Aquamarine sat on the table at the center of her saucer, bouncing the pink bubbled gem in the air, watching the water slosh around inside.

"What a lucky find, Antarcticite." She giggled, glancing at the gem who stood leaning against the wall, casually inspecting her long fingers.

"Figured it would come in handy." She answered, Jasper sat at the pilot's chair, thumbing Lapis's gem in her hand, frustrated that the gem had yet to reform.

"So, are you going to let her reform?" Antarcticite questioned, nodding toward the bubble Aquamarine was bouncing gently in the air. The blue gem paused, reflecting on the idea before shaking her head, a sly little grin creeping across her face.

"Mmm...no, I think it will be more devastating for Steven to see her like this- I mean, she got like this because of him, don't you think?" She answered, tossing the bubble to Antarcticite. The white gem caught it, inspecting the gem and bottle inside.

"So," the tiny blue gem lifted herself in the air, fluttering toward her companion and flicking the bubble, causing the heart gem to bob inside. "You can imagine how great it'll be to see the look on his face when we pop it right in front of him. She'll reform and whatever happened that made him poof her will come flooding back!"

She grabbed the bubble, floating away, tossing it between her hands.

"And when he's distracted by all of that, well..." she trailed off, her eyes squinting as the brilliant plan came to her thoughts. She cackled, throwing the bubble in the air and letting it stay suspended above her.

"Let's just say, it will be a really good show."

The blue gem flitted to her pilot, shocking Jasper from her distracted thoughts about Lapis.

"So?! Did you find it yet?" She chided, leaning over the orange gem's shoulder.

"There's a galaxy warp located here, we can take it to these three planets." She pointed at a few planets that had surrendered to Aquamarine's coup. "And then take a ship to the Kindergarten."

Aquamarine nodded, her eyes pinpointing on the location she desired to go to. She pointed at the planet nearest to their intended destination.

"Go there." She ordered, noticing the blue gem in Jasper's hand. She eyed it and plucked it from her fingers inspecting it closely.

"A Lapis Lazuli? Is this the one you've been going on about? Why haven't you bubbled her?" She asked, preparing to bubble the gem herself. Jasper quickly snatched the gem out of her hands, rubbing it gently.

"Don't!" She mumbled, glaring at Aquamarine. "I'm saving her for later." She replied softly, looking longingly at the still unformed gem.
If Aquamarine knew her intentions, she would desert her immediately, it was a stroke of luck that she even managed to gain her trust looking the way she did. If Aquamarine knew she intended to fuse with Lapis, she would surely despise her.

Aquamarine scoffed, letting the quartz have her toy, she flew back to the table, now bored of the travel. She wanted to seize control of gemkind and flying from location to location was more boring than ever now that she had control of at least a third of the planets unter the gem empire.
It had been easier than she'd imagined, the amount of high ranking gems who quickly turned to her side after Steven mucked about in his pseudo diplomatic escapade. He'd halted gem production, forfeited their homes and single handedly destroyed all their warfare capabilities.
It was a wonder that no one had thought of retaliating sooner.
That's a lie.
Tons of far lesser, far more stupid gems had been opposed to his changes, but he managed to work his magic of conversation and change their minds.
The key, Aquamarine thought, was to wait patiently, until the masses were bursting at the seams. Ready to revolt, wanting to revolt.

Then take them out, one planet at a time.

Aquamarine's plan was initiated well before Steven had even realised it. The moment Spinel had arrived on Beta 472, she knew she had a pawn.

Aquamarine glanced at the pink little bubble above her, recalling the events, a sly smile on her face.

The little heartbroken gem warped to the nearest planet, she had no idea what was going on, and no idea how much of an asset she would become.

"I don't understand.." the Spinel spoke softly, her eyes were wide with grief and pain and torment. Her body ached from the thousands upon thousands of years of eternal stillness.
Steven's message played loudly on a holoscreen that floated above the city. The outdated technology causing it to skip and repeat itself in an endless cycle that made Aquamarine sick to listen to.
She fumed at the thought of the wretched child winning over the diamonds, winning over the gems.
She wasn't alone in her rage and spite. She knew others were equally enraged at his audacity. The furious blue gem flitted out of her decayed hut, spotting the little pink gem crouched on the ground, her tears staining the earth under her.

Aquamarine floated down, noticing the rare cut of gem. Recognizing her.

"She's gone, she left me alone and now she's gone. Gone, gone and he- he's there." The gem whispered, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Aquamarine landed on the ground, listening intently as the gem spoke, she was tattered, dirty, tired.

"You're a Spinel." The blue gem murmured, taking a step toward her. Spinel looked up, turning her head to face the gem. "There's only one Spinel I know of that's as pink as you."

Her words caused the gem to break into tears once more, she held her arms, digging her fingers into her skin, desperately trying to cease her aching heart. A thought drifted through Aquamarine's mind as she watched the vulnerable gem break down.

"I...was her f-friend!" She cried, gasping through her sobs. A smile slowly spread across Aquamarine's face as a plan began to evolve.

"Ah.." she said, feigning compassion, "she left you, didn't she? All alone?"

Spinel raised her head at her words, nodding ever so slightly. Aquamarine rested a hand on the gem's shoulder, gripping it tightly.

"And she made new friends, didn't she? All without you."

Spinel turned to face her, tears continuing to roll down her face as her words sank in. She wanted to sink into the ground and never come back. She gripped the gem on her chest, digging her fingers around the seam where it met her form.
Aquamarine cocked her head, pretending to act concerned.

"What a cruel game.." she sat down next to Spinel, wiping a tear from her cheek. The gem let out a ragged breath, breaking into more shuddering sobs at her words.

"Aren't you angry, and hurt, and oh so tired of playing cruel games...I'd be angry," Aquamarine looked up at the looping message and Steven's glitched face on the holoscreen. "I'd be so angry, I'd want to hurt them back."

Spinel let out a wail, digging her fingers further into her gem, she shook her head, clawing at her face, her mind buzzed and burned and ached so much. Everything hurt. So much. She wanted it to stop.

"I'm s-supposed to be a friend.." she mumbled through her tears, causing the blue gem to turn back to her.

"Not anymore." She said gently, as if it were meant to comfort her. "You weren't good enough for her, now look at you. You shouldn't even want to be a friend."

The gem gasped, yanking her pigtails out of what was once heart shaped buns.

"I'm so..mad!" She wailed, clawing at her head. "I'm so angry! I can't- it hurts!" Spinel dug her fingers into her body, clawing at her skin, begging, hoping, aching and needing to make it all stop, just for a little while.

"I do- I want to hurt them I want to make them feel how much I hurt, right now." Her voice cracked with grief and pain, the gem pulled at herself, biting her lips,  wrapping her arms around herself and tightening her grip until she could barely breathe, until. She poofed.

Aquamarine jumped back, caught off guard by the sudden dissipation of the gem. Spinel's heart quickly rose from the ground, inverting itself as the gem regained her form. She dropped to the ground letting out a howl of agony as she stared at herself. Rage and pain consumed her and the gem snarled, pulling at her face before dropping to her knees and slamming her fists on the ground in a flurry of rage and tears and grief.  

"I'm gonna kill them!" She cried, gritting her teeth and pushing her head into the dirt. "I'm gonna hurt them all and kill them! She needs to pay! They need to see me and see what they did to me!"

A sly grin slipped across Aquamarine's face as she watched the gem slam her fists into the ground and throw dirt.

"I might be able to help you with that."