The Conflicted Melōidia (Closed, Melody)

[Euclase]

It was a quiet day on the Moonbase, well as quiet as a day on the Moonbase could be. The bustling of ships and gems upon the planet’s surface had become a constant ever since the rebellion had started. Beside this bustle of gems a large white structure loomed over them, as if scruntinising the gems below it. The Moonbase itself, a monolithic Spire, atop the surface the fractural dome. Was their glorious Diamonds looking down upon them even now, or was she busy at work with her own devices, it was never clear to those gems below; but once again, beside this building stood another, a geometric structure, for many it remained forgotten, for others it was a haven. The Medical centre, the place where a gem’s life could be renewed, a place where many gems awoke after thinking their last battle was to be their final resting place.

Thankfully though today was full of very little strife, the busy halls had a degree of ease to them as many gems happily recuperated within the centre, and within these winding pink and white halls, in one of the many rooms dedicated to the medical staff, sat Euclase at her desk. Diagrams on holographic screen flanking the front of her desk, each with massive novels of text and diagrams scrolling through them. They were transferred to a square shaped, Glass like Tablet resting on the desk. She swivelled on her chair, pulling up a screen of her own and letting a small frown spread across her face, she was expected down in Corruption Containment and Treatment Facility, and that was basically on the other side of the facility to her right now. Seems like she would be cutting this close if she took hand of the task herself, she hated to delegate but it seemed like she had no choice. If nothing else she shrived herself on punctuality, scrolling through her holographic screen until she found the right option, normally she would use a personal communicator but she could not recall wether Pearl had it on her person. So she elected for the other approach. There was a small ding through the speakers in the facility; her voice in a polite tone rang out through the medical facility. “Cream Pearl Facet 3AG to Euclase’s Office, Cream Pearl Facet 3AG to Euclase’s Office Please.” Sometimes she found designations so cumbersome, she supposed she was lucky she was the only Euclase on the base. A small pang of sadness hit her chest as she thought this, burying it away once again. She waited to see if Pearl had heard the message, sparing a glance back on the files still transferring onto the tablet.

[Melody]

Melody as usual was seen in front of her desk. She was the receptionist, the ears of Euclase, the Moonbase's Peal and probably one of the first sights a gem will witness while visiting the centre. She was of course proud of her job, but there were times when she was feeling strange. The moments when she was alone, when noone needed her help. Those occasions were forcing her to just wait and think. Pearl's eyes were gazing in one direction while her body was still, just as if she was a statue and nothing else.

Sometimes she would use those occasions to play some music, but when she was about to do that something caught her attention. A small ring and a short message from her Euclase afterwards. Apparently she was asked to come to her office. Maybe it was't visible because only a small smile appeared on Melody's face, but she was beaming with happiness after hearing this. Finnaly something new happened and her Euclase actually needed her in person. Without wasting a minute she left her post and quickly rushed to the office. But she had to come back just to leave a small note on a holographic screen with "Out of order for an indefinite period of time". With this out of the way she went straight to her destination. While passing the hallways only her small feet were making any sound. At one point she glanced at the window and saw the infinitive space, it was hard not to slow down for a little bit. However, dissapointing anyone was the last thing she wanted so she returned to her previous pace.

The gem soon approached the door she was looking for. She didn't think about knocking since Euclase expected her. As the mechanical door expanded she immediately made a small bow while looking down out of respect, even thought she was never in here and was curious how does it look like in the inside. "My Euclase, here I am."

[Euclase]

“Evening” Euclase greeted “I apologise about the inconvenience but if you are so able I have some files that need to be moved down to the hangar” She explained, as if on cue the tablet completed its file transfer. Euclase disconnected the Tablet from the system and extending it over to Pearl “While normally this would be done wirelessly, we are still uncertain if there may be a leak in the system so currently longer distance transfer is down while they keep updating and testing the new network.” This had of course been occurring on and off for a few cycles now, it seemed like every time the system seemed fixed the tech gems found some new hole they wanted to patch, she understood being thorough but it was getting a bit ridiculous. Honestly she suspected the only thing that had not gone down at least once at some point during the maintenance was the Direct Diamond Line.

“There should be a Peridot waiting in the hangar, Facet 9L2 Cut-2VA, Blue Diamond Logo, One of the standard Era 1 Gems, it’s just some basic Kindergarten dossiers” She elaborated, nothing too sensitive data wise and probably information they had many copies off, but still apparently Blue Diamond’s court was looking into some resource optimisation with injector, so Euclase had to try and organise that data for them. She would have to have a discussion with Pink Diamond’s Peridots about organizing their filing; it was a complete and total maze of reports and data entries right now. She Handed the Tablet forward to Pearl “I would do it myself but they are expecting me in the CCT Facility within a few minutes, so I must go attend to that” She herself stood up and moved towards the door “if it’s not too much trouble can you return that tablet to this office aswell” She asked, turning back with a small smile, before moving Left out of the doorway and briskly walking to her next destination.

[Melody]

Pearl stood up and listened, her calm eyes kept starring at Euclase the whole time. She spoke only once when her manager was finished and the tablet was handed to her. "I will do it with pleasure. I will be on my way... And no, It won't be an issue at all." She said with a small smile. 

