Whatever It Takes

Hypnonite ran around the forest clearing, chasing a butterfly made of blue light. She laughed and giggled as she held out her arms, trying to catch the light butterfly. She jumped up and caught the butterfly in hands. She slowly opened her hands up to find that the butterfly had disappeared. She sighed disappointedly as she glanced around the clearing and up into the trees. She couldn’t see Mother, but she knew she was up there watching her. She waited until a small light formed from high above and slowly descended. She watched as it reached the ground and took the form of a fox. It started to run around playfully, but Hypnonite just stared at it, unamused. She turned her head back up towards the trees and said, “Can I have the butterfly again?” She heard the snap and the fox changed to a butterfly. Hypnonite smiled and started to chase the butterfly.

Labradorite was laying on a branch high up in the trees. She watched Hypnonite as she chased the butterfly. She had tried many other creatures to entertain her, but she seemed to love the butterfly out of all of them. She had even tried other insects, but she always asked for the butterfly even then. She smiled as she scribbled down some notes on her notepad. She turned back to watch Hypnonite when she noticed two gems enter the clearing. She recognized both of them instantly and sneered; Pink Opal and that gem that wanted to poof her. They stopped in their tracks when they saw Hypnonite who was still chasing the butterfly. Labradorite bubbled her notepad and pencil before she leapt down from the branch she was perched on, to the ground below, landing in between them and Hypnonite. Pink Opal and the unknown gem stared back at her in surprise as Hypnonite wrapped her arms around Labradorite’s waist and peered around Labradorite at their visitors and smiled. Labradorite sighed at her and placed her arm on Hypnonite’s head, holding her closer to her. Then, she turned to glare at Pink Opal and her friend. She was in no mood to entertain guests, but they wouldn’t have come here unless they had a reason to and she wanted to find out what that was. She looked at the unknown gem that wanted to bubble her and said, “I see Astrophyllite finally decided to let you out. I was hoping she’d keep you in that bubble prison. So, are you here to be rid of me like any criminal?” The gem shook her head. “No. I came here to see if you could resurrect another gem.” Labradorite let out a long sigh as she ran her hand through her hair. You resurrect one gem and everyone comes running to you to resurrect more. “My services aren’t free and if you want something that of that magnitude, you better have something good to offer to me.” “I don’t have much to offer, but I need this done, at least one of so many gems. I took this gem away from my sister, I took away her daughter. Now, I have a chance to correct that and bring back my niece. Please,” the gem pleaded. Hypnonite laughed at the gem. “Awh! That’s a really sad story, but you heard mom! No free rides, lady!” she giggled. Labradorite raised an eyebrow as she glanced down at Hypnonite. “I’ll have to make sure to document that later, but she is right. I don’t care about your guilt and regrets. If you want me to do something, then you must be willing to pay for such services.” The gem looked down at Hypnonite at Labradorite’s side. “She’s not like any gem I’ve ever seen before. How old is she?” Labradorite looked down at Hypnonite and then back at the gem. “She’s about a week old. Why?” “I was a former educator and in return for such a service, I offer my services as an instructor to her,” she offered. Labradorite opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Hypnonite. “Eww! Yuck! That sounds like a horrible deal! Right, Mommy?” Hypnonite looked up at Labradorite smiling, but her smile quickly vanished when she saw Labradorite glaring angrily at her. Hypnonite sunk back behind Labradorite and hid behind her. “Your offer is acceptable to me. Now, give me the gem shards so I can take a look at them,” Labradorite said as she held out her hand. “I don’t have the shards with me,” the gem said. She watched as Labradorite’s hand slowly curled into a fist and her face twisted with anger and contempt. “You come here, set up an agreement to resurrect a shattered gem and you don’t even have the shards with you?! If you knew you didn’t have the shards, then why would you have wasted my time?!” Labradorite screamed furiously. Hypnonite peered around Labradorite and looked up at her and then at the mystery gem as a smug look formed on her face. “I’m sorry, but it clearly was not a waste of time since you have secured an instructor for you daughter,” the gem pointed out. Labradorite sneered at her and yelled, “Well, until you have the shards, then whatever arrangements we have made are terminated until you secure the shards!” “Fine, but just know that you are putting your ego before your daughter’s best interests,” she said and she walked away with Pink Opal in tow. Labradorite and Hypnonite watched them leave. “What I’d give to shatter her,” Labradorite growled to herself and then turned and walked away.

