LOG-214.

The last few hours following my victory over Fireball had passed by in a haze. There had been questions. Explanations. Celebrations. Conversations.

Worries.

First, I had contained the Pearl in question. Then I had swept the facility, searching for the Gem that I was certain had made her the way she was.

Cold and lifeless shards had remained, no longer given false life by the flames that had once licked at them. A pity perhaps, but a guilty part of me had nonetheless felt utterly relieved at not having yet another issue to worry about.

From there, it had been a simple, uncontested walk back to the Atoll, followed by more questions and a particularly unfortunate confrontation, until I'd found myself down in the depths of the facility, not quite alone, but close to it, slowly but surely growing angrier as I was given more time to think without having to worry about any immediate threats.

"..."

I stared at my hand. Stared at the almost imperceptible seams that made up the semi-permanent limb enhancer coating it. Stared at the way my claws danced through the air as I waggled them about.

Open.

Close.

Open.

Close.

One of the sharp digits extended, and with the slightest flex of will, I bore witness to the faintest flicker of what might have looked like electricity, its green light arcing around my talon in a brief crackle before disappearing.

The urge to snarl was nearly overpowering.

Little by little, I was being changed. Even when I had done my best to try and control it, I'd fallen to my own hubris, been tricked by an upjumped piece of code that had targeted my own internal opinions.

People changed, after all. Sure, I had eidetic memories, I had a perfect, flawless recollection of the person I had been when I'd first woken up as a Pearl, an event that felt like it had been forever ago now.

But why couldn't I change? Why shouldn't I change? White's upgrade may have been unconsensual. It may have been a horrific violation of my rights as a sapient being, but it had made me better, hadn't it-

Crackle.

The lurching spark moved in time with a furious gritting of my teeth, the poisonous green current flying through the air to latch onto and ravage a nearby console.

The machine, one of many within the lost Atoll our flight from the Reef had deposited us within, briefly stuttered, previously white emblems flashing under another shade, one that better reflected my own lightform, circuit like patterns scoring across its frame for another instant before it shut down entirely.

A parasite. It was a parasite. Helping its host in order to help itself.

I held on to the thought, features twisting in self induced outrage as I ensured that no single possible version or variation of myself could ever misinterpret my current thoughts regarding the plague hiding within my mind.

It would change me. It would help me. It would serve me in the interests of achieving my goals. But in that moment I swore to a cold and empty room that I would return to myself.

After all, getting to Earth would hold no triumph if it wasn't Viridian that made it back.

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Settling back down upon the cushion I had half risen from during my episode, I stared up at the polished shape of a mirror, glaring at my own reflection with sullen, narrowed eyes.

The Gem that glared back could be described as nacreous, in many regards. Iridescent, even. While still technically green, the colour remained pale, shiny and almost bordering upon reflective.

All but white, in essence. The sign of an exemplar, of a White Court paragon. I looked like I had more in common with a Moissanite or Grossular Garnet than the simple, green Pearl I had once been.

My hands tensed, claws stabbing into my palms hard enough that if I had still been human, they would have bled a bright, glorious crimson. But instead, they merely pressed against hardened lightform as the air began to fill with the scent of ozone.

Once. Twice. Thrice. Green electrical arcs slipped free from my lightform, and with each breach they spread their hue. It took a total of three minutes to finish shocking myself back into a state that made me look at least a little like my original palette, rather than some perfect, shiny thing.

It took four until I was willing to move, exiting the small side chamber and stepping out into what had once been my lab space. Empty, now. Oh, there were still tools, materials and machines of course.

But Atoll's frame had truly dominated it all, and with its absence it simply didn't feel occupied anymore.

Idly, a hand rose to press against my midriff, talons clicking and rubbing against my gemstone, and the new occupants that dwelled within, one a treasured ally, and the other a former enemy.

Returning Atoll to her facility had been a thought I'd contemplated, but when I had first stepped outside, flanked by a weary Patina and uncertain Violet, and beheld a clear sky suffused with stars, not a cinder in sight, the decision had felt…wrong.

