Brave New World

by 4powerd

Summary:

In which Kongo decides that the only winning move in this war is to flee.

In which Rose wasn't the first Gem to find Amethyst.

Chapter 1: Amethyst

Summary:

Kongo finds a new home for the Gems and finds a new Gem for the home.

Brave New World

Chapter 1: Amethyst

Kongo did not deserve the admiration of the Gems. Now more than ever. It was because of him, of his fatal defect, that Gems continued to be stolen away to the moon. It was because of him that the Lunarians persisted, listless souls stuck between the boundary of life and death. He kept so many secrets from them, no matter how much he wished to tell all of them the complete and utter truth. That the Lunarians had no true quarrel with them. That it was he they wanted. All their suffering, all their loss, all their pain, all because he would not, could not, pray for the Lunarians.

And then he had gone even further, he had taken his selfishness to an unprecedented level. Perhaps it was the shame he felt over Cinnabar's exile, or the directionless path of Phosphophyllite, or maybe the near-loss of Antarcticite, but Kongo finally deviated from the path he walked for thousands upon thousands of years.

He took the Gems, and left. He finally, truly abandoned his post, and took the Gems elsewhere, where they would be free of the Lunarians. Leaving them to rot infinitely on the moon.

The Gems had nothing but praise for his decision. Perhaps one day they would understand the monstrous depths of his actions.

But for now…for now, the Gems were free. Free on an Earth that had not been destroyed. An Earth that was not menaced by the Lunarians.

It had been a barren land they had arrived in, a land of endless, lifeless brown. Hills and cliffs dotted with uncountable holes, each one shaped disturbingly like a person. Machinery dotted the landscape, machinery that not even Kongo could recognize, despite being programmed with an understanding of the entirety of humanity's history.

It was a disturbing sight, especially for the Gems who had known nothing but the luscious green grass, warm blue water, and bright sunlight of their home. It was disturbing for Kongo too, who wondered if perhaps they had arrived merely at the direct aftermath of one of the comets.

But no, it was mere coincidence. Beyond the desolate canyons lay a whole, living world, far greater than the one they had left behind. A world full of possibility, where the Gems would not be limited by the meager resources of the island they all once called home, nor would the vast majority of them have to spend all their effort and energy on guarding against Lunarian attacks.

A world where the Gems were finally, truly, free to find their own path in life.

They had been reluctant, at first, to leave the barren land they had first arrived in, especially once it became clear that Kongo himself would not be leaving. He had dictated their lives too long, he would not interfere this time.

Eventually, with gentle prodding, they began trickling out and into the wider world over the course of centuries. Bort, surprisingly, was the first to go. With no enemies left to fight, she had been lost, completely and utterly, and felt the need to reinvent herself. Diamond left not long after, purposefully going in the opposite direction from Bort.

Yellow Diamond was next, and Zircon followed despite, perhaps even because of, Yellow's objections. Neptunite and Benitoite also went in opposite directions, agreeing to meet up again in 50 years. Morganite and Genshonite left together, as they always did. Ghost Quartz vanished one day, no one was sure where she went. Peridot was drawn to the concept of a university and left to attend one, only returning to inform Rutile that the humans of this planet had mastered the art of crafting synthetic gemstones. Rutile promptly left to find the perfect replacement parts for Padparadscha. Jade resisted leaving for a long time, even enduring after Euclase left, but the dwindling amount of Gems finally convinced her that there was nothing for her here, and so she left as well. Red Beryl, unsurprisingly, left the moment she was informed of the fashion industry. Sphene stayed longer than most, helping Kongo in the construction of a rudimentary shelter for the remaining Gems, though she, too, left eventually, and she took Obsidian with her. The Amethyst twins left not long after Diamond did, and Watermelon Tourmaline and Hemimorphite left soon after them. Of the Gems that did leave, Alexandrite and Antarcticite took the longest to leave. Alexandrite, because, like Bort, her life had been tied to the Lunarians, and now, without them, she struggled to move on. Antarcticite point-blank refused to leave Kongo for the longest time, and it both warmed and shattered his non-existent heart to see her care so much, to see her chained down by him so much. It took centuries, but both would eventually leave.

Now only 4 remained, if one counted Kongo himself and the ever-asleep Padparadscha. Phosphophyllite and Cinnabar had been the only ones to stay.

The very thought of them made his heart ache, so much as a machine like him could have a heart. Both were alike in many ways: they had similar hardness levels, at 3.5 and 2, respectively. Both were outcasts, Cinnabar because of her constant secretion of mercury, deadly to Gems and organic life, and Phosphophyllte because, at first, of her fragile and unreliable nature, and then because the gold-platinum alloy made her unnatural in the eyes of her fellow Gems.

It wasn't surprising, then, that the two were drawn to each other. Especially when it became apparent that the alloy formed a protective barrier around Phosphophyllte, and stopped the mercury from coming into contact with the more important agate and phosphophyllte that held her memories. Phosphophyllte was safe from Cinnabar's poison, and the only Gem that could get close to her, that could touch her.

Perhaps, finally, Cinnabar would feel wanted.

These thoughts were running through the metal and circuitry that was Kongo's brain as he walked the moonlit, barren canyons. He walked these paths when sleep would not come to him, and that was more often now that he no longer had to sacrifice parts of himself to keep the Lunarians at bay. He no longer needed to conserve his energy, and so could afford to indulge himself in these leisurely walks more often.

He stopped, his thoughts banished as he lifted his gaze up to one of the infinite man-shaped holes dotting the canyon walls. There, just barely visible, glut with glittering moonlight, was a sphere of mercury.

"Cinnabar," He called out, frowning. Even here, Cinnabar felt the need to exile herself.

A moment later, a mane of red hair appeared out of the hole, more spheres of mercury surrounding it.

"Sensei," Cinnabar responded, not moving from the hole.

"I am not your sensei anymore," Kongo reminded her. He had explained his nature, so much as the restraints written into his code would allow him, to the Gems upon their arrival here so many centuries ago.

"Right, Kongo…" Cinnabar said the name as if it were still unfamiliar.

"There are no Lunarians to watch for, you do not need to watch over the night," Kongo said as gently as he could. He knew why Cinnabar patrolled the night. It had nothing to do with watching for Lunarians and everything to do with escaping the uneasy gaze and fearful looks of the others.

"Sen-Kongo, I need to ask you a favor," Cinnabar changed the subject with all the grace of Kongo lying. Still, he accepted it. He would not force Cinnabar to talk if she did not wish it.

"What is it?"

"Tell Phos to leave."

Kongo's eyes widened in surprise. He had been certain that their relationship had improved; he could not fathom why Cinnabar would suddenly detest Phosphophyllte's presence.

"Phos isn't happy here." Cinnabar continued, "She wants to go out. She hangs on to the stories the others tell when they return, and I see her gazing out when she thinks I'm not looking. She only stays because of me. I can't keep her here, it's not fair."

Kongo narrowed his eyes again. Ah, that was it. "Phosphophyllite cares deeply for you. She stays because she enjoys your company." He let his words sink in before continuing, "Cinnabar, do you wish for Phosphophyltte to leave?"

Cinnabar said nothing, but Kongo could hear the mercury bubbling underneath her feet, and that told him enough.

"It's selfish…" The red-haired Gem finally said.

Kongo smiled. How could he blame any of the Gems for selfishness when he had been more selfish than all of them combined?

He opened his mouth to speak, perhaps even to say exactly what he had thought, when a loud crack echoed through the silent night.

He turned in the direction of the sound, vaguely aware of Cinnabar poking her head out further to do the same. It was coming from one of the canyon walls, not too far from Kongo. Vague imprints were forming on it, almost human-like (Gem-like?), and the cracking continued, almost like something was forcing its way out of the dirt.

Instinctively, one of Kongo's hands reached out to his arm, ready to snap off a piece of himself and fling it in the direction of the unknown threat. He heard Cinnabar pulling mercury out of herself, writhing and pulsating, ready to be unleashed.

In the end, there was no threat. Something did force its way out of the canyon wall, but it was no threat, it certainly wasn't a Lunarian. It was a small figure, human in proportion. But it wasn't human, couldn't be. Its skin was purple, it had lavender white hair, and…and…

Kongo's eyes widened. Impossible…he thought, but he knew what he must be looking at. If there was any doubt, the amethyst gemstone in the middle removed it.

"Cinnabar…go wake Phosphophyllite," Kongo said, as his arms dropped.

"Sensei…is that?" Cinnabar asked, looking at the creature. The Gem.

"Yes, I believe so," Kongo confirmed, still staring ahead. It shouldn't have been possible. It didn't resemble any of the other Gems, and it had come from the ground, not the ocean. Still…he could see no other explanation. He would need to feel the Gem for himself to confirm, but…everything he was told him that this was a Gem.

He was only vaguely aware of Cinnabar leaping from her hiding spot and racing towards the pitiful replacement for the School where, he knew, Phosphophyllite was sound asleep. He was too busy watching the new Gem, the Gem who was stumbling over herself, looking at everything with confused, curious eyes.

It was when she turned those eyes towards him that he realized he had been walking towards her. Curious, confused, excited, the trademark looks of a new Gem who knew nothing. He placed a hand on her head, the same way he had done with every Gem, and was surprised at how she felt. Perhaps he shouldn't have been, after all, she hardly resembled any other Gem he had seen. She did not feel like a Gem. Instead of the rocky, somewhat smooth texture of a newly formed, uncut Gem, there was a firm, yet somehow formless feel to her. It was only the gemstone itself, formed around her chest, that felt anything like he had expected.

It didn't matter. She was still a Gem.

"Ameythst," He said, "Your name will be Ameythst." Idly, he wondered what 84 and 33 would think. This Amethyst looked very different from them, and a part of him sensed that no amount of powder and resin would change that. He hoped they would treat her well anyway.

Falling into old habits, he picked up Ameythst and started carrying her back. She put up no resistance, seemingly more confused than anything.

"Who are you?" She asked. Ah, so she could already speak. Interesting.

"I am called Kongo," He answered.

"Where are we?"

He stopped in front of a building made of a mishmash of repurposed steel from the strange machines lying around and packed dirt. It was nothing more than a respite from the weather, a place for the Gems to rest. Compared to the School, it was downright impoverished. But, unlike the School, it had been built by all of them, with nothing more than their hands and resolve. Perhaps that was why it felt more like home than the School ever did.

"Home." He answered.

Notes:

Hello to the idea that wouldn't get out of my head. Basically what happened was that I finished the Land of the Lustrous manga and it made me severely depressed and so I decided that they all needed a happier ending (Cept the Lunarians cause fuck em) so I decided to bring them to the other rock-based series where happier endings are par the course!

I don't have much of a plan for this, so we'll just see where this goes. I'll probably be jumping all over the Steven Universe timeline and exploring how the Lustrous Gems interact with their new environment.

Also, you probably noticed that I'm using she/her pronouns for the Lustrous Gems. This is just to keep things more consistent with the Steven Universe Gems and to make things a little less confusing so you're not trying to tell a singular them from a plural them.

As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback.

Chapter 2: Home

Summary:

When Lapis stole the world's water, she didn't expect to steal someone with it.

Brave New World

Chapter 2: Home

Lapis didn't move so much as she flowed through the currents. Water rushed around her, animated by her will. Carrying, pushing, pulling. Her eyes were closed; she didn't need to see when she could feel everything around her. Lapis moved with the water, as the water, as much as there was a meaningful difference between them.

More was coming. She could feel it, her consciousness fractured and shattered as she stretched herself out, pulling water from every corner of this miserable planet. Lakes cut through dirt, pools heaved themselves out of the ground. All converged on her. Pushing further and further.

More.

Water was pulled from the ground, clouds were dragged down and melted back into the collective. Rivers were diverted.

More!

Hurricanes changed paths. Typhoons were redirected. Floods, swamps, marshes, every inch of water this wretched planet had to offer was given to her.

More!

Glaciers moved and melted, ice became water, plants were wrung on moisture. Every inch of water, every minuscule amount of moisture, was brought to her.

Finally, Lapis Lazuli opened her eyes. The very act was liberating. Every slight gesture, every step taken, was a declaration of her freedom. She stood atop a pillar of water, rising high, high into the atmosphere of her prison.

She reached out a hand. She could see it, glittering in the sky. Tiny, insignificant.

So far away.

Home

Homeworld. How long had she been gone? Thousands of years? Thousands of thousands of years? Time was a meaningless concept inside the mirror. A second could pass and feel like a year, and vice versa.

It didn't matter. She was free.

Free!

Free, and yet still so far away.

She knew she was grasping at straws. The chances that this pillar of water could bring her all the way back home were minuscule at best, non-existent at worst. Even if she stretched it as far as was possible, even if she gathered water from other planets, it just wouldn't be enough.

The gemstone on her back ached with pain. The one thing standing between her and home. If only her gemstone hadn't been cracked. If only she could still summon her wings…

She had to try anyway. What choice did she have?

So she stretched the water. Higher, and higher. Past the stratosphere and into the stars. Pulling, pushing, wishing, hoping desperately that it'll be enough, even if, deep down, she knows it isn't. It can't.

It's when she feels something, someone pushing through her water, that she stops. She wonders who would dare follow her into her own domain like this, and her mind immediately jumps to her jailors, the Crystal Gems.

(Part of her hopes it's Steven, part of her doesn't think she can face him again)

There's a sound, like something freezing solid. A creaking, cracking sound of something crystallizing. Just before her, the water wavers and pulsates, like something is tearing apart from it. Lapis holds a hand up, ready to restrain whoever's dared to try and stop her.

The water breaks, and a figure begins rising out of it. Ice-blue in color, and a texture that straddles the line between ice and the water itself. The figure rises up, strings of water falling from it like slime, and then begins truly solidly itself.

The figure becomes clearer, more human-like. And human-like is the only way Lapis can describe what she sees. She's seen humans, she knows what they look like. This figure looks like one: Standing on two legs, two arms, proportions just like a human. But it can't be human. Humans had skin, and this being did not, just a clear, translucent form of crystal ice. She sees no eyes either, but still, this…thing is looking around, seemingly as confused as she is.

She reacts before she has time to ponder, water swelling up beneath the figure and engulfing it. The figure lets out a gasp of surprise, and its head darts up in Lapis's direction. She's certain it would be glaring if it had eyes.

"Who are you?" She asks coldly, holding the figure tight.

"Who are you?" The Gem responds, just as cold. And it has to be a Gem, right? That's the only explanation. Has Lapis been gone for so long that the very Gem race has changed in such a drastic way?

