LOG-107.

  "It was just such a shame to hear of what happened to your former owner! Oh and to poor Sixteen A as well, it must have been just terrible…"

  I'd walked off. And predictably, Sodalite had started following me, going on and on even as our surroundings were exchanged for spacious, populated hangars to isolated, seldom used auxiliary transportation hallways.

  "It was…unfortunate, your elegance. I am lucky to have returned from that accursed failure of a colony at all."

  Sodalite flicked a hand through the air, as if to dash the comment away even as I continued to steadily lead her deeper and deeper into the depths of this particular district of the Confluence.

  "Don't dwell on it, clearly you were destined for greater prospects than dying on some dirt ball of a planet. Tell me, how have you settled in? Found an owner yet?"

  Rolling my eyes where the larger Gem couldn't see them, I shook my head.

  "I'm still loose, unfortunately. Hessonite appears to be the most viable candidate as of yet, considering the many similarities she shares with-shared, with my Emerald."

  The slipup was repurposed into an attempt at fake trauma, yet the Blue Court aristocrat didn't seem to notice, stepping ahead of me slightly and leaning down, her singular eye blinking at me.

  "Hessonite? Oh, well I suppose she would be of sufficient rank…but a Gem like that simply wouldn't appreciate your splendour Viridian!"

  The large lilac iris dominating most of the orb shifted to the side, Sodalite glancing away slightly as she pressed her palms together.

  "Not in the way I would."

  A quick darting motion to the left, and I'd be in a prime position to summon my claws into and through her neck. The average Sodalite could probably wallop a bog standard Pearl to death, but I was anything but standard, and she likely wasn't expecting any kind of real fight.

  "I'm most flattered by the offer your elegance! But I'm afraid I simply must keep my options open for the time being, it would be a disservice to my Emerald otherwise…"

  She pursed her lips at that, tilting her head as we both ground to a halt.

  "Perhaps…but she was a traitor. A Pearl of your quality would be better off in the hands of a more refined Gem. One that would treat you properly."

  I stared up at her as she stepped forward, looking down at me with a glint in her eye that set off all sorts of alarm bells. It was almost like a physical itch now, the urge to draw forth my gauntlets and plunge my fingers into her skull.

  "With respect, your elegance…I was there when you handed off my Batchmate. I don't quite see what I might have that she didn't."

  The aristocrat froze at that, long enough that I noticed her hands had unfolded, making slight twitchy gestures. I did my best to take a step back without making it too obvious, playing it off as a slight adjustment in posture.

  "...Perhaps I could show you?"

  Maybe I could get away with shattering her here and now? I could probably dispose of the shards easily enough. Or just keep them in my storage space until I could find a decent enough spot to dump them in.

  "...Perhaps you could elaborate, your elegance?"

  It took literally everything I had not to stab the everloving fuck out of the bitch as she reached forward, grabbing hold of my hands and pulling me close. If only because if I tried it now…well, she had a pretty solid grip on me.

  "Dance with me."

  Oh Hell.

  And yet I found little recourse in following the command as large, thick hands grasped my own in an almost painfully tight grip, my 'prospective owner' beginning an almost painfully awkward process of twirling me around.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  It didn't take all that long to understand what she was going for. I could perfectly recall Vermilion's explanation of what she'd gone through while under this idiot's tender care.

  It was on the third spin, with Sodalite's expression slowly beginning to darken that I gave up on subtlety entirely. We were in the middle of nowhere after all, far from any other Gems that might notice us, and in the event that some kind of surveillance equipment picked up what we were doing, Fawn would probably deal with it, if only to keep their new operative useful.

  "You're doing it wrong."

  Evidently, the Gem wasn't expecting me to start glaring at her with a deadpan tone playing itself into my voice, our short little dance ending before it could even truly begin.

  "W-what?"

  Eyes narrowing a little further, I took possibly a little too much pleasure in yanking my hands out of her grip, slapping aside her attempt at taking them back.

  "Your posture is sloppy. Failing to match my own motions would theoretically be fine, Pearls are built to accentuate their owners after all, but you barely even seem to know how to dance yourself. And that's just on the physical side of things."

  Her own eye widened in no small amount of shock as I leaned up and promptly slapped her.

  "And don't even get me started on the mental and emotional aspect. You think you're going to fuse with me by…what, wanting it? What if I didn't know? How would I even reciprocate that desire? Clod."

  It was almost hilarious, watching several emotions roil and clash across her face all at once, forcing an almost nauseated expression as anger, confusion, burning curiosity and what almost looked like a little bit of fear fought for control.

  "H-how? How do you know that?"

  The feeling of my gauntlet sliding into place was almost orgasmic. Well, not literally, but the thought was definitely there as I levelled the weapon up against her chest, a singular talon lining up against her throat and halting the aristocrat's attempted advance.

