Chrysocolla

[gwenchan]

 Personaggi: Nyo Inghilterra; Nyo Francia
Prompt: Magic dei Coldplay
Rating: Teen and up audiences
Additional tags: Alternate Universe_Gem; Gem fusion; Falling in love; Sort of; Different names used; Gemsona


First time it happens, it isn't something they have planned. That would be like planning an open treason against the Diamond Authority and both of them saw what happened on the rebels on Earth. They knew better than ending in the same, horrible way. 

Olivenite, at least, has never been inclined in suicidai tendency and would highly like to keep her life as it is now. She's perfectly content with serving Yellow Diamond for all the length of her immortal life. She isn't sure the Dumortierite who shared the experience thinks the same.

 

They are dancing, trying to at least, in one of the numerous empty room in Blue Diamond's immense palace. From the ceiling, hundred of eyes look down at them, each tile  a living gem. Olivenite pretends they aren't there. If it was for her, nothing of this would have even started. She has better and more important things to do than dancing with a Dumortierite.

 

They have been knowing each other for some millennia now, way before the Crystal gems started their little and foolish rebellion against Homeworld. If ever asked, Olivenite wouldn't say Dumortierite is a friend of hers, quite the contrary, actually. It's more a long-term, professional and superficial connaissance. Then, friendships is a strange concept for a gem. Olivenite heard stories from Earth, but they were all too vague to understand them properly, to grasp this strange relationship that seemed to go further than the normal camaraderie between gems of the same group. 

Dumortierite loves those stories, finding in them a fascination Olivenite doubts she could ever comprehend. 

 

Just like she struggles to understand the complex sequence of steps Dumortierite wants to teach her. There will be a ball to celebrate the first one thousand year from the victory against Rose Quartz and all gems were required to partecipate. Between making a fool of herself before everyone and bear some hours with a Dumortierite who's just a bit too touchy-feely, Olivenite knew what was the least evil.

 

"You don't have to be so rigid," the Dumortierite laughs, pivoting on the demi-pointe in a perfect double spin. Olivenite shrugs, scoffing a bit. "Like this?" she asks, rolling her shoulder to relax them like Dumortierite instructed. Dumortierite nods, a tiny smile on her lips. "Almost."

Olivenite jumps slightly when Dumortierite touches her arm with feather-like fingers to adjust its position to a better angle, arm bent at the elbow, palm up and flat. 

Then it's one step forward, two backs and a series of turns meant to interlocking in complex design with all the other gems of the formation. While Olivenite has long grasped the theory, practice is a complete different matter. 

 

"You think too much" DUmortierite says after they crashed again face to face for a miss-timed step. She hums a melody. "Just listen to the music, the rest will come with it."

"Easy for you" Olivenite mutters, but yet she does as suggested. She even closes her eyes and focuses only on the rhythm. 

 

 

Like this is almost bearable and surely easier, not having to focus on more than one thing at once. Olivenite listens to the music, deciding that the rest will come on its own, her body will learn how to move if it is in harmony with the song. One step forward, one back, then spin. Dumortierite is a nice singer and following her voice comes natural. This time, Olivenite turns with her eyes still closed shut and though she feels the air moved by Dumortieitie, they pass inches from each other without any crash

 

"Better" Dumortieite compliments, stopping humming. "Now, try again, but this time look at me."

 

Actually dancing and looking does prove easier said than done and it isn't long before Olivenite is back to her method, trusting Dumortierite will adjust on her movements. It's a silly idea, one that can work as long as they are just in two, but not when there will be a whole crowd of Olivenites meant to dance in perfect unison. Dumortierite, however, doesn't say anything and Olivenite is not about giving her ideas to further critique. 

 

Insread, she just takes another breath and let herself continue to dance, her movements growing surer and stronger at each attempt, until she's doing it with her eyes open without even noticing at first. 

Contrary to all of her expectations, it's quite pleasing, the way her palm caress Dumortierite's for only a few seconds in the choreography. Then Dumortierite is grabbing Olivenite's hands and it's so quick and unexpected, Olivenite doesn't really have any space to react or protest. They spin with the music and everyhing is light.