~

White Azeztulite returned to the warp pad and stepped onto it. She waited for Pink Opal to step onto it before she activated it. While in the warp stream, Pink Opal looked at White Azeztulite and asked, “So, what now?” “I’m going to get those shards. I owe it to my sister to bring this gem back if I can, but getting the shards won’t be easy. I don’t think she’d give me them, so we’re not going to ask for them.” “What are you suggesting? That we steal them?” “Yes. We’ll wait until they leave and we’ll sneak in and look for the shards.” Pink Opal fell silent, not wanting to say anything else. She didn’t like this idea, but she didn’t think that her voice would mean anything to this Azeztulite. They arrived on the tropical island that was home to Smokey Quartz. They looked at the quaint cabin that housed the warp pad. “How… lovely,” Pink Opal remarked. “So, where are we going to hide until whosever’s here leaves?” White Azeztulite remained silent as she stepped off the warp pad followed by Pink Opal, and stepped outside. She looked around at the thinned out forest before she turned to Pink Opal. “We’ll hide within this forest near the warp pad so we can know exactly when she leaves,” White Azeztulite said as she walked off to find a decent spot to wait until Smokey would leave. She found a tree that was surrounded by several bushes that would be able to hide her and Pink Opal. She signaled Pink over to her and indicated for her to sit behind the tree, obscured by the brush. Pink pouted, but sat where she was told and then White Azeztulite sat next to her. “So, how long do you think this will take?” Pink Opal asked as she drew her legs close to her body and hugged them. “I don’t know, but we’ll just sit here and wait,” White Azeztulite remarked. Pink Opal sighed. She really didn’t want to wait for who knows how long for whoever lives here to leave this place so they can look and steal some gem’s shards. But, Azeztulite seemed determined and Pink didn’t feel like fighting with this foolish gem. So, they waited and the days passed and no one had tried to leave the island. On the fifth day, Pink was about at her limit with waiting for whatever to leave. She was about to say something to White Azeztulite when she heard someone laughing, a laugh that sounded familiar. She peered through the leaves as she saw two women, a tall woman dressed in a long gray trench coat and her former Pink Pearl, heading for the warp pad. She gasped softly as she watched the other woman wrapped her arm around Pink Pearl and pulled her closer to her and displaying such affectionate behavior. She sneered in disgust that any gem would dare have relations with a lowly Pearl. She looked away, unable to stomach the scene, and she looked over at White Azeztulite. “They’re leaving,” she mumbled. “Are you sure?” “Yes. I just saw them walking to the warp pad.” Pink Opal watched as White Azeztulite peered around the tree and watched them. Pink heard the warp pad activate and heard White Azeztulite get up shortly afterward. She motioned for Pink to follow her as she left their hiding spot. Pink heaved herself up from where she had been sitting for days and followed after White Azeztulite. They searched the area for something, but Pink wasn’t sure what they were looking for. Then, they found a giant stone door that seemed to lead somewhere. Pink Opal stood off to the side as she watched White Azeztulite try and open the door. Pink snorted when she saw that the door wouldn’t budge, but Azeztulite still tried. “Well, looks like your attempt of thief has failed,” Pink Opal chided. “Shall we leave now?” “No,” she remarked. “We need to look for another way in. Let’s scout the perimeter for another way in,” Azeztulite instructed as she started walked off. Pink Opal sighed and followed her. They walked around perimeter of the island as Azeztulite looked for another entrance to carry out her scheme. Pink stopped walking when Azeztulite slowed down and then walked towards the edge of the cliff and peered down. “You find something?” Pink asked as she joined Azeztulite. “Yes. There’s a giant opening in the face of the cliff. It’s probably a docking area and our way in,” she said excitedly. “Great. How do we get down there?” Pink asked. “Well, we’d have to swim.” “Are you kidding me? Hell no!” Pink Opal protested. “Look, this isn’t about you and me, it’s about righting a horrible wrong and bringing an innocent gem back to life. Surely you can agree that such a cause is worth getting at least a little wet,” Azeztulite said. Pink Opal looked back at her, unamused and unpersuaded. Azeztulite sighed as she walked over to Pink Opal and smiled sweetly. “Well, if I would leave you here, but I don’t trust you to stay,” she remarked as she pushed Pink Opal off the edge. As she fell, Pink turned to look at Azeztulite and grabbed onto her arm and pulled her down with her. They hit that water with a loud “splash” and they both swam up to the surface. Pink Opal glared at White Azeztulite, silently hating her for pushing her into the water. Either she didn’t notice or she choose to ignore, she started to swim in the giant opening that she saw and Pink followed her, grumbling to herself. They swam into the docking area and hurried out of the water and back onto solid ground. They headed into the cavern and started their search for the shattered gem’s shards. Well, Pink Opal just stood around while Azeztulite searched each room they found until they arrived in a library. Pink stepped in and briefly looked around while Azeztulite did a full sweep of the library. “I found it!” Azeztulite called out happily. Pink Opal looked over at her and saw her standing in front of a shelf that had silver canisters lined on the shelf. She watched as Azeztulite pulled one of the canisters off the shelf and walked over to her, holding it tightly in her arms. “Now that I have my niece’s shards let’s get back to Labradorite,” she said as she headed out the library with Pink Opal.

