Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rainy days were the worst. The world beyond her window became a blur of dreary grays and blacks, mud rolling down the hills in great sloughs. The cherry trees seemed to almost curl into themselves, pressed down by the beating of the rain. The deafening sound of rain drops smattering against the window drowned out any of the other comforting sounds of life; birdsong, Skizz's humming, Pearl's laugh, Impulse's relaxing voice and Tango's cooking accidents. The worst part of the rain wasn't that, though, it was the fact that it forced her to stay indoors where there was just, so very little to do. Gem needed her walks, needed her cherry blossoms and her days on the beach - what would she be without it?

Gem sat on her bed in miserable boredom, staring at the washed out landscape through the window. This was one of lame weeks too, where Grian was off God knows where (probably fishing, without her!) and Scott was busy fiddling with Mom's garden or whatever else. Jimmy and Scar were too preoccupied with lazing around the ranch to come visit, and that was why they certainly weren't among her favorites. All of the cool people in her life were busy, and that left her with Pearl.

"Aww, is Gem sad?" Pearl asked, intruding on her territory, voice dripping with mock sympathy. That was all Pearl ever did — nothing ever crossed the line of being just a little annoying. Gem had heard so many stories of who Pearl once was, her rage, her violence. Why had she given those parts of herself up, in favour of becoming whatever this is?

"Ugh, leave me alone Pearl!'" she groaned, sounding for all the world like the angsty fourteen year old she wasn't (she was).

"But then you'd be sad and alone, and we can't have that can we?" Pearl said, sitting down on Gem's bed where she'd been sulking. At Gem's sullen silence, she continued: "And I know you love me–" ("Really? I remember giving you a zero out of ten today!") "– so I think you will be much happier with my lovely company!"

"In your dreams, Pearl."

"Oh well, if I am really not wanted here I suppose I'll have to keep all my Etho stories to myself... what a pity..." Pearl drawled, glancing meaningfully at Gem in the least subtle way imaginable. She, just like everyone else in this godawful family, knew what an effective bargaining chip Etho was, though she was the only one to stoop so low as to use it.

Etho was her father, in a way, and it was his gemstone she had on her left hand. Growing up, she had heard all of these awesome tales — she was a fan to say the least — yet had never gotten the meet the man behind them. All she had was a crooked portrait on the wall by the entrance, one that all of them agreed had great embellishments particularily in the shoulder and arm-area ("Bdubs painted it", Impulse had said, words meaningless to her as she had no clue what a "Bdubs" was).

"You're evil, I hope you know that," Gem sighed, then relented. "Fineee, you can stay, but only the stories, no other nonsense!"

Pearl grinned.

-

"–likewise, he kissed the charred bark and uttered: 'This is the remains of my most beloved — whenever your foul eyes defile this sacred sight, do it to my rememberence."

"Did he really do that? Fight off all those evil gems — even though they outnumbered him like a hundred to one — and then make a speech like that?" Gem exclaimed, feeling that familiar sense of awe, even though the speech was kind of overwrought. 

"Hmm, that's what Bdubs told Tango — truth is relative anyway, no need to worry about it," Pearl said off-handedly.

"Do you think I could do it?" Gem asked crawling closer, awe turning to restlessness. It was cool to hear of what the Life Gems did, but she felt that it would be much better if she got to do it herself.

Pearl hesitated, face scrunched up into a rather silly expression.

"Isn't this my time to seize the moment and embrace my destiny, Pearl? Do you really want to stifle me like this? ("Wow, lovely vocabulary you got there!") Shush! I'm serious, I am older now and much more responsible!"

"Yeah, probably," Pearl finally relented. "You're at least more responsible than Skizz, though that's a pretty low bar to clear." To Gem's great disdain, she then continued: "Still think you're too little, sorry Gem." At Gem's sullen expression, she reached out her finger and booped her on the nose. "Boop!"

"No, stop it. You're not taking me seriously. I'm fourteen years old, not a baby! And I'm almost taller than Tango and you still let him come along on missions, so my size is not an excuse!"

Pearl looked pained, slumping together slightly as she glanced off to the side out of the window. Gem was breathing heavily after her outburst — up until then she had not even realised how angry this had been making her.

"...Fine. I'll do some training with you — but no missions! Or at least not yet."

Gem's face could not fit the gleeful grin that broke out at Pearl's words.

-

"Are you ready for your first day of training?"

They were stood in a glade of sorts, obscured by grassy hills and trees. In its center was a small lake, dotted with artificial-looking rocks and deep green lily pads. It was a homey place, the smattering of flowers on the ground carrying the scent of love — it was very much like a lovingly cared for garden. Gem adored it. Pearl clearly less so, appearing sort of on edge as her eyes scanned the garden and cutesy flowers with evident distaste; whatfor Gen didn't understand — Pearl appreciated flowers and nature as much as the next person, especially sunflowers, so this was kind of strange.

"Boy am I!" she exclaimed, mustering up all of the excitement and anticipation that had been steadily building for years at this point. "Where do we start? Where's my weapon?"
Pearl narrowed her eyes a little, shuffling with her feet.

"Hmm, I think we should start with something a little less... violent, or your 'mom' might just kill me...", she said, the word "mom" uttered with poorly disguised disdain.

"Aww..." Gem sighed, feeling a bit disappointed but not quite ready to give up hope for this training just yet. "But both you and Cleo love violence!"

"That is true," Pearl admitted thoughtfully. "But before you can learn to wield a sword or whatever else, I think you really ought to learn some basic movement skills", at Gem's blank expression she added, with a bit more flourish: "'Basic movement? Yay!', Gem, that's what you're supposed to say. 'Pearl, thank you so much for coming out here with me! Thank you for your lovely company on this very fine day!'"

"Movement? Like running around? That sounds... fun, I suppose," Gem spoke, and she did mean it! Just that it would not have been her first choice; really, what she'd been looking forward to had been the fighting and magical aspects of the whole ordeal.

"To start, how about you cross this lake?" Pearl said, nodding towards the lake and the man-made little stones. The lake was shallow, the stones pointy and slippery from the water so the odds of falling were high and the odds of seriously damaging her skull higher. Gem grinned.

She skipped up to it, scanning the lake and putting together a path to follow — Gem was excited, not stupid. Her nerves were getting to her slightly; this was her one chance to prove herself, so if she messed this up... A deep breath in, then she was off.

The first jump was long and her legs ached pleasantly from the exertion of propelling herself so far off the ground. For a moment Gem almost envied Grian — soaring through the air like this was incredible, but much too brief; imagine having wings to keep her up for longer. Then she landed, scrambling clumsily for purchase on the small rock. For a moment she almost fell, and she could hear Pearl stifling mean little giggles behind her.

"Splendid work, Gem!" Pearl called, voice unserious and borderline mocking, at least to Gem's ears. The fourteen year-old scoffed.

"I absolutely nailed that jump and you can not take that away from me!" she huffed, turning her attention back to the next rock.

Gem struggled to find a good jumping-off point — really, just standing there was a challenge. With a frustrated growl she leapt, the leg of her overall dragging in the water slightly, wobbling precariously before finding her footing.

"Oh gosh!" Gem exclaimed, panicked for a moment, worried that she might fall. Then, before Pearl could say anything: "Shush! I have to concentrate."

Poorly stifled giggles still reached Gem's ears as she readied herself for the next jump. Then the next, after almost dipping her whole boot in the water (and gaslighting Pearl about it). With a rising sense of frustration — this was supposed to be easy, why, she'd been jumping around for years — she steeled her legs once more, before slipping on a patch of moss and face planting into the water.

"How's it going for you over there? Do you need some help?" Pearl called out, and to Gem's very annoyed (and water-clogged) ears it sounded like poorly disguised mockery. Hissing and spitting she dragged herself out of the water, a horrible aftertaste clinging to her mouth, feeling like she was on the brink of a temper tantrum.

"It's fine," she spat. "It's going fantastic." Then, upon turning around and noticing Pearl's vaguely concerned expression, she added, more mildly: "Just give me another try. Trust the process."

"Hmm, I'm not sure," Pearl spoke, eyeing her critically, especially her bloody nose. Gem was about to complain, but Pearl was quicker: "But! But, I have a whole bunch of other lovely places for us to visit! What are we doing standing around here in this miserable little glade when we could be off elsewhere?"

Pearl was incapable of subtlety, though Gem didn't care. As long as she got more time to prove herself, another chance to show that she was more than capable enough to be one of them, she was happy.

-

After another disorienting trip with the warp pad, Gem found herself somewhere new.

