Song of Healing (Euclase and Melody)

[Melody]

(this thread takes place after "The Conflicted Melōidia" and before "Before the Ball")

2 human weeks later

It has been a while since a certain corrupted gem wreaked havoc in the medical centre. The facility itself got partially damaged during the attack, but a group of Peridots and Bismuths succeeded in bringing it back to the original state. They were watched by a professional architect that was an older variant of Padparadscha Sapphire.

However, a single gem was still missing after the accident. The menager herself -A mechanical door was opened and a Cream Pearl entered the office. In the center stood a simple chair with a pillow. On the pillow rested a blue gemstone. Melody approached the gem and kneeled down to the ground. The Pearl just let out a small sight. 2 weeks were just like 2 seconds for a being like her, but for some reason it felt much longer. "I probably shouldn't mind, it also took me a while to regenerate the last time I had to retreat to my gem." Her expression saddened "It was peaceful inside, as if every negative emotion left me." She stared at Euclase for a while "You probably want to rest, that is why you are not back yet. I can understand this."

Pearl stood up and headed to the door. Before leaving she took the last glance at the gemstone "I will be back soon." And so she went to the reception and her desk. It turned into a routine of some sort. From time to time she would leave her post and go visit Euclase's office. She had been doing it so often that she lost count. While she would never admit it, she enjoyed taking a break from her responsibilities, and now she had a perfect excuse to do so. But of course, she also wanted to be there for Euclase. It was her primal purpose, to be there for her gem, although now she had to be there for all of her patients. While She enjoyed being there for more than just one gem, it was overwhelming at times.

Melody stood and stared at the wall. Many gems were entering and leaving, entering and leaving, someone was moving all the time. And there she was, standing and waiting. Occasionally someone would appear and ask her something, she would then answer with a small smile on her face. Surprisingly, some gems responded with a smile as well. It was probably the only and the best reward she could ask for.

The reception soon got less crowded and she eagerly left her post to check up on Euclase once again. She was not expecting to meet anyone while on her way.


Euclase

[Order Of The Diamonds]

Busy with her own work Melody likely didn’t notice the other gem guard who seemed to be keeping an eye on her, not following her per say but just being nearby. From her patrol root the guard gem had noticed the cream coloured Pearl moving back and forth, using several opportunities to move away from her desk and enter the office, Euclase’s Office

.

She had heard from 8XK that Melody had begun to hover like this, and after some quiet chats a few of them agreed that any guards stationed in the Medical centre near the reception should keep an eye on her just to make sure she was okay. The first time the Guard gem had left her alone, letting her make the trek by herself, but on the subsequent trips she began to subtly align her patrol roots to synchronise when Pearl was moving of, to make sure she was always near Euclase’s office when Pearl was inside. Not only to just keep an eye on Melody, but to also move away any Gems that may be less sympathetic to Pearl’s frequent detours.

Rounding the Corner the guard saw the Cream Gem move into Euclases office once more, letting out a smile as she moved down the hallway.

“You know, you must be a pretty amazing Pearl” The voice spoke, a small distance away from Melody.

A Purple gem was leaning against the doorframe, her back resting on the frame itself as her arms were crossed over her chest, her head rotated into the room look at the Pearl who once again had moved into the office. Like many of the other Quartzs the gem had long Spikey hair that fell down to her Torso, her purple hue and skin tone giving away immediately what type of gem her was. The Amethyst was sporting the Pink uniforms of Pink Diamonds court, well somewhat, with the exposure to combat, and general shenanigans the Quartz’s got into while bored, it was more of a inevitability that many had gone through several reforms over their tenure both on Earth and even the Moonbase, because of this it was somewhat of a given that the standardised Uniform had somewhat fallen into disarray, with at this point many Quartzs sporting minor to major variants on the old default V neck design and look.

