#spinel self insert

It's been nearly two weeks that you've been on this hellhole of a planet, and frankly, you're pretty fucking done with it.

You're currently grabbing anything you've deemed useful from your shelter, as the trip over to the structure might take a while and honestly, you're not too sure you'll be back. Whatever state that building is in, it has to be better off than your drafty ruins. You're hoping so, anyway.

You look around you to your tied up supplies and pick up your last remaining fruit. You'll have to find some more along the way, but it shouldn't be a big deal. You shoulder your shoddily made pack, and head out the opening to meet with Spinel outside.

"Ya finally ready to go?" You hear her say from the side as you step out, and she's leaning against the building casually. You roll your eyes at her.

"It wouldn't have taken so long if you helped me tie up the remaining bundle of wood. I only have two hands, you know." You reply to her sarcastically.

"You seemed perfectly capable of handling that yourself, though."

"I am, thanks! You're just not allowed to complain about my speed." You say as you brush past her, nearly hitting her with your pack on purpose. You hear her scoff as you pass her.

You walk several steps away, heading in the direction the two of you discussed before realizing that you aren't hearing her footsteps behind you. You turn around to see her tugging on a nearby tree branch, ripping it off the tree easily.

"Uh, you coming?"

"Yeah, hold on." She says as she breaks off a couple twigs on the sides of her branch.

"What in the world are you doing?" You ask her, a little exasperated.

"Making a weapon? Just in case? We don't know what's over there." She raises her eyebrows like this is obvious.

"You.. you're a gem. You can smack the shit out of anything with your natural abilities. You don't need a sharp stick to help you."

"It's for you, stupid." She rolls her eyes. "You're like, fleshy and stuff. They'd rip you to shreds."

"I can defend myself, thanks." You retort, turning around to continue walking. She catches up to you pretty quickly.

"Can you just take it!?" She thrusts it out at you. You stare at her for a moment, and then reluctantly grab it from her hands.

“Fine, whatever.” You give her a look, and spin around to keep walking. “Pretty sure I’d be most likely ending up using this on you.” You mutter under your breath.

“What did ya just say?” You hear her say from behind you.

“Nothing.” You keep your pace brisk, stepping over the large roots on the overgrown footpath in front of you. 

“Pretty sure I heard ya’ say something.”

“Forget it.” You wipe your forehead, the sweltering heat of the jungle making you slightly irritated. She makes a non-committal grunt in response.

You have a couple miles of walking before you guys reach your destination, and you’re only vaguely aware of where you’re going. Just the direction, really. You’re not exactly feeling super chatty, but you have a feeling Spinel is in a mood to be. 

Surprisingly enough though, you both walk in complete silence for a good hour or so.

That is, until you decide to stop to rest your feet for a little while. You take your pack off to stretch your shoulders and arms out, leaning on a nearby large rock. You also set the stick she gave you down. Spinel's standing nearby, casually glancing at you as well as presumably looking out for any nearby threats.

"Organic beings sure need a lot of rest." You hear Spinel say out loud to no one in particular, and nearly scoff at her. 

It's a bit funny, actually. You've learned in the last few days that she'll constantly talk out loud in a certain way, that leaves it open for you to join in on conversation. Even though it's just you two. You don't think she's doing it on purpose, but it's kind of hilarious to think that somehow, she's trying for companionship with you. Not that she has any other choice.

"We're literally walking meatbags, Spinel." You say to her quite frankly, and she makes a face. "I'm affected by a lot of things. Heat, moisture, the ground levels, even the gravity. Especially the gravity. I feel like this is going to have long term effects on my knees."

"I didn't think that the gravity would have much of an impact." She replies, crossing her arms. 

"You wouldn't. You're a gem. You guys don't really think much about other species entirely."

"Okay.. ow. Ya’ don’t need to lump me in with the rest of them.”

You stare at her pointedly. “Do I need to remind you how I got here in the first place?”

“Point taken.” She replies, a bit sheepishly. 

“Anyway,” You lean down to grab your pack off the ground. “Let’s keep going. We still have a ways to go.”

You trudge through the dense trees of the jungle, some areas much thicker than the rest. The air is downright dripping with humidity, making it harder for you to breathe. What’s even worse is that there is so much lush vegetation around you that you’re starting to feel like maybe you lost a bit of direction. You’re distracted with your thoughts about what lies ahead of you, that you nearly trip again on a large root half sticking out of the ground. Spinel grabs your arm to keep you from falling, and you mutter out a quick thanks to her without thinking too much about it. Adjusting the vine straps on your shoulders for better balance, you keep going. You hear Spinel behind you speak.

“Did you actually just thank me for something? Genuinely?” She sounds almost touched.

“Please don’t read into that.” You look up at the trees in irritation. She can’t see your face anyway. “I’ll make sure to never do that again.”

You hear her sigh loudly behind you. Ignoring it and keeping an eye out for everything around you, you notice something off to the side.

“Hey.” You stop and say. “Is that..”

You trail off, squinting in the distance. Spinel steps up beside you, peering through the trees to see what you’re looking at.

“Is that another cave?” She asks out loud. You were thinking the same thing.