The geography itself was rather similar to Gem's home right down to the cherry tree mountain and surrounding plains. Unlike Gem's home, however, a sense of unshakeable dreariness hung around the place, visible in the heavy grey clouds and desaturated plant life. The valley was dotted in craters from what had to have been violent explosions, and on the mountainside ruins from what must've been bridges of some kind could be seen. What they could possibly have been for was a different matter — they just connected to the flat stone face of the mountain. The cliffside itself was littered with small openings, some clearly artificial in origin.

Most strikingly, high up in the sky, the remains of some kind of floating construction was stood; what had once perhaps been a tower...

"This is... certainly a place," Gem uttered skeptically, eyeing the landscape critically.

"Well, I thought you'd like it; it's reminiscent of home, and — since I know you thirst for bloodshed — you'll be happy to hear that a lot of crazy violence was carried out here," Pearl reassured, sounding oddly plaintive. "It's even got the splendid cherry trees. Pink, Gem, pink!"

"It's wonderful Pearl," Gem said with all the forced cheer she could muster. "Sooo... what am I supposed to do? Scale the cliffside?"

"Your training!" Pearl exclaimed, having seemed to have forgotten. "Yes, yes, that sounds good. I'll be keeping a careful eye on you, Gem, so don't mess up!" Despite the harsh words, her voice was light and teasing.

Gem gritted her teeth and answered, in contrast to the tone employed by Pearl, quite solemnly: "I won't let you down."

"That's the spirit. Now, off with ya!"

Gem jogged over to the cliff face, taking in the rubble at the base, and the heavy shadows cast by the floating ruins. It would be steep climb, for sure, especially without any kind of equipment to her aid. But then again, the Life Gems never needed any tools to help them out on their missions, so if she wanted to be truly worthy she'd simply have to do without.

With a solid set to her jaw, Gem leapt up into the air... and fell after only reaching a few meters off the ground, not even close to the height she'd need if she wanted to grab ahold of that ledge. Her face was rapidly turning red as Pearl giggled (read; cackled) behind her.

"What was that about your height you said earlier? Sorry Gem, still think you need a couple more inches!" she called out cruelly.

"Ugh, shut up!" Gem felt frustration searing through her body, her eyes burning. For a moment she worried she might actually cry. Gosh, what if they were right and she wasn't good enough for them? If this was her performance on a relatively easy and low-stakes task, how would she do in a real mission?

"Aww, c'mon, Gem, you've got this!" Pearl's encouragement sounded patronizing at best.

Gem walked back a few steps once more, running forwards to gain momentum, springing upwards once more and—

Smashing her face in the mountainside. Great. Just when things could not get worse.

Her face felt damp and her nose hurt like nothing else — she'd definitely hurt it worse than just a bloody nose at that point. She crumpled to the ground and for a moment felt like just lying there, forever. Then her ears caught Pearl's rapidly approaching footsteps and Gem hauled her body up to a standing position as swiftly as she could manage.

"Whatever it is you have to say, I really don't wanna have to hear it," Gem grumbled, covering her bloody face with her hands, still facing away from Pearl. "Just give me another try, please."

"Gem–" Pearl said, then cut herself off, laughing a little to herself.

"Yes?" Gem asked, reluctantly peeking out from her fingers, frustration evident in her tone. "Look, I know up until now I've been a failure but I promise if you just give me the chance– (voice crack; deep breath) –I'll prove myself."

"Oh Gem," the words were uttered with such fondness that for a moment Gem forgot she was supposed to be angry. "It doesn't matter if you've been successful today or not — that's not what I'm here for anyway. Can't an old Pearl just enjoy some lovely quality time with her favourite Gem? Really, that's more than enough for me to count today as a success, more so than any hypothetically incredible feats you could've pulled off."

"You're such a sap", Gem said with fond disgust. "I'm too old for just 'hanging out' anyway."

Pearl's mouth opened as if she was about to say something, then her eyes widened as she caught sight of something behind Gem.

"Get behind me!" she yelled, and Gem felt herself getting pushed out of the way by Pearl as something huge slammed into the other gem, sending her sprawling onto the grass.

Bringing her hands away from her face, Gem watched as a green... giant beetlebug of sorts skittered around in the grass for a moment before regaining its balance and attempting ram its pincers into Pearl's skull. Pearl thrashed, having somehow grabbed her scythe and pressed the handle against the thing's head to keep it at bay.

"Gem, run! Get the others!"

Gem ran. Not towards the warp pad, however, but towards the beetle-thing. If Etho could beat a hundred gems surely she could beat a singular bug? Why, Impulse squashed at least fifty houseflies a day!

"Gem, no. Gem, bad,"Pearl spoke through gritted teeth as she struggled against the bug-like creature's great bulk. Why had she become such a softie? What happened to the monster who almost killed Scott?

Gem ignored her, grabbing a marginally more substantive stick from the ground and charging with all the fury her little body could manage.

With all the force she could muster she whacked the creature in the side. It barely seemed to notice, completely focused on annihilating Pearl as it was. Gem brought the stupid stick back over her head, feeling all of the day's frustrations and short comings return to her — this was it; if she didn't succeed now then Pearl was a goner. She steeled her arms, looking down at the beast with abject disdain, before bringing the stick down with power she didn't realise she had up until that moment.

The beetlebug buckled, before disappearing in a white cloud.

"Gosh, did you see that? Where'd it go?" Gem exclaimed, scanning the plains with alarm.

Pearl was not paying attention to the creature's magical disappearing act, no, she was staring with wide eyes at Gem's... hand?

"Your gem! It's glowing!" and Pearl sounded so earnestly awestruck and proud that Gem put her worries aside for a moment.

"What do you mean?" she asked, before averting her eyes down and seeing that her normally dull gemstone had erupted into a blinding lightshow of purples and pinks. "Oh my gosh! It's so pretty!" Then: "Does this mean I'm a proper gem now? I can't believe I actually defeated a monster!"

"Don't call him a monster," Pearl chided mildly, but her voice had a sharp edge to it. Then: "Well, it's definitely a step in the right direction", Pearl said encouragingly. "Who knows, after that show of strength and courage back there you might just get to come along on a mission..." At Gem's excited face she felt the need to add: "Don't get your hopes up too much; I make no promises."

For a moment Gem felt so giddy she almost forgot about the giant and very conspicuous loose-end of the beetlebug-thing. Then:

"Where did the beetlebug-monster-thing go? It just went 'poof' and then it was gone!"

"Sure did," Pearl said with a grin, though her voice sounded slightly strangled as she nodded towards the green gem she held in her palm. "He's in here, now. And he will stay here for... a while."

Pearl did some strange swipey motions with her hands and abruptly the gemstone was placed in a bubble and sent off. As soon as the bubble was gone, whatever somberness had come over Pearl lifted and she attacked Gem, enveloping her in a fierce bearhug, properly congratulating her for her great feat of glory. As they walked the short distance back to the warp pad, not a thing in the world could get Gem to shut up about what'd she'd accomplished, even as the gem glow faded and they warped back.

-

The afternoon was a comfortable blur. Once Pearl and the others were done with their serious adult talk (that Gem apparently wasn't privy to) they readied snacks and curled up on the couch. Gem would've listened in, but was so out of it from her huge power usage and broken nose that she was instead curled up on the sofa with a burning fever.

"Remember this scene?" Skizz exclaimed enthusiastically — the topaz throwing his arms around them and almost crushing Tango in his excitement. "Oh, it's my favourite!"

"We know, Skizz", Impulse, the bismuth, chuckled. "We're well aware at this point."

"He has a point, though, her makeup really does turn out splendid", Pearl chimed in while smoothing over Gem's hair where she was curled up in the corner of the couch.

"Yeah, sure", Tango, the ruby, says dismissively. "No makeover scene is as cool as our Gem – Gem the Great!"

Chapter Text

Gem was bored. And lonely. And in pain. And bored.

Now Gem did not usually mind loneliness. Loneliness meant time to herself, without an annoying Pearl, Impulse or Skizz to come bother her. Time to herself meant getting to practice with the kitchen knives without giving Tango a panic attack. 

The issue wasn't that she was home alone, it was that they had left her. Left her with her broken nose, wrapped up with ugly bandages and silver tape. Left her to go off to do some business regarding the gemstone she had acquired, without her, again. After they had promised her a mission too! When would they realise she was so much more competent than they gave her credit for? What would it take? Were her feats with the green beetlebug not enough? She'd defeated it, basically by herself, and saved Pearl's sorry life.

