''It won't work. You know it won't.'' Huh? Wuah? Gah… My head… No never mind that, my entire body hurts.
Where am I? How did I get… Here…? Woah…
(Insert Pic Here)
That's… Yellow space? Universe? How did, where… Wait! My gem! I moved my hand in a flash over to my face, and I had to hold a hiccup back. It… It was… It was cracked! But, but, but how!?!?
''You know how.'' That voice! Who's that? Who's there?!?
''Really? You don't recognize your own voice? Oh, wait. You're not me anymore.'' I'm not you anymore? What the hell does that mean?
The voice sighed before everything changed.
(Insert Pic Here)
Yellow clouds appeared in place of the yellow universe. Touching one, I shivered at the sensation and how… Familiar this appeared to me. I only had a few seconds to admire the change of scenery when one of the clouds suddenly rose up and formed itself into… Into… Me?
''You know it ain't gonna work, right? Do you seriously believe that somehow fusing with another Gem will cure your crew? Cure you? Face it, only Pink Diamond could heal you and you are light years away from her. I wonder how she'll react? When she discovers you not only failed in your mission, but your entire fleet shattered themselves!'' The… Me laughed in mockery.
The human me.
It… It was hard to look at myself. At how… fragile and weak and pathetic I was as a human. He barely reached my chest. And… Wow, was I disgusting. What is it even speaking? Probably my native language, too bad I have purged the memories of that. Well, I am here already… I think I know where this is. I haven't been here before, but the other Gems have talked about what it's like to be inside their Gems. And how… Chaotic it could be for the mentally unstable Gems.
''Are you even listening to me?'' The human-me spoke, but I just looked around thinking of how to solve this issue. Of how to reform. I couldn't just poof, and leave my fleet unattended. It would be extremely idiotic and irresponsible. Not to mention I still had to find a cure to these blasted nightmares.
''Stop ignoring me, you misshaped clod!'' Can I kill him, I wonder? Or would that affect me in reforming? This is complicated. I haven't been poofed before like this. Or at all, actually.
''You don't even remember this universe is fictional!?'' The human-me shouted at me, and this time I raised an unimpressed eyebrow at it.
''You're clearly not me, this isn't a fictional universe. Are you the Nightmare that has been afflicting my Gems?'' I questioned the human-me, and he groaned in annoyance.
''You're fucking stupid. My God-''
*STOMP*
There, that should unform him. I'll chase his source later, I have to reform first. Now, where do I go to do that? I am in my Gem, in my Gem form… So, just think of reforming myself as my Gem-self? That should work… Right?
Sitting down on the clouds, I took deep breaths, as I began trying to refor- AGH! FUCK!
I jumped as the entire world glitched… Right. Right! My Gem is still cracked! I need to repair it. But how? Can I even repair myself while stuck inside my Gem? Stars, I need to figure this out, and quickly. I can't let my crew panic once they find my cracked Gem.
…
''No Gods or Kings. Only… Well, Man, but that's been crossed with Gem.'' I muttered under my breath as I looked at the lighthouse in front of me. Why was I seeing Bioshock's lighthouse? I wasn't sure. Maybe this was where my memories of it were stored? Couldn't hurt to take a look at it. I did and still love this game, even if I'll never probably be capable of playing it ever again.
Humans weren't a thing as far as I was aware. So I had to contend with my memories of the series. Damn, I can feel myself tearing up.
''I really fucking hope that they made more content for this franchise. It's utterly criminal not to do so.'' I murmured before I walked down the stairs and into the bathysphere.
It looked exactly as I remembered it, except with one big thing out of place.
''You. I thought I had unformed you.'' I said with an annoyed tone, and human-me just shrugged.
''Can't run from yourself. Especially not from somethin' you experienced as a human.'' He pointed at the ceiling with a frown, ''I really don't like how you changed the banner. Not cool.'' I huffed at that.
''You think I did that? I thought it was you, Nightmare.'' I growled at him as I prepared a punch, and he just groaned.
''I'm not the damned Nightmare. Those aren't even a thing! The Gems are only experiencing these Nightmares because of their misaligned mental nodes. They are creating illusions that have no filter through their photokinesis. Basically holograms that only they can see, because they aren't dreaming, but projecting these nightmares through their eyes.'' He… explained.
''How do you know that? How could you possibly know that?'' I questioned, and he just shrugged.
''It's only a theory. A working one. You're not the only one trying to figure out how these nightmares are happening. We both know that it should be impossible for a Gem to have Nightmares, especially for those who don't even know what sleep is.'' I narrowed my eyes at human-me, slowly nodding. That made sense, but I still didn't trust him.
''How many times have we tried to kill ourselves?'' I questioned him, and he just looked at me with a confused look, ''How many times have we tried to kill ourselves? Tell me, or I am punching you until you disappear.'' I ordered and he shrugged, shrugged! In reply.
''3 times if you're asking of what we actually think are the attempts. Though we don't actually remember what the third one was, we just remember we tried three times. Maybe five if you consider a few other things, but yeah. 3 times.'' He replied, and I sighed.
Right, this was me. Not a nightmare… I think.
''So, human-me. Where does the bathysphere lead us?'' I question him and he hums for a moment in thought.
