Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"How did we end up in this mess?"

"NO! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED?!"

"Well we did recently finish the restoration efforts."

"What, so gems used to pop out of the ground randomly?! No diamonds, no injectors no nothing?!"

"Maybe. The more important question is: what do we do now?"

"… I… heard of this thing other species do. It's called uh. Parenting."

"Parenting?"

"You look after a younger member of your species until they can take care of themselves. You teach them, mentor them… love them."

"Peri…"

"I'M JUST SAYING IT SEEMED KINDA NICE"

"I agree."

"Huh?"

"That sounds… really nice."

"Who are you and what have you done to my Rhodonite."

"You know I am capable of agreeing with you."

"Sure you are."

"It's better than her getting everything from Homeworld the moment she's born. Maybe I'll even agree on a name."

"Name?"

"Do you know what gem that is?"

"Of course not. If it's really what we think it's older than anything on the records or tablets. At best, it looks like Kyanite."

"So think of a name. Maybe a non-gem name, for once."

"Right… I heard this one a while back…"

"Is it good? What is it?"

"… Nora. Yeah. Nora of Darkworld."

"… I like it."

…

"How long do they stay small?"

Chapter Text

Nora, the sickly grey gem, stared at the plug to the microwave, followed by the outlet on the wall, a sight punctuated by all the out of power lights in the kitchen.

"MOM!"

"WHAT?!" A yell in response, from the ceiling of their home.

"Why do our things even use outlets, why can't they just have a battery, we certainly can do it."

Nora's first mom, Peri hung from cables near the top of the ceiling, several tools floating near her as she worked on the grid. "It's called User Experience, Nora, something that some inventors forgot the value of!"

"… Are you still mad about the new Homeworld ships?"

"YES! STATIC FIELD CONTROLS, WHO DOES THAT?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH BUTTONS AND LEVERS AND FLIPPY SWITCHES?!"

Nora's mom is very passionate about technology, and has a particular disdain for the ridiculous designs of Homeworld, and their sheer hostility to the gems that use them.

"Uuugh." Nora hit her head on the counter. "My tablet ran out of battery…"

"How? It should last like a week."

"It's been a week."

"… tsk. That's a low point. That's definitely a low point for me." Peri let out a yell of frustration, now that the length of her efforts had set in. "I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG! Come on baby, talk to me."

She's talking to the energy grid again…

Nora is a frail gem. Ever since she popped out of the ground, she's had to be extra careful with everything. She's prone to getting hurt, and thus poofing.

The first time was scary. She had no idea what to do, and ended up taking days to figure it out, even with her moms trying to guide her through it.

If she could at least do something it'd be a little less infuriating. Her mom can control metals with her mind and her other mom can set herself ablaze!

What can she do?

Well. She can use one of the portable chargers. After a whole week, they had to make do. Asking the neighbors is a little awkward.

Despite whatever's been wrong with their house for a week now, it's not all bad. They do have a sweet Gate, letting them go to rooms specially designed to their interests. It really does pay to be war heroes.

Peri's room is filled with thingamabobs doodads and dohickeys she could tinker with. She's also recently taken a liking to carpentry after having to build a house for Nora.

Rhodonite's room was… simple. She is an archaeologist, and instead of cool gem dinosaurs it's just filled with bookshelves front-to-back with all the research she and her peers accumulated over the years.

Nora's room… technically exists. She just can't open it. The door doesn't recognize her gem.

She doesn't exactly blame it. She needs two mirrors to even see it, since it's on her back, and it looks nothing like any other gem they've ever seen. There's no cut, it looks like a block of cloudy glass, it's assymetrical, grey just like her. There's no way the Gate can recognize that.

Well. Another day that ends with y.

She heard the warp pad activating, so her other mom Rhodonite probably arrived from whatever she was doing away from home.

They were chatting about something, but Nora wasn't paying attention, just absentmindedly fidgeting with the microwave's plug.

At this point she's not even sure what she wants it for. It probably started as a real desire to heat something up but she can't remember anymore.

…

She used to be able to fit four fingers between the prongs of the plug. Now it's just the single one.

Gems don't usually grow like she does. She was a "baby" when she came out, barely knowing how to crawl, and grew in size, and learned things along the years. Gems don't do that. They come out fully formed, already knowing what to do, and being very aware of their abilities.

Actually… that's not exactly true. Her mom Peri didn't know she could control metal before arriving at Darkworld (she was stuck there for a while before joining). New gems don't know as much about themselves as Homeworld wants them to think.

Maybe she's just rushing this.

BEEP

The microwave turned on. The soft light of the timer was waiting for someone to input what time of day it was.

Did the power come back, finally?

… Wait that doesn't make sense, Nora's holding the plug in her

In her hands.

…

"mooooooOOOOOOOOOM!"

"Anyway, no dice with the house?"

"Don't even get me started. It's like the entire thing is shortcircuiting at once, and I can't find out why!"

"MOMOMOMOMOMOMOM!"

Peri and Rhodonite watched as Nora used every ounce of her strength to carry the microwave to the warp room. She nearly set it down too harshly.

"Goodness that's heavy…"

"Careful there. Why are carrying that thing around?"

Nora answered out of breath. "Just… just watch."

Plug in her hand, she pressed her thumb on the prongs.

Beep.

Let go.

The light turned off

Pressing it again.

Beep.

Let go again.

The light turned off.

…

"NORA!" Green mom Peridot grabbed her daughter and held her high in the air. "YOU DID IT! YOU FOUND YOUR POWERS! Is that why you're so tired?"

Like she would when she was even younger, Nora's face was flushed with red. "N-no, I don't even feel it!"

"Hoo, must be pretty strong if that's the case! Then again, it is just the light right now- we can figure it out!"

Nora raised both hands for her. "Take my voltage!"

After a moment to process what was asked: "Right away!" a voltmeter came floating in, tapping Nora's palms with the positive and negative probes.

…

Peri seemed confused. "Huh."

"What is it?"

"It just says error…"

"What does that mean?"

"It means it's more complicated than just a single number." Red mom Rhodonite approached her daughter. "You are a gem after all, this tech is probably not suited for whatever energy you put out."

Peridot realized something at that moment. "Hang on." And set Nora down, before kneeling down to the ground.

She touched the floor with the positive and negative probes.

It had a charge.

"Am I doing that?"

"No. I mean, I don't know, but what I do know: the floor is not insulated."

…

"WELP!" A circular saw flew into Peri's hand, and protective goggles formed over her eyes. "Back to the drawing board!"

Rhodonite and Nora watched her go at the floor as she began impromptu renovations on their house.

She placed a hand on her daughter's back. "Wanna go camping and leave your mom to her work?"

"Hells yeah."

Chapter Text

"Tents?"

"Check."

"Sleeping bags?"

"Check!"

"Fire starting tools?"

"… Can't you set yourself on fire?"

"Yes."

…

"Electronic devices to test out Nora's new power!"

"CHECK!"

Warp pads take a bit to get used to. If you're not ready for the sudden weightlessness you might find yourself tumbling. Besides that, the fast movement can throw you off, and you might miss your stop.

It is less finicky than Gates. Warp pads actually know Nora is a gem.

Darkworld doesn't have nearly as comprehensive a Warp network as Homeworld, being mostly relagated to the free worlds.

Worlds that Homeworld overlooked. Worlds they abandoned before they could destroy it. Worlds fought long and hard for during the war. Worlds in neutral zones.

And moons. They always ignore the moons.

They're not going anywhere near those places. Yet. Instead, they warped to one of the many islands in Darkworld's ocean.

Why does Darkworld have an ocean? Because it is a half-size replica of Homeworld's original conditions, before gem production degraded it beyond recognition, and it had oceans.

Makes sense when you realize that the first Lazulis were made in Homeworld.

And "This island is one of my favorites." It was one of Rhodonite's favorites. "This place is how we found out that Homeworld had oceans in the past!"

"R-really?" Nora's backpack was unreasonably heavy. "How?"

"I'll show later today. First things first, we set up camp."

"Okay!"

With a clearing found (probably made before), they set up a tent. It took a while since they didn't bring instructions, and it ended up a little crooked.

Immediately, Rhodonite took out a simple flashlight and took out the cover on the back. Nora poked the battery compartment and

It turned on.

That's not that impressive, and Nora wanted to figure out just how far this power coupd go, so she quickly pulled out the non-portable kettle.

"You sure, this thing takes quite a bit."

"I can take it."

Fiery determination in her eyes, facing the most intense challenge of her life since history class. She prepared herself, physcially spiritually and mentally…

Grabbed an outlet and flipped a switch.

…

…

…

It's

Boiling.

"Feeling anything?"

"Not at all."

"Woah." The kettle finished with a click, and Rhodonite grabbed it. "Well I'll be damned."

She dumped the entire boiling kettle on her head. Like an instant sauna, she immediately relaxed.

"You know what this means, Nora? If you didn't even feel that, your powers must be pretty strong."

"Finally."

"Finally indeed."

How important Nora's powers are, was the biggest point of contention between her moms. Peridot thought it didn't matter if she had powers, but Rhodonite couldn't help but notice how much not having them was affecting Nora.

Now that they're here, it's a moot point.

"It's getting dark."

Peridot will tell you that neither Homeworld nor Darkworld have wood. Its flora, trees specifically, is composed of an entirely different material, with several different properties and uses.

Almost everyone else will call it wood, and make campfires anyway.

Rhodonite has done it before, learning through trial and error, having gotten the hang of fire starting and, to Nora's frustration, never using her power for it.

When the fire finally caught, she had about enough. "You could've done that much faster with your powers."

"I could have."

"… So why didn't you?"

"Same reason I studied gem archaeology. Are you ready for a history lesson?"

"Oh god."

Rhodonite chuckled. "See that?" She pointed towards the top of a hill at the edge of the island. At the very top, was a worn down lighthouse. "That is the oldest standing gem structure we have ever found."