“I think so. It looks similar to the other two we’ve seen.”

“Why out here?” She brings her hand up to her face, expression concerned.

“Does it look like I know? If anything, YOU should know. You’ve been to more places than I have, and have seen more.” 

She glances at you with an unreadable expression.

“I.. haven’t really been to a place like this. This is all new to me as well.”

“What, have you lived under a rock this whole time?” You retort sarcastically, huffing out a short laugh. “..It’s funny because you’re technically a rock.”

She gives you a tired, grave expression, and you have to force yourself to not laugh out loud at it.

“..Maybe I have. Anyway.. we should probably check out what’s in there eventually. Maybe it’s gem stuff even I don’t know about.” She finishes, crossing her arms.

Her body language is a little stiff like you offended her, and you don’t know why. Maybe she hates jokes. Whatever.

“Look, I don’t know how to tell you this, but they give me bad vibes. I’m not too keen on going in there.” 

“I could go in alone if you’re scared.” She smirks, eyes trailing down to yours.

“I’m not scared. It’s my gut instinct, asshole. And besides, you probably shouldn’t go in either. What if it’s something that can kill you?”

“Pfft, what could be in there that could kill me? I’m a gem, remember. I’ll just poof and reform.” She shrugs, uncaring.

“I feel like you should trust me in this. But if you wanna test fate, go right ahead.”

“I wouldn’t trust you even if you were actually giving me good advice.”

“I’m the one who should be saying that, not the other way around.” You scoff, glaring at her. You turn to keep walking.

Another hour of walking passes in mostly silence, and you finally reach an area with a clearing and a small hill. Eagerly, you run up it, hoping to be able to get a more precise look at your location, and how far you’re from the structure at this point.

You hear muffled foot movement in the grass, Spinel coming up beside you just as you realize what you’re seeing, now that you’re closer.

“Is that a half made Spire?” She says, hand flat above her face, shielding her eyes from the scorching sun overhead. 

“I think so?” You reply, squinting to try to get a better look at the details. “I haven’t seen very many before so..”

“Huh, they stopped making those on planets thousands of years ago.” She looks over to you, and you meet her gaze.

“If they stopped that long ago, why is this one only half-made?”

“I.. don’t know.” She shrugs, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “They usually finish the job, whether it be for a kindergarten, or terraforming. It’s very unlike any colony to just.. stop. This planet should’ve been mostly decimated, now that I think about it.”

“Weird. Let’s go find out, I guess.” You shrug, and head back down the hill, Spinel following your lead.

It takes you another few hours to get to the Spire, considering you have to take a detour around a huge, unwalkable cliffside. The sun is starting to set when you get to it, some of the days heat already dissipated.

Looking up, this thing is maybe.. a good two hundred feet tall. Large chunks are missing out of several sides, some from age and decay, some from where they just stopped building. You feel Spinel’s presence beside you, her arm barely touching yours.

“It’s strange that they’d just.. stop.” She speaks up next to you. “Most of the Bismuth’s I’ve met refuse to let a job go unfinished. They’re perfectionists.”

You stare up at it long enough for your neck to start hurting. Its.. height is a little formidable.

“Is there a way for us to get inside?” You ponder out loud, looking around the base of the building, too many trees nearby obscuring most of it.

“There’s always a way to get inside. Ya just gotta look.” 

“I AM looking.” You walk off from her, moving several bushes aside in one area, looking for a clue along the edges of the walls surface.

“It’s probably on the other side, then.” She says sarcastically, catching up to you instead of looking around by herself.

You feel yourself rolling your eyes, and you let the bush branches out of your grip, nearly hitting Spinel with it. She just barely manages to move out of the way before getting whipped by it.

“Watch it!” She shouts, glaring at you.

“Oh, my bad.” You smirk. “Didn’t see you there. Was just trying to find the entrance.” You blink innocently.

She stares at you dumbfounded, and shuts her open mouth. Turning on her heel, she spins around to walk in the other direction around the Spire. 

You chuckle to yourself. How dramatic.

Looking at the walls of this building, you trail your hand along the stone, gazing upon any crack that might give you a clue. The base of this thing is pretty large, so a door could be anywhere. 

It’s pretty quiet around you. It’s kind of always been quiet on this planet, but you feel like it’s even quieter around this area for whatever reason. The weird vines are here as well, with those gross-looking fleshy flowers climbing up the wall of this half-finished tower. A couple minutes pass as you keep walking around this thing, finding absolutely nothing still.

You eventually catch up with Spinel, and see her standing in front of something.. which you can see is vaguely door-shaped, covered by a thick layer of vines. Of course.

“Found it.” She starts with, sounding smug. She’s smirking. “Told ya it was on the other side.”

“Of course it was.” You reply, not at all enthused. “You figure out how to open it yet?”

“No..” She trails off, looking around the edge of the door, pushing vines aside to find some sort of control for the door.

“Of course you haven’t.” 

“Hey, at least I found the door.” 

“Not exactly an accomplishment.” You say sarcastically, bending down to the left side, moving vines to see something you had thought you saw turned out to be nothing. You hear her scoff in irritation. “Isn’t there normally some kind of access panel?”

