Chapter 2

Rose sighed heavily, her body ached and her mouth was dry. She wondered if the rest of the gems understood the seriousness of the situation the world was in at this time. Sure they had faced many life threatening challenges before, but how could they possibly be prepared for a nuclear war?
With tensions between the Americans and the Soviets straining by the hour, it seemed more likely that she would wake up one day to mushroom clouds.
So far the only other gem that knew anything about the war was Garnet. Pearl was too easily panicked already without the thought of WW3 in her head, and Amethyst was too young to understand anything about the war. She shook her head, pushing the troubled thoughts from her mind.
Right now she needed to return to the temple and scold Pearl for her behavior.

"What in the world has gotten into her?" she questioned. Pearl had always been the calm and collected one out of the group.
Maybe not as calm as Garnet, but calm when it counted. Whatever was wrong with her, Rose assured herself that it could be worked out.

Despite the chaos that happened earlier, it was otherwise perfect outside. Warm and cloudless, a gentle breeze, and the sound of the ocean greeted Rose.
Not wanting to waste such a wonderful afternoon, she decided she would walk back to the temple instead of teleporting.

"Repent, the end is nigh! For soon the son of Enola will cleanse the earth with holy nuclear fire!"

Rose rolled her eyes as she pass a ranting homeless man turned dooms day prophet. She had studied human mythology, and no where did she ever hear the term "Son of Enola".

"Nonsense," she said quietly as she passed the bum.

As she continued her walk, the sweet smell of baked goods greeted her. As good as a box of donuts sounded, Rose knew she had no time for them.
Passing the bakery, she heard a loud banging coming from the dumpster. Suddenly, the lid flew open. Out of the dumpster crawled a small human boy.
The child was pale, dirty, and sickly thin. To Rose, the child appeared to be no more than four years old.
In his hands, he held a moldy mass that was at one time bread. With a growl, the child began to gnaw and bite chunks out of the bread.
Rose slowly and carefully approached the child.

"Hello there young one," she whispered sweetly.

Startled, the child turned around and faced her.

"I wont hurt you," Rose said with a smile.

She kneeled down and held her out her hand. The child cocked his head slightly, unsure what she was doing. Slowly, the child wobbled over to her, the loaf of moldy bread still in his tiny hands. Rose smiled warmly down at the child. She could not believe that someone could be heartless enough to abandon their child.
No matter how many times she had seen it in her travels, it never stopped disturbing her.

Slowly and cautiously the child grasped Rose's hand. He gave a small sigh of happiness, he was cold and she was very warm.
With motherly tenderness, Rose picked the child up and held him in between her arms, cradling him.

"There we go, there's a smile," she said softly. "Did you get separated from your mother?"

The child lowered his eyes sadly.

"Do you have a father?"

The child whimpered softly and shut his eyes, burying his face into Rose's shoulder. Rose felt a single tear run down her cheek.
The gems would have to wait, right now Rose needed to find someplace safe for this child.

"Don't worry little one," she said warmly. "My friends and I will help find you a home. We are the Crystal Gems."

At the sound of word "Crystal Gem" the child began to cry and thrash violently. Bewildered by the child's sudden change in behavior, Rose tried her best to comfort him. As he flailed and screamed, a lucky kick hit Rose right in her gem. The sudden, tearing pain forced her to release the child.
Like a wild animal, he ran deeper into the ally, screaming something that was almost unintelligible.
He leaped off the ground and onto the chain-link fence, crawled over it, and ran off, still screaming.
Rose kneeled in silence, dazed at what had just happened. Weeping quietly, she placed her hand over her mouth. Her weeping turned to sobbing as she figured out what the child had been screaming.

"They want to kill me."