"Woah…"

"This entire island and the surrounding ocean is filled with our history. For the most part, the closer to the island you get, the older they are. What does that mean?"

"That… the ocean receded?"

"Correct. But gems aren't allowed to know that. Because gem society is held to an absurd standard, and this is an "ugly" part of history that's beneath them, and best left forgotten according to them.

"Ugly and beneath them… same with little skills, like making a campfire. I could have taken the easy route, and just lit it on fire, but then I wouldn't have found out how to make a proper campfire in the first place.

"Also, my flames aren't nearly this nice."

"I like your flames."

"I appreciate it. But feel them, Nora."

Reluctantly, Nora followed her mom's directions, holding her hands towards the fire and closing her eyes.

Letting the warmth engulf her, she started to notice things. She could feel the movement of the flames. Their crackling overtook the ambience of the forest.

The cold night wind breezed past Nora, clashing against the fire's warmth.

Breath in.

Despite being made of light, the warmth flooded her whole body.

Breathe out.

"Woah. That's…"

"Grounding?"

"Yeah…"

"Live in the real, not in your own head. That's what our founder Nova used to say, and I take it to heart."

Of all gems that are no longer with them, the founder of Darkworld was the one Nora wished she could meet the most.

"Am I named after her?"

"Of course not. Your mom heard it somewhere."

"Did she hear someone mispronounce Nova as Nora and just used that?"

…

"I can neither confirm or deny."

"Come ooooon!"

"I'm not sure. I hope that's not where she got it…"

…

"The tower on the hill. What was it for?"

Rhodonite lay down on the grass. "No idea."

"HUH?"

"Thing's busted and won't open."

"Can't you just like, break it open?"

"… Nora. What do you think archaeology is?"

"You know. Temples. Dungeons. Relics."

Pft- "No! Archaeology is about putting together history! I'm not gonna destroy the oldest gem structure we know of so we know how it ticks, that's highly irresponsible! And disrespectful! It's important to preserve our artifacts and sites, and if we can't do that, we shouldn't study it.

"For now… we can only hope we can find a way to get it to open without damaging it…"

Hm…

"Welp. G'night Nora."

Ever since it turned out that Nora needed to sleep, her parents have occasionally humored the concept, often finding themselves out cold before they realized.

It's a good way to pass the time, process information, and, mostly importantly of all, fight against sensory overloads. Peridot got that a lot.

Tonight though, Nora had a hunch.

If that thing's really old, and she's the first natural gem in eons… that means natural gems are really old, and maaaybe the thing will open for her!

Either something like that, or it's out of power and Nora will just restore it. One of those two.

She really hopes it's the first one.

The tower was way farther than she thought, and as it would turn out, it was also way bigger than she expected. Black Diamond could increase her size quite a bit in there.

Or rather… stop shrinking herself.

There was an entrance, facing the rest of the island, with a panel of some kind to the right. It looked really beat down and extremely old.

In fact, the oldest still standing gem structure, as Rhodonite said. But why this one? The way her mom just talked about Homeworld it's not like they'd leave this still standing.

Oh well.

Nora doesn't know how this works, so she just slapped her hand where the handprint was.

It glowed a dim red.

"That's… weird. And the door didn't open, COME ON!"

Nora slammed the panel with her fist, which turned out yo hurt a lot more than she expected. Unbeknownst to her, that terminal functions by receiving signals from the gem, sent through their hard light body into their hand, and then to the terminal, and Nora just so happened to send the correct signal to open the door.

Of course, someone from the outside would've just heard

THUMP

"OW!"

swish

"IT WORKED!

"Violence solves my problems once again!"

A mere instant before Nora could step in, she remembered what her mom said about preserving ancient sites.

Instead of going in, she got her flashlight out, and looked in.

"Oh." The walls all had carvings of giant women. "Diamond stuff. Of course Homeworld didn't tear this down. That's disappointing."

"Nora."

"EEK!"

Rhodonite was right behind her. "Did you open it?"

"W-well, I thought that if it's really old and gems like me are really old then I thought, y'know, maybe-"

Rhodonite robotically picked up her daughter, and patted her on the head. The act could be misconstrued for all kinds of things. But in truth

"I need to get my stuff."

She was trying not to lose her mind from sheer excitement.

The next day, after studying the site with all the proper protocol, and, in their properly insulated home, Peridot and Nora got a multiple hours long presentation on Rhodonite's new findings.

"AND THAT IS MY THESIS ON WHAT THAT TOWER WAS USED FOR!"

They didn't catch most of it, but the excitement was contagious.

Chapter Text

Peridot's room, aka workshop, is where she can invent whatever she wants and the only person who can be caught in the explosions is her.

Today, it was used to test the limits of Nora's powers.

Start small. Like a laser pistol that Peri scrapped because she didn't like the shape.

“BLAM!”

Nora missed the target completely, but it did fire! The energy output is nothing to scoff at. It'd probably do some damage to a gem's form.

Which makes it a bit surprising that she could make it function. “Well, next.”

Force field generator. A little box you carry around for swift self security.

It engulfed Nora in a bubble without a sweat.

“Woah. Looks just like our bubbles, mom.”

“Why yes!” Peri seized an opportunity to babble. “It is actually based on the abilities of Pink Diamond! I was most interested in her ability to encase gems in defensive bubbles.”

“Wait.” Nora shut off the bubble. “Have you met her?”

“Nah. We just tune in when they make an empire-wide announcement. Come to think of it, they haven't done it in a while…”

…

"Nora what are you doing?"

She was focusing very hard. "I'm trying to make it form around my fist…"

"Yeah I don't think that's how that works."

They tried a power drill. Turned on just fine.

They upped the RPM to 600 and attached heli blades to the tip.

Nora lifted off the ground before Peri stopped it.

Peri's modified pressure washer with no pressure limit.

The left the thin nozzle on, and the water ended up slicing through a part of the ground.

It was starting to get concerning.

They tried a manned drill unit Peri used to study the planet's composition during the restoration efforts.

It's got AC, long distance radio, withstands temperatures and pressures up to the planet's core (not anymore though), ground sonar, a claw to collect samples, three drill arms for maneuverability, and it runs minesweeper-

"Mom."

"Sorry, got lost in thought, what's going on?"

"It's not turning on."

They had a setup where they removed the battery, and Nora would just press a button inside, and it would turn on. But it didn't.

"Oh. Oh! Marvelous! A limitation! I can work with that! We can work down from here to find you-"

SLAM

Nora slammed the controls of the drill unit.

The engine engaged.

"Ha-hey, it worked!"

The tank tires it was fitted with started screeching. The drill bit started spinning rapidly.

"Oooooh, crapbaskets." Peri knew her creation, and knew that this was bad news.

The drill unit took off on its own, and Nora knew absolutely nothing about the contols to stop it.

Before Peri managed to react to its speed, higher than she expected, it already crashed into a pile of scrap.

Peri managed to catch up by riding one of those pieces of scrap, putting herself in front of the drill unit. With the wave of a hand, the entire thing lifted into the air, the tires spinning uselessly.

"Nora." She floated right next to the entrance, where Nora was trying to step out. "Nora sweetie I'm here."

The very instant she stepped onto the platform, the entire drill unit shut down at once.

Peri's control over metal is incredibly precise. She can keep them steady without much effort, even if it's an unusual shape.

That's how she knew for certain that it was indeed Nora shaking in her arms, and not the platform below them.

The floating drill unit in front of her… it's not supposed to work that way. They were supposed to try things slowly, one by one, until Nora started to feel some kind of drain.

It's not supposed to move on its own, and the drill has very precise controls over how fast it spins, and which direction, and there's no way Nora was using those.

Her biggest clue… was that the engine was smoking. It'd take every single system working at max capacity for that to happen.

"I…"

"Shh, it's okay sweetheart, it's not your fault."

"I didn't feel anything."

!!!

Every single system being overloaded. The engine burning up. All of that, and nothing.

The first natural gem in eons, the one that poofs so easily, who has to sleep several hours a day to function… can do all this, and not even notice it.

"Concerning."

"YOU THINK?!"

Suffice to say, Nora was spent. It's not every day that she's in danger and doesn't even end up poofed to compose herself for a bit.

At this point, she just wants to lay down in bed and wait for the day to end.

Unfortunately she's got an appointment. It's a relatively new thing called "therapy". It started at some point when Black Diamond didn't leave her ship for months on end, and people started to get concerned.

The same gem that reached out to her that day, and helped her through that time of her life, is now helping Nora through this part of her life.

Her name was Padparadscha.

"Hey Paddy." But her friends call her Paddy.

"Hello Nora! How was your week?"

There wasn't a delay in the connection or anything like that. There was only a delay in how Padparadscha perceived reality. Past vision and all that.

"It was pretty good. Finally fixed the blackout. Went camping with my mom. Did you see her new paper? I opened that tower for her."

"That's wonderful! Does that mean your powers have appeared?"

"… Yup."

"I predict you're rather uneasy about this."

Her ability to catch the important details that others might miss is what makes her so good to talk to. Also her awareness on what to say, that helps too.

"So, I guess I'm like… really powerful? That doesn't feel right."

"Did you want to be weaker?"

"No? Y-yes? I- I don't think you know the level I'm talking about. I overloaded my mom's drill unit! That thing's dug through the planet over and over but I broke it!"

"Well, I live near Black Diamond's jogging route, I think I have a pretty good idea on what "powerful" means."

"… Okay, I'm not that powerful. It's just… I've never been in danger because I caused the danger. I mean, what if my mom had gotten hurt?! And and all of this right away?! That can't be normal. My mom always tells me the story of learning she could control metal and how bad she was at first, why am I different?!"

"I see…"

…

"Nora. I also was created with my full power."

"What?"

"They have stayed exactly the same as they have always been. I just know how to use them better, like how I'm doing right now, and yes, they were dangerous too, same as yours. If you're worried about them doing something you don't want them to, you need to learn to control them."

