Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gem really should have eaten breakfast that morning.

She’d never really been a morning person, and despite years of early patrols and training sessions, that had never really changed. So when her alarm had gone off that morning and she’d sat up to find Scott already in the bathroom, she’d lain back down and closed her eyes “Just for another minute.”

Mistake, mistake, mistake. One would think she’d have learned by now. She’d opened her eyes fifteen minutes before training started. Scott had apparently headed straight out the door after finishing up in the bathroom, and hadn’t realized that she had fallen back to sleep.

So she’d rushed into her training clothes, run a brush through her hair a few times before giving up, and sprinted off to training without even a bite of food. Cleo had arched an eyebrow at her when she staggered in just as they were starting to go over the day’s routine, but hadn’t given her the lecture she’d been expecting. She supposed she couldn’t complain.

At least the basic strength and agility training were fairly mindless, which was good, considering Gem was still groggy from sleep. Though they didn’t provide any sort of distraction from her hunger.

Cleo was keeping an eye on her. Gem turned around multiple times to find them watching her. It was really irritating. She was fine. Sure, she was stressed, but so was everyone else, after Pearl’s disappearance and Grian’s resignation. Everyone found themself picking up more patrols and more assignments, it wasn’t just her! She didn’t need to be babied!

Moreover, there was a hint of electricity in the air. Skizz catching and holding Falcon’s glare, Scar taking a step back as Russet stalked towards him. Scott and Impulse watching with wide, nervous eyes. Pearl had led alongside Cleo for years, and her disappearance and alleged treason were an ongoing argument amongst the heroes.

Gem had definitely, most certainly been fully intended to hear a conversation between Cleo and President Blackthorn the other day, and had not been eavesdropping at all:

“Mr President, there have been some… tension amongst the heroes.”

“Oh? How so?”

“There have been some… debates over Eclipse’s flight. Now, I can’t 100% confirm rumors, but allegedly, some believe that you are… mistaken over her treason. Some are convinced you are correct. And after leading Hermit Heroes for years, some are quite eager to defend her. If these rumors are true, then I’m concerned a real fight will break out.”

“Ah. So she still has some defenders, huh? Who?”

A moment of silence, “I’ve only heard rumors, sir. I don’t have names.”

“Hm,” just as Gem started to think the conversation was over, Blackthorn spoke again, “Keep an eye on these… rumors, Captain. We must not have any saboteurs in our midst.”

“I was hoping that we could do smaller training sessions. Pulse and I cannot possibly prevent fights between everyone in the room, if one was to break out.”

“I’m surprised at you, Captain. We’re short on patrollers as it is. We cannot possibly maintain smaller training sessions and our patrolling schedule.”

“The way we’re doing it right now is bound to end in disaster! Not only can Pulse and I not effectively supervise everyone, but we leave the city poorly protected during our sessions!”

“I would not take that tone with me, Captain.” Blackthorn’s voice was cold and threatening. Gem shivered, even out in the hallway.

There was a long moment of silence before Cleo spoke again, “I apologize for my impudence, Mr President.”

“As you should. Dismissed!”

Gem had tucked herself around the corner just in time as Cleo stormed by, muttering something under her breath.

Gem hadn’t been able to get the conversation out of her mind since. The other heroes were in danger, too, since most of them had taken one stance or another on the conflict. And Cleo wouldn’t be able to protect them forever.

Gem was shaken from her dark thoughts when Cleo clapped their hands loudly, “Okay, y’all, we’re going to spar with each other, 1 v 1. If you could listen, I’m handing out pairings now.”

Cleo started reading the list off. A lot of the choices made sense. Falcon and Russet together, Cleo pairing with the recently injured BigB, and Impulse working with Skizz as always. Gem was paired with Etho, which she was ecstatic about. Etho and Gem were both from the same city, several hours away, and it was nice to have someone who came from the same area to share memories with. Even if he was a little washed up.

After thoroughly trouncing Etho for three battles in a row without even breaking a sweat, Gem noticed Impulse approaching out of the corner of her eye. She felt her muscles stiffen, and her eyes narrowed. He was trying to replace Pearl, whether he’d wanted her kicked out or not. And Gem didn’t trust that, not even a little.

“Hey Fae, we’re noticing a bit of a balance issue over here. You’re definitely one of our more combat-oriented Heroes, so Captain advised we switch some people around. I’m thinking maybe you and Falcon pair up, and that leaves Enigma and Russet.”

