Part 1: Sour Grape
"Alright, Amethyst," Garnet says, looking at the hole, "you're the only one who can fit in there. Do your thing." Amethyst goes down on her knees and crawls on the blue floor of the ice mountain. She squeezes through the Amethyst-sized hole that sits between her and the Gems' goal. They're on a mission to look for an artifact that is said to bring inanimate objects to life. It's gotten out of control. Garnet did most of the work destroying the artifact's guardians, but destroying the wall into the artifact's sanctuary has proven to be difficult. It's virtually indestructible, save for that Amethyst-sized hole. Not even Garnet can break through it with her gauntlets.
Behind the wall where she left Garnet and Pearl, there are glimmering white bridges leading to the artifact. The artifact is a small, brown figurine that resembles a woman wearing a long robe the folds over at the edges. She almost looks like Rose, except for the fact that the gem is on the back and the hair is straight and short. The bridges are thin. Amethyst stands up. She finds that the width of her foot can't even fit properly on them. Carefully, hoping she doesn't fall in the bottomless black pit below her, she shimmies across.
"Wh-Whoa!" She shouts, getting off-balance. She falls backwards, but catches herself on the ledge. She laughs nervously, looking down. It's not like she hasn't done things like this before, but it's always so scary. Especially since she's clumsy. Wait…she can shape-shift. Why didn't she think of this before?
Amethyst releases her grip from the bridge. She falls.
A few seconds later, she flies up to the statue as a small bird. Her wings are beating fast, chest puffing rapidly, it's tiring—or she's just being lazy. Amethyst's talons land on the pedestal supporting the artifact. The click of her talons echoes throughout the room and down the bottomless pit. She stares at the artifact for a long time. It's giving her a queer feeling, somewhat uncomfortable. Up close, the artifact looks almost new, save for the few cracks here or there around the body. Amethyst hesitantly opens her beak, taking the artifact in it. She spreads her wings and tries to fly. The artifact is stuck, and she is pulled back onto the pedestal. "Agh," she groans. She transforms into a larger bird and tries to take it off with it between her feet. It doesn't budge. She transforms into a giant gorilla and it still doesn't budge. Thinking, Amethyst jumps all the way back to where she started and summons her whip. She loops it around the statue and pulls at it. It still doesn't budge for some reason. Angry, she violently yanks the whip and the statue finally comes free with a click! "Hah!" Amethyst catches the statue in her hands, dematerializing her weapon.
Amethyst stares at the artifact, admiring it.
"Amethyst?" Pearls calls questioningly through the hole. Her nose pokes through it. She shakes her head. What was that? She goes to the hole she came from.
"Did you get it, Amethyst?" Pearl says.
"Yep," Amethyst says, showing Pearl and Garnet the statue. "It was really hard to get."
"Alright, bubble it," Garnet says, walking back to the warp pad. "We need to check on Rose."
"Eh, I'll do it later," Amethyst says, staring at the artifact. She walks on, following behind Pearl. It's so beautiful.
Later, at the Temple, Rose is waiting outside for the Gems to return. She has a small baby bump on her abdomen. She's pregnant with her and Greg's child. They haven't come up with a name yet. Greg is currently at the car wash doing business and usual. She'll visit him later.
She sighs, looking out at the sea. How can something be this beautiful? Not even the homeworld was this stunning. She sighs again, admiring it all. The warp pad activates. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl appear, posing on it, mission completed. Pearl looks over to the beach, finding Rose sitting on the sand.
"Rose!" Pearl cries, running over to her. "You can't sit on the ground like that! What about the baby!" She grabs hold of Rose's hand to pull her up.
"It's fine, Pearl," Rose chuckles. "You can let go of my hand now. I'm able to move on my own. Did you all finish the mission?" Pearl lets go of Rose's hand. She looks at Rose as she gets up. Her movements are somewhat shaky as she stands to her feet. Pearl helps her up, putting a hand on her back for support.
"Yeah, we finished it," Amethyst says, walking towards Rose. She holds up the statue. "Look what I got!" Amethyst holds up the statue with glee.
"That's great, Amethyst," Rose says. She tilts her head, asking, "why didn't you bubble it?"
"I wanna keep it."
"For now…just don't let it touch the ground," Garnet says.