Still, no amount of reasonable arguments nor guilt-tripping had worked, and she was left sulking in the kitchen, half-heartedly waving around a kitchen knife.

This sucked.

With a frustrated sigh, Gem carefully put it back in its proper place — because Tango would notice otherwise—, then threw on an oversized pair of shoes and headed out despite her reservations about the state of her face; she'd just have to tough it out and look insane. 

The weather was rather nice after all; the sky clear, with the sun shining bright but not too hot. The cherry trees seemed to practically glow pink, and she giggled delightedly as she grabbed one and felt its velvety texture against her palm. The grass was a verdant green, having received a generous amount of rainwater recently.

Maybe she would head over to Scott's: it had been a while, strangely enough. Scott was perhaps one of the few people who honestly seemed to respect her, unlike the idiots she was stuck with at home. Cleo, her mom, was always kind to her as well, super generous, even if there was some... distance. It was fine, though, really.

At their house they could take care of the garden - there was nothing more satisfying than curating a nice, neat and aesthetically pleasing garden. Ooh! She could even stop by the local joint gardening– and flowershop, the Overgrove, and buy some seeds. Some poppies maybe? She knew Scott had a fondness for them, so he would definitely appreciate having more of them in his garden.

With her mind made up, Gem began heading toward the Shopping District, the part of town where the Overgrove was located.

As she walked, the trees grew rarer with buildings taking their places. To her right was Sausage's "bar" (strip club, though the Life Gems would be flabbergasted if they found out that she knew), which all the adults in her life denied attending, and yet they always seemed to be myseriously busy when it was Saturday Discount.

To her left was Pixl's antique shop. Pixl was probably the oldest person she knew, and he had seen — or at least heard of — everything. He was the descendant of a family of explorers, archeologists and historians, so he had quite the catalogue of antiques, each with an long, winding and dull story behind it. Gem liked Pixl; he always gave her toffees when she came by, and would sometimes even let her light a candle for his Vigil (another family legacy thing).

In the town center there was an admittedly rather pitiful-looking stage, with Oli sitting there strumming his ukelele. Gem was uncertain if he even had a house; all he seemed to do, besides coming over to harass people, was sit on that stage and play music. She could even see a blanket and a pillow far upstage, peeking out from behind decaying curtains.

From the center, if she were to turn left, she would reach the docks, where Joey's Shop For Fish (& Other Goods) reigned supreme. Gem was fairly certain that his 'Other Goods' were either drugs or sea treasure, for those dealings were carried out with the utmost secrecy.

Instead she turned right, heading to where Katherine and Shrub's joint gardening– and flowershop was located. The Overgrove had originally been two entirely different, rivalling stores — the Overgrown, a flowershop, and the Undergrove, a gardening store, respectively — before their owners became best friends and decided to combine their businesses for friendship and profit. Gem thought the story was rather sweet, and had been a loyal patron for as long as the establishment had existed (four years or so).

Besides, they had such a way with plants — that Gem honestly kind of envied —, with their flowers being vibrant and lush like no others. They had a good eye for aesthetics as well. Both the store and the bouquets were gorgeous.

A bell tinkled as she opened the intricately carved door and entered another world. The place had a slightly shadier interior, the walls being almost completely covered by moss, ivy and countless other plants. The windows were small, only letting in thin wisps of golden light that artfully illuminated the displays of bouquets and flowerbeds. It was positively brimming with life, so much so that she could almost smell it in the air and taste it on her tongue. There seemed to be a theme of yellows and purples - those were the colors of the plants, the velvety carpet, and the detailings on the register. 

Where Shrub, and Joey of all people, were standing.

Strewn all around them were flowers of dozens of varieties, as well as ribbons in frankly more different colors than necessary. There was no Katherine in sight.

Gem sighed. Getting her seeds was going to take a while.

"What are you doing?" she asked, making an effort to keep her tone level, though her voice was still terribly nasally from the broken nose. She was simultaneously annoyed and intensely curious. Were they making bouquets? Without inviting her? The nerve.

Shrub jumped and dropped the flowers she'd been attempting to tie together with a purple ribbon. Joey stopped pacing, before turning to her with a pitiful whine.

"Gem! Thank God you're here!" he exclaimed, sweeping his arms out in a rather dramatic flourish, accidentally slapping the back of Shrub's head. With a glare that could kill, more intensity than Gem had ever seen from the little flower saleslady, she grabbed a pair of scissors, looking fully prepared to stab Joey right then and there.

"Oh my God, what's wrong with you?" she demanded. Shrub shrivelled. Gem quickly amended, "What's wrong with the both of you?"

"Okay so–" Joey began, but was swiftly interrupted by Shrub.

"He barged into my establishment, called me a girlfriend thief, and started ripping flowers out of my beds", she explained, quietly but with an edge of steel.

"Lies... Lies! I entered through the doors, in the throes of my passion for my dear lady Katherine, and honorably challenged you to a duel in the floral arts in exchange for her heart!" he began pacing as he spoke, tightly gripping his admittedly rather nice-looking flower arrangement.

"You got angry that I was winning so you cut my bouquet in half", Shrub glowered at him, and upon the desk Gem could actually see the depressing remnants of what had once been an even lovelier bouquet. "Name the honorable part of this 'duel'."

"...What you speak of may be true", admitted Joey. "But! But! You started it. You stole the purple ribbons and hoarded them all to yourself — refusing to share!"

"Early bird gets the worm," then, before Joey could get another word in, she turned to Gem who had just been starting to feel a little bit like an intruder. At least they hadn't pointed out the state of her face. "It doesn't matter anyway; Gem, you agree that this is the superior bouquet, right?"

She, somewhat shyly despite the big words, displayed her finished arrangement. It was a mix of light yellows and violets, her and Katherine's respective signature colors, beautifully utilised and tied together with a bright purple ribbon. There were regular flowers, like lavenders and hyacinths, interspersed with mushrooms of all (hopefully non-poisonous) varities. Shrub was (unsurprisingly) an absolute master at her craft — Gem doubted the choices of colors and plants would've worked so well had anyone else crafted this bouquet.

"It's fantastic! You've absolutely nailed it," Gem said enthusiastically. Shrub flushed and stared abashedly at the ground. "Katherine will love it!"

Hopefully that was zealous enough praise to end this little competition and let Gem buy her seeds.

"What about mine?" exclaimed Joey, swiflty killing any hopes Gem might've had of a clean resolution.

His was a more conventional, though still undeniably gorgeous bouquet. Swathes of reds and pinks — bold, powerful shades probably meant to represent the strength of his passion or something. There was an abundance of roses and tulips — the classics, harnessed to great effect. Joey, despite spending all of his time out at sea or conducting shady business, seemed to have a rather artistic touch. She supposed it wasn't all too surprising, considering his dramatic nature — most theater kids she knew were artistic in some way, shape or form.

"It's wonderful, she'll definitely love it as well!" it was harder to gather the energy this time, having exhausted most if it the first time. "In fact, I think you should go get her right now so you can surprise her with them!"

Hopefully Katherine would have more sense, and maybe (finally!) get Gem her flower seeds.

"But..."

"Who is the winner?"

Gem sighed. There was no getting around it. Joey's was pleasant enough, but Shrub's was undeniably better. She was the florist after all — Gem had no idea what Joey had been thinking, challenging the literal florist to a bouquet-crafting competition. He was just setting himself up for failure at that point.

"Ugh, fine... Shrub wins — hers was cuter."

Shrub pumped her fist in the air, while Joey threw his bouquet to the ground in a fit of sheer despair. Gem almost pitied him — it must be difficult to feel all of your emotions so strongly all of the time.

"Thank you, Gem," Shrub smiled sweetly.

"...Yeah, thank you Gem for being our impartial judge," Joey gritted out somewhat reluctantly. Then, more earnestly, "Without you I might've made a fool of myself in front of my dear lady Katherine — the horror!"

"No problem", Gem responded, somewhat drily. Then, "By the way, do you have any poppy seeds?"

-

It was three hours later, and the Life Gems were still not home. Worse, Scott and Cleo were also gone, God knows where, or else they were ignoring her incessant ringing of the door bell and attempted break-in. So she'd spent all that time in the Overgrove for her poppy seeds, just for her to not even get to use them.

Depressed, she had instead went off toward the beach to get some frozen yoghurt; a lame snack for a lame day. The person working at the stall differed from day to day — pretty much everyone in town had taken a gig there at some point, including Gem herself, though she had no idea who actually owned the thing.

