The Truth
All five gems just stood there. Steven, Amethyst, Pearl, and even the normally stoic Garnet, were in shock. And the black gem in front of Steven was just staring at them. No one moved a muscle for what seemed like hours, until finally Pearl spoke.
"Steven! Get away from there," she frantically said, her spear materializing in her hand.
"Run Steven, we'll cover you," added Amethyst, drawing their whip.
"Steven... don't move. I'm coming to get you," said Garnet.
She didn't have to worry about that. Stevens legs were shaking so bad he wouldn't have been able to move if he wanted. All he could do was stare up at the figure in front of him.
Slowly, Garnet crept forward. She kept one eye on Steven, one on the new gem, and one on Pearl and Amethyst. She didn't want Steven to make a wrong move. Or have Pearl and Amethyst to provoke it. But she especially didn't want it to suddenly attack.
But the closer she got, the more she got this feeling in her gut that they didn't need to worry. And her instincts said the same thing. However, as much as she trusted her gut and instincts she would feel better if Steven was away from it.
When she was a few inches behind him, she reached down and picked him up. But she stopped. Taking a very close look at Steven, she noticed he had no shadow. This was troubling, but she wasn't concerned with that now. With Steven safely tucked under her arm she stood up and started to back away. But before she got too far, she and the gem locked eyes.
She froze. She had no idea what she was looking at. They seemed emotionless. But she saw something in them. They were kind, intelligent, curious, and... scared. But at the same time they exuded power. So much so, that it actually made Garnet feel something new: fear.
She audibly gulped, and continued to move back. The trip back was just as slow. And when she got there she put Steven down, who was quickly pulled into a hug by Pearl, and huddled them together.
"Alright. Now we need to figure out what to do."
"What do ya mean Garnet? Lets beat this gem down," said Amethyst, yelling in a hushed tone.
"I have a feeling that would be a bad idea. This gem is powerful. I can tell just by its eye that it could kill each of us if it wanted."
"Then why hasn't it? And for that matter how did it get here?" asked Pearl.
They looked at each other for a second. Then they all looked to Steven, who was trying to look everywhere but at them. Even choosing to look at the gem behind him instead.
"Steven?" questioned Pearl, crossing her arms. "Do you want to tell us something?"
He sighed, realizing there was no point in denying it. So he looked at them and said, "While you guys were gone this weird ball landed on the beach. It looked like it was gem technology so I brought it inside. I was going to leave it for you, but my curiosity got to me. I opened it and found his gem in s bubble, and a weird thing. The bubble popped and he came out, and fainted. I put him on the couch and waited for you."
As Steven spoke Garnet noticed he had his shadow back. But then she noticed Pearl didn't have hers. She looked up, still listening to Steven, and saw the gem right behind Pearl. When Steven finished she heard Amethyst say, "Wow. That was a bad idea even by my standards."
"We can talk later. We need to handle this now. How do we know if it's a threat or not?" asked Pearl.
"I don't think it is," said Garnet. The others looked at her for an explanation. "If it was it could have killed Pearl several times by now." She them motioned behind them. They each turned around to see the gem a couple of inches from Pearl. Before she could do anything Garnet put her hand on Pearls shoulder.
"Don't move. I think... it's studying you."
They all froze. It looked her up and down, then raised its hand and lightly put it on her face, gently rubbing. It moved down her face to her neck, but stopped when it reached her shirt. Hesitating for only a second it moved down to her chest, making Pearl flinch and then blush. It took its hand away when it reached her stomach.
He did this three more times. Paying particular attention to Amethysts hair. Garnet even let him take her shades off. When he was done he stepped back, looked them all over one more time, then walked away looking at the rest of the house.
As he walked away Steven and the gems let out a collective breath. Pearl was still blushing and covered her chest up. Amethyst straightened her hair and trying not to laugh at kept watching the other gem. And Steven was wondering why Pearl was acting like she was.
"That's over with. Now Steven, take us to the ball you found," ordered Garnet.
He walked to the living room and sat on the couch. The others fallowed him and sat on the floor around the table, watching as the gem flipped the light switch on and off. Pearl picked up the orange ball and examined it.
"Well, this is obviously a deep space probe converted to carry cargo. Meant to go for long distances in short periods of time."
She put it down and picked up the black box. It was small, solid with no openings, and had two buttons, one red and the other green. She looked to Garnet, who simply nodded. Pearl pressed the green one.
The box lit up with a holographic screen. On it was an orange gem. She was sitting in a small, metal room. Then she spoke.
'Hello, I'm Sunstone. I was a warrior in the rebellion five thousand years ago. I fought for Rose Quartz. In these recordings I will be cataloging many things. I decided to do this Rose, when I heard you were still fighting for Earth. I know you haven't heard from me for a long time, but I hope you trust me.'
'First off, if you are not Rose, but one of her friends, I think you should know about me. My job in the war was as a spy. A triple agent. I worked with Rose by pretending to work with Homeworld. They also saw my potential as a spy so they sent me to spy on the rebels. But make no mistake, I have full loyalty for Rose. And I ask that you take this to her.'
'After the war ended instead of rejoining the Crystal Gems like I wanted Rose told me to go back to Homeworld and remain a spy for her. I did. So for the last five thousand years I've been here. Waiting for something to happen.'
'Rose, I want you to know that your message didn't stop on Earth. There are still gems on Homeworld that believe in you. We are still fighting for peace in your name. I myself am one of them, so I feel the need to do this for you.'
