Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So, what’s the plan?”

Lars turned to look at Rhodonite, who already seemed apprehensive about the question she just asked. Or at least….Lars was pretty sure that was it. To be fair, it could be a little hard to read her expressions – she had four eyes that occasionally seemed to act as independent pairs, and two pairs of arms that did likewise. She still only had one pair of legs though, and one head between her shoulders. The reason for this was that Rhodonite was a fusion, which was a concept Lars was still trying to wrap his head around. And if he hadn’t still been trying to come to terms with what he himself was now (some sort of pink zombie??), he might have spent more time trying to understand the nuances of it. For now though, he was satisfied with the ‘two aliens in one’ concept he’d gotten from their initial explanation shortly after he joined the group.

It was a perfectly logical question for her to ask, especially now that they had decided to get out of here. But even though Lars had pushed forward this decision in spirit, he had no idea how to start logistically. 

“Um...well...we have to get out of these caves, right?” The initial silence that greeted his answer was deafening, and understandably so. Ugh, why did he have to point out the obvious like that? He was just re-stating the problem! Before he could try to add something more useful, Fluorite spoke up. She was a much larger, colorful caterpillar-like Gem that was a fusion of six. Lars suspected that might be part of why she talked so slowly all the time.

“ Well...we do know the surface is about seven levels up, but it's -“

“-guarded by at least fourteen robonoids along the way!” Rhodonite finished quickly, her voice already carrying an edge of panic to it. When everyone turned to look at her, she paused, looking a little embarrassed at her own impatience. 

“Sorry...”

Lars frowned. The robonoids were airborne drones that patrolled the caverns they lived in. They were designed to detect and eliminate any Gems they came across. Luckily for him, their scanners identified intruders by their gem, which wasn’t something he had. Even so, fourteen seemed a bit much to take out, invisible or not.

"Well…”

The group turned to look at the source of the new voice. This time, it was the Rutile twins speaking, a pair of Gems that, while not ‘fused’, were still joined in all areas but the top most section of their bodies. This was actually a bit easier for Lars to wrap his head around, since conjoined twins were something that existed on Earth too.

“There is one other route we found recently” her left head explained head, “that only has six robonoids in total.”

“But” continued her right head, “five of them are all in the same space.” 

That was certainly a trade off - even taking on three was enough to kill him. Lars wasn’t sure how he was going to take on five, even if he was able to slip past their censors. The silence stretched only a moment or two before a female voice broke it.

“Human Lars!” 

A bit startled, Lars almost jumped as he whirled around to see Padparadscha smiling eagerly up at him. She was the smallest of the group, a little pink Gem with a princess-like dress, and bangs that covered her eyes.

“The twins of Rutile know an alternative path, and it only has five robonoids!” she proclaimed excitedly. Lars blinked in confusion.

“Didn’t we just...oh! Oh right.” Shortly after they first met, Fluorite had explained to him and Steven that Padparadscha could only “predict” things that just happened. Since this was presented as a flaw, Lars could only assume that she was supposed to be able to predict the future. This defect never seemed to stop her from trying though, and honestly, Lars could respect that. 

“Thanks Padparadscha” he added, offering her a small smile before turning back to the others. Alright, time to come up with a plan. Four robinoids four robinoids….well they could lure two and…no. Maye they could…? Gah!

Lars’ smile quickly faded as an uncomfortable realization dawned on him: he had no idea what to do. All these alien – Gems – were looking to him for some sort of direction, but all the stuff that he did before? That wasn’t planned! He had no idea how to plan something like that!

“Um….”

Every second of silence that ticked by was more and more noticeable, and even the Gems waiting for him to speak started to look uneasy. Rhodonite’s smile faltered first, and the Rutile twins weren’t far behind. After a few more long seconds, even Fluorite’s mouth began to curve into a slight frown. They all knew now, didn’t they? They realized he had no idea what he was doing, despite all his big talk. That’d been how it was when he was alive too, all talk and no action. If only Steven were here, he’d know what to do. He always knew what to do. Lars brought a hand to his head, as if trying to jump start some thought process, but it was to no avail. Maybe he just wasn’t cut out for this role…he wasn’t meant to be a leader. Before he could open his mouth to voice this, however, he felt something on his leg.

Startled, Lars looked down to see Padparadscha’s small hand resting there. The Gem herself was looking up at him with a soft smile, as if nothing was amiss. Maybe she just didn’t realize he was out of ideas yet. But even as a few more seconds ticked by, her smile didn’t falter. It was a small gesture, but for some reason, it filled Lars with a renewed confidence. Someone still believed in him. He needed to get a grip; this was his reality now, he might as well make the best of it. After smiling back at the smaller Gem, Lars finally looked back up at the others.