“Yeah, but I can’t seem to find it.”

“Aren’t you useful.” You mutter under your breath, starting to move large amounts of vines at once, determined to get inside the Spire before it actually gets dark.

“I heard that.” She huffs out in irritation. 

“I’m glad you have functioning ears.” You reply, deadpan. “Do you have functioning eyes? Because I need you to use them before we’re stuck out here in the dark.”

“Why are you such an asshole, like, all the time?” You hear her say from behind you.

Is she really asking you this? You sigh internally, not wanting to have this conversation.

“Because I’m tired, all the time. Tired of this place, tired of you, tired in general.” You stand up, hearing your spine crack, and look at Spinel.

She looks.. kind of hurt. What the hell.

“Also, it’s kind of a defense mechanism.” You finish with, taking one last look along the entirety of the wall. Fuck all of this, you were hoping it’d be easy.

“What.. do you mean?” She asks, tentatively.

“What?” You turn to raise your eyebrow at her, puzzled. “Do you like, care, or something?” “No,” She says all too quickly. “I just don’t understand why you’re defensive, or so hostile towards me.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like we’re friends.” You give her another look. “Can we like, just get this door open? Instead of chatting. I can physically feel the temperature drop.”

Her gaze lingers on you, completely unreadable, before looking back towards the door.

“I’m kind of at a loss. Normally the panel is just out in full view, but I can’t seem to find anything anywhere.” 

“Ughhh, I just want IN!” You nearly shout in frustration, slapping your hand against the wall.

You hear a click, and the sound of stone sliding against itself. You and Spinel look at each other.

“Huh.” She says, “What do ya know?”

 A small panel opens on the side, and you see its screen glowing. Both of you walk up to it.

“Is there like a button, or..?” You trail off momentarily, thinking to yourself. “Pearl usually just placed her hand on it, and we’d be good.”

Spinel considers it for a second, and then slams her palm on the screen. 

It does nothing for several long seconds, and then you hear the voice of a Pearl.

“Please scan your gem.” The console says nearly robotically.

You look towards Spinel, and her eyebrows are furrowed in confusion. “What?” You ask.

“This is really old tech.” She states, and walks right up to the screen. “I’m pretty sure only Diamonds and their Pearls would have access to something like this.” She leans over the screen, letting it recognize the object in front of it. A red line comes out, and it scans her gem.

“Is there any other way in?” You nearly sigh out loud, frustrated. The sun has set already, and it’s nearly chilly outside now. Pretty soon you’ll be seeing your breath.

You hear two beeps in succession, and the voice chimes out again.

“Welcome, Spinel.”

“Uhh,” You say in confusion. “You been here before?”

“I’m one hundred percent sure I haven’t.” She states, just as confused as you are.

The door in front of you shudders under the weight of the vines, before finally opening with a swoosh sound. Stale air hits you in the face, and you almost sneeze.

“Spinel,” You say. “What kind of gem did you say you were again?”

“I never told you what kind of gem I was.” She stares at you, slightly guarded. 

“Why would you have access? What are you?” You push at her, needing to know. 

She sighs in aggravation, wiping her hand down her face.

“I’m a companion gem.”

You stare at her.

“A companion gem. What exactly does that fucking mean?” You ask.

“Ya know.. like. Friendship and stuff.” She huffs out, narrowing her eyes at you.

“What..” You slowly blink, trying to comprehend this. Oh my god, what the fuck? You guess that makes sense, considering.. “So you just like, make friends with people? Pfff-” “Don’t.” She cuts you off with a glare.

"You're a friendship gem? The fuck? Are you like some sort of carebear?" You try not to laugh. You weren’t expecting this from a gem who tried to kill you.

"Tha' fuck is a carebear." She spits out, clearly aggravated and confused.

"Don’t worry about it." You shut your mouth, in case you burst out laughing. “Let’s just go inside, shall we?”

She nearly pushes past you, walking into the entrance of the Spire. You follow suit. 

Several times you wake up in the middle of the night, and Spinel is holding you closely. You keep falling back asleep in hope she’ll shift or move during the night, so you can take your chance to sneak away. Eventually you wake up again, and surprisingly she’s not holding you, but instead softly pressed against your side.

You can hear her breathing in even intervals, and you think she’s actually asleep. Huh. So this one sleeps. The only other gems you know sleep are Amethyst, and Steven, although he’s half human so he gets an excuse. You test how much of a light sleeper she is by shifting slightly away from her, careful to not disturb her. Her breathing is still the same, so you guess you’re in the clear.

You sit up carefully, and glance at Spinel’s sleeping face.

She’s.. weirdly peaceful, here. Her face looks soft, and her hair has fringe framing around the sides of her face, like her pigtails are getting loose. You watch her gem raise and lower slightly, in tune with her breathing. With the fire long gone, the only light is from the moons above, some of the light seeping through the cracks in the stone. You realize you’ve been staring at her for a while, and move to get up quietly. 

