Work Text:
Chapter 1: Modest Reader
As it’s said among us lustrous, we are unable to give up on anything. Our inclusions are so hard-wired not to die that they work to put us together. That’s what my superior says, anyway. We all find different things important, and I like to pen ideas so they’re not lost after some of us are taken to the moon and others are forgetful.
Lapis Lazuli skimmed through a book quickly, holding their arm under their heavy hair. This eased the weight on their head and helped them focus. It was a force of habit, really. But what was even more of a force of habit was becoming swallowed in their own world whenever they read. Ghost Quartz, unaware of Lapis’ distraction, stood in front of them, quietly speaking for what seemed to be a while before Lapis caught wind of the situation. They snapped their attention upward to their partner standing before them, looming above because of Lapis being lounged in a chair.
“Ghost?” Lapis wondered aloud, “You were speaking here?”
“Yes, Lapis.” The double-structured gem replies, tilting their head a bit in endearment… or perhaps amusement. They seemed to cheer up with Lapis being so… Lapis. “I was telling you about something I heard from the others. They described a strange event with the lunarians. It was apparently quite shocking to see.”
“What could it have possibly been?” Lapis inquired.
“Inside of the main lunarian, there was a trap made of one of our fallen. If memory serves… A column rose up and Aquamarine spikes spun about, swiftly shattering all who came into contact.”
“I imagine it would have been so devastating as a result of the hardness of Aquamarine.” Lapis speculated, certain that more than half of their population was below that of beryl’s.
Ghost nodded along with what Lapis had to say. “Yes… It caused multiple to be broken, but Sensei saved them. I’m glad we’re in his care.”
Lapis hesitated at that. For some reason, Sensei… wasn’t someone Lapis was a fan of. Steadfast Lapis valued mind over matter, and knowledge over the love and care of their Sensei. The way that this leader of theirs kept his cards close and revealed nothing to the gems made Lapis very irritated. They could deduct that anyone could obviously realize that Sensei was suspicious, but would put the thought away because of their love... Or, simply because living in a society without Sensei at its very core would prove fruitless and fall apart quickly. Lapis was aware of this, too, but they couldn’t stand withheld information. They would rather he be open, reveal the knowledge he possessed and distribute it amongst all gems.
“I’m glad as well,” Lapis said regardless, holding that same smile they usually do. With Ghost there, living a life of blissful ignorance, Lapis considered their gentle temperament and the possibility that Ghost could crack under the pressure of suspicion. Maybe quite literally. “Hey, are you interested in another reading session, Ghost?”
Ghost’s expression seemed to perk up at that. Whatever solemn news they shared before seemed a thing of the past, utterly forgotten despite how recent it occurred. “Yes… I am eager.”
Lapis tilted their head, turning their gaze to the hair that covered Ghost’s eye, where their inner phantom shone easily.
“What about you?”
Something inside of Ghost squirmed a bit, excited at the mention of themself being acknowledged. Being a real presence to Lapis was all that they could ask for. As if Lapis saw them for them. They seized the chance to talk, stuttering slightly, since they didn’t get the chance often and they weren’t quite used to it.
“W-well, yes. I wouldn’t mind.” they mumbled.
Lapis clasped their hands together, glad that the black gem inside Ghost added their input. Lapis felt that everyone should have a chance at presenting what they had to say. It’s what caused Lapis to feel they had all information possible at hand. Plus, lapis knew how dreadful ego death was. Their dearest Ghost definitely didn’t mean to, but they removed their inside’s inclusion in anything at any opportunity. Ghost figured them to be a nuisance. Lapis could definitely feel that if they were glued to someone for some reason— maybe a cruel and accidental mishap from Emerald— they certainly wouldn’t get along well with them either. Still, they held a profound empathy— no, it makes more sense to be sympathetic— for that inner gem. Lapis couldn’t easily place why. While mulling that thought over, they flipped open a book sitting beside their chair to the last spot they left off. It wasn’t hard for Lapis to memorize the number at all. Ghost sat before them on their own knees. And with that, their story began.
The young gem with a twin identical to their own self, but of a slightly different constitution, were the greatest pair from that point onward. Sensei applauded them for their teamwork and ability to accept each others’ differences. Their names were Garnet and Pyrope.
Pyrope bore the left sword, one that curved in a way that couldn’t be mimicked to the right sword, but still symmetrical. They kept their sword curled closer to them, for they were more reserved. They held the responsibility to break the oncoming barrage of arrows.