“OK” he said, trying to sound as calm as he wanted to feel. “Rutile, you said there are five robonoids in one area, right? Well that probably gets a bit crowded, there’s not a lot of room for them to move around. Maybe we could….get them to shoot each other, or something?” He paused, looking from one Gem to the next with a cautiously hopeful smile.

Please, please someone jump in…

“You mean…like getting them to aim for us and moving out of the way at the last second…” her left head said.

“So they hit something else?” her right head finished.

“Yes!” Lars replied enthusiastically, immensely relieved to just have someone else talking for a moment. That could work, right? The robinoids shot at whatever they detected, so they just had to have one of those gems scanned and –

“Are you saying one of us has to be a decoy?!” Rhodonite squeaked, making Lars’ smile falter a bit again.

“I mean…yeah but-”

The little sound of distress Rhodonite made in response to this confirmation had Lars trailing off in a sigh, running his hand absently through his hair. She was right, this was dangerous. Lars closed his eyes, trying to think back to when he fought the last pair of robinoids. They’d been about to get the twins, so he’d thrown a rock at them to get their attention. That worked, right? And jumping in front of Rutile blocked the scanner enough to make her functionally invisible. That’s all it took…you could basically just play peek-a-boo with the things. Slow, Lars’ lips curled into a more confident smile.

“I got a plan.”

Rhononite, Fluorite, and Rutile all looked surprised at this sudden declaration, though not unpleasantly so. He motioned for them to come closer so he could draw a makeshift diagram of his idea with his shoe. Three of the four Gems came over immediately, and Padparadscha followed a few moments after. Lars explained that all they had to do was get one of the robinoid’s attention at least once, and that would be enough to start a sort of chain reaction. That part was simple enough – the hard bit was figuring out who would be the “decoy”, as Rhodonite put it. Lars really couldn’t see a way around that part, especially because he knew from past experience that robonoids didn’t fire until they detected at least one enemy. Fluorite ended up being the first to volunteer, and while the gesture was appreciated, Lars didn’t think that was going to work.

“You’re uh…you’re kinda big” he explained. “We need a smaller target, something easy to miss, something easy for me to cover up when the time comes…” He knew he could cover up Rhodonite, but he wasn’t about to ask her to play that role. Rutile probably wouldn’t be too tough either; she was roughly the size of a person after all, right? The only issue was that robonoids flew around, so in order to misdirect their shots, they’d need to somehow get up in the air too. Could any of them fly…?

“I am small!” Padparadscha interjected, he expression series and determined. Rhodonite spoke up before Lars could utter a word.

“Padparadscha, you’re going to get hurt if you do that! It’s not safe…you…you don’t exactly have the fastest reflexes, you know.”

Rhodonite was right, there was no way Padparadscha could react fast enough to avoid actually getting hit. Even so, she was a small target, and probably the lightest of all of them. She couldn’t fly, but she was easy enough to pick up. Lars’s eyes widened.

“She doesn’t have to react.”

Once again, all the Gems looked at him, but this time it was with confusion. Lars didn’t wait for any of them to ask.

“She’s really light, so one of us could toss her in the air and – hold on, hear me out!” Rhodonite looked very much like she was about to protest, but Lars really felt like he was on to something here. Reluctantly, the fusion crossed her upper set of arms and waited for him to finish.

“One of us could toss her up in the air at just the right time for one of the robonoids to get a look at her gem, and then another one of us can catch her. Uh…Fluorite! You can hold her pretty high, right?” Maybe she could fly after all! “You can move her around in the air, and we can get the robinoids to take themselves out, one by one!”

“What about the last one?” Rutile asked. This time, Lars was ready with an answer.

“When there’s only one left, you can leave it to me. As long as we keep it low, I can whack it into the wall in one clean sweep, just like I did before. When we get to the sixth robonoid in the other area along the way, I can do the same thing.”   Everyone seemed to think this sounded like a feasible plan, even Rhodonite had to admit it sounded like it could work. In fact, the fusion even volunteered to be the one to throw Padparadscha up to Fluorite when the time came.

Armed with a plan, the group of misfits trudged up the corridors of the caves, Rutile leading the way. Lars couldn’t help but be impressed at how easily she seemed to navigate the path; everything looked the same to him down here. Of course, it didn’t help that you could barely see five feet in front of you in the less well-lit parts. Looking around at his other companions, it seemed like he wasn’t the only one that felt that way. Rhodonite kept glancing around nervously at every little sound that echoed off the rocks around them, and Padparadscha, who was currently resting in the fusion’s arms, mimicked these movements about ten seconds after each head turn of the former. Lars couldn’t help but smile.

“We’re here.”

The words came after what seemed like ages, so Lars looked up eagerly to see where Rutile was pointing. Take a few cautious steps forward, he squinted into the oncoming clearing where five robinoids circled in a seemingly unbreakable formation. While he was thrilled that they finally made it, the relief was quickly swallowed up by the realization that the hardest part of this was still to come. They made they plan, sure, but now they had to make it happen.

