"Are they going to be okay?" a small boy who couldn't have been more than six asked a doctor.

"We are doing what we can son, it was a very serious accident," all of a sudden, nurses rushed down the hall and the doctor turned to run after them.

The boy was left in the hall without a real answer, as he wondered why he couldn't get one. He had been at the hospital for a few days, but never had a chance to be alone and breathe. His arm had had an infection since the other day, but it didn't seem to bother him so much as not seeing his mom and dad for a few days. Slowly walking through the empty halls, the boy eventually came to the place where his parents were.

As the seizing bodies stopped their movements, the boy watched the doctor's face become solemn, "Time of death, 5:38 PM."

The blond-haired boy collapsed on the floor in shock, his parents had left him forever. Nurses surrounded him but he paid no mind as he was lifted onto a bed and taken to a room with a mask over his nose and mouth. He simply drifted off to sleep free of all worries and troubles.

"Is he going to be okay? I mean a six-year-old with no parents or most of his arm…" the boy had started to come into consciousness, his vision clearing.

"What… happened…" the boy groaned, "Oh, my forearm… It's gone."

"Yes, we had to amputate it. Your arm had an infection that was about to spread to the rest of your arm," the doctor paused, "We only removed it past your elbow in order to save what we could."

"Am I going to be okay?" the boy asked quietly, the thought of his parents seeping into his brain.

"You will be okay after you go to physical therapy for a few months, maybe years," the doctor tried to smile, but it faded, "Your parents passed away last night, but I think you already know that. Do you remember what happened to cause the car crash?"

"It wasn't a car crash… some strange people attacked us and destroyed the car," the boy paused, shakily remembering the events, "They killed Mommy and Daddy…"

"I am sure that all of that is true, but do you remember anything about a car crash?" the doctor asked firmly.

"It really wasn't a car crash, I won't lie… Where am I going to go?" the boy asked.

"You are going to your uncle's farm in Georgia. It's pretty far from here, but we think it's best for you to escape this environment," the doctor paused, putting a thermometer in the boy's mouth, "Your uncle will be here tomorrow morning to pick you up."

The doctor took the thermometer out of the boy's mouth, "Well, you have a nice temperature, Luca. You need to get more rest though."

"Hey Peridot, did you ever want to be something more than a technician?" a tall tan girl asked the light green girl who sat next to her, "It's hard to imagine that gems don't always want to do what they were made to do and that they will get punished for just being different."

"Yes it certainly is," the girl replied, looking to the thoughtful gem, "We are only gems who live to serve Yellow Diamond. Amber, I would hate to lose you, you are a perfect cut."

"True, same goes to you. Sometimes I just like to wonder if things were different what we would do," Amber paused, narrowing her eyes, "Oh look, it's a Vex getting tormented by its partners. Want to go check it out?"

"Not really, they are already lesser gems than us. Looks like that one recently made a mistake, its hair is already gray," Peridot loved to make speculations and judgments on others especially among comrades, "Oh I am being called, see you later!"

As her ally left, Amber began to turn more robotic and waited for her communicator to go off. She had lived for thousands of years like this, only interacting with peridots to look more superior to other Ambers but only one Peridot could really maintain a partial conversation with her. When her communicator went off, Amber walked off to meet Her Royal Highness, Yellow Diamond.

"Hello, my Diamond, what would you like for me to do today?" the tan gem knelt so as to be humble to her leader.

"I would like for you to make a device for controlling my subjects. Make it as controllable for other technicians to use as possible," Yellow Diamond knew that some of her subjects needed to be silenced and that this gem was particularly good at building things.

"Yes, my Diamond," Amber stood and walked out of the room as formally as she could.

The gem hurriedly made a collar-like device that hurt anything that felt more than a set limit of emotions. When she delivered the prototype to Yellow Diamond, she was the talk of the gems around her even though most of them were now soulless and cold on the inside. Years later Peridot was assigned a mission on Earth and defied Yellow Diamond, later, Amber noticed gems being sent to retrieve fugitives like her. The gem thought that she would never be sent to go retrieve the three, but the day came when she was ordered to retrieve Peridot, Jasper, and the Vex.

"Hello Luca, we are going to fly over to Emory, Georgia. Our flight is at nine," the uncle was cheery, he was doing it for his nephew even though losing his sister hurt him more than enough, "How are you doing?"