''If I remember correctly, which thanks to us now being Gems, I do. It leads to our Core. Though I dunno what's causing the cracks or the misalignments. I can feel them though. Vaguely.'' He commented and then it was my turn to hum in thought as I considered on what to do.
Human-me just stared at me as I thought of what to do. I don't think my Core is being affected, or maybe it is, I wouldn't know. This is completely unprecedented in Gem History. But… Well, I might as well check it. See if I can't… shift things into proper alignment. I really hope that's the only thing I need to do to repair myself. Otherwise… Well, I'll need to be bubbled and probably wait for a few millennia for a solution, if the Empire even bothers finding one.
…
(Insert Pic Here)
*To-rum* *To-rum* *To-rum* *To-rum* *To-rum* *To-rum* *To-rum* *To-rum* *To-rum*
''That's… a Heart.'' Human-me commented, and I nodded.
''I trust that's our Core? I'm surprised of how… Pink-ish it is. Shouldn't it be Yellow? Or even Green?'' I asked Human-me looking at human-me, and he just shrugged, ''don't look at me, man. I ain't the one that's a Gem. And from what we know, every Gem's insides are completely different. So, there's no point in fussing over our Core's color.'' He said and I reluctantly nodded at him.
''At least there doesn't seem to be any cracks. You don't see any, do you?'' I asked him and he just shook his head, ''Nope!'' He replied, popping the word that had my eye twitch in annoyance.
''Alright. Let's go. We don't have much time, and I would rather fix my insides than have them shattered due to overloading.'' I said and Human-me followed behind me, ''Y'know, you could solve all of these problems if you had Pink crying over your Gem, y'know?'' I stopped, turning around and glaring at him.
''I have no clue on what you are suggesting but I would never make my Diamond cry!'' I shouted at him, and when he tried to speak up again, I swiped my hand through him. He disappeared in yellow clouds, leaving me alone.
Stars, I can't believe the sheer audacity that I seem to have. To suggest to make my Diamond cry! As if that would magically cure and fix everything! Stupid human-me.
…
''That's… Not right.'' I murmured to myself as I looked at, what I could only describe as a tear in reality. Or I guess in my inner mind? I wasn't sure. What I was sure though, was that was the only tear I seemed to have. Or at least the only one I could find after what felt like hours spent searching for them. I really hope I can… Fix this. Somehow.
''Alright, let's try… Closing it?'' I said unsurely as I slowly inched towards the gap.
I flinched at the… prickling sensation that assaulted my hands but after a few seconds of nothing happening, I assumed it was fine. I inched, ever closer, with ever-growing apprehension as I grabbed the tear, and with a grunt of effort, I forced it to close.
''C'mon! C'mon! Close you piece of shit!'' I shouted as the tear barely closed by an inch. But I wasn't done, if I had to move this damned thing inch by inch, I would.
I'm not going to die because of a random stray particle hitting my gem. I refused. I had a duty to uphold, a crew depending on me, and my Diamond's trust and faith in me would not be shattered so simply! I wouldn't allow it! This is my life, and I will fight tooth and nail for it! If I have to kill, if I have to shatter, if I have to do everything by myself I fucking will!
''Ragh!'' With a final roar of effort, I saw the tear in my Gem close, and I only had a split second to react before I was blinded by yellow light… No… Bathed in yellow light. I blinked as my surroundings changed, morphed, and reformed into the cloud realm.
(Insert Pic Here)
I… I felt… Weird. Not bad, not good. I felt… fixed.
Closing my eye, I concentrated on my form, in my appearance. I concentrated on reforming, shaping every particle of light into my appearance. And before I knew it, I reformed.
Changed.
…
I gasped, as my lightform reformed. Before I fell on my butt on the ground. I ignored the sensation of pain as I just felt the weight of the artificial gravity in the ship, and felt the vibrations of the engine echoing through the hull. The sensations of not being confined to my own Gem. I could see my office, my desk still destroyed and in pieces, but it didn't seem that anyone came in when I cracked. But… Something was different. I didn't remember my office being this small.
Looking at my hands, I frowned as I didn't notice anything abnormal or obvious that might explain this feeling of disproportion. Getting up, I blinked.
''Huh… Am I taller?'' I questioned myself for a moment before I shook that thought away. That wasn't important, I needed to check how much time has passed and how long I stayed in my Gem. Now, let's see here, where's my holopad? Ah, there you are. In the ground exactly were it flew after I destroyed my desk.
Turning it on, I was surprised it wasn't cracked. But on second thought, it was made for military use. I didn't doubt if it was one of those fragile court-made holopads, it would've cracked or even broken down at being thrown at the ground. I was quick to check the time, and I hummed in surprise, if my memories were right, and they should be, I reformed in five minutes…
Stars, it felt like hours had passed in my Gem.
Checking on other things, I breathed a sigh of relief.
''Alright. No one knows you cracked. You repaired yourself…'' I trailed off as I quickly used the holopad to take a selfie of myself, and I stared at my Gem.
''It's… It's intact. In fact, it looks bigger than I remember.'' I trailed off again before I decided that this might be important and dangerous enough to need medical care. I just hoped my increase in Gem mass wasn't a bad thing… Gems don't gain weight, do they?