rim of their empire was not on her list of an expected outcome. Her face was stern as she was greeted by a chorus of 'My diamond!' by every general and commander of her army.

A cursory glance from her saw that all were standing at attention from their stone seats, holding the diamond salute while giving her their undivided attention. Among them was Citrine, which soothed her mind somewhat that her most accomplished commander in recent thousand years had made it back in time.

"Don't bother sitting, I need all of you ready to leave post haste within the day's end." Yellow Diamond instructed without skipping a beat while taking her cursory glance off from her Citrine gem to look at the rest of her military leaders.

As Yellow Diamond stood at the center in front of all her subjects, she stared down at them all, "As of now, we are treating a current invasion of the eastern rim as a threat, and shall deal with it as such. And no, It is not another rebellion." she explained loudly.

Some murmuring broke out, before Yellow Diamond spoke again, letting the little insubordination go for now, she'd hunt them down later and punish them for not being silent and breaking protocol. Presently, they were under attack, and she had no time to deal with minor annoyances.

"At present, the eastern rim of our empire has been attacked by organics." Yellow Diamond explained, and followed up with an explanation before more of her gems started murmuring in surprise to each other, "An organic species from the Dagon Sol system, to be precise. They seemingly advanced far enough within the span of ten thousand years."

Yellow Diamond paced to the side for all of her gems to see the massive holoscreen blip into existence behind, showing the solar system under attack, and the neighboring solar system that was the Dagon sector. "For this reason, I will have half of you initiating a counter attack." she palmed the screen from emphasis, but ceased her hand from going through the holoscreen at the right moment. "The rest of you shall take up defense. I will NOT tolerate any attempts of glory seeking. This is not going to be a repeat of the Rose Rebellion. I want this done quickly and efficiently." she ordered out authoritatively.

Yellow Diamond narrowed her eyes and swept her gaze over her gems, "DO. I. MAKE. MY. SELF. CLEAR!?" she yelled out.

"YES MA'AM, BY YOUR AUTHORITY MY DIAMOND!" Every gem shouted with practice ease programmed into their gems, a very basic thing all gems had in addition to help them know which diamond they belonged to and how to operate as a gem that they came out as.

That of course, was just one of the simpler things about a common gem, the rest came naturally with experience and the time they lived. It was just another reason that she lamented having lost many era one gems during the Rose rebellion.

Experience always won out, but apparently it didn't help matters when it involved a gem versus gem war. Now they had to deal with organics…

Chapter Text

Citrine

Not knowing what her Diamond required of her to speak alone face to face within one of her chambers, Citrine only speculated as Yellow diamond had called her out along a few other gems of her court to discuss matters alone; Besides Citrine, Yellow Diamond called out her personal Morganite, Yellow Beryll, and a few Emeralds to speak with her on more important matters that needed to be address with a one on one conversation in one of her chambers.

Citrine was beside herself as she waited outside the doorway to Yellow Diamond’s chosen chambers, while the last of the emeralds were called in by Yellow Pearl to enter the room to speak with their Diamond. The only other gems left other than her were Morganite and Beryl, both of whom were still in the midst of talking to each other.

-and by my estimates, the cost of rebuilding our Diamond’s office to her specifications should be manageable within a decent time frame.” Yellow Morganite discussed with Beryl as if she were discussing the weather on a normal day on a planet. She expressed a happy attitude as she conversed with Beryl “The hole in her wall she blasted in anger, had her think otherwise that she likened the idea of having a grand view of the capital from her office.”

Beryl stood beside Morganite to her left, glanced down at the palace designer with a curious look, “Quite…amusing, I dear say, that our Diamond sees her damaged wall in a different light, circumstances aside that is.” The Admiral gem commented with a soft smile.

Citrine, who stood across the hallway from the two gems, had her arms crossed as she dwelled on the recent events; from the assassination attempts on her life, the first one had heavy implications of a secret organization and the second attempt made her question more of what was going on after a thousand years. It was as if everything was coming to a boil and finally topping over to reveal its colors.

Many times, Citrine had chalked the idea up as gems from the courts not taking kindly to the experimental changes she’s been working out in her armada for Yellow Diamond to consider changing her mind on many things about gem society as a whole; given the fact they were down one Diamond and couldn’t produce gems like they could before, gave credence to the cause that Citrine was trying to submit that the traditions needed looked at from a different angle.

Speaking of down one diamond, Citrine couldn’t help but think that the second assassination attempt was the cause of her getting too close to the truth of what occurred on the day of Pink Diamond supposed ‘shattering’. The mere fact she was in the pink palace at the time, could wholly be some lame attempt at making the Pink Palace gems guilty.

But also did not make sense, as Pink Diamond’s court were a very reputable bunch of gems that admired their Diamond, and that the entire conspiracy behind the tragedy of Pink Diamond’s demise all happened on her first colony by some Rose Quartz that acted out of character compared to the rest of her quartz colleagues. 

‘…Acted out of character…’ Citrine narrowed her eyes in thought as she brought her arm up to palm her chin as she dwelled on that thought. The sparse times she operated her private investigations behind the demise of Pink Diamond, she had not yet analyzed the character of Rose Quartz.

‘I need to get those other Rose Quartz gems out of their bubbles, and see how they behave…’ Citrine thought to herself, as things were not adding up, given the fact that Rose Quartz of Pink Diamond’s court rebelled against her own Diamond. Pink Diamond, that has been said by every gem in her court to be a very loving and charitable Diamond towards her court.

None of it added up! It also did not help matters to the fact that gems could shapeshift into other gems, so that did not put the blame on Rose Quartz, if Rose Quartz was even a rose quartz at all in the first place!

‘There’s definitely something very wrong behind the entire rebellion.’ Citrine mused inwardly as she glanced to the side in more thought in a conspiratorial way.

“Quite the look you got there.” Beryl's voice broke Citrine out of her musings, making her blink a few times as Citrine relaxed her posture and hand away from her chin, prompting the commander’s attention over at Beryl with a fixed stare.

“Ah, pardon me.” Citrine frowned a bit as she spoke with the Admiral gem, “I was simply in deep thought, the matters behind the attack on me were very suspicious.” she remarked, telling the half truth and not wholly speaking on what else she was thinking of.

Morganite looked over at the commander with an apologetic smile, “If it makes you feel any better, the two gems that sent the attack on you, have been apprehended and are now awaiting trial.” she smirked a bit at the end of her explanation.

Lifting a brow at what Morganite said, Citrine could not help but comment on the matter, “Awaiting trial? If she always knows the two gems involved are guilty, then why bother with a Trial?” she asked, already making several thoughts on the matter go through her mind. She really needed to act fast and figure out if the two gems that sent the attack on her were involved with some other gems.

Beryl spoke on the behalf of Morganite as the Admiral gem spoke with an annoyed expression, “The Aquamarine in question, is a traitor that embezzled Yellow Diamond’s new Yooperlites, and illegally attached self destruct gem modifiers onto the Yooperlites’ gems. She’s getting the capital punishment of public shattering.” she said with a scornful tone.

Well…that is certainly a way to send a message to cease any and all actions of political subterfuge and assassination, especially if it involves using illegally accessed gems that were not within the preview for said gem to have any authority to use.

But that didn’t mean it would stop assassination attempts between high ranking gems, it’d just make the elite gems cover their tracks more and practice better subterfuge between gems. In the end, it just mattered how long the elites could keep up their act until they got caught in the act.

“And the Hessonite?” Citrine followed with asking, eyeing both Morganite and Beryl with curious glances between the two. 

Yellow Morganite spoke with a nonchalant shrug, “From what I gathered, she’ll be made to suffer two thousand years as a common gem soldier, the Trial is really a formality, as our Diamond has already chosen the punishment for both gems.” she explained with a careless attitude.

Citrine was about to open her mouth and ask if there was a chance Yellow Diamond would allow her to extract their memories, but before she could, the door to Yellow Diamond’s chambers opened with an emerald captain exiting out and taking her leaving; poking her head out, Yellow Pearl looked over at Citrine across the hallway with a neutral expression, “My Diamond will see you now, Citrine.” she announced, before entering back into the chamber without another word.

Citrine, without saying another word to Morganite and Beryl, walked into the chambers so as to not keep Yellow Diamond Waiting.

Stepping inside what looked like a very spacious room compared to her size, but an average sized office room to Yellow Diamond, Citrine walked in with her hands laced behind her back while she marched towards the large Yellow Desk that her Diamond sat at while Yellow Pearl stood beside it awaiting her next order.

Yellow Diamond sat for a few seconds in the midst of typing into what must be her holo-keyboard atop her desk, ceased her actions and stood up to stare down at her Commander gem with an authoritative look as Citrine came to halt several feet away from her diamond. “My Diamond.” Citrine announced herself with a salute in respect.

Her Diamond stared down at her in what felt like minutes, but it was for a few moments before Yellow Diamond spoke aloud with a stern tone, “I’ll be quick with this, as I need you and your armada ready with the rest of my others.” she announced with a narrow eyed, looking down at Citrine.

Crossing her arms as she expected an answer, Yellow Diamond asked, “I never authorized you to do so, but why have you seen fit to investigate the matters of that debacle a thousand years ago?” she asked, earning a bit of a surprised look from Citrine.

‘She knew all this time!? For how long!?’ Citrine thought to herself, and decided to ask before answering her diamond with a polite but nervous tone, “m-m-my diamond! How long have you known!?” she asked quickly.

Yellow Diamond scoffed with her arms crossed as she looked down at Citrine with an authoritative look, “Long enough! Now answer! What reason are you investigating the matters of what happened a thousand years ago!?” She demanded with an expectant look.

‘Something’s not right, why isn’t she saying anything about Pink Diamond, or referencing that fact of what I’m investigating, if she knows what I have been doing this whole time in my spare hours?’ Citrine inwardly questioned herself, before answering Yellow Diamond, “You mean, the debacle of Pink Diamond’s shattering?” Citrine saw her Diamond’s jaw tighten at the mention of Pink Diamond, “And the culprit that is Rose Quartz?” she asked.

“Yes.” Yellow Diamond answered with a tight jaw, “Do not make me repeat myself, answer my Question.” she demanded.

Citrine swallowed her nervousness down, and decided to see how far she could go with what she’d found so far, already she could see her Diamond’s expression was that of repressed hurt, so she could probably chalk Yellow Diamond may not be wholly responsible for Pink diamond’s shattering.

Or perhaps it’s worse, and she is the guilty Diamond, and she laments her decision. Too many questions left every elite gem, including the Diamonds, as suspects to the event that was the Rose Quartz rebellion.

