Part 2: When Water Turns to Wine
Amethyst walks down a lowly road. It's full of trees and dirt, but not a sign of sentient life anywhere. The wind blows harshly through the air, getting hair in her eyes, trying to get her off balance. But the Gem presses on.
The dirt path seems to get wider and wider until she finds herself looking at a statue. It's of the artifact she was supposed to bubble. What's it doing here?
"Amethyst," it says, the mouth not moving, "free me." The statue grows larger in front of Amethyst. It towers over her, scaling Amethyst to the size of an ant. The trees wither and die, the dirt road blackens. The air smells of death. "Free me." The statue bend over, staring at Amethyst with its hollow, black eyes that show no sign of life, yet it's somehow alive on its own. Alive through its own will.
Amethyst wakes up with a sudden grunt. Rose is staring over her with a questioning look on her face. "Why do you sleep," she asks, tilting her head.
"It feels good," Amethyst says, feigning a large smile. She sits up in the sand on the beach. Greg is with her, also looking at Amethyst. "I'm gonna go…somewhere." Amethyst rolls to side, standing up. She runs to the temple. The door to the temple opens, startling Amethyst. Garnet and Pearl step out, Pearl looking quizzically at Amethyst.
"Where are you going?" Pearl asks. "We have a mission to do."
"I, uh—I'll be right back," Amethyst says, pushing past Garnet and Pearl. Quickly, she runs into her room, frantically trying to look for the puddle into the burning room. Where is it? Pearl and Garnet might come in and try to stop her if they come in and see her. All she has to do is get in and get out. That should be easy, right? So, where. Is. It.
There! Amethyst finds the fallen tower of junk. Items are falling into a puddle. Amethyst jumps for it.
As soon as she's inside, Amethyst shape-shifts into a hummingbird and darts around for each and every bubble, looking for the thing she most desires: the statue. The artifact is calling out to her for help. It's not a want, it's a need. It's calling out, wanting to be set free. Amethyst is the only who can do it. She is its protector, its guardian. Amethyst finds it near the lava pit in the center of the room. She panics at the sight of it being so close to it. She has to save it! Amethyst dives into the bubble, forcing it away from the pit and farther away into the room.
Amethyst rolls to her rump and holds the statue like a mother would who is protecting her baby.
"Oh good, it's safe," she says with relief. Amethyst runs out of the burning room before someone sees her.
(Outside…)
Amethyst had hid the statue in her hair tied up in a braid. She runs to the warp pad. "Alright! Let's go!" She hollers. Pearl looks at Garnet with an eyebrow raised and shrugs.
"Amethyst," Garnet says. She looks down upon the purple Gem through her shades with a frown. "We're not going anywhere."
Amethyst freezes up for a second. "Why?" She asks.
"The statue. Hand it over."
"You went to go get the statue?" Pearl narrows her eyes at Amethyst, backing away from her. "I told you it was dangerous!"
"Oh yeah, well what do you know?!" Amethyst shouts back.
"I know lots of things! More things than you, you-you—"
"Pearl," Garnet says, stopping Pearl before she says something she shouldn't. "Amethyst, give me the statue." Garnet holds out her hand.
"No!" Amethyst slaps Garnet's hand away. She stares up, brow furrowed with anger.
"Amethyst, don't do this." Amethyst takes in a deep breath and runs away. Rose steps in front of her before she can get anywhere.
"Amethyst," Rose says, bending over to her level, "I know you this statue means a lot to you and I know you want to keep it, but please, reconsider what this means for the team. I care for you Amethyst, deeply so, and I don't want to see you get hurt. So many of us have passed because of this statue alone, and seeing you like this makes me so very sad. So Amethyst, please give me the statue."
Amethyst backs away. If anyone who could understand, it could have been Rose. But now she can't trust anyone. Not Garnet, not Pearl, not Rose, not anybody. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Amethyst screams in anger. Then she screams in agony.
"Amethyst?" Rose erects herself, and back up, holding her stomach. The purple Gem shoots a look through her obsidian black eyes. Amethyst's hair surrounds her. She grows a pair of pointed ears on either sides of her head, whiskers from her mouth and a three tails in the rear. A large tuff of purple hair covers and hides her gem. The blackness in her eyes recedes and they shift to a more purple hue. Rose gasps in shock with a tear falling from her eye, stunned from Amethyst's transformation. "Amethyst…"
Amethyst roars. Garnet smashes her corrupted friend in the face with a powerful shit with her gauntlet, away from Rose because of the baby. "Amethyst, you idiot. You should have given me the statue."
"Amethyst, what have you done!" Pearl cries, summoning her spear. "Rose! You have to stay back!" Amethyst rolls to her feet and hisses, hairs standing up on her back. She charges towards the Gems. She jumps in the air. She spin-dashes to the gems. Garnet and Pearl evade Amethyst, but it seems they weren't her targets anyway. Her directive is towards Rose.
"Amethyst," Rose says, her gem glowing, "I don't want to fight you." Rose clutches her shield. Amethyst collides into Rose's shield. "I know how you feel, Amethyst! I know your pain! You thought you could trust me. You thought that I would understand your keeping of the statue and when I said you couldn't have it, that must have hurt you. I am sorry Amethyst!" Rose pushes Amethyst away into the cliffside. Garnet hammer arms the corrupted gem deeper inside the cliff. Pearl finishes her off by throwing her spear into Amethyst's stomach. It impales her.
Amethyst lets out a small cry and she explodes into an enormous cloud of white vapor. Her gem falls onto the sand, the statue falling right next to it. Garnet bubbles the statue and sends it away. Instead of bubbling it, Pearl picks up Amethyst's gem. "You were the only good thing that came out of that mess…" She clenches the gem in her fist and she and Garnet walk over to Rose. She's crying.
"Rose, she's here," Garnet says. Pearl shows Amethyst's gem to her.
"We have to find a way to save them all," Rose sobs, wiping away her tears.
(12 Years Later…)
"So this is Amethyst?" Steven asks, holding the Rose Quartz bubble encasing the purple gemstone.
"Yes, she was a Crystal Gem like us," Garnet says.
"But she became corrupted by that statue floating near the ceiling," Pearl says, pointing to one of her bubbles. "Although she was a wild, free-spirited Gem, she was still one of us. Your mother, Rose, was her everything. But she was corrupted by the statue and lost herself. Your mother tried her best to save her but it didn't work. She tried to save all these Gems here, but she failed. But since you have Rose's gem, maybe you have the potential to save them all."
"Really?!" Steven exclaims with starry-eyed excitement.
"Of course, but first you have to learn to control your powers."
"Oh."
"Come on, we have a mission to do." The Gems leave the burning room with Pearl releasing Amethyst to float to the ceiling where she'll stay until they find a way to save her.
THE END
(Sorry about before. I clicked the wrong file.)