When Eucalse was gone Melody just let out a small sight before stepping out of the office herself. She didn't lie, she was going to do it with pleasure. However, she was also secretly hoping that this job would be a chance to spend more time with this always busy gem. She wanted to get to know the person she was now working for. Before her transfer to the base she was spending nearly every minute of her life with her Zircon. Euclase was different... she was more independent. Which meant that Pearl felt less needed.

Melody was walking through the hallways. From time to time she couldn't help, but look at the window. She always enjoyed looking at the infinitive space. It was... calm. "I often wonder why did it have to end like this. It might sound silly, but I thought we would always be together, no matter what. And here I am, separated from you." Soon she started to sing and each step of her little foot sounded like a sound from a music box.

"Distant Moon- Suddenly I am here today

Somewhere else... I never thought I could be so far away

Is this really me? Oh Distant Moon...

My gem is not in tune

Distant Moon- I am not alright

Please lead the way with your moonlight."

Pearl's eyes started to glitter and she shed a single tear, but she quickly cleaned herself. And that is because she stood at the exit door of the medical base. There were many gems on the moon and she didn't want anyone to see her like this. After leaving the building she quickly went to the hangar. This time, she didn't allow herself to slow down. There was indeed a Peridot inside, just like Euclase mentioned. Pearl spoke to her to get her attention. "Excuse me."

[Euclase]

The Peridot spun around, her own gemstone glistening on her nose as she gave the once over of the pearl standing infront of her “I’m sorry, I was expecting someone else” She stated, not in a impolite tone, but the tone of someone who probably still had 500 things to do today “Your, uhh, your Euclase’s Pearl right?” She asked “I was expecting some files from her?” The Peridot noticed the tablet “I assume those are them?”

Meanwhile the echoing of Euclases shoes reverberated through the halls as she quickly made her way down to the CCT facility. She let out a frustrated sigh though as she brought up the files on her drones again and was greeted by a scrolling list of tests, most with the red mark of failure. She honestly felt like they were making very little progress on corrupted gems, every step forward it felt like it was followed by a step backwards, every little bit of information they gained had 2 other tests to put it in question. They hardly knew anything more than when she started and were no step closer to solving it. Ontop of that the usually cooperative Pink Diamond always seemed to shut down her requests to try and get more information about the initial corruption origin, either on planet or in files. All she knew was that it was some intercourt experiment by the Diamonds, but even then she had no clue which diamonds were even involved.

The Door hissed open as Euclase entered, the CCT facility was rather large in its own right, a sub sections of the medical bay designed to contain and observe corrupted gems both in and out of a storage bubble, as she strode along the corridors she made her way to her destination, a larger White control room, with a connected joining cell to it, this was one of many testing rooms used to observe corrupted gems in their current forms. A large observation wall of glass stood between the gems and the corrupted creature, said glass reinforced with the additional security measure of a stabilisation grid that could be interlaced across it at the push of a button. The Control panels in the room were able to performing a variety of other functions to test the reactions of a corrupted gem among being able to relay a huge amount of data from being able to scan the gem.

“What do we have this time” She asked, the room itself also had a few technicians and guards present. As she asked one of the technicians handled her a tablet.

“Iolite Gemstones, found on Earth, of course, first Iolite we have seen corrupted, hard to tell whether it’s irregular, or whether its form is constant for its whole caste. We ran all the preliminary tests as requested, nothing outstanding through those.” The Yellow Technician gem explained.

“Behaviour?” Euclased questioned as she scrolled through the data on the tablet, Iolite, stationed on earth, was found near the sky Temple, some sort of terrestrial animal based form, similar to a ‘mole’.

“Timid, for now” The Technician responded

“Let’s remove it from stasis, see what we have” Euclased proposed.

Mechanical arms descended and popped the purple bubble, leaving the purple gemstone on the ground. There was a tense few seconds as nothing changed. Then slowly the gemstone raised into the air, a hard light humanoid form erupted out of the gem, but a split second later it was gone, replaced with the distorted corrupted form as it materialised in full. Some of the technicians turned their head away in the process; it was always hard to watch. The Gem in the cells resembled nothing of a normal gem, it seemed the file was correct; the gem had formed as some sort 4 legged creatures with a pointed nose and large digging claws on its front legs. The thing seemed to have no eyes, only its gemstone where its eyes should be and as was expected its entire form had a purple hue similar to its gemstone.

The creature seemed confused for a moment, sniffing around the perimeter of the enclosure it was contained it, letting out confused whimpers as it circled around. Despite her better judgment Euclase moved towards the enclosure, placing her hand onto the glass and speaking to the creature. It seemed to perk up to her voice.

“We won’t hurt you, please, give us a sign, anything, that tells us the gem you used to be is still in there”
The creature approached the glass slowly, still frightened and unsure, but slowly inching towards Euclases hand, for a split second it almost seemed like something in the creature was coming through, some sign or something different.

[Melody]

Melody simply smiled and noded "That is correct" She handled them straight to Peridot. "My Euclase was too busy to come on her own, as a manager she has a lot of responsibilities, I hope you understand." She wasn't really fully aware of what Euclase was really doing for most of the time. Once again, she was usually just working as a receptionist, away from the gem she was suppose to serve. But she knew that being a manager for Pink Diamond herself during a rebelion couldn't be easy. There were a lot of patients in the centre, some went through a lot,pink court was afraid of Pink Diamond's safety and some gems that went to Earth never came back. It was only natural that everyone was stressed and busy, especially her new owner.


