When I saw "Keeping it Together" I was overcome by intense emotion, which I decided to channel into words. Please, tell me what you think and how you feel about this story.

"Agate, wake up."

...

"Agate! Come on! We have work to do, places to be-"

The pile of blankets in the corner stirred ever so slightly, accompanied by a mumbled "five more minutes."

The pale purple gem gritted her teeth, grabbed the blankets, and tugged them away from the sleeping figure. Said figure rolled over and yawned.

"Are you seriously going to sleep on a stone floor now?" the purple gem growled, furrowing her brow. "Really! You're such a- an- an adolescent!"

"Oh, Iolite." The multicolored gem on the floor shook her head, chuckling. "Young, zealous, and always rushing things. Wait until you're maybe 7000 or so. Just you wait."

Iolite growled under her breath, her single eye narrowing in annoyance. "Come on. We need you."

Agate sat up, stretched her slender, deep orange arms over her head. She brushed her thick, abundant hair out of her face, out of the way of her third and fourth eyes.

Iolite tapped her foot impatiently as Agate smoothed out her loose, white tunic. "Well, we don't have all day!"

"I don't want to look like I just rolled out of bed."

Iolite threw her hands up and left the stone room. Agate followed, her tunic swaying in the breeze.

The two looked as far apart as two beings could be: Iolite was an even lavender with cropped bluish hair. Agate was varying shades of orange intermingled with other colors, and her hair was waist-length, the color of fire. Iolite wore a plain white jumpsuit. Agate wore her light, airy tunic and sandals.

Really, though, they weren't so different in a few regards. Iolite was extremely young- less than a thousand years old. Agate had, in a sense, been around for thousands of years, and a few centuries in a different sense.

"Ooh, I miss having Amber around," Iolite grumbled. "Her head wasn't full of feathers."

"Amber's still around," Agate said with a smile, pointing down to the orange gem on the side of her foot.

"You know what I mean." Iolite looked sideways at Agate. "Where is she? Where's the sensible, down-to-earth part of you?"

"It doesn't work like that. Once you've fused once or twice you'll understand."

They approached the other members of their group, a big-boned yellow gem and a tall, gray gem.

"About time," the yellow gem muttered.

"Okay. Now that we're all here, let's move out," said the gray gem.

They entered the forests that lay near the temple grounds.

"Our objectives are to look for wreckage of the small craft we shot down last week and search for any spies that may have landed then or since," said the gray gem.

"Look through the tall grasses," Agate suggested. "The initial cleanup group would have focused on what they could easily see."

"Thank you, Agate," said the gray gem. "Focus on the foliage, gems!"

Agate and Iolite ended up rummaging through the undergrowth side-by-side.

"So which side does perception come from?" Iolite asked. "Amber? Moonstone?"

Out of habit, Agate brushed her fingers over the white gem that rested over her heart. "Both. The thoughtfulness from Amber, the creative and unconventional twists from Moonstone."

"Hmm. What else did you get from... Moonstone?" Iolite pronounced the word as if the syllables tasted foul.

"A carefree attitude and open mind."

"Hmm." Iolite furrowed her brow and turned over a small, mossy stone.

"Black Pearl!" the yellow gem called from behind them.

"I think Citrine found something," Iolite said, getting to her feet.

Agate and Iolite went over to where Citrine was kneeling. There was a very small shard of gem, about the size of a grape, resting in the grass.

Agate's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, no..."

"Looks like someone didn't make it," Citrine said.

"One less for us to worry about," Iolite said.

Black Pearl nodded, picked up the shard, and bubbled it. "Look for other shards. We don't want any stray limbs wandering around."

Iolite and Agate went back to searching. After a a few minutes, Agate picked up anothed small shard from the dust, her hands trembling ever so slightly. "Found another," she said quietly. She bubbled the shard and quietly continued going throught the tall grasses.

"Don't see why you're so shaken up over the death of an enemy," Iolite muttered.

Agate sat back on her knees and sighed. "A death is never a good thing. It's a tragedy when any life is cut short. Even that of an enemy."

"It was her own fault. She chose to be an enemy."

"Yes, that's true. And its a tragedy that she chose such a path."

Iolite frowned. "I can't stand it when you get like this. All philosophical and zen and whatnot."

"That part of me is from the guidance of Rose Quartz. And... it's who I am, and why I'm here, and it's why you're here, too."

"I'm here because Amber convinced me to be here." Iolite stood up and folded her arms. "This area is clean. Let's-"

"Shh." Agate's eyes narrowed. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

There was a sound in the distance- a deep rumble, an explosion. Iolite's eyes widened.

"Iolite! Agate!" Black Pearl shouted, her trident already in her hand. "There's an attack underway!"

Iolite pulled her nunchucks from her gem, her left shoulder. Agate pulled a metal folding fan from the gem over her heart and a cutlass from the gem on her ankle, combining them into a pair of adzes.

"Let's go! Move, move, move!" Black Pearl shouted, leading the way toward the sounds of battle.

"Amber! Amber! Oh, no, no, no- Amber!"

Amber looked up at Iolite through blurred eyes. "Moonstone- where's Moonstone?"

"Oh, Amber, no, no, no. How could I let this happen?! Where's Rose Quartz?! Rose! Rose!"

Amber mustered her strength and lifted her head from the ground. "Moonstone-"

Blinding white light filled the air.

Iolite shielded her eyes. "What the- what is that?"

"Homeworld Gems, take cover!" came the call.

Iolite didn't have time to react before a blast of white-hot energy swept over the land and into the sky.

She awoke in a dark, cold place. Another gem was crying somewhere nearby, another babbling nonsensical words to herself.

"Hello?" she whispered, her voice hoarse. "Is anyone there?"

"Hello, Iolite," said a small voice in her head.

"Oh, it's you," Iolite grumbled. "What do you want?"

"Do you know where Amber is? I can't establish a telepathic link with her-"

"Amber's dead," Iolite said coldly. "She took the brunt of that warhammer attack, you know."

"Yes. I know." The voice paused. "I know you don't like me, Iolite-"

Iolite gave single dry laugh. "How perceptive of you, Moonstone."

"Amber- Amber did care about you, y'know."

"Really."

"Please hear me out, Iolite," Moonstone begged. "Just once, could you treat me like I'm sane and an adult?"

Iolite said nothing.

"While we were Agate she really wanted to keep being friends with you. So did I. Amber saw everything that was wonderful about you, and while we were fused I saw it, too. All of it. Can we please be friends- just for now, while we're still-"

"Okay," Iolite said quietly.

"Really?"

"Yes." Iolite sighed. "Amber's gone. I have no reason to quarrel with you anymore. And I don't want to tarnish our memories of her."

Moonstone took a moment to work up all her courage. "Would you let me share memories with you? We don't have much time-"

Images of the past began to trickle into Moonstone's mind, along with "We'll get through this somehow, Moonstone. If Rose can't get here to save us, we'll save ourselves. We are strong. We are Crystal Gems."

Moonstone blocked out the sound of their captors' talk about clusters and gem shards, focusing on memories instead. She managed a tearful smile and whispered, "Of course."