“My Diamond.” Citrine began with explaining herself, as she relaxed her salute and folded her arms being her back as she stood at attention for her Diamond, “When I was ordered to retreat from the planet, from you, and after finding out what had happened, I began to question how a rose Quartz could have gotten so close to Pink diamond!” she explained with a confused look.

Yellow Diamond, while she still tightened her expressions at the mention of Pink Diamond, lifted a brow of curiosity that she was a bit intrigued of where Citrine was going with her findings, “Yes…I can not fault you for that, it was indeed…odd that a soldier class gem was granted access to being that close to Pink’s palanquin.” she mused in agreement to the thought.

Citrine took one step forward while making a pleading gesture with her hands, “My Diamond, the amount of eye witnesses I’ve asked around from, that were there on that day, all can attest that Rose Quartz hopped out from Pink Diamond’s palanquin, and it gets even more suspicion when the fact that no one saw Rose Quartz into the palanquin in the first place!”

Palming her chest, Citrine continued to speak with confused tone, “My Diamond, I do not think we are dealing with some assassination by a rogue quartz, as Pink Diamond’s pearl was nowhere to be seen at the time, at all! In fact, eye witnesses have provided that the Rogue Pearl that was always with Rose Quartz, matches the identity of Pink Diamond’s own pearl!”

Yellow Pearl expressed a shocked look on her face the more Citrine discuss all that she found, while Yellow Diamond began to glare up through that air as if she were trying to make sense of what she was being told, “That…” she gritted out in anger, “That is very suspicious, all if it.” she mused as she began to think more on what Citrine provided.

Citrine took another step as she looked up at her Diamond, “Your luminescence, we have rejuvenators that could have been used against Pink Diamond’s pearl, we have gems from other courts that did not like Pink Diamond that speak ill of her, we have so much corruption within our society today, I do not think this case of Pink Diamond’s demise is as simple as some rogue quartz raising a banner against homeworld!” 

Several seconds of silence passed as Yellow Diamond seemed to be pondering over what citrine provided her with, as lot of evidence had been compiled to the point that it was not as cut and dry as she once thought; Yellow Diamond began to tap her finger against her arm in thought, before turning around to face her desk and sit down with an ever present glare. “Leave.” she bit out.

“...Ma’am?” Citrine softly spoke in question as she stepped backwards in caution, not once hearing Yellow Diamond telling her to cease her private investigations.

Crossing her leg over her other, Yellow Diamond glared at her commander with a sideways glance, “I expect you to submit all your findings once you return from the Dagon Sector. Do Not Leave Anything Out.” she bit her words out in anger.

Yellow Diamond

The magnitude of what she thought was the worst time in her life to be the worst time ever, became more with what her Citrine gem was implying from the evidence she found surrounding the event that has left cracks in the empire that could still be felt today.

Yellow Diamond would have simply told the commander to cease her silly nonsense of whatever she was doing, if she didn’t provide enough evidence, but the little gem of hers provided enough reasons that made her question what really happened down on that planet at the time.

She’s always blamed herself for not providing enough troops to that planet, since there were enough of Blue’s own to assist matters in quelling the rebellion. Evidently she was wrong, and now Pink was gone and now all could do was try not to end up like Blue.

She was Diamond, and as such, she had a duty to continue her work AS a Diamond and keep the appearance of a stalwart leader, a Diamond that her Gems feared and respected; but now things were starting to chafe and stir within her court, Blue’s was already falling apart to the point of needing many replacements.

Stars above, she didn’t even want to think what was going over with White. White dealt with the problem with a simple smile, and didn’t bother showing her face or presence ever again for the last thousand years. 

With a scowl as she leaned back in her chair, Yellow Diamond continued to think over what her Citrine gem said to her; What her gem commander suggested, made too much sense, as gems had the capacity to shape shift.

One of the reasons shape shifting was looked down on, and outlawed in gem society; it could allow a gem to impersonate another gem, and it could lead down to too many problems. It was just for the sake of making a gem stay within their accepted form, it was also to curtail other issues with the ability for a gem to shapeshift.

Then you had the double edged sword problem of the rejuvenators that her Citrine gem mentioned. The Rose quartz rebel might have used such an item to ‘free’ Pink’s pearl.

Narrowing her eyes a bit, Yellow Diamond spoke softly to herself, “I never did see her pearl with her in our calls, so that raises more questions and evidence against what happened on that blasted dirt ball!” she hissed to herself in anger, and slammed her fist down on her arm rest from out of her crossed arms, “Curses! Why didn’t Pink say anything!” she yelled in anger, “I know we told her to act more like a diamond, but maybe…no, we were too hard on her! We all should have been there to help!” she chastised herself in anger.

Pink would complain about her planet, and they would just tell her to not worry and continue to let her gems operate on the planet to turn it into her colony; perhaps she wanted to ask for help, but felt she had complained too many times, and didn’t want to bother her and Blue anymore with such trivialities. 

So many factors were at play that led up to Pink’s Shattering, Yellow Diamond was now beginning to think that indeed, the whole mess was suspicious and warranted a more thorough investigation; They already blasted that planet with their powers of all remaining Diamonds combined, so there was no doubt nothing remained on that planet other than some primitive organics.

They wanted to use that nearby spiral galaxy for their next expansion of the empire, and it was as good a time as any to let Pink start out with her own planet in that galaxy. It would have allowed them to use Pink’s colonized solar system as a staging planet to expand outwards throughout that galaxy, with Pink most likely owning a majority of it since she would have had a head start.

‘What sick turn of events that was.’ Yellow Diamond groused inwardly with a clenched fist, before relaxing it back up as she continued to dwell on what her Citrine gem had provided on what reasons she investigated into the mess of Pink’s shattering.

“My Diamond?” Yellow Pearl, broke her out of her musings, and brought her attention down to the diminutive servant gem. Her Pearl looked up at her with a cautious look, “Pardon my rudeness, but you still have your Morganite and Beryl gems outside, should I fetch one of them now?” she asked with a respectful tone.

Yellow Diamond released a tired breath, the action not needed for a Diamond, but it was an emotive response to her annoyance that was her tight schedule; she would dwell on the matter latter, for now she needed to discuss redecorating her palace with her Morganite, and discuss plans with Beryl on performing as the leading admiral of her space fleet for the upcoming counter attack against the organics had attacked her colony planet of Cadmium Four.

“Go ahead and fetch Beryl first, pearl.” Yellow Diamond instructed as she stood up from her chair, she could discuss matters pertaining to her palace afterwards, for now the counterattack mattered first.

“Yes, my diamond!” Yellow Pearl saluted her, before shuffling off to fetch said gem.

While her pearl trotting off, Yellow Diamond softly spoke to herself as she glanced off to the side in thought, “Perhaps I should just order to have the homeworld of those organics be cracked in half and be done with it.” she mused in idle thought, “Deal a decisive blow before it becomes a major problem.” Yellow Diamond trailed off in thought.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Planet v32m

In a procession ships exiting out of their warp speed, of which was a very high number of them, one large orange war hand ship exited from its warp speed followed by several more ships to arrive above the volcanic moon of the nearby gas giant that the moon orbited. Within the Orange War hand ship, Citrine stood and waited for the planetary comms to connect.

With her arms presently crossed, the commander tapped her arm idly before a holoscreen finally blipped into existence within the bridge for the Peridot on the other end of the video call to see Citrine standing and waiting. “Greetings, commander Citrine, we were expecting your presence.” The peridot gem remarked with a respectful tone.

Citrine ceased her idle activity and planted her hands against her sides as she began to converse with the Peridot in a firm tone, “As I’d expected, Yellow Diamond had me come here to pick up a ship she wants me to employ within my armada.” she replied back with a straight look back at the video call she had with the peridot gem.

“Right.” Peridot nodded as she began configuring something on her hand, before pulling up a holopad and pressed into the bottom half of the screen, “Olivine, Ma’am, the commander has arrived.” she spoke into her device, before abruptly the video screen became a threeway video call between the gems.

“Ah, perfect.” The Olivine gem remarked with a bright expression, “We’ve just finished calibrating the ship's systems.” she commented, before continuing to speak with the commander, “Are there any questions before I hand the ship and its crew off to you?” Olivine inquired, while holding up a holopad of her own, showing details of the ship in question, “I can send the specifics of the ship to you if you’d like.” 

Citrine responded with a nonchalant tone, “That is fine.” she answered, before a ping went off from her holopad that was laying atop the armrest of her chair. With a glance in the device’s direction, Citrine lifted a brow of intrigue, before looking back at Olivine through the video call, “The ship has its own shields, correct?” she asked.

Olivine adjusted her optics before answering the commander, “Unfortunately, with the amount of power the ship needs to split a planet open with, we needed to allocate the resources from the ship having any means of protection, to letting it work at max efficiency to crack a planet in two with little need of a second shot.”

“Hmm…” Citrine mused with a curious look on her face, before frowning a bit, “Well…it’s not like any of our ships have shields of their own….” she spoke with a distasteful frown, before remembering something, and narrowed her eyes at Olivine through the video call, “Wait, when you mean the ship does not have any means of protection…” 

“If what you're gonna ask is if the ship has any broadside cannons, or anything else to defend itself, then no.” Olivine answered Citrine with an apologetic look, “Ship project ch1531, was designed solely to be a planet cracker, nothing more, nothing less.” she informed Citrine in an informative tone.

Citrine withheld herself from letting out an annoyed tone, and simply let her facial expression show that she was a bit miffed, before sighing, “So I need to divert a few ships to safeguard the planet cracker, I suppose I can manage with the amount I have.” the commander commented with a hapless shrug.

“Excellent!” Olivine said as she placed down her device she had in her hands to clap her hands together once, before giving Citrine a respectful salute, “I'll send word to the captain of the ship to begin her lift off, she should be up with you in a few minutes!” She informed Citrine, before her call with the commander ended, leaving just the Peridot and Citrine left in the video call.

With a glance from Citrine, she directed her attention at the peridot as the green gem stood at attention for the commander, “Will that be all ma’am, for this call?” she asked respectfully.

“That will be all.” Citrine answered back with an even tone, before the peridot gem ended the call with the commander.

Turning back to walk to her seat, Citrine frowned to see Spinel once again having plopped herself into it, but this time the court jester was on it upside down, dangling her stretched legs over the back rest; Spinel was stretching her fingers to make shapes and figures with her digits, sticking her tongue out a bit as she tried making objects out of her twisted stretched fingers.

“Hey, Citrine, watch this!” Spinel excitedly announced as stayed in her position while turning her hands into an imitation of a machine that dangled a ball of stretched fingers, “~I present to you, the wrecking machine!~” she boisterously announced with a giggle.

“Is there any reason…you keep sitting in my chair?” Citrine asked with a bit of annoyed look, while walking towards her seat at a relaxed pace.

