Summary: Sometimes, things that have been said are regretted immediately...and you can't go back and change the past. With Amethyst under control, it's no use in stopping her. She will not stop until her goal is reached. And that goal is terminating Steven. Permanently. With new enemies and threats, it's impossible to escape a hurricane of regret, blood, and death.
(Cover from nightfuryshadows: art/A-Amethyst-STOP-515341085 )
Amethyst stared at the Gem with wide eyes, her breathing hitched in terrified fear.
"If you don't shut your mouth, I will make it happen!" The red Gem growled, grabbing the purple Gem's neck and bringing her up to her eye level, to which Amethyst brought her hands up to the other Gem's hands, struggling to breathe.
"You disgusting animal...what a shame it must feel to be an outcast. Look at you. A big mistake. You shouldn't even be here. A total error," she hissed into her face, releasing Amethyst, causing her to fall onto the ground harshly with a yelp of pain. The purple Gem looked up at the taller Gem, tears springing to her eyes.
"I hope you die here. It'll make the world a better place. If I could, I would have slayed your neck by now. Farewell, beast." The door slammed closed loudly, leaving a shocked and mortified Amethyst inside the cage…
"Aww, come on, Amethyst! Are you afraid? Where's the brave dragon?" Steven exclaimed, giving his friend a huge grin as he tilted his head.
Amethyst blinked, flicking her gaze over to the boy. Usually she was the one who loved to barge into new places, but this time it didn't feel right. She had a very bad feeling about entering this Temple. Even Pearl mentioned that this area was a blocked zone, and that no one should enter it. She drew in a breath. Well, it wouldn't hurt to go inside, she supposed...as long as they didn't touch anything.
"Alright, fine, but don't touch anything," Amethyst sighed, a somewhat indignant look on her face.
"Yes!" Steven said happily, glancing inside the large room. Taking hold of his friend's hand, he pulled her forward and said, "Let's go!"
The two Gems wandered inside curiously, glancing around very often and observing the area. There were stacks of pillars surrounding them, with beautiful branches with fake green leaves covering them. They curled around the pillars from bottom to top. There was a giant staircase to the left, a couple of small boulders blocking the entrance. There was another staircase at the opposite side of the room, clear of boulders. At the ceiling hung strange letters, as if it was trying to form a symbol of some sort, but it was cracked, failing to display a picture.
"Hmm...it looks so wrecked. I wonder what was the last thing that happened here," Steven muttered, narrowing his eyes at a faint red rock. But Amethyst quickly yanked him back and turned him around, chuckling nervously.
"Hah...I dunno," she replied, hoping he hadn't seen the bones and puddles of blood. "Probably some Gem craziness. Let's uh, go upstairs and see what's up there," she suggested, gesturing to the staircase that wasn't blocked with any obstacles.
"Aww, do we have to go through there? How about we go through the messy staircase?" Steven said, pointing at the rocks and staircase.
"Wha - what?! No, we can't go in there! You don't know what could be in there. That one looks more dangerous and the ceiling might fall on us."
Steven blinked, turning to face her. "I doubt that...and we'll be fine, because if it does, my bubble will protect us!" He protested, heading toward the stairs. Amethyst blinked in surprise and confusion, huffing in frustration. Nevertheless, she followed after him, making sure nothing odd was happening.
The two Gems traveled up the stairs, Amethyst climbing up a bit slower than Steven. As soon as the two of them reached the top, they gasped in astonishment.
Hundreds of gemstones were littered throughout the floor, some rusty, some glittering brightly from the reflection of the glass walls. Tiny beetles crawled in and out of holes in the walls, buzzing silently, as if they noticed the other two's company.
"Oh my god...are those...gemstones?" Steven breathed, staring wide eyed at the colorful stones that piled over each other. He blinked, his eyes widening as a horrible thought came to his head. Were those dead Gems?! Gems that used to be like him?! Like Amethyst, or Pearl, or Garnet?!
He turned to Amethyst, swallowing heavily. "A-Amethyst? Are those regular gemstones, or are they Gems like us? Dead Gems?" He asked, but this only caused her to shush him, her eyes scanning the area.
The boy blinked and looked up at her, frowning. "What…?" He whispered.
Amethyst strained her hearing, trying to hear something that she thought she just heard a few moments ago. Ducking her head low, she gasped as she heard it again.
Turning to look at Steven, she said, "Steven, we gotta get out of here. Now. Go, run, run!"
"What, why?!"
The two were cut off as a loud, blood-lurching scream filled the air, causing both Gems to cover their ears and close their eyes in pain.
Amethyst pricked her head as she watched a small glowing object land in front of them with a click, a small lid and handle releasing small bubbles of gas. She didn't have enough time to react as it exploded, sending shocks of energy everywhere. She threw herself to the side and grabbed Steven, holding him close to protect him from the falling rocks and force. However, the boy activated his bubble, encasing the two of them inside.
"What was that?!' Steven shrieked, turning his head to look at the purple Gem.
"A grenade!" Amethyst answered back, pointing at a bigger grenade that had just smacked against the surface of the bubble. They flinched back as it exploded, the energy force suddenly sending the bubble they were inside of flying back down the stairs. As soon as they hit the bottom floor, the bubble popped, releasing them from protection and sending them sprawling out on the cold floor.
Amethyst landed on her stomach, yelping in horrible pain as her breath was knocked out of her. She glanced up, making eye contact with Steven, who was now sitting up, clutching his head with one hand and using his other to help support himself.
Amethyst glanced at the stairs, her eyes widening when her gaze landed on two figures that were sliding down the stairs swiftly, one of them heading toward Amethyst and the other toward Steven.
Steven screamed as he was suddenly grabbed, being pulling to his feet harshly. The person, or whoever it was, took hold of his wrists and twisted them back, wrapping a thick rope around them behind his back firmly.