While not the largest change the Gem in the doorway still had a unique variation on the uniform, the sides of her Red Violet top extending downwards and stopping above the hips, with a Square Cutout on her stomach to still show her Darker Purple Pants. Her even darker purple V neck also sports a Third Line below her Diamond logo, cutting off at the square cutout. Her Pants extended all the way down to her boots without any gaps, and her light pink boots seemed fairly standard, with only a triangle notch cut out on the top of them, the standard darker tip of the toe of the boot was present aswell, as a darker colour of pink. Resting on her right hip was her Amethyst Gemstone, a standard Hexagonal Cut and a purple sheen.

“Soon as the thought crossed her mind that you were in any danger she was off, her resolve, her desperation, all to see you safe.” 8XL said glancing at the Gem resting on the pillow before turning her head away to look out at the corridor “It was like we were back on the Earth all over again.” She added, a slight sombre tone in her voice.

Amethyst 8XL's Appearance

SPOILER: Click to show

Original Render is on the Steven Universe Wiki, Modifications to the uniform were done by me.

[Melody]

Melody approached the console and with satisfaction listened to the 'wooosh' sound that the door were always making while being opened. The one she came to visit was still gone, but that was okay. 

Pearl entered the office, but after a few short steps she heard a voice behind her. She quickly turned back, a little bit surprised since she didn't expect another visitor. In fact, she couldn't recall anyone coming here besides her during those two long weeks. She was a little bit relieved to see a familiar face, it was the same courageous Amethyst that helped Euclase defeat the corrupted gem. To some, all Quartz soldiers looked identical, but she tried to see them as individuals. From her point of view, they deserved her respect, the recent event only proved that.

Pearl wanted to look around to see if there were any other pearls inside, but she knew that it would be fruitless since she was in Euclase's private office and Amaranth Pearl worked in the lower parts of the facility. She let out a small smile "I didn't know that, thank you." The compliment surprised her, she wasn't used to getting them and so she wasn't sure how to respond, but thanking her seemed like the only proper reaction at that time.

Melody noticed Euclase's radical behaviour the moment the blue gem risked her own safety for Pearl's sake. She looked saddened when Amethyst mentioned it. All this time she was asking herself... why? Why would she do that? Euclase didn't even know her, not really, they didn't spend long enough time to truly know each other. Pearl of course didn't blame her, her manager was a busy gem with responsibilities. In fact, she was probably just another responsibility for her.

Pearl raised her eyebrows and looked at the purple quartz. She wondered if knowing more about Euclase's past would help her understand her actions. She spoke,but she sounded a bit skittish because she didn't want to be seen as nosy. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened on Earth?"

[Order Of The Diamonds]

She let out a snort before chuckling “Oh man, what didn’t happen on Earth, we used to get into so much trouble down there, 8XH climbed up that mountain and caused that rock slide, 8XM was a late bloomer but when she did show up, we didn’t even know you could launch yourself with a tree like that until she did it, of course even back then Euclase, well back then everyone called her 8AI, anyway she tried to stop us going too crazy, of course she also joined us if she deemed it harmless enough, we sorta suspected she shifted that bar from day to day though, she was always a lot more strict if Euclase 8AB was watching, I swear 8AB had a glare that could stop a star ship, then of course 8AG hung around aswell, she never really joined us unless 8AI dragged her into it, she was more of a chill out and observe type of Euclase most of the time. Then you had 8AH who always followed us and kept panicking that we would hurt ourselves, eventually she began to loosen up and I swear I saw her smiling when we tied Amethyst 8XA to the tree and, oh that reminds me of that one time Amethyst 8XC, found a log and she…..she” Amethysts Chuckle trailed off as her expression dropped again.

Amethyst turned her head back to look at the Pearl within the room, pausing for a moment seemingly trying to decide what to say, letting out a long sigh as she closed her eyes and turned her head forward “What happened on Earth” Amethyst repeated, as if trying to find the real answer for herself. She paused, letting it linger in the air, before trying to articulate what she could explain.