 

The floor is hard, cold and definitely uncomfortable against Olivenite's butt. That surely wasn't a nice or soft fall. She groans her discomfort in bringing one hand to her forehead to check on her gem. It's still there, untracked, just like the one on her chest.

 

Dumortierite has the gem on her chest, at heart level.

 

"Why is my body so strange?" a voice yells inside Olivenite's head, a voice that isn't hers and yet it's familiar. 

"I don't know."

She frantically look down, ignoring the misplaced gem, only to be greeted with the discovery two new arms have sprouted from her body. Green arms with now streaked of a bright blue. Dumortierite's colour.

Their body. The realization is enough to make them split apart again. 

 

"Was that?" Dumortierite begins, shaking her head as to clear it up.

"Yes, but it never happened."

 

Gems of different kinds aren't supposed to fuse. It's against the law. It's strange and wrong and, above all, it could put them in trouble if somebody else ever discovers it. 

"It was a fusion" Dumortierite insists, and her blue gem is glowing as much as her eyes. Where Olivenite is terrified, she seems intrigued, as if all of sudden the secret of the universe was revealed to her. 

"No."

Whatever it is, Olivenite doesn't want to do anything about it anymore. She jerks away when Dumortierite tries to touch her again. "I'm done" she mutters, grabbing her stuff and walking away from the room, and from that terrible mistake. 

 

They don't talk about it afterwards. Olivenite, at least, refuses to address the subject. It was just a moment of weakness, nothing more. Only thing to do is forget about it and pretend it never happened. Truth be told, Dumortierite spends months, years, centuries, tying to approach the subject every time any chances bring she and Olivenite together. Evey time Olivenite turns her back on her at the first mention of fusion. She's not risking everything for a silly mistake, no matter how strange or interesting those seconds of feeling were. No matter how bothersome the itch she has been experiencing since the fusion can become.

It takes time for the Dumortierite to give up, but eventually it happens. They are back to their usual lives, to that blissful normality where everything is in perfect place and everyone has a role. 

 

Only the itch is still there. It's deep, subtle but persistent, something as physical as it is mental and it can't be scratched. 

 

The second time it's even less planned than the first. They have been assigned to the same mission, checking on the Lapis's work of terraforming on one of Blue Diamond soon to be new colony. Pairing was Dumortierite's idea, of this Olivenite has been specifically informed soon before leaving. Dumortierite is an excellent speaker, quite the charmer and quite a social position high enough her superior granted her wish.

 

Walking on this new planet surface, Olivenite wishes they hadn't. She quite hate this planet. It's too cold, there's too much water around and, above all, Dumortierite is about to fall t down a cliff because of an over-enthusiastic Lapis who slashed the rock cut where Dumortierite was standing. The fall will shatter her. 

The realization completes in Olivenite's mind as her body has already sprinted on her own, dashing forward in a desperate leap. 

"I got you" she pants, fingers closing around Dumortierite's wrist at the last second. "But you have to help me."

The other gem is heavier than her, she can't lift her alone. Yet, letting her fall and shatter is out of the question. Olivenite lets her other arm hang too from the cliff, dangling her free hand which Dumortierite promptly grab, eyes wide with fear. She kicks her legs searching for some kind of leverage, the sole of her shoes slipping against the smooth rock surface. Her hands are already slipping free from Olivenite's hold. In the sky, the Lapis are too far or too busy to notice they are in trouble. 

Olivenite doesn't know what to do, except that she won't let another gem perish today. Especially not this one. The resolution gives her new strength just in time for Dumortierite to finally find a way to push from the cliff. She pushes as Olivenite pulls. 

 

The  combined effort send them rolling on the ground, hearts racing, limbs interlocking in a mess of light. 

 

"I'm safe," Dumortierite's voice echoes in Olivenite's mind, shaky and still scared. "I'm safe."

Their four hands are blue mixed with green. Olivenite attempts to close one in a fist and Dumortierite's will brings another to the gem on her chest. 

"Fascinating," Olivenite hears her thinking, watching this new body moving. "Do you think we can stand?" 