Scratch that, Impulse was also incompetent. Pairing her with Falcon could not possibly end well. Two hot-headed, powerful Heroes on opposite sides of the recent controversy being paired together could only end up with one or both of them being seriously hurt.

But on the other hand, she was pissed off. How dare Falcon look down on his fellow heroes with that smug face of his, as if he was so much better! How dare he mock those he fought beside fire something as simple as asking questions! How dare he reject the person who he’d trained alongside as if their years of history were all for naught!

Gem was going to enjoy this.

Chapter Text

Gem cast a silent glance over to Falcon’s talons. He’s remembered to cap them. Good. While that didn’t mean a blow from them wouldn’t hurt, and it certainly didn’t fix the bone-crushing grip strength he could exert with them, it did massively reduce the risk of injuries. Gem had wrapped her hooves, too, for the same reason.

Both Falcon and Gem had already warmed up, so they immediately began circling each other. Falcon’s wings were puffed up, and Gem was staring at her opponent so hard that she was surprised he didn’t burst into flames.

Gem made the first move, aiming a quick kick at Falcon’s shin. He leaped into the air to dodge, but Gem had already swung her fist, driving a powerful right hook into Falcon’s stomach. He doubled over, wheezing.

The polite thing to do, at least in training, would be to take a step back and give one’s opponent a moment to recover. Winning a bout that quickly wasn’t ever truly satisfying, and losing that quickly was nothing short of embarrassing.

Gem wasn’t feeling particularly polite that day. Her vision was red rimmed, and there was a ball of fire in the pit of her stomach. Her fists were clenched so tight she wouldn’t be surprised if she was bleeding. She lashed out with her right leg, knocking Falcon’s talons from under him. As he beat his wings to steady himself, Gem lunged at him, knocking him to the ground and pinned his wing with a hoof, keeping him grounded even as he fought to get away. One of his talons struck her stomach, and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out.

After a moment, he fell still with an angry hiss, “All right, all right! I surrender! Let me up!”

Gem removed her hoof from his wing, and he scrambled to his feet, flexing his wings and checking his legs for injuries. Gem pulled her shirt up to take a quick look at her stomach. No blood, normal amount of bruising, pain stayed fairly localized to where she’d been kicked. All seemed normal. Still, he could’ve caused serious damage with those. Avians were supposed to be incredibly careful with their talons during training, going well beyond capping them. It was all too easy to accidentally cause internal bleeding with a blow to the abdomen, or break bones in one’s crushing grip. He’s being too reckless.

Nevertheless, the two squared off again. Falcon’s eyes matched the tension in Gem’s shoulders. This time, Falcon struck first, aiming a punch at her face. Gem blocked it with her forearm (Ouch) and struck back, aiming a punch at his shoulder. He leaped backwards to dodge, and began to beat his wings around her head. Gem shook her head, trying to escape from the overwhelming barrage of blows. She shoved him, causing him to stagger back a few steps, and swung another punch, connecting with his stomach.

They went back and forth for a while, evenly matched so long as neither was caught off guard. Gem’s body felt like a giant bruise, and Falcon’s wings were drooping behind him. But neither stopped. It was a matter of principle.

Eventually Falcon landed a nasty blow to her ribcage, causing her to cry out. Within a moment, he ducked behind her and slammed one of his talons into her back, knocking her to the floor. Before Gem could react, he had one knee digging into her upper back and had pinned her to the floor. Gem tried to call out, surrender, ask him to let her up, but it was becoming difficult for her to breathe. All she could manage to gasp out was a quiet, “Stop…”

Falcon chuckled, “Why should I? You’re nothing but a filthy traitor! And you need to learn that no matter how hard you and your pathetic band of rebels try, you will lose. Every time.”

He leaned his weight forward, and Gem felt a pop in her shoulder, following by near-blinding pain. Gem couldn’t help it, she cried out in pain. She heard Cleo call something out, but her ears were now ringing so badly she couldn’t hear it. Out of desperation, she snapped her head backwards as hard as she could. To her relief, she felt one of her antlers make contact with something, and she heard Falcon grunt and shift his weight, releasing her good arm for a split second. Lightning quick, she elbowed him in the side, knocking him off of her.