“Homeworld wants you to think that our expansion is effortless, that we simply move from planet to planet, the greatest hitch being the inconvenience of local flora that must be cleared out” Amethyst began, opening her eyes again she stared at the doorframe infront of her, her eyes glazed over slightly, her head miles away, back on earth. Shaking her head slightly she snapped out of her thought and her stupor.

Seemingly changing the topic she turned back to the Pearl, shuffling slightly on the doorframe as she spoke up again “hey so this may seem weird, or like, silly to ask, but do you know what Euclase’s Caste is?” Amethyst asked, looking past Pearl to the unformed Euclase gemstone. Her Motivations for asking such a question unclear, did it actually link into what she was trying to say about earth, or was she intentionally avoiding the subject, for now that seemed unclear.

[Melody]

The Amethyst was excited, Melody liked stories so she didn't interrupt her, even though it wasn't the answer she was expecting. She also wondered what a "tree" was, she liked the sound of it and how amethyst said it. Full of nostalgia and excitement. It almost made her feel more energetic as well.

Melody noticed the sudden change of mood. She looked at the Quartz, hoping to figure out why she calmed down. The short silence wasn't relaxing, but awkward since she knew something was troubling Amethyst. The way she repeated her question just made it even more uncomfortable for Pearl, she didn't want scratch her old wounds, but she really wanted to know the truth. She still wanted to know the truth... the fact that Amethyst felt comfortable with her just made it much easier.

At that point she figured out that "tree" must a part of Earth's flora "I never really thought about it... Do you feel unappreciated?" She said, her voice quiet as always, yet a slight bit of sympathy was there as well "I think your kind is important, not only you protect us, but you are also versatile when making colonies." She said sincerely without much hesitation while keeping her quiet and slightly monotone tone. While she didn't mention it, she liked how optimistic many Amethysts she encountered in the past were. Sometimes she wished she could be more like them.

She titled her head slightly to the right when the Quartz asked her a question "She is a... she is a medic, is that the correct answer?" It must have been correct, she was the one who carried out her check-up. However, at the same time she was a manager of the Moonbase. Euclase never told her and she didn't encounter any other Euclases during her life.

[Order Of The Diamonds]

"Nah don't worry its not that, we got our jobs and we do them, out of everything Quartzs are some more appreciated of gems around here, funny how a rebellion does that," Amethyst waved off her questioned about being underappreciated "but thank you"

Amethyst let out a small smile, figured that Euclase would downplay her caste, she never much liked to speak about her time at Earth “You think a normal medic would be able to launch a hit with enough force to throw a large corrupted gem of its feet, would a normal medic be able to launch her weapons with an enough power to throw a corrupted gem off balance. Would a normal medic show not even a little hesitation in their resolve as they stared down an corrupted gem that physically outmatched them?” Amethyst said.

“You were Half Right about her role” She added,
“Combat.” Amethyst said, pausing for a moment before continuing

“Euclase’s were Combat Medics”

“They said it would be the Gem Armada of tomorrow” She explained,” The Generals; The Intimidating Agate Commander, The Soldiers; the tenacious and Adaptive Quartzs, and then, the newest unit, The Field Medics; The Emphatic and dedicated Euclases. Right there on the frontlines with us, ducking and weaving the battles, holding their own in fights, all so they could protect the others, the damaged Quartzs already destabilized from a lost battle, the quartzs cracked or damaged, vulnerable to an enemy attack.” She explained.

“Euclase was no different” She stated glancing past Melody again to the Euclase gemstone on the table, “I was in the same unit as her, back when the colony was only just beginning on the planet, her and 2AB were our Euclase Medics, everyone looked out for everyone, we all had each other’s backs. We eventually met up with the others at the healing fountain when that was finished a few millennia later, give or take. That was when most of the Euclases were together again, along with several of our own squadrants. We all got stationed at the fountain for defensive measures.” She slouched down in the doorframe slightly, realising that she was starting to ramble.