Pearl soon spoke to the green gem once again "I was asked to bring this tablet back to her office when you are finished. I hope you won't find my presence disturbing." She stood perfectly still in one place with her hands behind her back. Her eyes were interested in what was happening in the hangar, from time to time she peeked at different sides, making sure everything is alright. But she also kept wondering if she will meet Euclase in her office when it is all over. Because of those thoughts she didn't realize that at one point she kept looking at Peridot with a small smile that some gems could find frightening.

[Euclase]

“Does she normally attend to such…remedial duties of her own accord” Peridot Questioned as she took the tablet, pulled out a series of screens and began working on data transfer, sparing a few glances at the Pearl that was still lingering around.

“No, no” Peridot said when Pearl questioned about her presence being a intrusion,” it’s just, well I somewhat assumed her Pearl would have an appearance more similar to…..well her own, at least that’s what we normally see in My Diamond’s court” Peridot admitted. The Data transfer felt like it took forever, as tends to happen when you’re simply waiting for a bar to go up. She also swore data transfer was slowly here then on Blue’s colonies, but based on how…underdeveloped Sigma 1 Architecture was she supposed it made sense.

“There” She said, handing the tablet back to Pearl without looking up “Now that is done I have to” She trailed off “Try and convince a Agate to attend a colony expedition with me” Her Tone indicating that would be anything but fun, or easy. She let out a ‘uhh’ as she began moving away to a Blue roaming eye that seemed to have a couple of fellow Peridots and a rather Grumpy looking Blue Lace Agate hanging around it.

It was Tense in the control room, with Euclase being so close to the corrupted gem, slowly some of the soldier reached to their gemstone, ready to summon their weapons. Whatever connection or lucidity the creature had seemed to pass within that second though and it returned to how it was. It snarled loudly at the glass like a cornered animal and in one swift motion whipped around a struck the glass with its small tail causing a loud gong to reverberate through the room, Euclase, partially startled fell backwards because of this. She let out a sad sigh, it was the same as all the others, any sort of saneness they could get out of them only lasted for a mere second before they returned to how they were.

The Two guards helped her get back up on her feet as she spoke “Same as the others, only flashes of consciousness and then returning to-“ She was interrupted as a deafening scraping echoed throughout the room, many of the gems were caught off guard. The creature after its outburst had walked back into the corner of the room and was now more adamantly clawing at the ground once again.

“What is it-“ Euclase began, there was a loud click and realisation dawned on her face, she whipped her head to one of the gems sitting at the control panel “Destabilization Grid Now!” She yelled but her warning had come too late. The corrupted gems plan had now become clear, the panel of the floor, already loosened from a previous gem within the room pulled up and in one rapid motion the mole creature, reefed it off and launched it with a loud clatter onto the floor Its sharpened claws struck the far less reinforced thin Wiring and frame underneath and the creature with surprising speed burrowed directly out of its containment cell. Its scratching before was not a nervous action it was checking, somehow, it was able to sense the thinnest part of the floor, did it have some sort of sonar or geo-location that could sense through walls, it would explain why the seemingly blind gem could see.

Only needing to burrow a short distance the corrupted gem fell to the floor below and started clawing and scratching its way rapidly along the corridor, It looked up and struck the ground hard with its paw, sending out another ‘pulse’, its seismic sense spreading through the facility and giving it a far greater idea of where it needed to go, the shockwaves were dense around it and through most of the facility, but further out, closer to the surface they seemed to thin, indicating a much less sturdy and thinner wall and floor structure, something it could dig through perhaps. With this information it started heading towards the upper floors rapidly, started heading towards the first floor sectors, started heading directly near Euclases office.

Meanwhile back at the control room the team was scrambling.

“Send a APB out, we need a containment Team out here now” Euclase Said as she herself tried to get any information or details out of the now offline screens in the room.
“We can’t send out a transmission, the network is still down and the power cut means our normal intra-facility system is offline” The other Gem responded shakily.

“Dammit, You, take 8XH, Take the emergency elevator get outside, pass the message on, we need to get containment team out here now” She ordered the nervous technician and the Quartz Guard,

“The gems is probably going to try and escape, most of the facility is reinforced though the only place its thinner is near the surface where the lunar soil is used as foundation, so the medical offices first floor lobby and my off-“ She trailed off “Pearl” No, was she inside right now? How long did her data transfer take, if she was outside then she would be safe, but if she was making her way back to Euclase’s office when the blackout occurred then…

“8XL your with me, we need to move now” She once again ordered, charging She ran through the Corruption facility, rapidly making her way to the elevator in practically a quarter of the time it took for her to arrive, the Amethyst was in toe. With the facility Power offline though the elevator would prove too slow, drawing its power from the backup generator rapidly increased the machines time to ascend up the various floors.

Euclase punched the button and opening the doors but instead of pressing the button to select a floor she looked up “I assume your know how to shapeshift?” She asked as she pulled the Diadem off her head.

“Of course” The Amethyst responded, still not quite sure what the plan was

“Good, we are going on a flight then” She said, summoning one of her bolas and throwing it at the elevator roof, dislodging the maintenance access panel as her form began to glow and shift into an Avian like creature, gripping onto her Diadem with its claw. She had not done shapeshifting like this, in quite a long time.

