Stars, Roses, and Scars (a Steven Universe Fanfic)

Chapter 3

(I tried with the drawing ._.)
   The sun was setting when she saw Milky walking to her. It was going to feel strange watching stars with a stranger, but Agate prepared herself. She made sure there was water anywhere in case a fight started. She told herself not to be surprised if Milky doesn't like the stars or her and leaves.
"Hi," Milky said casually. "So we're watching the sunset and stars?"
"Yup. Simple as that."
They sat awkwardly and watched the sun set behind the mountains. The river flowed beside them, letting them listen to the sound. 'White Noise,' humans called it.
Milky broke the silence. "It's so much more colorful than I thought. Orange, blue, yellow, some places even purple! You get to see this every day?" She never took her eyes off the clouds, which were glowing a pale orange from the sun.
"Yea. It really is beautiful, isn't it? Just wait until you see stars. You've seen nothing yet." It had been a long time since Agate actually talked about the sun or stars. It was nice to watch with someone who wasn't pointing out everything wrong. She didn't understand why, but Agate liked the feeling of showing someone something that could make them happy.
"Stars are better than the sun?" Milky said, mesmerized.
"Yea. It's hard to describe, but I'd say it's like looking at a huge abyss of tiny lights. It can make you feel like the tiniest thing in the universe. It sometimes makes me forget everything bad that happened."
"Isn't it weird that Homeworld gems will colonize worlds, other empires, entire galaxies, and claim everything on the star maps, but no one has any time to actually get a good look at what exactly is in the skies their ships fly through? It's ironic."
"Yea. I think the Diamonds do that so they don't see the beauty they're taking." It would make sense. Gems really did have no idea how much they took. The Diamonds manipulated them.
"I was one of White's gems. So who's court were you?"
"No ones," Agate growled coldly.
Milky looked surprised at how quickly Agate's mood changed, but she just looked away. She felt regret run through her.
"...Sorry. It's just that if you knew what Blue Diamond has done and what I've done, I-I just can't tell you."
"It's okay. I get it. We've all done some bad things in Homeworld. We just didn't know it was bad until now." Milky was looking at the sky. The first few stars were showing and the sun was hidden behind the mountains. She laid back and watched the sky.
"Thanks..."
"For what?"
"For not getting mad. Most gems just want answers immediately; I hear 'what planet you from,' or 'why are you so small,' or 'why you so grumpy.' They expect me to tell them everything."
"You're just fine by me. Your bigger than an Aquamarine, a Pebble, or Tiny, I'll give you that." Milky said.
"True. Though, could you tell what kind of gem I really am, even if you didn't know my name?" This was ought to stump her.
"Well, I actually don't know your name, no one told me. But based on your gemstone, you're a Larimar."
"...I'm an Agate. Blue Lace."
"Whoops. Sorry."
"It's okay. Sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I don't exactly have the best reputation here, so I thought they would have told you. Besides, Larimars and Blue Lace gemstones look pretty similar. Defectivity doesn't help, either."
"I don't think defectivity matters. They're still gems, even if Homeworld says otherwise. We both came out of the ground, right? We both had our own jobs or purposes and, once I find something, we'll both have our own interests. And as of yesterday, we both share the same planet. I haven't been here long, but when I saw the Crystal Gems, I saw they joined and shared their differences. Gems of different types fusing, gems freely expressing how they feel, and I've only been here for a day!"
"I never thought of it that way. I feel like they want me around just so they can hold me. I'm not too crazy about that. It's kind of uncomfortable." Agate said.
"I'm not sure what they think. Of all things, they seem concerned." Milky reasoned.
They watched the stars slowly reveal themselves and the sky darkened. The only sounds were of crickets, cicadas, and the river beside them. Milky's eyes were sparkling when the stars were in full display. She didn't say anything and kept her eyes up.
Agate stared at the sky above her and focused on every detail she could. She wanted to remember every star and its exact location. She wanted to remember every color and every small light that shined. If it was a good night, such as this, she could see shades of purple and blue among them instead of just a pure black canvas. Some stars were blue, yellow or red. Some looked so tiny that she could barely see, some shine brighter than others. One star, in particular, shone brighter than others. The North Star, or Polaris, it was called.
She sighed. Agate loved the way just staring at the sky made time slow down. With the Crystal Gems constantly preparing for the next battle while trying to discover more about freedom and themselves all at once, things seemed to move fast. Even when nothing was happening back at her kindergarten time moved quickly. But when she watched the stars, she saw that they rotated ever so slowly across the skies. She made herself believe that planet earth turned slowly.