Carefully watching her as you move away, you rub your arms from the cold as you walk outside the ruins. It’s freezing. Not that you’d admit this to yourself, but you’d rather be next to Spinel right now as she’s your only heat source. At least she’s useful for something.

Once you’re outside, you look up to observe the moons. It’s so weird seeing this, honestly. You fill your lungs with the cold, crisp air, and set out to one of the taller hills you saw by the lake you were at earlier. Should only take you twenty minutes or so. You hope Spinel doesn’t wake up while you’re gone, but if she does, you could always say that you left to go to the bathroom or something. You should be back in less than an hour. It’s seriously so cold that you have to keep warming your hands with your breath, and even that’s not doing much. You make quick pace to try to keep yourself warm, because you’d rather not freeze to death out here.

You’re only a couple minutes into your small journey when off to the side of the path ahead of you, you see some rustling in the underbrush, and make a full stop. You hold your breath in to make sure whatever it is, it moved on its own accord, and not because it saw you. You think you see a creature’s feet moving around, so you stand very still, hoping it’ll leave quickly.

It seems a lot more of the creatures come out in the evening, for some reason, and hide during the day? They can’t all be nocturnal. You watch it rustling in the bushes for a few moments, before popping out onto the pathway you’re standing on, about twenty feet in front of you. It’s uh.. It’s weird. It’s canine in nature, and looks kind of like a hyena. There are lots of stripes on the side of its flank, and they look to be three-toed. This guy also seems kind of small - about 2 feet in height, almost like it’s a baby. 

You hope it’s not a baby. Its mother better not be nearby. 

Almost like it knows you’re there, it snaps its head to you, and it SCREECHES loudly. Oh fuck this, you are not sticking around for whatever comes to this things aid. You break out into a run, the creature squawking and jumping out of your way as you run past it - and you keep running without stopping. You’re gonna book it to this hill, and not look behind you.

You’re completely out of breath when you finally get to the hill, but thankfully nothing had seemed to chase you. Not that you had turned around to check. There’s a single large tree on this hill, and you can see quite a bit of the view around you. You can see your ruins, and the lake, and you can also see another structure in the distance by the edge of the jungle, next to those rocky chasms. You should go check that out later. Maybe you can find something useful there, you hope.

You pull the matching keychain out of your pants pocket, and place it against the base of the tree, off to the side. You cover it in a bit of grass just to be safe. You don’t want any of the animals here to walk off with it, or worse.. destroy it. You click it on, and watch the tiny light blink twice, meaning it was on and active. Cool.

Standing up, you look around you again to take in the view before leaving. It’s weirdly.. pretty out here at night. You can spot glowing bugs flickering around the edge of the lake, and in the trees. It reminds you of the times you used to see fireflies in the dead of summer, and all of a sudden you’re extremely homesick. You miss Steven, and you hope he’s okay. You hope the rest of the gems are, too. 

How long will it take for them to find you? Where even are you? How far away from Earth? You don’t even know what star system you’re in, considering you don’t recognize any of these constellations like.. at all. Maybe you’re lucky, and this planet is vaguely neighboring the milky way. You wish you had some form of control over this situation.

It’s quiet and cold, and the bark of this tree feels slimy to the touch, so you stop leaning against it. It’s time for you to leave and get back, anyway. 

Several feet behind you, you hear a twig snap, and you freeze on your feet.

Oh.. oh god. You’re gonna need to think fast, considering you have no idea what’s behind you, and you don’t know if making any sudden moves will make it attack you.

Heart beating loudly in your chest, very slowly you attempt to move your face to glance at what's behind you, but you find yourself slammed against a tree for the second time in 48 hours, breath leaving you instantly. 

"YA TRYIN' TO LEAVE ME HUH? WELL I'M NOT LETTING THAT HAPPEN." You hear Spinel before you can even look at her. Your head hurts, as it got knocked against the tree as well, and you're seeing stars for a second before you can find your bearing.

"Spinel, I wasn't trying to leave!" You manage to choke out.

"And why the HELL WOULD I BELIEVE THAT? ALL THE WAY OUT HERE." She presses you harder against the tree, trying to make her point.

“I told you. There’s literally NOWHERE I'D BE ABLE TO RUN TO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!” You are sick and tired of her treating you like this. You're tired of being physically assaulted every time she decides she wants to. She’s so fucking obsessed with the idea of you running away from her.

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" Her face contorts with fury, her hands shaking in anger against your shoulders. 

You're done with this situation. You attempt to bring your arms up, and with as much strength you can muster, you place your palms on either side of her gem to push her off of you. She steps backwards in shock, not exactly expecting you to fight back.

"I'm sick and fucking tired of you ASSAULTING me whenever you think I'm doing something wrong! How in the deepest pits of HELL you think we can be friends is BEYOND ME!!" You spit out at her, hands balling into fists.

"I SHOULD'VE KILLED STEVEN UNIVERSE LIKE I PLANNED BECAUSE IT WOULD'VE BEEN EASIER THAN DEALING WITH YOU!" She screams out, and you've had it.

You've punched her in the face before you could think about the consequences of your actions, white hot fury the only thing running through your mind. She stumbles, hand clutching her cheek, and the look in her eyes makes you want to run.