"I am doing good…" Luca paused, "Mommy and Daddy died…"

"I know, that is why you are coming with me to Georgia. I own a large farm that you can play all day on and make new friends," the uncle paused, "You are a city boy and meeting new farm kids might be hard, but I am sure you can do it!"

The boy nodded, "What time is it?"

"It's seven thirty, we have to leave soon," the uncle smiled.

Thirty minutes later, Luca and his uncle got on an eastbound airplane. The blond-haired boy thought about his parents, they grew up in Emory and were about to be buried there. It must have been a special place to them. He leaned back into his seat; his uncle was already asleep so Luca had no one to talk to about how he felt. When the plane landed, Luca was fast asleep.

"Hey Luca, we are here!" the uncle was cheerful, "Time to wake yourself up so we can check out your new home."

Luca rubbed his eyes and stretched, "Okay."

"Tomorrow is the day that we bury your mom and dad," the uncle paused, "They were great parents."

"Yeah…" Luca frowned silently, but made it into a smile when his uncle looked over to him.

They got into a car, it was fall and the trees were losing all of their leaves. Orange, yellow, and brown hues littered the ground as the uncle drove farther and farther into the countryside. The sun was setting as the uncle parked the car on a dirt driveway. Luca followed him into the main house, carrying a small bag of his belongings to his bedroom. It was fairly big, containing a large window with a sill, a deep blue bed, new clothes that were more suited for the countryside in a large closet, and a medium-sized bookshelf. The boy loved his new room, but guilt rose from the loss of his parents as he lay in his soft bed.

When he woke up, his uncle had already made a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. Luca ate small portions, not able to finish the remainder due to a sore stomach and phantom pain in his arm. He was nervous and constantly feeling guilty as he struggled to put on a black suit. His left arm stung invisibly, but to stave off the phantom pain, he looked away. It worked for a short while, but at times he just couldn't help looking at the bandages that covered the scars. His uncle never treated him like he was missing an arm, which made him thankful that he could do his own thing. As they drove to the church, Luca started to get sick after staring at his invisible arm after a while, but calmed himself down.

His uncle parked the car and opened the door for his nephew, "Here you go, let's go see your parents."

"Alright," Luca said, hopping out.

The two walked into the church, people who Luca didn't know waved and hugged him. He felt loved and continued to walk to the front row. The boy walked to the open caskets and touched his parents one last time. They looked peaceful, lying in beds of flowers. Flashbacks rushed in as Luca tried to fight them, but in the end, he accepted them and walked back to his seat next to his uncle. The service continued on for an hour and when it ended, the caskets were buried underground on top of each other. Luca said goodbye and walked back to his uncle's car, holding his new caretaker's hand. Therapy was tomorrow so Luca had a day to get adjusted to life, but had something to fall back on.

Within years of therapy, the blond-haired boy got back to his usual personality and was able to get over the loss of his arm. He started to work on the farm when he was sixteen years old and had had a few girlfriends. A year later, he had gotten a job as a car mechanic at the town's only auto-shop. Even without the use of his arm, he was a strong young man who excelled at mechanics.

On her way to Earth, Amber thought about how great Yellow Diamond was and about what Peridot did to become a fugitive. Her thoughts escaped her as she felt the ship being jostled by an unknown force. She lost control as it plummeted to the Earth, the hull catching fire. It crashed into an area with many trees surrounding it. The tan gem crawled out, sprawling herself on the ground.

She tried to make contact with Homeworld, "Yellow Diamond, my ship has crashed…"

The communicator had no connection as it had cracked on the fall. Amber tried to pick herself up, but the flames were too much for her feeble body. Her eyes closed as her face rested on the ground. When she had awoken again, she managed to muster enough strength to stand up and wander away from the spreading fire. The limb enhancers had lost their power, but she still lifted them with the little energy in her legs. Eventually she had found a red building that had an entrance. Strength was fading away from her as her body collapsed onto a bundle of Earth straw. Amber closed her eyes, but sleep took a long time to find her.

Luca sat up in his bed; it was new so it didn't feel that comfortable yet. He pushed the covers off and tried to make it more even, but nothing seemed to work. In the end, he decided to put on a shirt and get something to drink. His left arm had ceased to bother him thanks to years of therapy. He missed his parents, but had found things to fill the large gap that they had left. When he finished his drink, Luca wandered back to bed only to be knocked to his knees by a loud thud. He picked himself up and put on shoes, running outside to see a flickering light in the distance. Luca ran through the cornfield, looking for the source. He saw flames growing to engulf the forest and ran back home to call 911 to help out. Within hours the flames were silenced, it was determined to be a brush fire started by the heat.