Who is she? Isn't that obvious? She's a Lapis Lazuli. If her appearance hadn't given it away, surely the water tower must have? This Gem had to have known what she'd find up here, right?

…Has she been gone so long that the entire Lapis Lazuli line has been discontinued? But who would terraform then?

…Has she been replaced?

The very thought angers her as much as it crushes her in despair. Unwanted thoughts of returning to Homeworld, only to be greeted as a thing of the past, fill her head. A curiosity at best, a liability at worst. Shattered at the very worst.

At least that would be better than the mirror.

Wouldn't it?

It wouldn't.

It would.

It wouldn't.

Contradictory thoughts swell her mind, and she doesn't realize she's increasing the pressure on her prisoner, not until a loud crack snaps her back to reality.

Wide-eyed, she jerks her attention back to the odd-looking Gem, and, to her horror, confirms her fears. There's a wide crack on the intruder, running from the upper length of her right thigh all the way to her neck.

Is her entire body her gemstone?! Lapis wonders in astonishment. It doesn't make any sense. Why spread your gemstone out like that, make it more vulnerable to cracking and shattering? Could it even be done? Evidently, yes.

The crack in her own gemstone begins aching, almost in response.

Immediately, she relaxes the vice grip, not enough to release the clear Gem, but enough that no more accidents like that will occur.

"I'm sorry," She says, "I didn't mean to crack you like that."

"It's fine," The ice-crystal Gem sighs, and she seems more annoyed than anything. Did she not know the consequences of a cracked gemstone? "It's not the first time, at least nothing broke."

Not the first time? What? How was she so calm about this?! Did it have something to do with spreading her gemstone out across her body?

"I'm Antarcticite," Ah, the Gem was speaking again. Antarcticite. Lapis thinks, trying to recall the name. It's definitely a Gem, but not one she's ever heard of again. "Now could you let me go?"

And just like that, she's brought back to reality. She tightens her grip, not nearly as much as before, but enough. "No," She says, "Why did you follow me?"

"Follow you?!" The Gem all but shouts, "I don't even know where here is! I certainly didn't come here intentionally!"

Does she really expect Lapis to believe that? "So then how are you here?"

"I…" The Gem starts to answer, before looking down, "Ah, I think I get it now. You can control water, yes?"

Obviously "Yes."

"I melt when the temperature is too high. When you were gathering all this water, you must have taken me too."

Lapis blinks. This Gem melts? What?!

"You…melt?" She says, and she thinks she must have misheard. There's no way. That's not…that's not how Gems work. There's nothing to melt, their bodies are just projections from their gemstones!

But her whole body is her gemstone, Lapis reminds herself. If that's the case…her body wouldn't be a projection, it'd be solid. And if it's solid… then, yes, she supposes that it could melt.

"Yes." Antarcticite confirms. "My body hardens in colder temperatures, but for most of the time, I'm just water." She looks around, taking in just how far into space they are. "I suppose it's cold enough here for me to form."

Lapis thinks about that for a moment, and her grip begins to loosen, subconsciously, "For how long can you normally form?"

Antarcticite thinks, tiling her see-through head and blinking non-existent eyes, "Typically, winter is the only season I can form. The rest of the year, I'm melted."

Lapis thinks more. She wonders what it would be like to only exist for a quarter of a year at a time. That's almost worse than the mirror, getting glimpses of freedom, only to melt into motionless water again as the temperature rose.

"You're like me…" And the water around Antarcticite begins to waver, spilling out in awkward bursts.

She knows that their situations aren't truly comparable. Antarcticite still has her freedom. Temperature is her limiting factor. She could easily be solid year-round in the right environment. No one held her prisoner.

But Lapis remembers Steven, the first person to really talk to her in…how long? Millennia? She remembers the discussions, the stupid, immature jokes they played, and realizes she wants to believe that Antarcticite is similar to her. She wants to feel some sort of kinship. She wants to think that Gemkind hasn't just moved past her.

The watery grip on Antarcticite finally drains away, dropping the crystal-clear gem to her feet.

---

Like her? Is the thought running through Antarc's head as the unknown Gem finally releases her. She remembers the familiar feeling of crystallization, she remembers thinking that winter arrived quickly this year, and she remembers her sudden constraint as she awoke on a giant pillar of water far past Earth's atmosphere.

The Gem in front of her isn't one of the 28 Gems that Antarc arrived with all those thousands of years ago. No, she looks more like Amethyst (That is, the third one, not 33 and 84) and that other little small group. What were their names…? Ah, right, Garnet, Pearl, and Rose Quartz. Antarc had only interacted with them a handful of times, thanks to her condition, but she was certain this blue-skinned Gem wasn't a part of that group.

"Like you?" She asks, as the water finally begins to slide off her. She takes a testing step, grimacing as the giant crack in her strains her already-weak body.

"I...I was trapped," The other Gem says, "Inside a mirror, for…I don't know how long! Thousands of years?"

Antarc stops, and looks up. She'd be frowning if her body had been powdered. Trapped in a mirror? It sounds ridiculous. But then again, the Gems of this planet are strange. They don't have bodies, not really. Their bodies are little more than light projected from their gemstone, a gemstone that can't be glued back together if it's damaged. They vanish into nothing if damaged enough, and they have powers that Antarc can only dream of.

In light of all that, being trapped in a mirror doesn't sound too far-fetched.

"I see, that's…" That's what? What do you say to something like that? She guessed she could see where this Gem was coming from, saying they were similar, but honestly, Antarc's condition was far more bearable.

"I'm Lapis, by the way. Lapis Lazuli." The Gem says, finally giving Antarc a name, and for the first time since this conversation started, she's glad she isn't powdered. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to hide the shock and surprise at hearing that name.

She's just glad it's her here now, and not Ghost Quartz.

"Antarcticite," Antarc reiterates, "Or just Antarc, your preference."

There's a pause between the two, as neither are sure how to proceed.

"Uh, I guess you could leave, if you want…" Lapis says.

Antarc thinks about it. She's doubtful it's winter, she'd probably just melt again. She wonders if Ghost has noticed her disappearance by now. Probably. That Gem was always more perceptive than most gave her credit for.

"I'll stay, for a bit," Antarc finally decides. Despite herself, she's curious. For the longest time, she had convinced herself that Sensei was the only company she needed. That was until Phosphophyllte had intruded upon her winter watch and Sensei had paired them up. Maybe Phos had been a key to a lock Antarc never knew she had, but now Antarc found herself craving companionship. It was why she followed Ghost around, even if it meant leaving the arctic regions she had been exploring before, the regions where she was solid year-round.

"What are you doing with all this water?" Antarc asks what likely should have been her first question, but between the sudden solidifying, the mysterious Gem nearly breaking her in half, and the fact that she was closer to the moon than was frankly comfortable, she had gotten sidetracked.

Lapis lifted her head up to gaze at the stars, "Home. I'm going home"

Antarc followed her look and saw what she was seeing. Just barely visible was a twinkling star, so far beyond that it could barely be called a star.

Home?

"This isn't your home, then?" She asks, gesturing down to the earth.

Lapis turns back to her, surprise etched on her face, like it's inconceivable for her to even ask that question, "Of course not! Homeworld's my home, just like you."

Homeworld. That's a word, or perhaps a name, that Antarc's heard before. Only in hushed whispers between those 3 who were native to this planet. They never did elaborate, and Antarc never bothered prying deeper. But she thinks she's starting to get a good idea of what it means now.

"You're from somewhere else. A different planet." It's not a question.

"...Are you not?" Lapis looks surprised, "Wait, were you actually made here?"

"No," Antarc shakes her head, before thinking for a moment, "Actually, maybe I was." From what Sensei (And he would always be Sensei to Antarc, no matter what he said) had managed to tell them, it was entirely possible that this planet was the same one that Antarc and the others had lived on before, just impossibly far back in the past.

"I don't really know," And that's the truth. Antarc lost her memories of her creation long ago; her oldest memories were long after she had integrated herself into the group and fallen into the niche of the winter guardian. "My first home was an island, but we left that behind a long time ago."

"We?" Lapis parrots.

Antarc nods, "There were 27 others. For the longest time, that island was the only home we knew. But we weren't safe there; we were constantly under attack. So, we left."

As if just speaking about it triggered the memories within her inclusions, Antarc begins talking. About the island, the School, Sensei, and the other Gems.

"It wasn't perfect," She finally says, "I know why we left. But still…it was home."

"No, I get it," Lapis nods. Homeworld wasn't…the best place, even in the best of times. Lapis knows this. She has no illusions about what it's like, or what life would be like there. Even though she can't begin to comprehend the unimaginable transformation that's taken place there, she knows how Gem society works. Despite all this, it's still her home.

As if some spell was broken, the tension melted between the two Gems. With not much else to do, they begin talking. Antarc shared stories of her home, of the Lunarians and the endless struggle between them and the Gems, and the reason for their eventual exodus. She explains her state to Lapis ("I'm usually far more presentable") and tells stories about the other Gems. She reminisces on the time Phos cracked herself trying to break the ice floes, earning a chuckle from Lapis.

Lapis tells her own stories, stories about a Gem civilization that endures into the stars. It boggles Antarc's mind, who once told Sensei that she was glad she only formed during the winter, because dealing with the other Gems was just too much. Lapis doesn't limit her stories to homeworld; she talks about the mirror, and here, Antarc doesn't say much, she just stays silent as the blue-skinned Gem vents. It's not the first time Antarc has been the designated listener to whatever Gem has problems worth ranting about, only this time she's solid.

Both Gems talk, swapping stories about their own experiences, and both come to the conclusion that the other is really weird, but keep it to themselves out of politeness's sake.

Antarc stays throughout the whole experience. Even as Lapis cuts their conversation short to deal with the Crystal Gems, who have come to stop her. And Antarc can't exactly blame them. She's not an expert, but she's reasonably confident that water is an important part of the Earth's ecosystem, and Lapis did take all of it.

She stays even as Lapis lifts someone else up into the water tower. A human child, of all things. A human child that Antarc can't shake a feeling of familiarity from. The human talks to Lapis as if he knows her (And they must know each other, for Lapis also shows that familiarity) and it's only when the human puts some wet paste on Lapis's cracked gemstone, mending it in a show of light, that Antarc realizes why he seems so familiar.

She's seen that healing ability before. More than that, she's seen that curly hair before, and those starry eyes.

Azure wings form from Lapis's restored gemstone, and the Gem flies off into space. And then the human turns, and seemingly notices Antarc for the first time. There's wonder and amazement in his eyes, and, yes, Antarc has seen that look before. Only a handful of times, but she'd recognize it anywhere.

"Who are you?" The human(Gem?) asks, "Oh! You're cracked too!" He(She?) says, and seems ready to bolt over and repeat whatever process healed Lapis.

"Rose?" Is all Antarc manages to get out before the water tower they're standing on begins to waver. There's just enough time to see surprise in the child's eyes before the tower collapses, and they both fall.

Antarc falls long enough to ponder what she just witnessed. Was that Rose Quartz? She had only seen the other Gem a handful of times, but the memories stored in her inclusions swore that she looked vastly different from the being she had seen there. But the healing powers, the hairstyle, the star eyes. Those were Rose. She knew the Crystal Gems had the power to transform their physical appearance, a by-product of their bodies being formed from light instead of being a true physical being.

Was that what she was witnessing? Had Rose decided to alter her shape so dramatically? Why? What was the point? Rose was eccentric, but this was pushing it. She never could comprehend that Gem's decisions. She was almost like Sensei: They both carried too many terrible secrets.

There wasn't much more time to think about that, however, as Antarc's descent back into Earth came with it the unfortunate side-effect of her beginning to melt again. It was as this happened, as her extremities began to liquefy, that she realized that, with nothing to contain her liquid self, she would spread out and mix with all the other liquid and carried in all directions.

A frustrated sigh was the last thing that escaped Antarc's lips before they turned to slush.

I'm going to be putting myself back together all winter, aren't I?

Notes:

Not sure how pleased I am with this chapter. Antarc was difficult to write and I can't help but feel that she's a bit OOC. Anyway, wanted to write this chapter because I thought it would be funny if Lapis accidentally yoinked liquid Antarc while building her pillar to space.

As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback.

Chapter 3: 108

Summary:

Phos and Cinnabar meet their new sister

Brave New World

Chapter 3: 108

Phos woke up to Cinnabar looking down on her.

Now, that wasn't an unpleasant experience, but it certainly was an unusual one. Despite all of Phos's best efforts, Cinnabar had resisted fully moving into the house they had all built. At first, it was the danger she posed to the other Gems (And the nervousness and fear those other Gems displayed) that kept Cinnabar from the house. But even as the number of permanent dwellers dwindled, Cinnabar still resisted leaving the various caves. Oh, sure, Phos had coaxed her into the home with her a few times, but that was just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of time Phos ended up in one of Cinnabar's holes.

Still, best not to waste this chance.

"Did you finally get tired of sleeping in a hole by yourself?" Phos asks in that tone of voice that she knows will drive Cinnabar up the wall.

Sure enough, she gets a scoff in response, "Idiot. You'd break me into a hundred pieces with your tossing and turning,"

"Oh, please," Phos says, reaching out with her arm and tracing (Gently) up and down Cinnabar's own, "Even I can't do that much damage."

She can barely see with the scant moonlight that makes its way through the window, but she can still make out the blush on Cinnabar's face.

"You know it wouldn't work, we're too fragile. And I can't control my poison when I'm asleep, it'll just build up everywhere, and, and-" Cinnabar suddenly jolts her head up, anger and embarrassment written on it in equal measures. "And, wait, that's not even why I'm here!"

Phos just sits up with a laugh, a sound so melodic and beautiful that Cinnabar forgets to be mad at her. Cinnabar thinks that it's supremely unfair that Phos can disarm her with a sound as simple as that.

"Then why are you here?" She asks, idly twirling a peppermint lock with one of her golden hands.

"Sensei found a new Gem," Cinnabar said.

That got Phos's attention, and the gold-armed Gem sat up straighter, fully alert now.

"What?" Phos asked, "Really?!" Confusion gave way to excitement at the prospect. Phos was the youngest of the Gems, and after relocating to this new world, had largely given up hope on that ever changing.

Cinnabar nodded, "She's a bit strange though…" but Phos wasn't listening. The other Gem had already bolted out of bed and down a flight of stairs towards the main room.

Cinnabar stared at where Phos had just been a minute ago, and something between a sigh and a chuckle came out of her.

Still as impulsive as ever, huh?

.

.

.