"Doesn't feel great, does it now?" You bring your eyes to hers in an unspoken challenge. She stares at you, both of you unmoving for several long seconds.

Faster than you can blink, she whips her fist at you, and you barely manage to dodge it as it whizzes past your face.

"God you're such an awful friend. Where I come from, friends don't fucking hurt each other!!" You yell at her, and bring your arms up so she can't get to your face. "You're supposed to be NICE to me!" 

"Dealin' with you has been a miserable experience!!" She wipes her mouth, and looks like she's about to attack you again. "I have done NOTHING but help ya, and all ya seem to be able to do is COMPLAIN!"

Ohhhhh my god she doesn't fucking get it!!! You're absolutely about to lose your mind with her. 

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!? ALL OF THIS IS AGAINST MY WILL!! I FUCKING HATE YOU! I'M NOT YOUR PET SPINEL, I'M A REAL PERSON WHO HAS FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS!!!" You can't even seem to hold back anymore. Everything flies out of your mouth without any consideration behind it, but it’s been coming for a while. She's visibly shaking with anger.

Spinel comes right up to you and you attempt to guard yourself from any further violence with your forearms, but she grasps your wrists with each of her hands. 

"The feeling is mutual." She replies in a low voice, and pulls you to her chest. You can't seem to look away from the anger in her eyes.

You struggle in her grip, and you can't seem to get your arms free from her grasp. You're starting to panic that you're trapped, and she's so close to your face you can feel her breath on your lips.

While all of this is happening, you are starting to realize everything is super quiet around you. Unnervingly so. 

And then, underneath your feet, you feel the ground shake.

"Uhh," You manage to say out loud.

Spinel drops her arms from yours and looks wildly around you two as if there's some physical monster nearby.

“What’s going on?” She asks you, like you somehow know more than her in this situation.

“Fuck if I know!” You reply, just as the rumbling stops abruptly. You look around, and things seem pretty unchanged. Okay.

“It stopped. Huh.”

“Weird. I wonder if the quakes here are like the ones on Earth.” You contemplate out loud. Silence befalls you two, mood from earlier completely vanished, and you take this chance to take a couple steps away from her.

“Hm.” She probably hasn’t a clue as to what you’re talking about.

There’s a strange whirring noise coming from what sounds like 60 feet away at most. Spinel’s gaze meets yours, and her facial expression changes to one of confusion. You have no idea what you’re hearing, but it stops after a few seconds.

“I have no idea what that was.” You say, and turn to follow the direction of the noise. It seems to be right around the bottom of the other side of this hill.

“..ya gonna follow that noise? What if it kills ya?” You hear her take a couple steps, following you. What the hell, why does she care?

“Look, that was really weird okay? We’ve been here for a bit but we’ve never felt or heard that before.” You’re making your way around the hill, climbing over several large rocks that seem to block a lot of the way on this side. You haven’t seen this many rocks all in one area at all so far. 

Spinel easily follows you, and it only takes you a minute to reach the bottom. 

“Uhhh.” She says, and you’re about to say the same thing.

The two of you come face to face with another one of these.. caves. Holes. Tunnel? This is super fucking strange.

“There’s another.. hole here?” You hear yourself say. “Why? Are you sure gems didn’t do this?” “Yeah, I’m sure no gem did this.” She peers into the darkness, and takes a step in.

For some reason sirens go off in your head, and your hand snaps out to Spinel’s wrist. She turns to look at you with a raised eyebrow.

“Let’s not blindly go solving all our mysteries tonight, maybe?” The hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you pull her out into the moonlight. 

“You’re the one that wanted to come here.”

“And I’d also like to leave now. This place makes me super uneasy.” “Why? It’s just a cave.”

“It just gives me the creeps, okay? Let’s leave it at that.” You say as you turn around to leave, and hike it back up and around the hill. It’s cold as fuck, and when you get back up to the tree, you can see most of the jungle has now a thick layer of fog upon the ground.

“Ugh. I’m pretty sure I know how to get back.” She says, and you follow her in the vague direction that you know is the ruins. 

You're both pretty quiet on the way back, and once you're a good hundred or so yards away from the hill, you feel the ground trembling again. She looks at you, eyebrows raised in confusion.

"So soon again?" 

"Yeah, weird.." You reply, looking back towards the hill. The quakes stop after a good couple of seconds, and you shrug.  "If this planet had any volcanic activity I feel like we'd be able to see any mountains nearby, but I've seen nothing. And I've tried scoping out this place as much as I could earlier."

"I haven't seen any either." She regards you, and turns to keep walking. "We can figure out that later, anyway. It's cold and we should be getting back." 

It's almost like she cares about you.

You're back within twenty minutes, and you pass out fairly quickly all things considered. 

-

Morning hits you like a slap to the face. 

Like.. literally.

You feel a sharp pang along the side of your face, and Spinel is shaking you awake.

"Will ya get up? Somehow you reopened the cut on your face while sleeping last night, and it's bleedin' all over now."

You sit up, and cup your face with your palm, to your immediate regret. You pull your hand away to feel the wet of your blood on your skin, and see red streaking against your open hand.

