Edit: Due to fails on my part, this post shall be reduced to

Emerald fell asleep from exhaustion.

Another small cloud of fire had just escaped Amber's lips, this one he noticed and was slightly surprised by it, when the Gem from earlier approached him. He wanted to stay mad, stay angry and ready to snap at somebody, but this lady's words were the ones that made the most sense to Amber since he got back from the Kindergarten. He let out a deep breath, it consisting of a cluster of embers rather than a puff of flames. "Aye this is the first time I lost a comra- the first time I lost a friend." He said in a much softer tone, unclenching the fists that had formed much too long ago. "I-I... I don't see how this will make anyone stronger mum..." The orange Gem said as he let his gaze fall to the floor.

Chromite tried her best to look approachable, but her normally professional and taciturn nature made it difficult. She managed to crack an understated smile. This was about as gentle as Chromite got. "Of course you don't, you can't really see the effects of the present when you're still in it. Rest assured, you'll be able to look back on this one day, and you'll know that the pain you're going through now did indeed make you stronger. All struggle makes you stronger, that's what it's there for. I may not have known this friend of yours, but I know that if you can allow losing her to strengthen your resolve and make you a better ally, then her life was one well lived."

----------------- Bloodstone's lab, ~1000 years ago -------------------

Bloodstone sat in his lab, bent over one of the tables. A multitude of chemicals and equipment surrounded him and a two halves of a red gem could be seen in front of him. He grabbed a test tube from his right and held it over the gem. Let's see, just a tiny bit more of chlominium aaaanndd.... Blood watched as the previously red gem bled it's color and became pure white. It was perfect, no impurities, no emotional imbalances, this gem would be free of the hell that led to so many gems death. Bloodstone them preceded to bring out a small piece of technology that looked similar to the gem discombobulater but was clearly different. He fused the two halves of the gem back together and looked at his handiwork. I wonder what this gem will be like, emotionless sure, but will it share any characteristics to Spinel such as her bow or her ability to blind enemies with a strong flash of light. Perhaps they'll be the same height. This is the first successful remake and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Now he just needed to get this to the Kindergarten and let the injectors bring it back to life. Hopefully everything would work out and a new, better, advanced, perfect gem would come out of this. Blood quickly ran to his warp pad and warped to the Kindergarten, and began activating an injector. The injector stirred to life and began drilling into the ground. Bloodstone inserted the gem into a compartment in the injector which would place the gem deep in the ground along with the chemicals needed to bring the newborn to life. All that was left to do now was wait and hope.

Blood returned to his lab and looked around at all the other gem shards that he had to remake. He hoped things would go as well as the last one. Blood's mind wandered to memories of these gems, but mostly Spinel. She always looked up to him as a mentor. She always wanted to help wherever she could, do whatever was needed. It was sad that someone so loyal had to die out but that's war. None of this would have happened if Rose didn't care so much for humans. Sure they are in danger now but only because Rose started a war that caught them in the crossfire Spinel could have lived and so could have every other gem. But now Bloodstone was forced to repair what had been broken by this idiotical war. Hopefully, for the better.

Amber let out another breath, this one more of a sigh, that contained more embers. The words were making sense, but he still felt horrid for what he had just seen. "Maybe.." Was all he could manage to say as a response. He looked off to the group that was still chatting away and let out another sigh, this one not a spark filled as the last one. He still wanted to be alone, wanted to find somewhere he could let out all of this anger that was building up in him, but he found it kind of... reassuring to see all of them all together. He shook his head slightly before looking to the Gem that had come over to speak to him. "...Thanks mum, but there is something I 'ave to go do." He said before gave her a slight nod before he started to walk off again.

Candice suddenly felt a heavy weight on her shoulders after Mars stated that fighting felt good and asked if he could do it again, to which she answered "No! That's worse than...what you did earlier. I'll explain later when we're alone,". He felt the inclination to fight and hurt others...and yet, he didn't understand what casualties and death were. Before she could answer him though, Reggie already spoke up and told him that his weapon was a gun. She rolled her eyes discreetly at Reggie's comment about him not respecting authority. It was an understatement considering that Mars had no sense of privacy.

