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"Mmm, it's such a nice weather today!" Yellow Diamond hummed, skipping gleefully, expression full of mirth.
Today was their second patrol with their new partner, Zircon, who's currently the oldest of all Gems in the School. Their first patrol together ended pretty well, with no Lunarians in sight and the both of them not needing to fight or draw their swords.
"Still, we need to be careful. Lapis says the weather today has a higher chance of a Lunarian attack. Keep your guard up," Zircon sighed as they kept up with Yellow.
"D'aww, c'mon, don't be such a party pooper! Today's weather is awesome, and, even if Lunarians do attack, you just gotta—"
"Watch out!"
Zircon's loud shriek sounded throughout the air, and Yellow Diamond almost stumbled while they were jumping around in the dewy grass, fooling around as usual when they felt a hand shove them quite harshly onto the ground.
"Huh? Wha?"
They looked up to see the all too respectable senior of theirs with an arm raised over their head, blocking a sharp Lunarian arrow aimed straight at them.
The cracks from the entry wound started spreading, before, eventually, inevitably, Zircon's arm cracked and shattered.
The older gem seemed to have started panicking yet again, and shook as they pulled out their sword by its hilt. "Yellow! Alert the others!"
Obviously it wouldn't have been as easy as that. Smirking, the younger gem pulled out their sword in a similar fashion to Zircon's, maybe from all that time they spent watching their senior--and switched into a fighting stance, before saying in all their glory and stubbornness, "No, I'll fight it."
If Zircon wasn't so occupied with the Lunarian arrow attacks, they would've faceslapped themself hundreds if not thousands of times. "What are you doing?! Just alert the others! You're still a rookie, it's not that hard to understa—"
"But I'm a diamond! Just like Dia, and Bortz. I have the highest hardness out of all of us! I can take it—"
Zircon was starting to get irritated, what with how riled up they were getting. "JUST FUCKING GET THEM HERE ALREADY!!!!"
Right then and there, another arrow shot straight at Zircon's neck, breaking their head apart from their fragile body, and it shattered into even smaller pieces.
"No need."
From where Zircon had been scattered across the ground, they could see a figure moving as fast as the wind, sending the grass around them into ripples. The bright glow, almost looking like a rainbow, was enough to answer their question on who it was that had come to their rescue.
With a heavy leap from the ground, Diamond, the strongest fighter out of all the Gems, second only to Rutile, wiped out the Lunarian fleet in the blink of an eye while both them and Zircon's partner, Bortz and Yellow respectively watched from their places, frozen to the ground.
'Just great.' Zircon thought to themself. Out of all the Gems to see them in this state, it just had to be that battle obsessed, power hungry nutburger Diamond. Not even someone as scary as Bortz could tame that beast, not when they've shown their true colours.
Zircon still remembers back when Dia was known as the nicest Gem around, and boy howdy how the tables have turned.
They thought that maybe Bortz could be to blame too, if memory even serves them right, but right now, they couldn't care less when they felt their consciousness slowly slip out of their body, and everything fades to black.
The first thing they see when they open their eyes was the sight of a very, very angry doctor.
"How many times has it been now?" Padparadscha chided, eyebrows knitted together, and if the doctor wasn't so good at hiding their emotions they'd be practically fuming at this moment.
Zircon stretched a bit as they woke up from the operating table. They took a glance towards their arm. Zero cracks could be seen. Padparadscha truly excels at their work as the Gem's doctor--they put a lot of care into their work, and they're skilled at it, it really shows.
But thinking that wouldn't help Zircon escape this situation.
"Uhh... 13 times... I guess...?"
Padpa groaned, and slumped into the wooden chair. "You need to stop risking yourself for those brats, you know. They're not even grateful for your sacrifices."
Zircon hung their head low. Padpa wasn't wrong in the slightest, but still...
Benitoite.
Watermelon Tourmaline.
Hemimorphite.
Amethyst 84 and 33.
Zircon doesn't want the same thing to happen again.
Padparadscha sighed, and waved their hand around. "...Whatever. You're dismissed. Just... don't push yourself too hard."