“Ohhhh this is just my luck.” You say, and move to stand up. Immediately you’re feeling a bit lethargic, and sit back down on your pile of bedding.

“Can you sit still for a second?” Spinel moves away to grab something off to the side that you can’t see, and comes back into view shortly after.

She’s got crudely smashed bits of greens in her hand, and dips her thumb in, bringing bits up to your forehead. She smears the salve against your skin and you wince a bit, feeling the chunky solution against your face. 

“What are you doing?” You ask her bluntly. You’re confused as to why she’s even trying to help you.

“Making sure you don’t die of something stupid.” She says, biting her tongue between her teeth, getting the last bit against the edge of your eyebrow. She pulls her hand away, doing a once over glance upon your face. “Seems good enough for now.”

You look away, and mutter a quick thanks to her.

You still can’t trust her, despite this. 

But.. regardless of things, it’s probably in your best interest to go bathe. The water source you found yesterday -  the lake, is your only option at this point.

“I think I’m gonna bathe myself. You’re not at all welcome to join, but you’re probably gonna come anyway, no matter what I say?” You ask offhandedly, getting up and stretching your legs.

“Ya think I’m gonna let you go off alone, considering what happened last night?” She replies, making sure to lock eye contact with you. You shrug in reply.

“Figured I’d ask.”

You get up, wincing at your skin pulling on the corners of your face. Shit, she’s right. It hurts, but there’s not much you can do about it. You’re trying to not be pissed and start another fight, considering she’s the one who did the damage to you in the first place. You’ll find the time to bring it up later anyway.

You stumble out of the ruins, discombobulated at the lack of decent sleep and blood loss, and  walk towards the lake you discovered yesterday. 

It’s sweltering out, and it takes you a while to get over there. You grab a piece of fruit to eat on the way out, and Spinel follows you almost like a lost puppy to your destination. You don’t find yourself caring as much as you did earlier in the week.

Considering it’s been a couple days since you’ve been on this hell planet, you think you’re doing pretty okay, all things considered.

Once you reach the lake, Spinel wanders off to explore the edges of the plant life dipping into the lake. 

You.. obviously make a point to be away from her in general as you undress yourself. You’re aware enough to feel disgusting compared to your normal hygiene, and slowly wade into the lake, covering yourself in as much water as possible before she can even glance at your naked body. 

You sink until you’re level with the water’s surface, letting the water flow around you, reaching your shoulders. It’s a little chilly, but you've dealt with worse. You can manage. The water flows around your body, reaching your shoulders. You can feel the plants around your feet cling to your legs, and you struggle to shake them off. Obviously you have no soap, but you busy yourself washing off your built up sweat and dirt.

You look around you, realizing it’s been quiet for a while. You can’t see Spinel anywhere. Did she.. leave you alone? Holy fuck, thank god. 

Something touches your leg that’s clearly not a plant, and you nearly scream. You kick whatever it is, and it grabs your leg. You actually scream this time, and Spinel pops out of the water fully clothed, glaring at you.

“What was that for?” She spits out angrily, water dripping down her hair and face. 

“Why the fuck would you scare me like that!?” You quickly cover your breasts, heartbeat speeding up. No one’s ever seen you naked in broad daylight like this. 

“Was just lookin’ at somethin’ shiny at the bottom. Turned out to be a rock, much to my disappointment.” She gives you a look over, eyes trailing along your naked skin. You sink further into the water.

“Hey, can you not stare? A bit self conscious here, Spinel.” You try not to sound agitated, but you were hoping for some privacy.

“Self conscious? Why?” She raises an eyebrow in confusion.

“I’m naked in broad daylight. Could you like.. Go over there?” You make a point to look over to the shore. She doesn’t quite follow. She’s either actually oblivious, or obtuse on purpose. 

“I think I’m fine here.” She replies blunty, and you internally scream.

Whatever. You turn around and go back to washing yourself, attempting to ignore Spinel’s presence. Sinking down and submerging yourself completely, you do your best to scrub out any dirt and sweat out of your hair and scalp, already feeling a hundred times better than an hour ago. You come back up for air, gasping a little as you were holding your breath for quite some time. Water drips down your face, and you wipe your face off and squeeze the water out of your hair. Thankfully, the stuff on your forehead is still intact, albeit soaked now. 

You feel a hand on your lower back, and you freeze.

“What are you doing?” You say to Spinel, and feel her fingers graze your skin a little lower, and you shiver involuntarily.

“What’s this?” She presses her hand into your skin. She’s probably talking about your scar on your lower back, now that you remember.

“It’s a scar. Also, can you not touch me?” You swim a little further, but her hand stays put on your back.

“What’s it from?” She asks, completely ignoring what you just said. It was from that one time you failed to protect Steven properly, but she doesn’t need to know that. Her fingers curiously trace the jagged line across your skin that you know is there.

“None of your business. Now hands off.” You curtly reply, and grab her by the wrist, stopping her from touching you. Her eyes trail back up to yours, and she fixes you with a.. challenging look. Several seconds pass, and none of you move. She jerks her hand free, and turns around to swim back to the shore.