"Is that really possible?"

"One way or another, I'm sure it is. I think you're being too harsh on yourself. No matter how "powerful" you are, you should try to take things slow, at your own pace and comfort.

"No matter what, don't push your powers aside just because they're scary right now. They're a part of you, if you accept them, you'll have a better handle on them."

"… Thanks Paddy. I'll try."

"Love yourself. You got this, Nora."

She didn't even need to "predict" Nora's answer before deciding to say that. In fact, she probably decided to say that before the session even started.

"Anything you have in mind this week?"

"Well, me and my moms have been talking, and they're gonna let me go on an expedition to one of the free worlds. Alone. Er, without them."

"Woah. Is this your first time leaving Darkworld?"

"Yup! I'm pretty excited! There'll be plenty of other gems there, it'll be really safe."

"Looking forward to hear how it went next week."

"Aw, is today's session already over?"

"You did arrive really late."

"Oh."

Chapter Text

A full packed bag of goodies, a massive ship to carry everyone going on this expedition, since their warp network couldn't handle all these gems at once.

At last…

A real ship! Outside Darkworld! All on her own!

She was so bad at containing her excitement that she was bouncing up and down. It was so palpable she heard someone say "Didn't know we had a Spinel on board!" to which Nora only answered with a squeal and running to the windows.

Looking at the stars like this doesn't even compare to seeing them on solid ground. The curve in the front of the ship encompassed her entire field of view, like being enveloped by the whole universe.

The great vastness can be scary to some, but Nora found it… attractive is not the right word, but it felt right. If it wasn't incredibly dangerous, she'd jump right out the window, and bask in the vast emptiness.

…

She did a sharp inhale. She might pass out from hyperventilating so much.

"Everyone look!"

A quartz in the side window pointed to Darkworld. A nice sight sure, it looks so small from this far away, but the real showstopper came soon after.

Several light beams erupted from the surface, ending at the tail end of the atmosphere. From those points, several facets formed into a crystal-like shape, emcompassing the entire planet.

Soon after, the entire thing turned into a massive light beam, streaking across space towards some unknown location.

That was Darkworld's relocation system, the way they keep their location secret, dating back all the way to the first days from the rebellion.

The quartz that called everyone there let out a whistle. "That there is a sight to see from this side."

Nora had seen it over and over from the ground. "It's certainly a lot less bright."

Some chuckles went around. "It's easier on the eyes, that's definitely true."

The excitement was dying down to far more reasonable levels, which would definitely make the trip far easier for her and everyone else in that ship.

Speaking of the others on that ship…

"Nora?"

That voice! It's "Paddy!" A pleasant surprise! "I didn't know you'd be here!"

"I didn't either…"

"What do you mean?"

…

Paddy didn't answer as quickly as she usually does. She looked deep in thought, and… upset.

"I predict… this doesn't bode well for my professional integrity."

"… What?"

"It's probably fine."

She's not listening to Nora. When answers immediately it's because she already was going to say that, and Nora didn't change anything.

…

"It's probably fine. Have fun, Nora."

Paddy walked away without batting an eye at Nora.

…

"Did I do something wrong?"

Approaching their destination, Nora fell asleep during the flight.

She woke up a bit groggy, under blankets and pillows, probably by the other gems.

Not surprising, it's well known that she's the gem that sleeps, given how much of a stir her creation made.

It's still unknown why she sleeps. Theories are that gems used to sleep, but don't anymore, maybe it's just a habit she built up, or maybe she's just a bit too under/overcooked, and this is one of the consequences.

She thinks the day is just a bit too long.

She kinda wishes she had woken up after they landed though.

Their destination was in sight, a moon covered in "oceans", or however you'd classify the large bodies of water comprising most of its surface.

But it's just a moon. It orbits a planet, or at least it's supposed to.

That's not a planet. It's a shell. It looks dead.

It's but one of the many examples of what happens to worlds the Diamond Authority gets its hands on.

They arrive, squeeze everything they can with no regard for what happens to it, and leave when it's no longer useful.

That's what Nora's always heard. To see it, with her own eyes is completely different.

The other gems weren't as affected, they saw plenty of this throughout their lives, but it was no less an ugly sight.

Maybe… is this part of the reason why her parents let her go out on her own for once?

Well. It worked. Every gem on board looked on with solace as the ship landed on the moon.

What a bummer.

She hoped the sourness would be alleviated by the sights they came for, and it kinda did, but there was a definite shift in the appreciation they had, closet to a "glad this is still here" than anything else.

The sounds however… the crashing of the ocean waves in this beach they picked out… the waving of the trees in the wind…

That's it. That's worth it.

It was quickly drowned out by the sounds of the other gems rushing out and getting ready to do the things they enjoyed.

Someone brought a whole volleyball net. Someone was cutting fruits open for the water they held inside.

Nora… didn't know or bring anything like that. It's a bit embarrassing, to not be able to bring anything to the table.

…

Well.

Off to wandering aimlessly.

Her mom might be onto something, the plants here are completely different from the ones in Darkworld. Some of these trees are so soft, does it even count as wood?

How many kinds of wood are out there?

Maybe she could go around planets and just, catalogue them.

Interstellar botanist? Is that a thing?

…

It feels small. It makes her feel small.

Maybe because she is small. Small like this cliff overlooking the small sea in this small moon in a small system in a small galaxy. Most things are small, like her. Is that so bad?

The universe isn't small. In fact it's everything. It's ever expanding. There's nothing bigger than it besides itself in the future.

Wait.

Did I just imply that I should be everything ?

Oh god. Maybe I do need to be careful and take things slow.

Maybe wandering off was a bad idea. Nora found herself getting into her own head. She should be getting back to the others…

But the ocean waves got pretty close to the edge… curiosity got the best of Nora and she looked down to watch the turbulent waves.

There was a crack.

The edge of the cliff broke off.

Nora fell.

Nora hit the water before she could register what had happened.

Nora started to sink.

Sinking…

Can't… breathe…

Lungs… filling with water…

I'm… going to…

Going to…

…

……

………

Wait…

What lungs?

Nora opened her eyes.

The star's rays shifted across the surface of the moon's ocean. The limited algae swayed as the water currents flowed. Tiny schools of fish swam through her field of view.

Sitting up from the wet sand and looking around, she could see the side of the cliff she fell from, and the edge of that cliff that collapsed beneath her.

"Huh. Neat."

She kinda wants to look around before finding her way back…

…

The ocean floor was shockingly complex. It was hard to walk a few meters without running into a chasm- er, trench.

Kelp- Alien kelp forests ran into Nora during her underwater walk. She could see the animals hiding along them, munching on them, caring for their offspring.

… Is it tasty? Is it crazy to take some home?

Well, she's gonna do it anyway. She brought some bags in case she wanted to bring something home, and lo and behold.

It is a bit awkward to store things underwater, but she did her best. How the hell one cooks something like this is gonna come down to trial and error.

Taking one of the fishies is a no-no though.

Getting back to the cliff she fell from…

Oh boy.

That took a long time. She had to recognize a trench from the corals on the edge to be able to find her way back, and she was anxious that she was misremembering the entire time.

Thankfully, she managed to find her way back, and all that was left was…

Finding a way back up.

"… Well. The beach has to show up eventually."

So she started walking, keeping the landmass on her right the entire time. There was a shocking amount of things to see on the wall.

Plenty of life was growing on the rocks, taking in the sunlight. The nooks and crannies led themselves perfectly to be nests for various animals.

Shockingly, it was rather easy to walk underwater. Nora always heard that a gem's mass is adaptable, but she had no idea it was so automatic.

Walking on any planet is pretty easy actually. Nora never actually feltow gravity in her life…

That's disappointing.

The ground was getting more and more covered in sand, meaning she was probably getting closer to one of the beaches, and thus reuniting with her travel party. They're probably really worried about her…

Oh forget that, what a story! Finally an adventure of sorts, something she gets to call her own! She spent so long just staying with her parents, it's about time she did something more exciting.

Exciting.

Exciting.

There's smoke in the distance.

Is that exciting?

Chapter Text

Through the not-woods and her panting, Nora could hear a distant commotion. She wasn't underwater for that long, what could possibly have happened in that time?!?!

The sounds of fighting were getting quieter and quieter. Why were there sounds of fighting anyway?!? Who were they fighting?! It was getting quiet, does that mean they're winning?!

If it didn't… she should slow down…

Peeking through the bushes, Nora nearly poofed right then and there, not wanting to keep seeing what she was.

Everyone, everyone she came with was on the floor. Or their gems were. Every single one, poofed and beaten.

In the middle of it all, stood a quartz. A Rose Quartz. Wielding a gigantic battle axe. Surrounded by other gems that Nora could barely tell apart anymore.

In front of that Quartz

"According to the Era 1 Light v Dark Accord, you are under direct violation of the cease-fire, this will be reported to your Diamond and you will suffer greatly for it!"

Paddy, standing defiantly.

The Quartz' answer was just

Grinning.

"I predict I will have seriously misread the situation."

"Woow." The quartz rolled her eyes. "Your predictions are soooo accurate." She kneeled down to look Paddy in the eye, showing much bigger she is. "Did you people really think you were the only rogue gems out there?"

She stood and started pacing. "All it takes is one rowdy quartz throwing a tantrum, shattering gems the diamonds didn't even give a damn about, and all of a sudden I have to be put away forever?!"

The gems booed.

"I say, SCREW THAT! I say those Diamonds can KISS MY PINK ASS! I say, the Killer Roses work alone, ISN'T THAT RIGHT, BOYS!?"

The gems cheered like they've heard all this before, like they loved hearing that speech.

Her gem was in sight. Nora rummaged through her bag, finding the laser pistol she snuck inside.

If she hits it… Paddy's safe. If she can hit the shot… just pieces.