Chapter Text

Lars took a few steps forward, mindful of how much sound each movement made. The robonoids were circling around the clearing at a steady pace, without any real any obvious openings.

“OK” Lars whispered, giving the other Gems a meaningful look. “Let’s do this.” Lars bent down and closed his fingers around a stray rock nearby, picking it up and chucking it at the robonoid nearest them. The reaction was almost immediate; the machine turned towards the sound, and began to float over, another one following close behind. To Lars’ pleasant surprise, the other three didn’t seem to react at all just yet, so he could focus on these two to start.

As Fluorite crept into position, Rhodonite scooped up Padparadscha and moved out toward the oncoming robinoids. Once Lars gave the single, she tossed the smaller Gem up in the air with all her might. The first robinoid scanned Padparadscha's gem as she passed by, and fired its laser seconds later. By that point though, she’d already sailed up into Fluorite’s arms, so the blast hit the other robinoid instead. The force of the explosion finally caused the other three machines to break their pattern and come investigate the source of the ruckus. Lars and Fluorite exchanged a look before the former glanced around and pointed at the next robonoid to target. This time, Fluorite tossed Padparadscha down to Lars, timing it so that, once again, one of the robonoids misfired and hit the other.

“Here comes the first one!” Padparadscha announced suddenly, causing everyone’s eyes to widen. Lars had been so caught up in planning the coordination of this attack, he forgot to remind her not to voice her ‘predictions’ like she usually did. Immediately, all three remaining robonoids turned toward her, answering the question of whether or not they reacted to sound. Lars looked around in a panic, and saw that same expression reflected back at him from all the other Gems except Rhodonite, who was covering all four of her eyes. Lars’ gaze snapped back to the trio of robonoids advancing on them, and he noticed that the outer two were coming in at just about the same speed.

“Fluorite!” he called, reeling his arm back in preparation. “Go long!” Fluorite had no idea what that meant, but as soon as she saw Lars throw Padparadscha again, she knew enough to dash over to catch her. To the Lars’ delight, it worked exactly as he’d hoped; both robonoids fired at exactly the same time after scanning the passing gem, and ended up hitting each other, blowing up simultaneously. Unfortunately, there was one element he didn’t account for: the force of the blast.

Padparadscha was suddenly thrown violently off-course, away from Fluorite’s waiting arms in the air, and into a particularly jagged edge of a nearby wall. A cloud of smoke seemed to surround her on impact, but once it cleared, only her gem fell from it down to the ground. Padparadscha herself was gone.

“No…”

Lars could feel tears welling up in his eyes, followed by a swell of anger as he saw the final robonoid moving toward the remains. Even though the shock of seeing his friend die right in front of him was still overwhelming him, the idea of this thing getting what was left of her was more powerful still. With a loud cry of rage, Lars dashed forward, grabbing one of the larger pieces of debris from the earlier explosions and chucking it as hard as he could at the machine. Lars was only vaguely  aware of the explosion as he continued running past; he had only one thing on his mind at this point. When he finally reached his destination, Lars scooped up the small gemstone in his arms and let his tears spill over.

“Padparadscha, I’m so…so sorry…”

Lars wasn’t sure when the others joined him, but suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up. It was the Rutile twins, looking concerned. “Is she…alright?” The question took him a moment to process.

“Of course she’s not alright!” he snapped, causing Rutile to take a step back in shock. “She’s DEAD!” The twins looked at each other, and then at Lars in bewilderment as Rhodonite came running over. 

“Is she cracked? Is she SHATTERED?” the fusion wailed, frantically trying to get a better look at the small gem in Lars’ hands.

“It doesn’t look like it…” Rutile’s right head replied uncertainly, leaning in a bit closer. 

What were these ladies even talking about?! Cracked? Shattered? She exploded into a cloud of dust right before all of their eyes! Why weren’t they acknowledging this? The situation was making him angrier and angrier by the second, and by the time Fluorite made her way over, he finally found his voice again. But just as he opened his mouth to speak, the gemstone in his eyes began to emit a bright light, and rose out of his hands. Lars stared speechlessly as it hovered a few feet from him, and produced a distinctly Padparadscha-shaped figure from within. Once the light died down, it looked exactly like her.

“Pad…paradscha?”

Rhodonite, let out a loud sigh of relief, and Rutile did likewise. Looking up at Fluorite, Lars vaguely registered a soft smile as well. For a few awkward moments, silence filled the room. Did he miss something? What just happened?!

“Human Lars!” Padparadscha exclaimed suddenly, making Lars jump. “When you throw me to Fluorite, the force of the explosion will knock me off-course, and my form will be destroyed. But do not worry, I will return shortly afterwards!”