She looked as Bloodstone's companion spoke with a still angry Amber and how she managed to calm the large gem down, much to her relief. Soon enough the orange gem had walked away from the group.
After he left, Candice looked to the gems Chromite and Eve. She didn't trust Chromite, so she looked to Eve while Mars pet her hair. She asked Eve after clearing her throat, "As I have stated earlier, Mars has a lot of questions about gems that I can't answer. Can you answer them, or would it be better if he spoke with the tall blue woman?" She was careful not to use Aquamarine's name because it could've pointed out the fact that she was a spy.

"Is there something wrong with you? Why are you so tiny?"

Those sudden words hit Eve a lot harder than she dared let on or admit to herself, never mind others. Nonetheless, her ears, as they involuntarily do, went down at this remark, though they were back up so quickly that it was hard to tell whether or not it wasn't just a flick or twitch.

Something wrong with her. Was there something wrong with her? That was something she had wondered about ever since her very first days of being conscious, albeit for different reasons than now. In all likelihood? Yes, yes there was. Intentionally or not, there was just as there was with Spinel, and she was certain the same could be said for Emerald.

"I guess she just....is. We're just different heights. To us, you look abnormally tall. I could ask the same of you."

Before she could give her own response, Emerald had answered for her. Simple, straightforward. Not the answer she would've given, and probably for the better, considering her state of mind. Never in her life would she ever thought she'd be glad to have Emerald around, but she wouldn't deny that she was glad he answered before she did.

Realising that speaking on her part would probably best be avoided, Eve remained silent and let the others do the talking, though still fixed her attention on Mars and Amber, in case the fighting did resurface. The little gem grew less tense as she watched Mars, until he turned his attention to her once more. Ready to pull off the equivalent of the boulder stunt once more in case he did something stupid, Eve found herself completely taken back as the gem who has revealed himself as Marra Mamba -Mars- reached out to...Pet her? Eve's eyes widened and her entire body froze, too stunned to respond. Only one other gem had done that to her, an older gem she missed dearly and one she was worried she'd never find again. Amongst her confusion, shock, and slight irritation, she couldn't help but feel content, even comforted, by this gesture, and though she couldn't suppress the chuckle that followed his 'so soft' remark, she was nonetheless grateful when he stopped. Unfrozen and silent once again, Eve continued to watch the others, wanting badly to add onto Chromite's words to Amber but deciding better of it. That, and the fact that even if she wanted to join them, there was the issue of Emerald, whom had nearly crushed her upon his collapse. Eyes glowing, she kept Emerald afloat for a few quick moments before setting him gently on the ground, shaking her head and sighing.

"Emerald," she muttered through gritted teeth, "What are we ever going to do about you?"

Taking her attention off the sleeping gem, she turned back towards Chromite and Amber, the latter of which was about to leave. Using all her willpower to keep herself from running after him, she simply watched the third and last gem she had grown attached to leave her.

All she said as he did so was, "Please be careful," before turning back to Mars and Candice.

"Mars, was it? Though I am technically 'Evenkite', like yourself, I'd prefer you not call me that, but rather simply 'Eve'. I cannot give you a better answer about my height than Emerald did, but I can explain what I mean by 'casualties' and 'dying', which you really ought to understand before either occurs. As for the fighting, perhaps another time, when it is needed. Fighting is something that should be avoided without proper purpose, especially somewhere like here where the lives and safety of others can be directly affected in consequence. Besides, my orange...friend, I want to say, Amber, needs his alone time, and shouldn't be a target nonetheless. As for your question, ma'am, I can try to the best of my abilities to answer whatever questions Mars has, but ultimately the 'tall blue woman', assuming you mean Aquamarine and not a different tall blue gem," she paused, a brief guilty look in her eyes as she brought up this over gem, "Then yes, yes she would be better at answering any questions, though Bloodstone would probably know even more as he wasn't reforming for the past who knows how many years, and Chromite here is also quite capable of answering any questions. Either way though, I personally wouldn't like for him to meet either of them until he hears about both sides of their stories due to some...Conflicting ideologies between the two. Though I am on my way to meet with Aquamarine nonetheless, so if you would like to follow despite my wishes and ask her whatever it is you want, doing so entirely acceptable."

Sodalite's... reading? It was unclear what exactly she was doing, sliding around on a swivel chair to several places in her room. It moved around curves and twists as if it were nothing. It was moved by Sodalite's mental desire to move, as that seemed to be the key to the rooms. They could generate anything the owner of the room wanted and acted as they wished.