Spinel giggled with a brimming smile, “Pink always let me sit in her chair, while she played with her Pearl on her ship” She tried to reason, before stretched her neck to let her look at the approaching Citrine Commander rightside up, “Hey look, I made the ~injector~!” she announced proudly, while making her stretched fingers imitate the looks of a gem injector and held her hands up to present the little art she created with her stretched fingers.

Citrine stood before her chair as Spinel relaxed herself in it while showing the commander her little show of making figures with her stretchable fingers, “hmm.” the commander hummed in thought, before walking away from Spinel towards the Nephrite navigators, “Get yourself a light and shine it against a wall. Bet you’d make quite the shadow puppet show.” she remarked with a nonchalant comment, while earning a surprised gasp of excitement from Spinel.

Making herself fall off from the chair, Spinel let her fingers untangle from each other and picked herself up from the floor to bounce after the commander with an excited grin, “I’ve never heard of that! What are shadow puppets?!” she asked with a wide eyed look.

Giving the galactic map that the Nephrites were projected out from one of the holoprojectors, Citrine stared up at map before speaking with Spinel as she split her attention between to two, her eyes trailing from highlight part of the map they were in, to the solar system that was attacked by organics. “It’s where you make objects with your fingers in front of a light source, and the end result are plain and simple shadow objects. Of course, it works best when you’re in a dark room, with one sole light source to make the shadow puppets.” Citrine explained, while Spinel had an intensive look on her face.

“Show me!” Spinel asked in giddiness, clenching her fists in excitement, while bouncing at her knees, “showmeshowmeshowme!” She excitedly strung her words together in a rush of eagerness as she looked up at Citrine with a wide eyed look.

With a passive glance Spinel’s way, Citrine shrugged with her hands on her hips, “I’ll show you when I have the time.” she spoke back with a sharp tone, earning a sad and annoyed look from Spinel.

“Awe, come on!” Spinel whined and threw herself to the floor, “You can’t just leave me dangling there on a fun idea!” she begged, and kicked and punched at the air in frustration.

Citrine, feeling her eye twitch at Spinel’s consistent childish acts, sighed before turning to face her while the crewmembers of the bridge would give the interaction between the two a glance every now and then. “Keep that up, and I won’t” she threatened, a tactic she was familiar with how parents would do to make their kids behave, and a kid was how Spinel was acting.

Spinel slackened her arms and legs, and pouted with an annoyed look, “Booo.” she said while cupping her mouth to echo her voice out into the air.

Citrine lifted her brow while holding her hand up and lit sparks up between her fingers, “I’m sorry, let me rephrase myself, behave, or you’ll find yourself poofed and bubbled for the remaining trip.” she threatened with a dark look.

Spinel quickly stood up and melodramatically posed with her hand against her forehead while palming her chest, “~You wouldn’t dare, poof the wondrous Spinel!~” she declared, and clasped her hands while giving Citrine a puppy dog eyed look, and pointed her index fingers into her check while giving a pouting look, “Just look at this face, Ain’t I just a ball of fun!?~” she smiled cheekily.

Elsewhere on the ship within the hallway that led towards the bridge, Lapis and Orange Pearl were walking in tandem, with two other Lapis Lazuli’s chatting in excitement behind them as they all headed to the bridge.

Orange Pearl and Lapis were given the order from Citrine to receive the Lapis Lazulis Blue diamond was giving back to her to borrow before they took off, of whom were very excited to be on the same ship of the famous Lapis Lazuli that Commander Citrine had employed under her command.

Lapis facate m3 cut 4n, a Lapis Lazuli whose prominent features was her gem on her left shoulder, a medium hairstyle that styled in a short, and curly bob with flat bangs. 

Lapis facate n1 cut c3, said gem had notable freckles on her face, short dark blue hair that was tied back into a ponytail, and the placement of her gem was located at her navel area.

Both Lapis Lazulis couldn’t help but turn their heads around to look at the interior of the ship as they traveled behind the famous Lazuli. “I gotta hand it to that Citrine commander, I feel jealous she gets to have such a huge ship!” The lapis with freckles excitedly remarked as she traveled beside her sister lapis gem.

“Hm.” Lapis m3 looked around with a bored look, “It’s pretty standard when you look at it really, our own ship our diamond gave us, may have been small, but at least it afforded us a better looking interior decor.” she commented snidely while smirking with her arms crossed.

Lapis n1, brushed off the other lapis’s comment with an amused eye roll as she walked beside her, “You’re just saying that cause you always enjoy your own space.” she remarked back.

Lapis herself glanced back at the chatty lapis’s, and smirked back a bit, “Maybe you should tell the commander that yourself. Maybe get your own ship back instead.” she challenged with a smug look.

“What!? No!” Lapis n1 answered with a surprised look, before rushing up to walk beside the older Lazuli gem, “I still wanna learn how you do that one move where you turn water into those projectile things!” she begged while giving Lapis an excited smile.

“What? You mean water bullets?” Lapis asked back at Lapis n1, who nodded back furiously while Lapis m3 suddenly rushed over as well as her attention was on the subject of new hydrokinesis moves.

“Yeah!” Lapis m3 answered excitedly for her sister gem Lapis n1, as she walked on the other side of Lapis, opposite of Lapis n1. “The only thing you showed us last time was that buzz saw move!” she gushed in awe and an expressive look on her face, a stark contrast to her previous snarky attitude.

With a bit of an annoyed look from Lapis herself as she kept walking while Orange Pearl who was off to the side with a bit of an amused look, Lapis spoke with a flat look and disinterested tone, “Look, they’re just moves I learn from Citrine.” she rolled her eyes at the confused looks from the other Lapis gems.

With a nonchalant wave of her hand through the air, Lapis continued to talk, “She simply supplied the idea that the versatility of what I can do with water is more than I can imagine, outside of terraforming, and I gave the thought a chance. Turns out, water is more than a tool to cut with…” she rolled her eyes and spun her finger through the air, “Woopee, there. That’s that gist.” she informed the lapis gems.

The reaction from Lapis n1 was a confused one while Lapis m3 rolled her eyes at the explanation, “Lame.” she remarked, before speaking more as the four of them all reached the doorway to the bridge, “You just don’t wanna be outdone if you give up your secrets.” She blamed Lapis.

“Nah.” Lapis smirked back at the snarky lapis, as they all stepped into the bridge, “All it takes is a little imagination, and some years of experience in the battlefield, and you're good.” she explained in an amused way that the Lapis gem couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that it didn’t take that much to think outside the box.

There was also the fact that she was more powerful than most Lapis Lazulis, was that she had to harness everything within herself to will everything into focus. It took an enormous amount of focus to the more devastating attacks she was notorious for under Citrine’s commander, and the one time she went all out, a hole was punctured through a moon.

She doesn’t like to talk about using an entire planet’s water to puncture a moon full of rebels, she isn’t very proud of losing her temper and patience

“Just look at this face, Ain’t I just a ball of fun!?~” Spinel’s voice cut Lapis’s thought process as the four gems let themselves into the bridge. The pink gem was doing some silly attempt at looking cute and posing before Citrine, while the commander herself was looking down at her on the verge of frustration.

“Spinel!” Orange Pearl chided out as she stormed over to said gem, who twisted herself at her waist to look at pearl and blow a raspberry at her, “Can you not go one minute without bothering the commander in such a manner!?” she admonished SPinel, who giggled and launched herself at PEarl, tackling the gem to the floor with a wide smirk, “Tag, your it!” she shouted into pearl’s face, before zooming off out of the bridge.

Citrine, who was in the midst of pinching the bridge of her nose, pointed off where Spinel dashed off to, “Pearl.” she said, looking over at the gem in question, “Go play with her, I need this bridge free of her for at least a few hours.” she exhaustively ordered.

With an understanding small smile, Orange Pearl saluted her Citrine, “I’ll do what I can, my citrine.” she said, before making a quick dash after the Pink gem, whose laughter echoed from the hallways.

Once the Bridge doors shut, leaving the bridge with some quiet for once, the commander turned to face Lapis with her fellow gems that were adamant in following her around; Lapis walked over first to converse with Citrine with an amused look on her face, “I still don’t get why you let her stay on your ship, or retinue of gem staff, she’s a court jester at the best of times, and a distraction at the worst of times.” she conversed with Citrine as she stood across from her.

Citrine eyed Lapis with a certain look, “She’s the only court jester in existence, and it does not help matters when she has been Pink Diamond close playmate for as long as who knows.” The commander corrected Lapis with a knowing look, “She can give a better character description of Pink diamond than most gems of the pink court. She would know who Pink Diamond really was behind closed doors, and what really happened back then, before the debacle on Pink Diamond’s colony.” The commander explained.

“Huh….” Lapis mused with a thoughtful look, and tilted her head a bit in contemplation, “I…never looked at thought about it that way…” Lapis remarked while cupping her chin, realizing the veracity of Citrine’s words, “That is of course, if you can get past her immature attitude, and attention span for one minute.” she said, giving a sly look at Citrine’s annoyed face after she stated the problems with Spinel’s character.

“I will say though.” Citrine began saying as she thought back at the memory of how well Spinel fought against those yooperlites, the commander looked to the side with a narrow eyed look, “Spinel’s body is suited quite well for battle, I would like to use that sort of advantage she has.” she remarked, alluding to how well the pink gem was able to fight on such a level.

“Well…” Lapis spoke back, giving the commander a curious look, “I mean, didn’t Yellow Diamond say anything about Spinel?” she asked Citrine.

Looking back at Lapis, Citrine shrugged back at her, “She said Spinel was created as a Diamond rated playmate, I was assuming she meant to withstand roughhouse playing, I didn’t think she meant on this sort of scale Spinel showed on our descent beneath the surface of homeworld.” she surmised.

With her attention taken off from Lapis for the moment, Citrine directed her attention over at the other two lapis lazulis, “The topic of a pink gem aside, have you two gotten acquainted with the ship?” she asked the other lazuli gems.

Lapis n1 stepped forward first while waving her hand in the air excitedly, “ooh ooh, before that, there’s something I got to know, ma’am, with respect of course!” she bashfully asked urgently from Citrine.

“Yeah!” Lapis stepped up beside her sister Lapis gem with a curious look on her face, before both Lazuli gems glanced in Lapis’s direction, who began to feel uncomfortable at the moment.

“I…don’t see a problem with that…” Commander Citrine answered back with an expectant look and raised brow, “I suppose I can answer a question first.” 

Lapis excitedly clenched up her fists and smiled towards Citrine, “Are the rumors true about your lapis, that she blew a hole through a moon with water!?” She asked in excitement.

“Oh come on!” Lapis angrily exclaimed in exasperation, she threw her hands up in defeat, “It was one time, one time, and nobody won’t stop talking about it!” she slapped her face in embarrassment.

