-Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe. What I do own are my OCs Kunzite and Hiddenite, among other things...-
The two black orbs rocketed towards the icy ground side by side. Finally they hit the ground with a resounding crash. But unlike their destroyed surrounding, the orbs themselves were mostly unaffected from their impact. Instead they began to tremor and shift in form.
The one on the right grew out four appendages acting as arms and legs, with the arms being long enough for its claws to drag on the ground almost in a quadrupedal fashion. The head it grew had a mouth filled with razor jagged teeth and three small, glowing yellow eyes.
The left orb took on a more insect look; a long chitin armored body at least five feet long with two sets of strong legs supporting it up plus half a dozen smaller ones towards the front of its body. Both the head and the tail end sported a set of giant mandibles, with glowing yellow eyes at the head.
The two creatures surveyed their surroundings, almost as if unaffected by the white haze that the whipper winds created. The beast of the two sniffed the air, while the insect tried to pick up scents on the ground.
Suddenly the beast locked its head towards a specific direction, and with a grunt of satisfaction pounded the ground twice with its claws. The two black creatures then stalked off in that direction to whatever it was that the beast had smelled.
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The two gem sisters trudged through snow that was at least as high as their knees. Between the two of them, Hiddenite seemed to shiver the most.
"Sister, are you alright? The cold is not affecting you too much, is it?" Kunzite asked.
"Honestly, who can grow used to walking around in a giant frozen wasteland?" Hiddenite replied, barely able to keep the shiver out of her voice, "And what about you Kunz? You don't look like you're cold at all."
"I'm not sure I understand it either," Kunzite said, "but I don't think I feel the cold as I should."
"What does that mean?" Hidddenite said as she suddenly went over to her sister. She put a hand to her shoulder, and was surprised by what she felt.
"Kunzite! Your skin is ice cold! Are you sure you're alright?!"
"Yes Hiddenite, I said I feel fine. I don't have hypothermia if that's what you're asking. But what about you? You're the one I should worry about."
"Ah, don't worry about me," she said, "But it's like I said: all you ever find out here is snow and ice."
"Well we'll just keep going and maybe we'll find something!" Kunzite said.
So they kept on, crunching snow under their feet with every step. Occasionally they would look up and find the familiar gas giant and its light barely reaching them. From the distance they were they could see the small winds within each ring as they whirled fluidly in a clockwise direction.
Hiddenite still was forced to shield her eyes within the wind with her arm, but Kunzite kept moving as if the wind wasn't even blocking her sight. In fact she was fairly certain she could see something in the distance... something peculiar on that distant wall of ice...
"Hiddenite?" she said, "Just in front of us... I think I see something..."
"What? Where?"
"I'm not sure, let's look closer!" Kunzite said moving faster.
"Hey, wait up!"
With Hiddenite in back, they reached what it was that Kunzite was looking at; a massive wall of ice at least twenty feet high, and densely thick enough to be non-transparent. What caught Kunzite's attention however was a small marking on it.
"Do you see this right here?" she indicated.
"What? Those little scratch marks?" Hiddenite asked skeptically.
"They're not scratch marks!" she said, "Look closer; they're deliberate carvings in a specific shape." Hiddenite put her head closer to see; sure enough, these markings curved in an intricate pattern, like a small creature with small legs. "Don't you see? Something with some level of intelligence had to have made them."
"Huh, now that you mention it, it does look like a strange shape," Hiddenite admitted, "but it's funny; I've been traversing this area of the ice fields for a long time, how come I've never seen this before?"
"Maybe it's recent?" Kunzite asked. Hiddenite shrugged and looked back at the marking. She traced her fingers downward along the near-stinging ice wall. Suddenly when they reached a small area below, a small section of the ice actually gave in and pushed in slightly.
"Hey, look at this," she indicated. Kunzite looked closer at the imprinting rock.
"A perfectly carved chunk of ice... you push in?"
"Yeah, I pushed it and it stopped about an inch in." Kunzite brought her own hand opposite Hiddenite's side, and sure enough there was another chunk of the ice she could push in.