'Rose! I have it. After centuries of waiting, I have it. I have been assigned to a secret project. I'm not sure what it is yet, but all I need is some time.'
'From what I have gathered so far, I can tell you this is big. I heard Yellow Diamond herself has ordered that all information on this project is to be reported directly to her. That means this is extremely important.'
'...I've figured out what this is. It's a gem. But not an ordinary gem. This is a synthetic gem. From what I can understand they started working on this when the rebellion first started. And when Homeworld lost it was canceled. But know that you are fighting again, they reinstated it.'
'Sorry my last message was cut short. As I was saying before. What they would do in this project is take a Gem, wipe their memory, and then force them into their gem. Once that is done they break the gem. And I don't mean into a few pieces, they grind it to dust. Then all the pieces are placed inside a special container, then hit it with radiation. Not enough to damage it, but enough to cause it to change on a subatomic level. After that the gem is compressed and reformed. This creates a Gem that is stronger, faster, and more powerful then a normal one. I've seen it. I also did some digging. They have done this thousands of times, but it only worked once. I have to go, bye.'
'I saw the Gem today for the first time. It was unusual. I remember back on Earth that most humans considered us to be female. And despite the fact we are able to function as such, we are technically genderless. But this one, I do believe it could be considered a male. We studied its... his... ahem, anatomy, and I honestly think he could.'
'We did tests on the gem today, and his physical abilities are incredibly. He can lift over one hundred tons, run faster then the speed of sound, crush boulders the size of buildings with its bare hands, and jump so high he can almost leave the atmosphere. But that is not his greatest weapon. His greatest weapon is his Shadow Force. I can't talk anymore. Till next time.'
'His Shadow Force is an artificial ability that lets the use control shadow. From a shadow the size of a strand of hair, to one the size of planet. He is even able to solidify them into weapons. He can even make clones of himself and others. It is by far his most powerful weapon. Anyway, Rose I am planning on sending him to you. I still need a little time, but I think it shouldn't be too much longer. So on that note, I think my next transmission will be my last.'
'As I said, this will most likely be my last message. I have my plan in place. Now I must simply wait. I plan on wiping his memory, so he won't remember the tests, experiments, and everything else he went through. It wasn't good Rose. They put him through things no one should have to. I truly feel sorry for him. Also, before you do anything with him, you need to know that even though his body is incredibly, his mind is feeble. From the second he formed his mind was like that of a human child. He may seem imposing, but show any aggression and he will run and hide. So in conclusion, help this Gem Rose. I believe he is worth more than as a killing machine, and so goodbye.'
As the four of them sat there in silence, they had hundreds of questions they wanted to ask. They looked at each other, then to the gem in the kitchen opening and closing the refrigerator, looking at the light.
It was Steven who broke the silence by asking, "So what do we do with him?"
Amethyst and Pearl looked to Garnet. She thought for a minute then stood up, turned to the gem, and brought out her gauntlets. The others followed and drew their weapons. Steven stepped back, not wanting to get in the middle.
"Pearl, go hold the door open. Amethyst, get into position and when I tell you, wrap him in your whip and throw him outside. We don't want the house destroyed."
They both nodded and did as they were told. When they were ready Garnet waited. They all knew what this gem could do, so they were taking no chances. If the gem in the messages was to be believed then they couldn't take any chances. Mostly because of Stevens safety, and because Rose isn't here.
"Now Amethyst!" she yelled. As commanded Amethyst threw her whip at him and wrapped him up, then threw him with all his strength out the door. Garnet ran out after him as did the others.
Steven didn't know what to do. On one hand the Gems wouldn't want him to go out there, especially with how strong the other gem is. But on the other, they didn't tell him to stay in the house. He thought about it, but then something in the back of his mind told him to go out. So he did.
And what he saw scared him. The gem was up against the cliff being punched repeatedly by Garnet. Pearl and Amethyst were making sure he stayed put. Then he looked at him. He was afraid, no he was terrified. Then Steven felt something not just in his head, but in his heart tell him to do something. So he did.
He ran down the steps as fast as he could. As he got closer to them he could see the black gems face better, and he was crying. Just as Garnet was about to give him the final blow, Steven jumped in front of her and brought up a bubble.
"Stop!"
Garnet just managed to stop her fist before hitting it. She then yelled, "Steven! Get out of the way."
"No. I can't let you guys hurt him. Look at him."
And they did. But instead of seeing a dangerous gem that could hurt Steven, they saw a crying, shaking, child trying to hide behind Steven. They lowered their weapons.
"Please guys. You heard the recordings. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. Why can't we help him?"
"Steven, we know it is dangerous. We need to bubble it before it hurts someone," said Garnet.
"No. We can't. He's... he's my responsibility. That gem Sunstone, she sent him here so that my mom could help him. But she's not here, and I am. So because she can't do it, it's my job to do it. Mom isn't here because of me, so it's my job to do the things she was meant to do. Please Garnet, I know I can do this."
Garnet looked at him. He had started to cry at some point, and he started to look at her with his puppy eyes. She wanted to tell him no but, "I can't say no to that face. Alright Steven. You can look after him, but if he gives us even one reason to think he will hurt someone, we will break him."
He smiled, removed the bubble and turned to the gem. It was in the fetal position, still crying, and covered in wounds. Steven tapped him on the shoulder. The gem jumped a little and tried to crawl away.
Steven slowly moved over to him. He smiled, held out hi hand, and said, "Come on. We won't hurt you."
The gem looked at his hand for a minute the slowly reached his over to him. When it was only an inch away he stopped, looked into Stevens eyes, then grasped his hand.