That day it was... Shrub, or it least she was the lady in the stall even if it didn't seem like she was working. Which was strange, because — despite the earlier incident at the Overgrove — Shrub wasn't exactly a slacker. She was sat on a stool, hunched over a piece of plain white paper, brows furrowed in either intense focus or annoyance.

Upon Gem's approach, she looked up and her whole disposition changed. She seemed to practically glow upon her arrival. Gem couldn't deny that she felt rather flattered; with her face and voice in the state it was, and after once again being abandoned by all her loved ones, it was nice to know that there was at least someone around here who appreciated her.

"Hi Gem," she said with a slight smile and a twinkle in her eye. "I was about to go looking for you, actually. Could you, uh, proofread my letter please– it's for Katherine, and I really need it to be good– and I just thought, since you kind of know about the situation and all, and you were so helpful before, that maybe you could give me a little advice?"

Gem should've known that the whole ordeal at the flowershop wouldn't be the end of it. She didn't really know more about the situation than any other passerby — Joey did not know the art of subtlety, and to any regular customer of the Overgrove Shrub's little crush would quickly become readily apparent — but Shrub was just so charmingly sincere in her request, and it wasn't like Gem had anything better to do with her time, so why not, really? Spread some joy. Do a good deed.

"Of course! Though, to be honest, I don't know if I'm the best person to ask when it comes to romance," as a fourteen year old, who'd never gone to school and lived in a small town whose population consisted of 99% adults, she couldn't say that she'd had much personal experience with romance beyond celebrity crushes and the like.

"No, you are. You are young, but also wise," Shrub assured her, gratefully standing up to hand over the paper. 

"Thank you, I'll do my best," Gem smiled.

First impressions: Very plain, though with clear care put into it. The paper, while a generic off-white, felt high-quality (even if Gem wouldn't consider herself a paper connoisseur) and the text was written in small, sleek calligraphy with shiny ink. Gem could just barely make out a quill and inkwell behind the counter — it couldn't have been easy to write with such archaic tools, but at least to Gem it made a difference.

Dear Katherine

You're probably the kindest, most caring and dedicated person I have ever met. You are incredible at what you do, and I feel, despite whatever hardships you may face, that you will always be strong enough to conquer them and get to the other side unscathed. You make me feel safe, warm and loved like no other person. I do not know how to convey to you how much you mean to me. I'm so sorry if I'm coming off too strong or making you uncomfortable — just know that I'll always love you no matter what.

With love,
Your Secret Admirerer

"It's fantastic, super sweet, but why did you not sign off with your own name? Honestly, I think it's pretty clear who wrote it," Gem said, then immediately regretted it.

Shrub blanched, "Is it? How do I fix it?"

"No, no, it's fine. You don't need to fix anything, I swear. It's perfect. But, I would go for some decorations; I think some flowers, or glitter, would go great and really elevate it."

That pale oval of a face shifted slightly, though Shrub's eyes held unmistakeable anxiety in then.

"–Aaand you know what–", Gem swiftly added, "–it was probably just obvious to me because I already knew that you wrote it", she tacked on a giggle for good effect. "I still think you should sign it with your name. It's so earnest and sweet — Katherine would love to know who wrote it."

"...Thank you," Shrub said summarily to the onslaught of words she'd just received, seeming somewhat hopefully calmer. "But I'm not ready to tell Katherine yet; I need to win her over first."

"It's– she either she likes you or she doesn't. No adorable gifts or grand gestures will change that," Gem spoke frankly, praying that it wouldn't come off as too harsh.

For a moment, Shrub was silent, averting her gaze, then, "Was it good? Would you be happy if you got a letter like this?"

Gem sighed inwardly. "Yes, I would love it. Your letter is so epic."

Shrub smiled, and her "Thank you" sounded much more genuine this time.

-

Two hours later. Scene: Gem on the beach. It was cloudy, the sand damp after a short and sudden burst of rain. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Tango's DIY silvertape creation that he'd put on her face had survived the onslought. She was sat in her regular everyday clothing, sullenly making a sandcastle using an abandoned shovel and spite. Applying water to help give it shape — since she didn't have the help of a bucket — she was constructing the complex structure of a mountain with a giant skull cave carved into it. It was an accurate representation of her current state of mind, the fourteen year old thought. It was actually really quite fun; the next time she got bored, she vowed, she would go build sand structures on the beach. It was a great way to exercise her creativity, and fan the flames of her architectural dreams.

Enter, stage left: Joey. Because of course.

"If it isn't Gem!" he squealed excitedly, crossing over to her in great strides, hunching down to her level and admiring her beautiful creation.

"Hi Joey."

"Say, would you like to help with something? It's very important."

"Of course, Joey."

"For you see, I have heard whispers that my archnemesis, the foul and wicked Shrub, has begun composing a letter to my beloved Katherine, and I can not let her one up me like this! And, you see, she had the nerve to brag to me about receiving your aid in her endeavour."

...

"Do you want me to say something? I'm not sorry," Gem huffed, eyes laser-focused on her sand mountain-skull-cave-masterpiece.

"Why, of course not!" he assured her. Gem had heard Joey speak normally, or at least not like this, so why he felt the need to be so ridiculously verbose was beyond her. Perhaps love did that to people. She wouldn't know. "It's just that you're so wise, smart and awesome, and that her letter will be much better than mine if you don't help me out here. Please." He gave her surprisingly effective puppy dog eyes.

"I already agreed before you told me all this."

"Great! Thank you!" he handed to her an envelope.

First impressions: It was hot pink, but covered in so much glitter and countless flowers decals that she could hardly make out the paper underneath. It looked like a preschooler's craft project. Gem loved decorations, but this was a little excessive and she felt that Joey was frankly way more artistic than this. Upon the envelope, written in grand, flourishing letters, it read: To my dear, beloved, gorgeous lady Katherine.

"Can I open it?"

"Obviously!"

Carefully, she tried to unwrap the envelope without ruining Joey's hard work bedecking its surface. She pulled out a card with a lovely, illustrated rose drenched in glitter as the front page, opening it to find the actual contents of the letter.

Dear, beloved Katherine

Roses are red
Violets are blue
You are so gorgeous
And I am too

I hope you appreciated my poem, even if it cannot begin to contain the passion I have for you. Ever since we met that day on the docks, when you slayed that foul beast attacking my boat—(side note: What? Had Joey been high or something? Because the only people 'slaying beasts' in this town were the Life Gems)– I have been utterly enchanted by your endless grace and kindness, your silent strength. You shine brighter than a hundred suns, your beauty is as radiant as the stars. I look forward to the day when I can look into your beautiful, chocolate brown eyes and find even a fragment of the love I feel for you.

Yours truly,
Your Even Secreter Secret Admirerer

PS: If you want to find me, I will be at my store by the sea ;)

Gem looked up.

"So, thoughts?" he asked, hope gleaming in his eyes. She didn't have it entirely in her to tarnish it.

"Oh boy... It's... it has nice words. Very... flower-y, which I like. I– if you want to keep your identity a secret–"(as if it wasn't obvious enough even without it)"–you might want to change your postscript. And maybe... tone it down a little."

Joey frowned. "Tone what down?"

A beat of reluctance, then, "The everything."

Joey twisted his mouth. "Was the letter good, though?"

Gem was three seconds away from just walking into the sea and letting the waves wash her away. "Fantastic. So nice. So epic."

His face erupted into a brilliant smile. "Thank you Gem! For your help!"

-

Gem had remained on the beach for perhaps half an hour after Joey had left, doing the finishing touches on her magnum opus. Shame that the ocean would wash it away in the end — she wished that she'd brought her polaroid so that she could at least have some keepsake or show it off to the Life Gems. When finished, she had lied down to relax, trying to ignore the feeling of sand in her hair and the steadily encroaching tide. 

Before long, for the fourth time that day, she encountered Joey and Shrub. Rudely, they woke Gem from her rest, leaning over and pulling her to her feet. Excitedly, they told her about the final stage of their "comptetition" and basically begged her to be their referee. Stifling a sigh, as she'd so frequently done that day, Gem had nodded along.

So there she was, an hour later, walking into the Overgrove. The Life Gems were probably home at that point. Maybe even worrying about where I am, she thought with relish.