[Melody]

"Yes... she is really independent." Melody didn't want to go into details about the way she was serving Euclase. Being a secretary instead of following her gem all the time was still new to her and she didn't expect the Peridot to understand it either. 

"That is usually the case, isn't it?" She sighed, but soon continued "I am supposed to have a form that Euclase finds appealing. It doesn't necessary has to reflect her appearance. If she likes it than I am more than happy to stay this way." Pearl was never asked to regenerate after being given to Euclase and it was okay... Even if she wanted to, they would never have matching colors after all. Once again, Cream just didn't want to explain this to the Peridot she just met.

Pearl of course took the tablet back when the green gem handled it to her. She only replied with a  "Good luck" and a small smile. She honestly wouldn't like to work with and Agate as well. And she found this Peridot interesting... really talkative. But now she had to go to the office. She left the hangar and once again went to the Medical centre. Now with a slightly better mood she was also humming during her small trip. The tablet was still in her left hand.

Suddenly all of the lights went out and all of the machines let out a dying sound as if they were turned off. It was dark, no source of light whatsoever and it was incredibly quiet. Melody flinched "That is... odd." She tried to look around, but there was nothing. She than tried to use her gem as a flashlight, but it didn't do much good due to the placement of it. Pearl felt chills all over her thin body. She always felt safe in the base, but now it looked strange, dangerous. "Those are probably just some small issues with the power supply, everything will be back in a minute." 

Gem decided to continue on her way to the office. Perhaps She would meet Euclase or someone else that would explain this power problem to her. But due to the lack of lamps or familiar sounds of machines she got lot "I was here already... or maybe not." At that moment she realized how dependent she was on her sense of hearing. She felt as if she was in the deep space, there was nowhere to go... Only the sound of her footsteps accompanied her. She decided to change that by humming once again to herself. It was like a coping mechanism... It helped her stay focused and calm. But it didn't help her with navigation.

[Euclase]

She launched up through the hatch, rapidly flapping her wings to ascend up the elevator shaft, the Quartz taking the form of her own bird and following. Even in these forms it still took several minutes to get to the very top of the Shaft, with only a small ledge to stand on it provided tricky to pry open the Exterior Elevator doors, but the two of them with great effort managed to do it, without hesitating Euclase squeezed out the door herself still running forward and hoping, no praying that Pearl had not encountered the creature yet.

Her own footsteps echoed across the floors in the silence of the base, the darkness surrounding her being disorienting and confusing, even with her near perfect mental diagram of the halls she still found herself doubling back and reaching dead ends more times then she cared to admit.

“Dammit, where is the emergency lights” She questioned after hitting yet another turn back on the third floor; the facility did not usually take this long to reroute power. As if on cue the entire upper floor of the facility was bathed in a cool blue light, the corridors around them finally gaining some form of illumination from the emergency lights on the walls. Of course, the CCT was so far underground the other floors that the system probably did not register a Red Alert lockdown emergency, only functioning as a code Blue power loss instead. That explained the delay for the lights on this floor, but that also meant an emergency beacon would not be relayed to the rest of the base either. Regardless she, and by extension Melody both had light, even if it still bathed the place in shadows and gave only enough light just to identify shapes around you.

Leave, run, escape the bad gems, escape the bad place, don’t go back, Pink walls, run from the pink walls.

The Creature had made it to the upper levels now, the darkness of illumination doing nothing to impede its progress due to its seismic sensing. The creature began scurrying along the floor, tapping at the ground at certain points to check. It was lucky the corridors were so large at points, while it could not fit into the more normal sized gems hallways the larger halls allowed its form plenty of movement. The creature was not huge by any means, but it was at least twice the height of a Pearl, give or take. It made its way along the larger hallways, trying to navigate, to get to the surface, to burrow into the rock, the earth, and to hide, but its attention was draw elsewhere, its head snapping in the opposite direction.

Sound, there was sound, memories, it hurt, memories hurt, they used to sing, go, go to sound

The Creature moved towards the sound, the corridors echoing in front of it, the shockwaves, of the walls bouncing around and giving it sight from the earth, no the ground.Ahead was a split, a T shapes hallway, the sound, it was coming from the hallway that branched off.

They all used to sing, to hum tunes as they played, then, then the music stopped, the voices, stopped, why did they stop

The creature began moving slowly, Its head peaked out from the hallway, and with a small growl it looked down the hall, towards the sound, towards the gem.

[Melody]

At some point the place was lighten up with weak blue light. It didn't do much, but at least now Pearl didn't have to worry about hitting a wall by accident. But even than it was hard to find a way to the office. Nonetheless, she believed that this blue light was a good sing, she continued to move forward, hoping that everything will be alright again.

She continued to hum when suddenly she heard a quiet, but unknown growl. There were no biological life forms on the base, there was no way a machine would create such a strange sound, she immediately silenced herself. Melody stopped over and slowly looked behind her. She had no idea what to expect, but she definitely wasn't ready for what was about to happen.

There was a corrupted gem outside of it's containment area. Not only that, it was about two times bigger than her... Naturally, she had no idea what to think about this, this should have never happened in here. She was never supposed to be in danger. But it didn't change the fact that a beast was in the same place with her. Cream knew she had to do something if she wanted to survive, but she had no battle experience whatsoever... She took a step backwards and was ready to run away, but she felt as if she was paralyzed from fear. Her thin form shivered slightly.