Just one shot…

Something ensnared Nora's leg, sweeping it and holding her upside down, firing a shot in a completely random direction.

"Hey boss!" A water tendril wrapped around her ankle, leading to a Lapis Lazuli's water wings. "Looks like there was one left, and I don't even know what the hell it is!"

Every gem turned, and Paddy was the first to make a sound, a sudden gasp. "Well well well." But the quartz was the first to speak and approach. "The tiny one is packing quite a weapon! I wonder if it hurts."

Upside down, Nora placed the barrel of the pistol right in the Quartz' forehead. She did not flinch, neither of them did. That should've been Nora's first warning.

"Nora, don't!" That was her second warning.

There was no third warning.

The pistol fired with a loud BOOM, recoiling so much Nora's shoulder hurt, and blowing the Quartz' head clean off.

Any gem would poof from that. She should have poofed.

But instead, her head reformed on the spot. As if she actually had been poofed, but while the rest of her body was still intact. "I can tell you all" she turned to face her crew. "It hurts like hell."

Laughs went around, like it was part of their routine to let a gem get their best shot at their leader, just to watch her downright monstrous ability render it useless.

"Your turn." She took the pistol from Nora, and turned it on her.

It was terrifying. For a brief moment.

Nora steeled herself, pressing her head onto the pistol back, just like the Quartz did. "Ohoho! Where's this confidence coming from?"

Nora didn't answer.

The Quartz pulled the trigger.

Click.

Like Nora predicted, it didn't fire. It doesn't have batteries, it's only powered by her.

The Quartz was impressed. "I like this one. You get to watch."

"What?" That was the first word that Nora said to these people, as the Quartz was walked away towards Paddy.

"Every single one of the gems on the ground fought as hard as they could to stop me." She started pacing. "They're warriors. Born conquerors, even though they live in a coward's world, they are not cowards themselves. They get to live. But you…

She pointed at Paddy. "You stayed in the back, and watched them all fail. You are a coward. And what do we do to cowards?"

Her crew did not respond. They were waiting for Paddy's answer, probably to twist it, or riff on it, ridicule her even more than shee already was.

After a few seconds, the seconds that Paddy takes to answer anything, the Quartz grew impatient, and lifted up her axe.

"Nora!"

Paddy yelled out Nora's name. Why? Why is that her last word? What is she doing, get away, run away, try to save yourself, please!

"Love yourself."

"You got this."

A cloud of mist.

A gem clanking to the ground.

A boot coming down to crush it.

One, final, merciless CRACK

Rhodonite and Peridot came as quickly as they could. One of the gems on the trip manage to sound an SOS before the Killer Roses took her down.

They arrived to a crime scene.

Several gemstones lying on the ground, some slightly cracked gems and several signs of battle, like knocked down trees and singed grass, enough to call an investigation team.

"EVERYONE!" Peridot sounded out as loud as she could. "IF YOUR GEM IS CRACKED GET TO RHODONITE NOW!" And ran off to help anyone that couldn't move on their own.

The first gem, a decent fighter in her own right, could only muster confusion, and horror. "What the hell was that thing?!"

Peridot is familiar with that one. "That thing got the name Pink Jasper. Who knows what the hell happened, but she is pretty much impossible to take down. Some say even her gem fixes itself." Although she never tried, a decision she's living to regret.

Leaving the gem in her partner's capable hands, she went to get another gem to her… after taking a peek at her work.

"This will sting a little."

Red flames, dancing in the wind formed around her hand. A gentle touch, and the gem's form went slightly aflame around the contact area, directly on the gem at her side, flinching at the burning.

Her gemstone felt the flames too, taking the crack that formed in the battle and sealing it shut, like it never even happened.

Gemstones burning black into their unharmed shape, a miracle.

Who can do that? Can White Diamond do that? Yellow Diamond? Blue Diamond? No! Can Pink Diamond do that? Yes! It takes a whole asa diamond to plagiarize what Peridot's beautiful partner can do!

"Oi!" Peridot found herself staring. "A little help here?"

"Oh- of course!" And went back to work.

Every gem, and the spaceship were accounted for, having fallen into the sea.

All gems… except Nora and Pink Jasper. They disappeared.

Worst case scenarios ran through the minds of both parents. Was Nora shattered? Was she kidnapped? Where was she taken? Is she in Homeworld?! Is it time to break the ceade fire?!

Panic started setting in, worse and worse course of actions taking over any capacity for rational thought, and who could blame them? Their child is missing, and might be with the closest thing the two have to a nemesis.

That's when she appeared.

Her ship, used as living quarters for several gems descended upon the beach. The gigantic black sword, one made not for her but for her predecessor, by Peridot herself (and others), landed, a massive foreboding obelisk if she's getting involved.

The landing pad extended, and there she was.

Black Diamond.

As her name implies, her figure is nearly entirely different shades of black: her heels/boots, her wild flowing hair, her sword and scabbard. Besides some green undertones in her chosen clothes in her latest reforming, it was like a piece of the cosmos started walking on two legs.

She had shrunk herself for this, which you'd barely be able to tell given her unusually small gemstone for a gem so colossal in her true size, matching that of White Diamond.

Why had she come? Well, she had taken an interest in Nora, given she was the most unique gem ever created, alongside Black herself.

Her eyes obscured by shades, she took one look around the crime scene. All the marked spots where a gem was found before reforming, where the gems said they were before reforming, the signs of battle, every piece of evidence.

When something caught her eye.

Slightly singed grass, too irregular to discern what kind of attack it was. However, gemstones were scattered around a certain area, with small signs they skitted across the ground.

So, when Black dragged her scabbard around a circle, the ground lifting in its wake, it was clear.

"Do either of you" her voice deep and collected. "know a gem that can cause explosions like this?"

…

"Without setting the area aflame?" Rhodonite lowered her hand. "Me neither. Either we have ourselves a mystery gem…"

She turned to Rhodonite and Peridot, who fought many battles together with Black. She toon off her shades to reveal her diamond shaped pupils.

"Or your daughter takes more after you than you imagined."

Nora had just learned a very simple, if shockingly powerful ability, how could she have done anything like this? It was inconceivable.

But… if it was true… then maybe she's safer than she'd be before all this…

On top of that "She is under my protection." Black herself didn't leave her undefended. "If any of them try anything, they will fail."

Chapter Text

Nora didn't have much experience with reforming. She's never really in a situation that could lead to her being poofed.

The first time, a simple fall, it hadn't occurred to her moms that she wouldn't know how to reform herself. They tried their best to guide her through it from the outside and, well, she's here so it worked. Did take a close to a week, though.

It was like… sensory deprivation. She couldn't feel anything, only think. Her thoughts slowly focused, maybe because of her moms, onto herself. A nagging feeling of…

What do I want to be?

It's so easy to get caught up in that feeling, let it spiral out of control. In reality, you can just boil it down to "what clothes do you want to wear this time" and it can be over quickly. The older she got, the longer it took, because, well, a fashion sense is the enemy of expedience in that situation.

This time though. This time was significantly easier than any other. Was she getting better? Did something change? Who knows. Maybe it's just experience. Maybe she was in a rush?

What she knows she doesn't know… is where she is. She's in some sort of cave, with… stuff occasionally shining up above. Long, thin, wall-to-wall stuff.

She also doesn't know… why she's here. How did she get here? Why did she poof? Hm.

…

The "stuff" started moving. Fast.

They wrapped around Nora, encasing her in a

A cocoon?! Is there a giant spider here?!

At least her head was out and she could still talk.

"Another one, huh."

A voice! Maybe it's not a giant spider! A giant talking spider maybe?

Crawling through the webs lining the cave, the figure slowly approached Nora.

A Spinel. Just… a normal orange Spinel.

"Look, you know who I am, I have no idea who you are, just tell me what Rose wants and this can be over, okay?"

…

"Okay, I have so many questions."

"Uuuugh." Whatever they were doing, this Spinel had done it plenty of times, and was getting sick of it. "Fine, just make it quick."

"Who are you?"

"You don't even- fine. I am called The Spider. Ring any bells?"

"Nope."

"… What does Rose want from you?"

"I dunno! She never told me!"

"She never tells me EITHER!" Damn. That Quartz is just the absolute worst. "Just- okay, what happened recently? Maybe you did something that interested her?"

"Well I-"

"NORA!"

"Love yourself."

"You got this."

A sudden wave of sadness hit Nora. Her body didn't relax, it was more accurate to say it gave up.

She forgot.

Is this normal? How could she know?! She can't ask anyone, and the only one who might've known is… she's…

"So? Anything?"

"… Rose killed my best friend. Shattered her without remorse. That's what happened recently."

The Spinel reacted to that. She seemed to hesitate, and backed off from confronting Nora.

"She does that a lot…"

"Did she… was your-"

"Yeah, genius. That's what happens when gems step out of line."

"Do you… want to-"

"Asking me if I want to dump my life story st you?"

"It- sometimes… it helps you feel better."

…

"She was an agate. Very high rank, and I was her Spinel. She managed several sectors, almost never having time to play. If anyone could prove that gems suffer from stress it was her. Happy?"

"Yeah that's it! Let's just talk this out, what do you say?"

"Sorry." From her hands came even more strings. They looked so alive, moving under their own power. It was kinda creepy. "But no."

The strings flew towards Nora, at surprising speed. But instead of striking her, they swerved around her and went directly for her gem.

Was the Spinel trying to shatter Nora? Well… no. She couldn't be. If she was…

It wouldn't have happened.

A black shell formed around Nora's gem, sending the strings flying back. Bit by bit, they all quickly turned to dust, sending the Spinel recoiling back in her web.

That's Black Diamond's aura. A gem embodying freedom, her aura permeates into others, protecting them from anything threatening t.

More specifically, gems "tainted" by her are immune to things like the erasing effects of rejuvenation, Yellow Diamond's eletric aura, Blue Diamond's emotion aura and, more impressively, White Diamond's eye beams.