…Never change, Phos

---

Home

That word rang in Amethyst's ears as she stared at the building in front of her. The giant carrying her, the giant who called himself Kongo, was not a Gem. Of this, she was fairly certain. She didn't know what he was, though. At first, based on appearance, she assumed him to be the primary organic species of the planet, information implanted within her gemstone as she was formed, a human. But what information she had said that humans were supposed to be soft and squishy, like other organic life.

Kongo was hard, rigid, and solid. Like a rock. Gems shouldn't feel like that. Solid, yes, but not rigid. That was wrong. Incessant curiosity burned in her, as none of the myriad information she had been created with could answer the question in front of her.

"Are you a human?"

"No."

"Are you a Gem?"

"...No"

"Then what are you?"

"I'm sorry," Kongo said, with a mournful expression, "I cannot say."

Well, that didn't help. Amethyst was only more curious now, but she turned her curiosity away from the giant as he strode into the house, still holding Amethyst.

Why was he carrying her? She could move just fine. Her legs had formed just fine. But she did not resist. Something about the gesture was…comforting.

How odd.

The inside of the house was well-lit by the moonlight pouring through the windows. It was rather spacious, and yet sparse. Tables and chairs, but nothing more than was really necessary to seat a decent number of people. A set of 14 alcoves dotted the walls, a partition separating each one from the room. Stairs led up to another area that housed another 14 alcoves, and Amethyst assumed they must be rooms (Quarters?). Plaques dotted each room, written in a language she didn't understand.

There were other places, other hallways and doors, and snaking passages that led who knows where, but Amethyst was more focused on the other occupants of the room.

There were two of them, both around the same height and wearing similar clothing. Really, the only difference between them was hairstyle and color, as well as some other, comparatively minor differences.

The first had a long mane of crimson red hair, and looked down on Amethyst impassively. Spheres of some silvery liquid contorted and pulsed around her, gleaming in the moonlight. The second had shorter hair colored a mint green. She seemed more cheerfully, openly amazed at Amethyst's presence. Her arms were gold, instead of the human-skin tone that was present everywhere else. Something about the vibrant, colorful hair intrigued Amethyst, seeming so familiar yet…wrong at the same time. It took her a minute to realize why: The vibrancy and lusciousness were identical to her gemstone. These were Gems.

"Woah…" Mint-hair breathed, "This is the new one, Kongo?" She directed her question at the giant carrying her.

"Yes," Kongo replied with a mechanical nod, "Her name is Amethyst."

"Really?" Mint-hair asked, "Now we have three!"

Three? Amethyst leaned forward at that, unable to keep the excitement from showing in her face, "There's others?" She asked. Maybe she wouldn't be alone. Maybe there'd be other Quartzes.

The two other Gems looked at her in surprise. Why? Shouldn't it be natural that she'd want to find others of her kind?

"She can speak already…" Red-hair said, and directed her attention to Kongo, "Did you manage to teach her that on the walk back?"

"No," Kongo replied, the giant not moving, "I believe she emerged with the ability to speak. She is unusually perceptive for a Gem her age, as well."

Amethyst blinked, more confused than anything else. Why was it surprising that she could talk? What did he mean by 'unusually perceptive'? All she had done was ask questions that anyone in her situation would.

"Also, I noticed that she doesn't look like a newly formed Gem," Red-hair continued, "Did you powder her already?"

Powder? More words and concepts that meant nothing to her. Frustration began to grow. Would they explain nothing to her?

"No," Kongo again replied, "She emerged looking like this."

"Wait, emerged?" Mint-hair asked, "Huh…now that I think about it, there's no ocean around here. Where'd she come from?"

"The ground."

"Whaaaa?" Mint-hair all but wailed, looking at Amethyst with shocked eyes. "What do you mean the ground?"

"I mean that she emerged from the ground. More specifically, one of the canyon walls," Kongo again replied monotonously. And, ok, Amethyst is starting to really get annoyed at this point. Those two were Gems. Why were they acting like she was the weird one?

So she decides to speak up, "Why are ya'll freaking out? What's so weird about me coming from the ground? Isn't that where you two came from?"

"No," Kongo says, and he gently sets Amethyst down, before kneeling down to be at eye level with her, "Where we come from, Gems form in the ocean and are washed up on a beach we call the Shore of Nascency. When they are first formed, they do not look like you and me, instead, their entire body resembles the texture of your gemstone. It is only through the usage of a special powder that they appear as Cinnabar and Phosphophyllite do."

"Furthermore," The giant continues, "They are not formed with the knowledge and skills you possess. They do not know how to speak, or read, or write, and must be taught those skills."

Amethyst absorbs the information, filtering it throughout her being and comparing it when what's been implanted in her gemstone. Well, Kongo was right. She is different then. Or, rather, they're the ones that are different.

"Man…" She starts, "You guys are weird."

"Eh?!" Mint-hair cries out, pointing dramatically at Amethyst, "What do you mean we're weird? You're the one who came out looking like a grape!"

Amethyst isn't the only one who's confused by that, as both Kongo and Red-hair looked at her, Kongo with confusion and Red-hair with incredulity.

"Grape…it's a fruit," Mint-hair says with a bashful smile, "Red Beryl told me about it, it's purple, like her…I think."

"Phos…sometimes I fear the workings of your mind," Red-hair said blandly, and Amethyst finds herself snickering along.

"Cinnaaaaa…!" Mint-hair (Phos?) whines, "Aren't you supposed to take my side?"

"Even when you're being idiotic?" Red-hair (Cinna? Cinnabar?) asked.

"Espically when I'm being idiotic!"

The two devolve into bickering, and Amethyst watches it with some amusement as Phos accuses Cinnabar of betrayal while Cinnabar claims that Phos is delusional.

There's a sigh from behind her, and Amethyst wheels around to see Kongo watching the exchange with an exasperated look, before looking back at her.

"Forgive me, young Amethyst. Phosphophyllite and Cinnabar care for each other deeply, but sometimes have an…odd way of showing it. Still, I hope you find happiness here."

Amethyst doesn't say anything, just thinking. She knows what she should be doing right now. Information planted in her gemstone, infused into her at the very moment of her creation, dictates the actions she should be taking right now. Report to an Agate or other similarly ranking Gem, get assigned to a regiment, ship out, and obey all orders from her commander.

This colony is most likely abandoned, if the state of the Kindergarden is any indication. Still, the commands and instincts programmed into her gemstone are urging her to find a way. Contact with Homeworld must be possible somehow. Fight, serve the Diamonds. That's what she's meant to do.

She processes this information, lets it flow over her…and finds that she doesn't care. It's all meaningless words, images, and concepts. Injected into her with no context, no reasoning behind it. Why serve the Diamonds? Why should she fight? There's no understanding, no explanation, just commands.

Instead, she finds she's much more interested in these odd Gems than anything else.

"Sorry about that," The mint-haired Gem is suddenly in front of her, her row with the red-haired Gem having resolved, apparently. "I got so caught up in Cinnabar, I forgot to introduce myself." She smiles again, "I'm Phosphophyllite! But just call me Phos. And the grumpy one over there is Cinnabar."

Phos leans in conspiratorially and stages whispers, "But, hey, just between you and me, underneath all that grump is a big softie."

Amethyst laughs, even more so when said 'big softie' lets out a mixture of a growl and a scoff. The argument starts anew, as Phos starts teasing Cinnabar over…something, to which Cinnabar retorts with some incident involving a snail. A slug? She isn't sure, and the name means little to her anyway.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna be all right here

Notes:

So, this was supposed to be entirely from Amethyst's point of view, and take place a few years after chapter 1, not a direct sequel, and would have involved more of the HNK Gems than just Phos and Cinna. However, the CinnaPhos demon in my brain took over and made me write that beginning scene, and I was like "Well, it'd be awkward to go with the original plan now, so let's see where this goes" and so here we are.

So, about the chapter title. In Land of the Lustrous, Amethyst 33 and 84 are named as such due to a reference in how they formed (Something which is beyond my capabilities to explain at the moment) and their nature as twin crystals. However, with the advent of CG!Amethyst, there needs to be a way to refer to her specifically. Thus, I went with the headcanon that, in the event of the HNK Gems having multiple Gems of the same type, they refer to each individual Gem with a number relating to what order they were found in. As we don't know how many Gems Kongo actually found in canon, I took a page out of HNK itself and made it a Buddhist reference. Thus, Amethyst, at least in this fic, is the 108th Gem that Kongo has ever found, thus making her Amethyst 108.

As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback.

Chapter 4: Eldest

Summary:

Rose Quartz finds Yellow Diamond.

Not that one.

Brave New World

Chapter 4: Eldest

Yellow Diamond sighed as she trudged through the ankle-deep snow of whatever frozen hell she had ended up in. She was exhausted, had been exhausted for the last several weeks, actually. Winter was Antarc's domain, and Yellow wanted nothing to do with it. If things had gone her way, she'd be holed up somewhere in a nice, cozy cave, hibernating the winter away with Zircon.

But things hadn't gone her way, so here she was, practically sleepwalking her way through the snow. Of course, things would have been easier if it were only her own weight she was supporting.

"Hey…" Yellow said, looking down at the motionless body in her arms, "You're getting heavy, why don't you carry me for a change?"

Zircon didn't respond. It was hard to talk when your head was currently shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.

Yellow chuckled mirthlessly, "I was just joking, no need for the silent treatment."

Now, an excuse to hold her precious Zircon wasn't something Yellow normally disliked. In fact, she loved it, especially when Zircon made those adorable, flustered noises. But it had been a couple of years since Zircon had lost her head, and home was still nowhere in sight. Who knew how long she'd have to walk before she would have the resources to put Zircon back together?

The first year, she had tried to hibernate the winter away, but horrible scenarios kept invading her dreams. Visions of waking up to Zircon shattered to pieces, lost, or, worse, stolen away by Lunarians, plagued her. Even though she knew it was ridiculous - there were no Lunarians and this was hardly different from regular hibernation - Yellow was unable to sleep for more than a few days at a time without having to get up and ensure that Zircon was still safe. Eventually, she gave up on trying entirely.

I just had to lose the glue Rutile gave me, huh? Yellow thought bitterly as she kept up the pace, trying not to think about how nice it would be to just collapse in the snow and sleep the winter away. It turned out that while this world had no Lunarians, there was still danger. There were all the natural ways they could crack themselves, like falling or even just being too forceful when touching each other. But now they also had to contend with bigger, more dangerous, and unpredictable wildlife, humans with weaponry that was beyond them, and all other manner of things.

But the worst threat was the giant, Gem-like creatures that seemed to pop up sporadically. No one knew what they were, or what they wanted. If they could speak, they hadn't seen fit to do so to the Gems. They were dangerous, and wholly unpredictable. They reminded Yellow of the Lunarians, but even the Lunarians were predictable in their frequency, and looked Gem enough to be familiar. Nothing like the beasts that had taken Zircon's head off.

Zircon…

Try as she might, her thoughts always returned to the limp body in her arms. How could they not? How could her head not swim with concern for Zircon? Zircon, who was always taking blows meant for her. Zircon, who always deferred to her. Zircon, who put Yellow's happiness over her own. Zircon, who stuck with her no matter where she went. Zircon, who was always prioritizing Yellow's safety over her own.

As if there was anything about Yellow worth protecting.

Ruby, Sapphire, Green Diamond, Pink Topaz…Yellow Diamond couldn't help but think of her previous partners. The ones the Lunarians had stolen away. The ones she had failed. Everyone looked up to her because she was the eldest. That age gave her a venerable aura about her; everyone respected her, and expected her to know the answers. And in return, they fought with all they had to protect her. Because she was the eldest. Because she was special. Because to lose her was to lose a core pillar that every Gem had. There were precisely two figures that every Gem had grown up with: Kongo, and Yellow Diamond. And so, neither of them could be allowed to come to harm.

And that was how Green Diamond had been taken away. How Sapphire had been taken. How Ruby and Pink Topaz had been taken. It was how Zircon was always being shattered. How her head was currently a pile of shards in a bag tied around Yellow's waist.

When would they learn that she was responsible for them? That it was her fault they had been taken. Age was nothing to be respected. Age was nothing. Age was indicative of her cowardice, her weakness. All she could do was run. She couldn't persist in the sunless, wintery environments that Antarc thrived in. She couldn't manage timetables and meetings like Jade. She couldn't forge weapons or make clothes like Obsidian or Red Beryl. She couldn't protect everyone like Bort. She couldn't make everyone smile like Diamond. All she was good for was running away.

And I'm not even that good at that, am I? Yellow thought bitterly as she stood motionless, surrounded by the pale white of winter. The sun was so weak here, the clouds so thick. Her vision was swimming and it was all she could do to stay upright. Taking another step felt like trying to wake Kongo: Painful and impossible.

Yellow fell to her knees, only barely aware of Ziron falling from her arms and into the soft snow. For the first time since winter started, Yellow was thankful for the snow, thankful to it for keeping Zircon from shattering further.

Maybe…maybe if I'm exhausted like this, I'll just sleep Yellow thought, even as her eyes begin to close. Yes, that sounded nice. She would sleep the winter away and continue the journey next spring. She felt herself start to slump over Zircon, protecting her lifeless body with her own, and was content to let sleep take her. And that was when the rumbling started.

Millennia-old battle instincts made her snap her eyes open and jump up, her body making the most of the minute amounts of sunlight in her. She scanned the area around her, one hand twitching at the sword on her belt.

Her first thought was an earthquake, but this wasn't a region known for them, and besides, this didn't feel like the shake of an earthquake. Her second guess was a landslide, but, again, the terrain didn't fit it. A landslide required elevated surfaces, mountains, or hills, and this was a flat, forested region. Her third guess…

Her third guess broke through the ground in front of her, kicking up waves of snow and dirt and snapping trees apart. Giant in size, it easily dwarfed Yellow and resembled a pale slug. Pale actually wasn't the right way to describe it. It was clearer, see-through, with faint sunlight streaming through its crystal-like body and fracturing into a dismal rainbow. It almost reminded Yellow of Dia. At the center of its snake-like head was an octagonal gemstone, almost as white as the snow around it.

Yellow's third guess had been one of those Gem-based creatures.

I never thought I'd miss the Lunarians, Yellow thought as she drew her sword, But at least they only attacked when the sun was out!

Not like she had much of a choice. Maybe, if Zircon was ok, they could have made a run for it. But Zircon was still there, lying on the ground motionless, and Yellow was certain she didn't have it in her to run fast enough to escape and carry Zircon at the same time.