Upon the counter, limned with gold by a shred of dying sunlight emanating from one of the windows, lied two bouquets with accompanying letters; one a rolled together note tied shut with a little ribbon, the other a delightfully garish, ostentasiously decorated envelope lodged between the flowers. Gem bit back a smile; she wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

For a moment, a second, no, a milisecond, she scanned the room looking for where Joey and Shrub could be, before immediately spotting the seaman sitting on the edge of a planter with a crudely cut-out newspaper held up in front of him. The holes were much too big so you could see large parts of his face, and the smells of sea, fish and perfume all combined permeated the shop.

Gem still didn't know where Shrub was, until the flower saleslady peeked her head out from beneath the counter and gave a little wave, that is. Gem waved back, before going over to a corner of her own to inconspicuously admire some of the flower arrangements on display.

A minute passed in anticipatory silence. She couldn't deny that she was a little excited herself; how would Katherine react? Which one would she like more? Gem was dreadfully curious and shamefully invested

Then, from backstage: Katherine, the center of all of this madness, strode into the room. Suddenly it seemed as if sunlight was beaming through the windows, as if it was early midday and not afternoon, each ray of light focusing on Katherine as she walked up to the counter to examine what lay there. Her rich, luscious brown hair glittered in shades of gold, and her smile was infectious. Gem understood, a little, why those two were so crazy about her.

She picked up one of the bouquets; Joey's. It was as if everyone in the room were holding their breath, though Gem saw Joey silently fist bump to himself. Katherine dislodged the hot pink envelope from the flowers, turning it over in her hands, giggling a bit to herself. Her face went from mildly amused to maybe a little touched and then finally to resigned as she read the letter. Had he lost? Had he won? Who knew?

Next, Shrub's bouquet. Katherine admired it fondly, though struggled to actually unwrap the letter. She gave up. Gem's stomach sank — Shrub must've tied it too tight. Then Katherine grabbed a pair of scissors and all was well again. She cut loose the ribbon, then unfurled the paper to read what stood upon it. As she read, her face broke out into a gleaming smile, a smile warm enough to light a thousand suns.

"This is so cute! Very sweet of you guys," she said lightly, before taking the bouquets, wandering down the aisle and putting them on display by the shop entrance. Gem almost burst out laughing. "Thank you so much — these will sell great I'm sure!"

"No problem," squeaked Shrub from underneath the counter.

"I am forever glad to be of service, my dear Katherine" said Joey, lowering the newspaper to face her properly.

"Ew, Joey," grouched Shrub.

‐

"I won! She liked mine better — why else would she have chosen it first?"

"Have you ever heard of saving the best for last?"

"No?"

"Is that all you have to say? You're so stinkin' dumb. Besides, didn't you see how she smiled when she read mine. Give it up Joey, I won."

"No, she smiled at mine too! And at least she could actually unwrap mine! You made her get scissors! Shameful, Shrub, shameful. Your 'letter' was an ugly disgrace, while mine was a gorgeous sparkly pink masterpiece. The winner is obvious, right Gem?"

Gem had kind of forgotten she was supposed to be the referee.

"...You're both winners," she shrugged. She'd rather not get caught in the crossfire of this fight.

...

The answer didn't satisfy them; she could tell. Eventually she got a:

"Thank you Gem for all the help — I couldn't have done it without you," mumbled Shrub, staring at the ground.

"Yes, Gem, I am truly forever grateful for how you have aided me today; rest assured that when the wedding day comes, you will be my bestman, or would it be bestlady? Or both, or anything–"

"Thanks to you too," answered Gem, astonished to find that she meant it.

Shrub opened her mouth, perhaps to say something more, but was interrupted by Katherine calling out for her.

"Shrub! Could you come help tidy up a bit in here? Thank you!"

With the smugest imaginable expression, Shrub turned back around and entered the store, leaving an exasperatedly smiling wingwoman and a very crestfallen Joey.

Chapter Text

Gem was growing increasingly restless and impatient with the Life Gems. It had been a week since the encounter with the beetlebug, and yet nothing had changed at home. All she'd gotten was a pat on the back, pancakes for breakfast and then things had returned to their previous state. Whenever Gem brought up Pearl's promise to the guys, they would pass the burden of answering on to her, but Pearl was refusing to give any clear response. She would dodge, obfuscate and do whatever else to cut that line of questioning short.

And, as extra salt on the wound, the Gems had been out inordinately often recently, on missions whose purposes and locations they were awfully reticent about. It wasn't like Gem didn't have an idea; there was a concrete cause and effect of the encounter with the beetlebug and the recent uptick in adventures, even if they claimed to be done with the gemstone.

They hadn't even realised that her nose had fully healed! They had been away, when her gem had begun to glow once more. When the glow had dissipated, she'd found her nose whole again. For most people, a recovery after such an injury took three weeks or more; for her it had taken three days. And they hadn't even been there to see it!

To show her displeasure, Gem had vowed to start avoiding the Gems. Like spending most of her time at Scott's and Cleo's, or fishing at the docks with Grian, or just sitting in her room and obstructing the door with a chair. Not that they would notice, but it gave her some minute satisfaction to be giving them the same treatment that they'd been giving her.

It was dinner time, though Gem wasn't planning on staying for long. Tango was their main cook — he would make normal food for the normal people of the house, and then his psychopathic spicy versions straight from the inferno for him and Pearl. Impulse and Skizz sometimes made half-hearted attempts to assist with the cooking, like bringing out ingredients and utensils, while Pearl was banned for nebulous reasons, kept from Gem like everything else.

Tango had been working hard that day, creating at least four different dishes. "Take this as an apology for us awayificating so often," he'd said to Gem as she'd briskly walked through the hallway to the front door. She'd given him a brusque nod before slamming the door behind her. If they felt so bad, then they wouldn't leave her behind so much. If she made them feel so bad, then they wouldn't leave her behind. Simple and genius. Foolproof.

They were seated in their usual spots out on the porch — Gem next to Pearl, across from Impulse, who was sandwiched between two empty chairs belonging to Skizz and Tango. A light breeze gave her a much needed reprieve from the muggy heat inside of the house; Tango would often spontaneously combust, especially when feeling distressed or any other strong emotion, which wasn't the best for Gem's continued health and safety.

As they waited for the food, Impulse tried to clear the tense silence that had settled over table.

"So, Gem, how have you been?" he asked with forced cheer. Gem levelled him with a caustic glare for his efforts. He chuckled, a little strained. "Man, you sure look super happy right now."

The unasked question hung heavy in the air: What's wrong? But it was obvious, was it not? She knew it and they knew it. They merely didn't want to acknowledge it, because that meant that they would have to actually change and accommodate to Gem's wants.

"She really does," spoke Pearl, probably only to prevent the return of the silence.

Then Tango and Skizz proudly strode out, carrying great platters of food, wafting of tabasco. Gem cringed at the smell, then felt a bit guilty as Tango caught her reaction and his flames flared. He put the plate of his and Pearl's food on their end of the table, while Skizz seated himself to the right, reaching out to Gem across the table for a fist bump. She stared at him blankly, unable to summon much more vitriol.

"Bon appetite, people!" Skizz announced, taking a large scoop of fries and dumping them on his plate.

"I hope it's still good, even if I burned the patties..." Tango muttered.

"It's awesome Tango," Gem spat, those words being the first she'd uttered in the last four days. She hated it whenever he was like this, so hopefully this would shut him up. Then she could go back to giving them the silent treatment.

"Aww, thank you Gem, you really sound like you mean it," Tango teased, grabbing chicken drenched in some probably infernal sauce, proceeding to then drizzle it in more scorpion tabasco. He wasn't human. Actually he wasn't, and this was a good reminder of that fact.

"That is disturbing," Impulse uttered Gem's thoughts out loud. Impulse was living proof that spice tolerance was not something inherent to gemkind. Once she'd found him crying in the kitchen after trying a bite of Tango's special food and it was simultaneously the funniest and saddest thing she'd ever seen. She had a picture of it hidden in one of her drawers, taken with her polaroid, kept for future use.

"That is delicious," Pearl corrected, ladling some of Tango's stew onto her plate, then making grabby-hands for the tabasco.

"Skizz, don't you want to sit in the middle?" Impulse beseeched. That odour was truly awful; Gem could empathise with his pain.

Skizz laughed. "What? Are the fumes getting to you?"

Impulse sniffled in lieu of an answer.

With effort, Gem bit back a giggle. She missed them, badly. Why did they have to leave all the time? Why couldn't they just spend all of their days together like this? Or even better, why couldn't they just spend all of their days together out on their quests?

Indignantly, she took a barely even singed patty and a few fries, not bothering with making a burger, and shoved down her food in less than five bites. As she stood, her chair screeched and the table clattered, and abruptly the somewhat peaceful atmosphere was ruined.