First try out ends before even beginning, Dumortierite's waving her arms right into their nose to keep her balance. 

"Would you mind that?" Olivenite mutters with this new mouth and new voice. The same voice replies "I'm not the one who lacks grace here."

 

Eventually they settle to a compromise, Olivenite controlling the bottom arms while Dumortierite takes charge of the upper pair. Right leg is hers, left Olivenite's. Their movements are mechanic and stiff but already an improvement and soon they are standing on wobbly legs, arms spread in a silly T-pose to keep their balance.

 

"You down there? It's everything fine?"

 

This Lapis Lazuli's voice sounds distant and yet so close and threatening. The planet to check, the Lapises flying around, in the adrenaline of the moment, Olivenite has forgotten them all. She has forgotten there were other gems flying around, gems who could have witnesses and reported their little crime. 

Panic rushes over her and the fusion can't keep stable much longer. Just in time before the Lapis comes flying down to check.

 

"Yes, all fine," Olivenite answers. "She just tripped," she nods toward Dumortieritie, helping then on her feet, squeezing her arm with a bit too much force in silent warning. Gems don't have human organs, but if they had, Olivenite's would beat out of her chest.

 

So scared she is that it isn't whole days after that she notices how that itch has finally disappeared. 

 

Third time isn't a chance or a mistake for sure. Contrary to any possible expectation, it's Olivenite to approach the subject, softly and with the embarrassment that sometime surrounds certain topics. Dumortierite doesn't let her finish, taking her hands and dragging Olivenite into an embrace that is warm even for a gem. It takes Olivenite by surprise, so much the new attempt at fusing ends with them jolted apart by a burst of energy that sends them each to one side of the room. 

 

"Maybe if you had gave me the time to adjust" Olivenite mutters, massaging her lower back with a grimace. Dumortierite pouts, lifting her chin like she does when she wants to act superior. 

"Maybe you just need to not be so stiff," she replies flashing a smile that Olivenite finds irritating, but not that much. "Now, do we want to try again?"

 

She waves her hand in an elegant gesture, drawing an arc with her arm until her palm is being offered to Olivenite. She can't help but trembling a bit in taking it, but she isn't anymore a few seconds later, twirling in Dumortierite's arms. She is good at leading, her steps sure and after a moment Olivenite scoffs aside and let herself give in the dance. 

"You're really pretty like this," Dumortierite whispers against Olivenite's lips, almost too close, and it's actually the last thing Olivenite hears before that same voice becomes a part of her.

Of them. 

 

Fusion isn't really a novelty. Some gems of the same kind, like the Ruby soldiers or the Topaz guards, are known to fuse all the time when in batte to enhance their power and strength. 

This, however, is different and not only because they are two different gems. Surely it didn't born from war or the need to fight. 

Taking any other Olivenite with any other Dumortierite, the fusion wouldn't be the same. Of this, Olivenite is certain. 

 

 

They start calling themselves a Chrysocolla. It's Olivenite the first to feel it, like remembering a long-forgotten identity, and when everything clicks in place, Dumortierite simply agrees. 

 

Chrysocolla has Dumortierite's signature ponytail and Olivenite's bangs, a blue body streaked in green, two legs and four arms. They have Olivenite's love for etiquette and property enhanced with Dumortierite's excellent interpersonal skills. 

 

It isn't always easy to get a hold on their Chrysocolla form. Often they fight, even for small and silly reason, and the contrast between them so big  fusing become a distant memory. Sometimes they start fighting in the same mind, the fusion immediately coming undone.

 

As opposite characters, it isn't rare for them to have no choice but to repel each other. In other moments, however, those same opposite become the complimentary pieces of the same whole and it's pure beauty.

 

It isn't long before they realize they won't be able to survive on Homeworld. It's not that they want to become another permafusion. Olivenite loves to stay alone for a long period of times, even away from other gems of the same species, and they both cherish their moment of independence deeply. But on Homeworld cross-fusion would never be a viable option, no matter if for few seconds or thousand of years.