A cruelly pragmatic part of her told her that the best course of action she could take now was to leave Zircon and run. Even if she was shattered further, she could always be put back together. Even if she was shattered into millions of pieces and scattered to the four corners of the earth, she could be put back together. Gems never died. Even if it took millions of years, Zircon would eventually be put back together. So long as someone remained to know that she was shattered in the first place. If Yellow fell as well…then it may be hundreds or even thousands of years before the other Gems even realized something was wrong. Another thousand to find them, and then millions more to put them both back together. The logical thing was to preserve Yellow's own structural integrity so that she could later restore Zircon's.

Isn't that what she had done with Green Diamond? With Sapphire? With Ruby and Pink Topaz? Hadn't she sacrificed them in the hopes of later recovering them? And this wasn't a Lunarian that would take Zircon's fragments away forever. At worst, Zircon would be scattered across the Earth. Not ideal, but hardly insurmountable.

And yet, here Yellow was: drawing her sword and stepping over Zircon's body, protecting it. Protecting her. Because Zircon wasn't Green Diamond. Zircon wasn't Ruby, Sapphire, Pink Topaz, or any of her previous partners. Zircon was Zircon.

Yellow Diamond wanted to believe that she loved all the other Gems equally. She was the eldest, and so it was her duty to dispense aid and advice to all the younger ones whenever they needed it. To always be there for them. To be the impartial older sister that everyone respected and looked up to. But she wasn't impartial. She didn't love them all equally. Zircon was special. Yellow Diamond loved all of the Gems, but she loved Zircon.

And that was why she, barely standing with nothing but trickles of sunlight to sustain her, was staring down the giant crystalline slug.

There was a twitch, a slight tremor in its body, and then it was launching itself at her. Yellow just barely rolled out of the way, coming up again to deflect the thing's sudden bite with her sword. Its mouth was open now, revealing four jagged spikes in a circular pattern.

The creature darted at her again, moving far faster than a thing that size had any right to. Each blow was parried or dodged, as Yellow desperately tried to think of a way to win. She didn't have the energy for a long, drawn-out fight; she needed to end this in one, swift blow. And for that to happen, she couldn't waste energy on probing or futile attacks, she had to be patient and wait for an opportunity.

So she continued on the defensive, dodging or deflecting attacks, moving only as much as necessary in order to conserve as much energy as possible: Nothing more than a slight tilt of her body or a side-step.

This song and dance went on for half a minute when Yellow spotted her chance. The creature lunged again, and Yellow once again side-stepped at the last minute, exerting the least amount of movement possible. This time, however, the thing moved too far too fast, committed too much, and there was a brief moment of vulnerability. But for Yellow Diamond, the fastest of the Gems, a brief moment may as well be forever.

Yellow struck, pivoting on her feet and darting forward, her sword poised to pierce the creature. Every last drop of energy she had was poured into this one attack. But she had been running on minuscule amounts of sunlight for the past several weeks and had all but hit her limit when this creature arrived. What little sunlight was left in her had been mostly burned out keeping her whole, and what remained simply wasn't enough to let her move at the speeds she was used to. Yellow Diamond, the fastest of the Gems, was too slow.

The creature turned fast, faster than Yellow thought it could, and slammed the entire weight of its body into her as she flew at it. Her sword met its body, and for a moment there was a contest between steel and body, but Yellow never had the strength to pierce it, and her sword snapped in half. At the same time, Yellow herself was sent flying through the sky, barely conscious. She hit the ground, bounced, and slammed into stone, the force of the impact and sudden stop traveled through her entire body. Her arms snapped off as cracks formed on her chest, and ran down the length of her arms, splitting them down the middle. Another crack ran from the base of her neck up to just below her forehead.

The cracks didn't really worry her. They were minor, a benefit of having a hardness of 10. No, the real concern was her arms. Without them, she couldn't hold a sword, let alone fight. Then again, even if she did have them, she doubted she would be able to do much. As it stood, it was taking everything she had just to keep herself aware; even standing up felt like a herculean task. Yellow's world was a dimming landscape of destroyed trees and displaced snow. She heard more than saw the creature approach her, its lumbering movements snapping twigs and branches in its wake.

Yellow barely managed to lift her head and look the slobbering thing in the eye. Or, she would, if it had eyes. Its face was mostly the octagonal gemstone, and the four fangs, nothing else. Maybe the gemstone was its eye? She smiled at it, even as it bore down on her with its horrific spine-like teeth. She closed her eyes and waited.

Then there was the sound of something rushing through the air.

The sound of the creature slamming its teeth down.

The sound of teeth hitting something. Something that was not Yellow Diamond.

Yellow opened her eyes. There was a woman standing in front of her.

She was tall, taller than anyone Yellow had ever seen, save maybe Kongo. She wore a white dress that slowly transitioned to pink as it neared the bottom, segmented by wavy lines. In her arm was a shield, a bright pink shield that was stopping the Gem creature from shattering Yellow into tiny little pieces.

But the most striking feature was her hair. Long, wavy hair curled into tubes. Beautiful, long hair colored a bright, eye-catching pink. The hair captured Yellow entirely. It was so long, so pink.

So familiar.

For a brief instance, Yellow wasn't in a snowy field, being saved by a stranger from some strange creature. She was back at the island, in the wavy grass, and it was Pink Topaz standing there, protecting her from the Lunarians' arrows.

And then the illusion broke as a second figure descended from the sky, spear in hand, and skewered the creature. There was a burst of air as the creature evaporated in a cloud of smoke, leaving nothing more than the gemstone that had replaced its eye.

Yellow sat there, staring dumbly for a second. The second stranger was shorter than the one who had saved Yellow, though still a bit taller than Yellow herself. She was lithe, more grace than power, and her skin was pastel white. The spear dematerialized, vanishing in a show of light, and the person picked up the gemstone. A moment later, a bubble formed around from thin air, and the thin stranger tapped it, causing the bubble and the gemstone inside to vanish.

"Just the one, right, Rose?" The stranger said, turning towards Yellow's savior. And here, Yellow let out a small gasp as she saw the pearl embedded in her forehead. A gemstone in her person, just like the creature.

The rose-haired woman turned toward her, the shield vanishing in a sparkle just like the spear had. Yellow could barely make out her form, starved for sunlight as she was. All she could focus on was the pink gemstone now visible in the woman's midriff. A rose quartz gemstone.

Yellow was truly fading now. One by one, her senses began to shut off. Her head dropped as her eyelids did, losing vision first. The world went dark. Hearing started to fade next, barely understanding the fact that the two people were exchanging words, much less understanding what was being said. The feel of snow started to fade away as Yellow began to drift off into the void of unconsciousness. She only vaguely felt something being set near the stumps of her arms.

And then energy was rushing into her. As if the clouds had parted and the sun was hovering directly over her, energy and warmth were rushing through her body on a scale that she had never experienced. Yellow lurched forward involuntarily, eyes shooting open. An odd sensation began traveling up her arm and through her body, and Yellow realized that her cracks were being filled in. Her arms, too, had been refixed onto the stumps.

In a moment, it was over, and Yellow managed to let out a shaky breath. The surge of energy had been almost overwhelming; it was like an entire concentration of a day's worth of sunlight poured into her at once. She breathed for a moment, looking at her fully restored hands, before looking back up.

The two women (Gems, they had to be Gems, right?) were looking down at her. The first, the taller one with the pink hair, had a gentle smile, but Yellow could see the hints of tension in her eyes, in the way her body was tensed ever so slightly. The second was far less subtle about it. The pearl-headed one was all but glaring at her, and though her hands were empty, Yellow was certain that the spear was ready to manifest again if Yellow made even the slightest move wrong.

"Are you ok?" The taller one said, her voice like a spring breeze, "I've never seen a Gem like you before, so I hope nothing went wrong in the healing process."

"You healed me, huh?" Yellow says casually, putting on her typical smile, "Ah…guess that explains my arms," And she laughs a little, because if she did anything else, she might start screaming.

Healing. This was a Gem that could heal. And she had to be a Gem. There was no other explanation. Humans didn't look like that, that tall, or that pastel white color. Humans couldn't make weapons appear from nowhere.

But neither could Gems. Gems didn't look like the pearl lady either. Gems couldn't make weapons appear. Gems didn't have powers like that. At least, Yellow didn't think so.

"Are you a Gem?" Yellow forces out, hoping for confirmation. Terrified of confirmation.

"Yes," The Gem answers, "I am Rose Quartz."

Yellow has to force herself to breathe. There are Gems here. It shouldn't be a terrifying thought. But Gems were supposed to have been left behind with everything else. Everything, the School, the island, the Lunarians, the Gems, even Sensei, were supposed to be a thing of the past.

If Gems still existed in this world, independent of the 28 that had arrived unnaturally, then it meant that not everything had been left behind. If this world could produce Gems, it could produce other things.

If there were still Gems, then there could still be Lunarians.

Gems could still be taken away.

Zircon could still be taken away.

Yellow bolts up at that thought, only now remembering about the headless Gem still lying somewhere in the snow.

"Zircon!" She shouts, and then she's off, breaking into a mad dash and kicking up clouds of snow in the process. She hears a shout behind her, but it doesn't reach her ears. She dashes through trampled snow and destroyed trees, jumping and weaving between ruined scenery. Finally, she arrives at the spot she left Zircon, now covered in snow. With a swing of her sheathed sword, Yellow sends the snow flying, revealing the Gem.

She was as she was left, motionless and (Thankfully) undamaged. Or, well, not further damaged. Yellow breathes a sigh of relief at the small miracle. At least she wouldn't have to track down any more of her fragments.

It's that thought that has Yellow check herself for the bag containing Zircon's shards. Thankfully, it's still there, but it's during her check that Rose Quartz and the other Gem catch up to her.

Yellow puts on her casual, laid-back smile again as the two approach. It's her "older sister" smile, the one that puts everyone at ease. It was the one she wore when going over reports with Jade, or when listening to Dia complain about Bort, or when encouraging Alexi to go to sleep, or when talking to Rutile about Padpa, or…well, you get the idea. She wore that same smile as the two other Gems approached her, Rose still seemingly calm but with tension bubbling under the surface, and the other, pearl-headed one, who was eyeing Yellow with suspicion.

"Ah…After you went through the trouble of fixing me, here I am running off without even an explanation. I was just so worried…" Yellow says in that languid way of hers, eyes half-lidded and relaxed.

(It's all an act. Cover up the fear and nervousness. Never be weak)

"It's no trouble, I understand," Rose says in that serene tone again, and her eyes drift from Yellow to Zircon. For an instant, Yellow can see a wide range of emotions cross the other Gem's face, all but unreadable. Disgust? Fear? Shock? She can't tell. The instant passes, and Rose covers up her reaction with that serene, gentle look.

"I take it this is…?"

"Zircon, yes." Yellow answers, "I was worried that she had been damaged further during the fight. I'm glad to know she wasn't." An idea enters Yellow's head. If this Rose Quartz could heal her, then maybe…

"I hope it isn't too much trouble, but could I ask you a favor?" Yellow doesn't understand why she's so nervous. At worst, all refusal means is that Yellow has to continue her trek back home. Still…she wants Zircon back. She wants, no, needs someone standing at her side.

Rose looks at Yellow, and an understanding crosses her face, but it's tempered by unease. She looks back down to Zircon, to where her head should be, and frowns.

"I would love to heal her…but I don't know if I can," She looks back up to Yellow, "You two are unlike any Gems I have ever seen. At first, I didn't even realize you were a Gem. If I hadn't seen the shards and the cracks…"

"You healed me, didn't you?" Yellow holds up an arm, gesturing to it, "Shouldn't this be no different?" A thought occurs to her, "Or…ah, it's because my hands were already there. You just had to reattach them."

Rose is still frowning, "Well, yes, that is part of the reason. But your arms were merely broken off, not shattered completely. I can heal cracked gemstones, but if she's shattered completely like this…even I can't heal that."

Now it's Yellow's turn to frown, "So? We shatter all the time." She doesn't miss the shocked look that comes from the two now, but ignores it, "Really, all you're saving me is a trip back to Rutile."

"Rutile?" Rose asks, and Yellow opens her mouth to answer, but before she can.

"What do you mean you 'shatter all the time'?!" The second Gem asks angrily. It's the first time Yellow has heard her speak. "Do you really expect us to believe that?!"

"Pearl-" Rose starts in a warning tone, but it's too little too late.

"There shouldn't be any Gems on Earth," The now-named Pearl continues, "But now there's you and this Zircon, and now apparently a Rutile?! What's next? How many of you are there?!"

Yellow reflexively positions herself between the two and Zircon, and she frowns a little, eyes glinting. "Well…" She drawls, "There's 28 of us in total, if you count the Gem inside Ghost Quartz, Red Alexi, and Sensei…though, he's not really a Gem."

"28…" Pearl breathes, looking…what? Panicked? Afraid? Why? What is there to fear? "How did so many slip by us?"

"Hey, hey…" Yellow says, bringing Pearl's attention back to her, "You two are as big a surprise to me as I am to you. We thought we were the only ones," She hoped that the two hadn't noticed her hands twitching towards her sword. She didn't want to fight, of course, but the tension in the air was suffocating.

"I'm not here to cause trouble, if that's what you're worried about," Yellow continues. Mentally, she's evaluating her chances. She knows too little about their combat abilities, only that Rose can summon a shield, and Pearl a spear. They're also obviously used to working together. And while they might not be as fast as Yellow, it didn't take them too long to catch up to her. All in all, especially with Zircon still there, Yellow did not like her chances of winning a fight.

All the more reason to talk them down.

"Pearl," Rose starts again, putting her hand on the other Gem's shoulder, "We're not here to fight. Does she look like a Homeworld Gem?"

Pearl looks back to Rose, "Rose, none of this makes sense. She's a Gem, but she doesn't poof. She talks about shattering like it's an inconvenience. How she's even on Earth in the first place - the galaxy warp's still destroyed, and Garnet wouldn't miss something as big as this!" She gestures towards Yellow, who's left to sift through all the unfamiliar terms and words, trying (And failing) to decipher their meaning.

"I know, Pearl, I know," Rose responds, voice tight, and something unsaid passes between her and Pearl, leaving Yellow to wonder if she shouldn't just take Zircon and run.

Eventually, Rose wins whatever silent argument they were having, as Pearl sighed and took a step back. Rose gives her a soft, apologetic smile before turning back to Yellow. "As I was saying, I would love to help, but I don't know if I can."

Oh, right, the shards Yellow flashes a lazy smile, "Well, like I was saying, this happens all the time. Rutile glues us back together, and we're as good as new. In fact-" She raises the bag tied to her waist, "I have the shards of Zircon's head right here. So, if that's your problem, it isn't anymore."