Author’s note; For anyone wandering, the two Lapis gems are the ones from Steven Universe Future.

Chapter Text

Planet Cadmium 5 of Solar System Aureolin 2

Above the gem colony world that was in progress of being hollowed out for its resources and turned into an appropriate colony of the Diamond Empire, of which said planet had been terraformed appropriately before it was left bereft of its oceans, an ongoing space battle was taking place between what made up the planet's meager defense force of ships and the attacking ships of the organics.

Already there were ships belonging to both the Gem empire and the enemy ships presently floating adrift in space from being battered in the contested battle above the colony, and currently one war hand ship remained with its remaining flotilla of ships fighting off aquatic looking space ships that outnumber them three to one; something that had been playing out the whole defense campaign for the gem commanders that defended the solar system against the numberous alien ships.

Within the remaining Yellow War hand ship, A Hessonite clenched her fists in aggravation as she had to watch her entire defense force get outnumbered and taken out. In her defense that no one could fault her for, no self respecting gem admiral, general, commander, nor a captain expected an attack that did not involve the enemy being some rebel gems.

They were so accustomed to fighting themselves, they didn't take into account that other lifeforms would advance enough to give them trouble before they wiped them out before they became a problem; sure there were planets with savage organics that would disrupt the process of colonizing a planet, but never did Hessonite imagine herself in the midst of commanding a defense against a space faring organic race.

How did Hessonite know she was fighting organics? The blasted things were able to somehow hail their comms and speak to them and talk in some gibberish that none of them could make heads or tails of, before the feed was cut prior to the attack on their solar system.

The Hessonite gem let out an aggravated sound, before pointing forward for her Nephrites to take heed, "Full throttle, I want this ship to punch its way into that center-most ship, have the rest of our ships follow and take as many as they can! I will not have those organisms land one single ship of theirs on the planet!" she roared in anger.

Doing as she was told to do without hesitation, The helmsman Nephrite, began working her console to initiate the ship for its ramming, before suddenly a blaring warning siren, signaling on one of the Nephrite radars that reinforcements were arriving for the enemy ships. "Oh Dear!" The helmsman Nephrite remarked in worry.

One of the Nephrites from the comms station, turned to speak with her Hessinate with a troubled look, "My Hessonite, Cadmium one through three have gone silent, four just sent out their distress signal!"

"Raagh!" Hessonite roared in anger as she reached up and grabbed at her hair strands, "I've submitted countless reports that our outer rim planets needed more ships and defenses! Curses!" She screamed while pacing in worry.

"The main ship is charging up its broadside cannons!" Shouted one of the Nephrites as the ongoing space battle between the ships continued on while the Hessonite Gem struggled to figure out a plan with the odds stacked against her.

Hessonite quickly rounded on herself and stood to try and grab the reins of the situation, "Evasive maneuvers now, get us out of the way!" the commanding gem ordered with a thrust of her index finger out at the Helmsman Nephrite.

Said Nephrite began making quick adjustments into the ship's systems, before executing the command, prompting the ship to make quick movements through space. From the view of the bridge's monitors that showed what it looked like outside, the ship itself moved upwards quickly before a beam of plasma fire from the enemy's main ship narrowly missed the hand ship from the underside.

"Incoming ships!" Shouted another Nephrite, and on cue, more aquatic looking space ships exited from their warp speed that looked entirely different to theirs, as the ships exited out from white holes before said holes closed back up after the ships exited from their warp speed method. "Ma'am!" shouted a nephrite in worry, as they were now overwhelmed in numbers.

Hessonite clenched her fists at her sides while gritting her teeth in anger, "I will not go down like this! I refuse!" She snarled out.

"Ma'am!" Shouted in surprise by one of her Nephrite navigators, the gem's single eye looked over to her Hessonite with relief on her face, "Incoming streams of data, we are about to receive back up in three seconds!" she hollered.

"Oh sweet merciful Moon goddess." Hessonite remarked as she collapsed to her knees in relief, just as the enemy ships began charging their cannons directed at her ship.

Before the enemy ships could fully charge up their plasma cannons, from out their warp speed, an armada of Ships exited while initiating a counter offensive on the aquatic enemy ships.

Citrine

With the vanguard ships expected to exit from out their warps speed first, Citrine was left waiting, as were the rest of the Nephrites on the bridge, for her first skirmish against an organic space faring race; granted, after this, Citrine would only assume later on that Yellow Diamond would pragmatically believe it was best to just wipe out all organic life in the galaxy.

Well, they already were with how the empire went about colonizing planets, but with this latest stint involving an organic race that already initiated contact by attacking them first, Citrine could only safely bet that Yellow Diamond's doctrine against organic life would take on a more hostile approach. Much like how rising civilizations of humanity would often wipe others out due to many factors in play, the gem empire was not exempt from the rule to wipe out contesting species and or races.

One of her Nephrites spoke aloud as her ship made its way through warp speed, "Prepare for contact." The Nephrite spoke aloud to the crew of the bridge and the rest of the ship through the intercoms she operated. "In Three." Citrine, with her arms crossed while standing off from her chair, clenched her fists. "Two." Citrine's eyes tightened in focus.

"One." Nephrite finished, just before Citrine's ship exited from its warp speed, giving everyone a view of the opposing enemy forces in mid fight against the vanguard ships that sped ahead.

Citrine reached out with her hand, "Get us over those ships." she pointed to a cluster of large ships being swarmed by the vanguard shops, "I want the finger lasers up and running now!" Citrine ordered quickly.

"Commencing as ordered!" The Nephrite helmsman hollered back as she and her fellow nephites worked together in flying the large war hand ship through space while making the fingers move into place from out of its clenched fist pose.

While the rest of her flotilla of ships exited their warp speed to join the fray, Citrine braced herself as she saw incoming ships head towards her own, "If they haven't already, order all quartz soldiers to prepare for any and all boarding attempts, I want all our guns up an ready set to high voltage!" she ordered.

Destablizer energy worked well enough to act as the ship's firing lasers when concentrated into a fine enough point, and it was what Citrine requested for as one of the many improvements over the centuries to her ship.

Watching from her viewpoint of the bridge, Citrine watched as her ship maneuvered through the incoming enemy ships that surrounded the war hand ship within seconds, some of which were taken out by one of the smaller ships captained by her various Emeralds that captained the Sun incinerators.

From one of the nephrites that read the diagnostics of the ship's status, the gem spoke up quickly, "Reports are coming in ma'am, the enemy ships are taking a beating from our destabilizing lasers!"

"Good!" Citrine announced as the ship was steadily making its way to the congregation of enemy ships, it was soon making a hasty move of splitting apart in separate groups. "What is the progress of the finger lasers!? I want them firing post haste before they have a chance to split further apart!" Citrine inquired in a rushed tone.

"Ready to fire!" One of the Nephrites announced that manned the consoles for the separate finger digits.

Citrine swiped her hand through the air, "Fire now in one grand sweep!" she yelled urgently.

The Hessonite captain that had to watch as her defense force be slowly chipped away until there was nothing left but her war hand ship and few sun incinerators, breathed a sigh of relieved as she watched the incoming stream of ships and war hand ships arrive from out their warp speed; a few flying mechanical robonoids flew through space from out of the Orange war hand towards her own, and began flying around making repairs on her ships and the rest of her defense ships.

Hessonite idly noted the robonoids in question were supposed to be replaced within the next century two, with newer models that could carry repairing liquid while sporting a new sleek look compared to the older models that were a bit blocky in appearance.

Having felt the exhaustive emotion of almost losing the colony to the enemy, Hessonite couldn't help but stumbled back and collapsed to her chair, where she watched as the orange war hand ship began flying through space towards the large group of enemy ships while uncurling its fingers.

With gleeful satisfaction that was shared by her Nephrite crew, they were all treated to the sight of the orange war hand ship beaming its finger lasers off at the group of enemy ships that did the best they could in taking evasive maneuvers. In one swat through space as if the hand was swatting an organic bug, the war hand sliced its lasers through the armada of enemy ships, before clenching its fingers back into a fist for recharging.

The enemy ships themselves that were struck by the finger lasers, ended up getting lasered into parts, leaving the organics inside the sliced ships suffering the vacuum of space as bodies were sent flying out from the sliced halves.

Hessonite cursed in the fact that even the famous Citrine Commander's ship had to deal with needing to recharge its ultimate weapon that most war hands have been upgraded to possess, but the gem supposed Citrine was just fortunate enough that their Diamond shoved a lot of her experimental weapons onto the commander.

"Incoming Transmission." Hessonite's nephrite spoke aloud that manned the comms, prompting the gem to look over at the Nephrite while sitting up straight, "It's from Commander Citrine." The Nephrite followed up with,

Standing up to give the commander her respect, Hessonite motioned for her Nephrite to go ahead, "Patch her in, Nephrite." she ordered.

A holoscreen blipped into existence in the middle of the bridge, before the call connected between the ships. From the other end of the call, Command Citrine was in the midst of barking out orders, "Someone tell Hessonite Cabochon 134 to get her ship to vector 8, Hessonite Facate c0m needs back up!" She ordered while her head was turned and arm stretched out, no doubt pointing at her Nephrites in command of the comms, before planting her hands on her hips while giving Hessonite on the other end of the call her full attention.

"Hessonite facate d12 cut 3c7." Commander called out her specific gem identifier, causing Hessonite to salute citrine,

"Ma'am!" Hessonite greeted with gratefulness, "Words cannot describe how lucky we are to have you arrive just now!" she remarked in relief within her voice.

"I'd imagine." commander Ctrine replied back succinctly, before looking off to the side with a stern look, "someone get me Emerald facet 134 cut d32 on the comms, she's going too far into enemy lines!" she barked out, before returning to the conversion with Hessonite. "What is the status of the repairs of your ship?" She inquired in a rushed tone.

Hessonite quickly looked over to one of the holo screens that showed the status of the ship, giving her a percentage and estimated time of full recovery, before looking back at Commander Citrine through the video call, "Give my ship ten minutes, we'll be back in working order!" she hurriedly replied back to the commander.

Citrine nodded once in satisfaction, before looking off elsewhere, "I want Emeralds Xb5 and Yc7 over with Hessonite d12 now, until she can get her ship in working order!" she ordered quickly, earning an 'affirmative' from her Nephrites, before looking back at a grateful Hessonite.

"One quick question!" Hessonite asked quickly, "Are the other planets receiving aid as well? We've already lost-"

"This whole system is receiving aid." Citrine cut her off with a clipped tone, the commander narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "Both Yellow Diamond and Blue diamond sent their armadas to provide defense and offense against the enemy." she declared, before relaxing her eyes back open with an authoritative look, "The counter offensive aims to push back the enemy to their home planet, and crack it open." she declared.