They also happened to protect from weapons based on the diamond's powers, like gem destabilizers, a lucky outcome.

If it went off to her strings, she was trying some shady stuff.

And… it really hurt the Spinel. Which it shouldn't have, but there she was, clutching her head like that gave her a splitting migraine.

It can't be Black Diamond's aura. And if it can't be, then it isn't. And if it isn't…

"You…" the first hint: she was not talking to Nora. "S HUT UP!"

She slammed her fists on her web, causing it to shake so fiercely that no one could possibly maintain their balance like that Spinel did. The entire web bounced up and down…

Even Nora's cocoon. And she felt it get looser.

It was actually kinda comfy now. But she couldn't get distracted. She had to figure out a way to free herself before this Spinel-

"OKAY!" Got her composure back… "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh ACTUALLY!" oh god where did that come from?! "You did a thing first! So what was that?!"

That got her. That got her like a naughty kid caught breaking the rules of a game, complete with pouting.

"Fine! Since you weren't going to tell me what Rose wanted (in both meanings of it), I was going directly into your gem and just, y'know." She did a grabbing motion. "Taking you."

"… Taking me?"

"You know. If a computer won't tell you what you want you just… download all of it."

…

"You were going to download me?"

"… Yeah."

Nora was screaming. She didn't make any sound, but it was just screams in her head.

"Can we not do that?! Could you not download my brain into yours, that can't be healthy!"

"If I don't, Rose will give me a piece of her mind, and then that's all I'll be, pieces!"

"No! I'll- I won't let her hurt you!"

"What could you possibly do against the unbreakable soldier id Homeworld? It's pointless. There's nothing you, or I can do to stop her."

"I CAN RUN AWAY!"

If Nora was one thing, it was a mix of imprudence and recklesness. And, since she didn't actually have any power for the longest time, it was mostly relagated to her running her mouth at lightspeed.

And here she is again. Saying things that'll just get her into trouble.

But she's not going to quit! She's going for it, no matter how the Spinel reacted.

"We can run away. It doesn't matter how bad it looks, there's always somewhere safe! There's always a place where not even the Diamond's light can reach you! You can always run away, and never look back at… at… THIS!"

Why did she say that? Nora knew exactly. There was only certainty in her voice.

She always heard tales of the rebellion her moms fought in, of taking in gems under the diamond's boot to a free life in Darkworld, or among the stars.

Tales of gems coming to their own conclusions after Nova's initial push, realizing their lives aren't what they want, and finding solace in others in Homeworld who felt the same way, eventually running away on their own.

Tales of gems captured during conflicts, set free soon after, left to wander Darkworld on their own, stumbling into a diamond communicator that came with the half planet they stole, and seeing for themselves how little they mattered to their diamond, despite how loyal they were.

That was her moms, Rhodonite and Peridot, respectively.

Maybe she wanted to be part of that. Helping people out of terrible situations.

And, like it always was, it was up to the Spinel.

…

…

…

…

"We-"

An answer!

"Me and Agate… my best friend…"

Do gems cry?

The answer is yes. But that doesn't make sense, now does it. Their bodies are mere constructs of light, and any typical organ has to be deliberately shapeshifted into existence.

They don't have tear ducts, nor do their eyes require the moisture tears are supposed to provide. They don't even need water for anything.

So, how do they cry?

Well… there could be any number of answers. Maybe they all happen to shapeshift tears by instinct. Maybe it's not even water. Maybe the tears themselves are made entirely out of hard light, just in a different consistency.

It doesn't matter.

So, why do they cry?

That's easier to answer. Because it's the same reason humans do.

"We used to play tag…"

Because it hurts.

"I've been sitting in this damn cave for decades! She shoves whatever gem she can find here, has me take them, and they NEVER HAVE WHAT SHE WANTS!!!"

"What is it, what does she want?"

"I DON'T KNOW! THE LOCATION FOR SOME STUPID PLANET!!" Uh oh. "WHAT THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THAT?! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! I'm- I'm supposed to- I just-"

Spinel shrunk into herself.

More than anything, Nora wanted to help. She wanted to be able to do something. She wanted to be free of this bind, to get this gem out of here.

She didn't see it. But her gem started glowing.

Spinel, The Spider, known star wide as a dangerous gem, capable of sending gems back home completely inert.

What people didn't know was that The Spider never kidnapped anyone. She never picked targets. She never sent them back anywhere. It was all Rose.

They never saw the lonely Spinel, the greatest tragedy in gem society, holed up in a cave never able to leave.

All because she could make strings.

But not today.

Today, someone reached out for her.

She could see them. Spinel could see her.

And in that dark cave, wings on her back, standing on her strings, she almost seemed

"Let's get you out of here, Spider."

Radiant.

…

"How?"

"… What?"

"How do we get out? Rose might be right outside the entrance."

Indeed there was an entrance, covered by a boulder on the outside. "… I didn't think that far."

"Wow."

"But!" Nora jumped down to the wall directly opposite from the entrance. These new wings that popped out of nowhere, they remind her of those of a Lapis Lazuli, just more feather-y. "My old friend never failed me!"

And like a Lapis Lazuli's wings, these also form into fists, just strong enough to punch through the wall into the open. Really less of a cave and more of a rock dome.

"OW!" It really hurt, on a brand new appendage at that, very strange. "We should go before she hears us!"

Spinel jumped into Nora's arms (she's shockingly light) "Have you done this before?!"

"Nope!"

With that very foreboding warning, Nora clumsily took off to the skies, faster than even she expected, nearly dropping Spinel down.

Soon, they were in space.

And just as soon

They were lost.

Chapter Text

Nora had a fascination with space for as long as she can remember. Something about it's vastness always seemed to beckon her in, and she always wanted to oblige. She wishes she could see it all, one bit at a time, get lost in it for days.

Though those prospects are a lot less charming when she barely knows what she's doing. "I should've paid more attention to class…"

"What's class."

Oh. Well, having some company might make it more bearable! Might be nice actually!

…

Did she just ask "what's class". Uuuuuh

"It's when you don't know stuff. And someone who does know stuff tells you about it, so now you know it too."

"… Why would you need it? I already knew everything I needed as soon as I came out."

"That's still so weird."

"Excuse me?!"

"I didn't even know how to walk! I can't imagine just. Knowing stuff as soon as you exist."

"Well I had to know how to walk at least. And run. And hide. Those are pretty necessary for playing tag and stuff."

… "And your strings?"

"Oh. Those I- I did have to learn those."

"Class might've helped with that."

"How could anyone help with a power I'm not supposed to have?"

Nora started feeling very smug. "Did you know some Peridots can move metal with their mind?"

"… No. I didn't know that. Why would they need that? That doesn't help with what they're supposed to be."

Ooookay, that's gonna take a bit.

…

"Well. I guess you're both not what you're supposed to be."

That got to her it seemed. She got quiet for quite a bit of the flight. A flight that neither of them knew where it was going.

"What are you supposed to be?"

"Hm?"

"You're a gem. So you have a purpose you're meant to fill?"

"I'm- not." Nora explained that very poorly. "I'm not supposed to be. No one knows how or why I popped out of the ground on my own."

"Wait… you weren't created by an injector?"

"Yeah. I don't think I'm supposed to tell you that…"

"Huh. Am I actually good at interrogation?"

"I dunno. I think you're just fun to talk to."

The Spider was hanging from Nora's arms like they were pull up bars, which gave her a nice view of Spinel's face getting a bit more yellow.

That's called "blushing". And most people would rather not bring attention to it. "S-s-s-so where are we going huh?"

"We need to- I don't think I'm supposed to tell you this either- if we can find a warp pad, I can get you to my world."

"A warp pad huh. So we just need to find a world/moon with gem occupation, which is most of them."

The two looked at their situation.

They were surrounded by the vast expanse of everything, the only sight being far away stars and galaxies. Even the planet they came from was nowhere in sight.

"This… might take a while."

It's hard to keep track of time when you have no frame of reference, and even something as age plays a part in how you perceive it, and that, we much as they don't want to admit it, goes for gems too.

Were they flying aimlessly in space for minutes or hours? Days or weeks? It could've been years. Probably not, but it could've been.

At that point you need to do something to pass the time and not go mad.

Like coming up with names for the Spider.

"Why would I need a name?"

"Because, believe it or not, there's more than one Spinel in my world, and that would get confusing, so lets save ourselves the headache now."

"What's the point? I mean, do you have a name?"

"Yeah."

"Huh?"

"It's Nora."

"Really? I thought you were like, an off-color Lapis or something. Because of the wings."

"Oh that would be too nice. Oh lord, if I was a Lapis like Red? That'd be a dream come true…"

"Wow you people really do have names."

"Yeah! And I'm coming up with yours, Spider!"

"Doesn't that work already?"

"… For now."

After some more time of just flying aimlessly, they switched positions to try to break up the monotony.

Spider was getting simultaneously afraid they would never actually find another planet, and anxious about what would wait for her if they did find a world.

If Nora talked that way again then maybe… "You… sound like you really like this Red."

"Hm?" She was starting to look out of it. "Oh yeah! Red was a Lapis Lazuli… one of the first to join the rebellion. She was so cool! Anywhere she went they'd win! Even if a Diamond showed up she'd never back down and would slow them down until everyone could get away, and she never got caught! She's also really pretty in the picture I have…

"I… I want to be just like her."

"Dangerous?"

"Yeah. And dependable. And strong enough to save people. And unstoppable! And when I'm around people are safe!"

"Woah. What's she like in person?"

"Oh. I- I don't know. I never met her…"

…

…

That does it.

Alright you freeloaders, you look at these stars and help us find our way, otherwise you'll be stuck in space forever!

           LIKE HELL WE ARE!

We'll never do what you say, Spider.

 YOU THINK YOU CAN RUIN OUR LIVES AND WE'LL JUST COOPERATE?!

