As always, it was a fairly pleasant day, and as always, Garnet was pottering around with her mystical business, the likes of which could not be explained to Steven or Amethyst. Neither did Amethyst want to listen, but Steven hounded her hour by hour;
"Hey! Garnet, what are those books?" and "Garnet, what's with the paint?", and even a cry of "Why is today's date circled on the calendar, Garnet?", however all questions had been ignored for the most of the morning.
Around midday, as Amethyst prepared herself to head down to grab some snacks (which Pearl had advised strongly against, since it may hinder her fighting ability if she got too unhealthy), Garnet disappeared into the heart of the temple.
She did not return.
In the evening, Pearl's paranoia had peaked; she knew more about the situation than the others, and her understanding, as well as her silence, was frightening- she had become very quiet, nibbling her nails as she stared, transfixed, into the swirling depths of a strong mug of coffee. Seeing her like this was not only terrifying, but also new, as neither Amethyst nor Steven had seen her this agitated before.
It was past Steven's bedtime when he spoke up;
"Hey, Pearl, where's Garnet gone?"
Pearl, after a moment of scared silence, replied; "Nowhere, Steven. Now go to bed."
In seconds, Amethyst was on her back- quite literally, causing her to spasm and knock her coffee onto the floor. "Yeah, right, Pearl! Like she's disappeared into nowhere! Come on, tell us the truth!"
"Both of you," Pearl snapped, eyes wide with anger and fear. "Be quiet. Not another word-!"
But then they'd begun chanting 'tell us the truth!' over and over, pounding their hands on the table, until Pearl broke, standing up- they knew in that second that they were in trouble, ready for a severe telling-off, until they saw Pearl walk past them, and pick up an old, tattered book.
The spine was worn and the cover was torn, the pages were ravaged by wear and weather, the musty smell of old times filling the air as, with a professional expression, Pearl cracked it open and lay it upon the table.
The title bore was 'Cannibalism in Gem Culture'.
Upon reading that, Steven felt curious, sickened, afraid, all at the same time, and he tore his eyes from the page, gazing up at Pearl with a fearful look.
"You're not... planning to eat us, are you?"
At which Amethyst clung to Pearl's leg, wailing "We're sorry! We're sorryyyyyy!" in the most obnoxious, exaggerated manner, and Pearl's expression turned from mortified to annoyed.
"No, of course not, heavens, no," she assured them with a pat on the arm, "This is part of what Garnet's doing."
"Is- is Garnet planning to eat us?!"
"No! Listen, allow me to explain."
A pale beam of electric blue light shone from the pearl resting on her forehead, and she began to explain, the holographic image of two gems appearing.
"When one of us eats another's gem, they go a little..." She hunted for a term. "Wrong. In the head. And they crave more. So, they end up eating more and more. And their own gem grows, and if the craving gets out of hand, it engulfs their entire body. I'm sorry I have to explain this to you, Steven, but you asked to know this."
Steven was transfixed by her words- but also the image her hologram depicted. It was of a gem, tearing through others, the art was simplified but it was terrifying. Why would Pearl show him this? Maybe her worry for Garnet's safety had made her forget about how young Steven was, but he couldn't take his eyes off it for a second as the gem of the hologram grew and grew, the whole body becoming immersed in it.
He wondered for a second how Pearl's hologram was so... vivid.
Coughing, Pearl continued, wiping her brow below her gem with an embroidered handkerchief. "On another topic, there is rumoured to be a 'Volo Scientes', or 'Knowing Gem'."
She paused for a moment, before adding, "It literally translates to 'I want to know', and it's created of such intense, condensed knowledge that it would surpass the mental limits of any living gem! That is the fate that befell an... old friend of Garnet's, many... many years ago..."
She became rushed, as if she wanted to get it all over and done with, suddenly snapping the book shut (with Amethyst's fingers inside, since she'd been drawing moustaches on the illustrations), and scurried to the entrance of the temple, the great and mighty door that Garnet had descended into hours ago, without return.
"Amethyst, get Steven to bed. No staying up playing video games!" She opened the gate, stepping through it, giving one last cry of; "If I don't come back by the morning, Amethyst, you come in after me, but for the love of- don't let Steven go!"
Then she descended into the temple, the door sealing behind her, leaving Amethyst and Steven stood, silent. Moments passed with an odd, uncharacteristic silence between the two, then Steven piped up.
"Amethyst, do you-"
"Go to bed, Steven."
He froze. That was so unlike her, it was scary. Her face was painted into a look of morose fear, as if she couldn't grasp the gravity of the situation but dearly wished to, and it was so atypical to her that Steven had to take a step back, to make sure it was really her, not some imposter or sleepless hallucination.
Then her smile was back, but it trembled, and the mask wasn't entirely opaque; Steven could see the helpless worry that lay like a weathered old coat of paint below it, and she managed a half-hearted laugh, as if she were trying to reclaim her boisterous, exciting nature.
"And in the morning, we can play all the video games we like, we'll go down to the arcade and try and beat your high score on Road Killer, huh?" she chuckled wanly, giving him a weak slap on the shoulder, "And we'll get to the fry place early, eat fry-bits like a second breakfast, no matter what Pearl says."
Steven didn't answer, until he finally mustered the courage to ask;
"Amethyst, what's going on?"
This time, Amethyst didn't answer, she just went to the window and sat there, staring up at the moon; like a wide, glaring stone, the carbon-black night compressed into a brilliant diamond. A full-moon night, how cliché, Steven thought, he'd once stayed up all night before with Amethyst, watching cheesy werewolf movies. But this was odd; the moon was never so bright, or so brilliant, or so...
Pulsating.
"Bedtime now, kid," he heard her mumble from the windowsill, her voice far away, as if all that fire inside her had flickered out and left nothing but ash. "We'll explain when Pearl and Garnet get back tomorrow morning, ok?"
He didn't have the will to argue. For the first time, Steven felt horribly, horribly tired. Just so exhausted that he might collapse and sleep for hours, until Garnet picked him up and carried him to bed, just like she always did.
Shakily, he climbed the stairs, going to his room. Tucking himself in, he held his Cookie Cat plush in a frightened embrace, as if he could already smell a nightmare coming like an elderly person sensing a storm, and sunk below his covers until he could only barely see the glare of the moon watching him.
Steven wanted his mother, he wanted her to scoop him up into her arms and tell her it was alright, and sing to him. He wanted dad to come in and tell him that he was a big, strong tiger, to reassure him and make him feel safe.
Slowly he slipped into sleep, deeper and deeper, until he was in a sound, unshakable slumber. The brightness of the diamond moon did not bother him.
And neither did the chaos from deep within the arteries of the temple.