~

White Azeztulite and Pink Opal returned to Labradorite’s forest and made their way to the forest’s heart. They found Labradorite standing in the middle of the clearing with Hypnonite standing in front of her. She had her arms wrapped around Hypnonite and rested her head on Hypnonite’s head. “Glad to see that you came back,” Labradorite said. “The shards,” she demanded. White Azeztulite slowly approached them and held out the silver canister. Hypnonite took it away from her, opened it up, and lifted it up so Labradorite peered inside for a couple of minutes before she turned to look at White Azeztulite. “A Pearl? You want me to reconstruct a Pearl? And by the looks a defective one considering the shape of some of the shards,” Labradorite commented as she looked back in the canister. “You what?!” Pink Opal’s voice screeched through the clearing as she marched over to White Azeztulite. “You want to bring back a horrid defective gem? A Pearl nonetheless!” Azeztulite glared at Pink Opal and then slapped her like Silver Diamond would have. “You will not speak ill of my family in my presence. Especially if I have been living with their shards on my hands for the last four thousand years.” “I don’t care what you think it is, it would be better off to keep it the way it is!” Azeztulite glared at Pink. “Why? Why doesn’t she deserve to live? Can you explain to me why you hate a gem you have never met? Who had done literally nothing to you and why you would hate them so much that you would condemn them to death just because they weren’t perfect?” “They’re horrid abominations that are a stain on the image of what a gem is. They’re nothing but trouble and will go out of their way to cause nothing but ill!” Pink spat. “So, what did a defect do to ruin your life?” Pink snorted. “What makes you think I’d tell you?” “Because I am not an idiot. No one would harbor that much resentment unless something happened. So, tell me what happened.” “You aren’t worth the time or breath to explain it.” “But I am worth the time to tell me not to bring back someone I care deeply about. No. You decided when you told me how horrible Scarlet would have to be that I need to know how bad all defects are. So, please, Pink Opal, tell me what happened. I want to listen to your side of the story.” Pink turned her back on Azeztulite and refused to answer her. Azeztulite sighed. “I know what it’s like to have something horrible, that eats away at you, day by day and it made you angry, bitter, and feeling hollow. Everyone who doesn’t understand is an idiot. They are fools who don’t know how foolish they are, or that they are bringing about their own ends and the one’s that rush headlong in that direction are the worst because they are willfully ignorant, choosing to ignore all the evidence that is so obvious. You could scream from a mountain top all day, every day and no one would listen because no one would care and it’s so damned frustrating… I know the feeling, Pink Opal. I have been there, which is why I am telling you I will listen.” “I don’t care. Your problems are not mine, so you could not understand my pain.” “No one can truly understand your pain but you; but no one can even try to help if you won’t talk about it. If you really truly do not wish to tell me why defects are so bad, then I won’t push you on it until it comes up again. But I want you to know I really will listen to you and try to understand what happened.” “Whatever,” Pink remarked. Azeztulite smiled softly as she hugged Pink Opal. “Once you start to trust again, you’ll start to feel better. Maybe then you’ll let me try and carry some of your burden.” “Don’t you have enough issues already?” “That has no bearing on whether or not I want to help a gem that is clearly in a great deal of personal pain.” “Whatever.” “so, will you tell me?” “No. Not yet,” Pink said. Azeztulite smiled as she continued to hug Pink Opal. They remained like that for a few minutes before the sound of Labradorite clearing her throat brought their attention back to her. “If you two are done with your love fest, then I would like to speak,” Labradorite remarked. “Yeah! You two are yucky!” Hypnonite added on. “That’s enough, Hypno,” Labradorite remarked. “Yes, mommy.” “Now then, I will reconstruct this gem and in exchange you will instruct Hypnonite in the basics of being a gem. Moving on, this process that I use appears to smooth most if not all internal defects from a gem. However, while she might be able to process emotionally and mentally like a standard gem, her appearance would remain defected due to the misshapen of her gem. Knowing this, do you still want me to bring back this gem?” “Yes. I know that she would jump at the chance to erase her defects, and this is my niece, my sister’s daughter. I will see it that she is brought back,” White Azeztulite said with unwavering determination. Labradorite nodded. “Very well. Let’s not waste any more time then.”