“Im starting to get off topic, i guess what I was trying to say is, If natives offered as little resistance as Homeworld claims….” She turned her head away again to look out the door “Then why did we need combat medics, why did every colony prioritise getting a batch of Quartzes out, Why were several squadrants all stationed at the healing fountain to deal with a simple issue of a few thousands ‘humans’ thinking the fountain was some sort of source of immortality.”

The Amethyst glanced down on the glistening purple gem on her own hip “Gemkind wants you to think we are immortal, but A gem can be destroyed, they can die, be shattered. Be it the most sophisticated Homeworld execution technology…..” She closed her eyes her head held slightly down “or a rock lifted above the head of an Organic.”

“That’s how we lost Ame 8XC.” She added quietly.

[Melody]

She nodded with a slight smile. She had to keep herself in check. Nothing happened obviously, but she knew that she shouldn't just assume how other gems are feeling. She didn't know this Amethyst for that long. Fortunately, it seemed Amethyst understood Pearl's intentions and didn't mind at all.

"I don't think so?" She said with a bit of doubt. Her life might have not been as exciting as like some of the individuals who worked here in the base, but she did notice some strange things. A simple gem not meant for combat that turned into a large beast, fusions, new rogue groups on Earth and, probably the scariest thing she heard about, a renegade Pearl capable of destroying Quartz soldiers in the matter of seconds. Most of this kind of informations were censored for obvious reasons, it would only cause panic, but working so close to Earth enlightened her a bit.

Not to mention Euclase was already an exceptional individual already, a medic who became a manager of Pink Diamond's first base. The fact that she was a combat medic as well surely showed her that there was a side of Euclase that Melody didn't know about. But it wasn't nothing gem blowing. Nonetheless, she was intrigued, and soon she also realized that Euclase must have been fighting on Earth at some point. A face that was previously relatively calm turned into the one full of concern.

She listened quietly to Amethyst, it would be rude to interrupt. What surprised her was that she was talking about the times when Pink Diamond just started to colonize the planet and that she wasn't talking about rogue gems, but natives. Those "Hoomans" that Padparadscha Sapphire showed her. What she learned from the aristocrat was that they were apparently able to communicate with each other using a language similar to the one Gems use. Now she also knew that they are able to harm other gems? That was nearly impossible! A primitive race being on a way of the great Gem Empire?

And then she felt sick. A terrible feeling spread across her body. The way Amethyst mentioned being shattered, being destroyed, useless, being gone. Pearl felt a hand smashing her gemstone. The pressure of fingers on her face.

Her legs started to lose power and she felt as if she was about to fall. She acted accordingly and approached the wall and she let herself lean against it. "That is terrible, simply terrible." She said to Amethyst, but her face was away from the purple gem. If Amethyst was able to see her now, she would see sorrow, but also confusion.

She slowly stoop up more upright "I am sorry for my posture. I got carried away." She said with a forced smile.

[Euclase]

Euclase ever punctual even within her gemstone had decided it seems now was the best time for her to reemerged from her Gemstone, As was always standard Euclases Gem began to Glimmer and Glow, raising up from its position and shifting forward the basic mannequin form of Euclase Erupted out of the gem. Bathed in white light the form began to shift through all her previous forms in silhouette before updating to her current form. The Silhouette of her flowing Shawl extended out of her neck and fell almost immediately into place, the profile of her shoes every so lightly shifted and with a tiny tap she floated down and made contact with the floor, the light of her form receding away to fill in her colour and details.All and all her form remained rather unchanged in terms of elements. Her Shawl now featured a different design, the sweeping Thick Lines of inverted colour that used to sweep around horizontally on her shawl and end just before the cutout of her Diamond Insignia, had now been swapped out for Thick Lines that Hugged the Inner edge of it, look similar to the Quartz V Neck that continued to extend down past her Diamond symbol. The Two sides similar to her old Shawl were White and Blue Respectively, with the lines being an inversion of that colour to match the opposite side. Her Shoulder plooms and gloves had also shifted colour, with her ones on her right hand side now being white and her ones on the left being completely blue. Her pants had also shifted colour, being a darker blue now instead of fully white with only two white triangles placed on the sides of her thighs. Finally her boot had simplified down, the higher leg boots had been shortened down and simplified, White in colour with only a Blue sole to disperse it. As was expected her Diadem was absent leaving her Blue White Euclase Gemstone exposed on her forehead.