Suddenly, when the pink gem pushed her side in, there came a deep rumbling noise, causing both gems to leap back. The entire section of the ice wall they had touched began to sink in slowly into the ground. The two gem sisters now could see inside of a deep cave. Hiddenite turned to her sister.
"Right, from here on in, everything we see will be new to both of us," she said.
"Well I'd at least like to be prepared for any danger inside," Kunzite replied, as she summoned her tonfas.
"Good idea," Hiddenite said, summoning her silver-knuckles. Cautiously, the two sisters entered the cave.
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Meanwhile with the two black creatures, tracking the scent the had picked up had lead to them to a stop in front of a small rising of snow. The beast of the two sniffed the door for a moment, and then scratched the door with its claws. The door however held its own against the intruder until the beast eventually gave up.
The insect however began sniffing the ground around the rising, until with an odd clicking sound of satisfaction darted off in another direction. The beast took notice of this and ran off in pursuit of its companion.
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With the dim glow from their gems lighting the way, the two gems made their way through the winding hallway. The ice walls around them illuminated with a beautiful glow of green and light purple. As the most seasoned to exploring unknown areas of the two, Hiddenite walked slightly in front with her silver-knuckles held in front of her. Kunzite brought up the rear holding her tonfas up as well, while occasionally she would cast a look a look in back of her to remind her that they were in fact alone.
Finally, they reached a stop in the winding hallway to a larger room. The two marveled at the crystalline walls that surrounded them on all sides. At the very end of the oval shaped room stood some sort of pedestal altar atop of the raised floor.
"Look at these walls," Kunzite said, looking in closer, "Their structural density, is almost like the support beams in our hut!" Hiddenite knocked lightly on the walls for confirmation.
"Yeah, it kinda is," Hiddenite agreed.
"In fact, didn't you say it was 'nearby' that you found the beams in the first place?" Kunzite added.
"Hmmm, I think I did," she said, "but remember I found them as just a bunch of rocks sticking up in the snow."
"Well even so, I'm going to take a sample of this back with me for study," Kunzite said and flipped her right tonfa on top of her arm. The shorter end suddenly produced a small beam of light which she then slowly cut into the solid wall.
Hiddenite left her sister to her task and moved toward the other end of the room. The pedestal she found was thick, rectangular and made of the same mineral as the walls around them. She gazed upon the top and was puzzled by what she found.
"Is this... some sort of... writing?" she asked herself. A small paragraph of unfamiliar writing was indeed before her. "Hey Kunzite, you almost done?"
"... There finished," Kunzite said, as she bubbled the small chunk in between her hands and sent it back to their hut, "What is it?"
"This altar up here has something written on it. Never seen this kind of writing before, can you read it?"
"Let me look at it," Kunzite said and joined her sister at the front. After a few moments of reading, Kunzite's eyes slowly began to widen, something that Hiddenite noticed as well.
"Well? What's it say?" Hiddenite asked, but no answer, "Kunzite? Hello, Kunzite?"
"... Geode..." mumbled the pink girl.
"Geode?" questioned Hiddenite. That seemed to knock Kunzite out of her trance.
"Hiddenite, do you know what this is?!"
"You tell me," she replied.
"Hiddenite... this text was written by forerunners of our kind! Precursors even! It must be at least hundreds of millienias old!"
"Our... ancestors wrote this?"
"Exactly!"
"Well, what does it say?" she asked again. Kunzite turned back to the writing.
"Hmmm... 'Here in peaceful solitude the Moon Beetle is housed. Woe to the malevolent ones who would use in disregard for existence itself. But for a true, righteous being born of Geode, to release the Beetle, repeat the words: Genesis Crystallium."
The moment she said those last two words the whole top of the alter began to glow brilliant light blue. The two gems jumped back in surprise. The altar-top then de-materialized near-exactly how the door to their hut did as well, and a recess opened. The two gems cautiously looked inside and found it completely empty, save for a very small, silver colored object with six small stubs on two sides of it. It was Kunzite who carefully grabbed the timid creature in her fingers so they could both see.
"The Moon Beetle?" Hiddenite asked.
"It seems very much so," Kunzite confirmed, looking at it all over.
"Well, what's so special about such a tiny little thing?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but to have been stored inside a deeply hidden cave on an ice moon in the middle of space? It must have been put here by somebody for a reason."