I think it's pretty cute that the Spider has a crush.

Spider went quiet for a bit. She went quiet often, with how long they've been flying, but she doesn't usually start taking deep breaths, followed by trembling.

And then she starts clutching her head, like when she was repelled by Black Diamond's aura. Nora had to scramble to keep her from flying off into space with how she was twisting.

And then she says "I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH!" and it just makes even less sense. Nora would be inclined to ask what was going on, but Spider thrashed about so much after that line she found it best to stay quiet.

And then she stopped. So suddenly Nora almost dropped her. Into the floaty void of space.

On second thought it's not really that dangerous. Another win for space!

When she caught up to Spider… she was staring at the stars.

Staring… scanning…

And then pointing. "There's a moon in that direction. We'll find a warp pad there."

"… Awesome! Hold on tight!"

Can there be sonic booms in space? No. So whatever boomed wasn't sound, but it would be felt from very far away.

They reached the moon right away, the center of a desert, a single warp pad covered in sand that was buffeted away by Nora's wings. One touch and they were in the warp stream, with no destination.

"This is the fun part." Nora pulled Spider away from the stream, into the space between them. "Look at the stars (they're not stars they're faraway warp streams but you know what I mean)"

Nora doesn't know how to find her away through the stars, but this… this she knew. The significantly-less-vast expanse of Warp Space was cold, empty and dangerous.

But danger is Nora's middle name. Er, last name. Cuz there's nothing after Nora so it'd just be Nora Danger.

She needs a last name.

Anyway.

Behind one of the clouds, hiding the stars behind them and blending into the emptiness. Darkworld's Eternal Stream. The only direct line to the planet after they change locations.

Nora learned how to find it as soon as she was allowed to try, and she nailed it right away.

And now The Spider knows how to find it too. Hopefully no one is mad about this.

The Eternal Stream's warmth is welcome after the coldness of Warp Space (how is it colder than space?!)

And that warmth was quickly replaced with the air of her home, right on the warp pad in her house. The comfort, the safety of it all, sent the stresses of the last few days crashing down on Nora

And her wings receded.

Just as

CRASH!

Coming out of the temple door, dropping a box of parts in shock and elation "NORA!" tackling her into a hug was her Peridot mother.

She just missed it… "Hey mom? Can I retake the astro navigation classes?"

"Oh sweetheart… we were worried sick, where were you?!"

"I was uh…" Nora stepped back and wrapped her arm around… "Meeting a friend! Her name is… Ana! Ana the Spinel."

Ana took a second to process what she just heard. "Did you pick Ana because "arachnid" starts with "A - consonant - A"?"

"SHH SHH SHH!"

"Nora." The only reason Peridot didn't say her full name is because that's where it ends. "Did you bring the Spider into our home?"

Chapter Text

Nora's moms rarely get angry. When they do, they can be some of the scariest people in the universe, rivaling the diamonds themselves.

And is it any wonder? They were co-second in command for the war they fought in. They didn't get that responsibility for nothing.

Rhodonite, known as "Lighthouse" by the acquainted, burned so brightly she could be seen from space. Her fists always hit their mark, rarely needed to land more than once, and poor were the souls that got to see her war hammer.

Peri though… she was a bit more… sharp. In the gem on her hip, she kept her sword, a rapier she controlled with precision, that did not even need her to be present to be deadly. She also had… several more rapiers.

Which is why, when Ana responded to

"Nora. Did you bring the Spider into our home?"

With

"Spider? Spider! That's me, I'm the Spider."

Nora's face met her hands.

After Nora having gone missing for a week, and coming back with one of the most feared gems in Darkworld, a singular rapier came out, held to Ana's throat.

And seeing that, Nora's hands slowly met her mother's weapon, lowering it carefully.

"I brought her with me."

Peri resisted the urge to way I can see that. "I don't think you know who this really is."

Nora almost scoffed. "How could I not, she just told you."

"You're telling me you knew about what she does, what she did, the gems she shattered and you STILL decided to bring her HERE?!"

"Sh- shattered…?"

Ana had no idea what this gem was talking about. She doesn't remember shattering anyone, and she thought she'd definitely remember something like that.

Did… did she shatter someone and just… forget?! That can't be. If it is… maybe she shouldn't be here after all. Maybe this was a terrible idea, even far away from Rose as she was…

However.

"Of course I did!" That didn't seem to matter to her rescuer. "Why wouldn't I?! It's what happened to you! And Red! And our founder even! Red was a Lapis Lazuli! One of Nova's fusees was an Emerald! You know what those gems did in the empire!

"We are the gems of Darkworld! We rescue gems, and take down the ones using them for their own purposes! Isn't that what we do?!"

"We stopped doing that eons ago, Nora!"

"WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE!"

If Nora was ever anything, it was eager to fight.

And that. How to deal with it, whether to encourage it, discourage it, manage it, whether any of those was the right choice.

It had always been the biggest disagreement between her mothers.

That old bruise disarmed her enough to end the hostility, and lower the rapier, or rather, fly it back to its owner's gem.

"We'll have a very serious talk about this, little girl." That condescension annoyed Nora. "But regardless of that, whether she stays or not, she should still see Black Diamond."

Ana's hackles raised at that name.

"Good." And that answer from Nora wasn't exactly reassuring. "Glad we agree."

With a huff met with a huff, an exchange of annoyance at eachother, Nora's mom went out back to her room in the Temple.

"That went better than I expected." Ana would not agree. "Well. I can probably show you the way to…"

Nora started making something with her mouth. It was very lethargic and lasted longer than was comfortable for Ana. The sound coming out of her mouth was a low groan. She didn't stop it, even though it looked like she was trying to. In fact, the whole motion seemed involuntary.

One of the gems in Ana's mind knew this as "yawning".

"I have to- I have to go…"

Seeming almost possessed by something beyond her, Nora pushed Ana out into the streets.

"Waitwaitwaitwait you can't- I don't know hot to get to-"

"Black is in her ship, it's the big sword in the middle of town, you can't miss it."

The door shut behind her, and Ana was alone in the streets.

…

She started wandering.

…

All these buildings look the same.

All these gems look the same.

Ana can't tell the difference between them, it's all so… loud.

Okay…

Nora said it was a big sword, right? I know what swords look like! It's like… a handle… then it's a crossguard… and then a blade.

… How does a ship look like that?!

This is getting embarrassing, let's just help her.

Suddenly, with a cooperation from the cacophony in her head that often eludes her, Ana suddenly noticed the massive obelisk in the distance.

It's got a handle and a crossguard. It's a gargantuan sword, posed as if stabbed into the ground, towering over the buildings around it.

That's where Black Diamond is supposed to be.

Ana feels weird thanking the people she has robbed of a life for helping her. So she doesn't. But she did think about it so they know anyway.

She skedaddled through the streets until she reached the ship.

There wasn't a line. There wasn't anybody really, just a person behind a desk, which Ana slowly approached. Ana couldn't tell, but it was a Lapis Lazuli.

And she spoke first. "Black Diamond is waiting for you. She's on the last floor. You can take the elevator."

…

...

That's indeed it.

The elevator door opened, Ana sheepishly walked in, hit the highest number available and watched the floor number go up.

It ended at 100.

That got Ana thinking.

Why is Black Diamond's ship a sword?

Someone spoke.

All the Diamond ships come together for a giant mech. This is meant to be its weapon, taken away from it

It's more symbolic than anything

"Huh." Ana leaned her cheek on the cold metal walls of the elevator. "Why do you even have this? One of them on the top floor of this symbol thingy. I thought you people hated diamonds."

…

We do.

DING

The elevator doors opened.

Behind them was a… much too big room, with not enough furniture to fill it up, mostly concentrated at one of the walls, leaving large swathes of empty space around the center.

Centered in the elevator door's view was a chair looking out to the window, one so big it's difficult to imagine someone sitting on it comfortably.

But that's exactly what it was meant for. Comfort. Comfort for the largest gem in Darkworld, and one hell of a view.

Swirling a drink in her hand that could pass for a novelty pool, the only one it could be.

Black Diamond. Gigantic like her Homeworld counterpart, White Diamond.

She put the drink down on the armrest, and the chair swerved around to face Ana.

…

The person on that chair was not as big as she was moments before. At this size, she had to jump down from the chair, looking more like a ledge.

"Hello." A polite greeting and wave. "You must be The Spider."

"How do you know?"

"Former commander general Peridot snitched you out to me."

"… Am I going to be executed?"

"Oh no no. We don't do that here, at least not without great deliberation."

"I- I thought you were a diamond, don't you call the shots?!"

Black Diamond just laughed softly. "I have no authority here, little Spider. I am merely… a great communicator."

…

The room turned dark. The only lights were the stars in the sky behind the gigantic window overlooking the city.

Visions and feelings beamed themselves directly into Ana's gem.

Visions of gem shards. Feelings of confusion, disgust, grief, and anger.

Visions of messages. Messages that accompanied the gem shards, stamped with a spider web for search parties to find. Feelings of revenge, of violence, of mourning.

This is Black Diamond's aura. A communication transcending language, unable to be misunderstood.

It is what flooded Homeworld on the day of separation and the forming of Darkworld.

It is what protects gems from those who wish to control them.

And now, it protects you too, little Spider.

…

Ana stumbled back at this wave of information, emotion and conflict.

"P- protection?! Why?! After everything you showed me?!"

Getting closer, this not as gargantuan but still noticeably tall woman made herself as non threatening as she could.

"On a purely logical level, Nora wouldn't bring someone who shatters gems home. She would've fought them.

"And, on a more unsubstantiated note…" Black Diamond tried comforting this orange Spinel with a gentle hand on the back. "For these kinds of things, I found there are always more victims than there first seems. In your case, of the Killer Rose."

Black Diamond is hard to misunderstand. That doesn't mean she is perfectly convincing, just that when one disagrees with her, they're disagreeing with what she truly believes.