"I'm going over to Greg's carwash. I'll be back in a few hours," Rose says, walking across the beach to Beach City.
"Alright," Pearl calls out, "just be careful, Rose!" Then she ponders to herself, "Maybe I should come along to. Yeah, I'll do that. That sounds good." Pearl runs after her leader.
Later, inside the Temple, Amethyst is inside her room, staring at the artifact, fiddling with it in her hands. It's been almost half a day since the mission was over and the fact that she hasn't bubbled it yet kind of disturbs her. But there's something about the artifact that keeps her intrigued. There's something special about it. Maybe it shouldn't be bubbled. Maybe she should keep it, hide it from the Gems. Yeah, that's a good—
"Amethyst!" Pearl shouts. She's walking through the temple door into her room. "Why do you still have that thing? Bubble it!"
"No," Amethyst says, "I'm think I'm gonna keep it." She stands up, making sure the statue doesn't touch the ground.
"Why?! It's dangerous!" Pearl walks forward. Amethyst takes a step back. "Here, you should give it to me. I'll bubble it for you." She extends a hand, looking down at Amethyst with mixed feelings. Amethyst looks at Pearl angrily, knowing she's going to take the artifact from her.
"I said no!" Amethyst hollers. Pearl flinches at Amethyst's attack. She lowers her hand, having it clench into a fist, getting angry. Pearl steps forward and swipes at Amethyst for the artifact. Amethyst bites her hand. Pearl yelps out. She snatches her hand from her teammate's mouth.
"Now really Amethyst, is this how you're going to act?! Just bubble it or give it me!" Amethyst backs up again.
"Get away from me Pearl," she warns. She backs up into a large, unstable tower of junk. Pearl moves forward. Amethyst looks left and right, searching for an opening. She finds one, a puddle, that leads into the burning room. Amethyst slams her hand into the towers of junk. The shock sends the unstable tower toppling over and onto Pearl. She cries out in surprise, holding her arms up for protection.
Amethyst takes this chance to run to the puddle portal. It's not far, but Pearl is already climbing out of the rubble, livid. "Amethyst!" But she jumps into the puddle.
Amethyst falls into the burning room, landing on her butt. She interrupts a conversation between Garnet and Rose who holds a bubble with a pyramid shaped object in one of her bubbles. It looks somewhat metallic and colorful, like bismuth.
"Oh, Amethyst," Rose says, looking at the purple gem, "what are you doing here?"
"Getting away from Pearl," she replies, hiding the statue behind her back.
Rose chuckles, sending the bubble away. "Are you two fighting again?" Amethyst nods, shifting the statue behind her. "You two should really get along better. What's behind your back?"
"Nothing," she quickly says, hiding her nervous panic. "I'm going to walk around the city. I'll be back later." Amethyst turns around, moving the statue in front of her so they won't see it. But to much of her dismay, Pearl bursts in the room, covered in filth and seething with rage.
"SHE STILL HAS THAT STATUE!" Pearl screams, lunging at Amethyst. Amethyst spins out of the way. Pearl smacks her face in the wall. Amethyst looks at the statue. It's in front of her, in her hands. She looks at Garnet and Rose both, who stare back at her with shock. Pearl stomps over to Amethyst, rubbing her nose. She seizes the dangerous artifact from her possession and bubbles it. It reappears high up in the burning room, out of reach.
"What did you do that for?!" Amethyst screams, eyes showing intense anger. Her hair stands up in spikes like a scared cat.
"Amethyst, calm down," Rose says in an assuaging tone. "That artifact is evil and we had to bubble it. It's a corrupter."
"That doesn't mean you had to take it from me! I was going to bubble it eventually!" She lies, thrusting her hands behind her back.
"We know, Amethyst, but we just need to be on the safe side." Rose turns to Garnet. "We'll talk again later." Rose leaves the burning room, Pearl exiting after to go calm down in her own room. Garnet and Amethyst are left. She looks at Amethyst, fixing her shades, putting a hand on her hip.
"What," Amethyst attacks, crossing her arms.
"You are a Crystal Gem," Garnet says, "you need to put the safety of us and the humans before your curiosity." That's all she has to say, and she leaves the burning room. Amethyst is left behind, staring up at the statue.
Amethyst. The whisper enters her head. Free me.