Gem staggered to her feet, gasping for breath and trying to ready herself to fight on, but she stumbled, her legs numb and slow to respond. And then there were strong arms steadying her, and Impulse was crouching in front of her, still steadying her with his hands, yellow eyes wide with horror. His mouth was moving as if he were asking something, but Gem still couldn’t make sense of the words. Nearby, Cleo was restraining a furious Falcon, who had blood dripping from his nose. The look in her eyes was pure murder.

As the ringing in her ears slowly faded, Gem became aware of everyone else around her. Cleo still holding Falcon back even as the avian was giving up and going limp. Impulse was crouched in front of her, trying to get her attention, “Gem? Can you hear me? Are you all right?”

And most of all, the absolute stillness of everyone around her. No one was sparring anymore, everyone was watching the chaos. So many people were staring at her. She tried to stare back defiantly, but it was difficult when she was still in so much pain. Her legs had gone from numb to a pins-and-needles sensation, which despite being a good thing, was wildly uncomfortable. She barely heard Cleo snapping at Falcon, “Go to my office and wait for me there. Do not move. If you take detours, you will regret ever being hatched. Got it?”

Gem didn’t hear Falcon respond, but the sound of his capped talons clicking on the floor as he stalked away. 

Near the back of the crowd, Scott’s eyes were wide with horror as he tried to push his way forward, only to be blocked by Tango. Skizz was pushing his way to the front of the crowd, towards Gem.

Skizz and Impulse switched places, and Impulse immediately moved towards the crowd, “Training is over! Nothing to see here! Anyone who is not directly involved needs to leave!”

Scott and a few others looked hesitant, but in the end they all filed neatly out of the room under Impulse’s orders. Meanwhile, Skizz led Gem over to the adjacent first aid room, hie eyes glowing white as he used his powers to dull the pain in her shoulder. Gem sighed. This might take a while.

Gem cast her hearing over to the corner, where Cleo had pulled Impulse aside. Even from here, Gem could hear their voice shaking with fury, “Why on Earth did you think that was a good idea?”

“Well, they’re both-“

There was a sudden pulling sensation in her shoulder, followed by a pop. Gem sucked in a breath as pain briefly flickered in the injury before Skizz’s magic beat it back once again. Skizz winced, “Sorry. I don’t think there’s a way to make that completely painless. Any other injuries I should know about?”

Gem sighed, “I got kicked in the stomach during the first bout with him, but he didn’t put as much force into it as he could have. I also got kicked in the back. That hurt like hell.”

A brief pause, “Any numbness?”

“Not since he stopped kneeling on me.”

“Okay. Don’t move.”

Gem held still as she felt Skizz run one of his hands up and down her spine. After a moment, there was a sigh of relief, “No fractures. But I’m feeling something that might be a bone bruise, so we’ll need to address that immediately.”

Gem snorted, “My entire body feels like a giant bruise right now. Not overly surprised.”

Skizz smacked Gem with one of his wings, “You stop that,” his light tone and sparkling eyes made it feel so much less serious.

Continuing in a more serious tone, Skizz said, “I’d like to take a look at the bruises on your stomach and back, if you don’t mind. Do you want someone else in here, or…?”

Gem shrugged, “I mean, I trust you. I train without a shirt half the time as it is. But I do think Riptide would explode if he goes without any information for long.”

Skizz snorted, “I’ll send a message to Riptide, then. Give me a moment.” 

After a second of silence, Skizz spoke again, “He’s on his way. I’ll go ahead and start checking you out?”

After Gem gave permission, Skizz lifted her shirt to take a look. A mottled black-and-blue bruise was streaked across her abdomen, right where she’d been kicked. Skizz sucked in a breath, “Ouch. That looks painful.”

“Brilliant observation, Einstein. I feel so safe knowing you’re in charge of our first aid.”

“Yeah, yeah, all right. That’s just… really quite impressive. Any nausea? Weakness? Lightheadedness?”

“Nope. It feels bruised.”

“How bad is the pain, on a scale of 1-10?”

“Well it hurt like hell when it happened, but I think it’s more of an annoyance now. Three?”

“Good, good. Does it hurt when I touch it?”

Gem grabbed his wrist, “It’s a bruise. That you’ll be pressing on. What do you think will happen?”

Skizz chuckled, “I do still have to check for any rigidity, could indicate internal bleeding. So if you could lay back, actually, that would make my job a lot easier.”