And this time, what she truly believes in, as much as she wants to, Ana cannot reject. First Nora and now the downright mythical Black Diamond have shown her

Kindness.

There, the two gazed at the window for a bit, to let it synch in for the newest Darkworld Gem.

…

…

"Go rest a bit kid. This trip can't have been easy."

"Ummm. How do I get back to Nora's house?"

"…"

Not merely a set of directions towards her destination, but an understanding of where it is located, so she may always find her way.

"Oh. Thanks."

"No prob."

"Your power is really handy."

"You know it."

With an unbridled certainty of where she needs to go, Ana miraculously found her way back to Nora's house.

It was pretty empty and quiet, which was nice. There was just one sound besides any that Ana was making herself.

It's like… rhythmic snarling? Snoring. One of the gems in her head called it snoring.

It was coming from an unconscious but unpooofed Nora, laying on the couch. This must be that "sleeping" thing she heard about once.

The way she was laying down, her gem was plain to see.

Ana isn't the best at recognizing gems but even she knows most aren't supposed to look like that, blocky, cloudy and colorless like that.

It looks so strange, even compared to Ana's own slightly crooked gem, that she fails to resist the urge to touch it.

Nora shifted in her sleep when it happened, and Ana felt a strange thing in the tips of her finger.

Is this… dust?

Chapter Text

Ana isn't very aware of what gems can do, having stayed a good chunk of years trapped in a cave. Still, she knows the basics: gems can't produce strings from their being. That's one. Two, gems need to stay really still for a really long time to gather dust, and it's not been nearly long enough for Nora.

So… what's this? It feels… sharp under Ana's fingers. Like…

"Hey"

"AH!"

A bigger gem, not as big as Black Diamond. She's in Nora's house so either she's her other mom or… a cop. Hopefully not a cop.

"I heard Nora brought the Spider home."

If it's a cop she shouldn't say anything- where did I learn what a cop is?

"Yeah…"

"And it's you?"

"… Yeah."

…

The gem's goggles made it impossible to read her. Was she angry, was she upset, was she sad?

Well, she took them off. And the expression of her face was more like… pity.

"I thought about sending a search party after you. Tracking down all the messages, all the monuments, all the disappearences, narrowing down the places you could be so I could shatter you myself the way you shattered so many of my comrades.

"But… I never expected… that you'd be a Spinel."

A big, powerful arm reached around Ana, pulling her in closer to meet this gem's body. A strange embrace, one meant for… what?

Gems aren't usually warm but this one was, like a cozy fireplace that people curl around for… for…

Comfort?

"I'm sorry little one."

But

But "Why?"

Somehow, this gem knew what she meant. "The Killer Roses attack, my daughter disappears, and shows back up with you? It's pretty clear to see who's actually behind those shatterings."

A second hand gently rested on Ana's back.

It isn't lost on Rhodonite that her daughter is sleeping on the couch, and this is the first time she's seen her in days.

Still, when the news of the Spider's true identity, that her old nemesis was using a Spinel as a tool and a symbol to do her bidding… she couldn't ignore that, especially if it really was Nora's wish to bring her here.

It's just a kid.

Still.

The absolute mess they're in.

She still doesn't know how Nora came back. How she managed to free the Spider. Why Nora, out of anyone on that trip was taken to her.

And regardless. They know what the Spider does to gems. Even if they weren't shattered, they'd be inert. Shattering was almost a mercy, to not have to see such a horrible thing, something that Rose definitely can't do.

Only this Spinel can do that, and it is currently crying into Rhodonite's chest.

I want to punch a wall.

"Hoo!" The Spinel pushed Rhodonite away. "Yup. That… feels better. Thanks."

Perhaps an angsty kid. Rhodonite sighed. No wonder Nora likes her so much.

"Ahem- uh. So, what's with the dust?"

"Hm?"

"The dust. Nora's gem is dusty."

…

Nora's mom just stared at Ana, like she had just grown three heads. "Dust?"

"Y- yeah?"

Nora's mom had a gem on the palm of her hand, and from it manifested a cotton swab. It was a much better idea than Ana just running her finger through it, and she was much gentler with it too.

Another shine from the gem in her palm, and a closeup image manifested on the wall. Built in microscope. Man, Nora's planet is so cool.

"Hm. Microscpic gem fragments."

"Wh- what the- gem fragments? From where?!"

"Hm."

Her mom didn't seem very concerned over the possibility that her daughter had shattered- no, obliterated another gem. She'd have to, those "shards" were very fine to be just the result of a fight.

When would it have even happened? When Rose attacked them? Can't be, if she did that to a gem, she wouldn't have gotten captured.

"…"

Nora's mom was deep in thought. From her palm gem came a book. "Don't tell her you saw this."

Inside were…

Pictures. Of Nora and her moms. And other people.

She used to be way uglier. And smaller. And a baby. Gems usually aren't babies.

"Let's see… this one." Her mom had picked an older photo with a good view of the gem on Nora's back, which she held up to compare with the current one and

!!!

It's… a different shape! And smaller! How does a gem's body grow and their gem get smaller and a different shape?!

"It's as I feared." Huh "This dust is from her gem, flaking off over time, getting smaller and smaller until…"

"Until…?"

"…

"Well, if this is anything like actual gem shards, she'll lose herself bit by bit, forgetting things as more pieces of herself are scattered into the wind, until she forgets who she is, or what's happening around her… and eventually she won't even be able to form, and she'll be gone forever."

Ana knows that the diamonds have lived for tens of thousands of years, and even the gem in front of her is older than she could even imagine, so the mere idea that a gem could degrade with time to the point it can't even hold its form together…

A gem that slowly loses until there's nothing left saved a gem from slowly taking until there's too much.

"But that doesn't make sense with her just recently appearing powers… if she's losing her gem with time, how can she get more powerful with time? Hm."

Well that's a relief.

…

Ana marveled at Nora's gem. She's known her for a few days abd she's already outclassed Ana in bizarreness. Absorbing gems into herself is one thing, but popping out of the ground on your own and shedding dust while you sleep is pretty up there.

Popped out of the ground…

"Gems in the wild are just rocks until they're polished, right?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, the inert ones. What about them?"

"Maybe… that's what Nora is. Maybe she's… polishing herself. Certainly would explain the sudden wings she pulled out."

…

…

…

Nora's mom got real quiet…

…

It's kind of unnerving.

…

"Oh~"

????

"My baby really is a Lapis… an ENERGY Lapis! I didn't even know that was a thing! What else can she do? Oh…" Rhodonite crouched over her daughter's sleeping form. "You got exactly what you wanted dearie. I can't wait to see what you do with it."

"Mooom…" Nora's eyes slowly opened, still groggy from sleeping so long. "I can tell when you're watching me… you're so warm…"

"Wakey wakey sleepy head. Very rude to push the Spider into the street like that."

Slowly getting up "I did what?" It really started to seem she was just possessed. "Oh my god I'm so sorry Ana."

"Hey" Ana didn't want to get into it. "It all worked out."

"Oh god, I completely passed out… I was supposed to show you around!"

"… Huh?"

"Come on!"

Ana soon found herself grabbed by hand, Nora leading her outside into the city again, a beaming excitement in her face.

"Wait what?"

"Bye mom, we'll be back by sundown!"

"Have fun you two!"

The door shut fown and the two kids ran off to see the city.

"I should open the window. In case a flying daughter flies her new friend home~"

Chapter Text

Nora was given tours of Darkworld constantly when she was a kid (something no other gem ever was), and, yes, it's a big planet so it makes sense it'd take so long but they didn't stop until she was 30.

30! Thirty years of being taken on trips she sometimes didn't want to go but there really wasn't anything she could do about it.

Also it's not that big. It's half the size it's supposed to be! It's half of Homeworld after all, how big could it really be?

Regardless, it was plenty opportunity to learn many many many names which she figured she'd only use for this exact thing:

"That there is Thermite-" the brown-ish gem nodded as the two passed by. "She's kinda my mom's rival cuz she burns really hot too. Oh, that's Nephrite." She pointed to a green gem leaning out of a window on the second floor pretending to drink tea. "She was my teacher on a lot of stuff-"

"Hey Nora you've been skipping classes, anything you have to say?"

"Don't you dare-"

"We moved the planet, it ain't summer now, chop chop!"

"You've made that joke a thousand times!"

"Well, stop making it worth it."

"Ugh."

Nora sped up, still dragging Ana by the hand, when the ground started shaking beneath them. Every shake, the two would get a moment of air time, before Nora pointed to the source.

A giant fusion, walking on an artificial ravine made specifically for fusions their size, right next to the main sidewalk.

"That's Osmium." Nora said, catching Ana's attention. "They're a blacksmith. They made our founder's scissor blade. Really big deal."

"Really big too, do you know everyone here?"

"Oh no no. Well… they all know me, given my emergence was a similarly big deal." Nora stopped to think for a moment. "Is this too much?"

"Huh?"

"I heard stories about Homeworld gems having a hard time adapting here in the past, am I going too fast?"

"Well… it's a lot to take in, certainly. But I don't know, I wasn't really in touch with Homeworld. With the cave thing. And not really seeing many people before that. This fusion thing is pretty weird too."

"Wait, but there's fusion in Homeworld too. Only between gems of the same kind but it still happens."

"Never seen it."

"Wow. That's… extremely sheltered."

"Yeah…" Ana's face changed. Like something clicked in her head after a long time of not really thinking about it too hard. "Did Agate do that on purpose…"

༊·˚

"I should start slower." Ana got whiplash from Nora's sudden change of subject. "Let's do locations instead! Right now we're in one of the residential districts. Most of the buildings are living spaces, save for specialized ones, like the warp abd communication hubs. I live in the N district, in case you ever get lost.

"And that giant obelisk in the center of the city?" Ana did know that one. "It's Black Diamond's sword ship. It can be seen from everywhere, so it's really handy for finding your way.