Rose eyes the bag like it's a particularly displeasing jellyfish, a look that only worsens as Yellow opens it to reveal the multitude of shards.

"I suppose…" Rose starts, her voice straining, "I suppose it's worth a try."

Yellow ignores the reaction. Too many weird things have happened today. Too many thoughts on her mind for this one to have any place in her head. They get to work, laying out the pieces in the rough outline of a head. Yellow was never good at this, she usually left it to Rutile, but a lazy day spent practicing or just watching the Gem doctor at work added up after a couple thousand years. It was nothing spectacular, but they had assembled the shards in the vague outline of a head, and Yellow was somewhat certain that all the pieces were where they should be.

After placing the final fragments, Yellow stepped back and looked to Rose. The taller Gem stood over the motionless Zircon for a moment before cupping her hands beneath the gemstone on her naval. Yellow watched in astonishment as the gemstone started glowing faintly, before a pinkish liquid began to coalesce and drip out into Rose's hands. After only a few drops had been collected, Rose gingerly tilted her hands and let the drops fall out and onto the collection of shards making up the facsimile of Zircon's head.

Yellow watched with bare curiosity as the liquid spilled over Zircon. Where the drops touched, a glow rose over. Faintly pink in color, it almost resembled the sunset. Before her eyes, Yellow watched as the shards and fragments pulled themselves together, moving as if on their own accord and slotting into position, shards fitting together and sealing over as if there had never been any injury. In moments, what had once been a collection of Gem fragments was now a complete head. As if Zircon had never been broken.

Yellow waited with bated breath, watching the restored Gem. The head was the most vital part of any Gem. A Gem could lose their arms, legs, even parts of their bodies, and still ultimately come out fine. Even losing lost fragments was only as bad as the lost memories within them. As Phos demonstrated, even losing body parts wasn't a major blow, since any mineral of a similar hardness level could be grafted to serve as a replacement. But lose even a part of the head, and even someone like Yellow Diamond would be hard-pressed to keep moving. A Gem could fight through the loss of arms, legs, almost anything, but the head was the closest thing they had to a death blow. Even if Zircon's head looked fine, to have it healed in such a…strange way. Would it still be Zircon underneath?

There was a shudder, and then, slowly, Zircon opened her eyes. Her eyes flicked over her surroundings: The upturned trees and blanketed snow, the two strange Gems, and Yellow herself. Recognition and relief flooded into Zircon's eyes when she saw Yellow.

"Yellow, you're ok." Zircon's voice, unused for two years, rings out as clear as ice.

Bitter joy floods Yellow's inclusions. Of course her first thought is of Yellow's safety. That's always how it is, isn't it?

She doesn't let any of it show, she just smiles and kneels in the snow, close to Zircon, close enough to run her hand through Zircon's hair (Gently, because Yellow's a 10 and Zircon's a 6).

"Of course I'm fine," Yellow answers, softly, reassuringly, "How about you, missing anything?"

Zircon furrows her brow. It was a difficult question to answer. After all, if you've forgotten a memory, you won't likely realize it. "No, I don't think so." And now Zircon notices the season, the cold, the snow, and the winter. "Oh, is it winter already? Huh…I don't feel tired."

"Oh, that's because of her," Yellow gestures with her head towards Rose, who is watching the scene with curiosity. Part of Yellow feels that she should be embarrassed about having an audience, part of her is too happy to see Zircon to care.

Zircon finally pushes herself up, to Yellow's annoyance, and gives a swift, jerky bow to Rose.

"Thank you very much for fixing me!" Zircon stammers out too loudly. Yellow can't help but laugh a little at her junior, always so eager to please. Rose quickly placates the younger Gem, and what happens next is a flurry of introductions, getting everyone on the same page.

"And what about you?" Pearl suddenly asks directly of Yellow. Her glare hasn't softened, and her wary eyes have followed both Yellow and Zircon, as if expecting them to attack at any moment. "We don't know who you are. She-" Pearl points, rather rudely if you ask Yellow, at Zircon, "called you 'Yellow', but that's just a color, not a Gem. So who are you? What Gem are you?"

"Pearl…" Rose chastises, before giving an apologetic look to Yellow, "I'm sorry about her."

"Oh, it's no problem," Yellow reassures, "I can understand. I'm Yellow Diamond."

The moment the words leave her mouth, Yellow realizes she's said something wrong. The tension that's been in the air erupts. Rose's eyes shoot open wide, and a mixture of emotions cross her face: Fear, surprise, anger. Yellow has just enough time to register this, when she's suddenly jumping away from the spear that's just skewered the spot she was standing in a moment ago.

"I knew it!" Pearl yells furiously, her spear in hand again. "I knew something was wrong about this!"

Yellow doesn't say anything. She's jumped to a tree branch, hanging just above Zircon. She doesn't know what she said to set them off, but the look Pearl is giving her, it reminds her disturbingly of Bort. The look of no compromise.

But it's the look on Rose's face that scares her the most. She's only seen a look like that on one other person. It was the face Kongo wore before he destroyed Lunarians. A face of indescribable stoniness that belied unstoppable power.

Yellow cannot talk her way out of this. Honestly, she doesn't want to. It's too much. Too many questions, too many things that don't make sense. Too many things that should have been left behind. Too many fears and uncertainties. So Yellow does what she's best at. She runs.

"What's going on?! Why'd you attack?!" Zircon is asking, hand reaching for a sword that isn't there because it had been lost in the attack that claimed her head 2 years ago. Before any of them have a chance to answer, Yellow is on the ground again. She gives one last look to Rose and Pearl, and then grabs Zircon by the back of her shirt, and dashes off a full speed.

She hears screams, from Pearl, from Zircon, maybe even from herself. Are they chasing her? She doesn't know. She just runs, runs as fast as she dares with Zircon in her hand. She runs from what she doesn't understand. She runs from the idea that Gems can still exist here. She runs from the implications that Lunarians can still exist. She runs from the fear that, one day, Zircon will also be taken from her.

She runs until the sun sets, until all the energy she's been gifted is depleted. She runs until she falters and stops, all but dead on her feet. She barely notices Zircon dragging her somewhere. She hears Zircon talking, concern evident in her voice, and, again, she's ashamed of her cowardice.

She doesn't want Zircon fretting over her. She doesn't want Zircon taking blows for her.

She doesn't want Zircon to leave.

---

They watch the retreating form of the two Gems, the Zircon and the one who claimed to be Yellow Diamond herself.

Rose watches the pair, just barely keeping her nerves in check. Anxiety and fear curl around her gemstone like a serpent, twisting and tightening, and it's all she can do not to poof on the spot out of shock.

"Was that really Yellow Diamond?" Pearl asks, standing guard near her, as always, spear summoned. "It hardly looked like her!"

"I know," Rose says tersely, because that's all she can trust herself to say right now. Vivid memories are resurfacing in her head. She can all but feel the hard surface as she begs Yellow not to let the Earth colony continue. She can hear Yellow and Blue's voices, taking control of everything, leaving her a prisoner in her own colony.

Homeworld was supposed to be gone. So why were there 28 entire Gems here?! Why was Yellow Diamond here?!

It couldn't actually be Yellow? Could it? Surely not. Rose looks to Pearl, and a silent agreement runs through them. Why would Yellow even approach her in friendly conversation? And if she was trying to infiltrate, why give her name freely? None of it made sense. And, again, she looked nothing like Yellow Diamond. She was even shorter than Rose!

Then again…Though Rose, I look nothing like Pink.

"This complicates things," Rose finally spoke, her voice shifting back into the controlled calm of Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems. "Let's head back and tell Garnet what happened here."

"Right, of course," Pearl says, letting her spear vanish. The pair make their way to the closet warp pad, and all the while Rose's mind races with unpleasant thoughts.

28 Gems. We need to find them, know what they're up to. A Zircon and…a Yellow Diamond, I guess. They mentioned a Rutile too, and a Red Alexi? What's that short for? And a Ghost Quartz. Oh Stars, they have a Quartz!

Notes:

Well, this took and is much longer than I originally planned. Also turned out to be less "Yellow Diamond meets Rose Quartz" and more "Yellow Diamond introspection hour, feat: Rose Quartz!" but I'm still satisfied with the way it turned out.

This chapter was significantly more angsty than the others, too. I swear I didn't plan it this way. I just started writing and it started getting angsty. I had no control over it; this chapter has a mind of its own!

Also, I think I figured out what I'm gonna do for this fic. Odd-numbered chapters will follow Amethyst as she grows up with the HNK Gems, starting from her first emergence in chapter 1 and ending with her joining the Crystal Gems in chapter…I dunno. Even-numbered chapters will be all over the place in terms of characters and timelines, and prominently feature HNK and SU characters interacting. This might at some point evolve into a separate storyline, but at the moment, I only have plans for one-shots.

Oh! One more thing (For real, I swear). This chapter is chronologically the first in the series (Until the day it retroactively isn't). It takes place in-between the HNK Gems arriving in the SU Earth and the events of chapter 1 (That is, Sensei finding Amethyst) and is the first time an HNK Gem interacts with a SU Gem.

As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback.

Chapter 5: Winter

Summary:

It's winter, and everyone is asleep. Everyone except Amethyst.

Brave New World

Chapter 5: Winter

Amethyst awoke as the first streams of sunlight filtered through the window of her room. Well, not her room, technically. She didn't have a room, not yet anyway. Home had been built with only the 28 refugees in mind, without any consideration of expanding that number. Phos and Kongo both agreed that this would be rectified at some point in the future, but how was a matter of some debate, and both agreed that all the Gems would have to be present before any major decisions could be made. The long and short of it was that, for the moment, Amethyst was sleeping in one of the other Amethyst's rooms.

Returning to that, sleep was another point of differentiation between her and the other Gems here. For her, sleep served no purpose beyond recreation. Her gemstone powered her body, and it was such an efficient power source that, while theoretically Amethyst could run out of energy, there was no practical situation in which that would occur. Phos and Cinnabar, on the other hand, were powered by sunlight. When the sun was up, they were as active as Amethyst, but on a cloudy day or at night, they were sluggish at best, and unresponsive at worst. Cinnabar, at least, could use her mercury to absorb the reflected sunlight cast down by the moon and stay awake at night that way. But even she took it easy on cloudy days.

At least, that's how it was most of the year. When winter came, and the earth was tilted so far away from the sun and clouds covered the sky, that was when it was time for hibernation. So little sunlight meant that Phos, Cinnabar, and to a lesser extent, Kongo spent much of winter asleep.

As such, when Amethyst made her way out of the room she was staying in, there was no one to greet her save the chill of winter making its way through the walls. When they discovered that Amethyst had no need to sleep the winter away, Phos had promptly foisted the responsibility of looking after winter upon her. In practice, that meant she woke up, checked on everyone to make sure they hadn't sleepwalked anywhere, chatted a bit with Kongo if he was awake, and then spent the rest of the day however she wanted.

There wasn't much to do. Phos wasn't even hibernating in the house (According to Kongo, it was also a 50-50 chance of Phos spending hibernation in the house or in whatever cave Cinnabar was sleeping in). Amethyst spent most of her days walking around the Kindergarten, making whatever fun she could. When she was lucky, Kongo would be awake, and she could wheedle stories out of him.

That hope died as Amethyst rounded the corner to the "meditation chamber" (As he called it) that Kongo was staying in. There, sat still as a statue, was the bald giant. His head was facing flat onto the table in front of him, a sizable impact from where he had apparently slammed his head into it. Supposedly, that too was commonplace. Kongo had a bad habit of putting off sleep in the winter until the last possible moment, resulting in scenes like this.

Amethyst sighed as she walked out of the room, bored out of her mind. Exploring the Kindergarten by herself had been fun…10 years ago. Now she had seen just about every nook and cranny there was. Even being the first and last line of defense during winter wasn't that fun. Oh, sure, when she'd first been told about it, she was giddy. 'Amethyst the Winter Guardian' sounded cool…at least until she'd been quite sternly told that, if ever attacked, she was to run back home as fast as possible and wake Kongo, and he'd deal with it. That certainly put a damper on things. Especially since in the 10 years since Amethyst had been created, not a single attack had happened. Oh, sure, those monsters had been spotted during the rest of the year, when Phos and Cinnabar could deal with them, but never winter. Because Amethyst wasn't allowed to have fun, apparently.

Deep in frustrated thought, Amethyst hadn't realized she'd entered Padparascha's room until she was looking down on her. Pale skin, the same as the others, wavy red-orange hair tucked neatly under her body. She wore the same clothes as she had the year before, and the one before that. A warm blanket draped over her, head beneath a pillow. Still and silent, it was all too easy to assume that Padparascha was asleep, hibernating like the rest.

But Padparascha never woke up. Ever. Amethyst knew that if she lifted the blanket, it'd reveal a bare chest full of holes. Phos had explained it to her the first week of her existence. Padparascha had been born with pieces missing, and as a result, was almost always asleep. Her room was the barest, with not even the slightest hint of personal items. The closest thing to personal possessions was her clothes, hung up in a never-opened closet, and a long sword - Kongo had once called it a nodachi - sheathed and never used.

"Hey, Padpa…how ya doing?" Amethyst said as she took a seat near the bed. "It's me, again. Amethyst. Uh, 108, not, you know, the other two." Amethyst had never met the other two Amethysts, 33 and 84. She hadn't met any other Gems beyond the ones at the house (and saying she knew Padparascha was stretching the definition of the word).

There was no response, but it wasn't like Amethyst had been expecting one.

"Things are kinda boring here. Phos and Cinna are asleep, so is Kongo, so it's just me awake. Again. I keep hearing stories about the rest of you guys, but I haven't met any of you. How long you gonna keep sleeping for?" There was no response, and Amethyst felt a tad guilty, "Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not your fault."

"Well…" Amethyst said as she got up and stretched, "I'm heading out. Gotta keep this place safe during winter, yeah?" She looked down on the still face of Padparascha, more of an idea than a person. "You'll say hi to me when you wake up, right?" If you wake up

No response. But then again, Amethyst hadn't expected one.

Amethyst left the room and then the house. The chill of winter greeted her, as did the blankets of snow. A cloudy sky, just barely letting in the faintest beams of sunlight, cast the Kindergarden in a moody, bleak light. Snow covered almost everything, and to Amethyst, it was the best part of winter. Snow was extremely versatile, its uses ranging from something to hide under, to making snowballs, to dropping snow on an unsuspecting Kongo as he walked across the hallway, to putting some in Phos's bed and hearing her scream as she flopped onto a now-soaked bed.