"Well maybe we shouldn't take it from here," Hiddenite said.
"What? What do you mean don't take it?" Kunzite asked surprised by her sister's response.
"Really, if this beetle really was put here by our 'ancestors', it had to be for a good reason. It could be to keep someone from getting their hands on it; someone like us even!"
"Oh come on, sister, where's your spirit of discovery?"
"I lose it every moment I'm here on this rock!" Hiddenite suddenly exploded. Kunzite flinched, never hearing her sister raise her voice violently at her before. Hiddenite realized what she did and immediately calmed down. She turned away from her sister in shame and embarrassment, "I'm... sorry, I didn't mean to shout like that. I've just had a lot on my mind."
Kunzite then bubbled the beetle in her hands, but put the bubble itself back in the recess so that she could join her sister sitting on the ground. Hiddenite felt her sister's arm on her shoulder.
"Kunzite," she spoke softly, "I hope it's not just me going crazy on this ice moon but... I think I might be jealous of you. I've been out searching trekking in these vast snow fields for how many times, and not once have I ever found anything like this..."
"And yet we found this, Hiddenite," Kunzite said, indicating the cave that they were in.
"No, YOU found this cave. Think about it, it's you who works on that warp pad, it was you who found the cave entrance and you who could read the writing on the altar!" She calmed down about as she caught her breath. "I guess what I'm trying to say is... where does that leave me?"
Kunzite hugged her arm on her sister's shoulder tighter. She looked down and away from her for a moment, thinking on her sister said.
"Strong," she said quietly.
"... pardon?" Hiddenite said.
"You're strong, Hiddenite," Kunzite said clearer, "You're the strongest I've ever known. I mean we both created our hut to live in, but most of the labor was on your part. It's also the reason I've stayed in the hut working on the warp pad while you traversed outside; I knew you were stronger and the bravest of us to do any exploring."
"Kunzite."
"In fact, it was only after our little sparring session we had that sparked something in me. I'm not sure what it was, but I felt more... daring," Kunzite now turned to look at her sister, "Don't you see? You inspire me... to be just as strong as you are! I know I have much more to experience in my existence, but you make me WANT to! So don't ever say that you're not good enough for something, because you'll always be to me..."
Hiddenite now looked into her sister's eyes with her own, her personal shame dissipating completely. She then wrapped both her arms around her in a hug, while Kunzite did the same.
"Thank you Kunzite," the green gem said, "you always know exactly what to say."
"Well I pride myself on that," Kunzite replied.
"Alright, I'm done being all sentimental-like," Hiddenite said as they rose to their feet, "Maybe we oughtta take that Moon Beetle with us, for safe keeping at least."
"Agreed, I'll just-" A sound cut her off. Both the girls jerked their heads up to the exit. What they saw nearly horrified them.
Two black creatures emerged from the exit of the room. One of them walked on two legs with arms long enough to touch the ground when it bent over. The other was a long insect-like creature with armored plating and two sets of mandibles on either side of it. The beast of two looked at them carefully, snarling.
Kunzite and Hiddenite looked at each other, then jumped down to the base floor weapons drawn. The insect let out some repulsive clicking noise, while the beast raised its clawed arms in a roar.
"Dare I ask if you've seen these... things before?" Kunzite asked.
"I have no idea what those things are," Hiddenite replied, "but it doesn't look like they're friendly."
"Well in that case, I suggest we need not go friendly on them," Kunzite raised her eyebrow.
Hiddenite smirked and turned back to their new foes. On her silver-knuckles the two edge-blades that normally faced backward towards her flipped forward, gleaming light towards her enemies.
Kunzite held out her tonfas in battle position, while at the long ends of each one a beam of pink light similar to the one she cut into the wall erected.
The two creatures confirmed these as hostile actions and began to advance slowly. Both of them began to leak some sort of saliva substance from their mouths, the insect of which's began to eat away at the ground that touched it. Both the gems grimaced at this, then looked at each other.
"Maybe I should take that one," Hiddenite indicated to the insect.
"Really?"
"It's like you said, I'm strong!" The gems and the creatures then charged towards each other.