  "Because I'm 'better' than all the other Pearls, obviously. The perks of preferential training."

  The sarcasm in my tone was thick, and yet it washed right off of Sodalite like water off a duck's back as the larger Gem stared down at my hand, lips smacking together slightly as words presumably failed her.

  Sighing, I prepared to plunge forward and poof her-

  "Teach me then."

  Several thoughts and emotions hit me at once, possibly in an amusing parody to what I'd just witnessed. Anger at the idea of her trying to use me for her own twisted desires. Incredulity at the sheer audacity this cyclopean bitch had to propose such a thing while I literally had a blade to her throat.

  And worst of all, temptation. Fusion was something I'd been sorely missing since arriving here. The feeling of power. Of togetherness. The melding of personalities. I wanted to be Dianite again. Or Honey Lemon. Fuck, even Slate or one of the Onyxes would do.

  "Why?"

  The slipup caused me to blink, but before the brief show of weakness could give her ideas, I pressed forward, digging my clawed finger slightly deeper into her lightform, prompting a fearful expression from the aristocrat.

  "What possible reason could you have for wanting to fuse with another caste of Gem? It's illegal, and wrong, if you believe in the Empire's rhetoric at least."

  More emotions warred across her face. I'd rather clearly outed myself as some manner of defective at this point. But then again, so was she, considering what she desired.

  "It happened once. To one of my old Batchmates. Supposedly, she accidentally fused with a Jade for a while. They…they called themselves Nephrite. Looked nothing like the pilots, really, but apparently it felt right."

  Sodalite swallowed, and I idly pondered just where she'd been and what she'd experienced to have picked up that particular motion.

  "Nephrite spoke rather highly of her experience with fusion, before she was inevitably apprehended. The Jade my fellow Sodalite had run off with was never….subtle, and that most likely transferred to their mixture, I suppose. But it's remained a curiosity for me ever since."

  I held back the temptation to plunge my other hand into her chest as she stepped forward, the tip of my talon actively breaching the outer edges of her lightform now.

  "I want to see what it's like. Feel what it's like. But the law forbids it. Sixteen A couldn't…I didn't know that she also needed to know. And I wasn't certain I could trust her with the truth. But you…you've done it, haven't you? How else would you understand it?"

  Sodalite glanced back down at the weapon literally stabbing into her, and looked back up at me with an almost desperate smile.

  "Teach me…please. I…I'll stop trying to take ownership of you. Perhaps I could get you some things as well. Pearls like accessories, don't they? M-maybe we could wear them together? If we fuse?"

  I stared at the ignorant, foolish, creepy, borderline obsessive Gem and silently cursed at her for appearing entirely genuine, and at myself for actively considering the offer.

  Then I promptly scowled and lowered my gauntlet, unsummoning the weapon and grabbing hold of the freak's raised hand with what almost might have been a growl, if I wasn't keeping my mouth firmly shut.

  Stars I really had hit the bottom of the barrel, hadn't I?

  "I lead, you follow. Fusion is easy if you can synchronise properly, but actually making that happen takes a few steps and a good bit of work. First of all, we need a goal."

  "Fusion."

  "Not that simple. It needs to be something else. Something for the resulting personality to actually focus on. To exist for."

  "Ah."

  The dance started back up again, Sodalite sheepishly loosening her hold on my hands as I shot her a glare.

  "In this case, enjoyment is a good option. A fusion that exists so we can get to know each other better. One that luxuriates in her own existence. You need to want to know me, and I need to want to know you. So focus on that for now."

  I watched as a stray foot began to angle down towards my own outstretched limb, and idly moved it out of the way, giving the aristocrat a light kick in reproach.

  "Watch where you're putting your feet. I'm not doing this if you crush my toes."

  She blushed at that, cheeks darkening as she looked away.

  "Right! Right, sorry. I'll do better. I swear."

  It was a bad, stupid, generally idiotic idea. Considering she'd literally wanted to own me. And yet as seconds and eventually moments began to pass, the dance smoothened out, and a familiar (almost sickening, considering the current circumstances surrounding it) comfort found itself deep within my gemstone at the practiced motions, even as I did my best to try and understand the motives and ideals of my unlikely partner.

  All the better to keep her chained down and under control with, after all. I couldn't afford to have some random noble trying to go and tattle on me-

  It was with a distinctly startled twitch that I realised both of us were beginning to glow much, much earlier than I'd anticipated, Sodalite's expression turning almost euphoric even as we abruptly pressed into each other.

  And from there…well, while somewhat sooner than expected, the final result remained the same as the countless other times I'd done this little song and dance.

  LIGHT.