Suddenly, she began to scribble furiously onto a pad of paper. She was too far into her studies to be bothered with anything, and it was easily possible for her to be gone for a couple days at a time and not realize how long she had been working. It had happened before, and it could happen again.

---

The tension in the air was obvious. despite this, Chuck was unsure about what exactly had happened to put the Gems into such distress. While he wanted to jump in and continue to comfort Amber for whatever may have been going on, it would most likely be a bad move on his part. He wasn't really around all that often with his Mayor-ly duties and such, and seemed to have missed a lot. Evenkite seemed to be on bad terms with Amber, and a bunch of other stuff. He wanted to help, eh really did, but he honestly didn't believe that now was the time to act.

Evenkite's departure left a sour taste in his mouth, something that didn't sit well with him at all. After a moment to collect his scrambled emotions, Johnny downed his root beer and closed the chip bag before starting up the Van. It didn't take long for him to find his way to the Temple, having been there several times in the past couple months but somehow this felt darker. There was something bad being carried on the wind and as he got closer he felt less sure if he should continue. The crunch of gravel and the clunk of a car door signaled his arrival at the temple and it had never, ever seemed more imposing. Timidly he walked up the steps to the temple before he pushed open the door, deed and new faces permeating the air.

"What...what's going on here?"

Mars frowned a little at Candice's exclamation, only half-listening to the small gem's words. He'd stay silent for a little while in contemplation, his brows scrunched together as his mind swirled with uncertainty. Looking between Candice and Eve, Mars decided to voice his thoughts, and while he didn't seem outwardly bothered by the comment, his voice was full of a sense of uncertainty that he didn't know how to deal with, and he was loud enough that even Amber and Chrimite would be ablr to hear him, a sign of how frantic his thoughts made him.

"If fighting is bad, does that mean that . . .I'm bad for liking it? Is there something wrong with me, is that what the voices in my head are about?" Mars looked at the two with confused, frantic eyes, desperate for answers to these questions. Was he bad for something he couldn't control? Was he damaged, defective, a mistake?

"I . . .I'll come with you to the temple. I want answers, and I want them now, I don't care who they're from.

@Loony

@Guardian Angel Haruki

@21308



Reggie watched Mars' reaction with a wortied glance, wondering about the strange gem for a moment. He thought back to a month ago, on how Bloodstone had told that one ghostly gem how she had been designed to be emotionless. If they could remove all of a gem's emotions . . . then whose to say tney can't amplify themmas well, such as aggression. Kirk's got some explainung to do when we get back to the ship, cause if he's been around for as long as he says, he had to gave given the okay for this. Genuis commandef manages to screw up yet another newborn. Someone else should've been put in charge of that, dammit.

Candice gasped in shock at Mars' questions. It hurt her to hear him ask those questions, and it stirred something that she had locked away in her own heart. She hurried over to Mars, and she answered him with worry seeping into her voice and showing in her wide eyes that were almost as frantic as his, "No, Mars! That's not true at all! There's nothing wrong with you! You're not bad! You were just born a couple of hours ago, so there's a lot that you're still learning about, and have to learn! So please...don't think like that..." Her last statement was the quietest reigned in her emotions. She truly didn't want anyone else to think like that, whether they were human or not.

Soon enough, he stated that he wanted to go to the temple, and she nodded to him and she said ready to lead him there, "OK. Let's get going then," She wasn't sure if she wanted to be there now. She felt utterly sick to her stomach at the thought of using these circumstances to bug the temple and make sure that the leader of the gems who helped the town didn't have ulterior motives.

Aqua listened more than speaking, not really feeling up to answering the questions he was throwing her way. What did she care if he was at a disadvantage? She wanted a fair fight if it ever came to that and Blood had always been hard to read even with them being side by side through the ages. How did she know what had changed with him while she was gone? Would he use what he had learned while training them against the young gems? He said it himself that he would fight the ones that got in his way and any that chose to fight by her side would be doing just that. She would never ask them to fight by her side but if they wanted to she would not say no. This means that anything Blood learned could be dangerous if used against the young gems.

