Origins Vol. 1: Aquamarine

Chapter 2

"And that's Ruby Facet-23G2 Cut-7GF, and Chrysocolla Facet-2HK8 Cut-11L, and Morganite Facet-27F1 Cut-7LD, and Turquoise Facet-A23L Cut-23D. And that's everyone I think. So, what do you wanna do while we're waiting for Tourmaline?" Emerald asked. "Umm, I don't know...." Aquamarine said, staring at the ground. "Hmm.... Oh! So why are we going into war?" "Well, a couple dozen or so gems turned on us and are rebelling against Homeworld, so we're going into war. Their leader is a gem named Topaz, or Topaz Facet-12F5 Cut-AL8." "Oh, but why are they rebelling against us?" Aquamarine asked. "Oh well umm, I guess they don't like our laws or how we're doing things around here, I don't really know, nobody does, except for them. And we don't know if they live in a specific planet or not. We think that they're moving form planet to planet so they won't be caught. I think so at least. And so does everyone else. At least that's what we're told." "Oh. I wonder why they're really doing it." Aquamarine said in a curious voice. "Well, now we should get ready for Tourmaline to come back." Emerald said, eyeing the door. "Okay, I'll let everybody else know!" Aquamarine said excitedly, running off form soldier to soldier. "Okay! Good luck!" Tourmaline stepped in. "What are you all doing?!" Tourmaline shouted, acting as if they were doing something wrong. "Nothing, Tourmaline!" Quickly said an Emerald and a Rutile at the same time. "We promise!" Said a Morganite. "Ugh, fine. I believe you. Line up." Tourmaline walked in front of the crowd. "Les just get on with it, shall we? Amethyst Facet-23FD Cut-12L, please get in front not eh line. And Ruby Facet-2HK8 Cut-11L, please get in the back of the line." The two soldiers switched. "Okay, let's see, you, step out for a moment," Tourmaline said, pointing at Aquamarine. And you two, please also step out, oh, and you, too." An Emerald, an Amethyst, and a Rutile stepped to the side along with aquamarine. "Now, Rutile and Amethyst, go in the other side and Emerald, you'll stay there." "Yes, ma'am," said the Rutile. "Right away, Tourmaline!" Said the Amethyst. "Why are we standing to the side?" Aquamarine whispered to the Emerald soldier. "Because we're about to-" "Shh!" "I'll tell you later." "O-oka-" "shh!" "Now," Tourmaline began, "as you all should know, were about to go into war. So. Is everyone ready for their positions?" Everyone nodded or said something in agreement. "Okay, let's see.... Now the four of you that I pushed to the side, you'll be somewhat supervising, just to let us know did we need reinforcements." Aquamarine swallowed hard. "Now, 50 of you will step out, you'll be the reinforcements if anything goes wrong. And the rest of you, go ahead, knock yourselves out, go fight. Is that clear?" Once again, everyone, except for Aquamarine, nodded or said something in agreement. "Good," Tourmaline said, staring at Aquamarine. Aquamarine noticed her staring at her. She stepped back. "Okay, Blue Diamond's Pearl will be here to notify us when the the war starts!" Aquamarine backed away once more at the word 'war'. "Another war," Tourmaline said, not opening her mouth. The door opened. "Oh! She's here! We better get going!" Tourmaline said with her army following her. "That you should," said Blue Pearl shyly. "Right! Okay, let's go now, before they get here so we can get ready!" Tourmaline signaled for her army to leave the room. Tourmaline saluted and bowed. "Thank you. We deeply appreciate it." Tourmaline said, staring at Blue Pearl. "O-oh umm, of c-c-course." Tourmaline opened the door for Blue Pearl. They both walked out. Topaz walked up. "Hello, Tourmaline," she said with a smirk. "What do you want?" Tourmaline demanded, glaring at her. "Aren't you done with these soldiers? Haven't they been pushing you around for far too long? Aren't you just about ready to quit?" "In your dreams," Tourmaline