"...Oh my." Hessonite commented at the solution to the organic foe, "I…did not think we had that capability." she remarked, earning a careless shrug from Citrine.

"We do now." Citrine remarked without missing a beat.

Homeworld

Within the head of White Diamond's ship, Pink's former Pearl in all her white appearance by the fault of a White Diamond, delightfully smiled to herself as she held her never present pose that White puppetted through her to do. Pearl giggled to herself before her body made a one eighty to make her direct her attention upwards and look directly at White Diamond herself.

The Diamond herself had her voice echo between the two as she summarized her thoughts between her and the pearl that posed before her in a perfect poise. "Shame on Yellow for not checking on that solar system." White Diamond remarked in an amused tone, before Pearl spoke back up to White Diamond in the same voice.

"Are you sure about that, my Diamond!?" Pearl asked, while looking up at White Diamond with her single eye, smiling all the while in humor, "You did after all know those organics reached the stage of interstellar travel, why, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you let this happen and not tell Yellow!"

White Diamond giggled to herself while clasping her cheek in bemusement to her Pearl as she gazed down at the controlled gem, "Oh yes, I knew, I just figured I let them advance enough, to give myself a challenge for once!" she remarked, before controlling her pearl to float upwards and land atop her palm that she held out in front of her face.

Pearl, as she was being puppeteered, closed her eye and chortled, before squinting it open with a broad smile, "It has been some time since I've interacted with organics, long before Yellow ever came from me!" she gushed in excitement, before letting her eye relax back open to look directly at White's face.

White Diamond palmed her chest as she let out a wistful sigh, "Indeed it has, I've almost forgotten how long it's been, and what's it like." she remarked, and palmed her cheek next as she reminisced to herself.

"Oh!" Pearl said in surprise, as she conversed with White, "You think that little shard of Yellow will fare better than the rest of the gems!? She's quite the formidable commander against rebel gems, but what do you think are her chances against organics!?" she questioned White.

"Hahaha!" White chortled to herself as she retracted her hand from her cheek and held it aloft beside her in the air, "I almost forgot about that, and she just took in all those defects, with nary a trouble!" she mused with an amused smile, "That is indeed a good question, but I highly doubt she'd have trouble, they are organics afterall!" she commented back to Pearl.

Pearl, closing her eye and laughing bashfully, "Oh my, you are right. And Yellow did after all get her nice little project off from her planet, a nice little gift I suppose I gave her in the chance to use it!" Pearl said in delight, then opened her eye wide with a mischievous glint, "Pink is surely missing out!" Pearl remarked, before rolling her eye in fondness, and directed it back to look directly at White's face "But I suppose she's still having her little tantrum on that colony of her's. She really should stop the act, and just return, she surely wasn't fooling me."

White laughed a bit, before speaking, "She sure threw Yellow and Blue for the loop, but she should have known she didn't throw me for a loop, she is me afterall." she sighed in bemusement.

"Say!" Pearl remarked in a wide expressive look, "How long do you think it'll take until the ruse is up for her, it's only a matter of time until that little shard delves more further, she's certainly come up with many ideas, but she's so close and yet so far away, literally and figuratively! Hohohoh." Pearl moved her arm to cover her move as she laughed, before returning it back to its pose.

White smiled back fondly down at the pearl gem, "Give it a few centuries, perhaps after the little shard gives Yellow the evidence, she'll probably get Yellow's permission to search the planet."

"OH dear!" Pearl playfully made a mocking gesture by clasping her cheeks, "But we hit Pink's planet with corruption, something Yellow and Blue believed was a blast that was supposed to destroy all gems!"

White diamond laughed again to herself and smiled down at Pearl, "Those Diamonds of myself, so young and naive, Pink had it worst. At least I know she survived the blast" She remarked.

"Ahahah! Yes, these past centuries have been quite eventful if I do say so myself!

"Ahahah! Yes, these past centuries have been quite eventful if I do say so myself!"

Both White and Pearl spoke at the same time as the pearl in White's hand turned a one eighty while getting back into her prior pose, both stared off into the eye windows of her head. "I do wonder though…" White spoke alone to herself while the pearl gem remained silent, "Why my Sapphires can't seem to get a better grasp on the future like they did before Pink's silly little tantrum." she reminisced with a frown for once.

Gracing herself once more with a smile as she peered off into her eye window where she could see the night sky of homeworld, White Diamond spoke with an excited tone, "No matter, it just means the future will have better surprises for me! Ehahahaha!" White Diamond's laughter echoed off throughout her head and ship.

Chapter Text

Planet Cadmium 5 of Solar System Aureolin 2

Citrine

As fast as the commander could dish out orders to the crew members of her bridge to delegate the maneuvers and actions of her ship, Citrine also watched the monitors that showed the outside of her war hand ship the ongoing space battle between her armada and the remaining forces of the enemy. 

It was good that she had Pearl off entertaining Spinel away from the bridge, as she wanted to focus her attention of commanding the theater of war above the nearby planet of her Diamond’s colony; the sapphires and the two pearls were elsewhere, so all that left was just her and the bridge crew.

Standing in the midst of the entire bridge, Citrine’s eyes narrowed at one of the monitors that showed one of her ships explode from the inside out. “Nephrite x09.” she ordered, earning the attention of said gem with a turn of her head and single eye focused on her commander, “Zoom in on our ship that just exploded.” she commanded quickly.

While in no way shape or form did Citrine expect the counter attack operation to go off without a hitch, something seemed off the way the ship of her armada exploded…in the depths of space.

“Right away ma’am!” the Nephrite answered, before doing just that with one of the monitors.

Citrine’s eyes narrowed more at the monitor, before widened in confusion as she saw tons of water among the remnants of the ship that had bursted open, “I don’t recall any of our ships carrying water!” she remarked in confusion.

“We didn’t, my Citrine.” The helmsman Nephrite remarked back to her commander as she stood and held a manifest holopad with her, her eye looked down at the device in her hand, “And none save this ship hold any Lapis Lazulis.” she followed up with adding as she looked back up at her commander.

“Incoming enemy ships!” One of the other Nephrites shouted among the gems the manned the radar.

Citrine cursed her present situation, off course the enemy would target her ship, it was afterall the biggest war hand among her armada, it was a glaring point of interest for any enemy to assume it was the leading dreadnought of the armada; With a swipe of her hand through the air, Citrine began issuing out orders. “Get our war hand guns manned, I want those ships gone before they even make it to this ship!” she ordered harshly with a glare.

Whatever happened to the ship that exploded outwards with water from the inside out, the tactic was very esoteric in her book; After Citrine thought on it a bit, she brought her holopad out to communicate with Lapis.

After thumbing the device to contact Lapis, it was soon picked up with the video image of the gem herself on the other end of the call, “Hey-” Lapis began to greet Citrine with a curious look, only to be interrupted by the commander in an urgent tone.

“I need you up at the bridge now!” Citrine commanded while pacing around, “We have a situation, and I need you and your abilities!” she requested.

“Oh!” Lapis remarked back quickly, while looking aside in thought, “Does it have to do with that weird feeling I’ve been getting? It feels like someone brought water up into space.” she commented.

Citrine continued to pace, and frown, “Yes, well, the enemy has something involving water, just get up here now!” she ordered. 

Lapis nodded, before making a troubled look, “Uh…and now we got water incoming our way as well…? What the ... .it's coming towards the bridge!” she remarked, before cutting the call off, signifying to Citrine that the Lapis Lazuli had put the call away to focus on getting to the bridge.

“What!?” Citrine squawked in disbelief, and rounded on her crew with a snarl, “What’s going on, why aren’t our guns intercepting those incoming ships!” she ordered from her Nephrite crew.

“Ma’am.” The comms Nephrite began to answer as she looked over at her commander from her seat, she fixed her eye on Citrine with a troubled look, “Our gunners are doing the best they can, but the ships are putting themselves  in the line of fire for an looking ship.” she relayed

“Odd looking ship?” Citrine inquired back, before stumbling forward as she and the rest of the crew felt something impact the war hand ship, before something crashed just outside the doors of the bridge.

Citrine snarled with gritted teeth, before marching off to the doors with her hand alit with yellow sparks, “I will not have this ship go down that easily!” she told herself, while the Nephrites looked on in worry as their commander stormed towards the doors.

???

Within the chaotic mess of the war hands from the Diamond Empire, and the invading aquatic enemy ships that swarmed the former with varying ship sizes, one such aquatic looking ship was built like a spiral egg that propelled itself through space toward the largest war hand ship among the bunch of other war hands; several other ships flew with the odd looking aquatic looking ship in safeguarding its trip towards the largest ship.

Already the aquatic enemy ships were being repelled by yellow lightning lasers that shot out from the orange hand ship as the group of ships transported the spiral egg towards the hand; one after one, the ships fell under the fire of the lasers, until eventually the last defending ships took the next laser blast from the hand ship for the spiral egg.

Inside the spiral egg ship as it jettisoned itself forward in a last ditch attempt in ramming itself into the hand, Chusni and his fellow deliverers of the almighty primordial water tightened their webbed hands over the packages they were soon about to deliver into the enemy’s ship. Their blessed water would drench those alien rocks in the primeval water of their planet, and all would be well under the all consuming mind of the Songstress’s water. 

Chusni chattered his jagged teeth to his fellow Dagonians, making a few clattering noises and echoes in their language, which all made affirming nods as their ship finally impacted the enemy’s ship with a hard thud. Chusni screeched a pitched tone, echoed by his brother and sisters of his group, before the spiral egg they arrived in exploded into a burst of water that became a wall of liquid they all stood inside of.

As the Dagonians stood outside from their exploded ship that plastered the hole it punctured through the hand with itself after it penetrated the war hand ship, Chusni’s eyes beheld a large hallway with a doorway nearby while the hallway they were in was still submerged in the viscous water of their planet.

Just as Chusni was about to order his kin to release the packages to unleash unto the ship’s insides, the door nearby open, allowing them to see the sight of one of the rock aliens that wore what looked like they are the leader of the ship; before any of the Dagonians could do anything however, the female looking leader glared at them before lifting her hand up, and released what felt like bolts of energy into the water they were all encapsulated in.

Chusni and his fellow Dagonians screamed in pain as they all felt their nerves get lit up from amps of energy they never felt before; after an agonizing minute, Chusni passed out along with his kin, their nervous systems burnt to a crisp from the lightning sparks that coursed through the water they traveled in through.

Citrine

It was troubling, sure, to know her ship had been successfully boarded by a very bizarre looking egg shaped ship with spirals on it, it was more troubling in the fact the enemy managed to landed into her ship just outside her Bridge; What Citrine did not expect after opening the doors to confront the enemy herself, arrogance be damned, was an entire wall of water-like substance to fill the entire hallway with the enemy inside.