“How…?” he managed at last, looking from one Gem to the next with complete confusion.

“She got hurt, so she retreated into her gem” Rhodonite explained, her tone suggesting this should be obvious. Meanwhile Rutile's eyes widened.

“Did you not know that Gems could reform?” Rutile’s left head asked. Lars’ expression seemed to answer her question. “I guess…I guess your species can’t do that? When our bodies are damaged, we retreat into our gems to regenerate.” 

“As long as the gems aren’t damaged, we can come back…fully unharmed, “ her right head finished.

Well, that certainly explained a lot. Lars fell onto his back, and let out a long, pained groan. Did it never occur to any of them that this might be something worth telling him?! Then again, if they thought it was normal…maybe that’s why. Ugh, just when he thought he was finally getting a better grip on his surroundings, he was reminded just how out of place he was. Then again, that’s why he was part of the group now, wasn’t it? They were all out of place.

“OK” he said at last, slowly getting to his feet. “That’s…definitely good to know. Lemme grab that rock and…we can get going.”

The remainder of their journey to the surface was a lot less tense than before. Even with one robonoid left to deal with, Lars found himself striking up a conversation with the Gems in favor of walking in silence again. Part of this was because recent events made him realize that he really didn’t know a lot about these aliens, probably a lot less than he needed to in order to be an effective leader. And with Rutile leading the way again, Lars was free to focus on gaining as much information as possible. He learned that if a Gem’s gem was cracked, their ability to hold a physical form consistently was greatly limited. He also learned that if the gem was shattered, they could never reform again. Once they got to the final robonoid, Lars offered to take it out himself. While the other Gems agreed that Padparadscha deserved a break, they also pointed out that having him do it alone probably wasn't the wisest either. After a brief discussion, they decided Lars would lure the robonoid in close, and then give Fluorite the signal for when to toss the jagged piece of stone from earlier. This time, everything went off without a hitch. 

“So what happens to your species when your physical form is damaged?” Rhodonite asked once they continued on again. “You turned pink before you repaired yourself, but I remember your friend saying that wasn’t normal, right?” Lars nodded.

“Yeah humans…definitely don’t do that usually. Steven’s the one who fixed me, naturally we just…well I guess we heal over time, if we aren't killed. Uh, killing is like shattering”  he added quickly, noticing the confused looks on their faces.

“How much time?” Fluorite inquired. 

“It depends on how serious the injury is usually. It can be a few days, a few weeks…sometimes months.”

They continued chatting until the rock began to give way to a chromatic pastel material Lars had seen in passing once before, while plummeting to the ground in that palanquin. The silence that fell between them again told Lars that they knew what this meant too: they were close.  

At last, the seemingly endless hallway led to a door that, by some stroke of luck, they were able to open by just having one of the Gems touch their hand to the access pad. There wasn’t much in the room; in fact, it looked a lot like where Steven and him had first entered this place. The walls were a luminescent green that curved upwards toward a point at the top, almost like some sort of dome. But the most notable thing about the room was three flat-bottomed teardrop vessels that Lars immediately recognized as…

“Ships!” though honestly, if Steven and him not been brought here in one, he never would have guessed that was their function. There were no windows or doors on this vehicle, or any other opening he could see. In fact...despite how eagerly he’d dashed over to the ship, Lars suddenly realized he had no idea how to get on at all. Turning around slowly, he looked slowly from one companion to the next, hoping his unspoken question would be answered. When this proved not to be the case, he sighed.

“Does anyone know how to open a ship? Or uh…drive it?”

“I know how to operate the technical aspects” Fluroite offered, much to Lars’ surprise. Then again, she was made of six Gems, right? Odds were at least one of them knew something.

“Great! So how do we – ”

“But…” she continued, causing Lars to shut his mouth again. “I don’t know how to drive the ship…”

“Oh…” Lars deflated a bit.

“…or open it without a higher ranked Gem.”

Well that was limiting. Helpful, but still limiting. He supposed it made sense that a ship would need at least a key or something to open though, otherwise anyone could just break in.

“I don’t suppose we can steal a key?”

“There isn’t a key” Rhodonite replied, causing Lars to turn her way. “You need the proper ranked Gem to open it with their hand…it’s not something we can just break into!”

“I don’t suppose any of you are the right rank?” Lars asked doubtfully. Sure enough, after taking a closer look at the ship, everyone confirmed they would not have access.

“Alright…” Lars sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I guess we have to wait for someone to open it. We can ambush them…and steal the ship from there, sound good?”

“But where do we hide?” Rhodonite asked, looking around at the largely empty room. That was a good point, where did they hide? Lars glanced around again to make sure he didn’t miss any potential hiding places, but everything was wide open. Even the walls themselves seemed impossibly smooth, including the place they entered. The only place he could think of was…

“Behind the ship. We’ll all hide behind the ship, and...I’ll take out the owner when she comes back.” 