No, I would not leave the one who had saved my daughter to rot on this stars forsaken hellhole of a planet.

Just as I would not leave Fireball, the experimental meld of a Pearl long since purged of her virulent malware (for there was nothing else I could truly describe it as) and wiped clean of her mad, tainted memories.

Both sat within my storage space now, repaired and bubbled. The former inactive without a construct to sync her prism into, and the latter stabilised enough that the ambient heat her gemstone constantly emitted didn't exceed the tolerances of the bubble surrounding it.

It was a slippery slope, just leaving them in there to be dealt with later, but I had no intention of dealing with any other kind of nonsense right now, particularly thanks to the large Pearl currently shifting her weight from one foot to the other in the corner of the chamber, pale features worried yet pleased.

Holding back another green spark at the reminder of the latest issue I had been confronted with upon our return, I stepped over towards Shell, stopping a respectful but nonetheless slightly invasive distance away from the other Gem, forcing her to glance up ever so slightly to look me in the eyes.

The words came freely, spoken calmly.

"...When we neutralised the Burning, I failed to witness what the Baroques told me of. I had been inside, at the time. But they were quite descriptive."

The Pearl stood her ground as I raised a hand, gesturing up to the ceiling with a talon.

"A pillar of brilliant light, surging up into the stars before erupting into a spreading cascade that tore across the sky. One that did so mere minutes after the Burning's swarm of echoes ceased to exist."

The heart of the Reef opened her mouth, a flash of indignation rising up within her eyes.

"I-"

My hand lashed out faster than those eyes could have blinked, claws wrapping around the Gem's face, what I could see of her pupils between the digits shrinking in fear.

"Will be silent. I did not bring you down here for the fresh air, but to ensure the others didn't need to witness this. Now, where was I? Ah, yes. The light."

My counterpart flinched beneath my grip as I pulled her closer, holding her up enough that only the tips of her slippered feet remained upon the floor, my voice dropping to a casual drawl.

"The light of a communication burst. A distress signal no doubt, one that can be readily picked up by any Imperial ship within sensor range. A call for help that will ensure Gems arrive to investigate."

Time seemed to still in that moment, with Shell's faint struggles barely seeming to even register. My next words were soft, albeit disappointed.

"...I truly had begun to somewhat trust you. How utterly disappointing."

"M-My Nacre, t-this was the correct choice, the only choice! We are of the White Court, we will be found, we will be recovered-"

"We will be taken, and those of us who do not fit within that wretched society's ideal mold will be destroyed. I do not know what is worse, the possibility that you did not think of the consequences for the Gems within this place, or the possibility that you did, and simply chose to proceed regardless, potential losses be damned."

She was crying now, desperately clawing at my wrist, her feet kicking against my thighs.

"I did what was right! No matter what you might believe, we are property! The servants of our Diamond! It is she who knows best! Not you! Standing so high and mighty, as if you have it all figured out! You should be grateful for everything you have earned! Grateful for-"

"I am going to put you in timeout now."

"NO-"

With a wrench of my hand, her neck was twisted sharply enough to break the lightform holding it all together, leaving just her gemstone to fall gently into my palm.

Staring at the shiny white core for a moment, I bubbled and stored it with a shudder, shaking my head.

Slippery slopes. But there would be more people hidden away within my storage space before the day was done. Patina, Violet. The Batch Two Pearls. The Baroques, however I was going to manage to fit them inside.

By the time anyone arrived to investigate a planet that was supposed to be dead, I would be alone. Or so it would seem.

Part of me figured that I should cry. But the tears didn't come. Because what point was there in victory without trial? Without tribulation? Could I really call myself a survivor, a winner, if there were no true obstacles for me to endlessly overcome?

…

Yes, the Empire would come. They would find their precious Overseer, their flawless veteran Nacre, their greatest Diamond's chosen Pearl, and then everything from there would simply be yet another matter of doing what I always did best.

Lying.