She tried to calm herself down. When she wanted to help someone with relaxation she always started by playing some music, it also worked on her. Each tune she recorded in her life was like a distant memory for her. She ended up playing something that she used to play often for her previous owner. Simplistic music box sounds filled the room. Cream Pearl then spread her arms and opened her hands. She hoped that the beast would see that she can't hurt it. Pearl had no idea if this creature still had any memories of what gem it used to be, but she believed that it was still worth a try."Hello and welcome to the medical center of our glorious Pink Diamond." She continued while trying to sound as kind as calm as possible. "I am Pearl and I believe you must be one of our many patients, it is truly... a pleasure to meet you." She struggled not to move backwards while saying all of this "However, I-I am afraid that you don't have a permission to be in this area.  So please, return to your room." Her gem continued to play and she was now starring straight at the gem. 

[njrk97]

With illumination finally returning Euclase was able to direct herself correctly, finally understand fully where she was a sense of dread creeps over her as she realises how far away they still were from the front of the base. She picks up her own speed, skidding down the halls as she keeps running. She can already sense the fatigue in her form, her body strained against the exertion of shapeshifting she forced it to use. Still she does not relent in her speed, the Amethyst behind her transforming into her own spindash form to catch back up.

---

Gem, another l͚̗̰̬̼͖̘̹̖͈̺͚̎̋͋ͦ͠͡͞i̳̟̱̞̞ͨ̇ͭͭ͒͐͑̚͜͝ͅk̶̖̳̲̘͎̝̏ͪͯ̉̾͊̏̃ͭ̃ͬͩͨ̈̽͂̉͡ḙ̡̛̫̮̟͓̘͂͊ͭ͗ͣ̾̏͛́̽̎̃̈́ͪ́͜ them, like her, is it her?

She sent out another wave, this time the silhouette of the gem coming into focus, far sharper than anything she had seen before.

Pearl, she knew that word, knew that gem, knew T̨̛̎̽̄̈͛͛͠a̴̸ͮ̉̅̈ͭ̽͌ͤͦ̈͊͆̏͆͒ͨ̂͡͞҉n͟͜͠͠s͏͜҉y̴̨͢͞͡ she promised, T̴͇̱̰̺̗͙͂ͯo͍̜̔̔͑ͣ̓ ̹͓̗̲̻̾͛̄̄͗͢c̨̣͎͈̜̤̮ͣͤ̑̈͘ő̹̱͒ͨͯͪͤ̔̀ͧ͞m͚͇̳͔̺ͩͭ̂̐̿ȇ͇͎̍͑ͨ̆̀̕ ̭̝̻͍͓̦̐ͩ̿̒̊̒̈̉b̸̰͉͔̘̬͌ͤ̃͛̇̃͜a̟͍̦̺͈̰͊̉̋c͎̜̀ͪ̌ͯ͑́ͫk

Then the music started, echoing through the holes, echoing like those long nights before. The creature perked up at this looking upwards into the air, as if it could see the night sky; slowly it began approaching, drawn to the melody as something within the corrupted gem's mind stirred.

There was a meadow, yellow, filled with yellow, she said they were ‘flowers’, she loved that meadow, that smile

,Ḩ҉́͢è̴͢ļ̴l҉̷̛͞o͟͠ ̸̷̨͟͠ą͘n̶͝ḑ̴͜͡ ̸̧̢͜͝w͏̸̵̕e̷̴̸l͟ç̡ǫ͟͟͠m̧̨҉̛͘e͘ ̶͘̕t̡̛o̵̷̡̕ ́t̵͘h̛̀e̢͘ ̴̢͞͡m̶̨͠e̷̶̢ḑ̴i̷̸͟c̵̛̕͟͞a̕͞l͟͡ ̨̀͏c̸̢e̴̢͢͟͝n̷̨͢t̶̡͟͞͡e͜͠ŕ̶̷̛͟ ҉̧͢͜͡o̵̷̕͢f҉̡ ̛͏̨͡͡o͡ú͠͡͏ŕ̷̶̕͡ ̵̴̨͘g̸̛̛͢l̸҉̛̀́o̧͝͏͢r̡̢͞͠i̸̡ó̧́̕͠u̵̢̨̕҉s̶͜͝ ̶̀͠͠P̶̶̢i̴̡̛͟͡n̡͟͞҉k̶̶̨̕҉ ̧͘Ḑ̧̀̕͠i̧̢̨̡͟a̶͢͡m̶̡͏́ó͘͠͏҉n̕͘ḑ̛̛̛͞.̶̢́͏̧"̨̛́̕

These words, know, knew them, don’t, know, but the melody, something like it, why was it bright, why did it hurt, she-I remembered, the yellow meadow, watching her, she sang, sang up into the lonely sky, she remembered the moonlight, shining down on her, bathing her yellow form, she turned and smiled at her-at me, The voices, they now came back in though, she heard, words again, words she did not understand

" "̬́̍̀̏͂̌̓I̱̻̼̱ͨ͐̇ͦ ͔̩̰̰̘͓̌̔̓͌̏̍̄ͅaṃ͆͌ ͇̟̤̳͇͔̬͌̾̂̃̔̎P͚̣̝̠̙̦ͣ̿ͭͭͧeͥ҉̼͓a̡̖ͥ̀̀̌ͦ̄̊r̝̞̬͓͍ͯͣ̊ͭ̊l̮͚͂̄ͦͯ ͔͎̫͊̇̏̂ͥͯͫ

It was bright again,She was standing there before her, her own Pearl politely bowing down; she remembered her gem, her little oval gem, on her neck, a ornate necklace surrounding it, as her eyes, Yellow eyes looked up at me.