Garnet bore the right sword, the one that curled the other way, but couldn’t be turned the other way to mimic the left sword. They held their sword far from themself, eager to turn it against the wind and hear the swoop’s sound. They held the responsibility to slash the lunarians straight through their soft matter.
But Pyrope without Garnet was sure to fail. They fended an endless sea of arrows with no means to stop it. Eventually, they would slip up. Their mistake left them in many shiny pink pieces.
And Garnet without Pyrope could hardly keep a fight for long. They couldn’t hold out against the onslaught of arrows that slew relentlessly. Their lack of defense left them in many shiny red pieces.
Pyrope and Garnet were practically joined at the hip. They hardly went places without each other. Their differences actually made their different view of things diverting. Pyrope viewed the beaches as a place to lean back and take a chance to have much-needed rest, where Garnet found themself investigating each shore for things that could have washed up. Garnet slept through hibernation easily, and was awakened with great difficulty, where Pyrope, who often dutied themself quite a lot, woke themself forcefully at a moment’s notice. Garnet was the kind to ignore little cracks, where Pyrope forced Garnet to go to the doctor so they would be in top-shape for battle. These sorts of differences made them valuable to each other, and they couldn’t imagine life without the other.
One day, a difficult pattern of lunarians appeared, and they destroyed it quickly when they shouldn’t have. But, they couldn’t have possibly known the risks. Pyrope watched in horror as Garnet, who was up there to destroy the lunarians, was sealed inside the vessel and sped to join the two others that had recently closed. They weren’t the only one to be captured, but Pyrope was left without the one thing that they deemed precious. Less than a week later, Pyrope was captured as well.
Ghost held their hands to their face, feeling sorrow. They began to consider many different things they hadn’t thought of before. It was clear that some internal monologue was happening.
To tell a grave secret of Lapis’s… This book wasn’t a real one. They were the one who wrote its stories, and they told them to Ghost to try and influence their way of thinking. It would take them being broken and taken to the moon before Lapis would let them find out. And as Ghost was left despairing, wondering about their own forsaken situation, Lapis laid their gloved hands on Ghost’s shoulders, and then started stroking their hair with their right. Ghost’s shivering stopped, and Lapis gave them a warm, comforting smile.
“Did you start feeling as if that would happen to you? Worry not. It would take a great deal of force to separate you two. You are both quite lucky, in my opinion.” Lapis said, their voice as smooth as silvery poison. “I would even go so far as to say that you two are inseparable, and need each others’ presence. Think about it, Ghost… without your inner phantom, you would be unable to defend yourself. Maybe even a little shier than usual!”
Ghost began to reflect on this, wondering how spineless— that’s an expression, they all don’t have spines— they would be without their little tough gem inside giving them the courage they needed sometimes.
“And, little phantom, let me try to imagine what you would look like outside Ghost for a moment…” A black gem resembling Ghost… Lapis wondered if they would possess the same saddened eyes or gain a different kind of personality with independence. “Why, you wouldn’t be sure how to act, I’m sure. Ghost certainly does keep you under reins. What sort of gem would be so impulsive?” Lapis laughed to themself at the thought.
“Regardless… you are a very kind gem, just very quiet, little phantom. I encourage you to speak out more, and follow that intuition you have. I’m certain it’s actually quite guided.”
Ghost made a sort of shocked face that seemed to be their phantom. This kind of recognition only ever came from Lapis. Wherever else they went, it was nothing like that. Lapis was the kind of gem that saw them for who they were. And they were greatly calmed whenever Lapis read to them, the same as Ghost. The both of them could never sense that this was all an elaborate lie to keep them getting along. Lapis was the kind of gem to keep secrets under a clever smile for centuries.
“Why don’t you both think about that? I’m thinking of checking the medical wing to see what sort of casualty the contraption caused. Emerald should be in the midst of putting them together, no?” Lapis asked, closing their book with a satisfying sigh and placing it to the side of their reading chair again. Ghost nodded, Lapis stood, and they began to take the journey together back to the medical wing. Alexandrite and Chrysoberyl passed them, as did Yellow and Green. At the end of their walk, they spotted Emerald quickly repairing a damaged Rutile. Padparadscha was perched at the window, their leg up on the edge with the other reclined at the floor. They seemed to be watching the way that Emerald worked on their partner, despite the difficulty of being awake in this level of light— It was nearly evening, why would they stay awake?
“Padpa—?” Lapis quickly interjected without meaning to. It seemed to snap Padpa out of their daze and pay attention to the pair walking into the wing. It even briefly distracted Emerald from their work, even though they diligently returned to what they were doing. Lapis waited for Padparadscha to give permission to continue speaking. Somehow, they felt like they needed to, since they just interrupted.
