Chapter 1: "Life in the Palace" - Homeworld's Little Prodigy!

Recap

Onyx has been afforded an offer most Gems have to work for in order to receive such a privilege: to stay in the Diamond Palace amongst the other High Ranked Gems. What assortment of Gems will she meet..? Will she be able to connect with them..? Or will her exclusivity and slight case of amnesia distance her from her colleagues..?

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The halls were mostly quiet once again. White Pearl floated off down the halls to show Onyx to her room, which her Diamond said she would be staying in for quite some time. The room was specifically customized to suit Onyx: a small room, yet not too crowded; surrounded with pitch black walls, yet no window to see into the outside world.

"These will be your quarters from now on," said White Pearl, "Should you need anything, ask the Pebbles first and if they can't serve you, find one of us Pearls to fulfill your needs."

"O-Oh, thank you..." Onyx replied, "b-but you really d-don't n-n-need to s-serve me..."

"Nonsense." said White Pearl, "It is an esteemed privilege to have the rarest cut of Gem with us here in the Palace... Not to mention one of my Diamond's very own Gems."

Without another word, White Pearl formed a bubble around herself and fazed into the ground, most likely headed off to serve their Diamond. As soon as she left, these little Pebbles crawled out of hidden compartments in the walls and floor to greet their new guest.

"Wow... She's pretty..." said one of the Pebbles.

"Her gem is so shiny!" squeaked another.

"Look at her eyes," whispered a third, "so mysterious..."

Onyx looked down at the Pebbles with the same curiosity they expressed about her, only towards them. She didn't think that Gems could be this small, after all most of the Gems she'd seen wandering her home colony were Quartzes, and those Gems were roughly over twice her size.

"You're the Pebbles..?" she asked.

"Yep! That's us..!" squeaked the first Pebble, "If you need anything, just say the word and we'll fulfill your needs, my Onyx..!"

Onyx's eyes shot open. She shook her head frantically, "No, no! Please, just 'Onyx' will do fine..."

"Whatever you say, my Onyx." said the Pebbles in unison.

She sighed melancholically at the Pebbles' response. She hadn't been here for more than mere hours and they were already treating her in such high regard.

"Say, Pebbles, you don't suppose anyone would mind if I looked around for a bit, do you..?" she asked.

"Oh, of course not, my Onyx." answered another Pebble that plopped onto her head, "If you are curious about your place of residence, you're free to walk around and meet the other palace Gems, so long as their work isn't interrupted."

"Is that so..?" Onyx replied, "I am very curious to see what kind of Gems live here...."

The little black gem left her room and marched down the halls; the Pebble that was on her head now crawled down onto her shoulder to explain the various rooms and dorms she ed by.

The halls themselves were rather long, and some were even narrow. The taller hallways loomed overhead, while the narrower, shorter ones had Gems embedded in them, indicating that they were alive. Onyx tried waving to them to see if she'd get a response, but they stayed silent and pretty much ignored her for the most part.

Onyx sighed and continued to look around, the Pebble giving a short little explanation of each and every corridor they ed by. It was almost as if they were trying to lead Onyx away from certain rooms and hallways.

"That turn right there leads to the Ball Room," explained the Pebble, "but the Diamonds haven't hosted a ball in a while, so it's closed off to all Gems..."

"I see..."

As Onyx turned to go the opposite direction of the sealed-off Ball Room, she accidentally bumped right into another Gem. She yelped in shock and stumbled backwards, rubbing the side of her head from the light impact.

"Ah, I-I'm so sorry..! I didn't mean to..-"

"Listen here, you! Didn't anyone warn your sorry gem to watch where you are going?!" yelled the other Gem in outrage.

Upon closer observation, the Gem Onyx had unintentionally crossed paths with was rather tall and lean. Her skin was orange and she had fluffy, blonde hair. Her eyes were miscolored and narrow, and her glare menacing. She wore a very serious-looking, red uniform, with a sparkling orangish-red cape to match. Her gem, like Onyx's, was on her chest, and was shaped like a rectangle.

"I-I'm really sorry," Onyx apologized, standing up to dust herself off, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

The new Gem rolled her eyes, "Clearly. You're not the only Gem in this palace. You should be shattered for that kind of careless behavior."