“How are you going to take her out??” Rhodonite asked.

“I don’t know!” Lars snapped “Do you have any better ideas?!” Rhodonite shrunk back, immediately making Lars feel bad.

“Sorry I just…” He trailed off. Ugh, she was right though, there was no way he could take out another alien, especially not after the last one he faced in ‘combat’. As he was thinking of an alternative method, the sound of a door opening nearby made him freeze.

“Go” he hissed, moving behind the ship and urging the others to follow. “Come on! Someone’s coming!” Rhodonite scooped up Padparadscha, and Rutile followed close behind. Fluorite had a bit of trouble hiding herself completely behind the ship, but with a little creative maneuvering, she managed to curl herself up just enough to stay out of sight. As the footsteps got closer, Lars snuck a small peek out from behind their cover.

The Gem was considerably smaller than Topaz had been, though Lars was still pretty sure he couldn’t take her (what had he been thinking when he said that?!) She was just a bit taller than him, with pale green, wavy hair encircling her darker green face. A single eyeball took up the majority of that, though he was pretty sure he saw a small mouth too. It was definitely the most ‘alien’ looking alien he’d seen thusfar. Lars watched anxiously as she stepped up to the ship and placed her hand on its surface. Lars heard a door open, and watched the Gem step out of sight. However, he didn’t hear the door close right away, and that gave him an idea. 

“We need a distraction” he whispered. “We need to get her out of the ship quickly so one of us can get in. Is there any way we can get her to come out without calling more guards, or something?” The frowns on everyone’s faces made his heart sink. None of them were normal enough to blend in, were they? Lars knew had to think fast, he knew didn’t have much more time, the harder her tried, the more aware he became of each second that ticked by without anything occurring to him. Finally, the ship began to rumble.

“It’s going to launch!” Rhodonite whispered in a panic. Lars groaned, and darted over to the next ship docked nearby. The others followed without any urging this time, and they just barely made it before the ship rose into the air. An opening suddenly formed on the previously seamless surface of the walls,  and the ship exited so fast that Lars swore he would have missed it had he blinked. And just like that, their opportunity to escape was gone.

“Now what?” Rutile asked. Lars grimaced as all eyes fell on him again. His mind started to race, desperately trying to think of something, anything…! But it was no good.

“The ship will leave soon” Padaradscha warned, which at the very least, brought everyone’s gaze off of him for a moment. She was currently resting in Rhodonite’s arms – she must have been scooped up when they made that most recent dash away from the launching ship.

“Yeah, I’m aware” Lars snapped irritably. He really blew it, didn’t he? If he could just think of something…

“We’re doomed!” Rhodonite moaned. “They’re going to find us, they’re going to shatter–”

“Will you get a GRIP?!”

All eyes were back on him again, and what was worse, Rhodonite looked like she was about to cry. Even Padparadscha was frowning at him now, and that stung more than Lars ever anticipated. He hadn’t meant to shout. And if all that wasn't bad enough,  Lars realized his eyes were watering again.

“Ugh, when did I become such a crybaby?” he muttered sliding down into a sitting position as he reached up to wipe away the tears before they fell.

“What’s a crybaby?” Rutile’s left head asked.

“It’s…you know, someone who cries like a baby!” he replied impatiently. Both twins looked at each other.

“What’s a baby?” her right head asked. That one threw him off a bit.

“Wha- do you not have babies or something?!” Their silence was answer enough. “It’s…you know, when you first…when you’re born!”

“Born?” her left head repeated pensively. “You mean…like when you first emerge?” 

“Uh, I guess?” Lars conceded. That was a weird way to put it, but it wasn’t wrong.

“Are babies always upset about emerging?”

“What? No! They're just...small and helpless. So they cry a lot.”

“What’s the purpose that?” 

“Uh, I dunno, to get help I guess?”

“Are you asking us for help?”

“No! I’m not a baby!” He paused, sighed, and buried his head in his arms. “Maybe I am helpless like one though. Ugh…if Steven were here…or Sadie…!”

“Sadie?”

Lars peeked out from his arms to see both twins staring at him curiously. “Yeah um…she’s this girl…this friend of mine.”

“Were you close?” This time it wasn’t Rutile’s voice, but Rhodonite’s. Lars was definitely not in the mood to talk about Sadie, but he still felt bad for snapping at her earlier, so he decided to answer the question anyway.

“Yeah she’s…she’s my best friend. We worked together, hung out together…” his lips curled into a small, wistful smile, “…even fought together.” His smile faded, and Lars felt his eyes well up with tears again. “Well, I didn’t’ really fight. I was too scared. I…I couldn’t protect her…” Rhodonite covered her mouth in shock.