“͞a̓ͭ̿͗̃̐̂ ͟p̈ͥ̀ͣ͋l̐͛̽eͩͫä̴́̈́s͝u̴rͨ̋̔ͤ̌̆̎e ͤ͐͗̿̄t̛̏̃̏ͤo m̈̅͛͜e͜eͫ̀̌͐͒͛̒͏t͞ y̾ͩ͋͗̏͆̒ȯ̍ͣ͆̀̀͛u̡̍̎̂̉̅.͆”̴̄͂̾

'I uhh thank you, your nice I mean umm it’s nice to be you, I mean meet you'

All that escaped the creature was a mournful whine as it looked down at the Pearl before it.

I said that, didn’t I, messed up, and she laughed and the days got brighter after.

S͕͈̗̰ͅo̻͕̻͕͎ ̗̥̮͙̳p̲l̰ea̼̘̰̺͕s̭̖̝̬͖e̬̪̥̹̯̩,͙ ̟̮̞̪̤͔̖ret̫ṵ̤r̜n̠̝̠̻̯̪̘ ̫͉̹̦͈͚t̫͍͙̮o̹ ̯̭̺̜͍̯̻y͇̼͍o̠̳u̮̥r̙̣͎̣̜̱̣ ̞͖r̹̳͙̖̼̜o̘̭̱̲̠o͓̜̯̣͓m͇͓̟̻͇.̲̜̝̻̺͈"͕̫

Another flash, im holding her hand with my own, the music she is playing from her gem still echoes through her room, the words are escaping my mouth before I can stop them, that’s just it, we would have no room, no walls, no rules, we could, we would not have to hide it anymore, I want to be with you, forever, she smiles and I feel my cheeks warm as I hear her response, Ţ̷́h҉̵̶͡҉è̀̀ņ̨̧͢ ̴̨́͘͞l̵̸̡͝ę̸͟҉͝t̕͞͞s̡͟ ̶̧̧̛͢r̴̀̕͝͠u̵̧n͏̶̢ ̧̧́͘͢t͏̴͝o͢͡҉̵͝ń̶͟͢i̴̢͜͞ģ̶h͢҉͝t̡͢

The creature does not move but lets out another low whine as it lowers itself onto the ground, its massive claws rubbing and preening its own head as if it was trying to get something out of its own head. It almost sounded like a distraught cry that escaped it mouths as it did this.

[Melody]

The beast started to slowly approach her. Pearl felt uneasy, but she remained in one place. Pearl couldn't believe what she was doing- This THING was dangerous, it should have attacked her, tried to destroy her form and shatter her gem, but it remained calm.

She started to think that it didn't even want to hurt her, something felt odd. Maybe she just felt sympathy for it. It used to be someone, a gem with a purpose. Then Earth, the place where corruption started, took it away from them. This story seemed more relatable  to her than she expected it to be. Cream kept starring at the corrupted monster, but she didn't see an abomination. Instead, she saw someone who was just as lost as she was.

She watched as the creature lowered itself to the ground. Melody sighed and joined it by sitting cross-legged in front of it. "On a second thought, we can stay here." She still couldn't believe her attempt to calm it actually worked, it made her proud of herself. The beast started to create some mourning sounds, it only made Pearl feel even more uneasy about the whole situation. "You know, I am not in the best mood either." She rested her head on her hands as she continued "You feel like you know what the rest of your life will look like... and then you just lose everything." She glanced at the beast, hoping for some sort of reaction. "And now I am here, but I don't feel like myself anymore."

Her words started to sound more like a song as she continued to talk.


"Distant Moon- Suddenly we are here today


Somewhere else... I never thought we could be so far away


Just who we really are? Oh Distant Moon...


My gem is not in tune


Distant Moon-something is not alright


Please lead the way with your moonlight."

A single tear appeared on her face, but it was quickly wiped away with a single move of her hand. "How do you feel?" She made a puzzled look. She really wasn't sure how would it react. She couldn't expect the same response she would get from a healthy gem.

[njrk97]

Distant Moon- Suddenly we are here today

It was that night, sh̵̢e̶͟ remembers seeing it in the sky, sirens blaring, spotlights everywhere, ships above, but though all of it, the Moon shone through,

Somewhere else... I never thought we could be so far away

we kept running until i could no longer hear the sirens, until there was silence, we had no guidance, no direction we had kept moving towards the moon, the moon atop of the hill, so close it felt like we could touch it. I, we stopped when the lights were far over the horizon.

Just who we really are? Oh Distant Moon...

I saw her, I turned to her, our forms were torn, hair messy, sticks and leaves rested on us, but she was still her, even through it, she gave me that smile, and we were scared, frightened, afraid, but we were also….Free.