Her words made Onyx gulp nervously. Luckily for her, another Gem came skipping down the halls towards the first one.

"Hessonite, I heard shouting..!" she exclaimed in a dramatic voice, "Is everything alright..?!"

"Oh, it's nothing." growled Hessonite, "Just some carelessly reckless Gem wandering the halls."

The second Gem looked to be a similar Gem cut to Hessonite, except whereas Hessonite's gem was orangish-red, her gem was a pure red, and located on her navel. She wore a very aristocratic outfit; a big, red and pink dress. Her hair poofed upwards like a pillar rather than an afro like Hessonite's. In one hand, she held a fan, completing the aristocratic appearance.

"Ooh! Hessy, you should've told me your new friend was such a pretty little Gem..!" she squealed, fanning herself as she turned to address Onyx, "Hello there, doll. I'm Pyrope... What's your name?"

"She's not my 'friend'..." grumbled Hessonite in between introductions.

"O-Onyx..." the black Gem replied, a little intimidated by Pyrope's royal presence and Hessonite's attitude problem.

Pyrope gasped, "An Onyx?! My my, you ARE a jewel! You know, your kind is quite rare indeed!"

"S-So I've been told..." Onyx stuttered in response, making Hessonite look at her with disgust.

"Ah, and look! Hessy, she's one of White Diamond's Gems!" Pyrope pointed out, turning to the other Gem.

"She certainly doesn't act like a Gem belonging to White Diamond," argued Hessonite, who was still brushing her arm off from when Onyx bumped into her, "and why does she have the appearance of a Pearl? You would think a Gem of her class would be much more extravagant than this."

That's a little harsh. I can't help it if I was made with this outfit...

"Tell me, dear," Pyrope looked at Onyx with extreme interest, it was almost creepy, "What do you do as a Gem? What are you for?"

Onyx began to sweat nervously. She feared that at least one Gem would ask her this question, yet she had no idea how to respond to it. It was like a thousand meteors suddenly came crashing down towards her, but she couldn't dissipate her form or even shatter. She just had to stand and face the humility.

"I... I don't know what I'm capable of." she itted.

There was a slight pause, then both Hessonite and Pyrope responded in unison, "Whaaaaat?!"

"You DON'T know..?!" screeched Pyrope.

"HOW could you not know?!" asked Hessonite, "That is the most important piece of information all Gems NEED to know!"

"You're Off-Color! Defect!!" Pyrope hid her face behind her fan as she shrieked, "I can't bear to see such filth in this palace! Shoo!!"

Onyx seemed a little disheartened that these two Gems were just brushing her off like this. It wasn't HER fault she didn't know... Was it? She had an excuse: she was the only Onyx to have emerged in a very long time, just as the Diamonds said.

"No, Pyrope." replied Hessonite, summoning a sword out of her gem, which shocked Onyx, "You know the Diamonds' policy on Off-Colors. If they're not perfect, they may as well not exist at all."

At this point, the little black gem was paralyzed by her own fear. She hadn't meant for things to escalate this far, and with no Gems in sight to assist or defend her, it looked like she was really going to be shattered here and now.

"What's going on here?" a new voice suddenly broke out, but it wasn't any of the Diamonds or their Pearls.

The Gem that now approached from behind Onyx was a green Gem. Her hair was rather poofy like the two Garnets before her, but in a sporadic, shapeless sort of fashion. Onyx couldn't tell from her angle, but her gemstone was located in her right eye.

"Emerald..." hissed Hessonite, "This is none of YOUR concern. Buzz off!"

"It is my concern, actually." Emerald replied, "In case you haven't received word, we're not supposed to shatter the Onyx gem."

Pyrope looked at Emerald like she just committed a felony, "What?! H-How can that be?! She's defective!"

"Whether she is defective or not is irrelevant." the green Gem replied, "She's a perfectly cut Onyx belonging to White Diamond. She is not to be touched."

Pyrope sneered at Emerald, then at Onyx from behind her fan.

"This is outrageous..! It's unheard of!" she whined, "The Diamonds defending and obliging the permitted existence of a disgraced Gem?!"

"Why don't you and Hessonite go throw a tantrum in your rooms and quit bothering our new guest?" Emerald responded.