"Got it."
Zircon stood up and walked away, but even when they had left the infirmary, they could still feel the doctor's worried gaze lingering on their back.
Diamond and Bortz were out on their patrol, walking around the area near Hollow Cape. Dia seems on edge as ever, well, when hasn't they been on edge? Definitely not anytime after that whole incident with Bortz, that is.
Speaking of the latter, Bortz was busy daydreaming and dozing off, mouth muttering some gibberish, but they still understood it.
"Wundah if I should take winner parol this yea..."
Meanwhile their partner was practically staring their eyeballs off into the bright blue sky for any signs of sunspots.
"C'MON, COWARDS!!! I'M FEELING BRRRRRRAAAAAAAAVVVEEEEEEEE TODAY!!!!! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE MY NEW BATTLE TECHNIQUE!!!!! RAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Well, it wasn't like they couldn't turn off caps lock. They could, they just loved yelling and damaging their vocal chords. ...Do gems have vocal chords?
When...
"S-senpai!"
That voice instantly snapped Bortz out of their short daydream, and Dia who was looking at the skies and shrieking like a certain pig masked character from a particular franchise popular in the 2020's, making the both of them snap their necks to look in the direction of it.
"It's Yellow."
"HUH? YELLOW??!"
The blonde only took about a second to reach Dia and Bortz, with their extraordinary speed, and when they did, they sent the grass into ripples.
"What's the matter? Lunarian attack?" said Bortz, eyebrows scrunched.
"N-no... I was just thinking. Are you two free?"
"Well, we still have this patrol—"
"NOPE!!! NOT AT ALL!!!! WE STILL HAVE THIS PATROL AND I'M GONNA SPLIT OPEN SOME MORE LUNARIANS TODAY!!!!!!!"
"...If they even appear."
Yellow fiddled with their fingers. "Yeah... so... y'know. Well, y'see..."
"SPIT IT OUT!!!! I HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY!!!!"
"Dia!"
"sorry"
Yellow steadied themself, and brought themself to ask.
Zircon sighed as they ran their fingers through their short orange hair. It used to be short, too, but it's gotten even shorter from all the times they needed to mend cracks in their body when they didn't have enough fragments, and Padparadscha offered using their own hair.
They looked at themself in the mirror. Their hair used to be fluffy, and they always left it messy and uncombed. Usually their partners or seniors like the Amethyst Twins and Benito would help comb it, but nowadays they just couldn't be bothered.
They used to have bangs that went just right below their eyebrows, but now it doesn't even cover half of their forehead. Combed into a neat side parter, but still retaining the trademark Zircon messiness, it almost felt like Zircon had changed along with their hairstyle.
They used to be young and naive, and days were spent with mindless patrols and late game nights with their partners.
But the Lunarians stole them all away.
Most of the time it was their fault.
They couldn't let the same thing happen to their new partner, too. Not to mention them being a diamond.
Maybe they should--
"Hello? Senpai?"
Speak of the devil.
"Yes, come in."
Yellow hasn't said anything yet, but judging by the guilty look on their face and the way they hung their head low, gaze not meeting the older gem's, Zircon already knew what was bound to happen.
"I'm sorry."
There it is.
Zircon's used to apologies.
Most of the time it's because the other person pities them.
"It's okay." They resisted the urge to add the words, I get that a lot.
Yellow seemed relieved. Right when Zircon thought they were about to leave, Yellow's voice almost startled the older gem.
"Do you want me to... comb your hair?"
Zircon's eyes widened, when they noticed that their hair wasn't as neat as they thought. It's completely mussed all over, probably from when they were lying in their bed.
"Actually! I don't care what you say. I'm gonna do it anyway," Yellow beamed, before heading inside Zircon's room and producing a comb out of seemingly thin hair.
They started running the comb through the older gem's hair, earning a hiss every now and then from the little knots.
Strangely enough, Zircon feels warm inside.
Strangely enough, Zircon feels comfort and light.
Strangely enough, Zircon doesn't want this to end.
Strangely enough, Zircon is reminded of the old days again.