Letting out a small sigh she opened her eyes, pupils pink as usual, and looked around the room. A mere glanced around at the familiar space indicated it was her office, left almost pristine and untouched since the day of the encounter, although the chair with the smile pillow on it behind her did cause the tiniest smile to form, no doubt she could figure out who would do that, Noting the Amethyst in the doorway and Pearl much a bit closer, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Pearl” She began “Oh thank the Diamonds” She said to Pearl, relief present in her voice “I knew you would be safe with the Quartz’s around, but still, are you okay?”

And for the sake of posterity (Even though she already had the design a while now), this Reformation design.

SPOILER: Click to show

[Melody]

Suddenly Euclase's gem floated up. "She is here." She said before quickly lowering her head a bit and making a small bow with both of her hands clenched together and loosely hanging. She waited in this position until Euclase fully reformed.

When Euclase spoke to her directly she stood up straight and finally looked at the manager. It seemed that she decided to change her form a bit. It wasn't very different, but the use of colors was significantly different. She liked the new pattern on the shawl and what she did with her gloves.

The idea of changing the way you look seemed so alien to her, despite her old age she always looked the same. Even after her reformation... she stayed the same, she was never asked to look different after all. She wondered if Euclase would ever ask her to change something in her appearance. Some gems, like a certain Peridot, noted that they looked nothing alike. But at the end of the day, it wasn't her choice to make. Although, Euclase didn't seem like someone that would mind a small change. Maybe one day, she thought.

"I am in one piece and ready to help, yes, I am fine." She said with a small smile. She was wanted. And that was the best feeling she could have, it meant she was safe. And seeing that Euclase is fine helped as well. She made sure before to check if her gemstone was fine... and it seemed like it. She wasn't even sure if the electricity could have possibly caused some internal damage to her gemstone, but it didn't matter, not anymore.

[Euclase]

Euclase let out a warm smile as she looked at Pearl, “I understand it was an intense situation with everything, if you need to talk, I’m here, I’ll always be here”. A few moments later her attention drew past Pearl, moving to the Quartz still in the doorway.

“What did you break?” Euclase Questioned, a degree of amusement only very thinly veiled by her umimpressed tone.

“Nothing ma'am,” Amethyst responded in an exaggerated salute, a grin plastered on her face “but I did see 8XM, 8XA and Carnelian heading out with some damaged wall panels”

Euclase let out a small hmm, as her gem glowed, from it one of her small drones materialised and was constructed, and with a swish of her wrist the drone went whizzing out the doorway. Stopping not just at one, Euclase created a second drone as she moved over to her desk. Pulling open one of the draws, she unseated a diadem from somewhere within, identical to the others she had used. Her other hand reached outwards and grab the second drone that was idling near her.

From the drone she was holding there was the faint sound of laughter and conversation that seemed to get louder and louder, Euclase moved the drone closer to her mouth and in a flat tone she spoke into the drone

“Put the panels down” She stated, her tone like that of a mother who just caught her children about to do something they should not do.

There was the distant sounds through the drone of 8XM letting out a disappointed ‘Awww’ among the distant yell of 8XA calling out “Yo Carnelian Euclase is back and you are so bus-ted”.

Euclase continued to speak. “Any and all damaged panels are to be stored correctly and safely within a designated safe space for recycling and or repair, as a reminder, below your feet as a make shift board to hypothetically ride down the lunar crater west of the base does not constitute a safe space. Furthermore a designated representative will be running and accounting for all of said panels locations in about 5 minutes, and in the unlikely scenario any sorta of gem, specifically quartz’s, are in possession of said panels, they would hypothetically find themselves in a position requiring them to manually clean the entire hangar floor, with the smallest brush they could find,” She paused for a moment, the faux smile could be hear in her tone “but that is all just in theory now isn’t it girls.”