My gem is not in tune

Her eyes reassured me, but I could never sing like her, I lost track of how long we walked, my own voice cracking and the high notes, understating the low ones, but somehow her melody, her voice always came in, smoothing what was breaking, making pretty what was ugly. We watched from our cave as the field infront of us turned from dirt into flowers, I remember she picked one of those flowers one day, Tansey she had found it was what they were called, the flowers that did not care the dirt was barren, or that the field was uneven, they still grew, they still made it pretty. Like her, she was holding out the flower to me, its yellow petals, golden like her, I called her my Tansey, how her voice could make my rough singing turn into something beautiful, how her smile could fix my broken heart, how together, as one, she could make me feel whole.

She was sitting in front of her again, in this strange place, it was her afterall, and so I will sing.

The Creature gazed upwards looking at a sky it could not see, in a memory it could not return to, it almost sounded as if it was trying to vocalise, but all that came out was yet another slow whine. The melody within its head long dead as it reached its mouth.

It started with a peculiar flower in that meadow she had picked, Yellow and Purple, something strange, something not quite right, a purple weed had grown together with a yellow Tansey, making something new, something pretty. We had never considered this, but as the many moons had passed and the field had once again become barren and had regrown both of us kept going back to that flower, many springs later we both agreed.

I remember the light in the meadow as we became one, she could feel how I felt and I could feel as she did, together , our arms, not quite each other’s but something more, our eyes, seeing not the world from our own view but something more.

Distant Moon-something is not alright

No, it was meant to end, they deserved their story, to be left together, please let it end there, but it had not had it, it was a night, like the others, the field was wilting as it had many times before, when the other gems came. The Separations came as a surprise, we did not come apart very frequently anymore but she promised me, they were friends, peaceful gems that simply needed her help, why did they have strange weapons then, why was she more tense than usual, but she told me, she assured me that she would be back, and so I waited as she left with the strange gems.

Please lead the way with your moonlight.

The Moon was covered the next night, I fought when they came for me, there was the glint of steel and I woke in a pink cell, she was across from, we both tried to escape but we could not, we tried, tried so many times. Was it torture or sympathy that made them place each of us across from each other, we spoke, spoke as we could and when all the words we could say were said we started to sing as our only rebellion, they could destroy use, but they could not take our songs, our memories, the music we had created together.

Once again Melody’s comment fell on deaf ears as the creatures mind became rapidly playing the events back out and the pain returned, its cried out again, this time becoming more restless as it stirred.

I was taken to the strange room first but I held steady, I was not afraid, as long as we had each other’s song they could not destroy us, I played all her tunes back in my mind as they threw me into the room, then the ş̨͠ớ̶̶u̶̧n͘d̶̢ started, clawing, tearing at my mind, and I tried to remember her face, remember her songs but it became aǵon͠y͘ just to think, they broke apart and all I could hear was that note, the strange n̢o͏̨͠i̴s̛e͡ that echoed around the room and my mind, and it took something, it took her songs from me. Then there was silence.

The creature snapped its head back down, looking at melody directly, rearing back up fully, the creature finally saw her clearly, noticed the Pink Diamond in her chest.

Y̸ơu a̧r̀e̡ ńo̕t͡ ̶her̶; ̵y̶o͘u͠ a͞r͡e o͜ne of t̨h̢em,͢ wh̨y̕ ̶d̴i̡d͘ ̶i̛t̛ ͏s̵t͞op̀,͟ ̀w̕h̕y̵ di̡d ͜you ̸d̛ơ it,͝ ̡wh͠y di͜d̷ y̢o̶u ̶t͏a̢k̀e͏ i͜ţ ͞away

The Creature barred its teeth at the imposter in front of it

W̴̠̬̰ͣ̒̿̃͑̆͘͠H̵̘̟̗͖̳̓́̏ͧ̌́ͪ̓Y̷̧̜̪̲̖͇ͫ̂ͬͯ ͎͇̠̟̆ͬͪ͜Ḑ̸̝͕͙̜͔̭̦͕̉̿̄ͫͭͮ̎ͦ́̚I̴̺̠͓̰͚͂̍̃̈́ͦ̈ͬ̉D̤̪͖̥̗̩̺̣̊̈ͣͨ̆ͭ̽ ̖͔͉̪ͣͯ̄͆ͩͅH̫̥̙̥̹͇̜͇̍͢͡Ẽ͇̤̙͖̖̅͘R̸̫̽̀́ͯͬ̂̽̌̀́̕ ̗̥͖̙̣̉̆̄M̨̻̯̑͂ͤͭͤ̃͞E̥̯̽̐ͦͤ̓̃̍̚L̶̵̼͔̼͌ͭ͋̋̑ͭ͆ͤÕ͊̍̉̓͊ͭͧ̋͏͕͔͖͇͜D̩̬̞̾̿͆̉́͠Y̴̺̠͎̯̺̫̗͋͠ ̓ͨ̃͏̟̫̺͔S̶̩̮͕͆ͫ̈́̀̚̕T͕̹̖͓̤̖̱̜ͭ͊͌͜͞O̠͕̹̹͉̯̮̤ͯ̽̉͛̀ͮ̏ͦ̓P̸̋̊̾͂ͧ͋͋҉̲̜

It let out a guttural roar that shook the hallway itself, its claw splayed out as it reared upwards, ready to bring it crashing down on the Pearl in front of it.

