Stars and Diamonds

Chapter 5: Poofed

With one leg folded over the other, Yellow's chin rested on the back of her hand as she leaned to the side of her command chair, watching from the corners of her eyes as Orange moved sluggishly over to the two Amethyst guards that she had assigned to be her escorts while she was with her. While certainly not the most competent of gems, the two did well with Orange, and Orange never complained about them before, so Yellow assumed they were at least doing their job adequately.

Orange stopped in her lead-foot shuffle to cover a large yawn with the back of her hand, which made the two guards give her twin wide, toothy grins.

"Lookin' worn there, my diamond."

"'Course she is, unlike you she actually works." The second jabbed and her counterpart turned to playfully hit her in the shoulder. "Hey!"

"Shut it 9X! I work too!"

"Annoying the peridots with gossip hardly counts as work."

Yellow narrowed her eyes at their loud banter, which they must have sensed because they both turned to look up at her at the same time, meeting her stare and immediately stood at attention, waiting for Orange to reach them and parted to allow her to walk in-between them so they flanked her.

It was well past time for a rest period, but her ward had been adamant in continuing their lesson until she was practically unconscious in her lap. Yellow admired her determination to learn at least, but her stubbornness could be tedious and grating, and it only became more prominent when she was tired. It was at these times that Yellow would have flashbacks of Pink hanging from the arms of her chair, constantly calling her name for attention, and generally being a nuisance. Yellow could see the odd similarity between Orange and Pink in those rare moments and be reminded she was indeed Pink's creation and hadn't actually been made like the rest of them.

Yellow continued to watch as the three made their way from her command room, the two Amethysts' banter picking right back up from where it left off. Orange seemed to be ignoring it all in favor of staring at the ground in front of her feet as she walked. They must have assumed they were safe from their Diamond's scrutiny because their friendly ribbing had turned into a pushing match.

Yellow wished she could say she had yelled at them, had decided then she would be replacing the two childish guards with more experienced Citrines, or had done something to dissuade their behavior, but she couldn't, because she hadn't. Instead, she had prepared to return to her work in favor of ignoring them and punishing them later if it happened again, merely rolling her eyes as she prepared to settle in for a long cycle of work.

But before she could even pull her display up she had heard a shout and a sharp gasp and her head snapped back to the three, prepared to reprimand their foolish behavior, only she had turned just in time to see what was happening. The three had moved past the opened doors of her command room and stood on the upper platform, prepared to descend the side staircase to go to Orange's chambers, only the guard's roughhousing had picked up, Orange completely oblivious to this as she neared the edge of the platform, too tired to care what was happening behind her.

It was then that Yellow felt fear that she hadn't felt in a long time. The kind of fear that left you paralyzed and filled with a sort of cold that made you want to move but you couldn't, nothing would work, even as your mind panicked with the realization of what was happening, and the only thing she could do was feel her eyes widen, the event happened so fast.

She saw the two Quartz delinquents continue their shoving match, laughing as they continued to shove one another harder with each exchange. Unfortunately, one of the quartz had pushed the other hard enough to send them stumbling, tripping over their own feet and crashing into Orange with a look of panic on her face, the youngest Diamond completely unprepared for the sudden hit to her back and was knocked off the platform as the quartz landed face first on the floor only to quickly scramble on her stomach to the edge to peer over. Her partner rushed to look over as well, standing over her, the two surveying the floors below in quiet terror.

It felt like a century, but logically she knew was only a few seconds, before her senses came back to her and she was on her feet and rushing towards them. She ignored their panicked faces when they looked up at her, rage and terror at war inside her, caught between needing to know if Orange was all right and wanting to smash these gems under her boot for their idiocy.

Her form towered well over theirs, looking over the platforms edge where she could see the lower floors, all connected by the spiraling staircase. Down below, a far drop even to her, many gems that had been going about their business now stood in stunned silence, staring at the place where Orange had fallen, or rather, been pushed. Yellow's sharp eyes took only seconds to located her, or more precisely, her gem, laying untouched on the floor where no one dared to move closer to it.

It was in that moment that the rage won and she turned on her heel, static and lighting surged around her light form.

"M-my diamond!" the standing quartz soldier stuttered, taking a step back in fear.

The other, either more brave, or perhaps stupid, got to her knees and bowed her head, speaking with a pleading tone that was completely lost on Matriarch, "it was an accident! we're sorry, it-"

Her hand reached out towards them, her power surging from her fingertips and hitting the two quartz soldier so hard their forms dissipated instantly, their gems hit the floor with a twin tinks. She would see them harvested for this. The lighting had barely started to vanish from her form when she began to descend the stairs in bounds, reaching the lower landing in record time. All the gem that had once been in frozen animation suddenly came to life, scurrying into lines and saluting her. She ignored them too as she all but ran to where Orange's gem was, the niggling thought to keep at least a shred of decorum about her as she approached the deathly still gem, lying untouched on the marble floor until her approach. She had been given a wide berth because no one had dared to move to touch her, which was good because Yellow knew she would have dissipated their forms as well.

Carefully, with a gentleness that was perhaps uncharacteristic for her, she picked up the tiny gem, unsure if it had sustained any damage in the fall, and if it had she did not wish to make it worse. Turning the gem over in her palm, she inspected it for any cracks and only breathed a sigh of relief when she could not spot a single crack on its delicate facets. Orange had simply sustained too much damage to her form and hadn't actually injured her gem, that was good news at least. What was not good was the thought that she'd have to report this to the other diamonds.

It looked bad on her that Orange had not only been injured, but hurt so badly she had had to retreat into her gem, all on her watch. She could already feel the headache forming at the knowledge that she was going to get an earful from a hysterical Pink, not to mention Blue, whom would have her own lecture to give. Yellow cradled the gem in her palm as she returned to her command room at a much calmer pace than she had left it, stopping only to order the two destabilized guards be bubbled and sent to homeworld for their punishment. After it had been taken care of, she sat heavily in her chair, suddenly feeling drained herself and pinched the bridge of her nose more in habit of a frustrating situation than anything. She leaned back, placing Orange's gem in her lap, staring at it with an unfamiliar feeling of guilt, but pushed it away to be dealt with later, or more preferably never.

She went to cross her legs only to remember the gem she had placed there and quickly decided to bubble the gem as she didn't think Orange would be returning any time soon and she didn't wish to risk her falling from her lap or being knocked off. Wouldn't that be the cherry on top of her already wonderful day. With that, she attempted to ignore the bubble now floating above her chair, out of sight as it bobbed over her head, a reminder that she had failed quite terribly in her duties.

With Orange safe in her bubble, she made the decision to write up a quick report and then she'd make the call, preparing herself to deal with three diamond's wrath that awaited her.

[Updated and corrected 1/1/21]