"Gem, leaving so soon?" Pearl asked, putting down her fork.

"Whaaat??" Skizz cried out in the throes of unbearable disappointment. "But I was looking forward to eating dinner all together, like a real family."

"But we're not family, are we?" Gem grumbled, stopping by the steps that led down the mountain toward the main town.

Silence.

Did she say something wrong? Or, inordinately wrong that is — the few times she had been speaking that week, she'd hardly made an effort to be polite. She still felt the need to explain herself further, however, because that silence was beginning to feel oppressive. Gem didn't want to turn her head and see whatever faces the Life Gems were making right now, even though her aim had been upsetting them in the first place. 

"It's true, though? Last I checked, none of you gave birth to me. Besides, family doesn't leave one of their own to stew in their own loneliness for a week. Family wouldn't ignore the obvious signs that maybe I might be a little upset about something."

Gingerly, she turned her gaze toward them. They didn't seem angry, anyway, but it was hard to read their faces in that moment. Certainly hurt. Sad? Disappointed? Regretful? She kind of hoped it was the last one. That she could use.

"We were just trying to give you spa–" Impulse attempted to explain.

"So, what's wrong, then? What's got you all–" Tango gestured vaguely with his arms and made funny sounds.

Gem raised an eyebrow. Was he impying that she was crazy?

"It's about you not being allowed to come along on our missions, isn't it?" spoke Pearl, looking defeated.

Gem averted her gaze.

"So that's what this is all about!" exclaimed Skizz.

Yeah duh, she thought. What else would it possibly be about?

Pearl remained conspicuously silent, while Impulse sighed heavily. "Tell you what Gem, how about this–"

"You need to be a firmer parent, Impulse. Sometimes no is no," Pearl rudely interrupted.

"Well, it wasn't a no a week ago," Gem said pettily.

"A lot can happen in one week," and Pearl looked so exhausted in that moment that Gem almost faltered. "I–"

"–as I was saying, how about this; you see, Tango really wants to bake some apple pie–" Tango blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment, before nodding profusely "–but he doesn't have any apples–"

"Okay? Can't he just go to the store?" Gem inquired.

"Would you let me speak, please. Tango doesn't have any apples, and there is a special place where his very favourites are. It is not easy to get to, and the path is likely treacherous — it would probably be a real challenge to get them, which is why we haven't for hundreds of years. But Tango has worked super hard today–"

"Excuse me, so did I, you butt-face!" Skizz butted in. Impulse glared daggers at him, until he choked out a, "Sorry, bud..."

"Tango has worked super hard today, so it would be really awesome of you to go get some for him," Impulse finished with a tight little smile.

"You want me to get apples?" Gem demanded. "That's the big mission?"

"We'll start small," assured Impulse, glancing at Pearl to see if she would raise a fuss about even this tiny privilege Gem had been given. "And then move on to bigger things like letting you come along on our super big and important missions that don't involve getting Tango to smile."

"And you aren't saying this just to get me out of the house so that you can do your Life-Gem-things in peace?"

"If we wanted you out of the house we'd keep doing what we've already been doing!" laughed Tango. Gem conceded, inwardly, that he had a point.

"Besides, we won't be sending you alone," Pearl glanced around meaningfully at the rest of the Life Gems.

"Yeah, definitely. I'll go!" Skizz chimed in. "Let's go — you and me Gem!"

"Yay."

-

Half an hour later — because apparently it was so important for her human body to let one burger pattie and some fries 'rest' for half a freaking hour — Gem and Skizz were heading to the warp pad by the entrances to each of the Life Gems' rooms. A quick, exhilirating (and disorienting) trip later they found themselves in a completely new place, at least to Gem.

They were stood at the foot of a hill, backdropped by towering snowy mountains. It was cold, even more so than what Gem was used to, and as they climbed it she could see that there was no vegetation beyond grass and a few measly shrubs adorning the surface of the hill.

"Oooh, this is gonna be fun, right Gem?" Skizz had been excitedly yapping at her the whole time, desperately trying and failing to drum up any enthusiasm. She just wasn't feeling it, at all. They'd avoided addressing anything she had said, sent her off on a pointless fetch quest and made Skizz come along as baby-sitter. There was nothing to be enthusiastic about. They still didn't trust her or respect her — they were merely indulging her the way one might do to sate a toddler. But Gem would not be sated. Not until they finally treated her as an equal, or at the bare minimum recognised her somewhat. "Oh wow, this brings back memories."

At the crest of the hill stood a fort of some kind. Tall, imposing stone walls cleanly hewn, supported by great log pillars. In the center there was what Gem thought to be a gigantic gate, though as they got closer she saw that the entrance was in fact just two pitiful doors.

And a crater. It was maybe three meters in diameter, a brutal ring of scorched destruction, some marks still visible after all those years. The air had changed, become heavier somehow. Heavy with the echoes of violence. Clearly, something had happened here, as it most certainly had by the mountain and the tower Pearl had brought her to. Was this where Etho had massacered those gems, perhaps? Gem grinned. Maybe this would be little fun, after all.

Skizz had gone silent. His mouth was pressed into thin line and he regarded the wreckage, before splitting into a too-wide grin as he turned to her.

"C'mon Gem, no stupid crater's gonna stand in our way!" he said, ushering a reluctant Gem along. It seemed as if he trying to reassure himself more than her.

They tromped around the rim — no fun risks taken here apparently. When he was looking away, she leaned over the pit, a little underwhelmed by its depth. Only two or three meters, hardly all that remarkable. Still, she wished that she'd been there to see it. For the resulting firestorm if nothing else, and the powerful bang that would shake the earth itself. Had people died in the explosion?

"Gem!" Skizz yelped, aghast, pulling her away from the shallow pit as if the fall would somehow kill her. "Oh Jesus you scared me!"

"Oh goly, what would happen to me if I fell in a two meter hole?" Gem snarked. Then, because Skizz seemed sincerely affrighted, she amended, "I'll be careful, Skizz, I promise."

"You better, missy! You better! This place is trapped to the nines — don't want anything happening to ya, y'know? Impulse would kill me, before I could even kill myself."

That's stupid, why would in the world would you do that? she thought, but kept it to herself in fear of hurting his feelings. It wasn't like she would die, so no need to fret it.

"Who trapped it anyway, and why?" she asked idly.

"Well, it's an alien planet and all — you'll need some extra defenses y'know! It's very reasonable!" Skizz defended fiercely. Gem giggled.

"So it was you!"

It was Skizz's turn to laugh; loudly and heartily.

"Gem, look at me. You know me. Do you seriously think that I could set some fancy schmancy trap?" he chuckled, and Gem was inclined to believe him, if only for the memory of Skizz's disastrous attempt of using the stove. If he couldn't figure out a common household appliance he probably wouldn't be able to put together anything more advanced.

They had arrived at the door. Skizz pushed her behind him, looking over those sad little spruce doors before tentatively pushing them open. No fiery lava explosions, no poisonous gas or giant beetlebugs; it just meekly swung ajar with a whiny screech.

"Phew — wasn't all too sure 'bout that one, to be honest," Skizz said in relief, hunching over to step inside and putting his foot squarely in the center of a snare. Gem lurched forward to grab ahold of him, or do anything really, but it was already too late. From the crest of the wall Skizz was left dangling sheepishly. Like the sweet girl she was, Gem cackled gleefully.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up... As if you saw that coming!"

Gem didn't bother with responding, her cackles softening into equally wicked little giggles as she began searching for ways to cut him down. Skizz was tall enough that it hopefully wouldn't be too far of a drop — the main issue for Gem was reaching the rope.

"Wait, wait, I'll give you my spear," Skizz twisted around, flailing for his gem which was located where his heart would have been had he been human.

Gem watched in awe as the gemstone glowed a brilliant yellow and he pulled out a topaz spear. Trying to gently hand it to her, he instead wound up almost dropping it on her head. With an admonishing "Skizz" she scurried out of the way, before hunching over to pick it up.

Gosh, she was holding a real weapon. It was light, like the kitchen knife maybe, much lighter than she'd been expecting from a proper spear. It felt strong. She wished dearly that she knew how to summon her own weapons: Etho had mainly wielded a powerful blade, though its properties varied from account to account, and as far as she'd surmised he had many more where that came from. A whole weapons' arsenal of her own — it was so unfair that she couldn't access it.

"Earth to Gem! Let me down already dude — geeze!" Skizz called out in faux disgruntlement.