“Was she….?”

“What? No! She’s not dead she’s just….far, far away. And it’s kind of my fault I…wasn’t strong enough to protect her.” The room fell into silence once more, giving Lars a chance to wipe some of the tears and snot leaking from his face.

“I have…an idea.”

Lars looked up at Rhodonite curiously – he’d never seen her this determined before. Before he could ask what this idea was, her entire body began to glow with a brilliant white light. Right before his eyes, she seemed to split into two, and when the light cleared, there were two entirely new Gems standing in her place.

Chapter Text

To Lars’ surprise, the two new Gems both looked vaguely familiar. The taller of the two had a similar figure to one of Steven’s…caretakers? Caretakers. She had the pointy nose and the lithe figure anyway, but other than that, it was a totally different look. A semi-translucent, lacy shawl framed her shoulders, not unlike the one Rhodonite herself wore. Come to think of it, she also had a gemstone on her chest in the same place as Rhodonite too. The rest of her outfit was relatively minimalistic, a nearly knee-length dress that was just a slightly darker shade of pink than her skin or hair. On her feet, she wore simple flats – actually, those looked a little like that woman back home too. What was her name? Pearl…?

The other one was much shorter, and looked very similar to that Gem who had testified against Steven at the trial, right down to the oddly square-shaped hair. There were two main differences though: first off all, her gem wasn’t covering her eye like some sort of eye patch – it was on her stomach (again, just like the one Rhodonite had there). Second, her top seemed to be designed to display her Gem, cropped open at each side that diverged from the pink diamond shape around her neck like a collar. The shade of red also seemed a bit lighter than the one from the trial, but Lars couldn’t be sure. And of course, he had no idea what the one from the trial was wearing on her feet. Had it been the same little booties?

 Looking around at the others, it was clear to Lars that this was a big deal. After a moment or two of silence, even Padparadscha gasped, clasping her tiny hands to her face.

“Rhodonite is going to unfuse!”

So that’s what happened! Slowly, Lars got to his feet, still staring at the timid-looking Gems with awe.

“What…are your names?”

“I’m Ruby” the shorter one replied, flashing Lars a nervous smile. “A-and this, “ she gestured at her partner, “this is Pearl.” Pearl! That was the name of Steven’s caretaker. What were the odds of them having the exact same name? 

“Well uh…nice to meet you both” he said, trying to smile encouragingly. “You…I mean, the other you…?” Argh, this was confusing. “You said you had a plan, right?”

“Yeah!” Ruby agreed, wringing her hands a bit as she glanced up at Pearl. The pink Gem glanced down and stiffened, as if she’d just been put on the spot. Her only response was a curt nod, causing Ruby to frown before looking back at the others. 

“She’s a little shy…ah-hah…um. So we were thinking, next time a Gem comes in to board their ship, we can maybe uh…distract them!”

“It was a foolish idea” Pearl said softly, causing all eyes to shift to her. Her gaze remained on the ground as she spoke. “I’m not sure about this Ruby, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. A Pearl without an owner is an inherently suspicious thing, and none of us here can pass as a high-enough ranked Gem to fill that role, save Padparadscha, but that offers its own risks due to her delayed response time. And what if I freeze up again? What if you-“

Ruby looked increasingly worried with each word Pearl said, but near the end, she walked over to take her partner’s hands, causing Pearl to cut off mid-sentence and stare down at her.

“I- I know it’s scary” Ruby said, her voice cracking a little. “But we aren’t doing this alone this time! Lars will know what to do, right?” Still holding hands, both Gems turned to look at their newest member.

“Uh…wasn’t this your plan?” Lars replied, unsure how this suddenly got turned back to him. Both Gems blushed.

“Oh! Oh right…haha…” Ruby said, glancing down at Pearl’s hands and taking a breath before looking back at the others. “S-so basically, we were thinking that me, Pearl, and maybe Padparadscha could distract the next Gem who tries to board her ship…long enough for one of you to sneak in and…do whatever you thought of doing.”

Lars has several questions, but Ruby looked so nervous, he thought it best to let her take a breather before probing further. After waiting a solid ten seconds, he spoke.

“Um…why Padparadscha though?”

“Oh!” Ruby glanced over at the small Gem. “Because she’s a Sapphire!” Lars gave her a blank look, which seemed to cause both Pearl and Ruby undue anxiety. Before he could apologize, Fluorite decided to explain.

“A Sapphire…” she began slowly, “is a high-class, aristocratic Gem that could realistically own a Pearl.”

“Own?” Lars repeated, still very confused. That was the second time he heard that…what did that mean? A Pearl was a Gem, right? One of the aliens? How can you own someone else? 

“All Pearls have owners” Pearl said, finally looking up at the others. She still looked incredibly nervous though, so Lars treaded cautiously.