The blond-haired boy started to walk home but discovered deep footsteps. He followed them all the way to the barn where he found a small girl who was covered in dirt and scratches. Luca got closer to her, but her golden eyes opened quickly as she hopped to her feet.

"Stay back human! I am armed," the tan girl said furiously as her fingers fell from her aiming arm.

"This is my uncle's barn," Luca replied, frowning, "Do you need help?"

"No!" the tan girl pulled her fingers off the ground and made a weapon-like shape, "Leave me alone now!"

As she fired several shots at Luca, he picked up a shovel, "I don't want to have to use this!"

The girl shot at his leg, scraping it as Luca hit her in the stomach with the shovel. A loud clang sounded the barn as the girl instantly poofed, an amber clattering to the ground. Luca picked the gem up; it was shaped like a golden teardrop. He studied it; a small crack had formed where he had hit it. Parts were scattered on the ground, but Luca thought he could use them for his job. He had no idea what to do with the gem, but placed it in his windowsill, maybe he could give it to his girlfriend tomorrow. Luca went back to bed after cleaning his wound. The girl was a surprisingly bad shot for such an advanced weapon and he wondered where she came from, but knew that his girlfriend was a fan of amber.

When Luca woke up, he made a breakfast of bacon and eggs for his uncle and him. He decided not to tell him of his encounter with the strange girl as he most likely murdered her and could be charged with manslaughter.

"I have a date with Wendy today…" Luca said to his uncle.

"Okay, I hope you have a nice time," the uncle smiled.

Luca grinned wildly, "I found an amber and I think that I am going to give it to her."

When Luca finished, he put away his dishes and ran out the front door straight to the auto shop to fix cars until five thirty. After he finished his last car, he ran to the florist and got three roses, one for each of the years he had known his girl. The amber in his pocket glowed dully as he ran to the meeting place. He was going to give the gem to his lover as a token of his affection. Luca saw his girl waiting for him at the front of the restaurant, her deep brown hair swaying in the wind.

"Hey Wendy!" he said, catching his breath, "I got you a little something…"

Wendy smiled, "You did?"

Luca nodded as the two walked inside the restaurant holding hands. The roses were placed on the table and Luca invited Wendy to lift them. Underneath, the amber glowed, getting increasingly brighter.

She held the gem in her hands, "You know that I love amber…"

"And you know that I love you."

Wendy laughed and the two embraced, neither one wanting to let go until the gem started to form a body. The brown-haired girl dropped the gem on the ground as the body faded, but Luca picked it up, not knowing what was happening. Within seconds, the body reformed as the amber floated into the air.

A tan girl struggled to pick herself up and adjusted her visor, "YOU!"

She leapt at Luca, but he pushed her back with one arm, "What are you doing here, how did you come back?"

"None of your business! You are going to pay for what you did!" the tan girl lunged as Luca again as Wendy shook her head.

"I am so done here, if there was another woman, you should have told me!" the dark-haired girl quickly ran out of the restaurant.

"See what you have done?!" Luca yelled at the tan girl, "She loved me and you just had to come back!"

"It's not my fault you didn't think about bringing my gem wherever you went!" the tan girl hopped into a chair to bring herself to eye level, "You are the one who invaded my shelter."

"It wasn't your shelter, it's my uncle's barn," Luca paused, looking at the gem on the girl's stomach.

The tan girl scratched Luca's face with her claws as he grabbed her arm, "What are you looking at?!"

"Nothing," Luca said looking away and letting her arm go.

The tan girl adjusted her yellow visor and looked at her stomach, "Oh my… Stars, it's cracked! What did you do? I am so screwed!"

"I hit you with a shovel, there was a small dent in it thanks to your gem," Luca said slowly, "You were the one that was trying to hurt me!"

"Oh…" the tan girl fainted in her chair.

"Hey! Did your girl have too much to drink or something? Get her out of here," the bartender said, slightly frustrated.

Luca picked up the tan girl with one arm and walked outside with her limp body. Losing Wendy was enough to make him want to put the strange girl in the garbage, but he decided to bring her to his house.