"Stop, no! Let go of me!" Steven cried, to which the person pulled him back hard in answer.
Amethyst stood up quickly, her hand reaching towards her chest and pulling out her Energy Whip. She narrowed her eyes and swung her whip forward, aiming at the person.
"A new Gem...surprising, but interesting," the attacker breathed, jumping into the air, doing a flip and at the same time pulling out a gun, directing it at the Gem.
"NO!" Steven screamed, his eyes widening once he saw the weapon. His gemstone suddenly blinked brightly, activating and revealing his shield in front of his stomach. Without his permission, the pink shield was chucked forward, in-between Amethyst and the enemy. At the same time, the attacker fired, the bullet escaping the rifle.
But instead of hitting Amethyst's gemstone, it was halted by the shield, preventing the bullet's movement.
"Another Gem!" the enemy breathed, her eyes widening at Steven, her gaze flicking back to the shield as she landed back onto the floor.
Amethyst, seeing an opening to attack, hopped into the air and rolled into a ball, only her hair showing as she prepared to use her Spin Dash attack. She spun towards the attacker quickly, hoping to succeed this time.
But, unfortunately, she missed once again, to which Steven gasped and shouted, "Amethyst, behind you!"
Amethyst, having heard the boy's warning, unfolded herself from the ball and whipped around... Only to have a strange, cold and spicy liquid sprayed into her eyes. She shrieked in pain, squeezing her eyes shut hard as she stumbled back and brought her hands up to her eyes. Searing sharp pains zapped in her eyes, causing her to trip over a rock and fall backwards.
"Target down," the enemy said, swiftly pulling out a katana and heading over to her. She aimed it at Amethyst but didn't use it on her.
"The name's Bloodstone," she announced, flicking her gaze over to Steven, who looked about to burst into tears.
"And I'm Moonstone," said the one who was holding Steven in place.
"Your name?" Bloodstone asked the young boy.
"I - I...um, m-my name is Steven," he replied quietly, looking at the Gem on the floor. "Is she going to be okay?" He quickly asked, realizing she wasn't moving.
"Yes...she will be fine," Bloodstone answered, pressing the tip of the katana against Amethyst's side. "Is she of any importance to you?" She asked, to which Steven nodded firmly.
"And her name? I surprisingly cannot identify her gemstone. I have never seen such a strange Gem."
"Her name is Amethyst..." Steven replied.
"Amethyst? Haven't seen a Gem with her stone in thousands of years," Bloodstone muttered, to which Moonstone frowned.
"Can you let us go now, please? We don't want to cause any trouble, and we didn't mean to trespass here," the boy started, shifting on his feet nervously. The others must be worried sick... Amethyst was right; coming here was an extremely bad idea. He should have listened to her...
"Now, why would we do that? If we let you go, then what was the point in capturing you? No, you're coming with us," Moonstone snapped, tightening her grip on Steven, causing him to yelp.
Amethyst shifted, shaking her head as she began to sit up. Something in that spray had caused her to pass out. But that didn't change the fact that her eyes were still burning horribly; she still had them closed shut.
"Steven?" She managed to speak out, but got an answer from someone else.
"You are a Gem that should have been back at the Homeworld a long time ago. And I'm not stupid because your fluent language and fighting skills are impressive and perfectly mastered, and only Gems that have been alive long enough know how to fight like that. I demand an answer from you immediately, since there has been no records of an amethyst living at the Homeworld. So tell the truth, or it'll only be worse for you and the boy," Bloodstone hissed firmly, now pointing the tip of the blade close to Amethyst's face.
Amethyst blinked, swallowing as she tried to come up with an answer. She couldn't reveal her identity as one of the members of the Crystal Gems, especially Steven. Bloodstone and Moonstone were Gems. Amethyst knew that from the beginning, when they started attacking. Plus, this was a Gem Temple, so there was no doubt in that. Sooner or later they were going to find out she was an Earth Gem created from one of the Kindergartens. She had no clue on how they would react. She had no idea on what they would do to her. She thankfully thought of an answer, but she knew they wouldn't believe her. All the Warp Pads were broken...wait. First of all, how did they get here? Now that the purple Gem thought about it, it was impossible for Gems to be here at the moment. A sudden sick feeling settled itself inside her stomach. She now hoped there were no other Gems hiding around this area.
"I...I couldn't get back because-" Amethyst started.
"Stop, that's enough. I just realized that there are supposed to be no Gems here on this planet." Bloodstone interrupted, glancing at Moonstone.
Moonstone nodded and walked over to her, still holding Steven firmly, forcing him to walk with her.
"Don't you see? She's one of them..." She growled, narrowing her eyes at the purple Gem.
"You're right. That answers all my questions. That explains everything. It explains why we haven't seen a Gem like her before," she muttered, brushing her red bangs away from her forehead, her pupils narrowing slightly. "But why isn't she with the others? She must have escaped. Or they left her behind."
"We need to bring her back. We can bring him too," Moonstone said, adjusting her grip on Steven.
"B-But, no! You can't take us there!" Steven breathed, his heart beginning to beat quicker in fear, his breathing quickening as well. They couldn't go there, they just couldn't! What would happen to them? Would he even be able to breathe up there?!
Amethyst attempted to open her eyes, wincing at the bright light that met her pupils. She found that it was useless in trying to open her eyes. She'd have to wash the spray out with water as soon as she could. However, she had an uneasy feeling that she wouldn't be able to for a long time.
"Why shouldn't we? It's our job; and you can't do anything about it," Bloodstone said. "Maybe you should have thought twice before entering this restricted zone."
Bloodstone glanced up the stairs, grinning. "Next stop: Homeworld."