“What’s up, Lazuli?” Lazuli was a name Lapis wasn’t too fond of, somehow. Definitely not to their taste. However, they figured that their superior should be given the ability to call them whichever they pleased. If it were any other gem, they really wouldn’t let the nickname fly.
“Your condition… You staying here in this dim light is sure to cause you to black out, correct?” Lapis asked with a tilt of their head, concerned for their superior’s safety. It was quite a difficult subject for Lapis. A strange instance where their emotions got the betterment of their logic. There wasn’t any benefit to act out of turn and wonder why Padparadscha was acting so riskily with their limits being quite set. Padparadscha wasn’t a part of their team anymore, and Lapis could act how Lapis pleased. Regardless, this strange obligation to do things that didn’t make sense to their logic seized their own consciousness. Maybe this is how Ghost feels…
Padparadscha, regardless, looked fond of Lapis’ concern for them. Padpa knew how Lapis acted, and this sort of care for another gem wasn’t the Lapis that Padpa had gotten to know, either.
“I’m flattered you care so. But, I want to ensure that Rutile could hear my apology when they wake. I’ll simply brave the weakness.” Padparadcha was always like that. Lapis knew this, too. Willing to be a strong, tough, immovable force. This angered Lapis in some regards. They were acting foolish and not putting their own needs first, over a little apology. What Padpa did couldn’t have been that bad, Lapis knew.
“What do you mean? Why would you even want to apologize to Rutile?” Lapis inquired with a bit of temper to their tone.
“During that incident today, the one I’m sure quiet little Ghost told you, Rutile was nearly snatched away. And during that time, I was nearly not able to save them. Despite my constitution being tougher and harder than beryl’s—” They trailed off, looking at one of their hands clenching around an invisible sword, “I still haven’t been in my top shape, and I nearly let Rutile go. It would have been very difficult to overcome that feeling. And I wanted Rutile to know that it wasn’t something I intended.”
Lapis thought this speech unbecoming of the best fighter this generation’s gems had to offer. None of the diamonds possessed this same durability and attack power. Even Green. Padpa was the best, yet they had sunk so low with their condition that they felt the need to compensate for it in other ways. Lapis pitied their superior, the one they shared a good friendship with before Rutile was ready to fight. Lapis thought of their past with Padparadscha, then gazed upon the needle-fine fibers of Rutile that were being placed into their original spots. Lapis then turned on their heel, and left, with Ghost following behind. All Padparadscha got from them was a simple “Have it your way.”
Ghost, naturally, was confused with Lapis’ erratic behavior. They knew that Lapis and Padpa had a past of working together, but knew nothing of the details. Lapis seemed angry with Padparadscha, even going so far as to huff every few minutes while thinking over the conversation obsessively, but what Lapis commanded Ghost to help them with was a little contradictory to how Lapis earlier acted. ‘If Padparadscha is going to act this way,’ Lapis trudged through their words with another huff to their speech, ‘Then fine. Collect all the bowls with jellyfish from my room and my reading section of the library.’
Ghost couldn’t help but ponder what caused this sort of difficult feeling between Lapis and Padpa. But at the moment, Lapis was fuming too much for Ghost to really find any opportunity to ask. They only internally went over their questions to themself with their newfound partner that Lapis helped them consider. One that previously had no voice, but now provides their opinions and thoughts. It was quite pleasing to realize. Lapis had helped them once again, truly.
Ghost was given strict instructions, and while executing them, Ghost began a conversation with their gem nestled inside themself.
Senior Padparadscha surely is an interesting person, huh? Ghost asked.
It seems like they’re hiding something deeper than I can understand. Don’t you get the same feeling? The inner gem responded clearly.
I do. Lapis probably knows that, too, actually. They’re good at picking up details I usually miss. Maybe that’s why Lapis was most cross with the Senior. Ghost mentioned, the bowl they picked up from beside Lapis changing its glow from a deep blue to a gray for the hue of Ghost and the black gem inside them both. Jellyfish seem to get excited at the appearance of lustrous, and offer a happy greeting for the both of them. Lapis sat in their usual reading chair. However, they weren’t reading. They sat there with an intense expression, twirling their hair about with haste and visible thought behind their distracted eyes. Lapis being so distracted by their feelings wasn’t uncommon, but their thoughts were too much of a mystery to Ghost. They seemed frustrated about some sort of dynamic between themself and Padpa, but them thinking for so long about a one-off encounter was strange. Ghost went to pick up another bowl and set it on top of the ones they were currently holding. They whispered sincere and gentle apology to the jellyfish inside whose vision would become temporarily obscured as a bowl was placed atop their residence.