“Right, yeah. That makes sense” she sighed, “I’m not being very cooperative am I,” Gem realized as she settled back onto the table, “Sorry, I guess I’m just riled up right now.”

“If you were being all nice and polite right now, I wouldn’t even bother with these tests. You’d be off to the hospital in a half a second.”

“Ha ha. Shut up.”

Skizz laughed, “Never change, Fae. Just, maybe be more careful. You could’ve gotten yourself seriously hurt. I worry about you.”

Gem rolled her eyes, “I swear you act like you’re my dad.”

“But are you sure I’m not just trying to get out needing to heal you? More work for me, you know. Speaking of, if you could roll over so I could check your back.”

Gem did as she was told, “Ah, but then where would you get your entertainment from?”

Before Skizz could answer, there was a knock on the door. He hurried to open it, and Scott popped into the room, teal hair sticking out every which way and his sleeves damp with water. He was wringing his hands together so hard that they were bone white, “Fae! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Riptide.”

"Are you sure? You were in a lot of pain earlier, and then Angel said you wanted me in here and…”

Gem cut him off, “I wanted you in here so you didn’t have a panic attack and/or burst a water pipe. Again, I might add.”

Scott seemed at a loss for words for a moment, then “I was not about to destroy anything! I was anxious, but I kept everything under-“

“Sleeves.”

Scott glanced down at his arms as if they had personally offended him. He stuttered for a moment, “Well… um… so… I had most of it under control!” His voice jumped about an octave higher on the last few words.

Gem giggled, “Well now that you know that I’m okay, you can have all of it under control!”

Scott was still wringing his hands together, “But why would Falcon do that!?”

“Because he’s a jerk. So he took it out on me.”

Skizz sighed behind her, “You and Falcon have never gotten along, and with tensions as high as they are, it’s no small wonder a fight broke out. I’m pretty sure Pulse is going to get quite the talking-to for pairing y’all up. There’s no way that ever ends well. Speaking of, Riptide, do you know where Pulse and Captain went? I’d like to speak to them.”

“Pulse was gone by the time I got back here, and Captain was going to deal with Falcon, I think. Not sure, but she certainly looked angry enough. Can it wait?”

“Yeah, not a problem,” he glanced down at Gem, “You’ll stay in the infirmary tonight so I can keep an eye on you, and then no training for two weeks. I’ll check back in on you after that and see if you can be cleared to go back.”

“Two weeks? Whyyy? Can you not heal something?”

“My magic works better on magical injuries; you know that. And I don’t touch the brain or spine unless someone is in real danger, there are too many things that can go wrong.”

“I will die of boredom before the two weeks are up!”

Skizz laughed and ruffled her hair, “If I had a nickel for every time someone said that, and magically lived to tell the tale, I would be rich. You’ll be okay.”

“Don’t let Canary hear you say that,” Scott chuckled, “He’d be grumbling at you for days.”

Skizz laughed, “He’s so easy to fluster!”

A soft ding from his comm caused Skizz to glance down. A sigh, and then he directed his gaze to Gem, “We should probably get you down to the Infirmary. Apparently there’s a broken nose for me treating. Know anything about that.”

Gem felt a moment of smug satisfaction despite herself, “No idea, Skizz. Where could that possibly have happened?”

Skizz laughed, “Oh, shoo, you!”

Gem dragged her feet the whole way to the infirmary, right behind the first aid room. Skizz laughed at her reaction, and Gem stuck her tongue out at him. She entered one of the rooms. A bed, a comfy chair near the window, a desk, an office chair, and a small bookshelf with a variety of books. Gem grabbed a random book and flopped into the chair, wincing as her bag twinged in protest.

She’d barely made it a page before there was a knock on the door. She groaned, “Who is it?”

“It’s Captain. May I come in?”

Gem sighed. She supposed she’d have to have this conversation sooner or later, “Sure. Come on in.”

Chapter Text

Cleo opened the door and entered quietly. Their shoulders were slumped ever so slightly. Their hair was rumpled and unkempt. They were carrying a notebook and pen.

She glanced around before sitting on the bed with a soft thump. Opening the notebook on their lap, she glanced up at Gem, “Okay. I’ve heard Falcon’s side of the story, I’d like to hear your’s now.”