There was what sounded like a shuffle of metals coming through the drone speaker before a gem seemed to be heard muttering “How does she keep knowing?”

Tucking the drone back into her pouch she spoke to Amethyst again.

“Still haven’t figured out you’re the mole” She questioned in a light tone, raising her brow.

“Am I really a mole if I only tell you about stuff I’m not involved with?” Amethyst responded, the mischievous smile still on her face

Euclase scoffed, a knowing smirk now across her face “Please, you think you’re the only snitch I have in your ranks, besides, you’re all terrible at hiding when you’re bored, and your even worse at hiding when you planning something.” She revealed.

[Melody]

"...I will always be here..." Pearl forced herself not to comment on this. A smile appeared on her face, but an uncertain one. Melody knew that Euclase couldn't promise that, but it still felt partially good to hear that. Mostly because the Pearl didn't expect such words to escape Euclase's mouth.

Before this day, she had no idea how close Euclase was to her Quartzes. Amethyst's tale and the way they talked with each other showed her how much they feel comfortable around each other. Despite their differences, they were actually very... compatible. She wondered if her relations with other gems in the base would be like that. At one point she wouldn't even dare to think about this, but somehow, the thought seemed nice. It would of course take time. She was still a relatively new addition to the base while they all worked with each other for thousands of years. 

Euclase seemed to care... a lot actually, she was ready to get her form destroyed just to help her. The same goes for the Amethyst in the room, it was a good start. Although, at the back of her head there was a thought that it could all go wrong one day. 

She tried not to think about it, there was something else she had in mind. She tried to find the right moment when nobody else in the room was talking "I am sorry, I don't want to bring back this moment-" Her thoughts shifted to the moment Euclase got poofed "But could we talk about the corrupted gem you two fought?"

[Euclase]

Drawn back to Melody by her inquiry, Euclases own alarms in her head had started somewhat going off, had it left lasting damage on Pearl, was the situation still present, had Amethyst managed to not contain the gem, running through her thoughts rapidly in her mind she spoke aloud.

“The beast should be contained and returned back to its Bubbled storage” Euclase half explained, half questioned, glancing back at Amethyst who responded with a small nod, of course, Amethyst would not have acted so jovially if the situation was still serious, so the gem must have been contained, but containment brought up its own legion of questions now, if one gem had breached then other could aswell, they had not factored in the full range of powers corrupted gems could have, and it had made their containment weaker than it should. She would have to discuss with the architects, to retrofit the containment plans, factor in first layer breaching as a inevitability.

“Now of course we will likely have to relook into containment procedures, if one was able to escape who knows how many other could have been a time bomb, I’m thinking tertiary containment methods” Euclase mumbled to herself still generating more drones out of her gem as they flew cleanly into her hip pouch.

Amethyst who’s own expression indicated that this was not an uncommon occurrence, shifted over from Euclase to Melody, the tiniest smirk spread across her face as if to say ‘give her a minute’, somewhat oblivious to the verbal exchange as Euclase had her back turned to Amethyst, she continued.

“Maybe a Secondary Destabilisation grid that exits just below the panelling, or perhaps integrated Deadgem switches that means if the current in the floor is cut it will activate the grid. Then I’ll have to also look over footage of the situation, and after that-“ She realised fairly quickly she was being pulled into her own world, shaking her head a bit she looked back at Melody “Right, sorry, inquiries, I was going to perhaps debrief you later about the situation Pearl, provided your up for it, build up a detailed incident report, but the Corrupted Gem we contained, what did you want to speak about?” She questioned. Euclase herself still only had a limited perspective on the situation, they had encountered the corrupted gem near Melody but the semantics of how long the beast had lingered with her or the greater roaming pattern of the monster seemed unclear.