It feels strange that Lapis hasn’t told us much about how they and Senior Padparadscha were, other than how they partnered up before to have Lapis learn from the Senior. The phantom inside began to wonder, and this sort of double-thought within Ghost’s mind felt as if they’d unlocked a facet to their psyche that hadn't been thought possible before. A section without use suddenly whirring into a grand symphony alongside Ghost’s own line of thinking. They seemed to share notes in a sense.
I actually never noticed that. Somehow, I forgot to wonder about it. Lapis never really made any sort of significant thing of it before now. What do you suppose made Lapis so angry from Senior Padparadscha’s reactions? Ghost added their own input and takeaways.
I’d get mad if someone broke a promise or started acting really weird all of a sudden, maybe. Or was obviously lying. Or made someone upset. Or made me upset. The inside of Ghost speculated and considered the possibility of each one. Each somehow made sense with how Lapis was reacting, but also didn’t. All that that phantom and Ghost knew as they walked down the long corridor was that in order to properly figure out what Lapis could have reacted so adversely to would be to know what past Lapis Lazuli and Padparadscha held.
…
Padparadscha fought the urge to nod off. With all of their might, which almost was agonizing to them. They knew their body wasn’t built to withstand this sort of strain. They began to realize more and more recently the actual toll that their condition was taking on them. It was getting harder to wake up in the mornings. They fought to stay awake even when it wasn’t dark. It was just especially difficult when it was. Their alertness and awareness of the space around them dulled significantly. And the last time they had a blackout, it lasted two years. Spent these two years from their life sleeping involuntarily. It had never been that difficult to wake up. What within them caused this slowing? It only reminded them of how the birds matured and eventually died. They slowed down until they reached an endless sleep. This application to age wasn’t something any lustrous was familiar with. The blossoming then wilting of a beautiful flower from spring to fall. Something like this was a weird thought. Not being able to repair to see the time span onward after their breakage. The more this thought became familiar to Padparadscha, the more they felt the need to speak up and prevent their oncoming sleep.
“Emerald,” Padparascha began to speak. “Do you think I need to head to my room and get rest, too?”
Emerald paused in their reparation of the reddened brown and metallic yellow gem laying upon their table. Their shape was beginning to form, but it sure did take a while. The contraption made of their companion Aquamarine absolutely shredded the pieces of Rutile. They were all lucky that Rutile was the only one, but it was quite devastating damage to repair. Emerald pondered about the thought that they were sure that Aquamarine would protest the idea of being used to hurt their friends. Emerald remembered Aquamarine’s friendly personality, and that both saddened and relieved them a bit.
“I think…” Emerald began calmly, keeping a sort of unbiased standpoint to their mind as they tried to find what they actually thought of Padpa’s actions. “I think you could use as much rest as you can get. I know you go at great lengths for any cause you commit to, but who can do that for you if you cannot take it easy every once in a while?” They tried to provide practical, logical, and emotional reasoning in their stance. Usually they wouldn’t have to think very hard to provide their input, but Emerald was quite distracted thinking about the use of their friend’s remains.
“I suppose you’re right. But, I guess in the meantime I can divert my attention to training the younger gems again. That way, the next generation can be prepared to defend in my stead.” Padparadscha thought about this fondly, closing their eyes and leaning their head onto their hand’s palm. Imagining that future…
A future that while their black world waged on, the gems enjoyed their sun without much fear of lunarians. No fear of their consciousness suddenly stopping. Padparadscha was beginning to become acquainted with the thought of what applies to mortals as death. Padparadscha imagined a group of gems running through the grass, tasting the cleanest light with no sunspots to block their vision. Maybe they would invent more ways to spend their time, like Lapis with their reading and writing. Harmless games or parties with Sensei. Maybe singing would become popular. All this happened while Padparadscha’s vision turned into a deeper and deeper black, and the awareness of their body remained completely blank. Their body could be put aside in their room until there was no space for them. Then, they could be carried into the convalescent center. Maybe their body would be more useful there.
Padparadscha’s consciousness faded back in before it was too late for their consciousness at all. Suddenly, without sensing a presence, they had lots of bowls sitting along the windowsill they were perched upon. Not a trace, no feeling of any gem having been here. Padparadscha looked a bit confused, then looked at Emerald, who also just realized what had happened. Emerald scratched their curly hair a bit, looking around and trying to see a gem who was walking away, but they couldn’t find anything. Padpa looked into the bowl as the jellyfish turned from a gray to a lotus color, and realized that it must have just been a ghost.