Snow was fun. Too bad that most of the time, Amethyst had no one else to play with.

Instead, Amethyst started her…well, calling it her 'routine' would imply it had some semblance of order or diligence. Which it didn't. It was mostly just her mucking about or pestering Kongo. That wasn't to say she didn't have a few important things to do; deep, deep down, there was a work ethic that compelled her to at least take those seriously. Or maybe it was just the boredom that made her do it.

Really, it was only a couple things. Mostly just checking in on the hibernating residents and then keeping an eye open for any new Gems or monsters. She'd already accomplished half of the first one, so she figured she'd find Phos and Cinnabar and complete the other half.

Finding Cinnabar was always tricky. For reasons that Amethyst could never fully comprehend, Cinnabar didn't stay in the house, instead spending her time in the Gem holes that peppered the Kindergarden. Something about mercury and poison or something. Which made no sense to Amethyst. They always acted like the mercury Cinnabar secreted was dangerous somehow, but it never bothered Amethyst! And she knew it couldn't bother Phos, what with how those two were practically glued to the hip. And yet, Cinnabar insisted on maintaining a distance from Amethyst, Kongo, and the house itself. It'd be funny if it weren't so infuriating.

So Amethyst started looking for Cinnabar, knowing she'd find Phos in the process, using her whip to swing from the jutting metal and ledges of the ground. Oh, right, the whip. Another thing that separated her from Phos and Cinnabar. She could create a whip, summoning it from her gemstone. It was more than just a weapon, it felt like a part of her, as natural as her arm. But Phos and Cinnabar couldn't do that. Nor could any of the others, apparently. If they wanted to fight, they had to use physical weapons that had been forged for them. Apparently, that's what Obsidian used to do before the Exodus.

Phos thought Amethyst was weird for being able to create her whip out of nothing. Amethyst thought Phos was weird for not being able to do that.

It was a little disconcerting, knowing how weird Amethyst was compared to the others. Part of Amethyst wondered if she had been taken in as a charity case, looked after because she had nowhere else to go with her deformities. She had confessed this fear to Kongo a year ago, and the bald giant had gently assuaged her fears.

"There was a time when Phosphophyllite felt the same way," He had said, "She was the youngest of us, and the second-weakest. She was clumsy, unreliable, and unsuited for any task. Unlike the other Gems, who all had their own callings, Phosphophyllite drifted aimlessly with no real purpose. None truly disliked Phosphophyllite, but she was regarded with pity at best, and most saw her as an annoyance."

Kongo had looked up at the ceiling at that point, his eyes seemingly focused on the past. "I believe that she began to view her weak body as the problem. As you already know, we are made of physical materials, and Phosphophyllite was one of the weakest, rating a 3.5. She lost her legs during an excursion to the sea, and had them replaced with striped agate."

"How do you lose your legs?!" Amethyst had said then, voice a mixture of surprise and amusement. She knew that Phos didn't poof like her, but she also knew that repairing her injuries was as simple as gluing the broken pieces back on.

Kongo cracked a rare, small smile, "I don't know. She vanished, and when Rutile found her, she was already at the clinic with her legs gone and the agate with her. With no other choice, Rutile carved new legs out of it."

"What about the gold?" Amethyst asked, invested now in Phos's past. The gold-platinum alloy running through Phos's body was the most bizarre part about her, and the part that interested Amethyst the most. It wasn't just her arms, it actually ran through her entire body, filling out cracks, holding her together when she shattered, and, apparently, it had even made her taller.

At this, however, Kongo's smile vanished, and Amethyst had the feeling that she had just treaded onto dangerous territory. "Phosphophyllite's new legs gave her a speed and agility she hadn't possessed before, and she attempted to put that to use in combat. She did not perform as expected, being paralyzed with fear as the twin Amethysts were shattered by the Lunarians."

Amethyst flinched a little at that. She had heard about the Lunarians as well. Smokey, ethereal beings that hunted the Gems to wear as jewelry. They had been the reason Kongo had led the Gems to the Kindergarten in the first place. The idea of the other two Amethysts in danger like that shook her. She had never met either of them, but she already felt a kinship; she imagined them as looking similar to herself, though she logically knew that couldn't be the case, and that they more than likely resembled Phos and Cinnabar.

"I believe she was displeased with the lack of progress she was making," Kongo continued, either unaware or uncaring of Amethyst's internal reflection, "and as such volunteered to stay awake during winter. Her reasoning, I believe, was that if she could remain awake during the winter and its scant sunlight, then she'd be more efficient during the remainder of the year."

"I thought only Antarc was awake during winter?" Amethyst interrupted. While she had yet to meet any of the other Gems, she'd been told plenty of stories about them. From this second-hand information sprang a host of caricatures: Energetic Diamond, who was the most beloved of the Gems. Rutile, the quack (probably) doctor (definitely) that had the (mis)fortune of putting Phos back together the multitude of times she shattered. Enigmatic Neptunite, who rarely emoted, and, if Phos's words were to be believed, was the most rock-like in disposition. Antarcticite, the winter Gem that Phos spoke highly of, and the one they had almost lost.

"That is true." Kongo confirmed, "At first, Antarcticite was not pleased to be partnered with Phosphophllyte, but she did as I asked. Phosphophyllite was more dedicated than either of us expected, and took to the winter routine better than anything else she had tried." Kongo's face morphed into something deliberately blank and unreadable. "One day, however, whilst destroying a group of ice floes, Phosphophyllite lost both her arms. I am unaware of the specifics. Antarcticite says it was a simple accident, but…" He stopped, looking Amethyst in the eyes, and she could see a sorrow in them. "I have reason to believe Phosphophyllite intentionally severed her arms in the hopes of replacing them."

Amethyst gasped, and her mind whirled. Phos, cutting off her arms on purpose? That…that wasn't good.

"Do not speak of this to anyone," Kongo said, his voice more serious and darker than Amethyst had ever heard, "I have publicly accepted Antarcticite's version of the events, and I wish no trouble to either of them. In truth, I blame myself for this."

Kongo's voice had grown softer again, more melancholic. "I have always tried to be patient with the Gems, but I admit that by the year of that winter, I had grown…impatient with Phosphophyllite. She was clumsy and wholly unsuited to any task. Finally, I gave her the task of writing an encyclopedia of all of our collected knowledge. I believed this task would give her purpose and direct her boundless energy and curiosity to a good cause. But she had no desire to complete this task, and forsook it at every opportunity."

Kongo's voice took on a tinge of frustration, though it was still more monotone than Cinnabar's or Phos's, "I admit to having grown impatient and frustrated with Phosphophyllite, much as I tried to hide it." His voice softened again, and his eyes closed halfway, full of regret, "But I cannot help but wonder if that frustration led to me being unfairly cruel to her. If I pushed her towards that extreme decision."

Amethyst stayed silent, not sure what to say. It was moments like these that made her feel the most like an outsider. Phos, Cinnabar, Kongo, the others that she had only heard of, they all had a shared history that connected them in a way that Amethyst never would.

"My point, young Amethyst," Kongo's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "Is that Phosphophyllite, for a long time, thought of herself as estranged from the rest of the Gems. Even after gaining the alloy, she was regarded with a mixture of fear and amazement, and not as the same Gem that they had known." He smiled ever so slightly, "But look at her now. She has a place, she shows no signs of the discontent that previously plagued her. You, too, will find your place here. And when the other Gems do return, they will accept you as one of their own."

Amethyst shook off the reverie as she landed on the ledge of one of the many Kindergarden holes. The memory brought bittersweet feelings. She believed that Kongo genuinely meant it, and she knew Phos and Cinnabar considered her family, just like the others.

But Kongo was wrong about one thing. He said that Phos was similar to Amethyst, but that wasn't true. No matter what anyone said, nobody could change the fact that Amethyst was irreconcilably different. She didn't resemble any Gem they had ever seen; she behaved, acted, and functioned differently. The only thing that gave her even the slightest bit of kinship was the amethyst gemstone in her chest. Remove that, and you remove the illusion that Amethyst was even a bit similar to Phos or Cinnabar.

Amethyst stood on the ledge, looking into the hole, a swirling maelstrom of unfounded anger and sorrow clutching around her very being. At the end of the hole, garbed in fluffy, warm winter clothing, were Phos and Cinnabar. Eyes closed, fast asleep, resting on mattresses barely centimeters apart from each other, a single outstretched arm from both ending in a pair of intertwined hands. Both faces were serene, full of contentment, so beautifully, painfully connected.

Amethyst watched the display, the outsider looking in. After a moment, she turned and left. Phos and Cinnabar were safe and sound; there was no need to continue watching.

The rest of the winter went without incident. No monster attacks or new Gems. On the days that Kongo was awake, Amethyst would talk with him. She never spoke about her feelings of isolation. What point was there worrying about something that couldn't be changed?

Notes:

This was orignally supposed to show an entire year from Amethyst's perspective, with little micro-chapters for each season. But I kinda ending up going a completely different direction than what I had intended by the end, and I figured that was a good place to stop.

Also, once again, Amethyst was supposed to meet other HNK Gems this chapter. I promise, promise, promise that next Ame chapter she'll actually meet some of the others.

As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback.

Chapter 6: Librarian

Summary:

Connie is suspicious of her school's new librarian.

Brave New World

Chapter 6: Librarian

Connie didn't like school. Not that any kid did. She didn't hate it, per se, but even before her life had been turned upside down by magic rock aliens, and her half-rock person half-person person friend who was the son of an alien rebel leader, school hadn't been the highlight of her life. At best, it gave her some time away from her mom, and at worst, it was a dull, tedious 8 hours of nothing. She didn't even have any friends to look forward to seeing at school! Homework was just another thing added onto the already impressive pile of after-school activities that ate away at her precious free time. And then she had met Steven and the Gems, and, well…hanging out with Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet, fighting giant robots with a giant sword that used to belong to Steven's alien rock rebel leader mother, learning actual swordfighting techniques from someone who had been around long enough to watch them all develop, and accidentally fusing were a whole lot more fun than tennis practice.

So it should mean something to know that Connie was actually excited to go to school today. The reason? The school library was finally reopening. Ever since the last librarian had retired 2 years ago (For reasons no one quite knew; theories ranged from a change in career to a freak mental breakdown), the school library had sat locked and unlit. Voracious reader that Connie was, the lack of a library at school hadn't been that big a blow to her, as it simply meant having to visit the town library instead, but it was a nuisance when she finished a book and had to wait until the weekend to get a new one. Not to mention that class projects were easier when you had access to a library's worth of resources.

So, yes, Connie was excited to check out the school library. As soon as she finished eating lunch, she was ducking through hallways and towards the library. It was a bit odd, seeing it actually lit up and the "closed until further notice" sign gone, but she didn't let it stop her from pushing open the door and entering. There weren't that many people, only a few: Fellow introverts who preferred the solitude of the library to the yard during recess.

Connie's first instinct was to look for the new librarian, for they were nowhere to be seen. Everywhere she looked, all Connie saw were students. Not even the front desk was occupied, which struck her as mismanagement at best. Though, then again, there was probably a good reason for it. The library hadn't been touched in years; the new librarian was probably running themself ragged organizing everything and making it all presentable. It shouldn't be that surprising that they weren't present. But it only increased Connie's curiosity more. She knew nothing about the new librarian, not their name, age, appearance, not even their gender. Everyone she talked to (Which was admittedly few) said the same thing. They were like a ghost, haunting the library without ever being seen.

Connie started browsing the shelves, taking in the school's stock of books for perhaps the first time. It wasn't too dissimilar to what was found at the town library, if only with a smaller selection. More fascinating was the non-fiction section, which, in addition to the expected textbooks and history books, was books on weather patterns, soil erosion, mathematical treatise that seemed a little too advanced for the school, and more than few books on the moon, ranging from grounded subjects, like it's effect on tidal waves, to to more esoteric things, like the effects the various moon phases have on the personality of newborn children, and what even appeared to be a documentation of a supposed lunar civilization (Those last books, to Connie, stretched the definition of "non-fiction"). They all seemed new additions, and the ones on the moon in particular seemed well-worn.

"Are you finding everything all right?" Said a soft, unfamiliar voice from behind her.

Connie all but jumped out of her skin, barely containing her yelp and stopping herself from dropping the book she was holding under her arm. She turned on her heel, finding an unfamiliar woman standing behind her. Her skin was pale, as if she hadn't seen sunlight in years, and her eyes, half-lidded in a sleepy manner, were a deep grey that sparkled with interest and the faintest hints of amusement. Her hair was the same color as her eyes, but sparkled with a lustrous beauty, almost like a polished gemstone. Connie hadn't heard her approach.

Pushing her heart down from her throat, Connie took a moment to settle her nerves. "Yes, I'm fine. Just browsing," She looked at the newcomer again, this time taking in the familiar uniform she was wearing, "Oh, are you the librarian?"

The woman smiled slightly, "Yes. You can call me Ghost."

Connie blinked. Ghost? Ok, that was strange. But then again, it wasn't like Connie was unused to strange things. After all, how was Ghost a stranger name than Onion or Buck? And her mom had taught her to be polite to people, no matter how odd they seemed. So Connie simply extended her free hand with a smile, "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Ghost. I'm Connie."

Ms. Ghost's eyes sparkled with amusement at some hidden joke, and shook Connie's hand, surprising her with how cold her hand felt. She directed her gaze to the bookshelf Connie had been looking at. "To be honest, I'm surprised to see one of you here. Most your age don't care for books such as these."

Connie wasn't surprised at that, and shrugged a little, "Well, I was mostly curious just to see what the library looked like. I am curious about all the moon books, though," She said, her voice taking on a pensive tone, "I can't believe the school bought those."

"Oh, they didn't," Ms. Ghost said, her voice a phantom gliding through the air, "Those are mine."

Connie blinked in surprise. Wait, was that even allowed? "You're not worried about someone taking them?"

"Knowledge is meant to be shared," Ms. Ghost said.

"That's a fair point," Connie admitted, "But what if someone takes it and doesn't return it? Or what if they lose it?" She'd heard of that happening before. Kids checking out books and then either moving somewhere else to a different school, or losing them during summer break, or simply forgetting about them.

"Oh, you needn't worry about that," Ms. Ghost's eyes opened fully, gray pupils dilated. "These books belonged to someone important to me. I'll ensure that no harm befalls them." Something about the way she said it, the way her eyes sparkled again, or the way her lips curled upwards, cooled Connie's blood.