“Why…?”

“Because that’s what we are made for.”

“To be owned?”

“Yes. To serve.”

Lars frowned. So ‘Pearls’ were a type of Gem, some sort of servant. Did that mean the ‘Morganite’ Rhodonite mentioned a while back was her owner? Their owner? 

“Do Rubies have owners too?” Lars asked, since Rhodonite did say ‘our’ Morganite. 

“Oh no, we don’t have owners” Ruby explained.

“Not technically” Pearl mumbled, glancing off to the side with what Lars swore was almost an irritated look. For some reason, that comment made Ruby look up at her companion and blush, letting out a small giggle. Lars suddenly felt like he was intruding on something.

“R-right well…so you want to pretend Padparadscha is your owner, right?” Both Gems looked back at him and nodded.

“But…” Rutile began, glancing over at the smallest Gem. She was smiling at all of them pleasantly, seemingly unaware of the discussion. The twins didn’t have to say it, Lars knew too: Padparadscha always acted with a certain delay, and that could be a problem. If they were going to be convincing, they had to coordinate things so that it looked believable. 

“Hey” Lars said suddenly, causing both Pearl and Ruby to jump. “Sorry uh…I know Padparadscha isn’t the…best at timing.” He glanced over at her apologetically, but she didn’t seem to mind. “…so what if we planned it so that didn’t matter?” He had their full attention now, though it didn’t seem like anyone knew where he was going with this. “What if we had Padparadscha say her line, whatever it is, right when she noticed the new Gem arrive? That way, we could have everything in position a few moments before….and make it look convincing.” They all agreed that sounded like a good plan, but wanted to wait for Padparadscha’s input on it. After a moment, the Sapphire’s smile faded into a more pensive frown, and they all stared in anticipation. Finally, she smiled.

“What would my line be?”

Letting out a collective breath of relief, the rest of the group tried to decide what the best thing would be to get a Gem away from her ship.

“Maybe….tell the Gem to come over here?” Ruby suggested.

“But she’ll will want to know why” Pearl pointed out, “we need a reason.”

“Maybe we can say the ship is going to explode?” Rutile offered, catching Lars a bit off-guard.

“Are they going to believe that?!”

“Well, if a Sapphire says it…”

That was a good point. He was pretty sure Sapphires were supposed to be able to predict the future, so if one said the ship was going to explode, it would have some merit. After making sure Padparadscha understood the plan, they all got into their positions. Lars, Fluorite, and Rutile were all behind the next ship over in the docking bay. It was similar to the first in size, so Fluorite suggested she hide behind the third ship instead, since it was a little bigger than the others. Lars conceded that this made sense. Pearl, Ruby, and Padparadscha all waited out in the open, at the far side of the circular room. It was hard to tell where the door was (why did everything have to disappeared once it closed?!), so they could only hope the positioning was right.

It seemed like ages before someone else came, though Lars had no idea how much time actually passed. As nervous as he was (as he was sure all of them were), he couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief wash over him when he finally heard that door open. This time it was a larger, yellow Gem (albeit not as big as Topaz had been). Her hair was the lightest part of her, long and wavy but like someo f the other guards he’d seen in passing since he got to this planet. He noticed that this one’s hair was a little…spikier though. The uniform was what was most familiar to Lars, if only because Topaz had worn something very much like it.

She walked up to the largest ship that Fluorite had hid behind with a determined expression, walking right past the group off to the side, and proceeded to open the ship the same way the last Gem had. Lars stared anxiously at Padparadscha, who for some reason, still hadn’t spoken up. Pearl and Ruby stared at each other nervously, and then back at the yellow Gem. They were losing their chance! 

“Ahem!” Everyone’s eyes fell on Ruby, including the newly arrived yellow Gem, who seemed more than a little startled by the sudden noise. 

“Wha..? What are you doing? Who are you?” she asked gruffly.

“The ship is going to explode!” Padparadscha cried, causing the stranger’s eyes to widen. She had the door open – this was their chance! If only they could get her to move just a little farther away from it…

“What are you talking about? A-and you didn’t answer my question, who are-“ She was clearly anxious about the sudden ‘prediction’ thrust on her, but it didn’t stop her from being wary. Padparadscha stared in silence, and Pearl looked like she was going to run off at any second.

“Please!” Ruby cut in, a note of desperation in her voice. “We’ll explain later, you’re in danger!” Despite her reservations, this seemed to convince the yellow Gem to hurry off toward them without closing the door. Lars and Rutile darted from behind their ship out as quickly and quietly as possible, and slipped into the larger one. Fluorite was a bit slower, both because of her size and the fact that she had to uncurl herself without making a sound. Luckily, the yellow Gem’s attention seemed to be squarely on Padparadscha, even as she arrived at their side. 