"And that!" Nora pointed down to a completely normal, yet empty alley that the walkway they walked on overlooked. "Never go there."

Just about the scariest thing in the whole trip. "W- why not."

"That's Tornado Alley. It's where-"

Ana felt the wind change. In the background was a high pitched whizzing, getting louder and louder alongside the wind picking up speed, until eventually

BOOM

An explosion of pure air, running past that alley, nearly knocking Nora and Ava off the walkway, before the former's wings sprouted and latched onto the ground.

After that, the whizzing sound from before turned much deeper, as the figure causing it moved away from them.

"It's where Black Diamond starts her jogs."

"… That's a jog?!"

"Diamonds. Not even once."

Suddenly it made sense why one would be uneasy about having her around.

The two continued their little tour.

And Black Diamond…

Continued her run.

Having made her way out of the city into the vast fields of "grass" surrounding it. With no one to see and no obstructions to speak of, she reverted to her true size and let her hair flow freely, entirely horizontal from her speed.

In this orbit, she can't outrun the sun unfortunately. When the planet's a little bit farther out, she can watch it turn to night in front of her, but not this time.

She enjoys her runs greatly on their own right, but they're also a good opportunity to check on some of the folks living outside the city.

There's plenty of them. Most of them made smaller towns after the city got too big and busy for their tastes. A lot of them have great views, either on the side of a hill, or overlooking the ocean, or near the mountaintops.

Some gems take to the wildernesses, for one reason or another, be it a green thumb, a loner or just for the quietude and company from the animals.

The fauna and flora part of the restoration efforts flew a bit over Black Diamond's head, it was way more complicated than everything else. Words like "biomass", and "ecosystem" and "cross pollination" and "genomes" are out of her league.

This is her long-winded way of saying that she failed biology class.

Anyway.

The hardest part is up ahead: the ocean.

Before she figured out how to run on water, she had to control the earth to meet her stride judt above sea level.

Whe she stepped on one rock, another one already had to be in front of her again, and after that one, there needed to be a third. In theory, she only needs two. In practice… more like a dozen.

Now though, it's like running on uneven terrain, sloshing around and tripping hazards appearing out of nowhere. It's treacherous, and hard to recover from.

But it's one hell of a view.

That's what these runs are really for. To get a good look at a planet that's the result of diligent work from thousands of gems of all kinds, that none of them could've done on their own. ༊·˚

…

They're also a way to take her mind off the strife that her very existence brings.

Instead, she gets to just relax and enjoy the salty sea breeze.

Until

The ocean ends. And the beach begins.

This route, the one she usually takes, has some degree of error that she has to adapt to (there's not really landmarks in the sea). Today, the beach ends very quickly into a thick forest.

Thankfully, she sees it coming from very far away, which gives her time make flying steps for herself. Somehow these were always easier than the ones on sea, but that might just be nerves from being so far from land.

She remembers when she found out she could move earth to her will.

When she was told her mother, the founder of Darkworld, could do it too. ༊·˚

…

She was starting to get tired. She slows herself down when she starts feeling it, just trying to eek out a little more distance before she can barely walk.

White once told her that if she were to live in Homeworld, she could use these runs for her diamond essence extraction. ༊·˚

As if. Eventually it wouldn't be enough and I'd have to run on a treadmill or whatever. ༊·˚

༊·˚

These are…

Unhappy thoughts.

Where's the warp pad?

A light walk away and she was warping back to the city to have a well earned rest. Checking her watch she saw…

New record

There's a warp pad in the outskirts of the city she likes. It's right next to the hill where everyone's world turned upside down, with that tree still growing atop it.

And right now… she can see two kids running up it.

"Last stop! Here we are."

Ana let herself get dragged all across a town and then up a hill while Nora talked on and on about the locations, people, occupations, so much. She did not expect the last stop to be just a tree on a hill.

Until "This is where I formed."

It took a moment to really register what she had said. "What'd you say?"

Nora crouched down, stroking the grass. "It was this hill. The first natural born gem in who knows how long."

"The grass is still…"

"Alive. Turns out, gems didn't use to suck all the nutrients from the ground to form."

"Where's your exit hole?"

"It was on the ground, and really small. It was the size of my gem, because that's all I was. You know how gems float when they form? Apparently I had to do that in order to get out of it, and even then I just rolled around like a rock. Cuz I was."

"Okay but where is it?"

Nora pointed to the tree. "We planted that tree in it. It took root. It grew. Just like I did." Nora gently placed a hand on the tree's bark. "My partner in life…"

An ancient gem, formed on the top of a hill decorated with a tree planted in her exit hole got captured and managed to free a Spinel with the power to spin webs and download gems into her own.

How does this even happen?

"Want me to fly you back?"

And she can fly!

"Um. Y- yes please."

Chapter Text

In the entrance to Black Diamond's ship, specifically the building made to hold it (the scabbard, if you will), a Lapis Lazuli sits on the reception desk, bored out of her mind.

She never cared much for moving water, or even flying, which made her rather extremely inefficient at the thing she was made to do.

Not that she cared. What she was made to do was unnecessary nonsense that would never end. That's what bothered her the most back then. When would it end? What's the end goal? The answers were "never" aaand "nothing".

But that was a long time ago.

These days? She can just space out and do almost nothing all day and there's no handler to yell at her.

Just sit, and… chew… gum…

It's this new thing her friend made. It's kinda nice to move something all the time she supposed, but there's not a whole lot to it. She can move it around, that's something. Mold it into various shapes like a ball, a stick, with some effort a pretzel.

One fateful time, when the stars aligned, she started blowing air absentmindedly. The gum was pushed out, and the air made it stretch like a balloon. This simultaneously startled her, and also immediately made her want to get it as big as possible.

She blew again, and got one more in before POP, she was splattered on her face with sticky gum.

Her friend received a text that same day, merely saying

"I get it."

"Pearl, please!"

"What seems to be bothering you, My Ruby?"

"No no no, you said we'd run away together, that we'd protect eachother, that's what you said!"

The Ruby pleaded with the now completely oblivious Pearl. Behind them was a beam of pink energy, where she had just fallen, or rather, thrown herself into.

The orders of her owner would force her to break that promise, to protect each other, to stay together, to keep each other safe. So she erased herself, erased her ownership, because whoever came next might be able to fulfill that promise.

"I believe what you want from me would be better suited for a quartz soldier. I am not designed to protect like a Ruby such as yourself. Hmm. Speaking of which, who would be your escort, my Ruby?"

"It's you."

"… Apologies, I think my hearing isn't up to par-"

"IT'S YOU! You are my purpose. I'll protect you from danger, from that Emerald, and- and if I get hurt, you can just heal me!"

"… Heal? That is not something I can-"

"Yes it is!" The ruby grabbed the hand where Pearl's gem resided. "You can. Just- just imagine it. Imagine me on the ground in pieces. What would you do?"

"P- please, don't even insinuate such a thing, my Ru-"

"Do it. Imagine it. What would you do, what do you have to do?"

"I- I'd have to… I have to save… my… Ruby?"

Glowing on the palm of her hand, a green-ish aura radiated from Pearl's pearl. She stared at it dumbfounded.

"Yes, that's what you did! You saved my life. You remember now, right?"

…

…

"Nora?" Ana and Nora sat on the ground, watching the projection coming from Rhodonite's palm. She had been working on a thesis for way too long and passed out, at which point Nora got a bowl of popcorn. "Does she dream about this often?"

"Yeah."

"… Don't you think this is really sad?"

"We haven't even gotten to the good part yet!"

Pearl started glowing. Reforming, and cycling through her previous forms, landing on her latest, an extremely generic Pearl look. Emerald never did bother with her appearance ever.

"You're back! Right?"

"Yeah… I'm back…"

"Did it work?"

Suddenly, inexplicably, Pearl's "owner" appeared. "Hard to believe you managed to bring her here, given all the orders I gave you." Pearl's eyes lit up in flames. She stood up and started walking towards Emerald. "Ha! You thinking of doing anything?"

A gauntlet formed in Pearl's hand, the first time she had ever summoned her weapon. Emerald wavered, stepping back.

"I- I know you can't fight! I explicitly forbid you from it!" Face to face, Pearl wound up. "How did you-"

Black and white. Emerald's face smushing into Pearl's fist. Emerald sent flying. A satisfied scoff from Pearl and a leap for joy from Ruby

The punch replays. More colors. Slightly different, this time Emerald is slightly shorter and the punch is slightly better.

Suddenly it's Rhodonite and a rocket punch.

Rhodonite groaned a bit while waking up, and the projection stopped. Nora looked at Ana, excited for her reaction.

"Holy shit. It really runs in the family, huh."

"Yes it does." CRUNCH

"I get it."

Peridot walked through the street.

She did that a lot.

She could do it differently. Do it faster. But her respect for the little things stop her.

She went to the colossal Osmium. Asked for a vase of flowers. She watched Osmium work metal with her bare hands, working it to a precision difficult at the size she was working at. Afterwards, the entire thing shrunk, and Peridot had a vase of flowers.

She stopped by the garden to pick some. Mostly purple ones, for no particular reason.

In the outskirts of town, in the area almost everyone tried to avoid, was a series of epitaphs. Be they gems that were shattered during the rebellion, or gems that no one has seen in long enough to be presumed dead.

Peridot came here to get rid of the overgrowth every once in a while. To pay respects to the gems that couldn't enjoy the end of the fight, or walked away for their own reasons, whatever they were.

In that last category… there's a name that she argued relentlessly for not including. Red Lapis. She's out there, Peridot knows it. After all, she was the last person she spoke to before going away for good.

"I can't stay here. Not now that I know." were her last words.

Peridot never figured out what she meant, but recently…

Nora has become… powerful. Disturbingly so. Sometimes I wonder if you somehow knew she was coming. If what you "knew" is that the restoration program was just to create something like her. Is that why you left? If so then…

I get it.