[Melody]

"Yes-I...ummm..." She was going to say something, but she didn't want to interrupt Euclase, that would be rude. If Euclase had something to say, she was going to let her finish.



She was wondering if she should react. Euclase seemed distressed, she could help, somehow. She could at least record all of those ideas for her. But then she saw Amethyst's expresion and figured there is nothing to worry about. Euclase would release all this negative energy on her own, without her help and that was okay. However, she was still annoyed that she couldn't help her manager in any way.



She nodded her head when Euclase let her speak "It has been a while, I think I am ready." Her hands moved closer to each other, she was rubbing her fingers to comfort herself "It is probably nothing much... but I think I was a witness of the beat's abnormal behaviour." Her face looked a bit uncomfortable "I was wondering if perhaps you have been studying how much corrupted gems remember from the time... before their transformation." She raised her hands as if to prevent the two gem from reacting to what she just said, she then continued with a louder tone. "I am not saying that corrupted gems possess their old memories, but something I did crealy affected the one who caused havoc in the base." Her hands dropped "They were... peaceful, only for a short while of course. I didn't even feel threatened in their presence." She wasn't sure if she should continue "Is there a chance that they might be more conscious than we think?"

[Euclase]

As Pearl spoke Euclase noded, indicating she was listening but moving over to her own desk, starting up so projection screen as opening one of the draws to seemingly look for something, the last of her drones sliding into her pouch aswell.

“It has been a avenue” Euclase said in a measured, but not offended tone when Melody asked about whether they had looked into memories, but she did not turn to face her again, still continuing to fiddle with elements on her desk.

She froze when Melody posed her finale question. In the silence Amethyst had piped back up.

“Well then I should get back to my patrols, see ya around” The door hissed shut as the Amethyst moved down the hallway, her footsteps fading into the distance.

She had hoped to try and keep Melody out of this, a convenient ignorance to the situation, so that she would not have the same weight and burden as Euclase had, but Melody had looked down one of the beasts first hand, and now as much as she wished to avoid it, the questions were being asked, about whether these monsters were more then what Euclase had presented them as. There was a security to it, a degree of relief, and no matter how dark, under the idea that once a gem corrupted there former self evaporated, because the reality of this not being the case was far darker.

She could Lie, assuage Melody, tell her the gems were gone, let that truth remain hidden, but no, she was asking specific questions, too specific, did she not deserve to know. Euclase let out a loud sigh and her hands rested against her desk and her head had hung low “They have always been conscious Pearl” Her words hung in the air “At least sparingly.”

“The research we have been doing on corruption has been fruitlessly irrelevant, for each breakthrough seems to simply just reveal another layer of damage we have no clue how to repair, The Gemstone is pristine, but the internals, the code within is a distorted, no, not distorted, that implies…. This is the problem,” Euclase Explained, finally turning back around to face Melody again.

“Even with all the research we have done we still don’t have a firm grasp on what is happening within a gems core during corruption, at least for now, it seems like. In analogy you will understand, it’s like you have a piece of music stored within your gem, The Gems Fundamental Code, but something has happened, whatever the corruption has done, and now the composition of the song keeps being completely and randomly rearranged inside, so instead of getting the melodic tone your meant to play, a Gems normal form, you instead get a distorted, twisted and painful discordance of notes and white noise, the gems corrupted form, because the speaker, the Gemstone, cant correctly read this jumbled data, if that makes sense.”