And Gem explained. How Impulse had swapped pairings around due to the differences in skill levels. Their first spar, which Gem had so easily won. Then the second, more disastrous one. Cleo quietly took notes on her clipboard the whole time.

Eventually, she sighed, “Well, at least the events line up, even if you both seem to assume an awful lot about what the other was thinking.”

Gem opened her mouth to protest, but Cleo held up one hand, and she swallowed down the words she’d wanted to say. Cleo clearly wasn’t done, “In the future, you’re welcome to say something to one of us. We won’t be pairing you with Falcon in exercises again, at least for the foreseeable future, but if you’re ever uncomfortable with a training partner, you can come to me or Pulse. We’ll be happy to move you around. We’ll need to make sure to clarify that with the others as well.”

Gem sighed, “I probably should’ve done that today. I’m sorry.”

Cleo put a hand to her forehead, “No, that’s not what I meant. Is there a world where you handled that better? Maybe, but nothing you did deserved any of what Falcon did.”

There was a moment of silence before they spoke again, “And for the record, Falcon agrees. He asked me to apologize to you from him. You don’t have to forgive him or respond, but he seemed serious about it, if it means anything.”

Gem felt a flicker of surprise, but she couldn’t find the energy to care much more than that. As the adrenaline from the fight faded, her body seemed to weigh three times as much compared to just a few minutes ago. She leaned back on her bed. Her back hurt, and her shoulder hurt, and her eyelids felt like they weighed about twenty pounds each.

Cleo seemed to understand. She stood up, “I’ll leave you alone. Do you need anything? Have you eaten today?”

Gem blinked in shock. Had she eaten today? What had she done…? She’d gotten up, and gotten dressed, and… headed straight off to training. No food had been involved at any point.

“Fae…” Gem peeked at Cleo through one slitted eyelid and nearly laughed out loud. Cleo was standing, both hands on their hips, giving Gem the sternest look. Gem had to close her eye before she actually laughed. For someone who doesn’t want to be called ‘Mom’ they sure seem to play the role quite well.

Gem sighed, “I don’t think so. When my alarm went off, I lay down for ‘just another minute’ and you can probably predict what happened next.”

Cleo sighed, “We’ve all done it. Here,” Gem felt something hit her chest, and opened her eyes to find a granola bar in her lap, “It looks like you need a nap more than anything, so eat that now, and I’ll make sure you have a full meal when you wake up.”

“Thank you,” Gem mumbled. As Cleo slipped out of the room, she unwrapped the granola bar. She devoured it in a few short bites. Though it barely took the edge off her hunger, she couldn’t muster the energy to wait for anything more. She closed her book with a snap and crossed the room, crawling into bed. She fell asleep within moments.

——

Cleo staggered to their room, hands shaking more than usual. The inside of their brain felt like it was being shredded by the sharp shards of her own thoughts. Skizz called after them, but it barely got through the ringing in their ears.

Unfortunately, Skizz was more persistent than most. He darted up to walk alongside them, “…ow… she?”

Cleo stopped, blinking. What the hell? Skizz repeated what he’d said, and Cleo caught on, “Tired, mostly.”

She was amazed at how little her voice shook, but Skizz gave them a look anyway, “…kay?”

Cleo managed to nod and wave Skizz off.

Thankfully Cleo’s room was close to the infirmary. She didn’t think her clumsy feet and blurry vision could make it much further. She shoved into her room and slammed the door behind them.

She sank to the rug, wheezing. Their chest felt like it was imploding on itself. They curled in on themself, shuddering as their vision faded in and out.

Everything’s falling apart, one particularly nasty thought whispered, The Hermit Heroes are falling apart, and you can’t keep them together.

Cleo pressed her hands over her ears, trying to block out the mental voices, but they continued unabated, You’re a traitor, a traitor to everything you believe in. You betrayed Eclipse, and you’re betraying the others by not telling the truth about her.

Cleo couldn’t even fight that thought, It’s true. It’s true it’s true it’s true and there’s nothing you can do. You’re a coward, a coward, a traitor, a coward.

The tiny part of Cleo’s mind not absorbed into their own emotions faintly registered knocking at their door, concerned voices calling through. They bit down on their lip, stifling desperate sobs even as tears streamed down her face. Nobody could know. No one would help them now. No one could possibly want to help them now, they were just reaching out as a formality.

She’d betrayed her best friend, her confidant for almost fifteen years now. They deserved this. They deserved all of this.