Without bothering to think if it would work or not, Citrine lifted her hand up and lit the water and its occupants inside it up with her destabilizing spark energy; What the commander witnessed next was nothing short of witnessing the fishing looking aliens light up from the destabilization lightning she poured into the war. 

As Citrine ramped up her voltage into the water to dispatch the entire squad of alien organic enemies, the water itself warbled and screamed a high pitch tone, until finally all was silent; Just as the water and the contents inside was about to wash out throughout the ship like a small tidal wave, the alien fluid was forced aside against the wall.

While the strange water was forced up against the water with the aliens and whatever objects they brought with them, Citrine brought her focus down the hallway where Lapis held her hand up while walking her way; the Lapis Lazuli gem gave the aliens a curious and confused look. “I was wondering why I felt a sudden surge of water on my way here.” she remarked in confusion, before looking over at Citrine as she stopped a few steps away from the command while keeping her arm up to keep the strange water and its contents up against the wall.

The commander herself nodded slowly, while she inspected the strange way the ship sealed itself against the wall in some foreign manner; Citrine then focused her attention on the alien organics that had been very lucky and unlucky in breaching directly right outside the bridge of her ship. 

The Organics were bipedal with webbed feet and hands, with very uniform looking outerwear that covered their modesty, if anything, Citrine swore the aliens look remarkably like humans, save for the very fish-like appearance; such differences were the fins where the ears were supposed to be, the opened pained mouths beheld sharp teeth which showed a very strict meat diet.

Citrine narrowed her eyes as she studied the aliens a bit more, it was a shame she was not able to take any prisoners, then again, she doubted the language barrier wouldn’t help much; it was already strange enough that the Diamond Empire’s entire lexicon was humanity’s english save for the written words, she sorely doubted another alien species would share the same fate.

“Citrine?” Lapis said with a curious look on her face, breaking Citrine out of her thinking process, “...sorry, was I interrupting something?” she asked with a confused look as she continued holding the water up against the wall.

The commander shook her head before addressing Lapis, “Tell me, is there anything you can feel about this water?” she asked, while eyeing the water that for some reason had screamed when she jolted it with her powers.

Lapis frowned, before looking at the water in question, “well…it doesn’t feel natural, I can tell that much.” she remarked while she too looked at the water in question, and the aliens within the mess.

Citrine examined the entrance the enemy’s ship made into the hull of her war hand ship, and noted it had plastered some sort of coagulant looking stuff that was able to seal itself into the ship’s hull, while keeping the vacuum of space at bay; it was a rather remarkable feat of ingenuity, but it was entirely pointless for gemkind, as they didn’t really need air to breath..save for talking to one another.

Lapis brought Citrine out of her random thoughts as the gem spoke to the commander with a confused tone, “What the…it’s moving!” She remarked as she brought her other hand up to press the water up against the wall with a more focused attention on the strange dark blue liquid.

Citrine looked at the water in question with a confused look of her own, before glaring at the substance, “Just hold it in place!” She ordered, while drawing up her hands to focus her destabilizing energy at the water.

“I’m trying!” Lapis said with an annoyed scowl as she began pushing against the air with her hands as she willed her powers to control the water from moving anywhere else but in front of them. “It’s like I’m pushing an ocean or something!” she remarked.

As sparks of yellow electricity danced between Citrine’s fingers as she held her hands out and fingers spread apart, she thrusted her arms forward and once again lit the water up with her yellow lightning, causing said water to warble and scream in an unheard of language. “That’s ridiculous!” Citrine yelled back at Lapis as she winced through the high pitched shrieking of the ‘water’.

“What in shattered stars!” One of the two lapis lazuli remarked as the duo rushed over to Lapis, the lapis in question that spoke was N1 while M3 was behind her as they rushed over to Lapis.

“Shut up and help me!” Lapis gritted out as she winced through the high pitched shrieking of the ‘water’.

“Right!” The Lapis Lazuli duo chorused, not needing another reason, as the situation was bizarre yet looked dire with how the water forced Lapis to struggle against controlling it.

As the Lapis Lazuli duo joined ranks with Lapis herself in keeping the water liquid in one spot, Citrine let out an annoyed grunt as she amped up the energy she powered into the water, “Lapis Lazulis.” The commander hollered, earning the attention of said gems, “Control the water to puncture a hole through the hull, this water needs to go now!” she ordered.

All three gems nodded with understanding as they worked as one in maneuvering the water force itself into one spot, while leaving the dead bodies of the aliens to drop to the floor below. Just as the hydrokinesis gems were about to forcefully make the ‘water’ to puncture a hole into the hull to the outside vacuum of space, the liquid compressed itself into the objects the aliens brought with them.

With one mighty explosion from the inside of the water, the objects exploded, tinging the water bright blue before it itself became a torrential wave of explosive water; all four gem were blown back as the water was able to overwhelm the control the Lapis Lazuli gems had over it, drenching the entire hallway and bridge with water, filling each crevice of the ship with water.

From Citrine’s perspective, she saw nothing but rushing water as she found herself in the stuff; with an angered scowl, as she mentally thought how ridiculous it was for water to be somehow alive. With nothing else to lose save for getting poofed, by water of all things that wasn’t controlled by a lapis lazuli, Citrine began to will her entire body to light up with sparks.

Just before she lit the liquid up again that threaten to drown her entire ship in some insane hydro warfare tactic, she swore she heard a pained ‘ Impossible’ before she expelled as much of her yellow lightning from out of her body in all directions; her entire vision was filled with yellow lightning as she heard muffled and warbled scream of pain, before the very water itself exploded into a shower of water droplets.

With a hard impact to the floor below her, Citrine grimaced as she picked herself up from the water floor, her entire being wet from being submerged in the strange liquid. As the commander stood up and shook her head of the water that covered her hair, she assessed her situation, and found herself inside the bridge ... .with everyone poofed…from her destabilizing the water.

“...oh…” Citrine looked around with an embarrassed look on her face, before she scanned the bridge, noting that three Lapis gems were on the floor among the Nephrite and Peridot gems that made up the crew of the bridge.

As the commander stood in the midst of her bridge alone with a wince, as she was now without a crew, she released an annoyed sigh. “Well….what other option did I have?” she groused, while pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation of her situation.

“My Citrine!” Orange Pearl’s voice echoed off from the hallway outside the bridge, prompting the commander Attention as she turned around to look over her shoulder to see her Pearl rushing over to her, with Spinel nowhere to be seen with her; she could worry about the pink gem later, as the current circumstance now needed her attention.

Citrine watched as her pearl rushed into the bridge, and took stock of the situation, “When I felt the ship get hit, I assumed the worse!” she fretted while covering her mouth in a worrying gesture.

The commander looked around while saying, “Well….it would have been the worst…” she remarked with a grousing tone, “But now I am bereft of a bridge crew…due no fault but my own…” she added the last part with an annoyed grunted.

“Oh my….” Pearl remarked while inspecting the wet bridge with puddles of water all around the floor in the bridge, and out in the hallway, “I…Did not notice until now…” 

Citrine lifted a brow at Orange Pearl while looking at her assistant gem over her shoulder, “Tunnel vision I suppose.” she smirked ruefully at the embarrassed look on her pearl’s face, before frowning the next second, “Pearl.” she began to inquire.

“Oh. Yes My citrine!?” Pearl shook her head, and stood at attention for her commander, “What is it?” she asked with a curious look and tone.

Citrine narrowed her eyes at her pearl with a skeptical look, “Are you able to fly this ship?” she asked.

“Huh?” Orange Pearl asked as she looked around the bridge, “Uh…My Citrine…Pearls are not allowed to fly ships.” she answered hesitantly.

The Commander however noted something about the way her Pearl phrased her answer, and turned to fully face her pearl, “But you can, and this is an emergency.” she digressed with a stressed tone.

With a more nervous reaction, Orange Pearl looked hesitant as she looked around the bridge once more, “Um…well…this would count as an emergency….” she answered, before facing her commander while fidgeting her fingers together, “Um…I’ll need at least two helpers…this is a big war hand ship after all.” she fully answered.

Citrine smirked ruefully back, as she shined a victorious smile back, “Well then…it’s good we have two other Pearls on this ship then.” she remarked, earning a sudden look of understanding from orange Pearl.

“Hey.” Spinel suddenly interrupted the moment, as she peeked into the bridge from the doorway, her tone innocent and curious as she looked at the commander and orange pearl, “What happened while I was gone?” she asked while tilted her head in confusion at all the poofed gems on the floor and puddles of water.

Chapter Text

Planet Cadmium 5 of Solar System Aureolin 2

Yellow Sapphire led the way towards the bridge, while her own Pearl and the Cerulean pearl followed behind her; Commander Citrine had made it an urgent matter for her to bring the pearls up and any others aboard the war hand ship to head to the bridge to act as an emergency bridge crew.

It would be discussed of course once the pearls reached the bridge on why the current circumstances dictated the commander to request the aid of pearls on the bridge; sure, most pearls were given the basic knowledge of piloting private ships within their minds, but it was unthinkable that the commander would allow a protocol to take place unless it really was such an emergency.

Whatever happened for her to need pearls to pilot the war ship, must have been very dire, and indeed it was as not just a few minutes earlier, Yellow Sapphire had felt the ship get hit by something; the enemy must have boarded in a manner of reaching the bridge within an allotted time, before they were dispatched for their trespass.

Yellow Sapphire just wished she could have seen it coming, but after leaving homeworld, her sear vision was still a bit foggy given the fact that all three remaining Diamonds stationed themselves on the capital world of the Diamond Empire.

One of the many reasons Diamonds had more than one Sapphire at hand, was that their presence alone could distort the future for any Sapphire to scry from; rumor has it that Blue Diamond only took one sapphire to Pink Diamond’s colony, and was never seen again after the rebellion went on full tilt on the planet.

Yellow Sapphire was still uncertain why the hubris of Blue Diamond required only one Sapphire, when multiple were needed to scry a Diamond’s future. It was very difficult when in the presence of a Diamond, as a Diamond’s future had so many branches, it was hard to discern what path the future held for them.

At present however as Yellow Sapphire walked towards the bridge with a few more Pearls in tow that belonged to a few Hessonites aboard the ship, she couldn’t help but try and scry the future ahead; the fog was still there but less hazy, the problem however was the closer she approached the bridge, the fog was stronger.

And that troubled Yellow Sapphire’s mind of what exactly Commander Citrine was. No other gem besides a Diamond had the ability to fog up the future for a Sapphire’s ability, and the very next thought Sapphire ran through her mind held quite the implicitation of what exactly her Diamond did to create her quartz commander.