"Belonged to someone important to you?" She parroted, trying to ignore the way Ms. Ghost's eyes shifted to her, analyzing her, for what, she didn't know. "So these are hand-me-downs?"

"You could say that," Ms. Ghost said, turning her attention back to the books and taking one from the shelf, running her finger down the spine almost reverently. "She was fascinated by the moon, among many other things. She was my…mentor, I suppose, would be the proper term. She taught me everything I know, and my love of knowledge comes from her."

"Wow, she seems like a nice person. Where is she now?" Connie asked.

Ms. Ghost gently placed the book back, and looked back at Connie with her eyes half-lidded again, "Gone. She's been gone for a long time."

"Oh," Connie said, suddenly deflated, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's ok, I've made peace with it," Ms. Ghost said, a half-smile forming again, "While I have you here, would you mind helping me with some last-minute organization?"

Connie quickly checked her watch. 10 minutes until lunch was over. "Sure," She said. Why not? Ms. Ghost seemed like an interesting person anyway.

"Thank you." The librarian said, and handed Connie some books, "I need to redo the barcodes on these, would you mind carrying them?"

"Not at all, ma'am!" Connie said, following Ms. Ghost back to the front desk.

"I know you by reputation, Connie Maheswaran," Ms. Ghost said suddenly, "You're a studious youth. I think my mentor would have liked you."

"Oh…thank you," Connie said, honestly unsure of what to make of the compliment. All in all, her school's new librarian was a bit odd, what with her sleek, shiny hair, strange name, almost constant smile, and that one moment that made Connie pretty sure any kids trying to sneak away with certain books about the moon would meet a bad fate, but ultimately, she seemed nice enough.

Ms. Ghost suddenly flicked her eyes up, "Oh, hush you."

"Ma'am?" Connie asked, confused.

"Not you," Ms. Ghost said dismissively, frowning in annoyance at something.

Connie looked around, but there was no one else there.

---

The library became Connie's natural habitat. Whenever she had the chance, she'd visit it. It wasn't just to read or research homework projects; Connie found the librarian almost more interesting than the information stored within the library. She seemed almost deliberately mysterious, letting just enough hints of herself and her past slip to keep Connie's curiosity hungry, but not enough to ever sate it. It seemed like a game to her, and the librarian's eyes were always sparkling with amusement. Beneath that, though, seemed to lurk something else. An angrier, more violent persona. Occasionally, Connie would see flashes of black irises, and Ms. Ghost would furrow her brow in annoyance and look away, as if conversing with someone far away.

She also developed a reputation among the students. She was friendly and always ready to help. No matter what you were looking for, she knew exactly which book had it. And if the library didn't have it, the next day she'd show up with a personal copy of it. Even if you were just wondering what to read next, she had a list of recommendations from fantasy to sci-fi to mystery.

(She also gained a reputation for appearing out of nowhere and scaring the living daylights out of people, but that's neither here nor there)

A few months had passed since the library's re-opening and Connie's first visit. Fall was beginning to shift towards cold winter; more and more orange-gold leaves fell from their trees. The school day was ending, with not even ten minutes until the bell let everyone go home. Connie had spent her last minutes in the library, going over everything she had learned one last time before going home. She wasn't alone in that, more than a few other students had been doing the same. Now they, like her, were packing their bags, and counting down the seconds until they could leave. Connie was doing the same, mostly. There was just one problem…

"Where is it?!" She hissed, quickly clawing through her bag one more time just to confirm that, yes, she was missing a binder. It wasn't a particularly important binder, just one of many, but the fact that it appeared to have vanished was quite upsetting. Connie looked back on the table, under it, on her chair, under her chair, anywhere she could think of. It was gone.

She fell onto her chair with an annoyed growl, and checked her watch. 6 minutes until school was out. If she hadn't found her binder by then…she could already hear the lecture from her mom. She wasn't even sure which one it was, her science binder, maybe?

A few other kids walked by her, talking about something, and Connie was tempted for a second to ask them if they had seen her binder. She almost did, even getting out of her chair slightly and opening her mouth, but stopped. She didn't know, well, anyone, and her meager attempts to make friends had ended…badly.

Connie hesitated, and that hesitation was enough for the chance to pass by her, the group walked by, oblivious to her. She slumped back into the chair, frustration building. She checked her surroundings again, and once again confirmed that it was nowhere to be seen. With only five minutes left, Connie zipped up her bag and started walking around the library.

It was a half-hearted last-ditch effort to find the missing binder, internally, she had already resigned herself to needing to get a replacement, and to the 15-minute lecture, at least, about being aware of her surroundings, the importance of organization, and she was sure her mom would squeeze a lesson of economics in there somehow.

Soon enough, she found herself back at the shelf of moon books, where she had first met Ms. Ghost. Maybe she had left it here? That made no sense. Why would her binder be in the back of the library, on a shelf full of the librarian's personal books?

Connie glanced at her watch, two minutes left. She really should just give up on it and get ready to leave. It's not like her binder was just going to miraculously turn up. With a sigh, she turned around and-

Ms. Ghost was right in front of her, with the same serene smile and sparkling eyes that she always wore on her face. Connie froze. She was certain that Ms. Ghost hadn't been behind her when she first arrived here. She hadn't heard her at all, no footsteps, no idle movements, no breath, no nothing.

"Are you looking for something?" The librarian asked in that small voice of hers, and it snapped Connie out of her stupor.

"Y-Yes, Ma'am! I lost my binder, and I've been trying to find it..though, at this point, I've given up hope,"

"Is it green?" Ms. Ghost asked, "With a sticker of a crying muffin on the front and full of old assignments?"

Connie blinked, "Yes, that's exactly it! How did you…?" Her question trailed off as Ms. Ghost produced the binder in question, and it was undeniably the one she had been looking for. If the color and papers didn't give it away, then the sticker (A gift from Steven. It was apparently from some show he watched) did.

"I found it on my desk." Ms. Ghost explained, "I suppose you left it there, or someone put it there for some reason. I didn't know whose it was, but when I saw you looking for something, rather frantically at that, I assumed it must be your's."

"Oh, well, thank you," Connie said, as she somewhat nervously took the binder.

"I was actually bringing it to you, when you got up and left, and I had to follow you to get your attention," Ms. Ghost replied, with the same smile on her face.

"Really? I'm sorry about that, I didn't hear you at all."

Connie didn't think it was possible, but Ms. Ghost's smile grew bigger, almost predatory, "Very few do. One boy outright said that I must be an actual ghost to move so quietly," She laughed at that. Her laugh was quiet, like everything else about her, "How silly."

"Yeah…of course," Connie said, holding the binder close to her chest, a nervous feeling bubbling in her.

"Well then…you'd best be off," Ms. Ghost said, turning on her heel and walking off. And now Connie realized something. With nothing to distract her, nothing else to preoccupy her thoughts, Connie realized something that chilled her blood. She always assumed that Ms. Ghost was simply quiet, or that Connie herself was too inattentive, but that wasn't the case. Ms. Ghost walked without sound. Her feet hit the ground, but there was no sound of footsteps. And looking closely, Connie realized something else: Ms. Ghost's chest didn't rise and fall in steady rhythm.

Suddenly, all her previous interactions with the librarian came rushing back to her. Her pale skin, how cold her hand felt, the way she seemed to glide through the library silently. And now this. Was Connie's mind playing tricks on her? Was she so worked up that she was imagining things? Or was her school librarian not breathing?

Even as the bell rang, and Connie found herself being pulled along with the swarm of students exiting the library, all she could think of was her last conversation with the librarian.

"One boy outright said that I must be an actual ghost…"

It couldn't be real, could it? There was no way Ms. Ghost was an actual ghost! It was all a coincidence! Connie had just seen too many horror movies and read too much fantasy. Ghosts weren't real…right?

A year ago, wouldn't you have said that there's no way a magical pink lion could exist? Much less one that roars open portals? She reminded herself. In less than a year, her world had expanded tenfold, and things she had once resigned to the realm of fantasy had become no less real than brushing her teeth or eating lunch.

I need to be more open-minded…She thought, as she walked on autopilot, lost in thought. As much as she wanted to dismiss it, the idea kept worming into her head. The way Ms. Ghost appeared out of nowhere, how you never heard her footsteps, how no one ever saw her coming. Her pale skin and coldness, and the image of her still chest kept haunting Connie.

Connie stopped. She was in the main hallway, halfway between the library and the front door. Students were trickling out towards the front door of the school, talking about this test or that sport. No one was paying Connie any attention; she may as well be invisible.

She should be following them. She should be going home. But she wasn't, she couldn't. Not when her curiosity had been roused like this. It was like a hunger, a physical need to know. She needed to know the truth about her school's librarian, and she'd never know by just waiting around and hoping for the truth to fall from the sky.

Swallowing her nerves, Connie made an about-face and marched her way back to the library, sweat congealing on her palms. Everyone else had already exited it. It wasn't locked just yet, but Connie couldn't see anyone inside. There was a door open near the back, behind the front desk, just out of sight, with a light on. She froze for half a second, debating what to do, before, finally, she made to push open the door.

"You're up early," The familiar, soft voice of Ms. Ghost floated out. Connie froze, worried she'd been spotted, but the librarian's remark had come from inside the room behind the desk and directed at someone else.

"Air conditioning is humanity's greatest accomplishment," An unfamiliar voice responded. It was rough and clear, almost authoritarian. "So you're working at a library now? I'm not surprised."

A gentle laugh, and then Ms. Ghost responded, "I suppose I am predictable."

Connie wavered. What should she do? Open the door further; try to get a glimpse of this new person? Or should she leave before she was spotted? School was officially over by now, if anyone saw her, they'd want to know what she was doing after hours.

But the curiosity's hook remained deep in her, and the new voice only added to it. After half a minute of deliberation, Connie pushed the door open just a little more, just enough to slip inside and crawl in front of the desk. She was just about to peek up when the sound of footsteps stopped her.

Wait, footsteps? But I've never heard Ms. Ghost's footst-

Her confusion was cut off by the sound of someone settling down, and a second later, she saw half a set of folded arms above her. Someone was resting against the front desk, resting their arms on it. She could only assume that Ms. Ghost was nearby. Connie felt her heart rate skyrocket. She crouched as low as she could without making too much noise, trying to cover as much of herself as possible in front of the desk.

"So, is there a reason you had me brought here?" The stranger asked, as Connie heard the sound of someone sitting in a chair. As the arms hadn't moved, she assumed that was Ms. Ghost. She let out a little breath she was holding, they didn't seem to have noticed her.

"I'm going to introduce you as my substitute," Ms. Ghost said.

"Your substitute?" The newcomer repeated, just as surprised as Connie was at that.

"Yes," Ms. Ghost said, "I'll be taking a vacation during winter, after all, so there'll need to be someone to look after the library."

"Ah, I see…" The newcomer said, sounding vaguely annoyed, "And by 'vacation', you mean hibernation, right?"

"Bravo, Antarc," Ms. Ghost said, followed by the sound of sarcastic clapping, "You figured out my cunning ruse."

Antarc scoffed, "Oh, please." There was silence for a bit, before the newcomer resumed talking, "I wish you had consulted me first. I don't like having this thrust on me suddenly."

"I suppose it is a little last-minute," Ms. Ghost conceded, "but you shouldn't have any trouble. There's a two-week break coming up for the students, so you'll have more than enough time to prepare."

Antarc sighed, "Fine. I suppose this is payment for you carrying me around. I'll do it, Ghost Quartz."

Connie couldn't stop the gasp that came out. She immediately covered her mouth, and waited terrifying seconds as she felt the two look around. Any moment now, she was convinced, they'd find her, and then…and then…

Her heart raced at a million miles a second. Ghost Quartz. Ghost Quartz.

Her school librarian wasn't a ghost. She was a Gem.

Connie had to get out of there, now!

She waited agonzing minutes as the two seemed to calm down and go back to their conversation. Connie knew that she should be listening, should be gaining as much information as possible, but it was all she could do to not hyperventilate on the spot. Finally, she spotted her chance. The two walked back to the room behind the desk, and Connie seized the opportunity to run as fast as possible.

She tore through the hallway, out the school, and into the wider world. She kept running, ignoring confused, concerned, and agitated passerbys as she bumped into them. She didn't stop running until she got back home, back to safety.

She was lucky. No one was home yet. For once, her parents' ridiculous work schedule worked out in her favor. She immediately grabbed her cellphone and punched in a series of numbers.

The phone rang once, twice, thri-

"Yell-"

"Steventheresagematmyschool!"

There was a second or two of silence as Steven tried to untangle the jumbled mess of words that had spilled from Connie's mouth.

"WHAT?!" Her friend yelled, in a mix of shock and fear, "What do you mean there's a Gem at your school?!"

"I don't know, but-but" Connie stammered, her thoughts outpacing her mouth rapidly, "We got a new librarian a few months ago, and she was kinda weird but we all assumed she was the normal kind of weird, but then just today I was leaving school and I heard someone else in the library and they called her Ghost Quartz, so, I-I dunno, maybe there's two Gems?"

"Connie! Connie, calm down." It was only when Steven said that over the phone that Connie realized she had started hyperventilating. The sudden shock and fear of realizing she had been in such close proximity to a Gem, maybe two Gems, was overwhelming her.

Connie had wanted to be a part of Steven's crazy, bizarre, wonderfully strange life since the moment she met him, but the truth was, she knew very little about Gems. She hadn't been concerned about that, not at first. At first, her adventures with Steven and the stories he told seemed like she was living her ideal fantasy adventure. Every day was filled with strange artifacts, monsters, and more fun than she could ever remember happening.

She hadn't ever realized the implications of all of it. She had never questioned why so many dangerous and advanced relics were left scattered across the globe. Never questioned what the Gems Monsters really were, never questioned the vague off-hand remarks that suggested that the Gems weren't native to Earth. She'd been content to ignore all that.

Until the day she'd gotten home and found the all-too-brief, all-too-vague message from Steven. It hadn't been until the next day that she'd learned what, exactly, he had meant by a "space hand" and "all might die". Hadn't been until the next day, when she visited his house, personally, that she learned an actual, bona-fide alien invasion had taken place practically next door. Hadn't been until the next day that she learned that her best friend had almost been taken away to some planet millions of light-years away.

Things had changed after that. After Connie realized just how dangerous Gems were. After she learned that Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were not invincible. She already knew they could make mistakes, that they could be as emotionally volatile as any human. But this had been different. This hadn't been an argument or a careless mistake. They had been defeated outright. They had enemies, enemies that were stronger and more advanced than them.

And one of them was in Connie's school.

She took deep, calming breaths, breathing in and out until she felt her heart start to settle and the panic subside.