What did she have to lose? Everything...the young gems she had come to love in one form or another, Earth which she had been fighting for all along, and the humans that had something special that even she couldn't explain plus the ones she had come to care for. Bloodstone wouldn't see this and it would be pointless to explain. The hand on her shoulder shocked her, making her eyes snap instantly to Blood's and having the sight of that ever same smug look she remembered on so many occasions. She hadn't wanted to feel comfort from the hand on her shoulder and luckily for Aquamarine the smug looked helped to push that unwanted feeling away since she knew whatever he had to say next she would not like. Blood's hand left her skin, the comfort and the warmth of it still there as he backed up and ready to pull out his weapon.

Her eyes widen though in surprise that it was not his weapon that he had summoned but her own even if the coloring was off. She didn't like this idea and now she was really against it but he did make some valid points. It made her confused on what would really be the best choice. She flinched a bit as he threw the weapon at one of the walls that was clear of everyone else and his words made her frown and she crossed her arms slightly. Aqua closed her eyes, Howlite's last look showing in her head as he spoke of survival and the thoughts of it being all her fault once more surfacing. "A vote. I will ask the young gems what they want because it is their fate and their trust that is on the line. If they agree than no matter of my worries I will agree to a temporary truce. If they do not wish for you to be here than I will decline for them. If the decision is very split than maybe we can come to an arrangement that you will only help train the ones that agree and leave the ones that don't in my care alone." she answered, keeping her eyes closed so that she could hold it together. She felt like she could fall apart at any moment and if she could just bottle the emotions now than it would save her the trouble of looking like a fool and fall apart in privacy.

"What...what's going on here?"

Aquamarine's eyes shot open as her attention moved on Johnny, tears starting to build in her eyes at the simple innocent question and her arms dropping limp at her sides. The emotions she had been trying all this time to hide, to hold back and be strong where lost in that moment. The scene of Howlite death playing in her head like a movie as she stared at the human, seeing but not seeing him. She felt the despair, the guilt, the anger, the sorrow, and she wished in that moment she had been alone because she want to scream. She wanted to scream, cry her soul out, and just throw something. Instead she settle on staring, not even feeling the tears that flowed down her cheeks freely and she wanted to crumble so she did. She slumped to the ground, falling to her knees before she sat completely on the ground and her hands going to her face though it wouldn't have hardly mattered since her hair blocked most of the view of her. Aqua's body shook, her voice in completely agony and hitching since she couldn't seem to breath in enough air so that she could get the words all the way out or even finish her sentence, "H-Howlite is d-dead! Johnny, s-she is gone a-and I...I..."

@Kronshi@Pathfinder

"H-Howlite is d-dead! Johnny, s-she is gone a-and I...I..."
The words punched a knife into his gut and twisted. Howlite, was dead. Sure she was odd, always seeming not quite there or her attention splintering off to other things in short order. But now she was...dead. He knew, he just knew something was up when Eve showed up and it took a great deal of effort to bury the notion that it was in any way her fault before Aqua's cries pierced the veil of his confusion.

The sight of a person he could almost consider a part of his family overcome with hurt unlocked every protective instinct in his body. Without a word Johnny shot to her side, the world blurring together as he wrapped Aqua in a hug. He didn't say anything, no shushes or whispers that everything will be all right, those can come later. For now, she just had to let it all out.

"Working with him does make more sense, as long as we can do it in a way that doesn't put us at risk." Spinel said. "Zircon, Sodalite, what do you think? Uh... Sodalite?" It appeared that Sodalite was already gone again, just splendid. Spinel didn't want to bother Aquamarine or Johnny, but she felt it would be necessary to inform Aqua before she should try to gather everyone so they could take a poll. "Well, at least two of us are here, at any rate. So where do you stand on this, Zircon?"

Aqua felt arms surrounding her, the hug completely unexpected but not unwelcome as she felt the comfort of it. She returned the hug, clinging to Johnny like a life line as she buried her face into his shoulder making him her pillar of strength at the moment. She cried as softly as possible as she was already embarrassed by her outburst and falling apart in front of Bloodstone but letting everyone hear her loudly cry was something she didn't want. She already felt the need to apologize for not being able to save Howlite and now she was shedding tears all over Johnny which was probably soaking his clothes making her feel bad.