Okay.. what the fuck was that. You try not to think about it as you finish up, and when you turn to head back to shore, you don’t see Spinel anywhere. Whatever, better for you anyway.

You grab your clothes, and struggle to put them back on since you’re still kind of wet, even in this sweltering heat. It’s extra hot today, and you’re considering just hanging out in the lake to cool off all day.

But.. you have several things to do, including acquiring more food, and finding a way to store water somehow. You almost fall over trying to put your pants back on, and hear a snicker from a dozen or so feet away.

Spinel’s leaning against a tree, and watching you in amusement. Bitch. You glare at her.

You finish buttoning your pants, and huff out a sigh. You turn to leave, and you don’t wait for her to follow you.

-

A few days pass, and you manage to gather a few different types of fruit, discover two more water sources, and explored a bit more of the jungle that you hadn’t been to. You’d like to set out to that structure you saw a few miles away, but you’d prefer to be a little more prepared, and you’re almost set. You should be able to go out either tomorrow, or the next day if everything goes right.

You’re hoping it’s an intact gem base, honestly. You’re anxious about there possibly being not only supplies that you could use, but also maybe a way to send Steven and the gems a message. Or some tech to make a ship usable if there’s one? There’s a little bit of hope.

You managed to reach a small truce with Spinel. It took quite a long discussion and you almost socked her in the face again, but you both came to the conclusion that no matter what you do, there isn’t really a way for you to escape even if you tried. So she doesn’t follow you absolutely everywhere now. You still don’t know why she’s so.. adamant on you not leaving her alone. Clearly, she can deal with shit by herself, and doesn’t need you for anything. She doesn’t even like you as a person, so what’s her deal?

Spinel is probably back at the shelter, doing who knows what. She said she’d be going out to find something specific later, but if you’re going to be honest, you didn’t really care so you didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to what she was saying.

Currently, you’re out again gathering more supplies for the fire. The last two days have been extra cold at night, and the only thing keeping you from freezing to death is an active fire, and Spinel. Not that you’d admit that to her. She doesn’t need to know.

It’s extremely hot out today, and you’re sweating just.. existing outside right now. This might be the hottest day you’ve had so far on this planet actually.

You’re out in a different area of the jungle this time, in a completely unfamiliar area. You know at least the direction you came from, which is what’s most important. You’ve also managed to find a way to bring back a large amount of wood and sticks via tying them up in vines, and strapping them to your back. You feel resourceful, and you’re kind of proud of yourself.

You spend an hour or two foraging, and you aren’t exactly paying attention to much around you when you’re realizing that the temperature is cooling quite rapidly. Which is strange because it's not quite evening yet, but late afternoon. You look up at the sky to see dark, giant clouds rolling in, and quickly pack up what you were grabbing. How did you not notice the weather changing? 

You hike your makeshift pack over your shoulder, and quickly walk back to your ruins. You do not want to be caught in the rain, as you don’t have a change of clothes.

Less than 5 minutes pass, and already it’s starting to pour. Shit. You hear thunder rolling in the distance, and take a couple deep breaths. You hate storms. You’re actually completely terrified of thunder and lighting, but you’ve kept that hidden your whole life. Not even Steven knew.

It’s nearly fucking freezing now. Lighting is crackling all around you, and you’re shaking in terror, not from cold. You’re completely soaked to the bone. You pass by a familiar area and turn heel, and your foot slips out from under you and you drop to the muddy jungle floor like a sack of bricks, soaking your entire front, and getting mud all over yourself. You groan and wipe off your face, and about 20 feet to the right there’s a flash of light, and a tree nearly explodes from the lightning. You scream out in surprise.

Oh god, you’re nearly about to fucking cry.

The rain is coming down hard and fast, and you’re also being pelted with ice. You’re shaking so hard from the cold, and also fear, that you almost fall down again. You keep running out of pure adrenaline at this point. The storm is so fucking loud, it’s like being inside an airplane turbine.

Running the direction that you know is home, you do your best to keep the pack of wood steady on your back, as you need it now more than ever once you get back. You only had so much left from last night. The trees were swaying violently in the wind and rain, and you have to shield your face constantly from incoming branches.

Another five minutes pass, and now you know you’re completely lost. You might’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere back there, but you wouldn’t be able to tell now as the wind is blowing everything all over. You wring your hands anxiously, frozen for a moment while you think of what to do. You’re so fucking cold you feel like every bone is shaking in your body. The ice rain pelting your face, and the wind making you colder, it’s taking everything in you to not start crying. 

You can't just stand here forever, but you don't want to fuck yourself over even more by heading in an even further direction.

Your breathing picks up pace, and your chest is starting to hurt. You can feel yourself start to hyperventilate.

Suddenly, you feel a hand wrap around your arm, and you yelp out loud.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Spinel shouts at you, almost quiet against the wind. You steady yourself, and bite back the tears that almost started to spill. Thankfully you know you look like a mess already right now because of the storm.

“I got lost!!” You shout back, determined not to show your earlier emotions, and despite your quaking. 