The Bola launched through the air at breakneck speed, striking at the raised arm of the creature, its weight throwing it off balance, a split second later there was the blur of a blue avian looking creature, launching itself towards the creature, at the last second its form began to glow and morph back into a humanoid shape leading with its arm, Eucalse’s fist made a loud and powerful crack as it made contact with the side of the corrupted gem’s head, the force of the impact throwing it off balance, causing it to crash loudly into the ground as the panels underneath it buckled.
At the same time the purple quartz soldier spin dashed and stopped next to Melody, her own rather large War Hammer wielded in her hand.

Euclase herself sprung backwards and sideways from the impact landing infront of Melody, she tried to stay on her feet but as she landed one of her knees gave out and she ended up falling into a kneeling position with a small wince. All that shapeshifting had taken quite a bit out of her.

Still, she managed to turn her head sideway and spoke back towards Melody “Are you hurt?”

[Melody]

The Pearl observed corruption's every move. It was fascinating how "gem like" it was acting. At that moment she could have sworn she felt its grief. She had a feeling something she did must have triggered something inside the corruption. Maybe it was her song? Or maybe it was because of the way she acted? She had no idea...But she wouldn't be able figure out the truth at that time anyway. What was most important was that she succeeded in calming it down and surely someone would soon capture it. At least she hoped that was the case. 

The beast's mourning would potentially be considered unbearable for some, but not for Melody. She was always there to listen, calm down, even cheer up her Zircon. That was her duty as a Pearl. Of course it was different now, new place also meant different responsibilities, but her willingness to continue being there for those in distress never changed. And so she stayed and listened. Staying still was probably still the safest option. She was only worried that the corruption's attitude would change. 

Melody stayed still, even when the beast stopped weeping and looked directly at her. It was the first time she saw those big, pointy teeth. Pearl started to lose control over herself, just like when she saw the creature for the first time. But this time she knew it was over when she hear that threatening sound. She wanted to scream, move, do anything, but she didn't make a single move. Not because of her strategy, but because she was paralyzed, nothing could have possibly changed this situation. She tried to close her eyes, but she was hypnotized by those deadly claws. What also made her feel weak was this pure anger, the one she was too familiar with. The worst possible thoughts were flooding her mind. 

She was awoken by a sudden thrust of a bola towards the beast's claws. Before she could even comprehend what happened, an avian creature flew into action and tackled the corruption. Cream herself was still on the ground, but she tried to move away from the action while still clinging to the floor. When Pearl tried to look again she saw how the creature that tried to defend her turned into Euclase, her Euclase. She gasped and due to the habit instantly covered her mouth with her hands. She didn't pay attention to the Amethyst that came to help as well, her eyes were fixated on her unexpected savior who landed in front of her. Pearl couldn't help, but feel as if she was stung right into the gem when she saw how her current owner struggled to even stand.

"No-No." She took her hands away from her face and shook her head. But she kept looking at Euclase with an anxious expression. 

[Euclase]

Euclase managed to force herself to her feet “Oh thank the stars” She muttered when she heard Pearl was uninjured “please; stay safe, I will take care of this”.

“It’s not down yet” Amethyst stated, her attention drawn to the corrupted gem during Euclases and Pearls exchange. Eucalse’s expression hardened as she turned back to the recovering creature “We end this fast, and we end this non-lethally if we can, do not aim for the gem unless absolutely required.” She ordered to the Amethyst “Flank Right, we need to keep it off its feet, stop it from burrowing” Euclase herself reefed two more Bolas out of her exposed gem and began dashing to the left. The creature now recovered and back on its haunches took a moment to pick its target, crashing down onto all fours, sweeping its claws sideways it tried to strike the amethyst. Just managing to leap over the claws the Amethyst delivered a downwards blow to the arm, driving the claws roughly into the panelling of the floor before leaping backwards.

At the same time Euclase launched one of her bolas, wrapping this time around the creatures jaw forcing it shut. It twisted its head and body, using its free hand to tear off the bola while at the same time dragging its claw out of the floor, bringing with it viscera of mechanical components and the panel itself. Now back on its haunches again, the Action left the creature exposed and both Euclase and Amethyst took the opportunity. Euclase launched her second bola at the creatures neck, the weapon making contact and wrapping around it with enough force to push the creature off balance, once again the creature raised its unobscured claws to tear the weapon away and in that moment Amethyst Leapt forward delivering a swinging and powerful blow with her Warhammer, Launching the creature backwards into the wall, with a loud crash, bending, breaking and tearing the panelling in struck. The creature roared in pain as electrical currents vaulted through its body, breaking free of the wall and now even more enraged it sweeped its claw outwards, the panel still jammed on its claws dislodging and flying towards the two gems. Amethyst let out a “woah” Dropping to the floor to avoid it. Euclase tried to step sideways but the panel still struck her arm, letting out a pained cry as a deeper gash formed on her upper arm from the serrated edges of the panel. There was not time to linger on her injury though as the creature began to step forward. Summoning another Bola she began to note how difficult it was becoming. She was not sure how much longer she could keep up this pace.

“Dammit” She fumed “Pearl, if I or the Amethyst gets our forms rived during this fight I need you to run, find the entrance, get out of here, the other gem will run distraction so that you can get away safely.”