“The data is not gone, not destroyed; every line of code, every fragment of a Gemstones memories, consciousness and personality, everything that makes a Gem a Gem is still within them, it’s muddled together, but the fact everything is their also means, that even jumbled, remnants of consciousness seems to seep through completely randomly, in the same way a randomised composition can sometimes repeat parts of its original layout. The problem is we have no way to control it, it’s simply luck that the data will arrange in such a way to allow a clump of code that was originally together to be together again, and even then statistically its against us, even if a gems code happens to clump together to give them back their memories or their personality, its useless to us if they don’t have the code to give them back their ability to speak, or to give them back their hearing, or the ability to understand our language again all at the same time. If even one of these systems does not happen to form then communication is impossible. The chance that these critical systems all happen to clump correctly with their original code during a formation by sheer chance is so minute it’s impossible; we are talking about Billions of lines of code, within each gem, each code being able to jumble and shift to another spot, literally Trevigintillions of combinations.” Euclased elucidated, “One formation the corrupted gem can be passive, unware or uncaring of its surroundings, the next formation it can be full of aggression, the next it can be uncharacteristically smart in regards to breaching containment, and the next it thrashes about as if in pain. Its all random, and with everything about a corrupted gem being random, it’s extremely hard to learn anything about them, let alone strive towards curing it.”

“So a gem being passive is not too outlandish in the first place, unless” Euclase paused, as if recounting Melodies words and thinking “When they breached containment their goal seemed to be drawing towards the surface as opposed to confrontation, a Flight response so to speak when presented with containment, if that is the case, paradoxically why did they linger on you, they had the mobility to bypass you without issues, if nothing else a strike would have…..” Euclase coughed awkwardly “Regardless did you do anything of note that seemed to shift the beasts behaviour?” Euclase questioned.

[Melody]

"Goodbye." She said quickly before Amethyst managed to leave the room. She just hoped that Amethyst's sudden departure had nothing to do the question she asked... but it seemed to be the most likely reason.


She looked at Euclase with a stoic expression, but with a slight bit of determination in her eyes as well. She was going to learn the truth. She had to know if it was all a dream or something else.


"Oh..." It was the only thing that dared to leave her mouth.


Euclase pretty much confirmed her theory. Underneath the fur, the claws and the beast like behaviour, remained the memories. The corruption's previous identity was still there somewhere... and perhaps that was the reason why she was spared at first. But at the end of the day, it was just a guessing game, there was no way she could really have a conversation with a corrupted gem, she would never get a proper answer. However, knowing that they were conscious and were capable of listening gave her a slight bit of hope. It wasn't much, but it meant that there was something they could work with to heal them. They were not lost, all data was still there.


From the other hand... didn't it mean they were suffering? Those gems must have been at least sort of aware of what they have been and what they have become. Was this suffering one of the reason why they were so destructive? The more she started to think about it, the more she started to believe in her own little theories. Once again, she could not find an actual proof, but it all started to make more sense to her. The behaviour, the way they reacted to her... she calmed them down. She actually calmed them down by treating them like a healthy gem. Was talking to them an option? Would it ever be possible for the two sides to understand each other?


She continued to listen, but saw no need in adding any sort of comment. Instead, she stood and occasionally looked somewhere else. She seemed to be lost in her own thoughts as she tried to process everything Euclase was telling her. She found the blue gem's comparison of Gem's corrupted code to a badly composed tune very interesting and thoughtful. But it also seemed a bit inaccurate to her. Reconstructing sounds, bending them or creating something entirely new was like a child's play to her, it was a talent she was brought to world with, something she was naturally made to be able to do. However, reconstructing a gem natural code seemed much more trickier and not something that a gem would be naturally able to do.


She had to take a moment to remind herself of what happened when she encountered this gem. Was their behaviour random? Well they did attack her at the end, but before, it seemed as if they truly didn't want to harm her. They stop doing what they were trying to archive and laid down for her. It seemed so natural, she really wanted to believe that she managed to calmed them down.


She shifted uncomfortably at Euclase's question. "It is very silly, honestly." She said with her gaze avoiding the eyes of her manager "You could say that I took the idea of diplomacy being the best way to solve conflicts to the extreme." She said, perhaps even a bt jokingly, but she then continued on with a more serious tone "I tried to talk with them... I pretended that they were someone else, a patient, someone who needs directions and... I honestly thought they listened to me. They laid down instead of going back to their "room", but they did seem more docile." She soon added "I might have also created a song by accident while I was on my way to your office. I am not sure if they liked it or not based on their response at the end."