"Would you have some patience while I figure this out?" Gem retorted. The spear was long enough that she could just barely reach the rope with it held semi-comfortably in her hands, even if she almost stabbed Skizz with it while raising it up. She began cutting the rope. It was very slow going. Hopefully Skizz was regretting not teaching her how to properly wield weapons.

"Alright, there you go," she said, after an age. Skizz, despite his ungraceful display earlier, landed on his feet, dusting himself off and pointedly keeping his gaze away from the inside of the fort.

"Thanks Gem, you're the best!" he grinned, enveloping her in a big hug. You'd think he was one of those bone-crushing huggers, but he was in actuality quite sweet. Everyone in the house agreed that Skizz gave the best hugs. "I can't believe you've saved me once already though..."

"I know," she spoke matter-of-factly and shrugged out of his hold. Even if she was keeping a collected facade, she was absolutely oozing smugness on the inside.

That's right, you need me, she thought. Not the other way around.

More conscientiously they headed inward. Excessively so. Skizz would stop every few seconds or so, to look over some rock or something, so Gem got a lot of time to take in her surroundings. As imposing as the walls had been, the settlement inside was almost... quaint. In its center was what might've once been a cozy little wooden house, even if it had now been overtaken by ice and rot. They were fields, where the occasional reed still stuck up from the frozen dirt. Gem had expected there to be apple trees, since that was what they were there for, but found the land barren. It wasn't a frightening fortress as much as a sad, pitiful reminder of a couple of long-forgotten people. Even if that dread still hung heavy in the air.

Walking though, she did notice something a bit out of place. A dark, stone plateau situated in that dead field. It was like a black hole, sucking out the dwindling warmth and vitality of its surroundings.

"Where is it...?" hissed Skizz, tentatively craning to look around the side of the house instead of just walking over to check it out. Evidently he was still worried about setting off any traps, though Gem couldn't fathom what these settlers would precisely have been guarding. There hadn't even been any traps, beyond the pathetic snare they'd set up by the entrance. These people hardly seemed very fearsome.

"What is it you're looking for?" she asked.

"An entrance."

"There's one right there."

Gem gestured to the empty archway leading into the cabin.

"No, Gem, to the basement," he said, frowning as he scanned the same stretch of the house over and over again. "I swear it was around here somewhere."

"Isn't it just there?" she gestured once more, this time to an elevation of the ground. It was covered by decrepit planks and lamentable shrubs, though she thought that she could make out something gleaming underneath.

Skizz blinked, then laughed. "Way to make me feel blind! Thanks Gem." He didn't sound particularly reproachful, however.

They approached the shrubbery, and without much hesitation Gem began tearing away branch and fraying wood, uncovering thick luminescent chains sealing shut a pair of polished trap doors. Attatched to the chains was a reddish prism of sorts. They looked so sleek and new, for lack of a better word, at odds with the aged and overgrown surroundings. They could easily have been installed yesterday, and if not for the overgrowth of moss and other plants Gem would have thought so. She was a bit taken aback.

Skizz frowned, regarding it.

"Now how do we get this opened?" he grumbled, glaring at it as if he could make it open through sheer petulance alone. "Ugh, why'd they have to make my job so difficult!"

"Impulse did say it was going to be well-defended. All things considered, I'm pretty underwhelmed," Gem said.

"Yeah, well that's because your butt got to stay on the ground while I was hoisted fifty feet into the air!" Skizz retorted, as he stepped onto the trapdoors and began jumping in place to see if he could break them open through blunt force.

"It was like a meter at most, Skizz," Gem deadpanned. Neither the chains nor the trapdoors budged under his barrage.

"I don't get it," Skizz complained. "Why did they add extra defenses here? There's nobody left to get into their stupid basement anyway!"

"Who's 'they'?" she asked.

Skizz froze like a deer in headlights.

"Ehm, uh, nobody!" Skizz exclaimed. Then, at Gem's blank stare, "Or, I, er, guess– I guess somebody. Old Gem buddies."

"You had other friends?"

"Don't sound so surprised! Ol' Skizz isn't that unsociable!"

"No, it's not that. I just thought you guys were the only ones from your people on Earth."

Skizz chuckled ruefully. "There's many more of us. There's been a whole lot more of us as well."

Oh.

Gem hadn't known that the gems could die, or disappear in any permanent way. They weren't human, or even anything close to them. They weren't organic. So she'd assumed that they were basically immortal, even Etho. The assumption had always been that he was alive, merely trapped or resting.

New fear unlocked. Just great.

"Hey, what's with that look in your eye, buddy? We're not going anywhere."

"I know," she scoffed. "Even if you give me many reasons to doubt it."

Skizz laughed uproariously and exaggeratedly. Then, "But really, we'll be sticking around. I pinky promise."

"Thanks, Skizz," Gem cut off the burgeoning conversation thread before it could go on any further. Enough of that for a day–no, scratch that, a lifetime. "So, what do we do about these?" she lightly kicked at the chains, to find them solid and immovable.

"Hmm... I'll be honest, I have no idea what they even are."

"They're chains, Skizz."

"Fancy shiny chains."

"I guess," she conceded. "...Are you sure you don't recognise them?"

"I mean," Skizz seemed a bit embarrassed. "I've always been the brawn, y'know? I never really got involved with the techy crafty side of things."

"What technology is there to chains?"

"I don't know! But they have to have done something, or else I could've broken through them easy!"

"You're old though."

Skizz narrowed his eyes.

"Yes I'm old. What is it you're trying to imply? Whatever it is, I don't like it."

"That you're old. Now figure it out — you're the adult here."

"What? You've been moping about all week cuz we apparently 'don't have any faith in you' and now you want me to do all the work? What happened to wanting play adult?"

A bit peeved, she corrected, "I never wanted to 'play adult' — I just want to be respected as, you know, an equal, a person." And to not have to spend a week alone while they were off having fun without her.

"I know, I'm sorry, I was trying to be funny and failing miserably as usual. But we do respect you Gem, it's just. Well, we've lost a lot of people, y'know? And I'll be honest, I'm all for bringing you into the loop of things, but some of the others– they– they're afraid, and I really get that. Even if you don't agree, I hope you get that. We want you around, so that's why we've got to keep you safe. Even if you don't need our coddling."

"That's great and all, but when are we getting these trapdoors open? I'd like to get home in time for dinner," Gem stomped her foot impatiently, trying not to think about Skizz's words or how they made her resolve waver, just slightly. She didn't want to think any more about death.

"Right, sorry," Skizz laughed. "It's what I do — get sidetracked."

He began pulling at the chains once more, then trying to hack at it with his spear, both to little avail. With a mildly exasperated sigh, Gem wandered off in search of a key or anything else that stood out. Skizz was too preoccupied to notice.

With due caution, Gem pushed through the empty archway leading into the old house. The air was thick with dust and rot, occasionally freshened by a crisp, wintry breeze through the many gaps in the crumbling walls. She made her search quick for fear of the roof caving in; frantically rifling through piles of debris. The house consisted of only one, empty room, so she was swiftly out of there once more.

When she got out, she saw Skizz jumping on the trapdoors again while recklessly stabbing at the polished wood. The spear didn't even make a dent.

Gem surveyed the area. Her eyes caught on the altar, hair raising on end. That oppressive energy was still there, had been there the whole time, even though she'd almost been able to look past it. With trepidation, she approached. It was a simple cobblestone dais, and yet it had such a heavy aura she almost didn't even notice the slight ditch dug out beneath it. Crouching down, pushing aside some reeds, something glinted green in the darkness underneath the altar. She took it without hesitation.

"Skizz!" she called out. The thumping of the trapdoor behind her ceased, and soom she heared a panicked:

"Gem! When did you sneak off?"

"I'm fine — look what I found!" she proudly held up a prism. It was larger than the red one, her hand barely managing to grip one of the edges. "It's a key!" Or at least that was what she inferred. It better be. Gem was getting bored of this 'mission' and really needed some action soon or she would lose her mind.

"Oooh! Great job!" he sounded earnestly proud, patting her on the back as she returned to the trapdoors. He made grabby hands for the key, so Gem graciously handed it over to him.

"Do you even know how to use it?" she asked, as Skizz bent over to mindlessly mash the prisms together.

"Nope!" Skizz confirmed cheerfully. "But don't worry, I'll figure it out. I swear I've seen these before..." After thoroughly confirming that his first strategy wasn't going to work, he raised it to study it more closely. "Hey, Gem, whaddya think? This looks a bit like a button, doesn't it?"

