Chapter Five

When Holly Blue regenerated, she found herself in a cell.

It was shaped like a box. It was not very big box. He head touched the ceiling.

The ceiling was green. The floor was green. Three of the walls were green.

The fourth wall was not green. It was yellow. It wasn't even really a wall. It was an energy field. Holly Blue did not touch it. That would hurt and dissipate her physical form.

If she looked through the yellow energy field, she could see sand. Past the sand was water, going on and on and on. The ocean.

It was not long until the fusion came. She said that maybe they'd let Holly Blue out the cell sometimes, but that right now they just did not have the time to watch her.

"We will not tolerate you attacking us," the fusion said, not even apologizing for how the Lapis Lazuli had attacked Holly Blue.

But then Holly Blue hadn't apologized either.

The fusion stood there, as if waiting for something. That something never happened. She went away, and Holly Blue was left alone.

Good riddance, Holly Blue thought. She didn't want to be around a gross fusion anyway.

The only good thing about the cell was that her hand-restraints were gone. Finally she could stretch her hands.

After stretching them, Holly Blue punched one of the green cell walls just to see if it would break. It didn't. It just made her hand hurt.

She sat down.

She was tired of this. She missed Homeworld. She missed people doing what she said. She missed being able to do what she wanted.

Holly Blue began to cry.

At some point the little human came and sat down outside the cell. Holly Blue was too sad even to yell at it. And that was okay, because for once the little human wasn't yelping or barking, so Holly could pretend it wasn't even there.

Holly Blue cried for a long time. Eventually she stopped. The only sound was the waves from the big watery ocean. Otherwise, it was very, very quiet.

Then a voice said, "You're not making this easy."

Holly Blue looked up. She did not see anyone.

She got as close to the energy field as she could. She looked left. She looked right. She did not see a single Gem.

The whole beach was empty.

Except for the small human.

A very silly idea came to Holly Blue.

"Did you say that?" she asked the human.

"Uh… yes?" said the human.

Holly Blue blinked. "You can talk?"

"No, duh," said the human. "Since when can you understand me?"'

Holly Blue stared at it.

Humans were not meant to talk. They just barked, and yapped, and made a mess.

She didn't really want to talk to a loud, messy, annoying human, but there was no one else to talk to. And anyway, it was pretty amazing that a human had learned to talk.

"It is pretty amazing that a human has learned to talk," she told it.

The human rolled its eyes. "I've always been able to talk."

"No you haven't."

"Yeah, I have." The human dragged its hands through the dirty gross sand. "Pearl told me that Gems can understand any language. That way even if we've been in completely different galaxies for thousands of years, we can still talk to each other. But you haven't bothered to try to understand anything since you got here."

"What is there to understand about this backwater planet that turns gems into monsters?" asked Holly Blue. "The place that shattered a Diamond?"

The little human gave Holly Blue a long look. "You could try to find out."

"I don't want to find out!" Holly Blue cried. "The Quartzes attacked me. They kidnapped me. They dragged me here. Now they're running free and nobody's acting right at all."

"Yeah, well, Blue Diamond kidnapped my Dad, and you didn't seem to care about that."

"What does that have to do with anything? Hah! Comparing an Agate to a human. How ridiculous!"

"Ugh! That's exactly my point!" The human stood up. "You're hearing me now, but you're not LISTENING! The humans and Gems here have offered you food, and tried to give you clothes and hang out with you, and you just sat there and growled! They're smart and funny and generous, and all you want to do is be sad that you're not allowed to hit people and order them around!"

Holly Blue Agate said nothing.

The human got up and walked away. She thought about calling it back, but that would be very silly. So she stayed quiet, and let the human go.