 

And they will fuse again. This, at least, is one of the few certainties they have. Even at the height of their occasional fights, even when they spend years bickering, no doubt life would be unbearable if the other was missing. 

 

To decide they won't be hiding on Homeworld like many off-colour already do  - though Dumortieritie firmly refuses to call herself an off-colour -is another certainty. It's not like they hadn't tried it for a while, otherwise they wouldn't even ever met the off-colours. Fluorite's four gems proves an wonderful source of guidance and advices when it comes to fusion and the Rutiles twins can light the way in the Kindergarten system of caves, but two gems who were used to live in the palace can survive only a while on a constant run living in a  wasteland. Especially Dumortierite is always complaining and the off-colours, while too afraid to get angry, are clearly upset. It's never nice when a complete stranger bursts into your life and starts criticizing here and there. 

It isn't long before Olivenite gets fed up on how Dumortierite can't seem to adapt. What follows is a vicious fight and finally the decision to move elsewhere. 

No doubt there's no elsewhere on Homeworld where they could ever be safe, so they turn their attention outside the borders, to space. Maybe one distant colony the Diamond do not check or visit much often. A nice place where a gem could live. 

 

It won't particularly matter where. A gem, after all, doesn't need to eat or drink, nor particularly beautiful sceneries or much company. Stealing a ship from Yellow Diamond fleet proves more difficult and surely way more dangerous, but Rhodonite has memorized enough from her pilots day to guide them towards a small but fast ship whose absence won't be noted if not days later. It's small and round, not too different from the ships piloted by Rubies and in a few moments Olivenite has already took a grasp on it. 

 

Outside the cockpit window Space is vast, so full of possibilities and for that moment, tilting his head back to smile a bit toward Dumortierite, she allows herself to not be scared.

 

They never stay long on the same planet. Sometimes the Diamonds decide to check on even the most remote colonies and sometimes it's mostly Dumortierite getting bored or the same place after a while. She lives for novelty and can become quite bothersome when too tired, pretending from Olivenite an excessive amount of attention. 

 

It isn't much time before the gem gets fed up, and though she knows from where they came, Dumortierite's demands are exhausting, even oppressing. Olivenite likes her space, her isolation and needs them just as much as Dumortierite requires company. 

 

One time Olivenite just takes the ship and leave. It isn't exactly planned, but she does it nonetheless. It happens soon after their last fusion, the moment she feels her identity and Dumortierite's melting into one. What any other time wouldn't be a problem, this occasion panics her, the fear of losing herself into the other gem's demand. 

 

Maybe they rushed things too much. Maybe what they mistook for whatever feeling links them was only co-dependency. 

 

Whatever the answer, what's sure is that Olivenite flies.  She stays on another planet for some years, maybe a century, it's hard to say when one is supposedly immortal. She walks the planet, reads again the few texts she managed to bring with her from Homeworld and overall ignores how lonely being alone is. How much she misses being with Dumortierite. She's her own person and yet she feels incomplete. It's silly, all of this. So silly. Silly she left everything behind for something she can't even classify, silly that she ran away and silly that she is now returning. 

 

"You'll leave me again," Dumortierite pouts, still playing offese, after Olivenite has at least managed to convince her to talk with her again. It took weeks. 

"Maybe," she admits. No use in denying it. Not now, at least. "But I'll also come back," she adds and of this she's absolutely certain. "Every time."

 

"It was lonely, here, you know."

Dumoriteirite embraces his knees, placing his chin gentle on top of them. After a moment of hesitation, Olivenite circles her shoulders with an arm. "I know." 

She pauses, words uncertain in her mouth. "I felt lonely too."

 

It's like a signal, enough for Dumortierite to held her in a sudden but not refused embrace and suddenly it's not silly anymore.

 

"I missed this," Olivenite murmurs, with Chrysocolla's voice, touching a gem that's hers and isn't at the same time. Outside her control, one of her four hands surges to tap at the gem shining in her forehead. She smiles. "Right."

 

They're messy, a disaster, alone and together. Except when they aren't and though it's only a start of a long journey, there, sharing the same body, they both agree that is worth exploring.