Afterall, among the Diamonds, her Yellow Diamond was notably more…scientific, would be the word she chose. Of course however, that did not mean she did all the scientific work of her Diamond Military Branch, as she did leave a lot of the work to her Peridots and Olivine gems, but she did run quite a few of her own side projects beside her duty as a Diamond.

While Yellow Sapphire continued to walk with the sight of the bridge entrance in sight, she continued to dwell on her thoughts; the more she tried to scry through the future to see what welcomed the commander, she was supposed to aid commander Citrine after all in this manner, the less fog she had to work with with her scrying of the future.

Usually she had to use the assistance of her fellow Sapphire when her Yellow Diamond required a bit of their foresight, but with her present situation, she only needed a bit of effort, which led the sapphire to a different take on what she assumed was Commander Citrine’s gem design.

Surely her Yellow Diamond did something, but as her Sapphire, she wasn’t to question her own Diamond of what she did. 

The only problem however, was that each fog of every Diamond had, had a different hue of color, and it was not really hard to tell who’s was who’s.

The present fog that still persisted over Yellow Sapphire’s scrying mind, had some tangible yellow in it, with prominent orange in it; if anything, Yellow Sapphire saw the somewhat dense fog she had to scry through to look like a heated gas cloud…perhaps a fog of war?...

As Yellow Sapphire finally approached the doorway of the bridge, she waited for her Pearl to step forward and open the door for her and the other pearls behind her. Whether the commander knew about herself or not, she knew one thing for certain. 

The various factions of the upper elite gems would no doubt start a hissy fit over what Citrine really was.

A shard of her Diamond.

And the troubling part is, Commander Citrine was still a Citrine Quartz as her gem on her chest showed, but contained a very small fraction of whatever her Yellow Diamond used a part of her gem to grow Citrine in a rich citrine ore deposit; that meant trouble in the future once the rest of gem society found out that Citrine was not a perfect gem, and it was not a question of if, but when.

Yellow sapphire knew many other sapphires that were very strident in holding up the social order of gem society, very strict adherents as one might say; she of course was not among those sapphires, as she cared very little for the old ways. Her other fellow Yellow Sapphires may think differently however.

Which is why now, Yellow Sapphire was debating on whether she should tell the commander of what she really was; the commander after all, was a very loyal commander to their Yellow Diamond, and as such, she deserved to be warned ahead of time.

Once the doors finally opened, Yellow Sapphire and the Pearls she brought with her, were treated to the sight of a very empty bridge save for the commander herself and her Orange Pearl; the pearl servant in question was currently manning the navigation controls, quickly working it all with how big the ship they were on is. 

Yellow Sapphire immediately went to work as she ordered her Pearl into action, “Pearl, go assist Commander Citrine’s.” she ordered briskly while walking, earning the attention of the commander herself.

“Yes Ma’am.” her Pearl answered, before rushing off to aid the commander’s Pearl in steering the war hand ship easier.

The commander, who was in the midst of speaking into her comms prior to Yellow Sapphire’s entrance onto the bridge, stood up to greet her before fishing out orders for the pearls to take up the various stations until the Nephrites reformed.

Once Commander Citrine finished giving out orders, Yellow Sapphire calmly walked up to the commander, who in question now stood over at the center of the bridge as she kept watch on all the pearls on emergency active duty.

“Ehem.” Yellow Sapphire softly spoke as she stood beside the commander, she had to crane her head to look up at the Citrine Commander as she spoke; the commander herself took attention to Yellow Sapphire’s voice as she looked back down at the Sapphire with a curious but calculative gaze, “I have some matters to speak with you about, but I would suggest we speak of them of a later date.” she calmly noted. “In private of course.” Yellow Sapphire followed up with.

Commander Citrine nodded gently, “I can arrange that.” she answered with a sharp tone, “but for now, are you able to discern anything of the future for this campaign?” she inquired with her eyes narrowed at Yellow Sapphire.

The Sapphire herself wanted to purse her lip and bite over one, but such an action was unbecoming of a Sapphire, so she instead folded her arms behind her back, and nervously twiddled her thumbs from out of view of the commander, “I’m…afraid…give me a minute!” She rushed to say at the end after seeing the impatient look on the commander's face.

Unfolding her arms from her back, Yellow Sapphire clasped her hands and gripped them together in front of her as she tried to scry past the fog that the commander seemed to permeate, “...I…believe…” Yellow Sapphire paused in her words as her single eye darted side to side as she forced her ability to work into overtime.

It was easier to do than when she was around her Yellow Diamond then in proximity to the commander, “There…is…a variable of success within this campaign…” she said, while seeing some trials ahead for the commander, “But…” It was then Yellow Sapphire’s eye widened when she saw what the Commander would be doing to the home planet of the organics…that would later… “Oh my…on oh no…” Yellow Sapphire remarked in a shocked revelation after managing to scry past the thin fog of commander Citrine’s future.

Yellow Sapphire ceased her scrying as the commander placed her hand on her shoulder, Citrine herself had to bend at her knees to look into the face of the small Sapphire gem, “What is it? Will there be a major failure in the campaign!?” she asked urgently.

Sapphire in turn, ceased making her eye dart all around, and reached up to lift her hair away from her eye to look directly up at Commander Citrine’s face, “Commander Citrine, it’s not failure, but what will greet you upon cracking the homeworld of the organics!” she warned.

Citrine however frowned and glared at Sapphire, “Well it’s not like I can heed that warning!” she remarked, “I am under orders to have that planet cracked open.” she said with an annoyed tone, before standing back up while continuing to converse with the Sapphire.

Their conversation earned a bit of attention from the Pearls, but Yellow Sapphire cared not for what bystanders heard what she had to say next. “Commander Citrine, I don’t know why, but when I scryed the future, I saw an immense tidal wave of liquid emerge from the cracked planet.”

Commander Citrine looked on in confusion, before glancing to the side in thought as she tried to discern what Yellow Sapphire told her, “...that…” she spoke once, before pacing off to dwell on what Sapphire told her.

  Yellow Sapphire followed after the commander as she desperately tried to make more sense of the future vision she saw, “Commander Citrine, what is worse, is that I can not see any further than that!” she added.

Citrine herself continued to pace around as she dwelled on what the sapphire told her, “Magenta pearl.” she called out, as she halted in her steps. Said Pearl was one of the pearls working the galactic map single handedly.

While Yellow Sapphire waited to see what the commander was doing, the magenta pearl looked up from her emergency station and stood up at attention for the Commander, “Ma’am!” she spoke back, waiting for the commander to continue speaking.

The commander walked over and approached the pearl as she eyed the galactic map hovering above its holo-table, “I want you to bring up the data of the organics homeworld.” she instructed.

Yellow Sapphire in the meanwhile, noticed from the corner of her eye of Commander Citrine’s pearl, as the pearl herself was giving the magenta pearl a dirty look. The commander must take very good care of her own pearl if said pearl was showing that sort of jealousy, but Sapphire chose not to say anything, as it was a common factor for pearls to be very loyal at first to their owners.

Of course, there were owners that mistreated their pearls, which was more common than one thought…and the rare few pearls often enjoyed the mistreatment; Yellow Sapphire had erred to not question what was going on in the minds of the rare pearls that enjoyed the mistreatment, perhaps it's the coding of the pearls that did that to them…or perhaps it’s something altogether different.

“Oh, right away ma’am!” The Magenta pearl responded, as she went to work in pulling up the data requested, “hm…it looks like I can only bring up records from ten thousand years ago….” the magenta pearl remarked with a confused face.

Yellow Sapphire’s attention was now on the pearl in question while Commander Citrine looked directly over at Magenta Pearl, Citrine herself expressed a confused look as well, before making an annoyed face next, “Figures.” she remarked, before gesturing for the pearl to continue, “Bring up the planet and its solar system.” she ordered.

As the magenta pearl did her work, Commander Citrine walked over to the table that now projected the solar system that the organics came from; the commander herself walked over to point directly up at the blue planet with sparse green lands, “Zoom in on that planet.” she instructed.

The magenta pearl did as instructed, and keyed in a few commands into the table’s console, before the map zoomed in on the planet in question, showing a planet and two moons orbiting it.

Yellow Sapphire walked over to stand next to the table to see where the commander was going with this, as she stared up at the hologram of the organic’s homeworld. 

The commander in the meanwhile glanced at the moons, and pointed up at them, “Unlike the last time, we don’t have the gravity repulsor ship, so we can’t make one of the moons drop onto the planet itself…” she said with a calculating gaze.

Yellow Sapphire blinked her eye at the insinuation that the commander dropped a moon at all on a planet, “e-e-escuse me?!” she asked, quickly looking up at the commander with a surprised facial expression, before correcting herself, “I mean, apologies, but with all due respect ma’am, I thought the rumor of you dropping a moon on a rebellious planet was just propaganda!?” she asked somewhat.

The commander looked back down at the Sapphire with an indecipherable gaze, before answering plainly, “Well, it wasn’t exactly a moon, per say, but a planetary asteroid that was in the orbit of the planet I had dropped it on.” she answered with a frank tone, before looking back at the hologram of the planet and its moons. I was just fortunate enough that the ‘moon’ was small enough for the gravity weapon to work on it, otherwise it would have been pointless to try.” she remarked.

Yellow Sapphire nodded at that, before making a confused look back up at the Commander, “If that’s so, then what are you planning with this planet’s moons?” she asked while gesturing at the hologram image in question.

Citrine simply smiled smoothly as she looked at the image as well, “Split one of them in half, and use the ship to throw it into the planet, thereby causing a cataclysmic event on the planet itself.” the commander answered, then looked down at the Sapphire, “Now tell me, does that vision of yours involve any of that troubling vision you saw of something coming out of the cracked planet?” she asked.

Yellow Sapphire clasped her hands as she attempted to scry the future, “Give me a second…hold on…” she said while her eye began to dart in all directions, hidden beneath her bangs. As Sapphire fought through the fog to scry the future for the commander, she pursed her lips as she discerned a few possible futures. “The…unknown liquid…it seems no matter what you do, it’ll still attempt to retaliate.”

“I see…” Citrine remarked as she stewed over the words of Yellow Sapphire, before looking at the present puddles that still existed on the floor. “Does…does the liquid look anything like these puddles?” she asked.

Sapphire ceased her scrying, and looked over and around to take notice of the puddles of water, “....Commander, you should remove this water at once…those are not simple puddles…” she said in wariness as she backed away from one of the puddles that was too close to her.

Commander Citrine frowned in response to Yellow Sapphire’s warning, and eyed the puddles in question, “Let me guess, the water becomes active again?” she asked.