Hessonite clenched her fists in anger, glaring down Emerald before storming off to her room to punch the walls in a blind fit of rage. Pyrope followed Hessonite, but to try and calm her down in someway.

Emerald sighed, grumbling to herself, "I hate having to confront HER of all the Gems..." she turned to look at the frightened little Gem who hid behind her from the two Garnets, "That was a close call. You okay?"

"U-Umm, yes." said Onyx, "Thank you..."

"Don't thank me, kid." replied Emerald, "You're just lucky they didn't have their Prisms with them."

"Prisms..?" Onyx asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"The Garnets' personal weapons and shiny toys," she scoffed, "but you don't need to worry about them right now. They shouldn't be bothering you."

Onyx fiddled with her fingers momentarily before looking up at Emerald, "Why would you help me..?"

"Eh..?"

"They.... They said I'm defective... So why did you..-"

"Oh, don't listen to Pyrope. She has the IQ of a Ruby. She wouldn't know an Off-Color if they fell out of the sky and dropped on her head." said Emerald, making Onyx suddenly burst into laughter.

She hadn't expected someone to straight up insult a Gem of that caliber. Wow, was it a good thing Pyrope was out of sight and couldn't hear that personal attack.

"I'm really grateful... Emerald, was it?" she replied

"That's right... Nice to meet you, Onyx."

After settling down the frightened Pebble on her shoulder, Onyx quickly got acquainted with Emerald. She was a commander in Yellow Diamond's forces, and a proud one at that. She helped Yellow Diamond conquer many planets for the good of the empire, which intrigued Onyx substantially.

"What's the outside world like?" she asked Emerald.

"The outside..?" she replied, glancing off to the side as she tried to come up with a good response, "Well, it's very dangerous... Too dangerous for a fragile Gem such as yourself. That's why the Diamonds are keeping you here in the Palace where you can't be hurt by anything or anyone."

Onyx tilted her head, unconvinced. It seemed as though Emerald was slightly avoiding the question due to the lack of detail she gave in her answer. Why would the Diamonds not want her to know about the outside world? Just what was it that White and the others were hiding from her..?

"Let's just get you back to your room for now," suggested Emerald.

Emerald held out her hand, escorting Onyx back to her room graciously. Unfortunately, due to her status, she was a rather a busy Gem and had to leave immediately on another assignment.

"Stay here, and try to avoid confrontation with the Garnets." she ordered, "They're more persistent than they look at first glance."

"I understand...." mumbled Onyx in response.

She watched as Emerald left, once again, all on her own aside from the Pebbles.

"I'm sorry that your tour of the Palace didn't go quite as planned, my Onyx..." said the Pebble on her shoulder.

"No, no," she ushered, "It's alright... It's not your fault, but I am quite curious about the other two Gems I encountered today."

"Those two were Garnets," explained the Pebble, "They're Gems with an extremely high status here on Homeworld. Pyrope is a perfectly made Garnet and Hessonite is a Homeworld War Hero...."

"War Hero..?" questioned Onyx, making the people shush itself quietly, "What kind of war did she fight in..?"

Much to Onyx's dismay, the Pebble stopped talked after mentioning something about a war. She wasn't sure why it stopped, seeing as they were all so chatty with her before.

"Can you please tell me..?" she begged.

"... I'm sorry, but we're not allowed to disclose that information to you, my Onyx." answered the little Pebble.

"You're not..?"

They nodded, "It was a very long time ago, and many unfortunate events took place on that planet... White Diamond strictly ordered us not to mention it to you."

"It sounds very intriguing..." Onyx commented.

"Please, my Onyx," the Pebbles pleaded, "do stay in the Palace where the Diamonds say it is safe. It is not wise to be venturing outside."

Onyx didn't know why everyone kept saying that to her. The outside world seemed so interesting now, especially whenever she heard someone mention other worlds.

Someday, I'll find my way out into the real world.

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There it is, the full first chapter of Onyx's story. I'll it this did take a bit longer than I anticipated, but the end result wasn't half bad now was it..?

Look forward to next Monday when I post up Chapter 2: "Word Wizard".

Again, the background art of Onyx was done by a friend of mine. I'm not sure if they're on this amino, but here's the screenshot to prove that I asked her to draw Onyx for me.