Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe!
Title: Viva La Vida
Summary: In which Amethyst ends up leaving the kindergarten after a few hundred years and gets picked up by the local village. Now, considered a deity of war and good harvest, her world is turned on its head when another being like her appears in Green Growth.
Chapter Title: Prove It.
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Fearing The Inevitable- Thanks! It won't stay that way forever. =)
Dalekz Universe- It is a really good song. =)
DragShot- Perhaps, but I'm not willing to take credit without proof.
princessofthedeadsheep- To be fair, we're not entirely sure if there are any religions in the world of Steven Universe. It's entirely possible the existence of magic rock women has contented the world with wondering.
werepirechick- Thanks!
...
Zadi examines her hands with a deep concentration, lips pursed. She sat rather comfortably in her wood chair, while Amethyst was crouched before her. It'd taken some prodding on her part to get her to relent, stating that being off the ground made her feel like she was in danger.
It was more than that, of course. Amethyst felt right here. The thought of staying like this, bent before the will of Green Growth- their soldier, their protector- felt like coming home.
But that couldn't possibly be the case; she was a Goddess, a being of great power. Bowing to her people would be shock enough to make them faint.
"It's hard to tell." She said finally. "They're not calloused, like a warrior's, but they're too large and clumsy for detailed work like sewing."
"What's a 'calloused?'"
Zadi held up a hand. Little patches of skin rose from it, ready to harmlessly fall off.
"Oh." She wrinkled her nose, trying not to hurl. "Eww."
"They're a fact of life." She chuckled. Her laughter was warm. "Tell me- do you feel more comfortable in the house, or in the fields?"
Amethyst shrugged indifferently. Inside felt more like the Dark-Rock Place, which was comforting, but she hated the look of the chores the women and more feminine men did. She felt a sort of singularity with the muscular women and broad men who harvested the crops, but didn't like the look of the tools they used; big and sharp and not particularly useful in battle. Too heavy and bulky. "Whichever one."
"Alright. Peace or war?"
"Whatever it takes."
"Rich or poor?"
This time, she scoffed. "Both suck. I mean, what am I gonna do with or without piles of metal?"
Zadi let out a long sigh.
Immediately the guilt began to set in. She wasn't supposed to make her people feel bad. "I'm sorry."
The large woman gave her a watery smile, shaking her head. "It's no problem, my Goddess. We aren't going to find your affiliation overnight."
"If only." The Adviser mumbled. She jumped, having forgotten the frail man was there, passing his hands through old papers Amethyst couldn't yet read. "The public is getting anxious, my Goddess. I fear they may start calling fraud soon."
Amethyst tapped her knee quietly, unsure if, by calling foul, her people would be lying- or telling the cold hard truth.
"We need a test." He stated eventually. "Something to prove our claims."
"Surely her skin is enough! Look at her; she's so exotic."
The Adviser merely shook his head, lips pressed together in a firm line. Amethyst felt her being pulse with sudden knowledge. Almost instinctively, it'd come to her; as much a part of her as her exotic skin.
"A battle." She said.
Zadi and The Adviser both turned to look at her. Amethyst struggled to her feet, knees tingling from being pressed against the hard floor of the woman's hut; her new home. She wasn't about to give all this up.
"Get me somebody tough. I'll fight 'em."
"My Goddess, are you sure that is wise?" The man tittered nervously. "You are so new to our world; I would hate to spoil your gift with blood."
"No, I'm not sure." She replied honestly, ignoring the urge to ask him what blood was. So strange, her people were. "But it feels right. Like what I was made to do. Fight and protect."
There was a short pause.
"War." The Adviser murmured, breathless. "You must be a Goddess of war."
"And the harvest." Zadi interjected, hands clasped around her squishy belly. "There's no better protection than a good harvest. Except, of course, a good military."
The Adviser smiled. He was the kind of man to bare all his teeth while doing so. "A battle it is, then."
People came, people gathered, and one- a large, big-shouldered woman- stepped forward, holding a sword. There was no fear, no regret. Merely devotion to a task and a willingness to tread fire to get to it. Amethyst liked her instantly.
"Go on." She grunted. "Take up a weapon."
Relying on instinct once more that day, Amethyst brought a hand to her chest. She felt like she was reaching inside herself, brushing against the very thing that gave her breath; her core.
She pulled out a whip.
The woman's eyes widened, and the crowd broke into gasps and cheers, but she never faltered.
She said, "You're a mage."
Amethyst pulled herself into a ball and attacked.
As they struck, her own fears suddenly seemed silly. This was exactly who she was. A fighter, a soldier; a Goddess of war. Why did she ever think otherwise?
"And the harvest." Zadi's words ran through her ears, and she hesitated, ashamed- almost unnaturally- of her aggression. This woman was part of her people. She couldn't hurt her people. Loyalty was all she had.
That was around the time the sword struck her side, and she became.
There is no words with which to describe how she felt. What she'd gone through. A level of ignorant awareness, being only Amethyst in soul and nothing else.
Her Adviser would call it reincarnation. Later- thousands upon thousands of years later, it will have a much more simple moniker; poofing. Of course, reincarnation and regeneration are somewhat the same, in essence, so maybe he was right, after all.
Amethyst's next conscious memory is of suddenly being more than just a spirit and falling, colliding with a stone slab on all fours. Her outfit nearly matches the one they'd put on her before, only her robe is black and purple; her hair ties and crown are a fiery yellow, but not quite gold. They look almost fake. Amethyst finds she likes these colors.
"My Goddess!" Piercing cry, and suddenly she's in Zadi's arms, her gentle face shiny with tears. "I thought you were dead!"
"We all did." The Adviser whispered. Crouched beside the slab, arms laden with burial oils, his eyes were bright with child-like excitement. "Excuse my voice. I've been praying nonstop the past few hours."
"Did she win?" Amethyst asks, a little out of it. "The lady."
"She won a feast." Zadi told her. "But we won much more. We've won ourselves a Goddess. An immortal one, at that. No one can ever deny this."
"Fear will never plague our hearts again." Her Adviser almost sings. "It can be a tradition!"
Amethyst curls up in Zadi's arms and tries that sleeping thing they do.
Author's Note: Quartz's are loyal soldiers to the bitter end. =)
Just before In Too Deep, too! Good luck, everybody. We'll need it.
-Mandaree1