responded, knowing what Topaz said was true. "Whatever, I know you don't want to spend the rest of your life then them," Topaz said, glancing at the crowd of soldiers. "Aren't you sick of 32,000 years of keeping them in line? Don't you want to do something else, something worth your time?" Tourmaline groaned and rolled her eyes. She walked away. "What? Are you scared now?" Topaz said, trying to lower her confidence. "You can't beat us! You just can't!" Tourmaline ignored her and kept on walking toward her army. "You know you can't! You're just too scared to admit it!" Tourmaline slammed her foot down on her final step. "YOU! GET OVER THERE! AND YOU TWO, STAY RIGHT HERE! AND YOU! YEAH, YOU! GO WITH THOSE THREE! AND THE REST OF YOU DO WHAT I ASKED YOU TO DO EARLIER! GO! GO! GO! NOW! GET OUT OF HERE! EXCEPT FOR YOU TWO! BUT EVERYONE ELSE, GO! RIGHT NOW!" Aquamarine was the only one left in front of her. She looking up at Tourmaline in fear. Tourmaline noticed her and glanced down at her. "What?" Tourmaline asked, still glaring at her. "Umm, where exactly am I supposed to go?" "Ugh, you're supposed to go with those three, weren't you paying attention when I assigned you all to your jobs?!" "Y-yes. Yes, I was. But where is my station?" Tourmaline glared at her and pointed towards The Rutile, Amethyst, and the Emerald from before. "Umm, okay. Thank you." Aquamarine slowly backed away and then walked to the others. "Didn't think she was capable of fighting, huh?" It was Topaz. "What? No. I just had a.... different job for her...." "Oh, sure you did, but, I have an offer for you. Shall I go on?" Tourmaline stood there, silent and nervous. "Okay, so.... If you surrender, we'll let Homeworld go on, but if you decline and keep on fighting us, we'll destroy you. Whether we win or not, we'll be back for you...." Topaz glared at her. "Hehe, so what do you choose?!" Topaz smirked. "I-I-" Tourmaline hesitated. Tourmaline knew that if she accepted, she'd be in so much trouble, and if she declined, they'd be attacked later on. "Umm.... No! I mean yes, I mean I don't know!" "Tick tock," Topaz said, trying to rush her. "Okay, fine!" But leave, or else. "That only scares your soldiers, but alright. A deal's a deal. I'll leave. Good-bye!"
"What happened?" Asked Aquamarine, who was right behind her. "W-what?! How long have you been there?!" "N-not very long." Tourmaline banged her head against the door which opened after the second time she banged her head. She fell through. "Ugh!" Aquamarine stepped back. She stared at the open door. "A-are you okay?" "I'm fine!" Tourmaline yelled, glaring at Aquamarine. "Just go get the others." "O-okay." Aquamarine ran off. "What am I going to do with her?" Tourmaline walked through the door as all of her soldiers were only a few feet behind her. "Are you okay, Tourmaline?" Asked an Amethyst soldier. "Go. Away. Now." "Okay, okay, fine, I'm going." The soldier walked away. "9XG, wait!" Tourmaline shouted. "Hmm?" 9XG turned around. "Never mind...." Tourmaline walked to the far side of the room only to find Aquamarine sitting there. "What?" Tourmaline glared at her. "Oh, I umm, it's loud," Aquamarine whispered. "So? Get over it." "But-but I-" "I DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Aquamarine quickly got up and ran away. She ran to the door and bumped into someone. It was the Morganite from before. Without saying a word Aquamarine backed up. "Who are you? And what do you think you're doing?!" Aquamarine didn't say anything. Instead she just backed up. She didn't know what to say. She was scared. "Get out of my way!" Aquamarine ran inside the building. She was shaking from fear. But she was curious about this Topaz character. She peeked out the window. Topaz and Tourmaline exchanged nasty looks with each other. Aquamarine walked away from the window. "I hate war...." She muttered to herself. She bumped into a tall gem. Uh oh, she thought.