Yellow Sapphire nodded in response, while looking around the entire bridge, “There is also a future where these liquid puddles cease to be dormant.” she continued to warn the commander.

Citrine on the other hand expressed an annoyed look as she glanced in the direction of her chair where a trio of Lapis Lazuli gems were situated atop. “Lapis did say she felt that the water didn’t feel right…” she remarked, before looking back down at Yellow Sapphire, “Do you have the allotted time until these puddles start doing something?” she asked, while earning the cautious looks of the pearls as they all stared at the puddles in question with trepidation.

“About….” Yellow Sapphire began to say as she looked down as she tried to look past all the fog of the future, and did her best to discern the time allotted. She was not sure what made up the liquid water, the entire situation was unheard of involving any of this sort of mess, “...I’d say we have enough time, your Lapis Lazuli should reform before the puddles begin moving.” she answered.

“I see…” Citrine commented back as she looked at the surrounding puddles of liquid, before looking back at the hologram of the organic’s homeworld, “Perhaps then, I’ll just resort to cracking the planet open.” she remarked, earning a surprised look from Yellow Sapphire.

“What?” Sapphire said in surprise, “But-” she began to say more, only to be cut off by the commander as Citrine held up her hand, and began to emit a small static ball within her palms.

“I already know one weakness of this stuff.” the Commander said while ceasing her demonstration of her abilities, and flashed a confident smirk, “And it just so happens I have an attached experimental weapon installed, that in theory should work like a destabilizer.” 

Surprised a bit that the commander was going ahead with the plan, Yellow Sapphire tilted her head a bit, before looking down once more to scry the future, “I…I can see something, it…it should, no it will work…it’s just a bit hard to discern what follows after, hard to tell really…” she said, an uncertain look crossed her face as she looked back up at the commander.

Citrine nodded at the Sapphire, “That’s all I need.” she said with a victorious smirk.

Chapter Text

Planet Cadmium 5 of Solar System Aureolin 2

After getting her body to reform back from out of her gem, Lapis took quick stock of her situation as she stood on her own two feet; Lapis looked around the bridge to see a multitude of pearls at work manning the bridge, earning a curious look from Lapis herself. “...uh…” She said, earning the attention of Citrine herself as she finished relaying orders into the comms with the assistance of her pearl.

“Ah, good, just in time.” Citrine said appreciatively as she stood back from the comms and her pearl, and directed her line of sight towards Lapis herself, “I’ll be needing your help getting rid of these puddles of water.” Citrine gestured around the bridge, where there were indeed several puddles of water that Lapis herself and other Lapis Lazuli struggled to control to a degree.

Lapis wracked her mind as she replayed the events that led to her being poofed, and looked back at Citrine after looking at the puddles that the commander gestured to, “I don’t know…” she trailed off saying, as she reached out and attempted to will her power over the odd water. “It was already hard enough to control in such massive amounts.” Lapis remarked, as she clenched her hand through the air while reaching her arm out towards one of the puddles  nearby.

The nearby puddle of water itself warbled and trembled, as Lapis began make the odd liquid water levitate up into the air as one small glob of water; Lapis’s own face a concentrated look as she bared her teeth as she did her best to move the water through the air, before suddenly the water began to spike outside from the grips of Lapis’s power over it, causing Lapis to dropped in surprise.

“Ggrr…” Lapis released an annoyed breath as she relaxed her arm down and fixed a glare at the puddle of water that now rested back on the floor, “What is that stuff!?” she asked while gesturing at the puddle of water in question.

Citrine on the other hand glared at the puddle of water that Lapis moved, and walked over to it, before hovering her arm over the puddle, “That’s what I like to know as well, but-” Citrine began to shower the puddle in static shocks of lightning, causing the puddle of water to warble, before the commander ceased her actions after the liquid ceased moving in reaction to Lapis’s power over it.

While the puddle of water rested on the floor of the bridge, Citrine and Lapis directed their attention down at it, before looking at each other, with Lapis speaking first, “We definitely need to get this stuff off this ship!” she declared with a nervous look.

“And soon.” The Yellow Sapphire softly spoke up from the galactic map projector table, as said gem sat on an available chair with her pearl; Yellow Sapphire directed her attention over at Citrine and Lapis, “We have about thirty minutes until these puddles reactivate, so I suggest…you…oh dear…” Yellow Sapphire trailed off saying, as if she saw something startling with her future vision suddenly.

Citrine was about to ask what Yellow Sapphire saw so suddenly, only for the Cerulean Pearl from the Fluorite Fusion to speak up, “I know this may sound out of the question, but-.” she began to speak up, while sitting next to Citrine’s own pearl, as she turned on her chair with her hands on her lap, while getting the attention of the commander in the process, as well as Orange Pearl as well. 

Cerulean pearl continued to speak with an uncertain and nervous look, “perhaps the fusion of you two could handle the strength necessary to move the water!” she offered her idea, while pointing up at her claim.

Orange Pearl however gasped and glared at the audacity of the Cerulean Pearl to suggest such a thing, “Why you! That’s illegal! Prohibited! Out of the question!” she listed off while wagging her index finger through the air at the Cerulean Pearl.

Orange Pearl then rounded on her commander while still seated next to the Cerulean Pearl, “My Citrine!” Orange Pearl began to argue as she faced her commander, who now cast her gaze on her and Cerulean Pearl, with a sharp look, “Do not listen to this pearl!” she declared while glaring sideways at the pearl in question.

“...Citrine?” Lapis asked with an uncertain look as she looked at the commander, who was now glaring at the air as if she were weighing her options, “um…she…doesn’t know, right?” she questioned nervously, while looking back and forth between the commander and the Cerulean pearl.

Citrine on the other hand wanted to bite her thumb as she tapped her foot, her frustration of the situation thus far was awful. First of all, they didn’t have any scouts available prior to knowing the enemy beforehand, so that meant another new doctrine she’d need to add into her reports; fighting gems was easier than fighting an unknown enemy, so reconnaissance had to be a thing since a planet could simply send back word what sort of gems were rising up a rebellion.

Second, the organic aliens brought with them an unknown element on top of being an unknown themselves, and that’s not even going into the problem that her Diamond never bothered to check up on the organic’s homeworld less than ten thousands years; something happened between those thousands of years that should have alerted Yellow Diamond that something was up, so someone was to blame for this present problem.

Third, the organic foe had brought some sort of odd weapon in the form of water, that Lapis and her fellow gem kind could not easily control in contrast to ordinary water…which had to mean the liquid was something other than simple water.

Fourth, her static destabilization powers were effective over the water itself to a very high degree, but she could not cast any control over it like a Lapis Lazuli could.

With those couple of thoughts running through Citrine’s mind, her eyes narrowed a bit as she cupped her chin and looked to the side in an analytical assessment of the situation. She was in a situation right now that involved evoking the emergency protocol of casting the Pearls to provide the needed support to manage the bridge until her crew reformed from their gems.

“My Citrine?” Citrine’s Orange Pearl’s voice broke her out of her musings, getting her to shake her head and look directly over at the flabbergasted look of her pearl’s face, “My Citrine! What does Lapis mean by what she said!?” she asked while standing up in worry.

With a sideways look from the Cerulean Pearl who still sat on her chair, the gem couldn’t help but allow an amused expression to grace her features as she looked up at Orange Pearl, “Well…now…this is rather remarkable…” Cerulean Pearl remarked, earning an aghast look from ORange Pearl as she shot a glare back down at Cerulean Pearl while palming her sides.

“There is nothing remarkable about this! You should keep your mouth shut…you…you!!” Orange Pearl declared while she clenched her fists as her sides and glared down at the amused cerulean pearl, who looked back up at her unabashedly.

“I always assumed Star Sapphire meant by something else when she said Citrine had her gems try mixed fusion, I never figured she did the practice herself!” Cerulean Pearl remarked back at Orange Pearl, before smugly looking over at a glaring Commander, “Or I could just have Padparadscha come here, she always has an accurate but somewhat late prediction of whether a gem is lying or not!”

Yellow Sapphire, who was watching everything unfold between the Pearls, Commander and Lapis Lazuli, decided to add in her two bits to the conversation, “...I do see it working, if you do go through with it of course…” She softly spoke up, earning the attention of everyone, which she shrugged at, “It’s a pragmatic approach really.” she followed up with, before grimacing, “As illegal as it is.” she added once more.

Citrine on the other hand, looked directly at Yellow Sapphire, and narrowed her eyes at the future sear, “I’m a bit surprised you’re not as opposed to it, as I’d assumed most would be.” she pointed out.

“Oh I am.” Yellow sapphire smiled nastily back at the commander, before frowning annoyedly, “But I foresee a worse result if you do not fuse with your Lapis Lazuli.” She warned, “It's rather simple, I prefer my survival over the rules of gem society.” she remarked in a hasty tone.

The bridge quieted at the proclamation of the Sapphire’s choice of words, The pearls aboard the bridge making cursory glances between the commander and the others she conversed with the entire time, uncertain how to take the situation; Orange Pearl on the other hand couldn’t help but clasp her face in worry as she looked through her fingers towards her commander with an warring emotions.

Lapis meanwhile looked elsewhere but at Citrine as she rubbed her arm nervously as glared at the floor, “I mean…we only did it once, and it only lasted a few minutes!” she commented, while hugging herself by her shoulders. “Can we last longer than that?”

Citrine released an irritated sigh as she looked around the bridge with her arms crossed, “This never leaves the bridge!” she ordered with a grimace, earning shaky nods from the pearls save for Orange Pearl who wanted to look elsewhere but at her.

The commander lifted her arm out to the air, and pinched her fingers together; Lapis looked back over at Citrine with a wide eyed look of mixed emotions of both nervousness and caution. “So we’re really going through with this second attempt?” she questioned the commander, while Citrine snapped her pinched fingers.

As if to answer her question, music of unknown origin began to play, before Citrine spoke over the music, “I did a bit of studying across rebel gems.” she began to explain as she approached Lapis, who took a cautious step back over the feeling of being cornered for some reason by the commander, “I found that many a time, they dance for their mixed fusions to work better in harmony.” She explained while taking another step, while Lapis herself stopped taking a step backward.

Citrine, taking another step forward to stand over Lapis, the commander had Lapis look up at her as Citrine gazed down at her with a calculating gaze, “So I did a bit of side projects, and some tuning, and put together a piece to dance to.” she explained.

When Marimba rhythm start to play

Lapis’s eyes grew wide at her commander’s voice being autoplayed with the music, “I…didn’t take you one to sing…” she remarked, as Citrine reached down and plucked her hand to clasp it.

“Don’t make this weirder than it has to….” Citrine grumbled with a frown, as she looked down at Lapis’s face, “This isn’t anything more than an attempt to fuse better.” she remarked