"Not really, but go for it," she answered honestly. To her, it seemed more like a pretty pattern than anything else. But Skizz was the guy who'd actually interacted with gem technology in his lifetime, or at least seen it, so despite his many deficiencies he probably had a better sense for these things than she did.

Skizz pressed the 'button'. Gem couldn't quite see; it was raised too high and his arm was blocking it anyway, though based off of Skizz's enthralled expression he must've gotten something. Then, the red prism-lock thing lit up, bathing their surroundings in ruby red.

"Password?" it inquired in an eerily life-like voice. It sounded like any human guy you'd pick out from the streets of England or something.

"What?" Skizz blurted. Gem face palmed internally.

"Wrong. And I'm frankly offended at the sheer idiocy of your guess. Get lost."

"Okay, screw you!" Skizz exclaimed, thoroughly offended, as the light dissipated.

"Alright, let's try that again. This time, think before you speak," Gem put emphasis on those last words, to make sure them message rang home.

Skizz grinned sheepishly, uttering a quick, "...Sorry, Gem," before pressing the button once more.

"Password?" the voice in demanded once more, in the exact same cadence as earlier.

"Open sesame?" Gem suggested, interrupting Skizz before he got the chance to ruin it again. Who knew how many guesses they had? Best not to waste them.

"Wrong. Who are you trying to kid? You're obviously not meant to be here. Get lost."

Extra weight was put on the final two words. Gem's mouth narrowed into a thin line.

"Ooooh, that was a good guess!" Skizz tried. "This is tough!"

"If it was such a 'good' guess then why didn't it unlock?" Gem could acknowledge that she was being grumpy for the sake of being grumpy at this point.

"Well... it was better than mine at least. 'Oh what?'" he mocked himself, chuckling a little, then continuing with an exasperated, "like c'mon! You have nothing to worry about — you're definitely carrying this mission."

"Thanks Skizz, I know," she said ruthlessly. "One more try. It's time."

"Oh yeah baby! We'll get it this time!" he yelled while pressing the button, attempting to pump both himself and Gem up. He kept going, not realising that the light was blossoming once more, speaking over the pre-recorded voice message. "It's time, it's time!"

"Correct," it confirmed drily. For a moment, Gem thought it was being sarcastic or something, but then the chains actually ceased glowing and disconnected from the green prism.

"Oh. My. Gosh," Gem was in complete shock. "You did it. I am– I am so proud of you!"

Skizz squealed, spinning the both of them around in a circle like the world's most inelegant ballerina. Then he put her down, and she swiftly scurried over to move the obstructions aside. Gripping one handle each, they pulled the trapdoors open, revealing a deep, abyssal darkness.

Immediately, the stench of rot and decay reached her nose, and Gem almost gagged. Skizz's expression was uncharacteristically shuttered as he gazed down into the inky blackness.

"Alright, okay," she said, to steel herself but also to fill the heavy silence that had descended upon them. She didn't know whether to be afraid or very excited. "Here we go..."

"Wait, I'll go first," Skizz spoke, holding an arm out to block her way as she scoffed. Of course. She didn't argue, though. She didn't like his tone, nor the look in his eye. "And if you hear anything, you run the other way okay?"

"Do you think something's down there?" she asked quietly instead of making a fuss, even though she had no plans on obeying that request.

"Eh, I mean, no, I can't see why there would be... For God's sake we're here for apples! But... but, it's– it's changed so much. I don't think I know anything about this place anymore."

They went down what turned out to be a staircase in complete silence. Skizz used his gemstone to light the steps so that they wouldn't fall. Gem made sure to tread lightly — the lack of sound and visibility made her paranoid.

Soon they were on level ground again. For a second Skizz's light lit up a mostly decomposed banner that might've once been red, though the bottom was frayed away. The stench was dreadful, the air thick. Gem could just barely make out vague silhouettes in the dark, shapes made frightening by the shadows. It was invigorating, to be honest, even if Skizz was worrying her a bit. All she could hear was the roar of her breaths and the beating drum of her heart, almost drowning out the dull thuds of their footsteps and the clanking of Skizz's spear.

They walked around the room, feeling around for something. They couldn't be looking for apple trees anymore, but Gem also couldn't imagine any apples surviving the centuries they would've been left alone down here to rot.

"Here," Skizz muttered quietly, handing her his spear. "I think I've found something — can you hold this for a minute?"

She took it without complaint, feeling a bizarre sense of foreboding as she stared out into the abyss behind them. Scraping. Was she hearing something, or was the darkness just messing with her? The sound came again, closer.

"Skizz–" she started. There's something there, is what she would've said had her breath not been knocked away when she was roughly slammed into the stone floor of the chamber. It was too dark to see much, and she was probably suffering from shock at least a little, though she could hear the growling and feel its spit on her face well enough.

Thrashing about all she could, she felt its teeth clamp down on her arm as she tried to turn the spear upward to stab it. With a glance back at Skizz, eyes blurry, she could kind of see him standing frozen, merely staring. "Skizz," she wheezed through the agony as the creature frothed over her arm. It didn't seem like he could hear her.

She kicked at it with all her might, to little avail. The weight upon her body was too heavy for her to twist and attempt to pick up the spear with her other hand, and besides: it hurt too much. She let out a cough, trying and failing to speak. Losing interest, the creature let go of her arm. It lunged forward, this time for her skull. With sickening crunch and quench, it bit down, teeth catching on her eye.

Gem screamed.

The noise consumed her. It was all she could do — scream and scream as her world erupted into light. She was weightless, she was light. She had no body, she had no self; she was just light and pain and fire.

-

When she came to, she was sat on the floor of the chamber. She was dizzy and lightheaded, though felt otherwise unharmed. Better in fact. Sat before her, eyes wide open in utter horror, was Skizz.

"Hi," she said weakly, voice hoarse.

"Gem!" he hugged her, tentatively — lacking the usual warmth but full of relief. "Oh thank God — I–I, I'll be honest, I thought you were a goner back there!"

"I feel fine," and it was true. She felt fine. Completely fine. Slowly, she reached out to touch her head where it had bit her. She was whole. It was fine.

"You shouldn't be! God, you almost died back there Gem!"

"But I'm okay now," then with a slightly muted rush of giddiness, "I did it again, didn't I? Oh my gosh."

"Yes you did and it was a bonafide miracle!"

"Did I beat it?"

Skizz looked askance. "You... you sure did. You sure did. I've sent him away already; he was left in quite a state, let me tell you..."

"See! I can take care of myself, as well as you for that matter. If this isn't definitive proof that I'm ready, then I don't know what is!"

"Oh, you're ready, but we, I'm not so sure anymore. I stood by, Gem– after all this time, I still couldn't do anything even when he was about to tear you apart! If your regeneration powers hadn't kicked in there, if you hadn't gotten your crazy surge of superstrength — you'd have been dead, and it would've been my fault."

"What? Are you serio–"

"I know you're strong, Gem. But you're just a kid. We're meant to protect you, and if we can't, then there's no way we're putting you in any unnecessary danger."

"This is crazy. And so unfair. Can't you just celebrate my achievements properly for once?"

Skizz forced a laugh. "I'd rather be unfair than have you dead."

-

It was time for dessert.

The table was silent, the air tense. They'd been arguing, somehow believing that she couldn't hear them, but were now playing nice as can be as if she couldn't see the sharpness of their fake smiles and the glares they snuck at each other.

Tango hadn't even wanted to use the apples after hearing what they'd almost cost. Apparently they had healing properties or something, so the others had managed to change his mind for Gem's sake.

The apples been gold, and very pretty, though she'd hardly got much happiness from them. The apples hadn't been the true goal; earning a spot among the Life Gems had always been the main priority. If she couldn't get that, then nothing else mattered.

Tango came out with the apple pie.

"Bon appetite!" Skizz exclaimed with faux cheer. Gem made some minute effort to suppress her frown — she didn't believe it possible to make them suffer any more. The worst part of it all was that she understood their fear — a little anyway. She'd been worried for Skizz back there, and still was despite her ire. She'd been scared for Pearl back when with the beetlebug, and she had no idea what she would've done had it crushed Pearl's skull like the beast in the secret chamber had done to her. The thing was, though, that Gem had gotten better. Not only that, but she had beaten the monster on her own. What more could they possibly expect from her? What more evidence that she could handle herself could they need beyond her being literally indestructible?

Or at least she thought she was. Close to it anyway. If 'danger' was what was needed to unlock her powers, then why not expose her to more of it? Then she would be properly indestructible, and they would never have to worry about her ever again.