She was startled when Milky suddenly sat up and stared at a bush intently. She stared like one of those guard dogs that humans trained. The gem on her face glowed as if she was preparing to summon her weapon. "I think I heard someone," she said quietly. She stalked near the bush and summoned a heavy battle ax from her gem. Milky was clearly taught well; Agate would have had no idea if the large and bulky gem were sneaking up on her. No sounds were heard from the gem's feet, even when she stepped on leaves.
Milky swiped her hand into the bush and yanked back a struggling and surprised Ruby. The small gem had a Diamond insignia on her uniform; she was not one of them. "Uhhh...h-hi, fellow Crystal Gems! I'm definitely not a Homeworld gem and there definitely isn't a team with me! Please put me down!"
Agate rolled her eyes. Rubies were oblivious and dumb. Though, once they were free, they were loyal and always ready to protect what they loved or found worthy of their protection...which was pretty much anything. Perhaps they could use this Ruby's stupidity to make her and the rest of her team Crystal Gems. There was no doubt Rose would take them under her wing if they accepted. It would have been cruel to force them to fight.
Milky held on to the Ruby and clutched her ax. One Ruby alone was harmless, apart from burning everything when angry, but a group of Rubies could put up quite a fight.
Agate heard several pairs of feet shuffling away as if a group of four or five was fleeing, so she pulled water out of the ground to create a barrier where she thought she heard. When she approached her makeshift trap, there were five Rubies in her barrier, and a sixth one on the outside contemplating how she could get the rest out. When they saw who their captors were, they shrieked and summoned their weapons, which were varieties of knives. "We know who you are! You'll be coming with us, the Diamonds will want to speak with you."
The Ruby Milky was holding facepalmed. "You blew our cover!"
"What cover? You all look pretty Homeworld to me," Milky broke the news. All the Rubies glanced at each other as if they had no idea the Diamonds on their uniforms shown their alliances.
The Ruby who wasn't caught used the opportunity of distraction. She sprinted towards Milky, leaped on her, and attempted to make her release her companion. Milky easily just squeezed one Ruby tight and punched the other, and both of their physical forms retreated to their gemstones in a puff of smoke. One Ruby groaned in annoyance. "No information and two of us are already poofed!" All of them were beginning to burn whatever they stood on.
"Should we poof the rest and bring them to Rose?" Milky asked.
Agate remembered what Rose taught her if she was ever in a fight and ended up winning. 'Mercy was always strongest.'
"You said you have no information, yes?" Agate asked the Rubies sternly.
One of them, which looked the shyest of the bunch, nodded.
"If we let you go with these two, you will go immediately back to Homeworld and won't tell them anything, right? Or you can stay with us if you'd like."
The angriest looking Ruby scoffed. "What good would come out of joining you?"
Milky was picking up on Agate's choices. "How about freedom of choice and speech," she tried.
Two Rubies eyes widened with interest. "You mean we can say or do what we want?" the shy one asked.
"Exactly," Agate ensured. "But if you choose to stay, we have to make sure you aren't using the opportunity to report to Homeworld. If you leave, we have to make sure you really don't know anything."
"Are we just going to ignore what Rose did? What you did? She shattered Pink Diamond! Her own Diamond! She might as well shatter her whole army once she's done with them or shatter the rest of Homeworld! And you, you succeeded in helping her destroy your own-" the little gem was cut off by Agate quickly directing a water attack at her. She poofed.
Agate couldn't let Milky know what she's done. She couldn't let anyone know. She never wanted to destroy every last gem in her kindergarten! Even if she wanted to, she couldn't tell anyone that Rose never shattered anyone. She let her barrier down and glared at the Rubies, who looked shocked at the sudden act.
"Get. Out," she hissed. It took some effort, but she snatched the two gemstones from a very surprised Milky and threw them at remaining Rubies. "Take them and get out of here! Get off my planet!" She yelled, and the Rubies picked up all three of their poofed companions, scrambled to their ship, and flew off.
"What was that about? What were they talking about? Destroying your own what?" Milky just looked confused.
"Nothing!" Agate yelled. She internally scolded herself when Milky flinched. "You still have a few hours if you want to keep watching. I'm going back to base." She stormed off without waiting for a reply with tears of anger and regret streaming down her face. She didn't have to shatter all those gems...did she?