She’s also soaking wet, with her hair plastered to her face, worry obvious in her eyes. She doesn’t look bothered at all by the weather. 

"Are you okay!?" The worry coming out in her voice, she leans closer to you.

"I'm fine!" You choke out. "Let's just get back already."

She nods, and leads you back a different direction from where you came. It only takes you two another ten minutes to find your way back, and you're relieved to finally see your shelter.

When you get inside, you dump your pile of wet wood over by the rest of it. You're dripping everywhere and shivering uncontrollably, and with shaking hands you try your best to wring your clothes out. 

Spinel's trying to make a fire, and you've never felt more grateful for anything in your life. She turns to you and cocks an eyebrow.

"Ya gonna freeze to death if ya don't take those off." She says, eyes trailing the dripping clothes on your body.

"I'll be fine." You say, and still try to wring out your clothes. "I just gotta sit by the fire and I'll dry off eventually."

Lighting cracks outside, and you almost jump. Spinel watches you curiously, much to your aggravation.

"Not before your body's temperature drops so much it dies." She gives you a look. "I'll be fine, because I can do this," There's a glow of light around her, and a flash, and now she's completely dry. You forgot gems could do that. "But you can't. So, off with the clothes."

You glare at her. "No."

"Do you want me to be the one to force them off 'ya?" She glares back, and you force your mind to NOT go there.

"Touch me, and you die. The clothes aren't coming off. I'm fine." You're trying to stop your body from shaking so much visibly, and failing.

Spinel finally gets the fire going, and walks over to the wood pile to put some extra on top. You scooch closer to the heat, trying to get yourself to dry quickly. She steps back over to you, and gives you a long look.

"Are we doin' this the easy way, or the hard way?" 

"We're doing this the uh.. 'let me do what I want' way." You cross your arms, unmoving in front of the fire.

"Hard way it is." She says with a tisk of her tongue, and leans into your personal space, grabbing the hem of your shirt immediately. You yelp, and slam your hands down, forcing her hands away.

"Dude. It's fine." You say through your teeth, wanting nothing more than to be dry and home in your bed right now. 

"It ain't. Give up already." She grabs your arms with one hand and lifts you shirt up. The wet fabric clings to your skin, and you hear some threads snap. 

"Okay stop. Fine! Let me do it." You huff out in irritation, not wanting her to literally rip your clothes apart. These are the only ones you have.

You carefully peel off your shirt, and can see Spinel watching you.

"Can you fucking not?" You spit out, cold and miserable right now. She scoffs and turns around. You take off everything but your underwear, because that's a thin piece of fabric anyway and you're not going to be absolutely ass naked right now. You grab the largest leaf in the pile to kinda cover your torso with, and sit down as close as you can to the fire.

"Don't sit so close ya' burn yourself." She says, after a few moments of quiet. Well, silence actually, considering the raging winds outside.

"I'm not an idiot." You grumble out, and she snorts at that. If you weren't so cold right now, you'd punch her.

The fire warms your hands and feet, but the rest of your body is still violently shivering. At this point, burning yourself might be your only chance at warmth.

She looks at you for a while, sighs out loud, and pulls you into her arms. You struggle, and she holds you against her tightly.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now!? Let me go."

"Nah. Ya' gotta get warm somehow." She replies and squeezes you closer, much to your aggravation. You sigh and decide to deal with it. She's right, but you will never admit this to her.

Silence befalls you two, and you're lost in thought while shivering for a few minutes before she speaks up again.

"Scared of thunderstorms, huh?" You look up to glare at her, and she looks slightly smug. You'll murder her later.

"I'm not scared of them, asshole. They're just loud and disconcerting." You hiss out at her, gripping your leaf. It doesn't really help, but you want it anyway.

"Oh, sure." She simply replies like she doesn't believe you at all even though she has no reason not to, and GOD she's infuriating. 

"Yeah, well, you're scared of being alone." You narrow your eyes at her.

Her eyes snap to yours, and emotion passes that you don't recognize on her. She masks it quickly.

"No I'm not." Her eyes seem to challenge yours for a second, eyebrows furrowing.

"Then why are you so obsessed with me potentially leaving you?" You say all casual-like. She just stares at you for a solid couple of seconds.

"That's none of your fuckin' business." She snaps her mouth shut, and her eyes purposefully look to the other side of the room.

What the fuck is her problem.

You sigh, deflating a little now that your body temperature is starting to rise, though you're still dripping. The storm died down a little, wind still howling in the distance albeit quieter now, and you can hear your own heartbeats. 

You don't know what you're going to do the rest of the evening, but this storm might've fucked your plans to go out to the structure tomorrow. You're seriously frustrated that life keeps throwing a wrench into your plans continuously. Maybe the jungle and mud won't be so bad in the morning? You can hope.

You're also worried about the wound on your face. You've been cleaning it to the best of your ability, but it still hurts a lot, and you're worried it's getting infected. Fuck your shitty luck.

It's kind of a bit dark out now, and the you can see the silhouette of your shadows against the concrete. Watching the fire flicker your shadows, you glance back over to Spinel's face, to see her only an inch from yours and staring at you intently.

"U-um." You manage to stutter out.