He said nothing, no words but the action was enough. She didn't want someone to tell her everything would be okay. She knew that with time this wound on her heart would heal but it would always pain her, just like all the others that had fallen before her eyes. The young gems had helped her heal and helped to distract her from expressing her complete sorrow over the past because she was always looking towards the future but now she was finally letting it all out. The pain from years ago and the new hurt blurring together.

Aquamarine didn't look up as Spinel spoke, listening to the others opinion and got ready to hear what the other two wanted. Soda seemed no where to be found which meant she was probably in her room again and her return would be unknown seeing as it could go from hours to days sometimes even longer. Spinel asked Zircon her opinion on letting Blood help train them and she carefully peeked from Johnny's shoulder to look at Zircon, wanting to let the two know she was indeed listening but still wanted to stay in the comfort of the hug as well as staying hidden from seen a little longer.

@21308@Pathfinder@LizLegend@Kronshi

Once again, the door to Sodalite's room opened up, the woman speeding out on her chair with several papers in her hands. She said nothing,a nd continued to observe the sight before her. Her eyes focused on the mayor, who seemed to have just arrived with another human and yet another gem. It was becoming quite the party, she observed. She shook her head. Even with bloodstone present, she couldn't allow herself to get her hopes up. It seemed that Johny was back, and everyone was still somber about Howlite.

Mars

Mars was shocked by Candice's reaction, as this was the most he'd ever seen her emote before. He didn't say anything in response, simply nodding in silence as she led the way to the temple. While her answer made him feel better, it also confused him even more.

If I'm not bad, why do I have these urges to do bad things? No one else seems to have them, so it means that something is wrong with me, but Candice said that I'm fine. . . . this is so confusing, maybe this blue woman everyone's talking about knows something.

As they approached the temple, his ears perked up as he heard voice coming from inside, and as he walked in, he caught sight of several other gems of various colorations inside, including two blue ones. But before a thought could form in his head, he felt a shudder move through his body, his eyes widening in shock. He took a step back, clutching his head in pain as he let out a pained shout. Images and information was surging through his brain like lightening, faces without names and names without faces. Before he even knew what was going on he charged forward at the tall red gem stopping just in front of him with a look of intense rage on his face. He didn't know why he was feeling so much anger and rage at the gem in front of him, but he could hardly hold himself back. In fact, if it wasn't for what Candice had told him earlier, he didn't think he'd even try to. But as he stared at the gem's face, his irises actually glowing with an fiery intensity, a name suddenly came to him, and he spit it out with a mix of disdain and nostalgia.

"Bloodstone."

As the name rang through his mind, he suddenly felt memories flutter through his mind, numerous and chaotic, filled with a wide variety of emotions of varying from happiness and comradere to an anger so dark and dismal that it scared him. Mars' confusion soon gave way into his own anger as he attempted to grab the gem by his collar, looking down at him with a clear look of conflictedness.

"Who are you, why do I know you're name, and why . . . why am I alive!?!?" As Mars spoke, his voice would change again half way through, taking on that same world-weary tone as before, except this one was filled with a such a dark mix of hatred and denial so unlike Mars earlier outburst that the difference in the two was very clear. The slip shocked Mars' causing him to back away from bloodstone, tripping over his legs to fall to the ground. And there he stayed, clasping his head and shaking as he another burst of pain raced through his head. More images continued to flash through his mind, over and over again, as if on a loop, and unlike before, it didn't seem like it would end on it's own.

@Kronshi

@Akayaofthemoon

@21308

@Pathfinder

@LizLegend

@Pyroman

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Zircon smiled back when she caught a glimpse of Spinel smiling at her. Seeing people smile, it was actually something made Zircon smile herself. Sometimes out of reaction, but mostly out of thought. Aside from that though, her attention was mostly on this brought up topic of...'training'. Don't get it all wrong, Zircon doesn't mind training one bit. But of course...the fact that it's Bloodstone who's offering... The whole thing just felt odd. Especially after today, Zircon wants training more than ever. Anything to get...stronger. Or better. More-or-so prepared. Yet Zircon was put in a standstill only because of one concern. With Bloodstone being the one who offered and all, would it come off as betrayal in some way if she accepted? To be honest Zircon would like to see what Bloodstone has to offer in this training herself, but if that meant betrayal to everyone else then that was a no go. Well, wait. Spinel did say she would take up the offer, so...it's somewhat different right? Is it? If there were to be an actual truce, then that would be a different story. But it seems like the decision of a truce was left to the gems, or rather a vote on what they think about this offer. In this case, Zircon would prefer to be at least one of the last to vote and probably go with the popular vote. She's passive about this either way. But if she were asked to vote first then she would--

"Well, at least two of us are here, at any rate. So where do you stand on this, Zircon?"