"Sorry, I-I'm good now." She chuckled nervously, "I just…what do we do?"

"Hmm…" There was a thinking sound from Steven's end, before, suddenly, "Hold on, I'll be there in a second!" and the call clicked off.

Connie stared at the now-black screen, blinking dumbly, "What do you mean you'll be there in a second?" She asked to no one in particular. Beach City was at least 30 miles away, it was nearly 6 pm at night, and-

Her thoughts were cut off by an otherworldly sound, and, snapping her head to the side, Connie watched as a neon pink portal cut itself into the world. A moment later, a pink lion appeared from the portal, drifting on its paws to a stop. Riding on the lion was Steven.

"Oh, right." Connie said, feeling a bit silly, "I forgot Lion could do that."

She was really glad her parents were working late.

"Ok, tell me everything," Steven said as soon as he made his way inside and sat down. Despite the grave situation, he was almost bouncing with excitement, or maybe it was nervousness? Either way, Connie found herself relaxing a bit, and she reiterated what she had already told him over the phone, adding in a physical description of Ms. Gho-Ghost Quartz.

"Hmm…" Her friend said, pulling his legs up to the couch as he thought, "That doesn't sound like any Gem I've seen."

"And how many have you seen?" Connie winced the moment the words left her mouth, she knew that sounded ruder than she meant.

Steven didn't notice, of course, because he's Steven, and just conceded, "Not many. Just Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet. Oh, and Lapis, Peridot, and…Jasper." He trailed off at that, and Connie didn't miss the twitching of his eye or the minute shakings of his hand at that last name.

Jasper. The Gem that had single-handedly defeated the Crystla Gems, that had defeated Garnet. The one that gave Steven a black eye. If that was an indicator of what a proper Gem warrior was, Connie did not want to meet one. She could only hope that Ghost Quartz wasn't on the same caliber.

"We should probably get the Gems," Connie said.

"Yeah…about that," Steven said, looking away, and Connie knew she wasn't gonna like what she was about to hear, "They're away on a mission right now…it's just me."

Connie forced down an annoyed sigh. Of course they were, "Ok, then. Do you know where they are? We can warp to them."

Steven shook his head, "That's probably not a good idea. We managed to get Peridot's escape pod, and Pearl hooked it up so that we can see where she warps. They've been chasing her around all day. I have no idea where they are now." He didn't add that Garnet and Pearl were in the middle of a bad feud. As in the 'Garnet's-not-talking-to-Pearl-at-all' bad.

Connie hissed in annoyance, and Steven felt a pang of worry and guilt. "Why don't we go take a look?" He said.

"What?!" Connie responded, looking at him like he had grown a second head, "Are you serious?! This isn't something we can handle by ourselves! Garnet could barely handle Jasper!"

"We're not helpless!" Steven exclaimed, jumping to his feet, "You've been training with Pearl, I'm summoning my shield a lot more. And-and we don't have to fight her! We'll just sneak in, find as much information as we can, and then run back to the Temple and tell the Gems!"

She shouldn't do it. Connie knows she shouldn't agree. It's dangerous, it's reckless, it's downright stupid.

But Steven's excitement is infectious, and there's a little, traitorous part of her in the back of her mind that's eager to see just how much she's improved since she started studying under Pearl.

"Fine." She gives in, "But only for reconnaissance."

---

Connie somehow doesn't consider the idea that the school might be locked until she's staring that idea in the face.

"I should have seen this coming…" Connie said numbly as she stared at the locked doors. Behind her were Steven and Lion; Connie had been mildly surprised that the pink feline had followed them. Lion had a tendency, like all cats, to wander off and do his own thing. Maybe even he understood the gravity of the situation?

"I got this," Steven said simply, reached into Lion's mane, and retrieved from the pocket dimension within it a box of paperclips. He then walked over, unfolded one of the paperclips, slipped it inside the door lock, fiddled with it a bit, and then the door clicked open.

"Door's open," Steven said, casually, before giving a bashful smile to Connie, "Trick Amethyst showed me."

Connie could only stare dumbfounded at the twofold realization that, A) Steven knew how to lockpick, and, B) Steven had just lockpicked her school door. Steven.

"Oh! Before I forget," Steven said, and walked over to Lion as if he hadn't just shattered Connie's perspective of him. Reaching once again into Lion's pocket dimension, he took out a sheathed, pink sword, as large as Connie was tall. Rose Quartz's sword. He turned and offered it to her solemnly.

Connie took a breath and drew the sword reverently, watching the pale pink blade come out. The weapon fit into her hands more naturally these days, a product of her weekly sessions with Pearl. This was it then, no turning back.

"Let's go," She said.

Steven nodded, his face hardening a bit as they stepped inside the school. It was dark, as one might expect. The lights were off, and there wasn't a soul inside, but that didn't stop the two from jumping at every little noise as they slowly made their way towards the library. Connie held the sword in both hands, keeping her senses sharp, while Steven walked at her side, his arm twitching every now and then as if he wanted to summon the shield.

Finally, they reached the library without incident. It, unlike the front entrance, was not locked. The two exchanged worried glances and came to the same conclusion: There was a high likelihood that Ghost Quartz was still here.

They opened the door slowly, quietly, and stepped inside, Steven carefully closing the door behind them. There was no one present, at least currently. There was, however, a lit lamp on the front desk, and several open folders, papers, and writing utensils. No footsteps permeated the air, but Connie knew from experience that meant little.

The door behind the desk was open, the one she had heard the second voice from earlier that day, and the light was on. She nudged her head in that direction, and Steven nodded. If they were going to find information, it would be there.

The two made their way there, slowly but steadily, walking back to back to cover each other. Reaching the desk, they searched it quickly but found nothing incriminating, and Connie was forced to admit that Ghost Quartz seemed to at least have a genuine love of learning.

The pair made their way forward, towards the mysterious and slightly ominous room before them. Feeling like she was in a spy movie, Connie leaned herself up against the wall, before cautiously peering into the room.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to be there. Maybe Ghost Quartz and that other Gem cackling like supervillians, or some invasion plans of Earth, or…something. She definitely hadn't been expecting, well…

"Is that a bathtub?" Steven asked as they rounded the corner, looking as confused as Connie.

As it turned out, the room behind the desk was little more than a broom closet. Except, it had evidently been emptied of all cleaning supplies some time ago and replaced with what sure looked like an empty bathtub.

"Not what I was expecting…" Connie said as she lowered Rose's sword somewhat.

"That's weird," Steven said as he walked forward and inspected the tub, "It's not hooked up to anything. There's not even a drain."

Connie blinked, and stepped up to the tub, confirming Steven's words, "Yeah, that is weird. What's the point then, just to store water?"

"Well, a certain type of water, yes." Drawled a familiar voice from behind them.

Instantly, the two whirled around, Connie adopting a fighting stance as she held Rose's sword up to her chest. At the same time, there was a flash of brilliant light as a pink shield decorated with spiraling thorns that ended in an emblem reminiscent of a rose quartz in the center appeared on Steven's arm.

Just behind them, having approached as silently as always, was Ghost Quartz. She had traded the school uniform for some kind of pale nightgown, and was staring at the two of them in slight curiosity. Curiosity that had bloomed into open shock as she took in the sword in Connie's hand and the shield on Steven's arm.

Connie cursed herself. How could she have gotten so careless?! Steven stepped in front of her protectively, raising the shield so that it was between them and Ghost Quartz.

Said Gem was looking in open wonder, shock, and confusion at the shield. "That shield…" She started quietly.

There was the sound of angry footsteps, and before any of them could do anything, a second person was in the room, just behind Ghost Quartz.

"Ghost! I heard a noise, is everything ok-" Her voice was clear, the same voice Connie had heard earlier, and now Connie was certain that this was another Gem. She was similar to Ghost Quartz in build, but her hair was a clear crystal white, and her eyes as clear as ice. She wore a white shirt with a black tie, and a pair of shorts that Connie found embarrassingly short. Like Ghost Quartz, this other Gem was looking at the shield in surprise.

"That shield…" Her eyes flicked to the person holding it, and Connie was shocked to see recognition in her eyes as she saw Steven, "You. I remember you."

"Oh?" Ghost Quartz said idly, flicking her eyes from Steven to the other Gem, "Is this the one you were telling me about, Antarc?" Right, Antarc. That's what Ghost Quartz had called the second Gem. Was it short for something?

"Yeah…" Antarc mumbled, looking at Steven in a mix of surprise and confusion. She took a step forward, and Steven and Connie both tensed, ready to fight. But instead of attacking, Antarc just asked, "Who are you?"

Neither of them had expected something like that, and it took Steven a few seconds to realize what had just happened. Antarc had apparently taken those few seconds of silence as an invitation to elaborate.

"When I first saw you, I thought you were Rose. But that can't be the case," She stared down Steven, seemingly unfazed by either him or Connie pointing weaponry her way, "So, who are you? What are you?"

Steven said nothing for a second, before, hesitantly, "I-I'm Steven. I'm human…half, anyway. I'm…I'm Rose Quartz's son."

"Rose Quartz…had a son?" Antarc asked in disbelief.

"So she went through with that after all…" Ghost Quartz said, sounding melancholic.

None of this was going the way Connie had expected. They knew Steven's mom, obviously, and Connie wasn't surprised about that. Everything Gem-related seemed to have something to do with Rose Quartz. But they weren't attacking, they weren't making hostile moves, they were just asking questions, seemingly as surprised as they were.

"Did we meet?" Steven asked, sounding confused. That's right, the other Gem, Antarc implied that she had met Steven before, but when?

"It was last summer," Antarc nodded, "I'm not surprised you don't recognize me. Do you remember the water tower? The…" The icy-haired Gem flashed a look at Ghost Quartz, and something unreadable crossed her face. "The Lapis Lazuli?"

"Lapis…?" Steven mumbled to himself, before his face lit up in recognition, "I knew you sounded familiar! You were the other one! The one with the crack! Are you ok? Is it still there?"

Connie sighed as she grabbed the back of Steven's shirt to stop him from running over to tend to the enemy because of course he would, "Steven!" She hissed, "Gem! Enemy!"

"Huh?" Steven let out, already half-moving, before jumping back, "Right, right!"

The two Gems watched the display with amusement, before Antarc replied, "I'm fine. I melt during the summer and reform when it gets cold enough; so long as I stay in one piece, any damage I take is repaired when I reform."

While Steven was busy being amazed by that, Connie had decided this strange conversation had gone on long enough. "What are you two planning?!" She demanded, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.

Ghost Quartz's smile felt like it was piercing Connie, "What makes you think we're planning anything?"

"You're Gems," Connie replied.

"Yes," Ghost Quartz said without batting an eye, "I didn't intend to deceive you, Connie. If I knew you knew about Gems, I would have introduced myself properly the first time." She did a slight mock bow, her glinting eyes never straying from Connie's "I am Ghost Quartz, and this is Antarcticite."

"What makes you think we're enemies?" Antarcticite asked, genuinely, her face as impassive as the ice that made up her namesake. She pointed at the two of them, "You're with the Crystal Gems, right?"

Steven nodded, "That's right, we are!" And Connie couldn't help but feel a little warm inside at how easily he included her in that group, despite being completely mundane.

"Well, there you have it," Antarcticite said, "We're on the same side."

"The same side…?" Connie repeated, at the same time as Steven asked, "Wait, are you guys Crystal Gems too?"

Ghost Quartz laughed softly at that, "No, no, nothing so grand. I'm not even sure you could call our two groups allies. But we're not enemies, either."

The tense atmosphere hadn't evaporated just quite yet, and Connie wasn't putting down the sword anytime soon, but she was slowly starting to come around to the idea that these two didn't have some nefarious scheme brewing. There was just one thing bugging her…

"Why are you at my school?" She asked Ghost Quartz.

"Because I like working at libraries." The Gem answered, "There's nothing malicious behind it, my love of scholarship is genuine."

"So…you're really not bad guys?" Steven asked, the shield starting to fade from his arm. It seemed he'd already made up his mind about this.

"Of course," Ghost Quartz replied serenly, "Besides, 108 would never forgive us if we made enemies of the Crytal Gems,"

"108?" Connie repeated.

"You know her as Amethyst," Antarcticite said, "There's already two other Amethysts, so we have to tell them apart somehow."

"You guys know Amethyst?!" Steven yelled, excited.

"Of course, we know her," Ghost Quartz said fondly, "We practically raised her."

"Phos, Cinnabar, and Sensei raised her," Antarcticite corrected, "They're the only ones that stayed home, after all." She then turned towards Steven, "Have they really not told you anything about us?"

The two humans (Well, one-and-a-half humans) stared blankly, before Steven replied, "I mean, there was this one time Amethyst brought me to the Kindergarden, and she kept talking about some kind of house she wanted to show me, or something?" He shrugged his shoulders, "But Pearl showed up before she could."

"Figures…" Antarcticite muttered, "Garnet and Pearl are too cautious for their own good sometimes."

"It seems we have a lot to talk about," Ghost Quartz said, before glancing out the window, towards the now dark outside, "But maybe another day."

Steven was about to protest when Connie's phone rung. She blanched as she saw both the time, 8pm, and that it was her mother calling. How had they spent so long here?! She grabbed Steven and ran, even as she answered the call.

"H-hey mom-" She started, "Yeah, I know, I-yeah, I know, I was doing-I was volunteering at the school library." She winced at how bad the lie sounded. "Yeah, I'm just getting out now. Ok, yes. Yes. I understand, yes ma'am. Bye." They had reached the outside of the school as Connie hung up the phone and sighed. Steven was shoving his mom's sword back into Lion's mane, who had, mercifully, waited outside all this time.

Connie waved bye to Steven as Lion roared open another portal and disappeared into, before making her way back home.

And to her mother.

This wasn't going to be fun.

Notes:

Me: Ok, I want to get this out in a couple weeks, so let's try and keep the word count low
Brain: Gotcha, 1 month and 7k words
Me: wait no

ANYWAY

This took way longer than I expected (again) and spiralled waaaaay out of my control. Honestly, I'm not that satisfied with the ending, mostly cause I couldn't get to everything I wanted to, namely Cairn and the CG talking to Steven about the Lustrous Gems, but this was already taking too long so I rushed the ending a bit. My initial plan was to have a bit at the end where Steven shows up and just casually names drop Ghost and Antarc, making the the CG freak a little, but this is taking place after Cry for Help, so the atmosphere at the Temple is still pretty tense, so I think Steven would decide against anything that might further add to the chaos.

As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I appreciate any sort of feedback.