“Please come quick, you are in danger!” she shouted, startling the yellow Gem further.

“Wha…but I’m right here! What are you talking about?”

Whatever answer they came up with to that, Lars didn’t hear it. Rutile and him dashed into the ship as soon as they reached it, glancing around at all the controls. It looked a bit like Aquamarine’s ship, in a way, but even more complicated. As Fluorite crawled in, Lars looked at her anxiously, as if hoping she would know what to do next. Fluorite always talked a bit slower than most Gems, but with the rush they were in, her answer seemed to come at a snail’s pace. 

“I will go below…and keep an eye on the engines. Someone still needs to drive–”

“–the ship!” Lars finished impatiently, looking around wildly. “Rutile, take the wheel, I need to go get the others.” The request seemed to startle the twins. 

“But we don’t know how to –” 

“Just do it!!” Lars shouted, and then turned back to dash back to the ship’s entrance. When he looked out, Lars saw that a new Gem had arrived since they left. She had large, spiky green hair, and an overall triangular-shaped upper body with much longer and thinner limbs than the yellow Gem beside her. Her outfit was much different than the other Gems he’d seen thusfar; this one had a long cape, a fancy, almost fluffy-looking collar, and…was she wearing a vest? It was hard to tell. All three of his companions had their eyes on this Gem, and Ruby and Pearl looked more than a little frightened.

“-don’t know what this is about, Your Clarity, but if I'm going to need to extend my stay on Omicron VIII, I expect an explanation!” Oh boy, this green Gem sure sounded annoyed. Unable to think of a clever plan to get out of this one, Lars just motioned as aggressively as he could at his friends, hoping they would notice. Pearl was the first to catch sight of him, and Ruby wasn’t far behind. Unfortunately, their combined gazes were enough to cause the green Gem to take notice. When she turned to look at Lars, the first thing he noticed was a green, rectangular-faceted gemstone over her right eye. She reminded him a bit of that other Ruby from the trial – not just because of the gem placement, but because of how furious she looked. In fact, she looked so angry, he honestly couldn’t tell if the lightning bolt-shaped ornament ending in a point over her eyes were actually her eyebrows or not.

“What is that?!” she shrieked, pointing at Lars for emphasis. Any annoyance he heard in her voice earlier was gone – she just sounded outraged now.

“Citrine!” she barked, making the yellow Gem beside her stand at attention. “Get that thing off my shuttle this instant!”

“Yes, Emerald!” Citrine responded, starting towards Lars.

“Close the door!” Pearl shrieked, looking directly at Lars now. The ourburst made everyone, even the Citrine, to pause and stare at her. Pearl’s face turned a bright pink, but she didn’t drop her pleading gaze from Lars’. Without really thinking, Lars slammed the nearest button to him ear the door, hoping that it did what he wanted. Amazingly, the door did begin to close. He stared back at the others, seeing Pearl and Ruby looked at each other with uncharacteristically determined expressions as they clasped hands, and started to glow. In a burst of blinding light, they phased into each other, forming Rhodonite again and scooping up Padparadscha in the same movement. As the fusion bee lined for the closing door, the other two Gems finally seemed to snap out of their stupor.

“What are you waiting for? Get them!” Emerald cried. Citrine broke into a sprint, this time heading toward Rhodonite and Padparadscha.

“You’re supposed to get me, remember?” Lars called, this time even surprising himself. To his delight though, this shifted the attention towards him, even causing the Citrine to skid to a stop, looking confused.

“Don’t listen to him, you take orders from me!” Emerald snapped exasperatedly. The momentary distraction had already served its purpose though; Rhodonite got a lead that allowed her to hop onto the ship with Padparadscha just before the door closed. Citrine, though close behind, ended up crashing into the closed hatch with a loud thud instead.

“We gotta get out of here!” Lars shouted, looking back toward Rutile.

“Rutile, how’s it coming?!” 

“We’re trying! I’ve never even seen a ship like this before, I don’t know how to start it! Fluorite says it should be working, but I don’t know which button to – “ 

“Let me do it!” Rhodonite cried, dropping Padparadscha softly down on the ground and sprinting over. When she actually arrived at the control panel though, she hesitated.

“I…ohh it’s been a while…maybe…!” She reached for a button, but paused just before pressing it. A loud thud suddenly shook the whole ship, followed by a muffled shout of ‘don’t destroy it, you brute!’ coming from outside.

“Rhodonite, now!” Lars cried. The fusion whimpered, closed her eyes, and pressed the button. The engine roared to life instantly, and the whole vessel began to shake.

“Now what?” Rutile asked, looking at Rhodonite this time.

“I don’t know! I only know how to start it, I haven’t driven a ship before!” The twins groaned simultaneously, and grabbed a hold of what seemed like the flight controls.

“Here goes nothing…”