...That irony. From hearing Spinel's voice directed towards her, Zircon broke out of her deep thought. She didn't answer right away; of course she had to think about her answer for a few seconds. She looked to Spinel before glancing towards Aquamarine and Johnny, and then looking back to Spinel before her gaze naturally wandered to the side. She was somewhat sheepish for a bit, but not for long enough to hear it in her voice. Her arms loosely half-wrapped around herself, "Honestly, I'm passive...but if I were to give a direct answer..." Zircon caught herself suddenly pausing for the slightest second and tried to make herself keep going. She wanted to think just a little more but she didn't want to keep them waiting. "Depending on what everyone else says, I wouldn't...mind giving it a try..." Zircon's head was still slightly to the side, her gaze somewhat downcast towards the ground.

Her head wasn't lifted up until the voice of someone else's presence was heard--a new voice. When Zircon looked towards him she slightly adjusted her footing, probably by not even a lot to be noticeable. Wait. Hold on. Is that another gem? Zircon listened to him say 'Why am I alive'. Another newborn possibly? Just a guess. Zircon would speak up and say something, but...she's not exactly sure what this new gem is going on about. Or rather...what's going on with him in general considering whatever made him trip to the ground. She's not exactly sure what to do...if there even is anything she can do.

...This isn't going to be another moment where Zircon feels helpless again, is it? We're probably just going to have to wait and see.

Aquamarine awaited Zircon's answer, watching the young gem closely that is until the enterance to the Temple had visitors. She would not let one more leader see her in this state so she gave Johnny a quick squeeze before standing up, wiping her face. She was about to greet the Mayor and ask about who the new human was but was a little startled to see a new gem, not only a new gem but one that made a sudden cry of pain as the other held their head making her step forward in concern. She was going to check him over, see what might be wrong when he charged at Blood which made her features furrow in confusion. Did they know each other? Why was this new gem so angry at Bloodstone? She didn't like the conflict happening in front of her and something about this confrontation was eerie.

She looked between the two, listening carefully to the new gem speak Bloodstone's name as if seeing someone from long ago but it didn't seem as if they knew each other. Aqua saw the emotions in the other but the one that stood out most was a conflictedness and an anger that she could not understand. The words this new gem spoke told that they didn't know each other but it made her start to realize that this could be another gem that Blood made from shards. She believes in life but it still hit her wrong to think about who they might have been. It was when the young gems voice changed that she felt shock, anger, and horror. This conflicted and pained gem...it couldn't be...was he made from...."Tiger?..she whispered, in complete shock and confusion. She looked to Blood with hopeful eyes, they begged him to tell her she was wrong before she turned to kneel down in front of the young gem. She didn't know if this could be anything she could help or heal this kind of hurt but she could try. Aqua carefully reached out, knowing that she might be attacked but it didn't matter as she touched both sides of his face.

"If you can hear me, try to look and focus on me. Don't get lost...anchor yourself to the present by this moment." she spoke softly, her hands glowing as she spoke as her healing powers wanted to come forth to stop the pain but mental pain couldn't be healed by her ice or at least she hadn't found a way how yet.

Emerald opened his eyes, and everything seemed strange. It was so...unclear. A few words popped into his head. Fuzzy. Blurry. Distorted. He stood up and immediately lost his balance and fell back onto the ground. He got back up again, and somehow fell over again. Urgh.......what is this? I can't control my own body! Maybe Aquamarine knows something about it. Speaking of which... Emerald gazed around from the floor, but everything looked too hazy to make out. He felt around for something to pull himself up with, and found some sort of metal box that had been sent flying by the fight. He pulled himself up and, clutching his head, wobbled over to where he saw some blurry multicolored images, stumbling along the way...at least they weren't hard to find. "Ugh........why can't I stop falling over? Why does everything look so blurry?" Emerald crashed down onto the ground, partially of his own accord, and he could've sworn that he saw a rock there last time he checked. "Ow....."